Champions of dikē 'justice'
1. The key word is dikē 'justice' (long-range), 'judgment' (short-range)
2. The opposite of this word is hubris 'outrage'.
A) In the sphere of humans, hubris is manifested in excessive behavior that violates morality, as in the case of the suitor Antinoos in the Odyssey
B) In the sphere of animals, it is manifested in excessive violence or sex
C) In the sphere of plants, it is manifested in unbalanced and excessive growth of some aspects of the given plant - at the expense of other aspects. For example, excessive production of wood or leaf in an apple tree results in a deficient production of apples. For another example: when a lettuce "gone to seed," it fails to produce leaves.
Here is a picture of "Natasha's hybristic lettuce":
3. Metaphorically, dikē can be pictured as
A) a straight line
or
B) a flourishing garden / orchard / grove / field / etc.;
hubris is the opposite, pictured as
A) a crooked line
or
B) a sterile land, where the sterility is caused either by overgrowth or by undergrowth
4. So, the opposition between dikē and hubris is matched by a metaphorical opposition between the flourishing of cultivated land and the notional sterility of, say, a desert or a jungle.
5. As for the metaphorical opposition between a straight and a crooked line, the moral implications are evident in a wide range of cultures. In English, for example, people who are "crooked" in speech are "not straight," that is, they are "not direct."
6. The concept of "direct" is very useful for our purposes, because the most basic meaning of Greek dikē is 'direction, directness'.
7. Generally, Homeric poetry does not address the problem of justice, that is, of what is right vs. wrong, what is truth vs. what are lies. (Note that "truth" tends to be viewed in the singular while "lies" tend to be viewed in the plural.)
8. A very instructive example of the tension between dikē as 'justice' in the long term and 'judgment' in the short term is the litigation scene portrayed as a central picture worked into the cosmic artifact known as the Shield of Achilles in Rhapsody XVIII of the Iliad. At XVIII 508, we see a contest or debate that centers on the question of the 'straightest' possible formulation of dikē - in the context of a neikos 'quarrel', as mentioned in XVIII 497. Notice that the people who have to make up their mind about the big question of justice in the Iliad are described as a crowd of people standing around the central scene of the litigation. That crowd can be imagined as the audience, as it were, of Homeric poetry. Have another look at my essay on the Shield of Achilles, available on the "Heroes" website.
9. Another instructive example is a passage we have already considered in Rhapsody xix of the Odyssey. At xix 106-114, we see a picture of a king in a flourishing field. (I am deliberately using the English word 'field' here. Like the Greek word agros, this English word 'field' can refer either to nature or to culture, cultivation.) The kleos of Penelope, says Odysseus in disguise, will reach the heavens like that of a king who upholds good dikē (eudikiās, accusative plural, at verse 111), so that the earth flourishes and the people prosper.
10. We may compare the image embedded in the prophecy of Teiresias to Odysseus in Odyssey xi 136-137: the people around you will be olbioi. As I noted earlier, we see here a picture of Odysseus himself as a stylized cult hero whose body finds its resting place in a flourishing field. Nature and culture are fused in this setting of agriculture. As we saw earlier, the silhouette of a mound topped by an oar or winnowing shovel can mean two things at the same time: "this is the mound that is the tomb of a sailor who died" and "this is the mound that is the accumulation of grain that is harvested from a flourishing field." When "the sailor is dead," "the harvest is complete." In this context, we may also compare the garden of Laertes in Odyssey xxiv.
11. Cult heroes are fused with the seasonality of agriculture
12. Cult heroes are the phulakes 'guardians' of dikē, as we are about to see in Hesiod Works and Days 122-126, 172-173.
13. Before we proceed in earnest to Hesiodic poetry, we should consider a rare example of dikē in the absolutized sense of 'justice' in Homeric poetry. When Nestor speaks of the aftermath of the Trojan War, in Odyssey iii 132-135, he notes that Zeus planned a nostos that is lugros 'baneful' for the Achaeans (verse 132). Why? Because the 'Argives' had no sense of noos and no dikē (verse 133), and, consequently, they were doomed to be punished by the mēnis of Athena (135).
14. In this context, we should recall the significance of the name of the chief of the suitors, Antinoos. This figure is literally 'antithetical to noos'. He is extrinsically noble but intrinsically base. He is socioeconomically noble but morally base. Odysseus, by contrast, is intrinsically noble though he is extrinsically base. He is morally noble though he is socioeconomically base. His baseness is exteriorized when he is reduced to the lowest level of the socioeconomic hierarchy of his own society at the time of his arrival back home in Ithaca.
