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Bossu acquaints us the Invocation is necessary, because the Poet reports what he cannot be supposed to know, if some Deity had not inspired him; not that the Muse signifies any thing else but the Qualifications requisite to Poetry.

The Poet, to win the Attention of the Reader, and warning us he is about to relate something surprizing, invokes not one Muse, but the whole Number.

As the Invocation is addressed to the Gods, so the Proposition mentions them, and the Narration is full of them; and they occasion the Marvellous in Epick: Bossu.

He has as much to do in the Commonwealth of Æsop, as the States of Homer, witness his appointing Kings over the Frogs. Id.

Æschylus wrote a Tragedy upon Jupiter's Scales, and Virgil copied them.

A Frog may as easily be supposed to speak as Xanthus the Horse of Achilles: Indeed the Epopea assumes a Liberty very like that of Æsop. The Discourse between Juno and Æolus, and what Neptune said to Zephyrus and Boreas, have as little Truth and Probability as the Intercourse between the City and Country Mouse: Bossu.

Self-Commendation is very common in Epick Heroes; and Virgil makes Æneas say of himself, Sum pius.

A Name from Mud. The Father of Achilles was so called.

There were three Eridani, one in Heaven, another on Earth, and a third in Hell: that on Earth is here intended.

A Ruler in the Waters.

One who swells his Cheeks.

High Characters should be plac'd upon Bodies of the largest Size, and finest Make: Bossu.

One who plunders Graineries.

A Bread-eater.

A Licker of Meal.

The Hemisticks of Virgil have been much admired by some very learned Criticks, who seem to be of opinion, that a Verse is oftentimes the more perfect, the less 'tis finished.

This was the antient Emblem of Wisdom, as it is the modern one of Folly. It is unaccountable that this Passage should be left without any Explanation in the first Edition; for many a Fine Gentleman knows nothing of Pallas, but would presently be acquainted with this Bird, when told in plain English, 'tis an Owl.

Innumerable are the Instances of Warriors charging their Fears upon the Gods; nothing less than Immortals should ever stop a Diomede or Ajax. The like Excuse is used even by the Gods themselves, in favour of Offenders;

The Word Cat being very familiar, is avoided as too low. It is requisite also to inform the Curious, that not only Elimouser himself, but his Son Grimalkin was of that Species: for without this Caution, he might be thought of a different kind, which is very frequent in Poetry, witness Jupiter and his Offspring Sarpedon, and many others.

Prayers of good men are commonly successful in Epick; Psicharpax had been guilty of great Indiscretion, to hazard his Life for mere Curiosity.— It is observable, there is not one Simile in the Poem to this Place, which is above a seventh Part of the whole. Dr. Clarke, who seems as good a Critick as a Divine, points out the same Beauty in the first Iliad. 'Tis true, Mr. Addison declares he should hardly have thought the worse of it, if it had as many as the first Æneid: However it could not then have been so simple; nay, perhaps it might have been more so still, had the Poet left out two Words, wherein he compares Phœbus to the Night, and Thetis to a Mist.

Some say Homer has given the Gods such Manners, as turn them into mere Swine: Bossu. Here Jupiter is changed into a Brute indeed, but into one of a nobler Species, tho' in Manners, it must be owned, inclined to Lasciviousness.

It is not strange to give Epithets to Persons upon Occasions which have no Relation to them: Boileau. As may appear even from Virgil himself sometimes;

This Phrase is not used to signify Perfection, but some particular Qualification or Advantage. Patroclus is called equal to a God, when he is lighting a Fire. —Eustathius.

This Phrase is not used to signify Perfection, but some particular Qualification or Advantage. Patroclus is called equal to a God, when he is lighting a Fire. —Eustathius.

Themis the Goddess of Justice.

It was the Opinion of the Antients, that Heroes, just upon the Point of Death, had the Gift of Prophecy.

A Licker of Dishes.

The Loss of Burial was esteemed a very great Affliction, we have not any Records left concerning the manner how Mice buried their Dead: An enquiry into that Piece of Antiquity would be highly satisfactory to the Curious.

By an Archaismus for Mars: see Spencer. He was the God of War, by whom Areïthous had his Armour given him: allegorically he signifies Brutal Force.

