CHRYSEIS PREFERS HANNO TO A KING.
I lost no time in setting our men to work to restore all damages. The
cargo had been too well packed to sustain any material injury, and I
had a selection from various bales of merchandise carried out into a
field and displayed under the shade of a clump of trees. I took Jonah
likewise on shore, bidding him bring his trumpet. No sooner did he
feel the dry ground beneath his feet, than he began to yell and to
jump for joy.
"Out of reach here, of the jaws of Leviathan!" he roared
triumphantly. "Now I am safe. Here on dry land I care not what monster
I face; and the sooner the better!"
I put a check, in some degree, upon his excitement, by ordering him
to take his trumpet and to sound it as loud as he could; and the
noise he made had the effect not only of summoning the residents of
the neighbouring village, but of collecting a considerable number
of the shepherds who were pasturing their flocks upon the adjacent
hills. Assured of our peaceful intentions, they all flocked to us
with perfect confidence, raising as they came the cry of "Pheaces!
Pheaces!" as an intimation to their companions that some Phœnician
merchants had arrived.
The people were all Dorians; tall, well-built men, with fair
complexions, straight noses, and dark curly hair clustering over
lofty foreheads. Nearly all of them came quite unarmed. Some of them
were attired in old kitonets, evidently of Phœnician production;
others wore a tasteless imitation of the same, made of coarse cloth
of their own manufacture. For the most part they were bare-headed,
the exceptions being the few who wore a kind of flat hat of plaited
straw. There were some women of the party, and these well-nigh all
were much to be admired in face and form; they were attired in long
plain dresses, almost as simple as sacks, with openings at the seams
to allow the head and arms to pass through; but these were covered
by short open bodices, coming just below the waist, and becomingly
slashed on either side. No jewellery nor any ornament whatever was to
be seen about their persons.
[Illustration]
Before my visitors arrived, I took the precaution of making an
enclosure for my merchandise by driving some strong upright stakes
into the ground and running a rope along from one to another, and
told Hanno to make the natives understand that they could not be
allowed to pass the rope. They readily understood him, and appeared
to be altogether very intelligent, although somewhat reserved in
their manner.
One of their number, who carried a long copper-headed staff and wore
a cloth band round his head, acted as spokesman. He was evidently a
sort of chief, and his companions waited in silence while we listened
to what he said. The Dorians appear to be addicted to long speeches,
and the chief stepped forward, and scarcely raising his eyes, made
us a formal harangue. Hanno interpreted sufficiently well to enable
me thoroughly to comprehend the purport of his speech. He began by
bidding us welcome, and proceeded to pay us a variety of compliments,
addressing us as demi-gods, calling us kinsmen of the tutelary
deities of our ships, and concluded by asking that he and his people
might be allowed to inspect the wonderful commodities that we had
brought from the divine city of Sidon.
I was already aware that all the tribes that bear in common the name
of Hellenes are accustomed to regard the Phœnicians as being of
divine origin. The magnitude of our ships, the length of our voyages,
the mysterious remoteness of our cities, all combine to confirm them
in their belief, and it was not for our advantage at present to
undeceive them; the time would come when they would be brought into
closer relationship with our colonies, and they would find out by
experience that we were ordinary mortals like themselves. Meanwhile
they regarded us as superior beings, and listened with eager
attention to whatever tales we pleased to pour into their ears.
By my instructions, Hanno informed the chief that we had brought
with us many strange things from Caucasus, the land of giants; from
Cilicia, where the mountains are the open mouths of the infernal
world and spit out flames of fire; from Sidon, the metropolis of
the gods; from Arabia, the land of the devout, where men live for
three centuries and more; and from Egypt, where there are bull-gods,
crocodiles, and serpents two stadia long. I made him understand that
if his people could bring us ox-hides, Chalcidian copper, woven wool,
or goats' horns, we, in exchange, could give them coats, glass
beads, perfumes, nectar, or nearly anything they liked to ask for;
and without delay, he despatched a number of the men back to the
village, to procure such goods as we required.
"What awful lies!" said Chamai to me, aside, "didn't you tell them
that the Midianites are a devout race? And didn't you say that the
children of Ishmael live three hundred years? And did I hear aright
that you should say there are gods in Egypt?"
I only smiled at this outburst of indignation; but Himilco laughed
aloud and said:
"Never mind, Chamai; there may be worse lies than these; they will
answer their purpose if they make these folks good buyers."