15. As we saw earlier, it takes noos to bring together the 1) intellectual, 2) moral, 3) emotional aspects of understanding the "meaning" of a hero.
16. With that said, we are ready to move on to Hesiodic poetry. Basically, Hesiod is the hero of the speech-act
17. A case in point is Focus Passage A. For this text, I choose the first ten verses of the Hesiodic Works and Days. As we see from these verses, the meaning of dikē in *both* the short-term sense of 'judgment' *and* the long-term sense of 'justice' is fused in the figure of Zeus. Only for Zeus is a 'judgment' the same thing as 'justice'. And that model is about to be extended to the figure of Hesiod himself. As we read in Works and Days verses 9-10, the dikē of Zeus is in action while Hesiod talks to Perses. So the action of Zeus is the speech of Hesiod. That is how Hesiod becomes the ultimate master of the speech act.
Passage (A) Hesiod Works and Days 1-10
Muses of Pieria, you who make kleos with your songs,
come and tell of Zeus, making a song about your father,
on account of whom there are mortals both unworthy of talk and worthy,
both worth speaking of and not—all on account of great Zeus.
Easily he gives power, and just as easily he ruins the powerful.
Easily he diminishes the distinguished, and magnifies the undistinguished.
Easily he makes straight the crooked and withers the overweening
—Zeus, the one who thunders on high, who lives in the highest abode.
Heed me, seeing and hearing as you do, and with dikē make straight the divine laws [themis plural].
10 While you do that, I am ready to tell genuine [etētuma] things to Perses.
18. Hesiod becomes a hero by virtue of becoming the ultimate master of the speech act, as we see from a comparison of the beginning of the Hesiodic Works and Days and the beginning of the Hesiodic Theogony.
19. In Works and Days 9-10, we see that Zeus 'sorts out' (as expressed by the verb of krisis) what is 'divine law' (themis) and what is not, and he accomplishes this 'sorting out' by way of his dikē 'judgment' - while Hesiod speaks to Perses. The speaking of Hesiod, as a speech act, takes place in the context of a neikos 'quarrel', Works and Days 35, between Hesiod as the righteous brother and Perses as the unrighteous brother.
20. We now turn to Focus Passage B, Theogony 85-87. At verses 85-86, we see how an ideal king 'sorts out' (krisis) what is 'divine law' (themis) and what is not, and he accomplishes this 'sorting out' by way of his dikē 'judgment'. But doing so, the ideal king can bring to an end a great neikos 'quarrel', as we see at verse 87.
Passage (B) Hesiod Theogony 65-97:
And they {the Muses}, sending forth a lovely voice,
sing and dance and make kleos for the norms [nomoi] and accustomed ways of all
the immortals, as they send forth a lovely voice.
Anyway, back then, they went to Olympus, glorying in their beautiful voice
with immortal song. And the dark earth resounded all around them
as they sang, and the lovely steppings of their feet made a sound from below
as they proceeded towards their father, the one who is king in the sky,
with sole possession of the thunder and the gleaming thunderbolt,
having defeated, with his power [kratos], Kronos his father. Each thing was well
arranged by him, as he assigned the norms and marked out the honors [timai][1] for the immortals.
These things, then, the Muses sang, they who have abodes in Olympus,
the nine daughters begotten by great Zeus,
Kleio {Clio} and Euterpe and Thaleia {Thalia, 'Festivity'} and Melpomene
and Terpsichore and Erato and Polyhymnia and Ourania {Urania}
and Kalliope {Calliope}. That one {Calliope} is the most important of them all,
for she accompanies revered kings.
Whosoever among sky-nourished kings is given honor [timē] by these daughters of great Zeus
and is beheld by them when he is born,
for such a man they pour sweet dew upon his tongue,
and from his mouth flow sweet words. The people,
all of them, look towards him as he sorts out the divine ordinances [themis plural]
by way of straight judgments [dikai]. And he, speaking without stumbling
and with his powers of understanding, can even put an end to a great quarrel [neikos].[2]
It is for this reason that there are kings, kings with good thinking [phrenes], namely, because
they can easily turn right around the {wrong} things that are done to people who are wronged in the assembly [agora].
They can do it by persuasion, using soft words.
And when he {such a king} goes to a gathering [agōn], the people turn to him as if he were a god,
with his gentle command of respect [aidōs], and he stands out among the assembled.
Such is the sacred gift of the Muses for humankind.
For it is because of the Muses and far-shooting Apollo
that there are singers {poets} and players of the lyre [kitharis] on this earth.
