Homeric Correption and the Metrical Distinctions Between Speeches and Narrative 0824032829, 9780824032821

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Homeric Correption and the Metrical Distinctions Between Speeches and Narrative

Stephen T. _Kelly

GARLAND PuausHING

& 1990

NEW YORK

U)NDQN

© 1990 by Stephen Kelly

library of Congress cata1oglng-ln-Publlcatlon

Data

Kelly, Stephen T. (Stephen Timothy), 1947Homeric correption and the metrical distinctions between speeches and narrative/ Stephen T. Kelly. p. cm. - (Harvard dissertations in classics) Thesis (Ph. D.) - Harvard University, 1974. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-8240-3282-9:

$20.00

1. Homer-Versification. 2. Greek language-Metrics and rhythmics. 3. Epic poetry. Greek-History and criticism. 4. Oral tradition-Greece. 5. Speech in literature. 6. Narration (Rhetoric) I. Title. II. Series. PA4206.Q3K4 1990 89-71403 883 .01-dc20 CIP Printed on acid-free, 250-year-life paper.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Design by Julie Threlkeld

To the memory of my dear mother Camilla Kelly Brown

Preface to the Garland Edition his dissertation began with basic research on an anomaly of Greek metrics. correption. the shortening of a long vowel at the end of a word before another vowel. and. to my surprise. led to some unexpected conclusions on the nature of the preliterate Greek epic. I had the honor and pleasure of having as my thesis advisors two wonderful men. Professor Gregory Nagy and the late Professor Cedric Whitman. who were of invaluable help to me as. counting and thinking my way through the Iliad. I began to see the data pointing to ways of thinking about Homer which at first startled me-how could speeches predate the narrative in which they are set-but which later made sense when put in the broader context of what we know from other sectors of the Indo-European epic tradition. The text of this book is exactly that of the 197 4 dissertation. I have decided to let stand severaljeux d'esprtt. such as an opening paragraph written under the influence of too much Gibbon. and a reference to "epic hangover" in the footnotes. Harvard indulged my youthful playfulness, and I hope the present reader will. too. I would like to express my gratitude to the Trustees of the Mrs. Giles Whiting Foundation. whose generous grant freed me to devote a year's full-time work to the dissertation.

-Stephen

T. Kelly

Contents Page

.................................... l

Introduction Chapter

l:

The Distribution

Quoted Narrative

or Correption

••••••

15

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Some Preliminary Conclusions. The Work or Drew1tt •.•••.•.....•.•••.••••.•..•

Chapter 2:

Chapter J:

an Indo-European

28

Phenomenon ••• 48

The Nature or Proto-Epic

••••••••••••

56

The Nature or Protc-Epic as Seen rrom Homeric Epic and the Poetry or Two Cognate Languages •.•..•....•.•••..•••.•••••

61

The Transition to Narrative

66

trom Speeches ••••••••.•.••••••.••••.•.•••••

The Conservatism Summary ••••••••••••••••

Appendix: Notes

19

The Causes of the Distribution of Corrept1on ••••••••••••••••••••••

Correption:

8

of the Speeches

•••••••••••

75

, • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • BO

the S;yllaba Anceps and Correption

••••

82

~• 87

•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

Tables and Graphs Table l:

Percentage

Table 2:

Special

Table :,:

Correption

Table 4:

Quoted Narrative

Table 5:

Quoted Narrative -- Od:t:sse;;:and Hymn to A:ehrodi te

14

Table 6:

Further

14

or Correption:

Tables for Iliad

Iliad

••••••

2, 18, 2J

in Odyssey, H. Aphrodite -- Iliad

.... 11 ... 12

•••••••••••••

....................

Tables 7 - 10:

breakdown or Odyssey 9, 12 •••• Placement-1r.-lL~e

graphs

7

••.•.•••

13

:,6-39

Introduction What would be the result contemplation

ot the Iliad

ot peaceful

of a tew minutes

and the Odyssey?

