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THE

CLASSICAL JOURNAL;

N°. LVIII.

JUNE, 1824.

On the striking Coincidences between the Allegories, Similes, and Descriptions, in TASSO's Gierusalemme Liberata, and those of HOMER and some other Ancient Writers.

HOMER has been in all ages deservedly admired as the first poet of any eminence, whose works were preserved by the care of literary characters, influenced by the principle of a sacred species of veneration, which owed its origin to the superior character of his two immortal works, distinguished for sublimity of subject and for the elegance displayed not only in the ideas, but likewise in the force and purity of diction; far superior to the conceptions of those who were the ordinary geniuses of the period in which he lived, whose compositions were no doubt consigned to oblivion, when eclipsed by the brilliancy of so great a master, or, as Val. Maximus styles him, such an "ingenii coelestis vates," from whose deep draughts of the Castalian spring succeeding poets have in all ages been inspired. There appears a superiority in poems, which can only be compared to the expression of the countenance of one of the noblest statues of antiquity. He hardly seems a denizen of earth," but appears to stand like the "heavenly archer" in serene majesty, above the other compositions of mortals--possessed of a description of sublimity which disdains the common career of sublunary objects. Whether he actually wrote the Iliad and Odyssey from his own conceptions alone, aided by the tradition of preceding times, appears to have VOL. XXIX. NO. LVIII. Q

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been doubted by some of the learned. He has been accused of deducing his plan from the poems of Orpheus and those of one Corinnus, said to have been contemporary with the heroes of the Trojan war. I have read a disquisition,-certainly, it must be confessed, an idle one,-which tends to prove that the works imputed to him were actually the composition of Thales the Milesian;-but, whosoever the author was, we have abundant reason for considering him a most extraordinary, unrivalled genius. Among other works of estimation which have been formed on the model of this great "high priest of all the Nine" in after ages, appears that chef-d'œuvre of Italian Epic poetry immortalised under the name of the Gierusalemme Liberata. A critic of the first eminence in the literary world considers Tasso as having far surpassed the Iliad in the chief circumstances connected with the characteristic features of the heroes who figured in the days of the Crusades; as well as in the manner in which their characters are respectively sustained, and in the fire and variety of action contained in his descriptions of warlike manœuvres. He has certainly painted with a masterly hand those fine conceptions traced out by Homer; and it will be easily perceived in the course of the following observations, that he has pursued in no small degree the minutest touches of originality displayed in the sublimest parts of the Iliad and Odyssey.

The character of Rinaldo, the hero of the first offspring of Tasso's genius, is generally considered as more interesting than that of his great prototype Achilles. The poem is written in all the spirit of ancient chivalry, and contains many gigantic and other fabulous adventures.

The hero of the piece is indeed represented as possessing great muscular strength; but he is nevertheless remarkable for courtesy and magnanimity, and all other heroic qualities conspicuous in the character of a knight errant. Like the heroes of the Iliad, he exerts his bodily powers in a supernatural manner, and bears down all opposing knights, whether single or united,

These adventures are occasionally diversified by episodes and other entertaining digressions; and enchantment, fairy scenes, and romantic occurrences, are among the other beauties of the poem.

Tasso has closely imitated Homer in the following passages of the Gier. Lib. In Canto 1. S. 37. the catalogue of the arinies and nations employed is given before the commencement of any warlike achievements or hostile conflict, in the same manner as Homer describes the heroes of Greece in his catalogue of the Ships, Iliad. lib. B'. 495.; though it may be here observed, that

there appears a greater diversity in the enumeration of the forces. of the Crusaders, and that the Italian poet has improved upon his model, as his descriptions contain more variety of sentiment, and are divested of the tautology of that part of the Iliad. In Canto 111. Herminia points out and describes the Christian warriors to Aladin from the top of a tower, in the same manner as Helena does those of Greece to old Priam, Il. y'. 171.

It is worthy of remark that the Gods occurring in the poems of Homer, are brought forward by Tasso in the shape of good and evil angels, by whose ministry many actions of note are performed, and warriors excited on several memorable occasions. In Canto VII. S. 68. Godfrey of Bouillon speaks to an aged warrior in the same style and manner as Agamemnon to Nestor. The coincidence is striking, particularly as Godfrey is formed in many respects on the model of the son of Atreus :

Oh pur avessi fra l'etade acerba
Diece altri di valor al tuo simile,
Come ardirei vincer Babel superba,
E la Croce spiegar da Battro a Nile.

Compare II. B'. 371.

Αἲ γὰρ, Ζεῦ τε πάτερ,

τοιοῦτοι δέκα μοι συμφράδμονες εἶεν ̓Αχαΐων

τῷ κε τάχ' ἠμύσεις πόλις Πριάμοιο ἄνακτος, &c.

In Canto VII. S. 105. the description of the warriors charging in battle bears a very lively resemblance to that of Homer, II. '. 446. The same occurs in Canto IX. S. 51.

S'affronta insieme orribilmente urtando

Scudo a scudo, elmo ad elmo, e brando a brando.
Σύν δ' ἔβαλον ῥινοὺς, σὺν δ ̓ ἔγχεα, &c.

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(Clorinda fights like an Amazon, and bears a marked resemblance to Penthesilea, Dictys Cret. and to the Camilla of Virgil's Æneid.) Alecto inflames Argillano in a vision, being incited by some evil angel to kindle commotion against the Crusaders, in the same manner as she is represented, instigated by Juno, Æn. 7. stirring up the fury of Turnus against the Trojans.

