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 ILLUSTRATED HISTORY 
 
 OF 
 
 ANCIENT LITERATURE, 
 
 ORIENTAL AND CLASSICAL. 
 
 BY 
 
 JOHN D. QUACKENBOS, A.M., M.D., 
 
 AUTHOR OF " ILLUSTRATED SCHOOL HISTORY OF THE WORLD." 
 
 ACCOMRANIED WITH 
 
 ENGRAVINGS AND COLORED MAPS. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS, 
 
 FRANKLIN SQUARE. 
 
 i 88 i.
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1878, by 
 
 JOHN D. OUACKENBOS, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington,
 
 Stack 
 Annex 
 
 5" 
 
 032. 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 THE History of Literature, as a separate branch of the history of 
 civilization, is of comparatively recent origin ; the first work on the 
 subject in any language dating no farther back than the sixteenth 
 century of our era, and being little more than a crude catalogue of 
 authors and their books. Yet who can deny the great importance 
 of such history ? When studied in counection with illustrative ex- 
 tracts from the masterpieces of which it treats, it furnishes a key to 
 the intellectual development of our race, introduces us to the great 
 minds that stand as beacon lights in successive ages, and with their 
 wisdom widens the scope of knowledge, while it refines the taste and 
 disciplines the judgment. Lord Bacon said but the truth, when he 
 remarked that the history of the world without the history of letters 
 would be as incomplete as a statue of Polyphemus deprived of his 
 single eye. 
 
 Nor is this study without results of a direct practical bearing. 
 Certainly all must appreciate the importance of understanding cur- 
 rent allusions to the writers and literary works of other ages and 
 countries, and must admit that some acquaintance at least with such 
 writers and works is essential to a well-grounded knowledge of one's 
 own language and a correct estimate of its literature. But when is 
 such an acquaintance to be obtained, if not during a school or college 
 course ? The engrossing duties of after-life leave little time for the 
 pursuit of liberal studies. And how is such an acquaintance to be 
 obtained ? All are not linguists, and the greater part must get it 
 second-hand must avail themselves of the labors of others who have 
 delved in these unfamiliar fields. It may be stated as a broad fact 
 that few will know anything of general literature who do not study 
 its history systematically, as a part of the academic curriculum. 
 
 It is to facilitate and popularize this study by furnishing a com- 
 plete and carefully condensed text-book on the subject, unencum- 
 bered by obscure names and wearisome details, that the volume now 
 
 1734444
 
 VI PREFACE. 
 
 offered to the public Las been prepared. It presents a full account 
 of the literatures of ancient nations, and, treating of the origin and 
 relationships of their respective languages, incidentally brings for- 
 ward some of the most interesting facts of Comparative Philology. 
 While the writings of Greece and Rome receive due attention, a new 
 and, it is believed, peculiarly valuable feature of the book will be 
 found in its treatment of ancient Oriental literature particularly 
 the Sanscrit and Persian. The labors of European scholars during 
 the Last quarter -century have thrown a chain of living interest 
 around the subject, and awakened on this side of the Atlantic as 
 well a thirst for further knowledge, which it is here attempted to 
 satisfy. The principles of the Egyptian picture-writing (hiero- 
 glyphics) are also explained ; and the vast literary treasures re- 
 cently unearthed amid the ruins of the Nile Valley and elsewhere 
 are described and illustrated. 
 
 In treating the subject, the author has aimed, while giving a clear 
 outline of each literature as a whole, to make its great writers stand 
 out in bold relief, aud to associate them in the pupil's mind with the 
 works that have made them immortal. With this view, brief biog- 
 raphies, not fragmentary or isolated, but grafted on the narrative 
 where they naturally belong, are accompanied with short specimens, 
 carefully selected to give the best idea of each author's style and 
 genius. In the critical views as well as the historical facts present- 
 ed, the latest authorities have been followed, aud the aid of maps 
 and illustrations has been freely resorted to for the better elucida- 
 tion of points on which they could throw light. 
 
 The present volume has grown out of the author's experience in 
 the lecture-room ; and in the belief that it is of a scope and grade 
 that will meet the popular want, he now offers it to high-schools, 
 academies, and colleges. From such institutions he feels that no class 
 should graduate in ignorance either of the Greek and Roman classics 
 which have inspired the modern poet and philosopher, or of those 
 precious remains of once great Oriental literatures that patient schol- 
 ars of the nineteenth century have brought to light that helped to 
 shape the Greek mind itself in the morning of the world. He trusts 
 that it may foster in the young admiration of the brilliant thoughts 
 that sparkle in the pages of ancient lore, a, love of literature, and a 
 taste for philological investigations. If it be approved by Ihe friends 
 of education, he shall feel encouraged to continue his labors in this 
 department by preparing a similar work on Modern Literature. 
 
 COLUMBIA. COLLEGE, June, 1ST8.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 (Pages 11-30.) 
 
 Definition and Divisions of Literature, page 11. Origin and Relationship of 
 Languages, 12. The Aryans, 13. Aryan Languages, 16. Semitic Languages, 
 16. Turanian Languages, 17. Written Language, 18. Ideographic Writing, 
 18. Phonetic Writing, 19. Modes of Writing and Pointing, 20. Ancient Writ- 
 ing Materials, 21. General View of Ancient Literature, 25. 
 
