central figure in the picture. The Ionic bard sits upon the
prow of a ship that is just approaching the Grecian shore. His right arm
is raised in the excitement of poetic inspiration; a lyre rests upon his
left. Behind him, partly veiled, lost in profound revery, sits a female
form, in whose lofty, intellectual features we recognise the
impersonation of the traditional source of all early poetry; it is the
impersonation of the Saga or Myth. She recalls those sybils who came
from Asia to Greece to proclaim the oracles of the gods. In her hand the
helm is still resting, in token that her guidance has brought Homer to
Greece. A group of unclad nymphs, mingled with swans, swim around the
vessel; one of them rises wholly from the water to listen to the strains
of the singer. This is Thetis; she knows that he is chanting the praise
of her son Achilles, and has left her crystal abode with the Nereids to
follow him. At the left of the picture, on the land, stand groups of
grave, manly forms, the representatives of Greece, assembled to receive
the poet and his teachings. There are three of these groups, connected
by subordinate figures. In front is a lofty figure, crowned with laurel,
a beaker in his hand, and a charming cup-bearer at his side; this is the
poet Alcaeus. Behind him stands Mnesicles, the architect of the Propylae,
with a plan of that work in his hand; next him is Solon, the lawgiver.
On the other side stand Herodotus, Pindar, Sophocles, AEschylus, and
Pythagoras, their features all marked with attention and interest; while
a priest of a more ancient faith looks on in gloomy displeasure at the
new singer and the impression he produces; and Bakis, the old
soothsayer, hides his Golden Proverbs beneath the rocks. A second group,
more toward the centre of the picture, is composed of country people,
shepherds, huntsmen, and cultivators, with here and there a warrior,
hearkening eagerly to the bard; among them a faun, with pointed ears and
mocking mein, listens to the unaccustomed tones. On an elevation at the
left, this division of the picture is completed by a group which
represents the atelier of a sculptor--the master, with two youths and a
maiden about him, is at work on a statue of Achilles--but the songs of
Homer call his attention to other and grander subjects of his art. These
are the Olympian gods themselves, who sit, some of them aloft in the
clouds, over a sacrificial altar, around which warriors are dancing a