the conduct of their wives and children: Greece weakened by her dear-earned victory, and torn by internal dissensions, saw all her thrones overturned by the return of the Heraclide. Thus we have at once a regular series of events, of which no part can be annihilated without affecting the credibility of the whole of history, and the united testimony of the ancient world. To these evidences I will only add the almost universal concur rence of the antient Authors, to whom I place references at the end of this work. We find almost every poet from Hesiod downward, mentioning this event; we find it recorded in every historian who treats of the times. Herodotus, Thucydides, Diodorus, give it their unanimous sanction. The geographers acknowledge the places mentioned to exist, and Strabo's whole book is a commentary on the poet. The philosophers and critics have never looked upon the story as fa bulous. Men of science and judgment in all ages have paid the same homage to Homer's veracity; and Alexander, by sacrificing at the tomb of Achilles, shewed in what light his tutor Aristotle had taught him to consider the Iliad. The reader, who will examine the references I make to ancient Authors, will soon convince himself of their truth; and his mind will probably suggest to him many more; but these are sufficient to establish my assertion. Therefore supposing the story false, Homer adapted it not only to the plain, but to the names, characters, and collateral history of the times; and what is more extraor dinary, to the traditions of Asia, Egypt, and different parts of the world, which traditions were discovered by Herodotus; not to men tion the prophetic spirit which he must have had to adapt himself to many collateral stories brought into light by authors who lived long after him. Nothing but acknowledging the truth can extricate us from this perplexed labyrinth of absurdity; nothing more remains for me to prove.' In the next article, we shall have occasion to speak more minutely on a few of the points of this strongly contested argument. ART. XIII. Some Observations upon the Vindication of Homer, E.. written by J. B. S. Morritt, Esq. By Jacob Bryant. 8vo. pp. 96. 4s. sewed. Payne. 1799. T HE veteran champion of literature here defies his youthful competitor, and, with an assurance of victory, seems to address him in the words of Æneas to Lausus ; Quo moriture ruis? majoraque viribus audes ?" En. X. 811. A passage in Justin is the first subject of dispute. Mr. B. translates" 8δεν Έλλησι προ των ολυμπιάδων ΑΚΡΙΒΕΣ ισορηται:” "The Grecians have no history on which they can depend, antecedent to the Olympiads." Mr. M. rejects the periphrasis, and insists that AKPIBEE means literally "written with accuracy;"-and we know that a story, true in fact, may be inac 04 curately Dally curately told. Speaking of Hector leaping over the rampart, Mr. M. quotes Iliad. II. v. 380. σε Αντικρύ δ' ανα ταφρον wegfogo." Mr. B. observes that the verb fogw does not necessarily signify to leap over, but to dance and bound, which may be effected on plain ground,' (p. 22.) but will he not allow the force of the prepositions "AVTi and we" when compounded with the simple verb?-Mr. Morritt recites (p. 33.) a perverted passage in Diodorus Siculus (L. 4. p. 269.) in which Daphne of Thebes is brought forwards as having furnished Homer with much of his story; and "we are told," says Mr. M." that by Thebes was not meant Thebes in Bæotia, but OnCai Alyunτιοι εκατομπολοι, THOL EXATOUTOXO1, "Egyptian Thebes with its hundred gates." "The passage (continues Mr. M.) alluded to in Diodorus expressly contradicts the whole of this assertion: it is as follows, "The Epigoni, after plundering the city of Thebes, consecrated Daphne the daughter of Tiresias to the Priesthood of Delphos. The genius of the girl was wonderful, and she assisted in versifying many of the oracles with extraordinary success. From her the Poet Homer borrowed many verses to adorn his works.”- "But, at all events, where is the connexion between Daphne and Egypt?" Mr. B. in his haste to vindicate himself, has omitted to reply to this charge of false quotation; which is the strongest that Mr. Morritt has adduced. Some doubts have been started by Mr. B. whether the name of Agamemnon was not peculiar to Jupiter: "Supposing however (says Mr. M. p. 59.) Agamemnon to have been one of the various names or epithets under which Jupiter was honoured; is it not just as probable, that it should have been given to men by the custom of the times; as that Homer, in violation of every custom, should adopt a name which could not be given to men ?" Mr. B. inaccurately quotes the foregoing passage, (p. 31.) substituting only for not, and then complains that he does not see precisely the author's scope. The application of the names of divinities to men is allowed on all sides to have been frequent. One more instance of verbal criticism may suffice. The grave Herodotus, having admitted the truth of the Trojan story in general, combats the proof of some Cyprian verses respecting Helen; and concludes a laboured illustration of Homer by reverting to his history, and saying "Ourgos μED LUV Όμηρος μεν νυν και τα KuжFiα ETTEα XαICETO." L. 2. c. 118. p. 157. Literally "Adieu now to Homer and the Cyprian verses." Mr. B. (p. 39.) insists that Herodotus declares, by this expression, that he despised the credit of the Iliad; and that a literal translation would not reach the true purport; which is that of contempt. If xaşerw be ever used in an ironical sense, is it probable that Herodotus, χαιρετω 14 Herodotus, after a long panegyric and illustration, should dis- By a remarkable assumption, Mr. Bryant calls M. Chevalier the Friend of Mr. Morritt, and insinuates that there was a collusion between them to make up a map, at all events. 