And it is because of Zeus that there are kings. Blessed [olbios] is he whom the Muses
love. And a sweet voice [audē] flows from his mouth.
21. There is one thing that is missing in this picture of an ideal king. And this thing that is missing can be described as a significant absence. The one thing that is missing is a skēptron 'scepter'. Someone else already has the scepter. Hesiod himself receives it in Theogony 30. The Muses themselves give Hesiod a skēptron 'scepter' in Theogony 30.
22. This gift given by the Muses is a symbol of the authorization inherent in the poetic form of the Theogony. From an anthropological point of view, a theogony is a speech-act of authorization. But Hesiod's theogony authorizes not kings. Rather, it authorizes Hesiod himself as an overarching representative of authority. Hesiod is a master of truth, absolute truth: that is the essence of the word alēthea at Theogony 28.
23. So, both in the Theogony and in the Works and Days, Hesiod figures as the absolute master of the speech act, as the master of the absolute truth. His status as cult hero is based on this mastery. Hesiod is programmed by the Theogony and by the Works and Days to become such a cult hero.
24. So too in Works and Days, Hesiod is ultimately authorized - in this case, by virtue of making kings obsolete.
25. The kings take the side of Perses by making a crooked dikē 'judgment' in Works and Days 39/249/269.
26. The narrative of Hesiod is the narrative of a crooked line becoming a straight line. By the time we reach verse 275 of the Hesiodic Works and Days, dikē has shifted from a relativized concept of 'judgment' to become an absolutized concept of 'justice'.
27. I return here to the metaphorical opposition of a straight line vs. a crooked line, dikē vs. hubris, and to the metaphorical opposition of a flourishing field vs. a sterile field. I should add that, in the technical language of agriculture, the two metaphors converge. For a gardener, for example, the Greek way to refer to the 'pruning' of a plant is to use words having to do with 'straightening' (ithunein, etc.).
28. These metaphors are applicable in the master narrative of the Homeric Odyssey, which can be viewed as a story about a crooked line trying to become a straight one. I note that that the story of the Odyssey finishes in an orchard.
29. Similarly in the Hesiodic Works and Days, the embedded master narrative starts with the disequilibrium of injustice and moves towards the equilibrium of justice.
30. In response to the injustice of the unrighteous Perses and the crooked kings, the righteous Hesiod engages in a complex speech act that can be divided into four main parts:
1) First comes the story of Prometheus and Pandora (verses 42-105), which is all about the work ethic. The "work ethic" here is understood in terms of agriculture, which in turn is understood as a sacred activity that stays in rhythm with the natural life cycle.
2) Second comes the story of the Five Generations of Humankind (verses 106-201). The symbolism of the number five in this story centers on the idea of a cycle.
Essentially, Generations 1 and 2 stand for the positive and negative images of the hero as pictured in hero cults; Generations 3 and 4 stand for the negative and positive images of the hero as pictured in poetry; Generation 5 is the composite, the here-and-now. Comparable symbols are the Five Peoples in Indic traditions (and the related idea of five directions - north / south / east / west / "here"); also the Five "Provinces" of Ireland. The metaphor of metals correlated with the sequence of Five Generations of Humankind - gold / silver / bronze / ___ / iron - is symbolic of human degeneration. The decreasing of value in this sequence is made possible by leaving blank the fourth space in the sequence of spaces occupied by gold / silver / bronze / ___ / iron. The same blank fourth space makes it possible to set up the dichotomies of better and worse, worse and better for Generations 1 and 2, 3 and 4, in that 4 could not be a "better" if there were an explicit metal occupying the blank fourth space which would have to be worse than Bronze, not better.
Summary:
Generations 1 and 2: positive and
negative images of the hero in hero cults
Generations 3 and 4: negative and positive images of the hero in poetry
Generation 5 is the composite,
the here-and-now.
3) Third comes the ainos of the Hawk and the Nightingale (202-212); the "moral" of this fable is implied in what follows (275-278), where we hear that beasts, unlike humans, habitually devour each other.
4) Fourth comes an apocalyptic vision of absolute dikē, culminating with a city of dikē (225-237) juxtaposed with a city of hubris (238-247)
31. After these four micronarratives, the logic of the overall macronarrative takes hold. The man of dikē will get rich (280-281), while the man of hubris will lose it all (325-326). And, in fact, the unrighteous brother Perses loses it all (396).
There are parallels in the poetry of Theognis, which we will examine in future dialogues. Here I give two examples, which should be considered "previews" of themes that link the first half of this course on heroes with the second half.
Passage (C) Theognis 213-218
My thumos! Keep turning and showing a new side of your versatile nature in each encounter with every philos.
