No More Learning

The earliest of the post-Homeric epics of Troy are apparently the
"Aethiopis" and the "Sack of Ilium", both ascribed to Arctinus of
Miletus who is said to have flourished in the first Olympiad (776 B. C. ).
He set himself to finish the tale of Troy, which, so far as events were
concerned, had been left half-told by Homer, by tracing the course of
events after the close of the "Iliad". The "Aethiopis" thus included the
coming of the Amazon Penthesilea to help the Trojans after the fall of
Hector and her death, the similar arrival and fall of the Aethiopian
Memnon, the death of Achilles under the arrow of Paris, and the dispute
between Odysseus and Aias for the arms of Achilles. The "Sack of Ilium"
[1113] as analysed by Proclus was very similar to Vergil's version in
"Aeneid" ii, comprising the episodes of the wooden horse, of Laocoon, of
Sinon, the return of the Achaeans from Tenedos, the actual Sack of Troy,
the division of spoils and the burning of the city.

Lesches or Lescheos (as Pausanias calls him) of Pyrrha or Mitylene is
dated at about 660 B. C. In his "Little Iliad" he undertook to elaborate
the "Sack" as related by Arctinus. His work included the adjudgment of
the arms of Achilles to Odysseus, the madness of Aias, the bringing
of Philoctetes from Lemnos and his cure, the coming to the war of
Neoptolemus who slays Eurypylus, son of Telephus, the making of the
wooden horse, the spying of Odysseus and his theft, along with Diomedes,
of the Palladium: the analysis concludes with the admission of the
wooden horse into Troy by the Trojans. It is known, however (Aristotle,
"Poetics", xxiii; Pausanias, x, 25-27), that the "Little Iliad" also
contained a description of the sack of Troy. It is probable that this
and other superfluous incidents disappeared after the Alexandrian
arrangement of the poems in the Cycle, either as the result of some
later recension, or merely through disuse. Or Proclus may have thought
it unnecessary to give the accounts by Lesches and Arctinus of the same
incident.

The "Cyprian Lays", ascribed to Stasinus of Cyprus [1114] (but also to
Hegesinus of Salamis) was designed to do for the events preceding the
action of the "Iliad" what Arctinus had done for the later phases of the
Trojan War. The "Cypria" begins with the first causes of the war, the
purpose of Zeus to relieve the overburdened earth, the apple of
discord, the rape of Helen. Then follow the incidents connected with the
gathering of the Achaeans and their ultimate landing in Troy; and the
story of the war is detailed up to the quarrel between Achilles and
Agamemnon with which the "Iliad" begins.

These four poems rounded off the story of the "Iliad", and it only
remained to connect this enlarged version with the "Odyssey". This was
done by means of the "Returns", a poem in five books ascribed to Agias
or Hegias of Troezen, which begins where the "Sack of Troy" ends. It
told of the dispute between Agamemnon and Menelaus, the departure from
Troy of Menelaus, the fortunes of the lesser heroes, the return and
tragic death of Agamemnon, and the vengeance of Orestes on Aegisthus.
The story ends with the return home of Menelaus, which brings the
general narrative up to the beginning of the "Odyssey".

But the "Odyssey" itself left much untold: what, for example, happened
in Ithaca after the slaying of the suitors, and what was the ultimate
fate of Odysseus? The answer to these questions was supplied by the
"Telegony", a poem in two books by Eugammon of Cyrene (fl. 568 B. C. ).
It told of the adventures of Odysseus in Thesprotis after the killing
of the Suitors, of his return to Ithaca, and his death at the hands
of Telegonus, his son by Circe. The epic ended by disposing of the
surviving personages in a double marriage, Telemachus wedding Circe, and
Telegonus Penelope.

The end of the Cycle marks also the end of the Heroic Age.




