Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/183

 ERRONEOUS INFERENCE. 167 suitable preliminaries, throughout the eight Looks preceding its occurrence. 1 Indeed, what is principally evident, and what has been often noticed, in the Odyssey, is, the equable flow both of the nar- rative and the events ; the absence of that rise and fall of interest which is sufficiently conspicuous in the Iliad. To set against these evidences of unity, there ought, at least, to be some strong cases produced of occasional incoherence or contradiction. But it is remarkable how little of such counter- evidence is to be found, although the arguments of Wolf, "W. Muller, and B. Thiersch stand so much in need of it. They have discovered only one instance of undeniable inconsistency in the parts, the number of days occupied by the absence of Tele- machus at Pylus and Sparta. That young prince, though repre- sented as in great haste to depart, and refusing pressing invita- tions to prolong his stay, must, nevertheless, be supposed to have continued for thirty days the guest of Menelaus, in order to bring his proceedings into chronological harmony with those of Odysseus, and to explain the first meeting of father and son in the swine- fold of Eurarcus. Here is undoubtedly an inaccuracy, (so Nitzsch? treats it, and I think justly) on the part of the poet, who did not anticipate, and did not experience in ancient times, so strict a scrutiny ; an inaccuracy certainly not at all wonderful ; the. matter of real wonder is, that it stands almost alone, and that there are no others in the poem. Now, this is one of the main points on which W. Muller and 1 Compare i, 295; ii. 145 (vqiroivoi KEV e-eira 66/nuv EVTOcrdev o xi. 118; xiii. 395; xv. 178; also xiv. 162. 2 Nitzsch, Plan und Gang cler Odyssce, p. xliii, prefixed to the second vol. of his Commentary on the Odysseis. " At carminum primi auditores non adeo curiosi erant (observes Mr. Payne Knight, Proleg. c. xxiii.), ut cjusmodi rcnim rationes aut exquirereni aut expendercnt ; neque eorum fides e subtilioribus congruentiis omnino pendebat. Monendi enim sunt etiam atque etiam Homericorum studios!, veteres illos uoidoi'e non lingu professoria inter viros criticos et grammati- cos, aut alios quoscunque argutiarum captatores, carmina cantitasse, sed inter eos qui sensibus animorum liberc, incautc, et effuse indulgerent," etc Chap, xxii-xxvii. of Mr. Knight's Prolegomena, are valuable to the sam purpose, showing the " homines f udes et agrestes," of that day, as excellent judges of what fell under their senses and observation, but careless, credo lous, and unobservant of contradiction, in matters which came only under the mind's eye.