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glory in those regions,HOMER. THE EPIC POETS. 71and should have raised itself to thesublimity and extent which it obtained ;was more thancould have been expected.And yetit was so. Homer appeared. The history of thepoet and his works is lost in doubtful obscurity as ; is thehistory of many of the first rninds who have done honour tohumanity, because theyarose amidst darkness. The majestic stream of his song, blessing and fertilizing, flows, likethe Nile, through many lands and nations ;like the sourcesof the Nile, its fountains will remain concealed.It cannot be the object of these essays,to enter anewinto these investigations, which probably have already beencarried as far as the present state of criticism and learningwill admit. 1The modern inquirers can hardly be reproachedwith credulity,for nothing, which could be doubted, noteven the existence of Homer himself, has been left unquestioned. When once the rotten fabric of ancient beliefwas examined, no one of the pillars,on which it rested,could escape inspection.The general result was, that thewhole building rested far more on the foundation of tradition, than of credible history ;but how far this foundationis secure, is a question, respecting which, the voices willhardly be able to unite.It seems of chief importance to expect no more than thenature of things makes possible.If the period of traditionin historyis the regionof twilight,we should not expectin it perfect light.The creations of genius remain alwayshalf miracles, because they are, for the most part, createdfar from the reach of observation.If we were in possessionof all the historic testimonies, we never could wholly explainthe originof the Iliad and the Odyssey for their ;origin, inall essential points, must have remained the secret of thepoet.But we can, to a certain extent, explain how, underthe circumstances of those times, an epic poet could arise ;how he could elevate his mind ;and how he could becomeof such importance to his nation and to posterity. This isall to which our inquiry should be directed.The age of Homer, according to all probability, was thatin which the Ionian colonies flourished in the vigour of1It is hardly necessary to refer to the Excursus of Heynfand the Prolegomena of Wolf.of the Iliad ;on the last book