I. Antipater of Sidon, Jac. Bk. vii. Ep. 3.

MALL though my tomb, O Trav'ller! pass not by ;

But pay due homage to the gods on high. I hold, most loved of the Pierian Nine, The epic poet, Homer the divine.

Major Macgregor.

'Jacob's edition of the Greek Anthology, 4 vols. 8vo., Leipsic, 1813-17, is used for the monumental epigrams from the Greek; and for the information contained in the notes of the first section the editor is mainly indebted to Grote's and Dr. W. Smith's valuable works on Grecian History. Colonel Mure's "Critical History of Greek Literature," and Major Macgregor's excellent translations of the Greek Anthology have, too, been freely used. All these are masterpieces of historical literature, which cannot be too highly praised for the vast amount of information they afford to the classical scholar. Various English and foreign authors have been laid under contribution for many of the notes which appear in the second section.

2 Homer is supposed to have flourished about 900 years

2. Jac. Bk. vii. Ep. 7.

HERE lieth Homer the divine, who sung

All Greece, from hundred-gated Thebæ3 sprung. Major Macgregor.

B. C., and to have composed his grand poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, in detached ballads or rhapsodies, which some learned men, by order of the Athenian tyrant, Pisistratus, collected and methodized. He was universally regarded by the ancients as the author of these two poems, which belief continued till 1795, when Wolf, a German critic, wrote his famous "Prolegomena ad Homerum,” and endeavoured to prove that Troy and such a personage as Homer, the reputed author of these epics, never existed. This led to much controversy, in which extraordinary learning is displayed. "But the universal belief of antiquity, and constant reference of the best informed of the ancient writers to the general events of the Trojan war, and the facts connected with that belief in the authentic history of ancient Greece and Rome, seem to afford, at least, a much stronger presumption of veracity to the general opinion than to its contrary." "The distinguishing merits of Homer are his minute description of ancient manners, his genius for the sublime and beautiful, the harmony of his poetical numbers, and his profound knowledge of human nature." Though the subjects of these poems appear of great extent and amplitude, the action of each is, in reality, comprehended within a very short space of time. That of the Iliad occupies but a few days. The indignation of Achilles upon the insult received from Agamemnon, his retiring from the war, and the consequent advantages of the Trojans, who set fire to the Grecian fleet, when Patroclus comes forth in the armour of his friend Achilles and is slain by Hector; this rouses Achilles, who kills Hector. He then celebrates the obsequies of

3. Antip. Sid. Jac. Bk. vii. Ep. 6.

BARD of brave deeds, that doth the gods' will speak, Light of the muses, voice that never dieth;

In life another sun to every Greek,

Here in the sea-wash'd earth great Homer lieth.

Rev. James Davies.

Patroclus, and delivers up to Priam for a ransom the body of his brave son. This is, in brief, the whole action of the Iliad, which closes with the burial of Hector; and the moral to be derived from this justly celebrated and immortal poem is that dissensions among the chiefs of a country generally prove fatal to the people.

The structure of the Odyssey, the action of which is comprised in forty days, is more various and artful than that of the Iliad. Ulysses, king of Ithaca, had been absent many years from his country, after the taking of Troy,

commences.

"Thrown

By various fates on realms unknown,"

and his death was considered certain. Penelope, his wife, harassed by the importunate addresses of many suitors, could no longer invent plausible pretexts for delaying her choice of a second husband. At this crisis the action of the Odyssey Telemachus, their son, goes to Greece to interrogate Nestor regarding the fate of his father; and, during his absence, Ulysses, having left the island of Calypso, is thrown by a tempest on the island of the Phæacians near Ithaca. Here he recites his various adventures, and obtains assistance from the prince of the country for the recovery of his native possessions, now occupied and pillaged by the insolent suitors of his queen. He arrives in Ithaca, discovers himself to his son, and takes jointly with him effectual measures to accomplish

ON HESIOD.*

Demiurgus, Jac. Bk. vii. Ep. 52.

CROWN of wide Hellas, of all song the grace,
I cover Hesiod of Ascræan race.-Major M.

ON ORPHEUS.5

Antip. Sid. Jac. Bk. vii. Ep. 8.

No more bewitched by magic song
The oaks, the rocks, the brutish throng

his revenge, and extirpate these presumptuous ravagers. The moral of the Odyssey is, that prudence joined to courage and perseverance is sufficient to surmount the most powerful obstacles.

In the time of its greatness this city of Thebais in Egypt, reputed the oldest city of the world, could send into the field, by each of its hundred gates, twenty thousand fighting men and two hundred chariots. Thebes, which in the time of its splendour (B. C. 1600) extended above thirty-three miles, was taken by Cambyses, king of Persia. Its ruins, perhaps the most magnificent in the world, consist of temples, colossi, sphinxes, and obelisks, and enclose within their site the four modern villages of Carnac, Luxor, Medinet Abou, and Gournou. Its tombs are on the west side of the Nile, many of which are cut in the rock, and adorned with paintings which are still as fresh as if just finished. The Greek of the epigram shows that "sprung" applies to Homer and not to all Greece; and therefore Thebes, it would appear, like other cities, laid claim to Homer.

• Hesiod is the first ancient Greek poet who wrote on Agricul