No Goddefs fhe commiffion'd to the field, 410 4:5 420 tration of fight with which Pallas had endued her favourite. For the Gods in their intercourfe with men are not ordinarily feen, but when they please to render themselves vifible; wherefore Venus might think herself and her fon fecure from the infolence of this daring mortal; but was in this deceived, being ignorant of that faculty, wherewith the hero was enabled to distinguish Gods as well as men. V. 419. Her fnowy hand the razing steel profan'd.] Plutarch in his Sympofiacks, I. 9. tells us, that Maximus the Rhetorician propos'd this far-fetch'd question at a banquet, On which of her hands Venus was wounded? and that Zopyrion anfwered it by afking, On which of bis legs Philip was lame? But Maximus replied, It was a different cafe For Demofthenes left no foundation to guefs at the one, whereas Homer gives a folution of the other, in saying that Diomed throwing his fpear across, wounded her wrift: fo that it was her right hand he hurt, her left being oppofite to his right. He adds another humorous reafon from Pallas's reproaching her afterwards, as having got this wound while fhe was ftroking and foliciting fome Grecian Lady, and unbuckling her zone; An action (lays this Philosopher) in which no one would make use of the left hand. VOL. II. C From From the clear vein a stream immortal flow'd, Pure V. 422. Such fream as iffues from a rounded God.] This is one of thofe paffages in Homer, which have given occafion to that famous cenfure of Tully and Longinus, That he makes Gods of bis beroes, and mortals of bis Gods. Th's, taken in a general fenfe, appeared the highest impiety to Plato and Pythagoras; one of whom has banished Homer from his commonwealth, and the other faid he was tortured in hell, for fictions of this nature. But if a due distinction be made of a difference among beings fuperior to mankind, which both the Pagans and Chriftians have allowed, the fables may be easily accounted for. Wounds inflicted on the dragon, bruifing the ferpent's head, and other fuch metaphorical images, are confecrated in holy writ, and applied to angelical and incorporeal natures. But in our Author's days they had a notion of Gods that were corporeal, to whom they afcribed bodies, though of a more fubtil kind than thofe of mortals. So in this very place he fuppofes them to have blood, but blood of a finer or fuperior nature. Notwithstanding the foregoing cenfures, Milton has not fcrupled to imitate and apply this to angels in the chriftian fyftem, when Satan is wounded by Michael in his fixth book, v, 327. Then Satan first knew pain, And writh'd him to and fro convolv’d; fo fore Not long divifible, and from the gash Aftream of nectarous humour issuing flow'd, Yet foon be beal d, for spirits that live throughout, Vital in ev'ry part, not as frail man in entrails, bead or beart, liver or reins, Cannot but by annihilating die. Ariftet. cap. 26. Art. Poet. excufes Homer for following fame and ommon opinion in his account of the Gods, tho' no way agreeable to truth. The religion of thofe times taught no other notions of the Deity, than that the Gods were beings of human forms and paffions, fo that any but a real Anthropomorphite would probably have paft among the ancient Greeks for an impious heretick: They thought their 3 Pure Emanation! uncorrupted flood; Unlike our grofs, difeas'd, terreftrial blood: 425 And their religon, which worshipped the Gods in images of human shape, was much more refined and rational than that of Egypt and other nations, who adored them in animal or monstrous forms. certainly Gods of human shape cannot justly be esteemed or described otherwise, than as a celeftial race, fuperior only to mortal men by greater abilities, and a more extenfive degree of wisdom and ftrength, fubject however to the neceffary inconveniencies confequent to corporeal beings. Cicero, in his book de Nat. Deor. urges this confequence ftrongly against the Epicureans, who though they depofed the Gods> from any power in creating or governing the world, yet maintained their existence in human forms. Non enim fentitis quàm multa vobis fufcipienda funt, fi impetraveritis ut concedamus eandem effe bominum & Deorum figuram; omnis cultus & curatio corporis erit eadam adhibenda Deo quæ adhibetur homini, ingreffus, curfus, accubatio, inclinatio, feffio, comprehenfio, ad extremum etiam fermo & oratio. Nam quod & mares Deos & foeminas effe dicitis, quid fequatur videtis. This particular of the wounding of Venus feems to be a fiction of Homer's own brain, naturally deducible from the doctrine of corporeal Gods abovementioned; and confidered as poetry, no way fhocking. Yet our Author, as if he had forefeen fome objection, has very artfully inferted a juftification of this bold ftroke, in the speech Dione foon after makes to Venus. For as it was natural to comfort her daughter, by putting her in mind that many other Deities had received as ill treatment from mortals by the permiflion of Jupiter; fo it was of great ufe to the Poet, to enumerate thofe ancient fables to the fame purpofe, which being then generally affented to, might obtain credit for his own. This fine remark belongs to Euftathius. V. 424. Unlike our grofs, difeas'd, terreftrial blood, &c.] The opinion of the incorruptibility of celeftial matter feems to have been received in the time of Homer. For he makes the imortalility of the Gods to depend upon the incorruptible nature of the nutriment by which they are fuftained; as the mortality of men to proceed. from the corruptible materials of which they are made, and by which they are nourished. We have several inftances in him from whence this may be inferred, as when Diomed queftions Glaucus, if he be a God or mortal, he adds, One who is sustained by the fruits of the earth. Lib. 6. v. 175. With tender fhrieks the Goddess fill'd the place, The field of combate is no fcene for thee: Taught by this stroke, renounce the war's alarms, And learn to tremble at the name of arms. Tydides thus. The Goddess feiz'd with dread, Confus'd, distracted, from the conflict fled. To aid her, fwift the winged Iris flew, 430 435 440 Wrapt in a mist above the warring crew. The Queen of Love with faded charms she found, Pale was her cheek, and livid look'd the wound. To Mars, who fate remote, they bent their way; 445 450 V. 449. Low at his knee fhe begg'd.] All the former English tranflators make it, he fell on her knees, an overfight orcafioned by the want of a competent knowledge in antiquities (without which no man can tolerably understand this Author.) For the custom of praying on the knees was unknown to the Greeks, and in ufe only among the Hebrews. And And fhew'd the wound by fierce Tydides giv❜n, 455 The lash refounds, the rapid chariot flies, And in a moment fcales the lofty fkies. There stopp'd the car, and there the courfers flood, 460 Before her mother Love's bright Queen appears, O'erwhelm'd with anguish and diffolv'd in tears ; And afk'd, what God had wrought this guilty deed? C Then the; This infult from no God I found, An impious mortal gave the daring wound! Behold the deed of haughty Diomed! 'Twas in the fon's defence the mother bled. 465 The war with Troy no more the Grecians wage; Dione then. Thy wrongs with patience bear, 470 V. 472. And fpare thofe griefs inferior pow'rs must share.] The word inferior is added by the tranflator, to open the diftinction Ho mer makes between the Divinity itself, which he represents impaffible, and the fubordinate celeftial beings or fpirits. |