^{page 43 note *} Iliad, vi. 168. So Eustathius says expressly; and the reason he assigns, is, that letters were the invention of later times. He might have added, that it appears from several other passages in Homer, that with him γςαφϵιν does not signify to write, but to trace or mark; nor σημα a letter, but a mark, or sign, or credential. Iliad vii. 175. 187. 188. 189.; and Odyff.xxiv. 328. And σημα unquestionably this signification in xxiii. 206. In this passage respecting Bellerophon, had Madam Dacier and Mr Pope adverted to this, they would not have translated this passage as they have done. Πορε δε οἱ σημα⌉α λυγςα clearly means, that he gave him a token or credential that was meant to be destructive to him; and γραΨας ϑνμοφϑορα ϖολλα that he traced in thefe folded tables many marks or signs, that gave to understand he was desirous of his death. There is, likewise, no mention of writing in the Æneid; which shews, that Virgil thought it the invention of later times.

^{page 45 note *} It took its rife from παιδεςαεια Thucydides says Aristogiton ϵΧϵν αυτοι.

^{page 45 note †} Πολν ὐεςον

^{page 46 note *} xi. 302.

^{page 47 note *} See Pernety's Fables Egyptiennes et Grecques devoilées, tom. ii. And that the history of the Trojan war was no more than an allegory is taken for granted by Gebelin de la Cour; in his Monde Primitif, ii. 400.; and by Bryant, in his Mythology.

^{page 47 note †} Lib. 2.

^{page 47 note ‡} Ματαιος λογος.

^{page 48 note *} Dissert. Homer, vol. ii. diss. 40. p. 216.

^{page 49 note *} Ἐιδωλον.

^{page 49 note †} Ὁι λοιποι, p. 160. edit. 1696.

^{page 49 note §} See an enumeration of them in the preface to Philostr. Heroica, p. 603. edit. 1709.

^{page 50 note *} Orat. lv.

^{page 50 note †} Orat. xi.

^{page 54 note *} Il. iii. 236.

^{page 54 note †} Il. xxiv. 765.

^{page 55 note *} M. Fourmont, in a dissertation, in tom.5. des Mem.de l'Acad. des Inserip. pretends, that the siege began only three weeks or a month before the quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, which happened in the beginning of the tenth year; and that the rest of the tirae had been spent in expeditions against different places in Asia. M. Fourmont says, unanswerable objections may be made to Homer's account on the other supposition. The Abbé Banier has written an answer to this differtation, in which he proves from several passages in Homer, that the siege lasted ten years; but has been; by no means, able to answer the objections that arise from that supposition. See tom. 5.

^{page 56 note *} Il. viii. 558.

^{page 56 note †} Il. vii, 352.; xviii. 287.

^{page 56 note ‡} II. vi. 434.

^{page 57 note *} Odyss. iii. 105.

^{page 57 note †} Book xvii. 210.

^{page 58 note *} Il. xvi. 140.

^{page 58 note †} Odyss. viii. 500.; iv. 271.

^{page 59 note *} Æneid. ii.

^{page 59 note †} In conspectu.

^{page 59 note ‡} Condunt.

^{page 60 note *} Odyss iii. 136.

^{page 60 note †} Odyss. iv. 530.

^{page 61 note *} Il. ix. 663.

^{page 61 note †} Lib. ii. c. 117.

^{page 61 note ‡} Such is the account given-by Virgil, Dionysius Halicarn. and others; and it is generally, followed. But it must be observed, that Homer says nothing of Helenus's settlement in Epirus, or of Æneas's in Italy. On the contrary, he says, that Æeneas and his desendants reigned over the Trojans. See Iliad, and Wood's Life of Homer. This, however, seems as little reconcilable to the Greek account of the capture of the city as the other.