Chapter I: Part 1

Transcriber's notes:

(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.

(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.

(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.

(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.

(5) [root] stands for the root symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for greek
letters.

(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:

ARTICLE HOMER: "... he cannot attribute to the original poet of the
lay (Betrachtungen, p. 15, ed. 1865)." 'cannot' amended from
'cannnot'.

ARTICLE HONDURAS: "This instrument gives the legislative power to a
congress of deputies elected for four years by popular vote, in the
ratio of one member for every 10,000 inhabitants." 'inhabitants'
amended from 'imhabitants'.

ARTICLE HORACE: "... and a practice originating in the wants and
convenience of friends temporarily separated from one another by
the public service was ultimately cultivated as a literary
accomplishment." 'convenience' amended from 'covenience'.

ARTICLE HORACE: "At that time he had outlived the coarser pleasures
and risen above the harassing cares of his earlier career ..."
'above' amended from 'bove'.

ARTICLE HORN: "Historisch-biographisches Lexicon der Tonkunstler
(Leipzig, 1790-1792 and 1812-1814)." 'Tonkunstler' amended from
'Tonkunslter'.

ARTICLE HORNBY, SIR GEOFFREY THOMAS PHIPPS: "It was early in 1877
that he went out as commander-in-chief in the Mediterranean, where
his skill in man[oe]uvring the fleet ..." 'Mediterranean' amended
from 'Mediterraean'.

ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA

A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION

ELEVENTH EDITION

VOLUME XIII, SLICE VI

Home, Daniel to Hortensius, Quintus

ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:

HOME, DANIEL DUNGLAS HOPKINS, ESEK
HOME, JOHN HOPKINS, MARK
HOMEL HOPKINS, SAMUEL
HOME OFFICE HOPKINS, WILLIAM
HOMER HOPKINSON, FRANCIS
HOMER, WINSLOW HOPKINSON, JOHN
HOMESTEAD HOPKINSVILLE
HOMESTEAD AND EXEMPTION LAWS HOPPNER, JOHN
HOMEYER, KARL GUSTAV HOP-SCOTCH
HOMICIDE HOPTON, RALPH HOPTON
HOMILETICS HOR, MOUNT
HOMILY HORACE
HOMOEOPATHY HORAE
HOMONYM HORAPOLLON
HOMS HORATII and CURIATII
HO-NAN HORATIUS COCLES
HONAVAR HORDE
HONDA HOREB
HONDECOETER, MELCHIOR D' HOREHOUND
HONDURAS HORGEN
HONE, NATHANIEL HORIZON
HONE, WILLIAM HORMAYR, JOSEPH
HONE HORMISDAS
HONEY HORMIZD
HONEYCOMB HORMUZ
HONEY-EATER HORN, ARVID BERNHARD
HONEY-GUIDE HORN, PHILIP DE MONTMORENCY
HONEY LOCUST HORN (English hero)
HONEYMOON HORN (of animals)
HONEYSUCKLE HORN (wind instrument)
HONFLEUR HORNBEAM
HONG-KONG HORNBILL
HONITON HORNBLENDE
HONNEF HORN-BOOK
HONOLULU HORNBY, SIR GEOFFREY THOMAS PHIPPS
HONORIUS HORNCASTLE
HONORIUS, FLAVIUS HORN DANCE
HONOUR HORNE, GEORGE
HONOURABLE HORNE, RICHARD HENRY, or HENGIST
HONTHEIM, JOHANN NIKOLAUS VON HORNE, THOMAS HARTWELL
HONTHORST, GERARD VAN HORNELL
HOOCH, PIETER DE HORNEMANN, FREDERICK
HOOD, JOHN BELL HORNER, FRANCIS
HOOD, SAMUEL HOOD HORNER, LEONARD
HOOD, SIR SAMUEL HORNES, MORITZ
HOOD, THOMAS HORNFELS
HOOD, TOM HORNING, LETTERS OF
HOOD OF AVALON, ARTHUR HOOD HORNPIPE
HOOD HORNSEY
HOOFT, PIETER CORNELISSEN HOROWITZ, ISAIAH
HOOGSTRATEN, SAMUEL DIRKSZ VAN HORREUM
HOOK, JAMES CLARKE HORROCKS, JEREMIAH
HOOK, THEODORE EDWARD HORROCKS, JOHN
HOOK, WALTER FARQUHAR HORSE
HOOKAH HORSE LATITUDES
HOOKE, ROBERT HORSE-MACKEREL
HOOKER, JOSEPH HORSEMANSHIP
HOOKER, SIR JOSEPH DALTON HORSENS
HOOKER, RICHARD HORSE-POWER
HOOKER, THOMAS HORSE-RACING
HOOKER, SIR WILLIAM JACKSON HORSERADISH
HOOLE, JOHN HORSE-SHOES
HOOLIGAN HORSETAIL
HOOPER, JOHN HORSHAM
HOOPOE HORSLEY, JOHN
HOORN HORSLEY, JOHN CALLCOTT
HOOSICK FALLS HORSLEY, SAMUEL
HOP HORSLEY, WILLIAM
HOPE, ANTHONY HORSMAN, EDWARD
HOPE, THOMAS HORST
HOPEDALE HORT, FENTON JOHN ANTHONY
HOPE-SCOTT, JAMES ROBERT HORTA
HOPFEN, HANS VON HORTEN
HOPI HORTENSIUS, QUINTUS (Roman orator)
HOPKEN, ANDERS JOHAN HORTENSIUS, QUINTUS (dictator of Rome)
HOPKINS, EDWARD WASHBURN

