Herodas or Herondas

HERODAS or HERONDAS (Gr. or `Hpc'evbas) (the name is spelt differently in the few places where he is mentioned), Greek poet, the author of short humorous dramatic scenes in verse, written under the Alexandrian empire in the 3rd century B.C. Apart from the intrinsic merit of these pieces, they are interesting in the history of Greek literature as being a new species illustrating Alexandrian methods. They are s3oc "Mime-iambics." Mimes were the Dorian product of southern Italy and Sicily—scenes in popular life written in the language of the people. Two of the best known and the most vital among the Idylls of Theocritus, the end and the i 5th, we know to have been derived from mimes of Sophron. What Theo critus is doing there Herodas, his younger contemporary, is do ing in another manner—casting old material into novel form, upon a small scale, under strict conditions of technique. The method is entirely Alexandrian: Sophron had written in a pecu liar kind of rhythmical prose; Theocritus uses the hexameter and Doric, Herodas the scazon or "lame" iambic (with a drag ging spondee at the end) and the old Ionic dialect with which that curious metre was associated. That, however, hardly goes beyond the choice and form of words ; the structure of the sen tences is close-knit Attic. But the grumbling metre and quaint language suit the tone of common life which Herodas aims at realizing; for Herodas is a realist. His persons talk in vehement exclamations and emphatic turns of speech, with proverbs and fixed phrases ; and occasionally, where it is designed as proper to the part, with the most naked coarseness of expression.

The scene of the second and the fourth is laid at Cos, and

the speaking characters in each are never more than three. In Mime I. the old nurse calls on Metriche, whose husband has been long away in Egypt, and endeavours to excite her interest in a young man, fallen deeply in love with her at first sight. Metriche declines with dignity, but consoles the old woman with an ample glass of wine. II. is a monologue by the Hopvot3oatais ("Whore monger") prosecuting a merchant-trader for breaking into his establishment at night and attempting to carry off one of the inmates, who is produced in court. The whole oration is also a burlesque in every detail of an Attic speech at law. In III. a desperate mother brings to the schoolmaster a truant urchin. In a voluble stream of interminable sentences she narrates his misdeeds and implores the schoolmaster to flog him. The boy accordingly is hoisted on another's back and flogged; but his spirit does not appear to be subdued. IV. is a visit of two poor women with an offering to the temple of Asclepius at Cos. While the humble cock is being sacrificed they admire the works of art ; among them a small boy strangling a vulpanser —doubtless the work of Boethus that we know—and a proces sion by Apelles, "the Ephesian," of whom we have an interesting piece of contemporary eulogy. The oily sacristan is admirably painted in a few slight strokes. In V. a jealous woman accuses one of her slaves, whom she has made her favourite, of infidelity; has him bound and sent to receive 2,000 lashes. The only pleasing person in the piece is the little maid-servant—whose tact suggests to her mistress an excuse for postponing execution of a threat made in ungovernable fury. VI. is a friendly chat or a private conversation. The subject is an ugly one, but the dialogue is clever with some delicious touches. Our interest is engaged here in a certain Cerdon, the artistic shoemaker, to whom we are introduced in VII. (the name had already become generic for the shoemaker as the typical representative of retail trade), a little bald man with a fluent tongue, complaining of hard times, who bluffs and wheedles by turns. VII. opens with a mistress waking up her maids to listen to her dream ; but we have only the beginning, and the other fragments are very short.

Within the limits of ioo lines or less Herodas presents us with an entertaining scene and with characters definitely drawn. Some of these had been perfected no doubt upon the Attic stage, where the tendency in the 4th century had been gradually to evolve accepted types. The execution has the qualities of first rate Alexandrian work in miniature, the finish and firm out lines; and these little pictures bear the test of all artistic work—they do not lose their freshness with familiarity but gain in interest as one learns to appreciate their subtle points. The papyrus ms., .obtained from the Fayum, is in the possession of the British Museum, and was first printed by F. G. Kenyon in 1891. Editions by 0. Crusius (1905, text only, in Teubner series) and J. A. Nairn (1904) , with introduction, notes and bibliography ; W. Headlam and A. D. Knox, with introduction, notes, and Eng. trans lation (Camb. 192 2) ; Text (I. VI.) , with French commentary by P. Gnoemeboom (Gnominque, 192 2) ; other translations by H. Sharp ley, A Realist of the Aegean (1906) (verse) ; R. T. Clark (19o9), prose.