Homer passed a wandering life, reciting his verses at public and private festivals. His writings are come down to the present time entire. His Iliad and Odyssey are the eternal monuments of his fame. Besides these, the Batrachomyomachia, or Battles of the Frogs and Mice, and several hymns, are commonly ascribed to him.59 It was customary among the Greeks, for certain persons, who, from their employment, were called Rhapsodists, to recite verses, chiefly those of Homer, at festivals, and in the public theatres, holding in their hand a branch of laurel.60 These recitations were not intended merely for amusement, but for the purpose of disseminating principles of wisdom and virtue. It was for this reason that the celebrated legisłátors, Lycurgus and Solon, encouraged these public recitals, and that, in many cities, statues of Homer were erected, and Divine honours were paid to his memory. Without detailing the extravagant encomiums passed upon Homer by some of his panegyrists, who have supposed him a perfect master of sciences and arts, and called him the prince of philosophers; and without adopting the fanciful notion of Justin Martyr, who supposed that Homer borrowed many things from Moses, and found, in his poems, the creation of the world, the tower of Babel, and the devils cast out of heaven, it must be allowed, that he possessed as much knowledge as was to be expected from an individual at the period in which he lived. But his works were written merely as a display of poetical genius, without any design of delivering precepts of religion, philosophy, or the arts, farther than as they incidentally arose from his subject. Nothing therefore can be more absurd, than the attempts of some critics, who have possessed more learning and science than taste, to rest the merit of Homer upon the extent of his knowledge. An ancient encomiast upon Homer, proves him to have possessed a perfect knowledge of nature, and to have been the author of the doctrine of Thales and Xenophanes, that water is the first principle of all things, from his having called Oceanus the parent of 59 Fabr. Bibl. Gr. vol. i. p. 253. Kuster. Hist. Hom. Francf. 1696. 60 Suidas. Ælian. Var. Hist. l. 12. c. 48. Cuperi Diss. Hom. Amst. 1683, 61 Galæi Opusc. Mythol. p. 283. nature; and infers, that he was acquainted with Empedocles' doctrine of friendship and discord, from the visit which Juno pays to Oceanus and Thetis to settle their dispute: because Homer represents Neptune as shaking the earth, he concludes him to have been well acquainted with the causes of earthquakes; and because he speaks of the Great Bear as never touching the horizon, he makes him an eminent astronomer. The truth is, the knowledge of nature, which poetry describes, is very different from that which belongs to the philosopher. It would be easy to prove, from the beautiful similes of Homer, that he was an accurate observer of natural appearances; and to shew from his delineation of characters, that he was intimately acquainted with human nature. But he is not, on this account, to be ranked with natural philosophers or moralists. Much pains have been taken to prove, that Homer expresses just and sublime conceptions of the Divine Nature. And it will be acknowledged, that in some passages, he speaks of Jupiter in language which may not improperly be applied to the Supreme Deity. But, if the whole fable of Jupiter, as it is represented in Homer, be fairly examined, it will be very evident, either that he had not just conceptions of the Divine Nature, or that he did not mean to express them in the portrait which he has drawn of the son of Saturn, the husband of Juno, and the president of the council of Olympus. It would surely have been too great a monopoly of perfection, if the first poet in the world had also been the first philosopher. 62 62 Vidend. Burnet. Arch. 1. i. c. 9. Cudworth, c. iv. § 14. Budd. Ann. Phil. Diss. ii. Eschenbach, in Epigeni de Poesi Orph. H. Steph. Poes. Phil. Fragm. Huet. Dem. p. iv. c. 8. Nat. Com. 1. iv. c. 6. Rhodigen. Lect. vii. Steuchus Eugbin. de Peren. Phil. 1. ix. Bochart. G. Sac. p. i. 1. i. c. 2. Buddæi Obs. Hal. t. vi. Obs. 29. Borrich. de Poet. Diss. Lambec. Prod. p. 168. Naudæi Apolog. c. 9. Putter. Arch. Gr. 1. ii. p. 246. Malala Hist. Chron. p. 88. Basnage Hist. des Juifs. t. iv. c. 4. Warb. Div. Leg. l. ii. § 4. Petit. Obs. Misc. c. xii. Clerici Hist. Med. p. i. l.ii. Cuper, de Consecr. Homeri, Amst. 1683. Kuster. Hom. Hist. Cr. 1696. Dodwel de Cyclis Græc. Diss. 3. Le Clerc. Bib. Chois. t. xxii. p. 244. Stollii Diss. de Hom. Rechenberg de Theol. Hom. Lips. 1679. CHAP. II. OF THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY OF THE GREEKS. IN what manner poetry, music, and fable, were employed for the purposes of civilization, at the period when Greece was first peopled, has been already shewn. One principal end of the religious rites and mysteries, which the first founders of the Grecian states introduced, was, unquestionably, the support of civil authority: and the management of the affairs of religion, and of those of government, were, at first, in the same hands. But afterwards, in the more settled state of society, religion was so far separated from policy, that its doctrines and ceremonies were committed to the charge of priests; and the institution of laws, and the regulation of manners, were entrusted tomen whose superior wisdom and public spirit qualified them for the offices of legislation and magistracy. Those who, at this period, took the charge of public affairs, served their country not only by instituting wise and salutary laws, but by exhibiting an example