If the period of tradition in history is the region of twilight, we should not expect in it perfect light.

The creations of genius always seem like miracles, because they are, for the most part, created far out of the reach of observation.

If we were in possession of all the historical testimonies, we never could wholly explain the origin of the Iliad and the Odyssey; for their origin, in all essential points, must have remained the secret of the poet." (16) From this criticism, which shows as much insight into the depths of human nature as into the minute wire-drawings of scholastic investigation, let us pass on to the main question at issue.

Was Homer an individual ?( 17) or were the Iliad and Odyssey the result of an ingenious arrangement of fragments by earlier poets?
Well has Landor remarked: "Some tell us there were twenty Homers; some deny that there was ever one.

It were idle and foolish to shake the contents of a vase, in order to let them settle at last.