Footnotes[1]Addressé à la Classe de la Langue et de la Littérature françaises, et à celle d’Histoire et de Littérature ancienne de l’Institut impérial de France.[2]This expression will be explained in the progress of the discourse.[3]De Dignit. et Increment. Scient.,l. ii., c.13.[4]Ibid.,l. ii., c.1.[5]Ibid.,l. vi., c.1.[6]Plat.,Dial.Ion. Aristotle, who was often opposed to Plato, did not dare to be on this point. He agrees that verse alone does not constitute poetry, and that the History of Herodotus, put into verse, would never be other than history.[7]Ibid.[8]De Dignit. et Increment. Scient.,l. ii., c.13.[9]Leclerc, known by the multitude of his works; l’abbé Bannier, Warburton, etc.[10]De Dignit. et Increment. Scient.,l. ii., c.13. Court de Gébelin cites Chancellor Bacon as one of the first defenders of allegory. (Génie allég.)[11]Pausanias,l. iii., p.93.[12]Acron,InEpist. Horat., i., 2.Certain authors say that Penelope had conceived this son when Mercury disguised as a goat had forced her virginity. (Lucian,Dialog. Deor.,t. i., p.176.)[13]Héraclides, entre les petits mythologues.[14]Geogr., l. i.[15]Antiq. rom., l. ii.[16]In his book entitled Περὶ τῆς τῶν θεῶν φύσεως,ch.17.[17]In his book entitled Περὶ θεῶν καὶ κόσμον,ch.3. Court de Gébelin cites these works. (Génie allég.)[18]Præp. Evang., l. iii., c.1.[19]Court de Gébelin,Génie allég., p.149.[20]Strabo positively assures it. See Bannier,Mythol., ii., p.252.[21]Bailly,Essai sur les Fables,ch.14. Pausanias,l. ix., p.302.[22]Poetry, in Greek ποίησις, derived from the Phœnician פאה (phohe), mouth, voice, language, discourse; and from יש (ish), a superior being, a principle being, figuratively God. This last word, spread throughout Europe, is found with certain change of vowels and of aspirates, very common in the Oriental dialects; in the Etruscan Æs,Æsar, in the Gallic Æs, in the BasqueAs, and in the ScandinavianAse; the Copts still sayOs, the lord, and the Greeks have preserved it in Αἶσα, the immutable Being, Destiny, and in ἄζω, I adore, and ἀξιόω, I revere.Thrace, in Greek θρᾴκη, derived from the Phœnician רקיע (rakiwha), which signifies theethereal space, or, as one translates the Hebrew word which corresponds to it, thefirmament. This word is preceded in the Dorian θρακιᾴ, by the letter θ,th, a kind of article which the Oriental grammarians range among thehémantiqueletters placed at the beginning of words to modify the sense, or to render it more emphatic.Olen, in Greek ὤλεν, is derived from the Phœnician עולן (whôlon), and is applied in the greater part of the Oriental dialects to all that which is infinite, eternal, universal, whether in time or space. I ought to mention as an interesting thing and but little known by mythologists, that it is from the word אפ (aborap) joined to that ofwhôlon, that one formedap-whôlon, Apollon; namely, the Father universal, infinite, eternal. This is why the invention of Poetry is attributed to Olen or to Apollo. It is the same mythological personage represented by the sun. According to an ancient tradition, Olen was native of Lycia, that is to say, of the light; for this is the meaning of the Greek word λύκη.[23]Strabo has judiciously observed that in Greece all the technical words were foreign. ((Voyez)Bailly,Essai sur les Fables,ch.14,p.136.)[24]The Getæ, in Greek Γέται, were, according to Ælius Spartianus, and according to the author ofle Monde primitif(t. ix., p.49), the same peoples as the Goths. Their country called Getæ, which should be pronouncedGhœtie, comes from the wordGoth, which signifies God in most of the idioms of the north of Europe. The name of the Dacians is only a softening of that of the Thracians in a different dialect.Mœsia, in Greek Μοίσια, is, in Phœnician, the interpretation of the name given to Thrace. The latter means, as we have seen,ethereal space, and the former signifiesdivine abode, being composed from the word א׳ש (aïsh), whose rendering I have already given, before which is found placed the letter מ (M), one of the(hémantiques), which according to the best grammarians serves to express the proper place, the means, the local manifestation of a thing.[25](Voyez)Court de Gébelin,Monde primitif,t. ix., p.49.[26]This mountain was called Kô-Kajôn, according to d’Anville. This learned geographer has clearly seen that this name was the same as that of Caucasus, a generic name given to all the sacred mountains. It is known thatCaucasuswas for the Persians, what Mount Merou had been for the Indians and what Mount Parnassus became afterwards for the Greeks, the central place of their cult. The Tibetans have also their sacred mountain distinct from that of the Indians, upon which still resides the God-Priest, or immortal Man, similar to that of the Getæ. (Mém. de l’Acad. des Inscript., t. xxv., p.45.)[27]Bailly,Essai sur les Fables,ch.14. Conférez avec Hérodote,l. iv.; et Pausanias,l. ix., p.302,l. x., p.320.[28]Dionysus, in Greek Διονύσος, comes from the word Διός, irregular genitive of Ζεύς, the living God, and of Νόος, mind or understanding. The Phœnician roots of these words are אש, יש, or איש (ash,ish, oraïsh), Unique Being, and נו (nô) the motive principle, the movement. These two roots, contracted, form the wordNôos, which signifies literally the principle of being, and figuratively, the understanding.Demeter, in Greek Δημήτερ, comes from the ancient Greek Δημ,the earth, united to the word μήτερ,mother. The Phœnician roots are דמ (dam) and מט (môt), the former expressing all that which is formed by aggregation of similar parts; and the latter, all that which varies the form and gives it generative movement.[29]Bailly,Essai sur les Fables,ch.15. Court de Gébelin expressly says, that the sacred mountain of Thrace was consecrated to Bacchus.(Monde prim.), t. ix., p.49. Now, it is generally known that Parnassus of the Greeks was consecrated to Apollo.[30]Theog., v.500.[31]The Greek word Θρᾴκη, Thrace, in passing into the Ionian dialect Θρῄξ, has furnished the following expressions: θρῆσκος, a devotee, θρησκεία, devotion, θρησκηύω, I adore with devotion. These words, diverted from their real sense and used ironically after the cult of Thrace had yielded to that of Delphi, were applied to ideas of superstition and even of fanaticism. The point of considering the Thracians as schismatics was even reached, and the word ἐθελοθρησκεία composed to express a heresy, a cult particular to those who practised it, and separated from orthodoxy.[32]Œtolinos is composed, by contraction, of two words which appear to belong to one of the Thracian dialects.Œto-Kyrossignifies the ruling sun, among the Scythians, according to Herodotus (l. iv., 59).Helenasignified the moon, among the Dorians. It is from this last word, deprived of its articlehe, that the Latins have madeLuna.[33]Court de Gébelin,Monde primit., t. viii., p.190. Pausanias,l. x.Conférez avecÆschyl.In Choephori,v.1036;Eurip.,In Orest., v.1330;Plat.,De Rep., l. iv., etc.[34]Plut.,De Music.Tzetzes,Chiliads,vii.;Hist., 108.[35]Amphion, in Greek Ἀμφίων, comes from the Phœnician words אמ (am), a mother-nation, a metropolis, פי (phi), a mouth, a voice, and יון (Jôn), Greece. Thence the Greeks have derived Ὀμφή, amother-voice, that is, orthodox, legal, upon which all should be regulated.Thamyris, in Greek Θάμυρις, is composed of the Phœnician words תאמ (tham), twin, אור (aur), light, יש (ish), of the being.