The chief had offered to sell me some _pilegech_, or young female
slaves that he had captured in a recent raid upon the mainland; but I
declined to make any purchase of the kind, knowing that there was no
market for women-slaves either in our Libyan colonies or in Tarshish.
Our word "pilegech" he pronounced _pellex_. The Dorians manifestly
have considerable difficulty in articulating our language; for
example, they say "kiton," for _kitonet_; "kephos," for _koph_, and
"kassiteros," for _kastira_. Sometimes, like other savage nations,
they fail to understand the true meaning of a word, and pervert it
altogether; for instance, when speaking of the great sea beyond
Gades, instead of calling it the Sea of Og, they describe it as a
river named "Oceanos," and believe it to be a god.
The men that had been sent back by the chief soon returned with a
very fair supply of good copper, ox-hides, and goats' horns, some
of which were large enough to make good bows. They likewise brought
some very excellent woollen cloth which they had themselves imported
from the mainland. For all their goods the prices they demanded were
singularly moderate.
It was now necessary, in order to find space and leisure for
repairing our ships, that the throng of buyers, which seemed
continually increasing, should be drawn away from the neighbourhood
of the beach. To effect this, I placed a quantity of the merchandise
under the charge of Hadlai, one of the most trustworthy of the
sailors, and sent him into the interior of the island to dispose
of what he could, instructing him to be sure and return to us in
eight-and-forty hours, by which time I expected to complete the
repairs. Bichri volunteered to act as an escort; and Jonah, with
whose trumpet the Dorians seemed immensely amused, was sent to summon
the natives to the sale.
In the course of the day I sent eight of my men to cut down an
oak from the forest on the valley side, to make a new yard for
the _Dagon_. The Dorians permitted us to take whatever wood we
wanted without any charge, deeming it a sufficient compensation to
themselves to watch our carpentering, and to listen to the wonderful
tales of such of our sailors as could speak anything of their
language. They were most attentive in bringing us firewood, water,
and what else we wanted; and whatever they may be in their bearing to
other nations, I can testify that to us Phœnicians they were most
courteous and considerate.
The Dorians plied Chryseis with countless questions about the
_Pheakes_, and made all kinds of inquiries about their country, their
cities and their king; and she, pleased with the sound of a dialect
kindred to her own, conversed with them willingly, and made them
stare with surprise, as she recounted the glories of our temples,
and the magnificence of our palaces. They had no clear idea of what
Phœnicia really was, but imagined it to be an island, evidently
confounding it with our colony of Chittim, or with our settlement at
Chalcis, which was considerably nearer to them. They almost seem to
think Phœnicians ubiquitous, for they give the name of Phœnicia
to the coast of Caria, where our merchants have established some
marts. This is really the country of the Carian Leleges, who,
together with the Phrygians, were the Dorians' predecessors in
the isle of Crete, and the first to drive the Cydonians to the
highlands. The Dorians assert that the Leleges and Pelasgians
preceded them on the mainland, and that many of them still remain.
I can readily understand that the Carians, Æolians, and others,
whom we drove from their own coasts, succeeded in reaching Crete;
for the Carians were not ignorant of navigation, and at that part
of the Archipelago, where the sea is thickly studded with islands,
the voyage from the coast of Asia hither, even in small boats, would
be by no means difficult. It is a fact, too, that the principal
mountain in Crete is known by the Pelasgo-Ionian name of Ida, the
same as that borne by the mountain in Æolia, opposite the island of
Mitylene; the evidence, therefore, is very strong that the Pelasgians
and Leleges, who were of the same race as the Carians, Æolians,
Lycians, and Dardanians, must have occupied not only the entire coast
from the Straits of Thrace down to the regions opposite Rhodes, but
likewise all the mainland and islands between Thrace and Cape Malea.
The Cydonians must be a remnant of some still earlier inhabitants of
quite another race, driven back, first by the Pelasgians and Leleges,
and afterwards by the Dorians, Ionians, and those others who are now
advancing to establish themselves alike upon the coast and in the
islands. The accuracy of this conclusion is borne out by the fact
that our ancestors were acquainted with the Pelasgians long before
they knew anything of Dorians and Ionians, and it is well known
that there are still in existence cities large and populous, though
badly built and weakly fortified, such as Plakir and Sculake in the
Propontis, some distance north of Dardania and the isle of Tenedos.
