Editing Tyrtaeus (section)

==Poetry==
[[File:Tyrtaeusbook.jpg|thumb|Tyrtaeus ''Spartan Lessons''; Glasgow: Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1759 (title-page)]]
Tyrtaeus was predominantly an [[Elegiac couplet|elegiac]] poet. Elegy may be described as  "a variation upon the heroic [[hexameter]], in the direction of [[lyric poetry]]".<ref>W. R. Hardie, ''Res Metrica'' 49, cited by {{harvp|Campbell|1982|pp=xxiv–xxv}}.</ref> Heroic hexameters were used by [[Homer]], whose phrases and Ionian vocabulary became the mainstay of Tyrtaeus's verse, even though that was composed for Doric-speaking Spartan audiences—"...a measure of the extent to which the Ionian epics had by now created among the Greeks a cultural unity which transcended dialect and ethnic rivalry".{{sfnp|Barron|Easterling|1985|p=130}} The use of Ionian vocabulary is all the more remarkable in that Tyrtaeus gave voice to a national, military ethic peculiar to Sparta, and his verses were possibly sung at banquets on campaign and even on the march.{{sfnp|Barron|Easterling|1985|p=131}}<ref group="nb">"...the Spartans themselves in their wars march in time to the poems of Tyrtaeus which they recite from memory...after the Lacedaemonians prevailed over the Messenians because of the generalship of Tyrtaeus, they established the custom in their campaigns that, after dinner and the hymn of thanksgiving, each sing in turn the poems of Tyrtaeus; their military commander acts as judge and gives a prize of meat to the winner".{{emdash}}Athenaeus, ''Scholars at Dinner'' 14.630f, translated by Douglas E. Gerber, ''Greek Elegiac Poetry'', Loeb Classical Library (1999), pages 33–4</ref> However, the only verse surviving from the marching songs ({{lang|grc|Ἐμβατήρια}}) is in anapests, it includes Dorisms and its authenticity is doubtful.<ref group="nb">"Genuine sons of Sparta bold!<br>Firm and full your bucklers hold:<br>With intrepid step advance:<br>Poise and point the vengeful lance.<br>Life despise and dare to fall:<br>Glory and your country call!"<br>Translated into heroic trochees/iambs by Gilbert Wakefield, B.A., ''Select Essays of Dio Chrysostom'', London (1800).</ref>

The elegies, being sung at military banquets, belong to a tradition of [[Symposium|sympotic]] poetry<ref>Ewen Bowie, 'Lyric and Elegiac Poetry', ''The Oxford History of the Classical World'', eds. J. Boardman, J. Griffin and O. Murray, Oxford University Press (1986), pages 101–2</ref> while also being representative of the genre of martial exhortation. The adoption of language and thematic concerns from Homeric epic is characteristic of this genre. For instance, the words of Tyrtaeus 10.1–2 ("For it is a fine thing for a man having fallen nobly amid the fore-fighters to die, fighting on behalf of the fatherland") undoubtedly echo Hector's speech in 15.494–7 of Homer's ''Iliad.'': ("And whoever hit by a missile or struck by a sword find his death and fated end, let him die.  It is not unseemly for one to die protecting the land of his fathers").{{sfnp|Irwin|2005|p=17}} It is possible that Tyrtaeus intentionally alludes to Homer in instances such as these for political reasons: given the fact that his poetry, like that of other archaic authors, was most likely performed in the context of aristocratic symposia, his references to epic heroism served to praise the elite status of his aristocratic audience.{{sfnp|Irwin|2005|pp=35–62}}

