University of Virginia Library

Verse 2. Xanthus, immortal Progeny of Jove.] The River is here said to be the Son of Jupiter, on account of its being supply'd with Waters that fall from Jupiter, that is, from Heaven. Eustathius.

Verse 14. As the scorch'd Locusts, &c.] Eustathius observes that several Countries have been much infested with Armies of Locusts; and that, to prevent their destroying the Fruits of the Earth, the Countrymen by kindling large Fires drove them from their Fields; the Locusts to avoid the intense Heat were forc'd to cast themselves into the Water. From this Observation the Poet draws his Allusion which is very much to the Honour of Achilles, since it represents the Trojans with respect to him as no more than so many Insects.

The same Commentator takes notice, that because the Island of Cyprus in particular was us'd to practise this Method with the Locusts, some Authors have conjectur'd that Homer was of that Country; but if this were a sufficient Reason for such a Supposition, he might be said to be born in almost all the Countries of the World, since he draws his Observations from the Customs of them all.

We may hence account for the innumerable Armies of these Locusts, mention'd among the Plagues of Ægypt, without having recourse to an immediate Creation, as some good Men have imagin'd, whereas the Miracle indeed consists in the wonderful manner of bringing them upon the Ægyptians: I have often observ'd with Pleasure the Similitude which many of Homer's Expressions bear with the holy Scriptures, and that the oldest Writer in the World except Moses often speaks in the Idiom of Moses: Thus as the Locusts in Exodus are said to be driven into the Seas, so in Homer they are forc'd into a River.

Verse 30. So the huge Dolphin, &c.] It is observable with what Justness the Author diversifies his Comparisons, according to the different Scenes and Elements he is engag'd in: Achilles has been hitherto on the Land, and compar'd to Land Animals, a Lyon, &c. Now he is in the Water, the Poet derives his Images from thence, and likens him to a Dolphin. Eustathius.

Verse 34. Now tir'd with Slaughter.] This is admirably well suited to the Character of Achilles, his Rage bears him headlong on the Enemy, he kills all that oppose him, and stops not till Nature itself could not keep pace with his Anger; he had determin'd to reserve twelve noble Youths to sacrifice them to the Manes of Patroclus, but his Resentment gives him no time to think of them, till the hurry of his Passion abates, and he is tir'd with Slaughter: Without this Circumstance, I think an Objection might naturally be rais'd, that in the time of a Pursuit Achilles gave the Enemy too much Leisure to escape, while he busy'd himself with tying these Prisoners: Tho' it is not absolutely necessary to suppose he did this with his own Hands.

Verse 35. Twelve chosen Youths.] This piece of Cruelty in Achilles has appear'd shocking to many, and indeed is what I think can only be excus'd by considering the ferocious and vindictive Spirit of this Hero. 'Tis however certain that the Cruelties exercis'd on Enemies in War were authoriz'd by the military Laws of those Times; nay Religion itself became a Sanction to them. It is not only the fierce Achilles, but the pious and religious Æneas, whose very Character is Virtue and Compassion, that reserves several young unfortunate Captives taken in Battel, to sacrifice them to the Manes of his favourite Hero.

And

And (what is very particular) the Latin Poet expresses no Disapprobation of the Action, which the Grecian does in plain terms, speaking of this in Iliad 23. V. 176.

Verse 41. The young Lycaon , &c.] Homer has a wonderful Art and Judgment in contriving such Incidents as set the characteristick Qualities of his Heroes in the highest point of Light. There is hardly any in the whole Iliad more proper to move Pity than this Circumstance of Lycaon, or to raise Terror, than this View of Achilles. It is also the finest Picture of them both imaginable: We see the different Attitude of their Persons, and the different Passions which appear'd in their Countenances: At first Achilles stands erect, with Surprize in his Looks, at the Sight of one whom he thought it impossible to find there; while Lycaon is in the Posture of a Suppliant, with Looks that plead for Compassion; with one Hand holding the Hero's Lance, and his Knee with the other: Afterwards, when at his Death he lets go the Spear and places himself on his Knees, with his Arms extended, to receive the mortal Wound; how lively and how strongly is this painted? I believe every one perceives the Beauty of this Passage, and allows that Poetry (at least in Homer) is truly a speaking Picture.

