The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-04-29
COIlI..gJMBIA, 49,, G.
/ Friday MorninR, April 90, 1870
The Poetry of Homer.

-
Smith. Of this oity, who is being educat-
ed at nm academy in New Haven, Conn. !:
Twenty.seven centuries ago poet
sang his dreams, and the traditions of
his fatherland Ito eager and responsive
every iestivsls crowds must have gather
ed, and while he struck the chords they
smiled, frowned, wept, laughed and tri-
umphed with his words, nor moved until
tile last vibration of harp aud voice had
ceased.
But the song atill remains, bringing
again over Greece the halo of the Golden
Age, and touching human hearts simply
and powerfully now as then. For Homer
came forth from Natures heart and art
lessly sang the song of human passions
that will still be fresh through oil ages.
he sings the story OF an undevelcped
peoples fond Of war, loving friends,
hating enemies, ready to forgive the one
and as eager to- wreak vengeance upon
the. other. He pictures the camp, the
sea, triumph ana Death 30 vividly that
we seamto see the pah Drama passing bo-
fore !us.a Thus he sihgs BIS years roll on,
and btndpess shuts hin. in, more fully.
upon himself. -. .:,S5e','
The seerning design Of the Iliad was to
oelebfateithe glory of the Grecian Chief
tains just before the fall Of the long-re-
sistip& Troy;tr the apirited Menelaus;
brave and obedient Diomeda; Ajax cruel
and crafty; Agamemnon. inspired with
ambition and Gle love Of power; wise
Ulysses, and N Nestor, from whose tongue
flow words of wisdom sweeter than
honey;vbnt especially to show the glory
OF the Thessalian chieftain at this deci-
,sx, ~ 49, IL Il:
les stands forth as the vindicator,of the
power Of the gods, the avenger of
"Cbryses, the priest, who to the Greoian fleet
Game toredeem his daughter, Offering
Uncounted ransom" ,tI
He takes his place among these with
the avowed pre-eminence due his bravery.
He boards the skiing of men," the great
prince who is carrying on the war;
But far greater than this favorite of
fortune, shines Hector, against whom
Achilles used his wonderfully prepared
weapons, and whom he equaled neither
in temper, fortitude or skill, and whom
he never would have conquered but by
the .contrivance of Pallas.
Victim of fate, martyr for his country,
what glory is not due the incompatible
Hector, and what shame covers Achilles
in his ornel Joy of dishonoring the dead
hero. AS one has said:
''The poem closes like funeral march,
So boar they knightly Hector to his grave"
The epithets of Homer contribute
greatly to the beauty of til e poetry. Tho
'Fsr-darting" Apollo, god Of the ''Silver-
bow" Jupiter the ''Thunderer" and
"Lightener;" Mars the "Crested war
rior;'' the "White-armed' and "Large-
eyed, Juno; the "Over-roofed" and
"Wine-colored'' waves bring the crea-
tures,of the poets fancy to us with the
color and intensity of life. Throughout
the story are found traces of the same
master mind. Yet there are some ex-
tremely beautiful passages into which
the poet seems to have infused m unu-
sual amount of fire, rapture aud tender
feeling. The meeting of Hector and
Andromache is q masterpiece Of pathos.
She hod departed to the walls with her
little son, e,-...
'When it was told her that the Trojan troops
Lost heart, and that the valor OF the Greeks
Prevailed"
The Joy with which che springs to
meet her husband-the comparison of
her boy to star,
"Fair as the new born star that eilds the
morn;'
AoA IOhoSA oPpChl " iiCI HuSUuuu.
"roo brave! thy vaior will yet cause thy death.
Thou hast no pity on thy tender child,
Thy widow.
Father have I none
And no dear mother? Great Achilles slew
My father, when he sacked the populous town
or the Oilicians-Thebe with high gates
Seven brothers had I in my fathers house,
And all went down to Hades in one day.
Achilles, the swift.footed, slew them all. y
MY mother, princess on the woody slopes
or Elacos, with his spoils he bore away,
And only for large ransom gave her back.
But her Diana, archer-queen, struck down
Within her fathers palace. Hector, thou
Art father and dear mother now to me,
And brother and my youthful spouse besides.
In pity keep within the fortress hero,
Nor make thy child an orphan, nor thy wife
A widow"
The nffectionate, but magpanimous re-
ply of Hector, whose co rage and patri-
otism compel him to refuse her prayers,
as he looks with smile upon his darling
boy,
''Scared to see
His father helmeted in glittering brass;"
the prayer of the father that the Trojans
may Aay Of his son:
"This man is greater than his father was"