The Heroic Age

by H. Munro Chadwick

Such passages as these afford abundant evidence for patriotism of the practical kind. But this is not the same thing as national pride. We shall best be able to appreciate the special characteristics of heroic poetry in this respect by comparing it with other martial poems, dating from later times. An excellent example of national pride is furnished by the well-known epitaph on Leonidas and the Spartans who perished at Thermopylai. We may also quote the 'Laconian Embaterion' commonly included among the fragments of Tyrtaios: "O ye youths, whose fathers have been citizens of Sparta, the home of heroes, come, hold forth the shield in your left hand and cast the spear with good courage. Regard not your life, for so to do is not Sparta's ancestral custom." Other good examples may be found in the works of the early elegiac poets.

What perhaps deserves notice above all in poetry of this type is the use of the first person plural with reference to exploits performed by the poet's nation in bygone times—a form of speech which seems to be quite foreign to heroic poetry. An example occurs in Tyrtaios' Eunomia (fragm. 2): "This city has been given to the Heracleidai by Zeus himself, the son of Cronos and husband of fair-crowned Hera. Together with them we forsook breezy Erineos and made our way to Pelops' broad island." Here the reference is to the first arrival of the Dorians in the Peloponnesos. Another case may be found in the poem on the Messenian war (fragm. 5): "... our king Theopompos dear to the gods, by whose help we captured spacious Messene.... Round about it (or 'for its sake') war was waged for nineteen years, ever without ceasing, by the fathers of our fathers, warriors who possessed the spirit of endurance." A similar usage appears in Mimnermos, fragm. 9: "On quitting steep Pylos, the town of Neleus, we came in ships to the pleasant land of Asia, and at fair Colophon with overmastering strength we took up our abode, beginning the arduous assault. Thence in turn, starting from the river Aleis, by the will of the gods we took Aeolian Smyrna[501]." Both the foundation of Colophon and the capture of Smyrna took place long before the poet's time.

The same patriotic sentiment is to be found in the martial poetry of later times in England. Thus in the poem on the battle of Brunanburh (v. 20 ff.) we are told that "throughout the whole day the West Saxons with troops of horse pressed on in pursuit of the enemy's forces. Fiercely they cut down the fugitives from behind with swords sharpened on the grindstone. Nor did the Mercians refuse stern hand-to-hand combat to any of the warriors who in the ship's bosom had followed Anlaf over the rolling waters to our land, to meet their doom in battle. On the field of action lay five young kings stretched lifeless by the sword; and with them seven of Anlaf's earls, and a countless host both of the seamen and the Scots." And again (v. 65 ff.): "Never in this island before now, so far as the books of our ancient historians can tell us, has greater slaughter been made of an army by the edge of the sword—since the time when the Angles and Saxons made their way hither from the east over the wide seas, invading Britain, when warriors eager for glory, proud forgers of war, overcame the Welsh and won for themselves a country."

We need not hesitate to interpret the last part of this quotation as an expression of national consciousness, just as much as in the poem of Mimnermos given above, although it does not use the first person with reference to the achievements of the Saxon invaders. But the poem as a whole differs essentially from the heroic type owing to the fact that—though the princes are mentioned incidentally—it is permeated throughout by the sense of national rather than individual glory.

Thus far we have been dealing with individual passages in the poems. Now we must consider briefly the motives of the stories and the characteristics for which the heroes are celebrated. The story of Beowulf consists of a series of adventures in which the hero seeks to display his prowess in encounters with monsters. The story of Finn, if we may form an opinion from the fragmentary evidence at our disposal, dealt with a fatal quarrel between two brothers-in-law, followed by revenge. The theme of Waldhere's story is the elopement, or rather escape, of lovers and the bravery shown by the hero in defence of his bride. The term elopement may more properly be applied to the story of Heðinn and Högni, whatever was the original form of its ending. A counterpart to this is furnished by the story of Hagbarðr and Signý, which ended tragically in the death of the lovers. The story of Sigurðr deals with a woman's revenge, brought about by disappointed love. The theme of the story of Hamðir and Sörli is the revenge undertaken by them for the death of their sister. Revenge is likewise the theme of Ingeld's story—in this case for the death of a father. The story of Offa is an instance of heroism in single combat. In the various stories connected with Dietrich von Bern attention is centred chiefly on the bravery, loyalty and resourcefulness of the hero and his knights.

