OBSERVATIONS on the CATALOGUE.

F we look upon this piece with an eye to ancient learning,

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of Homer's poem may be, according to the nature of Epic poetry; this account of the people, princes and countries, is purely hiftorical, founded on the real tranfactions of those times, and by far the most valuable peice of hiftory and geography left us concerning the ftate of Greece in that early period. Greece was then divided into several Dynasties, which our Author has enumerated under their refpective princes; and his divifion was look'd upon fo exact, that we are told of many controverfies concerning the boundaries of Grecian cities, which have been decided upon the authority of this piece. Euftathius has collected together the following inftances. The City of Calydon was adjudg'd to the Etolians notwithstanding the pretentions of Eolia, because Homer had rank'd it among the towns belonging to the former. Seftos was given to thofe of Abydos, upon the plea that he had faid the Abydonians were poffeffors of Seftas, Abydos, and Arisbe. When the Milfians and people of Pirene difputed their claim to Mycale, a verfe of Homer carry'd it in favour of the Milefians. And the Athenians were put in poffeffion of Salamis by another which was cited by Solon, or (as some think) interpolated by him for that purpofe. Nay in fo high eftimation has this catalogue been held, that (as Porphyry has written) there have been laws in fome nations for the youth to learn it by heart, and particularly Cerdias (whom Cuperus de Apopth. Homer, takes to be Cercydas, a Lawgiver of the Megalopolitans) made it one to his countrymen.

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But if we confider the catalogue purely as poetical, it will not want its beauties in that light. Rapin, who was none of the most fuperftitious admirers of our Author, reckons it among thofe parts which had particularly charm'd à m may obferve first, what an air of probability is fpread over the whole poem by the particularizing of every nation and people concern'd in this war. Secondly what an entertaining cene he prefents to us, of fo many countries, drawn in their livelieft and most natural colours, while we wander along with him amidst a beautiful variety of towns, havens, for fts,

vineyards, groves, mountains, and rivers; and are perpetually amus'd with his obfervations on the different foils, products, fituations, or profpe&s. Thirdly, what a noble review he paffes before us of fo mighty an army, drawn out in order troop by troop; which, had the number only been told in the grofs, had never fill'd the reader with fo great a notion of the importance of the action. Fourthly, the defcription of the differing arms and manner of fighting of the foldiers, and the various attitudes he has given to the commanders: Of these leaders, the greatest part are either the immediate fons of Gods, or the defcendents of Gods; and how great an idea muft we have of a war, to the waging of which so many Demi-gods and heroes are affembled: Fifthly, the feveral artful complements he paid by this means to his own country in general, and many of his contemporaries in particular, by a celebration of the genealogies, ancient feats, and dominions of the great men of his time. Sixthly, the agreeable mixture of narrations from paffages of history or Fables, with which he amufes and relieves us at proper intervals. And lastly, the admirable judgment wherewith he introduces this whole catalogue, juft at a time when the pofture of affairs in the army render'd fuch a review of abfolute neceffity to the Greeks; and in a paufe of action, while each was refreshing himself to prepare for the enfuing battels.

Macrobius in his Saturnalia, lib.5. cap. 15. has given us a judicious piece of criticism, in the comparison betwixt the_catalogues of Homer and of Virgil, in which he justly allows the preference to our Author, for the following reafons. Homer (fays he) has begun his description from the most noted promontory of Greece (he means that of Autis, where was the narroweft paffage to Eubea.) Prom thence with a regular progrefs he describes either the maritime or mediterranean towns, as their fituations are contiguous: He never paffes with sudden leaps from place to place, omitting thofe which lie between; but proceeding like a traveller in the way he has begun, conftantly returns to the place from whence he digrefs'd, till he finishes the whole circle he defign'd. Virgil, on the contrary, has obferv'd no order in the regions defcrib'd in his catalogue, /. 1o. but is perpetually breaking from the courfe of the country in a loofe and defultory manner. You have Clufium and Cofa at the beginning, next Populonia and Ilva, then Pfa, which lie at a vaft diftance in Etruria; and immediately after Crete, Pyrgi, and Gravifce, places adjacent to Reme: From hence he is faatch'd to Liguria, then to Mantua. The fame

negligence is obfervable in his enumeration of the aids that follow'd Turnus in l. 7. Macrobius next remarks, that all the perfons who are nam'd by Homer in his catalogue, are afterwards introduc'd in his battels, and whenever any others are kill'd, he mentions only a multitude in general. Whereas Virgil (he continues) has ipar'd himself the labour of that exactnefs for not only feveral whom he mentions in the lift, are never heard of in the war, but others make a figure in the war, of whom we had no notice in the lift For example, he fpecifies a thousand men under Mafficus who came from Clufium, l. 10. #. 167. Turnus foon afterwards is in the fhip which had carry'd King Ofinius from the fame place, 1. 10. .655. This Ofinius was never nam'd before, nor is it probable a King should ferve under Maficus. Nor indeed does either Mafficus or Ofiniss ever make their appearance in the battels-He proceeds to inftance feveral others, who tho' celebrated for heroes in the catalogue, have no farther notice taken of them throughout the poem. In the third place he animandverts upon the confufion of the fame names in Virgil: As where Corings in the ninth book is kill'd by Afylas, . 571. and Corineus in the twelfth kills Ebufus, . 298. Numa is flain by Nifus, 1. 9.. $54. and Eneas is afterwards in purfuit of Numa, l. 10. #. 562. Eneas kills Camertes in the tenth book, #. 562, and Juurna affumes his fhape in the twelfth, . 224. He obferves the fame obfcurity in his Patronymics. There is Palinurus Iafides, and lapix Iafides, Hippocoon Hyrtacides, and Afylas Hyrtacides. On the contrary, the caution of Homer is remarkable, who having two of the name of Ajax, is conftantly careful to diftinguish them by Orlens or Telamonins, the leffer or the greater Ajax.

