Is it likely that the heroes
and Aristarchus make him a contemporary of the should not have found a bard for their deeds till more
Ionian migration, 140 years after the war; the than a hundred and fifty years after their death ?
and Aristarchus make him a contemporary of the should not have found a bard for their deeds till more
Ionian migration, 140 years after the war; the than a hundred and fifty years after their death ?
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - b
186 the
of using his influence with Caesar unselfishly. A mistress of one P. Aebutius, who lived in the
staunch Caesarian, he protected the Pompeians, Aventine quarter of Rome. To prevent her
and while he deplored his benefactor's murder, he lover's initiation in the Bacchanalian mysteries,
opposed the lawless and prodigal ambition of An- she partially disclosed to him the nefarious nature
tony. Cicero frequently mentions his addiction to of their rites, which, while a slave in attendance
the pleasures of the table (ad Fam. ix. 16, 18, 20, on her mistress, she had occasionally witnessed.
ad Att. xii. 2, xvi. 1), and Q. Cicero describes him Aebutius revealed to the consul, Sp. Postumius
as a licentious reveller (ud Fam. xvi. 17). Both Albinus (ALBINUS, No. 12), what Hispala had
charges were probably exaggerated, in the one case imparted to him. She was in consequence sum-
by political, in the other by personal dislike. But moned by the consul, who, partly by promises,
Hirtius had tastes more refined ; and Caesar, when partly by threats, drew from her a full disclosure
he commissioned him to answer the Cato of Cicero, of the place, the practices, and the purposes of the
must have thought highly of his literary attain- Bacchanalian society. After the association was
Hirtius divides with Oppius the claim to put down, Hispala was rewarded with the privi-
the anthorship of the eighth book of the Gallic war, leges of a free-born matron of Rome; and lest
as well as that of the Alexandrian, African, and revenge or superstition should prompt any of the
Spanish. (Suet. Caes. 52, 53, 56 ; Plin. xi. 105; worshippers of Bacchus to attempt her life, her
Voss. de Hist. Lat. p. 64 ; Dodwell. Dissert. de security was made by a special decree of the senate
Auct. lib. viii. de B. G. et Al. Af. et Hisp. in Ouden- the charge of the consuls for the time being. And
dorp's Caesar, vol. ii. p. 869, ed. 1822. ) Without besides these immunities, a million of sesterces was
determining the question, we may allow that Hir- paid from the treasury to Hispala. (Liv. xxxix.
tius was quite capable of writing the best of these, 9-19; comp. Val. Max. vi. 3. $ 7. ) (W. B. D. ]
the eighth of the commentaries on the Gaulish war, HISPALLUS, an agnomen of Cn. Cornelius
and the single book of the Alexandrine war, and Scipio, consul in B. c. 176. (Scipio. ]
that he certainly did not write the account of Cae- HISPO ROMANUS. (Romanus. )
sar's last campaign in Spain. (Niebuhr, Lectures HISPO, CORNEʼLIUS, a rhetorician men-
on Hist. of Rome, vol. ii. Pp. 46, 47, ed. Schmitz. ) | tioned by Seneca, who gives an extract from one of
(W. B. D. ) his declamations, “ de uxore torta a tyranno pro
marito. ” (Sen. Contr. 13. ) (W. B. D. )
HISTIAEA ('lotlala), a daughter of Hyrieus,
from whom the town of Histiaea, in Euboea, was
said to have derived its name. (Eustath. ad Hom.
p. 280 ; comp. Strab. p. 445. )
(L. S. ]
HISTIAEUS ('lotiaios), tyrant of Miletus,
commanded his contingent of Ionians in the service
of Dareius in the invasion of Scythia by the Per-
sians (B. c. 513), when he was left with his conn-
COIN OP A, HIRTIUS,
trymen to guard the bridge of boats by which the
ments,
6000aco
000000
ܘܘܘܘܘܘܘܘܘ܂
COSTEA
000000
## p. 499 (#515) ############################################
HISTIAEUS.
499
HOLMUS.
66
army had crossed the Danube. Sixty days had being reduced again. Artaphernes, satrap of Sardis,
been assigned by the Persian king as the period of showed himself less credulous than Dareius : “ It
his absence, marked by as many knots tied in a rope, was you that stitched the shoe,” he said to His-
one of which was to be untied daily. When the tiaeus, " which Aristagoras did but wear. " His-
time had passed, and the Persians did not appear, tiaeus, in alarm, had recourse to the Chians, whom
being still engaged in a vain pursuit of the Scy- he with difficulty persunded to receive him: then,
thians, the lonians took counsel about their return. imposing upon the Ionians, who regarded him with
The proposal of Miltiades, the Athenian, to destroy distrust, by a crafty story that Dareius meant to
the bridge, and leave the Persians to their fate, remove them to Phoenicia, after the fashion of
would have occasioned the certain destruction of Eastern conquerors, he began to intrigue with some
Dareius and his army, had not Histiaeus persuaded Persians in Sardis, who were willing to listen to his
his countrymen, the rulers of the Greek cities on proposals. Artaphernes discovered the plot, and
the Hellespont and in Ionia, not to take a step put the Persians to death : upon which Histineus,
which would lead to their own ruin, depending as after in vain trying to persuade the inhabitants of
they did upon the Persians for support against the Miletus to receive him back again, succeeded at
democratic parties in their respective cities. De- length in raising a small force in Lesbus, with
ceiving the Scythians by professing to fall in with which he proceeded to Byzantium, still in revolt,
their wishes, and to be anxious for the destruction and seized all vessels sailing from the Euxine that
of Dareius, the wily Greek persuaded them to de refused to acknowledge him as their master. On
part in search of him, making a show of destroying the reduction of Miletus (B. C. 494), the most im-
the bridge by removing the part of it next Scy- portant step in the second conquest of lonia, His
thia When the Persians, retreating from their tiaeus made a bold attempt to establish himself in
unsuccessful march, returned to the Danube, where the islands of the Aegean, and actually succeeded
they happened to arrive after nightfall, they were in taking possession of Chios after some resistance,
naturally alarmed lest the Greeks should have de- the inhabitants having lost nearly all their forces
serted them, until an Egyptian, noted in the army at the battle of Lade. Thasos might have fallen
for his loud voice, was ordered to shout out the under him also, when the news that the Phoeni-
name of Histiaeus of Miletus, who, hearing the cian fleet, having assisted in conquering Miletus,
call, made all speed to transport them to the safe was sailing northwards to complete the conquest of
side of the river.
Ionia and Aeolis, induced him to return to Lesbos.
