114 NATURAL HISTORY. THE knowledge of nature, possessed by Homer and Hesiod, must have been very scanty. In Cosmogony, Homer was a Neptunist, and considered water as the origin of all things.* On this principle, perhaps, be styles Neptune the Shaker of the earth, as if subterraneous waters were the cause of earthquakes. In Homer the thunder is said to precede the bolt, contrary both to philosophy and experience. Is it probable, that atmospheric stones were intended?+ Job appears to have had more observation. (xxxvii. 3, 4.) Of the springs of the Scamander, he says, that one was hot, smoking like fire; the other as cold hail, snow, or ice, even in summer. There are no discriminating names for the materials, of which the earth is composed, either superficial or fossile. * Ωκεανού, οσπερ γενεσις πανθεσσι τέτυκται. Ωκεανοντε θεων γενεσιν και μητερα Τηθυν. Il. xiv. 201-246-302. + Frogs and Mice, 277.-Пgwla μev eßgovinder-aulag ETELa negάuvov x'.-Il. viii. 133.—Od, xii. 415. In his Similies he describes a great variety of natural appearances; and, in particular, the instincts and operations of animals, wild and tame. He seems to take pleasure in dwelling on such descriptions. Thus when Menelaus and Ajax came to the succour of Ulysses, they found him surrounded by the Trojans; as in the mountains, blood-thirsty spotted lynxes gather around a wounded stag, which the hunter has pierced with an arrow. He had escaped indeed by his speed, while his blood was warm, and his knees would move: but when the arrow subdued his strength, the greedy lynxes tear him in a shady wood, till fortune sends a lion, who devours him, while the lynxes fly. Lyons are a favourite subject. The reluctant retreat of Ajax he compares to that of a lion repelled from a stall of oxen by dogs and rustics, who kept watch all night, expecting him. His assaults are continually resisted by frequent darts; and he is dismayed by the blazing torches. He, however, persists till morning, when he retires, mortified and disappointed. This is followed by the well known similitude of Ajax to an obstinate ass, which the boys endeavour in vain to drive from a field of corn.* His descriptions of wolves are equally picturesque and characteristic. He paints them as ravenous and daring, devouring a deer in the mountains, with their jaws stained * Il. xi. 474-547-557. with blood, and then running in troops to slake their thirst by lapping water from a dark-coloured spring, with their slender tongues, polluting the stream with clotted gore; or as surprising stray lambs or kids, which the careless shepherd has suffered to wander from the flock.* Homer and Hesiod have occasion to mention many species of beasts, birds, and insects, but hardly any fish. The word, commonly translated a whale, is understood to signify any large fish in Homer. The trees and shrubs, herbs and flowers, that occur, are fewer than we might expect in such diversified poems; and the most remarkable of all these classes, both of the animal and vegetable creation, I have occasion to notice in different parts of this Treatise. To these, the battle of the frogs and mice furnishes some additions; but none that require particular notice. * II. xvi. 156-352. 117 SECTION IV. CIVIL GOVERNMENT, MILITARY AFFAIRS, AND RELIGION. room. THE patriarchal state was the original condition of mankind. The primitive stock speedily split into kindred tribes: the patriarch of a tribe soon passed into a king; and accordingly historians are agreed, that monarchy was the first form of government. When clans became numerous, contentions ensued, and the stronger party obliged the weaker to seek for settlements, where they would have more From Egypt and Phenicia they removed to the Grecian Peninsula, and were there met by the descendants of Deucalion from Thessaly, and other northern adventurers. Among these petty states, some powerful leaders shortly appeared, who domineered over the rest. Of these the chief was Hercules, with his numerous posterity and allies. Though expelled for a time from the Peninsula, they repeatedly returned, assisted by the Dorians, a Deucali donian tribe; and at last succeeded in regaining their ancient settlements. This occasioned many other migrations, and excited such a spirit of enterprize, as gave rise to a variety of predatory expeditions to distant countries. Not content with ordinary plunder, they carried off the inhabitants; and, among the rest, women of distinguished rank or beauty, with a view to marriage or ransom. These produced reprisals; and the coasts of Greece were infested by Carian and Phenician Corsairs. Thus such a spirit of hostility was kept up, as, in the opinion of Herodotus, gave rise to that animosity between Greece and Asia, which, at length, occasioned the Persian Wars. We are at present, however, concerned only with the siege of Troy. Another prominent feature in the character of those barbarous times, was the frequent occurrence of murder or casual homicide among the members of powerful families. In the absence of law, the relations of the deceased asserted the right and duty of personal and family vengeance. Dardanus is said to have been so unfortunate as to kill his brother Jasius; and, according to the custom of the times, fled from Etruria, to avoid resentment, or to solicit the solemnity of expiation. For one of these purposes he took refuge in Samothrace, a country famed for sanctity, and afterwards removed to Rhæteum, where he married the daughter of Teucer, who had also emigrated to that country from Crete. At that time there were no cities; elevated situations had not |