I know nothing to be alledg'd in defence of Virgil, in anfwer to this author, but the common excufe that his neis was left unfinish'd. And upon the whole, thefe are fuch trivial flips, as great Wits may pafs over, and little Criticks rejoice at.

But Macrobtus has another remark, which one may accuse of evident partiality on the fide of Homer. He blames Virgil for having vary'd the expreffion in his catalogue, to avoid the repetition of the fame words, and prefers the bare and unadorn'd reiterations of Homer; who begins almost every article the fame way, and ends perpetually, Mixava vas stovio, c. Perhaps the best reafon to be given for this, had been the artless manner of the first times, when fuch repetitions were not thought ungraceful. This may appear from several of the like nature in the fcripture; as in the twenty fixth

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chapter of Numbers, where the tribes of Ifrael are enumerated in the plains of Moab, and each divifion recounted in the fame words. So in the feventh chapter of the Revelations: Of the tribe of Gad were fealed twelve thousand. &c. But the words of Marobius are Has copias fortaffe putat aliquis divina illi fimplicitati praferendas. Sed nefcio quo modo Homerum repetitio illa unicè decet, &eft genio an iqui Poeta digna. This is exactly in the fpirit, and alm oft in the cant, of a true modern critick. The Simplicitas, the Nefcio quo modo, the Genio antiqui Poeta digna, are excellent general phrafes for thofe who have no reafons. Simplicity is our word of difguife for a fhameful unpoetical neglect of expreffion: The term of the Je ne fay quoy is the very fupport of all ignorant pretenders to delicacy; and to lift up our eyes, and talk of the Genius of an ancient, is at once the cheapest way of thewing our own tafte, and the fhortent way of criticizing the wit of others our contemporaries.

One may add to the foregoing comparison of these two authors, fome reafons for the length of Homer's, and the hortness of Virgil's catalogues. As, that Homer might have a defign to fettle the geography of his country, there being no defcription of Greece before his days; which was not the cafe with Virgil. Homer's concern was to complement Greece at a time when it was divided into many diftinct ftates, each of which might expect a place in his catalogue: But when all Italy was fwallow'd up in the fole dominion of Rome, Virgil had only Rome to celebrate. Homer had a numerous army, and was to describe an important war with great and various events, whereas Virgil's fphere was much more confin'd. The Ships of the Greeks were computed at about one thousand two hundred, thofe of Eneas and his aids but at two and forty's and as the time of the action of both poems is the fame, we may fuppofe the built of their ships, and the number of men they contain'd, to be much alike. So that if the army of Homer amounts to about a hundred thousand men, that of Virgil: cannot be above four thousand. If any one be farther curious to know upon what this computation is founded, he may fee it in the following paffage of Thuiydides, lib. 1.« Homer's fleet

(fays he) confifted of one thousand two hundred vessels : ! "thofe of the Baotians carry'd one hundred and twenty men "in each, and thofe of Philoctetes fifty. By these I fuppofe

Homer expreft the largest and the fmalleft fize of thips, "and therefore mentions no other fort. But he tells us of "thofe who fail'd with Philoctetes, that they ferv'd both as "mariners and foldiers, in saying the rowers were all of them

archers,

"archers. From hence the whole number will be feen, if we "eftimate the fhips at a medium between the greatest and "the least.” That is to say, at eighty five men to each vessel (which is the mean between fifty and a hundred and twenty) the total comes to a hundred and two thoufand men. Pin tarch was therefore in a mistake, when he computed the men at a hundred and twenty thousand, which proceeded from his fuppofing a hundred and twenty in every ship; the contrary to which appears from the above-mention'd fhips of Philoctetes, as well as from thofe of Achilles, which are faid to carry but fifty men a-piece, in the fixteenth Iliad. ¥. 207.

Befides Virgil's imitation of this catalogue, there has scarce been any Epic writer but has copy'd after it; which is at least a proof how beautiful this part has been ever efteem'd by the fineft genius's in all ages. The catalogues in the ancient Poets are generally known, only I must take notice that the Phocian and Baotian towns in the fourth Thebaid of Statius are tranflated from hence. Of the moderns, those who most excel, owe their beauty to the imitation of fome fingle particular only of Homer. Thus the chief grace of Tao's catalogue confifts in the defcription of the heroes, without any thing remarkable on the fide of the countries: Of the pieces of ftory he has interwoven, that of Tancred's amour to Clorinda is ill placed, and evidently too long for the reft. Spen cer's enumeration of the British and Irish rivers in the eleventh canto of his fourth book, isione of the nobleft in the world: if we confider his fubject was more confin'd, and can excute his not obferving the order or courfe of the country; but his variety of defcription, and fruitfulness of imagination, are no where more admirable than in that part. Milton's lift of the fallen angels in his first book is an exact imitation of Homer, as far as regards the digreffions of hiftory, and antiquities, and his manner of inferting them: In all elfe I believe it must be allow'd inferior. And indeed what Macrobius has faid to caft Virgil below Homer, will fall much more ftrongly upon all the reft.

had fome caufe to fear that this catalogue, which contribated fo much to the fuccefs of the Author, fhould ruin that of the Tranflator. A mere heap of proper names, tho' but for a few lines together, could afford little entertainment to an English reader, who probably could not be appriz'd either of the neceffity or beauty of this part of the Poem. There were but two things to be done to give it a chance to please him; to render the verfification very flowing and mufical, and to

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