 PART I. 
 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL LITERATURES. 
 CHAPTER I. HIXDOO LITERATURE. 
 
 (Pages 31-CO.) 
 
 Sanscrit Language, 31. Sanscrit Alphabet, 32. Sanscrit Researches, 33. The 
 Veda, 34. The Upavedas, 35. The Puranas, 35. Social Life of the Vedic Peo- 
 ple, 37. Code of Manu, 38. Epic Poetry, 40. The Ramayana, 40. The Maha- 
 bharata, 43. Lyric and Didactic Poetry, 46. Kalidasa, 46. Jayadeva, 48. 
 Gitagovinda, 49. The Sanscrit Shakespeare, 50. Sakoontala, 50. The Hindoe 
 Drama, 54. Tales and Fables, 56. History and Grammar, 57. Buddhist Litera- 
 ture, 58. Writing Materials of the Hindoos, 60. 
 
 CHAPTER II. PERSIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 (Pages 60-67.) 
 
 Zend Language, 60. Zoroaster, 61. The Avesta, 62. Avestan Philosophy, 63, 
 Persian Inscriptions, 65. Rock of Behistun, 65. The Royal Library, 67.
 
 Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER III. CHINESE LITERATURE. 
 
 (Pages 67-83.) 
 
 Chinese Language, 67. Chinese Writing, 68. Antiquity of Chinese Litera- 
 ture, 69 Confucius, 70. The Chinese Classics, 73. The Four Shoo, 77. The 
 
 Confucian Analects, 77. Mencius, 79. Spirit of the Chinese Classics, 80. Lao- 
 Tse, 82. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. HEBREW LITERATURE. 
 
 (Pages 83-104.) 
 
 The Semitic Languages and their Distribution, 84. The Ancient Hebrew. 85. 
 Hebrew Alphabet,^. Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, 88. Parallelism, 89. Dawn 
 of Hebrew Literature, 90. The Books of Moses, 90. The Historical Books, 92. 
 The Book of Job, 93. Golden Age of Hebrew Poetry, 93. The Psalms, 93. 
 Elegiac Poetry, 94. Didactic Poetry, 95. Prophetic Poetry, 96. Silver Age, 97. 
 The Apocrypha, 99. The Talmud, 100. 
 
 CHAPTER V. CHALDEAN, ASSYRIAN, ARABIC, AND PHOENICIAN 
 LITERATURES. 
 
 (Pages 104-117.) 
 
 Cuneiform Letters, 104. Assyrio-Babylonian Writing Materials, 106. Golden 
 Age of Babylonian Literature, 107. Deluge Tablets, 112. Arabic Literature, 1 1 4. 
 Himyaritic Inscriptions, 114. Phoenician Literature, 115. Carthaginian Rel- 
 ics. 116. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 (Pages 117-131.) 
 
 Egyptian Language, 117. Hieroglyphic Writing, 118. The Rosetta Stone, 
 119. Golden Age of Egyptian Literature, 121 The Book of the Dead, 122. 
 Hymns, 124. Secular Poetry, 125. Moral Treatises, 126. Scientific Literature, 
 127. Fiction and Satire, 128. Synchronistic Table of Oriental Literature, 131. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 GRECIAN LITERA TURE. 
 CHAPTER I. BIRTH OF GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 (Pages 133-138.) 
 
 Early Settlement of Greece, 133. Pelasgi and Hellenes, 134. The Greek Lan- 
 guage, 135. Earliest Forms of Poetry, 137. Legendary Poets, 138.
 
 CONTENTS. IX 
 
 CHAPTER II. AGE OF EPIC POETRY. 
 
 (Pages 139-156.) 
 
 Homer, 139. The Iliad, 141 The Odyssey, 147 Minor Poems of Homer, 
 150. Cyclic Poets, 152. Hesiod and his Works, 152. Poets of the Epic Cycle, 
 156. 
 
 CHAPTER III. LYRIC POETRY. 
 
 (Pages 157-178.) 
 
 Rise and Varieties of Lyric Poetry, 157. Callinus, 159. Tyrteeus, 1GO. Ar- 
 chilochus, 161. ^Eolic and Doric Schools, 1G3. Alcaeus, 164. The Lesbian Poet- 
 esses, 164. Sappho, 165. Sappho's Pupils, 171. Anacreon, 172. Simonides, 174. 
 Minor Lyric Poets, 177. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. RISE OF GREEK PROSE. 
 
 (Pages 178-184.) 
 
 Earliest Prose Writings, 178. The Seven Sages. 179. Solon, 179. Thales, 
 180. -iEsop, 181. Progress of Greek Prose, 182. Early Philosophers and Histo- 
 rians, 183. 
 
 CHAPTER V. GOLDEN AGE OF GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 (Pages 184-262.) 
 
 The Attic Period, 184. Pindar, 185. Antimachus, 192. Dramatic Poetry, 192. 
 jEschylus, 194." Prometheus Chained," 196. Sophocles, 200." King (Edi- 
 pus," 202. Euripides, 207." Medea," 209. Greek Comedy, 212. Aristophanes, 
 
 213. "The Clouds," 214. "The Birds," 219 History, 221. Herodotus, 222. 
 
