Note 49:1 — II

I do not touch here on the subject of the gradual expurgation of the Poems to suit the feelings of a more civilized audience; see Rise of the Greek Epic,3 pp. 120-4. Many scholars believe that the Poems did not exist as a written book till the public copy was made by Pisistratus; see Cauer, Grundfragen der Homerkritik2, (1909), pp. 113-45; R. G. E.,3 pp. 304-16; Leaf, Iliad, vol. i, p. xvi. This view is tempting, though the evidence seems to be insufficient to justify a pronouncement either way. If it is true, then various passages which show a verbal use of earlier documents (like the Bellerophon passage, R. G. E.,3 pp. 175 ff.) cannot have been put in before the Athenian period.