It will be seen that throughout the heroic poetry of the Teutonic peoples, in episodes as well as in the main stories, the chief motif is almost invariably love or revenge or personal bravery. The same remark applies obviously enough to Greek heroic poetry—to the Iliad and Odyssey, as well as to the stories of Heracles, Iason and the rest. The characteristics too for which the heroes are distinguished are on the whole very much the same in both cases—strength, courage, resourcefulness, generosity, hospitality. The characters of Beowulf and Hrothgar may appeal to us more than those of Achilles and Nestor, but the main outlines are very similar. If there is any difference worth noting in this respect between the two sets of poems it is that the Greek attach more importance to personal beauty—a feature which only becomes prominent in the later forms of the Teutonic stories.

Now let us turn for a moment to the heroes of 'post-heroic' times. During the centuries which immediately followed the Heroic Age we hear of many princes and other persons who rose to fame both in England and on the Continent. Sometimes this fame was acquired through successful warfare; but it is as generals rather than as warriors that such persons are celebrated. More frequently they are known to us as legislators, founders of institutions, promoters of religion and protectors of the public peace. In this country we may think of such persons as the Kentish king Aethelberht, the Northumbrian kings Edwin and Oswald, the Mercian king Offa, and, above all, of Alfred the Great—not to mention numerous prominent ecclesiastics. In Greece the number of names known to us during the corresponding period is extremely small. Yet the most prominent names which we meet with at the dawn of the historical period are those of legislators and public benefactors, such as Zaleucos and Solon. In earlier times by far the best known name is that of the Spartan legislator Lycurgos, whether he was really a historical person or a character of mythical origin. We may perhaps compare him with that Wiger Spa, 'a heathen in the heathen age,' whose authority is referred to in King Byrger's preamble to the Law of the Uppland Swedes.

A similar character is borne by the traditional heroes of nations which have no Heroic Age. We may instance Bruteno and Widowuto the legendary founders and legislators of the state of the ancient Prussians. The same is true of the early kings of Rome, Romulus, Numa, Servius Tullius and the founders of the Republic. The essential feature which distinguishes these characters from those of the Heroic Age is the fact that they are known chiefly, not for what they performed or experienced during their lives, but for the effects of their doings upon later generations.

The explanation of this difference is no doubt to be sought largely in the nature of the records. For a modern analogy to the stories of Sigurðr or Achilles we should turn naturally to a romance or novel; for those of Offa or Lycurgos analogy would be sought rather in the biography of a statesman[502]. But it must be clearly recognised that the difference here does not lie between historical and unhistorical. Attila was a man of flesh and blood, no less certainly than Offa, while the historical existence of Lycurgos is as much debated as that of Achilles. And what shall we say with regard to such a character as Romulus? The difference lies rather between political and non-political, or—to speak more accurately—between national and non-national. Offa's fame is inseparably bound up with the aggrandisement and reorganisation of the Mercian kingdom. Lycurgos and Romulus are scarcely conceivable without Sparta or Rome. But Sigurðr and Achilles might belong to any Teutonic or Greek community; in the former case indeed the hero's nationality is not known for certain. We have seen that the heroic poetry of the Teutonic peoples had what may be called an international circulation from the beginning; and we have no reason for doubting that in the Heroic Age itself the same was the case in Greece. On the other hand the memory of the later heroes and their achievements was preserved only, or almost only, in the records and traditions of individual states. The interest to which stories of this latter group appeal is in general limited to the hero's own state; we have no evidence that such stories were international property[503]. It is the fact that the interest of the heroic stories was both individual and universal—i.e. that it lay in individuals not essentially bound up with a given community—which fitted them for international circulation.