IDOTHEA, a
daughter
of Prcetus, king of Argos.
Charles - 1867 - Classical Dictionary
,G, 23.
--Anion,
6, 28. --Id. , hid , 26. )--II. A people in the northeast-
ern part of Arabia Felix, along the coast of the Sinus
Persicus. --III. A people of Troglodilica, according to
Strabo, southwest of the island Tapozos; probably
near the straits of Dira, or Babel-Mandcb. Accord-
ing to the Peutinger Table, they dwelt between Albus
Portus and Berenice.
IcMTiTJriiAGdRUM Sinus, a bay on the northeast-
ern coast :f Arabia Felix.
Iconiuh, a very ancient city of Asia Minor, and
juring the Persian dominion the easternmost city of
Phrygia. (Xen. , Anal). , I, 2. ) At a later period it
Became and continued the capital of Lycannia. It was
never a very important place: Strabo (088) calls it a
lroXixvior, "small city. " Pliny, it is true, gives it
the appellation of vrbs celeberrima, but this merely re-
fers to its being the head of a tetrarchy of fourteen
cities. (Plin. , 5, 27. ) Strabo praises the activity of
the inhabitants and the fruilfulness of the surrounding
country. 1'he Greeks, according to their wonted cus-
tom, brought their own mythology to bear on the name
of this place, without at all caring for the fact that the
city was called Iconium long before any of their nation
had penetrated into inner Asia. They deduced the
appellation from elxvviov ("a smalt image"), and then
no difficulty presented itself as to the mode of explain-
ing it. According to some, Prometheus and Minerva
were ordered by Jupiter, in order to replenish the earth
after the deluge of Deucalion, to make human forms
of clay, and to inspire them with the breath of life by
calling in the aid of the winds. The scene of this was
the vicinity of Iconium, whence the place received its
name. {Stcph. Byz. , s. >>. 'Ixovtov. ) This etymolo-
gy, however, had but few supporters; another and a
more popular one prevailed, though of later date than
'. he former, since Strabo and his contemporaries knew
aothing of it. According to this last, Perseus here
raised a column with an image of Medusa upon it, and
hence the name of the place. (Eustath. , Schol. in
Dionys. Pcrieg. , v. 856. ) When Constanline the
Great found statues of Perseus and Andromeda at
Iconium, and caused them to bo transported to Con-
stantinople, this discovery only served tosconfiriii the
previous tradition in the minds, not only of the neigh-
bouring communities, but also of the Byzantines them-
selves. (Antiq. Constant. , 1. 2 et 6. --Bandurii, Imp.
Orient. , vol. 1, p. 24, 106. ) It created no difficulty
whatever that the name of Iconium commenced, not
with the diphthong E<, but the single I. Stephanus
(/. c. ) asserts, that the name ought to be written with
the initial diphthong, and it is, in fact, so written by
Eustathius and the Byzantine historians. (EUivtov
-- Chron. Alczandrin. , Cedrenus. ) Eckhel also cites
medals on which this orthography is given; but other
and earlier ones have the true form, and the gramma-
rian Chosroboscus observes, that the first'syllable of
the name was pronounced short by Mcnander. (Cod.
Barocc, 50, f. 134. )--The most interesting circum-
stances connected with the history of Iconium, are
those which relate to St. Paul's preaching there, to-
wards the commencement of his apostolical mission to
the Gentiles. (Acts, 13, 51, seqq. )--Under the By-
lantine emperors frequent mention is made of this city;
but it had been wrested from them, first by the Sara-
? ? cens, and afterward by tho ^"urks, who made it tho
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? tDJE
*DA
10 the promontory of Lcctum, diminishing in altitude
>>? it proceeds towards the latter. Mr. Hawkins says
that this ridge is not inferior in height to that which
faces the plain of Troy. Herodotus, Xenophon, and
Strabo evidently design by Ida the ridge towards
Troy; or at least they exclude Gargarus. The for-
mer, in describing the march of Xerxes northward
from Pergainus, Thebes, and Antandros, to Ilium,
wakes the Persian monarch leave Ida "on his left
band*' (7, 42), that is. to the west. Now the summit
of Gargarus being little short of an English mile in al-
titude, what should have induced Xerxes to lead his
army over such a ridge, when he might have gone a
slraighter and smoother road by avoiding it, and when,
after all, he must of necessity have crossed the west-
ern ridge also in order to arrive at Ilium 1--Again,
Xenophon says (Altai. , 7), that in his way (southward)
from Ilium through Antandros to Adramyttium, he
crossed Mount Ida. Of course it must have been the
western and southern ranges, as is done at present by
those who travel from the Dardanelles to Adramyt or
Adramyttium. Strabo unquestionably refers the ideas
of Demetrius respecting the mountains of Cctylus
(i. e. , Gargarus) and its views to the Trojan Ida; nev-
er supposing that the lofty mountain over Antandros
and Gargara was Cotylus, the highest point of Ida,
whence Demetrius derives the fountains of the Sea-
mander, the . AQsepus, and the Granicus. Strabo con-
cluded that all these rivers sprang from that chain of
Ida bordering on the Trojan plain which he had in
view from the seacoast; and which, it appears, was
the only Ida known to him. (RcnncWs Observations
o. t the Topography of Troy, p. 17, stqq. )--Ida was
. remarkable for its thick forests and excellent timber.
Iu oame is thought to De derived from the circum-
stance of its being covered with woods, idnoi Karnpe-
f)J7f, as Herodotus says of a part of Media (I, 110). It
was the source of many streams (Horn. , II. , 12, 19),
and on Ida also Paris adjudged to Venus the prize of
beauty. --II. The highest and most celebrated mount-
ain of Crete, rising nearly in the centie of the island.
According to Strabo, it was 600 stadia in circuit, and
iruiir. d its base were many large and flourishing cities.
(Strab. , 475. -- Compare Dionys. Perieg. , v. 601. )
The tbmrnit, named Panacra, was especially sacred to
Jove. (Callim. , Hymn, in Jov. , 50. ) Here Jove was
fabled to have been educated by the Corybantes, who
on that account were called Idaei. The modern name
of the mountain is Psiloriti. (Cramer's Ane. Greece,
vol. 3, p. 381. )
Ida a, the surname of Cybcle, because she was
worshipped on Mount Ida. (Lmcr , 2, 611. )
Idmi Dactyli, priests of Cybele, who, according
to Ephorus (ap. Diod. Sic. , 5, 64. --Fragm. , ed.
Marx, p. 176), were so called from Ida, the mountain
of Phrygia, where they had their abode. The poets
and mytbologists vary much in their accounts of this
class of individuals. Some make them to have been
the sons of Jupiter and the nymph Ida; others con-
found them with the Curetes or Corybantes; while
others, again, make the Curetes their offspring. The
same diversity of opinion exists as to their number.