The Homeric Hymns

The collection of thirty-three Hymns, ascribed to Homer, is the last
considerable work of the Epic School, and seems, on the whole, to be
later than the Cyclic poems. It cannot be definitely assigned either
to the Ionian or Continental schools, for while the romantic element is
very strong, there is a distinct genealogical interest; and in matters
of diction and style the influences of both Hesiod and Homer are
well-marked. The date of the formation of the collection as such is
unknown. Diodorus Siculus (temp. Augustus) is the first to mention
such a body of poetry, and it is likely enough that this is, at least
substantially, the one which has come down to us. Thucydides quotes the
Delian "Hymn to Apollo", and it is possible that the Homeric corpus of
his day also contained other of the more important hymns. Conceivably
the collection was arranged in the Alexandrine period.

Thucydides, in quoting the "Hymn to Apollo", calls it PROOIMION, which
ordinarily means a 'prelude' chanted by a rhapsode before recitation of
a lay from Homer, and such hymns as Nos. vi, xxxi, xxxii, are
clearly preludes in the strict sense; in No. xxxi, for example, after
celebrating Helios, the poet declares he will next sing of the 'race of
mortal men, the demi-gods'. But it may fairly be doubted whether
such Hymns as those to "Demeter" (ii), "Apollo" (iii), "Hermes" (iv),
"Aphrodite" (v), can have been real preludes, in spite of the closing
formula 'and now I will pass on to another hymn'. The view taken by
Allen and Sikes, amongst other scholars, is doubtless right, that
these longer hymns are only technically preludes and show to what
disproportionate lengths a simple literacy form can be developed.

The Hymns to "Pan" (xix), to "Dionysus" (xxvi), to "Hestia and Hermes"
(xxix), seem to have been designed for use at definite religious
festivals, apart from recitations. With the exception perhaps of the
"Hymn to Ares" (viii), no item in the collection can be regarded as
either devotional or liturgical.

The Hymn is doubtless a very ancient form; but if no example of extreme
antiquity survive this must be put down to the fact that until the age
of literary consciousness, such things are not preserved.

First, apparently, in the collection stood the "Hymn to Dionysus", of
which only two fragments now survive. While it appears to have been a
hymn of the longer type [1115], we have no evidence to show either its
scope or date.

The "Hymn to Demeter", extant only in the MS. discovered by Matthiae
at Moscow, describes the seizure of Persephone by Hades, the grief
of Demeter, her stay at Eleusis, and her vengeance on gods and men by
causing famine. In the end Zeus is forced to bring Persephone back from
the lower world; but the goddess, by the contriving of Hades, still
remains partly a deity of the lower world. In memory of her sorrows
Demeter establishes the Eleusinian mysteries (which, however, were
purely agrarian in origin).

This hymn, as a literary work, is one of the finest in the collection.
It is surely Attic or Eleusinian in origin. Can we in any way fix its
date? Firstly, it is certainly not later than the beginning of the sixth
century, for it makes no mention of Iacchus, and the Dionysiac
element was introduced at Eleusis at about that period. Further,
the insignificance of Triptolemus and Eumolpus point to considerable
antiquity, and the digamma is still active. All these considerations
point to the seventh century as the probable date of the hymn.

The "Hymn to Apollo" consists of two parts, which beyond any doubt were
originally distinct, a Delian hymn and a Pythian hymn.

The Delian hymn describes how Leto, in travail with Apollo, sought out
a place in which to bear her son, and how Apollo, born in Delos, at once
claimed for himself the lyre, the bow, and prophecy. This part of the
existing hymn ends with an encomium of the Delian festival of Apollo and
of the Delian choirs. The second part celebrates the founding of Pytho
(Delphi) as the oracular seat of Apollo. After various wanderings the
god comes to Telphus, near Haliartus, but is dissuaded by the nymph of
the place from settling there and urged to go on to Pytho where, after
slaying the she-dragon who nursed Typhaon, he builds his temple. After
the punishment of Telphusa for her deceit in giving him no warning of
the dragoness at Pytho, Apollo, in the form of a dolphin, brings certain
Cretan shipmen to Delphi to be his priests; and the hymn ends with a
charge to these men to behave orderly and righteously.

