Homeric adjectives of Colour.
I. First, then, with respect to the paucity of his colours. We find, I think, scarcely more than the following words which can with certainty be described as adjectives of colour properly so called:
1.λευκός.2.μέλας.3.ξανθός.4.ἐρυθρός.5.πορφύρεος.6.κυάνεος.7.φοίνιξ.8.πόλιος.
There are other words which are taken from objects that have colour, and to most of which I shall hereafter refer: but which can hardly, in consistency with the whole evidence from the text of Homer, be classed as adjectives of definite colour.
Now we must at once be struck with the poverty of the list which has just been given, upon comparing it with our own list of primary colours, which has been determined for us by Nature, and which is as follows:
1. Red.2. Orange.3. Yellow.4. Green.5. Blue.6. Indigo.7. Violet.
To these we are to add—
8. White, the compound of all colours;9. Black, the negative or absence of them all.
Out of these nine, three at least stand unrepresented. Forπόλιοςcan mean none of them: andφοίνιξcan do no more than double eitherπορφύρεος, orξανθὸς, orἐρυθρός. The most favourable presumptions would perhaps arrange the Homeric list as follows:
1.λευκὸς, white.2.μέλας, black.3.ξανθὸς, yellow.4.ἐρυθρὸς, red.5.πορφύρεος, violet.6.κυάνεος, indigo.
And thus orange, green, and blue would remain without any corresponding terms. But, in truth, when we examine further into Homer’s mode of employing his adjectives of colour in detail, we shall perceive that he is by no means so rich as this classification would allow.
The other words which will presently be considered,but which have very slight claims indeed to be treated as adjectives of definite colour, are as follows:
1.χλωρός.2.αἰθαλόεις.3.ῥοδόεις.4.ἰόεις.5.οἴνοψ.6.μιλτοπάρηος.7.αἴθων.8.ἀργός.9.αἴολος.10.γλαυκός.11.χάροπος.12.σιγαλόεις.13.μαρμάρεος.
Along with each of these adjectives, which are the chief though not quite the only ones of their class in Homer, I shall take the cognate words, such as verbs or compounds, which may belong to them.
Applications of them.
II. Let us now review the particular applications which Homer has made of these words respectively. Among them, however, it will not be necessary to includeλευκὸςandμέλας, because those epithets indicate ideas which have at all times been used, to a considerable extent, by way of approximation only.
1.ξανθὸςis applied by Homer to the following objects:
a.horses,ἵππων ξανθὰ κάρηνα, Il. ix. 407.
b.hair of men,ξανθὸς Μενέλαος,passim: Achilles, Il. i. 197.
c.hair of women,ξανθὴ Ἀγαμήδη, Il. xi. 739;Δημήτηρ, Il. v. 500.
2.ἐρυθρὸςis evidently the same word with the Latinruber, and with our own ‘ruddy,’ as well as probably the Germanroth.
It is used by Homer for
a.Copper in Il. ix. 365.b.Nectar, Il. xix. 38.c.Wine, Od. v. 93.d.Blood: inἐρυθαίνω, Il. x. 484.
3.πορφύρεοςagain is the Latinpurpura, and our ‘purple,’ as well as our ‘porphyry.’ In the uses of thisword we shall find for the first time a startling amount of obvious discrepancy: and it will require to be considered in the proper place, whether this discrepancy is to be referred to a bold exercise of the Poet’s art, or to an undeveloped knowledge and a consequently defective standard of colour.
The wordπορφύρεοςis employed as follows for objects of sense:
a.Blood, Il. xvii. 361.
b.Dark cloud, ibid. 551.
c.Wave of a river when disturbed, Il. xxi. 326.
d.Wave of the sea, Il. i. 482; and the disturbed sea, Il. xvi. 391.
e.The ball with which the Phæacian dancers played, Od. viii. 373.
f.Garments, as Il. viii. 221; Od. iv. 115.
g.Carpets, as Od. xxi. 151; Il. xxiv. 645.
h.The rainbow, Il. xvii. 547.
i.Metaphorically it is applied to Death, Il. v. 83: and, as it would appear, to bloody death only.
Further, the verbπορφύρωis applied
a.to the sea darkening, Il. xiv. 16.b.to the mind brooding, Il. xx. 551.
