With burning chains fix'd to the brazen floors,
And lock'd by hell's inexorable doors;
As deep beneath th' infernal centre hurl'd,
As from that centre to th' æthereal world.

Let him who tempts me dread those dire abodes ;
And know, th' almighty is the God of Gods.
League all your forces then, ye pow'rs above,
Join all, and try th' omnipotence of Jove:
Let down our golden, everlasting chain,

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Whose strong embrace holds heav'n, and earth, and main:

Strive

-Tum Tartarus ipfe

Bis patet in præceps tantum, tenditque fub umbras,
Quantus ad æthereum cœli fufpectus Olympum.

And Milton in his first book,

As far remov'd from God and light of beav'n,
As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole.

It may not be unpleafing just to obferve the gradation in these three great Poets, as if they had vied with each other, in extending this idea of the depth of hell. Homer fays as far, Virgil twice as far, Milton thrice.

V. 25. Let down our golden, everlasting chain.] The various opinions of the ancients concerning this paffage are collected by Euftathius. Jupiter fays, If he holds this chain of gold, the force of all the Gods is unable to draw him down, but he can draw up them, the feas and the earth, and cause the whole univerfe to hang unactive. Some think that Jupiter fignifies the Ether, the golden chain the Sun: If the Ether did not temper the rays of the fun as they pal's through it, his beams would not only drink up and exhale the Ocean in vapours, but also exhale the moisture from the veins of the earth, which is the cement that holds it together: by which means the whole creation would become unactive, and all its power fufpended.

Strive all, of mortal and immortal birth,

To drag, by this, the Thund'rer down to earth :
Ye ftrive in vain! If I but ftretch this hand,

I heave the Gods, the Ocean, and the Land;
I fix the chain to great Olympus' height,
And the vaft world hangs trembling in my fight!
For fuch I reign, unbounded and above;
And fuch are Men, and Gods, compar'd to Jove.

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Others affirm, that by this golden chain may be meant the days of the world's duration, népas airos, which are as it were painted by the luftre of the fun, and follow one another in a fucceffive chain till they arrive at their final period: While Jupiter or the Æther (which the ancients called the foul of all things) ftill remains unchanged.

Plato in his Theatetus fays that by this golden chain is meant the fun, whofe rays enliven all nature, and cement the parts of the univerfe.

The Stoicks will have it, that by Jupiter is implied destiny, which over-rules every thing both upon and above the earth.

Others (delighted with their own conceits) imagine that Homer intended to reprefent the excellence of monarchy; that the fceptre ought to be fway'd by one hand, and that all the wheels of government fhould be put in motion by one perfon.

But I fancy a much better interpretation may be found for this, if we allow (as there is great reafon to believe) that the Ægyptians understood the true fyftem of the world, and that Pythagoras first learned it from them. They held that the planets were kept in their orbits by gravitation upon the fun, which was therefore called Jovis carcer; and fometimes by the fun (as Macrobius informs us) is meant Jupiter himself: We fee too that the moft prevailing opinion of antiquity fixes it to the fun; fo that I think it will be no ftrained interpretation to fay, that by the inability of the Gods to pull Jupiter out of his place with this Catena, may be understood the fuperior attractive force of the fun, whereby he continues unmov'd, and draws, all the rest of the planets toward him.

Th

Th' Almighty spoke, nor durft the pow'rs reply, 35 A rev'rend horror filenc'd all the sky;

Trembling they flood before the fov'reign's look;

At length his beft-belov'd, the pow'r of Wisdom, fpoke.

Oh firft and greateft! God, by Gods ador'd!

We own thy might, our father and our Lord!

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But ah! permit to pity human ftate:

If not to help, at least lament their fate.

From fields forbidden we submiss refrain,

With arms unaiding mourn our Argives flain;
Yet grant my counsels still their breasts may move,
Or all muft perifh in the wrath of Jove.

The cloud compelling God her fuit approv'd,
And fmil'd fuperior on his best-belov'd.

