Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/80

 61 HISTORY OF GREECE. conditions of voluntary obedience, during the Grecian heroir times, are family descent with personal force and superiority mental as well as bodily, in the chief, coupled with the favor of the gods : an old chief, such as Peleus and Laertes, cannot retain his position. ' But, on the other hand, where these elements of force are present, a good deal of violence, caprice, and rapacity is tolerated: the ethical judgment is not exact in scrutinizing the conduct of individuals so preeminently endowed. As in the case of the gods, the general epithets of ffood, just, etc., are applied to them as euphemisms arising from submission and fear, being not only not suggested, but often pointedly belied, by their particular acts. These words signify 2 the man of birth, wealth, influence, and daring, whose arm is strong to destroy or to protect, whatever may be the turn of his moral sentiments ; while the opposite epi- thet, bad, designates the poor, lowly, and weak ; from whose dis- positions, be they ever so virtuous, society has little either to hope or. to fear. Aristotle, in his general theory of government, 2 lays down the 1 Odyss. xi. 496; xxiv. 136-248. 2 See this prominent meaning of the words uya.ddr, eadAdf, /caKOf, etc, copiously illustrated in Welcker's excellent Prolegomena to Theognis, sect. 9-16. Camerarius, in his notes on that poet (v. 19j, had already conceived clearly the sense in which these words are used. Iliad, xv. 323. Ola TE rolf uyadolai, Kapadpuuai xeptief. Compare Hesiod, Opp. Di. 216, and the line in Athenacus, v. p. 178, Avro^arot (5' ayaftol dei^uv ewl <5arrac laaiv. "Moralis illarum vocum vis, et civilis quarum hffic a lexicographis et commentatoribus plurimis fere neglecta est probe discernenda? erunt. Quod quo facilius fierej, nescio an ubi posterior intellectus valet, majuscula scriben- dum fuisset 'Ayctfot et Ka/cot." If this advice of Welcker could have been followed, much misconception would have been obviated. The reference of these words to power and not to worth, is their primitive import in the Greek language, descending from the Iliad downward, and determining the habitual designation of parties during the period of active political dispute. The ethical meaning of the word hardly appears until the discussions raised by Socrates, and prosecuted by his disciples; but the primitive import still continued to maintain concur- rent footing. I shall have occasion to touch more largely on this subject, when I come to expound the Grecian political parties. At present, it is enough to remark that the epithets of good men, best men, habitually applied afterwards to th* aristocratical parties, descend from the rudest period of Grecian society. a Aristot. Polit, i. 1,7.