Verse 84, &c. The Speeches of Lycaon and Achilles .]

It is impossible for any thing to be better imagin'd than these two Speeches; that of Lycaon is moving and compassionate, that of Achilles haughty and dreadful; the one pleads with the utmost Tenderness, the other denies with the utmost Sternness: One would think it impossible to amass so many moving Arguments in so few Words as those of Lycaon: He forgets no Circumstance to soften his Enemy's Anger, he flatters the Memory of Patroclus, is afraid of being thought too nearly related to Hector, and would willingly put himself upon him as a Suppliant, and consequently as an inviolable person: But Achilles is immoveable, his Resentment makes him deaf to Entreaties, and it must be remember'd that Anger, not Mercy, is his Character.

I must confess I could have wish'd Achilles had spared him: There are so many Circumstances that speak in his Favour, that he deserv'd his Life, had he not ask'd it in Terms a little too abject.

There is an Air of Greatness in the Conclusion of the Speech of Achilles, which strikes me very much: He speaks very unconcernedly of his own Death, and upbraids his Enemy for asking Life so earnestly, a Life that was of so much less Importance than his own.

Verse 122.

This is not spoken at random, but with an Air of Superiority; when Achilles says he shall fall by an Arrow, a Dart or a Spear, he insinuates that no Man will have the Courage to approach him in a close Fight, or engage him Hand to Hand. Eustathius.

Verse 147. Your living Coursers glut his Gulphs in vain.] It was an ancient Custom to cast living Horses into the Sea, and into Rivers, to honour, as it were, by these Victims, the Rapidity of their Streams. This Practice continued a long time, and History supplies us with Examples of it: Aurelius Victor says of Pompey the younger, Cùm mari feliciter uteretur, Neptuni se filium confessus est, eumque bobus auratis & equo placavit. He offer'd Oxen in Sacrifice, and threw a living Horse into the Sea, as appears from Dion; which is perfectly conformable to this of Homer. Eustath. Dacier.

Verse 153. With Fury swells the violated Flood.] The Poet has been preparing us for the Episode of the River Xanthus ever since the Beginning of the last Book; and here he gives us an account why the River wars upon Achilles: It is not only because he is a River of Troas, but, as Eustathius remarks, because it is in defence of a Man that was descended from a Brother-River God: He was angry too with Achilles on another account, because he had choak'd up his Current with the Bodies of his Countreymen, the Trojans.

Verse 172. From rich Pæonia's—&c.] In the Catalogue Pyræchmes is said to be Commander of the Pæonians, where they are describ'd as Bow-Men; but here they are said to be arm'd with Spears, and to have Asteropæus for their General. Eustathius tells us, some Criticks asserted that this Line in the Cat. V. 355.

followed

but I see no reason for such an Assertion. Homer has expressly told us in this Speech that it was but ten Days since he came to the Aid of Troy; he might be made General of the Pæonians upon the Death of Pyræchmes, who was kill'd in the sixteenth Book. Why also might not the Pæonians, as well as Teucer, excel in the Management both of the Bow and the Spear?

Verse 189.

]

It was impossible for the Poet to give us a greater Idea of the Strength of Achilles than he has by this Circumstance: His Spear peirc'd so deep into the Ground, that another Hero of great Strength could not disengage it by repeated Efforts; but immediately after, Achilles draws it with the utmost Ease: How prodigious was the Force of that Arm that could drive at one throw a Spear half way into the Earth, and then with a touch release it?

Verse 264. Now bursting on his Head, &c.] There is a great Beauty in the Versification of this whole Passage in Homer: Some of the Verses run hoarse, full, and sonorous, like the Torrent they describe; others by their broken Cadences, and sudden Stops, image the Difficulty, Labour, and Interruption of the Hero's March against it. The fall of the Elm, the tearing up of the Bank, the rushing of the Branches in the Water, are all put into such Words, that almost every Letter corresponds in its Sound, and echoes to the Sense of each particular.

Verse 275. Bridg'd the rough Flood across—] If we had no other account of the River Xanthus but this, it were alone sufficient to shew that the Current could not be very wide; for the Poet here says that the Elm stretch'd from Bank to Bank, and as it were made a Bridge over it: The Suddenness of this Inundation perfectly well agrees with a narrow River.

