MR. CHURCH'S STORIES FROM HERODOTUS.* This volume necessarily misses the
great poetical charm which belonged to the Stories from Homer, the Stories from Virgil, and the Stories from the Greek Tragedians. Herodotns, though he is often quaint and picturesque, and enters warmly into many of the phases of human suffering, and is, indeed, by no means the- mere gossiping "day labourer" that Lord Macaulay described him, was not a poet, and, in the Eastern portion of his History (if it may be called history at all), did not very often write upon subjects which stirred his own sympathies at all deeply. In the Stories of the West, Mr. Church will doubtless show us Herodotns in a more fascinating form. The insight and pathos with which he narrates the war between Persia and Greece is in strong contrast to his gleanings of Eastern story and legend. In his account of the Persian war,he not unfrequently shows something of the feelings of a poet, as well as the eager curiosity of a chronicler. But on Eastern ground he seems to be the incarnation of wide- eyed wonder, not indeed wholly credulous, but still quite at sea as to the criterion of what should be regarded with incredulity: and what with trust. He probably looked on Medes, Persians, Egyptians, Ethiopians, and Scythians as beings too widely removed from the Greeks to be judged by the same sort of standard ; and consequently, his stories concerning them are often set down with much the same wonderingindifference as that with which he describes the gold-ants and other impossibilities of Oriental gossip. But in spite of this, Mr. Church, has made a very quaint and delightful book of the Eastern Stories of Herodotus,—a book only inferior indeed to those which pre- ceded it because the subject is not penetrated by the same vein of poetry,—and not in the least inferior to them in the quality of its execution. We may add that none of his previous books have been illustrated with half the same care and brilliance of effect. • It would be impossible, we think, to praise too highly the style of the book. While preserving the tone of perfect sim- plicity, and the air of eager appetite with which Herodotus records even those marvels which he cannot quite swallow, Mr. Church has yet given that old-world dignity to the style, of the lack of which Lord Macaulay seems—quite untruly, in our estimation—to accuse Herodotns. For example, the story of Crcesus, who is obviously the hero, as one may say, of the Eastern part of the narrative of Herodotus, is told with a singular accent of sympathy and reverence, completely repro- duced in the beautiful English of Mr. Church :—
" Now it chanced that while the matter of the young man's mar- riage was in hand, there came to Sardis a certain stranger, upon whom there had come the great trouble of blood-guiltiness. The man was a Phrygian by birth, and of the royal house : and he came into the palace of Croasus, after the custom of that country, and sought for one that should cleanse him from his guilt ; and Cronus cleansed him. (Now the manner of cleansing is the same, for the most part, among the Lydians as it is among the Greeks.) And when the King had done for him according to all that was prescribed in the law, he would fain know who he was, and whence he had come. Wherefore, he asked him, saying, My friend, who art thou ? and from what city of Phrygia--for that thou art a Phrygian I know—art thou come taking sanctuary at my hearth ? And what man or woman didat then slay ?' And the man answered, 0 King, I am the son of Gordias, the son of Midas, and my name is Adrastns, and I slew my own brother, not wittingly. For this cause am I come to thee, for my father drave me out from my home, and I am utterly bereft of all things.' To this King Crcesus made reply, Thou art the son of friends, and to a friend art thou come. Verily, as long as thou abidest here thou shalt lack for nothing that I can give thee. And as for thy trouble, it will be best for thee to bear it as easily as may be.' So the man lived thenceforth in the King's palace. Now about this time there was a mighty wild boar in Olympus, that is a mountain of Mysia. It had its den in the mountain, and going out thence did much damage to the possessions of the Mysians ; and the Mysians had often sought to slay him, but harmed him not at all, but rather
• Stories of the East from Herodotus. By the Rev. Alfred J. Ohnrch, M.A., Professor of Latin at University College, London. Seeley, Jackson. and Halliday.
