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to the fashion of the times, by Alphonso king of Naples. He wrote five different works in verse; and, according to his own account in one of his letters, they consisted of ten books of satires, five books of miscellaneous poems, the Sfortiad in eight books, ten books of epigrams, and three of Greek poems. The number of verses in the whole, as calculated by himself, amounted to thirty-three thousand eight hundred. He has omitted in this computation, his Nicholaus, a poem in two books, and in sapphic verse, which he composed in honour of Pope Nicholas the Fifth, by whom he was greatly esteemed, and who had invited him, by a large present, to undertake the translation of Homer into Latin. He was scarcely less voluminous in prose, but less original, as his prosaic works consist chiefly of translations from Lysias, Aristotle, Xenophon, Hippocrates, and Plutarch; though he has also written two books of Convivia, three entitled Commentationes Florentinæ, five on Moral Discipline, and the Life and Exploits of Francis Sfortia, in compliment to whom the Sfortiad, which has been mentioned already, was composed. There are also Orations, of which Erasmus speaks rather unfavourably in his Ciceronianus,

But the only work of Philelphus which I have had an opportunity of inspecting, is the Epistles, of which this prolific author, in the course of a long life, has written no fewer than thirty-seven books. These abound with eloquence, and with such literary anecdotes and particulars, as cannot but afford amusement to the curious scholar. Though Morhoff rather slights them, yet Erasmus, a much better judge, acknowledges that they resemble Cicero.

I present the reader with an extract from one of them, which I happen to be reading at the time I am writing, and which characterizes the spirit of the author, and the great attachment which he had to books. Cardinal Bessario, the patriarch of Constantinople, had applied to him, desiring him to sell his copy of Homer's Iliad; to which request Philelphus thus replies: "That copy of Homer's Iliad which the very learned Theodore Gaza has written out for me, I value so much, that I would not part with it to any man, for all the treasures of Crœsus. I am really surprised that you should think that I, who always had

the character of generosity, should be so much changed as to be capable of avarice. I have learned to give away many things, but to sell nothing; particularly books; than which I esteem nothing of greater value. But this book of Homer is so dear to my heart, and affords me so much pleasure, that life itself can furnish nothing more delightful. Therefore pardon me in this one thing. If I can gratify you in any thing else, you may command me, and shall not be disappointed." My paper will not admit a number of citations, and I will therefore content myself with referring the lover of elegant latinity and literary anecdotes to the original collection.

It is a circumstance which adds to our surprise in contemplating this example of literary industry, that Philelphus was very much engaged in wars and in embassies; so true is it, that the greatest exertions of mind are compatible with the most active life. His writings are not free from faults, or from that inaccuracy which proceeds from haste; but he is still a stupendous instance of diligence and excellence. Who but must lament, that, after having done so much to enlighten a dark age, and enjoyed the friendship of princes and pontiffs, he should die in his eighty-second year so poor, that his bed, and the utensiis of his kitchen, were sold to pay the expences of his funeral? But few men of real genius love money; and of the liberality of Philelphus, the fragment which I have inserted is an ample testimony.

I hope it will not be tedious or disagreeable to the reader, if I mention a few circumstances relative to the friend and contemporary of Philelphus, Theodore Gaza, of whom he speaks in his epistle, as having transcribed for him a very fine copy of Homer's Iliad.

Theodore Gaza was born at Thessalonica, but received part of his education in Italy. He was an elegant writer both in the Greek and the Latin languages; but he displayed his abilities chiefly in translation; a most useful labour when the learned languages were imperfectly understood. His translated parts of Aristotle, Theophrastus, and Hippocrates, into Latin; and the treatise of Cicero on Old Age into Greek. He wrote also a treatise on Grammar in four books, which has been greatly celebrated. Greek learning, and indeed all ancient learning, is greatly indebted to this distinguished reviver of it, Theodore Gaza.