I enter into all these details because I consider it part of the duty
of a Phœnician mariner to make himself acquainted not only with
the configuration of both land and sea, the movements of the heavenly
bodies, and the laws of navigation and of commerce, but also with the
origin, language, religion, and habits of every nation with whom he
may be brought in contact; and my experience in my naval life has
taught me that although the knowledge thus acquired is to be very
cautiously revealed to strangers and foreigners, yet it cannot be too
freely disseminated amongst one's own countrymen.
The Dorians acknowledge themselves to be a people akin to the
Ionians, and are, like them, a branch of the great family known
by the name of Hellenes, Ræci, or Græci. These Hellenes, like the
children of Israel, are comprised of twelve peoples or tribes;
the Thessalians, the Bœotians, the Dorians, the Ionians, the
Perrhebians, the Magnetes, the Locrians, the Eteans, the Achæans,
the Phocians, the Dolopes, and the Malians. Their own account of
themselves is, that on reaching the south of Thracia they settled
in the district known as Hellopia, of which they were still in
possession, and whence they spread themselves over the peninsula and
the islands. Hellopia is the country traversed by the River Achelous,
which empties itself into the channel that divides the island of
Cephallenia from the mainland. The two oldest cities in Hellopia are
Dodona and Delphi, which are both the abodes of the chief gods. It is
from the name of their city that the Hellenes are sometimes called
Dodonians, although they are far more frequently referred to by us as
the Ionians, or sons of Ion or Javan. Amongst themselves, however,
they are invariably designated Hellenes, Graii, or Græci.
All the Hellenic tribes recognise four special bonds of fraternity:
first, they are of one common origin; secondly, they speak a common
tongue; thirdly, they worship the same gods, and in the same modes
and places; and fourthly, they cultivate a general uniformity in
manners and disposition. They all send representative chiefs or
elders to Dodona, and I presume to Delphi also, for the purpose of
settling any common difference; and there they take a threefold oath,
never to destroy any city that has ever been admitted into covenant
with them; never to intercept the supply of water to any city of
their fraternity, and always to unite to punish those who should
violate their pledge.
Their principal god dwells at Dodona, and is named Zeus. They believe
him to be the same as the Zeus of the Leleges and Pelasgians,
whom the Curetes of Crete honour with songs and dances. Like Baal
Chamaim, he is the god of the air and sky, and son of the heaven and
the earth. He it was who, in the form of a bull, carried off the
Phrygian goddess Europa to Crete; and on the south of the island, in
the valley of a little river, Lethe, the Dorians have a city which
I have never seen, but which they call Hellotis, where there is a
plane-tree, under which Zeus and Europa are said to have reposed.
Another town there is in the island, named Cnossus, founded, I
believe, by the Phrygians, where Zeus has one of his places of abode.
Another deity, almost equally powerful, is Apollo, the archer and
soothsayer. He is known as the Pythian prophet, and dwells at Delphi,
where he is consulted about future events. He is held in especial
veneration by the Dorians, whom he is said, under the form of a
dolphin, to have conducted across the seas. Probably he may be the
same as our Phœnician archer-god, Baal Chillekh, whom we have
ourselves taught the Hellenes to worship, and it may be that because
he taught them navigation, they represent him as a dolphin.
The mysterious Hermes, the god of the hidden forces of nature, is
likewise an object of their high regard. It is not unlikely that they
learnt his worship from the Egyptians; but whether it be so or not,
it is quite certain that he has been known amongst them from a very
remote antiquity.
The Cydonians have made them acquainted with Artemis, and we are
ourselves leading them to the knowledge of Ashtoreth or Astarte,
whom they are gradually learning to venerate above all their other
divinities.
Of Beelzebub, Baal-Peor, El Adonai, Chemosh, or the Cabiri, the
Hellenes know nothing. They are absolutely ignorant of the position
of the Cabiri, and have no conception of guiding their course in
sailing by the seventh Cabiros or Pole-star: to say the truth, they
are very cowardly sailors, rarely venturing to lose sight of the
shore. Their boats are large but very badly built, having no decks,
ill-contrived rigging, and very defective arrangements for ballast;
consequently they are equally unsteady whether they are impelled by
oars or worked by sails. The people have little idea of distance;
they are profoundly ignorant of the shape of the country, and are at
once deterred from a voyage by the least stress of weather, or by the
most insignificant current.