Dareius never forgot this signal service. On his Hence he made a descent on the opposite coast, to
return to Sardis Histiaeus was rewarded with the ravage the plain of the Caicus and Atarnea, but was
rule of Mytilene. Histiaeus, already in possession defeated and taken prisoner by a troop of Persian
of Miletus, asked and obtained a district on the cavalry under Harpagus. He would have been
Strymon, in Thrace, where, leaving Miletus under slain in the pursuit had he not called out in Per-
the charge of his kinsman, Aristagoras, he built a sian that he was Histiaeus of Miletus, hoping that
town called Myrcinus, apparently with a view of his life would be spared. If he had fallen into
establishing an independent kingdom. The spot Dareius's hands, it would have been so : but Har.
was well chosen, as the neighbouring country was pagus and Artaphernes caused him to be put to
rich in tin ore and silver mines : but he was not death by impalement, and sent his head to the
allowed to carry his designs into execution. Me- king. Dareius received it with sorrow, and buried
gabazus, a Persian officer, whom Dareius had left it honourably, blaming the haste of his officers: no
in Europe to complete the conquest of Thrace, ad- injury could make him forget that he had once
vised the king to recal his promise, and not to owed to Histiaeus his army, his kingdom, and his
allow an able and crafty man, like Histiaeus, to life. The adventurous history of Histiaeus does
raise a formidable power within the empire. His not show any signs of his having possessed great
tiaeus followed Dareius reluctantly to Susa, where or noble qualities of mind. Attachment to his
he was detained for thirteen years, till the out- country is the only pleasing trait in his character;
break of the Ionian revolt, kindly treated, but pro- and even this is mixed up with motives of a lower
hibited from returning.
kind. Personal ambition is the only reason given
On the news of the burning of Sardis by the for his saving the army of Dareius ; and afterwards
Athenians (B. C. 499) (ARISTAGORAS), whom it was selfish motives, not true patriotism, that led
Aristagoras had induced to send help to their both Aristagoras and himself to bring down the
kinsmen of lonia, Dareius charged Histiaeus with vengeance of the Persians upon his country. In
being a party to the revolt. His suspicions were policy and dissimulation he was undoubtedly well
correct : Histiaeus had encouraged Aristagoras skilled, and not deficient in daring. The attach-
in his design, employing a singular expedient ment of Dareius to him is more striking than any
to escape detection. He had shaved the head of qualities in his own character. (Herod. iv. 137,
one of his slaves, branded his message on the skin, 138, 141, v. 11, 23, 24, 30, 35, 105-107, vi. 1-
and sent him to Aristagoras, after the hair had 5, 26—30 ; Polyaen. i. 24 ; 'Tzetz. Chil. iii. 512.
grown, with the direction to shave it off again. ix. 228 ; Gell. xvii. 9. )
[C. E. P. ]
A revolution in Ionia might lead, he hoped, to his HI'STORIS ('lotop s), a daughter of Teiresias,
release : and his design succeeded. It is un and engaged in the service of Alcmene. By her
accountable that Dareius should have been 80 cry that Alcmene had already given birth, she
easily deceived: yet be suffered Histiaeus to de induced the Pharmacides to withdraw, and thus
part, on his engaging to reduce Ionia, and to make enabled her mistress to give birth to Heracles.
Sardinia, which he described as an important (Paus. ix. 11. & 2. ) Some attribute this friendly
island, tributary to the Persiang.
act to Galinthias, the daughter of Proetus of Thebes.
On bis arrival at Sardis he found that the revolt (GALINTHIAS. )
(L. S. ]
had not succeeded : the Athenians had declined to HOLMUS ("Onuos), a son of Sisyphus, and
send fresh succour, and the lonian cities were | father of Minyas. He was believed to have
KK 2
## p. 500 (#516) ############################################
500
HOMERUS.
HOMERUS
founded the town of Holmones or Halmones, in the Smyrna, which from henceforth was a purely Ionic
neighbourhood of Orchomenus. (Paus. ix. 24. § 3; city. The Aeolians were originally in possession
Steph. Byz. 8. o. )
(L. S. ] of the traditions of the Trojan war, which their
HOMAGY'RIUS ('Ouayópos), i. e. the god of ancestors had waged, and in which no lonians had
the assembly or league, a surname of Zene under taken part. (Müller, Aeginet. p. 25, Orchom. p. 367. )
which he was worshipped at Aegium, on the north- Homer therefore, himself an Ionian, who had come
western coast of Peloponnesus, where Agamemnon from Ephesus, received these traditions from the
was believed to have assembled the Greek chiefs, new Aeolian settlers, and when the Ionians were
to deliberate on the war against Troy. Under this driven out of Smyma either he himself fled to
name Zeus was also worshipped, as the protector of Chios, or his descendants or disciples settled there,
the Achaean league. (Paus. vii. 24. & 1. ) [L. S. ] and formed the famous family of Homerids. Thus
HOMERUS (Ounpos). The poems of Homer we may unite the claims of Smyrna and Chios, and
formed the basis of Greek literature. Every Greek explain the peculiarities of the Homeric dialect,
who had received a liberal education was per- which is different from the pure lonic, and bas a
fectly well acquainted with them from his child large mixture of Aeolic elements. According to
hood, and had learnt them by heart at school ; but this computation, Homer would have fourished
nobody could state any thing certain about their shortly after the time of the Ionian migration, a
author. In fact, the several biographies of Homer time best attested, as we have seen, by the au-
which are now extant afford very little or nothing thorities of Aristotle and Aristarchus. But this
of an authentic history. The various dates as- result seems not to be reconcilable with the follow-
signed to Homer's age offer no less a diversity ing considerations :- 1. Placing Homer more than
than 500 years (from B. c. 1184-684). Crates a century and a half after the Trojan war, we have
and Eratosthenes state, that he lived within a long period which is apparently quite destituto
the first century after the Trojan war ; Aristotle of poetical exertions.
Is it likely that the heroes
and Aristarchus make him a contemporary of the should not have found a bard for their deeds till more
Ionian migration, 140 years after the war; the than a hundred and fifty years after their death ?
