Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age (Cambridge Library Collection - Classics) (Volume 3)

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Classics From the Renaissance to the nineteenth century, Latin and Greek were compulsory subjects in almost all European universities, and most early modern scholars published their research and conducted international correspondence in Latin. Latin had continued in use in Western Europe long after the fall of the Roman empire as the lingua franca of the educated classes and of law, diplomacy, religion and university teaching. The flight of Greek scholars to the West after the fall of Constantinople in 1453 gave impetus to the study of ancient Greek literature and the Greek New Testament. Eventually, just as nineteenth-century reforms of university curricula were beginning to erode this ascendancy, developments in textual criticism and linguistic analysis, and new ways of studying ancient societies, especially archaeology, led to renewed enthusiasm for the Classics. This collection offers works of criticism, interpretation and synthesis by the outstanding scholars of the nineteenth century.

Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age Four-time prime minister William Ewart Gladstone (1809–98) was also a prolific author and enthusiastic scholar of the classics. Gladstone had spent almost two decades in politics prior to his writing the three-volume Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age. This work and the preceding ‘On the place of Homer in classical education and in historical inquiry’ (1857), reflect Gladstone’s interest in the Iliad and the Odyssey, which he read with increasing frequency from the 1830s onward and which he viewed as particularly relevant to modern society. As he relates, he has two objects in the Studies: ‘to promote and extend’ the study of Homer’s ‘immortal poems’ and ‘to vindicate for them ... their just degree both of absolute and, more especially, of relative critical value’. Volume 3 examines Greek polities of this period before returning to the poems themselves, their plots, characters and the beauty of their language.

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Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age Volume 3: I. Agorè; II. Ilios; I I I. Thal assa; IV. Aoid os Wi lliam Ewart Gl adstone

C A M B R I D G E U N I V E R SI T Y P R E S S Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paolo, Delhi, Dubai, Tokyo Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9781108012065 © in this compilation Cambridge University Press 2010 This edition first published 1858 This digitally printed version 2010 ISBN 978-1-108-01206-5 Paperback This book reproduces the text of the original edition. The content and language reflect the beliefs, practices and terminology of their time, and have not been updated. Cambridge University Press wishes to make clear that the book, unless originally published by Cambridge, is not being republished by, in association or collaboration with, or with the endorsement or approval of, the original publisher or its successors in title.

STUDIES ON HOMER AND

THE HOMERIC AGE.

BY THE

RIGHT HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, D.C.L. M. P. FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

I N T H R E E VOLUMES. VOL. III.

Plenius ac melius Chrysippo et Crantore.— HORACE.

OXFORD: AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. M.DCCC.LVI1I.

[1'hc right of Translation is ivaercccl.]

STUDIES ON HOMER AND

THE HOMERIC AGE. I. AGORE : POLITIES OF THE HOMERIC AGE.

II. ILIOS : TEOJANS AND GREEKS COMPARED.

III. THALASSA : THE

OUTER

GEOGRAPHY.

IV. AOIDOS: SOME POINTS OF THE POETRY OF HOMER.

BY THE

RIGHT

HON. W. E. GLADSTONE, D.C.L. M. P. FOR THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD.

Plenius ac melius Chrysippo et Crautore.—HORACE.

OXFORD: AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS. M.DCCC.LVIII.

] The r'ujht '>f Translation is reserved.]

ADVERTISEMENT. SINCE the Sections -which relate to Ethnology passed through the Press, the First Volume of Mr. Rawlinson's Herodotus has appeared. Earlier possession of this important Publication would have emboldened me to proceed a step further in the attempt to specify the probable or possible form of the original Ethnic relation between the Pelasgians and the Hellenes of the Greek Peninsula, by designating the latter as pure Arian, and the former as Arian, with a residue or mixture of Turanian elements. It has also been since the ' Olympus' was printed, that I have become acquainted with Welcker's recent and unfinished 'Griechische Gotterlehrej1 (Gottingen, 1857.) I could have wished to refer to it at various points, and especially to avail myself of the clearer view, which the learned Author has given, of the position of Kpovos. Founding himself in part on the exclusive appropriation by Homer of the term KpovlSrjs to Jupiter, he enables us to see how Jupiter may have inherited the sole use of the title as being ' the Ancient of days ;' and how Kpovos was a formation in the Mythology wholly secondary and posterior to his reputed son. (Welcker, sectt. 27,8. pp. 140-7.) Another recent book, M. Alfred Maury's Jlistoire des Religions de la Grece Antique, undertakes the useful task of unfolding largely the relations of the Greek religion to the East. But the division of it which deals with Homer specifically is neither complete nor accurate, and affords a new illustration of the proposition which I chiefly desire to establish, namely, that Homer ought to be treated as a separate and independent centre of study. 11, CAKLTON HOUSE TERRACE, LONDON,

