The Golden Verses of Pythagoras: Discourse Upon the Essence and Form of Poetry: § III

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§ III

Homer was not the first epic poet in the order of time, but in the order of things. Before him many poets were skilled in Epopœia; but no one had known the nature

1; no one had united the opposed qualities which were necessary. There existed at this epoch a multitude of allegorical fables which had emanated at divers times from different sanctuaries. These fables, committed at first to memory, had been collected in several sets of works which were called cycles. * There were allegorical, mythological, and epic cycles. 2 We know from certain precious texts of the ancients, that these sorts of collections opened generally with the description of Chaos, with the marriage of Heaven and Earth; contained the genealogy of the Gods and the combats of the Giants; included the expedition of the Argonauts, the famous wars of Thebes and of Troy; extended as far as the arrival of Ulysses at Ithaca, and terminated with the death of this hero, caused by his son Telegonus. 3 The poets who, before Homer, had drawn from these cycles the subject of their works, not having penetrated as far as the allegorical sense, lacking inspiration, or being found incapable of rendering it, lacking talent, had produced only cold inanimate copies, deprived of movement and grace. They had not, however, omitted any of the exploits of Hercules or of Theseus, nor any of the incidents of the sieges of Thebes or Troy; and their muse, quite lifeless, fatigued the readers without interesting or instructing them. 4 Homer came. He, in his turn, glanced over this pile of sacerdotal traditions, and raising himself by the force of his genius alone to the intellectual principle which had conceived them, he grasped the ensemble, and felt all its possibilities. The faculties of his soul and the precious gifts which he had received from nature had made him one of those rare men who present

* Pupil of Phemius, he received from

1 Rich with the increase of population, she had reacted upon her ancient metropolis, had taken possession of a great number of cities on the opposite shores of Asia, and had colonized them. 2 Phoenicia humiliated, torn by internal dissensions, 3 tossed between the power of the Assyrians and that of the Egyptians, 4 saw

1 take up arms against her, carry away her colonies from the shores of Italy and of Sicily, and becoming mistress of the islands of the Archipelago, tear from her her sole remaining hope, the empire of the sea. 2 The people of Rhodes were overpowered.

Homer, of Greek nationality although born in Asia, profited by these advantages. He set sail in a vessel, whose patron, Mentes of Leucas, was his friend, wandered over all the possessions of Greece, visited Egypt, 3 and came to settle at Tyre. This was the ancient metropolis of Greece, the source and sacred repository of her mythological traditions. It was there, in this same temple of the Master of the Universe, * where twelve centuries before Sanchoniathon had come to study the antiquities of the world, 4 that Homer was able to go back to the origin of Greek cult and fathom the most hidden meanings of its mysteries 5; it was there that he chose the first and noblest subject of his chants, that which constitutes the fable of the Iliad. † If one must

* torn by

1 But I ought to make an observation,

1 wherein all ideas becoming reflected have appeared to be created. Lycurgus read his works, and saw there a model of his legislation. 2 Pericles and Alcibiades had need of his counsels; they had recourse to him as a model of statesmen. 3 He was for Plato the first of the philosophers, and for Alexander the greatest of kings; and what is more extraordinary still, even the sectarians, divided among themselves, were united in him. The Stoics spoke only of this great poet as a rigid follower of the Porch 4; at the Academy he was considered as the creator of dialectics; at the Lyceum, the disciples of Aristotle cited him as a zealous dogmatist 5; finally, the Epicureans saw in him only a man calm and pure, who, satisfied with that tranquil life where one is wholly possessed by it, seeks nothing more. 6 The temples, which devout enthusiasm consecrated to him, were the rendezvous for mankind. 7 Such is the appanage of universal ideas: they are as the Divinity which inspires them, all in all, and all in the least parts.

1 The poems of Corinna, of Dares, or of Dictys, were only simple extracts from the mythological cycles, rude copies from certain theosophical fragments denuded of life; Homer was the first who caused the Voice of Impulse, that is to say Epopœia, to be understood *: that kind of poetry which results from intellectual inspiration united to the enthusiasm of the passions.

In order to attain to the perfection of this kind of poetry, it is necessary to unite to the imaginative faculty which feeds the genius, the reason which regulates the impulse, and the enthusiasm which inflames the mind and supplies the talent. Homer united them in the most eminent degree. Thus he possessed the first inspiration and the complete science, as much in its essence as in its form; for the poetic form is always dependent upon talent.

This form was then highly favourable to genius. The Greek verse, measured by musical rhythm and filled with a

1 A long syllable was equal to a time divided in two instants, and equivalent to two short syllables. A foot was what we name today a measure. The foot contained two times, made up of two long, or of one long and two short syllables. The verse most commonly used was the hexameter, that is, that in which the extent was measured by six rhythmic feet and of which the whole duration was twelve times. Thus poetry received only the laws of rhythm; it was a kind of music whose particular harmony, free in its course, was subject only to measure.

