elders, and representative of the
state at the public sacrifices. The symbol of his office is the
sceptre, which in some cases is handed down as an heirloom from father
to son.

Next to the king stand the elders, a title which has no reference to
age, but merely denotes those of noble birth and breeding. The elders
form a senate, or deliberative body, before which all questions of
public importance are laid by the king. Their decisions are afterwards
communicated to the general assembly of the people, who signify their
approval or dissent by tumultuous cries, but have no power of altering
or reversing the measures proposed by the nobles. Thus we have already
the three main elements of political life: king, lords, and
commons--though the position of the last is at present almost entirely
passive.

IV

The morality of the Homeric age is such as we may expect to find among
a people which has only partially emerged from barbarism. Crimes of
violence are very common, and a familiar figure in the society of this
period is that of the fugitive, who "has slain a man," and is flying
from the vengeance of his family. Patroclus, when a mere boy, kills
his youthful playmate in a quarrel over a game of knucklebones--an
incident which may be seen illustrated in one of the statues in the
British Museum. One of the typical scenes of Hellenic life depicted on
the shield of Achilles is a trial for homicide; and such cases were of
so frequent occurrence that they afford materials for a simile in the
last book of the _Iliad_.

Where life is held so cheap, opinion is not likely to be very strict
in matters of property. And we find accordingly a general acquiescence
in "the good old rule, the ancient plan, that they may take who have
the power, and they may keep who can." Cattle-lifting is as common as
it formerly was on the Scottish border. The bold buccaneer is a
character as familiar as in the good old days when Drake and Raleigh
singed the Spanish king's beard, with this important difference, that
the buccaneer of ancient Greece plundered Greek and barbarian with
fine impartiality. A common question addressed to persons newly
arrived from the sea is, "Are you a merchant, a traveller, or a
pirate?" And this curious query implies no reproach, and calls for no
resentment. Still more startling are the terms in which Autolycus, the
maternal grandfather of Odysseus, is spoken of. This worthy, we are
informed, "surpassed all mankind in t