But apart from all such considerations, Eratosthenes contradicts
himself; for a little previously to the sentence which we have quoted,
at the commencement of his Essay on Geography, he says, that “all
the ancient poets took delight in showing their knowledge of such
matters. Homer inserted into his poetry all that he knew about the
Ethiopians, Egypt, and Libya. Of all that related to Greece and the
neighbouring places he entered even too minutely into the details,
describing Thisbe as “abounding in doves,” Haliartus, “grassy,”
Anthedon, the “far distant,” Litæa, “situated on the sources of the
Cephissus,”
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and none of his epithets are without their meaning.
But in pursuing this method, what object has he in view, to amuse
[merely], or to instruct? The latter, doubtless. Well, perhaps he has
told the truth in these instances, but in what was beyond his
observation both he and the other writers have indulged in all the
marvels of fable. If such be the case the statement should have
been, that the poets relate some things for mere amusement, others
for instruction; but he affirms that they do it altogether for
amusement, without any view to information; and by way of climax,
inquires, What can it add to Homer’s worth to be familiar with many
lands, and skilled in strategy, agriculture, rhetoric, and similar
information, which some persons seem desirous to make him
possessed of. To seek to invest him with all this knowledge is most
likely the effect of too great a zeal for his honour. Hipparchus
observes, that to assert he was acquainted with every art and
science, is like saying that an Attic eiresionè
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bears pears and
apples.
As far as this goes, Eratosthenes, you are right enough; not so,
however, when you not only deny that Homer was possessed of
these vast acquirements, but represent poetry in general as a tissue
of old wives’ fables, where, to use your own expression, every thing
thought likely to amuse is cooked up. I ask, is it of no value to the
auditors
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of the poets to be made acquainted with [the history of]
different countries, with strategy, agriculture, and rhetoric, and
suchlike things, which the lecture generally contains.