[36]Plut.,De Music.[37]Diod. Sicul., l. iii., 35.Pausan.,In Bœot., p.585.[38]Bibliotheca Græca,p.4.[39]Duhalde,t. iv.,in-fol., p.65. These Tartars had no idea of poetry before their conquest of China; also they imagined that it was only in China where the rules of this science had been formulated, and that the rest of the world resembled them.[40]Kien-long, one of the descendants of Kang-hi, has made good verse in Chinese. This prince has composed an historical poem on the conquest of the Eleuth, orOlothpeople, who, after having been a long time tributary to China, revolted. (Mém. concernant les Chin., t. i., p.329.)[41]The commencement of the Indian Kali-youg is placed 3101 or 3102 years before our era. Fréret has fixed it, in his chronological researches, at January 16, 3102, a half hour before the winter solstice, in the colure of which was then found the first star of Aries. The Brahmans say that this age of darkness and uncleanness must endure 432,000 years.Kalisignifies in Sanskrit, all that which is black, shadowy, material, bad. From there, the Latin wordcaligo; and the French word(galimatias); the last part of this word comes from the Greek word μῦθος, a discourse, which is itself derived from the Phœnician מוט (motormyt), which expresses all that moves, stirs up; a motion, a word, etc.[42]Asiat. Research., t. ii., p.140. The Brahmans say that their imperial dynasties, pontifical as well as laic, or solar and lunar, became extinguished a thousand years after the beginning of theKali-youg, about 2000B.C.It was at this epoch that India was divided into many independent sovereignties and that a powerful reformer of the cult appeared in Magadha, who took the surname ofBuddha.[43]Herod., l. ii.This historian said that in the early times all Egypt was a morass, with the exception of the country of Thebes; that nothing was seen of the land, which one saw there at the epoch in which he was writing, beyond Lake Mœris; and that going up the river, during a seven days’ journey, all seemed a vast sea. This same writer said in the beginning of booki., and this is very remarkable, that the Phœnicians had entered from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean, to establish themselves upon its shores, which they would have been unable to do if the Isthmus of Suez had existed. See what Aristotle says on this subject,Meteorolog., l. i., c.14.[44]Asiat. Research., t. iii., p.321. The excerpts that Wilford has made from thePourana, entitledScanda, the God of War, prove that thePalis, called Philistines, on account of their same country,Palis-sthan, going out from India, established themselves upon the Persian Gulf and, under the name of Phœnicians, came afterwards along the coast of Yemen, on the borders of the Red Sea, whence they passed into the Mediterranean Sea, as Herodotus said, according to the Persian traditions. This coincidence is of great historical interest.[45]Niebuhr,Descript. de l’Arab., p.164. Two powerful tribes became divided in Arabia at this epoch: that of the Himyarites, who possessed the meridional part, or Yemen, and that of the Koreishites, who occupied the septentrional part, or Hejaz. The capital of the Himyarites was calledDhofar; their kings took the title ofTobbaand enjoyed an hereditary power. The Koreishites possessed the sacred city of Arabia, Mecca, where was found the ancient temple still venerated today by the Mussulmans.[46]Asiat. Research.,t. iii., p.ii.[47]Diodorus Siculus,l. ii., 12. Strabo,l. xvi.Suidas,art.Semiramis.[48]Phot.,Cod., 44.Ex. Diodor., l. xl. Syncell., p.61.Joseph.,Contr. Apion.[49]Hérod., l. ii.Diod. Siculus, l. i., §2.[50]Diodor. Sicul., l. i., §2. Delille-de-Salles,Hist. des Homm., Egypte,t. iii., p.178.[51]Plat., inTim. Dial.Theopomp.apudEuseb.,Præp. Evan., l. x., c. 10.Diod. Sicul., l. i.,initio.[52]Diodor. Sicul., l. i.,initio.[53]Pausan.,Bœot., p.768.[54]This word is Egyptian and Phœnician alike. It is composed of the words אור (aur), light, and רפא (rophœ), cure, salvation.[55]Eurydice, in Greek Εὐρυδίκη, comes from the Phœnician words ראה (rohe), vision, clearness, evidence, and דך (dich), that which demonstrates or teaches: these two words are preceded by the Greek adverb εὖ, which expresses all that is good, happy, and perfect in its kind.[56]Plat.,In Phædon.Ibid.,In Panegyr.Aristot.,Rhet., l. ii., c.24.Isocr.,Paneg.Cicero,De Leg., l. ii.Plutar.,De Isid.Paus.,In Phoc., etc.[57]Théodoret,Therapeut.[58]Philo,De Vitâ Mosis,l. i.[59]Jamblic.,De Vitâ Pythag., c.2.Apul.,Florid.,ii.Diog. Laërt., l. viii.[60]Voyage du jeune Anacharsis,t. i.,Introd., p.7.[61]Meurs.,De Relig. Athen.,l. i., c.9.[62]Apollon., l. iii., p.237.[63]Hygin.,Fabl., 143.[64]Pausan.,Arcad., p.266, 268, etc.[65]Strabo,l. x;Meurs.,Eleus., c.21et seq.;Paus.,Ath.,c.28;Fulgent.,Myth., l. i.;Philostr.,In Apollon., l. ii.; Athen.,l. xi.;Procl.,InTim. Comment.,l. v.[66]Euseb.,Præp. Evang., l. xiii., c.12.[67]The unity of God is taught in an Orphic hymn of which Justin, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyril, and Theodore have preserved fragments. (Orphei Hymn. Edente Eschenbach.,p.242.)[68]Clem. Alex.,Admon. ad Gent.,p.48;ibid.,Strom., l. v., p.607.[69]Apoll.,Arg.,l. i.,v.496;Clem. Alex.,Strom.,l. iv., p.475.[70]Thimothée, cité par Bannier,Mythol., i., p.104.[71]Macrobius,Somm. Scip.,l. i., c.12.[72]Eurip.,Hippol., v.948.[73]Plat.,De Leg., l. vi.;Jambl.,De Vitâ Pythag.[74]Acad. des Insc., t. v., p.117.[75]Procl.,In Tim., l. v., p.330; Cicero,Somm. Scip., c.2, 3, 4, 6.[76]Montesquieu and Buffon have been the greatest adversaries of poetry, they were very eloquent in prose; but that does not prevent one from applying to them, as did Voltaire, the words of Montaigne: “We cannot attain it, let us avenge ourselves by slandering it.”[77]Horat.,De Arte poét.;Strab., l. x.[78]Origen,Contr. Cels.,l. i., p.12; Dacier,Vie de Pythagore.[79]Ἱερὸς λόγος.[80]Θρονισμοὶ μητρῶοι.[81]Fabric.,Bibl. græc., p.120, 129.[82]Apollon,Argon.,l. i., v.496.[83]Plutar.,De Placit. philos., c.13;Euseb.,Præp. Evang., l. xv., c.30; Stobeus,Eclog.phys., 54. Proclus quotes the verses of Orpheus on this subject,InTim.,l. iv., p.283. VoyezLa Biblioth. græc.de Fabricius,p.132.[84]Fabric.,Bibliot. græc., p.4, 22, 26, 30, etc.;Voyag. d’Anach.,ch.80.[85]From the Greek word κύκλος: as one would saycircuit, the circular envelopment of a thing.[86]Court de Gébelin,Gén. allég., p.119.[87]Casaubon,In Athen.,p.301;Fabric.,Bibl. græc.l. i., c.17;Voyag. d’Anach.,ch.80; Proclus, cité par Court de Gébelin,ibid.[88]Arist.,DePoët., c.8, 16, 25, etc.