Lares and Penates, which appear to have been the consecrated images of their departed friends and ancestors, under whose protection they placed themselves, and who were fondly conceived to exert in their behalf a propitious and powerful influ ence. These sentiments, which we have adverted to on account of their obvious bearing upon the subject of the present pages, are enwoven, as might have been anticipated, into the texture of the classical poetry of the heathen. The works of the immortal Homer, who, if he is not the most ancient, certainly ranks amongst the earliest of the classical authors, disclose the popular opinion on these and other topics, in the period of the world during which he lived. In the Odyssey, which abounds with beautiful descriptions, in regard to the influence of the social affections, much is taught under the veil of allegorical representations which bears directly upon the immediate subject of investigation. It is well known, that the poet supposes the hero of his tale to descend into the invisible regions, where he recognizes the shades of the mighty dead, and converses familiarly with many of his departed friends on subjects of mutual interest. Amongst the crowds of spirits which pass in review before him, Ulysses, the heroic adventurer in the enterprise, beholds to his great surprise that of his mother, Anticlea, who still manifests towards him all the tenderness of maternal affection and solicitude; and, when she informs him that excessive grief and anxiety occasioned by his protracted absence were the cause of her premature death, he is represented to be overcome by these expressions of her love, and, yielding to the impulse of his feelings, he thrice makes an ineffectual attempt to embrace the apparition of his weeping parent. The beauties of every age crowd around him, and betray the characteristic vanity which rank and personal attractions awaken in the female bosom. The shades of departed heroes are recognized by him, and are marked by the same peculiarities which distinguished them in the preceding stage of their existence. Agamemnon is overpowered by his appearance, and, as if forgetful under the impulse of the moment of his impalpable form, stretches forth the hand of cordial affection to grasp his newly discovered friend. Ajax manifests all the disdain of wounded pride, and refuses to exchange a single word with his ingenuous conqueror. Achilles is characterized by his wonted vehemence of manner, and swells with the feeling of paternal vanity on listening to the intelligence conveyed to him, concerning the martial prowess and reputation of his surviving son: and it is a circumstance particularly worthy of our notice, that he and Patroclus are made to appear in company together; for since these individuals are described throughout the Iliad, as warm and inseparable friends, Homer conveys in a touching and beautiful manner an intimation to his readers that death does not sever the bond which binds virtuous spirits together on earth.* It is natural to advert in this place to the similar representations of Virgil, who has closely followed the footsteps of this immortal bard, and improved in some respects upon him. His fertile genius has contrived to embody many of the opinions and abstractions of the platonic schools in poetical imagery, which display at once the richness of his fancy and the aptness of his illustration. In his beautiful description of the Elysian and Tartarean regions he not only supports the doctrine of equitable retribution after death, but uniformly maintains the idea of the extension of human friendship beyond the limits of time. Every tyro in classical literature is aware that the infernal world of this poet, like that of his illustrious precursor, is peopled with spirits who are supposed to retain their earthly feelings and reminiscences. Here the victims of unpropitious love find a congenial and undisturbed retreat in which they meet with their kindred spirits, and pass their days in peace and reciprocal amity, doomed no longer to know the pains of separation, or to be thwarted by the * Odyss. Book 12. Tatler, No. 152. decisions of a perverse and capricious fortune. Here Æneas beheld the heroes which fell in the Trojan war; and while the marshalled troops of the Grecian army fled before him, struck with the same terror with which his presence on earth inspired them, his old companion in arms no sooner beheld than welcomed him into the verdant meadows and sunny plains, where they were occupied in calling to mind the exploits of their sublunary career, and in contemplating, with unabated pleasure, their steeds, and chariots, and glittering spears. And here, too, he recognizes the shade of his father Anchises, and a scene is presented to our view scarcely less touching than the similar interview described by Homer between Ulysses and the tender object of his filial piety: “He spoke, and falling tears his face bedew ; These, and other descriptions, which appear in the writings of the classical poets, shew that the notions of the ancients concerning the pleasures and occupations of the world to come were of a gross and superstitious character; and this impression on our minds would be much deeper were it not for the remarkable manner in which genius has succeeded in its attempt to refine and decorate them by the embellishments of fancy and versification. It will however be seen, that they answer the purpose for which they are introduced to the notice of the reader.* But if it should be thought that on subjects like the present little regard is due to the representations of poets, whose professed object rather leads them to wander into the regions of fancy than to deal with matters of fact, we might appeal to the sentiments and philosophical disquisitions of those master spirits who were the lights of the heathen world, and whose time and gigantic powers were * Virgil. Æn. lib. vi. The Lethæan streams referred to by the poets, afford no argument against the general impression of the ancients with regard to the subject of the present treatise. The fable was probably invented in accommodation to the Pythagorean doctrine of transmigration, and the oblivious waters are accordingly represented to be drank by those spirits, which, after the revolution of ages, spent in the purification of their natures, were preparing for transmission into the world in corporeal forms. "Animæ, quibus altera, Corpora debentur, Lethæi ad fluminis undam Securos latices et longa oblivia potant. Has omnes ubi mille rotam voluêre per annos Æn. lib. vi. |