Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/100

 84 HISTORY OF GREECE. che, Helen, Klytsemnestra, Eriphyle, lokasta, Ilekabe, etc., all stand in the foreground of the picture, either from their virtues their beauty, their crimes, or their sufferings. Not only brothers, but also cousins, and the more distant blood- relations and clansmen, appear connected together by a strong feeling of attachment, sharing among them universally the obli- gation of mutual self-defence and revenge, in the event of injury to any individual of the race. The legitimate brothers divide between them by lot the paternal inheritance, a bastard brother receiving only a small share ; he is, however, commonly very well treated, 1 though the murder of Phokus, by Telamon and Peleus, constitutes a flagrant exception. The furtive pregnancy of young women, often by a god, is one of the most frequently recurring incidents in the legendary narratives ; and the severity with which such a fact, when discovered, is visited by the father, is generally extreme. As an extension of the family connection, we read of larger unions, called the phratry and the tribe, which are respectfully, but not frequently, mentioned. 2 The generous readiness with which hospitality is afforded to the stranger who asks for it, 3 the facility with which he is allowed to contract the peculiar connection of guest with his host, and the 1 Odyss. xiv. 202-215: compare Iliad, xi. 102. The primitive German law of succession divided the paternal inheritance among the sons of a de- ceased father, under the implied obligation to maintain and portion out their sisters (Eichhorn, Deutsches Privat-Recht. sect. 330. 'Ap?/Tup, ads/uaTOf, uvfariof lonv EKEIVOC, "Of Tro/liy/ov epaTdt, etc. (II. ix. 63.) These three epithets include the three different classes of personal 53 m pathy and obligation : 1 . The Phratry, in which a man is connected with father, mother, brothers, cousins, brothers-in-law, clansmen, etc.; 2. The defiiOTEf, whereby he is connected with his fellow-men who visit the same agora; 3. His Hestia, or Hearth, whereby he becomes accessible to the f eivof and the IKSTIJS : Tw 6' 'Otivoevc ft'^of 6ft) KOI U^KIUOV lyx lSwev t 'Apxqv i;eivoai>V7] irpoaKTjtieof ov6e rpane^y TVUTTJV uMf/hoiv. (Odyss. xx. 34.) and made presents to him, he reimbursed to himself the value of the presents by collections among the people (Odyss. xiii. 14 ; xix. 197) : dpyaMov yty Iva irpotKb( a/>uraai9<n, says Alkinous.
 * Iliad, ii. 362.
 * It must be mentioned, however, that when a chief received a stranger