The towns are built in places that are difficult of access, and are
rudely fortified with piles of uncemented stones. The houses are
made either of rough stone, or of bricks that have been baked in the
sun, and are very little better than cabins. The people are not at
all skilful in any handicraft; and they can scarcely do more than
manufacture their copper lance-heads, hatchets, breast-plates, and
helmets, which, although very ill-formed, are covered with ornaments.
They have no cavalry and very few archers, and rarely use swords in
fighting; lances are their favourite weapons, and these are used by
their chiefs either on foot or from the top of their chariots. In
close combat they employ a kind of poignard, which very frequently
is seen curved at the point into a kind of hook. By way of pastime,
Hannibal and Chamai occasionally made Hanno practise with the sword,
and on these occasions they would be surrounded by a group of
Dorians, who were struck with wonder and admiration at the variety
of the thrusts, passes, and parries of the fencing, as exhibited in
the different practices of the Chaldeans, the Philistines, and the
Israelites, and the dexterity they all alike required.
The shields which they use are round, and made of ox-hide, those of
the chiefs being faced with copper and ornamented with paintings.
Before we left the island, the Dorian king of Hellotis came to
visit us, and for one of our bucklers of wrought bronze offered
me five-and-twenty oxen; but I allowed him to have it for some
agates, to be used in making jewellery, and for an enormous pair of
boar's tusks which he had brought from the mainland, and which now
adorn the temple of Ashtoreth at Sidon.
On the third day after our arrival in the island, one of the sailors,
who had been struck by an arrow in the Egyptian engagement, died,
the wound having gangrened. According to our national custom, I had
all the ships hung with black, and made inquiry of the natives for
some cavern in the neighbourhood where we could inter the body. They
showed me a cave in the mountain side about thirty stadia distant,
and were quite ready in any way to assist me, as they are themselves
very careful about the burial of their dead; in fact, there is
nothing of which they entertain a greater dread than of being
deprived of funeral rites, and this is one great reason that deters
them from venturing out far to sea.
[Illustration: BORNE TO ITS RESTING-PLACE.
_To face page 121._]
After the corpse had been washed, it was borne to its resting-place,
a considerable crowd of Dorians following in the rear, amongst them a
large proportion of women, who kept up loud cries of lamentation. The
cave in which we laid the body was very deep, but by no means lofty;
in it we left not only the body, but the planks and the two oars
which had formed the bier. When the opening had been closed by piling
up a heap of large and heavy stones, Hanno, in a solemn voice, made
an invocation to Menath, Hokh, and Rhadamath, the judges of the souls
in Cheol.
All these three gods of our nation are known to the Dorians, who
call them by the names of Minos, Eacus, and Rhadamanthus. They
believe that Minos, previous to his appointment as a judge in the
infernal regions, was a king of Crete, and that, being a skilful
navigator, he had sailed as far as the mainland to the Ionians, who,
by way of tribute, gave him a number of boys and girls. With regard
to Rhadamanthus, they suppose that he was brought to the island of
Chalcis by the Phœnician demi-gods; but the truth is, that they
have made some strange confusion between the god himself and the
Sidonian sailors through whom they had become acquainted with his
existence. In the same way, I believe, that Europa (the goddess who
was carried off by Zeus) and Ariadne (known first to one of the
demi-gods, and then to Dionysus, the god of rivers) are nothing more
than other names for Ashtoreth, surviving from the period when the
Phœnicians first imported wine to their shores. From us, too, they
have derived their knowledge of Khousor Phtah, the god of the forge,
whom they call Phtos or Phaistos; and in short, whatever familiarity
they have either with literature, wine, or with the use of metals,
all seems to have been derived from the Sidonians. As for our own
knowledge, that (according to our ancestors long, long ago) was
obtained from the Egyptians, and the Egyptians derived theirs from
the still more ancient Atlantes, who, when the Great Sea was still
to the south of Libya, came from lands in the West that have since
passed away, traversing Ethiopia in their course. How true it is,
that though nation may follow upon nation, the gods are immortal!
The Dorian people gave us their word of honour that the cavern in
which we had buried our companion should never be desecrated, and
we returned to our ships, which remained hung with black for the
remainder of the day.
Towards evening Hadlai and his party made their appearance,
bringing a goodly supply of purchases. Jonah, marching along with a
consequential air, and encircled by a crowd who had followed him down
from the mountains was carrying a calf upon his back.
"What are you going to do with that calf?" I asked.