Verse 277. Leap'd from the Chanel.] Eustathius recites a Criticism on this Verse, in the Original the Word Λιμνη signifies Stagnum, Palus, a standing-Water; now this is certainly contrary to the Idea of a River, which always implies a Current: To solve this, says that Author, some have suppos'd that the Tree which lay a-cross the River stopp'd the flow of the Waters, and forc'd them to spread as it were into a Pool. Others, dissatisfy'd with this Solution, think that a Mistake is crept into the Text, and that instead of εκ Λιμνης, should be inserted εκ δινης. But I do not see the Necessity of having recourse to either of these Solutions; for why may not the Word Λιμην signify here the Chanel of the River, as it evidently does in the 317th Verse? And nothing being more common than to substitute a part for the whole, why may not the Chanel be suppos'd to imply the whole River?

Verse 290. As when a Peasant to his Garden brings, &c.] This changing of the Character is very beautiful: No Poet ever knew, like Homer, to pass from the vehement and the nervous, to the gentle and the agreeable; such Transitions, when properly made, give a singular Pleasure, as when in Musick a Master passes from the rough to the tender. Demetrius Phalereus, who only praises this Comparison for its Clearness, has not sufficiently recommended its Beauty and Value. Virgil has transfer'd it into his first Book of the Georgicks. V. 106.

Verse 321. Oh had I dy'd in Fields of Battel warm! &c.] Nothing is more agreeable than this Wish to the heroick Character of Achilles: Glory is his prevailing Passion; he grieves not that he must die, but that he should die unlike a Man of Honour. Virgil has made use of the same Thought in the same Circumstance, where Æneas is in danger of being drowned, Æn. 1. V. 98.

Lucan, in the fifth Book of his Pharsalia, representing Cæsar in the same Circumstance, has (I think) yet farther the Character of Ambition, and a boundless Thirst of Glory, in his Hero; when, after he has repin'd in the same manner with Achilles, he acquiesces at last in the Reflection of the Glory he had already acquired,

And only wishes that his obscure Fate might be conceal'd, in the view that all the World might still fear and expect him.

Verse 406. While Vulcan breath'd the fiery Blast around.] It is in the Original, V. 355.

The Epithet given to Vulcan in this Verse (as well as in the 367th) Ηφαιστοιο πολυφρονος, has no sort of Allusion to the Action describ'd: For what has his Wisdom or Knowledge to do with burning up the River Xanthus? This is usual in our Author, and much exclaim'd against by his modern Antagonists, whom Mr. Boileau very well answers. “It is not so strange in Homer to give these Epithets to Persons upon occasions which can have no reference to them; the same is frequent in modern Languages, in which we call a Man by the Name of Saint, when we speak of any Action of his that has not the least regard to his Sanctity: As when we say, for example, that St. Paul held the Garments of those who stoned St. Stephen.

Verse 425. As when the Flames beneath a Caldron rise.] It is impossible to render literally such Passages with any tolerable Beauty. These Ideas can never be made to shine in English, some Particularities cannot be preserv'd; but the Greek Language gives them Lustre, the Words are noble and musical,

All therefore that can be expected from a Translator is to preserve the Meaning of the Simile, and embellish it with some Words of Affinity that carry nothing low in the Sense or Sound.

Verse 447. And soft re-murmur in their native bed.] Here ends the Episode of the River-Fight; and I must here lay before the Reader my Thoughts upon the whole of it: Which appears to be in part an Allegory, and in part a true History. Nothing can give a better Idea of Homer's manner of enlivening his inanimate Machines, and of making the plainest and simplest Incidents noble and poetical, than to consider the whole Passage in the common historical Sense, which I suppose to be no more than this. There happen'd a great Overflow of the River Xanthus during the Seige, which very much incommoded the Assailants: This gave occasion for the Fiction of an Engagement between Achilles and the River-God: Xanthus calling Simois to assist him, implies that these two neighbouring Rivers join'd in the Inundation: Pallas and Neptune relieve Achilles; that is, Pallas, or the Wisdom of Achilles, found some means to divert the Waters, and turn them into the Sea; wherefore Neptune, the God of it, is feign'd to assist him. Jupiter and Juno (by which are understood the aerial Regions) consent to aid Achilles; this may signify, that after this great Flood their happen'd a warm, dry, windy Season, which asswaged the Waters, and dried the Ground: And what makes this in a manner plain, is, that Juno (which signifies the Air) promises to send the North and West Winds to distress the River. Xanthus being consum'd by Vulcan, that is dried up with Heat, prays to Juno to relieve him: What is this, but that the Drought having almost drunk up his Streams, he has recourse to the Air for Rains to resupply his Current? Or perhaps the whole may signify no more, than that Achilles being on the farther side of the River, plung'd himself in to pursue the Enemy; that in this Adventure he run the risk of being drown'd; that to save himself he laid hold on a fallen Tree, which serv'd to keep him afloat; that he was still carried down the Stream to the Place where was the Confluence of the two Rivers, which is express'd by the one calling the other to his Aid; and that when he came nearer the Sea [Neptune] he found means by his Prudence (Pallas) to save himself from his Danger.

