Page:History of Greece Vol II.djvu/145

HOMER. remarkal ,le description given by Herodotus, of the expulsion of the rhapsodes from Sikyon, by the despot Kleisthenes, in the time of Solon (about B. c. 580), we may form a probable judgment that the Thebai's and the Epigoni were then rhapsodized at Sik- yon as Homeric productions. 1 And it is clear from the language Ilerodot. v. 67. Kheia&cvrjs yap 'Apyeioiai jrofafiyaaf TOVTO per, f>a- jiufiovf ETravae ev SIKVUVI uyuvifeafiai, TUV 'Ofiijpeiuv iireuv ELVSKO, OTI 'Apyeloi re /cat "Apyof TU jroA/lei iravra iifj.ve.araL TOVTO 6e, rjp&ov yap rjv Kai eari kv avTtj Ty uyopa TUV SCKVUV'MV 'AdpijOTOv TOV Ta/Utov, TOVTOV iTre&vpijGS 6 Kfatatievrjc, eovTa 'Apyelov, en(3a?ilv }K r^f x<jpi]f. Herodotus then goes on to relate how Kleisthenes carried into effect his purpose of banishing the hero Adrastus : first, he applied to the Delphian Apollo, for permission to do so directly, and avowedly ; next, on that permission being refused, he made application to the Thebans, to allow him to introduce into Sikyon their hero Mclanippus, the bitter enemy of Adrastus in the old Theban legend ; by their consent, he consecrated a chapel to Melanippus in Jie most commanding part of the Sikyonian agora, and then trani-ferred to the newly-imported hero the rites and festivals which had before been given to Adrastus. Taking in conjunction all the points of this very curious tale, I venture to think that the rhapsodes incurred the displeasure of Kleisthenes by reciting, not the Homeric Iliad, but the Homeric Thebals and Epigoni. The former does not answer the conditions of the narrative : the latter fulfils then? accurately. 1. It cannot be said, even by the utmost latitude of speech, that, in the Iliad, " Little else is sung except Argos and the Argeians," ("in illis ubique fere nonnisi Argos et Argivi cclebrantur, ") is the translation of Schweigh- hauserj : Argos is rarely mentioned in it, and never exalted into any primary importance : the Argeiwis, as inhabitants of Argos separately, are never ia ticed at all: that name is applied in the Iliad, in common with the Achceans and Danaans, only to the general body of Greeks, and even applied to them much less frequently than the name of Achceans. 2. Adrastus is twice, and only twice, mentioned in the Iliad, as master of the wonderful horse Areion, and as father-in-law of Tydens ; but lie makes no figure in the poem, and attracts no interest. Wherefore, though Kleisthenes might have been ever so much incensed against Argos and Adrastus. there seems no reason why he should have interdicted the rhapsodes from reciting the Iliad. On the other hand, the ThebaTs and Epigoni could not fail to provoke him especially. For, 1. Argos and its inhabitants were the grand subject of the poem, and the proclaimed assailants in the expedition against Thebes. Though the poem itself is lost, the first line of it has been preserved (Leutsch, Theb. Cycl Reliq. p. 5; compare Sophocles, CEd. Col. 380 with Scholia), "Apyof uetde, tieu. TTO^.V^L^IJIOV, !v$ev uv<zrff, etc. VOL. ii 6* 9oc.