Ye Gods, what daftards would our hoft command? 140 Swept to the war, the lumber of a land. Be filent, wretch, and think not here allow'd That worst of tyrants, an ufurping crowd. To one fole Monarch Jove commits the fway; 245 With words like these the troops Ulysses rul'd, Murm'ring they move, as when old Ocean roars, 250 And heaves huge furges to the trembling shores: . 243. To one fole monarch.] Thofe perfons are under a miftake who would make this fentence a praise of absolute monarchy. Homer speaks it only with regard to a general of an army during the time of his commiffion. Nor is Agamemnon ftyl'd King of Kings in any other fenfe, than as the rest of the Princes had given him the fupreme authority over them in the fiege. Ariftotle defines a King, Erearnos 28 my dù diκατὴς ὁ βασιλοὺς καὶ πρὸς Θεός Κύριο, Leader of the war, Judge of controverfies, and President of the ceremonies of the Gods. That he had the principal care of religious rites, appears from many places in Homer; and that his power was no where abfolute but in war: for we find Agamemnon infulted in the council, but in the army threatning deferters with death. He was under an obligation to preferve the privileges of his country, purfuant to which Kings are called by our Author Δικασσόλες, and qμisors, the difpenfers or managers of justice. And Dionyfius of Halicarnaffus acquaints us, that the old Grecian Kings, whether hereditary or elective, had a council of their chief men, as Homer and the most ancient Poets testify; nor was it (he adds) in thofe times as in ours, when Kings have a full liberty to do whatever they please. Dion. Hal, lib, 2. Hut. please. Ί The groaning banks are burft with bellowing found, At length the tumult finks, the noises cease, And a ftill filence lulls the camp to peace. 255 Therfites only clamour'd in the throng, Loquacious, loud, and turbulent of tongue: . 255. Therfites only.] The ancients have afcrib'd to Hemer the fift sketch of Satyric or Comic poetry, of which fort was his poem call'd Margites, as Aristotle reports. Tho' that piece be loft, his character of Therfites may give us a tafte of his vein in that kind. But whether ludicrous defcriptions ought to have place in the Ep: poem, has been juftly quefton'd: Neither Virgil nor any of the most approv'd Ancients have thought fit to admit them into their compofitions of that nature; nor any of the beft moderns except Milton, whose fondness for Homer might be the reafon of it. However this is in its kind a very masterly part, and our Author has fhewn great judgment in the particulars he has chofen to compofe the picture of a pernicious creature of wit; the chief of which are a defire of promoting laughter at any rate, and a con-tempt of his fuperiors. And he fums up the whole very ftrongly, by faying that Therfites hated Achilles and Vlyffes; in which, as Plutarch has remaik'd in his treatise of envy and hatred, he makes it the utmost completion of an ill character to bear a malevolence to the best iren. What is farther obfervable is, that Therfites is never heard of after this his first appearance: Such a fcandalous character is to be taken no more notice of, than just to thew that 'tis defpifed. Homer has obferv'd the fame conduct with regard to the most deform'd and most beauful perfon of his poem: For Nivens is thus mention'd once and no more throughout the Iliad. He places a worthless beauty and an ill-natur'd wir upon the fame foot, and fhews that the gifts of the body without thofe of the mind are not more defpicable, than those of the mind it self without virtue. With witty malice ftudious to defame; 270But Royal fcandal his delight fupreme. 'Tis ✯. 275. Amidst the g'ories.] 'Tis rema k'd by Dionyfius Hali car, in his treatife of the Exammation of Writers, that there could not be a better artifice thought on to recal the army to their obedience, than this of our Author. When they were offended at their general in favour of Achilles, nothing could more weaken Achilles's intereft than to make fuch a fellow as Ther fires appear of his party, whole impertinence would give them a difguft of thinking or acting like him. There is no fuzer 1 2 'Tis thine whate'er the warrior's breaft inflames, With all the wealth our wars and blood beftow, 280 Thy tents are crowded, and thy chefts o'erflow. Thus at full cafe in heaps of riches roll'd, What grieves the monarch? Is it thirst of gold? Say, fhall we march with our unconquer'd pow'rs, (The Greeks and I) to Ilion's hoftile tow'rs, 285 And bring the race of royal baftards here, For Troy to ransom at a price too dear? But fafer plunder thy own hoft fupplies: Say, would't thou feize some valiant leader's prize? furer method to reduce generous fpirits, than to make them fee they are purfuing the fame views with people of no merit, and fuch whom they cannot forbear defpifing themfelves. Otherwise there is nothing in this fpeech but what might become the mouth of Neftor himself, if you except a word or two. And had Neftor spoken it, the army had certainly fet fail for Greece; but because it was utter'd by a ridiculous fellow whom they were afham'd to follow, they are reduc'd, and fatisfy'd to continue the fiege. . 284. The Greeks and 1.] Thefe boafts of himself are the few words which Dionyfius objects to in the foregoing paffage. I cannot but think the grave Commentators here very much mistaken, who imagine Therfites in earnest in these vaunts, and feriously reprove his infolence. They feem to me manifeft Atrokes of Irony, which had render'd them fo much the more improper in the mouth of Neftor, who was otherwife none of the leaft boafters himself. And confider'd as fuch, they are equal to the rest of the speech, which has an infinite deal of fpirit, humour, and fatyr Or, Or, if thy heart to gen'rous love be led, Pfagu'd with his pride, or punish'd for his luft. Hence let us fly, and let him waste his store 295 In loves and pleasures on the Phrygian fhore. We may be wanted on fome bufie day, } When Hector comes: So great Achilles may: From him he forc'd the prize we jointly gave, From him, the fierce, the fearlefs, and the brave: 300 And durft he,. as he ought, refent that wrong, This mighty tyrant were no tyrant long. Fierce from his feat, at this Ulyffes fprings, 305 He views the wretch, and fternly thus replies. |