Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 15, 1904.djvu/400

 37© The European Sky-god.

in him at once a general, a judge, and a priest. It is, however, probable that we ought to invert the Aristotelian order and to regard the early king as primarily a religious personage,''^ secondarily charged with judicial and military duties. Indeed, it would appear that his office as judge, if not also his office as general, was a direct consequence of his office as the accredited representative of Zeus. He was judge, that is to say, because he spoke with the voice and authority of Zeus.^ In the Iliad Nestor addresses Agamemnon as follows : " Most glorious son of Atreus, Agamemnon king of men, with thy name will I end, and in thine begin,^ for that thou art king of many peoples, and in the hollow of thy hand hath Zeus placed a sceptre and judgments to the end that thou mayest decide for them. Therefore more than others must thou speak thy thought and hearken, yea and fulfil even another man's advice, whensoever his mind biddeth him speak for good ; for whatever any doth begin will hinge on thee."^ Note that

■7roKf.}iov riyffioviag koi twv OvctiCjv, ocrai nt) lepariKai, Kal Trpbg tovtoiq raq SiKue tKpivov ; cp. a fragment of Diotogenes irtpl (iaaikdaQ, a Pythagorean treatise, cited by Stobseus in his Jlorilegium, 48. 61, tpya ^t (3aai\twg rpia to Tt OTparriysv Kai SiKaaTroXkv Kai Oipcnnviv Oedig .... wurt dvayKa rbv TsXtiov (iaaiXsa arparayov rs ayaQov ijp.tv ku\ SiKaaTijv Kai iepea.

' Aristotle was perhaps himself aware of this : cp. J>o/., 7. 8. 1322 b. 26, fvofiivri Si ravTijQ {sc. Tijg iirifitXeiag) 1) irpbg Tag Ovuiag d^ojpiffHEVij rag Koivug irdffag, oaag ^r) Tolg iipsvcytv aTroSiSoicnv 6 vofiog, dXK' dirb Ttjg Koivfjg (.ariag lYovcTi Tr/v Tip.iiv ' KoKovai Se 01 fiiv apxoi'rag TovTovg 01 Si fSacriXelg oi Si TTpvrdvtig.

decisions, which are the best that Zeus giveth," and Call., hymn. lov., 79 ff. Wilamowitz, writes : " From Zeus come kiftgs. Nothing upon earth is more divine than kings. Therefore hast thou chosen them as thy portion. Thou hast given them cities to guard : yea thou satest thyself in citadels, watching them that governed their folk with crooked decisions and them that were upright."
 * lies., O.D., 36, h propos of the award of the local " kings," desires "straight

style of an appeal to a god ; because a king is the representative of Zeus. So " A te principium, tibi desinet," Verg. EcL, viii., 11."
 * Dr. W. Leaf aa^/^c. justly observ-es : " Nestor begins his speech in the usual

« //., 9. 96 ff.