Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/796

 778 HOMER of Drury Lane, declined to accept. Although mortified by his ill success, he set about the composition of another tragedy, "Douglas," founded on the old ballad of "Gil Morrice," which, upon 'being presented to Garrick in 1755, was likewise refused. It was produced at Edinburgh in December, 1756, with great success ; but so violent a storm was raised by the fact that a minister of the church of Scot- land had written a play, that Home was threat- ened with deposition, to avoid which he re- signed his living in June, 1757. He removed to London in the same year, when " Douglas " was brought out at Drury Lane with complete success. By the aid of the sinecure office of conservator of Scots privileges at Campvere, presented to him by the earl of Bute, and of a pension of 300 from George III., he passed the remainder of his long life in affluence, the last 40 years in Scotland. He wrote four other tragedies, "The Fatal Discovery," "Alonzo," "Alfred," and " Aquileia." His literary repu- tation rests upon his "Douglas," which is still performed, notwithstanding the declaration of Garrick that it was totally unfit for the stage. He also wrote a "History of the Rebellion of 1745 " (4to, London, 1802). His complete works, with an account of his life and writings, were published by Henry Mackenzie (3 vols. 8vo, Edinburgh, 1822). HOMER ("O/^po?), the supposed author of the Iliad and Odyssey, the earliest monuments of Greek literature. The several ancient biogra- phies of Homer extant are either legendary or conjectural, and often contradictory, and the narratives of the poems are full of extraor- dinary incidents, in great part of a mytho- logical character, and of striking discrepancies. Hence various opinions are entertained as to the origin of the poems and the amount of fact or fiction contained in them. G. Ctirtius, following Miillenhoff, conjectures that Homer was a name given to the ideal patron of an association of poets (bfirjpoi). In common use the word b^pog meant hostage, but Duntzer and others suppose that its original meaning was "one who connects or combines," analogous to that of Vyasa (collector), the name given to the compiler or compilers of the Hindoo Vedas and Puranas. Sengebusch identifies it with the name of Thamyris, the Thracian bard. It is noteworthy that the name is repeatedly spoken of by ancient writers as only a pseu- donyme of the poet. Either Homer was him- self the " hostage," sent to Chios or Colophon, or it was his father who was surrendered to the Persians. On the island of los the name was explained as " follower," supposing that he followed the Lydians when they were com- pelled to move away from Smyrna. Suidas gives it the signification of " counsellor," and Ephorus dismembers it into 6 // 6puv, "one who does not see," referring to the legend of the poet's blindness. It does not appear, how- ever, that any of these interpretations can fur- nish a clue to the problem whether it is really the name of a person, and whether that person was the author of the Iliad and Odyssey. Two biographies of Homer have come down to us from antiquity, one of which is attributed to Herodotus and the other to Plutarch. Both have been pronounced forgeries, yet it is prob- able that they contain the legends relating to the life of the poet current in ancient times. His mother is said to have been Critheis; and one legend represents him to have been born on the bank of the river Meles, near Smyrna, whence the name Melesigenes; according to another, Critheis was married to Mseon, king of the Lydians, who brought up her son (the offspring of a dzemon or genius) as his own, whence the name Maeonides. Another legend relates that Homer became a schoolmaster and poet in Smyrna ; that he was induced by Men- tes, a foreign merchant, to travel; that while visiting Ithaca he was attacked by a disease in the eyes, which resulted in total blindness; that he composed verses, which he recited wherever he went; that Thestorides, a school- master of Phocaja, carried a copy of Homer's poetry to Chios, and recited it as his own; that Homer followed him thither, and resided long at Bolissos, a town in Chios ; and finally, that he died on the little island of los, when jour- neying to Athens. Still another legend de- clares that the poet on his way to Thebes land- ed at los, and there died of vexation at being unable to solve a riddle propounded to him by some young fishermen, in answer to his ques- tion if they had got anything. " As many at we caught," said they, " we left ; as many as we did not catch, we carry." The prevailing opinion of antiquity seems to have been that Homer was born in Smyrna, resided for a long time in Chios, and was buried in los. Rhodes also is said to have been his home, but without evidence. In later times the island of Cyprus also made such a claim. The Cypriotes said that Homer was born in a field near Salamis, of a girl named Themisto, and that the birth of the great singer had long previously been an- nounced by the Salamine oracles, in verses which they could produce. Athens, Argos, Pylos, and other cities wished likewise to be regarded as Homer's native place. Herodotus places Homer about 400 years before his own time, or in the second half of the 9th century B. C., which is 400 years after the time which he fixes for the Trojan Avar. The dates as-" signed to Homer by other ancient writers range from the beginning of the 12th to the beginning of the 7th century B. C. The principal poems ascribed to Homer are the Iliad and the Odys- sey. Among the minor, and evidently of differ- ent origin, are the so-called Homeric hymns and the Batrachomyomachia. The Iliad com- prises a period of about 50 days of the 10th year of the Trojan war, and narrates the wrath of Achilles and its consequences as far as the death of Hector. Achilles is enraged because Briseis, who had been allotted to him, was taken away and given to Agamemnon; and,