But he also was unfortunate, and adds to the number of those whom Providence has exhibited to prove, that the rewards of virtuous and useful labour do not consist in riches, honours, or any thing else which the rulers of this world are able to bestow. Poor Gaza had dedicated his Translation and Commentaries on Aristotle's Book on Animals to Pope Sixtus the Fourth, in hopes of procuring from his patronage a little provision for his old age. The Pope gave him only a purse with a few pieces in it, and accompanied his gift with a manner which induced Gaza to conclude that it was the last favour he should receive. Gaza received it in silence; and as he walked home, all melancholy and indignant, along the banks of the Tiber, he threw the purse into the stream, and soon after died of vexation and disappointment.

I have introduced these examples with a view to animate the student to industry; and at the same time, to teach him to seek his reward in his own heart, in the approbation of Heaven, in the private satisfactions of study; and not to depend too much on princes, pontiffs, or even popular favour. Knox's Essays.

§ 134. On the different Kinds of Poetical Composition in the Sacred Books; and of the distinguishing Characters of the chief Writers. 1st. of the Didactic.

The several kinds of poetical composition which we find in scripture, are chiefly the didactic, elegiac, pastoral, and lyric. Of the didactic species of poetry, the Book of Proverbs is the principal instance. The nine first chapters of that book are highly poetical, adorned with many distinguished graces, and figures of expression. At the 10th chapter, the style is sensibly altered, and descends into a lower strain, which is continued to the end; retaining however that sententious, pointed manner, and that artful construction of period, which distinguishes all the Hebrew poetry. The Book of Ecclesiastes comes likewise under this head; and some of the Psalms, as the 119th in particular.

Blair.

$135. Of the Elegiac and Pastoral Poetry of Scripture.

Of elegiac poetry, many very beautiful specimens occur in scripture; such as the

lamentation of David over his friend Jonathan; several passages in the prophetical books; and several of David's Psalms,

composed on occasions of distress and mourning. The 42d Psalm, in particular, is, in the highest degree, tender and plaintive. But the most regular and perfect elegiac composition in the Scripture, perhaps in the whole world, is the book, entitled the Lamentations of Jeremiah. As the prophet mourns in that book over the destruction of the temple, and the Holy City, and the overthrow of the whole state, he assembles all the affecting images which a subject so melancholy could suggest. The composition is uncommonly artificial. By turns the prophet, and the city of Jerusalem, are introduced, as pouring forth their sorrows; and in the end, a chorus of the people send up the most earnest and plaintive supplications to God. The lines of the original too, as may, in part, appear from our translation, are longer than is usual in the other kinds of Hebrew poetry; and the melody is rendered thereby more flowing, and better adapted to the querimonious strain of elegy.

The Song of Solomon affords us a high exemplification of pastoral poetry. Considered with respect to its spiritual meaning, it is undoubtedly, a mystical allegory; in its form, it is a dramatic pastoral, or a perpetual dialogue between personages in to that form, it is full of rural and pastoral the character of shepherds; and, suitably images, from beginning to end.

Ibid.

§ 136. On the Lyric Poetry of Scripture.

Of lyric poetry, or that which is intended to be accompanied with music, the Old Testament is full. Besides a great number of hymns and songs, which we find scattered in the historical and prophetical books, such as the song of Moses, the song of Deborah, and many others of like nature, the whole book of Psalms is to be considered as a collection of sacred odes. In these, we find the ode exhibited in all the varieties of its form, and supported with the highest spirit of lyric poetry; sometimes sprightly, cheerful, and triumphant; sometimes solemn and magnificent; sometimes tender and soft. From these instances, it clearly appears, that there are contained in the holy scriptures full exemplifications of several of the chief kinds of poetical writing.

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Ibid.

