AUTHORITIES IN DETAIL GREEK 



III. THE HOMERIC POEMS. 



The Iliad. In a great war-poem we can hardly expect to find many 

 references to the economic labours of peace. And an army fighting far 

 from home in a foreign land would naturally be out of touch with the 

 rustic life of Greece. Nor was the poet concerned to offer us the details 

 of supply-service, though he represents the commissariat as efficient. 

 Free labour appears l in various forms of handicraft, and the mention 

 of pay (//,t<7#o9) 2 shews wage-earning as a recognized fact. We hear of 

 serving for hire (QrjTeveiv) 3 , and the epiOoi or farm-labourers 4 seem to 

 be #77x69 under a special name. That labour is not viewed as a great 

 degradation may fairly be inferred from the case of Hephaestus the 

 smith-god, from the wage-service of Poseidon and Apollo under Lao- 

 medon, and from the herdsman-service of Apollo under Admetus. 

 Agriculture is assumed, and in the Catalogue 'works' (epya)* occurs in 

 the sense of Hilled lands.' But it is chiefly in similes or idyllic scenes 

 that we get glimpses of farming 6 operations. Thus we have ploughing, 

 reaping, binding, threshing, winnowing. Most striking of all is the 

 passage in which the work of irrigation 7 is graphically described. There 

 is no reason to suppose that any of the workers in these scenes are 

 slaves: they would seem to be wage-earners. But I must admit that, 

 if slaves were employed under the free workers, the poet would very 

 likely not mention such a detail : that is, if slavery were a normal in- 

 stitution taken for granted. For the present I assume only free labour 

 in these cases. We are made aware of a clear social difference between 

 the rich and powerful employer and the employed labourer. The 

 mowers are at work in .the field of some rich man 8 (dvSpb? fid/capo? tear 

 apovpav), who does not appear to lend a hand himself. Or again in the 

 close of a ruler (re/z-evo? ySao-A^oy) 9 , with binders following them, a 

 busy scene. The /SaertXez)? himself stands watching them in dignified 

 silence, staff in hand. There is nothing here to suggest that the small 

 working farmer was a typical figure in the portraiture of rural life. 

 Flocks and herds are of great importance, indeed the ox is a normal 

 standard of value. But the herdsmen are mean freemen. Achilles is 

 disgusted 10 at the prospect of being drowned by Scamander 'like a 

 i vi 315, xxin 712, vii 221. 2 XII 433 _ 5t XXI 445j 45If x 304> 



8 XXI 444. 4 xvin 5 g 0> 5 n yg r> 



6 xvni 542, 554, xi 67, xx 495-7, v 500, xm 590. 1 xxi 257-9. 



8 XI 68 - 9 xvin 550-60. 10 xxi 281-3. 



