Social life in Greece from Homer to Menander

471 Pages·1888·7.955 MB·English

by  J.P.Mahaffy

SOCIAL LIFE IN GREECE
FROM
HOMER TO MENANVER
r<r CORNELL
.^ UNIVERSITY^
MAHAFFY
J. P.
FELLOWAND TUTbROFTRINITYCOLLEGE, QUBLIN
KNIGHT(gold CROSS)OFTHEORDEROPTHE REDEEMEB
HON. FELLOW-OFQUEEN'sCOLLEGE, OXFOb'S
Authorof
^ProlegomenatoAncientHistory*
'A HistoryofClassicalGreekLiterature*
''GreekLifeand Thoughtfrom Alexanderto theRomanConquest'
*RamblesandStudies in Greece^ &'c.,&»c
MACMILLAN AND
CO.
AND NEW YORK
1888
IAll rights reserved']
First Editionprinted 1874.
Reprinted 1875, 1877, 1879, 1883, i£
HORACE HART, PRINTERTO THE UNIVERSITY.
WILSONO KING
PIGNUS
AMICITLE

PREFACE
TO THE SIXTH EDITION.
This book had already in the fourth edition as-
sumed its final form, nor is it my intention here-
after to enlarge it, but rather to add companion
volumes upon the later portions of old Greek life.
Indeed, maturer study has led me to reject some
changes which I had introduced in deference to the
censure of professional critics, and I added in the
fourth- edition some considerations qpncerning the
moralstandardof Greek politics inDemosthenes' day,
which seem to me of much importance, though likely
to increase the displeasure withwhich certain scholars
regard my estimate of old Greek civilisation. It
is too homely for them ; it detracts too much
from the ideal they have framed for themselves; it
asserts the weaker and. commoner side of the nation
in the face of their unreal speculations. Nor is it
true that homelyviews imply a grudgingappreciation
ofthe perfections ofGreek literature and art. What
they really imply is only this, that the greatest poets
and the greatest artists were not the average repre-
sentatives ofthenation atlarge,.andthatthe sociallife
ofthe people was not ofthat extraordinaryperfection
whichthe men ofbookshad imagined. Ihadlongfelt
thattheextremelylearnedoftenmissthepracticalinfer-
,
PREFACE.
viii
ences which may be drawn from our classics byplain
commonsense,anditoccuredtometoseekthematerials
forsketching the Social Lifeof the Greeks, not in pre-
vious commentators, but in the Greek books them-
selves, which I re-read one by one specially, with par-
ticular attention to the social points they contained.
This was the method which led me to draw a picture
of"the Greeks from their ancient books correspond-
ing in many points to the Greeks ,of to-day, nor do I
my
know of any attemipt to dispute the accuracy of
statements, except some vague assertions put forward
without evidence. On a few details I at first sur-
rendered myownopiniontooreadily butthesepoints
;
are not worth discussing here. So far as they turn
upon the internal evidence for spuriousness in extant
orations and other documents I have said all that is
necessary in my History of Greek Classical Litera-
ture (and ed., 1883, Longmans), a work which treats
of the literary aspects of the life portrayed in the fol-
lowing pages, and is therefore an important supjple-
ment forall those who desire to geta general viewof
Greek civilisation in its various phases. Thus ob-
jections have been answered and a want supplied, so
that the present volume maymaintainthefavourwith
which the general public has honoured it. And now,
when I am saying thelast word aboutit, and in some
sense taking leave ofit, I maybeexcusedfordweUing
on thecircumstanceswhich gave it a peculiar interest,
and have obtained for it a longer life and a better
name than I could have hoped.
The same favour has been extendedtomyRamblei
PREFACE.
and Studies in Greece(3rd ed. 1887,Macmillan),which
give my impressions of modern life among the suc-
cessors of the old Hellenes, and in the land which
produced so many centuries of splendid civilization.
And now I have been enabled to add a new volume,
covering part of the huge gap between classical and
modern Greece,and have given in my Greek Life and
Thoughtfrom the death of Alexander to the Roman
Conquest (1888, Macmillan) the evidence culled from
theGreekauthorsbetween Menander and Polybius,as
well as some estimate of that literature. This new
volume istherefore strictlya sequelto thepresent one,
worked outinthesamewayfromthetextsthemselves,
andwill answerthe objection that I had pausedin the
middle of my great subject. There y^t remains one
volume to be writtenon Greek Life under the Roman
Empire; butsuch is thelabour ofgathering,selecting,
and then compressing thevast and scattered materials
uponeachepoch,that I darenot be sanguineabout the
completion of a scheme which has already occupied
me for twenty years.
Trinity College, Dublin,
February, 1888.

