Poets of Classic Fable.
HOMER--HESIOD--VIRGIL--OVID.
_Ques._ Who was Homer?
_Ans._ Everything relating to this poet is involved in obscurity. The
two biographies of him which were formerly attributed to Herodotus and
Plutarch, are evidently fabulous; their real authors are not known.
Nothing is known certainly regarding Homer's parentage, his
birth-place, or even the exact era in which he lived. Seven cities
contended for the honor of having given this great poet to the world;
these were Smyrna, Chios, Col´ophon, Sal´amis, Rhodes, Argos and
Athens.
Smyrna appears to have the best claim, and it is considered certain
that the poet was by birth an Ionian; the Ionic is the dialect
employed in his works, with a slight mixture, however, of the Æolic,
and other forms. With regard to the time in which Homer lived, there
is much difference of opinion among the learned, some placing him in
the ninth, others in the tenth century before our era. The latter
opinion is the more probable.
According to the account generally given, Homer was for many years a
schoolmaster in Smyrna. He afterwards abandoned this occupation, and
spent some time in travelling.
He made several voyages in the company of a sea captain named Mentes;
but at length his sight became so much affected that he was obliged to
remain on shore at Ithaca. While in this island, he was kindly
entertained by a wealthy man named Mentor, who related to him the
traditionary tales on which he afterwards founded the Odyssey.
Becoming totally blind, Homer returned to Smyrna, where he probably
composed the greater part of his poems. He afterwards led a wandering
life, gaining wealth and fame by the recitation of his verses. He died
at Ios, one of the Cyclades, where he was buried. The fame of Homer is
founded on his two great poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. The first
of these has been always considered among the finest productions of
human genius. Homer is distinguished not only for his sublimity, but
for the high moral tone which pervades his works.
_Ques._ Who was Hesiod?
_Ans._ This poet flourished about half a century later than Homer. He
was a Boeotian, and in his youth tended sheep upon Mount Helicon. He
emigrated afterwards to Orchomenos, in western Boeotia, where he died.
The only complete works of Hesiod now extant are the "Works and
Days," and the Theogony, or "Birth of the Gods." The latter work
consists of a long and rather tedious catalogue of the gods and
goddesses; it is valued as containing an accurate account of the
Grecian deities. The description of the Battle of the Titans and the
Gods, at the close of the work, is considered one of the most sublime
passages in classic poetry; Milton has borrowed from it in his Battle
of the Angels.
_Ques._ When did Virgil flourish?
_Ans._ Publius Virgilius Maro was born near Mantua in the year 70,
B. C. He received a liberal education, and inherited from his father a
considerable estate. Of this he was deprived during the civil troubles
which distracted Italy, but it was afterwards restored at the
intercession of a powerful friend. His gratitude towards this kind
benefactor, and the happiness felt by the poet in the peaceful
possession of his patrimony, form the subject of his first pastoral
poem or Eclogue. Virgil enjoyed the favor of Augustus, with the
friendship of Mæcenas and other generous and powerful patrons; his
life was, therefore, spent in ease and prosperity. He died at
Brundusium, in the year 19, B. C.
The Eclogues, sometimes called also Bucolica or Bucolics, are ten
short pastoral poems. The fourth, entitled Pollio, has given rise to
much speculation on account of its striking coincidence with
Scripture. Many suppose that the poet was acquainted with the
prophecies of Isaiah.
The Georgics treat of agriculture, the care of cattle, the raising of
bees, etc. These peaceful arts had been much neglected in Italy during
the civil wars; Virgil hoped to revive the taste for rural pursuits,
by his beautiful descriptions of country life. The Æneid, the last and
greatest of his works, is an epic poem in twelve books. It is a
history of the wanderings of Æneas, and the settlement of the Trojans
in Italy.
Virgil is considered inferior to Homer in sublimity, but he exceeds
him in sweetness and in the beauty of his descriptions. The moral, and
even to a certain extent the religious spirit which pervades his
writings is beyond praise, and places him almost alone among the poets
of antiquity.
_Ques._ When did Ovid write?