 Thucydides, 225. Xenophon, 229. Ctesias and Theopompus, 233. Philosophy, 
 234. The Ionic and Italic Schools, 234. Pythagoras, 235. Empedocles, 236. 
 Xenophanes, 237. Democritus, 237. School of Epicurus, 238. Pyrrho, the 
 Skeptic, 238. The Socratic School, 239. Plato and the Academic School, 241. 
 " Phaedo," 244. Aristotle and the Peripatetic School, 247. Aristotle's Writings, 
 248. Theophrastus, 252. The Stoic School, 253. The Cynics, 254. Oratory, 
 255. Demosthenes, 256. The Speech " On the Crown," 257. ^Eschines, 260. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. THE ALEXANDRIAN PERIOD. 
 
 (Pages 262-280.) 
 
 Decline of Letters, 262. The New Comedy, 263. Menander, 264. Philemon, 
 265. Pastoral Poetry, 266. Theocritus, 266. Bion and Moschus, 269. The Mu- 
 seum, 272. The Alexandrian Library, 273. Poetry at Alexandria, 274. Callim- 
 achus, 274. Apollonius Rhodius, 275. Writers on Science. 276. Critics and 
 Grammarians, 277. History, 277. Polybius, 278. The Septuagint, 279. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. LATER GREEK LITERATURE. 
 
 (Pages 2SO-302.) 
 Decay of Greek Genius, 280. Writers of the First Century B.C., 281. Writers
 
 X CONTENTS. 
 
 of the First Three Christian Centuries, 284. Plutarch, 285. Lucian, 288,- Pau- 
 sanias. 292. Origen, 293. Neo-Platonism, 293. Longinus, 294. Athanasius and 
 Chrysostom, 294. Xovel- writers, 295. Hierocles, 295. Byzantine Literature, 
 297. The Greek Anthology, 297. Gems of Greek Thought, 300. 
 
 PART III. 
 
 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 CHAPTER I. LATIN AND ITS OLDEST MONUMENTS. 
 
 (Pages 303-307.) 
 Italy Peopled, 303. The Latin Language, 304. Ancient Latin Relics, 305. 
 
 CHAPTER II. DAWN OF ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 (Pages 307-329.) 
 
 Indebtedness of Rome to Greek Authors, 307. The Roman Drama, 308. Livi- 
 us Audronicus, 309. Cneius Naevius, 310. Ennius, 311. Plautus, 312. "The 
 Captives," 313. Terence, 315." The Self-Tormentor," 317. Decline of the Dra- 
 ma, 319. Epic Poetry, 320. Naevius and Ennius as Epic Poets, 320. Satiric 
 Poetry, 322. Lucilius, 323. Early Latin Prose, 324. Cato the Censor, 324. 
 Laslius, Scipio, and the Gracchi, 32C. Antonius, Crassus, and Hortensius, 327. 
 Minor Historians and Orators, 328. 
 
 CHAPTER III. GOLDEN AGE OF ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 (Pages 329-388.) 
 
 Periods of the Golden Age, 329. Cicero, 330. Varro, 337. Julius Caesar, 339. 
 Sallust, 3-43. Cornelius Nepos, 347. Poets of the Ciceronian Period, 348. Lu- 
 cretius, 348. Catullus, 352. Poetry of the Augustan Age, 354. Virgil, 355. 
 Virgil's Eclogues, 359. Georgics, 360. ^Eneid, 362. Horace, 369. Varius, 375. 
 Tibullus, 375. Propertius, 377. Ovid, 379. Prose Writers of the Augustan 
 Age, 382. Livy, 382. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. AGE OF DECLINE. 
 
 (Pages 388-428.) 
 
 Silver Age of Roman Letters, 388. Velleius Paterculus, 389. Valerius Maxi- 
 mus, 389. Celsus, 390. Phsedrus, 390. Persius, 392. Seneca, 394. Lucan, 397. 
 Pliny the Elder, 401. Martial, 404. Statins, 405. Sulpitia, 406. Quintilian, 
 407. Juvenal, 408. Tacitus, 412. Suetonius, 415. Pliny the Younger. 418. 
 Apuleius, 420. Latin Father?, 421. Specimens of Later Latin Poetry, 423. 
 Gems of Latin Thought, 425.
 
 HISTORY OF ANCIENT LITERATURE. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 LITERATURE, in its broadest sense, comprises the written 
 productions of all nations in all ages. It is the permanent 
 expression of the intellectual power of man, and reflects the 
 popular manners, the political condition, the moral and relig- 
 ious status. In its literary productions, a nation bequeaths 
 to posterity an ever-speaking record of its inner life. 
 
 The history of literature traces the progress of the human 
 mind from age to age, by landmarks erected by the mind it- 
 self. It represents the development of different phases of 
 thought in written language, and shows their influence in 
 moulding the public taste and morals. It investigates the 
 connection between the literatures of different countries, con- 
 siders the causes of their growth and their decay, and criti- 
 cally examines the works of individual authors. 
 
 Literature may be divided into two parts, Ancient and 
 Modern. The former, to which this volume is devoted, in- 
 cludes the literatures of the ancient Oriental nations, the 
 Greeks, and the Romans. To the second division belong 
 the literatures of modern Europe, of the modern Oriental 
 nations, and of America. 
 
 After considering the origin and relationship of languages, 
 A 2
 
 12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 we shall give a brief summary of the history of ancient lit- 
 erature as a whole, without national divisions ; so that the 
 reader, having previously followed the progress of letters 
 from age to age and people to people, may be enabled to 
 study more intelligently the separate literatures of the dif- 
 ferent countries. 
 