HOME, DANIEL DUNGLAS (1833-1886), Scottish spiritualist, was born near Edinburgh on the 20th of March 1833, his father being said to be a natural son of the 10th earl of Home, and his mother a member of a family credited with second sight. He went with his mother to America, and on her death was adopted by an aunt. In the United States he came out as a spiritualistic medium, though, it should be noted, he never sought to make money out of his exhibitions. In 1855 he came to England and gave numerous seances, which were attended by many well-known people. Robert Browning, the poet, went to one of these, but without altering his contempt for spiritualism, and he subsequently gave his impression of Home in the unflattering poem of "Sludge the Medium" (1864); Home, nevertheless, had many disciples, and gave seances at several European courts. He became a Roman Catholic, but was expelled from Rome as a sorcerer. In 1866 Mrs Lyon, a wealthy widow, adopted him as her son, and settled L60,000 upon him. Repenting, however, of her action, she brought a suit for the return of her money, on the ground that it had been obtained by "spiritual" influence. It was held that the burden of establishing the validity of the gift lay on Home, and as he failed to do so the case was decided against him. He continued, however, to give seances, mostly on the Continent, and in 1871 appeared before the tsar of Russia and two Russian scientists, who attested the phenomena evoked. Returning to England he submitted to a series of experiments designed to test his pretensions before Professor (subsequently Sir William) Crookes, which the latter declared to be thoroughly genuine; and Professor von Boutlerow, of the Russian Academy of Science, after witnessing a similar series of experiments, expressed the same opinion. Home published two volumes of _Incidents of my Life and Lights and Shadows of Spiritualism_. He married successively two well-connected Russian ladies. He died at Auteuil, France, on the 21st of June 1886.

HOME, JOHN (1722-1808), Scottish dramatic poet, was born on the 22nd of September 1722 at Leith, where his father, Alexander Home, who was distantly related to the earls of Home, filled the office of town-clerk. He was educated at the grammar school of his native town, and at the university of Edinburgh, where he graduated M.A. in 1742. Though he showed a fondness for the profession of arms, he studied divinity, and was licensed by the presbytery of Edinburgh in 1745. In the same year he joined as a volunteer against the Pretender, and was taken prisoner at the battle of Falkirk (1746). With many others he was carried to the castle of Doune in Perthshire, but soon effected his escape. In July 1746 Home was presented to the parish of Athelstaneford, Haddingtonshire, vacant by the death of Robert Blair, the author of _The Grave_. He had leisure to visit his friends and became especially intimate with David Hume who belonged to the same family as himself. His first play, _Agis: a tragedy_, founded on Plutarch's narrative, was finished in 1747. He took it to London and submitted it to Garrick for representation at Drury Lane, but it was rejected as unsuitable for the stage. The tragedy of _Douglas_ was suggested to him by hearing a lady sing the ballad of _Gil Morrice_ or _Child Maurice_ (F. J. Child, _Popular Ballads_, ii. 263). The ballad supplied him with the outline of a simple and striking plot. After five years' labour he completed his play, which he took to London for Garrick's opinion. It also was rejected, but on his return to Edinburgh his friends resolved that it should be brought out in that city. It was produced on the 14th of December 1756 with overwhelming success, in spite of the opposition of the presbytery, who summoned Alexander Carlyle to answer for having attended its representation. Home wisely resigned his charge in 1757, after a visit to London, where _Douglas_ was brought out at Covent Garden on the 14th of March. Peg Woffington played Lady Randolph, a part which found a later exponent in Mrs Siddons. David Hume summed up his admiration for _Douglas_ by saying that his friend possessed "the true theatric genius of Shakespeare and Otway, refined from the unhappy barbarism of the one and licentiousness of the other." Gray, writing to Horace Walpole (August, 1757), said that the author "seemed to have retrieved the true language of the stage, which has been lost for these hundred years," but Samuel Johnson held aloof from the general enthusiasm, and averred that there were not ten good lines in the whole play (Boswell, _Life_, ed. Croker, 1848, p. 390). In 1758 Home became private secretary to Lord Bute, then secretary of state, and was appointed tutor to the prince of Wales; and in 1760 his patron's influence procured him a pension of L300 per annum and in 1763 a sinecure worth another L300. Garrick produced _Agis_ at Drury Lane on the 21st of February 1758. By dint of good acting and powerful support, according to Genest (_Short Account_ &c., iv. 513 seq.), the piece kept the stage for eleven days, but it was lamentably inferior to _Douglas_. In 1760 his tragedy, _The Siege of Aquileia_, was put on the stage, Garrick taking the part of Aemilius. In 1769 his tragedy of _The Fatal Discovery_ had a run of nine nights; _Alonzo_ also (1773) had fair success in the representation; but his last tragedy, _Alfred_ (1778), was so coolly received that he gave up writing for the stage. In 1778 he joined a regiment formed by the duke of Buccleuch. He sustained severe injuries in a fall from horseback which permanently affected his brain, and was persuaded by his friends to retire. From 1767 he resided either at Edinburgh or at a villa which he built at Kilduff near his former parish. It was at this time that he wrote his _History of the Rebellion of 1745_, which appeared in 1802. Home died at Merchiston Bank, near Edinburgh, on the 5th of September 1808, in his eighty-sixth year.

_The Works of John Home_ were collected and published by Henry
Mackenzie in 1822 with "An Account of the Life and Writings of Mr John
Home," which also appeared separately in the same year, but several of
his smaller poems seem to have escaped the editor's observation. These
are--"The Fate of Caesar," "Verses upon Inveraray," "Epistle to the
Earl of Eglintoun," "Prologue on the Birthday of the Prince of Wales,
1759" and several "Epigrams," which are printed in vol. ii. of
_Original Poems by Scottish Gentlemen_ (1762). See also Sir W. Scott,
"The Life and Works of John Home" in the _Quarterly Review_ (June,
1827). _Douglas_ is included in numerous collections of British drama.
Voltaire published his _Le Caffe, ou l'Ecossaise_ (1760), _Londres_
(really Geneva), as a translation from the work of Mr Hume, described
as _pasteur de l'eglise d'Edimbourg_, but Home seems to have taken no
notice of the mystification.

