Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

354

Continuation of an Anfwer to a Differtation to prove that Troy was not taken by the Greeks.

3dly, THE popular tradition here to worship. Hence, before Homer,

referred to, 'tis the ftory

of Caftor and Pollux. They are faid to have been the fons of Læda, and brothers of Helen; the one mortal, the other immortal. At the death of Caftor, who was mortal, Pollux obtained leave of his father Jupiter, to fhare with him his immortality. "This tory," fays our author, "is thought to be an aftronomical allegory: and, if Caftor and Pollux were allegorical perfonages, what was Helen? If He Jen was alfo an allegorical perfon, what occafioned the Trojan war? But, I would again afk, may not the hiftory of Caftor and Pollux be partly allegorical, partly real? The adventures of Hercules, of Cadmus, of Thefeus, and of most of the gods and he roes of Greece appear to be compofitions of this kind. The early hiftory of almost every nation contains many fimilar characters and ftories. But, where it is poffible to diftinguifh between them, we ought to beware of confounding the allegorical with the real. The brothers of Helen may have been adventurers in the Argo; 'but when we are told of their alternate life and death, the confequence of their strong fraternal affection, we will naturally think of the meteors which bear their names. But neither the beauty nor virtue of Helen have raifed her to the rank of a divinity, or given her a place among the ftars. She occupies an humbler fphere, and figures only in real hiftory. At the time of the Trojan war, men were no longer fo lucky as their ancestors had been, in meeting new deities by every mountain, grove, or ftream. They began alfo to be lefs difpofed to deify their friends and benefactors. Yet they still continued to commemorate the actions, and to fing the praifes of thofe heroes, gods, and demi-gods, whom their ancestors had taught them

[ocr errors]

we find fcarce any thing but allegory and fable; ftories which we know not when to believe, and when to reject as incredible. But with Homer g new æra feems to commence. If he gives us tales and allegories, these are the inventions of other times. When men had united in fociety, had invented fome of the ufeful arts, and had acquired fome knowledge of nature, that wonder, fear, and ignorance, which had been fo active in creating divinitics, ceafed to operate with the fame force on their minds. Hence we find in Homer a ferics of probable and confiftent events; his theology and mythology being the invention of an earlier age. Thus the ftory of Caltor and Pollux, when carefully exa mined, affords no evidence against the authority of Homer. With regard to the Argonautic expedition, Homer's chronology differs from that which has been obferved by fome other writers; but he is, at least, of equal authority with them, and confiftent with

himself.

Herodotus, in the courfe of his travels, made every poffible inquiry, preparatory to the writing of his bif tory. He feems to have afked the Egyptian priefts concerning Helen ; not from a difbelief of Homer's relation, but in order to obtain all poffible information concerning the Trojan war. And this was evidently his duty as an hiftorian. But it will be readily acknowledged, that if Herodotus had not been mifled by the fond venera tion which the Greeks entertained for the learning and antiquity of the Egyptians, he must have regarded the authority of Homer as far preferable to that of an Egyptian prieft, in regard to the affairs of Greece. At the time when Thucydides wrote, the office of poetry, in Greece, was no longer what it had originally been, We find that,

among

among all nations to whofe hiftory we have accefs, poetry was the firft fpecies of literary compofition. The earlieft ufes of poetry have been to perpetuate the glory of the warrior, and to diffufe the wifdom of the fage. The poet feels not then the ncceflity of finging fictitious perfons and events. His page is then facred to truth: or, if he record fictions, thefe are only the dreams of fuperftition and enthufiaẩm; which with him and his cotemporaries bear the character of folemn truths. But ether fpecies of compofition arife, and the province of poetry becomes gradually more limited. The orator, the legiflator, and the hiftorian, learn to exprefs themfelves in profe. Fiction and fable are now affigned to the poet and with thefe he fill labours to attract the attention, and to charm the hearts of mankind. Thucydides, therefore, writing at a period when the proper province of poetry was held to be fiction, naturally expreffes himfelf with caution, when he makes ufe of poetical authority. He knew that Homer's veracity was not generally queftioned; but he thought it became him, as an hiftorian and a philofopher, to be cautious in referring to the authotity of a poet; not reflecting that poetry is, at a certain period, the genuine language of hiftory, Paufanias, obferving with what difrefpect Herodotus and Thucydides had treated Homer's veracity, naturally takes no tice of that, as the Effayift mentions, when he himself profeffes to regard Homer as worthy of credit. Neither, therefore, the ftory of Caftor and Pollux, nor the fentiments of Herodotus, Thucydides, and Paufanias, of which our author takes advantage, are fuch as to weaken or destroy the authority of Homer's relation.

