any rate his intimate acquaintance
with the topography of Troy, which is now well ascertained, and
still more his obvious attempt to excuse the non-existence of a
great wall which, according to his story, ought to be there and
which he knew had never existed, so that no trace could remain,
while there were abundant traces of all the other features he
describes--these facts convince me that he was in all probability a
native of the Troad, or country round Troy. His plausibly concealed
Trojan sympathies, and more particularly the aggravated exaggeration
with which the flight of Hector is described, suggest to me, coming
as they do from an astute and humorous writer, that he may have been
a Trojan, at any rate by the mother's side, made captive, enslaved,
compelled to sing the glories of his captors, and determined so to
overdo them that if his masters cannot see through the irony others
sooner or later shall. This, however, is highly speculative, and
there are other views that are perhaps more true, but which I cannot
now consider.

I will now ask you to form your own opinions as to whether Homer is
or is not a shrewd and humorous writer.

Achilles, whose quarrel with Agamemnon is the ostensible subject of
the poem, is son to a marine goddess named Thetis, who had rendered
Jove an important service at a time when he was in great
difficulties. Achilles, therefore, begs his mother Thetis to go up
to Jove and ask him to let the Trojans discomfit the Greeks for a
time, so that Agamemnon may find he cannot get on without Achilles'
help, and may thus be brought to reason.

Thetis tells her son that for the moment there is nothing to be
done, inasmuch as the gods are all of them away from home. They are
gone to pay a visit to Oceanus in Central Africa, and will not be
back for another ten or twelve days; she will see what can be done,
however, as soon as ever they return. This in due course she does,
going up to Olympus and laying hold of Jove by the knee and by the
chin. I may say in passing that it is still a common Italian form
of salutation to catch people by the chin. Twice during the last
summer I have been so seized in token of affectionate greeting, once
by a lady and once by a gentleman.

Thetis tells her tale to Jove, and concludes by saying that he is to
say straight out 'yes' or 'no' whether he will do what she asks. Of
course he can please himself, but she should like to know how she
stands.

"It wi