... οἱ δὲ κολώνας χερσὶν ἀποῤῥήξαντες ἀπ’ οὔρεος Ἰδαίοιο βάλλον ἐπ’ ἀλλήλους· αἳ δὲ ψαμάθοισιν ὁμοῖαι ῥεῖα διεσκίδναντο θεῶν περὶ δ’ ἄσχετα γυῖα ῥηγνύμενα διὰ τυτθά.... A conceit which destroys the effect by marring our idea of the size of the gods, and throwing contempt on their weapons. If gods throw stones at one another, the stones must be able to hurt them, or they are like silly boys pelting each other with earth. So old Homer remains still the wiser, and all the fault-finding of cold criticism, and the attempts of men of inferior genius to vie with him, serve but to set forth his wisdom in clearer light. I do not deny that Quintus’s imitation has excellent and original points; but they are less in harmony with the modest greatness of Homer than calculated to do honor to the stormy fire of a more modern poet. That the cry of the gods, which rang to the heights of heaven and the depths of hell, should not be heard by mortals, seems to me a most expressive touch. The cry was too mighty to be grasped by the imperfect organs of human hearing. Note 32, p. 80. No one who has read Homer once through, ever so hastily, will differ from this statement as far as regards strength and speed; but he will not perhaps at once recall examples where the poet attaches superhuman size to his gods. I would therefore refer him, in addition to the description of Mars just quoted, whose body covered seven hides, to the helmet of Minerva, κυνέην ἑκατὸν πολίων πρυλέεσσ’ ἀραρυῖαν (Iliad, v. 744), under which could be concealed as many warriors as a hundred cities could bring into the field; to the stride of Neptune (Iliad, xiii. 20); and especially to the lines from the description of the shield, where Mars and Minerva lead the troops of the beleaguered city. (Iliad, xviii. 516–519.) ἦρχε δ’ ἄρά σφιν Ἄρης καὶ Παλλὰς Ἀθήνη, ἄμφω χρυσείω, χρύσεια δὲ εἵματα ἕσθην, καλὼ καὶ μεγάλω σὺν τεύχεσιν, ὥς τε θεώ περ, ἀμφὶς ἀριζήλω· λαοὶ δ’ ὑπ’ ὑπολίζονες ἦσαν. ... While the youths Marched on, with Mars and Pallas at their head, Both wrought in gold, with golden garments on, Stately and large in form, and over all Conspicuous in bright armor, as became The gods; the rest were of an humbler size.—BRYANT.