Having now, I hope, obviated thofe arguments against the credit of the great poet which the author of the differtation has adduced, from the circumftances of the age which Homer

celebrates, from the general character of the Greeks, and from the fentiments which their great hiftorians feem to have entertained concerning Homer's veracity; I fhall next proceed to confider the probability and confiftency of the feveral parts of the poet's relation, against which our author cavils.

He acknowledges himfelf to have derived confiderable affiftance, in his attack on Homer, from Dio Chryfoftomus, a Greek fophift, who lived in the time of Trajan, and employed himfelf, among other ftudies, both in illuftrating Homer's beauties as a poet, and in contefting his authority as an hiftorian. From Dio, indeed, in his reafonings on the inconfiftency of Homer's ftory, he draws not only argu ments, but alfo facts; though Dio quotes, in fupport of those facts, no writer prior to the blind Ionian bard, or cotemporary with him. This fophift, like the reft of the profeffion, wandered through Greece and Afia, maintaining paradoxes, and delivering lectures to all who would praife and pay him. Arriving, in the courfe of his peregrinations, at a town in Phrygia, fituated nearly where ancient Troy had food; he very ingeniously contrived to recommend himfelf to the inhabitants of that town, by maintaining, that Troy had never been taken or deftroyed by the Greeks. He knew that truth was not here fo requifite as plaufibility, and ingenuity, and wit. The fophifts and rhetoricians of his age had often declaimed upon more ridiculous topics. It was not fo much their province to tell and to defend the truth, as to fay what could be faid againft it.

Such is the character of him who has furnished the author of the differ tation with thofe weapons which he brandifhes fo furioufly against Homer.

Paris, no doubt, muft have been extremely nice in his tafte for beauty, who could not be fatisfied without traverfing the Ionian fea for a miftrefs.

But

But if we will not allow Venus to have directed his choice, and affifted him in gaining Helen; may we not conjecture that, in fome piratical expedition, making an inroad on the coaft of Sparta, he was fo fortunate as to carry off this ineftimable prize? The fituation of Troy naturally caufed its inhabitants to turn their attention to navigation. In the early hiftory of navigation, we find its first object to have been, among all nations, piracy, rather than commerce. As favage tribes feldom have long peaceful intercourfe with each other, we may believe, that their natural ferocity and the love of plunder will actuate them, as well when they traverse the fea as when they range over the earth. We find that Agamemnon and Achilles took care alfo to get poffeffion of fome lovely captives for their amufement, foon after their arrival in Phrygia. Had Homer told us a long ftory of Paris travelling to a Grecian court as a competitor with many other fuitors for the affections of the charming Helen while yet a maid, we might with good reason fufpect the truth of his narration; because such an adventure would appear inconfiftent with the manners of the age. But when we are informed that he ftole her off, though married to a Grecian prince, we immediately recognize thofe favage times in which the law of nations is unknown or unobferved. Paris might fail to Greece, with a defign to revenge the injuries which his nation and family had fuffered from the Grecian Hercules. The remembrance of his aunt Hefioné, would be a fufficient inducement to him to carry off, by fraud or force, the queen of Mene laus, even though her beauty had been lefs alluring. When the author of the differtation urges the impoffibility of Paris carrying off Helen, together with her attendants and wealth, from the inland town of Lacedemon, he feems to think rather of fome gallant Irishman eloping with an English hei

refs, than of the manners, circumftances, and adventures of the heroic age of Greece.

