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ΔΑΙΜΩΝ in Homer

Author(s): Samuel E. BassettSource: The Classical Review, Vol. 33, No. 7/8 (Nov. - Dec., 1919), pp. 134-136Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Classical AssociationStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/700129

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I3434

THE CLASSICAL REVIEWHE CLASSICAL REVIEW

Even if the graphicalprobability e

minimised o the utmost,and thereare

many who distrust the futilities of

palaeography,more especiallywhen it

claimsto be scientiSc, he serlseof the

words is so apt and appropriate hat

dissentbecomesverydifficult o main-

tain. Apollo is explaining he duties

that must be dischargedby his con-

scripts. This is the thirdduty,perhaps

the most important f all, ' Arrangeye

my ordinances.' The ordinancesare

the oracles,

f.

nw 03 eZ ludv' aZlt75fw zdsueoya?vozo+z?res.

These oracles requireembellishment;

they have to be put into verse. The

verb erTvvzexpresses his with quite

sufficient accuracy (H. Apht. VI.

20

eXrv 8' etz>rvvoro8rwlo).The temple

Even if the graphicalprobability e

minimised o the utmost,and thereare

many who distrust the futilities of

palaeography,more especiallywhen it

claimsto be scientiSc, he serlseof the

words is so apt and appropriate hat

dissentbecomesverydifficult o main-

tain. Apollo is explaining he duties

that must be dischargedby his con-

scripts. This is the thirdduty,perhaps

the most important f all, ' Arrangeye

my ordinances.' The ordinancesare

the oracles,

f.

nw 03 eZ ludv' aZlt75fw zdsueoya?vozo+z?res.

These oracles requireembellishment;

they have to be put into verse. The

verb erTvvzexpresses his with quite

sufficient accuracy (H. Apht. VI.

20

eXrv 8' etz>rvvoro8rwlo).The temple

authorities would be obliged to admit

that this versiEcationwas their function,

for they could not expect even the most

credulous of the faithful to believe that

Apollo, the leader of the quire of the

Muses himself composed such bad

verses. Read then without lacuna:

^X8v 8' eD Te0I\a%8e, 8g8e%8e 8 fu\' arap&7rww

evea8' &764pQv@v. Kt ' gMTbV(ff86 @gyzaTa

f 8 T TtOP OS tg6T4, i T {p7OP,

DpptS @,X aSS dSTt KaTa@VvT@V avapbTUY,

4\\0 e@' V#V S#&VToP(S &vapes {SorTas

TSV 7r' dvaSyKa?l 8eXea@' #arcrw 7ra^Ta,

EV 7r6+V\a%aE538) SChneideWin.

540 66 86 Franke, BaUme1Ster. The

Warn1ng1n 540 SeemS tO me tO 3e

nOt On1Y eneral, bUt a1SOSPeCia1 n

referenCe O the SefFza.

T. L. AGAR.

authorities would be obliged to admit

that this versiEcationwas their function,

for they could not expect even the most

credulous of the faithful to believe that

Apollo, the leader of the quire of the

Muses himself composed such bad

verses. Read then without lacuna:

^X8v 8' eD Te0I\a%8e, 8g8e%8e 8 fu\' arap&7rww

evea8' &764pQv@v. Kt ' gMTbV(ff86 @gyzaTa

f 8 T TtOP OS tg6T4, i T {p7OP,

DpptS @,X aSS dSTt KaTa@VvT@V avapbTUY,

4\\0 e@' V#V S#&VToP(S &vapes {SorTas

TSV 7r' dvaSyKa?l 8eXea@' #arcrw 7ra^Ta,

EV 7r6+V\a%aE538) SChneideWin.

540 66 86 Franke, BaUme1Ster. The

Warn1ng1n 540 SeemS tO me tO 3e

nOt On1Y eneral, bUt a1SOSPeCia1 n

referenCe O the SefFza.