Again, the compoundἁλιπόρφυροςis applied
a.to wool, Od. vi. 53.b.to garments woven of it, Od. xiii. 108.
In this epithet we have the additional idea of the sea introduced; and it literally means ‘sea-purple.’ But I postpone any remark with respect to Homer’s particular intention in the use of the word, until we come to the epithets derived fromἴον, a violet.
Three forms of colour at least seem to be comprehended under this group of words;
1. The redness of blood.
2. The purple proper, as of the sea in Il. i. 482. To this also probably belongs the rainbow, of whose seven colours three may be said to belong to the family of blue: and which is termed blue by Shakespeare.
3. The grey and leaden colour of a dark cloud when about to burst in storm, and of a river when disturbed.
We shall hereafter see reason to suppose that the word may also and often mean what is tawny or brown.
Ofκύανοςandκυάνεος.
4. The wordκυάνεοςis very important in this inquiry; and unfortunately it is not less obscure.
It at once throws us back on the prior question, what wasκύανος? But this question remains almost wholly undetermined[842]; so that we must follow, as well as we can, the Homeric applications of the word itself, together with its adjective and its compounds. These are very numerous. First we have the substantiveκύανοςintroduced in three places: in each of which it evidently belongs to a combination of colours as well as of substances.
a.Once it isκύανοςsimply. The interior wall of the hall of Alcinous is covered with sheets of copper[843]; and round the top is aθριγκὸςor fringe ofκύανος. Od. vii. 87.
b.Twice it isμέλας κύανος. On the breast-plate of Agamemnon there are twenty stripes or layers of tin, twelve of gold, and tenμέλανος κυάνοιο. Il. xi. 24, Also;
c.Upon his shield there were ten rounds of copper; and then, apparently on the face of the shield within these, twenty white bosses (ὄμφαλοι λευκοὶ) made of tin, if such be the meaning ofκασσίτερος: in the centre of all, there was one bossμέλανος κυάνοιο. Il. xi. 35.
Passing now toκυάνεος, we come next to three passages where it may be questioned whether they describe colour only, or substance only, or both.
d.Upon the breastplate of Agamemnon, which has ten layers of blackκύανος, there are on either side threeκυάνεοι δράκοντες(Il. xi. 26). These are compared to the rainbow, which, as we have already seen, is described elsewhere asπορφυρεή.
e.On the silver-plated belt of Agamemnon there is aκυάνεος δράκων. Il. xi. 38, 9.
f.Around the golden vineyard on the shield of Achilles, with its silver stakes, there is a fence ofκασσίτεροςand a trench (κάπετος) described asκυανέη. Il. xviii. 564.
The other applications at once appear to have reference to colour only.
g.To the eyebrows of Jupiter and Juno. Il. i. 528. xv. 102. xvii. 209.
h.To a dark cloud of vapour; but not to a storm-cloud. Il. xxiii. 188. v. 345. xx. 418.
i.To the hair of Hector, Il. xxii. 402; and to the beard of Ulysses, when he is restored to beauty by Minerva. Od. xvi. 176. With this we may compare the hyacinthine hair of Ulysses in Od. vi. 231.
j.To the serried masses of the Greeks:πυκιναὶ κίνυντο φάλαγγες κυάνεαι. Il. iv. 281. Now this epithet must have been derived from their arms, and these would probably be composed in the main of two elements, not easy to combine in a common idea of colour; firstly, copper, which is ruddy; and secondly, the hides of oxen upon the shields and elsewhere. Homer never (except in Il. xiii. 703, and Od. xiii. 32) describes these animals by any epithet of colour. In those two passages they areβόε οἴνοπε. This epithet will be considered presently. In the meantime, we may assume itas probable, that a dark colour would predominate, and that accordingly we should so understandκυάνεαι: but the leaning towardsblue, which so often characterizes the epithet, thus entirely escapes. The word is also applied to the Trojan host, in Il. xvi. 66.
k.Thetis puts on mourning garments for Patroclus, when about to appear to Achilles, Il. xxiv. 93.
κάλυμμ’ ἕλε δῖα θεάωνκυάνεον· τοῦ δ’ οὔτι μελάντερον ἔπλετο ἔσθος.