HOMEL, or GOMEL, a town of Russia, in the government of Mogilev, and 132 m. by rail S.S.E. of the town of Mogilev, on the Sozh, a tributary of the Dnieper. Pop. (1900) 45,081, nearly half of whom are Jews. It is an important junction of the railways from Vilna to Odessa and from Orel to Poland, and is in steamer communication with Kiev and Mogilev. In front of Prince Paskevich's castle stands an equestrian statue of the Polish general Joseph Poniatowski, and in the cathedral is the tomb of the chancellor Nikolai Petrovich Rumantsev, by Canova. The town carries on a brisk trade in hops, corn and timber; there are also paper-pulp mills and oil factories. Homel was founded in the 12th century, and after changing hands several times between Poles and Russians was annexed to Russia in 1772. In 1648 it suffered at the hands of the Cossack chieftain Bogdan Chmielnicki.

HOME OFFICE, a principal government department in the United Kingdom, the creation of which dates from 1782, when the conduct of foreign affairs, which had previously been divided between the northern and southern secretaries, was handed over to the northern department (see FOREIGN OFFICE). The home department retained control of Irish and colonial affairs, and of war business until 1794, when an additional secretary of state was re-appointed. In 1801 the colonial business was transferred from the home department, which now attends only to domestic affairs. The head of the department, the principal secretary of state for home affairs, or home secretary, is a member of the government for the time being, and of the cabinet, receiving a salary of L5000 a year. He is the proper medium of communication between the sovereign and the subject, and receives petitions addressed to the crown. He is responsible for the maintenance of the king's peace and attends to the administration of criminal justice, police and prisons, and through him the sovereign exercises his prerogative of mercy. Within his department is the supervision of lunatic asylums, reformatories and industrial schools, and it is his duty to see after the internal well-being of the country, to enforce the rules made for the health or safety of the community generally, and especially of those classes employed in special trades or dangerous occupations. He is assisted by a permanent under-secretary, a parliamentary secretary and several assistant under-secretaries.

See Anson, _Law and Custom of the Constitution_. (1907).

HOMER[1] ([Greek: Homeros]), the great epic poet of Greece. Many of the works once attributed to him are lost; those which remain are the two great epics, the _Iliad_ and the _Odyssey_, thirty-three _Hymns_, a mock epic (the _Battle of the Frogs and Mice_), and some pieces of a few lines each (the so-called _Epigrams_).

_Ancient Accounts of Homer._--Of the date of Homer probably no record, real or pretended, ever existed. Herodotus (ii. 53) maintains that Hesiod and Homer lived not more than 400 years before his own time, consequently not much before 850 B.C. From the controversial tone in which he expresses himself it is evident that others had made Homer more ancient; and accordingly the dates given by later authorities, though very various, generally fall within the 10th and 11th centuries B.C. But none of these statements has any claim to the character of external evidence.

The extant lives of Homer (edited in Westermann's _Vitarum Scriptores Graeci minores_) are eight in number, including the piece called the _Contest of Hesiod and Homer_. The longest is written in the Ionic dialect, and bears the name of Herodotus, but is certainly spurious. In all probability it belongs to the time which was fruitful beyond all others in literary forgeries, viz. the 2nd century of our era.[2] The other lives are certainly not more ancient. Their chief value consists in the curious short poems or fragments of verse which they have preserved--the so-called _Epigrams_, which used to be printed at the end of editions of Homer. These are easily recognized as "Popular Rhymes," a form of folk-lore to be met with in most countries, treasured by the people as a kind of proverbs.[3] In the Homeric _epigrams_ the interest turns sometimes on the characteristics of particular localities--Smyrna and Cyme (_Epigr._ iv.), Erythrae (_Epigr._ vi., vii.), Mt Ida (_Epigr._ x.). Neon Teichos (_Epigr._ i.); others relate to certain trades or occupations--potters (Epigr. xiv.), sailors, fishermen, goat herds, &c. Some may be fragments of longer poems, but evidently they are not the work of any one poet. The fact that they were all ascribed to Homer merely means that they belong to a period in the history of the Ionian and Aeolian colonies when "Homer" was a name which drew to itself all ancient and popular verse.

Again, comparing the "epigrams" with the legends and anecdotes told in the Lives of Homer, we can hardly doubt that they were the chief source from which these Lives were derived. Thus in Epigr. iv. we find a blind poet, a native of Aeolian Smyrna, through which flows the water of the sacred Meles. Here is doubtless the source of the chief incident of the Herodotean Life--the birth of Homer "Son of the Meles." The epithet Aeolian implies high antiquity, inasmuch as according to Herodotus Smyrna became Ionian about 688 B.C. Naturally the Ionians had their own version of the story--a version which made Homer come out with the first Athenian colonists.

The same line of argument may be extended to the _Hymns_, and even to some of the lost works of the post-Homeric or so-called "Cyclic" poets. Thus:--

1. The hymn to the Delian Apollo ends with an address of the poet to his audience. When any stranger comes and asks who is the sweetest singer, they are to answer with one voice, the "blind man that dwells in rocky Chios; his songs deserve the prize for all time to come." Thucydides, who quotes this passage to show the ancient character of the Delian festival, seems to have no doubt of the Homeric authorship of the hymn. Hence we may most naturally account for the belief that Homer was a Chian.

2. The _Margites_--a humorous poem which kept its ground as the reputed work of Homer down to the time of Aristotle--began with the words, "There came to Colophon an old man, a divine singer, servant of the Muses and Apollo." Hence doubtless the claim of Colophon to be the native city of Homer--a claim supported in the early times of Homeric learning by the Colophonian poet and grammarian Antimachus.

3. The poem called the _Cypria_ was said to have been given by Homer to Stasinus of Cyprus as a daughter's dowry. The connexion with Cyprus appears further in the predominance given in the poem to Aphrodite.

4. The _Little Iliad_ and the _Phocais_, according to the Herodotean life, were composed by Homer when he lived at Phocaea with a certain Thestorides, who carried them off to Chios and there gained fame by reciting them as his own. The name Thestorides occurs in _Epigr._ v.

5. A similar story was told about the poem called the _Taking of Oechalia_ ([Greek: Oichalias Halosis]), the subject of which was one of the exploits of Heracles. It passed under the name of Creophylus, a friend or (as some said) a son-in-law of Homer; but it was generally believed to have been in fact the work of the poet himself.

