If the view put forward above is correct we must conclude that a change had been taking place in the organisation of society, and indeed that it was as yet by no means complete[535]. We have noticed that the conditions seem to have been somewhat similar in the Heroic Age of the Teutonic peoples. But we saw also that there the change was apparently accompanied by a relaxation in the bonds of kinship, which shows itself especially in fatal strife between relatives. The same phenomenon appears in the Homeric poems. Thus according to Il. II 662 f. Tlepolemos slew his father's mother's brother, Licymnios, and had to leave his country in consequence. Among Achilles' followers (ib. XVI 570 ff.) was a certain Epeigeus who had taken refuge with Peleus because he had killed a cousin or kinsman (ἀνεψιός) in his own city. Again in Il. IX 566 f. it is at least implied that Meleagros slew his mother's brothers (in accordance with the story found later). In the same speech (V 458 ff.) Phoinix confesses that he had been on the point of killing his own father. Then there is the tragic history of the house of Pelops. The facts stated in the Odyssey are that Aigisthos slew Agamemnon, his father's brother's son, and that Orestes, the son of Agamemnon, eventually slew Aigisthos. The most important feature in this story is that here we have not only homicide but also vengeance within the kindred. It is not actually stated that Orestes slew his mother; but from Od. III 310 we may infer at least that she perished at the same time as Aigisthos. This is one of the cases in which I suspect that disagreeable incidents connected with royal families have been suppressed (cf. p. [238]). Later authorities add many more instances of homicide within the kindred. Some of these, such as the 'banquet of Thyestes,' bear a close resemblance to Teutonic stories which we know to be unhistorical. Others again may have been invented to account for the presence of heroes in districts far from their native place. Yet from the fact that this motive is so frequently employed we may conclude that the murder of relatives was nothing very rare.
In this respect then the Greek evidence agrees entirely with the Teutonic. In both cases alike the bonds of kinship seem to have lost their force to a great extent[536]. But it is to be remembered that among the Teutonic peoples we have in general no evidence except for the families of kings and royal officials; in other ranks of society the kindred may have retained much more vitality—as indeed the laws seem to imply. Such may also have been the case in Greece; for the Homeric poems are concerned almost exclusively with persons of princely rank. Certainly the strength and sanctity possessed by the kindred in early historical times is most easily to be explained on the supposition that the tendency which we have been discussing affected only a limited element in society[537].
The second of the two principles which we find dominant in early Teutonic society, namely that of personal allegiance, seems at first sight to play by no means so important a part in the life of heroic Greece. But for the lack of prominence assigned to it there are special reasons—a different reason in the case of each poem. In the Iliad, which deals with campaign life, the stage is so crowded with kings that there is little room left for persons of humbler station. The only force indeed of which we have any account at all is that of Achilles. This was divided into five troops, each under a leader of its own, in addition to Patroclos and Automedon. We saw in the last chapter that the speech in which Patroclos exhorts his men to battle is entirely in the spirit of the Teutonic comitatus. The appeal which he makes to them is not to any feeling of patriotism, but entirely to the effect that they should show their devotion to their own lord. We may note that several of the chief men, at all events Patroclos, Automedon and Phoinix, seem to share Achilles' hut. The passionate friendship of Achilles and Patroclos appears to be a stronger bond than any other relationship that we meet with in the Homeric poems. But even if we set this on one side as something exceptional, the devotion shown to Achilles by Phoinix is quite in accordance with the best traditions of Teutonic thegnship.
The Odyssey presents us with the picture of a king's house in time of peace. But, though Penelope has not less than fifty women in the house, the only men apparently, besides the suitors and their followers, are Telemachos himself, the herald Medon and the minstrel Phemios, together with the swineherd, neatherd and goatherd who come with provisions each day from a distance But the conditions here are abnormal; the king himself has been away from home for many years, and his son is only just reaching manhood. It is scarcely credible that a Teutonic comitatus could have existed under such conditions. Menelaos appears to have something of a retinue at his court. In IV 22 f. we hear of a θεράπων named Eteoneus, who seems to be a person of some rank, as he is called κρείων. In v. 216 f. another θεράπων, Asphalion, is mentioned, while v. 37 f. speak of several of such persons, though their number is not stated. All that is said of them seems to indicate that their position was much the same as that of the thegns in early Teutonic courts. The picture of the Phaeacian court also bears a general resemblance to that of the Danish court as described in Beowulf.
