Authors of Greece by T. W. Lumb

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AUTHORS OF GREECE

By the Reverend T. W. LUMB, M.A.

With an Introduction by

The Reverend CYRIL ALINGTON, D.D.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

Greek literature is more modern in its tone than Latin or Medieval or
Elizabethan. It is the expression of a society living in an environment
singularly like our own, mainly democratic, filled with a spirit of
free inquiry, troubled by obstinate feuds and still more obstinate
problems. Militarism, nationalism, socialism and communism were well
known, the preachers of some of these doctrines being loud, ignorant
and popular. The defence of a maritime empire against a military
oligarchy was twice attempted by the most quick-witted people in history,
who failed to save themselves on both occasions. Antecedently then we
might expect to find some lessons of value in the record of a people
whose experiences were like our own.

Further, human thought as expressed in literature is not an
unconnected series of phases; it is one and indivisible. Neglect of
either ancient or modern culture cannot but be a maiming of that great
body of knowledge to which every human being has free access. No man
can be anything but ridiculous who claims to judge European literature
while he knows nothing of the foundations on which it is built.
Neither is it true to say that the ancient world was different from
ours. Human nature at any rate was the same then as it is now, and
human character ought to be the primary object of study. The strange
belief that we have somehow changed for the better has been strong
enough to survive the most devilish war in history, but few hold it
who are familiar with the classics.

Yet in spite of its obvious value Greek literature has been damned and
banned in our enlightened age by some whose sole qualification for the
office of critic often turns out to be a mental darkness about it so
deep that, like that of Egypt, it can be felt. Only those who know
Greek literature have any right to talk about its powers of survival.
The following pages try to show that it is not dead yet, for it has a
distinct message to deliver. The skill with which these neglected
liberators of the human mind united depth of thought with perfection
of form entitles them at least to be heard with patience.

CONTENTS

AUTHOR'S PREFACE.

HOMER

AESCHYLUS

SOPHOCLES

EURIPIDES

ARISTOPHANES

HERODOTUS

THUCYDIDES

PLATO

DEMOSTHENES

INTRODUCTION

I count it an honour to have been asked to write a short introduction
to this book. My only claim to do so is a profound belief in the
doctrine which it advocates, that Greek literature can never die and
that it has a clear and obvious message for us to-day. Those who sat,
as I did, on the recent Committee appointed by Mr. Lloyd George when
Prime Minister to report on the position of the classics in this
country, saw good reason to hope that the prejudice against Greek to
which the author alludes in his preface was passing away: it is a
strange piece of irony that it should ever have been encouraged in the
name of Science which owes to the Greeks so incalculable a debt. We
found that, though there are many parts of the country in which it is
almost impossible for a boy, however great his literary promise, to be
taught Greek, there is a growing readiness to recognise this state of
affairs as a scandal, and wherever Greek was 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 this insult Achilles half drew his sword
to slay the King, but was checked by Pallas Athena, who bade him
confine his resentment to taunts, for the time would come when
Agamemnon would offer him splendid gifts to atone for the wrong.
Obeying the goddess Achilles reviled his foe, swearing a solemn oath
that he would not help the Greeks when Hector swept them away. In vain
did Nestor, the wise old counsellor who had seen two generations of
heroes, try to make up the quarrel, beseeching Agamemnon not to
outrage his best warrior and Achilles not to contend with his leader.
The meeting broke up; Achilles departed to his huts, whence the
heralds in obedience to Agamemnon speedily carried away Briseis.

Going down to the sea-shore Achilles called upon Thetis his mother to
whom he told the story of his ill-treatment. In deep pity for his fate
(for he was born to a life of a short span), she promised that she
would appeal to Zeus to help him to his revenge; she had saved Zeus
from destruction by summoning the hundred-armed Briareus to check a
revolt among the gods against Zeus' authority. For the moment the king
of the gods was absent in Aethiopia; when he returned to Olympus on
the twelfth day she would win him over. Ascending to heaven, she
obtained the promise of Zeus' assistance, not without raising the
suspicions of Zeus' jealous consort Hera; a quarrel between them was
averted by their son Hephaestus, whose ungainly performance of the
duties of cupbearer to the Immortals made them forget all resentments
in laughter unquenchable.

