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fail to finish and adorn every part with notions of God and religion, by taking his strong sense, and lively expression.

Blackwall.

f 142. On HOMER.

"Tis no romantic commendation of Homer, to say, that no man understood persons and things better than he; or had a deeper insight into the humours and passions of human nature. He represents great things with such sublimity, and little ones with such propriety, that he always makes the one admirable, and the other pleasant.

He is a perfect master of all the lofty graces of the figurative style, and all the purity and casiness of the plain. Strabo, the excellent geographer and historian, assures us, that Homer has described the places and countries of which he gives account, with that accuracy that no man can imagine who has not seen them; and no man but must admire and be astonished who has. His poems may justly be compared with that shield of divine workmanship so inimitably represented in the eighteenth book of the Iliad. You have their exact images of all the actions of war, and employments of peace; and are entertained with the delightful view of the universe. Homer has all the beauties of every dialect and style scattered through his writings; he is scarce inferior to any other poet, in the poet's own way and excellency; but excels all others in force and comprehension of genius, elevation of fancy, and immense copiousness of inven

tion.

Such a sovereignty of genius reigns all over his works, that the ancients esteemed and admired him as the great High Priest of nature, who was admitted into her inmost choir, and acquainted with her most solemn mysteries.

The great men of former ages, with one voice, celebrate the praises of Homer; and old Zoilus has only a few followers in these later times, who detract from him either for want of Greek, or from a spirit

of conceit and contradiction.

These gentlemen tell us, that the divine Plato himself banished him out of his commonwealth; which, say they, must be granted to be a blemish upon the poet's reputation. The reason why Plato would not let Homer's poems be in the hands of the subjects of that government, was because he did not esteem ordinary men capable readers of them. They would be apt to pervert his meaning, and have wrong

bold and beautiful allegories in too literal a sense. Plato frequently declares that he loves and admires him as the best, the most pleasant, and the divinest of all the poets; and studiously imitates his figurative and mystical way of writing. Though he forbad his works to be read in public, yet he would never be without them in his own closet. Though the philosopher pretends, that for reasons of state he must remove him out of his city; yet he declares he would treat him with all possible respect while he staid; and dismiss him la den with presents, and adorned with garlands (as the priests and supplicants of their gods used to be); by which marks of honour, all people wherever he came might be warned and induced to esteem his person sacred, and receive him with due vo neration. Ibid.

$143. On THEOCRITUS.

If we mention Theocritus, he will be another bright instance of the happy ab litics and various accomplishments of the ancients. He has writ in several sorts of poetry, and succeeded in all. It seems un necessary to praise the native simplicity and easy freedom of his pastorals; when Virgil himself sometimes invokes the muse of Sy. racuse; when he imitates him through all his own poems of that kind, and in several passages translates him. Quinctilian says of our Sicilian bard, that he is admirable in his kind; but when he adds, that his muse is not only shy of appearing at the bar, but in the city too, 'tis evident this remark must be confined to his pastorals. In several of his other poems, he shews such strength of reason and politeness, as would quality him to plead among the orators, and make him acceptable in the courts of princes. Ia his smaller poems of Cupid stung, killed by the Boar, &c. you have the vi gour and delicacy of Anacreon; in his Hylas, and Combat of Pollux and Amycus, he is much more pathetical, clear and plea sant, than Apollonius on the same, or any other subject. In his conversation of Alc mena and Tiresias, of Hercules and the cl servant of Augeas, in Cynicea and Thyonichus, and the women going to the cere monies of Adonis, there is all the easiness and engaging familiarity of humour and dialogue, which reign in the Odysseys; and in Hercules destroying the lion of Nemza, the spirit and majesty of the Iliad. The panegyric upon king Ptolemy is justly es

Adonis

teemed

teered an original and model of perfection in that way of writing. But in that excellent poem, and the noble hymn upon Castor and Pollux, he has praised his gods and his hero with that delicacy and dexterity of address, with those sublime and graceful expressions of devotion and respect, that in politeness, smoothness of turn, and a refined art of praising without offence, or appearance of flattery, he has equalled Callimachus: and in loftiness and flight of thought, scarce yields to Pindar or Homer. Blackwall.

$144.