'It is effected (Mr. B. says) by his arbitrarily forming in his map a ditch or canal (call it which you please); and this, the author has too readily adopted, and styles it amnis navigabilis Plini' (p. 62.) To such an impeachment of the veracity of Mr. Morritt and the companions of his researches on the Plains of Troy, it is not our business to reply: but we cannot think that it manifests much candour. To confirm an impression on the minds of his readers that Mr. M. never visited the shores of the Hellespont, Mr. Bryant says, p. 58.- one would imagine, that he had personally and accurately examined every thing material in this particular part.'-The grand objection to the locality of the city of Troy, which Mr. Bryant urges, is Homer's expression & ioio. May not this expression be used comparatively? Many hills, even in England, after an easy ascent, spred into a plain terminating in abrupt cliffs. Such, we are assured, is the description of Bounarbachi: whether it be the site of antient Troy, or not. In this reply, Mr. Bryant appears to have qualified many of the assertions of his former treatises on this subject; at least, to have explained himself differently from the obvious meaning of several of his passages. He repeats that it seems extraordinary, that people should be so very solicitous about the reputation of Homer, when it was not in the least danger; and he complains of the obloquy to which some persons have been exposed, because they ventured to engage in an innocent inquiry. There has been an outcry on all sides, that the whole of antient history was in danger.-The event of the Rowleian Controversy, and the part which Mr. B. took in it, are still fresh in our memories. ART. Dally a/ a ART. XIV. Rome at the Close of the Eighteenth Century!!! Poem, with Notes. By Henry Tresham, Esq. R. A. 4to. pp. 31. 48. Robinsons. 1799. A N artist who is not very much imbued with French principles, and who has seen the Alma Città di Roma in the state in which time and accident had left it, after having been sacked, plundered, and burned by antient Gauls, Huns, Goths, Vandals, and Austrians*, must feel indignant at the misery and devastation occasioned by the irruption of the modern Gauls into Italy; and at the pillage and plunder of a city which had received them as friends. The antient republican Romans, it is true, made conquests, and enriched themselves and their capital by the plunder of Greece and Egypt; whither, as well as to other places, they went professedly with that intent: but the modern French republicans pretended to have no other view in entering foreign peaceable states, than that of giving liberty and equality to the inhabitants, and not only securing but augmenting the property of individuals. Alas! the Tree of Liberty in Rome, Naples, Venice, Holland, and Switzerland, has produced a fruit too sour and bitter for the palates of even the most hungry and beggarly common people. The ingenious author of the poem before us, however, shall delineate his own feelings: Before the French had over-run Italy, the barely thinking of ROME filled the mind with an endless variety of delightful recollections. To realize the visions of imagination by a personal inspection of the riches of that Repository of ÅÄrt, not the produce of one age, nor of one Nation, but the collective excellence of both the antient and the Modern World-to feast the eye on the vast accumulated specimens of the sublime and beautiful in Architecture, Sculpture, and Painting, were ideas that kindled curiosity, excited emulation, and enflamed the soul of sensibility with a desire to visit a City so renowned. What then must be the indignation of the Scholar, the Philosopher, and the Man of Taste, against the avaricious and crafty invaders of a Country, set as it were apart, a sacred depository for the trophies of intellectual energy? To attempt to palliate by recrimination is by no means just; the rapacity of MUMMIUS at Corinth the ostentatious triumph of FULVIUS, conqueror of Etolia-the splendid robberies committed by PAULUS EMILIUS On subduing the last King of Macedon-nor yet the conduct of SCIPIO at Carthage, are at all applicable to the question of French criminality. These antient Leaders fought against the well-armed, disciplined, and avowed enemies of their country: the Achean league had drawn the combined forces of the Greeks to the neighbourhood of Corinth and as to Carthage and Rome, their jealous acrimony * Under the command of a General of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, the constable Duke of Bourbon. was was mutual; a General of the former had sworn eternal enmity to the Roman Republic, and each party on drawing the sword of exterme nation, had flung away the scabbard. Observe the devoted Citizens of modern Rome-Prayers to the Almighty are the only arms they make use of while the spoilers are at their gates! As justice is the permanent interest, so magnanimity of conduct constitutes the true glory of a State; and in vain shall conquerors endeavour to dazzle mankind by stripping the Cities which they subdue-" The calamities of other Nations can never become the ornaments of their own countries." In the poetical description of an intercourse with antiquity by the medium of sculpture, (pp. 9 and 10,) the author seems animated with the true enthusiasm of a feeling artist: • But not alone persuasive PAINTING sways Gallic perfidy and desolation are well described, p. 15. Claim virtuous pity, and averting pray'rs; The Museum P10-CLEMENTINUM has been justly considered as the noblest repository of the remains of antient Sculpture that exists. It was commenced under the Pontificate of Clement the fourteenth: the present Pope, then Monsignor Braschi, treasurer and counsellor to GANGANELLI, zealously concurred in the splendid and useful projects of the Camera's purchasing the monuments of Art from those proprietors whom necessity, or caprice induced to sell, and who, by a judicious law, were prohibited from removing the treasures of Antiquity from the metropolis. A gallery was first formed near the cortile where the APOLLO of Belvidere and the LAOCOON had long excited admiration, a circular portico was added, the contiguous galry continued, and the collection of statucs considerably augmented.' The |