 ORIGIN AND RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGES. 
 
 The Dawn of History. When the mist that envelops the 
 early history of the world first rises, it discovers to our view, 
 in parts of western Asia, communities more or less advanced 
 in knowledge and the arts, gathered about certain centres of 
 civilization ; and others, of less culture, leading a wandering 
 life, spent mostly, we may conjecture, in the chase, in preda- 
 tory excursions, and the tending of herds. We find at this 
 time a thrifty race, called Aryans, settled in the fair dis- 
 trict between the Hindoo Koosh Mountains and the upper 
 course of the Amoo River the ancient Bactria (part of what 
 is now Turkestan and Afghanistan; see Map, p. 15). The 
 region watered by the rivers Euphrates and Tigris was occu- 
 pied by the forefathers of the Chaldeans and Assyrians, the 
 Jews and Arabians ; while over the plains of Tartary, known 
 as Turan, wandering tribes were spread whence their name, 
 Turanians, sivift horsemen. Corresponding with these three 
 divisions of the human race are three distinct families of 
 languages, the ARYAN or INDO-EUROPEAN, the SEMITIC, 
 and the TURANIAN, embracing more than one hundred and 
 fifty tongues. 
 
 In Africa, also, civilization was a plant of early growth, Egypt 
 ranking among the most ancient monarchies. Europe, how- 
 ever, in these primeval ages, was either a tenantless wilderness 
 or the home of rude adventurers like the Lapps and Finns, of 
 whom the Basques in the Pyrenees are perhaps the only rem- 
 nants in the west.
 
 RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGES. ] 3 
 
 THE ARYANS. 
 
 The Aryans have left no account of themselves sculptured 
 on rocks or the walls of crumbling temples ; but by careful 
 study of the languages of Aryan origin we obtain, after the 
 lapse of four thousand years, a glimpse of the social condition 
 of those who spoke the mother-tongue among the mountains 
 of Bactria. We infer that nouns similar in the various de- 
 rived languages, as father (protector), brother (helper), house, 
 door, walls, boat/ grain, etc., are the names of objects or no- 
 tions familiar to the original family.* Thus utilizing language 
 as a key to what would otherwise be locked up in the unknown 
 past, we learn that the inhabitants of the fertile Bactrian val- 
 leys were devoted to agricultural pursuits. Tilling the ground 
 was an honorable employment, the very name Aryan signify- 
 ing high-born, noble. We have pictured to us law-abiding com- 
 munities, grouped together in towns, ruled by chiefs and a 
 king, recognizing family ties, entertaining exalted conceptions 
 of woman, and a solemn regard for the marriage bond the 
 latter always a mark of high civilization. 
 
 Language also tells us that this interesting people preferred 
 the arts of peace to war. With the dog for his companion, the 
 shepherd folded his flocks of sheep ; with the horse and ox 
 for his servants, the landholder broke the soil with a plough 
 of bronze. Pigs and fowls were raised ; cattle formed the 
 chief wealth ; and the cows were milked by the daughter of 
 the household this name meaning milk-maid. 
 
 The Aryan drove from village to village in his wheeled car- 
 
 * A thousand words have thus been traced through the sister languages of 
 Aryan birth a number certainly adequate to the wants of primitive man, when 
 we remember that of more than 100,000 words which constitute our present vo- 
 cabulary but 3,000 are in common use. The Old Testament was translated with 
 the help of only 5,642 English words. While Shakespeare's genius required 
 21,000 words for its expression, Milton's epic employs less than half that number.
 
 14 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 riage, over well-constructed roads ; worked the metals ; plied 
 the loom ; moulded clay into pottery ; and even navigated 
 the neighboring waters in boats propelled by oars. He gave 
 names to numbers as far as one hundred, was familiar with 
 the principles of decimals, and took the moon for his guide in 
 dividing the year into months. 
 
 A Supreme Being was worshipped in Bactria, the Great 
 Unseen, the Creator and Governor of the world. In the ref- 
 erence to him of controversies that were difficult to settle, we 
 trace the origin of the later trial by ordeal. Even some of 
 our commonest stories are derived from fables current at 
 least two thousand years B.C. in ancient Arya. 
 
 Aryan Migrations. Few in number at first, the Aryans 
 long lived peaceably together. But as the population grew 
 denser, great bodies, either compelled to search for food in 
 other lands or moved by a thirst for exploration, broke away 
 at different periods from the cradle of their race, in quest of 
 new abodes. 
 
 The first to leave were the Celts, who, passing between the 
 Caspian Sea and the Black, made their way westward into 
 Europe, and, conquering an indigenous population of sup- 
 posed Turanian origin, possessed themselves of its fairest 
 lands.* Following them, but by a route north of the Caspian, 
 and ever pushing them toward the west, came the Slavonian 
 and Teutonic tribes the former, the ancestors of the Russians 
 and Servians, Poles and Bohemians ; the latter, of the Goths, 
 Scandinavians, and German nations. Of the Aryans who thus 
 migrated to the northwest, Max Miiller says that they " have 
 been the prominent actors in the great drama of history, and 
 have carried to their fullest growth all the elements of active 
 
 * In common with the Celts, the North American Indians, Chinese, Egyptians, 
 and other ancient nations, cherished a tradition that they had supplanted an orig- 
 inal population the children of the soil of low intellectual powers, feeders on 
 roots, hole-dwellers, serpent-eaters.
 
