machines of the gods. If Homer was not the first who introduced the

deities (as Herodotus imagines) into the religion of Greece, he seems the

first who brought them into a system of machinery for poetry, and such a

one as makes its greatest importance and dignity: for we find those

authors who have been offended at the literal notion of the gods,

constantly laying their accusation against Homer as the chief support of

it. But whatever cause there might be to blame his machines in a

philosophical or religious view, they are so perfect in the poetic, that

mankind have been ever since contented to follow them: none have been able

to enlarge the sphere of poetry beyond the limits he has set: every

attempt of this nature has proved unsuccessful; and after all the various

changes of times and religions, his gods continue to this day the gods of

poetry.

We come now to the characters of his persons; and here we shall find no

author has ever drawn so many, with so visible and surprising a variety,

or given us such lively and affecting impressions of them. Every one has

something so singularly his own, that no painter could have distinguished

them more by their features, than the poet has by their manners. Nothing

can be more exact than the distinctions he has observed in the different

degrees of virtues and vices. The single quality of courage is wonderfully

diversified in the several characters of the Iliad. That of Achilles is

furious and intractable; that of Diomede forward, yet listening to advice,

and subject to command; that of Ajax is heavy and self-confiding; of

Hector, active and vigilant: the courage of Agamemnon is inspirited by

love of empire and ambition; that of Menelaus mixed with softness and

The Iliad of Homer