I. AGORÈ:
OR
THE POLITIES OF THE HOMERIC AGE.
Political ideas of later Greece Page 1
Their strong development in Heroic Greece 2
Germ of the Law of Nations 4
Grote’s account of the Heroic Polities 5
Their peculiar features, Publicity and Persuasion 6
Functions of the king in the Heroic Polities 8
Nature of the Pelopid Empire 9
Degrees in Kingship and in Lordship 10
Four forms of Sovereignty 12
First tokens of change in the Heroic Polities 12
Shown by analysis of the Catalogue 14
Extended signs in the Odyssey 17
Altered sense of Βασιλεὺς or King 18
New name of Queen 20
Disorganization caused by the War 21
Arrival of a new race at manhood 22
Increased weight of the nobles 24
Altered idea of the kingly office 25
The first instance of a bad King 27
Further change in the time of Hesiod 28
Veneration long adhering to the name 31
Five distinctive notes of Βασιλῆες in the Iliad 32
The nine Greek Βασιλῆες of the Iliad 35
The case of Meges 36
Of Phœnix 37
Of Patroclus and Eurypylus 38
Conditions of Kingship in the Iliad 39
The personal beauty of the Kings 40
Custom of resignation in old age 40
Force of the term αἴζηος 41
Gymnastic superiority of the Kings 44
Their pursuit of Music and Song 45
Ulysses as artificer and husbandman 46
The Kings as Gentlemen 47
Achilles in particular 48
Tenderness and tears of the Greek chiefs 49
Right of hereditary succession 50
Right of primogeniture 52
The Homeric King (1) as Priest 55
(2) as Judge 56
(3) as General 57
(4) as Proprietor: the τέμενος 58
His revenues, from four sources in all 59
Burdens upon them 61
The political position of Agamemnon 62
The governing motives of the War 64
Position of Agamemnon in the army 66
His personal character 67
The relation of sovereign and subject a free one 67
The personal attendants of the King 69
The Aristocracy or chief proprietors 69
The Trades and Professions 70
The Slaves of the Homeric age 72
The θῆτες or hired servants 74
Supply of military service 75
Whether there was a peasant-proprietary 77
Political Economy of the Homeric age 78
The precious metals not a measure of value 81
Oxen in some degree a measure of value 82
Relative scarcity of certain metals 84
Mode of government of the Army 85
Its military composition 88
Chief descriptions of fighting men 91
The Battle and the Ambuscade 92
The Βουλὴ or Council of the Greeks 94
It subsisted in peace and in war 97
Opposition in the Βουλὴ 98
Agamemnon’s proposals of Return 99
The influence of Speech in the Heroic age 102
It was a subject of regular training 103
Varied descriptions of oratory in Homer 104
Achilles the paramount Orator 105
The orations of the poems 106
The power of repartee 108
The power of sarcasm 109
The faculty of debate in Homer 111
The discussion of the Ninth Iliad 111
Function of the Assembly in the Heroic age 114
The formal use of majorities unknown 116
The great decisions of the War taken there 117
It was not summoned exclusively by Agamemnon 118
Opposition in the Agorè by the chiefs 119
Opposition by Thersites 120
Grote’s judgment on the case of Thersites 123
How that case bears witness to the popular principle 126
As does the Agorè on the Shield 126
Mode of addressing the Assembly 129
Its decisions in the Seventh and Ninth Iliads 129
Division in the Drunken Assembly 130
Appeal of Telemachus to the Ithacan Assembly 132
Phæacian Assembly of the Eighth Odyssey 134
Ithacan Assembly of the Twenty-fourth 136
Councils or Assemblies of Olympus 137
Judicial functions of the Assembly 139
Assembly the central point of the Polity 140
The common soul or Τὶς in Homer 141
Imperfect organization of Heroic Polities 143
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 155
Different 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 τεμένεα 172