137. A Diversity of Style and Manner in the different Composers of the Sacred Books. On JOB, DAVID, and ISAIAH. Among the different composers of the

sacred books, there is an evident diversity of style and manner; and to trace their different characters in this view, will contribute not a little towards our reading their writings with greater advantage. The most eminent of the sacred poets are, the author of the Book of Job, David, and Isaiah. As the compositions of David are of the lyric kind, there is a greater variety of style and manner in his works, than in those of the other two. The manner in which, considered merely as a poet, David chiefly excels, is the pleasing, the soft, and the tender. In his Psalms, there are many lofty and sublime passages; but, in strength of description, he yields to Job: in sublimity, he yields to Isaiah. It is a sort of a temperate grandeur, for which David is chiefly distinguished; and to this he always soon returns, when, upon some occasions, he rises above it. The psalms in which he touches us most, are those in which he describes the happiness of the righteous, or the goodness of God; expresses the tender breathings of a devout mind, or sends up moving and affectionate supplications to heaven. Isaiah is, without exception, the most sublime of all poets. This is abundantly visible in our translation; and, what is a material circumstance, none of the books of scripture appear to have been more happily translated than the writings of this prophet. Majesty is his reigning character; a majesty more commanding and more uniformly supported, than is to be found among the rest of the Old Testament poets. He possesses, indeed, a dignity and grandeur, both in his conceptions and expressions, which are altogether unparalleled, and peculiar to himself. There is more clearness and order too, and a more visible distribution of parts, in his book, than in any other of the prophetical writings.

$138. On JERemiah.

Blair.

When we compare him with the rest of the poetical prophets, we immediately see in Jeremiah a very different genius. Isaiah employs himself generally on magnificent subjects. Jeremiah seldom discovers any disposition to be sublime, and inclines always to the tender and elegiac. Ezekiel, in poetical grace and elegance, is much inferior to them both; but he is distinguished by a character of uncommon force and ardour. To use the elegant expressions of Bishop Lowth, with regard to this Prophet:-"Est atrox, vehemens, tragi

"cus; in sensibus, fervidus, acerbus, in"dignabundus; in imaginibus, fecundus, "truculentus, et nonnunquam ponè defor"mis; in dictione, grandiloquus, gravis, "austerus, et interdùm incultus; frequens "in repetitionibus, non decoris aut gratiæ "causa, sed ex indignatione et violentia. "Quicquid susceperit tractandum id se"dulo persequitur; in eo unicè hæret de"fixus; a proposito raro deflectens. In "cæteris, a plerisque vatibus fortassè su"peratus; sed in eo generè, ad quod vi"detur a natura unicè comparatus, nimi"rum, vi, pondere, impetu, granditate, "nemo unquam eum superavit." The same learned writer compares Isaiah to Homer, Jeremiah to Simonides, and Ezekiel to Eschylus. Most of the book of Isaiah is strictly poetical; of Jeremiah and Ezekiel, not above one half can be held to belong to poetry. Among the minor prophets, Hosea, Joel, Micah, Habakkuk, and especially Nahum, are distinguished for poetical spirit. In the prophecies of Daniel and Jonah, there is no poetry.

Ibid.

§ 139. On the Book of JOB. It only now remains to speak of the book of Job. It is known to be extremely ancient; generally reputed the most ancient of all the poetical books; the author uncertain. It is remarkable, that this

book has no connection with the affairs or

manners of the Jews, or Hebrews. The scene is laid in the land of Uz, or Idumæa, which is a part of Arabia; and the imagery employed is generally of a different kind from what I before showed to be peculiar to the Hebrew poets. We meet with no allusions to the great events of sacred history, to the religious rites of the Jews, to Lebanon or to Carmel, or any of the peculiarities of the climate of Judæa. We find few comparisons founded on rivers or torrents; these were not familiar objects in Arabia. But the longest comparison that occurs in the book, is to an object frequent and well known in that region, a brook that fails in the season of heat, and disappoints the expectation of the traveller.