March 15, 1858.

THE

CONTENTS. I. AGORE:

THE POLITIES OF THE HOMERIC AGE.

Political ideas of later Greece Their strong development in Heroic Greece Germ of the Law of Nations Grote's account of the Heroic Polities Their peculiar features, Publicity and Persuasion Functions of the king in the Heroic Polities Nature of the Pelopid Empire Degrees in Kingship and in Lordship Four forms of Sovereignty First tokens of change in the Heroic Polities Shown by analysis of the Catalogue Extended signs in the Odyssey Altered sense of Bao-tJuvs or King New name of Queen Disorganization caused by the War Arrival of a new race at manhood Increased weight of the nobles Altered idea of the kingly office The first instance of a bad King Further change in the time of Hesiod Veneration long adhering to the name Five distinctive notes of Bao-iAfjfs in the Iliad

Page i 2 4 5 6 8 9 10 12 12 14 17 18 20 21 22 24 25 27 28 31 32

viii

CONTENTS.

The nine Greek BaviKrjes of the Iliad The case of Meges Of Phoenix Of Patroclus and Eurypylus Conditions of Kingship in the Iliad The personal beauty of the Kings Custom of resignation in old age Force of the term a'ifaos Gymnastic superiority of the Kings Their pursuit of Music and Song Ulysses as artificer and husbandman The Kings as Gentlemen Achilles in particular Tenderness and tears of the Greek chiefs Right of hereditary succession Right of primogeniture The Homeric King (1) as Priest (2) as Judge (3) as General (4) as Proprietor: the rijievos His revenues, from four sources in all Burdens upon them The political position of Agamemnon The governing motives of the War Position of Agamemnon in the army His personal character The relation of sovereign and subject a free one The personal attendants of the King The Aristocracy or chief proprietors The Trades and Professions The Slaves of the Homeric age The drjrcs or hired servants Supply of military service Whether there was a peasant-proprietary Political Economy of the Homeric age The precious metals not a measure of value Oxen in some degree a measure of value Relative scarcity of certain metals Mode of government of the Army Its military composition Chief descriptions of fighting men

35 3" 37 3° 39 4° 4° 41 44 45 4*> 47 48 49 5° 52 55 56 57 58 59 61 62 64 66 67 67 69 69 70 72 74 ng H* »g gj g2 g ggg „l

CONTENTS. The Battle and the Ambuscade The BovXrj or Council of the Greeks It subsisted in peace and in war Opposition in the B01A17 Agamemnon's proposals of Return The influence of Speech in the Heroic age It was a subject of regular training Varied descriptions of oratory in Homer Achilles the paramount Orator The orations of the poems The power of repartee The power of sarcasm The faculty of debate in Homer The discussion of the Ninth Iliad Function of the Assembly in the Heroic age The formal use of majorities unknown The great decisions of the War taken there It was not summoned exclusively by Agamemnon Opposition in the Agore by the chiefs Opposition by Thersites Grote's judgment on the case of Thersites How that case bears witness to the popular principle As does the Agore on the Shield Mode of addressing the Assembly Its decisions in the Seventh and Ninth Iliads Division in the Drunken Assembly Appeal of Telemachus to the Ithacan Assembly Phseacian Assembly of the Eighth Odyssey Ithacan Assembly of the Twenty-fourth Councils or Assemblies of Olympus Judicial functions of the Assembly Assembly the central point of the Polity The common soul or Tis in Homer Imperfect organization of Heroic Polities

ix 92 94 97 98 99 102 103 104 105 106 TO8 109 111 m 114 116 117 118 119 120 123 126 126 129 129 130 132 134 136 137 139 140 141 143

CONTENTS.

