Note 068
From Chapter 55 of the Decline & Fall

This resemblance may be clearly seen in the ninth book of the Iliad, (205 - 221,) in the minute detail of the cookery of Achilles. By such a picture, a modern epic poet would disgrace his work, and disgust his reader; but the Greek verses are harmonious - a dead language can seldom appear low or familiar; and at the distance of two thousand seven hundred years, we are amused with the primitive manners of antiquity.

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