If a man were,

tor a moment, to turn his back on the mountains on Homer piled

up by the centuries,

to the now-distant and leave

shut his study doors

ot the howling mobs of divisionists,

cries

even the works of Parry at rest

what thoughts

to wonder about

hexameter cut his

line,

that

scng.

poet's

the subtly

the basic

-- not unnoticed carration

ot the actual

er events

about

and speeches,

can learn

~uch about scansion

Specifically, phenomenon of

c! Hcmer's epics,

in antiquity

the

-- between the

and the dramatic

these

presentation

11

two aspects

of Homer, the

of the two great

genres

and have come to believe

the origins

epic corrept1on before

at w01·d-boundary.

or

that

we

of Greek epic by con-

and structure

together.

my metrical

vowel or diphthong usually

en ~nich the poet rings

structure

and the relationship

narrative

sidering

music of the

words of speakers.

I have thought metrics

poem, he might

articulated

instru~ent

the text

A.r.d as he read more a!'..d more, l:le might also

come to consider interplay

on the bookshelf

would come to him as he considered

ot Homer? It he read aloud from either begin

of treatises

inquiries 11

,

cent.er around the

the shortening

a following

of a long

vowel or diphthong,

'l'his is a fascina t1n6 and puzzling

2

metrical

oddity.

It

is not to be found in Latin

Grec1sm. 1

a conscious

It sounds strange

to the modern ear

and may have seemed so even to those who heard in classical

Greece;

only one more quirk

that

effect

on anyone hearing

time.

V.art1al

beginning

a 11ne','At£~

1

2 "Ar,, is

consonant-cluster

✓ ' Tt'CCYTWV ~(>/

01chtersprache

Homeric poetry

(elision

versus

line,

No less

with no lengthening r/ ' ,I. \ , I/TIYOI.) J 9'\J T'Ol l'-_'V Ot O OU Ol'7'fAIYli,O",._t, o'>.vjol. l(o '\ , 8 t)A'1111E~ ,ic. 'TfoA(JJ,,Ol• ~ WTE.,\€~«'1TOO OAiO"' o(t.

Perhaps,

then,

-ou should ba read as

but the advantages

Drewi tt pointed

disadvantages.

reading

-o" as -oo would eliminate

also

require

diaeresis,

or -oo in hiatus,

of doing so may well be outweighed by

certain

apondaics,

-Ol0

J.

A.. J.

some undesirable

changing them to preferable the introduction which le, according

out that,

ot elision

dactyls,

fourth

but would

at the bucolic

to him, unattractive.

6

We

6

must also 1n oral

recall

performance

a correpted decided

-ot ' and -ot are indistinguishable

that

and that

dual ending

to treat

that and nothing For the Iliad

all

-w. "

instances

edition

1966).

,

might sound exactly

For these reasons of oorrepted

like

I have

-ov as

Just

else. I used the Oxford Classical

by David B. )(onro and Thomas

reprinted

-o

w• .\llen

(3rd edit.ion

For the Odyssey I used

(London, 1965).

Text edited

w. B.

1920,

Stanford's

7 Table 1 Percentage Iliad

-

Book

ot Correption: Jfarr.

Speech 4:,

Iliad Similes

--

l

17

2

26

.,.,

42

19

:,8

32

4

2:,

'4

42

5

19

39

35

6

22

42

67

7

15

43

33

8

19

33

50

9

8

40

20

10

16

44

8

11

24

32

30

12

22

30

29

1:,

2:,

45

:,o

14

17

:,9

:,3

15

20

4:,

:,7

16

19

:,7

25

17

2:,

39

39

18

17

42

38

19

21

:,9

50

20

19

42

:,8

21

20

39

}4

22

21

:,7

26

2:,

16

51

27

24

18

42

Average

20

40

-50:,4

.,

l.