κάλυμμ’ ἕλε δῖα θεάωνκυάνεον· τοῦ δ’ οὔτι μελάντερον ἔπλετο ἔσθος.
κάλυμμ’ ἕλε δῖα θεάωνκυάνεον· τοῦ δ’ οὔτι μελάντερον ἔπλετο ἔσθος.
κάλυμμ’ ἕλε δῖα θεάων
κυάνεον· τοῦ δ’ οὔτι μελάντερον ἔπλετο ἔσθος.
Here Homer is careful to inform us that theκάλυμμα, or hood and mantle, was the blackest garment possible; and, since in Il. iv. 287 we find that he was acquainted with pitch, we need not scruple to assume that here he speaks literally, and either means a real black, which, nevertheless, he also callsκυάνεον, or sees no difference between the genuine black and the colour ofκύανος.
l.When the wave of Charybdis retires, the shore appearsψάμμῳ κυανέῃ. Now the colour of sea-sand, when it has just been left by the wave, is a dull but also rather a light brown.
We take now the compounds.
1.κυανοχαίτηςis applied
a.To Neptune, e. g. Il. xv. 174.
b.To a mare, Il. xx. 224.
2.κυανῶπιςis applied to Amphitrite, or the sea, beating on rocks, Od. xii. 60.
3.κυανόπεζαis used for the foot of a beautiful table (Il. xi. 628). Here possibly substance may be designated rather than colour. Metal at the foot would give steadiness to a table.
4. We haveκυανόπρωροςandκυανοπρώρειοςfor the prow of a ship. Evidently it is the coloured prow: for otherwise the prow would be of the same hue with the rest of the ship. (Il. xv. 693,et alibi.) So the prowsof ships are calledμιλτοπάρηοι, in Il. ii. 637, and Od. ix. 125. Nowμίλτοςwas red earth or ochre; and yet it seems that Homer usesμιλτοπάρηοςas equivalent toκυανόπρωρος. For the first epithet is applied in the Catalogue to the ships led by Ulysses; and the second in Od. x. 127 to the vessel in which he sailed.
The uses of this group of words thus appear to exhibit a degree of indefiniteness, hardly reconcilable with the supposition that Homer possessed accurate ideas of colour. There is no one colour that can cover them all. The hood of Thetis is closely akin to black; the prow of a ship to at least a dull red; the sand is of russet or a lightish brown; the cloud a leaden grey; the hair and eyebrows are of a deep but not a dull colour; the cornice in the hall of Alcinous must have been in relief and contrast as compared with the copper wall, and sufficiently light or clear to strike the eye at a distance, in an interior lighted at night only from the ground. With perhaps this exception, the word ‘dark’ will cover all the uses ofκυάνεος: but dark derives its force from a relation to light, and not to colour.
Ofφοίνιξ, πόλιος.
5.Φοίνιξin Homer is clearly a word descriptive of colour: but it as clearly partakes of the indefinite character attaching to the other words of the class.
a.The blood drawn by Pandarus from Menelaus is compared to the colourφοίνιξ, used for staining ivory. In this simile, the sense leans to red, especially as the hue of ivory is so near to that of flesh (Il. iv. 141). It is mentioned in other places, probably with the same sense, as an ornamental dye.
b.In Il. xxiii. 454, we learn that one of the horses of Diomed wasφοίνιξ, with a round white mark on his forehead. Whether we render this bay or chestnut, it is materially different from the red colour of blood.
c.Φοίνιοςis used for blood, Od. xviii. 96.
d.As isφοινὸςin Il. xvi. 159.
e.Andφοινικόειςin Il. xxiii. 716. This word is also applied to a cloak, Il. x. 133.
f.A dragon or serpent, borne by an eagle, isφοινήεις, apparently because dappled or streaked with his own blood, Il. xii. 200-6, 218-21.
g.Ships areφοινικοπάρηοι, Od. xi. 123, and xxiii. 272: this word is apparently synonymous withμιλτοπάρηοι.
h.The serpent isδάφοινος ἐπὶ νῶτα, Il. ii. 308. And we have theδάφοινον δέρμα λέοντος, Il. x. 23.
