On The Structure of Greek Tribal Society: An Essay Part 13

?s??eta? ?? ?????, ????e d? p???a ???a.(286)

The sanct.i.ty shared by the hearth and its sustenance may be ill.u.s.trated by Odysseus' oath, which occurs three times in the _Odyssey_: "Now be Zeus my witness before any G.o.d, and the hospitable board and the hearth of blameless Odysseus whereunto I am come."(287)

(M130) When once the hospitable board had laid its mysterious spell on the relations of host and guest, the bond was not easily dissolved. Glaukos and Diomedes meet "in the mid-s.p.a.ce of the foes eager to do battle,"

fighting on opposite sides. Nevertheless because the grandfather of one had entertained the grandfather of the other for twenty days and they had parted with gifts of friends.h.i.+p, their grandsons refrain from battle with each other, pledge their faith, and exchange armour as a witness to others that they are guest-friends by inheritance (?f?a ?a? ??de ???s??, ?t?

?e???? pat????? e???e?? e??a?).(288)

If such force lay in the entertainment of a guest for a few days, some idea can be formed of the virtue underlying the meaning of such words as ??s?p??? and ???ap??, and binding together those habitually nourished at the same board.

(M131) If sons married during their father's lifetime without any particular means of livelihood, they could live under his roof and authority, forming a great patriarchal household like that of Priam and his married sons and daughters at Troy. But when a household dispersed before the marriage of the sons and the inheritance was divided amongst them, it was deemed indispensable for them to take wives, and each provide for the establishment of his house and succession. This necessity is the underlying motive of the compulsion over the only daughter left as ?p??????? to marry before a certain age, exercised by the Archon at Athens. There the idea of the need of a continuous family (as well as for other purposes), to keep together the property, had grown up apparently as a reflection, so to speak, of the obvious importance of the property to the family for the maintenance of itself and its ancestral rites.

Though evidence is wanting for the _raison d'etre_ of this sentiment in Homer, the existence of the feeling can hardly be denied.

The ??????, at any rate, continued to pa.s.s from father to son in the family of the tribesman or citizen. Hector encourages his soldiers by reminding them that though they themselves fall in the fight, their children, their house (?????), and their ?????? will be unharmed, provided only that the enemy are driven back.(289)

The sentiment that a man was not really "established," according to the estimation of the Homeric Greeks, until the continuity of his house was provided for, seems to explain the two references to Telemachos in the _Iliad_. Odysseus is twice mentioned, as Mr. Leaf points out in his _Companion to the Iliad_,(290) as the father of Telemachos, simply because it was considered a t.i.tle of honour to be named as sire of an established house. No other mention of Telemachos occurs in the _Iliad_.

Failure of heirs was, as in later times, the great disintegrating factor and danger to the continuity of the family holdings. As long as a direct descendant was to be found, the property was safe.

Eurykleia comforts Penelope in her fear for the absent Telemachos, saying:-

"For the seed of the son of Arkeisios is not, methinks, utterly hated by the blessed G.o.ds, but someone will haply yet remain to possess these lofty halls and the _fat fields_ far away."(291)

Is it by accident that she here chooses the name of Arkeisios to describe the head of the family of Laertes and Odysseus? He was Laertes' father, and in Telemachos, if he was preserved alive, he would thus have a _great-grandson_ to represent his line in the succession to his property.

(M132) The diversion of inheritance to any property from the direct line is spoken of in Homer as a lamentable circ.u.mstance greatly intensifying the natural grief at the death of the direct heir.

