Mercury Hellenic as well as Phœnician 235
But apparently recent in Greece 237
His Olympian function distinct from that of Iris 238
The poems consistent with one another in this point 241
The Venus of Homer 243
Venus as yet scarcely Greek 244
Advance of her worship from the East 247
Her Olympian rank and character 249
Her extremely limited powers 249
Apparently unable to confer beauty 251
Homer never by intention makes her attractive 252
The Vulcan of Homer 254
His Phœnician and Eastern extraction 255
His marriage with Venus 257
Vulcan in and out of his art 259
The Ἠέλιος of Homer 260
In the Iliad 261
In the Odyssey 262
Is of the Olympian court 263
His incorporation with Apollo 264
The Dionysus or Bacchus of Homer 266
His worship recent 266
Apparently of Phœnician origin 267
He is of the lowest inventive type 269
SECT. IV.
The Composition of the Olympian Court; and the classification of the whole supernatural order in Homer.
Principal cases of exclusion from Olympus 271
Case of Oceanus 273
Together with that of Kronos and Rhea 274
The Dî majores of the later tradition 275
Number of the Olympian gods in Homer 275
What deities are of that rank 277
The Hebe and the Paieon of Homer 278
The Eris of Homer 280
Classification of the twenty Olympian deities 282
The remaining supernatural order, in six classes 283
Destiny or Fate in Homer 285
Under the form of Αἶσα 286
Death inexorable to Fate or Deity alike 287
Destiny under the form of Μοῖρα 290
Under the form of μόρος 293
General view of the Homeric Destiny 294
Not antagonistic to Divine will 297
The minor impersonations of natural powers 298
The Ἁρπυῖαι of Homer 300
The Erinues of Homer 302
Their office is to vindicate the moral order 305
Their operation upon the Immortals 306
Their connection with Aides and Persephone 308
Their relation to Destiny 310
Their operation upon man 310
Their occasional function as tempters 312
The translation of mortals 313
The deification of mortals 314
Growth of material for its extension 316
The kindred of the gods (1) the Cyclopes 318
(2) The Læstrygones 319
(3) The Phæacians 320
(4) Æolus Hippotades 322
SECT. V.
The Olympian Community and its Members considered in themselves.
The family order in Olympus 325
The political order in Olympus 326
Absence of important restraints upon their collective action 327
They are influenced by courtesy and intelligence 328
Superiority of the Olympian Immortals 330
Their unity imperfect 331
Their polity works constitutionally 332
The system not uniform 333
They are inferior in morality to men 334
And are governed mainly by force and fraud 335
Their dominant and profound selfishness 337
The cruelty of Calypso in her love 339
Their standard of taste and feeling low 340
The Olympian life is a depraved copy of the heroic 341
The exemption from death uniform 342
The exemption from other limitations partial 345
Sometimes based on peculiar grounds 346
Divine faculties for the most part an extension from the human 348
Their dependence on the eye 350
Their powers of locomotion 352
Chief heads of superiority to mankind 353
Their superiority in stature and beauty 354
Their libertinism 355
Their keen regard to sacrifice and the ground of it 357
Their circumscribed power over nature 358
Parts of the body how ascribed to them 359
Examples of miracle in Homer 361
Mode of their action on the human mind 363
They do not discern the thoughts 365
SECT. VI.
The Olympian Community and its Members considered in their influence on human society and conduct.
Lack of periodical observances and of a ministering class 367
Yet the religion was a real power in life 368
The effect of the corruption of the gods was not yet fully felt 369
They show little regard to human interests 371
A moral tone is occasionally perceptible 373
Prevalent belief as to their views of man and life 374
It lent considerable support to virtue 377
Their course with respect to Troy 378
Bearing of the religion on social ties 380
And on political relations 382
The Oath 383
Bearing of the religion on the poems 385
As regards Neptune’s wrath in the Odyssey 387
As regards the virtue of purity 388
As regards poetic effect 388
Comparison of its earliest and latest form 390
Gloom prevails in Homer’s view of human destiny 392
The personal belief of Homer 394
SECT. VII.
On the traces of an origin abroad for the Olympian Religion.
The Olympian deities classified according to local extraction 397
Their connection as a body with the Æthiopes 399
Confirms the hypothesis of Persian origin 402
Herodotus on the Scythian religion 402
His report from Egypt about the Greek deities 404
Four several bases of religious systems 405
Anthropophuism in the Olympian religion 406
Nature-worship as described in the Book of Wisdom 406
Its secondary place in the Olympian religion 407
In what sense it follows a prior Nature-worship 409
The principle of Brute-worship 410
Its traces in the Olympian religion 411
Chief vestige: oxen of the Sun 412
Xanthus the horse of Achilles 414
SECT. VIII.
The Morals of the Homeric Age.
The general type of Greek character in the heroic age 417
The moral sense in the heroic age 418
Use of the words ἀγαθός and κακός 421
Of the word δίκαιος 423
Religion and morals were not dissociated 425
Moral elements in the practice of sacrifice 427
Three main motives to virtue. 1. Regard to the gods 427
2. The power of conscience 428
3. Regard for the sentiments of mankind 430
The force and forms of αἰδὼς 431
Other cognate terms 435
Homicide in the heroic age 436
Eight instances in the poems 437
Why viewed with little disfavour 440
Piracy in the heroic age 442
Its nature as then practised 443
Mixed view of it in the poems 444
Family feuds in the heroic age 446