Some make them to have been oniy five (Pausa-*. , 5,
7), and hence they suppose them to have been called
Dactvli, from the analogy between their number and that
of the fingers (ddnrvhyi) on each hand. Others make
the number much larger. Phcrecydos, on<< of the early
? ? Grecian historians, spoke of 20 Idsi Dactvli placed
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? IDU
CR
tel' a the attempt to recover their wives. (Hygin. ,
fab. , 14, 100, &c. --Olid, Fast. , 5, 700. --1'ausan. ,
4, 2; 5, 18. -- Apollod. , 3, 11, S. )
IDISTAVISUS, a plain of Germany, where Germanicus
defeated Arminius. The name appears to have some
affinity to the German word wif. se, signifying " a mead-
ow. " Mannert supposes the field of battle to have
been on the east of the Wcser, south of the city of
Sfindtn. (Mannert, Anc. Geogr. , vol. 3, p. 85. --
Tacit. , Ann. , 2, 16. )
IDHON, I. son of Apollo and Asteria, was the prophet
of the Argonauts. He was killed in hunting a wild
boar in Bilhynia, and received a magnificent funeral.
He had predicted the time and manner of his death.
(Apollod. , 1, 9. --II. A dyer of Colophon, father to
Arachne. (Ovid, Met. , 6, 8. )
IDOMENEUS (four syllables), I. succeeded his father
Deucalion on the throne of Crete, and accompanied
the Greeks to the Trojan war with a fleet of 90 ships.
During this celebrated contest ho rendered himself con-
spicuous by his valour. At his return he made a vow
to Neptune, in a dangerous tempest, that if he escaped
from the fury of the seas and storms, ho would offer
to the god whatever living creature first presented it-
self to his eye on the Cretan shore. This was no
other than his own son, who came to congratulate his
father upon his safe return. Idomencus performed his
promise to the god, but the inhumanity and rashness of
his sacrifice rendered him so odious in the eyes of his
subjects, that he left Crete, and went abroad in quest of
a settlement. He came to Italy, and founded a city on
the coast of Calabria, which he called Sallcutia. (Vid.
Sallentini. ) He died at an advanced age, after he had
the satisfaction of seeing his new kingdom flourish
and his subjects happy. According to the Greek
scholiast on Lycophron (v. 1218), Idomcrieus, during
his absence in the Trojan war, intrusted the manage-
ment of his kingdom to Leucos, to whom he protnised
his daughter Clisithere in marriage at his return. Leu-
cos at first governed with moderation; but he was per-
luadcd by Nauplius, king of Eubrea, to put to death
Meda, the wife of his master, with her daughter Cli-
tithere, and to seize the kingdom. After these violent
measures, he strengthened himself on the throne of
Crete; and Idomeneus, at his return, found it impossi-
ble to expel the usurper. (Ovid, Met. , 13, 358. --
Hygin. , fan. , 92. --Horn. , II. , 11, &c. --Patuan. , 5,
25. --Virg. , JEn. , 3, 122. )--II. A Greek historian of
Latnpsacus, in the age of Epicurus. He wrote a his-
tory of Samothrace.
IDOTHEA, a daughter of Prcetus, king of Argos.
She was cured of insanity, along with her sisters, by
Mclampus. (Vid. Proetidcs. )
IDUBBDA, a range of mountains in Spain, commen-
cing among the Cantabri, and extending nearly in a
southeastern direction through Spain until it termi-
nates on the Mediterranean coast, near Sagunlum,
which lay at its foot. Such, at least, is its extent, ac-
cording ,to Strabo. Ptolemy, however, gives merely
t part of it, from Cassar Augusta, or Saragassa, to
Saguntum. (Strati. , 161. --Mannert, Gcogr. , vol. 1,
p. 40C. )
IDOXAA, a country of Asia, on the confines of Pal-
estine and Arabia, or, rather, comprehending parts of
each, having Egypt on the west, and Arabia Petnca
on the south and east. Its extent varied at differ-
ent leriods of time. Esau or Edom, from whom it
? ? derived its name, and his descendants, settled along
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? IER
IGS
oetgnbounr. j; comtry abounded in thick groves of
these trees, together with the tree which afforded the
balm or balsam of Gilcad. At present, however, there
u cot a tree of any kind, either palm or balsam, and
scarcely any verdure or bushes, to be seen about the
site cf 'ilia deserted city. But the desolation with
which i's ruins are surrounded is rather to be ascribed,
accor ting to Mr. Buckingham, to the cessation of the
jsnal agricultural labours on the soil, and the want of
a distributi >n of water over it by the aqueducts, the
remains cf which evince that they were constructed
chiefly fit that purpose, than to any change in the cli-
mate cr the soil; an observation whjch may be ex-
tended to many parts of the Holy I<and. (Mansford't
Scripture Gazetteer, p. 208, seqq. )
Ierne, one of the ancient names of Ireland. Pyth-
ea8, who, to his own personal acquaintance with this
quarter of the globe, added much information respect-
ing it. which he had obtained from the early inhabitants
of Gades in Spain, is the first who calls Ireland by the
name of lernc (17 '\epvn). From Aristotle, a contempo-
rary of his, we learn that what are now England and
Ireland were then denominated Bpcraviical vr/aoi.
(De Mujtdo. c. 3. ) In Capsar's commentaries a change
of appellation appears. England is there styled Bri-
rannia, and Ireland, Hibernia. (B. G. , 5, 12, etc. )
The idea very naturally suggests itself, that Cajsar
may have given this name to the latter island of his
own accord, for the purpose of denoting the severity
of its climate, and that the meaning of the term is
nothing more than Winter-land. Such a supposition,
however, although it may wear a plausible appearance,
seems to have no foundation whatever in fact. It ia
more than probable that Ca? sar gives the name as he
heard it from others, without associating with it any
idea of cold. He merely places the island to the west
of Britain. It was Strabo who mado it lie far to the
north, and, in consequence of this error, first gave rise
to the opinion, if any such were ever in reality enter-
tained, that the climate of Ireland was cold and rig-
orous. But a question here presents itself, whether
(erne or Hibernia be the true appellation of this island.
The latter, we believe, will, on examination, appear en-
titled to the preference. It is more than probable that
Pytheas received the name Ierne from the mouths of
the neighbouring- natious, contracted from Hibemia.
This supposition would approach to certainty, if we
possessed any means of substantiating as a fact, that
the appellation Hibcmi, which is given to the inhabi-
tants of the island, was used in the old accounts re-
specting it, and not first introduced by so late a writer
as Avienus* A strong argument may be deduced,
however, from what appears to have been the ancient
ronunciation of the word Hibernia. The consonant
may have been softened d<> Vu<<o as to rescmblo ou
ir. sound, a change far fru p^. . <;bmmon; and hence
Hibernia would be pronounced as if written 'lovep-
via, whence Ierne may very easily have been formed.
