Note 291 — NO. XXXIX.—TROJA, AND OTHER CITIES OF THE TROAS.

It is only by viewing the stupendous prospect afforded in these classical regions, that any adequate idea can be formed of Homer’s powers as a painter. Neptune, placed on the top of Samothrace, commanding a prospect of Ida, Troy, and the fleet, observes Jupiter upon Gargarus turn his back upon Troas. What is intended by this averted posture of the God, other than that Gargarus was partially concealed by a cloud, while Samothrace remained unveiled? a circumstance so often realised. All the march of Juno, from Olympus, by Pieria and Æmathia to Atlas, by sea, to Lemnos; and thence to Imbrus and Gargarus; is a correct delineation of the striking face of nature, in which the picturesque wildness and grandeur of real scenery are further adorned by a sublime poetical fiction. Hence it is evident, that Homer must have lived in the neighbourhood of Troy; that he borrowed the scene of the Iliad from ocular examination; and the action of it from the prevailing tradition of the times.—Clarke.