The Poems of John Byrom :: :: University of Virginia Library

Thus Homer, describing the pestilent Lot
That among the Greek Forces Apollo had shot,
Tells how it began, and who suffer'd the first,
When his ill-treated Priest the whole Army had curst,—
Or rather, what suffer'd; for Custom computes
That Apollo's first Shafts fell amongst the poor Brutes,

487

Instructing both Critics to construe and Schools
“Κυνας αργουσ'” “the Dogs,” and “ουρηας” “the Mules.”

II

Now, observing old Homer's poetical Features,
I would put in one Word for the guiltless dumb Creatures,—
And the Famous blind Bard; for, as far as I see,
The learn'd in this Case are much blinder than he.
At the Mules and the Dogs, in his versified Greek,
Nor Phœbus nor Priest had conceiv'd any Pique;
And I doubt, notwithstanding the common Consent,
That the Meaning is miss'd which Mæonides meant.

III

Why the Brutes were first plagu'd, an Eustathius and others
Have made a great Rout, with their physical Pothers
Of the Nature, and Causes, and Progress of Plague,—
And all to the Purpose quite foreign, and vague.
But be medical Symptoms whatever they will,
Such Matters I leave to Friend Heberden's Skill,
And propose a plain Fact to all cunninger Ken:
“That the ‘Mules,’ and the ‘Dogs,’ in this Passage, are ‘Men.’”

IV

Just then, as they rise, to explain my Ideas:—
Let the Lexicon tell what is meant by ουρηας;

488

In plain common-Sense, without physical Routs,
“The Grecian Outguards, the Custodes, or Scouts.”
The Word may be “Mules” too, for aught that I know,
For my Scapula says, “'tis, Ionicè, so;”
And refers to the Lines above quoted from Homer,
Where “Mules,” I conceive, is an arrant Misnomer.

V

If a Word has two Meanings, to critical Test
That which makes the Sense better is certainly best.
The Plague is here plainly describ'd to begin
In the Skirts of the Camp, then to enter within,
To rage, and occasion what Iliad styles
“Incessantly burning their funeral Piles;”
Which the Greeks, I conjecture, were hardly such Fools
As to burn, or erect, for the Dogs and the Mules.

VI

The common Greek Word, the Homerical too,
For “Mules” is “‘Ημιονος,” where it will do;
And there was, as it happened, no Cause to coerce
Its Use in this Place, for it suited the Verse.
Whereas a plain Reason oblig'd to discard,
If this was the Point to be shown by the Bard,
That first to the Parties about the main Camp
Apollo despatch'd the vindicative Damp.

489

VII

Thus much for “Ουρηας.”—The meaning of “Κυνες”
Is attended, I own, with a little more Newness;
For the Sense, in this Place, will oblige us to plant
A meaning for “Κυνες” which Lexicons want.
And, if that be a Reason for some to reject,
'Tis no more than Correction, tho' just, may expect;
“But if it be just,” the true Critics will add,
“'Tis a Meaning that Lexicons ought to have had.”

VIII

Both “Canes” in Latin, and “Κυνες” in Greek,
And the Hebrew Word for them, if Critics would seek,
Should be rendered, sometimes, in Prose-writers or Bards,
By “Slaves,” or by “Servants,” “Attendants,” or “Guards:”
“Ουρηας” and “Κυνας” have here, in my Thought,
Much a like Kind of meaning, as really they ought;
The Diff'rence, perhaps, that, for Camp-Preservation,
One mov'd, or patroll'd, while the other kept Station.

IX

“Αργους,” which is “white,” in the commonest Sense,
To describe the Dogs here has no Sort of Pretence;
Nor here will the Lexicons help a dead Lift,
That allow the odd Choice too of “slow,” or of “swift.”

490

If the Dogs were demolish'd, 'twill certainly follow
That “white, slow,” or “swift,” was all one to Apollo;
Whose fam'd Penetration was rather too deep
Than to take Dogs for Soldiers, as Ajax did Sheep.

X

Why them, or why “Mules”? For Description allows
That he shot at no Horses, Bulls, Oxen, or Cows,
With a Vengeance selecting, from all other Classes,
Poor Dogs of some Sort, and impeccant Half-Asses.
Now, granting, what Poem shows plainly enough,
That Homer abounds with nonsensical Stuff,
Yet it should, for his Sake, if it can, be confin'd
To the Pagan, and not the Poetical, Kind.

XI

The “Mules” and the “Dogs,” being shot at, coheres
No better with Sense, than the Bulls and the Bears.
To excúlpate old Homer, my worthy Friend Lloyd,
Some Sort of Correction should here be employ'd;
And, for Languages' Sake,—in which Matters are spread
Of a greater Concern, if old Writers are read,—
Where it seems to be wanting, the Critics should seek
To make out fair English for Latin or Greek.

491

XII

If the Words have a Meaning both human and brute,
Where Homer describes his Apollo to shoot,
Tho' “brute” in the Latin possesses the Letter,
I take it for granted that human is better.
Do you think this a fair Postulatum?—“I do;
“But you only affirm that the ‘human’ is true.”—
That's all that I want in this present Epistle;
In the next I shall prove it, as clear as a Whistle.