II. ILIOS. THE TROJANS COMPARED AND CONTRASTED WITH THE GREEKS. Relationship of Troy and Greece twofold 145 Greek names of deities found also in Troas 147 Include nearly all the greater deities 150 Worship of Vulcan in Troas 151 Worship of Juno and Gaia in Troas 153 Worship of Mercury in Troas 154 Worship of Scamander • • • T55 DiiFerent view of Rivers in Troas 158 Essential character of Trojan River-worship 160 Trojan impersonations from Nature rare 162 Poverty of Mythology among the Trojans 165 Their jejune doctrine of a Future State 166 Redundance of life in the Greek system 168 Worship from hills 169 The nations compared as to external development of religion.— 1. Temples 170 2. As to endowments in land, or refievca 172 3. As to Groves' SKa-ea 173 4. As to Statues of the Gods 174 5. As to Seers or Diviners 177 6. As to the Priesthood : Priesthood in Greece 179 Priesthood in later Greece 183 Priesthood among the Trojans 184 Comparative observance of sacrifice 187 The Trojans more given to religious observances 189 Homer's different modes of handling for Greece and Troy 190 Moral superiority of his Greeks on the whole 192 Homer's account of the abduction of Helen 193 The Greek estimate of Paris ig* Its relation to prevailing views of Marriage 200 And to Greek views of Homicide 202 The Trojan estimate of Paris 205 Public opinion less developed in Troy 206 The Trojans more sensual and false 207 Trojan ideas and usages of Marriage 21 o

CONTENTS. The family of Priam Stricter ideas among the Greeks Trojan Polity less highly organized Rule of Succession in Troy Succession to the throne of Priam Paris, most probably, was his eldest son Position of Priam and his dynasty in Troas Meaning of Tpoirj and of "l\ws Evidence from the Trojan Catalogue Extent of his sovereignty and supremacy Polity of Ilios : the Batrikcvs The Assembly The greater weight of Age in Troy The absence of a BovKr) in Troy The greater weight of oratory in Greece Trojans less gifted with self-command And with intelligence generally Difference in the pursuits of high-born youth Difference as to aiScoy Summary of differences

xi 211 215 216 217 219 221 223 224 225 228 232 232 234 236 239 242 244 245 246 247

III. THALASSA. THE OUTER GEOGRAPHY OF THE ODYSSEY. Why it deserves investigation Principal heads of the inquiry The two Spheres of Inner and Outer Geography Limits of the Inner Geography The intermediate or doubtful zone The Sphere of the Outer Geography The two Keys of the Outer Geography The traditional interpretations valueless Manifest dislocations of actual nature Postulates for examining the Outer Geography The Winds of Homer Special notices of Eurus and Notus Of Zephyr and Boreas Points of the Compass for the two last For the two first Scheme of the four Winds Signification of Eurus

249 251 252 255 257 260 261 262 263 264 265 267 268 270 272 273 273

xii

CONTENTS.

Homeric distances and rates of speed Particulars of evidence on speed The northward sea-route to the Euxine Evidence from II. xiii. 1-6 From Od. vii. 319-26 From Od. v. 44-57 From Od. xxiv. 11-13 Amalgamated reports of the Ocean-mouth Open-sea passage to the Ocean-mouth Homeward passage by the Straits, why preferred Three maritime routes to the Ocean-mouth Its two possible originals in nature Straits of Yenikale as Ocean-mouth Summary of facts from Phoenician reports Two sets of reports are blended into one The site of Mdea; North-western hypothesis North-eastern hypothesis Argument from the HXayKTal From the Island Thrinacie Local notes of JEeea. Site of Ogygia Argument from the flight of Mercury From the floatage of Ulysses From his homeward passage Site of Scylla relatively to the Dardanelles Why jEsea cannot lie North-westward Construction of Od. xii. 3,4 Construction of Od. v. 276, 7 Genuineness of the passage questionable Its real meaning Homer's indications of geographical misgivings Stages of the tour of Ulysses to iEsea (i-vi.) jEsea and the Euxine (vi-viii.) Remaining stages (viii-xi.) Directions and distances from Mxa onwards Tours of Menelaus and Ulysses compared The earth of Homer probably oval Points of contact with Oceanus The Caspian and Persian Gulf belong to Oceanus Contraction and compression of the Homeric East Outline of Homer's terrestrial system Map of Earth according to Homer

