XXV
restoring the actual text of the Iliad or Odyssey to its
pristine condition, either by the insertion of the Aeolic
digamma, or the application of any other rule derived from
the sources just mentioned, we shall frequently find that the
mêtre is violated; in these instances we may be certain that
the verse has been constructed according to the usage of
à more modern age. This is not the place to enumerate the
different modes by which we may be enabled to approximate
to à knowledge of the pure and genuine text of these poems:
we may be permitted, however, to observe, in conclusion.
that the successful execution of an endeavour to restore
them to their primitive state would prove of inestimable
value to the lovers of Grecian literature, and to the admirers
of these noblest productions of human genius.
In the early stages of civilization, the main object of an
assembled population would be security; for the attainment
of which, we may remark the disproportionate and astonishing
exertions used by various nations in their works designed for
defence and protection; exertions which, by their more
polished descendants, have usually been attributed to the
agency of a supernatural power. Hence the vast labour
bestowed on the construction of walls, the remains of which
are so common in different parts of Greece, and which are
the first, and certainly among the most wonderful specimens
of building in that country. Of these the walls of Tiryns
are the most ancient, and perhaps the most celebrated;
Homer, in the catalogue, gives to the town the characteristic
epithet of raxéevcal, a clear proof that the walls were calculated
Il. ij. 559.