Iliad, an epic poem in 24 books, in the Greek Lan guage. Homer, author of the Iliad, first and greatest of Grecian poets. .Adamantine, indissoluble, made of adamant, Basis, foundation, standing place, from base. First-born of song, earliest of the poets, or of poems. Breathing marbles, statues so like life that they seem to breathe. Unrivalled, unequalled, without a rival. Senate, body of counsellors, legislature, senate house. Mould, earth, soil, concretion, form, matrix in which any thing is cast. -Court, open place before a house, palace, persons assembled for the administration of justice, hall of justice. .Ilyssus, famous river in Greece, celebrated in Greek poetry. -Laws, commands, edicts, an influence. Blind old man. Homer was blind, and led from place to place to recite his poems. Scio, an island of Greece, as interesting on account of the events of modern days, as for its claim to Homer. Italy, the country of the Romans in the south of Eu rope. -Incidents, occurrences, facts, things which he related. .New-name, name over, give new epithets to. Paraphrase, re-model, re-write, loose commentary. -Scriptures, writings, eminently inspired writings, Bible. -Testament, legacy, record, will. Simplicity, simple writing,natural, unaffected thoughts. What is meant by the narrative of Moses? cannot pursue this comparison. I feel that it is doing wrong to the mind which dictated the Iliad, and to those other mighty intellects on whom the light of the Holy oracles never shined. Who, that has read his poem, has not observed how he strove in vain to give dignity to the mythology of his time? Who has not seen how the religion of his country, unable to support the flight of his imagination sunk powerless beneath him. It is the unseen world where the master spirits of our race breathe freely and are at home, and it is mournful to behold the intellect of Homer striving to free itself from the conceptions of materialism, and then sinking down in hopeless despair to weave fables about Jupiter and Juno, Apollo and Diana. But the difficulties under which he labored are abundantly illustrated by the fact, that the light, which he poured upon the human intellect taught other ages how unworthy was the pagan religion of the man, who was compelled to use it. LESSON LXII. Eloquence of John Adams.-WEBSTER. -- The eloquence of Mr. Adams resembled his general character, and formed, indeed, a part of it. It was bold, manly, and energetic; and such the crisis required. When public bodies are to be addressed on momentous occasions, when great interests are at stake, and strong passions are excited, nothing is valuable in speech, farther than it is connected with high intellectual and moral endowments. Clearness, force, and earnestness are the qualities which produce conviction. True eloquence, indeed, does not consist in speech. It cannot be brought from far. Labor and learning may toil for it; but they will toil in vain. Words and phrases may be marshalled in every way, but they cannot compass it. It must exist in the man, in the subject, and in the occasion. Affected passion, intense expression, the pomp of declamation, all may aspire after it-they cannot reach it. It comes, if it come at all, like the outbreaking of a fountain from the earth, or the bursting forth -Dictated, commanded, composed, uttered forth. Oracles, something delivered by supernatural wisdom. Mythology, heathen religion, system of pagan worship. Flight, soaring, running away, course. Whence the allusion? Powerless, helpless, weak. What is the derivation ? Master spirits, mighty geniuses, illustrious men. At home. Why is the mind of man said to be at home in eternity? Materialism, doctrine that the soul is made of matter. -Weave, make cloth in a loom, fashion, form, contrive. Jupiter, chief god of the pagans, supreme god of Greece and Rome. Juno, fabulous wife of Jupiter, and queen of the gods. Apollo, heathen divinity, god of music, eloquence and poetry. Diana, fabled goddess of hunting, sometimes the moon is called Diana. Illustrated, explained, cleared up, made plain. Intellect, soul, mind, intellectual faculties. Compelled, influenced, obliged. John Adams. What do you know of him? Energetic, powerful, full of energy. Crisis, the decisive moment, important point of time. Intellectual. What is the difference between intellectual and moral? Labor and learning. For what are these abstract terms put ? Phrases, sentences, expressions, idioms. Marshalled. What is the source of this imagery? -Compass, encircle, besiege, grasp, circle, extent, in strument. Pomp, display, parade, vain show, grandeur. Volcanic fires. What do you know of volcanoes? of volcanic fires with spontaneous, original, nátive force. The graces taught in the schools, the costly ornaments, and studied contrivances of speech, shock and disgust men, when their own lives, and the fate of their wives, their children, and their country, hang on the decision of the hour. Then words have lost their power, rhetoric is vain and all elaborate oratory contemptible. Even genius itself then feels rebuked, and subdued, as in the presence of higher qualities. Then, patriotism is eloquent; then self-devotion is eloquent. The clear conceptions, outrunning the deductions of logic, the high purpose, the firm resolve, the dauntless spirit, speaking on the tongue, beaming from the eye, informing every feature, and urging the whole man onward, right onward to this object-this, this is eloquence; or rather it is something higher than all eloquence, it is action, noble, sublime, godlike action. LESSON LXIII. Mount Chamouny:-the hour before Sunrise.-COLE RIDGE. Hast thou a charm to stay the morning-star The Arvé and Arveiron at thy base Wave ceaselessly, while thou, dread mountain form, Ridest from forth thy silent sea of pines How silently! Around thee and above Deep is the sky and black: transpicuous deep As with a wedge! But when I look again It seems thine own calm home, thy crystal shrine, Thy habitation from eternity. Oh dread and silent form! I gazed on thee Till thou, still present to my bodily eye, Didst vanish from my thought. Entranced in prayer, I worshipped the Invisible alone: Yet thou, methinks, wast working on my soul Spontaneous, voluntary, of its own accord, willingly. -Genius, superior mental endowment, protecting power, disposition. Patriotism, devotedness to one's country, love of country. -Conception, understanding, apprehension, act of conceiving. Deductions, consequence, that which is deduced. Dauntless, dånt'lês, fearless, unintimidated, bold. Informing every feature, causing every feature to be intelligent. Urging the whole man, deeply affecting the whole man. Higher. Why is this more impressive than mere speaking? Godlike, most powerful, superhuman, supereminent. Form, a personification, giving life and action to inanimate objects. .Transpicuous, visible, pervious to the sight. .Piercest, pêr'sêst, penetratest, transfixest, shootest into. -Crystal, clear, hard, transparent, colorless body. Eternity, unknown ages, expressing the enduring nature of the mountain. Bodily eye, natural vision, external sense, corporeal organ. Entranced, wrapped up, greatly excited, in ecstacy. Invisible, unseen God, of whom the lone mountain was an apt emblem. Working, acting, suggesting thoughts, silently oper Enchanting, enrapturing, sweet, endued with charms. |