of virtuous manners, and by inculcating, in their daily conversation, useful maxims and precepts of morals. On these accounts they obtained the appellation of Wise Men. In treating of the philosophy of this period, which may properly be called the Political Philosophy of Greece, we are, then, to consider, not the refined speculations of contemplative minds, but the practical wisdom of men employed in active life. Among the numerous legislators of Greece, (under which appellation is included, on account of the Grecian colonies that settled there, the eastern side of Italy, since called Magna Grecia) one of those, who first distinguished themselves by their wisdom and authority, was Zaleucus, the founder of the Locrian state. He was of obscure birth, and, in his youth, lived in servitude, in the capacity of a shepherd. But his extraordinary abilities and merit obtained him his freedom, and at length raised him to the government. The laws which he framed were severe; but they were so well adapted to the situation and manners of the Locrians, that their constitution was, for several ages, highly celebrated.' So rigorous was the discipline of Zaleucus, that he prohibited the use of wine, except in cases where it was prescribed as a medicine, and ordained, that adulterers should be punished with the loss of their eyes. When his own son had subjected himself to this penalty, in order at the same time to preserve the authority of the laws, and shew some degree of paternal lenity, he shared the punishment with the offender, and that he might only be deprived of one eye, submitted to lose one of his own." The first legislator of Athens, was Triptolomus, who pretended to have received his laws from Ceres. These becoming obselete, or being found insufficient for the regulation of the state, Draco, about the thirty-ninth Olympiad, instituted a new code of laws, so exceedingly rigorous, that they were said to have been written with blood. The severity of this discipline was afterwards, in some measure, relaxed by Solon, who, in the forty-sixth Olympiad, on the basis of the Egyptian and Cretan laws, framed an entirely new constitution, to which Athens was principally indebted for its subsequent glory.5 The republic of Sparta was established, about the beginring of the Olympiads, by the celebrated legislator Lycurgus. His institutions were chiefly adapted to cherish those hardy virtues, which form the military character. He committed no laws to writing, but issued them forth, as the edicts of Apollo, from the oracle at Delphos, to be committed to memory, and to be carried into execution by the regal power; a device, which not only served to establish their authority, but gave the magistrate an easy opportunity of making such future alterations or additions, as the state of public affairs might require. The laws of Lycurgus were delivered in verse, accompanied with music, by Thales the Cretan, Tyrtæus, Terpander, and others." 1 Clem, Alex. Strom, l. i. p. 309. Suidas. Valer. Max. 1. ii. et vi. 259. Diod. Sic. 1. xii. p. 84. Laert. 1. viii. § 16. Senec. Ep. 90. Strabo, l. vi. Ælian. Var. Hist. 1. ii. c. 37, p. 259. 2 Athenæus, 1. x. p. 429. 3 Ib. c. 24. Stobæi Serm. 39. 4 Porphyr. de Abstin. I. iv. p. 431. Plutarch in Solon. Aristot. Polit. ii. c. 10. Rhet. l. ii. c. 23. Plut. et Laert. Solon. Fabr. B. Gr. v. i. p. 528. Diod. Sic. l. i. p, 48. Liba i. P2 Both Solon and Lycurgus derived great assistance, in their political institutions, from the laws of Crete, which were instituted by Rhadamanthus and Minos, two illustrious legislators, who pretended to have received their laws from Jupiter. Near the chief city of Crete were the caverns of Ida, sacred to Jove and other divinities, where the Cretan lawgivers and priests were supposed to receive instructions from the gods.7 Next to the early legislators of Greece, the praise of civil and moral wisdom is ascribed to several eminent men, commonly known by the name of the Seven Wise Men of Greece. Their history, which was, probably, at first, plain and simple, has been rendered obscure and uncertain by traditionary reports. The incident which first gave occasion to the appellation, is thus related: In the third year of the forty-ninth Olympiad, it happened that certain youths of Ionia, purchasing from a fisherman of Miletus a large draught of fish, which he had brought to shore, found in the net a golden tripod of great value. Upon this, a dispute arose between the fisherman and the purchasers; the former maintaining, that he had only sold them the capture of fish, the latter asserting that they had bought the chance of the draught, whatever it might be. The question was referred to the citizens of Miletus, who were of opinion, that on so extraordinary an affair the Delphic oracle should be consulted. The answer of the oracle was, To the wisest. In obedience to this answer, the Milesians unanimously adjudged the tripod to Thales. Thales modestly declined the honour intended him by his fellow citizens, and sent the tripod to Bias, a wise man of Priene: from him it was passed on through several hands till it came to Solon, the Athenian legislator, who, judging that the character of the wisest could not properly belong to any human being, sent the prize of wisdom to Delphos, to be dedicated to Apollo. An air of fable hangs upon this story; and its circum nius, t. ii. p. 497. Polyæn. Strat. I. i. p. 16. Herod. 1. vi. c. 57. Plato de Leg. 1. i. Arist. Pol. 1. ii. c. 7. Just. ex Trog. 1. iii. c. 2. Bayle. 7 Strabo, I. x. p. 467. * Lacrt. 1. i. § 22—29. Val, Max. I. i. § 28. viii. § 1. Athæn, I. ii. p. 37. Plut. in Solon. |