It is therefore most proper to understand the earth to be here an

instrument of time; not that the earth is moved, as the stars are; but

that, they being carried about it, it standing still makes sunset and

sunrising, by which the first measures of time, nights and days, are

circumscribed. Wherefore he called it the infallible guard and artificer

of night and day. For the gnomons of dials are instruments and measures

of time, not in being moved with the shadows, but in standing still;

they being like the earth in closing out the light of the sun when it

is down,--as Empedocles says that the earth makes night by intercepting

light. This therefore may be Plato's meaning.

And so much the rather might we consider whether the sun is not absurdly

and without probability said to be made for the distinction of time,

with the moon and the rest of the planets. For as in other respects

the dignity of the sun is great; so by Plato in his Republic (Plato,

"Republic." vi. pp. 508, 509.) the sun is called the king and lord of

the whole sensible nature, as the Chief Good is of the intelligible. For

it is said to be the offspring of Good, it supplying both generation

and appearance to things visible; as it is from Good that things

intelligible both are and are understood. But that this God, having such

a nature and so great power, should be only an instrument of time, and

a sure measure of the difference that happens among the eight orbs,

as they are slow or swift in motion, seems neither decent nor highly

rational. It must therefore be said to such as are startled at these

things, that it is their ignorance to think that time is the measure of

motion in respect of sooner or later, as Aristotle calls it; or quantity

in motion, as Speusippus; or an interval of motion and nothing else,

as some of the Stoics define it, by an accident, not comprehending

its essence and power, which Pindar has not ineptly expressed in these

words: Time, who surpasses all in the seats of the blest. Pythagoras

also, when he was asked what time was, answered, it was the soul of the

universe. For time is no affection or accident of motion, but the

cause, power, and principle of that symmetry and order that confines all

created beings, by which the animated nature of the universe is moved.

Or rather, this order and symmetry itself--so far as it is motion--is

called time. For this,

Walking by still and silent ways,

Mortal things with justice leads.

(Euripides, "Troades," 887.)

According to the ancients, the principle of the soul is a number moving

itself. Therefore Plato says that time and heaven were coexistent, but

that motion was before heaven had being. But time was not. For then

there neither was order, nor measure, nor determination; but indefinite

motion, as it were, the formless and rude matter of time.... But when

matter was informed with figures, and motion with circuitions, from that

came the world, from this time. Both are representations of God; the

world, of his essence; time, of his eternity in the sphere of motion,

as the world is God in creation. Therefore they say heaven and motion,

being bred together, will perish together, if ever they do perish. For

nothing is generated without time, nor is anything intelligible without

eternity; if this is to endure forever, and that never to die when once

bred. Time, therefore, having a necessary connection and affinity with

heaven, cannot be called simple motion, but (as it were) motion in order

having terms and periods; whereof since the sun is prefect and overseer,

to determine, moderate, produce, and observe changes and seasons, which

(according to Heraclitus) produce all things, he is coadjutor to the

governing and chief God, not in trivial things, but in the greatest and

most momentous affairs.

QUESTION IX. Since Plato in his Commonwealth, discoursing of the

faculties of the soul, has very well compared the symphony of reason and

of the irascible and the concupiscent faculties to the harmony of the

middle, lowest, and highest chord, (See "Republic," iv. p. 443.) some

men may properly inquire:--

DID PLATO PLACE THE RATIONAL OR THE IRASCIBLE FACULTY IN THE MIDDLE? FOR

HE IS NOT CLEAR IN THE POINT.

Indeed, according to the natural system of the parts, the place of the

irascible faculty must be in the middle, and of the rational in the

highest, which the Greeks call hypate. For they of old called the chief

and supreme [Greek omitted]. So Xenocrates calls Jove, in respect of

immutable things, [Greek omitted] (or HIGHEST), in respect of sublunary

things [Greek omitted] (or LOWEST). And long before him, Homer calls

the chief God [Greek omitted], HIGHEST OF RULERS. And Nature has of due

given the highest place to what is most excellent, having placed reason

as a steersman in the head, and the appetitive faculty at a distance,

last of all and lowest. And the lowest place they call [Greek omitted],

as the names of the dead, [Greek omitted] and [Greek omitted], do show.

And some say, that the south wind, inasmuch as it blows from a low

and obscure place, is called [Greek omitted]. Now since the appetitive

faculty stands in the same opposition to reason in which the lowest

stands to the highest and the last to the first, it is not possible for

the reason to be uppermost and first, and yet for any other part to be

the one called [Greek omitted] (or HIGHEST). For they that ascribe the

power of the middle to it, as the ruling power, are ignorant how

they deprive it of a higher power, namely, of the highest, which is

compatible neither to the irascible nor to the concupiscent faculty;

since it is the nature of them both to be governed by and obsequious to

reason, and the nature of neither of them to govern and lead it. And the

most natural place of the irascible faculty seems to be in the middle

of the other two. For it is the nature of reason to govern, and of the

irascible faculty both to govern and be governed, since it is obsequious

to reason, and commands the appetitive faculty when this is disobedient

to reason. And as in letters the semi-vowels are middling between mutes

and vowels, having something more than those and less than these; so in

the soul of man, the irascible faculty is not purely passive, but hath

often an imagination of good mixed with the irrational appetite of

revenge. Plato himself, after he had compared the soul to a pair of

horses and a charioteer, likened (as every one knows) the rational

faculty to the charioteer, and the concupiscent to one of the horses,

which was resty and unmanageable altogether, bristly about the ears,

deaf and disobedient both to whip and spur; and the irascible he makes

for the most part very obsequious to the bridle of reason, and assistant

to it. As therefore in a chariot, the middling one in virtue and power

is not the charioteer, but that one of the horses which is worse than

his guider and yet better than his fellow; so in the soul, Plato gives

the middle place not to the principal part, but to that faculty which

has less of reason than the principal part and more than the third. This

order also keeps the analogy of the symphonies, i.e. the proportion of

the irascible to the rational (which is placed as hypate) making the

diatessaron (or fourth), that of the irascible to the concupiscent (or

nete) making the diapente (or fifth), and that of the rational to the

concupiscent (as hypate to nete) making an octave or diapason. But

should you place the rational in the middle, you would make the

irascible farther from the concupiscent; though some of the philosophers

have taken the irascible and the concupiscent faculty for the selfsame,

by reason of their likeness.

But it may be ridiculous to describe the first, middle, and last by

their place; since we see hypate highest in the harp, lowest in the

pipe; and wheresoever you place the mese in the harp, provided it is

tunable, it sounds more acute than hypate, and more grave than nete. Nor

does the eye possess the same place in all animals; but whereever it is

placed, it is natural for it to see. So a pedagogue, though he goes not

foremost but follows behind, is said to lead ([Greek omitted]), as the

general of the Trojan army,

Now in the front, now in the rear was seen,

And kept command;

("Iliad," xi. 64.)

but wherever he was, he was first and chief in power. So the faculties

of the soul are not to be ranged by mere force in order of place or

name, but according to their power and analogy. For that in the body

of man reason is in the highest place, is accidental. But it holds

the chief and highest power, as mese to hypate, in respect of the

concupiscent; as mese to nete, in respect of the irascible; insomuch as

it depresses and heightens,--and in fine makes a harmony,--by abating

what is too much and by not suffering them to flatten and grow dull. For

what is moderate and symmetrous is defined by mediocrity. Still more is

it the end of the rational faculty to bring the passions to moderation,

which is called sacred, as making a harmony of the extremes with reason,

and through reason with each other. For in chariots the best of the team

is not in the middle; nor is the skill of driving to be placed as an

extreme, but it is a mean between the inequality of the swiftness and

the slowness of the horses. So the force of reason takes up the passions

irrationally moved, and reducing them to measure, constitutes a mean

betwixt too much and too little.

QUESTION X. WHY SAID PLATO, THAT SPEECH WAS COMPOSED OF NOUNS AND VERBS?

(Plato's "Sophist," p. 262 A.)

For he seems to make no other parts of speech but them. But Homer in a

playful humor has comprehended them all in one verse:--

[Greek omitted] ("Iliad", i. 185.)

For in it there is pronoun, participle, noun, preposition, article,

conjunction, adverb, and verb, the particle--[Greek omitted] being put

instead of the preposition [Greek omitted]; for [Greek omitted], TO THE

TENT, is said in the same sense as [Greek omitted], TO ATHENS. What then

shall we say for Plato?

Is it that at first the ancients called that [Greek omitted], or

speech, which once was called protasis and now is called axiom or

proposition,--which as soon as a man speaks, he speaks either true

or false? This consists of a noun and verb, which logicians call

the subject and predicate. For when we hear this said, "Socrates

philosphizeth" or "Socrates is changed," requiring nothing more, we say

the one is true, the other false. For very likely in the beginning men

wanted speech and articulate voice, to enable them to express clearly

at once the passions and the patients, the actions and the agents. Now,

since actions and affections are adequately expressed by verbs, and they

that act and are affected by nouns, as he says, these seem to signify.

And one may say, the rest signify not. For instance, the groans and

shrieks of stage players, and even their smiles and silence, make their

discourse more emphatic. But they have no absolute power to signify

anything, as a noun and verb have, but only an ascititious power to vary

speech; just as they vary letters who mark spirits and quantities upon

letters, these being the accidents and differences of letters. This the

ancients have made manifest, whom sixteen letters sufficed to speak and

write anything.

Besides, we must not fail to observe, that Plato says that speech is

composed OF these, not BY these; nor must we find fault with Plato for

omitting conjunctions, prepositions, and the rest, any more than we

should criticise a man who should say such a medicine is composed of wax

and galbanum, because fire and utensils are omitted, without which it

cannot be produced. For speech is not composed of these; yet by their

means, and not without them, speech must be composed. As, if a man says

BEATS or IS BEATEN, and adds Socrates and Pythagoras to the same, he

gives us something to conceive and understand. But if a man pronounce

INDEED or FOR or ABOUT and no more, none can conceive any notion of a

body or matter; and unless such words as these be uttered with verbs and

nouns, they are but empty noise and chattering. For neither alone nor

joined one with another do they signify anything. And join and confound

together conjunctions, articles, and prepositions, supposing you would

make something of them; yet you will be taken to babble, and not to

speak sense. But when there is a verb in construction with a noun, the

result is speech and sense. Therefore some do with justice make only

these two parts of speech; and perhaps Homer is willing to declare

himself of this mind, when he says so often,

[Greek omitted]

For by [Greek omitted] he usually means a verb, as in these verses.

