That he was not a ftranger to aerial perspective, appears in his exprefly marking the distance of object from object: He tells us, for inftance, that the two fpies lay a little remote from the other figures; and that the oak under which was spread the banquet of the reapers, food apart. What he fays of the valley fprinkled all over with cottages and flocks, appears to be a defcription of a large country in perspective. And indeed a general argument for this may be drawn from the number of figures on the fhield; which could not be all exprefs'd in their full magnitude: And this is therefore a fort of proof that the art of leffening them according to per fpe&tive was known at that time. What the criticks call the three unities, ought in reafon as much to be obferved in a picture as in a play; each fhould have only one principal action, one inftant of time, and one point of view. In this method of examination alfo, the field of Homer will bear the teft: He has been more exact than the greateft painters, who have often deviated from one or other of thefe rules; whereas (when we examine the detail of each com partiment) it will appear, First, that there is but one principal action in each picture, and that no fupernumerary figures or actions are introduced. This will answer all that has been faid of the confufion and crowd of figures on the fhield, by those who never comprehended the plan of it. Secondly, that no action is reprefented in one piece, which could not happen in the fame inftant of time. This will overthrow the objection against fo many different actions appearing in one fhield; which, in this cafe, is much as abfurd as to obje& against so many of Raphael's Cartons appearing in one gallery. Thirdly, it will be manifeft that there are no objects in any one picture which could not be seen in one point of view. Hereby the Abbè Terraffon's whole criticifm will fall to the ground, which amounts but to this, that the general obje&s of the heavens, ftars, and fea, with the particular prospects of towns, fields, &c, could never be seen all at once. Homer was incapable of fo abfurd thought, nor could these hea. venly bodies (had he intended them for a picture) have ever been feen together from one point; for the conftellations and the full moon, for example, could never be feen at once with the fun. But the celestial bodies were placed on the bofs, as the ocean at the margin of the fhield: These were no parts of the painting, but the former was only an ornament to the projection in the middle, and the latter a frame round round about it: In the fame manner as the divifions, projections, or angles of a roof are left to be ornamented at the difcretion of the painter, with foilage, architecture, grotesque, or what he pleases: However his judgment will be still more commendable, if he contrives to make even these extrinfical parts, to bear fome allufion to the main defign: It is this which Homer has done, in placing a fort of fphere in the middle, and the ocean at the border, of a work, which was ex prefly intended to represent the universe. I proceed now to the detail of the shield; in which the words of Homer being first tranflated, an attempt will be made to fhew with what exact order all that he defcribes may enter into the compofition, according to the rules of painting." AAAXANAXAXX F V V V V V V THE SHIELD of ACHILLES Divided into its several Parts. V The Boss of the SHIELD. ERSE 483. Ev fù jouav, &c.] Here Vulcan reprefented the earth, the heaven, the fea, the indefatigable course of the fun, the moon in her full, all the celeftial figns that crown Olympus, the Pleiades, the Hyades, the great Orion, and the Bear, commonly call'd the Wain, the only conftellation which, never bathing itself in the ocean, turns about the pole, and observes the courfe of Orion. The fculpture of these resembled fomewhat of our terrestrial and celeftial Globes, and took up the center of the fhield: "Tis plain by the huddle in which Homer expreffes this, that he did not defcribe it as a picture for a point of fight. The circumference "divided into twelve compartiments, each being a separate pi&ure: As follow, First Compartiment. A Town in Peace. 'Ev Si Nw winor woλess, &c.] He engraved two cities; in one of them were reprefented nuptials and feftivals. The spouses from their bridal chambers were conducted thro' the town by the Light of torches. Every mouth fung the hymeneal fong: The youths turn'd rapidly |