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been named, without reason, the School of Homer. It is on the coast, at
some distance from the city, northward, and appears to have been an open
temple of Cybele, formed on the top of a rock. The shape is oval, and in
the centre is the image of the goddess, the head and an arm wanting. She
is represented, as usual, sitting. The chair has a lion carved on each
side, and on the back. The area is bounded by a low rim, or seat, and
about five yards over. The whole is hewn out of the mountain, is rude,
indistinct, and probably of the most remote antiquity."
So successful was this school, that Homer realised a considerable fortune.
He married, and had two daughters, one of whom died single, the other
married a Chian.
The following passage betrays the same tendency to connect the personages
of the poems with the history of the poet, which has already been
mentioned:--
"In his poetical compositions Homer displays great gratitude towards
Mentor of Ithaca, in the Odyssey, whose name he has inserted in his poem
as the companion of Ulysses,(13) in return for the care taken of him when
afflicted with blindness. He also testifies his gratitude to Phemius, who
had given him both sustenance and instruction."
His celebrity continued to increase, and many persons advised him to visit
Greece, whither his reputation had now extended. Having, it is said, made
some additions to his poems calculated to please the vanity of the
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