3. As to Groves’ ἄλσεα 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 197
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 210
The family of Priam 211
Stricter ideas among the Greeks 215
Trojan Polity less highly organized 216
Rule of Succession in Troy 217
Succession to the throne of Priam 219
Paris, most probably, was his eldest son 221
Position of Priam and his dynasty in Troas 223
Meaning of Τροίη and of Ἴλιος 224
Evidence from the Trojan Catalogue 225
Extent of his sovereignty and supremacy 228
Polity of Ilios: the Βασιλεύς 232
The Assembly 232
The greater weight of Age in Troy 234
The absence of a Βουλὴ in Troy 236
The greater weight of oratory in Greece 239
Trojans less gifted with self-command 242
And with intelligence generally 244
Difference in the pursuits of high-born youth 245
Difference as to αἰδὼς 246
Summary of differences 247
III. THALASSA.
THE OUTER GEOGRAPHY OF THE ODYSSEY.
Why it deserves investigation 249
Principal heads of the inquiry 251
The two Spheres of Inner and Outer Geography 252
Limits of the Inner Geography 255
The intermediate or doubtful zone 257
The Sphere of the Outer Geography 260
The two Keys of the Outer Geography 261
The traditional interpretations valueless 262
Manifest dislocations of actual nature 263
Postulates for examining the Outer Geography 264
The Winds of Homer 265
Special notices of Eurus and Notus 267
Of Zephyr and Boreas 268
Points of the Compass for the two last 270
For the two first 272
Scheme of the four Winds 273
Signification of Eurus 273
Homeric distances and rates of speed 275
Particulars of evidence on speed 277
The northward sea-route to the Euxine 280
Evidence from Il. xiii. 1-6 281
From Od. vii. 319-26 282
From Od. v. 44-57 283
From Od. xxiv. 11-13 285
Amalgamated reports of the Ocean-mouth 287
Open-sea passage to the Ocean-mouth 289
Homeward passage by the Straits, why preferred 290
Three maritime routes to the Ocean-mouth 291
Its two possible originals in nature 292
Straits of Yenikalè as Ocean-mouth 294
Summary of facts from Phœnician reports 295
Two sets of reports are blended into one 296
The site of Ææa; North-western hypothesis 298
North-eastern hypothesis 300
Argument from the Πλαγκταὶ 302
From the Island Thrinacie 302
Local notes of Ææa 303
Site of Ogygia 304
Argument from the flight of Mercury 305
From the floatage of Ulysses 306
From his homeward passage 308
Site of Scylla relatively to the Dardanelles 309
Why Ææa cannot lie North-westward 311
Construction of Od. xii. 3, 4 312
Construction of Od. v. 276, 7 315
Genuineness of the passage questionable 316
Its real meaning 317
Homer’s indications of geographical misgivings 318
Stages of the tour of Ulysses to Ææa (i-vi.) 320
Ææa and the Euxine (vi-viii.) 325
Remaining stages (viii-xi.) 327
Directions and distances from Ææa onwards 329
Tours of Menelaus and Ulysses compared 331
The earth of Homer probably oval 334
Points of contact with Oceanus 337
The Caspian and Persian Gulf belong to Oceanus 338
Contraction and compression of the Homeric East 340
Outline of Homer’s terrestrial system 342
Map of Earth according to Homer 343
EXCURSUS I.
_Parentage and Extraction of Minos._
On the genuineness of Il. xiv. 317-27 344
On the sense of the line Il. xiv. 321 346
Collateral testimony to the extraction of Minos 347
EXCURSUS II.
_On the line Odyss. v. 277._
Points of the question stated 349
Senses of δεξιὸς and ἀριστερὸς 350
Illustrated from Il. xiii 352
On the force of the Homeric ἐπὶ 354
Force of ἐπὶ with ἀριστερὰ 356
Illustrated from Il. ii. 353. Od. xxi. 141 358
From Il. i. 597. vii. 238. xii. 239, 249 359
From Il. xxiii. 335-7 360
From Il. ii. 526 362
Application to Od. v. 277 364
Another sense prevailed in later Greek 365
IV. AOIDOS.
SECT. I.