[89]It is needless for me to observe that the birthplace of Homer has been the object of a host of discussions as much among the ancients as among the moderns. My plan here is not to put down again(en problème), nor to examine anew the things which have been a hundred times discussed and that I have sufficiently examined. I have chosen, from the midst of all the divergent opinions born of these discussions, that which has appeared to me the most probable, which agrees best with known facts, and which is connected better with the analytical thread of my ideas. I advise my readers to do the same. It is neither the birthplace of Homer nor the name of his parents that is the important matter: it is his genius that must be fathomed. Those who would, however, satisfy their curiosity regarding these subjects foreign to my researches, will find inLa Bibliothèque grecque de Fabricius, and in the book by Léon Allatius entitledDe Patriâ Homeri, enough material for all the systems they may wish to build. They will find there twenty-six different locations wherein they can, at their pleasure, place the cradle of the poet. The seven most famous places indicated in a Greek verse by Aulus Gellius are, Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, and Athens. The nineteen indicated by divers authors, are Pylos, Chios, Cyprus, Clazomenæ, Babylon, Cumæ, Egypt, Italy, Crete, Ithaca, Mycenæ, Phrygia, Mæonia, Lucania, Lydia, Syria, Thessaly, and finally Troy, and even Rome.However, the tradition which I have followed, in considering Homer as born not far from Smyrna, upon the borders of the river Meles, is not only the most probable but the most generally followed; it has in its favour Pindar; the first anonymous Life of Homer; the Life of this poet by Proclus; Cicero, in his oration for Archias; Eustathius in hisProlégoménes sur l’Iliade; Aristotle,Poétique,l. iii.; Aulus Gellius, Martial, and Suidas. It is known that Smyrna, jealous of consecrating the glory that it attributed to itself, of having given birth to Homer, erected to this great genius a temple with quadrangular portico, and showed for a long time, near the source of the Meles, a grotto, where a contemporaneous tradition supposes that he had composed his first works.VoyezLa Vie d’Homère, par Delille-de-Sales,p.49, et les ouvrages qu’il cite:Voyage de Chandeler,t. i., p.162, etVoyages pittoresques de Choiseul-Gouffier,p.200.[90]Hérod., l. v., 42;Thucyd., l. i., 12.[91]Marbres de Paros,Epoq.28;Hérod., l. i., 142, 145, 149;Plat.,De Leg., l. v.;Strab., l. xiv.;Pausan., l. vii., 2;Ælian.,Var. Histor., l. viii., c.5;Sainte-Croix,De l’état des Colon, desanc.Peuples,p.65; Bourgainville,Dissert. sur les Métrop. et les Colon.,p.18; Spanheim,Præst., num.p.580.[92]Bible,Chron. ii., ch.12(etsuiv.)[93]Ibid.,Chron. ii., ch.32 et 36.[94]Pausanias,passim.[95]Strab., l. xiv.;Polyb., l. v.;Aulu-Gell.,l. vii., c.3;Meurs.,In Rhod.,l. i., c.18 et 21;Hist. univ. des Anglais, in-8ᵒ, t. ii., p.493.[96]Diod. Sicul., l. i., 2.[97]In Phœnician מלך־אתע (Melich-ærtz), in Greek Μελικέρτης: a name given to the Divinity whom the Thracians calledHercules, the Lord of the Universe: from הרר or שרר (harrorshar), excellence, dominance, sovereignty; and כל (col.), All. Notice that the Teutonic roots are not very different from the Phœnician:Herrsignifies lord, andalles, all; so thatHerr-allesis, with the exception of the guttural inflection which is effaced, the same word as that ofHercules, used by the Thracians and the Etruscans. The Greeks have made a transposition of letters in Ἡρακλῆς (Heracles) so as to evade the guttural harshness without entirely losing it.[98]Goguet,Origine des Lois et des Arts,t. i., p.359.[99](Voyez)Epiphane,Hæres,xxvi.,(et conférez avec)Beausobre,Hist. du Manich.,t. ii., p.328.[100]I have followed the tradition most analogous to the development of my ideas; but I am aware that, upon this point, as upon many others, I have only to choose. The historic fact, in that which relates to the sacerdotal archives which Homer consulted in composing his poems, is everywhere the same(au fond); but the accessory details vary greatly according to the writers who relate them. For example, one reads in a small fragment attributed to Antipater of Sidon and preserved in Greece Anthology, that Homer, born at Thebes in Egypt, drew his epic subjects from the archives of the temple of Isis; from another source, PtolemyEphestion, cited by Photius, that the Greek poet had received from a priest of Memphis, namedThamitès, the original writings of an inspired damsel, namedPhancy. Strabo, without mentioning any place in particular, said in general, speaking of the long journeys of Homer, that this poet went everywhere to consult the religious archives and the oracles preserved in the temples; and Diodorus of Sicily gives evidence sometimes that he borrowed many things from a sibyl by the name ofManto, daughter of Tiresias; and sometimes that he appropriated the verse of a pythoness of Delphi, named Daphne. All these contradictory details prove, in reality, the truth; for whether it be from Thebes, Memphis, Tyre, Delphi, or elsewhere that Homer drew the subject of his chants, matters not with the subject which occupies me: the important point, serving as proof of my assertions, is, that they have been, in fact, drawn from a sanctuary; and what has determined me to choose Tyre rather than Thebes or Memphis, is that Tyre was the first mother city of Greece.[101]I have said in the above that the name ofHelenaorSelenawas that of the moon in Greek. The root of this word is alike Celtic and Phœnician. One finds it in Teutonichell, which signifies clear, luminous, and in Hebrew הלל (hêll), which contains the same sense of splendour, glory, and elevation. One still says in Germanheilig, holy, andselig, blessed; alsoselle, soul, andsellen, souls. And this is worthy of the closest attention, particularly when one reflects that, following the doctrine of the ancients, the moonhelenêorselenêwas regarded as the reservoir of the souls of those who descend from heaven to pass into bodies by means of generation, and, purged by the fire of life, escape from earth to ascend to heaven. See, concerning this doctrine, Plutarch (De Facie inOrb. Lun.), and confer with Beausobre (Histoire duManich.,t, ii., p.311). The name ofParis, in Greek Πάρις, comes from the Phœnician words בר or פר (barorphar), all generation, propagation, extension, and יש (ish), the Being-principle.The name ofMenelaus, in Greek Μενέλαος, comes from the Phœnician words מן (men), all that which determines, regulates, or defines a thing, properly, therational faculty, the reason, the measure, in Latinmens,mensura; and אוש (aôsh), the Being-principle acting, before which is placed the prefix ל (l), to express the genitive case, in this manner, מנה־ל־אוש (meneh-l-aôsh), the rational faculty or regulator of the being in general, and man in particular: for אש, אוש, אש, איש (ash,aôsh,ish,aîsh), signifies equallyfire,principle,being, andman. The etymology of these three words can, as one sees, throw great light upon the fable of theIliad. Here is another remarkable point on this subject. Homer has never used, to designate the Greeks, the name ofHellenes, that is to say, the respondents, or the lunars: it was in his time quite a new name, which the confederated Greeks had taken to resist foreign attack; it is only in theOdyssey, and when he is already old, that he employs the nameHellasto designate Greece. The name which he gives constantly to this country, is that of Achaia (Ἀχαΐα), and he opposes it to that of Troy (Τρωία): now, Achaia signifies the strong, the igneous, the spiritual; andTroy, the terrestrial, the gross. The Phœnician roots are הוי (ehôi), the exhaling force of fire, and טרו (trô) the balancing power of the earth. Refer, in this regard, to Court de Gébelin (Mond. prim.,t. vi., p.64). Pomponius Sabinus, in hisCommentaires sur l’Enéïde, said that the name of the city of Troy signified a sow, and he adds that the Trojans had for an ensign a sow embroidered in gold.As to the wordIlion, which was the sacred name of Troy, it is very easy to recognize the name of the material principle, called ὕλη (ulè) by the Greeks andylisby the Egyptians. Iamblichus speaks of it at great length in hisBook on the Mysteries(§7), as the principle from which all has birth: this was also the opinion of Porphyry (Euseb.,Præp. Evang., l. ix., c.9 and 11).