On the whole, we trace here not less than three senses: that in whichφοίνιξis applied to the horse, which appears to be the equivalent ofξανθὸς, the more prevailing word: next, that of the tawny and dull-coloured lion’s hide: then that of the brighter but yet deep colour of blood, which is freely calledπορφύρεος. So thatφοίνιξmerely renders other words, and does not at all assist to make up deficiencies in the Homeric vocabulary for the expression of colour.
Considered as an epithet of colour, the wordδάφοινος, meaning blood-red, is inappropriate to the dragon or serpent, and further serves to illustrate that vagueness, of which the signs multiply as we proceed.
6.πόλιοςis applied in Homer as follows:
a.To human hair in connection with old age, Il. xxii. 74et alibi.
b.To the sea, Il. i. 350et passim. It remains to inquire, whether this refers to the sea, or to the foam upon it.
c.To iron, Il. ix. 366. xx. 261. Od. xxi. 3, 81. xxiv. 167.
d.To the hide of a wolf, which Dolon put on for hisnocturnal expedition, Il. x. 334. The meaning of the word here appears to be not ‘gray’ but ‘white.’ It is Homer’s evident intention to exhibit Dolon as a sort of simpleton[844](x. 316, 17); and accordingly he takes a white covering, which makes him visible to the eye by night, so that Ulysses saw him (φράσατο, 339).
The last, then, of these four uses iswhite. The first clearly inclines to the same idea. The second might bear either of two senses. But iron cannot be brought nearer to white, even if we assume it to be always polished, than a bluish grey; which, in truth, is somewhat distant from white. It will, moreover, be seen, that Homer also describes iron asαἴθων, and asἰόεις.
The quasi-adjectives of colour.
I now come to the class of words, in dealing with which it will be shown that they have not in general even the pretensions of those that have preceded to be treated as adjectives of definite colour.
7.χλωρὸςis used in Homer,
a.Chiefly in a metaphorical sense, as directly descriptive of fear.
b.For the paleness of the face derived from fear, as inχλωροὶ ὑπαὶ δείους, Il. x. 376 and xv. 4. This use discloses to us the basis of the last-named metaphor.
c.For twigs, apparently when fresh-pulled by Eumæus to make a bed for Ulysses, who was an unexpected guest; Od. xvi. 47.
d.For honey, Il. xi. 630: where it must mean either pale, or fresh.
e.For the olive-wood club of the Cyclops in Od. ix. 320, 379. Here, for the first time, we find the word applied to an object that might perhaps be called green. But still there are two observations to be made. First, even the leaf of the olive is rather grey than green: and this is the bark, not the leaf, which is yet more grey, and yet less green. Secondly, the governing idea is not the greenness, but the newness: for Ulysses says that he heated it in the ashes until it was about to take fire,χλωρός περ ἐών; although freshly cut, and still seething with the sap.
f.The derivativeχλωρηῒςis applied to the nightingale in Od. xix. 518, as a lover of the woods: and here the idea of greenness seems to be rather less faintly indicated.
Upon the whole, then,χλωρὸςindicates rather the absence than the presence of definite colour, although it is derived fromχλοὴ, meaning young herbage. If regarded as an epithet of colour, it involves at once an hopeless contradiction between the colour of honey on the one side, and greenness on the other. Again, the more we assume it to mean green, the more startling it becomes that it could have taken paleness, as is manifestly the case, for its governing idea. Next to paleness, it serves chiefly for freshness, i. e. as opposed to what is stale or withered: a singular combination with the former sense. The idea of green we scarcely find, unless once, connected with this word in the poems of Homer: and yet it is a remarkable fact that there is no other word in the poems that can even be supposed to represent a colour, which, not the rainbow only, but every day nature, presents so largely to the eye.
8. I take next the wordαἰθαλόεις. The Homeric sense of this word seems somewhat to resemble thatofκυάνεος; although there is the difference between them, that the derivation here is fromαἰθάλη, soot.
