HKB
Wherefore let no man forever be lawless any more, but keep quietly the gifts of the gods, whatsoever they may give.
Homer first of all divided into different parts civil polity. For in the shield which was made in imitation of the whole world by Hephaestus (that is, spiritual power) he imagined two cities to be contained: one enjoying peace and happiness; the other at war, and exposing the advantages of each he shows that the one life is civil and the other military. Neither did he pass over even the agricultural. But he showed this, too, making it clear and beautiful in his language.
In every city it is sanctioned by the law that there is to be a meeting of a council to consider before the popular assembly is called together. This is evident from the words of Homer (I. ii. 53):--
But first of all the Elders A secret conclave Agamemnon called.
Agamemnon collects the Elders, and examines with them how to arm the people for the fight.
And that it is necessary for the leader before all things to care for the salvation of the whole, he teaches in his characters by the advice he gives (I. ii. 24):--
To sleep all night but ill becomes a chief.
And how it is necessary for subjects to obey their leader, and how the commander should bear himself toward each class; Odysseus shows this, persuading the superior class by soft words, but using toward the crowd bitter words of rebuke.
To rise up for one's superiors is sanctioned in all laws. This the gods themselves do in the case of Zeus (I. i. 535):--
At his entrance all Rose from their seats at once; not one presumed To wait his coming.
There is a rule among most that the eldest shall speak. Diomed by necessity of the war having dared to speak first, requests to be pardoned (I. xiv. 111):--
Nor take offence that I, The youngest of all, presume to speak.
And it is an universal rule that voluntary offences are punished and involuntary ones are excused. This, too, the poet shows, in what the minstrel says (O. xxii. 350):--
And Telemachus will testify of this, thine own dear son, that not by mine own will or desire did I resort to thy house to sing to the wooers after their feasts; but being so many and stronger than I, they led me by constraint.
There are three forms of polity intended to attain justice and good laws,--Royalty, Aristocracy, and Democracy. To these are opposed three which end in injustice and lawlessness,--Tyranny, Oligarchy, and Mob Rule. Homer does not seem ignorant of these. Throughout his whole poem he names kingly rule and praises it; for example (I. ii. 196):--
For fierce his anger, and the Lord of counsel, Jove, From whom proceeds all honor, loves him well.
And what sort of a man a king must be, he plainly reveals (O. ii. 236):--
Be kind and gentle with all his heart.
And (O. iv. 690):--
One that wrought no iniquity toward any man, nor spake aught unrighteous in the township, as is the wont of divine kings.
And severally where he enumerates five kings of the Boeotians, and among the Phaeacians (O. viii. 390):--
Behold there are twelve glorious princes who rule among this people and bear sway, and I myself am the thirteenth.
The image of democracy he shows clearly on the shield, in which he makes two cities. The one he says is ruled democratically, since they have no leader, yet all by their own will conduct themselves according to the laws; then, too, he introduces a trial proceeding. And he exhibits a democracy when he says (O. xvi. 425):--
In fear of the people, for they were exceedingly wroth against him, because he had followed with Topheon sea-robbers and harried the Thesprotians, who were at peace with us.