T. L. AGAR.

AAIMQNIN HOMER.AIMQNIN HOMER.

THE

wordAatfwrhas been generally

understood o mean in the Homeric

poemseithera god or,morecommonly,

indefiniteand not clearly personalised

divine power; in the latter sense its

use seems to have been not unlike hat

of our word ' Heaven as distinguished

from ' God.' But Professor Finsler

(Hotner

I9I4], 268-270)

tries to show

that when used n the singular t means

' an evil spirit.' ' Besides the Gods,'

he writes, daemons reoftenmentioned.

When they appear in numbers(three

times, and only in the Iliad) they are

not to be distinguished rom the gods.

. . . The daemon s a powerby itself,

a spirit neverappearingn human orm,

. * . *

never spea lng, Dutremalnlngever In

mysteriousdarkness. His appearance

sually means harm. He is rarely

friendly.... That the boundssepar-

ating gods from daemonsoccasionally

overlap s natural,but a god who has

been mentioned by name is never

designated s a daemon n the passages

on whichour exposition s based.'

There are vital defects in Professor

Finsler's xposition. In the Srst place,

one naturallyquerieswhy the pluralof

Sai,4a3zJ

should refer to gods, and the

sillgular o an evil spirit. Again, the

authorrepeatedly orces he interpreta-

THE

wordAatfwrhas been generally

understood o mean in the Homeric

poemseithera god or,morecommonly,

indefiniteand not clearly personalised

divine power; in the latter sense its

use seems to have been not unlike hat

of our word ' Heaven as distinguished

from ' God.' But Professor Finsler

(Hotner

I9I4], 268-270)

tries to show

that when used n the singular t means

' an evil spirit.' ' Besides the Gods,'

he writes, daemons reoftenmentioned.

When they appear in numbers(three

times, and only in the Iliad) they are

not to be distinguished rom the gods.

. . . The daemon s a powerby itself,

a spirit neverappearingn human orm,

. * . *

never spea lng, Dutremalnlngever In

mysteriousdarkness. His appearance

sually means harm. He is rarely

friendly.... That the boundssepar-

ating gods from daemonsoccasionally

overlap s natural,but a god who has

been mentioned by name is never

designated s a daemon n the passages

on whichour exposition s based.'

There are vital defects in Professor

Finsler's xposition. In the Srst place,

one naturallyquerieswhy the pluralof

Sai,4a3zJ

should refer to gods, and the

sillgular o an evil spirit. Again, the

authorrepeatedly orces he interpreta-

tion to support his theory. In the

simile in which the Trojans besetting

the woundedOdysseusare likened to

jackals about a woundedstag (A 474-

482) the poet adds: eqrb e v ?yaeys

za^,v.

Finslercomments: 'The lion

has been ed there by a hostile power.'

But how does Finsler know that the

poet is taking he jackals'point of view

rather than the lioIl's? The latter

seems at least as probable,since the

lion is merltioned o make the com-

parison St lso the rescue of Odysseus

by Menelausand Aias. In

38I,

where

aai,uSear

inspires the comrades of

Odysseuswith great courage, Finsler,

while admittingthat 'the daemon in

this instance s friendly, dds: ' But at

the same time this thevengeance-spirit,

helpingagainst Cyclops.' This, agains

is mere assertion: we have not the

slightest evldence that Odysseus so

regarded

al,,ua>v.

To takeonly one more

example,when Philoetius xpresses he

wish that Zauzasmay bring Odysseus

home again (+

20I),

Finsler translates,

' Would that a daemon might bring

him hither ? and adds the comment

'For the neatherd s thinkingonly of

revenge,as the contextshows.' But it

is hardly

a

devil who one hopes will

bringhome a belovedmaster.

tion to support his theory. In the

simile in which the Trojans besetting

the woundedOdysseusare likened to

jackals about a woundedstag (A 474-

482) the poet adds: eqrb e v ?yaeys

za^,v.