_On the Plot of the Iliad._
The Theory of Grote on the structure of the poem 366
Offer related in the Ninth Book and its rejection 369
Restitution and gifts not the object of Achilles 371
The offer was radically defective 373
Apology needed in particular 375
Consistency maintained in and after Il. ix 377
Skilful adjustment of conflicting aims 379
Glory given to Achilles 380
Glory given to Greece 380
Trojan inferiority mainly in the Chiefs 382
But it pervades the poem 384
In the Chiefs it is glaring 385
Conflicting exigencies of the plan 387
Greeks superior even without Achilles 388
Harmony in relative prominence of the Chiefs 389
Retributive justice in the two poems 392
The sufferings of Achilles 394
Double conquest over his will 395
SECT. II.
_The 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 398
Illustrated by the series of Dardanid traditions, (1) Ganymede 398
(2) Tithonus, (3) Anchises 400
(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 425
Conceptions of Number not always definite in childhood 427
Nor even in manhood 428
No calculations in Homer 430
Greek estimate of the discovery of Number 431
Enumerative addition in Od. iv. 412, 451 432
Highest numerals of the poems 432
The three hundred and sixty fat hogs 434
The Homeric ἑκατομβὴ 435
The numerals expressive of value 436
His silence as to the numbers of the armies 439
Especially in the Greek Catalogue 440
Case of the Trojan bivouac 442
Case of the herds and flocks in Od. xiv. 443
Hesiod’s age of the Nymphs 444
Case of the cities of Crete 445
No scheme of chronology in Homer 446
Case of the three Decades of years 448
Meaning of the γενεὴ of Homer 449
Homer reckons time by generations 451
Some difficulties of the Decades taken literally 452
Uses of the proposed interpretation 455
SECT. IV.
_Homer’s Perceptions and Use of Colour._
Modern perceptions of colour usually definite 457
Signs of immature perception in Homer 458
His chief adjectives of colour 459
His quasi-adjectives of colour 460
Applications of ξανθὸς, ἐρυθρὸς, πορφύρεος 460
Of κύανος and κυάνεος 462
Of φοίνιξ 465
Of πόλιος 466
The quasi-adjectives of colour; χλωρὸς 467
The αἰθαλόεις of Homer 468
The ῥοδόεις and ῥοδοδάκτυλος 469
The ἰόεις, ἰοειδὴς, ἰοδνεφὴς 470
The οἴνοψ and μιλτοπάρηος 472
Αἴθων and its cognates; also ἀργὸς, αἴολος 473
Γλαυκὸς, γλαυκῶπις, γλαυκιόων 474
Χάροπος, σιγαλόεις, μαρμάρεος, ἠεροειδὴς 475
Conflict of the colours assigned to the same object 475
Great predominance of white and black 476
Remarkable omissions to specify colour 477
In the case of the horse among others 479
In the case of human beauty, and of Iris 482
In the case of the heavens 483
Causes of this peculiar treatment of colour 483
License of poetry in the matter of colour 484
Illustrated from Shakespeare 485
Homer’s contracted means of training in colour 487
His system one of light and dark 488
Colour in the later Greek language 491
Greek philosophy of colour 493
Nature of our advantage over Homer 495
_Note on κύανος and χαλκός._
Meanings for κύανος heretofore suggested 496
Probably a native blue carbonate of copper 497
Χαλκὸς to be understood as hardened copper 499
SECT. V.
