General Conclusion
Having now concluded our inquiry into the origin, the nature, and the evolution of Greek systems of blood-vengeance, it may be desirable to give here a brief synoptic summary of the theories which we have sought to establish. Our summary naturally falls into two sections: (A) chronological and (B) literary.
(A) (1) From the earliest times there existed in Greece a code of homicide-customs which is a well-known characteristic of the tribal or ‘group’ system of primitive human society; wergeld was the dominant penalty, and exile or death, or, possibly, servitude were alternative penalties; there was regular trial and collective control. We may call the system ‘private vengeance,’ but it was fundamentally different from ‘vendetta.’ This system has left only very slight traces of its existence in extant Greek literary or inscriptional remains: while it persisted in a suppressed or modified form all through the course of ancient Greek history, its presence was obscured by other developments, social, religious, and political.
(2) Thus there was, in the first place, the Achaean domination (say, 1300-1100 B.C.) which is the dominant atmosphere of the Homeric poems; we have seen that the Achaean system in regard to homicide made death the normal penalty, but that this penalty could be avoided in practice, though not in theory, by the flight of the slayer. There was no regular or prescribed trial, but there existed a kind of social etiquette or a potential military discipline which established a general distinction between murder and vengeance, and which, while omitting any nice points of discrimination in estimating the degrees of guilt, nevertheless prevented any wholesale system of vendetta.
(3) When in the ‘Hesiodic’ age (1000-750 B.C.) various migrations and economic changes disturbed the peaceful operation of clan-laws, and no form of control, either tribal or military, could be said to exist in the greater part of Greece (excluding, perhaps, the Attic State), then arose, as we think, in its full vigour the barbarous vendetta system which has left so marked a trace in Greek legends: then rose to prominence the belief in ancestral curses, which were held to fall upon children even in the fourth generation. Then came into being the blood-thirst of the dead, the mutilation of the murdered corpse, the deprivation of burial—all the barbarisms of collective hereditary vendetta.
(4) Into this state of chaos there came, as it were, by the foresight of the gods, in the seventh century, the ‘Apolline’ religious code. The murderer now becomes god-hated: he is shunned by society: all men must rise in horror against him, and if he is guilty they must either slay him or banish him for ever. Courts must operate, for murder, if for nothing else. The right of suppliants must be respected at least till guilt is proved. Wergeld is abolished, but a minor appeasement of the relatives is permitted after exile, for minor degrees of guilt.
(5) Almost contemporaneously came the evolution of the synoekised Greek State. A compromise between the old and the new ideas produced the laws of Dracon and the historical murder-codes of Greece. The State now takes over the execution, as well as the trial of homicides. The avenger of blood gives place to the Public Executioner. Parricide and kin-slaying are punishable with death. The property of wilful murderers is confiscated to the State. Courts which at first have general jurisdiction specialise in certain kinds of homicide, and their specialised functions are stereotyped in law. The personnel of these courts undergoes modifications which keep pace, in the main, with the advance of democracy to complete political power.
(B) (1) We have seen that the homicide references in Homer can only be properly understood by assuming a predominance, in legend or in the atmosphere of the poet, of the Achaean system of vengeance, and the existence of faint but unmistakable echoes of the Pelasgian wergeld system.
(2) Of the Hesiodic period the poems of Hesiod are the only authentic evidence, and such evidence is obscure. We may however supplement it indirectly by arguments from survivals, and by the argument of ‘elimination.’
(3) Of the Apolline or historical system we need not review the evidence which has been given at length in our Second Book. This evidence has been examined and interpreted by many modern scholars. We have indicated what we considered the most probable interpretation of matters which were open to doubt, especially when the solution of the problem was important for the analysis of blood-vengeance in Attic tragedy. We have sought to prove that Plato’s homicide code should be regarded as an important and indispensable contribution to the study of Greek homicide-law. However difficult the analysis of the references to homicide in Attic tragedy may have been, without Plato any such analysis would have been impossible.