The God of Fire, who made the Armour of Glaucus, Achilles, &c. It is the Happiness of a Poet to raise the obscurest Circumstances into the strongest Point of Light: —Eustathius. Mars must be owned as proper a Person to desire this Favour of Vulcan, in behalf of those who had never offended him, as Venus was in Virgil to desire it for her illegitimate Son. A Woman in these Days would not be very likely to prevail with her Spouse, by putting him in mind that she had made him a Cuckold.

An Epick Poet should order the Machines so, that his Action should stand in no need of them. How many Gods does Virgil make use of to raise a Storm, which happened at the rising Orion? Tis well observed, Dii nisi datâ occasione nocere non possunt;—Bossu. Thus the Mice might have knaw'd a few Bean-stalks without any Assistance from two Divinities, but then the Action had not been so fit for the Epopea.

A Creeper into Pots.

A Cheese-scooper. The antient Poets seem to have been endued by Apollo with the Property of knowing all Things past, present, and to come, which a careful Reader may perceive by their Writings. This was probably the very Mouse which was caught in a Trap by Taffy; and I wonder he was not named by the Author of Muscipula; who has also over looked another Testimony of the Antiquity of the Welsh in Virgil, who mentions Evans in his Æneid, Necnon Evantem Phrygium.

Repetitions are best when left to the Reader's Pleasure to make whenever he sees occasion, by which he may deserve as much Reputation as the Author himself could have merited by those Flowers: If a long Book must needs be had, 'tis but going over any Part again and again, and the Work is done.

The Scepter was the solemn Oath of Kings; Virgil and Valerius Flaccus imitate Homer in making it so. It poetically acquaints us with the high Descent and hereditary Right of the Hero.

One who lives in the Waters.

It cannot be denied that Physignathus swears to a Lie; but it must be considered, says Bossu, The great Art of Kings is the Mystery of Dissimulation. This is the Character which the Greek Poet gives Ulysses, and it is represented as a true and solid Virtue, and commended by Minerva herself.

Minerva persuaded the Trojans to break the League; for which Breach afterwards Hector fell by Poetical Justice, whom she cheated and told Lies to in the Shape of Deiphobus, to betray him into the Hands of Achilles; but Prudence consists, we are told, in Dissimulation.

It is the Business of this God to fortify the weaker Side to keep up the Broil; he is called wavering, because Victory is always changing Parties.

Jupiter the eldest Brother had the East, Pluto the West, and Neptune the Sea.

See the Note upon the arming the Mice. l. 211. to which may be added this fine Remark of the last cited Author: “To express Physical Truths poetically, we must not say, Salt preserves dead Bodies, or Flies fill them with Maggots; but that Achilles, fearing the hot Season might taint the Carcase of his Friend, gets his Mother Thetis, Goddess of the Sea, which is Salt, to perfume it with Ambrosia.

It would be a Search worthy of some learned Critick, to find why Jupiter went to Bed, when he knew he should not sleep.

Poets divided the Divine Attributes as it were into so many Persons, because the Infirmity of a human Mind cannot sufficiently conceive, and explain so much Power and Action in a Simplicity so great and indivisible as that of God: And perhaps they were jealous of the Advantages they reaped from such excellent and refined Learning, and which they thought the vulgar Part of Mankind was not worthy of: Bossu.

Neptune and the rest of the watry Deities are present at the Council of the Gods; because the Waters supply the Air with Vapours, and by that means pass into the Æther. See Eustathius on the Subject, who will also give you the Reasons of most of the Epithets here apply'd to the Gods.

Neptune and the rest of the watry Deities are present at the Council of the Gods; because the Waters supply the Air with Vapours, and by that means pass into the Æther. See Eustathius on the Subject, who will also give you the Reasons of most of the Epithets here apply'd to the Gods.

He was not introduc'd into Homer's Assembly; but as that seems a Hardship upon one who is honoured with the Title of Jupiter, as well as his elder Brother, he is here admitted into the Council.

Homer always expresses a great Kindness for Bastards, of which we need desire no stronger Proof than his filling Heaven with them: On the other side he makes Marriage and Discord inseparable, and Jupiter and Juno are for ever scolding. Here not the Moral but the Allegory is to be observed.

Vulcan's Workmanship being animated, does not deviate at all from Probability; because a God can do more difficult Things than these, and all Matter will obey him. Besides Aristotle assures us, the Wonderful is the distinguishing Character of Epick, and proceeds there in even to the Unreasonable: a Remark as just and well- grounded as any in his whole Art of Poetry.

The reputable Dancing among the Antients was said by some to be invented by Minerva.

