The Homeric Hymns | Page 4

and in the Oracle under
their management, the poet shows no interest (Mr. Verrall thinks), none
in the many mystic peculiarities of the shrine. It is quite in
contradiction with Delphian tradition to represent, as the Hymn does,
Trophonius and Agamedes as the original builders.
Many other points are noted--such as the derivation of "Pytho" from a
word meaning rot,--to show that the hymnist was rather disparaging
than celebrating the Delphian sanctuary. Taking the Hymn as a whole,
more is done for Delos in three lines, says Mr. Verrall, than for Pytho
or Delphi in three hundred. As a whole, the spirit of the piece is much
more Delian (Ionian) than Delphic. So Mr. Verrall regards the Cento as
"a religious pasquinade against the sanctuary on Parnassus," a
pasquinade emanating from Athens, under the Pisistratidae, who, being
Ionian leaders, had a grudge against "the Dorian Delphi," "a
comparatively modern, unlucky, and from the first unsatisfactory"
institution. Athenians are interested in the "far-seen" altar of the
seaman's Dolphin God on the shore, rather than in his inland Pythian
habitation.
All this, with much more, is decidedly ingenious. If accepted it might
lead the way to a general attack on the epics, as tendenz pieces, works
with a political purpose, or doctored for a political purpose. But how
are we to understand the uses of the pasquinade Hymn? Was it
published, so to speak, to amuse and aid the Pisistratidae? Does such
remote antiquity show us any examples of such handling of sacred
things in poetry? Might we not argue that Apollo's threat to the
Crisaeans was meant by the poet as a friendly warning, and is prior to
the fall of Crisa? One is reminded of the futile ingenuity with which
German critics, following their favourite method, have analysed the
fatal Casket Letters of Mary Stuart into letters to her husband, Darnley;
or to Murray; or by Darnley to Mary, with scraps of her diary, and false
interpolations. The enemies of the Queen, coming into possession of
her papers after the affair of Carberry Hill, falsified the Casket Letters
into their present appearance of unity. Of course historical facts make

this ingenuity unavailing. We regret the circumstance in the interest of
the Queen's reputation, but welcome these illustrative examples of what
can be done in Germany. {16a}
Fortunately all Teutons are not so ingenious. Baumeister has fallen on
those who, in place of two hymns, Delian and Pythian, to Apollo, offer
us half-a-dozen fragments. By presenting an array of discordant
conjectures as to the number and nature of these scraps, he
demonstrates the purely wilful and arbitrary nature of the critical
method employed. {16b} Thus one learned person believes in (1) two
perfect little poems; (2) two larger hymns; (3) three lacerated fragments
of hymns, one lacking its beginning, the other wofully deprived of its
end. Another savant detects no less than eight fragments, with
interpolations; though perhaps no biblical critic ejusdem farinae has yet
detected eight Isaiahs. There are about ten other theories of similar
plausibility and value. Meanwhile Baumeister argues that the Pythian
Hymn (our second part) is an imitation of the Delian; by a follower, not
of Homer, but of Hesiod. Thus, the Hesiodic school was closely
connected with Delphi; the Homeric with Ionia, so that Delphi rarely
occurs in the Epics; in fact only thrice (I. 405, [Greek text]. 80, [Greek
text]. 581). The local knowledge is accurate (Pythian Hymn, 103 sqq.).
These are local legends, and knowledge of the curious chariot ritual of
Onchestus. The Muses are united with the Graces as in a work of art in
the Delphian temple. The poet chooses the Hesiodic and un-Homeric
myth of Heaven and Earth, and their progeny: a myth current also in
Polynesia, Australia, and New Zealand. The poet is full of inquiry as to
origins, even etymological, as is Hesiod. Like Hesiod (and Mr. Max
Muller), origines rerum ex nominibus explicat. Finally, the second poet
(and here every one must agree) is a much worse poet than the first. As
for the prophetic word of warning to the Crisaeans and its fulfilment,
Baumeister urges that the people of Cirrha, the seaport, not of Crisa,
were punished, in Olympiad 47 (Grote, ii. 374).
Turning to Gemoll, we find him maintaining that the two parts were in
ancient times regarded as one hymn in the age of Aristophanes. {18} If
so, we can only reply, if we agree with Baumeister, that in the age of
Aristophanes, or earlier, there was a plentiful lack of critical

discrimination. As to Baumeister's theory that the second part is
Hesiodic, Gemoll finds a Hesiodic reminiscence in the first part (line
121), while there are Homeric reminiscences in the second part.
Thus do the learned differ among themselves, and an ordinary reader
feels tempted to