[102]Metrodorus of Lampsacus cited by Tatian (Adver. Gent.,§37). Plato,InAlcibiad.,ii., Cronius, Porphyry, Phurnutus, Iamblichus, cited by Court de Gébelin,(Génie allég.),p.36, 43; Plato,In Ion.; Cicero,De Natur. Deor., l. ii.; Strabo,l. i.; Origen,Contr. Cels.Among the moderns can be counted Bacon, Blackwell, Basnage, Bergier, and Court de Gébelin himself, who has given a list of eighty writers who have this opinion.[103]Dionys. Halic.,DeComp. verb.,t. v., c.16, 26; Quintil.,l. x., c.1;Longin.,DeSublim.,c.13; Ælian.,Var. Hist., l. viii., c.2;Plat.,Alcibiad., i.[104]Plat.,In VitâLycurg.[105]Allat.,De Patr. Homer., c.5;Meurs.,In Pisist., c.9 et 12;Plat.,InHipparc.[106]Senec.,Epist., 117.[107]Ibidem, 88.[108]Dionys. Halic.,In Vitâ Homer.;Eustath.,In Iliad,l. i.[109]Strabo,l. xiv., p.646.[110]Arist.,De Poët., c. 2, cit. par Barth.,Voyag. d’Anach., t. vii., c. 80, p. 44.[111]The wordEpopœiais taken from the Greek ἐπο-ποιός which designates alike a poet and an epic poem. It is derived from the Phœnician words אפא (apho) an impassioned transport, a vortex, an impulse, an enthusiasm; and פאה (phohe), a mouth, a discourse. One can observe that the Latin wordversus, which is applied also to a thing which turns, which is borne along, and to a poetic verse, translates exactly the Greek word ἔπος, whose root אוף (aôph) expresses avortex. The Hebrew אופן (aôphon) signifies properly awheel.[112]See in the collection of Meibomius, Aristides, Quintilianus, and(LesMém. de l’Acad.des Belles-Lettres),t. v., p.152.[113]Voltaire,(Dict. philos.),art.RIME.[114]Refer to what I have already said in last footnotep.40.[115]Fréret said that the verses of the poet Eumelus engraven upon the arch of the Cypselidæ were thus represented.Voyez sa(Dissert.sur l’Art de l’Equitation). Il cite Pausanias,l. v., p.419.[116]Court de Gébelin,(Mond. primit.),t. ix., p.222. Conférez avec Aristotle,Poët.,p.20, 21, 22.[117]Plat.,Dial.Ion.[118]Plat.,ut suprà.[119]Ælian.,Var. Hist., l. xiii., c.14;Diog. Laërt.,In Solon.,l. i.,§57.[120]Plat.,InHipparc.; Pausan,l. vii., c.26;Cicer.,De Orat.,l. iii.[121]Eustath.,In Iliad.,l. i., p.145;l. ii., p.263.[122]Dionys. Halic.,DeComp. verb.,t. v., c.16 et 24;Quintil.,Instit.,l. x., c.1.[123]Athen.,l. xv., c.8;Aristot.,DePoët.,c.16; Ælian.,Var. Hist.,c.15.[124]Barthel.,(Voyag. d’Anarchar.),t. vii., ch.80,p.46, 52.[125]It can be seen that I have placed in the word Stesi[`c]horus, anaccent graveover the consonantc, and it will be noticed that I have used it thus with respect to many similar words. It is a habit I have contracted in writing, so as to distinguish, in this manner, the double consonantch, 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] inChio, [`c]hœur, [`c]horus,é[`c]ho, [`c]hlorose, [`c]hiragre, [`c]hronique, etc.; to indicate that these words should be pronouncedKhio,khœur,khorus,ékho,khlorose,khiragre,khronique, with the aspirate sound ofk, and not with that of the hissingc, as inChypre,chaume,échope,chaire, etc. This accentuation has appeared to me necessary, especially when one is obliged to transcribe in modern characters many foreign words which, lacking usage, one knows not, at first, how to pronounce. 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 pronounce with a different inflexion,A[`c]haïeandAchéen;AchilleandA[`c]hilleïde; Achêronanda[`c]hérontique;Bac[`c]husandbachique, etc.[126]Vossius,De Inst. poët.,l. iii., c.15;Aristot.,Rhet., l. ii., 23;Max. Tyr.Orat.,viii., p.86.[127]Ælian.,Var. Hist., l. xiii., c.14, Court de Gébelin,(Mond. prim.),t. viii., p.202.[128]Plat.,InTheæt.;ibid.,De Republ., l. x.;Arist.,De Poët., c.4, etc.[129]The name of Homeridæ, given at first to all the disciples of Homer, was afterwards usurped by certain inhabitants of Chios who called themselves his descendants (Strab., l. xiv.;Isocr.,Hellen. encom.). Also I should state here that the name of Homer, Ὅμηρος, 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 Phœnician word מרא (mœra), which signifies, properly speaking, a centre of light, and figuratively, a master, a doctor.[130]The surname Eumolpidæ, given to the hierophants, successors of Orpheus, comes from the word Εὔμολπος, by which is designated the style of poetry of this divine man. It signifiesthe perfect voice. It is derived from the Phœnician words מלא (mola), perfected, and פאה (phoh), mouth, voice, discourse. The adverb ἔυ, which precedes it, expresses whatever is beautiful, holy, perfect.[131]Fabric.,Bibl. Græc., p.36, 105, 240, 469,passim;Arist.,Probl., xix., 28;Meurs.,Bibl. Græc.,c. i.[132]Arist.,De Poët., c.8.[133]Porphyre,In Vitâ Pythagor., p.21;Clem. Alex., l. vi., p.658; Plato,De Leg., l. iii.;Plutar.,De Music., p.1141; Poll.,l. ii., c.9.[134]I have placed the epoch of Orpheus, which coincides with that of the arrival of the Egyptian colony conducted into Greece by Cecrops, at 1582 B.C., according to the marbles of Paros.[135]Schol.Aristoph.,In Nub.,v.295.[136]Athen.,l. ii., c.3.[137]Voyez(L’Hist.du Théâtre Français)de Fontenelle. Voici les titres des premières pièces représentées dans le cours duXIVᵉsiècle:(L’Assomption de la glorieuse Vierge Marie), mystère à 38 personnages;(Le Mystère de la Sainte Hostie), à 26 personn.;(Le Mystère de MonseigneurS.Pierre etS.Paul), à 100 personn.;(Les Mystères de la Conception de la Passion, de la Résurrection de Notre SeigneurJ. C.); etc.[138]SeeAsiatic Researches,v. iii., p.427-431, and 465-467. AlsoGrammar of the Bengal Language, preface,p. v.[139]SeeInteresting Historical Events, by Holwell,ch.7.[140]Aristot.,Probl., 15,c.19;Pausan.,l. i., c.7.[141]SeeAsiatic Researches,vol. vi., p.300-308.[142]Rama is, in Sanskrit, the name of that which is dazzling, elevated, white, sublime, protective, beautiful, excellent. This word has exactly the same sense in the Phœnician רמ (ram). Its primitive root, which is universalized by thehémantiqueletter מ (m), is רא (ra), which has reference to the harmonic movement of good, of light, and of sight. The name of the adversary of Rama,Rawhan, is formed from the root רע (rawh) which expresses, on the contrary, the disordered movement of evil and of fire, and which, becoming united with the augmentative syllable ון (ôn), depicts whatever ravages and ruins; this is the signification which it has in Sanskrit.[143]From the word רמא (rama) is formed in Phœnician the word דרמא (drama) by the adjunction of the demonstrative article ד (d’); that is to say, a thing which comes from Rama: an action well ordered, beautiful, sublime, etc. Notice that the Greek verb δραεῖν,to act, whence is drawn very inappropriately the word δρᾶμα, is always attached to the same root רא (ra) which is that of harmonic movement.
[1]Addressé à la Classe de la Langue et de la Littérature françaises, et à celle d’Histoire et de Littérature ancienne de l’Institut impérial de France.
[2]This expression will be explained in the progress of the discourse.
