The rest of the deputies applauded his discourse, and were of his opinion Thus the enterprise came to nothing; and had no other effect, than to discover the base jealousy of the Lacedæmonians, and to cover them with shame and confusion. Hippias, defeated in his hopes, retired into Asia to Artaphernes, governor of Sardis for the king of Persia, whom he endeavoured, by every method, to engage in a war against Athens; representing to him, that the taking of so rich and powerful a city would render him master of all Greece. Artaphernes hereupon required of the Athenians, that they would reinstate Hippias in the government; to which they made no other answer than a downright and absolute refusal. This was the original ground and occasion of the wars be tween the Persians and the Greeks, which will be the subject of the following volumes. ARTICLE IX. ILLUSTRIOUS MEN, WHO DIstinguished THEMSELVES IN ARTS AND SCIENCES. I BEGIN With the poets, because the most ancient. Homer, the most celebrated and illustrious of all the poets, is he of whom we have the least knowledge, either with respect to the country where he was born, or the time in which he lived. Among the seven cities of Greece, that contend for the honour of having given him birth, Smyrna seems to have the best title. Herodotus tells us, that Homer wrote four hundred years before his time, that is, three hundred and forty years after the taking of Troy; for Herodotus flourished seven hundred and forty years after that expedition.* Some authors have pretended, that he was called Homer, because he was born blind. Velleius Paterculus rejects this story with contempt. "If any man," says he, believes that Homer was born blind, he must be so himself, and even have lost all his senses." Indeed, according to the observation of Cicero, Homer's works are rather pictures than poems, so perfectly does he paint to the life, and set the images of every thing he undertakes to describe before the eyes of the reader; and he seems to have been intent upon introducing all the most delightful and agreeable objects that nature affords, into his writings, and to make them, in a manner, pass in review before his readers. What is most astonishing in this poet is, that having applied himself the first, at least of those that are known, to that kind of poetry which is the most sublime and difficult of all, he should, however, soar so high, and with such rapidity, as to carry it at once to the utmost perfection; which seldom or never hap pens in other arts, but by slow degrees, and after a long series of years.§ The kind of poetry we are speaking of, is the epic poem, so called from the Greek word nos; because it is an action related by the poet. The subject of this poem must be great, instructive, serious, containing only one principal event, to which all the rest must refer and be subordinate; and this principal action must have passed in a certain space of time, which must not exceed a year at most. Homer has composed two poems of this kind, the Iliad and the Odyssey: the subject of the first is the anger of Achilles, so pernicious to the Greeks, when they besieged Ilion or Troy; and that of the second is, the voyages and adventures of Ulysses, after the taking of that city. It is remarkable that no nation in the world, however learned and ingenious, has ever produced any poems comparable to his; and that whoever have at Lib. ii. c. 53. A. M. 3160. Ant. J. C. 844. † Quem si quis cæcum genitum putat, omnibus sensibus orbus est.-Paterc. 1. i. c. 5. Tuscul. Quæst. 1. v. n. 114. Clarissimum deinde Homeri illuxit ingenium, sine exemplo maximum: qui magnitudine operis, et fatgore carminum, solus appellari Poëta meruit. In quo hoc maximum est, quod neque ante illum, quem ille Imitaretur; neque postillum, qui imitari eum possit, inventus est; neque quemquam alium, cujus operis pr mus auctor fuerit, in eo perfectissimum, præter Homerum et Archilochum reperiemus,Vell. Patemo. 1. i. c. 5. tempted any works of that kind, have taken their plan and ideas from Homer, borrowed all their rules from him, made him their model, and have only succeeded in proportion to their success in copying him. The truth is, Homer was an original genius, and a fit model for the formation of others: Fons ingeniorum Homerus.* The greatest men, and the most exalted geniuses, that have appeared for these two thousand and five or six hundred years, in Greece, Italy, and elsewhere; those, whose writings we are forced still to admire; who are still our masters, and who teach us to think, to reason, to speak, and to write; all these, says Madame Dacier, acknowledge Homer to be the greatest of poets, and look upon his poems as the model after which all succeeding poets should form their taste and judgment. After all this, can there be any man so conceited of his own talents, be they ever so great, as reasonably to presume, that his decisions should prevail against such a universal concurrence of judgment in persons of the most distinguished abilities and characters ? So many testimonies, so ancient, so constant, and so universal, entirely justify the favourable judgment of Alexander the Great, of the works of Homer, which he looked upon as the most excellent and valuable production of human wit; pretiosissimum humani animi opus.