Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/79

 AY TRIBUTES AND POWER OF THE KING. 3 Such is the position of the king, in the heroic times of Greece, the only person (if we except the heralds and priests, each both special and subordinate,) who is then presented to us aa clothed with any individual authority, the person by whom all the executive functions, then few in number, which the society requires, are either performed or directed. His personal ascen- dency derived from divine countenance, bestowed both upon himself individually and upon his race, and probably from ac- credited divine descent is the salient feature in the picture. The people hearken to his voice, embrace his propositions, and obey his orders : not merely resistance, but even criticism upon his acts, is generally exhibited in an odious point of view, and is, indeed, never heard of except from some one or more of the subor- dinate princes. To keep alive and justify such feelings in the public mind, however, the king must himself possess various ac- complishments, bodily and mental, and that too in a superior degree. 1 He must be brave in the field, wise in the council, and eloquent in the agora ; he must be endued with bodily strength and activity above other men, and must be an adept, not only in the use of his arms, but also in those athletic exercises which the crowd delight to witness. Even the more homely varieties of manual acquirements are an addition to his character, such as the craft of the carpenter or shipwright, the straight furrowing of the ploughman, or the indefatigable persistence of the mower without repose or refreshment throughout the longest day. 2 The dient soldier ( Aristot. Polit. iii. 9, 2). The words which Aristotle read in the speech of Agamemnon in the Iliad Hup yap ifiot duvaro? are not in our present copies : the Alexandrine critics effaced many traces of the old manners. 1 Striking phrases on this head arc put into the mouth of Sarpedon (Iliad, xii. 310-322). Kings are named and commissioned by Zeus, 'E tie Aiof /3a<r</Uyer (Hesiod, Theogon. 96; Callimach. Hymn, ad Jov. 79) : uparepu depuTrcvre Atbc is a sort of paraphrase for the kingly dignity in the case of Pelias and Neleus (Odyss. xi. 255; compare Iliad, ii. 204). xxiii. 188; v. 246-255) : he boasts of being an excellent mower and plough- man (xviii. 365-375): for his astonishing proficiency in the athletic contests, see vlii. 180-230. Paris took a share in building his own house (Iliad, rl 314).
 * Odysseus builds his own bed and bedchamber, and his own raft (Odyss.