On HERODOTUS. Herodotus had gained experience by travelling over all his own country, Thrace and Scythia; he travelled likewise to Arabia, Palestine, and Egypt; where he carefally viewed the chief curiosities and most remarkable places, and conversed with the Egyptian priests, who informed him of their ancient history, and acquainted him with their customs, sacred and civil. Indeed he speaks of their religious rites with such plainness and clearness in some cases, and such reserve and reverence in others, that I am apt to believe he was initiated into their ceremonies, and consecrated a priest of some of their orders*.

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possible) which he could any place in Italy; lays a siege, draws up an army, with skill and conduct scarce inferior to Cæsar himself. Was there as much charm in the conversation of this extraordinary man, as there is in his writings, the gentleman of Cales would not repent of his long journey, who came from thence only to see Livy, upon the fame of his incomparable eloquence, and other celebrated abilities: and we have reason to believe he received satisfaction, because, after he had seen Livy, and conversed with him, he had no curiosity to see Rome, to which he was so near; and which at that time was, for its magnificence and glories, one of the greatest wonders of the whole earth.

These two princes of Greek and Roman history tell a story, and make up a description, with inexpressible grace; and so delicately mix the great and little circumstances, that there is both the utmost dignity and pleasure in it.

Ibid.

§ 146. Much of their Beauty arises from Variety.

The reader is always entertained with an agreeable variety, both of matter and style, in Herodotus and Livy. And indeed every author that expects to please, must gratify the reader with variety: that is the universal charm, which takes with people of all tastes and complexions. "Tis an appetite planted in us by the Author of our being; and is natural to an human soul, whose immense desires nothing but an infinite good, and unexhausted pleasure, can fully gratify. The most palatable dish becomes nauseous, if it be always set before a man: the most musical and harmonious notes, too often and unseasonably struck, grate the ear like the jarring of the most harsh and hateful discord.

These authors, and the rest of their spirit and elevation, were sensible of this; and therefore you find a continual change, and judicious variation, in their style and

numbers.

One passage appears to be learned, and carefully laboured; an unstudied easiness, and becoming negligence, runs through the next. One sentence turns quick and short; and another, immediately following, runs into longer measures, and spreads itself with a sort of elegant and beautiful luxuriancy. They seldom use many periods together, consisting of the same number of members; nor are the members of their pe

riods

riods of equal length, and exact measure, one with another.

The reflections that are made by these noble writers, upon the conduct and humours of mankind, the interests of courts, and the intrigues of parties, are so curious and instructive, so true in their substance, and so taking and lively in the manner of their expression, that they satisfy the soundest judgment, and please the most sprightly imagination. From these glorious authors we have instruction without the common formality and dryness of precept; and receive the most edifying advice in the pleasing way of insinuation and surprise. Blackwall.

$147. Perspicuity a principal Beauty of

the Classics.

Another excellency of the true classics is perspicuity, and clear style; which will

excuse and cover several faults in an author; but the want of it is never to be atoned by any pretence of loftiness, caution, or any consideration whatever.

And this is the effect of a clear head and vigorous understanding; of close and regular thinking, and the diligence of select reading. A man should write with the same design as he speaks, to be understood with ease, and to communicate his mind with pleasure and instruction. If we select Xenophon out of the other Greek classics, whether he writes of the management of family affairs, or the more arduous matters of state and policy; whether he gives an account of the wars of the Grecians, or the morals of Socrates; the style, though so far varied as to be suitable to every subject, yet is always clear and significant, sweet without lusciousness, and elegantly

easy.

In this genteel author we have all the politeness of a studied composition; and yet all the freedom and winning familiarity of elegant conversation.

Here I cannot but particularly mention Xenophon's Symposium, wherein he has given us an easy and beautiful description of a very lively and beautiful conversation. The pleasant and serious are there so happily mixed and tempered, that the discourse is neither too light for the grave, nor too solemn for the gay. There is mirth with dignity and decorum; and philosophy attended and enlivened by all the graces.

Ibid.

§ 148. On CICERO.