In an article

by E. B. Clapp that attempts

I tcund the assertion that cor-. constant trom A to w . " 1 At first

re pt ion is "fairly

t.~is statement

indeed it

E to

.n

to explain

ot correption

the origin

glance

ot Correption

The Distribution

is true

appears

unsurprising

in one limited

same percentage

of correptions

moving from A to

sense:

to .C to c to f.tJ, one will

enough, and

find approximately

per hundred lines

the

in one book

aa in anot.her. 2 It occurred ana.lysia

to me, however, that

depended on a crude and arbitrary

poem, and what was really I therefore

book-by-book division

statistics

tor each book

but kept the !'igu:-es tor narrative I also

separate.

of the

needed was an ana.lys1s by genre.

began to accumulate

ot the Iliad, apeeches

this

examined all

and the longer

similes

than

one line.' 'l'he results atatiatical

were startling,

divergence

ot narrative

and that

not only for the sharp

between the correption-peN:entage or speech,

way in which those two figures

but also held,

for the uncanny

book after

hovering

always around 20,C and 40,C respectively.

similes,

representing

presentfd

only a handful

wild fluctuations

-- 67% in Z versus

but such is always the effect ata~ist1cs.

If,

however,

of lines

book, The in each book,

8-' in

K --

or a small sample on one's

we take all

the similes

from the

9

twenty-three

books that

than one line)

and consider

an explanation,

and it

be presented

here,

stifling

demand

but first

it will

one

be helpful

to

data of Table l and the other understanding

tables

without

hie interest.

examining

most obvious tact

the tables

the speeches,

t.ion,

obviously

1a my hope that a plausible

to aid the reader's

The first,

and

they show a

These results

examine the statistical

1n enough detail

them (Book l has none longer

them together,

of 3~.

oorrept1on-f1gure

will

exhibit

is that

book art.er

~l though I am personally than exclude

suspect

1 and 24.

more inclined

to include

rather

still

I had neither uniformity

a word of caution

a given passage as it bears

one metrical

expected

exhibited

aa Book 10 or auch favorite

accept

targets

as

is in order:

1t

phenomenon to

or book, despite

on the nature

the fact

or the whole

us muoh.

Booka 9 and 23 are really as possibly

tor respect..

to use thia

poem, oan tell

exhibit, in this

would be foolish

t.ha.~ oorreption,

excep-

orthodox. figures

passages,

Nevertheless

or reJect

tor narrative

Even the books most devoutly

nor hoped to find such a gratifying by such a stepchild

one in

book and almost without

ot d1v1s1onists

wished away by generations

placidly

strikes

the percentages

cent.er around 20 and 40.

th·e moat part.,

that

anomalous,

both caaes the statistics

the only 1.wo that. at.and out

but it 1s important are eccentric

t.o note that

1n

1n only one er the

10

two categories.

The low percentage

ot 9

tor the narrative

might be explained

by the small sample (only

125 lines),

there

of comparable length

exhi"::>1 t the

are passages

expect.ed figure:

tor

in Book 23 (exclusive

example,

from the average

puzzling,

but

more tully

1n the

the Games.

and their

of Book 23 is

will

be discussed

above.

giddy tluctuations

Their average

fact.

percentage

Th~ similes

origin,

Mow, however,

a closer

and 1n

can be shown, I believe, to the speeches

stage

a some-

so surprising?

occur both 1n narrative

tie

closer

of the narrative,

is not the time to discuss

only at a preliminary

have been nestles

And yet 1s it really

remember t.ha t similes

their

The 11%

later.

•ha t surprising

speeches.

of narrative

to do with what is

These exceptions

to t.ha t or the a peeches t.han that

We

speeches

to have something

seems

The similes mentioned

the 162 lines

of the Games), showing 2qC.

variation

said during

that

but

to have,

1n

than to narrative. this,

of considering

for we are

the statistical

tables.

Let us turn briefly 18, and 23 (Table 2).· catalogues

to the Special The figures

are remarkable those for

identical

with

narrative

passages

shield-passage

1n

for

only in that II

straight

Tables for Books 2, the Greek and Trojan they are almost

narrative"

( 1.e.,

of Book 2 not in the catalogues). 18, on the other hand,

exhibits

the The

a marked

ll

Table 2 Catalogue, Shield, Games: Special Tables for Iliad 2, 18, 23

I corr.

%corr.

240

65

27%

Greek catalogue •••••••••

291

72

241.'

Trojan catalogue •••••••• TOTALnarrative •••••••••

61 592

_l5_ 152

~~

Speech ••. ••...••....••••

283

92

3,,C

225

43

1~

12~

I lines

Book 2 Straight

narrative

••••••

Book 18 Straight

narrative

••••••

Shield . ................. 'fOTAL narrative •••••••••

350

J§.... 59

1~ 1~

Speech • •.••......•...••.

