84 On the Homeric use of the word Hjows- be no inconsistency. If there was a predominant tribe^ or caste, their predominance would appear at hon^e, amid the mixed population. But when the armed force^ consisting principally or entirely of the predominant race, was abroad, and on service, the distinction would of course disappear, because there would, no longer be a mixture. The prin- cipal difficulty Avhich meets one, in attempting to establish the distinction, is that there are few or no traces of the subordinate caste. Wachsmuth has attempted '"^ to point out some distinctions of rank, and successfully ; but he makes out, I think, nothing below the Stj/ulo^^ excepting of course servants or slaves. Now the Srjfxo^^ as I think I have shewn, comprehended the rjpooe^^ and constituted the ayoprj ; and indeed I do not feel satisfied that ^rj^o^ in Homer signifies plebs : it seems rather to mean populus, in the old Roman sense, which Vico"^, I believe, first pointed out ; a view which Niebuhr ^^ has completely confirmed. There are numerous passages in which the word fjpco^ is applied, without meaning, so far as I can discover, any thing more than a common title, like gentleman in our language ; or at least in which nothing can be supposed to be desig- nated emphatically by it. Such is the passage where Me- nelaus repulses Adrestus, who is begging for his life. o o airo €U€V wauTO yj^^pi YjpOd * Acp7](TTOV. H. VT. 63. Such is that where Alcinous desires Telemachus to attend to his words, ■ o(ppa Kai a(p eiirv}^ r]p(jowVy oTe Kev aols eu /ueyapotatv caivvrj irapa crrj t oXoyjLo^ kol aolat TCKeaaiv. Od. VIII. 241. where rjpcoe^ are simply those on visiting terms with Telemachus. It is assumed that those to whom he would tell it would be rjpuoa^^^ but the word is not used for the purpose of pointing this out. I could cite a great many 77 HeUen. Alt. i. Th. i. Abth. § 16. Beil. 8. to i. Th. i. Abth. 78 See Principi di Scienza Nuova. Ed. Milan. 1801. Vol. i. p. 77. Vol. 11. p. 97, 197, 224. Compare also Vol. 11. p. 123, 163, 174. 73 Roman History i. pp. 417—420,
