The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1877-01-04
HonEK AND DE. scaLIEmANx.
Those accustomed to indulge tas,,

Those accustomed to indulge a taste
for archaeological irquirie5 are apt to
becone hypercriticnl and doub. the va
lidity of evidence readily accepted by
ordinary readers of books and news
papers. 1t has been properly said that
the mere finding of tombs at MycerU
by DR.. Schliemaun, of which we tell
in another place, does not raise myth
into history even If their connection
with Az ,memnon Were as clear as it is
obscure. Their existence in the Greek
writer P ,usanias's days "a. d. 100 has
just as little elevating power, as all the
traveller Pausanias) knew. about the
matter was what he was told. His lu-
/ tormants could have known little or
{ nothing of facts that occurred 400
years before their tiilssN. At the most
they retailed a tradition which might
itself be myth. Suppose some trav-
eler went to Peru to gather up tradi-
tions of the Inca5, would any scholar
put much faith in the uncontrolled
statements ofthe natives as to the tomb
of Nance Capac? In the last analy-
SIS the present identification rests upon
Pausanias's informants, and if they
or DR.. Schliemann be mistaken in To-
caliz stion, the present discovery does
nothing for Agamemnon'S tomb.
Now there Is just a possibility that
Homer and the Greek tragedians may
have given rise to the myth about
Agamemnon's tomb; certainly Aga
memnon's tomb had very little to do
with the creations of the great poets.
All that we are told about MyceEe, its
CyclOpean architecture, its lion-guarded
gates, and the subterranean chambers
Of Aureus, bespeak an ante Grecian
origin. If it should turn out that the
,ombs with DR.. Schliemann has found
antadate the Hellencs-and his find
ing them surrounded with double
parallel circle" Of stones! lends some
plausibility to thai view-then, in
deed, though his discovery would
not do much towards putting down
German scholars" it might be the
initial point of great discoveries as to
the autochthons, who were to the
Greeks what the red man Is to us.
Granting that Dr.. Schlicmann has
found the veritable tombs of Agamem-
lon and the rest, though it is sign;fi
cant that he does not tell us that their
names are on .hc votive tablets which
he found; granting, further, that the
"Klng of Men" was actually murdered
by his wife, neither the one nor the
other Of these admissions nor both to-
gether would raise Agamemnon from
a legendary hero into an historical per
Sonage. His life as handed down to
US is romance and not history. It may
DC founded on fact, but the founda-
tlons are sunk very deep. But can
Agamemnon's existence be denied? He
exists, veritably exists, in undying
song. What can stone tomb, even if
We knew how much his bereaved fami.
Iy paid for it's erection, do for HIM!
Our interest in him lies not IN his lead
ing the Hellenic hosts against lion, in
his being murdered by his wife, nor,
least of all, in his having a tomb, if it
be his, but i'll the immortal verses into
which the poets have inwoven his
name. Macbeth" and ''Hamlet" and
"Othello" exist as really as julius
Cesar. Agamemnon may well be con-
tent to remain in the same good COM
pany, for until the historical docu-
ments demanded by modern criticism
are forthcoming, his stay in the region
If legend is definitely fixod