HISTORICAL VIEW OF GREEK AND ROMAN METRES. 43 fore, be understood in part only, so on the other hand, the knowledge of the form without that of the material, is something empty, meaningless, a shell without a kernel. Hence it follows, that the knowledge of ancient poetry is a necessary preliminary to the study of metrical science. But that which we shall present here, is not so much a history of ancient poetry, completely carried out in all its parts, as a brief outline, in which the most important points are to be set forth with special reference to the metrical form. The origin of Greek poetry is enveloped in obscurity. This much may be inferred, by putting together the scattered notices, that it proceeded from the religious feeling, as with almost every nation. Hymns to gods and heroes were the first poetic attempts. Since, however, there never existed among the Greeks a distinct order of priesthood, to whom wisdom and art belonged as a monopoly, this temple-poetry was at the same time popular, it stepped forth from the temple into life, and became national poetry, after the Greeks had, in the Trojan war, for the first time fought together. If previously the myths of single tribes and families, which singers or sages doidoí, oogoí, related, interested him only whom they immediately concerned; the representation of that event, in which each tribe had taken part, had general interest, and became, therefore, the foundation of all succeeding poetry among each tribe. Even if Homer and his school were not the first poets and singers, they are still to be considered the fathers of Greek poetry, for this very reason, because, by the description of that event which had united the Greeks for the first time, they had generally awakened and cherished the sense of art. They had borrowed the form from that temple-poetry; for the heroic hexameter is older than Homer; it is the sacred verse, in which from the earliest times men have spoken to the gods in prayer, and the gods to men by oracles. The homeric songs, notwithstanding the attraction which they possessed for all Greeks, did not belie their native country, Ionia. The Ionians were, among all the Grecian tribes, most inclined to a gladsome, cheerful enjoyment of life, whom therefore the entertaining character of the epos pleased more than the reflection of lyric poetry or the seriousness of tragedy. The poems of Hesiod (900?), (Theogony, Works and Days, and the Shield of Hercules), approached nearer to the temple-songs than the Homeric or later cyclic epics. The people received from the lips of experienced priests instruc tion on theorigin of the gods, heroes and men, rules concern ing household affairs, agriculture and the like. These epic-didactic poems form the transition from the epos to the gnomic and elegiac poetry. The form of government had been altered in most Grecian states after the Trojan war, and particularly after the great migration of the Dorians. Monarchies had become republics. Thus in the course of time the interest in the myths was lost which for the most part exalted old reigning families which were either extinct, or had been expelled by the people. The political life, on the other hand, roused the mind of the people to reflections on country, laws, war, and other such subjects. This does not remain without influence upon poetry. Callinus (700), Tyrtacus (680), Solon (590), Theognis (550 ?) inspire love of country, exhort to valor and virtue, and censure the faults of the citizens. Others, like Mimnermus, (630), sing in true Ionian manner the joys and instability of life, and in a kindly and melancholy mood invite to enjoyment. Simonides of Ceos (500), who lived for the most part at the courts of kings, imparts to the elegy, instead of the political spirit, a more lyric melancholy character, which it has ever since retained. The form of the elegiac poetry originated from the epic. The elegy was not, like the epos, a continuous narration, but divided itself into single thoughts and sentences, yraμai, which, however, are united by a common tendency. The hexameter was shortened into the elegiac pentameter (properly two trimetri dactylici catalectici in syllabam), and thus always a hexameter and a pentameter formed a whole, distichon elegiacum, long enough for the expression of a single thought. At the same time it gave the first idea of the strophe, according to which the later lyric strophes were formed. The dialect used in the elegy, as in the epos, was the Ionian; the musical accompaniment consisted of wind instruments alone. The flute-nomos is peculiar to the elegy. Where poetry once exists, the poetic aspect even of jest and satire is soon discovered. Satirical poems are even ascribed to Homer (Margites, Batrachomyomachia). But it is under a free government alone that jest can find utterance, and thus Archilochus (700), likewise belonging to the Ionic stock, is the first political satirist of note. He chastises vice and vulgarity often under cover of a fable, often, too, not sparing the person. Simonides of Amorgos (500) is known to us by his satire upon women. Hipponax (540) was, The throughout antiquity, notorious for his bitter sarcasms. usual and original form of this jesting kind of lyric poetry was the iamb (trimeter iambicus acatalectus), whence the poets of this kind are called also Iambographers. The iamb is probably not much later than the hexameter; at least it is formed in imitation of it; for the former was originally, like the latter, measured by feet, and not by dipodies, as the generally pure iambs of the older iambographers prove. A contrast was thus formed between the iambic and dactylic rhythms. For as the language of every day life inclines more to the iambic rhythm, so the iambic verse was the form for subjects taken from the present time, and later for the dialogue; the dactylic rhythm, on the other hand, being more quiet and dignified, was better adapted for the representation of the grander, more elevated past. The iambographers, however, did not exclusively use the iamb of six feet. They made use partly of longer iambic verses, as tetrameters, partly of the trochaic tetrameter, related to the latter, partly combined, after the manner of the elegiac distich, two verses, so that a shorter