Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/162

 146 IIIS10KY OF GREECE. recitations, we are not tc imagine that the same person did go through the whole : the recitation was essentially a joint under- taking, and the rhapsodes who visited a festival would naturally understand among themselves which part of the poem should devolve upon each particular individual. Under such circum- stances, and with such means of preparation beforehand, the quantity of verse which a rhapsode could deliver would be measured, not so much by the exhaustion of his memory, as by the physical sufficiency of his voice, having reference to the sonorous, emphatic, and rhythmical pronunciation required from him. 1 But what guarantee have we for the exact transmission of the text for a space of two centuries by simply oral means ? It ct chacun d'eux chante a part <lef Autres : mais quclquefois aussi ils so re'unissent par groupes dc deux ou <'e trois, pour dire ensemble les memcs chansons < Ces moderncs rhapsodes doiventetre divise's en deux classes. Lcs uns (et ce sont, selon toute apparent, les plus nombreux) se bornent a la function de rccueillir, d'apprendre par toeur, et dc mcttre en circulation, dcs pieces qu'ils n'ont point composecs. L<JS autres (ct ce sont ceux qui forment 1'ordre le plus distingue' de leur corps), a cette fonction de repeti teurs et de colporteurs des poesies d'autrui, jofgEent celle de po(ites, et ajout- ent la masse des chansons apprises d'autres chants de leur fa<;on Ces rhapsodes aveugles sont les nouvcllistcs et leff historiens, en meme temps que les poe'tes du peuplc, en cela parfaitemcnt scnrblables aux rhapsodes anciens de la Grece." To pass to another country Persia, once the gr?ai rival of Greece: " The Kurroglian rhapsodes are called Kurroglou-Khans, from khaunden, to sing. Their duty is, to know by heart all the mejjlisscs (mcet ; igs) of Kurro- glou, narrate them, or sing them with the accompaniment of the favorite instrument of Kurroglou, the chungur, or sitar, a three-stringed g*itar. Fcr- dausi has also his Skah-nama-Khans, and the prophet Mohamme4 his Koran Khans. The memory of those singers is truly astonishing. At ever^ request, they recite in one breath for some hours, without stammering, beginning tho tale at the passage or verse pointed out by the hearers." ( Specimens f tho Popular Poetry of Persia, as found in the Adventures and Improvi-utions of Kurroglou, the Bandit Minstrel of Northern Persia, by Alexander Ch-dz- ko : London 1842, Introd. p. 13.) " One of the songs of the Calmuck national bards sometimes lasts a whr'e day." (Ibid. p. 372.) 1 There are just remarks of Mr. Mitford on the possibility that the Homer/*! poems might have been preserved without writing ( History of Greece, roL L pp. 135-137).