"Eat it," he said; "I have earned it."
"How? by blowing your trumpet?"
"No; not by blowing my trumpet, but by wrestling: they matched their
strongest against me, and I levelled them all; and so I won my calf.
A capital country is this! I will knock them over, every one, if only
they will give me a calf every time."
And, catching sight of the King of the Dorians, who had come with a
herd of oxen, he shouted to him:
"Yes, you too; give me a bullock, and I will knock you down. Give me
two, and I will break every bone in your skin."
"Silence, fool!" I cried, hoping to bring him to his senses. The King
did not understand Phœnician, and asked what the man was saying;
but I did not think it necessary to enlighten him.
Jonah continued muttering and grumbling to himself: "Why should I
not fight them, if they like it? If I were to challenge a man of the
tribe of Dan or Judah, I should soon find a knife in my ribs! But
here they like it, and give me a calf. Fine country this!"
That evening the wind blew briskly from the north-north-west, but not
with violence enough to make us hesitate about taking our departure
next morning. The Dorians were full of surprise at our determination
to put to sea, and owned that nothing would induce them to face the
peril of such a wind.
"Can it really be," asked one of the chiefs, "that you intend to
start upon your voyage with this gale in your very teeth?"
Upon my assuring him that I had fully made up my mind, he continued:
"And that, too, with the recollection so fresh of the terrific storm
in which you came? Truly, you are demi-gods indeed!"
"Aye, yes," I said; "children of Ashtoreth we are; and we rode the
seas that night in a way that was worthy of our fame!"
"And were not the Cabiri considerate for me?" interposed Himilco;
"the salt sea made me thirsty, and they sent me a goat-skin full of
luscious wine."
Without noticing him, the chief continued:
"Assuredly the Phœnician deities maintain a careful watch to guard
their children. I shall not soon forget how I saw their mighty
chariot roll above the waves to your assistance."
It was now Himilco's turn to look astonished.
"Chariot upon the waters!" he exclaimed; "what was it like?"
"It was high, and round, and parti-coloured, and had great
sea-monsters drawing it over the raging sea."
He spoke with a kind of awe; but it struck me that he might perchance
have seen Bodmilcar's gaoul, and that the lightning's glare had given
it the variegated effect which he had noticed. I suggested this, in
an undertone, to Himilco, who only said:
"If Bodmilcar were the sea-god, I should like to have the chance of
getting into the sea-god's chariot and ringing the sea-god's neck."
While we had been talking, I had observed Hamilcar and several others
closely scrutinising something that the waves had cast upon the
beach. Curious to see what was interesting them, I joined them, and
found some fragments of a ship.
"This is no Phœnician work," said Hamilcar, pointing to a bolt
still hanging to one of the planks.
"No," I agreed; "and from the thickness of the wood, and from the
bolts being driven in without wedges, I have no doubt that it is an
Egyptian craft that has been wrecked."
"Look here!" cried Himilco; "here is proof positive; the goose's neck
from the prow!"
"It may be," I said, "that some Egyptians accompanied Bodmilcar, and
have come to grief in the tempest."
"I hope Bodmilcar has not shared their fate," said Gisgo; "drowning
is too good for him; I want him to have a stout rope round his neck.
And besides, the rascal has three-quarters of our merchandise that I
should like to get back."
"Rather too much to expect, I am afraid," I said; "however, we must
now embark. We are bound for Sicily where perhaps you may recover
your lost ears."
A grim smile passed over the old pilot's face.
"Until the wind changes," I observed, "we shall have to keep on
tacking;" and I moved towards the ships.
At this moment the Dorian King approached me with the air of having
something important to communicate; he broke out abruptly:
"You are a Phœnician, a ruler of the sea: I am a Dorian prince, a
ruler of my people: so far we are equal. These oxen, these horses,
these chariots are all mine; from my thirty villages I can summon
twelve thousand men. I am favoured of the gods. I am mighty."
I thought he surely was about to make some demand, but a single
glance satisfied me that he was not in a position to exact anything
by force; not only were Hanno, Chamai, Bichri and Jonah still on
shore, but Hannibal, too, was close at hand, supported by forty of
his men, while the King was attended only by about a score and a half
of lancers. I made no reply, but waited for him to proceed.
"Ruler of the Phœnicians," he said, "I want you to sell me your
pilegech Chryseis: you have only to name your own price for the
Ionian, and that price is yours."
Hanno made a start forward, but I held him back.