‡ Quintilian, after having made a magnificent encomium upon Homer, gives us a just idea of his character and manner of writing in these few words: Hunc nemo in magnis sublimitate, in parvis proprietate superaverit. Idem lætus ac pressus, jucundus et gravis, tum copia tum brevitate mirabilis. In great things, what a sublimity of expression! and in little, what a justness and propriety! diffusive and concise, pleasant and grave, equally admirable both for his copiousness and his brevity.§ HESIOD. The most common opinion is, that he was cotemporary with Homer. It is said, that he was born at Cumæ, a town in Æolia, but that he was brought up at Ascra, a little town in Boeotia, which has since passed for his native country. Thus Virgil calls him the old man of Ascra. We know little or nothing of this poet, but by the few remaining poems of his, all in hexameter verse; which are, 1st, The Works and Days;" 2dly, Theogony;" or, the Genealogy of the gods; 3dly, "The Shield of Hercules;" which, by some, is doubted to have been written by Hesiod. 66 The 1. In the first of these poems, entitled "The Works and Days," Hesiod treats of agriculture, which requires, besides a great deal of labour, a prudent observation of times, seasons, and days. This poem is full of excellent sentences and maxims for the conduct of life. He begins it with a short but lively description of two sorts of disputes; the one fatal to mankind, the source of quarrels, discords and wars; and the other, infinitely useful and beneficial to man, as it sharpens their wits, excites a noble and generous emulation among them, and prepares the way for the invention and improvement of arts and sciences. He then gives an admirable description of the four different ages of the world; the golden, the silver, the brazen and the iron age. The persons who lived in the golden age, are those whom Jupiter after their death, turned into so many Genii¶T or spirits, and then appointed them as guardians over mankind, giving them a commission to go up and down the earth, invisible to men, and to observe all their good and evil actions. This poem was Virgil's model in composing his Georgics, as he himself ac-` knowledges in this verse: Ascræumque cano Romana per oppida carmen.* "And sing the Ascræan verse to Roman swains." The choice made by these two illustrious poets of this subject for the exercise of their muse, shows in what honour the ancients held agriculture, and the feeding of cattle, the two innocent sources of wealth and plenty. It is much Plin. 1. xvii. c. 5. † In Homer's Life, which is prefixed to her translation of the Iliad to be deplored, that, in after ages, men departed from a taste so agreeable to nature, and so well adapted to the preservation of innocence and good man. ners. Avarice and luxury have entirely banished it from the world. Nimi rum alii subiere ritus, circaque alia mentes hominum detinentur, et avaritiæ tantum artes coluntur.† 2. "The Theogony" of Hesiod, and the poems of Homer, may be looked upon as the surest and most authentic archives and monuments of the theology of the ancients, and of the opinion they had of their gods. For we are not to sup pose, that these poets were inventors of the fables which we read in their writings. They only collected, and transmitted to posterity, the doctrines of the religion which they found established, and which prevailed in their time and country. 3. "The Shield of Hercules" is a separate fragment of a poem, wherein, it is pretended, Hesiod celebrated the most illustrious heroines of antiquity; and it bears that title, because it contains, among other things, a long descrip tion of the shie.d of Hercules, concerning whom the same poem relates a par⚫ ticular adventure. The poetry of Hesiod, in those places that are susceptible of ornament, is very elegant and delightful, but not so sublime and lofty as that of Homer. Quintilian reckons him the chief in the middle manner of writing. Datur es palma in illo medio dicendi genere.‡ ARCHILOCHUS. The poet Archilochus, born in Paros, inventor of the iambic verse, lived in the time of Candaules, king of Lydia. He has this advantage in common with Homer, according to Velleius Paterculus, that he carried at once that kind of poetry, which he invented, to a very great perfec tion. The feet which gave their name to these verses, and which at first were the only sort used, are composed of one short and one long syllable. The iambic verse, such as was invented by Archilochus, seems very proper for the vehement and energetic style: accordingly we see, that Horace, speaking of this poet, says, that it was his anger, or ra her his rage, that armed him with his iambics, for the exercising and exerting of his vengeance. Archilochum proprio rabies armavit iambo.]] And Quintilian says, he had an uncommon force of expression; was full of bold thoughts, and of those strokes that are short, but keen and piercing; in a word, his style was strong and nervous. The longest of his poems were said to be the best.