266

111

42%

162

33

382

-22.-

Book 23 Straight

narrative

Games narrative TOTALnarrative Straight

••••••

••••••••• •••••••••

544

89

------------------------------------

speech.........

Games speech •••••.•••••• 'fOTALspeech ••••••••••••

94

259 353

45

136 181

12

Table J Correption

in Odyssey, Hymn to Aphrodite

Narrative •

LI#£$

Speeches

tf:Cod. 1'CoM ~L1111!t .-co,J.. 'kColtl.

21% 285

14:5 50,C

Similes 4'"u~ •co«.R. ~01'~

.

--- --- ---

Odzeaez l

159

34

Cd;y;seey 5

284

62 22% 209

92

44% 17

4

2~

Od1ssex 20

172

25

15% 222

91

41% 18

6

33%

H• .\ 12hrcdi te

125

28

22% 168

58

35%

--- --i---

1:, Table 4

Quoted Narrative

-- Iliad

(.o,t ~-I!:"""1"4&0. ~

ltU'r!ON

Su\,Ject

Lines

.,. Ul'l!S

'

4.J76-J99

Agamemnonon Tydeus

24

3

1~

5 .383-404

Dione on gods' surrering at men's hands

22

3

14%

6.l:,0-140

Diomedes on ruin or those who fight gods

11

2

18;'

60

20

33%

15

5

~4

15

28,C

16

7

4",C

Meleager

71

19

21,C

ll.670-762

Nestor reminisces: the Eleans

93

26

2Bi(

ll.765-789

Nestor on Achilles and Patroclus

25

4

16,C

16

4

~

6.152-211 6.414-428 9-438-495 9.497-512 9.529-599

~4.602-617 Iliad tot.al

Glaucus'

descent

Andromache's family and Achilles Phoenix'

autobiogra.phy

J

A,.,.. ..(

Achilles

on Niobe

.

~

407

'"'

108 21,C

14

Tables 5 1 6 Table

5:

Quoted Narrative: and Hymn to Aphrodite

Odyaaey

N°""~

SubJeot

Lines Book 9, except first 18 lines

o(1TO

Book 12, omitting tour lines

o(Tt'O

/AO'(O

~

13.256-286

)

-

#

548 143

26:'

,~ O"(O (

449 115

26%

r

~Cretan ◄

lies

19.172-202 24.:,0:,-314 Ody sse:t:

_,

total

202-2:,B

-. .

Hl!!n to A phrod1 te

k~o'-tUT1oN '11"11~ %

l.

14.199-359 17.419-444

I.Iii/ES

Ganymede, T1thonus

31

6

1~

161

49

3~

26

7

27,(

31

10

32%

11

5

45%

1257 335

37

9

21,C

2q,C

Table 6:

Fu.rt.her Breakdown of Odyssey 9, 12 Hv"a~

oF UNES

°" .

C~U.f.#'TI Nv/'\1,£«. "7.

Book 9

Quoted Narrative Proper

434

94

22%

Book 9

Quotes-in-quotes

114

49

4,%

Book 12

Quoted Narrative Proper

249

48

19,C

Book 12

Quotes-in-quotes

200

67

34%

15

drop 1n the percentage

shield-description

is less

presents

within

The table

dealing

(Table

sample and not a thorough

however,

genre-distribution

into

of the Games narrative,

statistical

other

in the Odyssey and

3) represents

of correption

but extends

Book 23

merely note this.

a selection

analysis.

to show that

be sufficient

con-

the Games are correspondingly

with correption

the Hxmn to Aphrodite

its

than is the straight

".1.t. For now, we shall

more free •f'tlt

the

Finally,

the narrative

correption

whereas the speeches

into

74).

