The Golden Verses of Pythagoras — with commentary (1917)
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• .lElian., Var. Hist., 1. xiii., c. 14; Diog. Laert., In Solon., 1. i., § 57. ' Plat., In Hipparc; Pausan, 1. vii., c. 26; Cicer., De Oral., 1. iii.
3 Eustath., In Iliad., 1. i., p. 145; 1. ii-, p- 263.
* Dionys. Halic, De Comp. verb., t. v., c. 16 et 24; Quintil., Instit., 1. x., c. i. 5 Athen., 1. xv., c. 8; Aristot., De Poet., c. 16; jElian., Var. Hist., c. 15. 'Barthel., Voyag. d'Anarchar., t. vii., ch. 80, p. 46, 52.
46 The Golden Verses of Pythagoras others together, and the women who were here distinguished, rivalled and even surpassed the men; Corinna and Myitis did not yield either to Stesichorus,* or to Pindar; Sappho and Telesilla effaced Alcaeus and Anacreon. '
It is said that the art with which Homer had put into action gods and men, had opposed heaven and earth, and depicted the combats of the passions; this art, being joined to the manner in which the rhapsodists declaimed his poems ^ by alternately relieving one another, and covering themselves with garments of different colours adapted to the situation, had insensibly given rise to dramatic style and to theatrical representation.' This, true in a sense, has need of a distinction : it will serve at the same time to throw light upon what I am about to say.
One should remember that the intellectual and rational poetry, or theosophical and philosophical, illustrated by Orpheus and which Homer had united with the enthusiasm of the passions in order to constitute epopoeia, although
* It can be seen that I have placed in the word Stesichorus, an accent grave over the consonant c, and it will be noticed that I have used it thus with respect to many similar words. It is a habit I have contractedin writing, so as to distinguish, in this manner, the double consonant ch, in the foreign words, or in their derivatives, when it should take the guttural inflexion, in place of the hissing inflexion which we ordinarily give to it. Thus I accent the c in Chio, chaur, chorus, icho, cUorose, ihiragre, chronique, etc.; to indicate that these words should be pronounced Khio, kheeur, khorus, ekho, khlorose, khiragre, khronique, with the aspirate sound of k, and not with that of the hissing c, as in Chypre, chaume, Schope, chaire, etc. This accentuation has appeared to me necessary, especially when one is obliged to transcribe in modem characters many foreign words which, lacking usage, one knows not, at first, how to pronoimce. It is, after all, a slight innovation in orthography, which I leave to the decision of the grammarians. I only say that it will be very difficult for them, without this accent, or any other sign which might be used, to know how one should pronoimce with a different inflexion. Achate and Acheen; Achille and AchiUeide; Achiron and aihSrontique; Bacihus and bachigue, etc.
' Vossius, De Inst, poet., 1. iii., c. 15; Aristot., Rhet., 1. ii., 23; Max. Tyr. Orat., viii., p. 86.
' iElian., Var. Hist., 1. xiii., c. 14, Court de Gobelin, Mond. prim., t. viii., p. 202.
3 Plat., In Theeet.; ibid., De Republ., 1. x.; Arist., De Poet., c. 4, etc.
The Essence and Form of Poetry 47 separated from the latter, existed none the less. Whereas the disciples of Homer, or the Homeridae,* spread themselves abroad and took possession of the laic or profane world, the religious and learned world was always occupied by the disciples of Orpheus, called Eumolpidae.f The hierophants and philosophers continued to write as formerly upon theology and natural philosophy. There appeared from time to time theogonies and cosmological systems,' dionysiacs, heracHdes, ' oracles, treatises on nature and moral apologues, which bore no relation to epopoeia. The hymns or pasans which had emanated from the sanctuaries in honour of the Divinity, had in no wise resembled either the odes or the dithyrambs of the lyric poets ^: as much as the former were vehement and passionate, so much the latter affected to be calm and majestic. There existed therefore, at this epoch, two kinds of poetry, equally beautiful when they had attained their respective perfection: Eumolpique Poetry and Epic Poetry : the first, intellectual and rational ; the other, intellectual and passionate.
However, the divine mysteries, hidden from the profane, manifested to the initiates in the ceremonies and symbolic
* The name of Homeridae, given at first to all the disciples of Homer, was afterwards usurped by certain inhabitants of Chios who called themselves his descendants (Strab., 1. xiv.; Isocr., Hellen. encom.). Also I should state here that the name of Homer, "Ojui/pos, was never of Greek origin and has not signified, as has been said, blind. The initial letter O is not a negation, but an article added to the Phcenician word «10 {mcera), which signifies, properly speaking, a centre of light, and figuratively, a master, a doctor.
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