** The same judgment has been universally passed upon the orations of Demosthenes and Cicero; the latter of whom says the same of the letters of his friend Atticus. The verses of Archilochus were extremely biting and licentious; witness those he wrote against Lycambes, his father-in-law, which drove him to despair. For these two reasons, his poetry, however excellent it was esteemed in other respects, was discountenanced in Sparta, as being more likely to corrupt the hearts and manners of young people, than to be useful in cultivating their understanding. We have only some very short fragments that remain of this poet. Such delicacy in a heathen people, in regard to the quality of the books which they thought young people should be permitted to read, is highly worthy of our notice, and justly reproaches many Christians. HIPPONAX. This poet was of Ephesus, and signalized bis wit some years after Archilochus, in the same kind of poetry, and with the same force and † Plin. in Prom. 1. xiv. Lib. i. c. 5. Geor. 1. ii. v. 176. A. M. 3280. Ant. J. C. 724. Summa in hoc vis elocutionis, cum validæ tum breves vibrantesque sententiæ, plurimum sanguinis a✪ que nervorum.-Quint. 1. x. c. 1. Aristophani Archilochi iambus, sic epistola longissima quæque optima videtur.-Cic. Epist. xi. ↓ 16. ad Atticum. tt Hor. Epod. Od. vi. et Epist. xix. 1. i. Lacedæmonii libros Archilochi e civitate sua exportari jusserunt, quod eorum parum verecundam licam lectionem arbitrabantur. Noluerunt enim ea liberorum suorum animos imbni, ne plus moribus no ceret, quam ingeniis prodesset. Itaque maximum poetam, aut certe summo proximum, quia domum sibe iwisum obscoenis maledictis laceraverat, carminum exilio mulctarunt.Vell. Pat. l. vi. c. 3. vehemence. He was ugly, little, lean, and slender. Two celebrated sculptors and brothers, Bupalus and Athenis, (some call the latter Anthermus,) diverted themselves at his expense, and represented him in a ridiculous form. It is dangerous to attack satiric poets. Hipponax retorted their pleasantry with such keen strokes of satire, that they hanged themselves out of mortification: others say, they only quitted the city of Ephesus, where Hipponax lived. His malignant pen did not spare even those to whom he owed his life. How monstrous was this! Horace joins Hipponax with Archilochus, and represents them as two poets equally dangerous.‡ In the Anthologia there are three or four epigrams, which describe Hipponax as terrible, even after death. They admonish travellers to avoid his tomb, as a place from whence a dreadful hail perpetually pours : Φεῦγε τὸν χαλαζεπῆ τάφον, τὸν φρικτόν. Fuge grandinan tem tumulum, horrendum.‡ It is thought he invented the Scazon verse, in which the spondee is used in stead of the iambus, in the sixth foot of the verse which bears that name. STESICHORUS. He was of Himera, a town in Sicily, and excelled in lyric poetry, as did those other poets we are about to mention. Lyric poetry is that, in which the verses, arranged into odes and stanzas, were sung to the lyre, or to other such like instruments. Stesichorus flourished between the 37th and 47th Olympiad. Pausanias, after many other fables, relates, that Stesichorus, having been punished with the loss of sight for his satirical verses against Helena, did not recover it till he had retracted his invectives, by writing another ode contrary to the first; which latter kind of ode is since called palinodia.§ Quintilian says, that he sung of wars and illustrious heroes, and that he supported upon the lyre all the dignity and majesty of epic poetry.|| ALCMAN. He was of Lacedæmon, or, according to some, of Sardis in Ly. dia, and lived much about the same time as Stesichorus. Some make him the first author of amorous verses. ALCEUS. He was born at Mitylene in Lesbos: it is from him that the Alcaic verse derived its name. He was a professed enemy to the tyrants of Lesbos, and particularly to Pittacus, against whom he perpetually inveighed in his ver ses. It is said of him, that being once in a battle, he was seized with such fear and terror, that he threw down his arms and ran away. Horace has thought fit to give us the same account of himself.** Poets do not value themselves so much upon prowess as upon wit. Quintilian says, that the style of Alcæus was close, magnificent, and accurate; and to complete his character, adds, that he very much resembled Homer.tt SIMONIDES. This poet was of the island of Ceos, in the Egean sea. He continued to flourish at the time of Xerxes's expedition. He excelled principally in funeral elegy.‡‡ The invention of local memory is ascribed to him, of which I have spoken elsewhere.§§ At twenty-four years of age, he contended for and carried the prize of poetry. The answer he gave to Hiero, king of Syracuse, who asked him what God was, is much celebrated. The poet desired a day to consider the question Hipponacti notabilis vultus fœditas erat: quamobrem imaginem ejus lascivia jocorum ii proposuere ri dentium circulis. Quod Hipponax indignatus amaritudinem carminum distrinxit in tantum, ut credatur ali quibus ad laqueum eos impulisse: quod falsum est.