6. Finally the _Thebaid_ always counted as the work of Homer. As to the _Epigoni_, which carried on the Theban story, some doubt seems to have been felt.

These indications render it probable that the stories connecting Homer with different cities and islands grew up after his poems had become known and famous, especially in the new and flourishing colonies of Aeolis and Ionia. The contention for Homer, in short, began at a time when his real history was lost, and he had become a sort of mythical figure, an "eponymous hero," or personification of a great school of poetry.

An interesting confirmation of this view from the negative side is furnished by the city which ranked as chief among the Asiatic colonies of Greece, viz. Miletus. No legend claims for Miletus even a visit from Homer, or a share in the authorship of any Homeric poem. Yet Arctinus of Miletus was said to have been a "disciple of Homer," and was certainly one of the earliest and most considerable of the "Cyclic" poets. His _Aethiopis_ was composed as a sequel to the _Iliad_; and the structure and general character of his poems show that he took the _Iliad_ as his model. Yet in his case we find no trace of the disputed authorship which is so common with other "Cyclic" poems. How has this come about? Why have the works of Arctinus escaped the attraction which drew to the name of Homer such epics as the _Cypria_, the _Little Iliad_, the _Thebaid_, the _Epigoni_, the _Taking of Oechalia_ and the _Phocais_. The most obvious account of the matter is that Arctinus was never so far forgotten that his poems became the subject of dispute. We seem through him to obtain a glimpse of an early post-Homeric age in Ionia, when the immediate disciples and successors of Homer were distinct figures in a trustworthy tradition--when they had not yet merged their individuality in the legendary "Homer" of the Epic Cycle.

_Recitation of the Poems._--The recitation of epic poetry was called in historical times "rhapsody" ([Greek: rhapsodia]). The word [Greek: rhapsodos] is post-Homeric, but was known to Pindar, who gives two different explanations of it--"singer of stitched verse" ([Greek: rhapton hepeon aoidoi]), and "singer with the wand" ([Greek: rhabdos]). Of these the first is etymologically correct (except that it should rather be "stitcher of verse"); the second was suggested by the fact, for which there is early evidence, that the reciter was accustomed to hold a wand in his hand--perhaps, like the sceptre in the Homeric assembly, as a symbol of the right to a hearing.[4]

The first notice of rhapsody meets us at Sicyon, in the reign of Cleisthenes (600-560 B.C.), who "put down the rhapsodists on account of the poems of Homer, because they are all about Argos and the Argives" (Hdt. v. 67). This description applies very well to the _Iliad_, in which Argos and Argives occur on almost every page. It may have suited the _Thebaid_ still better, but there is no need to understand it only of that poem, as Grote does. The incident shows that the poems of the Ionic Homer had gained in the 6th century B.C., and in the Doric parts of the Peloponnesus, the ascendancy, the national importance and the almost canonical character which they ever afterwards retained.

At Athens there was a law that the Homeric poems should be recited ([Greek: rhapsodeisthai]) on every occasion of the Panathenaea. This law is appealed to as an especial glory of Athens by the orator Lycurgus (_Leocr._ 102). Perhaps therefore the custom of public recitation was exceptional,[5] and unfortunately we do not know when or by whom it was introduced. The Platonic dialogue _Hipparchus_ attributes it to Hipparchus, son of Peisistratus. This, however, is part of the historical romance of which the dialogue mainly consists. The author makes (perhaps wilfully) all the mistakes about the family of Peisistratus which Thucydides notices in a well-known passage (vi. 54-59). In one point, however, the writer's testimony is valuable. He tells us that the law required the rhapsodists to recite "taking each other up in order ([Greek: ex hypolepseos ephexes]), as they still do." This recurs in a different form in the statement of Diogenes Laertius (i. 2. 57) that Solon made a law that the poems should be recited "with prompting" ([Greek: ex hypoboles]). The question as between Solon and Hipparchus cannot be settled; but it is at least clear that a due order of recitation was secured by the presence of a person charged to give the rhapsodists their cue ([Greek: hypoballein]). It was necessary, of course, to divide the poem to be recited into parts, and to compel each contending rhapsodist to take the part assigned to him. Otherwise they would have chosen favourite or show passages.

The practice of poets or rhapsodists contending for the prize at the great religious festivals is of considerable antiquity, though apparently post-Homeric. It is brought vividly before us in the Hymn to Apollo (see the passage mentioned above), and in two Hymns to Aphrodite (v. and ix.). The latter of these may evidently be taken to belong to Salamis in Cyprus and the festival of the Cyprian Aphrodite, in the same way that the Hymn to Apollo belongs to Delos and the Delian gathering. The earliest trace of such contests is to be found in the story of Thamyris, the Thracian singer, who boasted that he could conquer even the Muses in song (_Il._ ii. 594 ff.).

Much has been made in this part of the subject of a family or clan ([Greek: genos]) of Homeridae in the island of Chios. On the one hand, it seemed to follow from the existence of such a family that Homer was a mere "eponymus," or mythical ancestor; on the other hand, it became easy to imagine the Homeric poems handed down orally in a family whose hereditary occupation it was to recite them, possibly to add new episodes from time to time, or to combine their materials in new ways, as their poetical gifts permitted. But, although there is no reason to doubt the existence of a family of "Homeridae," it is far from certain that they had anything to do with Homeric poetry. The word occurs first in Pindar (_Nem._ 2. 2), who applies it to the rhapsodists ([Greek: Homeridai rhapton epeon aoidoi]). On this a scholiast says that the name "Homeridae" denoted originally descendants of Homer, who sang his poems in succession, but afterwards was applied to rhapsodists who did not claim descent from him. He adds that there was a famous rhapsodist, Cynaethus of Chios, who was said to be the author of the Hymn to Apollo, and to have first recited Homer at Syracuse about the 69th Olympiad. Nothing here connects the Homeridae with Chios. The statement of the scholiast is evidently a mere inference from the patronymic form of the word. If it proves anything, it proves that Cynaethus, who was a Chian and a rhapsodist, made no claim to Homeric descent. On the other hand our knowledge of Chian Homeridae comes chiefly from the lexicon of Harpocration, where we are told that Acusilaus and Hellanicus said that they were so called from the poet; whereas Seleucus pronounced this to be an error. Strabo also says that the Chians put forward the Homeridae as an argument in support of their claim to Homer. These Homeridae, then, belonged to Chios, but there is no indication of their being rhapsodists. On the contrary, Plato and other Attic writers use the word to include interpreters and admirers--in short, the whole "spiritual kindred"--of Homer. And although we hear of "descendants of Creophylus" as in possession of the Homeric poems, there is no similar story about descendants of Homer himself. Such is the evidence on which so many inferences are based.