[Greek omitted],

and,

[Greek omitted] ("Odyssey," xxiii. 183; viii. 408.)

For neither conjunction, article, nor preposition could be said to be

[Greek omitted] (TERRIBLE) or [Greek omitted] (SOUL GRIEVING), but

only a verb signifying a base action or a foolish passion of the mind.

Therefore, when we would praise or dispraise poets or writers, we are

wont to say, such a man uses Attic nouns and good verbs, or else common

nouns and verbs; but none can say that Thucydides or Euripides used

Attic or common articles.

What then? May some say, do the rest of the parts conduce nothing to

speech? I answer, They conduce, as salt does to victuals; or water to

barley cakes. And Euenus calls fire the best sauce. Though sometimes

there is neither occasion for fire to boil, nor for salt to season our

food, which we have always occasion for. Nor has speech always occasion

for articles. I think I may say this of the Latin tongue, which is now

the universal language; for it has taken away all prepositions, saving

a few, nor does it use any articles, but its nouns are (as it were)

without skirts and borders. Nor is it any wonder, since Homer, who

in fineness of epic surpasses all men, has put articles only to a few

nouns, like handles to cans, or crests to helmets. Therefore these

verses are remarkable wherein the articles are suppressed.--

[Greek omitted] ("Iliad," xiv. 459.)

and,

[Greek omitted] (Ibid. xx. 147.)

and some few besides. But in a thousand others, the omission of the

articles hinders neither perspicuity nor elegance of phrase.

Now neither an animal nor an instrument nor arms nor anything else

is more fine, efficacious, or pleasanter, for the loss of a part. Yet

speech, by taking away conjunctions, often becomes more persuasive, as

here:--

One rear'd a dagger at a captive's breast;

One held a living foe, that freshly bled

With new-made wounds, another dragg'd a dead.

(Ibid. xviii. 536.)

And this of Demosthenes:--

"A bully in an assault may do much which his victim cannot even report

to another person,--by his attitude, his look, his voice,--when he

insults, when he attacks as an enemy, when he smites with his fist,

when he strikes a blow on the face. These rouse a man; these make a man

beside himself who is unused to such foul abuse."

And again:--

"Not so with Midias; but from the very day, he talks, he abuses, he

shouts. Is there an election of magistrates? Midias the Anagyrrasian is

nominated. He is the advocate of Plutarchus; he knows state secrets; the

city cannot contain him." ("Demosthenes against Midias," p. 537,25, and

p. 578, 29.)

Therefore the figure asyndeton, whereby conjunctions are omitted, is

highly commended by writers of rhetoric. But such as keep overstrict to

the law, and (according to custom) omit not a conjunction, rhetoricians

blame for using a dull, flat, tedious style, without any variety in it.

And inasmuch as logicians mightily want conjunctions for the joining

together their axioms, as much as charioteers want yokes, and Ulysses

wanted withs to tie Cyclop's sheep; this shows they are not parts of

speech, but a conjunctive instrument thereof, as the word conjunction

imports. Nor do conjunctions join all, but only such as are not spoken

simply; unless you will make a cord part of the burthen, glue a part

of a book, or distribution of money part of the government. For Demades

says, that money which is given to the people out of the exchequer for

public shows is the glue of a democracy. Now what conjunction does so of

several propositions make one, by fitting and joining them together, as

marble joins iron that is incited with it in the fire? Yet the marble

neither is nor is said to be part of the iron; although in this case the

substances compose the mixture and are melted together, so as to make a

common substance from several and to be mutually affected. But there be

some who think that conjunctions do not make anything one, but that this

kind of speech is merely an enumeration, as when magistrates or days are

reckoned in order.

Moreover, as to the other parts of speech, a pronoun is manifestly a

sort of noun; not only because it has cases, but because some pronouns,

when they are used of objects already defined, by their mere utterance

give the most distinct designation of them. Nor do I know whether he

that says SOCRATES or he that says THIS ONE does more by name declare

the person.

The thing we call a participle, being a mixture of a verb and noun

is nothing of itself, as are not the common names of male and female

qualities (i.e, adjectives), but in construction it is put with others,

in regard of tenses belonging to verbs, in regard of cases to nouns.

Logicians call them [Greek omitted], (i.e., REFLECTED),--as [Greek

omitted], comes from [Greek omitted], and from [Greek omitted],--having

the force both of nouns and appellatives.

And prepositions are like to the crests of a helmet, or footstools and

pedestals, which (one may rather say) do belong to words than are words

themselves. See whether they rather be not pieces and scraps of words,

as they that are in haste write but dashes and points for letters. For

it is plain that [Greek omitted] and [Greek omitted] are abbreviations

of the whole words [Greek omitted] and [Greek omitted]. As undoubtedly

for haste and brevity's sake, instead of [Greek omitted] and [Greek

omitted] men first said [Greek omitted] and [Greek omitted].

Therefore every one of these is of some use in speech; but nothing is a

part or element of speech (as has been said) except a noun and a verb,

which make the first juncture allowing of truth or falsehood, which some

call a proposition or protasis, others an axiom, and which Plato called

speech.

END OF ELEVEN-----------

LITERARY ESSAYS.

THE LIFE AND POETRY OF HOMER

(Homeric quotations are almost all taken from Lord Derby's "Iliad" and

Butcher and Long's "Odyssey." The first is indicated by the letter I,

the second by O.)

Homer, who was in time first among most poets and by his power first of

all poets, we justly read first, thereby gaining the greatest advantages

for our language, for our intellect, and for practical knowledge. Let us

speak of his poetry, first having shortly recalled his origin.

Homer, Pindar says, was a Chian and of Smyrnae; Simonides says a Chian;

Antimachus and Nicander, a Colophonion; but the philosopher Aristotle

says he was of Iete; the historian Ephorus says he was from Kyme. Some

do not hesitate to say he was from Salamis in Cyprus; some, an Argive.

Aristarchus and Dionysius the Thracian say that he was an Athenian. By

some he is spoken of as the son of Maeon and Kritheus; by others, (a

son) of the river-god Meles.

Just as there is a difficulty about his origin, so there is about the

time in which he flourished. Aristarchus says he lived about the period

of the Ionian emigration; this happened sixty years after the return of

the Heraclidae. But the affair of the Heraclidae took place eighty years

after the destruction of Troy. Crates reports that he lived before the

return of the Heraclidae, so he was not altogether eighty years distant

from the Trojan War. But by very many it is believed that he was born

one hundred years after the Trojan War, not much before the foundation

of the Olympic games, from which the time according to the Olympics is

reckoned.

There are two poems of his, the "Iliad" and the "Odyssey," both, of

which are arranged according to the number of letters in the alphabet,

not by the poet himself, but by Aristarchus, the grammarian. Of these,

the "Iliad" records the deeds of the Greeks and Barbarians in Ilium on

account of the rape of Helen, and particularly the valor displayed

in the war by Achilles. In the "Odyssey" are described the return

of Ulysses home after the Trojan War, and his experiences in his

wanderings, and how he took vengeance on those who plotted against his

house. From this it is evident that Homer sets before us, through the

"Iliad," bodily courage; in the "Odyssey," nobility of soul.

But the poet is not to be blamed because in his poetry he sets forth not

only the virtues but the evils of the soul, its sadness and its joys,

its fears and desires; for being a poet, it is necessary for him to

imitate not only good but evil characters. For without these the deeds

would not get the admiration of the hearer, who must pick out the better

characters. And he has made the gods associating with men not only for

the sake of interest and entertainment, but that he might declare by

this that the gods care for and do not neglect men.

To sum up, an extraordinary and mythical narration of events is employed

in order to stir his readers with wonder and to make his hearers

strongly impressed. Whence he seems to have said some things contrary to

what is likely. For the persuasive always follows where the remarkable

and elevated are previously conjoined. Therefore he not only elevates

actions, and turns them from their customary course, but words as well.

That he always handles novel things and things out of the common sphere,

and leads on his hearers, is evident to every one. And indeed in these

fabulous narratives, if one reads not unattentively but carefully each

element of what is said, Homer appears to have been at home in the whole

sphere and art of logic, and to have supplied many incentives, and as it

were seeds of all kinds of thought and action to his posterity, not to

poets alone, but to the authors of historical and scientific works. Let

us first look at his varied form of speech, and afterward at his sound

knowledge on matters of fact. All poetry grips the hearer by definite

order of coordinated expressions, by rhythm and metre, since the smooth

and flowing, by becoming at the same time grave and sweet, forces the

attention by its action on the senses. Whence it comes to pass also that

it delights not only by the striking and attractive parts, but easily

persuades by the parts tending to virtue.

The poems of Homer have the most perfect metre, the hexameter, which

is also called heroic. It is called hexameter because each line has six

feet: one of these is of two long syllables, called spondee; the other,

of three syllables, one long and two short, which is called dactyl. Both

are isochronic. These in interchangeable order fill out the hexameter

verse. It is called heroic because in it the deeds of the heroes are

recounted.

He makes use of a sound diction, combining the characteristics of every

Greek dialect, from which it is plain that he travelled over the whole

of Greece and among every people in it. He uses the ellipse of the

Dorians, due to their practice of shortening their speech, saying for

[Greek omitted], as (O. i. 392): "Immediately a beautiful horse ([Greek

omitted]) was his," and for [Greek omitted] he uses [Greek omitted], as

(O. xix. 543): "Because ([Greek omitted]) an eagle killed my geese"; and

for [Greek omitted], "back," [Greek omitted], changing the o into a, the

[Greek letter omitted] and the [Greek letter omitted] into its related

letter. And [Greek omitted] he changes to [Greek omitted](I. xiv. 249):

"For before at another time ([Greek omitted]) your precepts made me

modest," and similar cases. Likewise, dropping the middle syllable, he

says for [Greek omitted], "of like hair," and [Greek omitted], "of the

same years," [Greek omitted]; and for [Greek omitted], that is, "of the

same father," [Greek omitted]; for [Greek omitted]; "to tremble," [Greek

omitted] for [Greek omitted], "I honour," [Greek omitted]. It is a

characteristic of the Dorians also to transpose letters, as when they

say for [Greek omitted], [Greek omitted].

