this latter poem, although meither the word itself, nor the
thing signiffed, is to be found in the pages of the Iliad. It
may be requisite here to pay some attention to the columns
in the palace of Ulysses ; more especially as from a bare
allusion to the fact of their existence, it might be thought
unjustifable to exclude them from the appellation of
architectural ornament. It is first to be observed, that
these columns form no part of the exterior building; their
use is not only confined to the interior, but for any thing
that appears to the contrary, exclusively to the great hall of
the palace. Their employment in that situation was obviously
dictated by necessity. From the ample space of the apartment,
some support, in addition to the lateral walls, was required
to give security to the beams which composed the roof; this
security, we may conclude, was obtained by the insertion of
a row of columns passing longitudinally through the centre
of the chamber'. Such was the cause and mode of their
introduction. According to the general opinion, the material
of which they were formed was wood : and the accuracy of
this opinion is confirmed by the nature of their origin and
use, as well as by a combination of circumstances which
unite for this purpose. Throughout the Odyssey the
mention of columns is purely incidental : they are never
described in detail, nor do they make part of any description
1 It is remarkable that, in the Odyssey, frequent mention is made of the “ lofty
column,' or the * great column,' as a single object: indeed if it were not for the
passage (xix. 36.) in which the columns are distinctly referred to in the plural
number, we might almost be tempted to imagine that Homer intended to describe
an apartment in which the beams of the roof were supported by a single column.