 AKYAN MIGRATIONS. 
 
 15 
 
 life with which our nature is endowed. They have perfected 
 society and morals. They have become, after struggles with 
 Semitic and Turanian races, the rulers of history; and it seems 
 to be their mission to link all parts of the world together by 
 the chains of civilization, commerce, and religion." 
 
 After the last emigration of Aryans to the west, the parent 
 community extended its settlements southward into the Table- 
 land of Iran (e'rahri) (modern Persia, Afghanistan, and Beloo- 
 chistan ; see Map), and finally, in consequence of a religious 
 difference, separated into two great branches. One remained 
 on the Iranian plateau, and was ultimately known in history 
 as the Medes and Persians. The other made its way through
 
 16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the mountain-passes, crossed the upper Indus (at some uncer- 
 tain date, between 2000 and 1400 B.C.), and in time effected 
 the conquest of the rich peninsula of Hindostan. The invad- 
 ers were the " fair-complexioned " Indo- Aryans, who spoke the 
 polished Sanscrit, and among whom sprung up the institution 
 of caste and many gross superstitions. 
 
 Aryan Languages. Similarity in the words and grammati- 
 cal structure of their languages proves that the Hindoos, the 
 Persians, the Greeks and Romans, the Celtic races, the Sla- 
 vonian and Teutonic nations, all had a common origin ; that 
 the frozen Icelander and Indian fire-worshipper, the outcast 
 Gypsy and the plaided Highlander, the English master and 
 his Cooley servant, are brothers of the same stock. Their 
 tongues have been derived from the same parent a language 
 full of poetic grandeur, older than Greek or Sanscrit, and con- 
 taining the germs of both a language which has perished. 
 
 Spoken as we have seen from India to the west of Europe, 
 these tongues have been called INDO-EUROPEAN. They em- 
 brace the dialects of India and Persia ; the Welsh, and the 
 Celtic of Scotland and Ireland ; the Latin and its derivatives, 
 the Romance languages, viz., Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, 
 French, Provencal, and Wallachian ; Greek ; Russian, Polish, 
 and Bohemian ; English, German, Dutch, Danish, and Swed- 
 ish (see Linguistic Map of Europe and Chart, preceding the 
 title-page). The relationship existing among these tongues 
 of the Indo-European race preeminently the race of progres- 
 sive civilization has been established by the study of their 
 several grammars. 
 
 THE SEMITES. 
 
 The Semitic Languages, in like manner, may all be traced 
 to a common source. To this group belong the Syriac, the 
 Hebrew, the Arabic, the Ethiopic, the ancient Phoenician, and 
 the Carthaginian ; while the cuneiform inscriptions of Bab-
 
 SEMITES AND TURANIANS. 17 
 
 ylonia and Assyria are the written characters of a Semitic 
 tongue common to those countries. (See Chart, p. 85.) 
 
 Philology has not followed the Semites to a home as limited 
 as that of the Aryans ; through tradition points to Armenia as 
 their early domicile. It declares, however, the Semitic and 
 the Aryan to be distinct families of speech, which, while both 
 may be branches from a common parent stem, could not 
 have been derived one from the other. 
 
 THE TURANIANS. 
 
 Turanian Dialects. Here there is slighter evidence of rela- 
 tionship. The Turanian languages, though they seem to be 
 members of the same original family, differ widely ; for those 
 who spoke them were nomads, wanderers over the globe, 
 whose customs, laws, and dialects were modified with every 
 change of habitation and condition. To this sporadic group 
 belong the Mongolian tongues, the Turkish, Finnic, and Hun- 
 garian, together with certain Polynesian dialects ; but the 
 Chinese, Japanese, Australian, North American Indian, South 
 African, and many others of the nine hundred languages 
 spoken on the earth, bear hardly enough resemblance to 
 these to be classed in the same family. 
 
 SYSTEMS OF WRITING. 
 
 Language is either spoken or written. Spoken language 
 we find to have been used as a medium of communication be- 
 tween men in the earliest periods to which history carries us 
 back. It is the expression of reason, and as such constitutes 
 a line of demarcation between man and the lower animals. 
 Without it, indeed, the brute can, to a certain extent, make 
 known his emotions and desires. The house-dog, by the dis- 
 tinctive character of liis bark, welcomes his master or threat- 
 ens the intrusive stranger. The hen warns her chicks of dan- 
 ger by one set of signals, and calls them to feed by another.
 
 1 8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 The ant, discovering an inviting grain too heavy for itself 
 alone, bears the intelligence to its fellows and promptly returns 
 with aid. But such limited means of communication fall infi- 
 nitely short of the perfect system vvhich is exclusively man's 
 birthright which uses articulate sounds to represent ideas, 
 and combines them so as to express every shade of thought. 
 
 Written Language. Spoken Language lives only for the 
 moment ; words uttered to-day die and are forgotten to-mor- 
 row. To give permanency to his passing thoughts, when ad- 
 vancing civilization showed such permanency to be desirable, 
 man devised Writing, the art of representing ideas by visible 
 characters. Written Language is the vehicle of literature 
 the material in which the thinker embodies his conceptions 
 for future generations, just as the sculptor gives permanent 
 forms to his ideals in marble, or the painter on the glowing 
 canvas. 
 