It is by no means fuprifing that the Trojans refufed to deliver Helen to the Greeks. The mutual hoftilities which appear to have long prevailed be tween Greece and Afia, the influence of Paris and Priam, the difpofition of Helen, and the ferocity of a barbarous age, are fufficient to account for this. As life is fhort and uncertain, and all the children of men muft die at one period or another; I must confefs, that I can perceive no reafon to fufpect Homer of falfehood, when he tells us, that Caftor and Pollux had died be tween the time of Helen's elopement with Paris, and the expedition of the Greeks to Troy. But our author feems to think, that it was exceeding. ly selfish and abfurd in those heroes to depart from life at a time when their fifter was among a ftrange people, and in the embraces of a ravisher.

Ten years elapfed before the Greeks failed for Afia Minor to revenge the injuries of Menelaus, and to regain the lovely Helen. Many circumstan. ces, unknown to us, may have contributed to retain them fo long from that expedition. Perhaps the unfor tunate husband could not, at first, engage his fubjects and neighbours to c fpoufe his caufe. To build a thousand fhips would be, to a people whom we cannot fuppofe to have been very dexterous or ingenious fhip-carpenters, a work of no inconfiderable labour or time. An army compofed of the fubjects of many different princes, and of the inhabitants of feveral different iflands and divifions of the Grecian continent, could scarcely be affembled all at once. There appears, therefore, no fhocking improbability in their fuf fering the amorous Paris to enjoy his miftrefs undisturbed for the space of ten years.

Helen appears to have been at leaft forty, when Troy was taken; and the author of the differtation is

seriously

feriously of opinion, that whatever a lady may have been at fifteen, at forty the can be no longer beautiful. Nay, he would even perfuade us, that this fair Grecian's beauty muft have been "on the wane," as he elegantly expreffes himself, so early as at the beginning of the Trojan war. Alas! is it impoffible for good nature, good hours, and the arms of the man the loves, to preferve a lady's beauty from decay till the age of forty? Poor beauty! what a fading flower! But as the charms of many a maid have been immortalized in fong, why may we not fuppofe Homer to have preferved the beauty of Helen a few years longer than it would otherwife have lafted? Or, though the virgin-bloom of fifteen may be different from the matron beauty of forty, yet we may reafonably allow one of the most beautiful women whom the world has ever seen to have been capable, even as the age of forty, to move the admiration of the aged Priam and his venerable counfellors. "But can the fiege of Troy have lafted ten years?" Yes, ten years; for, as Rome rofe more beautiful and better fortified after being destroyed by the Gauls; as London acquired greater regularity, magnificence, and elegance in its buildings, in confequence of the great fire of 1666; so Troy, after be ing levelled with the ground by Hercules, was rebuilt, and fortified in fuch a manner as to fecure its inhabitants almost from every danger.

And, when the Trojans were fortified in fuch a manner, were fo numerous and fo brave, can we be furprifed that they were able to withItand all the valour and military fkill of the Greeks for ten years; when we confider, befides, that the Greeks had wafted their strength by attacking the neighbouring nations, and were weakened by difcord and fedition? But why should we doubt that the Greeks at length prevailed? many of their heroes, indeed, were flain before Troy. But when Epaminondas, and when

357

Wolfe fell, their armies were victorious. Virgil, who flourished at a time when the numbers and elevated language of poetry were infufficient to charm mankind, without the aid of fiction, may, indeed, be fuppofed to have mifreprefented the circumstances of the taking of Troy; but shall we refufe to believe Homer, who wrote in an age when the poet and the hiftorian were one?" Did Ulyffes, Agamem"non, and Diomedes, conquer only to "be exiled, or to be dethroned and "murdered? Surely their toils and their "victories merited a better reward." But after being fo long abfent from their country and dominions, and after lofing their braveft foldiers, and moft faithful fubjects before Troy, were not their fortunes fuch as might be naturally expected? Did the European monarchs, whofe piety moved them to join the Crufades, find, at their return from the East, either their wealth increased, or their power tendered more abfolute ? Such of the Trojans as could make their escape, might be expected to flec the avenging Greeks, and their ruined country. Antenor and Æneas, with a few followers, arrived in Italy. Small were their firft eftablishments there; but they gradually 1ofe to wealth and power.