2

2

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2

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3 ^ 2 °7 2 °9 290 291 292 294 29s 296 298 3°° 3O2 302 303 304 305 306 308 309 311 312 315 316 317 318 320 02K 027 029 ,gj 28

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CONTENTS.

xiii

EXCURSUS I. Parentage and Extraction of Minos. On the genuineness of II. xiv. 317-27 On the sense of the line II. xiv. 321 Collateral testimony to the extraction of Minos

344 346 347

EXCURSUS II. On the line Odyss. v. 277. Points of the question stated Senses of 8e£t<W and apio-repos Illustrated from II. xiii On the force of the Homeric «Vi Force of ori with apio-repa Illustrated from II. ii. 353. Od. xxi. 141 From II. i. 597. vii. 238. xii. 239, 249 From II. xxiii. 335-7 From II. ii. 526 Application to Od. v. 277 Another sense prevailed in later Greek

349 350 352 354 356 358 359 360 362 364 365

IV. AOIDOS. SECT. I. On the Plot of the IliadThe Theory of Grote on the structure of the poem Offer related in the Ninth Book and its rejection Restitution and gifts not the object of Achilles The offer was radically defective Apology needed in particular Consistency maintained in and after II. ix Skilful adjustment of conflicting aims Glory given to Achilles Glory given to Greece Trojan inferiority mainly in the Chiefs But it pervades the poem In the Chiefs it is glaring Conflicting exigencies of the plan Greeks superior even without Achilles Harmony in relative prominence of the Chiefs Retributive justice in the two poems The sufferings of Achilles Double conquest over his will

366 369 371 373 375 377 379 380 380 382 384 385 387 388 389 392 394 395

CONTENTS. SECT. II. TJie Sense of Beauty in Homer : human, animal, and inanimate. His sense of Beauty alike pure and strong 397 Degeneracy of the popular idea had begun 39§ Illustrated by the series of Dardanid traditions, (i) Ganymede.. 398 (2) Tithonus, (3) Anchises 4°° (4) Paris and Venus • 401 Homer's sense of Beauty in the human form 402 His treatment of the Beauty of Paris 402 Beauty among the Greek chieftains 404 Ascribed also to the nation 405 Beauty of Nireus 406 Of Nastes and of Euphorbus 407 Beauty placed among the prime gifts of man 408 Homer's sense of Beauty in animals 409 Especially in horses 410 As to their movements . 411 As to their form and colour 413 Homer's sense of Beauty in inanimate nature 416 The instance of Ithaca 417 Germ of feeling for the picturesque in Homer 419 Close relation of Order and Beauty , 420 Causes adverse to the development of the germ 421 Beauty of material objects absorbed in their Life 423

SECT. III. Homer's perception and use of Number. The traditional character of aptitudes Conceptions of Number not always definite in childhood Nor even in manhood No calculations in Homer Greek estimate of the discovery of Number Enumerative addition in Od. iv. 412, 451 Highest numerals of the poems , The three hundred and sixty fat hogs The Homeric kKaro\>$r) The numerals expressive of value His silence as to the numbers of the armies Especially in the Greek Catalogue

425 427 428 430 4^ 4^2 432 434 4^g 436 435 440

CONTENTS. Case of the Trojan bivouac Case of the herds and flocks in Od. xiv Hesiod's age of the Nymphs Case of the cities of Crete No scheme of chronology in Homer Case of the three Decades of years Meaning of the yevtrj of Homer Homer reckons time by generations Some difficulties of the Decades taken literally Uses of the proposed interpretation

xv 442 443 444 445 446 448 449 451 452 435

SECT. IV. Homer's Perceptions and Use of Colour. Modern perceptions of colour usually definite Signs of immature perception in Homer His chief adjectives of colour His quasi-adjectives of colour

457 458 459 460

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