The poetry, however, of the book of Job, is not only equal to that of any other of the sacred writings, but is superior to them all, except those of Isaiah alone. As Isaiah is the most sublime, David the most pleasing and tender, so Job is the most descriptive of all the inspired poets. A peculiar glow of fancy, and strength of de

no object could be more splendid and dignified than the Trojan war. So great a confederacy of the Grecian states, under one leader, and the ten years' siege which they carried on against Troy, must have spread far abroad the renown of many military exploits, and interested all Greece in the traditions concerning the heroes who had most eminently signalized themselves. Upon these traditions, Homer grounded his poem; and though he lived, as is generally believed, only two or three centuries after the Trojan war, yet, through the want of written records, tradition must, by his time, have fallen into the degree of obscurity most proper for poetry; and have left him at full liberty to mix as much fable as he pleased, with the remains of true history. He has not chosen, for his subject, the whole Trojan war; but, with great judgment, he has selected one part of it, the quarrel betwixt Achilles and Agamemnon, and the events to which that quarrel gave rise; which, though they take up forty-seven days only, yet include the most interesting and most critical period of the war. By this management, he has given greater unity to what would have otherwise been an unconnected history of battles. He has gained one hero, or principal character, Achilles, who reigns throughout the work; and he has shewn the pernicious effect of discord among confederated princes. At the same time, I admit that Homer is less fortunate in his subject than Virgil. The plan of the Eneid includes a greater compass and a more agreeable diversity of events: whereas the Iliad is almost entirely filled with battles.

'scription characterise the author. No writer whatever abounds so much in metaphors. He may be said, not to describe, but to render visible, whatever he treats of. A variety of instances might be given. Let us remark only those strong and lively colours, with which, in the following passages, taken from the 18th and 20th chapters of his book, he paints the condition of the wicked: observe how rapidly his figures rise before us: and what a deep impression, at the same time, they leave on the imagination. "Knowest thou not this "of old, since man was placed upon the "earth, that the triumphing of the wicked "is short, and the joy of the hypocrite, "but for a moment? Though his excel"lency mount up to the heavens, and his "head reach the clouds, yet he shall perish "for ever. He shall fly away as a dream, " and shall not be found; yea, he shall be "chased away, as a vision of the night. "The eye also which saw him, shall see "him no more; they which have seen "him, shall say, where is he?-He shall "suck the poison of asps, the viper's "tongue shall slay him. In the fullness of "his sufficiency, he shall be in straits; every hand shall come upon him. He "shall flee from the iron weapon, and "the bow of steel shall strike him through, "all darkness shall be hid in his secret "places. A fire not blown shall consume "him. The heaven shall reveal his ini"quity, and the earth shall rise up against "him. The increase of his house shall depart. His goods shall flow away in "the day of wrath. The light of the "wicked shall be put out; the light shall "be dark in his tabernacle. "of his strength shall be straitened, and "his own counsel shall cast him down. "For he is cast into a net, by his own "feet. He walketh upon a snare. Ter"rors shall make him afraid on every side; " and the robber shall prevail against him. "Brimstone shall be scattered upon his "habitation. His remembrance shall pe"rish from the earth, and he shall have no name in the street. He shall be drifrom light into darkness. They that come after him shall be astonished "at his day. He shall drink of the wrath "of the Almighty." Blair.

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§ 140. On the Iliad of HOMER. The subject of the Iliad must unquestionably be admitted to be, in the main, happily chosen. In the days of Homer,

The praise of high invention has in every age been given to Homer, with the greatest reason. The prodigious number of incidents, of speeches, of characters divine and human, with which he abounds; the surprising variety with which he has diversified his battles, in the wounds and deaths, and little history pieces of almost all the persons slain, discover an invention next to boundless. But the praise of judgment is, in my opinion, no less due to Homer, than that of invention. His story is all along conducted with great art. He rises upon us gradually; his heroes are brought out, one after another, to be objects of our attention. The distress thickens as the poem advances; and every thing is so contrived as to aggrandize Achilles, and to render him, as the poet intended he should be, the capital figure.

