Studies on Homer and the Homeric Age, Vol. 3 of 3

Od. x. 135-9, and xii. 1-4.

596

Danby Seymour’s Black Sea and Sea of Azof, ch. xvii.

597

Ibid. The minimum appears to be fourteen feet: but it seems to have been much deeper in old times.

598

Od. xii. 10-13.

599

Müller’s Orchomenos, p. 269.

600

Mimn. Fragm. x. quoted in Strabo, i. p. 67.

601

Müller’s Orchomenos, p. 272. Nitzsch, Od. xii. 361.

602

Od. xii. 325, 6.

603

Od. xii. 380.

604

See Olympus, sect. iii. p. 82.

605

See Achæis, or Ethnology, sect. x; and Olympus, sect. iv. p. 220, on Persephone.

606

Schönemann de Geogr. Hom. p. 20. Nitzsch on Od. v. 50, n.

607

Od. v. 268-75.

608

Od. xiv. 257.

609

Od. i. 50.

610

Od. v. 100-2.

611

Nitzsch on Od. v. 276-8.

612

Od. v. 50.

613

Ibid. 51-3.

614

Cramer’s Greece, i. 204.

615

Il. xiv. 226.

616

Od. xii. 447.

617

Od. xiv. 310-15. 301-4.

618

See sup. p. 274.

619

Od. xii. 403-8.

620

Od. xi. 11.

621

Od. xii. 3.

622

In the well known case of a noble description in the Antiquary, Walter Scott has made the sun set on the east coast of Great Britain: but this was unawares and not on purpose. Had he recited instead of writing, the error could not have escaped correction.

623

Od. v. 276.

624

Od. v. 160-70.

625

Od. x. 190.

626

See Od. x. 28 and 80.

627

Od. vi. 4.

628

Od. iii. 318.

629

Od. iv. 82.

630

Od. iii. 286-90.

631

Od. xv. 402. Much difficulty has been raised about this Συρίη: see Wood on Homer, pp. 9-16; but surely without need. We have no occasion to translate καθύπερθε into trans, πέρην, or beyond. The Συρίη νῆσος, or Syros, has the same bearing in respect to Delos, as Ψυρίη in respect to Chios, which is called καθύπερθε Χίοιο, Od. iii. 170. It may perhaps mean to windward, and this would correspond with the idea of Ζέφυρος as the prevailing wind of the Ægæan. Another difficulty is made about the phrase ὅθι τροπαὶ ἠελίοιο, which is interpreted as describing the position relatively to Delos. I know not why this should constitute a difficulty at all, if Syros is to the west and north of Delos. But there would be no difficulty, even if Delos were west of Syros: for the words ὅθι τροπαὶ ἠελίοιο may apply grammatically to either of the two islands as viewed from the other.

632

Od. xix. 172.

633

Il. iii. 2-6.

634

Il. xviii. 607.

635

Il. xix. 374.

636

Il. v. 433.

637

Tyrt. ii. 24. Also Anthol. Græc.

638

Plut. Lacon. Instit. (Opp. vi. 898.) ed. Reiske; Potter’s Greek. Antiq. B. iii. ch. iv.

639

Il. x. 24, 178.

640

Il. xiii. 130. ix. 537. x. 15.

641

Il. iii. 5.

642

Il. xxiii. 205. i. 423. Od. v. 282, 3.

643

Od. v. 275. Il. xviii. 489.

644

Od. iv. 561-9.

645

Voyages de Pallas, vol. i. p. 320, Paris 1805.

646

Od. x. 507.

647

Od. x. 508-12.

648

Welsford on Engl. Language, pp. 75, 76, 88. Bleek’s Persian Vocabulary, (Grammar, p. 170.)

649

See Achæis, sect. iii.

650

Od. i. 24.

651

Od. xi. 15.

652

Achæis or Ethnology, sect. iii.

653

Ibid. sect. iv.

654

Obss. in loc.

655

Ver. 317.

656

Ver. 319.

657

Ver. 321.

658

See Jelf’s Gr. Gramm. 103.

659

Od. v. 276, 7.

660

Liddell and Scott.

661

Il. ii. 341. x. 542.

662

Od. ix. 25, 6.

663

Compare the use of the word εὐώνυμος.

664

Il. xii. 238-40.

665

Jelf’s Gr. Gr. Nos. 633-5.

666

Od. ii. 421.

667

Od. vi. 117. Il. v. 101.

668

Od. iv. 132.

669

Il. i. 350.

670

Od. iii. 3.

671

Od. iv. 417.

672

Od. vii. 332.

673

Il. ix. 415.

