THE PREHISTORIC AND EARLY STORY OF HELLAS.*
Mn,. HoLar, though evidently a follower of the late Mr. Grote, has but rarely imitated that eminent scholar in his adoption of the true classical orthography of proper names, and yet we think it quite time that the country whose annals he has ably and laboriously investigated should recover its time-honoured appellation of Hellas, as is the wish of its people. The Romans, as is well known, with many good qualities, were by no means an amiable people, and excessively arrogant ; hence they affected to forget or mispronounce the names of such persons and places as they termed barbarous—a habit prevalent at present among the various branches of the Anglo-Saxon race—and very frequently designated an entire nation by the name of some petty frontier tribe which they happened to have first encountered. When therefore they first crossed the Adriatic, and found on its shores an Illyrian or Epirotic—certainly only a semi-Hellenic—tribe called the realest, they very naturally, but also very wrongly, extended the appellation to the entire people of Hellas, and even to her colonies, as in the case of Magna Gnecia. We have some suspicion that these reeisoi may have been a Teutonic tribe who took their name from the grey colour of the mountains they occupied, for which idea we find a parallel in the Orisons or Grau-Bunden in the Helvetic Republic. Indeed, we have sometimes been tempted to fancy that there must have been a Teutonic element in the population of two important Hellenic States, Thessalia and Sparta, for not only was the former governed by a hereditary aristocracy, and the latter by a constitutional monarchy, bat there are many other points of resemblance which it would require a volume to work out, yet well de- serving the attention of the philosophic historian. For example, in Sparta alone of all the Hellenic States was a matron addressed as Urrorotvoc, which corresponds closely with the Latin Caia, or rather Gala= mistress or owner of landed property, somewhat also with our Lady=dispenser of bread, and reminds us of the words of the Roman historian, "Ger. mani famine tanquam Deas veneranztur." When, over half a century ago, Jakel advanced the opinion that Teutonic elements were to be traced in the Roman language and people, some of our erudite periodicals laughed him to scorn ; but his theory is now accepted by scholars of no mean reputation, and the same may prove to be the case with the Hellenic language,—at least, as regards the Doric dialect. Such an inquiry however would require a protracted and cautious investigation.
The name Hellas first appears in the Homeric Catalogue as that of a small district of southern Thessalia, ruled by Achilles, and remarkable for the beauty of its women. It is not easy, however, to decide from the language of the poet whether he considered the Hellenes a distinct tribe from the Myrmidones and Achivi, with whom he connects them, or looked on all three terms as synonymous ; and it should be borne in mind that some scholars of repute have held the Catalogue not genuinely Homeric. We know not on what grounds they advance this view, but it is assuredly a docu- ment of great antiquity. As the aspirate was very often replaced by the sibilant, we find not only the territory of Hellopia but the sacerdotal tribe called Selli, now represented by the Suliotes, who have shown in this present century just claims to be deemed kinsmen of Leonidas and Miltiades. The term Hellas was soon extended to the entire country north of the Corinthian Gulf; subsequently it included the Pelopon- nesus, and eventually was extended to all those lands where the Hellenic race, language, and religion could be found, and how extensive this tract was Mr. Holm has carefully and not too diffusely pointed out. His chapters on Hellenic colonies furnish us with all the facts of any value that have as yet been ascertained, and are well worthy of the heedful study, not only of professional scholars and teachers, but of all who take an unprejudiced interest in emigration schemes and the expansion of nationalities. It is a fact, highly creditable to the moral tone of the Hellenes, that though almost all their colonising enterprises were prompted by political discontent, and were too often preceded by bitter scenes of civil strife, yet the Colony invariably preserved the most friendly—we might even say subservient—relations to • History of Greece. vol. I. By Adolph Holm. London a Macmillan and Co.
the parent State, so that we can call to mind but one war between two such communities, and that caused, as our author has carefully noticed, by very exceptional circumstances. We remember no instance of a Hellenic Colony receiving, with what is nowadays ignorantly called an " ovation," fugitive traitors from the parent State, or collecting funds to provide the sinews of rebellion. On the contrary, if a Colony wished to found a new settlement, it was deemed a religions duty to seek a leader for the expedition from their old home, which was also expected to supply a General to its offspring in times of dangerous war, or a statesman to adjust serious political controversies ; and these courteous observances were not found to impair in the least the spirit of independence or the right of local self-government, Would that this feeling existed at present among civilised nations I but we fear it must be admitted that the international politeness of Christian States falls in this respect far short of Hellenic morality.