===Poetic style===
The three longest fragments of surviving verse (fr. 10–12) are complete or virtually complete poems describing the ideal warrior and the disgrace or glory that attends his personal choices. Their poetic quality is uneven, they include some arresting imagery and there are some clumsy transitions, repetitions and padding.{{sfnp|Gerber|1999|p=4}} The following lines belong to one of these (fr. 11, lines 27–34, here referred to as lines '''1'''–'''8''') and they give a compelling picture of battle between hoplite forces.{{sfnp|Barron|Easterling|1985|p=132}}
{{Verse translation|italicsoff=y|lang=grc|
ἔρδων δ' ὄβριμα ἔργα διδασκέσθω πολεμίζειν,
:μηδ' ἐκτὸς βελέων ἑστάτω ἀσπίδ' ἔχων,
ἀλλά τις ἐγγὺς ἰὼν αὐτοσχεδὸν ἔγχει μακρῷ
:ἢ ξίφει οὐτάζων δήιον ἄνδρ' ἑλέτω,
καὶ πόδα πὰρ ποδὶ θεὶς καὶ ἐπ' ἀσπίδος ἀσπίδ' ἐρείσας,
:ἐν δὲ λόφον τε λόφῳ καὶ κυνέην κυνέῃ
καὶ στέρνον στέρνῳ πεπλημένος ἀνδρὶ μαχέσθω,
:ἢ ξίφεος κώπην ἢ δόρυ μακρὸν ἑλών.<ref>Fragment 11.27–34, cited by {{harvp|Gerber|1999|p=56}}.</ref>
|
Let a man learn how to fight by first daring to perform mighty deeds,
:Not where the missiles won't reach, if he is armed with a shield,
But getting in close where fighting is hand to hand, inflicting a wound
:With his long spear or his sword, taking the enemy's life,
With his foot planted alongside a foot and his shield pressed against shield,
:And his crest up against crest and his helm up against helm
And breast against breast, embroiled in the action—let him fight man to man,
:Holding secure in his grasp haft of his sword or his spear!}}

The noble sentiment of line '''1''' seems to be original yet the vocabulary is entirely Homeric and, though lines '''5'''–'''7''' are adapted from Homer's Iliad (13.130–33),<ref group="nb">"...locking spear by spear, shield against shield at the base, so buckler/ leaned on buckler, helmet on helmet, man against man, and the horse-hair crests along the horns of their shining helmets/ touched as they bent their heads, so dense were they formed on each other,..."{{emdash}} Iliad 13.130–33, translated by R.Lattimore, ''The Iliad of Homer'', University of Chicago Press (1951)</ref> there is an important difference: Homer describes the advance of one side in close formation, whereas Tyrtaeus describes two sides meeting in the hoplite style of fighting. The description of the battle is rejected however by some scholars as anachronistic: for example, missiles were not characteristic of hoplite warfare.{{sfnp|Campbell|1982|p=175 n. 27}} The passage  demonstrates one of the more common devices employed by Tyrtaeus—the use of parallel phrases for amplification, sometimes degenerating into tedious repetition.{{sfnp|Adkins|1977|p=76}} Here it is used to communicate a sense of the crowded battlefield.

=== Military ideology ===
[[File:Moreau - Tyrtée chantant pendant le combat, cat.18.jpg|thumb|''Tyrtée chantant pendant le combat'' [''Tyrtaeus singing during the fight''], by [[Gustave Moreau]]. 1860.]]
There are many instances in Tyrtaeus' poetry that show the influences he had towards Spartan society. One such theme involves military Ideology and how it helped shape in Sparta.

First, Tyrtaeus' poems exemplifies an ancient Greek thought and Homeric concept called [[Arete]]. This concept involves the idea of what it means to be excellent. Tyrtaeus is able to show in his work this ideal in both the singular and in the group environment of Sparta. In poem 9, he shows that in order to achieve true and the best ''arete'', it involves being in a cohesive group that exemplifies this concept together.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Tarkow |first=Theodore A. |date=1983 |title=Tyrtaeus, 9 D.: The Role of Poetry in the New Sparta |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41653212 |journal=L'Antiquité Classique |volume=52 |pages=48–69 |doi=10.3406/antiq.1983.2083 |jstor=41653212 |issn=0770-2817}}</ref>  The reasoning for writing around the concept of ''arete'' is through the Spartan ideology of what makes the Spartan warrior the most courageous and patriotic fighter. One can speculate that his poems help push this ideology along by constantly promoting how a Spartan becomes their most powerful self. Although he writes around this concept, he never accepts this as his way of thinking he is instilling. Instead, he writes specifically about a "fierce fighting spirit."{{sfn|Shey|1976}}

Another subject within military ideology that is clearly shown in Tyrtaeus, 9 is the idea of solidarity amongst a group. In order to perform one's singular ''arete'' in a [[Phalanx]], one must remain in the forefront with those he is fighting with. This requires a Spartan man to have the duty to be one with his group.<ref name=":0" />

Finally, Tyrtaeus makes a style choice to not include names of anyone in his poems. This further drives in the idea that a warrior must be selfless in their contributions to the welfare of the state.<ref name=":0" /> This can further show that Tyrtaeus' use of military ideology in his poems influenced Spartan warriors to live a certain way for their state including being courageous and knowing they will be honored in death or in victory over battle.{{sfn|Shey|1976}}