But that wherein Homer excels all writers, is the characteristical part. Here he is without a rival. His lively and spirited exhibition of characters, is, in a great measure, owing to his being so dramatic a writer, abounding every where with dialogue and conversation. There is much more dialogue in Homer than in Virgil; or, indeed, than in any other poet. Blair.

§ 141. On the Odyssey of HOMER. My observations, hitherto, have been made upon the Iliad only. It is necessary to take some notice of the Odyssey also. Longinus's criticism upon it is not without foundation, that Homer may, in this poem, be compared to the setting sun, whose grandeur still remains, without the heat of his meridian beams. It wants the vigour and sublimity of the Iliad; yet, at the same time, possesses so many beauties, as to be justly entitled to high praise. It is a very amusing poem, and has much greater variety than the Iliad; it contains many interesting stories, and beautiful descriptions. We e see every where the same descriptive and dramatic genius, and the same fertility of invention, that appears in the other work. It descends indeed from the dignity of gods and heroes, and warlike achievments; but in recompense, we have more pleasing pictures of ancient manners. Instead of that ferocity which reigns in the Iliad, the Odyssey presents us with the most amiable images of hospitality and humanity; entertains us with many a wonderful adventure, and many a landscape of nature; and instructs us by a constant vein of morality and virtue, which runs through the poem. Ibid.

§ 142. On the Beauties of VIRGIL. Virgil possesses beauties which have justly drawn the admiration of ages, and which, to this day, hold the balance in equilibrium between his fame and that of Homer. The principal and distinguishing excellency of Virgil, and which, in my opinion, he possesses beyond all poets, is tenderness. Nature had endowed him with exquisite sensibility; he felt every affecting circumstance in the scenes he describes; and by a single stroke, he knows how to reach the heart. This, in an epic poem, is the merit next to sublimity; and puts it in author's power to render his composition extremely interesting to all readers.

The chief beauty of this kind, in the Iliad, is the interview of Hector with An

dromache. But, in the Æneid, there are
many such. The second book is one of
the greatest master-pieces that ever was
executed by any hand: and Virgil seems
to have put forth there the whole strength
of his genius, as the subject afforded a va-
riety of scenes, both of the awful and ten-
der kind. The images of horror, present-
ed by a city burned and sacked in the
night, are finally mixed with pathetic and
affecting incidents. Nothing, in any poet,
is more beautifully described than the
death of old Priam; and the family-pieces
of Eneas, Anchises, and Creusa, are as
tender as can be conceived. In many pas-
sages of the Eneid, the same pathetic spi-
rit shines, and they have been always the
favourite passages in that work.
fourth book, for instance, relating the un-
The
happy passion and death of Dido, has been
always most justly admired, and abounds
with beauties of the highest kind. The

interview of Eneas with Andromache and
Helenus, in the third book; the episodes
of Pallas and Evander, of Nisus and Eury-
alus, of Lausus and Mezentius, in the Ita-
lian wars, are all striking instances of the
tions.
poet's power of raising the tender emo-
the Eneid be an unequal poem, and, in
For we must observe, that though
ties scattered through it all; and not a
some places, languid, yet there are beau-
few, even in the last six books.
and most finished books,
The best
the whole,
upon
are the first, the second, the fourth, the
twelfth.
sixth, the seventh, the eighth, and the
Ibid.

§ 143. On the comparative Merit of Ho-
MER and VIRGIL

Upon the whole, as to the comparative merit of those two great princes of epic poetry, Homer and Virgil; the former must undoubtedly be admitted to be the greater genius; the latter, to be the more correct writer. Homer was an original in his art, and discovers both the beauties and the defects, which are to be expected in an original author, compared with those who succeed him; more boldness, more nature and ease, more sublimity and force; but greater irregularities and negligences in composition. Virgil has, all along, kept his eye upon Homer; in many places he has not so much imitated, as he has literally translated him. The description of the storm, for instance, in the first Æneid, and Æneas's speech upon that occasion, are translations from the fifth book of the

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