The Philosophy of Fine Art, volume 2 (of 4): Hegel's Aesthetik
Georg Hegel · en
"The whole day long had the Greeks fought; and when at last Zeus
separated the combatants, they carried the noble body to the ships,
and washed it, weeping often the while, and embalmed it. Then there
arose a divine uproar on the sea, and the affrighted Achaeans would
have been flung headlong into their hollow ships, had not an aged and
much knowing man, Nestor to wit, restrained them, whose advice had
also proved the wisest on former occasion." Nestor then interprets for
them the phenomenon in the following terms: "The _mother_[186] comes
forth from the sea with the immortal sea-goddesses, in order to meet
her deceased son. And the great-hearted Achaeans at this word let
their fear depart from them." That is to say, they knew then of what
kind it was--of human origin--the mother in her grief comes toward
him; what they shall see and hear is that which finds its response
in themselves. Achilles is her son, she is herself full of grief.
And in this vein Agamemnon, turning towards Achilles, continues his
narrative with a description of the universal sorrow: "And around thee
stood the daughters of the ancient of the sea, lamenting, and they
robed themselves in ambrosial garments; and the Muses also, the nine
in conclave, wailed by turns in beautiful song; and there was I ween
no man of the Argives to be seen without tears, so greatly did the
clear-toned song move all."
It is, however, another divine apparition in the "Odyssey" which has
always in this connection most particularly fascinated me in my study
of it. Odysseus in his sea-wanderings, insulted among the Phaeacians
during the sports over which Euryalos presides, because he refused to
take part in the rival throwing of the discus, makes answer indignantly
with dark looks and hard words. He then stands up, seizes a disk,
larger and heavier than the rest, and hurls it far and away over the
mark. One of the Phaeacians marks down the throw and calls out: "Even
a blind man could see the stone; it does not lie within the medley of
the rest, but far beyond. Thou hast nothing to fear in this contest;
there is no Phaeacian who will reach or surpass such a throw as thine
is. So he spake; but the much-enduring divine Odysseus rejoiced to see
a well-disposed friend in the lists." And this word, this friendly nod
of the Phaeacian Homer interprets as the friendly apparition of Athene.
(_b_) Of what kind, then, we may further ask, are the _products_ of
this classical mode of artistic activity, of what type are the new gods
of Greek art?
(_α_) It is their concentrated individuality which presents to us the
most general and at the same time most complete idea of their intrinsic
character, in so far, that is, as this individuality is brought
together out of the variety of accidental traits, isolated actions, and
events into the one focus of their simple and self-exclusive unity.