The Homeric state of
society is, in some respects, rude enough. Piracy, for instance,
is recognized as, if not a laudable, at all events a quite ordinary
method of gaining a livelihood. 'Who are you?' says Nestor to
Telemachus. 'Whence do you come? Are you engaged in trade, or do
you rove at adventure as sea-robbers who wander at hazard of their
lives, bringing bane to strangers?' The same question is addressed
to Odysseus by Polyphemus, and was plainly the first thing thought of
when a seafaring stranger was encountered. As among the Highlanders
and Borderers of Scotland, cattle-lifting was looked upon as a
perfectly respectable form of employment, and stolen cattle were
considered a quite proper gift for a prospective bridegroom to
offer to his father-in-law. The power of the strong hand was, in
most respects, supreme, and the rights of a tribe or a city were
respected more on account of the ability of its men to defend them
than because of any moral obligation. 'We will sack a town for you,'
says Menelaus to Telemachus, as an inducement to him to settle in
Laconia.
Along with this primitive rudeness goes, on the other hand, a strongly
aristocratic constitution of society. The great leaders and chiefs,
the long-haired Achaeans, are absolutely separated from the common
people, not in rank only, but to all appearance in race.
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