So too Rameses II is glorified in "the heroic poem of the priest Pentaur." In the eighteenth dynasty we see the two functions united.
And then we have the acts, wholly priestly, of—
Still better and more abundant evidence is furnished by accounts of the early Greeks. The incipient poet, as eulogizer of the god, is priestly in his character and at first is an official priest. Concerning the Greeks of rude times Muir writes—"Hence, in their traditions, the character of poet is usually found to combine those of musician, priest, prophet, and sage;" and he adds that—The mythical poet Olen "ranks as the earliest and most illustrious priest and poet of the Delian Apollo. . . Bœo, a celebrated priestess of that sanctuary [the Delphic], pronounces him. . . to be, not only the most antient of Apollo's prophets, but of all poets."
We are told by Mahaffy that "the poems attributed to these men [poets prior to Homer]. . . were all strictly religious."
"The hexameter verse was commonly attributed to the Delphic priests, who were said to have invented and used it in oracles. In other words, it was early used in religious poetry. . . There is no doubt that the priests did compose such works [long poems] for the purpose of teaching the attributes and adventures of the gods. Thus epic poetry [was at first] purely religious. . . Homer and Hesiod represent the close of a long epoch."
And that their poetry arose by differentiation from sacred poetry, is implied in his further remark that in Homer's time, "the wars and adventures, and passions of men, had become the center of interest among the poets." This partially secularized poetry at a later date became further secularized, while it became further differentiated from music. The hymn of the primitive priest-poet was uttered to the accompaniment of his four-stringed lyre, in a voice more sonorous than ordinary speech—not in song, as we understand it, but in recitative; and, as Dr. Monro argues, a vague recitative—a recitative akin to the intoning of the liturgy by our own priests, and to the exalted utterance spontaneously fallen into under religious excitement.[1] But in course of time, this quasi--
- ↑ In his learned work, The Modes of Ancient Greek Music, he writes:—"Several indications combine to make it probable that singing and speaking were not so widely separated from each other in Greek as in the modern languages with which we are most familiar." (p. 113). . . . . ."For if the language even in its colloquial form had qualities of rhythm and intonation which gave it this peculiar half-musical character, so that singing and speaking were
