Jupiter ryjenting the front done to Achilles,& espousing hir Caufe, femd phile Junos afleepa deliding dream to Agamemnon, to excite him to give Battle to the "Trojans. Th'immortals flumber'd on their thrones above; Το .1. Now pleafing fleep, &c.] Ariftotle tells us in the twenty fixth chapter of his art of poetry, that this place had been objected to by fome criticks in those times. They thought it gave a very ill idea of the military difcipline of the Greeks, to reprefent a whole army unguarded, and all the Leaders a-fleep: They alfo pretended it was ridiculous to defcribe all H 4 the To honour Thetis' fon he bends his care, And plunge the Greeks in all the woes of war: Bid the Gods fleeping befides Jupiter. To both these Ariftotle anfwers, that nothing is more ufual or allowable than that figure which puts all for the greater part. One may add with refpect to the latter Criticism, that nothing could give a better image of the fuperiority of Jupiter to the other Gods (or of the fupreme Being to all fecond causes) than the vigilancy here aferib'd to him, over all things divine and human. . 9. Fly hence, deluding dream.] It appears from Aristotle, Poet. cap. 26. that Homer was accus'd of impiety, for making Jupiter the author of a lye in this paffage. It seems there were anciently thefe words in his fpeech to the dream; Aidopal à of six agias, Let us give him great glory. (Inftead of which we have in the prefent copies, Textos de iя7x) but Hippias found a way to bring off Homer, only by placing the accent on the last fyllable but one, Aidou, for sidów, the infinitive for the imperative; which amounts to no more than he bade the dream to promife him great glory. But Macrobius de Somnio Scip. l. 1. c. 7. takes off this imputation entirely, and will not allow there was any lye in the cafe. "Agamemnon (fays he) was order'd by the dream to lead out all the forces of the Greeks, (lavoudin is the word) and promis'd them victory on that condition: Now Achilles and his forces not being fummon'd to the affembly with the "reft, that neglect abfolv'd Jupiter from his promife." This remark Madam Dacier has inferted without mentioning its author. Mr. Dacier takes notice of a paffage in the fcripture exactly parallel to this, where God is reprefented making use of the malignity of his creatures to accomplish his judgments. 'Tis in 2 Chron. ch, xviii. . 19, 20, 21. And the Lord faid, Who will perfuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth Gi ་་ lead. Bid him in arms draw forth th' embattel'd train, The lofty tow'rs of wide extended Troy. Swift as the word the vain Illufion fled, 20 Descends, and hovers o'er Atrides' head; lead? And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the Lord, and faid, I will perfuade him. And the Lord faid unto him, Wherewith? And he faid I will go forth, and I will be a lying Spirit in the mouth of all his Prophets. And he faid, Thou shalt perfuade him, and prevail alfo: Go forth and do fo. Vide Dacier upon Ariftotle, cap. 26. . 20. Defcends, and hovers o'er Atrides' head.] The whole ation of the dream is beautifully natural and agreeable to philofophy. It perches on his head, to intimate that part to be the feat of the foul: It is circumfufed about him, to exprefs that total poffeffion of the fenfes which fancy has during our fleep. It takes the figure of the perfon who was deareft to Agamemnon; as whatever we think of moft, when awake, is the common object of our dreams. And just at the inftant of its vanishing, it leaves fuch an impreffion that the voice feems ftill to found in his ear. No defcription can be more exact or lively. Enfilathius, Dacier. H 5 Canft |