(Consult remarks under the article Iuverna. ) The'
modern name Erin, which is sometimes applied to
Ireland, is an evident derivation from Ierne, if not
itself the ancient Erse root of that term. Ireland
was known at a very early period to the ancient mar-
iners of southern Europe, by the appellation of the
Holy Island. This remarkable title leads to tho sus-
picion that the primitive seat of tho Druidical sys-
tem of worship may have been in Ireland. Csesar,
? ? it is true, found Druids in Gaul, but he states, at the
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? f LE
ILI
lhg to some accor. r. ts, A. D. 110, his remains were carried
to Antioch for interment. --If, as some suppose, Ignati-
us was not one of the little children whom Jesus took up
in his arms and blessed, it is certain that he conversed
familiarly with the apostles, and was perfectly acquaint-
ed with their doctrine. Of his works there remain
? even epistles, edited in 1645 by Archbishop Usher,
^published by Cotelerius in 1672, in his collection of
ho writings of the apostolical fathers; and again f rint-
td in 1607 at Amsterdam, with notes, and the com-
inc-ntaries of Usher and Pearson. An English transla-
tion of them, from the pen of Archl ishop Wake, is to
t e found among the works of that prelate. There are
some other letters of minor importance, which, though
the question of their authenticity has met with sup-
porters, are generally considered to have been attribu-
ted to him on insufficient authority. --II. A patriarch
of Constantinople, about the middle of the ninth cen-
tury. He was son to the Emperor Michael Curopala-
ta, and on tho deposition of his father assumed the
ecclesiastical habit. The uncompromising firmness
which he displayed after his elevation to the patriar-
chal chair in 847, in subjecting Bardas, a court-favour-
ite, to the censures of the church, on account of an in-
cestuous connexion, caused him to undergo a tempo-
rary deprivation of office. Under Basil, however, he
was restored to his former dignity, and presided in his
capacity of patriarch at the eighth general council.
His death took place about the year 878. (Gorton't
Biogr. Diet. , vol. 2, p. 162. )
Iouvium, a city of Umbria, on the Via Flamicia, to
? he south of Tifernum, and at the foot of the main
chain of tho Apennines. It is now Eugubbio, or, as
it is more commonly called, Gubbio. Iguvium was a
municipal town; and, as it would seem from the im-
portance attached to its possession by Ca>>sar when he
invaded Italy, a place of some consequence. (Cos ,
Bel! . Civ. , I, 2. --Compare Cic. ad Alt. , 7, 13-- Plin. ,
3, 14. ) This city has acquired great celebrity in mod-
em times, from the discovery of some interesting
monuments in its vicinity, in the year 1440. These
consist of several bronze tablets covered with inscrip-
tions, some of which are in Umbrian, others in Latin
characters. They have been made the subject of
many a learned dissertation by modern literati. The
most recent work on the subject is by Grolefend, en-
titled Rudimenta Lingua Umbricce, 4to, Hannov. ,
1835-39.
Ilba or Ilva, an island of the Tyrrhene Sea, off the
coast of Etruria, and about ten miles from the prom-
ontory of Populonium. It was early celebrated for its
rich iron mines; but by whom they were first discov-
ered and worked is uncertain, as they are said to ex-
hibit the marks of Iabours%arried on for an incalculable
time. (Pini, Ostcrv. Mineral, sulla mimera difcrro
di Rio, &c, 1777, Svo. --Leitre sur Vhistoire naturelle
de Vsle d'Elbe, par Kocsllin, Vienne, 1780, 8vo. ) It
even seems to have been a popular belief among the
ancients, that the metallic substance was constantly
renewed. (Aristot. , de Mir. , p. 1158. --Strab. , 223.
? -Plin. , 34, 14 ) It is probable that the Phoenicians
were the first to make known the mineral riches of
this island, and that it was from them the Tyrrhcni
learned to estimate its value, which may have held
nt to ihcm no small inducement for settling on a coast
ttherwise deficient in natural advantages. It is to
? he latter people that we ought to trace the name of
? ? ^Ethalia, given to this island by the Greeks, and which
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? 1LIAS.
MAS.
am nil the age of the grammarians iliac its primitive in-
tegrity was called in question; nor ia it injustice to
assert, that the minute and analytical spirit of a gram-
marian is not the best qualification, for the profound
feeling, the comprehensive conception of an harmoni-
ous whole. The most exquisite anatomist may be no
? udge of the symmetry of the human frame, and we
would take the opinion of Chantrey or Weatmacott
sn the proportions and general boauty of a form rather
than that of Mr. Brodie or Sir Astlcy Cooper. --There
is some truth, though some malicious exaggeration, in
the lines of Pope:
1 The critic eye, that microscope of wit,
Sees hairs and pores, examines bit by bit:
How parts relate to parts, or they to whole;
The body's harmony, the beaming soul;
Are things which Kuster, Burman, Wassc, shall see,
When man's whole frame is obvious to a flea. '
--We would not comprehend, under this sweeping
denunciation, men of genius as well as critical saga-
city, such as Hcyne and Wolf, still less those of the
highest poetic feeling, who, both in this and other
countries, are converts to their system. Yet there is
a sort of contagion in literary as well as religious scep-
ticism; we like, in scholarship, to be on the stronger
side, and the very names of Bentlcy, Wolf, and Hcyne
would sweep a host of followers into their train. In
the authors of a paradox, criticism, like jealousy, fur-
nishes the food which it grows on; and it is astonish-
ing, when once possessed with a favourite opinion,
how it draws 'from trifles confirmation strong,' and
overlooks thci most glaring objections; while, if the
new doctrine once forces its viay into general notice,
ardent proselytes crowd in from all quarters, until that
which was at first a timid and doubtful heresy, be-
comes a standard article of the scholar's creed, from
which it requires courage to dissent. Such to us ap-
pears to have been the fate of the hypotheses before us.
--For, in the first place, it aeens that many of the ob-
jections to the original unit; n the poem apply with
equal force to the Pisistralid' compilation. It is, for
instance, quite as likely, that i i the heat of composi-
tion the bard should have forgotten something; that,
for example, owing to his obliviousness, the Pyltem-
enes, whom he had slain outright in the fifth book,
should revive, gallantly fightin* in the thirteenth;
and thus, in a different way fr "the warrior of the
Italian poet: '"' '? '
'Andare combattendo, ed iter mono. '
The slow and cautious compiler is even less likely to
have made such an oversight tha>> ""o rapid and inven-
tive poet; and. by-the-way, SP ib Pahza's wife's
name is changed, through Cervantes' forgetfulness of
such trifles, in the second part of Don Quixote; but
no such lapsus can be alleged against the spurious
continuator of the romance, Av<<! lenada. Nor, sec-
ondly, will any critical reader of 'omer pretend that
we possess the Homeric poems c" ire and uninterpo-
lated. Thai they were, at one period of their history,
recited in broken fragments; that the wandering rhap-
aodists would not scruple to insert occasionally verses
of their own; that certain long and irrelevant passages
of coarser texture may have thus been interwoven into
the rich tissue of the work--all these points will read-
ily be conceded: but while these admissions explain
almost every discrepance of composition and anomaly
of language and versification, they leave the main ques-
? ? tion, the unity of the original design, entirely un-
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? ILIAS.