Finslercomments: 'The lion

has been ed there by a hostile power.'

But how does Finsler know that the

poet is taking he jackals'point of view

rather than the lioIl's? The latter

seems at least as probable,since the

lion is merltioned o make the com-

parison St lso the rescue of Odysseus

by Menelausand Aias. In

38I,

where

aai,uSear

inspires the comrades of

Odysseuswith great courage, Finsler,

while admittingthat 'the daemon in

this instance s friendly, dds: ' But at

the same time this thevengeance-spirit,

helpingagainst Cyclops.' This, agains

is mere assertion: we have not the

slightest evldence that Odysseus so

regarded

al,,ua>v.

To takeonly one more

example,when Philoetius xpresses he

wish that Zauzasmay bring Odysseus

home again (+

20I),

Finsler translates,

' Would that a daemon might bring

him hither ? and adds the comment

'For the neatherd s thinkingonly of

revenge,as the contextshows.' But it

is hardly

a

devil who one hopes will

bringhome a belovedmaster.

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THE

CLASSICAL

REVIEW

I35

These interpretations,

strained as

they seem,might have more

chanceof

acceptance

if they were reinforcedby

other considerations.

But quite the

contrary s true. For vle may note as

a further

defect in Finsler'sdiscussion

the failure

o takeaccountof a principle

of Homeric

technique,pointed out by

Jorgensen

Hermes,XXXIX.,

I904,

357-

382), according

o which the characters

refer o the

cause of some unnatural r

unexpected

action as 8eos,3a^,uer, sob,

or Zev?, whereas the

poet himself

commonly tells us the

name of the

particular divinity who

is acting.

Hencethedozen or morepassages rom

the

Odyssey,which Finslercites (p. 270)

as evidence that ' a daemon

is an

unfriendly ower,have no

weight. All

that can be said is that

in these

instances,withoutexception,

one of the

dra1xatispersonaeascribes

o Bab,uzlohe

source of

some actionwhich

seems to

be out of the

naturalorderof things-

and by no

meanscan all of

theseactions

be due to an

unfriendly ower

cf. q}248,

#

I69,

T

I38

V

87). In the

Odyssey

he

word Safv is used only in speeches,

neverby the

poet himself in his narra-

tive; in the

IViad, he singular s used,

outsideof

oratiorecta,only n the simile

mentioned

bove (19474 ff.), in the oft-

repeatedcomparison,

B,uov os, and

in two other

passages(r 4zo, 0

4I8).

On Bai,uovs

ros Finsler comments,

' Here we cannot understand

god.by

the word

daemon, for that would not

give a clear

picture at all. The only

god to whom chargingwarriors are

compared s Ares; Patroclus

s likened

to Ares and to a daemon

in a single

breath (II

784, 786).' This passage

seems to the present writer

to justify

the equation Aab,v= deos.

But at

least we may say -and

we think

Finsler'^shouldhave noticed

that the

authorof the Hymn to Demeter,

when

he tells us that Demophon

grew in

stature

uSal,uov zcos, means by Zab,uels

rleithera vengeance-spirit

or a devil,

but a god. ' Grew like the devil' may

have found ts way into our

vernacular,

but we cannot

think of it in a Homeric

Hymn.

The two

passages where the poet

himselfuses

Sas,4cezo

not in a simile and

in the singular,

Finslerfails to mention

in his discussionof ' daemons

-rather

unfortunatelysor they disprove

his

statement hat

the poet neverrefersby

the wordBapzv to a god who

has been

named. In 0

4I8, e7re)taffe rys Bab,ev,

seems clearly to refer to

Apollo

(cf.

O 259),although

possiblyAmeis-Hentze

may be right in saying that there

s no

definite eference o this divinity.

But

in the otherverse

(r 420)7sp%e

e

Basls

unquestionably

refers to Aphrodite,

who has been

mentionedby name in

verse4r3. If Finslerhas failed

o note

these verses n discussing he

meaning

of Ba s because hey are not

included

' in the passages n whichhisexposition

is based'

(cf. p.

