ulterers caught on Olympus. From time immemorial much doubt of
various sorts, poetical, moral, philological, has been cast upon this
song. Some ancient commentators have regarded it an interpolation, not
a genuine part of Homer; modern expositors have not hesitated to follow
the same opinion.

And indeed there are strong grounds for suspicion. Almost every reader
feels at the first perusal its jar with the general character of this
idyllic Phaeacian world; it is decidedly adverse to the spirit of Arete
and Nausicaa, as previously unfolded; the fact would almost seem
impossible that, in an atmosphere created chiefly by these two women,
there could be such a kind of artistic enjoyment. The most conservative
reader is inclined here to agree with those who perform an act of
excision upon the text of Homer. The whole passage grates too harshly
upon nerves which have been attuned to the sweet innocent life depicted
in the two preceding Books.

The objections to the song may be summed up in the following heads. (1)
It is inconsistent and deeply discordant with the ethical tone of
Phaeacia already given. (2) It does not further Ulysses in any way, it
shows no trait in his character, unless his faint approval signifies
his liking for such songs. Nor does it seem on the surface to connect
him with Troy, as do the other two songs of Demodocus. (3) It gives an
unworthy view of the Gods, degrading them far below Homer's general
level, reducing them to ordinary burlesque figures which violate all
decency, not to speak of morality. (4) Philologists have picked out
certain words and expressions peculiar to this passage, which, not
being employed by Homer elsewhere, tend to indicate some other author.

Still, if the passage be an interpolation, this must have taken place
early in the history of the poems. Pausanias the traveler declares that
he saw the dancing scene of the Phaeacians depicted upon the throne of
Apollo at Amyclae, the artist of which probably flourished about 600 B.
C. The old philosopher Heraclitus, who would scourge Homer from the
festivals of the Gods, doubtless had this passage in mind. Plato
censures its indecency specially, and, as is well known, would exclude
all Homer from his ideal Republic. The ancients thus accepted the
passage as Homeric, with the exception of some of the later
grammarians.

Next come the many attempts, old and new, to allegorize the Olympian
scene, or to explain it away. From the fact th