A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

1198 TYRTAEUS. TYRTAEUS.
pressly stated by Plato (1. c.), and its probability factory, in respect of the establishment of any pois confirmed by the statement of Aristotle (IPol. ii. sitive conclusions; but for that very reason they
6. ~ 12) that, in the times of the early kings, the are extremely important, in order to mark the
Spartans sometimes conferred the citizenship upon limits of our knowledge of the early history of
foreigners. Plutarch ascribes a saying to Pausa- Greek lyric poetry, and to show the danger of acnias, the son of Cleombrotus, that, when asked cepting the positive statements of writers who lived
why they had made Tyrtaeus a citizen, he replied, long after the period with reference to which their
" that a foreigner might never appear to be our evidence is brought forward, as if their being poleader" (Apophlth. Lacon. p. 230, d.). Of course, sitive statements were alone sufficient to aua mere floating apophthegm like this can have thenticate them. In the present case, the question
little weight; it may be a genuine tradition, or it of the country of Tyrtaeus appears to us still unmay be the invention of some writer who wished decided, and likely to remain so.
to reconcile the common story about Tyrtaeus with The other points of the popular story, namely,
the well-known repugnance of the Lacedaemonians that Tyrtaeus was a lame schoolmaster, are rejected
to confer their franchise upon foreigners. The by all modern writers. It would lead us too far to
statement of Suidas, that Tyrtaeus was a Lacedae- discuss their probable origin: we will only observe
monian, according to some, furnishes no additional that the statement of his being a schoolmaster
evidence, but must be interpreted according to the may simply mean that he was, like the other early
conclusion which may be arrived at respecting the musicians and poets, a teacher of his own art; and
whole question. It should not be forgotten, in his alleged lameness may possibly be connected
estimating the value of Strabo's opinion, that he with some misunderstanding of expressions used
may have found other passages in the writings of by the earlier writers to describe his metres.
Tyrtaeus, which seemed to imply that he was a These suggestions, however, are by no means put
Lacedaemonian, besides those which he quotes; forward as altogether satisfactory explanations of
but of course this possibility cannot be adduced as the tradition.
a positive argument, unless it were confirmed by Turning now to the more certain facts of the
the actual occurrence of such passages in the ex- poet's history, we find him presented to us in the
tant fragments of Tyrtaeus. double light of a statesman and a military leader,
In the opinion of those modern critics, who reject composing the dissensions of the Spartans at home,
the account of the Attic origin of Tyrtaeus, the and animating their courage in the field. And this
extant fragments do actually furnish evidence of representation is quite consistent with the position
his being a Lacedaemonian. The spirit displayed occupied by a poet in those early times, as the
in them is said to be thoroughly Dorian; and the teacher and prime mover both in knowledge and in
patriotic energy, with which the poet praises those virtue; a position attested by abundant evidence,
who face danger for their native land, is certainly and recognised by the very phrase which is several
extraordinary for a foreigner, especially when it is times used to describe those early poets, 6 eo'eps
remembered that Tyrtaeus is not only said to have 7ront7srl. It is remarkable that the power of the
shown his influence over the Spartans by leading poet to teach political wisdom, and to appease
them in war, but also by appeasing their civil dis- civil discords, is not only recognised in the tradicords at home; and all this becomes the more ex- tions about the early history of Greece, from
traordinary, if we reflect that this patriotic ardour the legends respecting Orpheus downwards, but
was excited, and this influence was exerted, by an also that, in the semi-historical period now under
Ionian over and on behalf of Dorians. Neither consideration, and with specific reference to the
does it seem probable that, whatever aid the Lace- Lacedaemonian state, we are told of civil tumults
daemonians might be willing to accept from a being appeased, not only by Tyrtaeus, but also by
foreigner, they would entrust to him the command Terpander and Thaletas, who, according to the reof their armies. ceived chronology, were his contemporaries [TesROn the other hand, it is urged by Miiller with PANnER; THALES]. The nature of these dissensome force, that " If Tyrtaeus came from Attica, sions it is the province of the political historian to
it is easy to understand how the elegiac metre, investigate: the form which the tradition assumes
which had its origin in Ionia, should have been in the case of Tyrtaeus is the following. Among
used by him, and that in the very style of Cal- the calamities, which-the revolt of the Messenians
linus. Athens was so closely connected with her brought upon the Spartan state, and which, acIonic colonies, that this new kind of poetry must cording to the common story, Tyrtaeus was the
have been soon known in the mother city. This divinely-appointed minister to remedy, not the
circumstance would be far more inexplicable if least was the discontent of those citizens, who,
Tyrtaeus had been a Lacedaemonian by birth, as having possessed lands in Messenia, or on the borwas stated vacjuely * by some ancient authors. For ders, had either been expelled from their estates,
although Sparta was not at this period a strangler or had been forced to leave them uncultivated for
to the efforts of the other Greeks in poetry and fear of the enemy, and, being thus deprived of
music, yet the Spartans, with their peculiar modes their means of subsistence, demanded compensation
of thinking, would not have been very ready to by a new division of landed property. To convince
appropriate the new invention of the Ionians." t these sufferers of their error in disturbing public
(flist. of Lit. of Greece, vol. i. p. 111.) order, Tyrtaeus composed his elegy entitled " Legal
Discussions of this sort are extremely unsatis- Order" (Ebv'voULa), which Suidas calls also Ilox-'reia. (Aristot. Polit. v. 7. ~ 1; Paus. iv. 18. ~
* This mode of disposing of positive evidence 2.) Of this work Miiller gives the following
is worth notice. excellent description:-" It is not difficult, on
t How was it, then (one may ask), that they considering attentively the character of the early
were so " very ready to appropriate" Tyrtaeus Greek elegy, to form an idea of the manner in
and the invention together? which Tyrtaeus probably handled this subject. lIe