_Homer and some of his successors in Epic Poetry; particularly
Virgil and Tasso._
Milton’s place among Epic poets 500
Difficulty of comparing him with Homer 501
The same as to Dante 501
Æneid and Iliad; their resemblances and contrasts 502
Contrast between form and spirit in the Æneid 503
Catalogue in the Iliad and in the Æneid 504
Character of Æneas in the Æneid 505
Character of Æneas in the Iliad 507
The fine character of Turnus 508
The false position of Virgil before Augustus 509
Difficulty of learning the poet from the poem 510
His false position as to religion, liberty, and nationality 511
Untruthfulness hence resulting 512
Homer is misapprehended through Virgil 513
In minor matters, e. g. Simois and Scamander 513
Νεκυΐα of Homer and of Virgil 515
Ethnological and genealogical dislocations 516
Action of the Twelfth Æneid 520
Unfaithful imitations of details 521
Maltreatment of the Homeric characters 522
And of the Homeric Mythology and Ethics 523
Æneas and Dido in the Shades beneath 525
The woman characters of Homer and Virgil 527
Virgil’s insufficient care of minor proprieties 528
And of the order of natural phenomena 529
Use of exaggeration in Homer and in Virgil 530
Contrast of principal aims respectively 531
Character of the Bard; not found in Virgil 532
Post-Homeric change in the idea of the Poet’s office 533
Virgil’s poetical disadvantages 534
Comparison of the Trojan War with the Crusades 535
Rinaldo and Achilles 535
Exaggerations of bulk in Homer and in Tasso 536
Mr. Hallam’s judgment on the Jerusalem 537
Tasso’s poetical disadvantages 538
The man Achilles in relation to the Iliad 539
Liberation of the Sepulchre in relation to the _Gerusalemme_ 540
Intrusion of incongruous elements 542
Relative prominence of Tancredi and Rinaldo 543
The Woman-characters of Tasso 544
The Armida of Tasso 545
Her resemblances and inferiority to Dido 546
Her passion ill-sustained 546
Obtrusiveness of the amatory element 548
The Affront of Gernando 549
Difference in modes of describing personages 551
Battles and Similes of Tasso 552
Inferiority of the Return in the _Gerusalemme_ 553
Tasso’s greatness except as compared with Homer 554
SECT. VI.
_Some principal Homeric Characters in Troy.
Hector: Helen: Paris._
Homer’s character-drawing power 555
Corruption of the later tradition 556
Why specially destructive in his case 557
Mure’s treatment of the Homeric characters 558
The character of Hector set off with generalities 558
It became the basis for that of Orlando 559
The martial heroism of Hector second-rate 559
His boastfulness his only moral fault 561
Hectoring and Rodomontading 562
Hector’s sense of the guilt and shame of Paris 563
His responsibilities beyond his strength 565
Brightness of his character as to the affections 567
His piety, gentleness, and equity 568
Inequality of his character as a whole 569
Apparent reason for it 569
Opposite views of the character of Helen 571
Homer’s intention with respect to it 572
Two adverse mentions of her only 574
Homer’s epithets and simile for Helen 575
The case of Bathsheba 576
As to the free agency of Helen 577
Picture of Helen in Il. iii. 572
In Il. vi., Il. xxiv., Od. iv. 581
The marriage with Deiphobus 583
General estimate of the Homeric Helen 584
The character of Paris 585
His apathy, levity, and selfishness 586
His place in the War 587
Relation of his intellect to his morality 588
SECT. VII.
_The declension of the great Homeric Characters
in the later Tradition._
Physical conditions of the Greek Theatre 590
Absolute dependence on the popular taste 592
General obliteration of the finer distinctions 593
Mutilation of the Helen of Homer 593
The Helen of Euripides 595
Of Isocrates and of Virgil 597
Characters of Achilles and Ulysses in Homer 598
Mutilation of the Ulysses of Homer 601
Of the Achilles of Homer 602
The Achilles of Statius 604
Homeric characters in Seneca 605
New relative position of Trojans and Greeks 606
Trojanism in England 608
Imitations of Homeric characters by Tasso 609
The Troilus and Cressida 610
Shirley’s Ajax and Ulysses 612
Racine’s Iphigénie 613
Racine’s Andromaque 614
CONCLUSION 615