Village books

I think there is a spice of malicious
humour in this valuation, and am confirmed in this opinion by noting
that though woman in the Iliad is on one occasion depicted as a wife
so faithful and affectionate that nothing more perfect can be found
either in real life or fiction, yet as a general rule she is drawn
as teasing, scolding, thwarting, contradicting, and hoodwinking the
sex that has the effrontery to deem itself her lord and master.
Whether or no this view may have arisen from any domestic
difficulties between Homer and his wife is a point which again I
find it impossible to determine.
We cannot refrain from contemplating such possibilities. If we are
to be at home with Homer there must be no sitting on the edge of
one's chair dazzled by the splendour of his reputation. He was
after all only a literary man, and those who occupy themselves with
letters must approach him as a very honoured member of their own
fraternity, but still as one who must have felt, thought, and acted
much as themselves.


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