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In these passages, close attention must be given to see whether the poet himself gives any hints against the sentiments expressed to indicate that they are distasteful to himself; just as Menander in the prologue of his Thais has written: Oh, sing to me, my muse, of such a girl, One bold and fair, and of persuasive tongue, Unjust, exclusive, and demanding much, In love with none, but always feigning love.Kock, Com. Att. Frag., Menander, No. 217, and Allinson, Menander, in L.C.L., p. 356. But Homer has best employed this method; for he in advance discredits the mean and calls our attention to the good in what is said. His favourable introductions are after this manner: Then at once he spoke; his words were gentle and winningHomer, Od. vi. 148. and He would stand by his side, and speak soft words to restrain him.Homer, Il. ii. 189. But in discrediting in advance, he all but protests and proclaims that we are not to follow or heed the sentiments expressed, as being unjustifiable and mean. For example, when he is on the point of narrating Agamemnon’s harsh treatment of the priest, he says in advance, Yet Agamemnon, Atreus’ son, at heart did not like it; Harshly he sent him away; Ibid. i. 24. that is to say, savagely and wilfully and contrary to what he should have done; and in Achilles’ mouth he puts the bold words, Drunken sot, with eyes of a dog and the wild deer’s courage, Ibid. i. 225. but he intimates his own judgement in saying, Then once more with vehement words did the son of Peleus Speak to the son of Atreus, nor ceased as yet from his anger; Ibid. i. 223. hence it is likely that nothing spoken with anger and severity can be good. In like manner also, he comments upon actions: Thus he spoke, and Hector divine he treated unseemly, Stretching him prone in the dust by the bier of the son of Menoetius. Ibid., xxiii. 24. He also employs his closing lines to good purpose, as though adding a sort of verdict of his own to what is done or said. Of the adultery of Ares, he represents the gods as saying, Evil deeds do not succeed: the swift by the slow is taken,Homer, Od., viii. 329. and on the occasion of Hector’s great arrogance and boasting he says, Thus he spoke in boast; queen Hera’s wrath was kindledHomer, Il. viii. 198. and regarding Pandarus’s archery, Thus Athena spoke, and the mind of the fool she persuaded. Ibid. iv. 104. Now these declarations and opinions contained in the words of the text may be discovered by anybody who will pay attention, but from the actions themselves the poets supply other lessons: as, for example, Euripides is reported to have said to those who railed at his Ixion as an impious and detestable character, But I did not remove him from the stage until I had him fastened to the wheel. In Homer this form of instruction is given silently, but it leaves room for a reconsideration, which is helpful in the case of those stories which have been most discredited. By forcibly distorting these stories through what used to be termed deeper meanings, but are nowadays called allegorical interpretations, some persons say that the Sun is represented as giving information about Aphrodite in the arms of Ares, because the conjunction of the planet Mars with Venus portends births conceived in adultery, and when the sun returns in his course and discovers these, they cannot be kept secret. And Hera’s beautifying of herself for Zeus’s eyes, Ibid. xiv. 166 ff. and the charms connected with the girdle, such persons will have it, are a sort of purification of the air as it draws near the fiery element;—as though the poet himself did not afford the right solutions. For, in the account of Aphrodite, he teaches those who will pay attention that vulgar music, coarse songs, and stories treating of vile themes, create licentious characters, unmanly lives, and men that love luxury, soft living, intimacy with women, and Changes of clothes, warm baths, and the genial bed of enjoyment.Homer, Od. viii. 239. This too is the reason why he has represented Odysseus as bidding the harper Come now, change the theme and sing how the horse was builded, Ibid. viii. 492. thus admirably indicating the duty of musicians and poets to take the subjects of their compositions from the lives of those who are discreet and sensible. And in his account of Hera, he has shown excellently well how the favour that women win by philters and enchantments and the attendant deceit in their relations with their husbands, not only is transitory and soon sated and unsure, but changes also to anger and enmity, so soon as the pleasurable excitement has faded away. Such, in fact, are Zeus’s angry threats as he speaks to Hera in this wise: So you may see if aught you gain from the love and caresses Won by your coming afar from the gods to deceive me.Homer, Il. xv. 32. For the description and portrayal of mean actions, if it also represent as it should the disgrace and injury resulting to the doers thereof, benefits instead of injuring the hearer. Philosophers, at any rate, for admonition and instruction, use examples taken from known facts; but the poets accomplish the same result by inventing actions of their own imagination, and by recounting mythical tales. Thus it was Melanthius who