2
I began to write expecting my task to be very difficult, but found plenty of material as I went on. I will defer it, however, till I have cleared the way with a few necessary remarks on the three forms—Rejoice or Joy, Prosper or Prosperity, Hail or Health. Joy is a very ancient greeting; but it was not confined to the morning, or the first meeting. They did use it when they first saw one another: Joy to thee, Lord of this Tirynthian land! But again at the moment when the wine succeeded to the meal: Achilles, Joy! We lack not fair repast— so says Odysseus discharging his embassy. And even at parting: Joy be with you! And henceforth know me God, No longer mortal man, In fact the apostrophe was not limited to any particular season, as now to the morning alone; indeed they used it on gloomy, nay, on the most lamentable occasions; in Euripides, Polynices ends his life with the words, Joy with you! for the darkness closes on me. Nor was it necessarily significative of friendliness; it could express hatred and the determination to see no more of another. To wish much joy to, was a regular form for ceasing to care about.