If the Reader still should think the Fiction of Rivers speaking and fighting is too bold, the Objection will vanish by considering how much the Heathen Mythology authorizes the Representation of Rivers as Persons: Nay even in old Historians nothing is more common than Stories of Rapes committed by River-Gods: And the Fiction was no way unpresidented, after one of the same nature so well known, as the Engagement between Hercules and the River Achelous.

Verse 455. Jove as his Sport, the dreadful Scene descries, And views contending Gods with careless Eyes.] I was at a loss for the reason why Jupiter is said to smile at the Discord of the Gods, till I found it in Eustathius; Jupiter, says he, who is the Lord of Nature, is well pleased with the War of the Gods, that is of Earth, Sea, and Air, &c. because the Harmony of all Beings arises from that Discord: Thus Earth is opposite to Water, Air to Earth, and Water to them all; and yet from this Opposition arises that discordant Concord by which all Nature subsists. Thus Heat and Cold, moist and dry, are in a continual War, yet upon this depends the Fertility of the Earth, and the Beauty of the Creation. So that Jupiter who according to the Greeks is the Soul of all, may well be said to smile at this Contention.

Verse 456. The Power of Battels, &c.] The Combate of Mars and Pallas is plainly allegorical: Justice and Wisdom demanded that an end should be put to this terrible War: the God of War opposes this, but is worsted. Eustathius says that this holds forth the Opposition of Rage and Wisdom; and no sooner has our Reason subdued one Temptation, but another succeeds to reinforce it, thus Venus succours Mars. The Poet seems farther to insinuate, that Reason when it resists a Temptation vigorously, easily overcomes it: So it is with the utmost Facility that Pallas conquers both Mars and Venus. He adds, that Pallas retreated from Mars in order to conquer him; this shews us that the best way to subdue a Temptation is to retreat from it.

Verse 469. Then heav'd the Goddess in her mighty Hand A Stone, &c.] The Poet has describ'd many of his Heroes in former parts of his Poem, as throwing Stones of enormous Bulk and Weight; but here he rises in his Image: He is describing a Goddess, and has found a way to make that Action excel all human Strength, and be equal to a Deity.

Virgil has imitated this Passage in his twelfth Book, and apply'd it to Turnus; but I can't help thinking that the action in a Mortal is somewhat extravagantly imagined: What principally renders it so, is an Addition of two Lines to this Simile which he borrows from another part of Homer, only with this difference, that whereas Homer says no two Men could raise such a Stone, Virgil extends it to twelve.

(There is a Beauty in the Repetition of Saxum ingens, in the second Line; it makes us dwell upon the Image, and gives us Leisure to consider the Vastness of the Stone:) The other two Lines are as follow,

May I be allowed to think, they are not so well introduced in Virgil? For it is just after Turnus is describ'd as weaken'd and oppress'd with his Fears and ill Omens; it exceeds Probability; and Turnus, methinks, looks more like a Knight-Errant in a Romance, than an Hero in an Epick Poem.

Verse 508. The God of Ocean, and the God of Light.] The Interview between Neptune and Apollo is very judiciously in this place enlarged upon by our Author. The Poem now draws to a Conclusion, the Trojans are to be punish'd for their Perjury and Violence: Homer accordingly with a poetical Justice sums up the Evidence against them, and represents the very Founder of Troy as an injurious person. There have been several References to this Story since the Beginning of the Poem, but he forbore to give it at large till near the end of it; that it might be fresh upon the Memory, and shew, the Trojans deserve the Punishment they are about to suffer.