In composite words he makes use of the syncope of the Aeolians, saying

[Greek omitted] instead of [Greek omitted], "they went to sleep," and

[Greek omitted], for [Greek omitted], "to subject."

Then when the third person of the imperfect among other Greek peoples

ends in the diphthong [Greek letter], the Eolians end in [Greek letter],

as when they say for [Greek omitted], "he was loving," [Greek omitted],

and for [Greek omitted], "he was thinking," [Greek omitted]. This custom

Homer followed, saying (I. xi. 105): "He bound ([Greek omitted]) in

tender twigs," instead of [Greek omitted], and (O. v. 478): "Which

neither any humid power of the wind penetrates" [Greek omitted]. Besides

this they change [Greek letter] into [Greek letter], as they say [Greek

omitted] for [Greek omitted], "odor," and [Greek Omitted] for [Greek

omitted], "we knew."

Besides, they use pleonasm in some expressions, as when they put for

[Greek omitted], "calm," [Greek omitted], [Greek omitted] for [Greek

omitted], "but," [Greek omitted] got [Greek omitted], "having cried."

And when to the second person of verbs they add [Greek omitted],

for [Greek omitted] "thou speakest," [Greek omitted], and for [Greek

omitted], "thou hast spoken," [Greek omitted]. Some attribute the

doubling of the consonant to the Dorians, some to the Aeolians. Such

as we find in I. v. 83: "Black death laid hold on [Greek omitted] him,"

[Greek omitted]; for [Greek omitted] as I. iii. 321: "Each did these

deeds."

He preserves the peculiarity of the Ionians for the preterite tenses

of verbs the aphaeresis, as where he says [Greek omitted] for [Greek

omitted]. So in past tenses they are want to begin with the same letter

as in present tenses and to leave off the [Greek letter] in the word

[Greek omitted], "priest" and [Greek omitted], "hawk." Besides, they

add [Greek letter] to the third persons of the subjunctive mood, as when

they say for [Greek omitted] "may have come," [Greek omitted], and for

[Greek omitted], "may have taken," [Greek omitted]. This participle

they add to the dative, [Greek omitted], "to the gates," "to the woods."

Besides, they say [Greek omitted] for "name", and [Greek omitted] for

[Greek omitted], "disease" and [Greek omitted] for [Greek omitted],

"empty," and [Greek omitted] for [Greek omitted], "black." And then they

change long [Greek letter] into [Greek letter], as[Greek omitted] for

[Greek omitted], "Juno," and for [Greek omitted], Minerva. And sometimes

they change [Greek letter] into [Greek letter], saying for [Greek

omitted], "having forgotten." Moreover, they write in full by diaeresis

words which are circumflexed, for [Greek omitted], "intelligent," [Greek

omitted]. In the same way they lengthen genitive singulars in [Greek

omitted], as [Greek omitted], and genitive feminines in [Greek omitted],

as [Greek omitted], "of gates," [Greek omitted], "of nymphs," and

finally regular plurals of nouns in the neuter gender ending in [Greek

letter] as [Greek omitted], [Greek omitted], "breasts," "darts," and

their genitives likewise. They say in their way [Greek omitted] for

[Greek omitted].

But he most largely used the Attic dialect for it was combined with

others. For just as in Attic they say [Greek omitted] for [Greek

omitted], "people," so he did, as [Greek omitted] and [Greek omitted],

"debt." It is a custom with them sometimes to use contractions and

to put one syllable for two, as for [Greek omitted], "word," [Greek

omitted], and for [Greek omitted], "clothes," [Greek omitted]. Related

to these is that Homeric expression, "the Trojans in crowds bent over"

[Greek omitted], and another case, "fields bearing the lotos" [Greek

omitted], instead of [Greek omitted]. Besides they take [Greek letter]

from that type of optative, saying for [Greek omitted], "it might seem

good to thee," [Greek omitted], for [Greek omitted], "mightiest thou be

honored," [Greek omitted]. There is also an Atticism [Greek omitted] for

[Greek omitted] in his verse (I. iii. 102):--

But you others discerned most quickly.

Likewise this, too, is Attic, "the more were worse [Greek omitted], the

few better [Greek omitted], than their fathers;" we say [Greek omitted]

or [Greek omitted]. And they do not prolong these by diaeresis, [Greek

omitted], as "oxen [Greek omitted] falling down," and, "fishes [Greek

omitted] and birds." And that, too, is said in the Attic fashion (O.

xii. 331):--

Nor flowing do they break ([Greek omitted] for

[Greek omitted]) by their violence.

In the same way as [Greek omitted], [Greek omitted].

And the taking away short vowels is Attic: [Greek omitted], "he is

washed," [Greek omitted], "I think," [Greek omitted]; in the same way

for [Greek omitted], "he is loosed," he says [Greek omitted]. The Attics

say [Greek omitted], adding an unnecessary [Greek letter], whence also

comes [Greek omitted], "he was pouring out wine." They contract the

iota in words of this sort, as for [Greek omitted], "shores," [Greek

omitted], "shores," and for [Greek omitted], [Greek omitted]. So also

(I. xi. 782):--

You two [Greek omitted] wished it very much.

Finally in datives ending in pure iota with a penultimate of alpha the

same is done, as [Greek omitted], "horn," [Greek omitted], "old age,"

[Greek omitted], "ray." And this, too, is Attic, where it is said [Greek

omitted], "let them be," and [Greek omitted], "let them follow," for

[Greek omitted] and [Greek omitted]. The use of the dual which Homer

repeatedly employs is of the same type. Also with feminine substantives

he joins masculine articles, participles, and adjectives, as [Greek

omitted]. This is a practice with Plato, as when he uses [Greek omitted]

"pillaging," and [Greek omitted], "the wise just woman." So, too, Homer

(I. viii. 455), speaking of Here and Athene, says:--

In vain smitten [Greek omitted] with a thunderbolt on

our chariots,--

and (I. iv. 22):--

Athene was indeed unwilling [Greek omitted],--

and (I. ii. 742):--

Famous [Greek omitted] Hippodamea.

Moreover the dialects have many peculiarities of construction. When the

poet says (I. iv. 100):--

But seek with your javelins of divine Menelaos,--

instead of the accusative, he presents an Attic usage. But when he says

(I. ii. 186):--

He took for him the sceptre and he took the cup for

fair-cheeked Themis--

instead of "from him" and "from Themis," he is employing a Dorian usage.

Accordingly it appears how he makes his diction varied by throwing

together words of all the Greek dialects, and sometimes he makes use of

foreign words as are the aforesaid, sometimes archaic words, as when

he says [Greek omitted], "falchion," and [Greek omitted], "sword,"

sometimes common and ordinary words, as when he says [Greek omitted],

"sword and shield"; one might wonder how well common words in his poetry

preserve dignity of speech.

But an artificially wrought style cultivates variation from the

customary, by which it becomes clever, more dignified, and altogether

more attractive. The turn of expression is called a Trope, and change

of construction is called a Schema. The forms of these are described in

technical treatises. Let us examine if any of these is omitted by Homer

or whether anything else was discovered by his successors which he

himself did not use first.

Among Tropes, Onomatopoeia is very common. For he knew the early origin

of words. The first who gave names to things called many of them from

what had taken place, and therefore introduced inarticulate sounds into

writing. As when they said [Greek omitted], "to blow," [Greek omitted],

"to cut," [Greek omitted], "to woo," [Greek omitted], "to thunder,"

and others like these. Whence he himself created certain words not

previously existing, copying the things they signified, as [Greek

omitted], "sound," and other things also indicating sounds, [Greek

omitted], and others of the same kind. None could be found more

significant. And again where some words pertaining to certain things he

attributes to others, as when he says (I. xxi. 337):--

Bearing an evil fire,--

which signifies its power in burning, and "fever" he uses for "fire."

Like these is the expression (I. xix. 25):--

Brass striking wounds,--

he writes to express wounds inflicted by brass. And to sum up he uses

much novelty of speech, with great freedom, changing some from their

customary use, giving distinction to others for the sake of infusing in

his language beauty and grandeur.

He has also much fertility in epithets; these being fitted to their

objects properly and naturally have the force of proper names, as when

he gives to the several gods each some proper designation, so he

calls Zeus the "all-wise and high thundering," and the Sun, Hyperion,

"advancing aloft," and Apollo, Phoebus, that is, shining. But after the

Onomatopoeia let us examine other Tropes.

Catechresis, which changes a word from a customary signification to

another not recognized. This is to be found in the poet when he says

golden chain [Greek omitted], but [Greek omitted] properly means a rope,

and when he says a goat helmet [Greek omitted]; now a helmet is [Greek

omitted] in Homer, because it used to be made of dog's skin, not of

goat's skin.

Metaphor, so-called because it transfers a thing from its proper

significance to another with an analogous likeness to both, occurs in

many and varied forms in verse, as is the line (O. ix. 481):--

He comes, having broken off the crown of a great mountain,--

and (O. x. 195):

An island which the sea laves and crowns.

For the relation a crown has to him whom it encircles, the same the sea

has to an island. By making use of related but not usual words he makes

his speech not only more beautiful but more picturesque.

There are in Homer various kinds of metaphors; some applied from animate

things to animate, as, "the driver of the caerulean ship spoke" instead

of the sailor, and "he went to Agamemnon the son of Atreus, the shepherd

of the people" instead of king. Some are applied from animate to

inanimate, as (I. ii. 824):--

Under the extreme foot of Ida,--

that is, the rising ground. Also (I. ix. 141):--

The breast of the field,--

that is, the fertility. Others, on the contrary, from inanimate to

animate, as (I. xxiv. 205):--

The iron breast.

From inanimate to animate, as (O. v. 490):--

Preserving the seed of fire,--

instead of the generating origin. Then he has metaphors of verbs as well

as substantives (I. xvii. 265):--

As the shores bellow with the smiting salt and gale,--

instead of "resound."