The result of the notices now collected is to show that the early history of epic recitation consists of (1) passages in the Homeric hymns showing that poets contended for the prize at the great festivals, (2) the passing mention in Herodotus of rhapsodists at Sicyon, and (3) a law at Athens, of unknown date, regulating the recitation at the Panathenaea. Let us now compare these data with the account given in the Homeric poems. The word "rhapsode" does not yet exist; we hear only of the "singer" ([Greek: aoidos]), who does not carry a wand or laurel-branch, but the lyre ([Greek: phormigx]), with which he accompanies his "song." In the _Iliad_ even the epic "singer" is not met with. It is Achilles himself who sings the stories of heroes ([Greek: klea andron]) in his tent, and Patroclus is waiting (_respondere paratus_), to take up the song in his turn (_Il._ ix. 191). Again we do not hear of poetical contests (except in the story of Thamyris already mentioned) or of recitation of epic poetry at festivals. The _Odyssey_ gives us pictures of two great houses, and each has its singer. The song is on a subject taken from the Trojan war, at some point chosen by the singer himself, or by his hearers. Phemius pleases the suitors by singing of the calamitous return of the Greeks; Demodocus sings of a quarrel between Ulysses and Achilles, and afterwards of the wooden horse and the capture of Troy.

It may be granted that the author of the _Odyssey_ can hardly have been just such a singer as he himself describes. The songs of Phemius and Demodocus are too short, and have too much the character of improvisations. Nor is it necessary to suppose that epic poetry, at the time to which the picture in the _Odyssey_ belongs, was confined to the one type represented. Yet in several respects the conditions under which the singer finds himself in the house of a chieftain like Odysseus or Alcinous are more in harmony with the character of Homeric poetry than those of the later rhapsodic contests. The subdivision of a poem like the _Iliad_ or _Odyssey_ among different and necessarily unequal performers must have been injurious to the effect. The highly theatrical manner of recitation which was fostered by the spirit of competition, and by the example of the stage, cannot have done justice to the even movement of the epic style. It is not certain indeed that the practice of reciting a long poem by the agency of several competitors was ancient, or that it prevailed elsewhere than at Athens; but as rhapsodists were numerous, and popular favour throughout Greece became more and more confined to one or two great works, it must have become almost a necessity. That it was the mode of recitation contemplated by the author of the _Iliad_ or _Odyssey_ it is impossible to believe.

The difference made by substituting the wand or branch of laurel for the lyre of the Homeric singer is a slighter one, though not without significance. The recitation of the Hesiodic poems was from the first unaccompanied by the lyre, i.e. they were confessedly _said_, not _sung_; and it was natural that the example should be extended to Homer. For it is difficult to believe that the Homeric poems were ever "sung" in the strict sense of the word. We can only suppose that the lyre in the hands of the epic poet or reciter was in reality a piece of convention, a "survival" from the stage in which narrative poetry had a lyrical character. Probably the poets of the Homeric school--that which dealt with war and adventure--were the genuine descendants of minstrels whose "lays" or "ballads" were the amusement of the feasts in an earlier heroic age; whereas the Hesiodic compositions were non-lyrical from the first, and were only in verse because that was the universal form of literature.

It seems, then, that if we imagine Homer as a singer in a royal house of the Homeric age, but with more freedom regarding the limits of his subject, and a more tranquil audience than is allowed him in the rapid movement of the _Odyssey_, we shall probably not be far from the truth.

_Time and Place of Homer._--The oldest direct references to the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ are in Herodotus, who quotes from both poems (ii. 53). The quotation from the _Iliad_ is of interest because it is made in order to show that Homer supported the story of the travels of Paris to Egypt and Sidon (whereas the Cyclic poem called the _Cypria_ ignored them), and also because the part of the _Iliad_ from which it comes is cited as the "Aristeia of Diomede." This was therefore a recognized part of the poem.

The earliest mention of the name of Homer is found in a fragment of the philosopher Xenophanes (of the 6th century B.C., or possibly earlier), who complains of the false notions implanted through the teaching of Homer. The passage shows, not merely that Homer was well known at Colophon in the time of Xenophanes, but also that the great advance in moral and religious ideas which forced Plato to banish Homer from his republic had made itself felt in the days of the early Ionic philosophers.

Failing external testimony, the time and place of the Homeric poems can only be determined (if at all) by internal evidence. This is of two main kinds: (a) evidence of history, consisting in a comparison of the political and social condition, the geography, the institutions, the manners, arts and ideas of Homer with those of other times; (b) evidence of language, consisting in a comparison with later dialects, in respect of grammar and vocabulary. To these may be added, as occasionally of value, (c) much evidence of the direct influence of Homer upon the subsequent course of literature and art.

(a) The political condition of Greece in the earliest times known to history is separated from the Greece of Homer by an interval which can hardly be overestimated. The great national names are different: instead of Achaeans, Argives, Danai, we find Hellenes, subdivided into Dorians, Ionians, Aeolians--names either unknown to Homer, or mentioned in terms more significant than silence. At the dawn of Greek history Mycenae is no longer the seat of empire; new empires, polities and civilizations have grown up--Sparta with its military discipline, Delphi with its religious supremacy, Miletus with its commerce and numberless colonies, Aeolis and Ionia, Sicily and Magna Graecia.