Eustathius gives the reason why Apollo assists the Trojans, tho' he had been equally with Neptune affronted by Laomedon: This proceeded from the Honours which Apollo receiv'd from the Posterity of Laomedon; Troy paid him no less Worship than Cilla, or Tenedos; and by these means won him over to a Forgiveness: But Neptune still was slighted, and consequently continued an Enemy to the whole Race.

The same Author gives us various Opinions why Neptune is said to have built the Trojan Wall, and to have been defrauded of his Wages: Some say that Laomedon sacrilegiously took away the Treasures out of the Temples of Apollo and Neptune, to carry on the Fortifications: From whence it was fabled that Neptune and Apollo built the Walls. Others will have it, that two of the Workmen dedicated their Wages to Apollo and Neptune; and that Laomedon detained them: So that he might in some sense be said to defraud the Deities themselves, by with-holding what was dedicated to their Temples.

The reason why Apollo is said to have kept the Herds of Laomedon is not so clear: Eustathius observes that all Plagues first seize upon the four-footed Creation, and are suppos'd to arise from this Deity: Thus Apollo in the first Book sends the Plague into the Grecian Army: The Ancients therefore made him to preside over Cattel, that by preserving them from the Plague, Mankind might be safe from infectious Diseases. Others tell us, that this Employment is ascrib'd to Apollo, because he signifies the Sun: Now the Sun cloaths the Pastures with Grass and Herbs: So that Apollo may be said himself to feed the Cattel, by supplying them with Food. Upon either of these accounts Laomedon may be said to be ungrateful to that Deity, for raising no Temple to his Honour.

It is observable that Homer in this Story ascribes the building of the Wall to Neptune only: I should conjecture the reason might be, that Troy being a Sea-port Town, the chief Strength of it depended upon its Situation, so that the Sea was in a manner a Wall to it: Upon this account Neptune may not improbably be said to have built the Wall.

Verse 537. For what is Man? &c.] The Poet is very happy in interspersing his Poem with moral Sentences; in this place he steals away his Reader from War and Horror, and gives him a beautiful Admonition of his own Frailty. “Shall I (says Apollo) contend with thee for the sake of Man? Man, who is no more than a Leaf of a Tree, now green and flourishing, but soon wither'd away and gone?” The Son of Sirach has an Expression which very much resembles this, Ecclus. xiv. 18. As the green Leaves upon a thick Tree some fall, and some grow, so is the Generation of Flesh and Blood, one cometh to an end, and one is born.

Verse 544. And from the Senior God submiss retires.] Two things hinder Homer from making Neptune and Apollo fight. First, because having already describ'd the Fight between Vulcan and Xanthus, he has nothing farther to say here, for it is the same Conflict between Humidity and Dryness. Secondly, Apollo being the same with Destiny, and the Ruin of the Trojans being concluded upon and decided, that God can no longer defer it. Dacier.

Verse 557.

&c.] The Words in the Original are, Tho' Jupiter has made you a Lyon to Women. The meaning of this is, that Diana was terrible to that Sex, as being the same with the Moon, and bringing on the Pangs of Child-birth: Or else, that the Ancients attributed all sudden Deaths of Women to the Darts of Diana, as of Men to those of Apollo: Which Opinion is frequently alluded to in Homer. Eustathius.

Verse 567. She said, and seiz'd her Wrists, &c.] I must confess I am at a loss how to justify Homer in every point of these Combats of the Gods: When Diana and Juno are to fight, Juno calls her an impudent Bitch, κυον αδδεες: When they fight, she boxes her soundly, and sends her crying and trembling to Heaven: As soon as she comes thither Jupiter falls a laughing at her: Indeed the rest of the Deities seem to be in a merry Vein during all the Action: Pallas beats Mars, and laughs at him, Jupiter sees them in the same merry mood: Juno when she had cuff'd Diana is not more serious: In short, unless there be some Depths that I am not able to fathom, Homer never better deserv'd than in this place the Censure past upon him by the Ancients, that as he rais'd the Characters of his Men up to Gods, so he sunk those of Gods down to Men.