 Writing is either Ideographic' or Phonetic. The Ideo- 
 graphic System represents material objects and abstract no- 
 tions directly, by pictures or symbols. The Phonetic System 
 uses certain characters to express the articulate sounds by 
 which such objects or notions are denoted, and thus indirect- 
 ly, through the two media of sounds and characters, indicates 
 the objects or notions themselves. 
 
 IDEOGRAPHIC WRITING. The earliest mode of conveying 
 ideas of visible objects was by pictorial imitations. We have 
 examples of it in the original hieroglyphics of Egypt and 
 China, and the cuneiform letters borrowed from their Tura- 
 nian inventors by the Assyrians and Persians. It was also 
 practised by the Aztecs or ancient Mexicans, and the inhab- 
 itants of Central America. Thought-painting, as it may be 
 called, has this advantage, that to a certain extent it is under- 
 stood as well by the illiterate classes at home as by foreign 
 nations speaking different tongues. 
 
 Hieroglyphics, at first purely pictorial, at length became
 
 SYSTEMS OF WRITING. 19 
 
 symbolic, an action or idea being represented by the outline 
 of some material object to which it was thought to bear anal- 
 ogy. A picture of two legs, for instance, stood for the act of 
 walking; a battle was indicated by two men engaged in con- 
 flict ; eternity, by a circle ; brightness, by a combination of 
 
 the sun and moon, thus 
 
 The hieroglyphic system was objectionable on account of 
 the multitude of symbols required, as well as the impos- 
 sibility of expressing grammatical relations. It therefore 
 gradually went out of use, while its characters were bor- 
 rowed to denote the sounds of spoken language. During the 
 transition period, however, these characters in many cases 
 retained also their original signification ; as if we should 
 denote by one and the same symbol (a picture of the ani- 
 mal) the dog, and the syllable dog in the word dogmatical 
 or by J (formed from the outline of a jay 
 both the idea bird and the sound of the letter/ 
 This of course led to great confusion, and was 
 long an insuperable obstacle to the interpretation 
 of the cuneiform or wedge-shaped letters. 
 
 PHONETIC WRITING. There are two systems of phonetic 
 writing, the Syllabic and the Alphabetic. The characters of 
 the former are used to represent syllables, or combinations of 
 sounds (either words or parts of words) uttered by distinct im- 
 pulses of the voice ; those of the latter represent the elements 
 of which these syllables are composed, or letters. 
 
 The characters by which the elementary sounds of any lan- 
 guage are denoted, arranged in order, constitute its Alphabet. 
 A perfect alphabet would be one in which every letter repre- 
 sented but one simple sound, and every simple sound was 
 represented by but one letter a perfection never yet attained. 
 
 It is to the Egyptians that the world is indebted for Alpha- 
 betic Writing. Their hieroglyphics, at first true pictures, then
 
 20 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 symbols corresponding to abstract ideas, finally became, as we 
 have seen, the signs of articulate sounds. But in Egypt the 
 phonetic system was imperfect, the same sound having several 
 symbols, and the same symbol standing for many sounds. It 
 was left for the Phoenicians to remedy these faults, and com- 
 plete the work thus begun. 
 
 Brought into commercial relations with Egypt at an early 
 date, this enterprising people at once saw the advantages of 
 phonetic writing ; and by rejecting the ideograms (pictures 
 denoting material objects), but retaining and modifying the 
 phonetic symbols used in that country, they perfected an al- 
 phabetic system. The Phoenician alphabet contained at first 
 sixteen letters, to which six more were finally added. 
 
 Such is the most probable account of the origin of letters. 
 Tradition variously ascribes their invention to Thoth an 
 Egyptian, to Cadmus the Phoenician, to Odin the supreme 
 deity of the Scandinavians, and to others. Of the varied ex- 
 ports of the Phoenicians, their alphabet was the most precious. 
 Wherever their sails were spread, their letters were made 
 known, and all nations sooner or later profited by this great 
 Semitic invention. In the table on page 87 may be traced 
 a decided resemblance between several of the Phoenician 
 characters and the hieroglyphics in which they originated; 
 also the successive changes by which they were modified in 
 the earlier and later Greek and Latin letters whence most 
 of our English capitals. 
 
 Modes of Writing- and Pointing. As regards the direction 
 in which their writing ran, ancient nations differed. In the 
 Egyptian hieroglyphics there was no established order ; but 
 the figures of men and animals, facing the beginning of the 
 lines, often gave a clue to the direction in which they were 
 meant to be read. As a general rule, the Indo-Europeans 
 wrote from left to right, the Semites from right to left. The 
 Laws of Solon and other Greek writings of that period (about
 
 MODES OF PUNCTUATING. 21 
 
 600 B.C.) appeared in lines running alternately from right to 
 left and from left to right, as an ox walks in ploughing ; this 
 "ox-turning system" (boustrophedon\ however, was soon fol- 
 lowed by our present method. The Chinese, Japanese, and 
 Mongols, wrote in columns, which were read from the top 
 of the page, and from right to left. In the ancient Mexican 
 pictographs, similar columns were read from the bottom. 
 
