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HERODAS (Gr. 'Hpw&as), or HERONDAS (t...

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Originally appearing in Volume V13, Page 381 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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HERODAS (Gr. 'Hpw&as), or HERONDAS (the name is spelt differently in the few places where he is mentioned)  , See also:Greek poet, the author of See also:short humorous dramatic scenes in See also:verse, written under the Alexandrian See also:empire in the 3rd See also:century B.C . Apart from the See also:intrinsic merit of these pieces, they are interesting in the See also:history of Greek literature as being a new See also:species, illustrating Alexandrian methods . They are called McµlaOot, "See also:Mime-iambics." Mimes were the Dorian product of See also:South See also:Italy and See also:Sicily, and the most famous of them—from which See also:Plato is said to have studied the See also:drawing of See also:character—were the See also:work of See also:Sophron . These were scenes in popular See also:life, written in the See also:language of the See also:people, vigorous with racy See also:proverbs such as we get in other reflections of that region—in See also:Petronius and the Pentamerone . Two of the best known and the most vital among the Idylls of See also:Theocritus, the and and the 15th, we know to have been derived from mimes of Sophron . What Theocritus is doing there, See also:Herodas, his younger contemporary, is doing in another manner—casting old material into novel See also:form, upon a small See also:scale, under strict conditions of technique . The method is entirely Alexandrian: Sophron had written in a See also:peculiar See also:kind of rhythmical See also:prose; Theocritus uses the See also:hexameter and Doric, Herodas the scazon or " lame " See also:iambic (with a dragging spondee at the end) and the old Ionic See also:dialect with which that curious See also:metre was associated . That, however, hardly goes beyond the choice and form of words; the structure of the sentences is See also:close-knit See also:Attic . But the grumbling metre and See also:quaint language suit the See also:tone of See also:common life which Herodas aims at realizing; for, as Theocritus may be called idealist, Herodas is a realist unflinching . 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 See also:part, with the most naked coarseness of expression . The See also:scene of the second and the See also:fourth is laid at See also:Cos, and the speaking characters in each are never more than three . In Mime I. the old See also:nurse, now the professional go-between or bawd, calls on Metriche, whose See also:husband has been See also:long away in See also:Egypt, and endeavours to excite her See also:interest in a most desirable See also:young See also:man, fallen deeply in love with her at first sight .

After See also:

hearing all the arguments Metriche declines with dignity, but consoles the old woman with an ample See also:glass of See also:wine, this kind being always represented with the See also:taste of Mrs Gamp . II. is a See also:monologue by the lIopvo0ogx6s (" Whoremonger ") prosecuting a See also:merchant-trader for breaking into his See also:establishment at See also:night and attempting to carry off one of the inmates, who is produced in See also:court . The vulgar blackguard, who is a stranger to any sort of shame, remarking that he has no See also:evidence to See also:call, proceeds to a peroration in the See also:regular oratorical See also:style, appealing to the Coan See also:judges not to be unworthy of their traditional glories . In fact, the whole oration is also a See also:burlesque in every detail of an Attic speech at See also:law; and in this See also:case we have the material from which to estimate the excellence of the See also:parody . In III. a desperate See also:mother brings to the schoolmaster a truant urchin, with whom neither she nor his incapable old See also:father can do anything . In a voluble stream of interminable sentences she narrates his misdeeds and implores the schoolmaster to flog him . The boy accordingly is hoisted on anther's back and flogged; but his spirit does not appear to be subdued, and the mother resorts to the old man after all . IV. is a visit of two poor See also:women with an offering to the See also:temple of Asclepius at Cos . While the humble See also:cock is being sacrificed, they turn, like the women in the See also:Ion of See also:Euripides, to admire the See also:works of See also:art; among them a small boy strangling a vulpanser—doubtless the work of See also:Boethus that we know—and a sacrificial procession by See also:Apelles, " the Ephesian," of whom we have an interesting piece of contemporary eulogy . The oily sacristan is admirably painted in a few slight strokes . V. brings us very close to some unpleasant facts of See also:ancient life . The jealous woman accuses one of her slaves, whom she has made her favourite, of infidelity; has him See also:bound and sent degraded through the See also:town to receive 2000 lashes; no sooner is he out of sight than she recalls him to be branded " at one See also:job." The only pleasing See also:person in the piece is the little maidservant—permitted liberties as a verna brought up in the See also:house—whose ready tact suggests to her See also:mistress an excuse for postponing See also:execution of a See also:threat made in ungovernable fury .

VI. is a friendly chat or a private conversation . The subject is an ugly one, but the See also:

dialogue is as See also:clever and amusing as the See also:rest, with some delicious touches . Our interest is engaged here in a certain Kerdon, the See also:artistic shoemaker, to whom we are introduced in VII . (the name had already become generic for the shoemaker as the typical representative of See also:retail See also:trade), a little bald man with a fluent See also:tongue, complaining of hard times, who bluffs and wheedles by turns . VII. opens with a mistress waking up her maids to listen to her See also:dream; but we have only the beginning, and the other fragments are very short . Within the limits of too lines or less Herodas presents us with a highly entertaining scene and with characters definitely See also:drawn . Some of these had been perfected no doubt upon the Attic See also:stage, where the tendency in the 4th century had been gradually to evolve accepted types—not individuals, but generalizations from a class, an art in which See also:Menander's was esteemed the See also:master-See also:hand . The Hopvoj3ou,6s and the Maarposrbs we can piece together from succeeding literature, and see how skilfully the established traits are indicated here . This is achieved by true dramatic means, with touches never wasted and the more delightful often because they do not clamour for See also:attention . The execution has the qualities of first-See also:rate Alexandrian work in See also:miniature, such as the epigrams of See also:Asclepiades possess, the finish and See also:firm outlines; and these little pictures See also:bear the test of all artistic work—they do not lose their freshness with familiarity, and gain in interest as one learns to appreciate their subtle points . The See also:papyrus MS., obtained from the See also:Fayum, is in the See also:possession of the See also:British Museum, and was. first printed by F . G .

See also:

Kenyon in 1891 . See also:Editions by 0 . See also:Crusius (1905, See also:text only, in 'Ieubner See also:series) and J . A . See also:Nairn (1904), with introduction, notes and bibliography . There is an See also:English verse See also:translation of the mimes by H . Sharpley (1906) under the See also:title A Realist of the See also:Aegean . (W . G .

End of Article: HERODAS (Gr. 'Hpw&as), or HERONDAS (the name is spelt differently in the few places where he is mentioned)
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