chronologist, Apollodorus, gives the year 210, Por And how could the knowledge of these deeds be
phyrius 275, the Parian Marble 277, Herodotus preserved without poetical traditions and epic songs,
400 after that event; and Theopompus even makes the only chronicles of an illiterate age? 2. In
him a contemporary of Gyges, king of Lydia. addition to this, there was a stirring active time
(Nitzsch, Melet. de Histor. Hom. fasc. ii. p. 2, de between the Asiatic settlements of the Greeks and
Hist. Hom. p. 78. ) The most important point to the war with Troy. Of the exploits of this time,
be determined is, whether we are to place Homer certainly nowise inferior to the exploits of the
before or after the Ionian migration. The latter is heroic age itself, we should expect to find something
supported by the best authors, and by the general mentioned or alluded to in the work of a poet who
opinion of antiquity, according to which Homer lived during or shortly after it. But of this there is
was by birth an Ionian of Asia Minor. There not a trace to be found in Homer. 3. The mythology
were indeed more than seven cities which claimed and the poems of Homer could not have originated
Homer as their countryman ; for if we number all in Asia. It is the growth of a long period, during
those that we find mentioned in different passages which the ancient Thracian bards, who lived partly
of ancient writers, we have seventeen or nineteen in Thessaly, round Mount Olympus, and partly in
cities mentioned as the birth-places of Homer ; but Boeotia, near Helicon, consolidated all the different
the claims of most of these are so suspicious and and various local mythologies into one great my-
feeble, that they easily vanish before a closer ex-thological system. If Homer had made the my-
amination. Athens, for instance, alleged that she thology of the Greeks, as Herodotus (ii. 53)
was the metropolis of Smyrna, and could therefore affirms, he would not hare represented the Thes-
number Homer amongst her citizens. (Bekker, salian Olympus as the seat of his gods, but some
Anecdot. vol. ii. p. 768. ) Many other poems were mountain of Asia Minor ; his Muses would not
attributed to Homer besides the Iliad and Odyssey. have been those of Olympus, but they would have
The real authors of these poems were forgotten, dwelt on Ida or Gargaros. Homer, if his works
but their fellow-citizens pretended that Homer, the had first originated in Asia, would not have com-
supposed author, had lived or been born among pared Nausicaa to Artemis walking on Tuygetus
them. The claims of Cyme and Colophon will not or Eryanthus (Od. vi. 102); and a great many
seem entitled to much consideration, because they other allusions to European countries, which show
are preferred by Ephorus and Nicander, who were the poet's familiar acquaintance with them, could
citizens of those respective towns. After sifting have found no place in the work of an Asiatic.
the authorities for all the different statements, the It is evident that Homer was far better ac-
claims of Smyrna and Chios remain the most plau- quainted with European Greece than he was with
sible, and between these two we have to decide. Asia Minor, and even the country round Troy.
Smyrna is supported by Pindar, Scylax, and Ste- (Comp. Spohn, de Agro Trojano, p. 27. ) Sir W.
simbrotus ; Chios by Simonides, Acusilaus, Hel- Gell, and other modern travellers, were astonished
Janicus, Thucydides, the tradition of a family of at the accuracy with which Homer has described
Homerids at Chios, and the local worship of a places in Peloponnesus, and particularly the island
hero, Homeros. The preference is now generally of Ithaca. It has been observed, that nobody could
given to Smyrna. (Welcker, Epische Cyclus, p. 153; | have given these descriptions, except one who bad
Müller, Hist. of Greck Lit. p. 41, &c. ) Smyrna seen the country himself. How shall we, with all
was first founded by Ionians from Ephesus, who this, maintain our proposition, that Homer was an
were followed, and afterwards expelled, by Aeolians Ionian of Asia Minor? It is indispensable, in
from Cyme: the expelled Ionians fled to Colophon, order to clear up this point, to enter more at large
and Smyrna thus became Aeolic. Subsequently into the discussion concerning the origin of the
the Colophonians drove out the Aeolians from Homeric poems.
## p. 501 (#517) ############################################
HOMERUS.
501
HOMERUS.
c. The whole of antiquity unanimously viewed the Greeks. Wood, lead, brass; stone, are not proper
Iliad and the Odyssey as the productions of a cer- materials for writing down poems consisting of
tain individual, called Homer. No doubt of this fact twenty-four books. Even hides, which were used
ever entered the mind of any of the ancients ; and by the Ionians, seem too clumsy for this purpose,
even a large number of other poems were attributed and, besides, we do not know when they were first
to the same author. This opinion continued unshaken in use. (Herod. v. 58. ) It was not before the
down to the year 1795, when F. A. Wolf wrote sixth century, . c. that papyrus became easily
his famous Prolegomena, in which he endeavoured accessible to the Greeks, through the king Ama-
to show that the Iliad and Odyssey were not two sis, who first opened Egypt to Greek trders.
complete poems, but small, separate, independent The laws of Lycurgus were not committed to
epic songs, celebrating single exploits of the heroes, writing ; those of Zaleucus, in Locri Epizephyrii,
and that these lays were for the first time written in the 29th Ol. (B. C. 664), are particularly re-
down and united, as the Iliad and Odyssey, by corded as the first laws that were written down.
Peisistratus, the tyrant of Athens. This opinion, (Scymn. Perieg. 313; Strab. vi. p. 259. ) The laws
.
startling and paradoxical as it seemed, was not en- of Solon, seventy years later, were written on wood
tirely new. Casaubon had already doubted the and Bovotpoombóv. Wolf allows that all these con-
common opinion regarding Homer, and the great siderations do not prove that no use at all was
Bentley had said expressly " that Homer wrote a made of the art of writing as early as the seventh
bequel of songs and rhapsodies. These loose songs and eighth centuries B. c. , which would be par-
were not collected together in the form of an ticularly improbable in the case of the lyric poets,
epic poem till about 500 years after. " (Letter such as Archilochus, Alcman, Pisander, and Arion,
by Phileleutherus Lipsiensis, $ 7. ) Some French but that before the time of the seven sages, that is,
writers, Perrault and Hedelin, and the Italian the time when prose writing first originated, the art
Vico, had made similar conjectures, but all these was not so common that we can suppose it to have
were forgotten and overborne by the common been employed for such extensive works as the
and general opinion, and the more easily, as these poems of Homer. Wolf (Prol. p. 77) alleges the
bold conjectures had been thrown out almost at testimony of Josephus (c. Apion. i. 2): 'Oye kad
hazard, and without sound arguments to support | μόλις έγνωσαν οι Έλληνες φύσιν γραμμάτων. . . Και
them. When therefore Wolf's Prolegomena ap- paow oude TOÛTOV (i. e. Homerum) èv ypáupaon
peared, the whole literary world was startled by την αυτού ποίησιν καταλιπείν, αλλά διαμνημονευο-
the boldness and novelty of his positions. His | μένην εκ των ασμάτων ύστερον συντεθήναι. (Be-
book, of course, excited great opposition, but no sides Schol. ap. Villois. Anecd. Gr. ii. p. 182. ) But
one has to this day been able to refute the principal Wolf draws still more convincing arguments from
arguments of that great critic, and to re-establish the poems themselves. In Il. vii. 175, the Grecian
the old opinion, which he overthrew. His views, heroes decide by lot who is to fight with Hector.
however, have been materially modified by pro- The lots are marked by each respective hero, and
tracted discussions, so that now we can almost all thrown into a helmet, which is shaken till one
venture to say that the question is settled. We lot is jerked out. This is handed round by the
will first state Wolf's principal arguments, and the herald till it reaches Ajax, who recognises the
chief objections of his opponents, and will then en- mark he had made on it as his own. If this mark
deavour to discover the most probable result of all had been any thing like writing, the herald would
these inquiries.
have read it at once, and not have handed it round,
In 1770, R. Wood published a book on the ori- | In I. vi. 168, we have the story of Bellerophon,
ginal Genius of Homer, in which he mooted the whom Proetus sends to Lycia,
question whether the Homeric poems had originally
πόρεν δ' όγε σήματα λυγρά,
been written or not. This idea was caught up by
Γράψας εν πίνακι πτυκτώ θυμοφθόρα πολλά
Wolf, and proved the foundation of all his inquiries.