"King of the Dorians!" I said, "Chryseis is not designed for sale.
However, she is free to answer for herself. To us your kindness and
courtesy have been great; and I am ready to consent, in return, to
give the maiden up to you. But this one condition must be fixed; she
must become yours by her own free choice."
Hanno glanced eagerly at Chryseis, and imploringly at me.
The King advanced to where the girl was standing, and proffering his
hand, said:
"Daughter of the Helli! kinswoman of our tribe! come and be the Queen
of the Dorians of Hellotis!"
She stood with her eyes fastened on the ground, but made no reply.
"Zeus and Apollo guide your choice!" continued the King, "and inspire
your answer! Listen and consent. No Dorian maid has ever yet made
good her hold upon my heart, although there is not one who would not
be proud to be the object of my choice. Honours and luxury await my
bride. She shall have slaves to surround her, and do her weaving, and
obey her slightest wish; her table shall be spread with the choicest
diet, the produce of three hundred goats and fifty cows; and her home
shall be full of all the comforts that wealth can buy."
He waited for her to speak, but still she made no sign.
"My house," he went on to plead, "is a house of stone, like the
Egyptians', and stored up within it, Chryseis, there are chests, in
which are necklaces, and pearls, and golden bodkins for your hair.
All shall be yours, and you shall be first and noblest of all the
women in Crete."
Chryseis slowly raised her eyes from the ground, and laying her hand
upon Hanno's shoulder, in a firm, deliberate, and yet gentle voice,
said:
"Our holy Zeus has given me to Hanno, and with Hanno I shall remain."
The Dorian, mortified and excited, literally stamped with rage.
"What!" he cried, "prefer a Phœnician subject to a king of the
Hellenes?"
"A Sidonian scribe," said Hanno, "is the equal of any king on earth.
I own no superior except my captain and the gods above."
"Though he were the lowliest sailor in the service," declared
Chryseis, "my heart is his. His goddess Ashtoreth has delivered me in
the hour of peril, and Zeus, my god, pronounces that I am his."
The Dorian could do no more: in vain he pointed to the smiling
meadows and the shady forests of the island, and contrasted them with
the abode upon the raging water of an angry sea; Chryseis maintained
that the water had charms as many as the land. Unable to prevail with
her, he made a final appeal to me; but finding me firm in my resolve
to leave the girl unfettered in her choice, he gave a growl of
anger, and without turning his head, remounted his chariot and drove
rapidly away.
"Mine, henceforth," said Hanno to Chryseis, as he led her to the
ship. "You are as a priestess of Ashtoreth, the guardian of us all!"
and he drew her closer to his side.
The sail was soon hoisted, and the rowers settled to their seats.
Leaving the shore, we made long tacks to get to windward, and in five
hours had passed the northernmost extremity of Crete. In the course
of the night we were coasting the rocky land upon the north of the
lesser Cythera.
Two days' safe, though tedious, navigation brought us to the mouth of
the Achelous, a stream which from the colour of its water is known
to our sailors as the White River. We passed between the fertile
and indented shore of the mainland, and the islands of Cythera,
Zacynthus, and Cephallenia. In these navigable waters, where land is
never out of sight, we perpetually came across Hellenic vessels of
every size, engaged in a brisk trade not only in their own native
productions, but also in the manufactures of the Phœnicians.
The sea was calm when we reached the mouth of the Achelous, but a
fresh breeze sprung up from the north-east, which was just what we
wanted to carry us to the Sicilian straits. It is usual, in order to
break the length of the sea-passage, to follow the Hellenic coast
as far as the island of Corcyra, but under the present favourable
circumstances this would have been merely to waste time. We had an
ample supply both of provisions and of fresh water; I therefore quite
abandoned all thought of visiting the metropolis of the Hellenes, and
determined to make with the wind across the open sea direct for the
southern point of Italy. As we were passing along the channel that
divides Cephallenia from the little island of Ithaca we fell in with
a Sidonian galley and a couple of gaouls, and hailing them, we found
that they were on their way home from the mouth of the Eridanus on
the Iapygian Sea. Bodachmon, the captain of the galley, proposed that
we should lay-to off Ithaca, so that we might send any commissions
by him to Sidon. I availed myself of his offer, and went at once on
board one of his gaouls. His cargo consisted of a small supply of
gold, both in dust and nuggets, but principally of rock-crystal,
which the people on the banks of the Eridanus obtain from those who
reside on the mountains near its source. Bodachmon agreed to take
some of my heavier merchandise for a part of his light freight, and
to do anything he could to assist me after the loss we had sustained
of our own gaoul through Bodmilcar's treachery. His indignation at
Bodmilcar's conduct knew no bounds. Such an act of faithlessness, he
said, had never happened within his experience; and he would take
good care that not only should it come to King Hiram's ears, but that
Bodmilcar should be denounced throughout Phœnicia, so that if the
traitor should attempt to land anywhere either in Phœnicia, or in
Chittim, or any other of her colonies, he should be visited with the
punishment he so justly merited.