If among the Latin Classics we name Tully, upon every subject he equally shews the strength of his reason, and the brightness of his style. Whether he addresses his friend in the most graceful negligence of a familiar letter, or moves his auditors with laboured periods, and passionate strains of manly oratory; whether he proves the majesty of God, and immortality of human souls, in a more sublime and pompous eloquence; or lays down the rules of prudence and virtue, in a more calm and even way of writing; he always expresses good sense in pure and proper language: he is learned and easy, richly plain, and neat without affectation. He is always copious, but never runs into a faulty luxuriance, nor tires his reader; and though he says almost every thing that con be said his subject, yet you will scarce ever think he says too much. Ibid. $149. On the Obscurities in the Classics.

upon

Those few obscurities which are in the best authors, do not proceed from haste and confusion of thought, or ambiguous expressions, from a long crowd of parentheses, or perplexed periods; but either the places continue the same as they were in the original, and are not intelligible to us only by reason of our ignorance of some customs of those times and countries; or the passages are altered and spoiled by the presumption and busy impertinence of foolish transcribers and conceited critics. Which plainly appears from this, that since we have had more accurate accounts of the Greek and Roman antiquities, and old manuscripts have been searched and compared by able and diligent hands, innumerable errors have been rectified, and corruptions which have crept into the text, purged out; a various reading happily discovered, the removal of a verse, or a point of distinction out of the wrong into the right place, or the adding a small mark where it was left out, has given clear light to many passages, which for ages had lain overspread with an error, that had obscured the sense of the author, and quite confounded all the commentators. The latter part of the thirty-second verse of the hymn of Callimachus on Apollo was in the first editions thus, Τὶς ἂν ἔρια Φοίβον aldo; "who can sing of Phæbus in the mountains?" which was neither sense of itself, nor had any connection with what went before. But Stephens's amendment of

of it set right both the sense and the con. nection, without altering a letter; Tís ja door aridos; “ Phoebus is an unexhausted subject of praise;"-among all his glorious qualifications and exploits, what poet can be so dull, what wit so barren, as to want materials for an hymn to his honour?-In the fourth verse of the eleventh epigram of Theocritus, there wanted a little point in the word uobis, which took off all the sprightliness and turn of the thought: which Daniel Heinsius luckily restored, by changing the nom. sing. jusbérns into the dat. plur. ions. "The friends of Eusthenes the poet, gave him, though a stranger, an honourable burial in a foreign country; and the poet was extremely be. loved by 'em." How flat and insipid! According to the amendment it runs thus: "The acquaintance of Eusthenes buried him honourably though in a foreign country, and he was extremely beloved by his brother poets themselves." For a man to be mightily honoured by strangers, and extremely beloved by people of the same profession, who are apt to malign and envy one another, is a very high commendation of his candour, and excellent temper. That very valuable amendment in the sixth line of Horace's preface to his odes, has cleared a difficulty, which none of the critics could handsomely acquit themselves of before the admirable Dr. Bentley; and has rescued the poet, eminent for the clearness of his style, from the imputation of harshness and obscurity in the very beginning, and first address to his reader; where peculiar care and accuracy are expected. It would be endless to mention the numerous places in the ancients happily restored and illustrated by that great man; who is not only a sound and discerning critic, but a clean and vigorous writer, excellently skilled in all divine and human literature; to whom all scholars are obliged for his learned performances upon the classics; and all mankind for his noble and glorious defence of religion. The learned Meursius was strangely puzzled with a passage in Minutius Felix; and altered the text with such intolerable boldness, as, if allowed, would soon pervert and destroy all good authors; which the ingenious editor of that father has cleared, by putting the points of distinction in their proper places. Reges tantum regni sui, per officia ministrorum universanovêre. Meursius had disgui*Min. Felix, Camb. edit. by Davis. § 33. p. 163. not. 7.

sed and deformed the passage thus: Reges statum regni sui per officia ministrorum diversa novêre. Dr. Bentley has made a certain emendation in Horace's Art of Poetry, only by altering the places of two lines, making that which was the forty-sixth in the common books the forty-fifth in his own beautiful editions. Blackwall

$150. On several Advantages which the Classics enjoyed.

It was among the advantages which the chief classics enjoyed, that most of them were placed in prosperous and plentiful circumstances of life, raised above anxious cares, want and abject dependence. They were persons of quality and fortune, courtiers and statesmen, great travellers, and generals of armies, possessed of the highest dignities and posts of peace and war. Their riches and plenty furnished them with leisure and means of study; and their employments improved them in knowledge and experience. How lively must they describe those countries, and remarkable places which they had attentively viewed with their own eyes! What faithful and emphatical relations were they enabled to make of those councils, in which they presided: of those actions in which they were present and commanded.

Herodotus, the father of history, besides the advantages of his travels and general knowledge, was so considerable in power and interest, that he bore a chief part in expelling the tyrant Lygdamis, who had usurped upon the liberties of his native country.