Mr. Mitford was perhaps nearly right in his remark that, owing to the system of coasting by day and landing at night, the Hellenic race had produced excellent boatmen but no bold or skilful sailors ; and certainly we search their annals in vain for a Nelson, a Columbus, or a Vasco de Game. Still, their mariners, who, like the English shipmen of Chaucer's day, were somewhat piratical, pushed their explorations to a creditable extent, having founded settlements as far as Azoph to the north, Ampurias and Roma (perhaps we may add Saguntum) to the west, the short-lived kingdom of Cyrene to the south, and studded the whole coast of Asia Minor with cities, fortresses, and factories. Mr. Holm will, we doubt not, concur with us in consigning Ulyssippo or Lisbon, and Asciburgium or Asperg near Hamburg, both of which were said to have been built by Odysseus, to the limbo of unhistoric legend. Syracuse, as renowned as the unyielding bulwark of Western Hellas against the grasping Carthaginian, as infamous for its tyrannic execu- tions and democratic massacres ; Massilia, famous for her fidelity to Rome when Hannibal was at her gates, and for her unsuccessful resistance to the Medimval despots of Northern France; Pisa, one of the great slave-dealing marts of antiquity, and " damned to everlasting fame " by Dante as the " vita. perio delle genti della belle Italia ; " and very probably Genoa, for a considerable time the dreaded rival of Venice, are all the products of Hellenic enterprise guided by Hellenic intel- lect ; and by his ample and lucid account of their origin, Mr. Holm has done good service to philosophic history.
As the volume before us comes no further down than the expulsion of the Peisistratithe in B.C. 510, the author has been constrained to devote much attention to the investigation of the heroic legends handed down by tradition and reduced to form by the Cyclic and Hesiodic Rhapsodists. In this task he has shown himself nearly as sceptical as Mr. Grote, but with more brevity and moderation and much leas dogmatism. But even at the risk of being deemed historical heretics, we must dissent from, or at least qualify, the principle first laid down, we believe, by the late Sir G. C. Lewis, and since adopted by moat "advanced thinkers," that no state. went of a matter of fact can be accepted as historical unless on contemporary evidence,—a mode of reasoning which seems to come perilously near abolishing history altogether, there being nothing to prevent contemporary evidence from being totally false, or at least prejudiced and inaccurate. Indeed, we have known men of considerable abilities and attainments who were altogether opposed to the study of history on the ground that contemporary witnesses not only vary, but often contradict each other in their narratives, and this, too, not merely in trivial details, but regarding circumstances of para. mount importance. For example, we have known several contemporary witnesses of the conflict of Waterloo, but would such persons have agreed as to whether our army was ecrasO or not ; whether, if a victory, it was not a Prussian victory; and whether our commander was or was not informed of all Napoleon's plans by Citizen Pouch& through the aid of a lady who concealed the important documents in her back- hair ? If, then, as "advanced thinkers" we are bound to disbelieve all statements of facts unless supported by con- temporary evidence, and if experience shows that such evidence is frequently untrue and very often exaggerated, what becomes of that philosophy which teaches—or rather attempts in vain to teach—by well-authenticated examples f Nor can we admit that a statement of a fact, in itself not very
improbable, is to be rejected because a parasitical growth of wild legends has gathered around it ; on the contrary, we believe that the more important and generally credited an alleged event is, the more prone will an imaginative people be to exert their inventive powers in the direction of harmless ornamentation. We are quite willing to abandon to the tender mercies of the sceptical school Minotaurs, winged horses, and snaked-hair nymphs,- " Gorgon and Harpies and Chitnreras dire," but must retain our belief in the main facts of the Argonautic Expedition, the Trojan War, and the two attacks on Thebes by an allied host of Peloponnesians. We see nothing in a Hellenic effort to win Colchian gold more improbable than in Raleigh's belief in El Dorado or in Spanish explorations in quest of the Fountain of Youth in the Ever-Glades of Florida. We cannot accept our author's opinion that Troy was too distant from Hellas to admit of an expedition ; for if the Pelopida3 came to Argos from Asia Minor, what could prevent their descendants from returning thither ?