While the political centre of Homeric Greece is at Mycenae, the real centre is rather to be found In Boeotia. The Catalogue of the Ships begins with Boeotia; the list of Boeotian towns is much the longest; and they sail, not from the bay of Argos, but from the Boeotian harbour of Aulis. This position is not due to its chiefs, who are all of inferior rank. The importance of Boeotia for Greek civilization is further shown by the ancient worship of the Muses on Mount Helicon, and the fact that the oldest poet whose birthplace was known was the Boeotian Hesiod. Next to Boeotia and the neighbouring countries, it appears that the Peloponnesus, Crete and Thessaly were the most important seats of Greek population.

In the Peloponnesus the face of things was completely altered by the Dorian conquest, no trace of which is found in Homer. The only Dorians known in Homer are those that the _Odyssey_ (xix. 177) places in Crete. It is difficult to connect them with the Dorians of history.

The eastern shores of the Aegean, which the earliest historical records represent to us as the seat of a brilliant civilization, giving way before the advance of the great military empires (Lydia and afterwards Persia), are almost a blank in Homer's map. The line of settlements can be traced in the Catalogue from Crete to Rhodes, and embraces the neighbouring islands of Cos and Calymnos. The colonization of Rhodes by Tlepolemus is related (_Il._ ii. 661 ff.), and seems to mark the farthest point reached in the Homeric age. Between Rhodes and the Troad Homer knows of but one city, Miletus--which is a Carian ally of Troy--and the mouth of one river, the Cayster. Even the Cyclades--Naxos, Paros, Melos--are unknown to the Homeric world. The disposition of the Greeks to look to the west for the centres of religious feeling appears in the mention of Dodona and the Dodonaean Zeus, put in the mouth of the Thessalian Achilles.

To the north we find the Thracians, known from the stories of Thamyris the singer (_Il._ ii. 595), and Lycurgus, the enemy of the young god Dionysus (_Il._ vi. 130). Here the Trojan empire begins. It does not appear, however, that the Trojans are thought of as people of a different language. As this is expressly said of the Carians, and of the Trojan allies who were "summoned from afar," the contrary rather is implied regarding Troy itself.

The mixed type of government described by Homer--consisting of a king guided by a council of elders, and bringing all important resolutions before the assembly of the fighting men--does not seem to have been universal in Indo-European communities, but to have grown up in many different parts of the world under the stress of similar conditions. The king is the commander in war, and the office probably owed its existence to military necessities. It is not surrounded with any special sacredness. There were ruling families, laying claim to divine descent, from whom the king was naturally chosen, but his own fitness is the essence of his title. The aged Laertes is set aside; the young Telemachus does not succeed as a matter of course. Nor are any very definite rights attached to the office. Each tribe in the army before Troy was commanded by its own king (or kings); but Agamemnon was supreme, and was "more a king" ([Greek: basileiteros]) than any other. The assembly is summoned on all critical occasions, and its approval is the ultimate sanction. A king therefore stands in almost as much need of oratory as of warlike skill and prowess. Even the division of the spoil is not made in the _Iliad_ by Agamemnon, but by "the Achaeans" (_Il._ i. 162, 368). The taking of Briseis from Achilles was an arbitrary act, and against all rule and custom. The council is more difficult to understand. The "elders" ([Greek: gerontes]) of the _Iliad_ are the same as the subordinate "kings"; they are summoned by Agamemnon to his tent, and form a small council of nine or ten persons. In Troy we hear of elders of the people ([Greek: demogerontes]) who are with Priam, and are men past the military age. So in Ithaca there are elders who have not gone to Troy with the army. It would seem therefore that the meeting in Agamemnon's tent was only a copy or adaptation of the true constitutional "council of elders," which indeed was essentially unfitted for the purposes of military service. The king's palace, if we may judge from Tiryns and Mycenae, was usually in a strong situation on an "acropolis." In the later times of democracy the acropolis was reserved for the temples of the principal gods.

Priesthood in Homer is found in the case of particular temples, where an officer is naturally wanted to take charge of the sacred inclosure and the sacrifices offered within it. It is perhaps an accident that we do not hear of priests in Ithaca. Agamemnon performs sacrifice himself, not because a priestly character was attached to the kingly office, but simply because he was "master in his own house."

The conception of "law" is foreign to Homer. The later words for it ([Greek: nomos], [Greek: rhetra]) are unknown, and the terms which he uses ([Greek: dike] and [Greek: themis]) mean merely "custom." Judicial functions are in the hands of the elders, who "have to do with suits" ([Greek: dikaspoloi]), and "uphold judgments" ([Greek: themistas eiryatai]). On such matters as the compensation in cases of homicide, it is evident that there were no rules, but merely a feeling, created by use and wont, that the relatives of the slain man should be willing to accept payment. The sense of anger which follows a violation of custom has the name of "Nemesis"--righteous displeasure.

As there is no law in Homer, so there is no morality. That is to say, there are no general principles of action, and no words which indicate that acts have been classified as good or bad, right or wrong. Moral _feeling_, indeed, existed and was denoted by "Aidos"; but the numerous meanings of this word--shame, veneration, pity--show how rudimentary the idea was. And when we look to practice we find that cruel and even treacherous deeds are spoken of without the least sense that they deserve censure. The heroes of Homer are hardly more moral agents than the giants and enchanters of a fairy tale.

The religious ideas of Homer differ in some important points from those of later Greece. The Apollo of the _Iliad_ has the character of a local Asiatic deity--"ruler of Chryse and goodly Cilla and Tenedos." He may be compared with the Clarian and the Lycian god, but he is unlike the Apollo of Dorian times, the "deliverer" and giver of oracles. Again, the worship of Dionysus, and of Demeter and Persephone, is mainly or wholly post-Homeric. The greatest difference, however, lies in the absence of hero-worship from the Homeric order of things. Castor and Polydeuces, for instance, are simply brothers of Helen who died before the expedition to Troy (_Il._ iii. 243.)

