Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/85

 GRECIAN AGORA IN THE ILIAD. 69 former or restraining force on the part of the latter, however such o.nsequences may indirectly grow out of it. The primitive Grec5/ government is essentially monarchical, reposing on per- sonal feeling and divine right : the memorable dictum in the Iliad is borne out by all that we hear of the actual practice; " The ruler of many is not a good thing : let us have one ruler only, one king, him to whom Zeus has given the sceptre and the tutelary sanctions." 1 The second book of the Iliad, full as it is of beauty and vivacity, not only confirms our idea of the passive, recipient, and listening character of the agora, but even presents a repulsive p icture of the degradation of the mass of the people before the chiefs. Agamemnon convokes the agora for the purpose of immediately arming the Grecian host, under a full impression vhat the gods have at last determined forthwith to crown his arras with complete victory. Such impression has been created by a special visit of Oneirus (the Dream-god), sent by Zeus during his sleep, being, indeed, an intentional fraud on the part of Zeus, though Agamemnon does not suspect its deceitful character. At this precise moment, when he may be conceived (o be more than usually anxious to get his army into the field and snatch the prize, an unaccountable fancy seizes him, that, instead of inviting the troops to do what he really wishes, and encouraging their spirits for this one last effort, he will adopt a course directly contrary : he will try their courage by professing praccipuus Scrvins Tullius sanctor legum fuit, quis etiam Eeges obtempcra- rent." The appointment of a Dictator under the Republic was a reproduc- tion, for a short and definite interval, of this old unbounded authority (Cicero, De Eepub. ii. 32 ; Zonaras, Ami. vii. 13 ; Dionys. Hal. v. 75). See Rubino, Untersnchungen iiber Romische Verfassung und Geschichte, Cassel, 1839, bnch i. abschnitt 2, pp. 112-132; and "Wachsmuth, Hellenische Alterthumskunde, i. sect. 18, pp. 81-91. 1 Iliad, ii. 204. Agamemnon promises to make over to Achilles seven well-peopled cities, with a body of wealthy inhabitants (Iliad, ix. 153) ; and Menelaus, if he could have in luced Odysseus to quit Ithaka, and settle near him in Argos. would have dep Dpulated one of his neighboring towns in order to make room for him (Odyss iv. 176). Manso (Sparta, i. 1, p. 34) and Nitzsch (ad Odyss. iv. 171) are inclined to exclude these passages as spurious, a proceeding, in my opinion, inod- missible, without more direct grounds than they are able to produce.