verse preceded or followed a longer one. The verses themselves were partly simple, partly compounded of several series, sometimes asynartete. Archilochus is named as the inventor of the epodic composition. Hipponax provided iambic and trochaic verses (usually the trimeter iambicus acatalectus and the tetrameter trochaicus catalecticus), by the reversion of the last foot, with a peculiar close, which, by its striking arrhythmy, produced a comical effect (Hipponactean or limping verses, scazons or choliambs). More harmless than these satirical poems were the mirthful songs of joy, wine, and love, which, from the most distinguished master in this kind, Anacreon (520), were called Anacreontic. The dialect of these poems was the Ionian; the form adapted to the softness of the subject, either the dimeter ionicus a minore, which in its unbroken form approaches the fall of the iambic rhythm; hence its corruption to the hemiamb or the glyconic, choriamb, ionic, and similar measures; partly by the line, partly by systems. The Ionian lyric poetry is followed by the Aeolian, partaking of the passionateness and vehemence, the nάvos, of the Aeolians. Sensual love, degenerating into mania, enthusiasm for freedom and country, are the material of this kind of poetry. Alcaeus (600) and Sappho (612) are universally ac knowledged by antiquity as its perfecters. The musical accompaniment are string-instruments, especially the cithara; the dialect Aeolian; the metrical form, more varied than in the previously mentioned kinds. They either repeat single verses, generally compounded, especially the Aeolian, consisting of irrational dactyls with a preceding basis, dactylic-logaoedic and choriambic, or make use of systems, especially the choriambic, glyconic, and ionic; this form attains, finally, the highest degree of perfection in the Aeolian strophes, so called, which generally consist of four verses, the last of which forms the close (Sapphic, Alcaic, Asclepiadean strophe). The last step in the progress of lyric poetry to perfection, was taken in the Dorian lyric poetry. The Dorian tribe were distinguished above all other Greek tribes by their manly seriousness and deep thought, and their poetry bears the same stamp. Passionless composure, and equability, freedom of the mind, and perfect harmony of the understanding and imagination, in one word, that which the Greeks callos, rules in it. Alcman (660), Stesichorus (550), and Ibycus (550), were the first to cultivate this style; but the grand and lofty Pindar (d. 442), the philosophical, reflecting Simonides, and the cheerful, graceful Bacchylides (450), brought it to perfection. The glory of the gods (hymns, paeans, dithyrambs, prosodies, parthenics, hyporchemes) and of the victors in the sacred contests (epinicia, encomia, scolia) was the usual material of this lyric poetry. The form adapts itself to the substance; the dialect is Doric, modified according to the language of the epos. In the place of the simple Aeolian strophe, the more complicated Doric was formed, which, because it was at the same time destined for the dance, was extended to the strophe, antistrophe and epode. The musical accompaniment was adapted to the greater metrical perfection and the movement of the dance. The mood in which a Doric poem is composed, determines its subordinate character. We distinguish in the remains of Dorian lyric poetry chiefly three moods: the Doric, Lydian, and Aeolian; and according to these three subordinate styles, all of which were distinguished from one another by subject, language, rhythm, singing, musical accompaniment and dance. The Doric was serious and manly, the Lydian sweet and effeminate, the Aeolian bold and impassioned. A species of the Dorian lyric is the dithyrambic poetry, the inventor of which is supposed to be Arion (620), and which was afterwards cultivated in Athens so as to form an independent style. A bacchanal enthusiasm is the prominent characteristic of this kind, and the form corresponds to it. The metre, especially after Timotheus (400), consisted of ever varying rhythms, full of bold measures and rapid transitions ; the greatest variety, in which unity is lost sight of, so that the effects of excessive art are evident. The music, too, in the Phrygian mood, with wind-instruments, and the dance performed by cyclic chorusses, had a wild, overpowering char acter. A peculiar species of poetry developed itself, in Athens, from the lyric poetry, and indeed directly from the dithyrambic, the drama. Dionysiac festivals were celebrated in Athens, as in other cities, by songs to Dionysos. Between the single songs, one of the performers presented himself, who related and represented mimetically the exploits of the god. Of these lyric and epic elements, Thespis (590) is said to have formed the first dramas, and exhibited them extemporaneously. However imperfect they may have been, still they found imitators. The material was extended by giving up the exclusive relation to Bacchus, and treating, in its stead, of other myths of a less joyous character. Thus tragedy separated itself from the Satyrdrama. In the former, man appears in a struggle with fate, with the gods, and with his own passions. It is elevating to our feelings, that he ventures upon the contest with these powers, that his liberty, conscious of its own power, opposes necessity, that he falls like a man, when the inevitable destiny smites him. The Satyrdrama was intended as an afterpiece, to cheer the spectator put by the tragedy in a sad and serious mood. It moved in the same mythical world, and frequently was not without a relation to the tragedies just performed (tetralogy); but it placed its characters in circumstances less sad, made them extricate themselves from difficulties by some cunning trick, and especially entertained by the jokes of the chorus of Satyrs. As the dramatic material is divided into two principal parts, the epic part or dialogue, and the lyric or melic, so is the form. The iambic trimeter, rendered more weighty and dignified by the admission of the irrational measure, is the usual form of the dialogue; in the Satyrdrama it moves more lightly in consequence of resolutions. The poets sometimes substitute the catalectic trochaic tetrameter. The anapaes |