Being then so ancient a book, it should be read with patience and a simple mind. Nay morewe should approach it with something of the kind of reverence which we yield to the Hebrew Genesis, and be perpetually familiar with its contents as with the secular Bible of mankind. So vivid are the rays which flow from this globe of light, and so strong its power of attraction, that we neither see nor measure the thousands of years which have rolled away since its creation and to-day-we forget the extreme antiquity, in the uncommon luminousness, of Homer, and almost believe that the Iliad, like the Bible, is collateral with all time, is for now and for ever. But this impression is an effect of first-rate genius, guided and strengthened by nature and good sense, which does not render it the less necessary for sound criticism to bear constantly in mind the date and the peculiar circumstances of the probable composition of this wonderful poem. The manners of the Iliad are the manners of the patriarchal and early ages of the East. The chief differences arise from a different religion and a more maritime situation. Very far removed from the savage state on the one hand, and equally distant from the artificial state of an extended commerce and a manufacturing population on the other, the spirit and habitudes of the two modes of society are almost identical. The Hero and the Patriarch are substantially co-eval: but the first wanders in twilight, the last stands in the eye of Heaven. When three men appeared to Abraham in the plains of Mamre, he ran to meet them from the tent door, brought them in, directed Sarah to make bread, fetched from the herd himself a calf tender and good, dressed it, and set it before them;* when Ajax, Ulysses, and Phoenix stand before Achilles, he rushes forth to greet them, brings them into the tent, directs Patroclus to mix the wine, cuts up the meat, dresses it, and sets it before the ambassadors. The son of Peleus sits down to eat, and the sons of Jacob sat also before Joseph;§ the practice of reclining at meals, which afterwards became universal, was unknown to either. Agamemnon offers to give one of his daughters in marriage to Achilles without exacting a dowry from him,|| implying thereby a custom, the reverse of which prevailed subsequently; so Abraham's servant gave presents to Rebekah; Shechem promised a dowry and gift to Jacob for his daughter Dinah;** and in aftertimes Saul said he did not desire any dowry from David for Michal.tt Rachel, the daughter of Laban, a great man, kept her father's sheep;‡‡ * Genesis, xviii. 1. I'. ix. 218. 1'. ix. 146. ** Genesis, xxxiv. 12. + 1'. ix. 193. # Genesis, xxix. 6. the seven daughters of Reuel, the priest of Midian, watered their father's flock;* and Saul was coming after the herd out of the field when they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh ;† so Bucolion, the son of Laomedon, was a shepherd; Antiphus, the son of Priam, kept sheep in the vallies of Ida,§ and Æneas himself abandoned his herds on the same mountain at the sight of Achilles.|| These are some instances in striking particulars of the similarity, or rather the identity, of the manners of the Iliad and of the early ages in Asia; but, beside these, there are many others as remarkable, though perhaps less peculiar, and indeed parallelisms of thought and of imagery recur in almost every page of the Greek and Hebrew writer. Jupiter, indignant at the injustice and impiety of men, has poured a deluge of waters on the earth, and fixed the rainbow in the cloud to be a sign to mortals.** To sacrifice with unwashed hands is unlawful;†† manslaughter is redeemable by exile and a fine;‡‡ and in computing time the third or any future day is always reckoned inclusively.§§ A new-born child is said to *Exodus, ii. 16. ‡ Z'. vi. 25. Il r'. xx. 91. * Áo xi. 27. +1 Samuel, xi. 5. Ộ A. xi. 106. TII'. xvi. 384. ++ Z'. vi. 265. with Exodus, xxi. 20. # 1'. ix. 628. with Numbers, xxxv. 6. §§ I'. ix. 363.-Leviticus, xii. 3. fall between the feet of its mother;* Hector sacrificed to Jupiter on the summit of Ida ;† stoning seems to have been the Trojan punishment for adultery; oxen are used to tread out corn;§ female captives are selected as the peculiar prizes of the generals and chiefs;|| and to lie without burial was the last and worst aggravation of defeat and death. Instances of this sort might be multiplied to any extent, but the student will find it a pleasing and useful task to discover them for himself; and these will amply suffice to demonstrate the existence of that correspondence of spirit and manners between the Homeric and the early ages of the Bible history to which I have adverted. It is real and important; it affords a standard of the feelings with which we ought to read the Iliad, if we mean to read it as it deserves, and it explains and sets in the true point of view numberless passages, which the ignorance or frivolity of after-times has charged with obscurity, meanness, or error. The Old Testament and the Iliad reflect light mutually, each on the other; and both in respect of poetry and of morals,** it **"The whole of Homer's poetry is a praise of virtue ; and every may with great truth be said, that he who has the longest studied, and the most deeply imbibed, the spirit of the Hebrew Bible, will the best understand, and the most lastingly appreciate, the tale of Troy divine. In the Mythology also of the Iliad, purely pagan as it is, we discover one important truth unconsciously involved, which was almost entirely lost from view amidst the nearly equal scepticism and credulity of subsequent ages. Zeus or Jupiter is omnipotent. No distinct empire is assigned to Fate or Fortune; the Will of the Father of Gods and Men is absolute and uncontrollable. This is the true character of the Homeric Deity, and it is very necessary that the student of Greek literature should bear it constantly in mind. The glimpses of preceding dynasties on Olympus, and the intimations of a coming destruction to that of Jupiter, both of which are given in Æschylus,* as also that dark and vindictive Destiny which in various degrees overshadows the plots of the three Tragic Poets, form no part of, though the first is not unknown to, the popular system of mythology to be found in the Iliad. The word Téxŋ or Fortune does not occur once in the whole poem, and in those passages in which the phrases thing in him tends to this point, except that which is merely superfluous and for ornament." Basil. Cæs. in Fabric. lib. ii. c. 6. s. 7. * Prom. Vinct. 964. Agam. 162, |