[3]De Dignit. et Increment. Scient.,l. ii., c.13.
[4]Ibid.,l. ii., c.1.
[5]Ibid.,l. vi., c.1.
[6]Plat.,Dial.Ion. Aristotle, who was often opposed to Plato, did not dare to be on this point. He agrees that verse alone does not constitute poetry, and that the History of Herodotus, put into verse, would never be other than history.
[7]Ibid.
[8]De Dignit. et Increment. Scient.,l. ii., c.13.
[9]Leclerc, known by the multitude of his works; l’abbé Bannier, Warburton, etc.
[10]De Dignit. et Increment. Scient.,l. ii., c.13. Court de Gébelin cites Chancellor Bacon as one of the first defenders of allegory. (Génie allég.)
[11]Pausanias,l. iii., p.93.
[12]Acron,InEpist. Horat., i., 2.Certain authors say that Penelope had conceived this son when Mercury disguised as a goat had forced her virginity. (Lucian,Dialog. Deor.,t. i., p.176.)
[13]Héraclides, entre les petits mythologues.
[14]Geogr., l. i.
[15]Antiq. rom., l. ii.
[16]In his book entitled Περὶ τῆς τῶν θεῶν φύσεως,ch.17.
[17]In his book entitled Περὶ θεῶν καὶ κόσμον,ch.3. Court de Gébelin cites these works. (Génie allég.)
[18]Præp. Evang., l. iii., c.1.
[19]Court de Gébelin,Génie allég., p.149.
[20]Strabo positively assures it. See Bannier,Mythol., ii., p.252.
[21]Bailly,Essai sur les Fables,ch.14. Pausanias,l. ix., p.302.
[22]Poetry, in Greek ποίησις, derived from the Phœnician פאה (phohe), mouth, voice, language, discourse; and from יש (ish), a superior being, a principle being, figuratively God. This last word, spread throughout Europe, is found with certain change of vowels and of aspirates, very common in the Oriental dialects; in the Etruscan Æs,Æsar, in the Gallic Æs, in the BasqueAs, and in the ScandinavianAse; the Copts still sayOs, the lord, and the Greeks have preserved it in Αἶσα, the immutable Being, Destiny, and in ἄζω, I adore, and ἀξιόω, I revere.
Thrace, in Greek θρᾴκη, derived from the Phœnician רקיע (rakiwha), which signifies theethereal space, or, as one translates the Hebrew word which corresponds to it, thefirmament. This word is preceded in the Dorian θρακιᾴ, by the letter θ,th, a kind of article which the Oriental grammarians range among thehémantiqueletters placed at the beginning of words to modify the sense, or to render it more emphatic.
Olen, in Greek ὤλεν, is derived from the Phœnician עולן (whôlon), and is applied in the greater part of the Oriental dialects to all that which is infinite, eternal, universal, whether in time or space. I ought to mention as an interesting thing and but little known by mythologists, that it is from the word אפ (aborap) joined to that ofwhôlon, that one formedap-whôlon, Apollon; namely, the Father universal, infinite, eternal. This is why the invention of Poetry is attributed to Olen or to Apollo. It is the same mythological personage represented by the sun. According to an ancient tradition, Olen was native of Lycia, that is to say, of the light; for this is the meaning of the Greek word λύκη.
[23]Strabo has judiciously observed that in Greece all the technical words were foreign. ((Voyez)Bailly,Essai sur les Fables,ch.14,p.136.)
[24]The Getæ, in Greek Γέται, were, according to Ælius Spartianus, and according to the author ofle Monde primitif(t. ix., p.49), the same peoples as the Goths. Their country called Getæ, which should be pronouncedGhœtie, comes from the wordGoth, which signifies God in most of the idioms of the north of Europe. The name of the Dacians is only a softening of that of the Thracians in a different dialect.
Mœsia, in Greek Μοίσια, is, in Phœnician, the interpretation of the name given to Thrace. The latter means, as we have seen,ethereal space, and the former signifiesdivine abode, being composed from the word א׳ש (aïsh), whose rendering I have already given, before which is found placed the letter מ (M), one of the(hémantiques), which according to the best grammarians serves to express the proper place, the means, the local manifestation of a thing.
[25](Voyez)Court de Gébelin,Monde primitif,t. ix., p.49.
[26]This mountain was called Kô-Kajôn, according to d’Anville. This learned geographer has clearly seen that this name was the same as that of Caucasus, a generic name given to all the sacred mountains. It is known thatCaucasuswas for the Persians, what Mount Merou had been for the Indians and what Mount Parnassus became afterwards for the Greeks, the central place of their cult. The Tibetans have also their sacred mountain distinct from that of the Indians, upon which still resides the God-Priest, or immortal Man, similar to that of the Getæ. (Mém. de l’Acad. des Inscript., t. xxv., p.45.)
[27]Bailly,Essai sur les Fables,ch.14. Conférez avec Hérodote,l. iv.; et Pausanias,l. ix., p.302,l. x., p.320.
[28]Dionysus, in Greek Διονύσος, comes from the word Διός, irregular genitive of Ζεύς, the living God, and of Νόος, mind or understanding. The Phœnician roots of these words are אש, יש, or איש (ash,ish, oraïsh), Unique Being, and נו (nô) the motive principle, the movement. These two roots, contracted, form the wordNôos, which signifies literally the principle of being, and figuratively, the understanding.
Demeter, in Greek Δημήτερ, comes from the ancient Greek Δημ,the earth, united to the word μήτερ,mother. The Phœnician roots are דמ (dam) and מט (môt), the former expressing all that which is formed by aggregation of similar parts; and the latter, all that which varies the form and gives it generative movement.
[29]Bailly,Essai sur les Fables,ch.15. Court de Gébelin expressly says, that the sacred mountain of Thrace was consecrated to Bacchus.(Monde prim.), t. ix., p.49. Now, it is generally known that Parnassus of the Greeks was consecrated to Apollo.
[30]Theog., v.500.
[31]The Greek word Θρᾴκη, Thrace, in passing into the Ionian dialect Θρῄξ, has furnished the following expressions: θρῆσκος, a devotee, θρησκεία, devotion, θρησκηύω, I adore with devotion. These words, diverted from their real sense and used ironically after the cult of Thrace had yielded to that of Delphi, were applied to ideas of superstition and even of fanaticism. The point of considering the Thracians as schismatics was even reached, and the word ἐθελοθρησκεία composed to express a heresy, a cult particular to those who practised it, and separated from orthodoxy.
[32]Œtolinos is composed, by contraction, of two words which appear to belong to one of the Thracian dialects.Œto-Kyrossignifies the ruling sun, among the Scythians, according to Herodotus (l. iv., 59).Helenasignified the moon, among the Dorians. It is from this last word, deprived of its articlehe, that the Latins have madeLuna.
[33]Court de Gébelin,Monde primit., t. viii., p.190. Pausanias,l. x.Conférez avecÆschyl.In Choephori,v.1036;Eurip.,In Orest., v.1330;Plat.,De Rep., l. iv., etc.
[34]Plut.,De Music.Tzetzes,Chiliads,vii.;Hist., 108.
[35]Amphion, in Greek Ἀμφίων, comes from the Phœnician words אמ (am), a mother-nation, a metropolis, פי (phi), a mouth, a voice, and יון (Jôn), Greece. Thence the Greeks have derived Ὀμφή, amother-voice, that is, orthodox, legal, upon which all should be regulated.
Thamyris, in Greek Θάμυρις, is composed of the Phœnician words תאמ (tham), twin, אור (aur), light, יש (ish), of the being.
[36]Plut.,De Music.
[37]Diod. Sicul., l. iii., 35.Pausan.,In Bœot., p.585.
[38]Bibliotheca Græca,p.4.
[39]Duhalde,t. iv.,in-fol., p.65. These Tartars had no idea of poetry before their conquest of China; also they imagined that it was only in China where the rules of this science had been formulated, and that the rest of the world resembled them.
