Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/125

113 HOME 11 113 poems which doubtless had exceptional advantages in their fame and popularity we find a body of literature dating from the 8th century B.C. to which the theory of oral transmission is wholly inapplicable. In the Trojan cycle alone we know of the two epics of Arctinus, the Little Iliad of Lesches, the Cypria, the Nostoi. The Theban cycle is represented by tho Tkebaid (which Callmus, who was of the 7th century, ascribed to Homer) and the Epigoni. Other ancient epics ancient enough to have passed under the name of Homer are the Taking of (Echalia, and the Phocdis. Again, there are the numerous works attributed to Hesiod and other poets of the didactic and the quasi- historical schools, Eumelus of Corinth, Cinsethon of Sparta, Agias of Troezen, and many more. The preserva tion of this vast mass is not explained by any of the various considerations which have been brought to bear on the Homeric poems national interest, families of rhapsodists, public recitation, &c. It can only be attributed to writing, which must therefore have been in use for two centuries or more before there was any considerable prose literature. Nor is this in itself improbable. On the contrary, when we see how gradual aud tentative progress is, and how great is the influence of an established literary form, we must feel it to be probable that the art of writing had been applied to the existing kinds of literature long before it led to the creation of a new type. The further question, whether the Iliad and Odyssey were originally written, is much more difficult. External evidence does not reach back so far, and the internal evidence is curiously indecisive. The only passage which can be interpreted as a reference to writing occurs in the story of Bellerophon, told by Glaucus in the sixth book of the Iliad. Proetus, king of Corinth, sent Bellerophon to his father-in-law the king of Lycia, and gave him &quot; baneful tokens, scratching on a folded tablet many spirit-destroying things, and bade him show this to his father-in-law, that he might perish.&quot; The king of Lycia asked duly (on the tenth day from the guest s coming) for a token (ffree cr^/m tSecr^at), and then knew what Proetus wished to be done. 1 In this account there is nothing to show exactly how the message of Proetus was expressed. The use of writing for the purpose of the token between &quot;guest-friends&quot; (tessera hospitalis) is certainly very ancient. Mommsen (Rom. Forsch., i. p. 338/1) aptly compares the use in treaties, which are the oldest species of public documents. But we may suppose that tokens of some kind like the marks which the Greek chiefs make on the lots (//. vii. 175ff.) were in use before writing was known. In any system of signs there were doubtless means of recommending a friend, or giving warning of the presence of an enemy. There is no difficulty, therefore, in understanding the message of Prcetus without alphabetical writing. But, on the other hand, there is no reason for so understanding it. If the language of Homer is so ambiguous where the use of writing would naturally be mentioned, we cannot expect to find more decisive references elsewhere. Argu ments have been founded upon the descriptions of the blind singers in the Odyssey, with their songs inspired directly by the Muse ; upon the appeals of the poet to the Muses, especially in such a place as the opening of the Catalogue ; upon the Catalogue itself, which is a kind of historical document put into verse to help the memory ; upon the shipowner in the Odyssey, who has &quot; a good memory for his cargo,&quot; &c. It may be answered, however, in the first place, that much of this is traditional, handed down from the time when all poetry was unwritten, and in the second 1 The word a-fj/ua means the whole message or document. Hence &amp;lt;Ti t ifj.a-ra vypa are not &quot;baneful marks&quot; or &quot; characters,&quot; but &quot;a token which &quot; (instead of being one of friendly recommendation, as it purported to be) &quot; was a message of death.&quot; place that the form of poetry is determined by the manner in which it is used, the recitation or performance, if we may give a wide meaning to that term, not by the manner in which it is composed or preserved. And the &quot; perfor mance &quot; of epic poetry still depended upon the power of memory long after written copies were in existence. In short, it is one thing to recognize that a literature is essen tially oral in its form, characteristic of an age which was one of hearing rather than of reading, and quite another to hold that the same literature was preserved entirely by oral transmission. And finally, if writing was used in Homeric times, the absence of all mention of it may be connected with the peculiar silence imposed doubtless by the tradition of his art which the poet observes regarding himself and his circumstances. The result of these various considerations seems to be that the age which we may call the Homeric the age which is brought before us in vivid outlines in the Iliad and Odyssey lies beyond the earliest point to which history enables us to penetrate. And so far as we can draw any conclusion as to the author (or authors) of the two poems, it is that the whole debate between the cities of ^Eolis and Ionia was wide of the mark. The author of the Iliad, at least, was evidently a European Greek who lived before the colonization of Asia Minor ; and the claims of the Asiatic cities mean no more than that in the days of their prosperity these were the chief seats of the fame of Homer. 2 This is perhaps the place to consider whether the poems are to be regarded as possessing in any degree the character of historical record. The question is one which in the absence of satisfactory criteria will generally be decided by taste aud predilection. A few suggestions, however, may be made. 1. The events of the Iliad take place in a real locality, the general features of which are kept steadily in view. There is no doubt about Sigeum and Rhceteum, or the rivers Scamauder and Simois, or the islands Imbros, Leinnos, and Tenedos. It is at least remark able that a legend of the national interest of the &quot; tale of Troy &quot; should be so definitely localized, and that in a district which was never famous as a seat of Greek population. 2. The discoveries of Schliemann prove that the Homeric Troy (which can hardly be other than Hissarlik, see TROY) was an ancient seat of pre-Hellenic population. This circumstance perhaps adds something to the probability that the legend was founded on fact. 3. The story of the Iliad is singularly free from the exaggerated and marvellous character which belongs to most legends. The apple of discord, the arrows of Philoctetes, the invulnerability of Achilles, and similar fancies, are the additions of later poets. This sobriet} , however, belongs not to the whole Iliad, but to the events and characters of the war. Such figures as Bellerophon, Niobe, the Amazons, which are thought of as traditions from an earlier genera tion, show the marvellous element at work. 4. Certain persons and events in the story have a distinctly mythical stamp. Helen is a figure of this kind. There was another story according to which she was carried off by Theseus-, and recovered by her brothers the Dioscuri. There are even traces of a third version, in which the Messcniau twins, Idas and Lyiiceus, appear. 5. The analogy of the French epic, the Chanson do Roland, favours the belief that there was some nucleus of fact. The defeat of Roncevaux was really suffered by a part of Charlemagne s army. But the Saracen army is purely mythical, the true enemy having been the Gascons. Thus the element of fact is found in the place where the battle was fought, and the name of the great emperor. If similarly we leave, as historical, the plain of Troy, and the name Agamemnon, we shall perhaps not be far wrong. (2) The dialect of Homer is properly to be called Old Ionic.: that is to say, it is the dialect of which the New Ionic of Herodotus and the Attic are varieties, but it is in a much earlier stage of development. The proof of this proposition is to be obtained chiefly by comparing the grammatical formation and the syntax of Homer with those of Attic. The comparison of the vocabulary is in the nature of things less conclusive on the. question of date. It would be impossible to give the evidence in full without writing :i Homeric grammar, but a few specimens may be of interest. 2 On this point, see Mr Gladstone s Homeric Synchronism, cli. iii. XII 15