The Iliad Part 84

245 --_The destinies ordain._--"In the mythology, also, of the Iliad, purely Pagan as it is, we discover one important truth unconsciously involved, which was almost entirely lost from view amidst the nearly equal scepticism and credulity of subsequent ages. Zeus or Jupiter is popularly to be taken as omnipotent. No distinct empire is a.s.signed to fate or fortune; the will of the father of G.o.ds and men is absolute and uncontrollable. This seems to be the true character of the Homeric deity, and it is very necessary that the student of Greek literature should bear it constantly in mind. A strong instance in the Iliad itself to ill.u.s.trate this position, is the pa.s.sage where Jupiter laments to Juno the approaching death of Sarpedon. 'Alas me!' says he 'since it is fated (moira) that Sarpedon, dearest to me of men, should be slain by Patroclus, the son of Menoetius! Indeed, my heart is divided within me while I ruminate it in my mind, whether having s.n.a.t.c.hed him up from out of the lamentable battle, I should not at once place him alive in the fertile land of his own Lycia, or whether I should now destroy him by the hands of the son of Menoetius!' To which Juno answers--'Dost thou mean to rescue from death a mortal man, long since destined by fate (palai pepromenon)? You may do it--but we, the rest of the G.o.ds, do not sanction it.' Here it is clear from both speakers, that although Sarpedon is said to be fated to die, Jupiter might still, if he pleased, save him, and place him entirely out of the reach of any such event, and further, in the alternative, that Jupiter himself would destroy him by the hands of another."--Coleridge, p.

156. seq.

246 --_Thrice at the battlements._ "The art military of the Homeric age is upon a level with the state of navigation just described, personal prowess decided every thing; the night attack and the ambuscade, although much esteemed, were never upon a large scale.

The chiefs fight in advance, and enact almost as much as the knights of romance. The siege of Troy was as little like a modern siege as a captain in the guards is like Achilles. There is no mention of a ditch or any other line or work round the town, and the wall itself was accessible without a ladder. It was probably a vast mound of earth with a declivity outwards. Patroclus thrice mounts it in armour. The Trojans are in no respects blockaded, and receive a.s.sistance from their allies to the very end."--Coleridge, p. 212.

247 --_Ciconians._--A people of Thrace, near the Hebrus.

248 --_They wept._

"Fast by the manger stands the inactive steed, And, sunk in sorrow, hangs his languid head; He stands, and careless of his golden grain, Weeps his a.s.sociates and his master slain."

Merrick's Tryphiodorus, v. 18-24.

"Nothing is heard upon the mountains now, But pensive herds that for their master low, Straggling and comfortless about they rove, Unmindful of their pasture and their love."

Moschus, id. 3, parodied, _ibid._

"To close the pomp, aethon, the steed of state, Is led, the funeral of his lord to wait.

Stripp'd of his trappings, with a sullen pace He walks, and the big tears run rolling down his face."

Dryden's Virgil, bk. ii

249 --_Some brawny bull._

"Like to a bull, that with impetuous spring Darts, at the moment when the fatal blow Hath struck him, but unable to proceed Plunges on either side."

--Carey's Dante: h.e.l.l, c. xii.

250 This is connected with the earlier part of last book, the regular narrative being interrupted by the message of Antilochus and the lamentations of Achilles.

251 --_Far in the deep._ So Ocea.n.u.s hears the lamentations of Prometheus, in the play of aeschylus, and comes from the depths of the sea to comfort him.

252 Opuntia, a city of Locris.

253 Quintus Calaber, lib. v., has attempted to rival Homer in his description of the shield of the same hero. A few extracts from Mr.

Dyce's version (Select Translations, p. 104, seq.) may here be introduced.

"In the wide circle of the shield were seen Refulgent images of various forms, The work of Vulcan; who had there described The heaven, the ether, and the earth and sea, The winds, the clouds, the moon, the sun, apart In different stations; and you there might view The stars that gem the still-revolving heaven, And, under them, the vast expanse of air, In which, with outstretch'd wings, the long-beak'd bird Winnow'd the gale, as if instinct with life.

Around the shield the waves of ocean flow'd, The realms of Tethys, which unnumber'd streams, In azure mazes rolling o'er the earth, Seem'd to augment."

254 --_On seats of stone._ "Several of the old northern Sagas represent the old men a.s.sembled for the purpose of judging as sitting on great stones, in a circle called the Urtheilsring or gerichtsring"-- Grote, ii. p. 100, note. On the independence of the judicial office in The heroic times, see Thirlwall's Greece, vol. i. p. 166.

255 --_Another part,_ &c.

"And here Were horrid wars depicted; grimly pale Were heroes lying with their slaughter'd steeds Upon the ground incarnadin'd with blood.