 The ancients did not separate sentences, or their subdi- 
 visions, with points ; but wrote their words together, leaving 
 the meaning to be deciphered from the context. Rings, ovals, 
 or squares, were sometimes drawn around proper names, and 
 words were occasionally separated by some device a diag- 
 onal bar or wedge ^, as in ancient Persian inscriptions; or 
 a letter placed on its side, as between the following words : 
 CONJUGHKARISSIMAE. In a Roman inscription found 
 near Bath, England, a small v occurs after every word : 
 JULIUSvVITALISvFABRI. A peculiar sign was used, 
 in some cases, immediately before the name of a god or of 
 a person. 
 
 In the third century B.C., a system of punctuation, devised 
 by Aristophanes, a grammarian of Alexandria, became known 
 to the Greeks. It employed a dot (.), which had the force of 
 our period, colon, or comma, according as it was placed after 
 the top, middle, or bottom of the final word. The better sys- 
 tem of modern times was not invented till the sixteenth cen- 
 tury. 
 
 ANCIENT WRITING MATERIALS. 
 
 Stylus and Tablets. The first writing was done on rocks 
 with sharp-pointed instruments of iron or bronze, to record 
 great events. Next came tracings on bricks of soft clay, af- 
 terward hardened by baking ; and then writing with a metal 
 or ivory stylus on sheets of lead or layers of wax, from which 
 erasures could be made, if needful, with the flattened end of 
 the instrument.
 
 22 rXTKODUCTIOX. 
 
 Pliny speaks of leaden sheets, thus inscribed, rolled up in a 
 cylindrical form when not in use. But under provocation the 
 metallic stylus could be employed as a dagger; and when a 
 Roman schoolmaster was killed by his pupils with their styles 
 and heavy table-books, the dangerous instrument was ban- 
 ished, and superseded by a similar one of horn. The early 
 shepherds, we are told, imitated this mode of writing, making 
 thorns or awls do duty as styles, and scratching their songs 
 on leather straps which they wound round their crooks. 
 
 Wooden tablets, glazed to receive coloring matter, were 
 used by the Jews and early Egyptians, and the former wrote 
 also with a diamond-tipped stylus on stone or metallic tables. 
 The Greeks and Romans sometimes wired their tablets of 
 citron-wood, beech, or fir, together at the back, so as to allow 
 them to open like a modern book. 
 
 Calamus, or Reed. A great advance was made when the 
 stylus gave way to camel's hair brushes or reeds (calami} 
 sharpened and split like our pens, and the tablets were re- 
 placed with papyrus and parchment. The reeds in common 
 use came from Egypt, but persons of fortune often wrote with 
 a silver calamus. The ink employed was thicker and more 
 lasting than ours; sometimes prepared from the black fluid 
 of the cuttle-fish, but generally from lampblack and glue, or 
 from soot, rosin, and pitch. Chalk pencils were at one time 
 manufactured by the Egyptians and Greeks. 
 
 With the reed and ink, bark came into use as a cheap 
 writing material ; hence the Latin word for bark, liber, meant 
 also book. Leaves, too, were employed for this purpose, par- 
 ticularly those of the palm whence, perhaps, the leaf of a 
 book was so called. But for manuscripts designed for per- 
 manent preservation, papyrus had the decided preference. 
 
 Papyrus, or the /tf/<?r-plant, the bulrush of Scripture, grew 
 in the marshes and pools of Egypt. Its branchless stem 
 rose from five to ten feet above the water, and was sur-
 
 PAPYRUS AND PARCHMENT. 
 
 23 
 
 mounted by a cluster of long, spike-shaped, drooping leaves. 
 This plant was woven 
 into sandals, mats, cloth- 
 ing, and even boats ; was 
 eaten, raw and boiled ; 
 was manufactured into 
 furniture ; and was burn- 
 ed for fuel and light ; 
 when prepared for writ- 
 ing purposes, it was in- 
 valuable. The part un- 
 der the water was se- 
 lected, the outer bark 
 removed, and the deli- 
 cate white layers found 
 beneath were pressed to- 
 gether into sheets and 
 
 dried. These Were writ- EGYPTIAN PAI-YBLS. 
 
 ten on with red and black ink, and some of them were 
 elaborately ornamented with many-colored figures. 
 
 The finest papyrus was reserved for the priests, and never 
 exported till they had used it. But the Romans, having in- 
 vented a process for removing what was first written on it, 
 imported it in large quantities; they also attempted its cul- 
 tivation in the marshes of the Tiber, but without success. 
 The Greeks did not use it extensively until the era of the 
 Ptolemies. 
 
 Parchment was prepared from the skins of sheep and 
 goats by polishing them with pumice - stone and then rub- 
 bing in fragrant oil. Its name, in Latin pergamena, would 
 seem to indicate Pergamus in western Asia as the place of 
 its origin; but centuries before that little kingdom became 
 celebrated for its library of parchment volumes, this material, 
 or something very like it, was known. Herodotus mentions
 
 24 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 its use in his time ; and the Jews, as a pastoral people fa- 
 miliar with the art of dressing skins, wrote their first books 
 on a kind of leather. 
 