And if Thebes was a Phoenician colony, or as Mr. Holm, and we think rightly, suggests, Canaanitish—and the
Homeric KlAtefiCkniec is nearly identical with the Scriptural
Kadmonites—what is more probable than that the other States of Hellas should have confederated against it, especially as we may infer from what is known of these Orientals that they could not have been very desirable immigrants ? Indeed, the mythical crimes and horrors of the Labdacid dynasty may have had a groundwork of fact, and certainly savour much of Asiatic brutality. We give up the Trojan Horse and the metamorphosis of Hecabe, as we give up Gomara's tale, how Satan advised the Mexican Emperor to reject the proposals of Cortez ; bat we believe that Troy was taken by a Hellenic force, as we believe in the death-struggle of the Aztec race.
We do not give credence to all the labours of Herakles, but we think it probable, in the highest degree, that the Hellenic race prod aced brave and athletic youths who acquired renown, and benefited their country by extirpating beasts of prey ; for it is well known that an English official who slays a man- eating tiger is venerated almost as a deity by the Hindoos of the locality, at least until they see a chance of another Cawnpore.
So much has been written on the Homeric question that we may be pardoned for declining to enter on it here. We content ourselves with saying that we would as soon believe in one Milton of " Paradise Lost," a second of the " Comus," and a third of " II Penseroso," or that William Shakespeare was Francis Bacon, as that two bards were required to compose the Homeric Rhapsodies, and we are glad to find that Mr. Holm holds the same opinion, though with the caution and modesty which generally accompany extensive learning and sound judgment. We regret that Mr. Holm has not given us a chapter or two on the origin and development of slavery in liberty-loving Hellas, as also of helotism in Sparta ; but these questions he has probably reserved for his next volume. Our author has shown himself as candid and impartial as Hallam in his account of the species of government adopted in all the Hellenic States in the Homeric times, and equally so in his comparison and explanation of the Spartan and Athenian Constitutions. The former he con- siders a nearly perfect model of constitutional monarchy, its
main object being to secure the stability of institutions approved by experience and sanctioned by religion, and
thus to discountenance popular disquietude ; while the latter, through aiming at theoretic perfection, furnishes the most striking example of experimental legislation to be found in history until a comparatively recent period. But what will some of our enlightened statesmen think of this law of Lycurgus, as modified by Theopompus :—" The people shall have the power of deciding questions, but if the people come to a wrong decision, the Senate and Kings shall avert it " ? Are we not now told that the people can never err, and that neither Senates nor Kings have either legal or moral power to reverse or even modify the resolutions of the omnipotent and infallible Many; and should they venture on such a daring and presumptuous step, are they not threatened with political, and perhaps eventually physical extirpation P
Mr. Holm has very judiciously and usefully attached to the end of each chapter a full list of the authors who have treated more minutely of each question he discusses, and has fre- quently added very sensible criticisms. Though we find in these notes the names of some English writers, yet their number is small compared with those of Germany or even France ; perhaps the disesteem in which classical learning and teaching are held at present, in what we may call, though not seriously, good society, has proved a deterrent from composi- tions of this kind. This book will, we strongly suspect, supersede some of the earlier histories of Hellas, partly from its conciseness, but in a much greater degree from its sound scholarship and conscientious impartiality ; and while recom- mending it to the reading public, and in particular to such University students as may be ambitious of academic dis- tinctions, we look forward with sanguine anticipation to the appearance of the succeeding volumes.
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