This epithet is applied by Homer, in sufficient conformity, as is contended, with the idea of soot,
a.To the interior of the palace of Ulysses, Od. xxii. 239, and to that of Priam, Il. ii. 415. In the latter case the word will, as it appears from the context, bear to be construed with reference to the state of a house blackened by a conflagration.
b.To the dark ashκόνις αἰθαλόεσσα, which Achilles poured over his head, Il. xviii. 23, and which, in ver. 25, is calledμέλαινα τέφρη: this material Laertes also used for the same purpose in Od. xxiv. 315. Yet the propriety of the second of these two applications depends, first, upon the rather hardy supposition, that both Achilles and Laertes had by them, at the moment of their sorrow, the remains of a wood-fire; and, secondly, upon the assumption that the wordκόνιςmay mean fire-ashes as well as dust in general. But we may doubt both of these assumptions; while, ifκόνιςmeans ‘dust,’ andαἰθαλόεις‘sooty,’ it becomes plain that this epithet is used, like others, with very great latitude.
9. It may be admitted that, at a first view, the wordsῥοδόειςandῥοδοδάκτυλοςwould appear to be in the strictest sense epithets of colour. But it still would seem that they add nothing to Homer’s defective means of expressing it: and not only so, but, in fact, scanty as is their use, it is so little congruous, that we are driven to suppose he must have employed these words in a sense not only elastic, but altogether indeterminate and purely figurative.
Ῥοδοδάκτυλος, or rosy-fingered, has become, through Homer’s example and authority, a classical epithet for the morning. It is, however, more open to criticismthan is usually the case with the Homeric epithets. There is nothing strange in personifying Morn, in order to embellish her with an epithet belonging to personal beauty; but redness, applied to the fingers, and not merely to their tips, is more than equivocal in this respect, since that colour is only even admissible in the interior of the hand, which is the part not seen, and therefore presumably the part not intended inῥοδοδάκτυλος.
There are certain very fugitive tints of the sky, which approach to the hue of the rose: but if Homer had the colour of that flower definitely in his view, it is most singular that he should never use it, either for the human form or otherwise, except on this and one other occasion only.
The nature of that other occasion is yet more strange. Hector’s corpse is anointed, in Il. xxiii. 186, with rosy oil,ῥοδόεντι ἐλαίῳ. It does not appear allowable to follow Damm in rendering this as oilmade fromroses: for we have no such thing asἔλαιονin Homer, except from the olive-tree. It therefore applies to the hue of olive oil: and no conceivable use of an epithet could be more conclusive to show an extreme vagueness in the Poet’s ideas of colour, as well as probably in those of his age.
10. The violet, no less than the rose, has supplied Homer with epithets, which he has used in such a manner as to deprive them of all specific force as vehicles for the expression of a peculiar colour.
There is certainly a great temptation, when we find in Homer theἰοειδέα πόντον, to give him credit for the full meaning of this very beautiful epithet, which he uses thrice for the sea (Il. ix. 298, Od. v. 55, xi. 106), and never in any other connection. But when we examine his employment of cognate words, it is obviousthat he can mean little more by the epithet, than to convey a rather vague idea of darkness.
For he usesἰόειςas an epithet for iron (Il. xxiii. 850): andἰοδνεφὴς, first for the wool (Od. iv. 135) with which Helen is spinning. Here we might be tempted to presume a purple dye. Yet it would be a somewhat strained supposition: for what title have we to say that dyeing was in use among the Greeks of the Homeric age? Do we hear of any dye except that of theφοίνιξ, a name which tends to indicate a foreign character? And does not the introduction of the Mæonian or Carian woman in the simile of Il. iv. 141, to stain the ivory—a most simple example of the art, or scarcely an example at all—afford a strong presumption, that the art was foreign to Greece? Such is apparently the true inference: but, if it be the true one, then we at once lose the specific force of purple for all the mantles, carpets, and the like, in the poems; and we are only entitled to presume them to have been woven of a dark wool.
This construction is supported by the second and only other passage, in which Homer has used the wordἰοδνεφής. For here (Od. ix. 426) he speaks of the living sheep of Polyphemus as
καλοί τε μεγάλοι τε, ἰοδνεφὲς εἶρος ἔχοντες.
καλοί τε μεγάλοι τε, ἰοδνεφὲς εἶρος ἔχοντες.
καλοί τε μεγάλοι τε, ἰοδνεφὲς εἶρος ἔχοντες.
