Page:The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages.djvu/58

 40 THE CLASSICAL HERITAGE [chap. respect to the great conqueror. Perhaps no other work so illustrates the juncture of the Middle Ages with antiquity on a common level of degeneracy and barbarism — unless it be the Tale of Troy. This ap- pears to pass over into the popular literature of the Middle Ages through the medium of writings pseu- donymously ascribed to "Dares the Phrygian" and "Dictys the Cretan." The extant "Dares" is in Latin, and evidently is neither an original composition nor a proper translation. Its date is hardly prior to the sixth century. It is an epitome of some other work, and thus bears analogy to the forms in which so much of classic culture passed over to the Middle Ages. The sources of "Dares" are lost. Probably there was a Greek original, written by some one well acquainted with the old cyclic and tragic poets. This would seem to have been turned into Latin, and from this Latin version our extant " Dares " was compiled by some degenerate. It lacks style and form, and is utterly wanting in proportion ; vital events are told in a few bald sentences, while matters antecedent and irrele- vant are retained and given at considerable length. Its mechanical monotony precludes the possibility of its being an original composition — the maker of such a work could not have invented anything. We also notice that it foreshadows the mediaeval epic way of prefacing the main story with the fortunes of the ancestors or typical forerunners of the heroes.^ The extant "Dictys" is a similar though less miserable composition. It is fairly written, and the narrative 1 As in the Kudrun, in Gotfried's Tristan, or Wolfram's Par- zival.