_Ans._ Ovidius Naso was born in the year 43, B. C., at Sulmo (now
Sulmona), a town about ninety miles distant from Rome. The date of his
birth is rendered memorable in history by the murder of the great
Cicero. Ovid belonged to an equestrian family; he was educated at
Rome, and enjoyed every advantage that splendid capital afforded. He
showed his taste for poetry at an early age, but was dissuaded from
cultivating this art by his father, who wished him to apply
exclusively to the study of eloquence. Ovid gained some distinction as
an orator; but when the death of his elder brother left him sole heir
to an ample fortune, his natural inclination prevailed, and he gave
himself up to literary pursuits. A career of unexampled prosperity
was now opened to the poet. He enjoyed the favor of Augustus, and the
friendship of the most distinguished men in Rome; his verses were
universally admired, they were sung in the streets and at
entertainments, or were recited in the theatre amid bursts of
applause. Ovid was not content with the nobler pleasures of fame and
friendship, but plunged without restraint into all the vices and
follies of which the Roman capital was the centre. This career of
prosperity and pleasure was brought suddenly to a close. Ovid was
banished by Augustus to Tomi, (now Temiswar) on the shores of the
Euxine.
The decree was executed with the utmost severity. But one wretched
night was allowed to the poet to deplore his fate, and take leave of
his friends. His wife begged in vain to be allowed to accompany her
husband in his exile. It is not known by what crime the unfortunate
poet merited so severe a punishment. The immoral tendency of some of
his poems, was the ostensible reason set forth by the emperor; but
these verses had been written many years before. It is evident,
therefore, that he must have offended Augustus in some manner which
the latter did not choose to make public. Ovid wrote, in his exile,
poems appropriately named "Tristia," in which he bewails his hard
fate, and describes the scenes by which he was surrounded. From the
severity of the climate, and the inroads of the barbarians, the fields
were without grain, the hills without vines; no stately oaks clothed
the mountain-side, no willows drooped along the banks; a scanty growth
of wormwood alone covered the desolate plains. Spring brought with it
neither birds nor flowers. In Summer, the sun was obscured by clouds;
the Autumn shed no fruits, but through every season of the year, the
wintry winds blew with prodigious violence, and lashed the waves of
the boisterous Euxine on its desert shore. The only animated object
was the wild Sarmatian driving his car, yoked with oxen, across the
icy waste, himself wrapped in furs, his shaggy hair and beard
sparkling with the hoar frost and flakes of snow. Such was the abode
for which the poet was compelled to exchange the theatres, the
porticoes and gardens of Rome, the court of Augustus, and the sunny
skies of Italy. He died in the ninth year of his exile, and the
sixty-first of his age.
The poems of Ovid, however beautiful otherwise, are all more or less
objectionable on account of their immoral tendency; the corruption of
the author's private character has left its impress on all his works.
The claim of Ovid to be numbered among the poets of mythology, rests
chiefly on his Metamorphoses. This is a collection of legends of all
the transformations said to have taken place in heathen mythology,
beginning with the earliest times, and closing with the changing of
Julius Cæsar into a star. The stories are not themselves original;
they are principally Greek and Oriental fictions, interspersed,
perhaps, with a few Latin or Etruscan fables. There are, in all, two
hundred and fifty of these stories. Ovid was engaged in correcting
this, his greatest work, when he was surprised by the sentence of
banishment. In a fit of impatience and despair, he threw it into the
flames. Some of his friends possessed copies, and the poem was thus
preserved.
If the Metamorphoses had been destroyed by this rash act, we would
have lost many interesting fables which have been rendered immortal by
the beauty of Ovid's verse and his graceful fancy.
The Tristia are not so generally admired. They turn principally on the
poet's personal misfortunes; and this subject, however absorbing to
himself, soon becomes wearisome to the reader. Ovid composed a poem in
the harsh dialect spoken by the Getæ who dwelt on the borders of the
Euxine Sea. The barbarians listened with delight to his recitations,
until their anger was excited by his constant complaints of their rude
manners and inhospitable climate.