his bard; and peculiarly does he seem pleased in recording the deference which he receives from the grateful enthusiasm of Ulysses. He paints his hero as selecting for him the most delicate portion of the meat, and as exclaiming to one of the attendants Κήρυξ, τῇ δὴ τοῦτο πόρε κρέας, ὄφρα φάγησι, 477. ad Ηρωϊ Δημοδόκων ὁ δ ̓ ἐδέξατο, χαῖρε δὲ θυμῶ. 483. ΟΔΥΣ. Θ. Herald bear it to the bard For his regale, whom I will soon embrace He ended, and the herald bore his charge He then proceeds to describe Ulysses as shortly afterwards calling upon Demodocus for a further trial of his skill, and as prefacing his request with a lofty and noble encomium on his genius, and the accuracy of his information : Δημΐδοκ", "ξοχα δή σε βροτῶν αἰνίζομ ̓ ἁπάντων 486. ad Ως τέ που ἢ αὐτὸς παρεὼν, ἢ ἄλλου ακούσας. 491. ΟΔΥΣ. Θ. Demodocus! I give thee praise above All mortal men; since either thee, the muse, One of the most delightful features of this part of the Odyssey is, as I have before remarked, the manifest identity which seems to subsist between the fate and fortunes of Demodocus and of Homer himself; a coincidence which induces us to dwell upon the character of the Phœacian bard with very singular interest and curiosity. It is a conviction of the truth of this paral lelism which has led Eustathius, when commenting on the passage just quoted, to remark, that the poet was certainly, in this instance, drawing from himself, who might be truly said indeed to be inspired;" from such scanty materials has he formed so beautiful a story, interweaving them with incidents so various, and with such an air of verisimilitude, that knowing, as we do, he was not present at the scene, nor had conversed with others who were, we are induced to conclude that the muse must have prompted him in all things. So thought Ulysses with respect to the blind bard of Phoacia, a belief which induced him to request of Demodocus to sing the fall of Troy, as effected through the stratagem which he had himself been the principal means of contriving for its destruction. "Come then," he says, " proceed," Αἴκεν δή μοι ταῦτα κατὰ μοῖραν καταλέξης, Ως ἄρα τοι πρόφρων θεὸς ὤπασε θέοπιν ἀοιδήν. ΟΔΥΣ. Θ. 496. Sing but this theme as sweetly, and thenceforth I will proclaim thee in all ears, a bard Of powers divine, and by the gods inspir'd. COWPER. The effect of this exertion of the skill of the rhapsodist, of the happy combination of music and poesy on the mind of Ulysses, is the highest compliment, in short, which Homer could pay to Demodocus, and to their mutual art; one, indeed, which we may certainly conceive him to have frequently experienced in his own person, and which, at the same time, exhibits the vast influence of such an union on the then state of society in Greece. I must also add, that it is one of the not unfrequent passages in the version of Cowper, which make ample atonement for the many prosaic parts with which that version unfortunately too much abounds. Than the picture, indeed, in the lines which I have distinguished by italics in the subsequent quotation, I know few things in any poet more deeply pathetic, or more powerfully expressed. Ταῦτ ̓ ἄρ ̓ ἀοιδὸς ἄειδε περικλυτός· αυταρ Οδυσσενς. 521, ad Ως Οδυσεύς ελεεινὸν ὑπ' οφρυσι δακρυον εἶδεν. 531 ΟΔΥΣ. Θ So sang the bard illustrious, at whose song Fell on his cheeks. As when a woman weeps The frequent tear. Cowper. From the whole character of Demodocus, in fine, as it is delineated in the eighth book of the Odyssey, we may acquire, not only an accurate idea of what was the condition of the bardic profession in the heroic ages of Greece, but of what precisely was the treatment which Homer himself experienced, when aged and deprived of sight, from the feelings of his countrymen and contemporaries. That the picture was designed for himself, has been, as we have seen, the opinion of his |