received harm themselves. At the last they sent messengers to the Bing ; who stood before him, and said, 0 King, a mighty monster of a wild boar hath his abode in our country and destroyeth our posses- sions, and though we would fain kill him we cannot. Now, therefore, we pray thee that thou wilt send thy son, and chosen youths with him, and dogs for hunting, that they may go with us, and that we may drive this great beast out of our land.' He sent for Adrastus the Phrygian ; and when the man was come into his pre- sence, he *make, saying, Adrastus, I took thee when thou wad afflicted with a grievous trouble, though indeed with this I upbraid thee not, and I cleansed thee from thy guilt, and received thee into my palace, and sustained thee without any cost of thine. Now, therefore, it is well that thou shouldest make me some return for all these benefits. I would make thee keeper of my son now that he goeth forth to this hunting, if it should chance that any robbers or such folk should be found on the way to do him hurt. Moreover, it becometh thee, for thine own sake, to go on an errand from which thou mayest win renown ; for thou art of a royal house and art besides valiant and strong.' To this Adrastus made answer, 0 King, I had not indeed gone to this sport but for thy words. For he to whom such trouble bath come as hath come to me should not company with happy men; nor, indeed, hath he the will to do it. But now, as thou art earnest in this matter, I must needs yield to thy request. There- fore I am ready to do as thou wilt ; be sure, therefore, that I will deliver thee thy son, whom thou biddest me keep, safe and unhurt, so far as his keeper may so do.' So the young men departed, and chosen youths with them, and dogs for hunting. And when they were come to the mountain of Olympus they searched for the wild boar, and when they had found it, they stood in a circle about it, and threw their spears at it. And so it fell out that this stranger, the same that had been cleansed from the guilt of manslaying, whose name was Adrastus, throwing his spear at the wild boar, and missing his aim, smote the son of °mesas. And the youth died of the wound, so that the vision of the King was fulfilled, that he should die by a spear-point. And straightway there ran one to tell the thing to Crcesns. And when he had come to Sardis, he told the King how they had fought with the wild boar, and how his son had died. Crcesus was very grievously troubled by the death of his son ; and this the more because ho had been slain by the man whom he bad himself cleansed from the guilt of blood. And in his great grief he cried out very vehemently against the Gods, and specially against Zeus, the god of cleansing, seeing that he had cleansed this stranger, and now anffered grievous wrong at his bands. He reproached him also as the god of hospitality and of friendship—of hospitality, because he had entertained this man, and knew not that he was entertaining the slayer of his own son ; and of friendship, because he had sent him to be a keeper and friend to his son, yet had found him to be an enemy and destroyer. And when he had done speaking there came Lydian bearing the dead body of the young man, and the slayer followed behind. So soon, therefore, as the man was come into the presence of the King, he gave himself up, stretching forth his hands, and bidding the King slay him on the dead body. And he spake of the dreadful deed that be had done before, and that now he had added to it a worse thing, bringing destruction on him that had cleansed him ; and he cried out that be was not fit to live. But when Crcesus heard him speak, he pitied him, for all that he was in grievous trouble of his own, and spake to him, have had from thee, 0 my friend, all the vengeance that I need, seeing that thou bast pronounced sentence of death against thyself. But indeed thou art not the cause of this trouble, save only that thou halt brought it to pass unwittingly ; some god is the cause, the same that long since foretold to me this very thing that hath now befallen me.' So Crcesus buried his son with all due rites. But Adrastus the son of Gordias the son of Midas, that had been the slayer of his own brother, and had now slain the son of him that had cleansed him, waited behind till all men had left the sepulchre, and then slew himself upon it ; for he knew that of all the men in the world he was the most unhappy."
