Our oars we shipp'd: all day the fwelling fails. 10Full from the guiding pilot catch'd the gales. Now funk the Sun from his aerial height, And o'er the fhaded billows rufh'd the night: When lo! we reach'd old Ocean's utmost bounds, Whererocks controul his waves with ever-during mounds 15 There in a lonely land, and gloomy cells, The dusky nation of Cimmeria dwells; The V. 15. There in a lonely land, and gloomy cells, It is the opinion of many Commentators, that Homer conftantly in thefe voyages of Ulyffes makes use of a fabulous Geography; but perhaps the contrary opinion in many places may be true: In this paffage, Ulyffes in the fpace of one day fails from the Island of Circe to the Cimmerians: Now it is very evident from Herodotus and Strabo, that they inhabited the regions near the Bofphorns, and confequently Ulyffes could not fail thither in the compass of a day; and therefore, fays Strabo, the Poet removes not only the Cimmerians, but their climate and darkness, from the northern Bofphorus into Campania in Italy. But that there really were a people in Italy named Cimmerians is evident from the teftimony of many Authors. So Lycophron plainly underftands this paffage, and relates thefe adventures as performed in Italy. He recapitulates all the voyages of Ulyffes, and mentioning the defcent into Hell and the Cimmerians, he immediately describes the infernal rivers, and adds, (speaking of the Apennine) Ἐξ ὧν τὰ πάνια χύτλα, καὶ πᾶσαι μυχῶν. That is, "From whence all the rivers, and all the fountains flow Cimmerian etiam obfcuras acceffit ad arces, are The Sun ne'er views th'uncomfortable feats, -Unhappy race! whom endless night invades, Here open'd Hell, all Heil I here implor'd, are understood by all interpreters to denote the Italian Cimmerians who dwelt near Baie and the lake Avernus; and therefore Homer may be imagin'd not entirely to follow a fabulous Geography. It is evident from Herodotus that these Cimmerians were antiently a powerful nation; for paffing into Afia (fays that Author in his Clio) they poffefs'd themfelves of Sardis, in the time of Ardyes, the fon of Gyges. If fo, it is poffible they might make feveral fettlements in different parts of the world, and call thofe fettlements by their original name, Cimmerians, and confequently there might be Italian, as well as Scythian Cimmerians. It must be allow'd, that this horrid region is well chofen for the descent into Hell: It is defcrib'd as a land of obfcurity and horrors, and happily imagin'd to introduce a relation concerning the realms of death and darkness, New 35 New wine, with honey-temper'd milk, we bring, Now the wan fhades we hail, th'infernal Gods, Beneath the knife upon your altars fall; V. 31. New wine, with honey-temper'd milk.] The word in the original is, xinparov, which (as Euftathins obferves) the Antients conftantly understood to imply a mixture of honey and milk; but all writers who fucceeded Homer as conftantly used it to fignify a compofition of water mix'd with honey. The Latin Poets have borrow'd their magical rites from Homer: Thus Ovid Metam, 7.243. Haud procul egeftâ fcrobibus tellare duabus Sacra facit: cultrofque in guttura velleris atri Conjicit; & patulas perfundit fanguine foffas, Tum fuper invergens liquidi carchefia Bacchi, Eneaque invergens tepidi carchefia la&tis, &ċ. Thus alfo Statins: Tellure cavatà Inclinat Bacchi latices, & muneta verni, This libation is made to all the departed fhades; but to what purpofe (objects Euftathins) fhould these rites be paid to the dead, when it is evident from the fubfequent relation that they were ig norant of thefe ceremonies 'till they had tafted the libation? He anfwers from the Antients, that they were merely honorary to the regents of the dead, Pluto and Proferpina; and ufed to obtain their leave to have an interview with the fhades in their dominions. So in our palace, at our fafe return. 40 Rich with unnumber'd gifts the Pyle fhall burn; So fhall a Ram, the largest of the breed, Black as these regions, to Tirefias bleed. Thus folemn rites and holy vows we paid 45 Then dy'd the fheep; a purple torrent flow'd, When lo! appear'd along the dusky coafts, Thin, airy fhoals of visionary ghosts; Fair, v. 47. When to! appear'd along the dusky coafts, We are inform'd by Euftathius, that the Antients rejected these fix verses; for fay they, thefe are not the fhades of perfons newly flain, but who have long been in thefe infernal regions: How then can their wounds be fuppos'd ftill to be vifible, especially through their armour, when the foul was separated from the body? Neither is this the proper place for their appearance, for the Poet immediately fubjoins, that the ghoft of Elpenor was the firft that he en counter'd in these regions of darkness. But these objections will -be eafily anfwer'd by having recourfe to the notions which the Antients entertained concerning the dead: we muft remember that they imagin'd that the foul tho' freed from the body had ftill a vehicle, exactly refembling the body; as the figure in a mold retains the refemblance of the mold, when feparated from its the body is but as a cafe to this vehicle, and it is in this vehicle that the wounds are faid to be vifible; this was fuppofed to be lefs grofs than the mortal body, and lefs fubtile than the Soul; fo that whatever wounds the outward body receiv'd when living, were believ'd to affect this inward Substance, and confequently might be visible after separation. It is true that the Poet calls the ghost of Elpenor the first ghost, but this means the first whom he knew: Elpener was not yet buried, and therefore was not yet received into the habitation of the dead, Fair, penfive youths, and foft-enamour'd maids, yo And wither'd Elders, pale and wrinkled shades: dead, but wanders before the entrance of it. This is the reafon why his fhade is faid to prefent it felf the foremoft; it comes not up from the realm of death, but defcends towards it from the upper world. But these fhades of the warriors are faid ftill to wear their armour in which they were flain, for the Poet adds that it was ftain'd with blood: How is it poffible for thefe ghosts, which are only a fubtle fubftance, not a grofs body, to wear the armour they wore in the other world? How was it convey'd to them in thefe infernal regions? All that occurs to me in anfwer to this objection is, that the Poet defcribes them fuitably to the characters they bore in life; the warriors on earth are warriors in Hell; and that he adds these circumftances only to denote the manner of their death, which was in battle, or by the fword. No doubt but Homer reprefents a future ftate according to the notions which his age entertain'd of it, and this fufficiently juftifies him as a Poet, who is not obliged to write truths, but according to fame and common opinions. But to prove thefe verfes genuine, we have the authority of Virgil: he was too fenfible of their beauty not to adorn his Poems with them. Georg. 4. 470. At cantu commota Erebi de fedibus imis Umbra ibant tenues, fimulacraque luce carentum, Matres, atque viri, defunctaque corpora vitâ It must be confeffed that this Roman Poet omits the circumstance |