New-York tribune., 1893-12-03

he Turnbull MtrnOTlai Foufud-
ton in the Johns Hopkins University. by X
C. Jebb Rcgius Professor OF Greek In the nj
versity OF Cambridge PIP. KILL Z''' housh'oh'
Mihiin & Co.
There are two bits Of description In Greek
literature which seem in themselves TO sum-
r,oriz, the contrast between the beginning and
the end Of Hellenic civilization. One Of these
scenes belongs to the Odyssey. and Is laid in
the bright Phaeacian fairyland. Odysseus, cast
on me coast OF that land and by good fortune
guest OF the King witnesses the games of
the young nobemen. and Is finally invited te
take part In the contests. He pretends unwill-
ingness and 1t Is only when he Is charged with
being a wandering merchant or supercargo,
such one would never seem IKE a
champion that he yields Then he puts the
heavy stone far beyond all the marks that had
been made by the others in the game. and at
once challenges everybody on the field. except
his host to a trial of strength and skill in any
rontest except footrace. lie boasts that hi
can handle the bow better than any man living
and that he can throw n spear further than other
men shoot an arrow. The crowd, having
had q taste of his prowess. hears his challenge
in blank silence and KING Alcinous softens his
defiant mood with pleasant words. The thing
to be observed is that the athletic strength and
skill Of Odysseus are devoted to matters that
has been as yet no separation between men
strong merely for the sake OF their strength
and the ordinary man. Athletic contests have
still all the idyc freshness of rustic life The
other scene IS in the "Accstis' Of Euripidrs.
Hercules on his way to seize the fesh-eatins
horses Of Diomedes halts for entertainment
at the palace of Admetus. Unaware of Al
cestis's death. he proceeds to make merry in the
hall Of his royal host. But he is no idyllic char
acter With his maued ears and his huge fists
and his voracious appetite and his clamorous
laughter. he Is the very picture OF a prlze-
fighter. TIE Greek world as seen through the
eyes Of EIripides has been utterly freed from
Illusions The pondcrous champion IS seen just
as he is. and people have long since begun
to wonder why they worshipped him So long
For he had been during long period es-
teemed only less than god. The games In
which he figured were religious in their pur-
port, and in a religion which was without
hierarchy and almost without a priesthood, SUI
preme excellence In any respect seemed an ap-
proach TO the gods There Is nothing in mod
ern life" says Professor Jebb. that can prop
erly be compared with victory at Olympia"
Then he goes on to say that the glory Of the
modern race-winner athlete is brief 1t lives
in the memory Of a few. but not with the public.
tinguished man from that moment to the end
OF his days He had shed lustre on his nati.c
city, and was sure Of such honors as II could
bestow. His name was recorded at olympia
Go whore he might throughout IIellas. the title
which he had won suiiiced 10 procure him more
than respectful welcome" And on this GER
tanty Of a respectful welcome Hercules 4
thinly disguised counterpart of the brute that
Eurpdes and his contemporaries saw in the
struttng drunken. quarrelsom- athletic cham.
pion Of their own dIy-brutally counted even In
house where he saw the signs OF mourning.
The strong man Of the old ii ne was courteous
and kind-hcarted. lie loved minstresy and the
telling ~ wOndrOus tales ana the eloquent
words of the poet But In the end be was
replaced by one who cared only for brawls and
drinking bouts.
1t is along the way between these extremes
that Professor Jebb leads his readers in tho de
lightful chapters Of this volume. Morally the
passage from Homer to Euripides seems 10 be
downward: but 1t Is not 90 certain that the case
was the same from literary point of view.
Perhaps one could be more definite in this mat
ter II he were sure Of the relation In which the
Homeric poems stood to the civilization in the
midst Of which they arose. Professor Jcbb Ger
tainIy gives the impression that the relation was
one Ol cause IdNi'I IMAM l'NulA III F''lilS w
imply that Homer created. for example the
Olympian cult by joining together scattered forms
Of worship ana varied religious ideals. Of course.
II is possible to put too mechanical an intcrpr"-
tation upon Professor Jebb's words for he does
conccde something to that agc--long tradition.
which must always be sought back Of all the
faiths crystallized In a literature. "There was"
he says, "a prehistoric chaos of local cults. in
which "A host Of tribal gods and goddcsscs com
peted for each others prerOgatives, with the
result that few Of such deitics possessed truly
distinctive character The early mythologies
had abounded in savage and rcpulsive traits.
such as the story OF Chronos swallowing his
children. Out OF all this confusion and dcbasc-
ment the artistic mind Of the IIcllenes. as seen
in Homer. has brought forth the clear and
living types OF the Olynpian god-head. Zcus.
IIcra. Apollo. Athena and the rest" That II
was the artistic Hellenic mind which worked
out mythology so different from that of the
remaining antique world. is plain: but is the
limitation, 'as seen in Homer" Indispensable?
Professor Jebb's opinion al to the origin of the
IIomeric poems Is that they are not the work
OF one man. The nucle ~. he holds, may be- IA
old as the eleventh century before Christ. and
must have been composed by an Achaean poet
OF Thessaly before the primitive Hellenes We're
displaced. The Achaean emigrants carried II
to Ionia. 1t was adopted. revised and enlarged
by successive Ionian poets. So too the earliest
part OF the Odyssey was composed in Greece
proper carried To Ionia by those who fed before
the Dorian invaders. In the light Of this view
OF the poems. surely the Olympic pantheon would
have been artificial. instead Of living and
natural. If It had owed its existence solely To
this succession OF poets.
IT Is possible. great as the contrast Is between
the notions Of life held by Homer and Euripi-
des, the two poets whom Professor Jebb places.
the one at the beginning, the other almost at
the end OF his study that they are alike In both
belonging to the times which were TO be-. rather
than to their own period. Thus. Professor Jebb
says: 1T may be urged on behalf Of Euripldes
that without some such changes as he intro