The Delian part is exclusively Ionian and insular both in style and
sympathy; Delos and no other is Apollo's chosen seat: but the second
part is as definitely continental; Delos is ignored and Delphi alone is
the important centre of Apollo's worship. From this it is clear that
the two parts need not be of one date--The first, indeed, is ascribed
(Scholiast on Pindar "Nem". ii, 2) to Cynaethus of Chios (fl. 504 B. C. ),
a date which is obviously far too low; general considerations point
rather to the eighth century. The second part is not later than 600
B. C. ; for 1) the chariot-races at Pytho, which commenced in 586 B. C. ,
are unknown to the writer of the hymn, 2) the temple built by Trophonius
and Agamedes for Apollo (ll. 294-299) seems to have been still standing
when the hymn was written, and this temple was burned in 548. We may at
least be sure that the first part is a Chian work, and that the second
was composed by a continental poet familiar with Delphi.

The "Hymn to Hermes" differs from others in its burlesque, quasi-comic
character, and it is also the best-known of the Hymns to English readers
in consequence of Shelley's translation.

After a brief narrative of the birth of Hermes, the author goes on to
show how he won a place among the gods. First the new-born child found a
tortoise and from its shell contrived the lyre; next, with much cunning
circumstance, he stole Apollo's cattle and, when charged with the theft
by Apollo, forced that god to appear in undignified guise before the
tribunal of Zeus. Zeus seeks to reconcile the pair, and Hermes by
the gift of the lyre wins Apollo's friendship and purchases various
prerogatives, a share in divination, the lordship of herds and animals,
and the office of messenger from the gods to Hades.

The Hymn is hard to date. Hermes' lyre has seven strings and the
invention of the seven-stringed lyre is ascribed to Terpander (flor.
676 B. C. ). The hymn must therefore be later than that date, though
Terpander, according to Weir Smyth [1116], may have only modified the
scale of the lyre; yet while the burlesque character precludes an early
date, this feature is far removed, as Allen and Sikes remark, from the
silliness of the "Battle of the Frogs and Mice", so that a date in the
earlier part of the sixth century is most probable.

The "Hymn to Aphrodite" is not the least remarkable, from a literary
point of view, of the whole collection, exhibiting as it does in
a masterly manner a divine being as the unwilling victim of an
irresistible force. It tells how all creatures, and even the gods
themselves, are subject to the will of Aphrodite, saving only Artemis,
Athena, and Hestia; how Zeus to humble her pride of power caused her to
love a mortal, Anchises; and how the goddess visited the hero upon Mt.
Ida. A comparison of this work with the Lay of Demodocus ("Odyssey"
viii, 266 ff. ), which is superficially similar, will show how far
superior is the former in which the goddess is but a victim to forces
stronger than herself. The lines (247-255) in which Aphrodite tells of
her humiliation and grief are specially noteworthy.

There are only general indications of date. The influence of Hesiod is
clear, and the hymn has almost certainly been used by the author of the
"Hymn to Demeter", so that the date must lie between these two periods,
and the seventh century seems to be the latest date possible.

The "Hymn to Dionysus" relates how the god was seized by pirates and how
with many manifestations of power he avenged himself on them by turning
them into dolphins. The date is widely disputed, for while Ludwich
believes it to be a work of the fourth or third century, Allen and Sikes
consider a sixth or seventh century date to be possible. The story is
figured in a different form on the reliefs from the choragic monument of
Lysicrates, now in the British Museum [1117].

Very different in character is the "Hymn to Ares", which is Orphic
in character. The writer, after lauding the god by detailing his
attributes, prays to be delivered from feebleness and weakness of soul,
as also from impulses to wanton and brutal violence.