214 Keep mixing your temperament to match that of each philos.
Have the temperament of a complex octopus,
216 who always looks like whatever rock he has just clung to.
Now be like this; then, at another time, become someone else in your coloring.
218 It is true to say that sophia is better than being atropos.
The last word in this passage, a-tropos is all-important. It means 'having no versatility, having no power to turn'; cf. Odysseus at Odyssey i 1 as polu-tropos 'having much versatility, having many ways to turn'. Such themes are relevant to the description of Odysseus as polu-tropos in Odyssey i 1. This word, meaning 'turning many different ways', is applied to Odysseus because this hero can change his identity to match wherever he is. He can be different things to different people by literally turning himself into a different person. As we see from the verses of Theognis (213-218), the octopus as pictured as such a personality, since this animal can change its color to match wherever it is.
Like Odysseus, the figure of Theognis is extrinsically base but intrinsically noble, as we will see in a later dialogue when we examine further passages from Theognis (such as verses 649-652; also verses 1197-1202, where he complains of his loss of property). In the poetry of Theognis, he complains of failing to achieve justice in his own lifetime. Beyond his lifetime, however, the prospects are different. Once dead, the hero can return as a ghost, revenant (especially in 337-350). This theme is evident elsewhere as well in Theognis (1123-1124).
Passage (D) Theognis 1123-1125:
Do not remind me of my misfortunes! The kinds of things that happened to Odysseus have happened to me too.
1124 Odysseus, who returned, emerging from the great palace of Hades,
and who then killed the suitors with a pitiless thumos.
Appendix: The image of the hero in the city state.
1. The key word here, related to the key word for the overall dialogue, is kosmos 'cosmos; constitution; beauty of song' (also 'beauty of adornment')
Passage A) Theognis 667-682
If I had the wealth, Simonides, that I used to have,
668 I would not be distressed as I am now at being together with the agathoi.
But now my possessions have passed me by, even though I was aware, and I am speechless
670 because of my lack of wealth, though I am aware of one single thing much better than many other things:
that we are now being carried along, with white sails lowered,
672 beyond the pontos of Melos, through the dark night,
and they refuse to bail, and the sea washes over
674 both sides of the ship. It is a difficult thing for anyone
to be saved, what with the things they are doing. They have deposed the helmsman [kubernētēs],
676 the noble [esthlos] one, who was standing guard, with expertise.
They seize wealth by force [bia], and order [kosmos] has been destroyed.
678 There is no longer an equitable division of possessions, aimed at the collective interest,
but the carriers of merchandise rule, and the kakoi are on top of the agathoi.
Let these things be allusive utterances [ainigma pl.] hidden by me for the agathoi.
682 One could be aware of even future misfortune, if one is sophos.
2. In the historical period, starting with ca. 600 B.C.E., we of course find no ultimate city of dikē, no ultimate city of hubris. Those two cities exist only in the apocalyptic vision of the Hesiodic Works and Days.
3. But we do find heroes of justice, as venerated in individual city states.
4. These heroes are viewed as lawgivers or quasi-lawgivers. They are heroes of dikē like Hesiod, but they are venerated on a local level.
5. Each such hero, as a lawmaker, is viewed by each city as the author of the given city's customary laws. In the myths about lawmakers, such authorship is correlated with some kind of fundamental crisis that afflicts the given city.
Here are three of the most celebrated lawmakers in local traditions:
in Sparta: Lycurgus
in Athens: Solon
in Megara: Theognis
6. What makes these cities in historical times most different from these same cities in "heroic" times is the obsolescence of kings. Kings have been eliminated in most cities, with the notable exception of Sparta.
7. Even in Sparta, the institution of kingship was really a "constitutional" monarchy; the real form of government in Sparta was an oligarchy. As for "unconstitutional" monarchies in the historical period, a prime example was Syracuse. Of course the idea that the kings of Syracuse were "unconstitutional" stems not from them but from their political enemies.
(Here I introduce briefly a point to which I will return in a later dialogue. The kings of Syracuse called themselves turannoi 'tyrants'. This term was not negative, as far as a king like Hieron of Syracuse was concerned. There are other historical examples of one-man rule, however, where the one-man ruler preferred to be called neither turannos 'tyrant' nor even basileus 'king' One such example is Peisistratos of Athens. I will have more to say about him later.)
8. To return to the main point I am making now ... In the city states of the historical period, there were basically three alternative forms of government: A) tyranny B) oligarchy C) democracy
9. In the fifth century, prominent examples are A) Syracuse, B) Sparta, C) Athens.
10. As for the city of Megara in the sixth and fifth centuries BCE, all three forms of government existed at one time or another.