674

Il. i. 350.

675

Il. ii. 308.

676

Ibid. 318.

677

Ibid. 765.

678

Od. xvii. 365.

679

So τήν δε, Il. i. 127, and particularly τὴν in Il. i. 389, meaning Chryseis, who has not been named since v. 372.

680

Hymn. Merc. 153. Cf. 418, 424, 499.

681

Hecuba 1127.

682

I have observed that δεξιὸς ὄρνις means a bird flying from the left towards the right, and ἀριστερὸς ὄρνις, the reverse. Here however the force of the epithet is derived from immediate connection with the motion implied, and with the doctrine of omens: δεξιὸς ὦμος would of course be the right shoulder, and δεξιή, as we have seen, may stand alone to signify the right hand. And so in general with these words, when used as epithets, apart from a preposition implying motion, and from any relation to omens.

683

Grote’s Hist. of Greece, vol. ii. p. 258 n.

684

Ibid. p. 241 n.

685

Ibid. p. 244 n.

686

Ibid. p. 247.

687

Grote’s History of Greece, vol. ii. p. 210.

688

Ibid. p. 178.

689

Ibid. p. 260, 236, 267.

690

Ibid. p. 269.

691

Ibid.

692

Note, pp. 240-4.

693

ὕβρις, Il. i. 203, 214. ἐφυβρίζων, Il. ix. 368, also 646-8.

694

Il. ix. 370-6: when he returns again and again to the word: ἐξαπατήσειν, 371; ἀπάτησε, 375; ἐξαπάφοιτο, 376.

695

Il. i. 152.

696

Ibid. 165-8.

697

Il. v. 789.

698

Il. i. 225-8.

699

The ἄλλα, v. 300, must mean what he had not acquired by gift of the army; since in Il. 9. 335, as well as in i. 167, 356, he apparently speaks of Briseis as the only prize he had received.

700

Il. v. 605, 702.

701

Il. ix. 26.

702

Il. xix. 67.

703

Ibid. 134-8.

704

Od. viii. 390-415.

705

Il. ix. 336.

706

Il. i. 352-4.

707

Il. ix. 624-42. Sup. Agorè, p. 111.

708

Ibid. 237-43, and 304-6.

709

Ibid. 357.

710

Ibid. 617.

711

Il. ix. 649-55.

712

On the character of Achilles, I recommend reference to Colonel Mure, Lit. Greece, i. 273-91, and 304-14. In no part of his treatment of the poems has that excellent Homerist (if I may presume to say so) done better service. See likewise Professor Wilson’s Essays, Critique iv: and the Prælections of the Rev. J. Keble, i. 90-104. This refined work, which criticizes the poems in the spirit of a Bard, set an early example, at least to England, of elevating the tone of Homeric study.

713

Il. xvi. 780.

714

Il. vii. 93.

715

Since the first portion of this work went to press, I have found from the recent and still unfinished work of Welcher, Griechische Götterlehre, i. 2. n., that philological evidence appears to have been recently obtained of a close relationship between the Lycians and the Greeks.

716

Il. xii. 397-9.

717

Il. xi. 67-83.

718

Ibid. 90.

719

Il. viii. 336. xvi. 569. xvii. 596.

720

Il. xvi. 656.

721

This would be best shown by a list of the considerable personages slain on the two sides respectively.

722

Ver. 421-38.

723

Ver. 517-20.

724

Il. v. 517-21.

725

Il. vii. 307-12.

726

Compare Il. ii. 768, with Il. v. 414.

727

Il. xi. 185-209.

728

Il. xi. 252, 437.

729

Exc. ii. ad Il. xxiv. s. iv. vol. viii. p. 801. See, however, also p. 802.

730

Il. ix. 697-709.

731

See Il. i. 226-8. xviii. 509-13. and especially xiii. 275-86: and Sup. Agorè, p. 92.

732

He bears the chief part from 206. to 488.

733

Il. xvi. 644.

734

In his ‘Examination of the Primary Argument of the Iliad.’ Dedicated to Lord Grenville. 1821.

735

Il. ix. 646-8.

736

Il. xvi. 93.

737

See the ‘Primary Argument of the Iliad,’ pp. 241-73.

738

Il. xxiv. 483, 631. Sup. Ilios, p. 216.

739

Il. xx. 233-5.

740

For example, we might quote the Orlando Furioso of Ariosto; and the very vulgar poet, Forteguerra, in the Ricciardetto, vi. 23:

Il nettar beve, e Ganimede il mesce,Che tanto a Giuno sua spiace e rincresce.

741

Il. xi. 1. Od. v. 1.