"Then went he after Nanthos and Thoon, sons of Phainops, striplings both; but their father was outworn of grievous age, and begat no other son for his possessions after him. Then Diomedes slew them and bereft the twain of their dear life, and for their father left only lamentation and sore distress, seeing he welcomed them not alive returned from battle: _and kinsmen divided his substance_ (?t?s??)."(292)

In the tumultuous times of the _Odyssey_ the right of succession must often have been interrupted by war and violence. Possessions, not only of land, had to be defended by the sword even during the lifetime of the acquirer. This prompts one of the wishes of Odysseus in his prayer at the knees of Arete:-

"And may each one leave to his children after him his possessions in his halls and whatever dues of honour the people have rendered unto him."(293)

The same anxiety prompts his question to his mother in Hades, to which he obtains answer:-

"The fair honour (???a?) that is thine no man hath yet taken, but Telemachos holdeth in safety (thy) demesnes (te??ea ??eta?)."(294)

(M133) The belief in the inseparability of the ancestral holding and the family was strong in Samaria at the time of Ahab. The King offered Naboth another vineyard better than his own in exchange for the one at Jezreel near the palace, or, should he prefer it, its worth in money. But Naboth said to Ahab, "The Lord forbid it me, that I should give _the inheritance of my fathers_ unto thee."(295)

Both the Hebrew narrators and the Greek translators describe Ahab finally as taking the vineyard at Naboth's death _by inheritance_ (LXX.

???????e??), in spite of the violence of the means of acquiring it adopted by Jezebel.

The limited right of the prince to alienate from his family any part of his possessions is thus alluded to by Ezekiel:-

"Thus saith the Lord G.o.d; If the prince give a gift unto any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons'; it shall be their possession by inheritance. But if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty: after it shall return to the prince: but his inheritance shall be his sons' for them."(296)

- 6. Early Evidence _continued_: The ??e??? And The Maintenance Of The Chieftain.

(M134) It must be borne in mind that the tribal idea of the chieftains.h.i.+p sanctioned the custom that the maintenance of the chieftain and his companions or retainers should be levied at will upon the property of the people. This privilege is very wide spread, and had its origin in the earliest times.

The levies were claimed under the name of _gifts_, and earned for the princes the t.i.tle of d???f????. As Telemachos declares, "it is no bad thing to be a as??e??, and quickly does his house become rich and he himself most honoured."(297)

The royal family and n.o.bles(298) levied contributions on their own or conquered peoples apparently at will in Homer. Agamemnon calls together the Greek chiefs:-

"Ye leaders and counsellors of the Argives ... who drink at the public cost (d??a p????s??) and each command an host (s?a????s??

??ast?? ?a???)."(299)

Priam chides his sons:-

"Ye plunderers of your own people's sheep and kids (????? ?d?

???f?? ?p?d???? ??pa?t??e?)."(300)

Telemachos declares that if the wooers eat up all his sheep and substance, he will go through the city (?at? ?st?) claiming chattels until all be restored.(301)

Alkinoos proposes to give gifts to Odysseus, and they themselves going amongst the people (??e???e??? ?at? d???) will recompense themselves: "for hard it were for one man to give without return."(302)

"Then I led him to the house," says Odysseus, "and gave him good entertainment ... out of the plenty in my house, and for the rest of his company ... I gathered and gave barley meal and dark wine from the people (d???e?) and oxen to sacrifice to his heart's desire."(303)

(M135) These pa.s.sages throw light on Agamemnon's offer to Achilles of seven well-peopled towns, whose inhabitants would enrich him with plenteous gifts.(304) The proposal of Menelaos to empty a city _of Argos,_ to accommodate Odysseus and his people, seems to be of quite a different order, and betrays to us that the tyranny of the tribal chieftain, so conspicuous in other nations, was no less a reality also amongst the Greeks under Achaian rule.(305)

(M136) In the Indian society that was regulated in accordance with the _Ordinances of Manu_, the king appointed a chief of a town whose duty it was to report to the higher officials on any "evil arising in the town."

He likewise represented the king, and had the king's right to receive supplies from those under his oversight.

"What food, drink, (and) fuel are to be _daily_ given by the inhabitants of a town to the king let the head of a town take,"(306)

the line always being drawn between legitimate demands and tyrannical extortion.