(For both the Princes claim'd her equal care) Behind the flood, and by the golden hair 265 Achilles feiz'd; to him alone confeft; A fable cloud conceal'd her from the reft. He fees, and sudden to the Goddess cries, 270 A heav'nly witness of the wrongs I bear. bearance, lets the thought of it vanifh from him; and no fooner is wisdom gone, but he falls into more violent reproaches for the gratification of his paffion. All this is a moft beautiful paffage, whofe Moral is evident, and generally agreed on by the Commentators. . 268. Known by the flames that sparkled from her eyes.] They who carry on this allegory after the most minute manner, refer this to the eyes of Achilles, as indeed we must, if we entirely deftroy the bodily appearance of Minerva. But what Poet defigning to have his Moral fo open, would take pains to form it into a Fable? In the proper mythological fenfe, this paffage fhould be referr'd to Minerva; according to an opinion of the ancients, who fuppos'd that the Gods had a peculiar light in their eyes. That Homer was not ignorant of this opinion, appears from his ufe of it in other places, as when in the third Iliad Helena by this means difcovers Venus: And that he meant it here is particularly afferted by Heliodorus, in the third book of his Athiopick hiftory. "The Gods, fays he," are known in their apparitions to men by the fix'd glare of their eyes, or their gliding paffage through air without moving their feet; thefe marks Homer has us'd "from his knowledge of the Ægyptian learning, applying one to Pallas, and the other to Neptune. ". Madam Dacier has gone into the contrary opinion, and blames Enftathius and others without overthrowing thefe authorities, or affigning. any other reafon but that it was not proper for Minerva's eyes to Sparkle, when her speech was mild.. From From Atreus' fon? Then let thofe eyes that view The daring crime, behold the vengeance too. To calm thy fury I forfake the skies: The King and you are both the care of Heav'n. The force of keen reproaches let him feel, 280 But sheath, obedient, thy revenging steel. For I pronounce (and truft a heav'nly pow'r) When the proud monarch fhall thy arms implore, 'Tis juft, O Goddess! I thy dictates hear. 290 Those who revere the Gods, the Gods will blefs. And joins the facred fenate of the fkies. Nor Nor yet the rage his boiling breast forfook, . 298. Thou dog in forehead.] It has been one of the objections against the manners of Homer's Heroes, that they are abufive. Monf. de la Motte affims in his difcourfe upon the Ihad, that great men differ from the vulgar in their manner of expreffing their paffion; but certainly in violent paffions (fuch as thofe of Achilles and Agamemnon) the Great are as fubje& as any others to these fallies; of which we have frequent examples both from hiftory and experience. Plutarch, taking notice of this line, gives it as a particular commendation of Homer, that "he conftantly affords us a fine le"&ture of morality in his reprehenfions and praises, by re"ferring them not to the goods of fortune or the body, but "thofe of the mind, which are in our power, and for which « we are blameable or praise-worthy. Thus, fays he, Aga"memnon is reproach'd for impudence and fear, Ajax for "vain-bragging, Idomeneus for the love of contention, and "Vlyffes does not reprove even Therfites but as a babbler, tho' "he had fo many personal deformities to object to him. In "like manner alfo the appellations and epithets with which "they accoft one another, are generally founded on fome "distinguishing qualification of merit, as Wife Ulysses, He"&or equal to Jove in Wisdom. Achilles chief Glory of the "Greeks," and the like. Plutarch of reading Poets. . 299. In ambush'd fights to dare.] Homer has magnify'd the ambush as the boldeft manner of fight. They went upon thofe parties with a few men only, and generally the most dating of the army, on occafions of the greatest hazard, where they were therefore more expos'd than in a regular battel. Thus Idomeneus in the thirteenth book, exprefsly tells Meriones, that the greatest courage appears in this way of service, each man being in a manner singled out to the proof of it, Enftathius. 'Tis ours, the chance of fighting fields to try, Thine to look on, and bid the Valiant dye, So much 'tis fafer thro' the camp to go, And rob a fubject, then defpoil a foe. 305 Scourge of thy people, violent and bafe! Sent in Joves anger on a flavifh race, Who loft to fenfe of gen'raus freedom paft, Are tam'd to wrongs, or this had been thy last. Now by this facred fceptre, hear me fwear, 310 Which never more fhall leaves or bloffoms bear, Which .309. Now by this facred fceptre] Spondanus in this place blames Euftathius, for faying that Homer, makes Achilles in his paffion fwear by the first thing he meets with; and then affigns (as from himself) two caufes, which the other had mention'd fo plainly before, that it is a wonder they could be overlook'd. The fubftance of the whole paffage in Eusta-, this, is, that if we confider the fceptre fimply as wood, Achilles after the manner of the ancients takes in his tranfport the first thing to fwear by ; but that Himer himself has in the process of the defcription affign'd reafons why it is proper for the occafion, which may be feen by confidering it fymbo-, lically. First, That as the wood being cut from the tree will never reunite and flourish. fo neither fhould their amity ever flourish again, after they were divided by this contention. Secondly, That a fceptre being the mark of power, and fym-, bol of justice, to fwear by it might in effect be conftrued fwearing by the God of Power, and by Juftice itself; and accordingly it is fpoken of by Ariftotle, 3. 1. Polit. as a ufual folemn oath of Kings. I cannot leave this paffage without showing, in oppofition to fome moderns who have criticiz'd upon it as tedious, that it has been efteem'd a beauty by the ancients and engaged them Which fever'd from the trunk (as I from thee) them in its imitation. Virgil has almoft tranfcrib'd it in his 12 En. for the fceptre of Latinus. Vt fceptrum hoc (Sceptrum dextrâ nam förtè gerebat) But I cannot think this comes up to the fpirit or propriety of Homer, notwithstanding the judgment of Scaliger, who decides for Virgil, upon a trivial comparison of the wording in each, 4.5. cap. 3. Poet. It fails in a greater point than any he has mention'd, which is, that being there us'd on occasion of a peace, it has no emblematical reference to divifion; and yet defcribes the cutting of the wood and its incapacity to bloom and branch again, in as many words as Homer. It is borrow'd by Valerius Flaccus in his third book, where he makes Jason fwear as a warrior by his spear, Hanc ego magnanimi fpolium Didymaonis haftam, Teftor. And indeed, however he may here borrow fome expreffions from Virgil or fall below him in others, he has nevertheless kept to Hamer in the emblem, by introducing the oath upon Jajon's grief for failing to Colchis without Herles, when he had feparated him from the body of the Argonauts to fearch after Hylas. To render the beauty of this paffage more manifeft the allufion is inferted (but with the feweit words poilible) in this tranflation. From |