hewn out of the mountain, is rude, indistinct, and probably of the most remote

antiquity.”


So successful was this school, that Homer realised a considerable fortune. He

married, and had two daughters, one of whom died single, the other married a

Chian.


The following passage betrays the same tendency to connect the personages of

the poems with the history of the poet, which has already been

mentioned:—


“In his poetical compositions Homer displays great gratitude towards

Mentor of Ithaca, in the Odyssey, whose name he has inserted in his poem as the

companion of Ulysses, in return for the care taken of him when afflicted with

blindness. He also testifies his gratitude to Phemius, who had given him both

sustenance and instruction.”


His celebrity continued to increase, and many persons advised him to visit

Greece whither his reputation had now extended. Having, it is said, made some

additions to his poems calculated to please the vanity of the Athenians, of

whose city he had hitherto made no mention, he set out for Samos. Here, being

recognized by a Samian, who had met with him in Chios, he was handsomely

received, and invited to join in celebrating the Apaturian festival. He recited

some verses, which gave great satisfaction, and by singing the Eiresione at the

New Moon festivals, he earned a subsistence, visiting the houses of the rich,

with whose children he was very popular.


In the spring he sailed for Athens, and arrived at the island of Ios, now Ino,

where he fell extremely ill, and died. It is said that his death arose from

vexation, at not having been able to unravel an enigma proposed by some

fishermen’s children.


Such is, in brief, the substance of the earliest life of Homer we possess, and

so broad are the evidences of its historical worthlessness, that it is scarcely

necessary to point them out in detail. Let us now consider some of the opinions

to which a persevering, patient, and learned—but by no means