[40]Kien-long, one of the descendants of Kang-hi, has made good verse in Chinese. This prince has composed an historical poem on the conquest of the Eleuth, orOlothpeople, who, after having been a long time tributary to China, revolted. (Mém. concernant les Chin., t. i., p.329.)
[41]The commencement of the Indian Kali-youg is placed 3101 or 3102 years before our era. Fréret has fixed it, in his chronological researches, at January 16, 3102, a half hour before the winter solstice, in the colure of which was then found the first star of Aries. The Brahmans say that this age of darkness and uncleanness must endure 432,000 years.Kalisignifies in Sanskrit, all that which is black, shadowy, material, bad. From there, the Latin wordcaligo; and the French word(galimatias); the last part of this word comes from the Greek word μῦθος, a discourse, which is itself derived from the Phœnician מוט (motormyt), which expresses all that moves, stirs up; a motion, a word, etc.
[42]Asiat. Research., t. ii., p.140. The Brahmans say that their imperial dynasties, pontifical as well as laic, or solar and lunar, became extinguished a thousand years after the beginning of theKali-youg, about 2000B.C.It was at this epoch that India was divided into many independent sovereignties and that a powerful reformer of the cult appeared in Magadha, who took the surname ofBuddha.
[43]Herod., l. ii.This historian said that in the early times all Egypt was a morass, with the exception of the country of Thebes; that nothing was seen of the land, which one saw there at the epoch in which he was writing, beyond Lake Mœris; and that going up the river, during a seven days’ journey, all seemed a vast sea. This same writer said in the beginning of booki., and this is very remarkable, that the Phœnicians had entered from the Red Sea into the Mediterranean, to establish themselves upon its shores, which they would have been unable to do if the Isthmus of Suez had existed. See what Aristotle says on this subject,Meteorolog., l. i., c.14.
[44]Asiat. Research., t. iii., p.321. The excerpts that Wilford has made from thePourana, entitledScanda, the God of War, prove that thePalis, called Philistines, on account of their same country,Palis-sthan, going out from India, established themselves upon the Persian Gulf and, under the name of Phœnicians, came afterwards along the coast of Yemen, on the borders of the Red Sea, whence they passed into the Mediterranean Sea, as Herodotus said, according to the Persian traditions. This coincidence is of great historical interest.
[45]Niebuhr,Descript. de l’Arab., p.164. Two powerful tribes became divided in Arabia at this epoch: that of the Himyarites, who possessed the meridional part, or Yemen, and that of the Koreishites, who occupied the septentrional part, or Hejaz. The capital of the Himyarites was calledDhofar; their kings took the title ofTobbaand enjoyed an hereditary power. The Koreishites possessed the sacred city of Arabia, Mecca, where was found the ancient temple still venerated today by the Mussulmans.
[46]Asiat. Research.,t. iii., p.ii.
[47]Diodorus Siculus,l. ii., 12. Strabo,l. xvi.Suidas,art.Semiramis.
[48]Phot.,Cod., 44.Ex. Diodor., l. xl. Syncell., p.61.Joseph.,Contr. Apion.
[49]Hérod., l. ii.Diod. Siculus, l. i., §2.
[50]Diodor. Sicul., l. i., §2. Delille-de-Salles,Hist. des Homm., Egypte,t. iii., p.178.
[51]Plat., inTim. Dial.Theopomp.apudEuseb.,Præp. Evan., l. x., c. 10.Diod. Sicul., l. i.,initio.
[52]Diodor. Sicul., l. i.,initio.
[53]Pausan.,Bœot., p.768.
[54]This word is Egyptian and Phœnician alike. It is composed of the words אור (aur), light, and רפא (rophœ), cure, salvation.
[55]Eurydice, in Greek Εὐρυδίκη, comes from the Phœnician words ראה (rohe), vision, clearness, evidence, and דך (dich), that which demonstrates or teaches: these two words are preceded by the Greek adverb εὖ, which expresses all that is good, happy, and perfect in its kind.
[56]Plat.,In Phædon.Ibid.,In Panegyr.Aristot.,Rhet., l. ii., c.24.Isocr.,Paneg.Cicero,De Leg., l. ii.Plutar.,De Isid.Paus.,In Phoc., etc.
[57]Théodoret,Therapeut.
[58]Philo,De Vitâ Mosis,l. i.
[59]Jamblic.,De Vitâ Pythag., c.2.Apul.,Florid.,ii.Diog. Laërt., l. viii.
[60]Voyage du jeune Anacharsis,t. i.,Introd., p.7.
[61]Meurs.,De Relig. Athen.,l. i., c.9.
[62]Apollon., l. iii., p.237.
[63]Hygin.,Fabl., 143.
[64]Pausan.,Arcad., p.266, 268, etc.
[65]Strabo,l. x;Meurs.,Eleus., c.21et seq.;Paus.,Ath.,c.28;Fulgent.,Myth., l. i.;Philostr.,In Apollon., l. ii.; Athen.,l. xi.;Procl.,InTim. Comment.,l. v.
[66]Euseb.,Præp. Evang., l. xiii., c.12.
[67]The unity of God is taught in an Orphic hymn of which Justin, Tatian, Clement of Alexandria, Cyril, and Theodore have preserved fragments. (Orphei Hymn. Edente Eschenbach.,p.242.)
[68]Clem. Alex.,Admon. ad Gent.,p.48;ibid.,Strom., l. v., p.607.
[69]Apoll.,Arg.,l. i.,v.496;Clem. Alex.,Strom.,l. iv., p.475.
[70]Thimothée, cité par Bannier,Mythol., i., p.104.
[71]Macrobius,Somm. Scip.,l. i., c.12.
[72]Eurip.,Hippol., v.948.
[73]Plat.,De Leg., l. vi.;Jambl.,De Vitâ Pythag.
[74]Acad. des Insc., t. v., p.117.
[75]Procl.,In Tim., l. v., p.330; Cicero,Somm. Scip., c.2, 3, 4, 6.
[76]Montesquieu and Buffon have been the greatest adversaries of poetry, they were very eloquent in prose; but that does not prevent one from applying to them, as did Voltaire, the words of Montaigne: “We cannot attain it, let us avenge ourselves by slandering it.”
[77]Horat.,De Arte poét.;Strab., l. x.
[78]Origen,Contr. Cels.,l. i., p.12; Dacier,Vie de Pythagore.
[79]Ἱερὸς λόγος.
[80]Θρονισμοὶ μητρῶοι.
[81]Fabric.,Bibl. græc., p.120, 129.
[82]Apollon,Argon.,l. i., v.496.
[83]Plutar.,De Placit. philos., c.13;Euseb.,Præp. Evang., l. xv., c.30; Stobeus,Eclog.phys., 54. Proclus quotes the verses of Orpheus on this subject,InTim.,l. iv., p.283. VoyezLa Biblioth. græc.de Fabricius,p.132.
[84]Fabric.,Bibliot. græc., p.4, 22, 26, 30, etc.;Voyag. d’Anach.,ch.80.
[85]From the Greek word κύκλος: as one would saycircuit, the circular envelopment of a thing.
[86]Court de Gébelin,Gén. allég., p.119.
[87]Casaubon,In Athen.,p.301;Fabric.,Bibl. græc.l. i., c.17;Voyag. d’Anach.,ch.80; Proclus, cité par Court de Gébelin,ibid.
[88]Arist.,DePoët., c.8, 16, 25, etc.
