We must now turn for a moment to the Cyclic poems. And here it is to be remembered in the first place that our information is very defective, if not actually misleading. Herodotus (II 117) doubted Homer's authorship of the Cypria on the ground that it contained a statement in direct contradiction with the Iliad, namely that Alexandros arrived at Troy with Helen on the third day after leaving Sparta, whereas it is stated in the Iliad (VI 290 ff.) that he wandered out of his course (to Sidon) when he brought her. But the epitome of the Cypria which has come down to us states expressly that Alexandros did go to Sidon. Hence we can only conclude that its trustworthiness as an authority for the contents of the poem is open to serious doubt.
Taking the evidence as it stands we can detect at once an important difference between the Cypria and the Nostoi on the one hand and the Iliad and the Odyssey on the other. In the two former poems the action seems to have been spread over a considerable number of years, while in the latter it was limited to a few days or weeks. Again, as far as we can judge, the two former treated a much larger number of events, in proportion to their length—events too which were not so closely connected with one another. Indeed they seem to have been almost in the nature of chronicles. These however are characteristics of popular rather than court poetry.
The story of the Cypria, as we know it, bears a curious resemblance to the Edda trilogy Reginsmál—Fáfnismál—Sigrdrífumál (cf. p. [13]). Both the Cyclic poem and the trilogy served as introductions to famous stories. Both stories were essentially concerned with the adventures and passions of human beings; but in both cases the introduction begins with the gods, and the origin of the tragic events which follow is traced ultimately to irresponsible, not to say mischievous, conduct on the part of certain deities. There can be no doubt that the whole theme of the Northern poems is a late addition to the story of Sigurðr, and that the poems themselves were composed as an introduction to this story. Is it not possible that the Cypria was of somewhat similar origin? The latter part of the poem, if we are to trust the epitome, contained some extraordinary features. The story of Odysseus' pretended madness and how he was eventually compelled to join the expedition is difficult to reconcile with the general tone of Homeric poetry. Again, the army is represented as assembling twice at Aulis and twice starting for Troy. The account of the first of these incidents agrees with what is stated in the Iliad (II 303 ff.), while the second contains the story of the sacrifice of Iphigeneia, according to the version in which she was rescued by Artemis. On the other hand it is worth bearing in mind that the poem is said to have ended with a catalogue of the Trojan allies, presumably the same list which we find in the Iliad (II 816 ff., or perhaps 840 ff.)—and this can hardly be regarded as a late composition.
The chief characteristic of the Nostoi seems to have been absence of unity. Beginning with the departure of the Achaeans from Troy, it narrated the adventures which befell various heroes on their return. These formed, as far as we can tell, a number of quite distinct stories, unconnected with one another except at the beginning. If we may judge from the number of books contained in the poem—five as against eleven in the Cypria—these stories must have been very short, and consequently it is perhaps questionable whether we are justified in regarding the Nostoi as an epic at all, except in the same sense in which that term is applied to Hesiodic poetry. Indeed it seems to have had an affinity with the latter in more than one respect; for the stories of the various heroes were probably not uninfluenced by genealogical interests. In the same light we may perhaps regard the fact that one scene is laid in an Ionic city (Colophon). All these features suggest that the poem came into existence at a fairly late period. If the Cypria was designed as an introduction to the story of the siege of Troy there can be little doubt that the Nostoi was composed as an epilogue to the same. On the other hand many scholars hold that it has been used by the Odyssey. But it is at least questionable whether the references in question do not come from the sources of the poem rather than the work itself[362].
The other poems of the Trojan series—the Aithiopis, Little Iliad and Iliu Persis—resembled the Cypria and the Nostoi in the fact that they dealt with a considerable number of separate episodes[363]. But the resemblance was perhaps only superficial; for these episodes were apparently represented as following one another in regular sequence. If we had only a fragmentary epitome of the Iliad we might gather from it much the same impression. All these poems were on a small scale, eleven books in all; but, unlike the Cypria and the Nostoi, the action covered only a short interval of time. Several incidents which they related are referred to or even told at length in the Odyssey; but we have not sufficient information to enable us to determine whether the references are taken from the poems themselves. The chief argument to the contrary is that these poems seem to have contained certain 'post-Homeric' features, notably the rite of purification from bloodshed, in the Aithiopis, and the sacrifice of a virgin (Polyxene), in the Iliu Persis. The former case is especially significant, because—in striking contrast with the spirit of later Greek poetry—the ideas of pollution and purification seem to be entirely ignored in the Iliad and Odyssey[364].
