Epos

Homer’s Epos has not ceased to be true; yet it is no longer our Epos, but shines in the distance, if clearer and clearer, yet also smaller and smaller, like a receding Star.

The bond of friendship between Achilles and Patroclus was referred to by the great tragic writer Æschylus as based on sensuality, and this author was still near enough to the age of the Homeric epos to understand its underlying spirit perfectly.

We should remember that in antiquity, during the period of the greatest flourishing of classical art, elementary education in the public schools of Ellada consisted largely of the Homerian epos and its recitation to the musical accompaniment provided by the pupils themselves.