LUDOVICO PODOCATARO — Cardinal, physician, papal secretary, born in Nicosia on the island of Cyprus c. 1430 from a noble family, died in Rome on 25 August 1504.
Owing to the political events in his homeland, he came to Italy at a young age, where he studied Greek and Latin literature with Guarino in Ferrara, philosophy with Gaetano Thiene of Vicenza, and medicine with Matteolo da Perugia in Padua, of which university he may also have been rector. He then entered the service of Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia (later Pope Alexander VI) as secretary and physician. Created Bishop of Capaccio on 14 November 1483, he restored the cathedral there, and upon the death of Sixtus IV, he was summoned to Rome by Innocent VIII, serving for many years as papal physician and secretary. Alexander VI employed him in various offices, made him a cardinal with the title of S. Agata (28 September 1500), and secretary of the Briefs. His name was put forward in the conclaves of 1503. Appointed Archbishop of Benevento on 20 January 1503, he never took possession of the see. He possessed a rich collection of books and manuscripts, which he bequeathed to his nephew Livio, Archbishop of Nicosia (now partly in the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice). In Rome, in S. Maria del Popolo, a fine tomb by Gian Cristoforo Romano preserves his remains.
POE, Edgar Allan — American poet and storyteller, born in Boston on 9 January 1809, died in Baltimore on 7 October 1849.
After an unsuccessful attempt at a military career, he turned to journalism, in which he was never fortunate; an aunt arranged his marriage to her thirteen-year-old daughter, who died of tuberculosis in 1847, leaving him in a state of depression from which he never recovered. He sought to drown his sorrows in wine, and it was in a tavern in Baltimore that he was found in a gravely weakened state on 3 October 1849; he died four days later of *delirium tremens*. Traces of an abnormal psyche are strikingly evident throughout his work (Poems, 1831; *The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym*, 1838; *Tales of the Grotesque and Arabesque*, 1840; *The Murders in the Rue Morgue*, 1841; *Tales*, 1845; *The Raven and Other Poems*, 1845; *Eureka*, 1848; *The Poetic Principle*, 1849, etc.; there is no distinction between his poems and his tales, for his prose is rhythmical and measured, and his poetry is essentially narrative). Alcohol was not the only escape from his torments, but his culture was too eclectic, and his transcendental ideas—whose foundations are to be sought in mesmerism and theosophy—appear confused and inconsistent: the supernatural world in his work merges with a world of nightmares and phantoms. Yet he possessed a vivid sense of the mysterious and enigmatic aspects of human nature, which he embodied in striking and unforgettable figures. His language is not flawless, but as a seeker of musical and suggestive effects in prose and verse, and as the author of brief, intense compositions, he was admired by subsequent generations of decadents in Europe, particularly in France.
Augusto Guidi
Homeric Poems —
I. The Homeric Question
Nothing is known of the person of Homer. The *Vitae*, compiled at different times, confirm the uncertainty of his place of origin, the humble circumstances of his birth, and perpetuate the legend of his blindness; yet the name remained firmly established in Greek literary tradition (v. Schwartz, *Der Name Homeros*, in *Hermes*, 75 [1940], pp. 1-9), and indeed, at least until the 5th century B.C., it was believed that Homer, in addition to the *Iliad* and the *Odyssey*, had composed the Cyclic Poems, the epic corpus of legends, the *Epigrams*, the *Margites*, the *Batrachomyomachia*, and the *Hymns*.Yet already Herodotus (II, 117; IV, 32) denies him authorship of the *Cypria*, and Aristotle (Poet., XXIII, 1459b) regarding the Cycle, until, in the early Alexandrian age, Zenodotus and Hellanicus argued that the two poems were not the work of a single author. The historical-grammatical studies of Aristarchus restored the unitary tradition, which was accepted in subsequent Greek, Roman, and Byzantine criticism. F. A. Wolf, with the publication of his *Prolegomena ad Homerum* (Halle 1795), inaugurated what is called the “Homeric Question” concerning the poet’s identity and the origin and transmission of his poetry. The writings that followed were variously influenced by philosophical or Romantic ideas, especially regarding the popular origin of the epic; an intuition already expressed by Vico, who in his *Principi di una scienza nuova* regarded Homer as “an idea or heroic character of the Greeks inasmuch as they narrated their stories in song” (ed. Nicolini, II, Bari 1928, p. 33; V. G. Perrotta, in *Italia e Grecia*, Florence 1939, pp. 21-58). Excavations in the Troad, begun by Schliemann and continued by Dörpfeld, followed by later Italian and British excavations in Crete, shed new light on Minoan-Mycenaean civilization, and the two poems were re-examined in light of these discoveries. Most likely, the rise of Homeric poetry is to be traced to the numerous heroic legends and lays that flourished in Ionia and perhaps earlier in northern Greece. As is well known, the *Iliad*, in 15,660 verses, recounts an episode of the ten-year war of the Achaeans against Troy, centered on the wrath of Achilles and its consequences; the *Odyssey*, in 12,110 verses, recounts the trials and tribulations of Odysseus’ return to Ithaca. These legends were sung in the courts of princes to the accompaniment of the lyre by aoidoi, and among the people by rhapsodes. Tradition indeed speaks of a lineage, or rather a guild, of poet-rhapsodes based in Chios and known as the Homeridae (Rzach, *Homeridae*, in Pauly-Wissowa, VIII, II, col. 2145 ff.), and in the Homeric Hymn to Apollo mention is made of a blind poet who sings the praises of the god (vv. 169 ff.). The two poems, transmitted orally, may have received an initial, so-called “Pisistratean,” redaction at the time of Pisistratus, when such recitations were still current (Plato, *Hipparchus*, 228B; Pausanias, VII, 26). The date of composition ranges between the 9th and 7th centuries B.C. The language is a mixture of Ionic dialect with Aeolic elements.
