This page needs to be proofread.
40
Proofs of the Enquiry into
e c T. ' Olives ; of grafting the Trees, and enriching VIII. ' them with Boughs not their own.'
***
It has been already observed that there was a Family in Chios, one of the finest Islands of the Archipelago, who called themselves Homeridœ, or Children of Homer. They were Rhapsodists by Profession, and wandered all over Greece, singing their Parent's Verses. It was their pious Custom to usher in their Performance with a Prayer to Jupiter; to which Pindar alludes in the Beginning of his second Nemean Ode.
. 106 (c) 10S. (c)
Whence Homer's tuneful Race
Begin their divine Song;
(Songsters they mostly are of flowing Verse)
From mighty Jove, to whom these Games belong;
So the Champion of the Field, &c.
***
The Age and Country of Homer have been the Subjects of great Disputes among learned Men; and particularly it has been a Matter of high Debate, whether Hesiod and He were Cotemporaries?—if they were acquainted?—if they met at any of the Grecian Festivals, and strove for the Prize of Poetry ? A Commentatorupon