But the most important assistance which he ob-
Δείξαι δ' ήνώγει η πενθερώ, όφρ' απόλoιτο.
tained was from the discovery and publication of Wolf shows that onuara Auspá are a kind of con-
the famous Venetian scholia by Villoison (1788). ventional marks, and not letters, and that this story
These valuable scholia, in giving us some insight into is far from proving the existence of writing.
the studies of the Alexandrine critics, furnished Throughout the whole of Homer every thing is cal-
materials and an historical basis for Wolf's in- culated to be heard, nothing to be read. Not a
quiries. The point from which Wolf started was, single epitaph, nor any other inscription, is men-
as we have said, the idea that the Homeric poems tioned ; the tombs of the heroes are rude mounds
were originally not written. To prove this, he of earth; coins are unknown. In Od. viii. 163, an
entered into a minute and accurate discussion con- overseer of a ship is mentioned, who, instead of
cerning the age of the art of writing. He set aside, having a list of the cargo, must remember it; he is
as groundless fables, the traditions which ascribed poptou uvouw. All this seemed to prove, without
the invention or introduction of this art to Cadmus, the possibility of doubt, that the art of writing was
Cecrops, Orpheus, Linus, or Palamedes. Then, entirely unknown at the time of the Trojan war,
allowing that letters were known in Greece at a and could not have been common at the time when
very early period, he justly insists upon the great the poems were composed.
difference which exists between the knowledge of Among the opponents of Wolf, there is none
the letters and their general rese for works of lite superior to Greg. W. Nitzsch, in zeal, perseverance,
rature. Writing is first applied to public monu- learning, and acuteness. He wrote a series of
ments, inscriptions, and religious purposes, centuries monographies (Quaestion. Homeric. Specim, i. 1824;
before it is employed for the common purposes of Indagandae per Odyss. Interpolutionis Praepuratio,
social life. This is still more certain to be the case 1828 ; De Hist. Homeri, fascic. i. 1830 ; De
when the common ordinary materials for writing Aristotele contra Wolfianos, 1831; Patria et Aetas
are wanting, as they were among the ancient | Hom. ) to refute Wolf and his supporters, and he
KK 3
## p. 502 (#518) ############################################
602
- HOMERUS.
HOMERUS.
has done a great deal towards establishing a solid | down a single syllable, and have preserved them
and well-founded view of this complicated question. faithfully in their memory, before committing them
Nitzsch opposed Wolf's conclusions concerning the to writing. And how much more easily could this
later date of written documents. He denies that have been done in the time anterior to the use of
the laws of Lycurgus were transmitted by oral writing, when all those faculties of the mind, which
tradition alone, and were for this purpose set to had to dispense with this artificial assistance, were
music by Terpander and Thaletas, as is generally powerfully developed, trained, and exercised. We
believed, on the authority of Plutarch (de Mus. 3). must not look upon the old bards as amateurs, who
The Spartan vbuoi, which those two musicians are amused themselves in leisure hours with poetical
said to have composed, Nitzsch declares to have compositions, as is the fashion now-a-days. Com-
been hymns and not laws, although Strabo calls position was their profession. All their thoughts
Thaletas και νομοθετικός ανήρ (by a mistake, as were concentrated on this one point, in wbich and
Nitzsch ventures to say). Writing materials were, for which they lived. Their composition was,
according to Nitzsch, not wanting at a very early moreover, facilitated by their having no occasion to
period. lle maintains that wooden tablets, and the invent complicated plots and wonderful stories ; the
hides (8190épai) of the Ionians were employed, simple traditions, on which they founded their
and that even papyrus was known and used by songs, were handed down to them in a form already
the Greeks long before the time of Amasis, and adapted to poetical purposes. If now, in spite of
brought into Greece by Phoenician merchants. all these advantages, the composition of the Iliad
Amasis, according to Nitzsch, only rendered the and Odyssey was no easy task, we must attribute
use of papyrus more general (6th century B. c. ), some superiority to the genius of Homer, which
whereas formerly its use had been confined to a caused his name and his works to acquire eternal
few. Thus Nitzsch arrives at the conclusion that glory, and covered all his innumerable predecessors,
writing was common in Greece full one hundred contemporaries, and followers, with oblivion.
years before the time which Wolf had supposed, The second conclusion of Wolf is of more
namely, about the beginning of the Olympiads (8th weight and importance. When people neither
century B. c. ), and that this is the time in which wrote nor read, the only way of publishing poems
the Homeric poems were committed to writing. If was by oral recitation. The bards therefore of
this is granted, it does not follow that the poems the heroic age, as we see from Homer himself,
were also composed at this time. Nitzsch cannot used to entertain their hearers at banquets, festivals,
prove that the age of Homer was so late as the and similar occasions. On such occasions they
eighth century. "The best authorities, as we have certainly could not recite more than one or two
seen, place Homer much earlier, so that we again rhapsodies. Now Wolf asks what could have in-
come to the conclusion that the Homeric poems duced any one to compose a poem of such a length,
were composed and handed down for a long time that it could not be heard at once ? All the charms
without the assistance of writing. In fact, this of an artificial and poetical unity, varied by epi-
point seems indisputable. The nature of the Ho- sodes, but strictly observed through many books,
meric language is alone a sufficient argument, but must certainly be lost, if only fragments of the poem
into this consideration Nitzsch never entered. could be heard at once. To refute this argument,
(Hermann, Opusc. vi. 1, 75; Giese, d. Aeol. Dia- the opponents of Wolf were obliged to seek for
lect. p. 154. ) The Homeric dialect could never occasions which afforded at least a possibility of
have attained that softness and flexibility, which reciting the whole of the Iliad and Odyssey. Ban-
render it so well adapted for versification—that quets and small festivals were not sufficient; but
variety of longer and shorter forms, which existed there were musical contests (årêves), connected with
together--that freedom in contracting and resolving great national festivals, at which thousands assem-
vowels, and of forming the contractions into two bled, anxious to hear and patient to listen. “If,"
syllables—if the practice of writing had at that says Müller (Hist. of Greek Lit. p. 62), “ the Athe-
time exercised the power, which it necessarily pos- nians could at one festival hear in succession about
Besses, of fixing the forms of a language. (Müller, nine tragedies, three satyric dramas, and as many co-
Hist.