II. Ethical and Religious Content of the Homeric Poems
The society depicted especially in the *Iliad* is feudal and chivalric, attaching great importance to noble ancestry, wealth, and personal valor. The latter, *aretē*, is a moral privilege belonging to the lineage, hereditary and granted by the gods, who alone can take it away or diminish it as punishment. The hero who incurs the wrath of the gods falls into the most wretched condition, as happens to the mythical Bellerophon (*Iliad*, VI, 200 ff.). *Aretē*, confined within its caste pride, admits no deviation, demands deference from the anonymous multitude or inferiors, and must be defended against any act that might constitute an offense or diminish prestige.
Homeric Poems — Bust of Homer, Hellenistic sculpture. Naples, Biblioteca Nazionale.
The soul leaves the body with regret and proceeds toward “the houses of Hades.” So long as the body is not buried it still retains a perception (ibid., XXIII, 71). The complete separation of the “psuche” from the body is achieved by the cremation of the latter. Only then can the soul enter Hades, devoid of self-awareness, like an eidolon, desiring nothing. Indeed, the Homeric Hades, apart from the Isles of the Blessed—which are not a dwelling of the dead but of heroes snatched away in life and transported thither—does not possess the aspect of Elysium, except for those few verses of the Nekyia (Odyssey, XI, vv. 568-627) that describe it as a place of expiation and are generally regarded as a late Orphic interpolation.
Homeric religion transcends and harmoniously unifies every trace of earlier and Mycenaean cults. The “Olympian” conception of Homeric religion possesses an aristocratic character. The gods, resembling mortals in appearance and passions, often take little interest in earthly cares, in accordance with the concept that prevailed undisturbed in the archaic age of a powerful deity, remote from the prayers and anxieties of men and sometimes hostile to them (v. W. Chase Greene, *Moira*, Harvard 1948, p. 48). Frequently in the *Iliad*, humans blame the gods for their misfortunes, seeking to absolve themselves of all responsibility (Iliad, III, 65, 164-66; XIX, 86-90). If there is pessimism in the epic, it lies in the heroes’ resignation to the power of fate, to the *moira cheraine* over human fortunes. This dominates the nature of both gods and men. Zeus himself submits, albeit reluctantly, to the *moira* by which his son Sarpedon is destined to die (ibid., XVI, 421 sq.). At other times, *moira* is identified with the will of Zeus. Mortals are subject to the “gaze of the gods” (ibid., XVI, 388) and are punished for actions that fall under the sin of *hybris* (v. GRADO, *Hybris*, Naples 1947, p. 10). The gods thus become guardians of a universal law, whose violation demands punishment (v. R. Mondolfo, “Responsabilità e sanzione nel più antico pensiero greco,” in *Civiltà moderna*, 2 [1930], pp. 1-16). Even the *daimon* is a force emanating from the external world that can bring men either harm or aid in the pursuit of their aims. It may override human will (Iliad, XV, 467; Odyssey, X, 64) or even be identical with chance (Odyssey, XIV, 386). Later, it loses this blind force, becoming identified with the energy that awakens human will (Iliad, VIII, 166; XV, 418).
While the *Iliad* is constituted by a rigidly warrior-like and caste-bound morality, the *Odyssey* shows manifest traces of a different evolution. The state and the norms of justice appear more advanced, and the lexicon contains numerous new terms expressing altered religious and moral sentiments. There are unmistakable hints of free will, and man becomes the creator of his own destiny, responsible for his actions and their inevitable consequences (v. PASQUA, “La scoperta dei concetti etici nella Grecia antichissima,” in *Pagine meno stravaganti*, Florence 1935, pp. 67-68). The poet’s subject is man with his joys and perils, refined by greater experience and a different sorrow from that of the heroic and aristocratic man of the *Iliad* (for a modern interpretation of the figure of Odysseus, V. Audisio, *Ulysse ou l’intelligence*, Paris 1945). The wondrous adventures of Odysseus himself, who seems to reflect in his character the adventurous spirit of the Ionian mariners (v. K. Deichgräber, “Die Ziele und Formen der griechischen Ethnographie,” in *Zeitschrift für Ethnologie*, 73 [1941], pp. 1-12), mirror the eternal drama of the exile who, in his long wanderings, yearns to reunite with his family and, even after reaching home, must face new struggles to regain the serenity of his domestic affections. The poem shows a certain compassion for humanity, as seen in the figures of the swineherd Eumaeus and the nurse Eurycleia; it presents moving episodes such as that of the dog Argos, and hospitality is ennobled by the belief that the gods may disguise themselves as suppliants.
In essence, the atmosphere and the different unifying design with which the two poems are composed lead to the conclusion that, while deriving from the same stock of traditions, the *Odyssey* is later than the *Iliad* and belongs to a poet of different sensibility and homeland, whereas the *Iliad* more clearly reflects its Ionian origin.
Lanfranco Fiore.