καλοί τε μεγάλοι τε, ἰοδνεφὲς εἶρος ἔχοντες.
This passage appears evidently to apply to what we term black sheep, which are more strictly of a dark brown. So viewed, it affords another most striking token of the indeterminateness of Homeric colours, that the name of the violet can be employed with such a signification. And it also seems to carry forward the proof that theπορφύρεαι χλαῖναι, theῥήγεα, and all other woven objects with that epithet annexed, were in reality either black or brown.
11. Homer employs the wordοἴνοψwith evident relation to colour; but it is for two objects only, viz.
a.For oxen, in Il. xiii. 703, and Od. xiii. 32.b.For the sea, without reference to any peculiar state of it, in Il. i. 350,et alibi.
a.For oxen, in Il. xiii. 703, and Od. xiii. 32.
b.For the sea, without reference to any peculiar state of it, in Il. i. 350,et alibi.
There is no small difficulty in combining these two uses by reference to the idea of a common colour. The sea is blue, grey, or green. Oxen are black, bay, or brown. I do not refer to their lighter colours, which are excluded by the nature of the epithet. It is remarkable that, among colours properly so called, Homer has none whatever, derived from the name of an object, that are light, unless it be in the case of the rose. The violet, the unknownκύανος, theφοίνιξ, theαἰθαλὴ, theἁλιπόρφυρος, theπορφύρη, whatever else they may be, are all dark. And to this classοἴνοψevidently belongs.
Wine is mentioned by Homer in nearly one hundred and forty places: in the majority of them it has an epithet: but only ten times is it described by an epithet of colour. Of these two are used for it,ἐρυθρὸςandμέλας; so that he plainly conceived of it as dark, but probably without a determinate hue. He more frequently calls itαἴθοψ: but this word, which fluctuates between the ideas of flame and smoke, either means tawny, or else refers to light, and not to colour, and bears the sense of sparkling.
Thus thenοἴνοψ, like so many other words that we have gone through, vaguely indicates a dark hue, but cannot be referred to any one of the known principal colours.
12. The wordμιλτοπάρηοςhas already been disposed of in connection withκυάνεοςandφοίνιξ.
13.αἴθωνis applied in Homer
a.to horses, as in Il. ii. 839; viii. 185.b.to iron, as in Od. i. 184.c.to a lion, as in Il. x. 23.d.to copper utensils, as in Il. ix. 123; xxiv. 233.e.to a bull, Il. xvi. 488; and to oxen, Od. xviii. 371.f.to an eagle, Il. xv. 690.
a.to horses, as in Il. ii. 839; viii. 185.
b.to iron, as in Od. i. 184.
c.to a lion, as in Il. x. 23.
d.to copper utensils, as in Il. ix. 123; xxiv. 233.
e.to a bull, Il. xvi. 488; and to oxen, Od. xviii. 371.
f.to an eagle, Il. xv. 690.
With this word we may take its compoundαἴθοψ. It is used
a.for wine, as we have seen.b.for copper, Il. iv. 495et alibi.c.for smoke, Od. x. 152.
a.for wine, as we have seen.
b.for copper, Il. iv. 495et alibi.
c.for smoke, Od. x. 152.
We have also theΑἰθίοπες, men of the tawny or swarthy countenance, beneath the Southern sun.
In what manner are we to find a common thread upon which to hang the colours of iron, copper, horses, lions, bulls, eagles, wine, swarthy men, and smoke? We must here again adopt the vague word ‘dark,’ a word of light and not of colour, for the purpose. But as the idea ofαἴθωincludes flame struggling with smoke, so there may be a flash of light upon the dark object.Ψολόεις, sooty or smutty, belongs to the same group withαἰθαλόειςandαἴθων, and need not, therefore, be separately discussed.
All the remainder of the words noted for examination are to be dealt with in two groups, each referable to a single idea: the first that of motion, and the second that of light.