[89]It is needless for me to observe that the birthplace of Homer has been the object of a host of discussions as much among the ancients as among the moderns. My plan here is not to put down again(en problème), nor to examine anew the things which have been a hundred times discussed and that I have sufficiently examined. I have chosen, from the midst of all the divergent opinions born of these discussions, that which has appeared to me the most probable, which agrees best with known facts, and which is connected better with the analytical thread of my ideas. I advise my readers to do the same. It is neither the birthplace of Homer nor the name of his parents that is the important matter: it is his genius that must be fathomed. Those who would, however, satisfy their curiosity regarding these subjects foreign to my researches, will find inLa Bibliothèque grecque de Fabricius, and in the book by Léon Allatius entitledDe Patriâ Homeri, enough material for all the systems they may wish to build. They will find there twenty-six different locations wherein they can, at their pleasure, place the cradle of the poet. The seven most famous places indicated in a Greek verse by Aulus Gellius are, Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, and Athens. The nineteen indicated by divers authors, are Pylos, Chios, Cyprus, Clazomenæ, Babylon, Cumæ, Egypt, Italy, Crete, Ithaca, Mycenæ, Phrygia, Mæonia, Lucania, Lydia, Syria, Thessaly, and finally Troy, and even Rome.
However, the tradition which I have followed, in considering Homer as born not far from Smyrna, upon the borders of the river Meles, is not only the most probable but the most generally followed; it has in its favour Pindar; the first anonymous Life of Homer; the Life of this poet by Proclus; Cicero, in his oration for Archias; Eustathius in hisProlégoménes sur l’Iliade; Aristotle,Poétique,l. iii.; Aulus Gellius, Martial, and Suidas. It is known that Smyrna, jealous of consecrating the glory that it attributed to itself, of having given birth to Homer, erected to this great genius a temple with quadrangular portico, and showed for a long time, near the source of the Meles, a grotto, where a contemporaneous tradition supposes that he had composed his first works.VoyezLa Vie d’Homère, par Delille-de-Sales,p.49, et les ouvrages qu’il cite:Voyage de Chandeler,t. i., p.162, etVoyages pittoresques de Choiseul-Gouffier,p.200.
[90]Hérod., l. v., 42;Thucyd., l. i., 12.
[91]Marbres de Paros,Epoq.28;Hérod., l. i., 142, 145, 149;Plat.,De Leg., l. v.;Strab., l. xiv.;Pausan., l. vii., 2;Ælian.,Var. Histor., l. viii., c.5;Sainte-Croix,De l’état des Colon, desanc.Peuples,p.65; Bourgainville,Dissert. sur les Métrop. et les Colon.,p.18; Spanheim,Præst., num.p.580.
[92]Bible,Chron. ii., ch.12(etsuiv.)
[93]Ibid.,Chron. ii., ch.32 et 36.
[94]Pausanias,passim.
[95]Strab., l. xiv.;Polyb., l. v.;Aulu-Gell.,l. vii., c.3;Meurs.,In Rhod.,l. i., c.18 et 21;Hist. univ. des Anglais, in-8ᵒ, t. ii., p.493.
[96]Diod. Sicul., l. i., 2.
[97]In Phœnician מלך־אתע (Melich-ærtz), in Greek Μελικέρτης: a name given to the Divinity whom the Thracians calledHercules, the Lord of the Universe: from הרר or שרר (harrorshar), excellence, dominance, sovereignty; and כל (col.), All. Notice that the Teutonic roots are not very different from the Phœnician:Herrsignifies lord, andalles, all; so thatHerr-allesis, with the exception of the guttural inflection which is effaced, the same word as that ofHercules, used by the Thracians and the Etruscans. The Greeks have made a transposition of letters in Ἡρακλῆς (Heracles) so as to evade the guttural harshness without entirely losing it.
[98]Goguet,Origine des Lois et des Arts,t. i., p.359.
[99](Voyez)Epiphane,Hæres,xxvi.,(et conférez avec)Beausobre,Hist. du Manich.,t. ii., p.328.
[100]I have followed the tradition most analogous to the development of my ideas; but I am aware that, upon this point, as upon many others, I have only to choose. The historic fact, in that which relates to the sacerdotal archives which Homer consulted in composing his poems, is everywhere the same(au fond); but the accessory details vary greatly according to the writers who relate them. For example, one reads in a small fragment attributed to Antipater of Sidon and preserved in Greece Anthology, that Homer, born at Thebes in Egypt, drew his epic subjects from the archives of the temple of Isis; from another source, PtolemyEphestion, cited by Photius, that the Greek poet had received from a priest of Memphis, namedThamitès, the original writings of an inspired damsel, namedPhancy. Strabo, without mentioning any place in particular, said in general, speaking of the long journeys of Homer, that this poet went everywhere to consult the religious archives and the oracles preserved in the temples; and Diodorus of Sicily gives evidence sometimes that he borrowed many things from a sibyl by the name ofManto, daughter of Tiresias; and sometimes that he appropriated the verse of a pythoness of Delphi, named Daphne. All these contradictory details prove, in reality, the truth; for whether it be from Thebes, Memphis, Tyre, Delphi, or elsewhere that Homer drew the subject of his chants, matters not with the subject which occupies me: the important point, serving as proof of my assertions, is, that they have been, in fact, drawn from a sanctuary; and what has determined me to choose Tyre rather than Thebes or Memphis, is that Tyre was the first mother city of Greece.
[101]I have said in the above that the name ofHelenaorSelenawas that of the moon in Greek. The root of this word is alike Celtic and Phœnician. One finds it in Teutonichell, which signifies clear, luminous, and in Hebrew הלל (hêll), which contains the same sense of splendour, glory, and elevation. One still says in Germanheilig, holy, andselig, blessed; alsoselle, soul, andsellen, souls. And this is worthy of the closest attention, particularly when one reflects that, following the doctrine of the ancients, the moonhelenêorselenêwas regarded as the reservoir of the souls of those who descend from heaven to pass into bodies by means of generation, and, purged by the fire of life, escape from earth to ascend to heaven. See, concerning this doctrine, Plutarch (De Facie inOrb. Lun.), and confer with Beausobre (Histoire duManich.,t, ii., p.311). The name ofParis, in Greek Πάρις, comes from the Phœnician words בר or פר (barorphar), all generation, propagation, extension, and יש (ish), the Being-principle.
The name ofMenelaus, in Greek Μενέλαος, comes from the Phœnician words מן (men), all that which determines, regulates, or defines a thing, properly, therational faculty, the reason, the measure, in Latinmens,mensura; and אוש (aôsh), the Being-principle acting, before which is placed the prefix ל (l), to express the genitive case, in this manner, מנה־ל־אוש (meneh-l-aôsh), the rational faculty or regulator of the being in general, and man in particular: for אש, אוש, אש, איש (ash,aôsh,ish,aîsh), signifies equallyfire,principle,being, andman. The etymology of these three words can, as one sees, throw great light upon the fable of theIliad. Here is another remarkable point on this subject. Homer has never used, to designate the Greeks, the name ofHellenes, that is to say, the respondents, or the lunars: it was in his time quite a new name, which the confederated Greeks had taken to resist foreign attack; it is only in theOdyssey, and when he is already old, that he employs the nameHellasto designate Greece. The name which he gives constantly to this country, is that of Achaia (Ἀχαΐα), and he opposes it to that of Troy (Τρωία): now, Achaia signifies the strong, the igneous, the spiritual; andTroy, the terrestrial, the gross. The Phœnician roots are הוי (ehôi), the exhaling force of fire, and טרו (trô) the balancing power of the earth. Refer, in this regard, to Court de Gébelin (Mond. prim.,t. vi., p.64). Pomponius Sabinus, in hisCommentaires sur l’Enéïde, said that the name of the city of Troy signified a sow, and he adds that the Trojans had for an ensign a sow embroidered in gold.
As to the wordIlion, which was the sacred name of Troy, it is very easy to recognize the name of the material principle, called ὕλη (ulè) by the Greeks andylisby the Egyptians. Iamblichus speaks of it at great length in hisBook on the Mysteries(§7), as the principle from which all has birth: this was also the opinion of Porphyry (Euseb.,Præp. Evang., l. ix., c.9 and 11).
