Page:Proofs of the Enquiry into Homer's Life and Writings.pdf/88

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Homers Life and Writings.
75

H o m e r s Life and Writings.

75

Of Scythian Shepherds, arm'd with trusty Bows, Sect* Who dwell in airy Houses, wove with Twigs, XI. That roll on Carriagesfrom Place to Place. ' ""~""J The wise E/chine therefore, Socrates's loved Scholar, and strict Imitator of his Master's Man ner in his Writings, had reason to say, " That p. 23;. ".they have no use for a House among the " Scythians; neither would any Man in Scy" thia, if he was to have his Choice, prefer the c< finest Palace in the World to a Leather Coat." But it must have been a shocking View of the enormous Vice of a great City, that made Horace prefer the wandering Life of these va grant Tribes to the Wealth and Pleasures of Rome : The wandering Scythian betterfar, ' And rugged Getes their Life contrive : Whose moving Houses on a Car, Follow where'er their Masters drive:' Whose open Fields no Landmarks know ; But freely yield unrented Grain; Who twice thefame Grouvi never plow, But /hist at willfrom Plain to Plain. Lib. III. Ode 24.

It was a very coarse, but expressive Fancy of the Painters, who represented Homer in a Posture

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