The only other considerable hymn is that to "Pan", which describes how
he roams hunting among the mountains and thickets and streams, how he
makes music at dusk while returning from the chase, and how he joins in
dancing with the nymphs who sing the story of his birth. This, beyond
most works of Greek literature, is remarkable for its fresh and
spontaneous love of wild natural scenes.

The remaining hymns are mostly of the briefest compass, merely hailing
the god to be celebrated and mentioning his chief attributes. The Hymns
to "Hermes" (xviii), to the "Dioscuri" (xvii), and to "Demeter" (xiii)
are mere abstracts of the longer hymns iv, xxxiii, and ii.




The Epigrams of Homer

The "Epigrams of Homer" are derived from the pseudo-Herodotean "Life of
Homer", but many of them occur in other documents such as the "Contest
of Homer and Hesiod", or are quoted by various ancient authors. These
poetic fragments clearly antedate the "Life" itself, which seems to have
been so written round them as to supply appropriate occasions for their
composition. Epigram iii on Midas of Larissa was otherwise attributed to
Cleobulus of Lindus, one of the Seven Sages; the address to Glaucus (xi)
is purely Hesiodic; xiii, according to MM. Croiset, is a fragment from a
gnomic poem. Epigram xiv is a curious poem attributed on no very obvious
grounds to Hesiod by Julius Pollox. In it the poet invokes Athena to
protect certain potters and their craft, if they will, according to
promise, give him a reward for his song; if they prove false, malignant
gnomes are invoked to wreck the kiln and hurt the potters.




The Burlesque Poems

To Homer were popularly ascribed certain burlesque poems in which
Aristotle ("Poetics" iv) saw the germ of comedy. Most interesting of
these, were it extant, would be the "Margites". The hero of the epic is
at once sciolist and simpleton, 'knowing many things, but knowing them
all badly'. It is unfortunately impossible to trace the plan of
the poem, which presumably detailed the adventures of this unheroic
character: the metre used was a curious mixture of hexametric and iambic
lines. The date of such a work cannot be high: Croiset thinks it may
belong to the period of Archilochus (c. 650 B. C. ), but it may well be
somewhat later.

Another poem, of which we know even less, is the "Cercopes". These
Cercopes ('Monkey-Men') were a pair of malignant dwarfs who went about
the world mischief-making. Their punishment by Heracles is represented
on one of the earlier metopes from Selinus. It would be idle to
speculate as to the date of this work.

Finally there is the "Battle of the Frogs and Mice". Here is told the
story of the quarrel which arose between the two tribes, and how they
fought, until Zeus sent crabs to break up the battle. It is a parody
of the warlike epic, but has little in it that is really comic or of
literary merit, except perhaps the list of quaint arms assumed by the
warriors. The text of the poem is in a chaotic condition, and there are
many interpolations, some of Byzantine date.

Though popularly ascribed to Homer, its real author is said by Suidas
to have been Pigres, a Carian, brother of Artemisia, 'wife of Mausonis',
who distinguished herself at the battle of Salamis.

Suidas is confusing the two Artemisias, but he may be right in
attributing the poem to about 480 B. C.




The Contest of Homer and Hesiod

This curious work dates in its present form from the lifetime or shortly
after the death of Hadrian, but seems to be based in part on an earlier
version by the sophist Alcidamas (c. 400 B. C. ). Plutarch ("Conviv. Sept.
Sap. ", 40) uses an earlier (or at least a shorter) version than that
which we possess [1118]. The extant "Contest", however, has clearly
combined with the original document much other ill-digested matter on
the life and descent of Homer, probably drawing on the same general
sources as does the Herodotean "Life of Homer". Its scope is as follows:
1) the descent (as variously reported) and relative dates of Homer and
Hesiod; 2) their poetical contest at Chalcis; 3) the death of Hesiod;
4) the wanderings and fortunes of Homer, with brief notices of the
circumstances under which his reputed works were composed, down to the
time of his death.