{LIAR
? tviaeri of the Iliad, have zealously sought out every
apparent discrepance and contradiction in the several
parts of the poem, some diligent student, on the other
side, would examine into all the fine and delicate al-
lusions between the most remote parts--the prepara-
tions in one book for events which are developed in
>>nolher--the slight prophetic anticipations of what is
to come, and the equally evanescent references to the
past--those inartificial and undesigned touches which
indisputably indicate that the same mind has been
perpetually at work in a subtler manner than is con-
ceivable in a more recent compiler. This has been
done in a few instances by M. Lange, in his fervent
vindication of the unity of the Iliad, addressed to the
celebrated Goethe; in more by Mr. Knight, who hag
applied himself to obviating the objections of Heyne,
but still not so fully or so perfectly as, we arc per-
suaded, might be done. It is obviously impossible
fat us, in our limited space, to attempt an investiga-
tion at once so minute and so extensive, nor can we
find room for more than a brief and rapid outline of
that unity of interest which appears to us to combine
the several books of the Iliad, if not into one precon-
ceived and predistributcd whole, yet into one con-
tinuous story; in which, however the main object be
at times suspended, and apparently almost lost sight
of, it rises again before us, and asserts its predominant
importance, while all the other parts of the design,
however prominent and in bold relief, recede and ac-
knowledge their due subordination to that which is
the central, the great leading figure of the majestic
group. The general design of the Iliad, then, was to
celebrate the glory of the Grecian chieftains at the
most eventful period of the war before Troy; the es-
pecial object, the pre-eminent glory of the great Thes-
? alian chieftain, during this at the same time the most
important crisis of his life. The first book shows us
at once who is to be what is vulgarly called the hero of
the poem: Achilles stands forth as the assertor of the
power of the gods--the avenger of the injured priest-
hood--taking the lead with the acknowledged superior-
ity due to his valour, bearding the sovereign of men,
the great monarch, who commands the expedition.
Wronged by Agamemnon, so as to enlist the generous
sympathies on his side, yet withojt any disparagement
to the dignity of his character, he recedes into inaction,
but it is an inaction which more forcibly enthrals our
interest. In another respect, nothing shows the good
fortune, or, rather, the excellent judgment of the poet,
so much as this dignified secession through so large a
part of this poem. Had Achilles been brought more
frequently forward, ho must have been successfully re-
sisted, and thus his pre-eminent valour have been dis-
paraged; or the poet must have constantly raised up
antagonists more and more valiant and formidable, in
the same manner as the romancers are obliged, in or-
der to keep up the fame of their Amadis or Esplandian,
to go on creating more tall, and monstrous, and many-
headed giants, till they have exhausted all imaginable
dimensions, and all calculable multiplication of heads
and arms. The endless diversity of his adventures
permits Ulysses, in the Odyssey, to be constantly on
the scene. His character rises with the dangers to
which he is exposed, for he contends with the elements
and the gods. Achilles could scarcely be in danger,
for his antagonists must almost always be men. It is
surprising how much the sameness of war is varicd4n
? ? the Iliad, but this chiefly arises from its fluctuations,
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? ILIA<<.
IL1
t>>mp; the poet, assured of bis hearer's profound sym-
pathy, to prolong the atrain. The last book, unneces-
sary as it seems to the development of the wrath of
Achilles, yet has always appeared to us still more re-
markably conducive to the real though remote design
of tb<? Iliad. We have before observed, that the pre-
mature and preadvanced mind of the poet seems to
Live delighted in relieving the savage conflict with
traits of milder manners; and the generous conduct of
Achilles, and his touching respect for the aged Priam,
might almost seem as a prophetic apology to a gentler
age for the barbarity with which the poet might think
it necessary to satisfy the implacable spirit of vengeance
which prevailed among his own warlike compeers.
Hector dragged at the car of his insulting conqueror
was for the fierce and martial vulgar, for the carousing
chieftain, scarcely less savage than the Northman, de-
lighted only by his dark Sagas; Hector's body, pre-
served by the care of the gods, restored with honour
ti Priam, lamented by the desolate women, for the
heart of the poet himself, and lor the few congenial
spirits which could enter into his own more chastened
tone of feeling. --Still, in all this there is nothing of
the elaborate art of a later age; it is not a skilful com-
piler, arranging his materials so as to produce the most
striking effect: the design and the filling up appear to
us to be evidently of the same hand; there is the most
perfect harmony in the plan, the expression, the versi-
fication; and we cannot, by any effort, bring ourselves
to suppose that the separate passages, which form the
main interest of the poem, the splendid bursts, or more
pathetic episodes, were originally composed without
any view to their general effect; in short, that a whole
race of Homers struck out, as it were by accident, all
these glorious living fragments, wbich lay in a kind of
unformed chaos, till a later and almost mightier Homer
commanded them to take form, and combine themselves
into a connected and harmonious whole. --There is an-
other very curious fact, on which we do i. at think,
though it was perceived by both Wolf and Heyne, that
sufficient stress has been laid--the perfect consistency
of the characters in the separate parts of the poem. It
is quite conceivable that there should havo been a sort
of conventional character assigned to different heroes
by the minstrels of elder Greece. To take Mr. Cole-
ridge's illustration of the ballads on Robin Hood; in
all of these bold Robin is still the same frank, careless,
daring, generous, half-comic adventurer: so Achilles
may have been by prescription,
Jmpigcr, iraeundus, inexorabilis, acer;
Ajax heavy and obstinate, Ulysses light and subtle;
but can we thus account for the finer and more deli-
cate touches of character, the sort of natural consist-
encies which perpetually identify the hero, or even the
female of one book, with the same person in another 1
--Take, for instance, that of Helen, perhaps the most
difficult to draw, certainly drawn with the most ad-
mirable success. She is, observes Mr. Coleridge,
'a genuine lady, graceful in motion and speech, no-
ble in her associations, full of remorse for a fault, for
which higher powers seem responsible, yet graceful
>>nd affectionate towards those with whom that fault
aid connected her. ' Helen first appears in the third
book, in which it is difficult to admire too much the
admiration of her beauty extorted from the old men,
who are sitting Ttrriycooiv lot*6rec
04 viueaic, Tpuac xat Hnvrifu6ac 'Axatovc
? ? To:^o* u/Mfii ywaiicl iro7. bv xpovov u/iyea reaaxciv
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6, 28. --Id. , hid , 26. )--II. A people in the northeast-
ern part of Arabia Felix, along the coast of the Sinus
Persicus. --III. A people of Troglodilica, according to
Strabo, southwest of the island Tapozos; probably
near the straits of Dira, or Babel-Mandcb. Accord-
ing to the Peutinger Table, they dwelt between Albus
Portus and Berenice.