True to his promise Zeus sent a dream to Agamemnon to assure him that
he would at last take Troy. The latter determined to summon an
Assembly of the host. In it the changeable temper of the Greeks is
vividly pictured. First Agamemnon told how he had the promise of
immediate triumph; when the army eagerly called for battle, he spoke
yet again describing their long years of toil and advising them to
break up the siege and fly home, for Troy was not to be taken. This
speech was welcomed with even greater enthusiasm than the other, the
warriors rushing down to the shore to launch away. Aghast at the
coming failure of the enterprise Athena stirred up Odysseus to check
the mad impulse. Taking from Agamemnon his royal sceptre as the sign
of authority, he pleaded with chieftains and their warriors, telling
them that it was not for them to know the counsel in the hearts of
Kings.

"We are not all Kings to bear rule here. 'Tis not good to have many
Lords; let there be one Lord, one King, to whom the crooked-counselling
son of Cronos hath given the rule."

Thus did Odysseus stop the flight, bringing to reason all save
Thersites, "whose heart was full of much unseemly wit, who talked
rashly and unruly, striving with Kings, saying what he deemed would
make the Achaeans smile".

He continued his chatter, bidding the Greeks persist in their homeward
flight. Knowing that argument with such an one was vain, Odysseus laid
his sceptre across his back with such heartiness that a fiery weal
started up beneath the stroke. The host praised the act, the best of
the many good deeds that Odysseus had done before Troy.

When the Assembly was stilled, Odysseus and Nestor and Agamemnon told
the plan of action; the dream bade them arm for a mighty conflict, for
the end could not be far off, the ten years' siege that had been
prophesied being all but completed. The names of the various
chieftains and the numbers of their ships are found in the famous
catalogue, a document which the Greeks treasured as evidence of united
action against a common foe. With equal eagerness the Trojans poured
from their town commanded by Hector; their host too has received from
Homer the glory of an everlasting memory in a detailed catalogue.

Literary skill of a high order has brought upon the scene as quickly
as possible the chief figures of the poem. When the armies were about
to meet, Paris, seeing Menelaus whom he had wronged, shrank from the
combat. On being upbraided by Hector who called him "a joy to his foes
and a disgrace to himself", Paris was stung to an act of courage.
Hector's heart was as unwearied as an axe, his spirit knew not fear;
yet beauty too was a gift of the gods, not to be cast away. Let him be
set to fight Menelaus in single combat for Helen and her wealth; let
an oath be made between the two armies to abide by the result of the
fight, that both peoples might end the war and live in peace.
Overjoyed, Hector called to the Greeks telling them of Paris' offer,
which Menelaus accepted. The armies sat down to witness the fight,
while Hector sent to Troy to fetch Priam to ratify the treaty.

In Troy the elders were seated on the wall to watch the conflict,
Priam among them. Warned by Iris, Helen came forth to witness the
single combat. As she moved among them the elders bore their testimony
to her beauty; its nature is suggested but not described, for the poet
felt he was unable to paint her as she was.

"Little wonder," they exclaimed, "that the Trojans and Achaeans
should suffer woe for many a year for such a woman. She is marvellous
like the goddesses to behold; yet albeit she is so fair let her depart
in the ships, leaving us and our little ones no trouble to come."

Seeing her, Priam bade her sit by him and tell the names of the Greek
leaders as they passed before his eyes. Agamemnon she knew by his
royal bearing, Odysseus who moved along the ranks like a ram she
marked out as the master of craft and deep counsel. Hearing her words,
Antenor bore his witness to their truth, for once Odysseus had come
with Menelaus to Troy on an embassy.

"When they stood up Menelaus was taller, when they sat down Odysseus
was more stately. But when they spake, Menelaus' words were fluent,
clear but few; Odysseus when he spoke, fixed his eyes on the ground,
turning his sceptre neither backwards nor forward, standing still
like a man devoid of wit; one would have deemed him a churl and a very
fool; yet when he sent forth his mighty voice from his breast in words
as many as the snowflakes, no other man could compare with him."

Helen pointed out Ajax and Idomeneus and others, yet could not see her
two brothers, Castor and Pollux; either they had not come from her
home in Sparta, or they had refused to fight, fearing the shame and
reproach of her name. "So she spake, yet the life-giving earth covered
them there, even in Sparta, their native land."

