New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1869-09-28

we think, is an instance Where NIL
Gladstone's plan of interpreting Homer solely
by Homer leads to inadequate results What
ne declares to be the great principle OF the no
meric" mythology, adjustment by distribution Oh
offices-is not peculiar to IT. The same, or a very
similar arrangement, occurs In the old scandinavian
mythology,-indeed, in a more imperfect develop
ment il enters into nearly all primitive creeds.
Mr. Gladstone asserts the Oympian religion to have
been devoid of all original authority and to have
received its only unity and consequent permanenee
from the two Homeric epcs which stood for the
Greeks in the place of Sacred Books. He does JUS
tce to the anthropOmorphc character OF the system
and TO its influence on the race but, on the other
hand he seems disnclined to consider its consistent
symbolsm-a feature which could hardly nave
been added by a single poet tthough Do
we're rates in the most splendid sense
of the term), but which generally
selfdeveloped through the instinct of an awakening
race building better than it knows. HIS sketches Vi
the gods and goddesses, constructed OF homerc III"
terials are carefully and conscientlousy dra"l' ouS
there is little in them which has not been ahtcpa'eu
in the works of Ottfried Miller Creuzcr WeicRef anu
Lehrs. We have space to present TINS portion Vi
the subject more in detail we can only lnuleate' III
very general way, the view taken by MT ulau-
stone. and the particulars wherein it seems to lack
strength.
The most eloquent passage in the volume is that in
which he sums up the results achieved by the Olym-
pic religion, during its supremacy. Here his HomeHc
enthusiasm has not seduced him into an oyer-vaiua-
ton of the lofty human culture foStered by such
faith: but we must add to his statement the semi
Christian ethics of the Philosophers, the pure spirit
ualism of Plato, as necessary parts of that great
preparation for Christianity which we owe TO the
Greeks and not to the jews. The following, now
ever, is admirbly written:
The history of the race OF Adam before the Advent Is
the history of long and varied bnt lacessa that
Gpnene cnnrihnted language and an intellectual dis
cipne Rome political organization 10 the apPaln'us
which was put in readiness assist the propagaton OF
the Cospel and that OF these In its kind was the
most perfect that the world had produced baNe cur
deavored elsewhere show with some fulness what was
the Mace of Greece in the Provdential order OF tne
world: and likewise what was the relation OF ooI "
the Greeks and 10 their part Of the Divine pan as com
nared with the relation OF the Sacred Scriptures to the
chosen people OF God. cannot now enter on that ned
at large vet neither part without WORD IRON the
subject Of the OlymPian religion l., ,-o,oo,o, ,r,+,
such extraordinary grandeur that the OF
It, altogether apart from the general merits the Foes
deserves to be considered us one Oh Tue roposs We
ments Of the human MIND Yet ts character as ~ "as
first and best set forth in its entirety from the Drah OF
the nisher and the maker is not more wonderful than
its subsequent influence and duration IN f9
during twelve fourteen hundred years, III was the
religion of the most thoughtful, tho most fruitful the
most energetic portions of the human family IL Yielded
to Christianity alone and 10 the Church II yielded win
and ony giving way after an intellectual well
n civil battle, Obsnatey fought and lasting LOT genera
COnsautjuOple IN chief eeners Of Christian ciYlZa
ton in many respects degeneraed ana an ecclesasca
power too little faithful to its trust Greek letters ana
Greek thought again asserted their strength over
the most cultivated minds Of Italy, III manner winch
testified TO the force, and 10 the magic charm win
which they were imperishably endowed Even within
what may be called our own time, the Olympan religion
the mind of Goethe who must be regarded standing
IN very rank Of the great minds OF the latest
'The Olympian religion. however. owes perhaps az
large share OF its riumphs to s depraved acconi9ou
lions as 10 its eXceences. Yet an instrument so aura
ble potent, and elastic must certainly have had rur
pose to serve. Let US consider Tor moment WHAT IL
I'VE have seen how closely, and in how many ways,
IL bound humanity and deity together Aslegaiuee at
of virtue which called holiness, this union was effected
mainly bv lowering the divine element But regarded
all other functions Of nature, outside the domain OF
the life TO god-ward, all those functions which are
summed up In what SAINT pa9 eals te nein anu h
system to eXalt the human element, by proposing
model OF beauty, strength, and wisdom In all their com
binatons so elevated that effort attain them
quired continual upward strain IL made divinity at
tainable and thus it efoctusy directed the thought
and ann Of man
Along the line Of lmitles. desires'
"such scheme Of religion, though failing grossly in
standard OF moral duties tended powerfully 10 produce
lofty sefrespect and large. free, and varied concep
notable discipline for mind and body. Indeed Of hfe
long educaon and these habits Of mind and action had
their marked results Ito omit many other greancsses In
o philosophy literature, and art which remain " this
day unrivaled or unsurpassed"
A chapter on THE Ethics Of the Heroic Age fol
lows and we must extend to it the criticism.
1t would not be unjust, in fact to go step further
and suggest that many of Mr.. GadstOnes cOncu-
sions are not entirely justified even by the theory
upon which he works. Admitting that the Homeric
epics had sacred character, and stood very much in
the relation to the Grecian race the Penta-
touch to the Hebrews may turn to them for the
system of ethics which they inculcate, by indirect
narrative teaching, but hardly for fair picture of
the morals of the Trojan era. Throughout his vol
ume, Mr. Gladstone constantly refers to this as
" the childhood of the race" and speaks of it as
period of comparative innocence and purity, while
lie associates corruption with its manhood several
centuries later. This assumption is not war
raDted by knowledge of the chaTac-
ter of human development. II is a repe-
titiOn of the bella eta DIR OrO,"-a myth older
than Homer, and as enduring as Christianity. The
innocent childhood of race is the imaginative vail
with which we cover its coarse brutality. Without
the strongest evidence to the contrary we are likely
70 be right in assuming that the Greeks under
Pericles in every way morally superior TO those
under Agamemnon. What Mr. Gladstone may with
propriety claim is, that the Homeric epics contain
the highest profession Of morality of the age when they
were written but this is very different thing from
the practical morals of the at that time During
the public recitation Of those epcs for centuries it
may easily be conjectured that nothing offensive to
the conventional propreties of the audiences would
be spoken; for the same reason probably nothing of
the kind ever had place in the text. Religion and
Poetry (which are so intimately combined in the
Epics) both seek to elevate the moral and spiritual
standard of life and with all the picturesque realism
of Homer, must assume a great superiority
in bis heroes over the original characters
from whom they were drawn. If, indeed
his great object was to establish lofty national