IcMTiTJriiAGdRUM Sinus, a bay on the northeast-
ern coast :f Arabia Felix.
Iconiuh, a very ancient city of Asia Minor, and
juring the Persian dominion the easternmost city of
Phrygia. (Xen. , Anal). , I, 2. ) At a later period it
Became and continued the capital of Lycannia. It was
never a very important place: Strabo (088) calls it a
lroXixvior, "small city. " Pliny, it is true, gives it
the appellation of vrbs celeberrima, but this merely re-
fers to its being the head of a tetrarchy of fourteen
cities. (Plin. , 5, 27. ) Strabo praises the activity of
the inhabitants and the fruilfulness of the surrounding
country. 1'he Greeks, according to their wonted cus-
tom, brought their own mythology to bear on the name
of this place, without at all caring for the fact that the
city was called Iconium long before any of their nation
had penetrated into inner Asia. They deduced the
appellation from elxvviov ("a smalt image"), and then
no difficulty presented itself as to the mode of explain-
ing it. According to some, Prometheus and Minerva
were ordered by Jupiter, in order to replenish the earth
after the deluge of Deucalion, to make human forms
of clay, and to inspire them with the breath of life by
calling in the aid of the winds. The scene of this was
the vicinity of Iconium, whence the place received its
name. {Stcph. Byz. , s. >>. 'Ixovtov. ) This etymolo-
gy, however, had but few supporters; another and a
more popular one prevailed, though of later date than
'. he former, since Strabo and his contemporaries knew
aothing of it. According to this last, Perseus here
raised a column with an image of Medusa upon it, and
hence the name of the place. (Eustath. , Schol. in
Dionys. Pcrieg. , v. 856. ) When Constanline the
Great found statues of Perseus and Andromeda at
Iconium, and caused them to bo transported to Con-
stantinople, this discovery only served tosconfiriii the
previous tradition in the minds, not only of the neigh-
bouring communities, but also of the Byzantines them-
selves. (Antiq. Constant. , 1. 2 et 6. --Bandurii, Imp.
Orient. , vol. 1, p. 24, 106. ) It created no difficulty
whatever that the name of Iconium commenced, not
with the diphthong E<, but the single I. Stephanus
(/. c. ) asserts, that the name ought to be written with
the initial diphthong, and it is, in fact, so written by
Eustathius and the Byzantine historians. (EUivtov
-- Chron. Alczandrin. , Cedrenus. ) Eckhel also cites
medals on which this orthography is given; but other
and earlier ones have the true form, and the gramma-
rian Chosroboscus observes, that the first'syllable of
the name was pronounced short by Mcnander. (Cod.
Barocc, 50, f. 134. )--The most interesting circum-
stances connected with the history of Iconium, are
those which relate to St. Paul's preaching there, to-
wards the commencement of his apostolical mission to
the Gentiles. (Acts, 13, 51, seqq. )--Under the By-
lantine emperors frequent mention is made of this city;
but it had been wrested from them, first by the Sara-
? ? cens, and afterward by tho ^"urks, who made it tho
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? tDJE
*DA
10 the promontory of Lcctum, diminishing in altitude
>>? it proceeds towards the latter. Mr. Hawkins says
that this ridge is not inferior in height to that which
faces the plain of Troy. Herodotus, Xenophon, and
Strabo evidently design by Ida the ridge towards
Troy; or at least they exclude Gargarus. The for-
mer, in describing the march of Xerxes northward
from Pergainus, Thebes, and Antandros, to Ilium,
wakes the Persian monarch leave Ida "on his left
band*' (7, 42), that is. to the west. Now the summit
of Gargarus being little short of an English mile in al-
titude, what should have induced Xerxes to lead his
army over such a ridge, when he might have gone a
slraighter and smoother road by avoiding it, and when,
after all, he must of necessity have crossed the west-
ern ridge also in order to arrive at Ilium 1--Again,
Xenophon says (Altai. , 7), that in his way (southward)
from Ilium through Antandros to Adramyttium, he
crossed Mount Ida. Of course it must have been the
western and southern ranges, as is done at present by
those who travel from the Dardanelles to Adramyt or
Adramyttium. Strabo unquestionably refers the ideas
of Demetrius respecting the mountains of Cctylus
(i. e. , Gargarus) and its views to the Trojan Ida; nev-
er supposing that the lofty mountain over Antandros
and Gargara was Cotylus, the highest point of Ida,
whence Demetrius derives the fountains of the Sea-
mander, the . AQsepus, and the Granicus. Strabo con-
cluded that all these rivers sprang from that chain of
Ida bordering on the Trojan plain which he had in
view from the seacoast; and which, it appears, was
the only Ida known to him. (RcnncWs Observations
o. t the Topography of Troy, p. 17, stqq. )--Ida was
. remarkable for its thick forests and excellent timber.
Iu oame is thought to De derived from the circum-
stance of its being covered with woods, idnoi Karnpe-
f)J7f, as Herodotus says of a part of Media (I, 110). It
was the source of many streams (Horn. , II. , 12, 19),
and on Ida also Paris adjudged to Venus the prize of
beauty. --II. The highest and most celebrated mount-
ain of Crete, rising nearly in the centie of the island.
According to Strabo, it was 600 stadia in circuit, and
iruiir. d its base were many large and flourishing cities.
(Strab. , 475. -- Compare Dionys. Perieg. , v. 601. )
The tbmrnit, named Panacra, was especially sacred to
Jove. (Callim. , Hymn, in Jov. , 50. ) Here Jove was
fabled to have been educated by the Corybantes, who
on that account were called Idaei. The modern name
of the mountain is Psiloriti. (Cramer's Ane. Greece,
vol. 3, p. 381. )
Ida a, the surname of Cybcle, because she was
worshipped on Mount Ida. (Lmcr , 2, 611. )
Idmi Dactyli, priests of Cybele, who, according
to Ephorus (ap. Diod. Sic. , 5, 64. --Fragm. , ed.
Marx, p. 176), were so called from Ida, the mountain
of Phrygia, where they had their abode. The poets
and mytbologists vary much in their accounts of this
class of individuals. Some make them to have been
the sons of Jupiter and the nymph Ida; others con-
found them with the Curetes or Corybantes; while
others, again, make the Curetes their offspring. The
same diversity of opinion exists as to their number.