742

Hymn. ad Ven. 45-80.

743

Il. xxiv. 30.

744

Il. iii. 64, 440, 415.

745

Od. xxii. 424-73.

746

Od. xviii. 321-5.

747

Od. xxiv. 496.

748

Il. iii. 39.

749

Ibid. 391.

750

Il. iii. 18. and vi. 506.

751

Il. xv. 263.

752

Il. xxiv. 629.

753

Od. xiii. 430-3.

754

Il. iii. 169.

755

Od. xi. 469.

756

Il. ii. 671-5.

757

Il. ii. 867.

758

Il. xvii. 50-60. Compare the sympathizing account of the death of the young bridegroom Iphidamas (Il. xi. 241-3).

759

Od. viii. 167-77.

760

Od. x. 112.

761

Od. xvii. 327.

762

Od. ii. 10.

763

Il. xx. 220-9.

764

Il. vi. 511.

765

Il. xi. 158.

766

Il. xix. 408-17.

767

Il. x. 437.

768

Il. x. 544-53.

769

Il. ii. 764.

770

Il. v. 295.

771

Il. ii. 776.

772

Il. v. 196.

773

Il. x. 489-93.

774

Od. iv. 13.

775

Od. iv. 606.

776

He uses the phrase δρόμοι εὐρέες. It is curious to find the word runs, so recently re-established as the classical word for the large open spaces of pasturage in the regions of Australasia.

777

Il. xxii. 121.

778

Il. ix. 228.

779

See Mr. Cope’s Essay on the Picturesque among the Greeks; Cambridge Essays, 1856. p. 126.

780

Ruskin’s Modern Painters, part iv. chap. xiii. pp. 189-92.

781

Od. vii. 112-32.

782

Od. v. 63-75.

783

Il. viii. 557.

784

Il. xv. 80.

785

Modern Painters, part iv. ch. xiii. p. 174.

786

Il. xxiii. 216. i. 482.

787

Il. iv. 424.

788

Γηθοσύνῃ δὲ θάλασσα διΐστατο, Il. xiii. 29.

789

Il. xiv. 392.

790

Rev. v. 11.

791

Od. v. 306.

792

Æsch. Prom. V. 468. see also Soph. Naupl. Fragm. v.

793

Od. iv. 412, 451.

794

Il. xxiii. 29.

795

Od. ii. 16.

796

Il. v. 860.

797

Il. xxi. 251.

798

Il. vii. 571. viii. 562. xi. 244.

799

Od. xiv. 20.

800

Od. xiv. 93.

801

Agorè, p. 82.

802

Il. ii. 450.

803

Il. xxiii. 703, 5.

804

Il. vi. 236.

805

Il. xxi. 79.

806

Il. xxi. 42.

807

Il. ii. 123-8.

808

Il. ii. 362-8.

809

Il. ii. 509, 719.

810

Il. xix. 44.

811

Il. ii. 362, 5.

812

Od. viii. 35.

813

Sup. Agorè, p. 135.

814

Il. ii. 577.

815

Il. viii. 562.

816

Od. xiv. 13-20.

817

I subjoin the rest of this curious fragment;

ἔλαφος δέ τε τετρακόρωνος·τρεῖς δ’ ἐλάφους ὁ κόραξ γηράσκεται· αὐτὰρ ὁ φοίνιξἐννέα τοὺς κόρακας· δέκαδ’ ἡμεῖς τοὺς φοίνικαςνύμφαι ἐϋπλόκαμοι, κοῦραι Διὸς αἰγιόχοιο.

It is noticed by Pliny, (Nat. Hist. vii. 48.) who terms it fabulous; but it is with more propriety, I think, to be called poetical.

818

Il. ii. 649.

819

Od. xix. 173.

820

Il. ix. 362.

821

ὅσσον τε πανημερίη νηῦς ἤνυσε, Od. iv. 356.

822

Od. iii. 322. With this compare the Tempest, Act ii. Sc. 1; where, be it observed, Shakespeare is treating his subject as one of Dreamland.

Ant. Who’s the next heir of Naples?Seb. Claribel.Ant. She that is queen of Tunis: she, that dwellsTen leagues beyond man’s life; she that from NaplesCan have no note, unless the sun were post,(The man i’ th’ moon ’s too slow,) till new-born chinsBe rough and razorable.

823

Od. xi. 248.

824

Il. i. 250-2.

825

Il. xxiii. 791.

826

Il. xiii. 361.

827

Il. x. 157.

828

Od. iii. 245. The meaning may be that he had reigned for above two generations: but in the Iliad no more is implied than that he had lived well into a third.

