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has observed, have each their own separate magnitude;'* that some of the chief of these increased in importance to their view, until at length they usurped the place of that which was really the primary argument. Such are, the anger of Achilles, and the prayer of Thetis.

"Whereas, to seize that argument, it required that the mind should be entirely free to impress itself with the continued story; and to contemplate its progress, without any consideration bestowed upon the harvest of philological, prosodiacal, mythological, and critical produce, which crowded the path."

After an allusion to the remark of Heyne, or rather to the wellknown fact, that "grammarians have raised many questions on the subject of the exordium," Mr. Penn continues:

"What has chiefly caused that obscurity, is, that the clause, Alos de teλeleto ßovan, which pertains to, and introduces the second paragraph, has been cut off from it, and thrown into a parenthesis appended to the first. This we find to have been the case as early as Dio Chrysostom, who closes the proëm with that clause. A problematical question has been created by this confusion, with respect to the intention of ou, which begins the following line; and with respect to the verb, to which it is to be understood to refer. To resolve which artificial difficulty, criticism has put itself upon a disproportionate research, and has overstepped its object. According to the common phraseology of Homer, e o relates to TEλELETO. Aristarchus, the most ancient authority to which we can appeal, and who lived in the second century before the Christian era, so referred it. And although Heyne would condemn his judgment by an arbitrary and summary sentence of, parum commode,' and would throw it back, (with the generality of those who preceded him,) to poïayev and reve; yet it is certain, that in every instance in which Homer uses ov, as a reference of time, he employs it, both in his Iliad and Odyssey, in the manner in which Aristarchus would understand it here; and as the simplicity of the sense distinctly requires. Διος τελειετο βουλή, (εκ του χρόνου) εξ ου τα πρώτα διαστήτην ερίσαντε Ατρείδης τε και Αχιλλευς. The will of Jove was accomplished, from the time when Atrides and Achilles were first divided by contention. The unknown author of the Epitome Iliados discovers the same just apprehension of that relation, in his version of the passage:

"Iram pande mihi Pelidæ, diva, superbi,

Tristia quæ miseris injecit funera Græcis,
Atque animos fortes heroum tradidit orco;

Latrantumque dedit rostris volucrumque trahendos
Illorum exangues inhumatis ossibus artus:
Confiebat enim Summi sententia Regis,

Ex quo contulerant discordi pectore pugnas
Sceptiger Atrides et bello clarus Achilles.

"Thus, the proëm proposes, the perpetual superiority of the divine will, and it consequently admonishes us, to look forward always for that superiority, whatever contrary appearances might intervene. So that any apparent success in opposition to it amounts in effect to a notice, that we shall presently see it vindicate itself, and finally overcome its opponent. To make good this proposition, it is evident that Homer could not have concluded his poem with the death of Hector, and the triumphing threat of Achilles which accompanied it; because, it would then have left Achilles in the unrestrained indulgence of his own will, and exulting in the accomplishment of his own determination, in direct contradiction of that proposition. The situation and circumstances of Achilles at the end of the twenty-second book, were, therefore, of themselves, a sufficient warrant, that the poet had not yet fulfilled his promise; and, that if the poem had ended there, it would have been deficient of its promised length. Not, as is contrarily assumed, that it is luxuriant

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ώσπερ η Ιλιας έχει πολλα τοιαυτα μέρη, και η Οδύσσεια, ή και καθ ̓ ἐαύτα EXEL MEYEDOS. Poet. c. ult. in fine."

in the two following books; an error, resulting necessarily from a misapprehension of the true primary argument. The proëm, therefore, restored to its original integrity, directs us to expect, and to require, that Achilles should be again reduced from his apparent state of mastery, and be finally subjected to the rule of the supreme will; as he had before been reduced and subjected, in the great incident which forms the middle of the poem. That second and final coercion of his will, and the demonstration of it to the entire satisfaction of the auditor, constitute the proper eventusTehos, or end of the poem; according to the principles of rule and of art, no less than of feeling and of taste.”

In answer to the common interpretation of the success of the prayer of Thetis, and of Jupiter's subsequent speech to Juno, Mr. Penn adduces a most consistent argument respecting the gradual revelation of the supreme will: but we must refer to the volume for the details. The use that is made of the passage in the 15th Iliad, which the Alexandrian and German critics would either expunge or mutilate, is admirable; and, as the principal point established by the author is very briefly stated, we shall extract it.