The Greek might be translated Owl ey'd; but that would not be so agreeable to the modern Gothick Taste, as it was to the antient Simplicity.

Observe the Character of Prudence, who acquits neither Side, and refuses to engage on either with any Disadvantage to herself.

The Harmony of Things springs from Discord; wherefore Jupiter was diverted at the Dis agreeement of the Gods themselves: So other Immortals may be supposed pleased with the Battle of Frogs and Mice.

This is to be understood allegorically. The honest old Archbishop of Thessalonica ingenuously acquaints us in his Comment upon the first Iliad, that Allegory was invented in order to solve the Absurdities which would otherwise appear in the antient Writers. And I must once for all inform my Reader, if he finds any Passage he cannot well account for, he must take it for granted, There is an Allegory in it.

Jove in the Iliad makes his Speech to Juno. A Man's Love to the Sex in general, may be no ill Recommendation to a particular Woman, even to a virtuous Matron; tho' I fancy it could never make him more in favour with his own Wife, whatever Influence it might have on the Wife of another, unless Nature was a very different Thing in Homer's time from what it is in our degenerate Age.

The Physical Meaning seems very apparent. Juno the Air has two Elements, Earth and Water, at her Feet, call'd Anvils, because in them only Arts are exercised. The Moral intimates, that good Housewives should stay at home: —Dacier. There is another Moral equally plain, overlooked by the learned French-woman, viz. That Husbands upon extraordinary Occasions, may bestow upon their Wives corporal Correction. If the Fair Sex now think this brutal, 'tis merely out of false Delicacy.

Flies might have done well enough for Trumpeters. Minerva in the 17th Iliad inspires Menelaus with the Courage of a Fly, which Comparison has nothing of Meanness in it; however a Hornet is more heroical:

A loud Bawler.

A Name from Licking.

A Name of the same Signification with Pelides; the Son of Peleus, i. e. Mud.

One who runs into Holes.

One who feeds on Bread.—ibid.

A great Babbler.—

One who loves the Lake.—

Called from the Beets.—

One equal to a Man; for a Mouse may as easily be supposed equal to a Man; as a Man equal to a God.

The Opinion of a Degeneracy of human Size and Strength in the Process of Ages, has been very general. Virgil makes a farther Allowance. In this Way of Thinking it will appear that Frogs and Mice were not such despicable Animals heretofore as they are at present, either as to their bodily or intellectual Accomplishments.

A Bacon-eater.—

Called from the Lake.—

A Cabbage eater.—

A Bacon-scooper.—Ibid

From the Herb.

who loves the Water.

a Bacon-eater.

who lies in the Mud.

an Eater of Garlick.

one who follows the Steam of Kitchens.

who walks in the Dirt.

see Artophagus and Troxartes.

from Mud.

Croaking.

This Name alludes not only to Pelos Mud, but to Achilles also, the Son of Thetis, so called. It is no Disgrace for a Hero to fly, especially having Guilt upon his Spirits.

The Greek Poet illustrates the Swiftness of Ericthonius's Mares, by describing them as running over the standing Corn and Surface of Waters, without making any Impression: And the Latin one says the same of Camilla; which is a certain Sign of Homer's Excellency. Now a Frog is as likely to be borne upon the Waters, as a Heroine; and a Mouse is not altogether so heavy as a Mare.

an Eater of Wheat.

called from Garlick.

It is no wonder the Heroes are so unwilling to die, when the Poet provides no better Entertainment for them in the next World, than the worst they could meet with in this.

one who plunders his Share.

one who has Designs upon Bread.

When Plutarch blam'd the comparing one Man to several Deities, that Censure was not passed upon Homer as a Poet, but by Plutarch as a Priest: And no modern fine Gentleman sure can think the worse of any thing for its being disapproved by a Priest in his Sacerdotal Capacity. Should it be said in his Defence, that he was a Heathen, Mr. Dryden cuts off that Plea,—Priests of all Religions are the same—It must be owned they are corrupted to the utmost, if they be fallen in their Morals to so low a Degree, that the first Stone may justly be thrown at them by Poets.

of the same Import with Limnisius, called from the Lake.

from Croaking.

Neptune, in Il. 13, supposes the Assistance of Jupiter himself might be useless to the Trojans; and no wonder therefore it might be ineffectual to have the Succour of any inferior Divinities.

Apollo being nothing but Destiny, ought not to side with either Part before Jupiter declares himself.