Some make them to have been oniy five (Pausa-*. , 5,
7), and hence they suppose them to have been called
Dactvli, from the analogy between their number and that
of the fingers (ddnrvhyi) on each hand. Others make
the number much larger. Phcrecydos, on<< of the early
? ? Grecian historians, spoke of 20 Idsi Dactvli placed
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? IDU
CR
tel' a the attempt to recover their wives. (Hygin. ,
fab. , 14, 100, &c. --Olid, Fast. , 5, 700. --1'ausan. ,
4, 2; 5, 18. -- Apollod. , 3, 11, S. )
IDISTAVISUS, a plain of Germany, where Germanicus
defeated Arminius. The name appears to have some
affinity to the German word wif. se, signifying " a mead-
ow. " Mannert supposes the field of battle to have
been on the east of the Wcser, south of the city of
Sfindtn. (Mannert, Anc. Geogr. , vol. 3, p. 85. --
Tacit. , Ann. , 2, 16. )
IDHON, I. son of Apollo and Asteria, was the prophet
of the Argonauts. He was killed in hunting a wild
boar in Bilhynia, and received a magnificent funeral.
He had predicted the time and manner of his death.
(Apollod. , 1, 9. --II. A dyer of Colophon, father to
Arachne. (Ovid, Met. , 6, 8. )
IDOMENEUS (four syllables), I. succeeded his father
Deucalion on the throne of Crete, and accompanied
the Greeks to the Trojan war with a fleet of 90 ships.
During this celebrated contest ho rendered himself con-
spicuous by his valour. At his return he made a vow
to Neptune, in a dangerous tempest, that if he escaped
from the fury of the seas and storms, ho would offer
to the god whatever living creature first presented it-
self to his eye on the Cretan shore. This was no
other than his own son, who came to congratulate his
father upon his safe return. Idomencus performed his
promise to the god, but the inhumanity and rashness of
his sacrifice rendered him so odious in the eyes of his
subjects, that he left Crete, and went abroad in quest of
a settlement. He came to Italy, and founded a city on
the coast of Calabria, which he called Sallcutia. (Vid.
Sallentini. ) He died at an advanced age, after he had
the satisfaction of seeing his new kingdom flourish
and his subjects happy. According to the Greek
scholiast on Lycophron (v. 1218), Idomcrieus, during
his absence in the Trojan war, intrusted the manage-
ment of his kingdom to Leucos, to whom he protnised
his daughter Clisithere in marriage at his return. Leu-
cos at first governed with moderation; but he was per-
luadcd by Nauplius, king of Eubrea, to put to death
Meda, the wife of his master, with her daughter Cli-
tithere, and to seize the kingdom. After these violent
measures, he strengthened himself on the throne of
Crete; and Idomeneus, at his return, found it impossi-
ble to expel the usurper. (Ovid, Met. , 13, 358. --
Hygin. , fan. , 92. --Horn. , II. , 11, &c. --Patuan. , 5,
25. --Virg. , JEn. , 3, 122. )--II. A Greek historian of
Latnpsacus, in the age of Epicurus. He wrote a his-
tory of Samothrace.
IDOTHEA, a daughter of Prcetus, king of Argos.
She was cured of insanity, along with her sisters, by
Mclampus. (Vid. Proetidcs. )
IDUBBDA, a range of mountains in Spain, commen-
cing among the Cantabri, and extending nearly in a
southeastern direction through Spain until it termi-
nates on the Mediterranean coast, near Sagunlum,
which lay at its foot. Such, at least, is its extent, ac-
cording ,to Strabo. Ptolemy, however, gives merely
t part of it, from Cassar Augusta, or Saragassa, to
Saguntum. (Strati. , 161. --Mannert, Gcogr. , vol. 1,
p. 40C. )
IDOXAA, a country of Asia, on the confines of Pal-
estine and Arabia, or, rather, comprehending parts of
each, having Egypt on the west, and Arabia Petnca
on the south and east. Its extent varied at differ-
ent leriods of time. Esau or Edom, from whom it
? ? derived its name, and his descendants, settled along
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? IER
IGS
oetgnbounr. j; comtry abounded in thick groves of
these trees, together with the tree which afforded the
balm or balsam of Gilcad. At present, however, there
u cot a tree of any kind, either palm or balsam, and
scarcely any verdure or bushes, to be seen about the
site cf 'ilia deserted city. But the desolation with
which i's ruins are surrounded is rather to be ascribed,
accor ting to Mr. Buckingham, to the cessation of the
jsnal agricultural labours on the soil, and the want of
a distributi >n of water over it by the aqueducts, the
remains cf which evince that they were constructed
chiefly fit that purpose, than to any change in the cli-
mate cr the soil; an observation whjch may be ex-
tended to many parts of the Holy I<and. (Mansford't
Scripture Gazetteer, p. 208, seqq. )
Ierne, one of the ancient names of Ireland. Pyth-
ea8, who, to his own personal acquaintance with this
quarter of the globe, added much information respect-
ing it. which he had obtained from the early inhabitants
of Gades in Spain, is the first who calls Ireland by the
name of lernc (17 '\epvn). From Aristotle, a contempo-
rary of his, we learn that what are now England and
Ireland were then denominated Bpcraviical vr/aoi.
(De Mujtdo. c. 3. ) In Capsar's commentaries a change
of appellation appears. England is there styled Bri-
rannia, and Ireland, Hibernia. (B. G. , 5, 12, etc. )
The idea very naturally suggests itself, that Cajsar
may have given this name to the latter island of his
own accord, for the purpose of denoting the severity
of its climate, and that the meaning of the term is
nothing more than Winter-land. Such a supposition,
however, although it may wear a plausible appearance,
seems to have no foundation whatever in fact. It ia
more than probable that Ca? sar gives the name as he
heard it from others, without associating with it any
idea of cold. He merely places the island to the west
of Britain. It was Strabo who mado it lie far to the
north, and, in consequence of this error, first gave rise
to the opinion, if any such were ever in reality enter-
tained, that the climate of Ireland was cold and rig-
orous. But a question here presents itself, whether
(erne or Hibernia be the true appellation of this island.
The latter, we believe, will, on examination, appear en-
titled to the preference. It is more than probable that
Pytheas received the name Ierne from the mouths of
the neighbouring- natious, contracted from Hibemia.
This supposition would approach to certainty, if we
possessed any means of substantiating as a fact, that
the appellation Hibcmi, which is given to the inhabi-
tants of the island, was used in the old accounts re-
specting it, and not first introduced by so late a writer
as Avienus* A strong argument may be deduced,
however, from what appears to have been the ancient
ronunciation of the word Hibernia. The consonant
may have been softened d<> Vu<<o as to rescmblo ou
ir. sound, a change far fru p^. . <;bmmon; and hence
Hibernia would be pronounced as if written 'lovep-
via, whence Ierne may very easily have been formed.