270), then

his whole

method of exposition s unconvincing.

At the beginning

of the section on

religion (p.

220) he recognises the

diverse religious

elements that must

have entered nto

the Homericpoems,

but sees running

through both Iliad

and Odyssey, ith the exception

of the

' Olympicscenes'

of the Iliad and the

6co,ua%aof

Books XX. arld XXI.,

certain uniform

views of the gods,

which, he adds, it is his task to

portray. Tlle excepted portions

he

regards s sufficiently istinct o

warrant

a separate reatment.

These

portions,

therefore, e excludesfrom his

exposi-

tion and later

(pp. >76-287) indicates

the ways in

which the gods are

diSerentlyconvinced

by their author.

Now in the

Erst place he gives the

readerno clue

to the precise limits of

the passageswhich he excludes.

In

the case of the omittedverses,however,

we shouldbe able

to infer hat they are

not excluded, ince

he cites verses

from

the episodesof

which they forma part.l

Secondly, in his treatment

of the

excludedportionshe refers o

r 420 as

follows (p. 284): ' In the light

of such

views of life we

comprehendhe

words

of the gentle Priam hat it is

not Helen

[who is to blame]

but only the gods,

who are the cause of all unhappiness.

We understandow farabove

Aphrodite

the poet places Helen, and when the

goddesshas abused

her superiorpower

he (i.e. the poet)

angrilycries out: ' So

1 E.g., p. 230,

note

2,

of Apollo going

to the

assistance of Hector, 0 n37; p. 240,

note

I;

and

p. 247, note 3, of

Aphrodite's activity in Book

I I I (vv. 374, 439)

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t3636

THE CLASSICALREVIEWHE CLASSICALREVIEW

they departed,and the daemon went

ahead.' In the eyes of the poet

the goddess s a devil. Hence accord-

ing to Finsler himself even if r 420

belongs o a portionof the Iliad which

showsa different onception f the gods

StheFVeltanschaugn.gn so far as it

concerns Q&#@^ iS the same as in the

otherportions,and this passage hould

have preventedhim from making the

statement hat

BatusI)zo is

not applied o a

dis7initywho has been mentioned by

name. I*othe otherpassage O

4I8)

I

can find no reference n his whole

discussion f religion.2

ProfessorFinsler's orced nterpreta-

tions, his failure to take sufficient

account of IIomerictechniqueand his

omission of passages which disprove

his statements,make t improbablehat

his interpretationof Basfi/Zv ill be

accepted by scholars. Furthermore,

the faultiness of his method in this

they departed,and the daemon went

ahead.' In the eyes of the poet

the goddess s a devil. Hence accord-

ing to Finsler himself even if r 420

belongs o a portionof the Iliad which

showsa different onception f the gods

StheFVeltanschaugn.gn so far as it

concerns Q&#@^ iS the same as in the

otherportions,and this passage hould

have preventedhim from making the

statement hat

BatusI)zo is

not applied o a

dis7initywho has been mentioned by

name. I*othe otherpassage O

4I8)

I

can find no reference n his whole

discussion f religion.2

ProfessorFinsler's orced nterpreta-

tions, his failure to take sufficient

account of IIomerictechniqueand his

omission of passages which disprove

his statements,make t improbablehat

his interpretationof Basfi/Zv ill be

accepted by scholars. Furthermore,

the faultiness of his method in this

particularnstancewill tend to produce

a scepticalattitudeof mindtowardshis

other conclusions-e.g., that Homer is

the authorof the Iliad, but not of the

Odyssey; that

the

Odyssey as

coinposed

about 600 B.C., etc. Since his book

hasalreadypassed nto a secondedition

and is meant for a somewhatwider

circle of readers han the specialists n

Homer, t has seemeddesirable o point

out one exampleof the weaknessof the

author's reasoningS o that his bcrok,

usefuland suggestiveas it undoubtedly

is, may be used with due caution,and

its results tested carefully efore being

accepted.

