Of his country and time, the difference is so infinite amongst all
writers, that there is no question, in my conjecture, of his antiquity
beyond all. To which opinion, the nearest I will cite, Adam Cedrenus
placeth him under David’s and Solomon’s rule; and the Destruction of
Troy under Saul’s. And of one age with Solomon, Michael Glycas Siculus
affirmeth him. Aristotle (_in tertio de Poeticâ_) affirms he was born
in the isle of Io, begot of a Genius, one of them that used to dance
with the Muses, and a virgin of that isle compressed by that Genius,
who being quick with child (for shame of the deed) came into a place
called Ægina, and there was taken of thieves, and brought to Smyrna, to
Mæon king of the Lydians, who for her beauty married her. After which,
she walking near the flood Meletes, on that shore being overtaken with
the throes of her delivery, she brought forth Homer, and instantly
died. The infant was received by Mæon, and brought up as his own till
his death, which was not long after. And, according to this, when the
Lydians in Smyrna were afflicted by the Æolians, and thought fit to
leave the city, the captains by a herald willing all to go out that
would, and follow them, Homer, being a little child, said he would also
_ὁμηρει̑ν_ (that is, _sequi_); and of that, for Melesigenes, which was
his first name, he was called Homer. These Plutarch.
The varieties of other reports touching this I omit for length; and in
place thereof think it not unfit to insert something of his praise and
honour amongst the greatest of all ages; not that our most absolute of
himself needs it, but that such authentical testimonies of his
splendour and excellence may the better convince the malice of his
maligners.
First, what kind of person Homer was, saith Spondanus, his statue
teacheth, which Cedrenus describeth. The whole place we will describe
that our relation may hold the better coherence, as Xylander converts
it. “Then was the Octagonon at Constantinople consumed with fire; and
the bath of Severus, that bore the name of Zeuxippus, in which there
was much variety of spectacle, and splendour of arts; the works of all
ages being conferred and preserved there, of marble, rocks, stones, and
images of brass; to which this only wanted, that the souls of the
persons they presented were not in them. Amongst these master-pieces
and all-wit-exceeding workmanships stood Homer, as he was in his age,
thoughtful and musing, his hands folded beneath his bosom, his beard
untrimm’d and hanging down, the hair of his head in like sort thin on
both sides before, his face with age and cares of the world, as these
imagine, wrinkled and austere, his nose proportioned to his other
parts, his eyes fixed or turned up to his eyebrows, like one blind, as
it is reported he was.” (Not born blind, saith Vell. Paterculus, which
he that imagines, saith he, is blind of all senses.) “Upon his
under-coat he was attired with a loose robe, and at the base beneath
his feet a brazen chain hung.” This was the statue of Homer, which in
that conflagration perished. Another renowned statue of his, saith
Lucian in his Encomion of Demosthenes, stood in the temple of Ptolemy,
on the upper hand of his own statue. Cedrenus likewise remembereth a
library in the palace of the king, at Constantinople, that contained a
thousand a hundred and twenty books, amongst which there was the gut of
a dragon of an hundred and twenty foot long, in which, in letters of
gold, the Iliads and Odysseys of Homer were inscribed; which miracle,
in Basiliscus the Emperor’s time, was consumed with fire.
For his respect amongst the most learned, Plato _in Ione_ calleth him
_ἄριστον καὶ θειότατον τω̑ν ποιητω̑ν, Poeta rum omnium et
præstantissimum et divinissimum; in Phædone, θει̑ον ποιητὴν, divinum
Poetam_; and in _Theætetus_, Socrates citing divers of the most wise
and learned for confirmation of his there held opinion, as Protagoras,
Heraclitus, Empedocles, Epicharmus, and Homer, who, saith Socrates,
against such an army, being all led by such a captain as Homer, dares
fight or resist, but he will be held ridiculous? This for Scaliger and
all Homer’s envious and ignorant detractors. Why therefore Plato in
another place banisheth him with all other poets out of his
Commonwealth, dealing with them like a Politician indeed, use men, and
then cast them off, though Homer he thinks fit to send out crowned and
anointed, I see not, since he maketh still such honourable mention of
him, and with his verses, as with precious gems, everywhere enchaceth
his writings. So Aristotle continually celebrateth him. Nay, even
amongst the barbarous, not only Homer’s name, but his poems have been
recorded and reverenced. The Indians, saith Ælianus (Var. Hist. lib.
xii. cap. 48) in their own tongue had Homer’s Poems translated and
sung. Nor those Indians alone, but the kings of Persia. And amongst the
Indians, of all the Greek poets, Homer being ever first in estimation;
whensoever they used any divine duties according to the custom of their
households and hospitalities, they invited ever Apollo and Homer.
Lucian in his Encomion of Demosth. affirmeth all Poets celebrated
Homer’s birthday, and sacrificed to him the first fruits of their
verses. So Thersagoras answereth Lucian, he used to do himself. Alex.
Paphius, saith Eustathius, delivers Homer as born of Egyptian parents,
Dmasagoras being his father, and Æthra his mother, his nurse being a
certain prophetess and the daughter of Oris, Isis’ priest, from whose
breasts, oftentimes, honey flowed in the mouth of the infant. After
which, in the night, he uttered nine several notes or voices of fowls,
viz. of a swallow, a peacock, a dove, a crow, a partridge, a redshank,
a stare, a blackbird, and a nightingale; and, being a little boy, was
found playing in his bed with nine doves. Sibylla being at a feast of
his parents was taken with sudden fury, and sung verses whose beginning
was _Δμασαγ όρα πολύνικε; polynice_, signifying much victory, in which
song also she called him _μεγάκλεα, great in glory_, and _στεϕανίτην_,
signifying _garland-seller_, and commanded him to build a temple to the
Pegridarij, that is, to the Muses. Herodotus affirms that Phæmius,
teaching a public school at Smyrna, was his master; and Dionysius in
his 56th Oration saith, Socrates was Homer’s scholar. In short, what he
was, his works show most truly; to which, if you please, go on and
examine him.
[2] Of Translation, and the natural difference of Dialects necessarily
to be observed in it.
[3] Ironicè.
[4] The necessary nearness of Translation to the example.
[5] The power of Nature above Art in Poesy.
[6] Our English language above all others for Rhythmical Poesy.