829

Lit. Greece, i. 460. ii. 139.

830

Ibid. ii. 138.

831

Od. xii. 112, 144.

832

Od. iv. 665.

833

Mure, Hist. Lit. Greece, vol. i. p. 437.

834

Od. xvii. 327.

835

Il. ix. 438. and xi. 783.

836

Od. xi. 510-12.

837

Il. ix. 481.

838

Lit. Greece, ii. 141.

839

Il. ii. 360.

840

Il. ii. 799.

841

Il. i. 52. ii. 302.

842

See note at the end of the Section.

843

Ibid.

844

The celebrated Hunter noticed that Homer had made Dolon an only son with five sisters, as a proof of the Poet’s sagacity in observation: having himself found, that youths under such circumstances are generally more or less effeminate. I owe this information to one of the most distinguished living members of the profession, which Hunter himself adorned. It was also a favourite remark, I believe, with Mr. Rogers.

845

See Achæis, or Ethnology, p. 383.

846

See Olympus, sect. ii. p. 53. Welcker (Griechische Götterlehre, vi. 63, p. 300) treats the name Ἀθήνη as immediately akin to αἰθὴρ and the idea of light.

847

Eurip. Iph. in Aul. 213-22.

848

Il. xviii. 409. xxiv. 159.

849

See Olympus, sect. ii. p. 157.

850

Hymn. ad Apoll. v. 172.

851

Macbeth ii. 3.

852

Troilus and Cressida, i. 3, sub fin.

853

Tempest, iv. 1. The rainbow is mentioned as of many colours, in Merry Wives of Windsor, iv. 5, Winter’s Tale, iv. 3, and King John, iv. 2.

854

Pritchard’s Celtic Nations, p. 219.

855

Vid. Göthe, Geschichte der Farbenlehre, Works, vol. 53, p. 21. (Stuttgart, 1833.)

856

Wilson’s Five Gateways of Knowledge, p. 4.

857

See, for instance, ‘Ancient and Modern Colours, by William Linton.’ London 1852.

858

Hor. Od. I. 13. 2.

859

Virg. Æn. i. 402.

860

Vid. Göthe, Farbenlehre, Works, vol. 53. p. 23.

861

Prantl’s Aristoteles über die Farben, pp. 101, 3.

862

Ibid. pp. 104, 6.

863

Ibid. p. 109. Ar. Metaph. I. 7. 1057 a. 23.

864

Ibid. p. 116. Ar. de Sens. 4. 442 a. 12.

865

Ibid. p. 118. Met. III. 4. 374 b. 31.

866

Comp. Met. I. 5. 342 b. 4. with III. 4. 374 a. 27.

867

Liddell and Scott in voc. Millin, Minéralogie Homérique, p. 149.

868

Friedreich, Realien, § 21. p. 86.

869

Vol. ii. p. 325.

870

Il. iv. 510.

871

H. N. xxxiv. 16. s. 47.

872

Il. xviii. 474. v. 722.

873

Ibid. 564.

874

Eustath. Il. i. p. 93.

875

The substance of this and the two following Sections formed two Articles in the Quarterly Review, Nos. 201 and 203, for January and July respectively, 1857. They are reprinted with the obliging approval of Mr. Murray.

876

Commentary on Il. ii.

877

Od. xvii. 385.

878

Il. ii. 455-83.

879

See also Lessing’s Laocoon, c. xviii. respecting the Shield in the Æneid.

880

Il. ii. 494-510. Æn. vii. 647-54.

881

Il. ii. 756-9. Æn. vii. 803-17.

882

At Danaûm proceres, etc. – Æn. vi. 489.

883

Æn. xi. 282-7.

884

Il. v. 302-10.

885

Macbeth iii. 3.

886

Achæis, or Ethnology, sect. ix. p. 491.

887

Il. v. 445.

888

Il. iii. 382.

889

Hom. Il. xii. 433.

890

Æn. viii. 407-13.

891

In Dibdin’s ‘Editions of the Greek and Latin Classics,’ we find nineteen editions of Virgil between 1469 and 1478. The Princeps of Homer was only printed in 1488. Panzer, according to Dibdin, enumerates ninety editions of Virgil in the 15th century (ii. 540.). Mr. Hallam says (Lit. Eur., i. 420.), ‘Ariosto has been after Homer the favourite poet of Europe.’ I presume this distinguished writer does not mean to imply that Homer has been more read than any other poet. Can his words mean that Homer has been more approved? It is worth while to ask the question: for the judgments of Mr. Hallam are like those of Minos, and reach into the future.