I have never found any authentic evidence that the Greeks had ever used the rhyme in their verse. It is stated, however, that they have not differed from other nations in this respect. Voltaire said so but without proof. 2 What is most certain is that, taking the word epos, * a verse, in its most restricted acceptance, expressing a turn, a turning around again, the early poets constructed their verse in form of furrows, going from right to left and returning from left to right. ** Happily this bizarrerie did not last long. If the Greek verses had thus turned one upon another, or if the rhyme had forced them to proceed in couplets bent beneath a servile yoke, Homer would not have created the Epopœia, or these frivolous obstacles would have vanished before him. His genius, incapable of enduring chains, would have refused to clothe itself in a form capable of stifling it. But this celebrated man would no doubt have changed it;

1 One sees him without the least effort, bending words at his pleasure, lengthening them, shortening them to produce something new, reviving those no longer in use, uniting them, separating them, disposing of them in an unaccustomed order, forcing them to adapt themselves everywhere to the harmony that he wishes to depict, to sentiments of elevation, of pleasure or terror, that he wishes to inspire.

Thus genius, dominating form, creates master-pieces; form, on the contrary, commanding genius, produces only works of the mind. I must say finally and no longer veil from the attention of my judges, the aim of this discourse: whenever rhyme exists in the poetic form, it renders the form inflexible, it brings upon it only the effort of talent and renders that of intellectual inspiration useless. Never will the people who rhyme their verses attain to the height of poetic perfection; never will real epopœia flourish in their breasts. They will hear neither the accents inspired by Orpheus, nor the stirring and impassioned harmonies of Homer. Far from drawing the allegorical genius at its source and receiving the first inspiration, it will not even recognize the second one. Its poets will polish painfully certain impassioned or descriptive verses, and will call beautiful the works which will only be well done. A rapid glance over the poetic condition of the earth will prove what I have advanced. But I ought to explain beforehand what I understand by first and second inspiration; the moment

Footnotes

32:1 Apollon, Argon., l. i., v. 496.

32:2 Plutar., De Placit. philos., c. 13; Euseb., Præp. Evang., l. xv., c. 30; Stobeus, Eclog. phys., 54. Proclus quotes the verses of Orpheus on this subject, In Tim., l. iv., p. 283. Voyez La Biblioth. græc. de Fabricius, p. 132.

33:1 Fabric., Bibliot. græc., p. 4, 22, 26, 30, etc.; Voyag. d’Anach., ch. 80.

33:* From the Greek word κύκλος: as one would say circuit, the circular envelopment of a thing.

33:2 Court de Gébelin, Gén. allég., p. 119.

33:3 Casaubon, In Athen., p. 301; Fabric., Bibl. græc. l. i., c. 17. Voyag. d’Anach., ch. 80; Proclus, cité par Court de Gébelin, ibid.

33:4 Arist., De Poët., c. 8, 16, 25, etc.

34:* It is needless for me to observe that the birthplace of Homer has been the object of a host of discussions as much among the ancients as among the moderns. My plan here is not to put down again en problème, nor to examine anew the things which have been a hundred times discussed and that I have sufficiently examined. I have chosen, from the midst of all the divergent opinions born of these discussions, that which has appeared to me the most probable, which agrees best with known facts, and which is connected better with the analytical thread of my ideas. I advise my readers to do the same. It is neither the birthplace of Homer nor the name of his parents that is the important matter: it is his genius that must be fathomed. Those who would, however, satisfy their curiosity regarding these subjects foreign to my researches, will find in La Bibliothèque grecque de Fabricius, and in the book by Léon Allatius entitled De Patriâ Homeri, enough material for all the systems they may wish to build. They will find there twenty-six different locations wherein they can, at their pleasure, place the cradle of the poet. The seven most famous places indicated in a Greek verse by Aulus Gellius are, Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, and Athens. The nineteen indicated by divers authors, are Pylos, Chios, Cyprus, Clazomenæ, Babylon, Cumæ, Egypt, Italy, Crete, Ithaca, Mycenæ, Phrygia, Mæonia, Lucania, Lydia, Syria, Thessaly, and finally Troy, and even Rome.

However, the tradition which I have followed, in considering Homer as born not far from Smyrna, upon the borders of the river Meles, is not only 35:1 Hérod., l. v., 42; Thucyd., l. i., 12.

35:2 Marbres de Paros, Epoq. 28; Hérod., l. i., 142, 145, 149; Plat., De Leg., l. v.; Strab., l. xiv.; Pausan., l. vii., 2; Ælian., Var. Histor., l. viii., c. 5; Sainte-Croix, De l’état des Colon. des anc. Peuples, p. 65; Bourgainville, Dissert. sur les Métrop. et les Colon., p.,18; Spanheim, Præst., num. p. 580.

35:3 Bible, Chron. ii., eh. 12 et suiv.

35:4 Ibid., Chron. ii., ch. 32 et 36.

36:1 Pausanias, passim.

36:2 Strab., l. xiv.; Polyb., l. v.; Aulu-Gell., l. vii., c. 3; Meurs., In Rhod., l. i., c. 18 et 21; Hist. univ. des Anglais, in-8°, t. ii., p. 493.