These so-called post-Homeric features are of course really characteristics of a more primitive religion, and it would be better to describe them as 'non-Homeric' or 'non-heroic.' But the fact that such practices are ignored in the Iliad and Odyssey, while later poets had a special affection for them, renders it probable that their presence in the Cyclic poems is due to popular influence. Are we then justified in assigning these poems to Stage IV of our scheme? That is a question which, considering the evidence at our disposal, I feel a good deal of hesitation in answering. Certainly they cannot have differed from the Iliad and Odyssey in anything like the same degree that the medieval German poems or even the heroic poems of the Edda differ from Beowulf. They may actually have incorporated a good deal of ancient matter. On the whole the balance of probability seems to me to incline towards the view that the Cyclic poems are derived ultimately from the same body of early heroic court poetry upon which the Iliad and Odyssey themselves are based; but that their composition took place in later times, when the 'Homeric' standard was no longer preserved in its purity.
Whatever may be the case with the Cyclic poems there are other poetic works which may be assigned to Stage IV without hesitation. For our purpose it will perhaps be best to take an illustration from the drama; for, though such works are only secondary authorities, they are on the whole less open to objection than lost poems on which our information may be misleading. A good example is furnished by Aeschylus' Oresteia, a series of plays which deals with a subject treated at some length in the Odyssey. The chief incidents are the murder of Agamemnon by his wife Clytaimnestra, the vengeance taken upon her by her son Orestes, the persecution of the matricide by the Erinyes, his purification by Apollo, and his trial by Athene and the citizens of Athens. In the Odyssey the first of these incidents, the murder, is ascribed to Aigisthos, Clytaimnestra's paramour. As regards the second we have nothing but a passing reference to Clytaimnestra's funeral. The other incidents are not mentioned at all. Again, in Aeschylus' work prominence is given to an attempt on Clytaimnestra's part to placate the dead Agamemnon, to an invocation of him for vengeance by his children, and to the instigation of the Erinyes by Clytaimnestra's ghost. These features too are unknown in the Odyssey; indeed they are directly opposed to all that we know of Homeric religion. Then again we find frequent and detailed allusions to tragic events which had occurred previously in the history of Agamemnon's family—especially the 'banquet of Thyestes' and the sacrifice of Iphigeneia. On these matters too both the Iliad and the Odyssey are completely silent. Yet in the latter case this silence cannot be due to accident. Either the poets were ignorant of the story, or they deliberately suppressed it.
Few modern readers can fail to appreciate the Oresteia as an almost unrivalled masterpiece of poetic art, in spite of the fact that the ideas with which it is permeated are largely strange and unreal to us. But what would have been the effect if such a work had been recited at one of those courts in which Homeric poetry was patronised in early times? There can scarcely be any doubt, I think, that the recitation would not have been tolerated. To such an audience the poet's religious conceptions would have been intelligible enough, but only as products of a degraded and baneful superstition, while his skilful presentation of various painful incidents in the history of a royal house—the most distinguished in Greece—would have appeared not merely an offence against good manners but rather a wanton insult to the kingly class in general.
The social conditions and the ethical standard of Aeschylus' time differed no doubt very greatly from those of the Homeric age. This is a subject with which we shall have to deal later. It should be observed however that nearly all the special features which characterise Aeschylus' treatment of this story can be paralleled from Scandinavian works which we may assign to Stage IV. A very close analogy for the 'banquet of Thyestes' is furnished by the story of Guðrún, Atli and their children; and it is to be remembered that, though Atli at least was a historical character, this story cannot possibly have any foundation in fact. The persecution of Orestes by the Erinyes may be compared with Saxo's story (p. [246]) of the curse inflicted upon Haldanus[365], likewise as a result of the shedding of 'kindred blood.' With the sacrifice of Iphigeneia we may compare that of Vikarr in Gautreks Saga (cap. 7), which was also brought about by the prevalence of contrary winds. Invocation of the dead is not uncommon in such works. On the other hand it is extremely doubtful whether any of those features would have been permissible in early heroic poetry. They do not occur in the extant poems of Stage II.