SAMUELE. BASSETT.

IJniversity of Vermont

BurSin^,ofon, ersfzonS, .S.X.

2

I have tlOtcited Homeric jYyfuzn oHertnes

53I

where the god himself is referred to as

esXv

plOVYf aal,uov,

because of the recognised

lateness of this part of the Hymn.

particularnstancewill tend to produce

a scepticalattitudeof mindtowardshis

other conclusions-e.g., that Homer is

the authorof the Iliad, but not of the

Odyssey; that

the

Odyssey as

coinposed

about 600 B.C., etc. Since his book

hasalreadypassed nto a secondedition

and is meant for a somewhatwider

circle of readers han the specialists n

Homer, t has seemeddesirable o point

out one exampleof the weaknessof the

author's reasoningS o that his bcrok,

usefuland suggestiveas it undoubtedly

is, may be used with due caution,and

its results tested carefully efore being

accepted.

SAMUELE. BASSETT.

IJniversity of Vermont

BurSin^,ofon, ersfzonS, .S.X.

2

I have tlOtcited Homeric jYyfuzn oHertnes

53I

where the god himself is referred to as

esXv

plOVYf aal,uov,

because of the recognised

lateness of this part of the Hymn.

EURIPIDEA.URIPIDEA.

I.Iphzg.inAul.ggof.

a\A' eD ,uAv dp%&s eT7rasXeI dk raS t#X7^ *

?ouSyAp #eX6wros 7razs * fflwiJ@*ETs.

Mustwe not read seXe ? With ?ov

eyapSeBovTos e shall then supply ev

PreXezzJ/. Aesch. Sxppl.

2IO /c6tVoV

fleBorrosev TE6VT4S& ra8e.

There is

the same confusionof reXe and reXv n

Soph. Tr. 238. For the construction

cf. Aesch. Suppl.

I9 a\\' ev T' e7re,+ev

ev e 8etaerdz%dovt'.For ev seXetv f.

ev reXeiSsosAesch. S@t. 35, ev reXer

Pers.

225.

It

iS

regularlyused of the

right carryingout of a promiseor a

task: Soph. Aj. 528 ea7wuovorro

ta%Selsu rok,ue eXerv. Cf. the use of

the simplereX in Soph. Tr. >86 ravTa

/ , \ , . n . , , >, \

7apros

Te

vosIeSezz e70 os,

ffrox

ZV EC6&@, TE\@,

and the simpleeXev

sn Eur. Alc. 374 fcal rup eys fr# fica

reXevvXv T86.

I greatlydoubtwhether

p%aS er7ras

in the sense which the traditional ext

demands here is j ustiISedby such a

phraseas ecar'

p%aD

But in any case

surely eX11could not have the sense

ascribed

to it.

I assume ap%aso be

used much as itl Iph. in ]ar. 939

Beryoy' aa>*ap%z 8' aBe ,mOl qro)tZv

vrovzlJSnd it refersnot to the beginning

of AchilIes'speech as opposedto the

I.Iphzg.inAul.ggof.

a\A' eD ,uAv dp%&s eT7rasXeI dk raS t#X7^ *

?ouSyAp #eX6wros 7razs * fflwiJ@*ETs.

Mustwe not read seXe ? With ?ov

eyapSeBovTos e shall then supply ev

PreXezzJ/. Aesch. Sxppl.

2IO /c6tVoV

fleBorrosev TE6VT4S& ra8e.

There is

the same confusionof reXe and reXv n

Soph. Tr. 238. For the construction

cf. Aesch. Suppl.

I9 a\\' ev T' e7re,+ev

ev e 8etaerdz%dovt'.For ev seXetv f.

ev reXeiSsosAesch. S@t. 35, ev reXer

Pers.