It would be hard to give that story with more of the true Herodotean simplicity and dignity. Again, in the stories of Egypt, Crcesus appears again, and again one sees that he has that strange mixture of tact, dignity, fidelity, and pliancy which Herodotus, in his double function of man of the world and of the man of large human sympathies, so much admired. The deep emotion of Crcesus when he hears the dethroned Egyptian king Psammenitus explain that the hard fate of his daughter and son—the latter passing him to the place of execution—was a trouble too deep for tears, but that the misery of an old comrade was a matter over which he could weep, is carefully chronicled by Herodotus, and given in a passage of great beauty by Mr. Church. And equally fine is the passage in which he translates Herodotus's story of the ready tact with which Crcesus had first soothed the irritable spirit of Cambyses by a delicate compliment, but afterwards, when he thought the irritability of the king a real danger to the empire, had ventured on a dangerous rebuke. Nor can we refrain from adding the exquisitely Herodotean passage on the final supre- macy of Custom over man, with which the acute—and, may we not say sceptical P—old Conservative concludes his demon- stration of the " rift within the late" which threatened the
sanity of Cambyses :—
" He [Cambyses] did also many frantic things against others of the Persians, as against Prexaspes, of whom mention has before been made. There was none more faithful to him than this Prexaspes, executing all his commands very zealously. Also the King had his son for cupbearer, and this is accounted a great honour. King Cambyses said to this man, Prexaspes, what manner of man do the Persians hold me to be P And what do they say of me P' To this Prexaspes made answer, 0 my lord, as to other things the Persians praise thee greatly, but they say that thou art overmuch given to the love of wine.' But when the King had heard this he was very wroth, and said, ' The Persians then say that I tarry overlong at the wine, and am not sound of mind. And as to what they were wont in former times to say of me, it is not true.' For before this Cambyses had asked of the Persians that sat at meat with him, and of Cro3sus, what manner of man they judged him to be in comparison of his father; and they had answered him that he was a better man than his father, for that he had all the possessions of his father, and had gained also in addition both Egypt and the sea. This is what the Persians said, but Crcesus being present was not pleased with their answer, but said this to the King, As for me, 0 son of Cyrus, I judge thee not to be equal to thy father, for thou halt not a son, such as he left behind, leaving thee.' With this answer of Crcesus Cambyses was beyond measure pleased. Now, therefore, he remembered the things that had been said to him, and said in great wrath to Prexaspes, Thou shalt soon learn for thyself whether the Persians speak truly if they thus speak of me, or whether they are rather mad themselves when they say such things. Set thy son yonder in the doorway, and if I shoot at him with an arrow and smite him in the middle of the heart, then shall the Per- sians be seen to say that which is false, but if I smite him not so as I say, then do the Persians say the truth and I am not of sound mind.' When he had said this he drew his bow, and shot at the boy, and hit him. And when the boy fell, the King commanded that they should open the body, and see the wound where it was. And when they found the arrow in the heart of the boy, the King laughed aloud, and was in great joy, and said to the lad's father, Prexaspes, now is it not manifest that I am not mad, and that the Persians are not of sound mind And tell me now, didst thou ever see a man shoot so straight at the mark as do I?' To this the man made answer, My lord, I judge that not even a god could shoot so well.' For he saw that the man was mad, and was in fear of his own life. Also Cambyses took twelve men of the Persians, than whom there were none greater in the land, and buried them alive with their heads downwards, and this he did for no sufficient cause. But when he did this, Crcesus the Lydian judged it well to give the man counsel, and this he did, saying, 0 my lord, it is not fitting that thou shonldst indulge thy heart in all things, rather shouldst thou refrain thyself. For now thou takeat men that are of the same nation as thou art and slayest them for no sufficient cause, and thou slayeat children also. Take heed, therefore, lest Imply, if thou dost such things, the Persians rebel against thee. And this I say because King Cyrus thy father laid on me a command that I should give thee counsel as I should deem it to be best for thy welfare.' This counsel did Crcesus give to Cambyses out of love and kindness. But Cambyses answered him, 'Emit thou dare to give counsel to me, having, forsooth, managed the affairs of thine own kingdom excellently