Another Trope which is called Metalepsis, signifying a different thing

by a synonym (O. xv. 299):--

I beached the ship in the sharp islands,--

for he wishes to signify islands properly called jagged. Both words in

Greek are synonyms. For in Greek sharp not only signifies swiftness of

motion, but also in a figure that which rises into a slender shape. Such

is the quotation (O. ix. 327):--

accompanied him and sharpened my pace.

Another Trope is named Synecdoche, called from this reason; that from

what is properly meant, another of the like kind is understood. This

Trope has also many varieties. For either we perceive the part from the

whole, as (I. xii. 137):--

They advanced straight to the walls the burning bulls,--

for he wishes to indicate by the appellation "bulls" the leather out

of which shields are wont to be made. Or from a part the whole (O. i.

343):--

I long for such a head,--

for from the head he signifies the man. And when for beautiful he

says "endowed with beautiful cheeks," and for well armed he says "well

greaved." Or from one the many, as when he speaks of Odysseus (O. i.

2):--

When he wasted the sacred citadel of Troy.

Not he by himself took Troy, but along with the rest of the Greeks. From

the many one, as (I. iii. 397), "happy breasts," i.e. breast. From the

species the genus, as (I. xii. 380):--

Casting on the hard marble,--

for marble is a species of rock. From the genus the species (O. ii.

159).--

To know the birds and to say many fitting things.

He wishes to say not all birds, but only the birds of auspices. From the

instruments the action, as (I. ii. 827):--

Pandorus to whom he gave the bow of Apollo.

By the bow he indicates the skill in using it. And (O. xii. 172):--

Sitting they made the water white,--

and (O. iii. 486):--

Now others moved the whole day the thong of their sandal.

This comes from an accidental feature; in the first case "they were

rowing," in the next "they were running," is to be implied. Besides

there is the consequent to the precedent, as (O. xi. 245):--

She loosed the virgin zone.

It follows that she defiled it. From the consequent the precedent, as

when instead of saying "to kill" he says "to disarm," that is, to spoil.

There is another Trope called Metonymy, i.e. when an expression applied

properly to one thing indicates another related to it, such as (I. ii.

426):--

But the young men proceed to grind Demeter,--

for he means the crop of grain named from its inventor, Demeter. And

when he says (O. xix. 28):--

They held the transfixed entrails over Hephaestus.

By the name Hephaestus he signifies fire. Like what has previously been

mentioned is this (I. i. 223).--

Whoever shall touch my choenix,--

for what is contained in the choenix is intended.

There is besides another Trope, Autonomasia, when an epithet or co-title

is used for a proper name, as in this example (I. viii. 39):--

The son of Peleus again attacked the son of Atreus

with petulant words.

By this he indicates Achilles and Agamemnon respectively. And again (I.

xxii. 183):--

Be of good cheer, Tritonia, dear daughter,--

and in other places (I. xx. 39):--

Shorn Phoebus.

In the one case he means Athene and in the other Apollo.

There is, too, Antiphrasis, or an expression signifying the opposite

from what it appears to do (I. i. 330):--

Seeing these Achilles did not rejoice.

He wishes to say the contrary, that seeing them he was disgusted.

There is also Emphasis, which through reflection adds vigor to what is

said (O. xi. 523):--

But descending into the home which Epeus constructed.

In the word "descending" he reveals the great size of the house. Of the

same kind is the line (I. xvi. 333):--

The whole sand was hot with blood,--

for in this he furnishes a more intense description, as if the sand was

so bathed with blood that it was hot. These kind of Tropes were invented

by Homer first of all.

Let us look at the changes of construction which are called figures to

see if Homer also first invented these. Figure is a method of expression

divergent from ordinary custom for the sake of ornament or utility,

altered by a kind of fiction. For beauty is added to narrative by

variety and change of expression, and these make the style more

impressive. They are also useful because they exalt and intensify innate

qualities and powers.

Among the figures Pleonasm is sometimes used for the sake of the metre;

as in (I. xix. 247):--

Odysseus adding all ten talents of gold,--

for the word "all" is added without contributing to the sense. It is

done for the sake of ornament, cf. (I. xviii. 12).--

Certainly the strenuous son of Menoetius is quite dead,--

for the word "quite" is pleonastic after the Attic fashion.

Sometimes by several forms of speech he unfolds his meaning. This is

called Periphrasis. As when he says "Sons of the Achaeans" for Achaeans,

and the "Herculean might" for Hercules.

Things are said figuratively by Mutation when the ordinary order is

inverted. But he puts in an expression in the midst which is called

Hyperbaton, as in this (I. xvii. 542):--

Just as a lion feeds on an eaten bull,--

instead of saying the lion eats up the bull. And so he passes the limits

of the sentence (I. ii. 333):--

He said, and loudly cheered the Greeks--and loud

From all the hollow ships came back the cheers--

In admiration of Ulysses' speech.

The order is the Argives applauded with a great shout the speech of

divine Odysseus.

Of the same kind is the figure called Parembole, or interposition, when

something outside having nothing to do with the subject is introduced.

If it is removed, the construction is not affected (I. i. 234):--

By this I say and with an oath confirm

By this my royal staff, which never more

Shall put forth leaf nor spray, since first it left

Upon the mountain side its parent stem

Nor blossom more; since all around the axe

Hath lopped both leaf and bark--...

and the rest as much as he has said about the sceptre, then joining what

follows with the beginning (I. i. 340):--

The time shall come when all the sons of Greece

Shall mourn Achilles' loss.

He uses also Palillogia--that is the repetition of some part of

a sentence, or several parts are repeated. This figure is called

Reduplication, such as (I. xx. 371):--

Encounter him well! Though his hands were hands of fire,

Of fire, his hands, his strength as burnished steel.

Sometimes certain insertions are made and they are repeated, as in (O.

i. 22):--

Howbeit Poseidon had now departed for the distant Ethiopians,

the Ethiopians that are sundered in twain, the uttermost

of men.

This is a figure revealing the feeling of the speaker and at the same

time affecting the hearer.

Of the same kind is Relation; when at the commencement of several

members of a sentence the same part is repeated. An example of this from

the poet is (I. ii. 671):--

Nireus three well-trimmed ships from Syme brought.

Nireus to Charops whom Aglaia bore.

Nireus the goodliest man of all the Greeks.

This figure is likewise adapted to excite the emotions and give

sweetness to the expression.

He has also Regression. This is when one puts forward two names of

objects. When the sense is not yet complete, the poet returns to both of

the names, completing what is lacking in the sense, as (I. v. 518).--

Followed the thronging bands of Troy, by Mars and fierce

Bellona led: she by the hand wild uproar held; while Mars

a giant spear brandished aloft.

The characteristic of this figure is variety and perspicuity.

He has also the figure called Homoioteleuton in which the parts of the

sentence have endings similar in sound and have the same syllables at

the end (O. xv. 74):--

Men should love a guest while he is with them, and send

him on his way when he would depart,--

and in the following (O. vi. 42):--

And she departed to Olympus, where they say is the seat of the gods that

standeth fast forever. Not by the wind is it shaken nor ever wet with

rain nor doth the snow come nigh thereto, but most clear air is spread

about it cloudless and the white light floats over it.

When periods or their members end in nouns which are of the same

declension this is properly called Homoioptolon, as the following (I.

ii. 87):--

[Greek omitted]

As swarms of bees, that pour in ceaseless stream

From out the crevice of some hollow rock.

The above and others like them add grace and attractiveness to the

narrative.

As a proof of his care in composition we often see he employs two

figures in the same verses, as Epanaphora and Homoioteleuton (I. ii.

382):--

Each sharpen well his spear, his shield prepare

Each to his fiery steeds their forage give.

Belonging to these is the figure called Parison, which is formed out

of two or more numbers having an equal number of words (I. vii. 93):--

Shamed to refuse, but fearful to accept.--

and again (I. xvi. 282):--

Had cast away difference, had resumed friendship,--

That this figure gives much ornament of style is very clear.

The like grace comes from Paranomasia, when besides the name in question

another similar one is added at a slight interval (I. vi. 130):--

Not long did Dryas' son, Lycurgus brave,--

and in another (I. ii. 758):--

Swift-footed Protheus led.

But the above examples are arranged either by Pleonasm or by some such

like artifice. But there is another due to absence of a word. Of

thes omitted the sense is plain from what has gone before, as in the

following (I. ix. 328):--

Twelve cities have I taken with my ships,

Eleven more by land on Trojan soil,--

where the words "have I taken" are wanting in last line, but are

supplied from the preceding one. This is said to be by Ellipse (I. xii.

243):--

One bird best to defend the fatherland,--

where the word "is" is lacking. And (I. xx. 293):--

Alas I the grief to me of great-hearted Aeneas,--

when the words "is present," "comes," or something of the kind, are

understood.

There are many kinds of Ellipses in Homer; the effect of the figure is

quickness.

Of this sort is Asyndeton when the conjunctions uniting sentences are

removed. This is done not only for the sake of celerity, but also of the

sake of emotional emphasis. Such as is the following (O. x. 251):--

We went on our way, noble Odysseus, up through the coppice

even as thou didst command; we found within the forest glades

the fair halls builded of polished stone of Circe.

In these the conjunction is dropped since the speaker seeks the quickest

method of expressing his message. There is among the figures what is

called the Incongruous or the Variation. It is used when the ordinary

arrangement is made different. And the variety is due either to

impressing grace and elegance to the words; the ordinary movements not

seeming to be followed, but the alteration has an arrangement of its

own.

It often takes place when the genders of nouns are changed as [Greek

omitted] instead of [Greek omitted] and [Greek omitted]. It was not

unusual for the ancients, and especially among the people of Attica, to

use masculine for feminine as superior and more vigorous. Nor did they

do this without rhyme and reason, but when they made use of a word,

as an epithet apart from the body which was spoken of. For the words

concerned with the body are "great, beautiful," those not connected with

it, "glorious, fortunate." Besides, they are ambiguous on account of

their composition. For in general all compound things are common

to either gender. And wherever a verb or participle is used with a

masculine and feminine noun, the masculine prevails (I. vi. 567):--

The virgins and the youths minding childish things,--

where the participle is masculine.

Certain things, owing to the peculiarity of the dialect or the custom

of that time, are said differently, [Greek omitted] feminine instead of

[Greek omitted] (O. i. 53):--

And himself upholds the tall pillars which keep earth

and sky asunder.

