made for the murderous Clytemnestra as for the amiable
Helen. Again, Homer is, in the strictest sense, and in strong contrast
to the Greek tragedians and to Virgil, a chivalrous poet. It would
probably be impossible to find a passage in which he speaks harshly or
censoriously of the conduct of any fair and noble lady. The sordid
treachery of Eriphyle, who sold her lord for gold, wins for her the
epithet "hateful;" and Achilles, in a moment of strong grief, applies a
term of abhorrence to Helen. But Homer is too chivalrous to judge the
life of any lady, and only shows the other side of the chivalrous
character--its cruelty to persons not of noble birth--in describing the
"foul death" of the waiting women of Penelope. "God forbid that I should
take these women's lives by a clean death," says Telemachus (Odyssey,
xxii. 462). So "about all their necks nooses were cast that they might
die by the death most pitiful. And they writhed with their feet for a
little space, but for no long while." In trying to understand Homer's
estimate of Helen, therefore, we must make allowance for his theory of
divine intervention, and for his chivalrous judgment of ladies. But
there are two passages in the Iliad which may be taken as indicating
Homer's opinion that Helen was literally a victim, an unwilling victim,
of Aphrodite, and that she was carried away by force a captive from
Lacedaemon. These passages are in the Iliad, ii. 356, 590. In the
former text Nestor says, "let none be eager to return home ere he has
couched with a Trojan's wife, and _avenged the longings and sorrows of
Helen_"--[Greek text]. It is thus that Mr. Gladstone, a notable champion
of Helen's, would render this passage, and the same interpretation was
favoured by the ancient "Separatists" (Chorizontes), who wished to prove
that the Iliad and Odyssey were by different authors; but many
authorities prefer to translate "to avenge our labours and sorrows for
Helen's sake"--"to avenge all that we have endured in the attempt to win
back Helen." Thus the evidence of this passage is ambiguous. The fairer
way to seek for Homer's real view of Helen is to examine all the passages
in which she occurs. The result will be something like this:--Homer sees
in Helen a being of the rarest personal charm and grace of character; a
woman who imputes to herself guilt much greater than the real measure of
her offence. She is ever gentle except with the Goddess who betrayed
her