Note 719 — Chapter XI · THE SWORD IN ANCIENT GREECE: HOMER; HESIOD AND HERODOTUS: MYCENÆ.

The Arab, or rather the Moslem, practice of Koran-reading may explain that of ancient Greece. There are two distinct ways: the vulgar, as though it were a profane book; and the learned with peculiar intonation (Kirá’at), of which there are some seventy systems. The Hindús recite with a similar artful modification. So the Hellenes would either pronounce their scriptures, Homer and Hesiod, according to popular accent, or intone by quantity. That men ever wrote accents without pronouncing them is one of those wild theories which can commend itself only to a savant. Besides, we know that as late as the eleventh century there were Greek authors who wrote indifferently according to accent or quantity.