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The Iliad of Homer - Get a Free Blog

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eading an heroic poem we must transform<br />

ourselves into heroes <strong>of</strong> the time<br />

being, we in imagination must fight over<br />

the same battles, woo the same loves,<br />

burn with the same sense <strong>of</strong> injury, as an<br />

Achilles or a Hector. And if we can but<br />

attain this degree <strong>of</strong> enthusiasm (and less<br />

enthusiasm will scarcely suffice for the<br />

reading <strong>of</strong> <strong>Homer</strong>), we shall feel that the<br />

poems <strong>of</strong> <strong>Homer</strong> are not only the work<br />

<strong>of</strong> one writer, but <strong>of</strong> the greatest writer<br />

that ever touched the hearts <strong>of</strong> men by the<br />

power <strong>of</strong> song.<br />

And it was this supposed unity <strong>of</strong> authorship<br />

which gave these poems their<br />

powerful influence over the minds <strong>of</strong> the<br />

[pg men <strong>of</strong> old. Heeren, who is evidently<br />

xxviii]<br />

little disposed in favour <strong>of</strong> modern theories,<br />

finely observes:—

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