" Jupiter assures Juno, that she shall know his secret design, before every other deity. Now, Thetis is also to know it during the poem, as is likewise the auditor or reader; but, Thetis is only to know it from the event; Juno, therefore, is to know it before the event. When Jupiter says, öv (rubor) ETTEIXES cxovelles, what is fit to hear, we are to supply Beous nan av Opatovs, for gods and men; and not te, for thee, according to the unauthorized and unskilful limitation of the scholiast. Fitness depends on time and season, as much as upon any other circumstance. The declaration of Jupiter therefore imports : ‘I cannot tell thee now; but, when it is fit and proper, thou shalt be the first of all to be informed;' and the line of Pope, instead of,

•What suits Thy knowledge, Thou the first shalt know;' should stand,

•What may be known, Thyself the first shalt know.' This promise, Heyne entirely overlooked; and he who is not aware of the existence of a cause, certainly cannot assign the reason of its effect. The promise, however, perfectly accounts for the communication; and not only accounts for it, but renders its introduction indispensably necessary, as its proper fulfilment.'

The chapter on “ the Nature of the Efficient Agent” in the Iliad is a very noble display of learning, philosophy, and piety; and the re

а marks on the absence of such a notion as that of Personified Chance, or Tuxn, from the pages of Homer, lend fresh interest to the pregnant subject. The instances of similarity in expression and idea, in the Bible and in Homer, might be largely multiplied, but are sufficient for the author's purpose.

The character of Achilles, or “the Nature of the Instrumental Agent" in the Iliad, has certainly received much additional light from this essay: but we are unable to offer a just estimate of this addition to our stores of Homeric knowledge, without making one other extract from the volume; and the excellent moral reflections, which it involves, will assist (if assistance be necessary) in justifying us from any charge of prolixity.

“Homer has exhibited, in these two instances of Achilles' anger, two of the greatest provocations to fury and resentment that the imagination can contemplate. First, an illustrious prince, and unrivalled warrior, conscious of his own high value in a confederacy, insulted and injured in the presence of his compeers, by the chief of that confederacy; and under shelter of the supreme authority, pledged to him by the injured party himself. Secondly, the slaughter of a friend beloved

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above all mankind, accompanied with vaunting defiance and barbarous insult ; and with an avowed design of depriving him of the consolation of sepulture, and of casting his body to be torn and devoured Nothing can be conceived by the fancy, more calculated to rouse those passions to their highest degree of excite. ment; especially, in a mind naturally and sorely irritable and irascible. Those provocations wrought their utmost effect upon the naturally irascible temper of Achilles' mind; nevertheless, he extricated himself from their dominion, on the instant that a positive evidence of the divine will made itself sensible in his soul. Well therefore might Homer bear that testimony, by the mouth of Jupiter, to his true and genuine nature when undisturbed by outward causes:

* ουτε γαρ εστ' αφρων, ουτ' ασκοπος, ουτ' αλιτημων»
αλλα μαλ' ενδυκεως ικετεω πεφεδησεται ανδρος.

He is not senseless, thoughtless, deaf to pray'r ;

But, kindly form’d a supplicant to spare.' "Perhaps there is no character among men, compounded of excellent qualities and grievous defects, that more strongly inspires interest, than that in which we witness a good, generous, and affectionate heart, combined with a quick and inHammatory temper; where the rectitude of the native disposition is sure, sooner or later, to restore the accidental perversion of the will. Nor is there any evidence of moral integrity less equivocal, or more engaging, than the immediate relinquishment of the most favourite and determined resolutions made in anger, on the first reflective and conscious sense of the excess to which they are proceeding: The subject of all morality is the will; wherever the will exercises the most entire and absolute self-coercion, there the morality is the most perfect. The difficulty of ex. ercising that self-coercion, must always be in exact proportion to the violence of the previous action of the will in an opposite direction. In the case of Achilles; where its previous action had, through the most violent excitement of the passions, been intense; the promptness of his coercion of that intensity, at the sense of religious duty which he eventually displayed, proved that the morality of his nature was entitled to the encomium which Homer places in the mouth of Jupiter.”

This just and (as we think) unanswerable description of the mind of Achilles will for ever preclude the false and dangerous pretences of some incorrect modern writers, that they have the example of Homer for a vicious hero, who is the slave of his passions, and has little but the attribute of courage to recommend him to esteem.

Miscellaneous Notices.

EGYPT. Mahomet Ali Pacha, desirous of promoting the progress of civilization throughout the provinces subject to his dominion, has ordered an establishment to be founded in Egypt, on the plan of the French Lyceums. At the head of this interesting establishment, he has placed Noureddin Effendi, a Mussulman, who, from having received an European education, is peculiarly qualified for the appointment. The efforts of the viceroy to promote the arts and sciences, cannot be too highly praised; and there is reason to believe that the counsels of the French consul general, M. Drouetti, the labours of the French engineer, M. Pascal Coste, who is charged with the direction of the canal of Mahmoudieh, will form a new epoch in the history of the regeneration of the land of the Pharaohs. "To those ingenious Frenchmen will be added, M. Baisli Fakr, a learned Arabian translator of many French works of Voltaire, Rollin, Fenelon, Beccaria, Volney, &c. He is now completing a translation of the history of Alexander the Great. Hadgi Othman, a learned and philosophic Mussulman, who is now at Paris, by order of his master, to acquire a knowledge of the French literature and science, is also to be of the number to whom the revival of learning in Egypt is to be entrusted.

