Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 47.djvu/450

436 So too Rameses II is glorified in "the heroic poem of the priest Pentaur." In the eighteenth dynasty we see the two functions united.

"An unknown poet, out of the number of the holy fathers, felt himself inspired to sing in measured words the glory of the king [Thutmes III], and the might and grandeur of the god Amon."

And then we have the acts, wholly priestly, of—

"the nobleman who bore the dignity of 'prophet of the Pyramid of Pharaoh.' This officer's duty was to praise the memory of the deceased king, and to devote the god-like image of the sovereign to enduring remembrance."

Still better and more abundant evidence is furnished by accounts of the early Greeks. The incipient poet, as eulogizer of the god, is priestly in his character and at first is an official priest. Concerning the Greeks of rude times Muir writes—"Hence, in their traditions, the character of poet is usually found to combine those of musician, priest, prophet, and sage;" and he adds that—The mythical poet Olen "ranks as the earliest and most illustrious priest and poet of the Delian Apollo. . . Bœo, a celebrated priestess of that sanctuary [the Delphic], pronounces him. . . to be, not only the most antientancient [sic] of Apollo's prophets, but of all poets."

We are told by Mahaffy that "the poems attributed to these men [poets prior to Homer]. . . were all strictly religious."

"The hexameter verse was commonly attributed to the Delphic priests, who were said to have invented and used it in oracles. In other words, it was early used in religious poetry. . . There is no doubt that the priests did compose such works [long poems] for the purpose of teaching the attributes and adventures of the gods. Thus epic poetry [was at first] purely religious. . . Homer and Hesiod represent the close of a long epoch."

And that their poetry arose by differentiation from sacred poetry, is implied in his further remark that in Homer's time, "the wars and adventures, and passions of men, had become the center of interest among the poets." This partially secularized poetry at a later date became further secularized, while it became further differentiated from music. The hymn of the primitive priest-poet was uttered to the accompaniment of his four-stringed lyre, in a voice more sonorous than ordinary speech—not in song, as we understand it, but in recitative; and, as Dr. Monro argues, a vague recitative—a recitative akin to the intoning of the liturgy by our own priests, and to the exalted utterance spontaneously fallen into under religious excitement. But in course of time, this