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V. 35. Th' Almighty spoke.] Homer in this whole paffage plainly fhews his belief of one fupreme, omnipotent God, whom he introduces with a majefty and fuperiority worthy the great ruler of the univerfe. Accordingly Juftin Martyr cites it as a proof of our Author's attributing the power and government of all things to one first God, whofe divinity is fo far fuperior to all other Deities, that if compared to him, they may be rank'd among mortals. Admon. ad gentes. Upon this account, and with the authority of that learned father, I have ventured to apply to Jupiter in this place fuch appellatives as are suitable to the fupreme Deity: a practise I would be cautious of ufing in many other paffages where the notions and defcriptions of our Author must be own'd to be unworthy of the divinity.

V. 39. O first and greatest! &c.] Homer is not only to be admired for keeping up the characters of his Heroes, but for adapting his fpeeches to the characters of his Gods. Had Juxo here given the reply, the would have begun with fome mark of refentment, but Pallas is all fubmiffion; Juno would probably have contradicted him, but Pallas only begs leave to be forry for those whom she must not affift; Juno would have fpoken with the prerogative of a wife, but Pallas makes her address with the obfequiousness of a prudent daughter. Euftathius.

I 3

Then

Then call'd his courfers, and his chariot took ;
The ftedfaft firmament beneath them fhook:
Rapt by th' æthereal steeds the chariot roll'd;

Brafs were their hoofs, their curling manes of gold.
Of heav'n's undroffy gold the God's array
Refulgent, flash'd intolerable day.

High on the throne he fhines: His courfers fly
Between th' extended earth and starry sky.
But when to Ida's topmost height he came,
(Fair nurfe of fountains, and of favage game)
Where o'er her pointed fummits proudly raiz'd,
His fane breath'd odours, and his altar blaz'd:
There, from his radiant car, the facred Sire
"Of Gods and men releas'd the steeds of fire:
Blue ambient mifts th' immortal fteeds embrac'd;
High on the cloudy point his feat he plac'd;
Thence his broad eye the subject world furveys,
The town, and tents, and navigable seas.

Now had the Grecians fnatch'd a short repaste,
And buckled on their fhining arms with haste.
Troy rouz'd as foon; for on this dreadful day
The fate of fathers, wives, and infants lay.

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бо

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70

The

V. 69. For on this dreadful day The fate of fathers, wives, and infants lay. It may be neceffary to explain, why the Trojans thought themselves obliged to fight in order to defend their wives and childOne would think they might have kept within their walls; the Grecians made no attempt to batter them, neither were they invefted

ren.

The gates unfolding pour forth all their train ;
Squadrons on fquadrons cloud the dusky plain :

Men, fteeds, and chariots fhake the trembling ground;
The tumult thickens, and the fkies refound.

And now with shouts the shocking armies clos'd,
To lances lances, fhields to fhields oppos'd,

Host against hoft with fhadowy legions drew,
The founding darts in iron tempefts flew,
Victors and vanquifh'd join promifcuous cries,
Triumphant fhouts and dying groans arise;
With streaming blood the flipp'ry fields are dy'd,
And flaughter'd heroes fwell the dreadful tyde.
Long as the morning beams increasing bright,
O'er heav'n's clear azure fpread the facred light;

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vefted; and the country was open on all fides, except towards the fea, to give them provifions. The moft natural thought is, that they and their auxiliaries being very numerous, could not subsist but from a large country about them; and perhaps not without the fea, and the rivers, where the Greeks encamped: That in time the Greeks would have furrounded them, and blocked up every avenue to their town: That they thought themselves obliged to defend the country with all the inhabitants of it, and that indeed at first this was rather a war between two nations, and became not properly a fiege 'till afterwards.

V. 71. The gates unfolding, &c.] There is a wonderful fublimity in thefe lines; one fees in the defcription the gates of a warlike city thrown open, and an army pouring forth; and hears the trampling of men and horfes rushing to the battel.

These verses are, as Euftathius obferves, only a repetition of a former paffage; which fhews that the Poet was particularly pleased with them, and that he was not ashamed of a repetition, when he could not exprefs the fame image more happily than he had already done.

V. 84. The facred light. Homer defcribing the advance of the day from morning 'till noon, calls it iepov, or facred, fays Euftathius, who gives this reafon for it, because that part of the day was allotted to facrifice and religious worship.

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Conmutual