14, 15. Among adjectives of motion, which have sometimes been improperly treated as adjectives of colour, areἄργοςandαἴολος. The former acquires an affinity towhite, because it may signify an object which, from being rapidly moved, assumes in the light the appearance of whiteness[845], and along with it may beplaced its derivativesἀργεννὸς,ἀργεστὴς,ἀργὴς,ἀργινόεις,ἀργιόδους,ἀργίπους, andἀργικέραυνος. The latter, as inαἴολος ὄφις,αἴολος ἵππος,κορυθαίολος,πόδας αἴολος, seems to mean whatever from the same cause appears to shift its hues.
16. Of those adjectives of light in Homer, which have also been taken for adjectives of colour, the most important isγλαυκός. Its uses, however, are only as follows:
a.γλαυκὴ θάλασσα, Il. xvi. 34.
b.Γλαυκῶπις, the standing epithet, and even a proper name, of Minerva, Il. viii. 406.
c.γλαυκιόων; applied to the eye of a lion, when, reaching the height of his wrath, he makes his rush at the hunters, Il. xx. 172.
The last of these passages seems effectually to fix the sense of the term. The wordγλαυκιόωνdescribes a progression. The lion does not enhance the colour of his eye as he waxes angry. If, for example,γλαυκὸςcan be taken as blue, it certainly does not become more blue: on the contrary, rage, when kindling fire in the eye, rather subdues its peculiar tint by flooding it with a vivid light. So the word seems clearly to refer to the brightening flash of the eye under the influence of passion. Of light and its movement, as also of sound, and of beautiful form, Homer’s conceptions are even more distinct and lively, than those of colour are, if not dull, yet at least indeterminate.
Γλαυκὸςis derived fromγλαύσσω; and has for its rootλάω, to see. The meaning of bright or flashing will suit the sea, as well as the epithet blue. And it suits Minerva far better. ‘Blue-eyed’ would be for her but a tame epithet. The luminous eye, on the contrary, entirely accords with her character, and belongs to a marked trait of those primitive traditions, which she appears to represent[846].
17.Χάροποςis applied to the lion in Od. xi. 611; and it is the proper name of the father of Nireus in the Catalogue, while his mother isἈγλαΐη. From this latter use we see thatχάροποςis not in Homer an epithet of colour; since he never describes the face by means of colour. Its etymology refers us to gladsomeness; and this is much more connected, in the Poet’s mind, with light than with colour.
18, 19. Besides these we have
σιγαλόεις, glossy, likeσίαλος, or fat; andμαρμάρεος, applieda.to a web, Il. iii. 126.b.to the Ægis, Il. xvii. 594.c.to the sea, Il. xiv. 273.d.to the rim of the Shield, Il. xviii. 480.
σιγαλόεις, glossy, likeσίαλος, or fat; andμαρμάρεος, applied
a.to a web, Il. iii. 126.b.to the Ægis, Il. xvii. 594.c.to the sea, Il. xiv. 273.d.to the rim of the Shield, Il. xviii. 480.
a.to a web, Il. iii. 126.
b.to the Ægis, Il. xvii. 594.
c.to the sea, Il. xiv. 273.
d.to the rim of the Shield, Il. xviii. 480.
We have also theμαρμαρυγαὶ ποδῶν(Od. viii. 265), or twinkling of the feet in the dance: and the verbμαρμαίρωis applied to the eyes of Venus (Il. iii. 397), to arms (Il. xii. 195et alibi), and to the golden palace of Neptune (Il. xiii. 22). The marble, from which the words are derived, was white: but that signification would not suit any of the uses of the words, except the web of Helen. The sense, that will suit them, is one derived from the idea of light, that of glittering or sparkling.
Lastly:ἠεροειδὴς(Il. v. 770; Od. xiii. 103) is so evidently an atmospheric epithet only, that it requires no detailed discussion. It is worthy of note, as it indicates the idea of atmospheric transparency.
Conflict of colours in the same object.
III. We might have attained to some nearly similarresults, by taking the names of substantives in Homer, and considering the differences in the epithets of colour by which he describes them.
Thus, for example, iron is violet, grey, andαἴθωνor tawny. There is a certain opposition between the first and second: a very marked one between the second and third. When considered as names of colour, they cannot be reconciled, but they may perhaps be made in some degree to harmonize by introducing the element of light. Iron is dark or tawny if in the shade: while under light it may appear grey.