The whole tract is, of course, mere romance; its only values are 1)
the insight it give into ancient speculations about Homer; 2) a certain
amount of definite information about the Cyclic poems; and 3) the epic
fragments included in the stichomythia of the "Contest" proper, many of
which--did we possess the clue--would have to be referred to poems of
the Epic Cycle.




BIBLIOGRAPHY

HESIOD. --The classification and numerations of MSS. here followed is
that of Rzach (1913). It is only necessary to add that on the whole
the recovery of Hesiodic papyri goes to confirm the authority of the
mediaeval MSS. At the same time these fragments have produced much that
is interesting and valuable, such as the new lines, "Works and Days"
169 a-d, and the improved readings ib. 278, "Theogony" 91, 93. Our
chief gains from papyri are the numerous and excellent fragments of the
Catalogues which have been recovered.

"Works and Days":--

S Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1090.
A Vienna, Rainer Papyri L. P. 21-9 (4th cent. ).
B Geneva, Naville Papyri Pap. 94 (6th cent. ).
C Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2771 (11th cent. ).
D Florence, Laur. xxxi 39 (12th cent. ).
E Messina, Univ. Lib. Preexistens 11 (12th-13th cent. ).
F Rome, Vatican 38 (14th cent. ).
G Venice, Marc. ix 6 (14th cent. ).
H Florence, Laur. xxxi 37 (14th cent. ).
I Florence, Laur. xxxii 16 (13th cent. ).
K Florence, Laur. xxxii 2 (14th cent. ).
L Milan, Ambros. G 32 sup. (14th cent. ).
M Florence, Bibl. Riccardiana 71 (15th cent. ).
N Milan, Ambros. J 15 sup. (15th cent. ).
O Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2773 (14th cent. ).
P Cambridge, Trinity College (Gale MS. ), O. 9. 27 (13th-14th
cent. ).
Q Rome, Vatican 1332 (14th cent. ).

These MSS.
are divided by Rzach into the following families,
issuing from a common original:--

{Omega}a = C
{Omega}b = F,G,H
{Psi}a = D
{Psi}b = I,K,L,M
{Phi}a = E
{Phi}b = N,O,P,Q


"Theogony":--

N Manchester, Rylands GK. Papyri No. 54 (1st cent. B. C. --1st
cent. A. D. ).
O Oxyrhynchus Papyri 873 (3rd cent. ).
A Paris, Bibl. Nat. Suppl. Graec. (papyrus) 1099 (4th-5th
cent. ).
B London, British Museam clix (4th cent. ).
R Vienna, Rainer Papyri L. P. 21-9 (4th cent. ).
C Paris, Bibl. Nat. Suppl. Graec. 663 (12th cent. ).
D Florence, Laur. xxxii 16 (13th cent. ).
E Florence, Laur. , Conv. suppr. 158 (14th cent. ).
F Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2833 (15th cent. ).
G Rome, Vatican 915 (14th cent. ).
H Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2772 (14th cent. ).
I Florence, Laur. xxxi 32 (15th cent. ).
K Venice, Marc. ix 6 (15th cent. ).
L Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2708 (15th cent. ).

These MSS. are divided into two families:

{Omega}a = C,D
{Omega}b = E,F
{Omega}c = G,H,I
{Psi} = K,L


"Shield of Heracles":--

P Oxyrhynchus Papyri 689 (2nd cent. ).
A Vienna, Rainer Papyri L. P. 21-29 (4th cent. ).
Q Berlin Papyri, 9774 (1st cent. ).
B Paris, Bibl. Nat. , Suppl. Graec. 663 (12th cent. ).
C Paris, Bibl. Nat. , Suppl. Graec. 663 (12th cent. ).
D Milan, Ambros. C 222 (13th cent. ).
E Florence, Laur. xxxii 16 (13th cent. ).
F Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2773 (14th cent. ).
G Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2772 (14th cent. ).
H Florence, Laur. xxxi 32 (15th cent. ).
I London, British Museaum Harleianus (14th cent. ).
K Rome, Bibl. Casanat. 356 (14th cent. )
L Florence, Laur. Conv. suppr. 158 (14th cent. ).
M Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2833 (15th cent. ).

