Authors of Greece | Page 2

taught, whether to girls or boys, we found a
growing recognition of its supreme literary value. There were some at
least of us who saw with pleasure that where only one classical
language can be studied there is an increasing readiness to regard Greek
as a possible alternative to Latin.
On this last point, no doubt, classical scholars will continue to differ,
but as to the supreme excellence of the Greek contribution to literature
there can be no difference of opinion. Those to whom the names of this
volume recall some of the happiest hours they have spent in literary
study will be grateful to Mr. Lumb for helping others to share the
pleasures which they have so richly enjoyed; he writes with an
enthusiasm which is infectious, and those to whom his book comes as a
first introduction to the great writers of Greece will be moved to try to
learn more of men whose works after so many centuries inspire so
genuine an affection and teach lessons so modern. They need have no
fear that they will be disappointed, for Mr. Lumb's zeal is based on
knowledge. I hope that this book will be the means of leading many to
appreciate what has been done for the world by the most amazing of all
its cities, and some at least to determine that they will investigate its
treasures for themselves. They will find like the Queen of Sheba that,
though much has been told them, the half remains untold.
C. A. ALINGTON.

HOMER
Greek literature opens with a problem of the first magnitude. Two
splendid Epics have been preserved which are ascribed to "Homer", yet
few would agree that Homer wrote them both. Many authorities have
denied altogether that such a person ever existed; it seems certain that
he could not have been the author of both the Iliad and the Odyssey, for
the latter describes a far more advanced state of society; it is still an
undecided question whether the Iliad was written in Europe or in Asia,
but the probability is that the Odyssey is of European origin; the date of
the poems it is very difficult to gauge, though the best authorities place
it somewhere in the eighth century B.C. Fortunately these difficulties
do not interfere with our enjoyment of the two poems; if there were two
Homers, we may be grateful to Nature for bestowing her favours so

liberally upon us; if Homer never existed at all, but is a mere nickname
for a class of singer, the literary fraud that has been perpetrated is no
more serious than that which has assigned Apocalyptic visions of
different ages to Daniel. Perhaps the Homeric poems are the growth of
many generations, like the English parish churches; they resemble them
as being examples of the exquisite effects which may be produced
when the loving care and the reverence of a whole people blend
together in different ages pieces of artistic work whose authors have
been content to remain unnamed.
It is of some importance to remember that the Iliad is not the story of
the whole Trojan war, but only of a very small episode which was
worked out in four days. The real theme is the Wrath of Achilles. In the
tenth year of the siege the Greeks had captured a town called Chryse.
Among the captives were two maidens, one Chryseis, the daughter of
Chryses, a priest of Apollo, the other Briseis; the former had fallen to
the lot of Agamemnon, the King of the Greek host, the latter to
Achilles his bravest follower. Chryses, father of Chryseis, went to
Agamemnon to ransom his daughter, but was treated with contumely;
accordingly he prayed to the god to avenge him and was answered, for
Apollo sent a pestilence upon the Greeks which raged for nine days,
destroying man and beast. On the tenth day the chieftains held a
counsel to discover the cause of the malady. At it Chalcas the seer
before revealing the truth obtained the promise of Achilles' protection;
when Agamemnon learned that he was to ransom his captive, his anger
burst out against the seer and he demanded another prize in return.
Achilles upbraided his greed, begging him to wait till Troy was taken,
when he would be rewarded fourfold. Agamemnon in reply threatened
to take Achilles' captive Briseis, at the same time describing his
follower's character. "Thou art the most hateful to me of all Kings
sprung of Zeus, for thou lovest alway strife and wars and battles.
Mighty though thou art, thy might is the gift of some god. Briseis I will
take, that thou mayest know how far stronger I am than thou, and that
another may shrink from deeming himself my equal, rivalling me to my
face." At