The use of the word θεράπων appears to correspond almost exactly to that of þegn[538]. In both cases the general meaning is 'servant'; but, just as we find Beowulf described as Hygelaces þegn, so in the Iliad the term θεράπων is applied to such distinguished persons as Meriones and Patroclos. The converse term ἄναξ also seems to correspond almost as closely to the English dryhten. Like the latter it is used for the master of a slave (e.g. Od. XV 557), while on the other hand it is applied, again like dryhten, to the most important kings—and even deities—in relation to all who recognise their authority. We have already noticed (p. [329]) that the phrase ἄναξ ἀνδρῶν seems to correspond very closely to the English phrase eorla dryhten.
There is little or no evidence to show whether it was customary for the sons of leading men to be brought up at the king's court. Patroclos was declared to be the θεράπων of Achilles at an early age (Il. XXIII 89 f.); but the circumstances were exceptional. Certainly the θεράποντες often came from beyond the king's dominions. Thus Patroclos had come from Opus (ib. XXIII 85 ff.) and Lycophron, Aias' squire, from Cythera (ib. XV 430 f.). It is true that both these persons had had to leave their homes owing to homicides which they had committed; and no doubt many such cases were due to circumstances which rendered a change of abode advisable. Thus Phoinix had sought the protection of Peleus owing to a deadly quarrel with his father. Yet apart from such emergencies the protection and friendship of a wealthy and powerful king probably offered considerable attractions. We may refer to a somewhat remarkable passage in the Odyssey (IV 174 ff.), where Menelaos says that it had been his wish to bring Odysseus to his own country, with his son and his followers and possessions, adding that in order to make a home for him he would have ejected the inhabitants from one of the neighbouring cities which were under his lordship.
Menelaos' intention seems to have been to put Odysseus in the position of a dependent prince. We have seen that Teutonic kings were in the habit of rewarding their knights with grants of jurisdiction; and the same appears to have been the case with the kings of Homeric times. Thus in Il. IX 483 f. Phoinix says that Peleus had made him rich and granted him many followers, and that he had made his dwelling in a frontier district as lord over the Dolopes. This passage seems to furnish almost an exact parallel to the treatment of Beowulf by Hygelac (cf. p. [349]). A similar case perhaps was that of Medon, the son of Oileus, who according to Il. II 727 commanded the forces from Methone and the adjacent districts, in the absence of Philoctetes, and who, like Phoinix, was a fugitive from his native land (cf. XIII 695 ff.). Here too we may mention the case of Phyleus, who had left his own country and gone to Dulichion owing to a quarrel with his father (ib. II 629), and whose son Meges commanded the forces from that island. In many such cases of course there may have been a marriage with a princess of the native royal family; but it is hardly necessary to assume that this was universal. In the case of Phoinix indeed such an assumption is improbable.
There seems to be no actual record of a Homeric hero who left his home except under stress of circumstances; and hence, after making all deductions, we are bound, I think, to conclude that the system of the comitatus was not so highly developed as in the north of Europe. This is in full conformity with the fact that kingly families were apparently much more numerous. Among the suitors of Penelope twelve princes belong to Ithaca alone, an island of no great size and probably never thickly populated[539].
For a class of nobility distinct from the princely families we have no clear evidence[540]. Persons like Eteoneus, the squire of Menelaos, may belong to such a class; but it is quite possible that they are princes. We may refer also to the false story told by Odysseus in Od. XIII 256 ff., from which it appears that chiefs with small followings might be expected to place themselves in the position of θεράποντες to more powerful chiefs. But Odysseus does not here make clear what rank he claims to have possessed in Crete. Quite possibly the practice referred to might be somewhat analogous to what we find in the Saga of Harold the Fair-haired, where a number of petty kings submit to Harold and take the rank of earls.
The same want of definiteness occurs in regard to the humbler ranks of society. Even the slave's status is not made particularly clear, while there is no reference to the existence of freedmen or to the practice of manumission[541]. Slaves are apparently able to buy other slaves on their own account (cf. Od. XIV 449 ff.). In other respects however their position seems to be very similar to that of slaves in early Teutonic society[542]. Still less do we hear of differences of rank or status within the free population[543]. But it should be observed that the Anglo-Saxon poems give us no more information on such matters. Were it not for the early laws and foreign authorities we should know nothing of the distinction between land-holding and landless peasants, nor even of the great classes of noble, freeman, slave, etc. The true explanation seems to be that both sets of poems alike are interested only in persons of royal rank.