Often as the narrative proceeds he changes the genders, as in (O, xv.

125):--

I give to you the gift, my dear son.

Son is a neuter substantive to which the adjective agrees; the poet

refers it to the person. Of the same kind is that which is said by Dione

to Venus (I. v. 382):--

Have patience, dearest child; though much enforced.

Analogous to it is that (O. xi. 90):--

Anon came the soul of Theban Teiresias, with a golden sceptre

in his hand,--

for he made the participle [Greek omitted] agree not with the gender of

soul [Greek omitted], but the gender of the body, that is, Teiresias.

For often he looks not to the word but to the sense, as in this passage

(I. xvi. 280):--

In all their spirit stirred, and the phalanxes moved hoping

for the idle son of Peleus from the ships,--

for the participle [Greek omitted] does not agree with the word

"phalanxes," but with the men composing them.

In another way he changes genders, as when he says (O. xii. 75):--

And a dark cloud encompasses it; this never streams away,--

since [Greek omitted] and [Greek omitted], "cloud," are synonyms, using

first [Greek omitted] he afterward makes his adjectives agree with

[Greek omitted] understood. Like this are these verses (I. ii. 459):--

As various tribes of winged fowl or geese

Or cranes or long necked swans

Besides Coysters stream, now here, now there,

Disporting, ply their wings.

For having first set down generically the kinds of birds, which are

neuter, then after speaking of the species in the masculine he comes

back again to the neuter--settling down with a noise giving the proper

agreement to the general word of the species.

The poet often changes the number as well as the gender (I. xv. 305):--

The crowd approach the ships of the Achaeans.

First comes a singular then a plural verb, plainly looking to the sense,

for although the word "crowd" is called singular, yet it embraces many

individuals.

Like it in the opposite way is when the plural precedes the singular

follows (I. xvi. 264):--

They having a martial heart each one rushes on.

The word [Greek omitted] is singular, being applied to a multitude has

the same effect as all ([Greek omitted]). The same kind of figure is the

following (O. iii. 4):--

And they reached Pylas, the stablished castle of Neleus, and

the people were doing sacrifice on the seashore.

The people of Pylas are meant.

He has changes of cases, the nominative and the vocative being

interchanged in the following verse (I. ii. 107):--

To Agamemnon last Thyestis left it,--

and (I. i. 411):--

Cloud-compelling Zeus,--

and (0. xvii. 415):--

Friend [Greek omitted] give me for thou dost not seem to me

to be the worst of the Greeks.

The genitive and dative are changed in the next example (I. iii. 16):--

Godlike Paris fights in front for the Trojans,--

instead of "in front of." And the contrary in the next (O. v. 68):--

There about the hollow cave trailed a gadding vine.

Where in the original the Greek word "cave" is in the genitive case,

not as it should be, dative. And the cause of the mutation is that the

nominative accusative and vocative seem to have a certain relation

to one another. On which account nouns of the neuter gender and many

masculine and feminine ones have these three cases alike. Likewise the

genitive has a certain affinity with the dative. This is found in the

dual number of all words. Hence the cases are changed contrary to

what is usual. Sometimes it is possible to discover the reason for the

change, as in the expression (I. v. 222):--

Understanding of the field,--

and (I. ii. 785):--

They crossed the field,--

just as if he had used the preposition "through."

A fine example of change of case is found in the beginning of both his

poems:--

Sing, O Muse, the vengeance, etc., whence to Greece unnumbered

ills arose.

Tell me, Muse, of that man, of many a shift and many the woes

he suffered.

Sometimes after the genitive he brings in the nominative, as in this (I.

i. 272):--

Of others who are now mortal.

He arranges many things in figures in various ways, as the following

passage (I. ii. 350):--

For well I ween, that on the day when first

We Grecians hitherward our course address'd

To Troy the messengers of blood and death

Th' o'erruling son of Saturn, on our right

His lightning flashing, with auspicious sign

Assur'd us of his favor.

And the following is not unlike it (I. vi. 510):--

His bright arms flashing like the gorgeous sun

Hasten'd with boastful mien and rapid step.

And these things, according to the ancient fashion, he exalts not

unreasonably. If any one changes the participles into verbs, he will

discover the sequence, for the word "lightning" has the same value as

"when it was lightning," and "relying" "since he relied." Like these

cases are the following (O. xii. 73):--

There are two crags, one reaches the broad sky,

and (I. vii. 306):--

They parted: Ajax to the Grecian camp

And Hector to the ranks of Troy returned.

And others of the same kind. For it is reasonable when one is about to

speak of two individuals to put first what is common to the two, keeping

the nominative in both cases. It is plain that this common use displays

much grace. Sometimes employing a common case he signifies only one, as

in the following (I. iii. 211):--

Both sat down, Ulysses was the higher in honor.

The form of words he often changes, sometimes putting the comparative

instead of the absolute (I. i. 32):--

That you may return a more sane being.

Sometimes the superlative for the positive, as (I. xi. 832);--

Most just of Centaurs.

Such is the change in nouns. But in verbs there is a change in moods, as

when the infinitive is used for the imperative, as (I. v. 124):--

Go fearless onward, Diomed, to meet the Trojan darts,--

where the imperative "meet" might be expected.

Or the indicative in place of the optative, as (I. ii. 488):--

The crowd I shall not relate nor name,--

where one would expect "I could not relate nor name." And, on the

contrary, the optative for the indicative, as (I. v. 388):--

Mars would then be lost,--for "was lost."

There is a variation of tenses when the present is used for the future

(I. l. 29)--

Her I release not till her youth be fled,--

instead of "shall flee." Or for the imperfect (O. vi. 86):--

Where truly were the unfailing cisterns, and bright water

wells up free from beneath,--

instead of "welled up." And the future for the present (O. i. 24):--

Abiding some, where Hyperion will sink; and some, where

he rises.

Or in place of the past (O. v. 300):--

I fear that indeed the goddess may spake all things truly.

And the voices are often changed. Instead of the active, the passive and

middle are often used, as (I. i. 194):--

A great sword is drawn from its sheath,--

instead of "he drew." And (I. xiii. 4):--

His keen glance turning to view,--instead of "seeing."

And, on the other hand, the active instead of the passive:--

I shall give a tripod with a golden handle,--instead of

"shall be given."

It can be seen how he changes numbers, putting the plural for the

singular as often happens in common speech when one speaks of himself as

if of several, as in the following (O. i. 10):--

Of these things, goddess daughter of Zeus, from whatsoever

source thou wilt declare even to us,--

instead of "to me."

We find with him a change of persons of one sort, as (I. v. 877):--

The other gods, who in Olympus dwell,

Are to thee obedient and we are submissive.

For since there are many gods, among whom is the person speaking, both

classes are well indicated by saying, "they are obedient" and "we are

submissive." In another way leaving the person who is spoken of, he

changes from one to another. This is called specifically Apostrophe, and

affects us by its emotional character and stimulates the hearer, as in

the following stanza (I. xv. 346):--

While loudly Hector to the Trojans called

To assail the ships and leave the bloody spoils

Whom I elsewhere and from the ships aloof

Shall find,--

changing from the narrative to direct discourse. In the narration itself

he often uses Apostrophe (I. xx. 2.):

Round thee eager for the fray stood the sons of Greece.

But he makes use of direct narrative and change of persons, as in the

following passage (I. ii. 337):--

Like children, Grecian warriors, ye debate

Like babes to whom unknown are feats of arms.

Atrides thou, as is thy wont, maintain

Unchang'd thy counsel; for the stubborn fight

Array the Greeks.

There is another kind of this Apostrophe (I. ii. 344):--

Thou wouldst not know to whom Tydides may join himself,--

instead of "no one can know."

And again (O. ix. 210):--

And a marvellous sweet smell went up from the mixing bowl:

then truly it was no pleasure to refrain.

58. He uses participles in the place of verbs, as in these words (I.

viii. 306):--

Weighed down in a garden by this fruit,--

instead of "it is weighed," and (O. xiii. 113):--

Thither they as having knowledge of that place drive

their ships,--

instead of "before they knew."

And articles he often changes, setting demonstrative instead of

relatives (I. xvi. 150):--

Whom Podarge, swift of foot, to Zephyr bore,--and the contrary

(I. xvii. 460):--

And breastplate: for his own his faithful friend hath lost.

So he was wont to change prepositions (I. i. 424):--

Yesterday he went through the banquet,--instead of "to the banquet."

And (I. i. 10):--

And he stirred up an evil plague through the army.

Likewise he joins with a preposition a noun improperly, as in the verse

(I. x. 101):--

Lest perchance they wish to decide the contest in the night,--

where the preposition is followed by, the accusative, not the

genitive. And as to other prepositions, some he changes, some he omits

(I. ii. 696):--

Of whom he lies lamenting,--instead of "concerning whom."

And (O. xxiii. 91):--

Expecting whether he would bespeak him,--instead of

"speak to him."

And other prepositions he in the same fashion changes or leaves out. And

adverbs he changes, using indifferently motion towards, rest in, and

motion from a place (I. xx. 151):--

His grandchildren were setting down from elsewhere,--instead of

"elsewhere" (I. vii. 219):--

And Ajax came from near,--instead of "near."

Finally he has changes of conjunctions, as (O. i. 433):--

He never lay with her and he shunned the wrath of his lady,--

instead of "for he shunned," etc. And these are the figures of

speech which not only all poets but the writers of prose have

employed.

But significance is given by him in many ways. One of which is

Proanaphonesis, which is used when any one in the midst of a narration

uses an order proper to other things, as in the following line (O. xxi,

98):--

He was to be the first that should taste the arrow,--

and Epiphonesis (I. xvii. 32):--

After the event may e'en a fool be wise.

The use of Prosopopoiia is frequent and varied with him. For he

introduces many different people speaking together, to whom he

attributes various characteristics. Sometimes he re-creates characters

no longer living, as when he says (I. vii. 125):--

What grief would fill the aged Pellus's soul.

There is, too, Diatyposis, which is the working out of things coming

into being or actually existent or that have come to pass, brought in to

make what is said clearer, as in the following (I. ix. 593):--

The slaughtered men, the city burnt with fire,

The helpless children and deep-bosomed dames.

