negro race were not the only inhabitants of the interior of Africa, of which Homer had a knowledge: Οιδ' Ευβοιαν εχον μένεα πνείοντες Αβαντες Without stopping to explain all the proper names in these lines, as referable to different positions in Africa; I select the following only. The allusion (by Αβαμτες thrice mentioned) to the Abyssinians, is sufficiently obvious, from the similitude of the names; and it is further confirmed by the epithet οπιθεν κομοωντες, as referring to their fashion of wearing their long black hair. Under the term χαλκιδα, the excellent steel manufactured in the interior of Africa, and, by κορινθον, wax, one of the principal commodities of that continent, seem intended to be noticed: Epergia refers perhaps to the triangular shape of Africa; Ioriaid, to the point where the great conical-shaped promontory of Africa stops, (ou and aa,) or to the name of the city of Constantia, at the Cape of Good Hope, as the epithet Toλucrauλov brings to mind the grapes of the neighbourhood of that town, the wine of which is so well known. Lastly, when we observe these Eubœans to be put under the command of Ελεφήνωρ Χαλκωδοντιάδης (alluding to the elephants' teeth, odovтes, as hard as brass; those elephants' teeth being in fact one of the chief commodities of Africa,) it sets their identity with the Africans out of all doubt, and shews the intimate acquaintance the ancients had with the interior of that country, and its productions in general, as with the secluded empire of the Abyssinians in particular. It is now time to observe, that, if each hero of the Iliad supports a distinct character, and frequently more than one character; so it is no uncommon thing with Homer, partly for the sake of disguise, and partly for convenience, to per sonify the same country or people several times over, under different heroes: an instance of which may be seen in this, that the negro race of Africa is not only represented under the character of Thersites, as above shewn ; but Nireus also represents the same race, 2 II. 671: Νιρευς δ' αν Σύμηθεν αγεν τρεις νηας είσας The name of Nipsus, thrice mentioned, attracts our attention,ex vi termini,tothat race,quasi Nero,black. Suuntav has a reference to the baboon features of the negroes, quasi simii: тpes was, to the triangular shape of Africa; Ayhain alludes to the shining gloss of the skins of negroes, and xaponоLO χαροποιο to their being black; kar, in some eastern language (the Turkish, I believe,) meaning black, and giving the name of Kar Denghis to the Black Sea, it being so called by the Turks. As to the epithet naλOTOS, it is evidently ironical. Another proof, still more important, of what I just now stated, is this; that the continent of Africa itself, which we have before seen to be represented by Achilles, is represented by Priam also; that is to say, however it may surprise the reader, by a Grecian hero and a Trojan hero at the same time; for I now first mention a Trojan. I shall offer a few words hereafter in explanation of this difficulty, proceeding now to establish the fact. The Greek name Пgiamos I derive from the Latin word primus, which gives the exact reverse of the derivation, (proposed in one of the treatises mentioned in the preface to the first volume,) of the Latin name Proteus, from the Greek word newτos. and in fact Priam, in representing Africa, borrows his name from the Equator, which, passing through the centre of that continent, is the first parallel, or that from which all the other parallels of latitude are measured; it is shewn in the treatise above referred to, that the Proteus of Virgil's 4th Georgic, means the same thing. The following lines, descriptive of Priam's palace, will tend to establish the fact of his representing Africa, and at the same time prove the VOL. V. I poet's accuracy in his geographical statements to have been very minute, 242 II. 6. Αλλ' οτε δη Πριαμαοιο δομον περικαλλέ ικανε Ξεστης αιθεσησι τετυγμένον αυτας εν αυτω Πεντηκοντ' ενεσαν θαλαμοι ξεςοιο λίθοιο Πλησιοι αλληλων δεδμημένοι ενθαδε παιδες Κοιμώντο Πριάμοιο παρα μνηστης αλόχοισι Κεράων δ' ετερωθεν εναντιοι ενδοθεν αυλης Δωδεκ' εσαν τεγεοι θαλαμοι ξεςοιο λιθοιο Πλησιοι αλλήλων δεδμημενοι ενθαδε γαμβροι Κοιμώντο Πριάμοιο παρ' αιδοιης αλόχοισι· The word πεντηκοντα implies, as the fact is, that from Cape Verdon the west, to the meridian of Suez on the east, there are exactly 50 degrees of longitude, uninterrupted (πλησιοι αλλήλων), of land without sea (παίδες, males); and δώδεκα κεριών, imply that there are afterwards twelve more degrees (of longitude) in Africa, from the meridian of Suez, to the Straits of Babelmandeb, within which twelve degrees the Arabian Gulf is included, denoted by the word κεράων, females (seas, as I have before |