The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1861-03-09

|
have long been celebrated, and seem In a fair
way TO supplant all others. They are not
only the cheapestin the world, but they are the
most correct. Take any twenty volumes of
them--the first You can lay your hands on
and the possibility Is, that you will not be able
TO detect a single error in the whole twenty.
The care bestowed upon the correction of the
press is enormous, and the task Is executed by
the first scholars in Europe, who devote their
lives TO such labors. We have read the HAD
Of this edition with great care, comparing it
with other editions-both transiations and
the original text-and we find an error no.
where. Sometimes, 1t is true, lines, and even
passages are left out, which are adopted by
other editors, and sometimes lines and passages
are adopted which other editors leave out
But this never occurs through negligence or in
advertance. The adoption or relec ton is al
ways made upon mature deliberation, and for
reasons sufficient to satisfy the editor al least
At the same time, he does not presume to
thrust his Judgment upon the reader, whether
he will have il or not. He places the different |
readings together at the commencement OF |
the book and allows him TO take his choice |
He prefaces the book with a dissertation upon |
HOMER and the HoNERIC poems, which seems |
to be the result of his own reflections after |
having read all that has been written on the |
subject. 1t will be pleasing, doubtless, to |
any reader of HOMER, who has more poetry |
than skeptcism In his composition, to know |
that he recognizes the identity Of the old |
bard and believes that the interpretations upon
his works have been much fewer and much
less important than his decryers have been
willing to admit He rejects, without hssita-
ton, the doctrine of HsYEg, that these noble
poems were the work of a number of obscure
and insignificant bards.
1t has often been remarked as a singular CO.
incidence, that the two poets who are thought
to have surpassed all others in point of genius,
should, while the whole world is filed with
their renown, have left no traces Of their in
dividual existence. HOMER lived and sang
many ages before the first stone had been laid
for the foundation of the Parthenon-hls
poems had been the admiration of the civil
lied world long before NEBUcHApSEzzAR had
overturned the kingdom of Judah, or hoAu-
LCs had conceived the idea OF building the
city whose glory was TO overshadow half
| of the earth SGAKsPRARH was born in the
| reign of the good Queen BEss, but three years
| after BACON, and lived in an age of which we
| have the most ample memorials. Yet, the
fate of the two men-apparently placed in
| such different circum stances--has been almost
| identical. As little is known of the English
player as of the Grecian stroller. We only
| know that they left behind them productions
which the genius of man has never been able
| to rival-that they stand apart and unap-
| proachable in the literary world rs the sun
stands in the solar system-that they render
all other poetcal pretensions almost ridicu-
lous-that to this day, the most ardent ambi-
| nd fha
from rivalry, and even from comparison with
their overwhelming pre- eminence. The fate
of these two mighty champions is similar in
| another respect. A war as fierce as that
which ragged over the dead body of PATRo-
cLus, and of vastly longer duration, has been
waged over the literary remains of each, and
the quarrel appears to have approached no
| nearer to a pacific solution than it was when
it first began.
| HORACE tells us that a poet must be born
| poet, and that he cannot be made such by any
| process known to man. This is, doubtless,
| true enough yet it is very certain that the
art of poetry, like all other arts, reaches per-
lection by slow gradations. We need only
look over an edition OF the English poets, and
observe from what small beginnings it arose,
and how laboIiously it toiled on for ages,
until 1t eliminated in SPENCER and SHAK-
sPEARB, to be convinced of that fact. The
same author to whom we have just alluded
tells us, in the same poem, that "brave men
lived before AaAMEMNoS.' There is no doubt
of that nor is there any that they had bards
TO sing their exploits, too, as AGAaEASoS had.
Tradition has preserved the names of OLESRs,
LINUS, ORPBEUs, MUsUEUs and others, who
certainly We're real men, although it is GER
tain that the poems ascribed TO them were
forgeries of much later age. HOMER him
self bears abundant testimony to the exist
ence of q certain species of epic song, before
his day, much resembling, we should suppose
the rhapsodies of the Welsh bards, or the
! songs which OssIAN and others Of his profes
sion are supposed to have sung in the halls OF
, chieftains. [Of course, we do not allude to
the forgeries of MCPHERSON, if they are for
geries ! ACHILLES, when visited by the depu
tation from the Greek Captains, is found sing
, ing to his Tyre the praises of certain heroes
The story of THAMYRIs, the blind bard, who
: dwelt with EURYTus, King of Gchalia, i.
told AGAMBNNoN had a poet among his do
mes tics PHEAIrs, in Ithica, and DEMoDocUs
in Phnacia, attend the feast, and ell tertair
the guests with song. Many other passage'
could be referred to, both in the Had and the
Odyssey, to prove the existence Of bards as {
distinct profession The condition of ancien
Greece, indeed, after the siege of Troy, wa
strictly analogous to the condition of nediae
val Europe after the Crusades. Each was
in its place, the one great enterprise in which
the arms of the whole civilized world hae
, been united Each was union of all thu
: | powers of Europe against single power o
: Asia. Each made an indelible impression up
, | on the ages which succeeded 1t. The Incl
!. dents of each bore close resemblance. TIL
!. story of AGANEMSoS, whose wife, tired of he
: long quasi widowhood, took another in hi
absence and murdered him when he return
ed-the history of ULYSSES, whose spouse wa
beset by suitors while he was wandering
over the seas, ms stead of staying at home an
= attending to his own affars-the history c
DIoMRpR driven from home by his wife, an
= the substitute for her husband whom she ha
taken during his absence-all these are blu
the histories Of hundreds of knights, VIII
left behind house, lands, and family, to en-
gage in wild and ruinous war, and returne
to find themselves undone forever. The cru
. sades gave rise 10 the race Of bardS, who sun
the exploits of their patrons at every feast
+ Such was BLoNpgL, the bard of the Lior
hearted RICHARD. Such, in the splendid nov
ell of ScoTr, was CBADwALLoN of the hun
bred lays. Such, no doubt, were PHgMrU
and DBAoD0cus in the Odyssey, and THAMYR
q in the Had. The songs of these bards ha
=, doubtless been transmitted, by recitation {
g their successors, to the time in which HOME
, lived. Out Of these materials, no doubt, h
formed the great works which are without
rival In all literature.
, We mean not to enter into the HOMER
a controversy. But we cannot forbear maxim