(seep.

a double difficulty:

la more sparing-of

Perhaps

well-integrated

than are the catalogues

Iliad

as we move from straight

to the {~fcfO-t~ of the shield.

narrative

text

or correption

this

It will,

phenomenon or

is not contlned.

oral

or

tot.he

epic and sub-epic

com-

positions.4 Quoted Narrative For anyone still distinction

existing

phenomenon that t1nally

between narrative

we may call

convincing

as a digression

in doubt about the sharp genre-

data.

within

currently

quoted narrative

a speech;

this

reminiscence,

at hand but has no direct taking

Briefly

a

should provide

Quoted narra t.ive may be defined

an exemplum or personal the subJect

and the speeches,

digression,

usually

relates

obliquely

to

bearing

on the events

place around the speaker.

summarized,

t.he results

(see Table 4) may be

16

at.ated

thus:

when a speaker

quoted narrative,

into a passage of

the correption-percentage

drops to the

ot what it would be in narrative

vicinity

and -- the final introduces

normally

proper,

within

actually

Eleven passages were studied

a quote"

in his story,

4q(.

or quoted narrative, in the Iliad.

totalling

The average

ot corrept1on,

as can be seen from. the table,

closer

or straight

Tariance

•1 th the usual

narrative

a dramatic

but,

the figures

rather,

rise

true dialogue

that

of course,

exhibited

all

in order

Let

part

to

the three

the speech passages

of a single

show

divergence

separately,

relevance

in it.,

or whether

myth of

there

renders

is some

is not a &ubJect. on which one can speak

with cemplet.e confidence.

speech show the expected

The other figures.

but

the anomalously

by the shcrt. but. celebrated

insignificant.

from

oration

the /\tT'o VI \I

ante vocalem corripitur

~ollowing

quotation

is that

V) explains

(the

qu'une

' breve puisque longue,

CI

,.

breve+

1nit1ale

deve~u 1ntervocal1que.

t.hat

correption,

is a natural

phonetic

vowels;

is a phenomenon parallel

In his recent Dutch scholar remained

causas.

Kurylowicz

that

that

the laryngeals

Kuiper ha& demonstra 'Mid that

lbenom&na (India

traces

of •••

Antigua

period:

the Rigveda aandhi

p. 208rr.,

of

of long

in Greek, the

the Indo-European

displays

correption

to correption

book on the laryngeals

after

•ees

or license,

to the other.

Beekes has proposed

1n force

still

11

"

phenomenon originating

he remarks

one form did not spread

finale

25

and metrical

Moreover,

..a la

devenai t breve

far from being an irregularity

1n Indo-EUropean. diphthongs

i'

d'une

par la chute du~

qui potui t rerum cognoscere

"Felix

api:artena1t

de meme une voyelle

est-a-dire

voyelle

n'avait

que la valeur

la sonnante

suivante:

devant

finale

initiale

syllabe

emphasis in the

, indoeuropeene.

diphthongue

devant voyelle

the rule

of Kury?owioz):

' , CI est une regle metrique

Ainsi

of intervocalic

52 Die Sprache 7.16-20).

Shortening,

emerges trom th1a that preaened

that

the laryngeal•

in th1a position

aepara te language

a,

down to the

were preserved

tor

( trom the phase in the proto-

language thought

were

tor 1 t 1a 111:probable

these sandh1 rules

oentur1ea

It thua

in which the laryngeals to have disappeared

here

were to the

time when the Vedas were compoaed). 26 Since the Vedas were being composed at roughly 1n which the pre-Homeric

aeema surprising

that

proto-ep1c

even makes the following In the oldest

was developing,

Beekes misses

what he has said above tor

the same time it

t.he 1Mpl1cat1cn3 et

the Greek language.

In tact,

he

assertion: Greek,

1.e.

1n Ho2er, no

trace can be found ot these sandh1 Jiienomena. The more trequent

form has already

generalized

1.e.

here,

been

the anteconaonantal

form.

However, tne shortening of the 27 vocative can still be shown. Beekes has turned

his back on the rich banquet

to dine on the meager scraps correption

' , (3.164) of o ' ,fj I 1 r, • ' ,r(&J ~IJC1')0'1:»Jl,- , aa IV')l,;,i:,J Vll, '1 £0 "}E., or

concureionea

o~uo,\f'T"C." A. Shewan, (1923),

lbldolr ICasael,

(Oxford,

5

a\

>'

.•

1n Homeric Verse~ CQ, 17

16 •

• Liber

•Hiatus

>'> n

ry l