of using his influence with Caesar unselfishly. A mistress of one P. Aebutius, who lived in the
staunch Caesarian, he protected the Pompeians, Aventine quarter of Rome. To prevent her
and while he deplored his benefactor's murder, he lover's initiation in the Bacchanalian mysteries,
opposed the lawless and prodigal ambition of An- she partially disclosed to him the nefarious nature
tony. Cicero frequently mentions his addiction to of their rites, which, while a slave in attendance
the pleasures of the table (ad Fam. ix. 16, 18, 20, on her mistress, she had occasionally witnessed.
ad Att. xii. 2, xvi. 1), and Q. Cicero describes him Aebutius revealed to the consul, Sp. Postumius
as a licentious reveller (ud Fam. xvi. 17). Both Albinus (ALBINUS, No. 12), what Hispala had
charges were probably exaggerated, in the one case imparted to him. She was in consequence sum-
by political, in the other by personal dislike. But moned by the consul, who, partly by promises,
Hirtius had tastes more refined ; and Caesar, when partly by threats, drew from her a full disclosure
he commissioned him to answer the Cato of Cicero, of the place, the practices, and the purposes of the
must have thought highly of his literary attain- Bacchanalian society. After the association was
Hirtius divides with Oppius the claim to put down, Hispala was rewarded with the privi-
the anthorship of the eighth book of the Gallic war, leges of a free-born matron of Rome; and lest
as well as that of the Alexandrian, African, and revenge or superstition should prompt any of the
Spanish. (Suet. Caes. 52, 53, 56 ; Plin. xi. 105; worshippers of Bacchus to attempt her life, her
Voss. de Hist. Lat. p. 64 ; Dodwell. Dissert. de security was made by a special decree of the senate
Auct. lib. viii. de B. G. et Al. Af. et Hisp. in Ouden- the charge of the consuls for the time being. And
dorp's Caesar, vol. ii. p. 869, ed. 1822. ) Without besides these immunities, a million of sesterces was
determining the question, we may allow that Hir- paid from the treasury to Hispala. (Liv. xxxix.
tius was quite capable of writing the best of these, 9-19; comp. Val. Max. vi. 3. $ 7. ) (W. B. D. ]
the eighth of the commentaries on the Gaulish war, HISPALLUS, an agnomen of Cn. Cornelius
and the single book of the Alexandrine war, and Scipio, consul in B. c. 176. (Scipio. ]
that he certainly did not write the account of Cae- HISPO ROMANUS. (Romanus. )
sar's last campaign in Spain. (Niebuhr, Lectures HISPO, CORNEʼLIUS, a rhetorician men-
on Hist. of Rome, vol. ii. Pp. 46, 47, ed. Schmitz. ) | tioned by Seneca, who gives an extract from one of
(W. B. D. ) his declamations, “ de uxore torta a tyranno pro
marito. ” (Sen. Contr. 13. ) (W. B. D. )
HISTIAEA ('lotlala), a daughter of Hyrieus,
from whom the town of Histiaea, in Euboea, was
said to have derived its name. (Eustath. ad Hom.
p. 280 ; comp. Strab. p. 445. )
(L. S. ]
HISTIAEUS ('lotiaios), tyrant of Miletus,
commanded his contingent of Ionians in the service
of Dareius in the invasion of Scythia by the Per-
sians (B. c. 513), when he was left with his conn-
COIN OP A, HIRTIUS,
trymen to guard the bridge of boats by which the
ments,
6000aco
000000
ܘܘܘܘܘܘܘܘܘ܂
COSTEA
000000
## p. 499 (#515) ############################################
HISTIAEUS.
499
HOLMUS.
66
army had crossed the Danube. Sixty days had being reduced again. Artaphernes, satrap of Sardis,
been assigned by the Persian king as the period of showed himself less credulous than Dareius : “ It
his absence, marked by as many knots tied in a rope, was you that stitched the shoe,” he said to His-
one of which was to be untied daily. When the tiaeus, " which Aristagoras did but wear. " His-
time had passed, and the Persians did not appear, tiaeus, in alarm, had recourse to the Chians, whom
being still engaged in a vain pursuit of the Scy- he with difficulty persunded to receive him: then,
thians, the lonians took counsel about their return. imposing upon the Ionians, who regarded him with
The proposal of Miltiades, the Athenian, to destroy distrust, by a crafty story that Dareius meant to
the bridge, and leave the Persians to their fate, remove them to Phoenicia, after the fashion of
would have occasioned the certain destruction of Eastern conquerors, he began to intrigue with some
Dareius and his army, had not Histiaeus persuaded Persians in Sardis, who were willing to listen to his
his countrymen, the rulers of the Greek cities on proposals. Artaphernes discovered the plot, and
the Hellespont and in Ionia, not to take a step put the Persians to death : upon which Histineus,
which would lead to their own ruin, depending as after in vain trying to persuade the inhabitants of
they did upon the Persians for support against the Miletus to receive him back again, succeeded at
democratic parties in their respective cities. De- length in raising a small force in Lesbus, with
ceiving the Scythians by professing to fall in with which he proceeded to Byzantium, still in revolt,
their wishes, and to be anxious for the destruction and seized all vessels sailing from the Euxine that
of Dareius, the wily Greek persuaded them to de refused to acknowledge him as their master. On
part in search of him, making a show of destroying the reduction of Miletus (B. C. 494), the most im-
the bridge by removing the part of it next Scy- portant step in the second conquest of lonia, His
thia When the Persians, retreating from their tiaeus made a bold attempt to establish himself in
unsuccessful march, returned to the Danube, where the islands of the Aegean, and actually succeeded
they happened to arrive after nightfall, they were in taking possession of Chios after some resistance,
naturally alarmed lest the Greeks should have de- the inhabitants having lost nearly all their forces
serted them, until an Egyptian, noted in the army at the battle of Lade. Thasos might have fallen
for his loud voice, was ordered to shout out the under him also, when the news that the Phoeni-
name of Histiaeus of Miletus, who, hearing the cian fleet, having assisted in conquering Miletus,
call, made all speed to transport them to the safe was sailing northwards to complete the conquest of
side of the river.
Ionia and Aeolis, induced him to return to Lesbos.
