Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/11

 CONTENTS. V fl Odyssey evidences of one design throughout its structure. Exhibits very few marks of incoherence or contradiction. Chronological reckon- ing in the Odyssey, inaccurate in one case. Inference erroneously drawn from hence, that the parts of the poem were originally separate. Double start and double stream of events, ultimately brought into confluence in the Odyssey. Skill displayed in this point by the poet. Difficulty of imagining the Odyssey broken up into many existing poems or songs. Structure of the Odyssey essentially one cannot have been pieced together out of preexisting epics. Analogy of the Odyssey shows thai long and premeditated epical composition consists with the capacities of the early Greek mind. Iliad much less coherent and uniform than the Odyssey. Incoherence prevails only in parts of the poem mani- fest coherence in other parts. Wolfian theory explains the former, but not the latter. Theory of Wclcker, Lange, and Nitzsch. Age of the Epos preparatory to that of the Epopee. Iliad essentially an organized poem but the original scheme does not comprehend the whole poem. Iliad originally an Achilleis built upon a narrower plan, then enlarged. Parts which constitute the primitive Achilleis exhibit a coherent se- quence of events. Disablement of Agamemnon, Odysseus, and Diome- des, all in the battle of the eleventh book. The first book concentrates attention upon Achilles, and upon the distress which the Greeks are to incur in consequence of the injury done to him. Nothing clone to realize this expectation until the eighth book. Primitive Achilleis includes books i. viii, xi, to xxii. Ninth book an unsuitable addition. Transition from the Achilleis into the Iliad, in the beginning of the second book. Transi- tion from the Iliad back into the Achilleis at the end of the seventh book Fortification of the Grecian camp. Zeus in the fourth book, or Iliad, different from Zeus in the first and eighth, or Achilleis. Continuous Achilleis from the eleventh book onward. Supposition of an enlarged Achilleis is the most consonant to all the parts of the poem as it stands. Question of one or many authors difficult to decide. Odyssey all by one author. Iliad probably not. Difference of style in the last six books may be explained without supposing difference of authorship. Last two books probably not parts of the original Achilleis. Books ii. to vii. inclusive. Book x. Odyssey probably by a different author from the Iliad but perhaps of the same age. Real character of the Ho- meric poems essentially popular. Addressed to unlettered minds, but touching those feelings w'lich all men have in common. No didactic purpose in Homer 1 18-209