-Plin. l. xxxvi. c. 5. Anthol. 1. iii. In malos asperrimus Parata tollo cornua: Qualis Lycambæ spretus infido gener, Paus. in Lacon. p. 200. Stesichorum, quam sit ingenio validus, materiæ quoque ostendunt, maxima bella et clarissimos ca'an, tem duces, et epici carminis onera lyra sustinentem.-Lib. x. c. 1. T Herod. 1. v. c. 95, **Tecum Philippos et celerem fugam Sensi, relicta non bene parmula.-Hor. Od. vii. 1, 2. tt In eloquendo brevis et magnificus et diligens, plerumque Homero similia Sed me relictis, Musa procax, jocis Ceæ retractes munera næniæ. Mastius lacrymis Simonideis. -Horat. -Catull. Method of Teaching and Studying the Belles Lettres proposed to him. On the morrow he asked two days; and whenever he was called upon for his answer, he still doubled the time. The king, surprised at this behaviour, demanded his reason for it. It is, replied Simonides, because the more I consider the question, the more obscure it seems: Quia quanto diutius considero, tanto mihi res videtur obscurior.* The answer was wise, if it proceeded from the high idea which he conceived of the Divine Majesty, which no understanding can comprehend, nor any tongue express.† After having travelled to many cities of Asia, and amassed considerable wealth, by celebrating in his verses the praises of those who were capable of rewarding him well, he embarked for the island of Ceos, his native country. The ship was cast away. Every one endeavoured to save what he could. Simonides took no care of any thing; and when he was asked the reason for it, he replied, "I carry all I have about me:" Mecum, inquit, mea sunt cuncta. Several of the company were drowned by the weight of the things they attempted to save, and those who got to shore were robbed by thieves. All that escaped went to Clazomena, which was not far from the place where the vessel was lost. One of the citizens, who loved learning, and had read the poems of Simonides with great admiration, was excessively pleased, and thought it an honour to receive him into his house. He supplied him abundantly with necessaries, while the rest were obliged to beg through the city: The poet, upon meeting them, did not forget to observe how justly he had answered them, in regard to his effects: Dixi, inquit, mea mecum esse cuncta; vos quod rapuistis, perit. He was reproached with having dishonoured poetry by his avarice, in making his pen venal, and not composing any verses till he had agreed on the price of them. In Aristotle we find a proof of this, which does him no honour. A person who had won the prize in the chariot races, desired Simonides to compose a song of triumph upon that subject. The poet, not thinking the reward sufficient, replied, that he could not treat it well. This prize had been won by mules, and he pretended, that animal did not afford the proper matter for praise. Greater offers were made him, which ennobled the mule, and the poem was written. Money has long had power to bestow nobility and beauty: Et genus et formam regina pecunia donat. As this animal is generated between a she-ass and a horse, the poet, as Aristotle observes, considered them at first only on the base side of their pedigree. But money made him take them in the other light, and he styled then “ illustrious foals of rapid steeds: Χαίρετ' ἀελλοπόδων θύγατρες ιππων. ων.δ SAPPHO. She was of the same place, and lived at the same time with Alcæus. The Sapphic verse took its name from her. She composed a considerable number of poems, of which there are but two remaining; which are sufficient to satisfy us that the praises given her in all ages, for the beauty, pathetic softness, numbers, harmony, and infinite graces of her poetry, are not without foundation. As a farther proof of her merits she was called the tenth muse; and the people of Mitylene engraved her image upon their money It is to be wished, that the purity of her manners had been equal to the beauty of her genius, and that she had not dishonoured her sex by her vices and irregularities. ANACREON. This poet was of Teos, a city of Ionia. He lived in the 72nd Olympiad. Anacreon spent a great part of his time at the court of Polycrates. that happy tyrant of Samos; and not only shared in all his pleasures, but was of his council. Plato tells us, that Hipparchus, one of the sons of Pisistratus, sent a vessel of fifty oars for Anacreon, and wrote him a most obliging letter, Cic. de Nat. Deor 1. i. n. 15. ↑ Certe hoc est Deus, quod et cum dicitur, non potest dici: cum æstimatur, non potest æstimari; cum comparatur, non potest comparari; cum definitur, ipsa definitione crescit.-S. Aug. serm. de temp. cix. Nobis ad intellectum pectus angustum est. Et ideo sic eum (Deum) digne æstimamus, dum inestimabilem dicimus. Eloquar quemadmodum sentio. Magnitudinem Dei qui se putat nôsse, miauit: qui noa valt minuere, non novit.-Minut. Felix. Phædr. L. iv. Rhet. l. iii. c. 2. Herod. 1. iii. c. 121. |