that the pronunciation of the Greek language had undergone a considerable

change. Now it is certainly difficult to suppose that the Homeric poems

could have suffered by this change, had written copies been preserved. If

Chaucer's poetry, for instance, had not been written, it could only have

come down to us in a softened form, more like the effeminate version of

Dryden, than the rough, quaint, noble original.

"At what period," continues Grote, "these poems, or indeed any other Greek

poems, first began to be written, must be matter of conjecture, though

there is ground for assurance that it was before the time of Solon. If, in

the absence of evidence, we may venture upon naming any more determinate

period, the question a once suggests itself, What were the purposes which,

in that state of society, a manuscript at its first commencement must have

been intended to answer? For whom was a written Iliad necessary? Not for

the rhapsodes; for with them it was not only planted in the memory, but

also interwoven with the feelings, and conceived in conjunction with all

those flexions and intonations of voice, pauses, and other oral artifices

which were required for emphatic delivery, and which the naked manuscript

could never reproduce. Not for the general public--they were accustomed to

receive it with its rhapsodic delivery, and with its accompaniments of a

solemn and crowded festival. The only persons for whom the written Iliad

would be suitable would be a select few; studious and curious men; a class

of readers capable of analyzing the complicated emotions which they had

experienced as hearers in the crowd, and who would, on perusing the

written words, realize in their imaginations a sensible portion of the

impression communicated by the reciter. Incredible as the statement may

The Iliad of Homer