The military tactics of Homer belong to the age when the chariot was the principal engine of warfare. Cavalry is unknown, and the battles are mainly decided by the prowess of the chiefs. The use of the trumpet is also later. It has been supposed indeed that the art of riding was known in Homer's own time, because it occurs in comparisons. But the riding which he describes (_Il._ xv. 679) is a mere exhibition of skill, such as we may see in a modern circus. And though he mentions the trumpet (_Il._ xviii. 219), there is nothing to show that it was used, as in historical times, to give the signal for the charge.

The chief industries of Homeric times are those of the carpenter ([Greek: tekton]), the worker in leather ([Greek: skutotomos]), the smith or worker in metal ([Greek: chalkeus])--whose implements are the hammer and pincers--and the potter ([Greek: kerameus]); also spinning and weaving, which were carried on by the women. The fine arts are represented by sculpture in relief, carving in wood and ivory, embroidery. Statuary is later; it appears to have come into existence in the 7th century, about the time when casting in metal was invented by Rhoecus of Samos. In general, as was well shown by A. S. Murray,[6] Homeric art does not rise above the stage of _decoration_, applied to objects in common use; while in point of style it is characterized by a richness and variety of ornament which is in the strongest contrast to the simplicity of the best periods. It is the work, in short, not of artists but of skilled workmen; the ideal artist is "Daedalus," a name which implies mechanical skill and intricate workmanship, not beauty of design.

One art of the highest importance remains. The question whether writing was known in the time of Homer was raised in antiquity, and has been debated with especial eagerness ever since the appearance of Wolf's _Prolegomena_. In this case we have to consider not merely the indications of the poems, but also the external evidence which we possess regarding the use of writing in Greece. This latter kind of evidence is much more considerable now than it was in Wolf's time. (See WRITING elsewhere in these volumes.)

The oldest known stage of the Greek alphabet appears to be represented by inscriptions of the islands of Thera, Melos and Crete, which are referred to the 40th Olympiad (620 B.C.). The oldest specimen of a distinctively Ionian alphabet is the famous inscription of the mercenaries of Psammetichus, in Upper Egypt, as to which the only doubt is whether the Psammetichus in question is the first or the second, and consequently whether the inscription is to be dated Ol. 40 or Ol. 47. Considering that the divergence of two alphabets (like the difference of two dialects) requires both time and familiar use, we may gather from these facts that writing was well known in Greece early in the 7th century B.C.[7]

The rise of prose composition in the 6th century B.C. has been thought to mark the time when memory was practically superseded by writing as a means of preserving literature--the earlier use of letters being confined to short documents, such as lists of names, treaties, laws, &c. This conclusion, however, is by no means necessary. It may be that down to comparatively late rimes poetry was not commonly read, but was recited from memory. But the question is--From what time are we to suppose that the preservation of long poems was generally secured by the existence of written copies? Now, without counting the Homeric poems--which doubtless had exceptional advantages in their fame and popularity--we find a body of literature dating from the 8th century B.C. to which the theory of oral transmission is surely inapplicable. In the Trojan cycle alone we know of the two epics of Arctinus, the _Little Iliad_ of Lesches, the _Cypria_, the _Nostoi_. The Theban cycle is represented by the _Thebaid_ (which Callinus, who was of the 7th century, ascribed to Homer) and the _Epigoni_. Other ancient epics--ancient enough to have passed under the name of Homer--are the _Taking of Oechalia_, and the _Phocais_. Again, there are the numerous works attributed to Hesiod and other poets of the didactic, mythological and quasi-historical schools--Eumelus of Corinth, Cinaethon of Sparta, Agias of Troezen, and many more. The preservation of this vast mass can only be attributed to writing, which must therefore have been in use for two centuries or more before there was any considerable prose literature. Nor is this in itself improbable.

The further question, whether the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_ were originally written, is much more difficult. External evidence does not reach back so far, and the internal evidence is curiously indecisive. The only passage which can be interpreted as a reference to writing occurs in the story of Bellerophon, told by Glaucus in the sixth book of the _Iliad_. Proetus, king of Corinth, sent Bellerophon to his father-in-law the king of Lycia, and gave him "baneful tokens" ([Greek: semata lugra], i.e. tokens which were messages of death), "scratching on a folded tablet many spirit-destroying things, and bade him show this to his father-in-law, that he might perish." The king of Lycia asked duly (on the tenth day from the guest's coming) for a token ([Greek: hetee sema idesthai]), and then knew what Proetus wished to be done. In this account there is nothing to show exactly how the message of Proetus was expressed. The use of writing for the purpose of the token between "guest-friends" (_tessera hospitalis_) is certainly very ancient. Mommsen (_Rom. Forsch_. i. 338 ff.) aptly compares the use in treaties, which are the oldest species of public documents. But we may suppose that tokens of some kind--like the marks which the Greek chiefs make on the lots (_Il._ vii. 175 ff.)--were in use before writing was known. In any system of signs there were doubtless means of recommending a friend, or giving warning of the presence of an enemy. There is no difficulty, therefore, in understanding the message of Proetus without alphabetical writing. But, on the other hand, there is no reason for so understanding it.

If the language of Homer is so ambiguous where the use of writing would naturally be mentioned, we cannot expect to find more decisive references elsewhere. Arguments have been founded upon the descriptions of the blind singers in the _Odyssey_, with their songs inspired directly by the Muse; upon the appeals of the poet to the Muses, especially in such a place as the opening of the Catalogue; upon the Catalogue itself, which is a kind of historical document put into verse to help the memory; upon the shipowner in the _Odyssey_, who has "a good memory for his cargo," &c. It may be answered, however, that much of this is traditional, handed down from the time when all poetry was unwritten. Moreover it is one thing to recognize that a literature is essentially oral in its form, characteristic of an age which was one of hearing rather than of reading, and quite another to hold that the same literature was preserved entirely by oral transmission.