I flatter myself that all thofe particulars in Homer's ftory, which I have attempted to vindicate against the ca vils of the author of the differtation, now appear probable and confiftent. If this is accomplished, we can no longer have any difficulty to agree with Homer, notwithstanding all that Chryftc mus and his worthy friend have advanced, that the wife of Menelaus was carried off by Paris, and that Troy was taken by the Greeks.

Perhaps, to the learned and fenfible reader, this fubject may appear unwor thy of fuch laborious difcuffion. It would, indeed, be difficult to prove the dignity or importance of the fubject. Notwithstanding all our toils

and

358 Certificate of the Services of St Anthony in a Portuguese Regiment.

and inquiries, obfcurity and mystery muft ever pervade that early period of Grecian hiftory. But wherever fophiftry erects her ftandard, let truth and reafon boldly advance to level it with the ground. As we would hafte to expel an hoftile force from the barreneft fpot in the British dominions, fo let the lovers of literature and the friends of truth, firmly refift-even the fmallest encroachments of fcepticifin and fophiftry. However feeble

and inaccurate the arguments which
I have adduced, yet I cannot avoid
thinking, that, when viewed in com-
parifon with thofe of the Differtator,
they carry me plaufibility. I shall
rejoice, however, if fome perfon, ca-
pable of more acute reafoning, and
more profound refearch, fhall bravely
accomplish what even I have ventu
tured to attempt.
Edinburgh.

RHENO.

Certificate of the Services of Saint Anthony in a Portuguese Regiment.
By W. Cottigan, Efq*.

IN

N all Catholic countries there is not a kingdom, a province, a town, a parish, nor even an individual, efpecially in Spain and this country (Portugal), who has not cach his tutelar Saint, Angel, or Guardian, to whom he recommends himself and his concerns. In like manner, there is not a regiment which has not long ago put itself under the protection of fome particular faint, as their devotion or attachments dictate to them. For example, one regiment, about a hundred years ago, took St Anthony of Lisbon for its patron and protector, who, foon after, received a captain's commifion in the fame, and has received the appointments regularly ever fince. Thefe are employed, as well as two-pence per month, paid by every individual of the regiment, in faying a ftated number of maffes for the fouls of all those of it who die-in celebrating the festival of the Saint-in fupporting the chaplains-adorning the chapel, and defraying other incidental charges, under the infpection of an officer the regiment appoints for that purpofe. This poft of Superintendent for St Anthony, the Major, who is a noble (fidalgo) and a blockhead, has occupied with great zeal and devotion for fome years paft, and has never

fince ceafed teafing the court with memorials and certificates of fervices in favour of St Anthony, that he might be promoted to the rank of Aggregate Major in the regiment. The late minifter always laughed heartily at fuch memorials, and threw them among his wafte paper, decla ring, it was only another method of robbing the King of fo much more money per month, to be employed in fupporting idle priefts, proceffions, and fuperftitions. But the prefent pious Queen and her minifters have taken the affair in a ferious light, and have promoted St Anthony for the encou ragement of fuperftition.

The Colonel of the regiment fhewed us a bundle of papers folded together, which, when he had untied and fpread out, consisted of above Ef ty certificates, figned by different per fons of the regiment. Thefe certifi cates were stitched together, like a pamphlet in folio, and were stuffed with narratives of miracles which St Anthony had performed at the requefts of different perfons-He had restored a very favourite lap-dog to the Major's lady, which had been flolen from her, and which the had despaired of ever feeing again, till her Father Director defired her to imper

Sketches of Society and Manners in Portugal.

[ocr errors]
« ZurückWeiter »