(Consult remarks under the article Iuverna. ) The'
modern name Erin, which is sometimes applied to
Ireland, is an evident derivation from Ierne, if not
itself the ancient Erse root of that term. Ireland
was known at a very early period to the ancient mar-
iners of southern Europe, by the appellation of the
Holy Island. This remarkable title leads to tho sus-
picion that the primitive seat of tho Druidical sys-
tem of worship may have been in Ireland. Csesar,
? ? it is true, found Druids in Gaul, but he states, at the
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? f LE
ILI
lhg to some accor. r. ts, A. D. 110, his remains were carried
to Antioch for interment. --If, as some suppose, Ignati-
us was not one of the little children whom Jesus took up
in his arms and blessed, it is certain that he conversed
familiarly with the apostles, and was perfectly acquaint-
ed with their doctrine. Of his works there remain
? even epistles, edited in 1645 by Archbishop Usher,
^published by Cotelerius in 1672, in his collection of
ho writings of the apostolical fathers; and again f rint-
td in 1607 at Amsterdam, with notes, and the com-
inc-ntaries of Usher and Pearson. An English transla-
tion of them, from the pen of Archl ishop Wake, is to
t e found among the works of that prelate. There are
some other letters of minor importance, which, though
the question of their authenticity has met with sup-
porters, are generally considered to have been attribu-
ted to him on insufficient authority. --II. A patriarch
of Constantinople, about the middle of the ninth cen-
tury. He was son to the Emperor Michael Curopala-
ta, and on tho deposition of his father assumed the
ecclesiastical habit. The uncompromising firmness
which he displayed after his elevation to the patriar-
chal chair in 847, in subjecting Bardas, a court-favour-
ite, to the censures of the church, on account of an in-
cestuous connexion, caused him to undergo a tempo-
rary deprivation of office. Under Basil, however, he
was restored to his former dignity, and presided in his
capacity of patriarch at the eighth general council.
His death took place about the year 878. (Gorton't
Biogr. Diet. , vol. 2, p. 162. )
Iouvium, a city of Umbria, on the Via Flamicia, to
? he south of Tifernum, and at the foot of the main
chain of tho Apennines. It is now Eugubbio, or, as
it is more commonly called, Gubbio. Iguvium was a
municipal town; and, as it would seem from the im-
portance attached to its possession by Ca>>sar when he
invaded Italy, a place of some consequence. (Cos ,
Bel! . Civ. , I, 2. --Compare Cic. ad Alt. , 7, 13-- Plin. ,
3, 14. ) This city has acquired great celebrity in mod-
em times, from the discovery of some interesting
monuments in its vicinity, in the year 1440. These
consist of several bronze tablets covered with inscrip-
tions, some of which are in Umbrian, others in Latin
characters. They have been made the subject of
many a learned dissertation by modern literati. The
most recent work on the subject is by Grolefend, en-
titled Rudimenta Lingua Umbricce, 4to, Hannov. ,
1835-39.
Ilba or Ilva, an island of the Tyrrhene Sea, off the
coast of Etruria, and about ten miles from the prom-
ontory of Populonium. It was early celebrated for its
rich iron mines; but by whom they were first discov-
ered and worked is uncertain, as they are said to ex-
hibit the marks of Iabours%arried on for an incalculable
time. (Pini, Ostcrv. Mineral, sulla mimera difcrro
di Rio, &c, 1777, Svo. --Leitre sur Vhistoire naturelle
de Vsle d'Elbe, par Kocsllin, Vienne, 1780, 8vo. ) It
even seems to have been a popular belief among the
ancients, that the metallic substance was constantly
renewed. (Aristot. , de Mir. , p. 1158. --Strab. , 223.
? -Plin. , 34, 14 ) It is probable that the Phoenicians
were the first to make known the mineral riches of
this island, and that it was from them the Tyrrhcni
learned to estimate its value, which may have held
nt to ihcm no small inducement for settling on a coast
ttherwise deficient in natural advantages. It is to
? he latter people that we ought to trace the name of
? ? ^Ethalia, given to this island by the Greeks, and which
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? 1LIAS.
MAS.
am nil the age of the grammarians iliac its primitive in-
tegrity was called in question; nor ia it injustice to
assert, that the minute and analytical spirit of a gram-
marian is not the best qualification, for the profound
feeling, the comprehensive conception of an harmoni-
ous whole. The most exquisite anatomist may be no
? udge of the symmetry of the human frame, and we
would take the opinion of Chantrey or Weatmacott
sn the proportions and general boauty of a form rather
than that of Mr. Brodie or Sir Astlcy Cooper. --There
is some truth, though some malicious exaggeration, in
the lines of Pope:
1 The critic eye, that microscope of wit,
Sees hairs and pores, examines bit by bit:
How parts relate to parts, or they to whole;
The body's harmony, the beaming soul;
Are things which Kuster, Burman, Wassc, shall see,
When man's whole frame is obvious to a flea. '
--We would not comprehend, under this sweeping
denunciation, men of genius as well as critical saga-
city, such as Hcyne and Wolf, still less those of the
highest poetic feeling, who, both in this and other
countries, are converts to their system. Yet there is
a sort of contagion in literary as well as religious scep-
ticism; we like, in scholarship, to be on the stronger
side, and the very names of Bentlcy, Wolf, and Hcyne
would sweep a host of followers into their train. In
the authors of a paradox, criticism, like jealousy, fur-
nishes the food which it grows on; and it is astonish-
ing, when once possessed with a favourite opinion,
how it draws 'from trifles confirmation strong,' and
overlooks thci most glaring objections; while, if the
new doctrine once forces its viay into general notice,
ardent proselytes crowd in from all quarters, until that
which was at first a timid and doubtful heresy, be-
comes a standard article of the scholar's creed, from
which it requires courage to dissent. Such to us ap-
pears to have been the fate of the hypotheses before us.
--For, in the first place, it aeens that many of the ob-
jections to the original unit; n the poem apply with
equal force to the Pisistralid' compilation. It is, for
instance, quite as likely, that i i the heat of composi-
tion the bard should have forgotten something; that,
for example, owing to his obliviousness, the Pyltem-
enes, whom he had slain outright in the fifth book,
should revive, gallantly fightin* in the thirteenth;
and thus, in a different way fr "the warrior of the
Italian poet: '"' '? '
'Andare combattendo, ed iter mono. '
The slow and cautious compiler is even less likely to
have made such an oversight tha>> ""o rapid and inven-
tive poet; and. by-the-way, SP ib Pahza's wife's
name is changed, through Cervantes' forgetfulness of
such trifles, in the second part of Don Quixote; but
no such lapsus can be alleged against the spurious
continuator of the romance, Av<<! lenada. Nor, sec-
ondly, will any critical reader of 'omer pretend that
we possess the Homeric poems c" ire and uninterpo-
lated. Thai they were, at one period of their history,
recited in broken fragments; that the wandering rhap-
aodists would not scruple to insert occasionally verses
of their own; that certain long and irrelevant passages
of coarser texture may have thus been interwoven into
the rich tissue of the work--all these points will read-
ily be conceded: but while these admissions explain
almost every discrepance of composition and anomaly
of language and versification, they leave the main ques-
? ? tion, the unity of the original design, entirely un-
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? ILIAS.