When the news came to Priam of the combat arranged between Paris and
Menelaus, the old King shuddered for his son, yet he went out to
confirm the compact. Feeling he could not look upon the fight, he
returned to the city. Meanwhile Hector had cast lots to decide which
of the two should first hurl his spear. Paris failed to wound his
enemy, but Menelaus' dart pierced Paris' armour; he followed it up
with a blow of his sword which shivered to pieces in his hand. He then
caught Paris' helmet and dragged him off towards the Greek army; but
Aphrodite saved her favourite, for she loosed the chin-strap and bore
Paris back to Helen in Troy. Menelaus in vain looked for him among the
Trojans who were fain to see an end of him, "and would not have hidden
him if they had seen him". Agamemnon then declared his brother the
victor and demanded the fulfilment of the treaty.

Such an end to the siege did not content Hera, whose anger against the
Trojans was such that she could have "devoured raw Priam and his
sons". With Zeus' consent she sent down Pallas Athena to confound the
treaty. Descending like some brilliant and baleful star the goddess
assumed the shape of Laodocus and sought out the archer Pandarus. Him
she tempted to shoot privily at Menelaus to gain the favour of Paris.
While his companions held their shields in front of him the archer
launched a shaft at his victim, but Athena turned it aside so that it
merely grazed his body, drawing blood. Seeing his brother wounded
Agamemnon ran to him, to prophesy the certain doom of the treaty
breakers.

"Not in vain did we shed the blood of compact and offer the pledges
of a treaty. Though Zeus hath not fulfilled it now, yet he will at
last and they will pay dear with their lives, they, their wives and
children. Well I know in my heart that the day will come when sacred
Troy will perish and Priam and his folk; Zeus himself throned on high
dwelling in the clear sky will shake against them all his dark aegis
in anger for this deceit."

While the leeches drew out the arrow from the wound, Agamemnon went
round the host with words of encouragement or chiding to stir them up
to the righteous conflict. They rushed on to battle to be met by the
Trojans whose host

"knew not one voice or one speech; their language was mixed, for they
were men called from many lands."

In the fight Diomedes, though at first wounded by Pandarus, speedily
returned refreshed and strengthened by Athena. His great deeds drew
upon him Pandarus and Aeneas, the son of Aphrodite and the future
founder of Rome's greatness. Diomedes quickly slew Pandarus and when
Aeneas bestrode his friend's body, hurled at him a mighty stone which
laid him low. Afraid of her son Aphrodite cast her arms about him and
shrouded him in her robe. Knowing that she was but a weak goddess
Diomedes attacked her, wounding her in the hand. Dropping her son, she
fled to Ares who was watching the battle and besought him to lend her
his chariot, wherein she fled back to Olympus. There her mother Dione
comforted her with the story of the woes which other gods had suffered
from mortals.

"But this man hath been set upon thee by Athena. Foolish one, he
knoweth not in his heart that no man liveth long who fighteth with
the gods; no children lisp 'father' at his knees when he returneth
from war and dread conflict. Therefore, albeit he is so mighty, let
him take heed lest a better than thou meet him, for one day his
prudent wife shall wail in her sleep awaking all her house, bereft
of her lord, the best man of the Achaeans."

But Athena in irony deemed that Aphrodite had been scratched by some
Greek woman whom she caressed to tempt her to forsake her husband and
follow one of the Trojans she loved.

Aeneas when dropped by his mother had been picked up by Apollo; when
Diomedes attacked the god, he was warned that battle with an immortal
was not like man's warfare. Stirred by Apollo, Ares himself came to
the aid of the Trojans, inspiring Sarpedon the Lycian to hearten his
comrades, who were shortly gladdened by the return of Aeneas whom
Apollo had healed. At the sight of Ares and Apollo fighting for Troy
Hera and Athena came down to battle for the Greeks; they found
Diomedes on the skirts of the host, cooling the wound Pandarus had
inflicted. Entering his chariot by his side, Athena fired him to meet
Ares and drive him wounded back to Olympus, where he found but little
compassion from Zeus. The two goddesses then left the mortals to fight
it out.

At this moment Helenus, the prophetic brother of Hector, bade him go
to Troy to try to appease the anger of Athena by an offering, in the
hope that Diomedes' progress might be stayed. In his absence Diomedes
met in the battle Glaucus, a Lycian prince.

"Who art thou?" he asked. "I have never seen thee before in battle,
yet now thou hast gone far beyond all others in hardihood, for thou
hast awaited my onset, and they are hapless whose sons meet my
strength. If thou art a god, I will not fight with thee; but if thou
art one of those who eat the fruit of the earth, come near, that
thou mayest the quicker get thee to the gates of death."

In answer, Glaucus said:

"Why askest thou my lineage? As is the life of leaves, so is that of
men. The leaves are scattered some of them to the earth by the wind,
others the wood putteth forth when it is in bloom, and they come on
in the season of spring. Even so of men one generation groweth,
another ceaseth."

