3 THE TENTH BOOK OF THE ODYSSEY. A T length we reach'd Æolia's fea-girt fhore A floating Ifle! High-rais'd by toil divine, NOTES. Six Poetry is a mixture of Hiftory and Fable; the foundation is hiftorical, becaufe the Poet does not entirely neglect truth; the reft is fabulous, becaufe naked truth would not be fufficiently furpri zing; for the Marvellous ought to take place, efpecially in Epic Poetry. But it may be ask'd, does not Homer offend against all degrees of probability in thefe Epifodes of the Sirens, Scylla and Charybdis, Cyclops and Antiphates? How are thefe incredible stories to be reduc'd into the bounds of probability? 'tis true, the Marvellous ought to be used in Epic Poetry; but ought it to tranfgrefs all power of belief? Ariftotle in his Art of Poetry lays down a rule B 2 Six blooming youths, in private grandeur bred, Thefe to juftify thefe incidents: A Poet, fays that Author, ought to prefer things impoffible, provided they are probable, before things poffible, that are nevertheless incredible. Chap. 15. This rule is not without obfcurity; but Monfieur Dacier has explain'd it in his Annotations upon that Author: A thing may be impoffible, and yet probable: Thus when the Poet introduces a Deity, any incident humanly impoffible receives a full probability by being afcribed to the skill and power of a God: Tis thus we juftifie the ftory of the transformation of the fhip of the Phaacians into a rock, and the fleet of Eneas into Sea-nymphs. But fuch relations ought not to be too frequent in a Poem; for it is an established rule, that all incidents which require a divine probability only, fhould be fo difengaged from the action, that they may be fubftracted from it, without deftroying it; for inftance, if we omit the transformation of the fhip, the action of the Odyffey will retain the fame perfection. And therefore those Episodes which are neceffary, and make effential parts of the Poem, ought to be grounded upon human probability; now the Epifodes of Circe, Polypheme, the Sirens, &c. are neceffary to the action of the Odyffey: But will any man fay they are within the bounds of human probability? How then fhall we folve this difficulty? Homer artificially has brought them within the degrees of it; he makes Ulyffes relate them before a credulous and ignorant affembly; he lets us into the character of the Phaacians, by faying they were a very dull nation, in the fixth book, When never Science rear'd her laurel'd head. It is thus the Poet gives probability to his fables, by reciting them to a people who believed them, and who through a lazinefs of life were fond of romantic stories; he adapts himself to his audience, and yet even here he is not unmindful of his more intelligent Readers; he gives them (obferves Boff) in thefe fables all the pleasure that can be reap'd from phyfical or moral truths, difguis'd under miraculous Allegories, and by this method reconciles them to poetical probability. There are feveral heads to which Probability may be reduced; either to Divinity, and then nothing is improbable, for every thing is poffible to a Deity; or to our Ideas of things whether true or falfe: thus in the defcent of Ulyffes into Hell, there is not one word of probability or hiftoric truth, but if we examine it by the ideas that I These fons their fifters wed, and all remain All that the old world entertain'd of Hell, it becomes probable; or laftly, we may have refpect to vulgar opinion or fame; for a Poet is at liberty to relate a falfhood, provided it be commonly believed to be true. We might have recourfe to this laft rule, which is likewife laid down by Ariftotle, to vindicate the Odyffey, if there were occafion for it; for in all ages fuch fables have found belief. I will only add, that Virgil has given a fanction to thefe ftories, by inferting them in his Eneis; and Horace calls them by the remarkable epithet of fpecious miracles. -Ut fpeciofa dehinc miracula promat, Antiphaten, Scyllamque & cum Cyclope Charybdin.. Longinus calls these fables Dreams, but adds, that they are the dreams of Jupiter; he likewife blames thefe Epifodes, becaufe in all of them there is much more fable and narration than action: Which criticifm may perhaps be too fevere, if we confider that paft adventures are here brought into prefent ufe, and though they be not actions, yet they are the reprefentations of actions, agreeable to the nature of Episodes. It may be queftion'd if Virgil is fo happy in the choice of the audience, to which he relates many of thefe fables; the Carthaginians were not ignorant, like the Phaacians: From whence