[102]Metrodorus of Lampsacus cited by Tatian (Adver. Gent.,§37). Plato,InAlcibiad.,ii., Cronius, Porphyry, Phurnutus, Iamblichus, cited by Court de Gébelin,(Génie allég.),p.36, 43; Plato,In Ion.; Cicero,De Natur. Deor., l. ii.; Strabo,l. i.; Origen,Contr. Cels.Among the moderns can be counted Bacon, Blackwell, Basnage, Bergier, and Court de Gébelin himself, who has given a list of eighty writers who have this opinion.
[103]Dionys. Halic.,DeComp. verb.,t. v., c.16, 26; Quintil.,l. x., c.1;Longin.,DeSublim.,c.13; Ælian.,Var. Hist., l. viii., c.2;Plat.,Alcibiad., i.
[104]Plat.,In VitâLycurg.
[105]Allat.,De Patr. Homer., c.5;Meurs.,In Pisist., c.9 et 12;Plat.,InHipparc.
[106]Senec.,Epist., 117.
[107]Ibidem, 88.
[108]Dionys. Halic.,In Vitâ Homer.;Eustath.,In Iliad,l. i.
[109]Strabo,l. xiv., p.646.
[110]Arist.,De Poët., c. 2, cit. par Barth.,Voyag. d’Anach., t. vii., c. 80, p. 44.
[111]The wordEpopœiais taken from the Greek ἐπο-ποιός which designates alike a poet and an epic poem. It is derived from the Phœnician words אפא (apho) an impassioned transport, a vortex, an impulse, an enthusiasm; and פאה (phohe), a mouth, a discourse. One can observe that the Latin wordversus, which is applied also to a thing which turns, which is borne along, and to a poetic verse, translates exactly the Greek word ἔπος, whose root אוף (aôph) expresses avortex. The Hebrew אופן (aôphon) signifies properly awheel.
[112]See in the collection of Meibomius, Aristides, Quintilianus, and(LesMém. de l’Acad.des Belles-Lettres),t. v., p.152.
[113]Voltaire,(Dict. philos.),art.RIME.
[114]Refer to what I have already said in last footnotep.40.
[115]Fréret said that the verses of the poet Eumelus engraven upon the arch of the Cypselidæ were thus represented.Voyez sa(Dissert.sur l’Art de l’Equitation). Il cite Pausanias,l. v., p.419.
[116]Court de Gébelin,(Mond. primit.),t. ix., p.222. Conférez avec Aristotle,Poët.,p.20, 21, 22.
[117]Plat.,Dial.Ion.
[118]Plat.,ut suprà.
[119]Ælian.,Var. Hist., l. xiii., c.14;Diog. Laërt.,In Solon.,l. i.,§57.
[120]Plat.,InHipparc.; Pausan,l. vii., c.26;Cicer.,De Orat.,l. iii.
[121]Eustath.,In Iliad.,l. i., p.145;l. ii., p.263.
[122]Dionys. Halic.,DeComp. verb.,t. v., c.16 et 24;Quintil.,Instit.,l. x., c.1.
[123]Athen.,l. xv., c.8;Aristot.,DePoët.,c.16; Ælian.,Var. Hist.,c.15.
[124]Barthel.,(Voyag. d’Anarchar.),t. vii., ch.80,p.46, 52.
[125]It can be seen that I have placed in the word Stesi[`c]horus, anaccent graveover the consonantc, and it will be noticed that I have used it thus with respect to many similar words. It is a habit I have contracted in writing, so as to distinguish, in this manner, the double consonantch, 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] inChio, [`c]hœur, [`c]horus,é[`c]ho, [`c]hlorose, [`c]hiragre, [`c]hronique, etc.; to indicate that these words should be pronouncedKhio,khœur,khorus,ékho,khlorose,khiragre,khronique, with the aspirate sound ofk, and not with that of the hissingc, as inChypre,chaume,échope,chaire, etc. This accentuation has appeared to me necessary, especially when one is obliged to transcribe in modern characters many foreign words which, lacking usage, one knows not, at first, how to pronounce. 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 pronounce with a different inflexion,A[`c]haïeandAchéen;AchilleandA[`c]hilleïde; Achêronanda[`c]hérontique;Bac[`c]husandbachique, etc.
[126]Vossius,De Inst. poët.,l. iii., c.15;Aristot.,Rhet., l. ii., 23;Max. Tyr.Orat.,viii., p.86.
[127]Ælian.,Var. Hist., l. xiii., c.14, Court de Gébelin,(Mond. prim.),t. viii., p.202.
[128]Plat.,InTheæt.;ibid.,De Republ., l. x.;Arist.,De Poët., c.4, etc.
[129]The name of Homeridæ, given at first to all the disciples of Homer, was afterwards usurped by certain inhabitants of Chios who called themselves his descendants (Strab., l. xiv.;Isocr.,Hellen. encom.). Also I should state here that the name of Homer, Ὅμηρος, 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 Phœnician word מרא (mœra), which signifies, properly speaking, a centre of light, and figuratively, a master, a doctor.
[130]The surname Eumolpidæ, given to the hierophants, successors of Orpheus, comes from the word Εὔμολπος, by which is designated the style of poetry of this divine man. It signifiesthe perfect voice. It is derived from the Phœnician words מלא (mola), perfected, and פאה (phoh), mouth, voice, discourse. The adverb ἔυ, which precedes it, expresses whatever is beautiful, holy, perfect.
[131]Fabric.,Bibl. Græc., p.36, 105, 240, 469,passim;Arist.,Probl., xix., 28;Meurs.,Bibl. Græc.,c. i.
[132]Arist.,De Poët., c.8.
[133]Porphyre,In Vitâ Pythagor., p.21;Clem. Alex., l. vi., p.658; Plato,De Leg., l. iii.;Plutar.,De Music., p.1141; Poll.,l. ii., c.9.
[134]I have placed the epoch of Orpheus, which coincides with that of the arrival of the Egyptian colony conducted into Greece by Cecrops, at 1582 B.C., according to the marbles of Paros.
[135]Schol.Aristoph.,In Nub.,v.295.
[136]Athen.,l. ii., c.3.
[137]Voyez(L’Hist.du Théâtre Français)de Fontenelle. Voici les titres des premières pièces représentées dans le cours duXIVᵉsiècle:(L’Assomption de la glorieuse Vierge Marie), mystère à 38 personnages;(Le Mystère de la Sainte Hostie), à 26 personn.;(Le Mystère de MonseigneurS.Pierre etS.Paul), à 100 personn.;(Les Mystères de la Conception de la Passion, de la Résurrection de Notre SeigneurJ. C.); etc.
[138]SeeAsiatic Researches,v. iii., p.427-431, and 465-467. AlsoGrammar of the Bengal Language, preface,p. v.
[139]SeeInteresting Historical Events, by Holwell,ch.7.
[140]Aristot.,Probl., 15,c.19;Pausan.,l. i., c.7.
[141]SeeAsiatic Researches,vol. vi., p.300-308.
[142]Rama is, in Sanskrit, the name of that which is dazzling, elevated, white, sublime, protective, beautiful, excellent. This word has exactly the same sense in the Phœnician רמ (ram). Its primitive root, which is universalized by thehémantiqueletter מ (m), is רא (ra), which has reference to the harmonic movement of good, of light, and of sight. The name of the adversary of Rama,Rawhan, is formed from the root רע (rawh) which expresses, on the contrary, the disordered movement of evil and of fire, and which, becoming united with the augmentative syllable ון (ôn), depicts whatever ravages and ruins; this is the signification which it has in Sanskrit.
[143]From the word רמא (rama) is formed in Phœnician the word דרמא (drama) by the adjunction of the demonstrative article ד (d’); that is to say, a thing which comes from Rama: an action well ordered, beautiful, sublime, etc. Notice that the Greek verb δραεῖν,to act, whence is drawn very inappropriately the word δρᾶμα, is always attached to the same root רא (ra) which is that of harmonic movement.