The result of these various considerations seems to be that the age which we may call the Homeric--the age which is brought before us in vivid outlines in the _Iliad_ and _Odyssey_--lies beyond the earliest point to which history enables us to penetrate. And so far as we can draw any conclusion as to the author (or authors) of the two poems, it is that the whole debate between the cities of Aeolis and Ionia was wide of the mark. The author of the _Iliad_, at least, was evidently a European Greek who lived before the colonization of Asia Minor; and the claims of the Asiatic cities mean no more than that in the days of their prosperity these were the chief seats of the fame of Homer.

This is perhaps the place to consider whether the poems are to be
regarded as possessing in any degree the character; of historical
record. The question is one which in the absence of satisfactory
criteria will generally be decided by taste and predilection. A few
suggestions, however, may be made.

1. The events of the _Iliad_ take place in a real locality, the
general features of which are kept steadily in view. There is no doubt
about Sigeum and Rhoeteum, or the river Scamander, or the islands
Imbros, Lemnos and Tenedos. It is at least remarkable that a legend of
the national interest of the "tale of Troy" should be so definitely
localized, and that in a district, which was never famous as a seat of
Greek population. It may be urged, too, that the story of the _Iliad_
is singularly free from the exaggerated and marvellous character which
belongs as a rule to the legends of primitive peoples. The apple of
discord, the arrows of Philoctetes, the invulnerability of Achilles,
and similar fancies, are the additions of later poets. This sobriety,
however, belongs not to the whole _Iliad_, but to the events and
characters of the war. Such figures as Bellerophon, Niobe, the
Amazons, which are thought of as traditions from an earlier
generation, show the marvellous element at work.

2. Certain persons and events in the story have a distinctly mythical
stamp. Helen is a figure of this kind. There was another story
according to which she was carried off by Theseus, and recovered by
her brothers the Dioscuri. There are even traces of a third version,
in which the Messenian twins, Idas and Lynceus, appear.

3. The analogy of the French epic, the _Chanson de Roland_, favours
the belief that there was some nucleus of fact. The defeat of
Roncevaux was really suffered by a part of Charlemagne's army. But the
Saracen army is purely mythical, the true enemy having been the
Gascons. If similarly we leave, as historical, the plain of Troy, and
the name Agamemnon, we shall perhaps not be far wrong.

(b) The dialect of Homer is an early or "primitive" form of the language which we know as that of Attica in the classical age of Greek literature. The proof of this proposition is to be obtained chiefly by comparing the grammatical formation and the syntax of Homer with those of Attic. The comparison of the vocabulary is in the nature of things less conclusive on the question of date. It would be impossible to give the evidence in full without writing a Homeric grammar, but a few specimens may be of interest.

1. The first aorist in Greek being a "weak" tense, i.e. formed by a
suffix ([Greek: -sa]), whereas the second aorist is a "strong" tense,
distinguished by the form of the root-syllable, we expect to find a
constant tendency to diminish the number of second aorists in use. No
new second aorists, we may be sure, were formed any more than new
"strong" tenses, such as _came_ or _sang_, can be formed in English.
Now in Homer there are upwards of 80 second aorists (not reckoning
aorists of "Verbs in [Greek: mi]," such as [Greek: hesten], [Greek:
eben]), whereas in all Attic prose not more than 30 are found. In this
point therefore the Homeric language is manifestly older. In Attic
poets, it is true, the number of such aorists is much larger than in
prose. But here again we find that they bear witness to Homer. Of the
poetical aorists in Attic the larger part are also Homeric. Others are
not really Attic at all, but borrowed from earlier Aeolic and Doric
poetry. It is plain, in short, that the later poetical vocabulary was
separated from that of prose mainly by the forms which the influence
of Homer had saved from being forgotten.

2. While the whole class of "strong" aorists diminished, certain
smaller groups in the class disappeared altogether. Thus we find in
Homer, but not in the later language:--

(a) The second aorist middle without the "thematic" [epsilon] or
[omicron]: as [Greek: eble-to], _was struck_; [Greek: ephi-to],
_perished_; [Greek: al-to], _leaped_.

(b) The aorist formed by reduplication: as [Greek: dedaev], _taught_;
[Greek: lelabesthai], _to seize_. These constitute a distinct
formation, generally with a "causative" meaning; the solitary Attic
specimen is [Greek: egagon].

3. It had long been known that the subjunctive in Homer often takes a
short vowel (e.g. in the plural, [Greek: -omen], [Greek: -ete] instead
of [Greek: -omen], [Greek: -ete], and in the Mid. [Greek: -omai], &c.
instead of [Greek: -omai], &c.). This was generally said to be done by
"poetic licence," or _metri gratia_. In fact, however, the Homeric
subjunctive is almost quite "regular," though the rule which it obeys
is a different one from the Attic. It may be summed up by saying that
the subjunctive takes [omega] or [eta] when the indicative has
[omicron] or [epsilon], and not otherwise. Thus Homer has [Greek:
i-men], _we go_, [Greek: i-o-men], _let us go_. The later [Greek:
i-o-men] was at first a solecism, an attempt to conjugate a "verb in
[Greek: mi]" like the "verbs in [omega]." It will be evident that
under this rule the perfect and first aorist subjunctive should always
take a short vowel; and this accordingly is the case, with very few
exceptions.

4. The article ([Greek: ho, he, to]) in Homer is chiefly used as an
independent pronoun (_he, she, it_), a use which in Attic appears only
in a few combinations (such as [Greek: ho men ... ho de], _the one ...
the other_). This difference is parallel to the relation between the
Latin _ille_ and the article of the Romance languages.

5. The prepositions offer several points of comparison. What the
grammarians called "tmesis," the separation of the preposition from
the verb with which it is compounded, is peculiar to Homer. The true
account of the matter is that in Homer the place of the preposition is
not rigidly fixed, as it was afterwards. Again, "with" is in Homer
[Greek: syn] (with the dative), in Attic prose [Greek: meta] with the
genitive. Here Attic poetry is intermediate; the use of [Greek: syn]
is retained as a piece of poetical tradition.