this noble poem without expressing how much I am struck with this plain conclusion of it. It is like the exit of a great man out of company whom he has entertained magnificently; neither pompous nor familiar; not contemptuous, yet without much ceremony. I recollect nothing amongst the works of mere man, that exemplifies so strongly the true style of great Antiquity." Such are the few points which I have thought worthy of the student's especial attention before and during his perusal of the Iliad. They are general in their nature, and affect the constitution and character of the whole poem. To point out beauties more particularly would lead me far beyond the limits of these Introductions, and that department of criticism forms one of the proper objects of the student's own taste and judgment. Sound general principles will lead every one, without much fear of error, to just discrimination in this matter; and after all, something must always be allowed for the natural diversities of temper and intellect in different persons. We all have our favorite poets and our favorite passages, but a well-disciplined mind will neglect nothing that is excellent in its kind; and as it was once said, that he who was much pleased with Cicero might be assured that he had made no small proficiency in *The conclusion of the Paradise Lost is very similar. VOL. I.-12 learning and literature*-so with infinitely more truth may it be declared that a person, who upon distinct principles heartily admires and loves the Iliad, may conceive himself entitled to speak with confidence as to the merits of almost every other poet : Αὐτίκα δ' ἠέρα μὲν σκέδασε, καὶ ἀπῶσεν ὀμίχλην, The darkness and the mist are put to flight, And the great Sun shines on him with his light. * Quinct. x. 1. 112. "Ille se profecisse sciat cui Cicero valde placebit." + P'. xvii. 649. INTRODUCTION ΤΟ THE ODYSSEY. THAT the Odyssey is not of the same age, or by the same hand or hands as the Iliad, is one of the positions of the German theory, which, though at variance with the prevalent belief* of ancient and modern times, has been countenanced by many great scholars as probable, if not absolutely demonstrated. This opinion is founded on the striking discrepancy as to the wife of Vulcan, who in the Iliadt is Charis, and in the Odyssey‡ is Venus; on the appearance of Mercury§ as the constant messenger of Olympus, to the exclusion of Iris, who almost constantly acts that part in the Iliad ; on the change in the forms of many * It was however a question. "Græcorum iste morbus fuit quærere quem numerum remigum Ulysses habuisset, prior scripta esset Ilias an Odyssea; præterea an ejusdem esset auctoris." + II. X'. xviii. 382-3. Seneca de Brev. Vit. c. 13. Od. '. viii. 269. § Od. E'. v. 29. III. passim. In the Iliad, B'. ii. 649, Crete is represented as containing one hundred cities; in the Odyssey, T'. xix. 174, the number is ninety. In the Iliad, A'. xi. 692, Neleus is said to have had twelve sons; in the Odyssey, A'. xi. 285, it seems as if he had only three, and one daughter, words; on the decreased simplicity of the manners, and on the altered aspect of the mythology. These latter points of difference will be particularly mentioned in the course of this Introduction, and though it would not become me to pronounce a decision on this question, I cannot help owning that I never read a book of the Odyssey without being more and more impressed with a persuasion that a considerable number of years must have intervened between the composition of the two poems.* It should be remarked too that in every instance of difference, the statement in the Odyssey is invariably that which agrees with the finally prevailing habits and creed of succeedingt ages. It is true indeed that the Manners of the Odyssey rest upon the same heroic base as those of the Iliad; whatever variation in degree may be ob served between them, there is no difference in kind; and these two wonderful poems present to us respectively, pictures of the maturity and decline of that primitive system, which holds something like the same relation to the civilization of ancient times that Chivalry does to the manners *There are about 1000 lines identical in the two poems, and it is plain, upon a collation of such passages as Od. A'. i. 356, with II. Z'. vi. 490, that the verses in the Odyssey are a modification of the original ones in the Iliad. + Virgil's occasional use of Iris as messenger in the Æneid is a plain imitation of the Iliad. There are authorities enough to show that in his time Mercury was the popular courier of Olympus as he is in the Odyssey.-Hor. lib. i. 10. of Christendom. The active existence of either of those two systems was not very long lived, but the impression made by each on the world was pre-eminently enduring; and all the serious poetry of the Ancients in after-times continued to be grounded on the fables, and to imitate the spirit, of the heroic age, not less than the most noble as well as the most sprightly poetry of Europe, since the revival of letters, has been constructed on the tales, inspired with the sentiments, or adorned with the fictions, of Chivalrous Romance. The manners and occupation of Nausicaa;* the comparison of Minerva† with a youthful shepherd of royal blood, and many other instances, sufficiently demonstrate the continued existence, in striking particulars, of that Oriental simplicity which is so characteristic of the Iliad; and the whole tenor of the poem is such as to demand a patient and single-hearted perusal, and a total rejection of all associations with modern fashions and artificial modes of feeling. Yet it cannot be denied, that the Odyssey does also betray the fact of an advance in the refinement, or at least in the complication of, society; and there is a sort of conflict observable in many parts of the poem between the genuine heroic manners and the apparently * Od. Z'. vi. 72. + Od. N'. xiii. 221. It is observable that brothers and sisters are represented, without any particular remark, as intermarrying in the Hall of Eolus.-Od. K'. x. 7. |