It is agreeable also to the Character of Wisdom to hear others speak first.

This Hyperbole, strong as it is, yet is not extravagant: The Voice is not Human, but that of a Deity; and the Comparison being taken from an Army, renders it more natural with respect to the God of War. So Polyphemus, a mere Mortal, shook the whole Isle of Sicily with his Cries.

Thetis brought up this Succour to Jupiter; that is, the Watry Element taking its natural Place, put an end to that Combat of the Elements, which is signified by the Wars of the Gods

Tully and Longinus say Homer makes Mortals of his Gods, not of the inferior ones only. Pythagoras and Plato tax him with Impiety on this account, in whose Times the Gods were reckon'd altogether as corporeal as in our Poet's Age. Bossu owns the learned Men of Antiquity, either out of Pride, Envy, or Error, have gone upon wrong Grounds in a Matter of the highest Importance, and deceiv'd almost all Mankind with deformed and dangerous Figures, instead of necessary and solid Truths.

Corporeal Deities being subject to Pains, is not inconsistent with true Theology; nay, Bossu assures us, even the Adultery of Mars and Venus contains a very moral Lesson: Tho' how to reconcile this with what I have just quoted out of him, I cannot comprehend, without the Help of some new Allegory.

If Homer held Birth-right to be Divine, 'tis plain it was on Earth only. The Titans were Rebels because they were conquered; but had they gained the Victory, they would have at least as much Right to the Sovereignty of Heaven as ever Jupiter was possessed of. The Poet was no Friend to Passive-Obedience; and the Patrons of Resistance may prove their Point most irrefragably out of his Poem.

When the Author has a mind to save any Hero in Distress, he brings in some God to steal him away in a Cloud: A Conduct imitated by almost all his Commentators; who, when their favourite Writer is in any Danger, constantly raise a Dust, that the Poet may escape in the Obscurity.

To judge rightly of comparisons, we are not to examine if the Subjects from whence they are derived, be great or little, noble or familiar, but if the Image produc'd be clear and lively.

Homer's Allegory is not to be accounted for without a deep Insight into the Egyptian and Hieroglyphical Learning: Tho' his best Translator affirms he probably used old Traditions as Embellishments of Poetry only, neither taking care to explain them to the Reader, nor perhaps diving into their mystick Meanings himself. Yet the best Critick upon him says, these Tales, unless taken allegorically, are entirely Atheistical, and contrary to Decency. A celebrated Author blames Spencer for making his Moral too obvious, a Fault which the most malignant Carper can never charge Homer with: a far greater Genius is requisite to understand his Fables, than open Morality has need of. It requires much stronger Teeth to crack the Shell, than to eat the Kernel.

At least as capable of assisting him against the Mice, as Briareus to protect him against the Gods.

Chimera was feigned to have the Head of a Lion, the Body of a Goat, and the Tail of a Dragon, because a Mountain so called had Lions at the top, Goats in the middle, and Serpents at the bottom. Tho' some of the Antients thought it no Fiction.

It becomes not a Hero to fear any thing but the Gods; the old Mouse first advises a Retreat, and then the young one complies, as Diomede did with the Counsel of Nestor.

An Ass was not always such a Fool of a Beast as he is now; for other Animals as well as Men degenerate: However, if it might be thought too low a Comparison for a Man, it is not for a Mouse.

The Gods are represented as Feasting in Æthiopia before the Scenes of War are open'd in the Iliad, and return thither at the Close. The Æthiopians are said to be Inventors of Pomps, Sacrifices, and other Honours paid to the Gods. Macrobius tells us, Jupiter means the Sun, and the Number Twelve denotes the Twelve Signs.

Homer's Iliad does not take up fifty Days; so that it was but a strange Compliment to a great General, to say he had furnished Matter for an Iliad in one Campaign or half Year.

Madam Dacier seems to have almost as much Regard for Homer as the Bible, as tho' she were willing they should stand or fall together; and with Wit equal to her Piety, she proves the Poet blameless by Texts of Scripture. Nothing could go beyond this, except the Fancy of our Countryman, who held Homer and Solomon to be the same Person.

I think it proper at my taking leave of my Reader, to acquaint him, there is a general Moral runs through this whole Work; which I will not suppose him so ignorant as not to discern. 'Tis of a quite different Nature from the above-mentioned Allegories; to which sort of Beauties may be applied with the Alteration of new into old, that celebrated Couplet.