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Article MASONIC VIEWS IN THE ILIAD AND ODYSSEY. ← Page 6 of 6
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Masonic Views In The Iliad And Odyssey.
vated cloor or opening in the wall , without any flight of steps up to it , but whicli was usually readied by thc application of a moveable - _ At /_ .. (| or ladder . The latter being taken away , the access to it would be rendered exceedingly difficult , if not impossible : ancl therefore one man could defend the passage against several . But besides this there was another opening from the hall , which has puzzled tlie criticsand whieh looks more like a window than the other ; and
, that was the way by which Melanthius , the traitorous servant of Ulysses , mounted to the upper chamber , where Telemachus had deposited the arms . Not to cite at large passages which may be easily referred to by the reader , we shall merely mention that Mr . Mure has attempted to illustrate the point , by instancing the arrangements and architecture of an old Turkish khan or inn in Livadia , and which he presumes to retain many of the features of the more ancient abodes in . Greece . This
building was of a quadrangular form , and consisted , like the buildings of Ulysses , of two stories , with a gallery or portico running round the interior , and communicating with the upper apartments . "The inner walls , " says he , " or rather wooden wainscots of the flanks , were so constructed as not to reach the beams which sloped from above ; and this peculiarity throws light upon the obscure passage of the Odyssey , where Melanthius , the treacherous goatherd , obtains access to the armoury
of Ulysses , in the upper floor of the building , through the crevices of the roof ( dva pSyaf pieyapoio ); from whence it would appear that the side-walls of the palace-hall of Ulysses were not much better finished off ; than those , of the granary of the Khanjee of Livadia . " Mr . Mure has thus managed to make a way of exit for Melanthius , though he has not , certainly , added to the dignity ofthe apartment by supposing it so ill-finished as to be full of large holes at the roof . If we might venture ,
by speculation , to throw a little illumination upon the subject , we would be willing to suppose that these crevices at the roof were a regular set of openings or lattices to let in air and light , and so account for the apparent want of windows-proper . To attempt to enter further into the penetralia of the palace , we fear would prove an unprofitable task . Sir William Gell has exercised his artistic judgment , and it must be added also , his imagination , in giving
a regular plan of the house of Ulysses , which may be seen in his Topography of Ithaca , founded upon the fragments of ruins which remain to this day where the palace is conjectured to have stood . Would that the whole were yet visible as in Gell ' s fanciful fabric ! We have trodden the silent pavements of Pompeii , and stood amidst tlie solitude of the pillared Ptestum , but to have planted our feet where Ulysses erst strode , where Homer , perhaps , sat and sung , would call up deeper and
more thrilling feelings . PILGRIM . VOL . 71 i . ° > K
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Masonic Views In The Iliad And Odyssey.
vated cloor or opening in the wall , without any flight of steps up to it , but whicli was usually readied by thc application of a moveable - _ At /_ .. (| or ladder . The latter being taken away , the access to it would be rendered exceedingly difficult , if not impossible : ancl therefore one man could defend the passage against several . But besides this there was another opening from the hall , which has puzzled tlie criticsand whieh looks more like a window than the other ; and
, that was the way by which Melanthius , the traitorous servant of Ulysses , mounted to the upper chamber , where Telemachus had deposited the arms . Not to cite at large passages which may be easily referred to by the reader , we shall merely mention that Mr . Mure has attempted to illustrate the point , by instancing the arrangements and architecture of an old Turkish khan or inn in Livadia , and which he presumes to retain many of the features of the more ancient abodes in . Greece . This
building was of a quadrangular form , and consisted , like the buildings of Ulysses , of two stories , with a gallery or portico running round the interior , and communicating with the upper apartments . "The inner walls , " says he , " or rather wooden wainscots of the flanks , were so constructed as not to reach the beams which sloped from above ; and this peculiarity throws light upon the obscure passage of the Odyssey , where Melanthius , the treacherous goatherd , obtains access to the armoury
of Ulysses , in the upper floor of the building , through the crevices of the roof ( dva pSyaf pieyapoio ); from whence it would appear that the side-walls of the palace-hall of Ulysses were not much better finished off ; than those , of the granary of the Khanjee of Livadia . " Mr . Mure has thus managed to make a way of exit for Melanthius , though he has not , certainly , added to the dignity ofthe apartment by supposing it so ill-finished as to be full of large holes at the roof . If we might venture ,
by speculation , to throw a little illumination upon the subject , we would be willing to suppose that these crevices at the roof were a regular set of openings or lattices to let in air and light , and so account for the apparent want of windows-proper . To attempt to enter further into the penetralia of the palace , we fear would prove an unprofitable task . Sir William Gell has exercised his artistic judgment , and it must be added also , his imagination , in giving
a regular plan of the house of Ulysses , which may be seen in his Topography of Ithaca , founded upon the fragments of ruins which remain to this day where the palace is conjectured to have stood . Would that the whole were yet visible as in Gell ' s fanciful fabric ! We have trodden the silent pavements of Pompeii , and stood amidst tlie solitude of the pillared Ptestum , but to have planted our feet where Ulysses erst strode , where Homer , perhaps , sat and sung , would call up deeper and
more thrilling feelings . PILGRIM . VOL . 71 i . ° > K