RUSSIA.

It appears from a statistical map of Russia lately published, that the population of this vast empire, of which the superfices is 298,950 square miles, is increased to 40,067,000 inhabitants; that the number of public buildings and manufactories is about 3,724; that the capital employed by merchants in commerce is 319,660,000 roubles, and that the amount of the poll tax and the taxes on beverage is 169,350,000 roubles.

Shortly will be published, at St. Petersburgh, a German translation of a work, written in the Mogul language, entitled The History of the Moguls. By Ssanany Tsatsan, Chungtaidschi. This translation will be accompanied by an Introduction and Notes, by Isaac Jacob Schmidt.

GERMANY. A new philological journal, entitled Miscellanea maximâ parte critica, will shortly be published at Hildesheim; its contributors are some of the most distinguished men in Germany. Messrs. Secbode, Herman, Passon, Poppo, Osan, Ahlevardt, Raden, Bardili Schleusner, &c. are of the number. Four numbers, each consisting of twelve leaves, will be published annually. This collection will be enriched with unpublished notes by Saumaise, Clericus, Reinesius, and with various readings from ancient manuscripts. The price of the Journal is about 17s. 6d. per annum.

The celebrated geographer, Mannert, professor at Landshut, has recently published the second part of the second division of his Geography of the Greeks and Romans. It contains every information relative to Brittany. This second edition is a completely original work; a deep research and study of the ancients has led the learned German to real and important discoveries. Even in its present unfinished state, his work is invaluable as a study of antiquity.

The Emperor has offered one thousand ducats in gold to the author of the best work on the construction of windmills, whether he be a native or a foreigner.

M. Emmanuel Steudel, of Esslingen, in the territory of Wurtemberg, invented last year portable grates, by which food may be dressed much more conveniently and agreeably than in the usual manner. It saves half the time, and two-thirds of the fuel generally employed. There is a particular description given of it in No. 190 of the Universal Indicator of Southern Germany, which our brief limits will not permit us to extract.

An important work on the monuments of ancient Germans and Ro. mans is on the eve of publication, by Cotta, a bookseller at Stuttgard. The execution of it was entrusted to Doctor Dorow, a learned antiquary, and Aulic Counsellor, at Bonn, by the Russian government. The same author has already published Å Collection of German and Roman Antiquities; but the two works have nothing in common. The Prince of Hardenberg, chancellor of Prussia, established a particular administration, for the purpose of preserving the German and Roman antiquities found in the different countries that lie along the Rhine, and also of reupiting, classing, and giving descriptions of them. Doctor Dorow is president of this institution, and the present work is the first fruit of the situation which he holds. It will form a folio volume of about one hundred pages, with thirty-five drawings, engraved or lithographed. The first division, comprising the ancient German monuments of Westphalia, will contain among others, a drawing of the celebrated mass of stones, known by the name of Eostræ rupes, or rupes Picarum, in the country of Lippe-Detmold. These isolated and gigantic rocks served the ancient Germans in their religious worship. They are apparently the altars on which Tacitus says that the tribunes and Roman generals were sacrificed after the battle of Arminius. Vestiges of sacrifice are still found around these monuments. When the inhabitants of this country became converted to the Christian religion in subsequent times, their devotion prompted them to efface the recollection of paganism by a colossal in bas relief, cut into this very rock, and representing the descent of the cross. It is perhaps the most ancient work of the kind that exists in Germany. Its composition is not less extraordinary than its execution. Another remarkable monument is the Teuteubourg, or Teutobourg, an entrenchment in whose stone ramparts no trace of mortar can be discovered. It was here that Quintillius Varas suffered his famous defeat. Each drawing will be accompanied with a brief description, entirely founded upon facts. The second division of this work will comprehend Roman monuments. It will contain, in the first place, pieces of architecture which have been recovered from the subterranean ruins turned up in 1818, by the Count de Solms-Laubach, in the environs of Bonn. The drawings are executed under the direction of the architect Hundeshagen; secondly, figures of bronze, engraved stones, vases of different kinds, and the different coins and medals which have been recovered at the same time; thirdly, other ancient remains, found also in the environs of Bonn. The price of the work, which will be succeeded by other volumes, is eight florins, or about 15s.

ITALY.

The Typographical Society of Classical Italian Authors have resolved to publish all the classical literature of the eighteenth century, of which fifty-two volumes, in octavo, have already appeared. In this interesting collection are inserted, the Treatise of Dominico Guglielmini, Della Natura De Fiumi, together with the Notes of Eustachio Manfredi; the best Comedies of Goldoni ; a Selection from the works of Gaspazo Gozzi; the works of Cesare Beccaria ; and the Annals of Italy, by Muratori. Though the title of classic is too liberally bestowed on some of these authors, the choice of the works is so generally good, that it must ensure the success of the collection.

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