Olympiad (B.c. 620). In the Homeric poems themselves there is not a single trace of the art of writing. We find no mention of any epitaph or inscription; coins are unknown, and even the supercargo of a ship has no written list of his cargo, but is obliged to remember it.† In addition to this the absence of the letter called Digamma in the text of the poems is a strong proof that they were not originally committed to writing. This letter existed at the time of the composition of the poems, and was constantly employed by the poet, but it had entirely vanished from the language when they were first written. § 9. It seems therefore necessary to admit the former part of Wolf's first argument, that the Iliad and Odyssey were originally not written; but does it therefore follow that without this means such long poems could neither have been composed nor handed down to posterity? These two questions are not necessarily connected, though they have been usually discussed together. Those who have maintained the original unity of the Iliad and Odyssey in opposition to Wolf have generally thought it incumbent upon them to prove that the poems were written from the beginning. But this appears to us quite unnecessary. In the present day the memory has become so much weakened by the artificial aid of writing that it may be difficult for us to conceive of the production of a long work without such assistance. But there is nothing impossible in it. Even modern poets have composed long poems and have preserved them faithfully in their memories before committing them to writing. It must also be recollected that poetry was the profession of the ancient bards; that it was not the amusement of their leisure hours, but that they devoted to it all the energies of their hearts and souls. The poems which they thus composed were treasured up in the memories of their faithful disciples, and were handed down to posterity by the Rhapsodists, whose lives were also devoted to this object. The recollection of these poems was rendered easier by the simple nature of the story, by the easy structure of the verse, by the frequent recurrence of the same words, phrases, and similes, and by the absence of abstract ideas and reflective thoughts. Accordingly we believe that the Iliad and the Odyssey might have been composed and might have been handed down to posterity without being written. § 10. The second argument employed by Wolf to maintain his hypothesis was derived from an examination of the Iliad and *The only passage in which letters are supposed to be mentioned is in the Iliad, vi. 168, but here the onμara hvypá are supposed by Wolf and others to signify pictorial and not alphabetical characters. He is póprov uvnμwv. Odyss. viii. 164. Odyssey themselves. He endeavoured to show that the only unity of the poems arises from their subjects, and that the numerous contradictions found in them plainly prove that they could not have been the productions of a single mind. The Trojan war and the wanderings of Ulysses, he remarks, had formed the subjects of numerous epic ballads, and it was only because they had happened to fit into one another that they were combined into two comprehensive poems by Pisistratus and his literary friends. A modern disciple of his school has gone so far as to attempt to resolve the Iliad into the original independent lays out of which he supposes the poem to have been formed. Now it is evident that this question can only be settled by a minute examination of the structure of the poems, for which there is no space in the present work. We can only state that the best modern scholars, with very few exceptions, have come to a conclusion directly contrary to Wolf's daring theory. Some of the ablest critics in modern times have directed their attention to this subject, and while they have not denied the existence of interpolations, more or less extensive, in both poems, the general result has been to establish their poetical unity, and to vindicate their claim to be the greatest models of the epic art. § 1. Nature of the subject. § 2. The chief ties which bound the Greeks together. Community of blood and of language. §3. Community of religious rites and festivals. §4. The Amphictyonic Council. § 5. The Olympic games. § 6. The Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games. 87. The influence of these festivals. § 8. Influence of the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. § 9. Community of manners and character. § 10. The independent sovereignty of each city a settled maxim in the Greek mind. §1. THE present Book will contain the History of Greece from the first Olympiad, or the year 776 B.C., to the commencement of the revolt of the Ionic Greeks from Persia, in the year 500 B.C. Our knowledge of the early part of this period is very scanty, and consists of only a small number of solitary facts, which have little or no connexion with one another. The division of Greece into a number of small independent states is a circumstance Odyssey themselves. He endeavoured to show that the only unity of the poems arises from their subjects, and that the numerous contradictions found in them plainly prove that they could not have been the productions of a single mind. The Trojan war and the wanderings of Ulysses, he remarks, had formed the subjects of numerous epic ballads, and it was only because they had happened to fit into one another that they were combined into two comprehensive poems by Pisistratus and his literary friends. A modern disciple of his school has gone so far as to attempt to resolve the Iliad into the original independent lays out of which he supposes the poem to have been formed. Now it is evident that this question can only be settled by a minute examination of the structure of the poems, for which there is no space in the present work. We can only state that the best modern scholars, with very few exceptions, have come to a conclusion directly contrary to Wolf's daring theory. Some of the ablest critics in modern times have directed their attention to this subject, and while they have not denied the existence of interpolations, more or less extensive, in both poems, the general result has been to establish their poetical unity, and to vindicate their claim to be the greatest models of the epic art. § 1. Nature of the subject. § 2. The chief ties which bound the Greeks together. Community of blood and of language. §3. Community of religious rites and festivals. §4. The Amphictyonic Council. § 5. The Olympic games. § 6. The Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games. 87. The influence of these festivals. § 8. Influence of the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. § 9. Community of manners and character. § 10. The independent sovereignty of each city a settled maxim in the Greek mind. §1. THE present Book will contain the History of Greece from the first Olympiad, or the year 776 B.C., to the commencement of the revolt of the Ionic Greeks from Persia, in the year 500 B.C. Our knowledge of the early part of this period is very scanty, and consists of only a small number of solitary facts, which have little or no connexion with one another. The division of Greece into a number of small independent states is a circumstance |