well, and having given such excellent good counsel to the King Cyrus my father when thou badest him cross the river Araxes and so fight against the Massagetse, though these were willing themselves to cross the river and so fight against him 7 Thou west an evil ruler to thine own country, bringing it to ruin, and an evil counsellor to the King my father, whO perished because ho did according to thy word. But verily thou shalt suffer for it, and indeed I have long sought occasion against thee.' So saying, he laid hold of his bow, and would have shot at Crcesus, but Crcesus ran out of the chamber. Then Cambyses, because be could not shoot him, gave commandment to his servants that they should take Crcesus and slay him. But the men, knowing the King's way, slew him not, but bid him away, saying to themselves, If the King shall repent him of this thing, then will we show Crcesus alive, and receive gifts as the price of his life. But if he shall not repent him, nor feel sorrow for the thing, then will we do the deed.' And it befell not many days afterwards that the King repented him of the deed ; whereupon the men told him of the thing which they had done, saying that Crcesus was yet alive. Then Cambyses said that it pleased him much that Crcesus was alive ; but as for the mon, that he would not give them any reward, bat would slay them. And this he did. For these and many other things which he did it is manifest that King Cambyses was not of a sound mind ; especially because he scoffed at sacred things, making sport of the images of the Gods, and intruding himself into holy places into which it is not lawful but for the priests to enter. For indeed there is nothing that all men hold more sacred than custom. And if a man were to give all nations the choice of the best customs which they could find in all the earth, assuredly each nation would choose its own customs. It is, there- fore, not to be believed that a man should scoff at such things, except indeed he were mad. But that it is true as bath been said, that men hold the custom which they themselves follow to be the best, may be proved by many proofs, and not the least clearly from that which shall now be told. Darius, King of Persia, having called for certain Greeks that were about his Court, asked them for how great a sum of money they would eat their fathers when they should die ; and the Greeks answered that for no sum of money whatsoever would they do such a thing. After this Darius called certain Indians before him. Now these Indians eat their parents when they are dead. The King, therefore, asked them, the Greeks being present, and understanding by means of an interpreter the things that were said, for how great a sum of money they would be willing to burn their fathers with fire when they should die. But these men when they beard it cried aloud, saying that he should not speak of such horrible doings. Wherefore it seems that Pinder spake well when he said, Custom is the king of There is no want in these pages of the same sort of sceptical wisdom which was so closely allied in the keen Greek observer with a profoundly pitiful and benevolent spirit. And it is no
small gain for the non-classical readers of this generation that they can make acquaintance with this vigilant, old-world traveller, —at once so much more credulous and so much more sceptical than we, with the more carefully accumulated experience of so much more extensive a field, have now learned to be,—in pages so perfectly reflecting his real thought and manner as those of Mr. Church. What a light it sheds on the old world, to find one of the greatest of the rulers of Persia expressing him- self thus,—the old- historian not entering the least protest against his hero's remark, which he would have been very likely to do, if he had found in it anything of which he himself disapproved :—" And, indeed, when a lie is needed, then let a man lie. For they that lie, and they that speak the truth, seek the self-same thing. They that lie, lie because they hope, by persuading another, to gain more advantage for themselves ; and they that speak the truth, speak it, desiring so to get some gain to themselves, being the better trusted in time to come. Thus, though they follow not in the same way, they seek the same end. And surely if they were like to get no gain in the matter, then would the speaker of truth become a liar, and the liar a speaker of truth." So, according to Herodotus, said Darius the Persian king ; and, doubtless, this expresses even the Greek morality of the race which admired Homer's Ulysses, as well as it expresses the Oriental morality of the same era.
We shall look with even more interest for Mr. Church's Hero- dotean Stories of the West. They will contain more of real life, and consequently more of power, pathos, and even poetry, than the legendary lore which the great traveller had picked up in a world which he certainly but half understood.
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