Again, the dragon, or serpent, which isδάφοινοςin Il. ii. 308, is alsoκυάνεοςin Il. xi. 26; and is compared to the rainbow, which isπορφυρέηin Il. xvii.Δάφοινος, being applied to the lion’s hide in Il. x. 23, is essentially of a dull colour, but the rainbow is as essentially bright. Here, again, the only mode of harmonizing is by the supposition that Homer really regulates the use of those epithets according to light; and thus the same object may be dull and bright in different positions.
Again,κέραυνοςis in composition white (ἀργικέραυνος): but it is alsoψολοεὶς, smutty. In truth it is neither: but its near connection both with light and with darkness will admit of its being referred to either.
Great predominance of white and black.
IV. I have next to notice the vast predominance in Homer of the two simple opposites, white and black, which may be called, perhaps, the elemental forms of colour: white being the compound of the seven prismatic colours in their natural proportions, and black the absence, or simple negative, of them all.
The adjectiveμέλας, or ‘black,’ is used, in its different degrees, cases, and numbers, about one hundred and seventy times. Besides this, we have the verbμελαίνω, and several compounds from the adjective. It also forms a very frequent element in proper names.
The wordλευκὸς, or ‘white,’ is used nearly sixty times: its compoundλευκώλενοςforty more, but almost all of these as the stock-epithet of Juno, which should not be taken into the account. We have alsoλευκαίνω,λεύκασπις, and some proper names. But this by no means exhausts Homer’s means of expressing whiteness. For that purpose he also usesμαρμάρεος,σιγαλόεις, perhapsπόλιος, and an extensive group of words havingἀργὸςfor its centre. In all, whiteness, or something intended for it, may perhaps be thus expressed one hundred times or more.
Now assuming for the moment that adjectives of colour, in the prismatic sense of the word, are found in Homer, still it is remarkable how rarely they are found, in comparison with whiteness and blackness.
For example: except as a proper name, and as the stock-epithet of Menelaus,ξανθὸςis, I think, hardly found ten times in Homer.Ἰόεις, and its cognate words, come but six times:ῥοδόειςis anἅπαξ λεγόμενον:μίλτοςis only introduced in its compound twice; yet it is probably the bestredin Homer:ἐρυθρὸςandἐρυθαίνωcome but thirteen times:πορφύρεοςand the kindred words are found in all twenty-three times; but it has, I think, been shown that this word was wanting, with Homer, in the ingredient of specific colour, and only implied what was dark, whether brown, crimson, purple, or even black.
Omissions to specify colour.
V. It remains to complete this circle of evidence, by adducing cases where Homer’s omission to name colour, or to describe by means of it, is deserving of remark.
1. Homer’s similes are so rich in the use of all sensible imagery, that we might have expected to find colour a frequent and prominent ingredient in them.But it is not so. They turn chiefly, I think, upon the following ideas:
1. Motion.2. Force.3. Form.4. Sound.5. Symmetry.6. Number.7. Light and Darkness.8. Very rarely, upon Colour.
In the greater part of them colour is not even mentioned. I have seen the similes of the poems reckoned at two hundred: and I have found it difficult to note more than three which turn upon colour, even when it is vaguely conceived.
The first is the blood of Menelaus, compared to a crimson dye, on the cheek-piece of a horse, Il. iv. 141.
The second, the meditations of Nestor, likened to the darkening of the sea before a storm, Il. xiv. 16-22.
Thirdly, the cloud in which Minerva is wrapped is compared to the rainbow, Il. xvii. 547-52.
Of these the second is very indefinite: the idea of the first, as we have seen, was inaccurately and loosely conceived: and the third is one of the most striking proofs of the want of a close discrimination of colours in Homer.
Yet here again we may find life and beauty in the passage, if only we construe it of a cloud illuminated by the rays falling on it. Indeed, generally the element of light brings us back to Homer’s usual definiteness, when his use of colour makes him obscure.
2. Again, in the numerous and very exact epithets by which the Poet has described the form and appearance of different countries, we scarcely find any epithet of colour. Out of about sixty of these epithets in the Greek Catalogue, there are but three that refer tocolour, and these all mention whiteness only (ἀργινόεις, Il. ii. 647, 656, andλευκός, ibid. 735).