Or, to produce pity (I. xxii. 60):--

Look, too, on me with pity: me on whom

E'en on the threshold of mine age, hath Jove

A bitter burthen cast, condemned to see

My sons struck down, my daughters dragged away

In servile bonds: our chamber's sanctity

Invaded; and our babes by hostile hands

Dashed to the ground.

There is also to be found in him Irony, i.e. an expression revealing

the opposite of what is said with a certain ethical artifice; as in the

speech of Achilles (I. ix. 391):--

Let him choose among the Greeks a fitter King.

For he hints that he would not find one of more royal temper. And this

is the same Trope used when one speaks about himself in extenuation and

gives a judgment contrary to one's own. There is another form when any

one pretends to praise another and really censures him. As the verse in

Homer, put in the mouth of Telemachus (O. xvii. 397):--

Antinous--verily thou hast good care of me, as it were a

father for his son.

For he says to an enemy that he cares as a father for his son, and,

again, when any one by way of jest extolls his neighbor, as the suitors

(O. ii. 325):--

In my truth Telemachus planneth our destruction. He will

bring a rescue either from sandy Pylos, or it may be from

Sparta, so terribly is he set on slaying us.

Sarcasm is a species of Irony used when any one jibes at another with

a pretence of smiling. As Achilles, in the following passage (I. ix.

335):--

He meted out

Their several portions, and they hold them still.

From me, from me alone of all the Greeks,

He bore away and keeps my cherished wife.

Well! let him keep her, solace of his bed.

Like this in kind is Allegory, which exhibits one thing by another, as

in the following (O. xxii. 195):--

Now in good truth Melanthiusi shalt thou watch all night,

lying on, a soft bed as beseems thee.

For being in chains and hanging, he says he can rest on a soft bed.

Often, too, he makes use of Hyperbole, which, by exaggerating the truth,

indicates emphasis, as (I. x. 437):--

These surpass in brilliancy the snow, in speed the eagle.

Homer used Tropes and figures of this sort and handed them down to

posterity, and justly obtains glory beyond all others.

Since there are also Characters of speech called Forms, of which one is

Copiousness, the other Gracefulness, and the third Restraint, let us see

if Homer has all these separate classes, on which poets and orators

have worked after him. There are examples of these--copiousness in

Thucydides, gracefulness in Lysias, restraint in Demosthenes. That is

copious which by combination of words and sentences has great emphasis.

An example of this is (O. v. 291):--

With that he gathered the clouds and troubled the waters of

the deep, rasping his trident in his hands: and he roused all

storms of all manner of winds and shrouded in clouds the land

and sea: and down sped night from heaven.

The graceful is delicate by the character of the matter. It is drawn out

by the way it is expressed (I. vi. 466).--

Thus he spake, great Hector stretch'd his arms

To take the child: but back the infant shrank,

Crying, and sought his nurse's sheltering breast,

Scar'd by the brazen helm and horse-hair plume.

The restrained is between the two, the copious and the graceful, as (O.

xxii. 291):--

Then Odysseus, rich in counsel, stripped him of his rags and

leaped on the great threshold with his bow and quiver full of

arrows, and poured forth all the swift shafts there before his

feet, and spake among the wooers.

But the florid style of speech, which has beauty and capacity for

creating delight and pleasure, like a flower, is frequent in our poet;

his poetry is full of such examples. The kinds of phrasing have much

novelty in Homer, as we shall go on to show, by giving a few examples

from which the rest may be gathered.

Every type of style practised among men is either historical, theoretic,

or political. Let us examine whether the beginnings of these are to

be found in him. Historical style contains a narration of facts.

The elements of such a narration are character, cause, place, time,

instrument, action, feeling, manner. There is no historical narration

without some of these. So it is with our poet, who relates many things

in their development and happening. Sometimes in single passages can be

found relations of this kind.

Of character, as the following (I. v. 9):--

There was one Dores 'mid the Trojan host,

The priest of Vulcan, rich, of blameless life;

Two gallant sons he had, Idaeus named

And Phegeus, skilled in all the points of war.

He describes features, also, as in the case of Thersites (I. ii. 217):--

With squinting eyes, and one distorted foot,

His shoulders round, and buried in his breast

His narrow head, with scanty growth of hair.

And many other things, in which he often pictures the type or appearance

or character, or action or fortune of a person, as in this verse (I. xx.

215):--

Dardanus first, cloud-compelling

Zeus begot,--and the rest.

There is in his poetry description of locality; where he speaks about

the island near that of the Cyclops, in which he describes the look of

the place, its size, its quality, and the things in it, and what is near

it. Also, when he describes the things adjacent to the island of Calypso

(O. v. 63):--

And round about the cave there was a wood-blossoming alder

and poplar, and sweet-smelling cypress.

And what follows. And innumerable other things of the same kind.

Time narratives are found as follows (I. ii. 134):--

Already now nine weary years have passed.

And (I. ii. 303):--

Not long ago, when ships of Greece were met at Aulis charged

with evil freight for Troy.

Then there are the causes, in which he shows why something is coming to

pass or has come to pass. Such are the things said at the beginning of

the "Iliad" (I. i. 8):--

Say then, what god the fatal strife provoked

Jove's and Latona's son; he filled with wrath

Against the King, with deadly pestilence

The Camp afflicted--and the people died

For Chryses' sake, his priest, whom Atreus' son

With scorn dismissed,

--and the rest. In this passage he says the cause of the difference

between Achilles and Agamemnon was the plague; but the plague was caused

by Apollo, and his wrath was due to the insult put upon his priest.

Description of the instrument he gives, as when he tells of the shield

made by Vulcan for Achilles. And there is a briefer one on the spear of

Hector (I. viii. 493):--

In his hand

His massive spear he held twelve cubits long,

Whose glittering point flash'd bright with hoop of gold

Encircled round.

Narrations of fact are of several kinds, some like the following (I.

vii. 60):--

When in the midst they met, together rush'd

Bucklers and lances, and the furious might

Of mail-clad warriors; bossy shield on shield

Clattered in conflict; loud the clamor rose.

The emotional narrative is where the incident is connected with some

personal cause or energy, as when he speaks about things arising from

anger or fear or sorrow, or when people are wounded, killed, or any

other such thing happens to them. As a specimen of cause, take the

following (I. i. 103):--

His dark soul filled with fury, and his eyes

Flashed like flames of fire.

Of an action (I. xvii. 51):--

Those locks, that with the Graces hair might vie,

Those tresses bright, with gold and silver bound,

Were dabbled all with blood.

A Trope is constructive of action, or experience, or form, according as

one acts in a special way or is acted upon. He follows the whole scene

in this sort of narrative. An example of it would be as follows (O.

xxii. 15):--

But Odysseus aimed and smote him with the arrow in his throat,

and the point passed clean out through his delicate neck and

he fell back, and the cup dropped from his hand as he was

smitten, and at once through his nostrils there came up a

thick jet of slain man's blood.

There is also in Homer narration which has for the most part copious

expression, a method of working in full, fitting the subject. Sometimes,

however, it is concise, as in the following (I. xviii. 20):--

Patroclus lies in death,

And o'er his body now the war is waged,

His naked body, for his arms are now

The prize of Hector of the glancing helmet.

This type is often useful, for the quickness of the words make the

reader and speaker more intent, and he immediately takes in the subject.

Sometimes he tells his story lightly; sometimes by an image or likeness

or simile. An image, as when he says (O. xix. 53):--

Now forth from her chamber came the wise Penelope like

Artemis or golden Aphrodite.

A likeness as (I. iii. 196):--

He like a goat crossed the serried lines first.

A simile, when he makes a comparison of closely related things that has

a connection with subject narrated. There are in Homer various kinds of

similes. Constantly and in many ways he compares the behavior and nature

of animals to the arts and habits of men.

Sometimes he takes a similitude from very small things, not considering

the size of the body, but the nature of each; whence he likens boldness

to a fly (I. xvii. 570):--

And she breathed in his breast the courage of the fly.

And he compares assiduity to the same creature (I. ii. 469):--

As the many generations of numberless flies.

The packing together and orderly moving crowd to bees (I. ii. 87):--

As are the crowds of countless bees.

So he shows anger and irritation (I. xvi. 259):--

Like skilful wasps.

And he adds in the same place "when boys are wont to tease," in order

that he might heighten their passionate temper by being stirred up by

children. Of a continuous sound, he says (I. iii. 151):--

Abundant as the cricket.

For it is a most chattering creature and incessant in it.

But those that produce with no order all kinds of sounds, he likens to

(I. iii. 3):--

Just as the clamor of geese strikes to heaven.

But the multitudes resting in order, he likens to birds settling down

(I. ii. 493):--

Sitting down with clamor.

Sharpness of sight and act he sometimes likens to the falcon (I. xv.

238):--

Like to a falcon, swooping on a dove, swiftest of birds.

But sometimes to an eagle (I. xvii. 676):--

Like to an eagle, famed of sharpest sight

Of all that fly beneath the vault of Heav'n

Whom, soaring in the clouds, the crouching dove

Eludes not.

He declares its sharpness by its seeing from afar off; its swiftness,

by its seizing a very active animal. A man, overcome by the sight of an

enemy he compares to one who sees a snake, for he does not hesitate to

take examples from reptiles (I. iii. 33):--

As when some traveller spies, could in his path upon the

mountain side, a deadly snake.

From the other animals he takes examples; of timidity from the hare and

also from the stag (I. iv. 243):--

Why stand ye thus like timid fawns?

From dogs sometimes he takes daring (I. x. 360):--

And as the hounds, well practis'd in the chase.

Sometimes love for their offspring (I. x. 14):--

As a dog loves and defends its pups.

But sometimes their readiness in watching (I. x. 183):--

As round a sheepfold keep their anxious watch

The dogs.

A capture done with passion and boldness he is wont to compare to wolves

(I. xvi. 352):--

As rav'ning wolves that lambs or kids assail.

Bravery and constancy he shows by wild boars, panthers, and lions,

dividing to each one what belongs to its nature. From boars, the

onslaught they have, in fighting, making it irresistible (I. iv. 253):--

Idomeneus of courage stubborn as the forest boar.