36:3 Diod. Sicul., l. i., 2.

36:* In Phœnician ‏מלך-ארע‎ (Melich-ærtz), in Greek Μελικέρης: a name given to the Divinity whom the Thracians called Hercules, the Lord of the Universe: from ‏חרר‎ or ‏שרר‎ (harr or shar), excellence, dominance, sovereignty; and ‏כל‎ (col.), All. Notice that the Teutonic roots are not very different from the Phœnician: Herr signifies lord, and alles, all; so that Herr-alles is, with the exception of the guttural inflection which is effaced, the same word as that of Hercules, used by the Thracians and the Etruscans. The Greeks have made a transposition of letters in Ἡρακλῆς (Heracles) so as to evade the guttural harshness without entirely losing it.

36:4 Goguet, Origine des Lois et des Arts, t. i., p. 359.

36:5 Voyez Epiphane, Hæres, xxvi., et conférez avec Beausobre, Hist. du Manich., t. ii., p. 328.

36:† I have followed the tradition most analogous to the development of my ideas; but I am aware that, upon this point, as upon many others, I have only to choose. The historic fact, in that which relates to the sacerdotal archives which Homer consulted in composing his poems, is everywhere the same au fond; 37:* I have said in the above that the name of Helena or Selena was that of the moon in Greek. The root of this word is alike Celtic and Phœnician. One finds it in Teutonic hell, which signifies clear, luminous, and in Hebrew ‏חלל‎ (hêll), which contains the same sense of splendour, glory, and elevation. One still says in German heilig, holy, and selig, blessed; also selle, soul, and seilen, souls. And this is worthy of the closest attention, particularly when one reflects that, following the doctrine of the ancients, the moon helenê or selenê was regarded as the reservoir of the souls of those who descend from heaven to pass into bodies by means of generation, and, purged by the fire of life, escape from earth to ascend to heaven. See, concerning this doctrine, Plutarch (De Facie in Orb. Lun.), and confer with Beausobre (Histoire du Manich., t. ii., p. 311). The name of Paris, in Greek Πάρις, comes from the Phœnician words ‏בר‎ or ‏פר‎ (bar or phar), all generation, propagation, extension, and ‏‎ (ish), the Being-principle.

The name of Menelaus, in Greek Μενέλαος, comes from the Phœnician words ‏מן‎ (men), all that which determines, regulates, or defines a thing, properly, the rational faculty, the reason, the measure, in Latin mens, mensura; and ‏אוש‎ (aôsh), the Being-principle acting, before which is placed the prefix 38:1 Metrodorus of Lampsacus cited by Tatian (Adver. Gent., § 37). Plato, In Alcibiad., ii., Cronius, Porphyry, Phurnutus, Iamblichus, cited by Court de Gébelin, Génie allég., p. 36, 43; Plato, In Ion.; Cicero, De Natur. Deor., l. ii.; Strabo, l. i.; Origen, Contr. Cels. Among the moderns can be counted Bacon, Blackwell, Basnage, Bergier, and Court de Gébelin himself, who has given a list of eighty writers who have this opinion.

39:1 Dionys. Halic., De Comp. verb., t. v., c. 16, 26; Quintil., l. x., c. 1; Longin., De Sublim., c. 13; Ælian., Var. Hist., l. viii., c. 2; Plat., Alcibiad., i.

39:2 Plat., In Vitâ Lycurg.

39:3 Allat., De Patr. Homer., c. 5; Meurs., In Pisist., c. 9 et 12; Plat., In Hipparc.

39:4 Senec., Epist., 117.

39:5 Ibidem, 88.

39:6 Dionys. Halic., In Vitâ Homer.; Eustath., In Iliad, l. i.

39:7 Strabo, l. xiv., p. 646.

40:1 Arist., De Poët., c. 2, cit. par Barth., Voyag. d’Anach., t. vii., c. 80, p. 44.

40:* The word Epopœia is taken from the Greek ἐπο-ποιός which designates alike a poet and an epic poem. It is derived from the Phœnician words ‏אפא‎ (apho) an impassioned transport, a vortex, an impulse, an enthusiasm; and ‏פאח‎ (phohe), a mouth, a discourse. One can observe that the Latin word versus, which is applied also to a thing which turns, which is borne along, and to a poetic verse, translates exactly the Greek word ἔπος, whose root ‏אוף‎ (aôph) expresses a vortex. The Hebrew ‏אופן‎ (aôphon) signifies properly a wheel.

41:1 See in the collection of Meibomius, Aristides, Quintilianus, and Les Mém. de l’Acad. des Belles-Lettres, t. v., p. 552.

41:2 Voltaire, Dict. philos., art. RIME.

41:* Refer to what I have already said in last footnote p. 40.

41:** Fréret said that the verses of the poet Eumelus engraven upon the arch of the Cypselidæ were thus represented. Voyez sa Dissert. sur l’Art de l’Equitation. Il cite Pausanias, l. v., p. 419.

42:1 Court de Gébelin, Mond. primit., t. ix., p. 222. Conférez avec Aristotle, Poët., p. 20, 21, 22.