These MSS. belong to two families:

{Omega}a = B,C,D,F
{Omega}b = G,H,I
{Psi}a = E
{Psi}b = K,L,M

To these must be added two MSS. of mixed family:

N Venice, Marc. ix 6 (14th cent. ).
O Paris, Bibl. Nat. 2708 (15th cent. ).


Editions of Hesiod:--

Demetrius Chalcondyles, Milan (? ) 1493 (? ) ("editio princeps",
containing, however, only the "Works and Days").
Aldus Manutius (Aldine edition), Venice, 1495 (complete works).
Juntine Editions, 1515 and 1540.
Trincavelli, Venice, 1537 (with scholia).

Of modern editions, the following may be noticed:--

Gaisford, Oxford, 1814-1820; Leipzig, 1823 (with scholia: in
Poett. Graec. Minn II).
Goettling, Gotha, 1831 (3rd edition. Leipzig, 1878).
Didot Edition, Paris, 1840.
Schomann, 1869.
Koechly and Kinkel, Leipzig, 1870.
Flach, Leipzig, 1874-8.
Rzach, Leipzig, 1902 (larger edition), 1913 (smaller edition).

On the Hesiodic poems generally the ordinary Histories of Greek
Literature may be consulted, but especially the "Hist. de la Litterature
Grecque" I pp. 459 ff. of MM. Croiset. The summary account in Prof.
Murray's "Anc. Gk. Lit. " is written with a strong sceptical bias. Very
valuable is the appendix to Mair's translation (Oxford, 1908) on "The
Farmer's Year in Hesiod". Recent work on the Hesiodic poems is reviewed
in full by Rzach in Bursian's "Jahresberichte" vols. 100 (1899) and 152
(1911).

For the "Fragments" of Hesiodic poems the work of Markscheffel, "Hesiodi
Fragmenta" (Leipzig, 1840), is most valuable: important also is Kinkel's
"Epicorum Graecorum Fragmenta" I (Leipzig, 1877) and the editions of
Rzach noticed above. For recently discovered papyrus fragments see
Wilamowitz, "Neue Bruchstucke d. Hesiod Katalog" (Sitzungsb. der k.
preuss. Akad. fur Wissenschaft, 1900, pp. 839-851). A list of papyri
belonging to lost Hesiodic works may here be added: all are the
"Catalogues".

1) Berlin Papyri 7497 [1201] (2nd cent. ). --Frag. 7.
2) Oxyrhynchus Papyri 421 (2nd cent. ). --Frag. 7.
3) "Petrie Papyri" iii 3. --Frag. 14.
4) "Papiri greci e latine", No. 130 (2nd-3rd cent. ). --Frag.
14.
5) Strassburg Papyri, 55 (2nd cent. ). --Frag. 58.
6) Berlin Papyri 9739 (2nd cent. ). --Frag. 58.
7) Berlin Papyri 10560 (3rd cent. ). --Frag. 58.
8) Berlin Papyri 9777 (4th cent. ). --Frag. 98.
9) "Papiri greci e latine", No. 131 (2nd-3rd cent. ). --Frag.
99.
10) Oxyrhynchus Papyri 1358-9.


The Homeric Hymns:--The text of the Homeric hymns is distinctly bad in
condition, a fact which may be attributed to the general neglect under
which they seem to have laboured at all periods previously to the
Revival of Learning. Very many defects have been corrected by the
various editions of the Hymns, but a considerable number still defy all
efforts; and especially an abnormal number of undoubted lacuna disfigure
the text. Unfortunately no papyrus fragment of the Hymns has yet
emerged, though one such fragment ("Berl. Klassikertexte" v. 1. pp. 7
ff.