{LIAR
? tviaeri of the Iliad, have zealously sought out every
apparent discrepance and contradiction in the several
parts of the poem, some diligent student, on the other
side, would examine into all the fine and delicate al-
lusions between the most remote parts--the prepara-
tions in one book for events which are developed in
>>nolher--the slight prophetic anticipations of what is
to come, and the equally evanescent references to the
past--those inartificial and undesigned touches which
indisputably indicate that the same mind has been
perpetually at work in a subtler manner than is con-
ceivable in a more recent compiler. This has been
done in a few instances by M. Lange, in his fervent
vindication of the unity of the Iliad, addressed to the
celebrated Goethe; in more by Mr. Knight, who hag
applied himself to obviating the objections of Heyne,
but still not so fully or so perfectly as, we arc per-
suaded, might be done. It is obviously impossible
fat us, in our limited space, to attempt an investiga-
tion at once so minute and so extensive, nor can we
find room for more than a brief and rapid outline of
that unity of interest which appears to us to combine
the several books of the Iliad, if not into one precon-
ceived and predistributcd whole, yet into one con-
tinuous story; in which, however the main object be
at times suspended, and apparently almost lost sight
of, it rises again before us, and asserts its predominant
importance, while all the other parts of the design,
however prominent and in bold relief, recede and ac-
knowledge their due subordination to that which is
the central, the great leading figure of the majestic
group. The general design of the Iliad, then, was to
celebrate the glory of the Grecian chieftains at the
most eventful period of the war before Troy; the es-
pecial object, the pre-eminent glory of the great Thes-
? alian chieftain, during this at the same time the most
important crisis of his life. The first book shows us
at once who is to be what is vulgarly called the hero of
the poem: Achilles stands forth as the assertor of the
power of the gods--the avenger of the injured priest-
hood--taking the lead with the acknowledged superior-
ity due to his valour, bearding the sovereign of men,
the great monarch, who commands the expedition.
Wronged by Agamemnon, so as to enlist the generous
sympathies on his side, yet withojt any disparagement
to the dignity of his character, he recedes into inaction,
but it is an inaction which more forcibly enthrals our
interest. In another respect, nothing shows the good
fortune, or, rather, the excellent judgment of the poet,
so much as this dignified secession through so large a
part of this poem. Had Achilles been brought more
frequently forward, ho must have been successfully re-
sisted, and thus his pre-eminent valour have been dis-
paraged; or the poet must have constantly raised up
antagonists more and more valiant and formidable, in
the same manner as the romancers are obliged, in or-
der to keep up the fame of their Amadis or Esplandian,
to go on creating more tall, and monstrous, and many-
headed giants, till they have exhausted all imaginable
dimensions, and all calculable multiplication of heads
and arms. The endless diversity of his adventures
permits Ulysses, in the Odyssey, to be constantly on
the scene. His character rises with the dangers to
which he is exposed, for he contends with the elements
and the gods. Achilles could scarcely be in danger,
for his antagonists must almost always be men. It is
surprising how much the sameness of war is varicd4n
? ? the Iliad, but this chiefly arises from its fluctuations,
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? ILIA<<.
IL1
t>>mp; the poet, assured of bis hearer's profound sym-
pathy, to prolong the atrain. The last book, unneces-
sary as it seems to the development of the wrath of
Achilles, yet has always appeared to us still more re-
markably conducive to the real though remote design
of tb<? Iliad. We have before observed, that the pre-
mature and preadvanced mind of the poet seems to
Live delighted in relieving the savage conflict with
traits of milder manners; and the generous conduct of
Achilles, and his touching respect for the aged Priam,
might almost seem as a prophetic apology to a gentler
age for the barbarity with which the poet might think
it necessary to satisfy the implacable spirit of vengeance
which prevailed among his own warlike compeers.
Hector dragged at the car of his insulting conqueror
was for the fierce and martial vulgar, for the carousing
chieftain, scarcely less savage than the Northman, de-
lighted only by his dark Sagas; Hector's body, pre-
served by the care of the gods, restored with honour
ti Priam, lamented by the desolate women, for the
heart of the poet himself, and lor the few congenial
spirits which could enter into his own more chastened
tone of feeling. --Still, in all this there is nothing of
the elaborate art of a later age; it is not a skilful com-
piler, arranging his materials so as to produce the most
striking effect: the design and the filling up appear to
us to be evidently of the same hand; there is the most
perfect harmony in the plan, the expression, the versi-
fication; and we cannot, by any effort, bring ourselves
to suppose that the separate passages, which form the
main interest of the poem, the splendid bursts, or more
pathetic episodes, were originally composed without
any view to their general effect; in short, that a whole
race of Homers struck out, as it were by accident, all
these glorious living fragments, wbich lay in a kind of
unformed chaos, till a later and almost mightier Homer
commanded them to take form, and combine themselves
into a connected and harmonious whole. --There is an-
other very curious fact, on which we do i. at think,
though it was perceived by both Wolf and Heyne, that
sufficient stress has been laid--the perfect consistency
of the characters in the separate parts of the poem. It
is quite conceivable that there should havo been a sort
of conventional character assigned to different heroes
by the minstrels of elder Greece. To take Mr. Cole-
ridge's illustration of the ballads on Robin Hood; in
all of these bold Robin is still the same frank, careless,
daring, generous, half-comic adventurer: so Achilles
may have been by prescription,
Jmpigcr, iraeundus, inexorabilis, acer;
Ajax heavy and obstinate, Ulysses light and subtle;
but can we thus account for the finer and more deli-
cate touches of character, the sort of natural consist-
encies which perpetually identify the hero, or even the
female of one book, with the same person in another 1
--Take, for instance, that of Helen, perhaps the most
difficult to draw, certainly drawn with the most ad-
mirable success. She is, observes Mr. Coleridge,
'a genuine lady, graceful in motion and speech, no-
ble in her associations, full of remorse for a fault, for
which higher powers seem responsible, yet graceful
>>nd affectionate towards those with whom that fault
aid connected her. ' Helen first appears in the third
book, in which it is difficult to admire too much the
admiration of her beauty extorted from the old men,
who are sitting Ttrriycooiv lot*6rec
04 viueaic, Tpuac xat Hnvrifu6ac 'Axatovc
? ? To:^o* u/Mfii ywaiicl iro7. bv xpovov u/iyea reaaxciv
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