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Title
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[Gulliver speaks with Homer and Aristotle]
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Description
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Here we see Homer and Aristotle speaking with Gulliver. When asked who Gulliver wanted to speak with, he chose Homer and Aristotle as he thought these two men epitomized wit and learning. Homer is on the right and Gulliver notes that he stands taller than Aristotle, walks with straight posture, and has piercing eyes. Many think Homer was blind, however, in Swift, as in Lucian’s A True Story, Homer can see. He carries a lyre, as Homer was a poet. Aristotle is on the left and is stooped and relies on a cane. He has thin hair and a weak voice. Aristotle’s voice is weak because his words were continually misrepresented by commentators. This idea is borrowed from Dante’s Virgil in the Commedia. Homer and Aristotle appear at the head of all their commentators throughout history. Gulliver quickly discovered that neither Homer nor Aristotle had ever heard or seen their commentators. Gulliver tried to introduce the men to their commentators, however, neither of the men were interested nor receptive to them. The commentators all kept their distance from both Homer and Aristotle because they felt guilty that they had misrepresented their writings. The same image appears in the 1839 Krabbe edition.
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Image Creator
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Grandville (Illustrator)
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Identifier
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mta:21746
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Source Name
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Gulliver's Reisen in unbekannte Länder
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Image
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mta_21746_OBJ.png
mta_21746_OBJ.png