He then told how he was a family friend of Diomedes and made with him
a compact that if they met in battle they should avoid each the other;
this they sealed by the exchange of armour, wherein the Greek had the
better, getting gold weapons for bronze, the worth of a hundred oxen
for the value of nine.

Coming to Troy Hector bade his mother offer Athena the finest robe she
had; yet all in vain, for the goddess rejected it. Passing to the
house of Paris, he found him polishing his armour, Helen at his side.
Again rebuking him, he had from him a promise that he would be ready
to re-enter the fight when Hector had been to his own house to see his
wife Andromache. Hector's heart foreboded that it was the last time he
would speak with her. She had with her their little son Astyanax.
Weeping she besought him to spare himself for her sake.

"For me there will be no other comfort if thou meetest thy doom, but
sorrow. Father and mother have I none, for Achilles hath slain them
and my seven brothers. Hector, thou art my father and my lady mother
and my brother and thou art my wedded husband. Nay, come, pity me and
abide on the wall, lest thou make thy son an orphan and thy wife a
widow."

He answered, his heart heavy with a sense of coming death:

"The day will come when Troy shall fall, yet I grieve not for father
or mother or brethren so much as for thee, when some Achaean leads
thee captive, robbing thee of thy day of freedom. Thou shalt weave at
the loom in Argos or perchance fetch water, for heavy necessity shall
be laid upon thee. Then shall many a one say when he sees thee shedding
tears: 'Lo, this is the wife of Hector who was the best warrior of the
Trojans when they fought for their town.' Thus will they speak and thou
shalt have new sorrow for lack of such a man to drive away the day of
slavery."

He stretched out his arms to his little son who was affrighted at the
sight of the helmet as it nodded its plumes dreadfully from its tall
top. Hector and Andromache laughed when they saw the child's terror;
then Hector took off his helmet and prayed that the boy might grow to
a royal manhood and gladden his mother's heart. Smiling through her
tears, Andromache took the child from Hector, while he comforted her
with brave words.

"Lady, grieve not overmuch, I beseech thee, for no man shall thrust me
to death beyond my fate. Methinks none can avoid his destiny, be he
brave or a coward, when once he hath been born. Nay, go to the house,
ply thy tasks and bid the maids be busy, but war is the business of
the men who are born in Troy and mine most of all."

Thus she parted from him, looking back many a time, shedding plenteous
tears. So did they mourn for Hector even before his doom, for they
said he would never escape his foes and come back in safety.

Finding Paris waiting for him, Hector passed out to the battlefield.
Aided by Glaucus he wrought great havoc, so much that Athena and
Apollo stirred him to challenge the bravest of the Greeks. The victor
was to take the spoils of the vanquished but to return the body for
burial. At first the Greeks were silent when they heard his challenge,
ashamed to decline it and afraid to take it up. At last eight of their
bravest cast lots, the choice falling upon Ajax. A great combat ended
in the somewhat doubtful victory of Ajax, the two parting in
friendship after an exchange of presents. The result of the fighting
had discouraged both sides; the Greeks accordingly decided to throw up
a mound in front of their ships, protected by a deep trench. This
tacit confession of weakness in the absence of Achilles leads up to
the heavy defeat which was to follow. On the other side the Trojans
held a council to deliver up Helen. When Paris refused to surrender
her but offered to restore her treasures, a deputation was sent to
inform the Greeks of his decision. The latter refused to accept either
Helen or the treasure, feeling that the end was not far off. That
night Zeus sent mighty thunderings to terrify the besiegers.

So far the main plot of the _Iliad_ has been undeveloped; now that the
chief characters on both sides have played a part in the war, the poem
begins to show how the wrath of Achilles works itself out under Zeus'
direction. First the king of the gods warned the deities that he would
allow none to intervene on either side and would punish any offender
with his thunders. Holding up the scales of doom, he placed in them
the lot of Trojans and of Greeks; as the latter sank down, he hurled
at their host his lightnings, driving all the warriors in flight to
the great mound they had built. For a time Teucer the archer brother
of Ajax held them back, but when he was smitten by a mighty stone
hurled of Hector all resistance was broken. A vain attempt was made by
Hera and Athena to help the Greeks, but the goddesses quailed before
the punishment wherewith Zeus threatened them. When night came the
Trojans encamped on the open plain, their camp-fires gleaming like the
stars which appear on some night of stillness.

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