Yet I think it but reasonable to conclude, from the very Absurdity of all this, supposing it had no hidden Meaning or Allegory, that there must therefore certainly be some. Nor do I think it any Inference to the contrary, that it is too obscure for us to find out: The Remoteness of our Times must necessarily darken yet more and more such Things as were Mysteries at first. Not that it is at all impossible, notwithstanding their present Darkness, but they might then have been very obvious; as it is certain Allegories ought to be disguis'd, but not obscur'd: An Allegory should be like a Veil over a beautiful Face, so fine and transparent, as to shew the very Charms it covers.

Verse 580. Whom Hermes viewing, thus declines the War.] It is impossible that Mercury should encounter Latona: Such a Fiction would be unnatural, he being a Planet, and she representing the Night; for the Planets owe all their Lustre to the Shades of the Night, and then only become visible to the World. Eustathius.

Verse 608.

] This Passage may be explain'd two ways, each very remarkable. First, by taking this Fire for a real Fire, sent from Heaven to punish a criminal City, of which we have Example in holy Writ. Hence we find that Homer had a Notion of this great Truth, that God sometimes exerts his Judgments on whole Cities in this signal and terrible manner. Or if we take it in the other sense, simply as a Fire thrown into a Town by the Enemies who assault it, (and only express'd thus by the Author in the same manner as Jeremy makes the City of Jerusalem say, when the Chaldæans burnt the Temple, The Lord from above hath sent Fire into my Bones. Lament. i. 13.) Yet still thus much will appear understood by Homer, that the Fire which is cast into a City comes not properly speaking from Men, but from God who delivers it up to their Fury. Dacier.

Verse 614. High on a Turret hoary Priam , &c.] The Poet still raises the Idea of the Courage and Strength of his Hero, by making Priam in a Terror that he should enter the Town with the routed Troops: For if he had not surpass'd all Mortals, what could have been more desireable for an Enemy, than to have let him in, and then destroy'd him?

Here again there was need of another Machine to hinder him from entring the City; for Achilles being vastly speedier than those he pursued, he must necessarily overtake some of them, and the narrow Gates could not let in a body of Troops without his mingling with the hindmost. The Story of Agenor is therefore admirably contriv'd, and Apollo, (who was to take care that the fatal Decrees should be punctually executed) interposes both to save Agenor and Troy; for Achilles might have kill'd Agenor, and still enter'd with the Troops, if Apollo had not diverted him by the Pursuit of that Phantom. Agenor oppos'd himself to Achilles only because he could not do better; for he sees himself reduc'd to a Dilemma, either ingloriously to perish among the Fugitives, or hide himself in the Forest; both which were equally unsafe: Therefore he is purposely inspir'd with a generous Resolution to try to save his Countreymen, and as the Reward of that Service, is at last sav'd himself.

Verse 651. What shall I fly? &c.] This is a very beautiful Soliloquy of Agenor, such a one as would naturally arise in the Soul of a brave Man, going upon a desperate Enterprise: He weighs everything in the balance of Reason; he sets before himself the Baseness of Flight, and the Courage of his Enemy, till at last the thirst of Glory preponderates all other Considerations. From the Conclusion of this Speech it is evident, that the Story of Achilles his being invulnerable except in the Heel, is an Invention of latter Ages; for had he been so, there had been nothing wonderful in his Character. Eustathius.

Verse 705. Meanwhile the God, to cover their Escape, &c.] The Poet makes a double use of this Fiction of Apollo's deceiving Achilles in the Shape of Agenor; by these means he draws him from the Pursuit, and gives the Trojans time to enter the City, and at the same time brings Agenor handsomely off from the Combat. The Moral of this Fable is, that Destiny would not yet suffer Troy to fall.

Eustathius fancies that the occasion of the Fiction might be this: Agenor fled from Achilles to the Banks of Xanthus, and might there conceal himself from the Pursuer behind some Covert that grew on the Shores; this perhaps might be the whole of the Story. So plain a Narration would have pass'd in the Mouth of an Historian, but the Poet dresses it in Fiction, and tells us that Apollo (or Destiny) conceal'd him in a Cloud from the sight of his Enemy.

The same Author farther observes, that Achilles by an unseasonable peice of Vain-glory, in pursuing a single Enemy gives time to a whole Army to escape; he neither kills Agenor, nor overtakes the Trojans.