Page:History of the Literature of Ancient Greece (Müller) 2ed.djvu/222

200 200 HISTORY OF THE which he gave a different tone only by the most frequent and most cur- rent Dorisms, so also with regard to the matter and contents of his poems, Stesichorus makes, of all lyric poets, the nearest approach to the epic. " Stesichorus," says Quintilian elegantly, " sustained the weight of epic poetry with the lyre." We know the epic subjects which he treated in this manner ; they have a great resemblance to the subjects of the shorter epic poems of the Hesiodean school, of which we have spoken above. Many of them were borrowed from the great mythic cycle of Hercules (whom he, like Pisander, invariably represented with the lion's skin, club, and bow); such as his expedition against the triple giant of the west, Geryon (Trjpvovig') ; Scylla (S/cuXXa), whom, in the same expedition, Hercules subdued; the combat with Cycnus (Kvkvoq) *, the son of Ares, and the dragging of Cerberus (Kepftapog) from the infernal regions. Others related to the mythic cycle of Troy; such as the destruct'on of Ilium ('IX/ou -rripaig), the returns of the heroes (Noorot), and the story of Orestes COpeorwa). Other my- thical subjects were, the prizes which Acastus, King of Iolcus, distri- buted at the funeral games of his father Pelias (j.ir IleXiq. JSAa) Eriphyle, who seduced her husband Amphiaraus to join in the expedi- tion against Thebes ('Ept^vXa) ; the hunters of the Calydonian boar ((rvoQijpai, according to the most probable interpretation) ; lastly, a poem called Europeia (a title abo borne by the epos of Eumelus), which, from the little we know of it, seems to have treated of the tradi- tional stories of Cadmus, with which that of Europa was interwoven. A question here arises, how these epic subjects could be treated in a lyric form. It is manifest that these poems could not have had the per- fect repose, the vivid and diffuse descriptions, in short all the characte- ristics of the epos. To connect with these qualities the accompaniment of many voices and instruments, a varied rhythmical structure, and choral dancing, would have seemed to the Greeks, with their fine sense of harmony and congruity, a monstrous misjoinder. There must, there- fore, have been something which induced Stesichorus, or his fellow citizens, to take an interest in these heroes and their exploits. Thus in Pindar all the mythological narratives have reference to some recent event t. In Stesichorus, however, the mythical subject must have been treated at greater length, and have occupied nearly the entire poem ; otherwise the names of these poems would not have been like those of epic compositions. One of them, the Oresteia, was so long, that it was divided into two books ; and it contained so much mythical matter, that in the Iliac table, a well known ancient bas-relief, the destruction of Troy is represented in a number of scenes from this poem. The most probable supposition, therefore, is that these poems were intended to be represented at the mortuary sacrifices and festivals, which were fre-
 * Ch. 8. (p. 98-9.^ t Below, ch. 15. § 1.