Page:Homer's Battle of the Frogs and Mice - Parnell (1717).djvu/93

 who are maliciously mischievous, as the Mice; and they who are turbulent through Ostentation, as the Frogs. The first are Enemies to Excellency upon Principle; the second accidentally by the Error of Self-Love, which does not quarrel with the Excellence itself, but only with those People who get more Praise than themselves by it. Thus, tho' they have not the same Perversness with the others, they are however drawn into the same Practices, while they ruin Reputations, lest they shou'd not seem to be learn'd; as some Women turn Prostitutes, lest they shou'd not be thought handsome enough to have Admirers.

III. 5. The dreadful Trumpets.] Upon the reading of this, becomes full of Discoveries. He recollects, that makes his Greeks come to Battle with Silence, and his Trojans with Shouts, from whence he discovers, that he knew nothing of Trumpets. Again, he sees, that the Hornet is made a Trumpeter to the Battle, and hence he discovers, that the Line must not be 's. Now had he drawn his Consequences fairly, he cou'd only have found by the one, that Trumpets were not in use at the taking of Troy; and by the other, that the Battle of Frogs and Mice was laid by the Poet for a later Scene of Action than that of the Iliad. But the Boast of Discoveries accompanies the Affectation of Knowledge; and the Affectation of Knowledge is taken up with a Design to gain a Command over the Opinions of others. It is too heavy a Task for some Criticks to sway our Judgments by rational Inferences; a pompous