said, whether in jest or in earnest, that the Athenian State was perpetually preserved by the quarrelling and disorder among its public speakers; for they were not all inclined to crowd to the same side of the boat, and so, in the disagreement of the politicians, there was ever some counterpoise to the harmful. And so the mutual contrarieties of the poets, restoring our belief to its proper balance, forbid any strong turning of the scale toward the harmful. When therefore a comparison of passages makes their contradictions evident, we must advocate the better side, as in the following examples: Oft do the gods, my child, cause men to fail,From Euripides, Archelaus, Nauck, Trag.Graec. Frag., Euripides, No. 254. The second line is again quoted by Plutarch, Moralia, 1049 F. as compared with You’ve named the simplest way; just blame the gods; From Euripides, Archelaus, Nauck, Trag.Graec. Frag., Euripides, No. 254. The second line is again quoted by Plutarch, Moralia, 1049 F. and again You may rejoice in wealth, but these may not,Nauck, Trag.Graec. Frag., Euripides, No. 1069. as compared with ’Tis loutish to be rich, and know naught else;Nauck, Trag.Graec. Frag., No. 1069. and What need to sacrifice when you must die? Ibid., Adesp., No. 350. as compared with ’Tis better thus; God’s worship is not toil. Ibid., Adesp., No. 350. For such passages as these admit of solutions which are obvious, if, as has been said, we direct the young, by the use of criticism, toward the better side. But whenever anything said by such authors sounds preposterous, and no solution is found close at hand, we must nullify its effect by something said by them elsewhere to the opposite effect, and we should not be offended or angry at the poet, but with the words, which are spoken in character and with humorous intent. As an obvious illustration, if you wish, over against Homer’s accounts of the gods being cast forth by one another, their being wounded by men, their disagreements, and their displays of ill-temper, you may set the line: Surely you know how to think of a saying better than this one,Homer, Il. vii. 358 and xii. 232. and indeed elsewhere you do think of better things and say more seemly things, such as these: Gods at their ease ever living, Ibid. vi. 138; Od. iv. 805 and v. 122. and There the blessed gods pass all their days in enjoyment,Homer, Od. vi. 46. and Thus the gods have spun the fate of unhappy mortals Ever to live in distress, but themselves are free from all trouble.Homer, Il. xxiv. 525 (again quoted, infra, 22 B). These, then, are sound opinions about gods, and true, but those other accounts have been fabricated to excite men’s astonishment. Again, when Euripides says, By many forms of artifice the gods Defeat our plans, for they are stronger far,Nauck, Trag. Graec. Frag., Euripides, No. 972. it is not bad to subjoin, If gods do aught that’s base, they are no gods,From Euripides, Bellerophon, according to Stobaeus, Florilegium, c. 3, who quotes also six preceding lines; cf. Nauck, Trag.Graec. Frag., Euripides, No. 292. 7. which is a better saying of his. And when Pindar very bitterly and exasperatingly has said, Do what you will, so you vanquish your foe,Pindar, Isthmian Odes, iv. 48. Yet, we may reply, you yourself say that Most bitter the end Must surely await Sweet joys that are gained By a means unfair. Pindar, Isthmian Odes, vii. 47. a= And when Sophocles has said, Sweet is the pelf though gained by falsity.Nauck, Trag.Graec. Frag., Sophocles , No. 749. Indeed, we may say, but we have heard from you that False words unfruitful prove when harvested. Ibid., No. 750. And over against those statements about wealth: Clever is wealth at finding ways to reach Both hallowed and unhallowed ground, and where A poor man, though he even gain access, Could not withal attain his heart’s desire. An ugly body, hapless with its tongue, Wealth makes both wise and comely to behold,From Sophocles, Aleadae; quoted with additional lines by Stobaeus, Florilegium, xci. 27; cf. Nauck, Trag.Graec. Frag., Sophocles, No 85. he will set many of Sophocles’ words, among which are the following: E’en without wealth a man may be esteemed,Nauck, Trag.Graec. Frag., Sophocles, No. 761. and To beg doth not degrade a noble mind, Ibid., No. 752. and In the blessings of plenty What enjoyment is there, If blest wealth owe its increase To base-brooding care?Perhaps from the Tereus of Sophocles; cf. Nauck, Trag.Graec. Frag., Sophocles, No. 534. And Menander certainly exalted the love of pleasure, with a suggestion of boastfulness too, in these glowing lines that refer to love: All things that live and see the self-same sun That we behold, to pleasure are enslaved.Kock, Com. Att. Frag. iii., Menander , No. 611, and Allinson, Menander, in L.C.L. p. 506. But at another time he turns us about and draws us towards the good, and uproots the boldness of licentiousness, by saying: A shameful life, though pleasant, is disgrace.Kock, Com. Att. Frag. iii., Menander, No. 756. The latter sentiment is quite opposed to the former, and it is better and more useful. Such comparison and consideration of opposing sentiments will result in one of two ways: it will either guide the youth over toward the better side, or else cause his belief to revolt from the worse.
