Page:Proofs of the Enquiry into Homer's Life and Writings.pdf/49

Rh Proofs of the Enquiry into %





' There was an Heroic Poem, extant be' f°re Homer, written by Orœbantius of Trœ' zest, as the Trœzenian Records relate ; and ' there is another, who is said to have lived be* fore Homer, Dares of Phrygia, whose Phry' gian-Iliad I know is preserved till now.' So Elian affirms in the eleventh Book of his vaibd. (e) rious History ; and likewise ' That Melifander, " y6. (g) * the Milesian, wrote the Battle of the Lapithœ ' and the Centaurs 5 an Action of great Fame in ' the early Ages of Greece.1

Ibid- (d) 96^







It seems to be a bold Assertion of the Au thor of the Enquiry, " That the ancient My" thology is a System of the Universe digested u and wrought into an Allegory : a Compofl** tion made up of infinite Parts, each of which " has been a Discovery by itself ; and the u Cloathing them with Fable, and the putting " them together, a Work of Ages, and the " conjunct Effort of Politics and Philosophy" But hear a Promise of one of their great Sages to a Disciple ; 99- (b)

OfGods immortal, and of mortal Men, Th' eternal Combination Thou Jhalt know. By which each thing abovet and each below, Is held, and govern d—+ Pythagoras.' From Rh