Dareius never forgot this signal service. On his Hence he made a descent on the opposite coast, to
return to Sardis Histiaeus was rewarded with the ravage the plain of the Caicus and Atarnea, but was
rule of Mytilene. Histiaeus, already in possession defeated and taken prisoner by a troop of Persian
of Miletus, asked and obtained a district on the cavalry under Harpagus. He would have been
Strymon, in Thrace, where, leaving Miletus under slain in the pursuit had he not called out in Per-
the charge of his kinsman, Aristagoras, he built a sian that he was Histiaeus of Miletus, hoping that
town called Myrcinus, apparently with a view of his life would be spared. If he had fallen into
establishing an independent kingdom. The spot Dareius's hands, it would have been so : but Har.
was well chosen, as the neighbouring country was pagus and Artaphernes caused him to be put to
rich in tin ore and silver mines : but he was not death by impalement, and sent his head to the
allowed to carry his designs into execution. Me- king. Dareius received it with sorrow, and buried
gabazus, a Persian officer, whom Dareius had left it honourably, blaming the haste of his officers: no
in Europe to complete the conquest of Thrace, ad- injury could make him forget that he had once
vised the king to recal his promise, and not to owed to Histiaeus his army, his kingdom, and his
allow an able and crafty man, like Histiaeus, to life. The adventurous history of Histiaeus does
raise a formidable power within the empire. His not show any signs of his having possessed great
tiaeus followed Dareius reluctantly to Susa, where or noble qualities of mind. Attachment to his
he was detained for thirteen years, till the out- country is the only pleasing trait in his character;
break of the Ionian revolt, kindly treated, but pro- and even this is mixed up with motives of a lower
hibited from returning.
kind. Personal ambition is the only reason given
On the news of the burning of Sardis by the for his saving the army of Dareius ; and afterwards
Athenians (B. C. 499) (ARISTAGORAS), whom it was selfish motives, not true patriotism, that led
Aristagoras had induced to send help to their both Aristagoras and himself to bring down the
kinsmen of lonia, Dareius charged Histiaeus with vengeance of the Persians upon his country. In
being a party to the revolt. His suspicions were policy and dissimulation he was undoubtedly well
correct : Histiaeus had encouraged Aristagoras skilled, and not deficient in daring. The attach-
in his design, employing a singular expedient ment of Dareius to him is more striking than any
to escape detection. He had shaved the head of qualities in his own character. (Herod. iv. 137,
one of his slaves, branded his message on the skin, 138, 141, v. 11, 23, 24, 30, 35, 105-107, vi. 1-
and sent him to Aristagoras, after the hair had 5, 26—30 ; Polyaen. i. 24 ; 'Tzetz. Chil. iii. 512.
grown, with the direction to shave it off again. ix. 228 ; Gell. xvii. 9. )
[C. E. P. ]
A revolution in Ionia might lead, he hoped, to his HI'STORIS ('lotop s), a daughter of Teiresias,
release : and his design succeeded. It is un and engaged in the service of Alcmene. By her
accountable that Dareius should have been 80 cry that Alcmene had already given birth, she
easily deceived: yet be suffered Histiaeus to de induced the Pharmacides to withdraw, and thus
part, on his engaging to reduce Ionia, and to make enabled her mistress to give birth to Heracles.
Sardinia, which he described as an important (Paus. ix. 11. & 2. ) Some attribute this friendly
island, tributary to the Persiang.
act to Galinthias, the daughter of Proetus of Thebes.
On bis arrival at Sardis he found that the revolt (GALINTHIAS. )
(L. S. ]
had not succeeded : the Athenians had declined to HOLMUS ("Onuos), a son of Sisyphus, and
send fresh succour, and the lonian cities were | father of Minyas. He was believed to have
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## p. 500 (#516) ############################################
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HOMERUS.
HOMERUS
founded the town of Holmones or Halmones, in the Smyrna, which from henceforth was a purely Ionic
neighbourhood of Orchomenus. (Paus. ix. 24. § 3; city. The Aeolians were originally in possession
Steph. Byz. 8. o. )
(L. S. ] of the traditions of the Trojan war, which their
HOMAGY'RIUS ('Ouayópos), i. e. the god of ancestors had waged, and in which no lonians had
the assembly or league, a surname of Zene under taken part. (Müller, Aeginet. p. 25, Orchom. p. 367. )
which he was worshipped at Aegium, on the north- Homer therefore, himself an Ionian, who had come
western coast of Peloponnesus, where Agamemnon from Ephesus, received these traditions from the
was believed to have assembled the Greek chiefs, new Aeolian settlers, and when the Ionians were
to deliberate on the war against Troy. Under this driven out of Smyma either he himself fled to
name Zeus was also worshipped, as the protector of Chios, or his descendants or disciples settled there,
the Achaean league. (Paus. vii. 24. & 1. ) [L. S. ] and formed the famous family of Homerids. Thus
HOMERUS (Ounpos). The poems of Homer we may unite the claims of Smyrna and Chios, and
formed the basis of Greek literature. Every Greek explain the peculiarities of the Homeric dialect,
who had received a liberal education was per- which is different from the pure lonic, and bas a
fectly well acquainted with them from his child large mixture of Aeolic elements. According to
hood, and had learnt them by heart at school ; but this computation, Homer would have fourished
nobody could state any thing certain about their shortly after the time of the Ionian migration, a
author. In fact, the several biographies of Homer time best attested, as we have seen, by the au-
which are now extant afford very little or nothing thorities of Aristotle and Aristarchus. But this
of an authentic history. The various dates as- result seems not to be reconcilable with the follow-
signed to Homer's age offer no less a diversity ing considerations :- 1. Placing Homer more than
than 500 years (from B. c. 1184-684). Crates a century and a half after the Trojan war, we have
and Eratosthenes state, that he lived within a long period which is apparently quite destituto
the first century after the Trojan war ; Aristotle of poetical exertions.
Is it likely that the heroes
and Aristarchus make him a contemporary of the should not have found a bard for their deeds till more
Ionian migration, 140 years after the war; the than a hundred and fifty years after their death ?