From panthers, inexhaustible daring (I. xxi. 577):--

As when a panther by the spear transfixed does not remit

her rage.

From lions, hesitation, finally bravery, as (I. xx. 171):--

And with his tail he lashes both his flanks and limbs.

Again the rush of a valiant man he likens to a horse which has had a

full meal (I. vi. 506):--

As some proud steed, at well-fill'd manger fed.

And, on the contrary, one slow to move; but in endurance not easily

overcome, he shows in this way (I. xi. 558):--

As near a field of corn, a stubborn ass o'powers his

boyish guides.

The kingly temper and dignity he expresses in the following (I. ii.

480):--

As 'mid the thronging heifers in a herd

Stands, proudly eminent, the lordly bull.

He does not omit similes taken from marine creatures, the perseverance

of a polypus and the difficulty of removing it from a rock (O. v.

432):--

As when the cuttlefish is dragged forth from his chamber.

The leadership and prominence of the dolphin over the rest (I. xxi.

22):--

As fishes flying from a dolphin.

Oftentimes things made by men he compares to others similarly made, as

in this (I. xi. 67):--

The rival bands of reapers mow the swathe.

Showing the resistance and bravery of men. But one lamenting ignobly, he

blames in a clear comparison (I. xvi. 7):--

Why weeps Patroelus like an infant girl?

He dared to compare human actions to the elements of nature, as in the

following passage (I. ii. 394):--

From th' applauding ranks of Greece

Rose a loud sound, as when the ocean wave,

Driv'n by the south wind on some lofty beach,

Dashes against a prominent crag expos'd

To blasts from every storm that wars around.

In these it is plain he used Hyperbola and Amplification, for he was not

satisfied with comparing the clamor to the sound of the wind, but to

the waves beating on a craggy shore, where the high sea makes the noise

greater. Nor is the tempest an ordinary one, but it comes from the

south, which especially stirs up the billows, and it is driven against

a projecting crag stretching out into the sea, and surrounded by it, and

it has the sea over it constantly, and from every side the winds blow

and fall upon it. Such things as these are worked out by him in his

descriptions. From a few examples we can become acquainted with many.

Let us see if the other forms of narrative are to be found in our author

and how he took cognizance of them and clearly prepared them. We will

give a few examples and so facilitate acquaintance with the rest.

There is the theoretic style, which embraces what is called speculative

matter, which is a knowledge of the truth conceived in art. By these it

is possible to know the nature of reality, both divine and human things,

and to discriminate virtues and vices in morals and to learn how to

attain truth by logical skill. These things are the province of those

who are occupied in philosophy, which is divided into natural, ethical,

and dialectical. If we find out Homer supplying the beginnings and the

seeds of all these, is he not, beyond all others, worthy of admiration?

Because he shows matters of intelligence by dark sayings and mythical

expressions, it ought not to be considered strange. The reason is to be

found in poetic art and ancient custom. So those who desired to learn,

being led by a certain intellectual pleasure, might the easier seek and

find the truth, and that the unlearned might not despise what they are

not able to understand. For what is indicated indirectly is stimulating,

while what is said clearly is valued more moderately.

Let us begin with the beginning and creation of the whole universe,

which Thales the Milesian refers to the substance water, and let us see

whether Homer first discovered this when he said (I. xiv. 246):--

Even to the stream of old Oceanus Prime origin of all.

After him Xenophanes of Colophon, laying down that the first elements

were water and land, seems to have taken this conception from the

Homeric poems (I. vii. 99):--

To dust and water turn all ye who here inglorious sit.

For he indicates their dissolution into the original elements of the

universe. But the most likely opinion makes four elements,--fire, air,

water, earth. These Homer shows he knows, as in many places he makes

mention of them.

He knew, too, the order of their arrangement. We shall see that the land

is the lowest of them all, for as the world is spherical, the sky,

which contains all things, can reasonably be said to have the highest

position. The earth being in the midst everywhere is below what

surrounds it. This the poet declares chiefly in the lines where he says

if Zeus let a chain down from Olympus, he could turn over the land and

sea so that everything would be in the air (I. viii. 23):--

But if I choose to make my pow'r be known,

The earth itself and ocean I could raise,

And binding round Olympus' ridge the cord

Leave them suspended so in middle air.

Although the air is around the earth, he says the ether is higher in the

following lines (I. xiv. 287):--

And going up on a lofty pine, which then grew on the summit

of Ida and through the air reached into the ether.

But higher than the ether is heaven (I. xvii. 424):--

And thus they fought: the iron clangor pierc'd

The airless ether and brazen vault of Heaven.

And, besides, in the following (I. i. 497):--

The vapor ascended to the great heaven and to Olympus.

The top part of the air is finer and more distant from the earth and its

exhalations. Therefore it is said Olympus is called "wholly shining."

Where the poet says Hera is the wife of Zeus, although she is his

sister, he seems to speak in an allegory, since Hera stands for the air,

which is a humid substance. Therefore he says (I. xxi. 6):--

Hera spread before their path clouds of thick darkness.

By Zeus is signified the ether, that is the fiery and heated substance

(I. xv. 192):--

Broad Heav'n amid the sky and clouds, to Jove.

They seem brother and sister on account of a certain likeness and

relationship, because both are light and mobile; they dwell together and

are intimate, because from their intercourse all things are generated.

Therefore they meet in Ida, and the land produces for them plants and

flowers.

The same explanation have those words in which Zeus says he will, hang

Hera and fasten two weights to her feet, namely, the land and the sea.

He works out especially the principles of the elements in what Poseidon

says to him (I. xv. 187):--

We were brethren, all of Rhaea born

To Saturn: Jove and I and Pluto third,

Who o'er the nether regions holds his sway,

and (I. xv. 189):--

Threefold was our partition: each obtain'd

His meed of honor due.

And in the division of the whole, Zeus obtained the element fire,

Poseidon water, and Hades that of air. Him he also calls "aerial

darkness," because the air has no proper light, but is lightened by the

sun, moon, and other planets.

The fourth part was left common to all, for the primal essence of the

three elements is always in motion. The earth alone remains unmoved, to

which he added also Olympus; it may have been because it is a mountain,

being a part of the earth. If it belongs to heaven, as being the most

brilliant and purest part of it, this may be the fifth essence in the

elements, as certain distinguished philosophers think. So he, with

reason, has conjectured it was common, the lowest part belonging to the

earth by its weight, and the top parts to Olympus by their lightness.

The natures between the two are borne upward to the one and downward to

the other.

Since the nature of the elements is a combination of contraries, of

dryness and moisture, hot and cold, and since by their relation and

combination all things are constructed and undergo partial changes,--the

whole not admitting of dissolution,--Empedocles says all things exist

in this manner: "Sometimes in love all things meeting together in one.

Sometimes, again, each being carried away by animosity of hate." The

concord and unity of the elements he calls love, their opposition, hate.

Before his time Homer foreshadowed love and hate in what he says in his

poetry (I. xiv. 200):--

I go to visit old Oceanus

The sire of gods, and Tethys,

I go to visit them and reconcile a lengthen'd feud.

A similar meaning has the myth about, Aphrodite and Ares, the one having

the same force as Empedocles's love, the other his hate. When they

sometimes come together, and again separate, the sun reveals them,

Hephaestus binds them, and Poseidon releases them. Whence it is evident

that the warm and dry essence, and the contrary of these, the cold and

wet, sometimes combine all things and again dissolve them.

Related to these is what is said by other poets that by the intercourse

of Ares and Aphrodite arises Harmony; a combination of contraries grave

and acute analogously accommodating themselves to one another. By which

arrangement things which are endowed with a contrary nature are all

mutually opposed. The poet seems to have signified this enigmatically

in the conflict of the gods, in which he makes some help the Greeks and

some the Trojans, showing allegorically the character of each. And he

set over against Poseidon Phoebus, the cold and wet against the hot and

dry: Athene to Ares, the rational to the irrational, that is, the good

to the bad. Hera to Artemis, that is, the air to the moon, because the

one is stable and the other unstable. Hermes to Latona, because

speech investigates and remembers, but oblivion is contrary to these.

Hephaestus to the River God, for the same reason that the sun is opposed

to the sea. The spectator of the fight was the primary god, and he is

made taking joy in it.

From the afore-mentioned matter Homer seems to show this: that the world

is one and finite. For if it had been infinite, it would never have been

divided in a number having a limit. By the name "all" he signifies the

collective whole. For in many other cases he uses the plural for the

singular. He signifies the same thing more clearly in saying (I. xiv.

200):--

The ends of the earth,--and again where he says (I. vii. 478):--

Nor should I care

Though thou wert thrust beneath the lowest deep

Of earth and ocean,--and in

On the very top of many-peaked Olympus where there is a top,

there, too, is a limit.

His opinions about the sun are plain. That it has an orbicular energy

sometimes appearing over the earth, sometimes going under it, this he

makes evident by saying (O. x. 190):--

My friends, lo we know not where is the place of darkness or

of dawning, nor where the sun that gives light to men goes

beneath the earth, nor where he rises.

And that he is always preceding over us and on this account is called

Hyperion by our poet; that he makes the sun rising from the water which

surrounds the earth the ocean, that the sun descends into it, is clearly

expressed. First, as to the rising (O. iii. l):--

Now the sun arose and left the lovely mere speeding to the

brazen heaven, to give light to the immortals and to mortal

men on the earth.

Its setting (I. vii. 486):--

The sun, now sunk beneath the ocean wave,

Drew o'er the teeming earth the veil of night.

And he declares its form (O. xix. 234):--

He was brilliant as the sun,

and its size (I. xi. 735):--

We as sunlight overspread the earth.

and more in the following (O. iv. 400):--

So often as the sun in his course has reached the

mid-heaven,--and its power (O. ii. log):--

Of Helios, who overseeth all and ordereth all things.

Finally that it has a soul, and in its movement is guided by choice in

certain menaces it makes (O. xii. 383):--

I will go down to Hades and shine among the dead.

And on this thus Zeus exhorts him:--

Helios, see that thou shine on amidst the deathless gods amid

mortal men upon the earth, the grain giver.

From which it is plain that the sun is not a fire, but some more potent

being, as Aristotle conjectured. Assuredly, fire is borne aloft, is

without a soul, is easily quenchable and corruptible; but the sun is

orbicular and animate, eternal and imperishable.