TABLE OF CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I.
Introduction.
M
odern complexion of Greek life, pafrs t. T)efects in the current
literatHreon the siihjerl, 3. Plan of thepresent volume,4. Political
lessons to be drawn fromGreek culture,5. Gradual development of
Greekmoralsandsociety,6. Contrastswithmodernlife,8.
CHAPTER
II.
The Greeks of the Homeric Age.
TheHomericcontroversynothere inquestion.9. Exceptional atti-
tudeofHesiod, 10. Hisevidence is truerthan Homer'sidealpictures,
n. ImprobabilitiesinHomer, 12. Mr. Grote'sestimatecriticised,13.
Difficulties about Hesiod-r-chiefly textual, 14. Fragments of pre-
Homeric history, 15. Homer describes the close of an epoch, i8.
Modern English Homerists criticised, 19. Analysis of the Homeric
—
ideal, 20; as regards Courage, 21; Truth, 27; Compassion, 29!
Loyalty, 36. Causes of these features, 39. Homer'sPallas Athene, as
anidealcharacter,41.
CHAPTER
III.
The Greeks ofthe Homeric Age (continued).
Homer'sso—cietyanexclusivecastesociety,44; whichwasrefinedand
courteous,45 ^infeasting,46; andconversation,47;butshowingslight
decay in hospitality, 48. Examples of Menelaus and Alcinous, 51.
-iSTreatmentofwomen,52 of servants, 56; ofdomesticanimals, 62; of
;
'thosebeyondthecaste,anditsdependents,65. Evidence ofHesiod,66.
—
J.oveofmoney universal in Greeklife, 70. Hesiod's domesticrude-
ness, 71. Generalresults,74-
CONTENTS.
xii
CHAPTER IV.
The Greeks oftlie Lyric Age.
Contrasts to Homer's idealism; Lyric realism, 77. Assertions of
cowardice in the fragments, 78. Thucydidean features of the lyric
poets, 82. Theysustain the attitude of Hesiod,52. Unjustestimates
ofthe tyrants bymodem critics,83. Example at Athens; Solonand
Peisistratus,85. Classification ofthe lyric poets; free aristocrats,and
court poets, 90; their religion, 92; ethics, 94; Violent partyfeelings,
97; ModemparallelinIreland,98. Generalestimate, 100.
CHAPTER V.
The Greeks ofthe Lyric Age (continued).
Advanceinsocialrefinement, 102. Winedrinkingand feasting, 103.
—
.Attitude of women in Simonides of Ceos, io8; Sappho, 109; and
SimonidesofAmorgos, 110. Strongsentimentoflove, 113. Pointsof
direct succession to Homeric Greece, 115. Hatred of old age, 119;
causesofthisfeeling, 120. Selfishness,122. Hospitality, 124. Points
ofcontrastwith Homeric Greece; the feeling oflove; the objects of
love,126. Religiousprogress,129.
CHAPTER VI.
The Greeks of the Attic Age.
Divisionofsubject: authorities, 133. Atticpatriotism, 135. Coarse-
ness of Attic relaxations, 136. General decay of letters throughout
Greece, 137; Causes of the exception at Athens, 138; Estimate of
tPericles, 140. Position ofWoinen, 142j itscauses, 145. Examination
ofoW authorities,viz. ^sthylus, his characters, 149; Herodotus, his
characters, 155; their meanness, 157; justice, 160; benevolence, 163;
sociality,168; sadness,171.