11. The poetry attributed to Theognis relates to all three forms of government.
12. Megara was once a great and powerful city, as we see from the verses of Theognis (11-14) implying that the Trojan Expedition was launched from there. Megara was the metropolis or 'mother city' of Byzantium.
13. The concept of the city is encoded in the verses of Theognis (15-18), containing the key formula 'whatever is beautiful is philon'. This formula captures the essence of the meaning of kosmos.
14. This word kosmos can refer to A) the universe as a "cosmos," that is, as a macrocosm; B) the constitution of a city as a microcosm of the universe; C) a song as an expression of both macrocosm and microcosm.
15. As we learn from Herodotus, the city state of Sparta had a constitution that was called the kosmos by the Spartans. I parallel idea is at work in the formula 'I cannot please all', as spoken by Theognis (verse 24), where the justness of the words of Theognis is equated with the justness of Zeus in regulating the universe (which includes the regulation of weather). Similarly Solon #2: 'I cannot please all'.
16. In Theognis (39-52) we see a foil for the city: it is the sinister fertility of a city that is 'pregnant' with hubris, and giving birth to a turannos. Conventionally, hubris is a sign of sterility; so the image of fertility is sinister here, signaling the opposite of the just city.
Focus Passage B)
I fear, son of Polypaos, that hubris will destroy this polis
542 —the same hubris that destroyed the Centaurs, eaters of raw flesh.
I must render this dikē, Kyrnos, along the straight line of a carpenter's rule and square,
544 and I must give to both sides their equitable share,
with the help of seers, portents, and burning sacrifice,
546 so that I may not incur shameful blame for veering.
17. We see a more explicit expression of this theme elsewhere in Theognis (1081-1082).
18. Such themes recur in our later readings, especially in Aeschylus Agamemnon and Sophocles Oedipus Tyrannus.
19. Such themes are relevant to the description of Odysseus as polutropos in Odyssey i 1. This word, meaning 'turning many different ways', is applied to Odysseus because this hero can change his identity to match wherever he is. He can be different things to different people by literally turning himself into a different person. As we see from the verses of Theognis (213-218), the octopus as pictured as such a personality, since this animal can change its color to match wherever it is.
20. Like Odysseus, the figure of Theognis is extrinsically base but intrinsically noble (as in verses 649-652). We may compare a passage from Theognis (1197-1202) where he complains of his loss of property.
21. In a related passage of Theognis (337-350), he complains of failing to achieve justice in his own lifetime. Beyond his lifetime, however, the prospects are different. Once dead, the hero can return as a ghost, revenant. This theme is evident elsewhere as well in Theognis (1123-1124).
22. This theme of the revenant applies to Odysseus at the beginning of Odyssey xx. This theme also helps account for the horrific deeds of the hero when he punishes the suitors and their collaborators. Such horror is typical of the hero as revenant.
23. Elsewhere in Theognis (1197-1202), we see further ramifications of the theme of the hero's anger over the violation of his property in his absence.
24. In a passage from Theognis that I have already quoted (667-682), the metaphor of the ship of state is explicit. And the 'helmsman' or 'pilot' of this ship, its kubernētēs, is an exponent of dikē who speaks by way of an ainigma (there is another important reference to the metaphor of the kubernētēs at verses 855-856). This theme of Theognis as pilot in the verses of Theognis is comparable to the theme of Odysseus as pilot in the Odyssey.
25. In Theognis (541-546), hubris is pictured as the destruction of a city (cf. also verses 1103-1104); in this connection, I draw attention to the hubris of Centaurs, eaters of raw meat; comparable is the implicit hubris of Achilles in his own bestial moments. In this same passage from Theognis (541-546), note the emphasis placed on the ritual correctness of sacrifice, and on the role of the lawgiver as presiding over the sacrifice (cf. also verses 805-810). I stress the ritual as well as ethical correctness or 'straightness' of the dikē of the hero as lawmaker. Comparable to this figure of the hero is the Indic construct of Manu the Lawgiver, who is a paragon of ritual as well as ethical correctness.
26. I return to the theme of the hero's anger over the violation of his property in his absence. In one passage of Theognis (1197-1202) this loss is blamed on a dangerous sea-voyage. Relevant is the sēma 'sign' of the crane. The riddling message is this: "stop sailing and start ploughing."
27. I close by drawing attention to a riddle in Theognis (1209-1210)
about Aithon the exile. This name is related to the name chosen by Odysseus
in one of his "Cretan lies.