Page:Life and Writings of Homer.pdf/346

334 and done Justice to Nature. We see her Image in his Draught, and receive our own Perceptions of Men and Things reﬂected back under different Forms. By this means he ﬁxes our Attention, commands our Admiration, and enchants our Fancy at his pleasure: He plays with out Passions; raises our Joys; ﬁlls us with Wonder, or damps us with Fears: Like some powerful Magician, he points his Rod, and Spectres rise to obey his Call: Nay so potent is his Spell, that hardly does the Enchantment vanish; it is built upon Truth, and made so like it, that we cannot bear to think the delightful Story shou‘d ever prove untrue. His Work is the great Drama of Life acted in our View. There we see Virtue and Piety praised; publick Religion promoted; Temperance, Forgiveness, and Fortitude, extolled and rewarded; Truth and Character follow'd; and accordingly ﬁnd it standing at the head of human Writings.

Steps then, Homer is become the Parent of Poetry, and his Works have reached their exalted Station: By the united Influence of the happiest, the most natural , the boldest , and most expressive : When these were applied to so rich a Subject as the War between Greece and Troy, they produced the ILIAD and the ODYSSEY. 3