[5] That eloquence is regarded as the wisdom of speech, Ulysses manifests throughout the whole poem, both in the Trial,1 the Petitions,2 and the Embassy.3 Of him it is said by Antenor,
Who can suppose that a poet capable of effectively introducing into his scenes rhetoricians, generals, and various other characters, each displaying some peculiar excellence, was nothing more than a droll or juggler, capable only of cheating or flattering his hearer, and not of instructing him. Are we not all agreed that the chief merit of a poet consists in his accurate representation of the affairs of life? Can this be done by a mere driveller, unacquainted with the world? The excellence of a poet is not to be measured by the same standard as that of a mechanic or a blacksmith, where honour and virtue have nothing to do with our estimate. But the poet and the individual are connected, and he only can become a good poet, who is in the first instance a worthy man.“ But when he spake, forth from his breast did flow
”
A torrent swift as winter's feather'd snow.4Iliad iii. 221.