chronologist, Apollodorus, gives the year 210, Por And how could the knowledge of these deeds be
phyrius 275, the Parian Marble 277, Herodotus preserved without poetical traditions and epic songs,
400 after that event; and Theopompus even makes the only chronicles of an illiterate age? 2. In
him a contemporary of Gyges, king of Lydia. addition to this, there was a stirring active time
(Nitzsch, Melet. de Histor. Hom. fasc. ii. p. 2, de between the Asiatic settlements of the Greeks and
Hist. Hom. p. 78. ) The most important point to the war with Troy. Of the exploits of this time,
be determined is, whether we are to place Homer certainly nowise inferior to the exploits of the
before or after the Ionian migration. The latter is heroic age itself, we should expect to find something
supported by the best authors, and by the general mentioned or alluded to in the work of a poet who
opinion of antiquity, according to which Homer lived during or shortly after it. But of this there is
was by birth an Ionian of Asia Minor. There not a trace to be found in Homer. 3. The mythology
were indeed more than seven cities which claimed and the poems of Homer could not have originated
Homer as their countryman ; for if we number all in Asia. It is the growth of a long period, during
those that we find mentioned in different passages which the ancient Thracian bards, who lived partly
of ancient writers, we have seventeen or nineteen in Thessaly, round Mount Olympus, and partly in
cities mentioned as the birth-places of Homer ; but Boeotia, near Helicon, consolidated all the different
the claims of most of these are so suspicious and and various local mythologies into one great my-
feeble, that they easily vanish before a closer ex-thological system. If Homer had made the my-
amination. Athens, for instance, alleged that she thology of the Greeks, as Herodotus (ii. 53)
was the metropolis of Smyrna, and could therefore affirms, he would not hare represented the Thes-
number Homer amongst her citizens. (Bekker, salian Olympus as the seat of his gods, but some
Anecdot. vol. ii. p. 768. ) Many other poems were mountain of Asia Minor ; his Muses would not
attributed to Homer besides the Iliad and Odyssey. have been those of Olympus, but they would have
The real authors of these poems were forgotten, dwelt on Ida or Gargaros. Homer, if his works
but their fellow-citizens pretended that Homer, the had first originated in Asia, would not have com-
supposed author, had lived or been born among pared Nausicaa to Artemis walking on Tuygetus
them. The claims of Cyme and Colophon will not or Eryanthus (Od. vi. 102); and a great many
seem entitled to much consideration, because they other allusions to European countries, which show
are preferred by Ephorus and Nicander, who were the poet's familiar acquaintance with them, could
citizens of those respective towns. After sifting have found no place in the work of an Asiatic.
the authorities for all the different statements, the It is evident that Homer was far better ac-
claims of Smyrna and Chios remain the most plau- quainted with European Greece than he was with
sible, and between these two we have to decide. Asia Minor, and even the country round Troy.
Smyrna is supported by Pindar, Scylax, and Ste- (Comp. Spohn, de Agro Trojano, p. 27. ) Sir W.
simbrotus ; Chios by Simonides, Acusilaus, Hel- Gell, and other modern travellers, were astonished
Janicus, Thucydides, the tradition of a family of at the accuracy with which Homer has described
Homerids at Chios, and the local worship of a places in Peloponnesus, and particularly the island
hero, Homeros. The preference is now generally of Ithaca. It has been observed, that nobody could
given to Smyrna. (Welcker, Epische Cyclus, p. 153; | have given these descriptions, except one who bad
Müller, Hist. of Greck Lit. p. 41, &c. ) Smyrna seen the country himself. How shall we, with all
was first founded by Ionians from Ephesus, who this, maintain our proposition, that Homer was an
were followed, and afterwards expelled, by Aeolians Ionian of Asia Minor? It is indispensable, in
from Cyme: the expelled Ionians fled to Colophon, order to clear up this point, to enter more at large
and Smyrna thus became Aeolic. Subsequently into the discussion concerning the origin of the
the Colophonians drove out the Aeolians from Homeric poems.
## p. 501 (#517) ############################################
HOMERUS.
501
HOMERUS.
c. The whole of antiquity unanimously viewed the Greeks. Wood, lead, brass; stone, are not proper
Iliad and the Odyssey as the productions of a cer- materials for writing down poems consisting of
tain individual, called Homer. No doubt of this fact twenty-four books. Even hides, which were used
ever entered the mind of any of the ancients ; and by the Ionians, seem too clumsy for this purpose,
even a large number of other poems were attributed and, besides, we do not know when they were first
to the same author. This opinion continued unshaken in use. (Herod. v. 58. ) It was not before the
down to the year 1795, when F. A. Wolf wrote sixth century, . c. that papyrus became easily
his famous Prolegomena, in which he endeavoured accessible to the Greeks, through the king Ama-
to show that the Iliad and Odyssey were not two sis, who first opened Egypt to Greek trders.
complete poems, but small, separate, independent The laws of Lycurgus were not committed to
epic songs, celebrating single exploits of the heroes, writing ; those of Zaleucus, in Locri Epizephyrii,
and that these lays were for the first time written in the 29th Ol. (B. C. 664), are particularly re-
down and united, as the Iliad and Odyssey, by corded as the first laws that were written down.
Peisistratus, the tyrant of Athens. This opinion, (Scymn. Perieg. 313; Strab. vi. p. 259. ) The laws
.
startling and paradoxical as it seemed, was not en- of Solon, seventy years later, were written on wood
tirely new. Casaubon had already doubted the and Bovotpoombóv. Wolf allows that all these con-
common opinion regarding Homer, and the great siderations do not prove that no use at all was
Bentley had said expressly " that Homer wrote a made of the art of writing as early as the seventh
bequel of songs and rhapsodies. These loose songs and eighth centuries B. c. , which would be par-
were not collected together in the form of an ticularly improbable in the case of the lyric poets,
epic poem till about 500 years after. " (Letter such as Archilochus, Alcman, Pisander, and Arion,
by Phileleutherus Lipsiensis, $ 7. ) Some French but that before the time of the seven sages, that is,
writers, Perrault and Hedelin, and the Italian the time when prose writing first originated, the art
Vico, had made similar conjectures, but all these was not so common that we can suppose it to have
were forgotten and overborne by the common been employed for such extensive works as the
and general opinion, and the more easily, as these poems of Homer. Wolf (Prol. p. 77) alleges the
bold conjectures had been thrown out almost at testimony of Josephus (c. Apion. i. 2): 'Oye kad
hazard, and without sound arguments to support | μόλις έγνωσαν οι Έλληνες φύσιν γραμμάτων. . . Και
them. When therefore Wolf's Prolegomena ap- paow oude TOÛTOV (i. e. Homerum) èv ypáupaon
peared, the whole literary world was startled by την αυτού ποίησιν καταλιπείν, αλλά διαμνημονευο-
the boldness and novelty of his positions. His | μένην εκ των ασμάτων ύστερον συντεθήναι. (Be-
book, of course, excited great opposition, but no sides Schol. ap. Villois. Anecd. Gr. ii. p. 182. ) But
one has to this day been able to refute the principal Wolf draws still more convincing arguments from
arguments of that great critic, and to re-establish the poems themselves. In Il. vii. 175, the Grecian
the old opinion, which he overthrew. His views, heroes decide by lot who is to fight with Hector.
however, have been materially modified by pro- The lots are marked by each respective hero, and
tracted discussions, so that now we can almost all thrown into a helmet, which is shaken till one
venture to say that the question is settled. We lot is jerked out. This is handed round by the
will first state Wolf's principal arguments, and the herald till it reaches Ajax, who recognises the
chief objections of his opponents, and will then en- mark he had made on it as his own. If this mark
deavour to discover the most probable result of all had been any thing like writing, the herald would
these inquiries.
have read it at once, and not have handed it round,
In 1770, R. Wood published a book on the ori- | In I. vi. 168, we have the story of Bellerophon,
ginal Genius of Homer, in which he mooted the whom Proetus sends to Lycia,
question whether the Homeric poems had originally
πόρεν δ' όγε σήματα λυγρά,
been written or not. This idea was caught up by
Γράψας εν πίνακι πτυκτώ θυμοφθόρα πολλά
Wolf, and proved the foundation of all his inquiries.