225.

It

iS

regularlyused of the

right carryingout of a promiseor a

task: Soph. Aj. 528 ea7wuovorro

ta%Selsu rok,ue eXerv. Cf. the use of

the simplereX in Soph. Tr. >86 ravTa

/ , \ , . n . , , >, \

7apros

Te

vosIeSezz e70 os,

ffrox

ZV EC6&@, TE\@,

and the simpleeXev

sn Eur. Alc. 374 fcal rup eys fr# fica

reXevvXv T86.

I greatlydoubtwhether

p%aS er7ras

in the sense which the traditional ext

demands here is j ustiISedby such a

phraseas ecar'

p%aD

But in any case

surely eX11could not have the sense

ascribed

to it.

I assume ap%aso be

used much as itl Iph. in ]ar. 939

Beryoy' aa>*ap%z 8' aBe ,mOl qro)tZv

vrovzlJSnd it refersnot to the beginning

of AchilIes'speech as opposedto the

end, but to his speech as a whole con-

trastedwith the carryingof his words

into execution.

z. Troades568 ff.

'EK&#8tZ,

e0SerS Tv8' tAP8po#&%77v

46VLSOTS7r DXOFSrOp@yeUoudvrlv

rapa 82 eTpeSTa ,UTWP Y7reras

tEXos 'Arvavat, "EKTOPOS bts.

All editors, I think, take clpe&

Ha?rr together. Apart from other

difficulties t is extremelyawkward o

have

cbpesla

following mmediately n

7ropS,uevo)ervaJf the metaphor f a boat

is not kept up.

ebpe^a

shouldnaturally

meanthe caror the occupant f the cart

and it will have this meaning f we take

,ua?Tu . . . +LBos ogether,perhapsa

subconscious cho of Aesch.Ag. 7r7 ff.

Bsoszov tzo^ . . . +zXo,aa-rov. (t6X09

if it standsalone,seems ratherweak.

3.

TYoades

62 S.

9cryatd' d?t/3bfitot

bpuPyXYS {v Te deyvfons

zap&rojuosprgLa

veuv?axv rdpavor ?epev

'EX\&6l ospowrp6pg

bpuoyxv e 7rarp6 7rdr@0s.

Tyrrell in his edition (I 897) reads

Jearlcov for the MSS. veav68zoand

notes: 'The meaning is 'the young

men butchered,alone and defenceless,

added laurels to the crowrlof Hellast

end, but to his speech as a whole con-

trastedwith the carryingof his words

into execution.

z. Troades568 ff.

'EK&#8tZ,

e0SerS Tv8' tAP8po#&%77v

46VLSOTS7r DXOFSrOp@yeUoudvrlv

rapa 82 eTpeSTa ,UTWP Y7reras

tEXos 'Arvavat, "EKTOPOS bts.

All editors, I think, take clpe&

Ha?rr together. Apart from other

difficulties t is extremelyawkward o

have

cbpesla

following mmediately n

7ropS,uevo)ervaJf the metaphor f a boat

is not kept up.

ebpe^a

shouldnaturally

meanthe caror the occupant f the cart

and it will have this meaning f we take

,ua?Tu . . . +LBos ogether,perhapsa

subconscious cho of Aesch.Ag. 7r7 ff.

Bsoszov tzo^ . . . +zXo,aa-rov. (t6X09

if it standsalone,seems ratherweak.

3.

TYoades

62 S.

9cryatd' d?t/3bfitot

bpuPyXYS {v Te deyvfons

zap&rojuosprgLa

veuv?axv rdpavor ?epev

'EX\&6l ospowrp6pg

bpuoyxv e 7rarp6 7rdr@0s.

Tyrrell in his edition (I 897) reads

Jearlcov for the MSS. veav68zoand

notes: 'The meaning is 'the young

men butchered,alone and defenceless,

added laurels to the crowrlof Hellast