appears, that the adulterer carried off great treasures with the lady, Kînμáï àμ3 åvir—and that the reluctance of the Trojans, particularly that of the court of Priam, to disgorge this wealth, was the great obstacle to an accommodation; while the desire of regaining it, seems to have contributed to the ardour of the Greeks, in prosecuting the war; at least, as much as the wrongs of Menelaus; for we find, in every negociation on the subject of restoring Helen, particular care is taken to mention the treasures.- -Even Briseis, the fair captive, whose loss produced the destructive wrath of Achilles, which caused innumerable woes to the Greeks—even she is little seen. There are no details of the amorous feelings of the hero. He seems to be more agitated, by the keen sense of insult, and the feelings of wounded pride, than by any tender or fond attachment to his mistress. Briseis occupies but a few lines in the whole poem, though she furnishes occasion for the entire action of it. The hero's expressions of regard for her are energetic, indeed, but brief in the extreme; and are summed up in half a dozen words. -So, Book I. 1. 167. σε Εγω δ' ολίγον τε φιλον Τε Ερχομ' έχων επί νηας. And Book IX. 1. 341. 66 Επει, οςις άνηρ ἀγαθα και εχέφρων The plain sincerity, and blunt unadorned conciseness, of these expressions of regard, are highly characteristic of the roughness and simplicity of the heroic ages.There are much warmth and sincerity, but no parade—, no abstraction.--Hector and Telemachus are represented, - as as possessing feeling hearts, great mildness of disposition, and gentleness of manners; yet, the reader must recollect the tone and expressions, in which the one speaks to his wife, the other to his mother, in the poems of Homer. With how little politeness, gallantry, or even common civility, they addressed the women, whom they most loved and valued! And this may serve to convince him, that amorous gallantry, refined compli ments, and politeness, and enthusiastic deference to the fair sex, have not properly any place, in the pictures of the manners of the heroic ages. 66 Αλλ εις οίκον ιεσα τα σαύλης εργα κομιξε In the first book of the Odyssey, see 1. 345. Telemachus employs the very same expressions, to his mother; while he orders her, to retire to her apartment; and she submissively obeys his injunction. And the poèt praises the young prince, as speaking prudently and properly, on the occasion. 66 "H μεν θαμβήσασα παλιν οικονδε βεβηκει σε Παιδο γαρ μύθον πεπνύμενον ενθετο θυμώ.” Yet, Telemachus is represented, as adorned with every virtue, and, particularly, as a model of prudence, beyond his years. Women, in fact, in those ages, were considered as occupying a very inferior rank in society. They occur, in history and fable, as the unimportant objects of a transient desire, or the helpless victims of brutality and outrage; as creatures formed for the accommodation of man; as things rather to be possessed and enjoyed, than courted and admired. In those times of toil and warfare, strength was the great test of perfection, the great pledge of superiority. The people, in in those ages, knew not any of the illusions of love. They regarded women as inferior beings, because they were weaker than themselves; and the young men, as soon as they had attained the age of virility, assumed a tone of superiority, even to their mothers. This is, every where, the natural sentiment of a rude age. Among the modern savages of America, whose manners and occupation much resemble those of the ancient warriors, in the fabulous times of Greece, love engrosses little of their thoughts. The attachment of the men to the females, is, comparatively speaking, but cold and slight; and they devolve, on the feebler sex, the laborious task of cultivating their land, and the menial office of attending on the warriors.-The Russians, too, who are still far behind the rest of the people of Europe, in civilization, think that women are destined by nature, to be placed in the humblest submission to them-they speak to them, in a tone of imperious superiority-they exact from them the most servile attention, and deference.-Rousseau, in his sketch of the manners of the inhabitants of the Pays de Vaud, gives a similar picture of the state of subordination, in which the females were held. Such manners are the natural result, as I have said, of rude unpolished feelings, which ascribe an extraordinary degree of superiority, to superior animal strength; and dispose the strong, to abuse their force, and employ it, to oppress the weak. The ancients, in those heroic times, seem to have had little confidence in the virtue of their women. For we find, it was not even a subject of reproach, for a son to doubt that of his mother.-Telemachus says tó Pallas, who visits him, in the shape of an old man named Mentes" My mother tells me, that I am the *Nouvelle Heloise. ❝ son 66 son of Ulysses. For my part, I must take her word "for this-no person can be certain, that he knows his "true father."-A prince, or young nobleman, who, in more polished times, should speak thus irreverently of his lady mother, would be thought rather a graceless. youth. Yet, these words are put, by the faithful painter of ancient manners, into the mouth of a person of exalted birth, instructed and guided by the goddess of wisdom. -The whole address of a lover, in the moment of passion, to the most charming object of his af fections, is in Homer very blunt and concise, and sufficiently gross and uncouth. « Νωι δ' ἀγ' ἐν φιλοῖῆι τραπειομεν ἐννηθενε. Such is the elegant compliment, which Jupiter pays to Juno, after she has borrowed the cestus of Venus, to render herself enchanting.-The reader may also turm to the conclusion of the third book of the Iliad, where Paris returns vanquished from the combat, with Menelaus, and is bitterly reproached by Helen.-Instead of the tender jealousies, the amiable and interesting contests of lovers, and of those sweet reconciliations, which furnish the poets, of more refined ages, with such delightful subjects; we are presented with a conversation, and scene, coarse and indelicate in the extreme; such, indeed, as would be in character, between a modern serjeant, in a marching regiment, and his camp mistress.. -We find nothing of this kind in Apollonius or Virgil; the sentiments are dignified and refined, decorum is every where preserved. It is not surprising, that the men of those times should have been gross in their manners; and uncouth in their expressions. Even the women, in the heroic ages, showed little of the delicacy, the reserve, and attention to decorum, which have marked their sex, in ages ages of greater refinement. Indeed, not only the women, but even the goddesses, make no secret of their inclinations. They condescend, to offer the first advances, to the favourite objects of their choice. In the Odyssey, Ulysses, having drank, with impunity, the poisons of Circe, as the enchantress is in the act of raising her wand, to transform him into some obscene animal, draws his sword, and rushes upon her. The goddess, struck with surprise, at this bold action, recognises him, as the hero, whose arrival had been foretold to her by Mercury, and addresses the prince in these terms.- "Or art thou he, the man to come foretold, "By Hermes powerful with the wand of gold; "The man, from Troy, who wander'd Ocean round, "The man, for wisdom's various arts renown'd? "Ulysses, oh thy threatening fury cease. Sheath thy bright sword; and join our hands in peace. "Let mutual joys our mutual trust combine, "And love, and love-born confidence, be thine.". Pope's Homer. In fact, no monument of high Grecian antiquity, (says an ingenious Frenchman,) shows us love, accompanied by all the charms, in which imagination, rather than reality, has attired it.To find those charming and finished pictures of love, we must pass to the age of the Ptolemies, who called the elegant arts-the refined pleasures and polite letters, into Egypt, to the city founded by Alexander. In the Greek tragedy, love is professedly painted but once, and that is the fury of an incestuous passion.- -We cannot recognise love, when we perceive the absence of its characteristics—the cares— the complacencies-the respect, and deference to the beloved object.When these are wanting, all that remains |