But the most important assistance which he ob-
Δείξαι δ' ήνώγει η πενθερώ, όφρ' απόλoιτο.
tained was from the discovery and publication of Wolf shows that onuara Auspá are a kind of con-
the famous Venetian scholia by Villoison (1788). ventional marks, and not letters, and that this story
These valuable scholia, in giving us some insight into is far from proving the existence of writing.
the studies of the Alexandrine critics, furnished Throughout the whole of Homer every thing is cal-
materials and an historical basis for Wolf's in- culated to be heard, nothing to be read. Not a
quiries. The point from which Wolf started was, single epitaph, nor any other inscription, is men-
as we have said, the idea that the Homeric poems tioned ; the tombs of the heroes are rude mounds
were originally not written. To prove this, he of earth; coins are unknown. In Od. viii. 163, an
entered into a minute and accurate discussion con- overseer of a ship is mentioned, who, instead of
cerning the age of the art of writing. He set aside, having a list of the cargo, must remember it; he is
as groundless fables, the traditions which ascribed poptou uvouw. All this seemed to prove, without
the invention or introduction of this art to Cadmus, the possibility of doubt, that the art of writing was
Cecrops, Orpheus, Linus, or Palamedes. Then, entirely unknown at the time of the Trojan war,
allowing that letters were known in Greece at a and could not have been common at the time when
very early period, he justly insists upon the great the poems were composed.
difference which exists between the knowledge of Among the opponents of Wolf, there is none
the letters and their general rese for works of lite superior to Greg. W. Nitzsch, in zeal, perseverance,
rature. Writing is first applied to public monu- learning, and acuteness. He wrote a series of
ments, inscriptions, and religious purposes, centuries monographies (Quaestion. Homeric. Specim, i. 1824;
before it is employed for the common purposes of Indagandae per Odyss. Interpolutionis Praepuratio,
social life. This is still more certain to be the case 1828 ; De Hist. Homeri, fascic. i. 1830 ; De
when the common ordinary materials for writing Aristotele contra Wolfianos, 1831; Patria et Aetas
are wanting, as they were among the ancient | Hom. ) to refute Wolf and his supporters, and he
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## p. 502 (#518) ############################################
602
- HOMERUS.
HOMERUS.
has done a great deal towards establishing a solid | down a single syllable, and have preserved them
and well-founded view of this complicated question. faithfully in their memory, before committing them
Nitzsch opposed Wolf's conclusions concerning the to writing. And how much more easily could this
later date of written documents. He denies that have been done in the time anterior to the use of
the laws of Lycurgus were transmitted by oral writing, when all those faculties of the mind, which
tradition alone, and were for this purpose set to had to dispense with this artificial assistance, were
music by Terpander and Thaletas, as is generally powerfully developed, trained, and exercised. We
believed, on the authority of Plutarch (de Mus. 3). must not look upon the old bards as amateurs, who
The Spartan vbuoi, which those two musicians are amused themselves in leisure hours with poetical
said to have composed, Nitzsch declares to have compositions, as is the fashion now-a-days. Com-
been hymns and not laws, although Strabo calls position was their profession. All their thoughts
Thaletas και νομοθετικός ανήρ (by a mistake, as were concentrated on this one point, in wbich and
Nitzsch ventures to say). Writing materials were, for which they lived. Their composition was,
according to Nitzsch, not wanting at a very early moreover, facilitated by their having no occasion to
period. lle maintains that wooden tablets, and the invent complicated plots and wonderful stories ; the
hides (8190épai) of the Ionians were employed, simple traditions, on which they founded their
and that even papyrus was known and used by songs, were handed down to them in a form already
the Greeks long before the time of Amasis, and adapted to poetical purposes. If now, in spite of
brought into Greece by Phoenician merchants. all these advantages, the composition of the Iliad
Amasis, according to Nitzsch, only rendered the and Odyssey was no easy task, we must attribute
use of papyrus more general (6th century B. c. ), some superiority to the genius of Homer, which
whereas formerly its use had been confined to a caused his name and his works to acquire eternal
few. Thus Nitzsch arrives at the conclusion that glory, and covered all his innumerable predecessors,
writing was common in Greece full one hundred contemporaries, and followers, with oblivion.
years before the time which Wolf had supposed, The second conclusion of Wolf is of more
namely, about the beginning of the Olympiads (8th weight and importance. When people neither
century B. c. ), and that this is the time in which wrote nor read, the only way of publishing poems
the Homeric poems were committed to writing. If was by oral recitation. The bards therefore of
this is granted, it does not follow that the poems the heroic age, as we see from Homer himself,
were also composed at this time. Nitzsch cannot used to entertain their hearers at banquets, festivals,
prove that the age of Homer was so late as the and similar occasions. On such occasions they
eighth century. "The best authorities, as we have certainly could not recite more than one or two
seen, place Homer much earlier, so that we again rhapsodies. Now Wolf asks what could have in-
come to the conclusion that the Homeric poems duced any one to compose a poem of such a length,
were composed and handed down for a long time that it could not be heard at once ? All the charms
without the assistance of writing. In fact, this of an artificial and poetical unity, varied by epi-
point seems indisputable. The nature of the Ho- sodes, but strictly observed through many books,
meric language is alone a sufficient argument, but must certainly be lost, if only fragments of the poem
into this consideration Nitzsch never entered. could be heard at once. To refute this argument,
(Hermann, Opusc. vi. 1, 75; Giese, d. Aeol. Dia- the opponents of Wolf were obliged to seek for
lect. p. 154. ) The Homeric dialect could never occasions which afforded at least a possibility of
have attained that softness and flexibility, which reciting the whole of the Iliad and Odyssey. Ban-
render it so well adapted for versification—that quets and small festivals were not sufficient; but
variety of longer and shorter forms, which existed there were musical contests (årêves), connected with
together--that freedom in contracting and resolving great national festivals, at which thousands assem-
vowels, and of forming the contractions into two bled, anxious to hear and patient to listen. “If,"
syllables—if the practice of writing had at that says Müller (Hist. of Greek Lit. p. 62), “ the Athe-
time exercised the power, which it necessarily pos- nians could at one festival hear in succession about
Besses, of fixing the forms of a language. (Müller, nine tragedies, three satyric dramas, and as many co-
Hist.