Thucydides and Xenophon were of distinguished eminence and abilities, both in civil and military affairs; were rich and noble; had strong parts, and a careful education in their youth, completed by severe study in their advanced years: in short they had all the advantages and accomplishments both of the retired and active life.

Sophocles bore great offices in Athens; led their armies, and in strength of parts, and nobleness of thought and expression, was not unequal to his colleague Pericles; who, by his commanding wisdom and eloquence, influenced all Greece, and was said to thunder and lighten in his harangues.

Euripides, famous for the purity of the Attic style, and his power in moving the passions, especially the softer ones of grief and pity, was invited to, and generously entertained in, the court of Archelaus 2 D

king

king of Macedon. The smoothness of his composition, his excellency in dramatic poetry, the soundness of his morals, conveyed in the sweetest numbers, were so universally admired, and his glory so far spread, that the Athenians, who were taken prisoners in the fatal overthrow under Nicias, were preserved from perpetual exile and ruin, by the astonishing respect that the Sicilians, enemies and strangers, paid to the wit and fame of their illustrious countryman. As many as could repeat any of Euripides's verses, were rewarded with their liberty, and generously

sent home with marks of honour.

Plato, by his father's side, sprung from Codrus, the celebrated king of Athens; and by his mother's from Solon, their no less celebrated law-giver. To gain experience, and enlarge his knowledge, he travelled into Italy, Sicily, and Egypt. He was courted and honoured by the greatest men of the age wherein he lived; and will be studied and admired by men of taste and judgment in all succeeding ages. In his works, are inestimable treasures of the best learning. In short, as a learned gentleman says, he writ with all the strength of human reason, and all the charm of human eloquence.

Anacreon lived familiarly with Polycrates king of Samos: and his sprightly muse, naturally flowing with innumerable pleasures and graces, must improve in delicacy and sweetness by the gaiety and refined conversation of that flourishing court.

The bold and exalted genius of Pindar was encouraged and heightened by the honours he received from the champions and princes of his age; and his conversation with the heroes qualified him to sing their praises with more advantage. The conquerors at the Olympic games scarce valued their garlands of honour, and wreaths of victory, if they were not crowned with his never-fading laurels, and immortalized by his celestial song. The noble Hiero of Syracuse was his generous friend and patron; and the most powerful and polite state of all Greece esteemed a line of his in praise of their glorious city, worth public acknowledgments, and a statue. Most of the genuine and valuable Latin Classics had the same advantages of fortune, and improving conversation, the same encouragements with these and the other celebrated Grecians.

Terence gained such a wonderful insight into the characters and manners of man

kind, such an elegant choice of words, and fluency of style, such judgment in the conduct of his plot, and such delicate and charming turns, chiefly by the conversation of Scipio and Lælius, the greatest men, and most refined wits, of their age. So much did this judicious writer, and clean scholar, improve by his diligent application to study, and their genteel and learned conversation, that it was charged upon him by those who envied his superior excellencies, that he published their compositions under his own name. His enemies had a mind that the world should believe those noblemen wrote his plays, but scarce believed it themselves; and the poet very prudently and genteelly slighted their malice, and made his great patrons the finest compliment in the world, by esteeming the accusation as an honour, rather than making any formal defence against it*.

Sallust, so famous for his neat expressive brevity, and quick turns, for truth of fact and clearness of style, for the accuracy of his characters, and his piercing view into the mysteries of policy and motives of action, cultivated his rich abilities, and made his acquired learning so useful to the world, and so honourable to himself, by bearing the chief offices in the Roman government, and sharing in the important councils and debates of the senate.

Cæsar had a prodigious wit, and universal learning; was noble by birth, a consummate statesman, a brave and wise general, and a most heroic prince. His prudence and modesty in speaking of himself, the truth and clearness of his descriptions, the inimitable purity and perspicuity of his style, distinguish him with advantage from all other writers. None bears a nearer re. semblance to him in more instances than the admirable Xenophon. What useful and entertaining accounts might reasonably be expected from such a writer, who gives you the geography and history of those countries and nations, which he himself conquered, and the description of those military engines, bridges, and encampments, which he himself contrived and marked out.

The best authors in the reign of Augustus, as Horace, Virgil, Tibullus, Propertius, &c. enjoyed happy times, and plentiful circumstances. That was the golden age of learning. They flourished under the favours and bounty of the richest and most generous court in the world; and the

* See Prologue to Adelphi, v.15-20.

beams

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