And as to the other planets scattered through the heavens, that Homer is

not ignorant is evident in his poems (I. xviii. 480):--

Pleiads and Hyads and Orions might.

The Bear which always encircles the North Pole is visible to us. By

reason of its height it never touches the horizon, because in an equal

time, the smallest circle in which the Bear is, and the largest in which

Orion is, revolves in the periphery of the world. And Bootes, slowly

sinking because it makes a frequent setting, has that kind of position,

that is carried along in a straight line. It sinks with the four signs

of Zodiac, there being six zodiacal signs divided in the whole night.

That he has not gone through all observations of the stars, as Aratus or

some of the others, need be surprising to no one. For this was not his

purpose.

He is not ignorant of the causes of disturbances to the elements as

earthquakes and eclipses, since the whole earth shares in itself air,

fire, and water, by which it is surrounded. Reasonably, in its depths

are found vapors full of spirit, which they say being borne outward move

the air; when they are restrained, they swell up and break violently

forth. That the spirit is held within the earth they consider is caused

by the sea, which sometimes obstructs the channels going outward, and

sometimes by withdrawing, overturns parts of the earth. This Homer knew,

laying the cause of earthquakes on Poseidon, calling him Earth Container

and Earth Shaker.

Now, then, when these volatile movements are kept within the earth, the

winds cease to blow, then arises the darkness and obscurity of the sun.

Let us see whether he was aware also of this. He made Poseidon moving

the earth after Achilles issued forth to fight. For he had previously

mentioned on the day before what the state of the air was. In the

incident of Sarpedon (I. xvi. 567):--

Zeus extended opaque shadows over the fight,--

and again in the case of Patroclus (I. xvii. 366):--

Now might ye deem the glorious sun himself nor moon was safe,

for darkest clouds of night overspread the warriors.

And a little while afterward Ajax prays (I. xvii. 645):--

O Father Jove, from o'er the sons of Greece,

Remove this cloudy darkness; clear the sky

That we may see our fate.

But after the earthquake, the vapor issuing forth, there are violent

winds, whence Hera says (I. xxi. 334):--

While from the sea I call the strong blast

Of Zephyr and brisk Notus who shall drive

The raging flames ahead.

On the following day Iris calls the winds to the pyre of Patroclus (I.

xxiii. 212):--

They with rushing sound rose and before them drove the

hurrying clouds.

So the eclipse of the sun takes place in a natural manner, when the moon

on its passage by it goes under it perpendicularly and is darkened. This

he seems to have known. For he said before that Odysseus was about to

come (O. xiv. 162):--

As the old moon wanes, and the new is born;--

that is, when the month ends and begins, the sun being conjoined

with the moon at the time of his coming. The seer says to the suitors

(O. xiv. 353):--

Ah, wretched men, what woe is this ye suffer, shrouded in

night are your heads and your faces and knees, and kindled is

the voice of wailing and the path is full of phantoms and full

is the court, the shadows of men hasting hellwards beneath the

gloom, and the sun is perished out of heaven, and an evil mist

has overspread the world.

He closely observed the nature of the winds, how they arise from the

moist element. For the water transformed goes into air. The wind is air

in motion. This he shows in very many places, and where he says (O. v.

478):--

The force of the wet winds blew,--

he arranged the order of their series (O. v. 295):--

The East wind and the South wind clashed and the stormy West

and the North that is born in the bright air, welling onwards

a great wave.

Of these one comes from the rising, one from the midday quarter, one

from the setting, one from the north.

And Subsolanus, being humid, changes into the South, which is warm. And

the South, rarefying, is changed into the East; but the East, becoming

further rarefied, is purified into the North wind, therefore (O. v.

385):--

She roused the swift North and brake the waves before him.

Their contention he explains naturally (O. v. 331):--

Now the South would toss it to the North to carry, and now

again the East would yield it to the West.

He knew besides that the North Pole is suspended over the earth, and how

it weighs on the men who dwell in that climate. But the South Pole,

on the contrary, is profound; as when he says of the North Pole (O. v.

296):--

And the North that is born in the bright air rolling on a

great wave on the Southwest wind.

(O. iii. 295):--

Where the Southwest wind drives a great wave against the

left headland."

For by saying "rolling" he notes the force of the wave rushing on from

above, but the wind "driving" signifies a force applied to what is

higher, coming from what is lower.

That the generation of rains comes from the evaporation of the humid, he

demonstrates, saying (I. xi. 54):--

Who sent from Heav'n a show'r of blood-stained rain,--

and (I. xvi. 459):--

But to the ground some drops of blood let fall,--

for he had previously said (I. vii. 329):--

Whose blood, beside Scamander's flowing stream,

Fierce Mars has shed, while to the viewless shade

Their spirits are gone,--

where it is evident that humors of this sort exhaled from the

waters about the earth, mixed with blood, are borne upward. The same

argument is found in the following (I. xvi. 385):--

As in the autumnal season when the earth with weight of rain is

saturate,--for then the sun on account of the dryness of the ground

draws out humors from below and brings from above terrestrial

disturbances. The humid exhalations produce rains, the dry ones, winds.

When the wind is in impact with a cloud and by its force rends the

cloud, it generates thunder and lightning. If the lightning falls, it

sends a thunderbolt. Knowing this our poet speaks as follows (I. xvii.

595):--

His lightnings flash, his rolling thunders roar.

And in another place (O. xii. 415):--

In that same hour Zeus thundered and cast his bolt upon

the ship.

Justly thinking men consider that gods exist, and first of all Homer.

For he is always recalling the gods (I. i. 406):--

The blessed gods living a happy life.

For being immortal they have an easy existence and an inexhaustible

abundance of life. And they do not need food of which the bodies of

mortal men have need (I. v. 341):--

They eat no bread, they drink no ruddy wine,

And bloodless and deathless they become.

But poetry requires gods who are active; that he may bring the notion of

them to the intelligence of his readers he gives bodies to the gods. But

there is no other form of bodies than man's capable of understanding

and reason. Therefore he gives the likeness of each one of the gods the

greatest beauty and adornment. He has shown also that images and statues

of the gods must be fashioned accurately after the pattern of a man to

furnish the suggestion to those less intelligent, that the gods exist.

But the leader and head of all these, the chief god the best

philosophers think, is without a body, and is rather comprehensible by

the intelligence. Homer seems to assume this; by him Zeus is called (I.

iv. 68):--

The Sire of gods and men. O father ours, son of Kronos, chief

of the greater beings.

And Zeus himself says (I. viii. 27):--

As much as I am better than gods and men.

And Athene says of him (I. viii. 32):--

Well do we know thy power invincible.

If it is necessary to ask how he knew that God was an object of the

intelligence, it was not directly shown, as he was using poetic form

combined with myth. Yet we can gather it from the things he says (I. i.

498):--

The all-seeing son of Saturn there she found sitting apart.

And where he himself says (I. xx. 22):--

Yet he will upon Olympus' lofty ridge remain and view serene

the combat."

That solitude and the not mingling with the other gods, but being gladly

by himself and using leisure for one directing and ordering all things,

these constitute the character of an "intelligible" God. He knew besides

that God is mind and understands all things, and governs all. For

censuring Poseidon, he says (I. xiii. 354):--

Equal the rank of both, their birth the same,

But Jupiter in wisdom as in years the first.

And this expression frequently is used "when he again thought over other

things." This shows that he was ever in thought.

But to the mind of God pertain Providence and Fate, concerning which

the philosophers have spoken much. The stimulus to this came from

Homer,--why should any one insist on the providence of the gods? Since

in all his poetry not only do they speak to one another on behalf of

men, but descending on the earth they associate with men. A few things

we shall look at for the sake of illustrations; among these is Zeus

speaking to his brother (I. xx. 20):--

The purpose, Neptune, well thou know'st thyself

For which I called thee; true, they needs must die,

But still they claim my care.

And in other places (I. xxii. 168):--

A woful sight mine eyes behold: a man

I love in plight around the walls! my heart

For Hector grieves.

He refers to the royal dignity of the gods and their loving care of men,

saying (O. i. 65):--

How should I forget divine Odysseus, who in understanding is

beyond mortals, and beyond all men hath done sacrifice to the

deathless gods who keep the wide heaven?

How he makes the gods mingling with and working with men themselves

it is possible to learn completely in many passages for just as he

represents Athene once helping Achilles and always aiding Odysseus, so

he represents Hermes helping Priam, and again Odysseus, for he says (O.

xvii. 485):--

Yea even the gods, in the likeness of strangers from far

countries, put on all manner of shapes, and wander through

cities to watch the violence and the righteousness of men.

It is the characteristic of divine providence to wish men to live

justly. This the poet indicates very clearly (O. xiv. 83):--

Verily it is not forward deeds the gods love, but they

reverence justice and the righteous acts of men.

And (O. xvi. 386):--

When Jove

Pours down his fiercest storms in wrath to men,

Who in their courts unrighteous judgments pass.

Then just as he introduces the gods caring for men, so he represents

men as mindful of them in every crisis. As the leader, succeeding in an

action, says (I. viii. 526):--

Hopeful to Jove I pray, and all the gods

To chase from hence these fate-inflicted hounds.

And in danger (I. xvii. 646):--

Father Jove, from o'er the sons of Greece,

Remove this cloudy darkness.

And again when one has slayed another (I. xxii. 379):--

Since heaven has granted us this man to slay.

And dying (I. xxii. 358):--

But see I bring not down upon thy head the wrath of heaven.

From what other place than here did originate that doctrine of the

Stoics? I mean this, that the world is one and in it both gods and men

minister, sharing in justice by their nature. For when he says (I. xx.

4):--

Then Jove to Themis gave command to call

The gods to council from the lofty height

Of many ridg'd Olympus.

Why, Lord of lightning, hast thou summoned here

The gods of council, dost thou aught desire

Touching the Greeks and Trojans?

What does this mean except that the world is conducted by civilized laws

and the gods consult under the presidency of the father of gods and men?

His opinion on fate he shows clearly in his poems (I. vi. 488):--

Dearest, wring not thus my heart,

For till my day of destiny is come

No man may take my life, and when it comes

Nor brave, nor coward can escape that day.