Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/54

 40 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

line of that poem, he is left with a confused remembrance of just what the introductory verses promise : wonder-tales of notable heroes ; of great bravery ; of joys and sorrows ; of strong men's conflicts as the Germans say, the deeds of " Eisenmanner und Riesenweiber." And if we go back to the Norse sagas which contain the germ of this grandiose poem, the impression is even heightened. There are interesting and invaluable bits of socio- logic evidence to be gained ; but it would be hard indeed to construct a coherent picture of the society of the time, either from the Norse tales or the later epic. And if this comparison of Homer with analogous literary productions were carried forth, as far as I am competent to judge, I think it could be shown that the picture he gives of Homeric society is far and away ahead of most corresponding representations to be gained from the Rus- sian epic-songs, the Vedic hymns, the Zend-Avesta, etc. The Old Testament alone would seem to contest Homer's title for uni- versality, but there are some other reasons why Homer seems, after all, to present the better case.

By a rough sort of quantitative comparison, then, Homer is eft among the very best pieces of evidence as to antiquity which the science of society possesses.

The quality of Homer's evidence is likewise very high. The proportion of unconscious setting to conscious argument or theme is extraordinarily large. The latter must be discounted, here as elsewhere, of course ; it is valuable less for what it relates than for the indirect light which it throws upon the customs, habits of thought, and national feeling of its time. What was accessory mere background to Homer is often of superlative impor- tance to modern science. It is when fancy, with a purpose and a point to make, gets hold of material and serves it up, that scientific suspicion must be ever on guard, striving to detect the untrue and the exaggerated. Racial, caste, and personal bias disturbing factors to whose presence the mind of the investigator must be super-sensitive are much more prominent in the theme than in the setting.

Where the authorship of a work is so veiled as is the case in hand, it is out of place to talk of personal bias ; yet if it had