Stern stalked Bellona, smear'd with reeking gore, Through charging ranks; beside her Rout was seen, And Terror, Discord to the fatal strife Inciting men, and Furies breathing flames: Nor absent were the Fates, and the tall shape Of ghastly Death, round whom did Battles throng, Their limbs distilling plenteous blood and sweat; And Gorgons, whose long locks were twisting snakes.

That shot their forky tongues incessant forth.

Such were the horrors of dire war."

--Dyce's Calaber.

256 --_A field deep furrowed._

"Here was a corn field; reapers in a row, Each with a sharp-tooth'd sickle in his hand, Work'd busily, and, as the harvest fell, Others were ready still to bind the sheaves: Yoked to a wain that bore the corn away The steers were moving; st.u.r.dy bullocks here The plough were drawing, and the furrow'd glebe Was black behind them, while with goading wand The active youths impell'd them. Here a feast Was graved: to the shrill pipe and ringing lyre A band of blooming virgins led the dance.

As if endued with life."

--Dyce's Calaber.

257 Coleridge (Greek Cla.s.sic Poets, p. 182, seq.) has diligently compared this with the description of the shield of Hercules by Hesiod. He remarks that, "with two or three exceptions, the imagery differs in little more than the names and arrangements; and the difference of arrangement in the Shield of Hercules is altogether for the worse. The natural consecution of the Homeric images needs no exposition: it const.i.tutes in itself one of the beauties of the work. The Hesiodic images are huddled together without connection or congruity: Mars and Pallas are awkwardly introduced among the Centaurs and Lapithae;-- but the gap is wide indeed between them and Apollo with the Muses, waking the echoes of Olympus to celestial harmonies; whence however, we are hurried back to Perseus, the Gorgons, and other images of war, over an arm of the sea, in which the sporting dolphins, the fugitive fishes, and the fisherman on the sh.o.r.e with his casting net, are minutely represented. As to the Hesiodic images themselves, the leading remark is, that they catch at beauty by ornament, and at sublimity by exaggeration; and upon the untenable supposition of the genuineness of this poem, there is this curious peculiarity, that, in the description of scenes of rustic peace, the superiority of Homer is decisive--while in those of war and tumult it may be thought, perhaps, that the Hesiodic poet has more than once the advantage."

258 "This legend is one of the most pregnant and characteristic in the Grecian Mythology; it explains, according to the religious ideas familiar to the old epic poets, both the distinguishing attributes and the endless toil and endurances of Heracles, the most renowned subjugator of all the semi-divine personages worshipped by the h.e.l.lenes,--a being of irresistible force, and especially beloved by Zeus, yet condemned constantly to labour for others and to obey the commands of a worthless and cowardly persecutor. His recompense is reserved to the close of his career, when his afflicting trials are brought to a close: he is then admitted to the G.o.dhead, and receives in marriage Hebe."--Grote, vol. i. p. 128.

259 --_Ambrosia._

"The blue-eyed maid, In ev'ry breast new vigour to infuse.

Brings nectar temper'd with ambrosial dews."

Merrick's Tryphiodorus, vi. 249.

260 "h.e.l.l is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering. He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing. He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them." Job xxvi. 6-8.

261 "Swift from his throne the infernal monarch ran, All pale and trembling, lest the race of man, Slain by Jove's wrath, and led by Hermes' rod, Should fill (a countless throng!) his dark abode."

Merrick's Tryphiodorus, vi. 769, sqq.

262 These words seem to imply the old belief, that the Fates might be delayed, but never wholly set aside.

263 It was anciently believed that it was dangerous, if not fatal, to behold a deity. See Exod. x.x.xiii. 20; Judg. xiii. 22.

264 "Ere Ilium and the Trojan tow'rs arose, In humble vales they built their soft abodes."

Dryden's Virgil, iii. 150.

265 --_Along the level seas._ Compare Virgil's description of Camilla, who

"Outstripp'd the winds in speed upon the plain, Flew o'er the field, nor hurt the bearded grain: She swept the seas, and, as she skimm'd along, Her flying feet unbathed on billows hung."

Dryden, vii. 1100.

266 --_The future father._ "aeneas and Antenor stand distinguished from the other Trojans by a dissatisfaction with Priam, and a sympathy with the Greeks, which is by Sophocles and others construed as treacherous collusion,--a suspicion indirectly glanced at, though emphatically repelled, in the aeneas of Virgil."--Grote, i. p. 427.

267 Neptune thus recounts his services to aeneas:

"When your aeneas fought, but fought with odds Of force unequal, and unequal G.o.ds: I spread a cloud before the victor's sight, Sustain'd the vanquish'd, and secured his flight-- Even then secured him, when I sought with joy The vow'd destruction of ungrateful Troy."

Dryden's Virgil, v. 1058.

268 --_On Polydore._ Euripides, Virgil, and others, relate that Polydore was sent into Thrace, to the house of Polymestor, for protection, being the youngest of Priam's sons, and that he was treacherously murdered by his host for the sake of the treasure sent with him.