Canto Ix. S. 38. An old warrior falling on the field of battle is compared to an ancient tree, blown down by a storm. A simile of this sort is very common in Homer, who compares the fall of Simoisius to that of a poplar, and that of Orsilochus and Crethon to that of two tall fir-trees. Canto Ix. S. 46. Godfrey is represented as similar to the Po overflowing its banks and rushing with tremendous force to the Adriatic; and in the Iliad,

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Hector is represented in the same manner under the image of a torrent from the mountains.-Canto 1x. S. 47. The same warrior attacks the enemy precisely as Agamemnon is described, II. x'. 265.

Con la spada e con gli urti apre e dissolve
Le vie più chiuse e gli ordini più forti.
Αὐτὰρ ὁ τῶν ἄλλων ἐπεπωλεῖτο στίχας ἀνδρῶν,

Εγχεΐ τ', ἄορί τε, μεγάλοισί τε χερμαδίοισιν.

S. 74. The simile of the horse is very like that of Virgil, Geor. III. when he describes that animal as leaving his stable and galloping over the plains.-S. 79. The scene between Argillano and Ariadino is the same as that between Hector and Patroclus, 11. '. 852.

Pari destin t'aspetta, e da più forte

Destra a giacer mi sarai stesso accanto.
ἀλλά τοι ἤδη

*Αγχι παρέστηκεν θάνατος καὶ μοῖρα κραταιή,
Χερσὶ δαμέντ' Αχιλῆος.

The expression" or tu qui mori intanto, d' augei pasto e di cani" is the same as the imprecation of Achilles, when he threatens to resign the corpse of Hector to be torn by dogs and birds of prey; and the latter part of the stanza-"indi lui preme col piede" is nearly a version of the 862d verse, where Hector is described as drawing his spear out of the body of Patroclus, after pressing it with his foot.-S. 92. Here we have a version of the 489th v. of the 2d book of the Iliad, almost verbatimNon io, se cento bocche e lingue cento

Avessi, &c.

Canto x. S. 2. The Soldan is compared to a wolf driven from a sheep-fold, and obliged to retire, persecuted by the shepherds' darts, as in the Iliad.-S. 14. The chariot-horses are described in the same manner as we find them by Homer.

Canto XII. The first stanza "Era la notte" is strictly Homeric. The story of Clorinda, from stanza 23 to 35, is similar to that of Camilla and Metahus in Virgil.-S. 42 and 43. Clorinda and another warrior go by night to set fire to the enemy's machines, in the same manner as Diomed and Ulysses in the Iliad, and Nisus and Euryalus in the Eneid, leave their intrenchments in the night for warlike purposes.-S. 70. Tancredi having mortally wounded Clorinda, he, recognising her, breaks out into lamentations, as Achilles is said to have done, at the death of Penthesilea, Dictys Cret.

Canto XIV. S. 2. The Divine Spirit watches over the fates of Godfrey of Bouillon, like Jupiter over those of Achilles; and both send dreams to the respective chiefs Agamemnon and

Godfrey. The sentences of this stanza remind the reader very forcibly of the beginning of the second Iliad, λλοι μέν ῥα Θεοί τε καὶ ἀνέρες... Εἶδον παννύχιοι“ essi ogni pensier che 'l di conduce, Tuffato aveano in dolce obblio profondo."--Warriors are represented going to the Infernal regions, that is, into the subterraneous parts of the earth, led by an enchanter or magician, as Ulysses at the instigation of Circe, or Æneas conducted by the Cumæan Sibyl.

Canto XV. Carlo and Ubaldo take a voyage in the enchanted bark, and view the shores of many renowned places, as Ulysses is described in the Odyssey. As Tiresias, in the Infernal shades, foretels what is to happen to Ulysses; and Æneas in the Æneid is informed of the conduct and fate of his posterity in like manner; so also Tasso represents a nymph foretelling what progress Europeans should make in the western world-after a native of Liguria should have dared to sail beyond the columns of Hercules. In Seneca there is some prophecy of the same kind, and it is foretold that Thule shall not be the "ne plus ultra" of navigators. Conjectures of this sort appear to have been common amongst the ancients, if we may judge from what Plato says in his Timæus about the isle Atalantis, probably Hispaniola, beyond which was a vast continent, extending to the ocean; and which appears to be confirmed by Diodorus, who speaks concerning an island beyond the pillars of Hercules; which had been discovered by some mariners, probably driven there by a tempest; for Aristotle himself says, that a Carthaginian vessel, which had been apparently blown out of its course by a strong westerly wind, had discovered shores hitherto unknown. In Amm. Marcellinus, we have an account of a vast island, probably the same as that which Plato mentions, which the historian says had disappeared under an inundation of the ocean; but it is easy to perceive that this was a ready method of cloaking his ignorance of a country then nearly unknown, and which few persons dared to visit, from the dread of exposing themselves to the perils of the vast Atlantic.

Canto XVI. Armida is an enchantress like Circe in Homer's Odyssey; and the knights behold emblematical figures in her portico, as Æneas does in that of Dido. Her gardens resemble those of Alcinous, in the island of Phæacia, by whom it is generally supposed Homer intended to personify Solomon. parrot is taught to sing verses on the shortness of human life, comparing men to leaves of trees, às we find them described, 11. 5'. Οἴη περ φύλλων γενεή, κ.τ.λ. Rinaldo is represented iuveigled

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