The Iliad of Homer: Translated By Alexander Pope (Classic Reprint)

The praise of judg ment Virgil has justly contested with him, and others may have their pretensions as to particular excellencies ;but his invention remains yet unrivalled. Nor is it a wonder if he has ever been acknowledged the greatest of poets, who most excelled in that which is the very foundation of poetry. It is the invention that in different degrees distinguishes all great geniuses :the utmost stretch of huma Sstudy, learning and industry which masters every thing besides, can never attain to this. It furnishes Art with all her materials, and without it, Judgment itself can at best but steal wisely :for Art is only like a prudent i steward, that lives on managing the riches of Nature. Whatever praises may be given to works of judgment, there is not even a single beauty in them but is owing to the invention :as in the most regular gardens, however Art may carry the greatest appearance, there is not plant or flower but is the gift of Nature. The first can only reduce the beauties of the latter into a more obvious figure, which the common eye may better take in, and is therefore more entertained with them. And perhaps the reason why most critics are inclined to prefer a judicious and methodical genius to a great and I ruittui one, is, because they find it easier for themselves to pursue their observations through an uniform and bounded walk of art, than to comprehend the vast and various extent of Nature. Our authors work is a wild paradise, where if we can not see all the beauties so distinctly as in an ordered garden, ,it is only because the number of them is infinitely greater. It is like a copious nursery which contains the seeds and first productions of every kind, out of which those who followed him have but selected some particular plants, each according to his fancy, to cultivate and beautify. If some things are too luxuriant, it is owing to the
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)