then do his ftories receive their Probability? It is not fo eafy to anfwer this objection, unless we have recourfe to common fame: Virgil was not the Author of them, Homer had establifh'd them, and brought them into fame, fo that Virgil had common opinion to vindicate him, join'd with Homer's authority. v. 1. We reach'd Eolia's fhore.] It is difficult to diftinguish what is truth from what is fiction in this relation: Diodorus, who was a Sicilian, fpeaks of colus, and refers to this paffage: "This is that Eolas, fays he, who entertain'd Ulyffes in his voyages: He is reported to have been a pious and juft Prince, and "given to hofpitality, and therefore pinos abaváros, as Homer "expreffes it." But whence has the fable of his being the Governor of the Winds taken its foundation? Euftathius tells us, that he was a very wife man, and one who from long obfervation could foretell what weather was like to follow: others fay he was an Aftronomer, and ftudied chiefly the nature of the Winds; and All day they feaft, all day the bowls flow round, 10 And joy and mufic thro' the Isle refound: At as Atlas from his knowledge in Aftrology was faid to sustain the "pofer of the Winds." The words of Varro, quoted by Servius, Polybius will not admit that this ftory of Eolus is entirely fable; and Strabo is of the fame opinion, that Ulyffes was in the Sicilian feas; and that there was fuch a King as olas, he affirms to be truth, but that he met with fuch adventures is, in the main, fiction. There may another reason, as Euftathius obferves, be given for the fiction of binding up the winds in a bag: they who practis'd the Art of Incantation or charms, made ufe of the skin of a Dolphin, and pretended by certain ceremonies to bind or loose the winds as they pleased; and this practice is a fufficient ground to build upon in Poetry. The folution alfo of Bochart is worth our notice: Homer borrowed the word Alxas from the Pheacian Aol, which fignifies a whirlwind or tempeft, from whence the Greeks form'd their word dha; the Phaacians obferving the King of this Inland to be very expert in foretelling the winds, called him King Aolin, or King of the winds and ftorms; from hence Homer form'd a proper name and At night each pair on fplendid carpets lay, And crown'd with love the pleasures of the day. This and call'd him Aionos. It must be confefs'd, that this folution is ingenious, and not without an appearance of probability. But having laid together what may be faid in vindication of this ftory of Eolas: Juffice requires that I fhould not fuppress what has been objected against it by no lefs a Critic than Longinas: he obferves that a genius naturally lofty fometimes falls into trifling; an inftance of this, adds he, is what Homer fays of the bag wherein Eolus inclofed the winds. Cap. 7. Tapi v↓s. 1.3. A floating fle- -]The word in the orginal is Th: fome take it, as Euftathius remarks, for a proper name; but Ariftarchus believes Homer intended to exprefs by it a floating Inland, that was frequently removed by concuffions and earthquakes, for it is feen fometimes on the right, at other times on the left hand; the like has been faid of Delos; and Herodotus thus defcribes the Inland Echemis in the Egyptian feas. Dionyfins, in his ap nois, affirms, that this Ifland is not called by the name of th by reafon of its floating, but because it is an Island of fame, and much fail'd unto, or her by navigators; that is, reqμévn, or Év TÓTTOIS TREQμÉvois xμm, or lying in feas of 'great navigation: but perhaps the former opinion of Ariftarchus may be preferable, as it beft contributes to raise the wonder and admiration of the credulous ignorant Phaasians, which was the fole intention of Ulyffes. These Islands were feven in number, (but eleven at this day) Strongyle, Hiera, Didyme, Hicefia, Lipara, Ericades, and Phanic des, all lying in the Sicilian feas, as Diodorus Siculus teftifies; bur differs in the name of one of the Inands. Strabo is of opinion, that the Island call'd by Homer, the ALan, is Strongyle; Ἡ δὲ Στρογύλη, ἐςὶ διαπυρὸς, τῷ φέγγει πλεονεκ τόσα, ἐνταῦθα δὲ τὸν Αἴολον οικησαι φασί. This Iand Strongyle " abounds with fubterraneous fires, &c. and here Æulus is laid "to have reign'd." Pliny agrees with Strabo, lib. 3. but Dacier underftands it to be Lipara, according to Virgil, En. lib. 8. but in reality the feven were all call'd the Æolian Islands. Infula Sicanium juxta latus, Æoliamque Erigitur Liparen, fumantibus ardua faxis. But why is it fabled to be surrounded with a wall of brafs? Euftathius fays, that this may proceed from its being almost inacceffible; |