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the poet is speaking in his own person; he never leads us to

suppose that he is any one else. But in what follows he takes the

person of Chryses, and then he does all that he can to make us

believe that the speaker is not Homer, but the aged priest

himself. And in this double form he has cast the entire narrative

of the events which occurred at Troy and in Ithaca and throughout

the Odyssey.

Yes.

And a narrative it remains both in the speeches which the poet

recites from time to time and in the intermediate passages?

Quite true.

But when the poet speaks in the person of another, may we not say

that he assimilates his style to that of the person who, as he

informs you, is going to speak?

Certainly.

And this assimilation of himself to another, either by the use of

voice or gesture, is the imitation of the person whose character

he assumes?

Of course.

Then in this case the narrative of the poet may be said to

proceed by way of imitation?

Very true.