"But now," said Bodachmon, "let us proceed to business. What
commodities have you to offer?"
I answered that I had just obtained goods in Crete, for which
he would be sure to find a ready market either in Egypt or at
home--copper, ox-hides, woollen cloth, and enormous goats' horns;
I told him, moreover, that if he would visit Crete for himself, he
would be able to purchase any number of young female slaves at the
most reasonable rate.
He said that he thought he should act upon my advice, and that he
was sure we should be able to make exchanges between ourselves which
would satisfy us both. He proceeded to inquire whether I could let
him have any wine, as his own supply had been exhausted six months
ago, and that in his intercourse with the Iapyges and Umbrians he had
had no opportunity of replenishing it.
Our own ships were well provisioned, and I was pleased to have the
opportunity of inviting him with his two mates and pilots to come on
board the _Ashtoreth_, and to partake of our fresh meat, onions,
dried figs, cheese and wine. They all admired the completeness of our
arrangements; and Bodachmon made an inspection of the goods that I
proposed to barter, telling me that he should be able to pay a good
price, if I would accept his rock-crystal.
All of a sudden Bodachmon exclaimed: "By Ashtoreth! I think I can
give you a treat in return for your hospitality. In Corcyra I took
up one of the Hellenes, whom I promised if I could that I would land
in Crete. He is an old man and nearly blind, but he seems to know
the history of all the world; neither Sanchoniathon, nor Elhanan
the Israelite, could know it better. He sings the exploits of his
country's gods and heroes, accompanying his singing on his lute; he
has no other means of paying his passage. You shall hear him."
[Illustration: HOMER.
_To face page 129._]
The venerable bard was sent for, and was soon conducted on board. He
had a dignified bearing, and commanded an involuntary reverence. His
long beard was very white, and he carried in his hand a lute made of
tortoise-shell. His name was Homer.
Addressing us, he said:
"O Pheacians! ye sea-kings, who explore the marvels of the earth! may
the divine gods protect your ships! My eyes are dim; no longer do I
discern the meadows with their pasturing herds, nor the warriors with
their dazzling armour; nay, scarce can I perceive the glorious beams
of day. But the Muses from their blest abode, beside the Peneus, have
endowed me with the gift of harmony and song, so that wherever I may
go, I celebrate the achievements both of gods and men."
I handed the old man a cup of the choicest nectar, and, with
invigorated spirit, he began to sing his songs. To me their meaning
was barely intelligible; but Hanno, familiar with the Hellenic
tongue, was perfectly enraptured, and made the venerable minstrel a
present of his mantle, which was woven of the finest wool of Helbon,
and exquisitely embroidered with flowers.
"Never have I heard anything to be compared with this," exclaimed the
scribe; "in spite of their ignorance of trade and navigation, these
people cannot be quite the barbarians we supposed."
Hannibal, who had hitherto looked on in silence, now observed:
"Once, when I was in the city of Our in Naharan, I came across an
extraordinary man, of whom this wandering poet reminds me. He was an
Egyptian, travelling about, and singing songs to his own lute, just
like Homer here, but he was not so old, and the remarkable thing was
that he had an ape with him that used to mimic all the events about
which he sung. Now when Chryseis sings her war-songs, it is pleasant
to listen, although one does not understand a word; her voice is
itself a charm. But this old minstrel's songs are dull; he ought, I
think, to have an ape with him, to act as an interpreter of what he
sings."
[Illustration]
Hanno sneered contemptuously, and said:
"Hannibal is wonderfully clever. I should fancy he could play the
ape's part to perfection."
Not discerning the satire, Hannibal replied with the greatest gravity:
"I don't know about my being more clever than any of my people from
Arvad; but I think that if I could understand the old man's tongue, I
could perform for him better than an ape."