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78 ANCIENT GEEECB. [CHAP. TI,ally epic poetry was extended amongthe nation. After theepic language had once been perfected by Homer, it remained peculiar to this kind of poetry and when we read;the works of much later poets, of Quintus, or of Nonnus,we mightbelieve ourselves employed on authors many centuries older than they, had we not other evidence beside theirlanguage to fix the period in which they lived. That thedialect of Homer remained the principal one for this class ofpoetry, had an importantinfluence on Grecian literature.Amidst all the changes and improvements in language,itprevented the ancient from becoming antiquated, and secured it a place amongthe later modes of expression. Thiswas a gainfor the language and for the nation. With thedialect of Homer, his spirit continued in some measure tolive among the epic poets. Language cannot of itself makea poet but; yet how much depends on language! If inthose later poets we occasionally hearechoes of Homer, isit not sometimes his spiritwhich addresses us ?But his influence on the spiritof his countrymen wasmuch more importantthan his influence on their language.He had delineated the world of heroes in colours which can,never fade. He had made it present to posterity ;and thusthe artist and the tragic poet found a sphere opened for theemployment of their powers of representation. And thescenes from which they drew their subjects, could not haveremained foreignto their countrymen. We do but touchon this subject,in order to say something on the pointwhich lies particularly within the circle of our inquiries ;the influence which Homer and the epic poets exercised onthe political character of their countrymen.When we compare the scanty fragments which arestillextant, respecting the circulation and preservation of thepoems of Homer, it is remarkable that in Hellas itself, thelawgivers and rulers were the most active in making themknown and in saving them from perishing. Lycurgus, weare told, was the first who introduced them into the Peloponnesus by means of the rhapsodists ;Solon esteemed thesubject so important, that in his code of laws, he formeddistinct regulations,in conformity to which it seems probablethat the several rhapsodies were recited, not as before without method, but in their natural order, by several rhapsodists,