NEWIIALL. — PISISTRATUS AND 1IUMER. 503 



As to whether Homer had existed in writing before the time of 

 Pisistratus or not, that is not so important a question, and with regard 

 to it only general inferences can be drawn from the statements of the 

 ancients themselves. The testimony of Pausanias 29 and the first 30 

 and second 31 lives of Homer tend to show that until the time of 

 Pisistratus, at least, oral tradition was the medium of transmission. 

 Cicero, 32 however, the Townley scholia, 33 and Suidas 34 give evidence 

 which is more definite and points directly to a written tradition. The 

 evidence then is quite fairly divided ; but on the whole I feel safer in 

 favoring a written Iliad and Odyssey before the days of Pisistratus, 

 since the tradition recorded by Cicero is likely to have been older and 

 more reliable than the one mentioned by Pausanias, and especially be- 

 cause the Townley scholia ought to outweigh any evidence contained 

 in the lines of Homer based merely on manuscripts which are them- 

 selves inferior to the Townley. Furthermore, in addition to Suidas, 

 there are several other authors whose testimony in favor of a written 

 Homer before Pisistratus is sure. Plutarch says in his life of Lycur- 

 gus, 35 when referring to the state of the Homeric poems in Greece in 



the time of the great lawgiver [ol "E\\r)ves] ckckttjvto 8e ov 7roA.Xoi pept] tlvcl 



[tov 'Ofxrjpov], where it seems that a word like (KtKT^vro must refer to a 

 tangible written copy. Aelian also (XIII, 14) in speaking of Lycurgus 

 writes : npaiTos es tt)v 'EAXaSa tKoptae ttju 'Oprjpov Troirjaiv. Here again the 

 supposition of a manuscript seems imperative. Plutarch likewise, 

 in his life of Solon (X, 1), referring to his insertion of a verse, says: 



i)i,ia\uvTa yap civtov eiros eh veoif Karakoyov eVi rrjs 8Lkt)s dvayvaivai, where this 



last word cannot leave us in a moment's doubt. Here 8Ut]s refers to 

 the trial in which the Lacedaemonians were made arbiters between the 

 Athenians and Megarians. Diogenes Laertius (1,2, 48), with reference 

 to this same performance of Solon's, uses the word iyypfyai, prefacing 

 it however by 'ivioi Se <pu<nv. I therefore cannot agree with these words 

 of Bonitz, 36 "that this was the first time that the whole of the poems 

 was written down may be clearly inferred from the form and character 

 of the numerous statements in regard to it." Christ and Jebb, both on 

 grounds other than I have taken, favor the theory of a written trans- 



29 Poems said to have been ixvrjjxoviv6ixiva. 



30 ["O/urjpos] p8e ra irotrj/xaTa. 



31 Poems said to have been wpSrepov d86/xei>a. 



32 "Libros" of Homer referred to. 



33 II. K said to have been reTcixdai v<p' '0/j.ripov. 



34 typa<pe"0/j.r]pos. 



35 Plutarch I, p. 82, 1. 9, ed. Sintenis, Leip., 1884. 



36 Origin of Homeric Poems, N. Y., 1880, p. 27. 