 But if parchment was not invented at Pergamus, Eu'menes, 
 king of that country, was certainly the first to make exten- 
 sive use of it (175 B.C.). He had founded a splendid li- 
 
 READING A VOLUMES, OK ROLL. 
 
 brary, which he determined should eclipse that of Alexandria. 
 In the reign of Ptolemy Epiph'anes, king of Egypt, it was 
 sought to prevent the transcription of books for the rival 
 library by prohibiting the exportation of papyrus. This 
 obliged Eumenes to resort to parchment as a substitute. 
 From Pergamus it spread to Europe, finally superseding all
 
 ANCIENT MANUSCRIPTS. 25 
 
 other materials, and continuing in demand until the art of 
 making paper cheaply from rags was invented in the four- 
 teenth century. 
 
 Ancient manuscripts were put up in the form of rolls 
 (volu'mina whence volumes), made of sheets fastened to- 
 gether in a continuous strip, sometimes forty or fifty yards 
 in length. This was wound round wooden cylinders, the 
 ends of which were often set with jewels, or ornamented with 
 knobs of ivory, silver, or gold. Titles were either suspended 
 from these books like tags, or glued upon them as labels. 
 An outside cover of parchment protected the scrolls, which, 
 enclosed in cylindrical cases and placed horizontally on 
 shelves ranged about a room, constituted an ancient library. 
 
 The Chinese, after writing for centuries, in common with 
 their neighbors of India, on bark and dried palm-leaves, are 
 believed to have discovered a process of preparing a pulp 
 from cotton or bamboo, and to have manufactured it into 
 paper as early as the commencement of our era. Perhaps, 
 as observation of the silkworm spinning her cocoons led 
 them to devise the art of weaving silk, they in like manner 
 borrowed his cunning from the paper-making wasp, and thus 
 early perfected an invention which has been of incalculable 
 service to literature. 
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF THE HISTORY OF ANCIENT 
 LITERATURE. 
 
 A comprehensive glance over the entire field whose treas- 
 ures we are about to examine in detail, will enable us the 
 better to appreciate and remember their relative age and 
 value. Beginning, then, with the most distant periods, we 
 find a literature developed in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Iran, and 
 China, as early as 2000 B.C. At that date, the valley of .the 
 Euphrates and Tigris was the seat of a civilized Turanian 
 people, the inventors of the complex system of cuneiform
 
 26 INTKODUCTION. 
 
 writing, thought by some to be the oldest in the world. 
 These Turanian Chaldees, mingled with a Semitic race, were 
 then beginning to enjoy their golden age of letters; at the 
 same time, the ancient Persians and Hindoos were compos- 
 ing hymns ; the sages of China were busy on their sacred 
 books ; and Egypt had doubtless made considerable advance 
 in both poetry and prose. 
 
 To trace the progress of literature in these remote times 
 from century to century is impossible. Five hundred years, 
 however, bring us to the Augustan era of romance and satire, 
 epic and devotional poetry, in Egypt : they introduce us to 
 Zoroas'ter, the founder or reformer of the ancient Persian 
 religion, whose teachings are set forth in the Aves'ta ; to the 
 Ve'da, or Brahman Bible; to Moses and the Pentateuch; 
 and to Phoenician theology, science, and poetry. Meanwhile 
 Chaldean literature declines, and Assyrian letters come into 
 view. During the next five centuries, poetry and science 
 continue to flourish in Egypt, though not perhaps with their 
 pristine vigor ; Phoenicia maintains her literary reputation ; 
 the Veda grows ; and Persian priests are occupied in en- 
 larging and modifying their sacred texts. 
 
 1000 B.C. was the era of the great epics. The epic, or nar- 
 rative poem, based on some important event (in Greek, tirog) 
 or chain of events, though first appearing in Egypt the moth- 
 er-land of literature as well as science and art was simulta- 
 neously brought to perfection, about this time, by the Greeks 
 and Hindoos, Aryan nations holding no intercourse with each 
 other and separated by at least three thousand miles. Ho- 
 mer's Iliad and Odyssey, the wonder of Hellas, were paralleled 
 by two stupendous Indian poems, the Ramayana (rah-mafi- 
 yd-na) and the Maha.bha.rata (ma-hati bah' ra-ta), the great 
 masterpieces of Sanscrit poetry. To these, all dazzling with 
 Oriental splendor, the epics of the Greek bard may yield 
 in luxuriance of fancy and gorgeous imagery ; but in power
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF ANCIENT LITERATURE. 27 
 
 of description, sublimity of thought, and attractive simplicity 
 of expression, Homer was without an equal. 
 
 While, then, the Semitic Hebrews and Phoenicians used 
 prose as the vehicle of their earliest records of events, Greece 
 and India, types of the Aryan stock, transmitted their legends 
 to posterity in epic verse. Later times have not failed to per- 
 petuate the taste, and measurably the ability ; epic poetry has 
 been cultivated by all the Indo-European nations, and to them 
 it has been confined. Contemporaneously with Homer, native 
 poets were inditing ballads and pastorals in China, and the 
 Hebrews enjoyed their golden age of secular and religious 
 poetry ; Egypt had entered on her literary, as well as her po- 
 litical, decline. 
 
 Henceforth our interest centres principally in Greece. Un- 
 til 800 B.C., the poems of Homer and of Hesiod, his contem- 
 porary or immediate successor, constituted the bulk of Hel- 
 lenic literature. Then began a transition to a poetry more 
 natural a poetry of the emotions on themes that kindled 
 love, anger, hatred, grief, hope ; and for three centuries lyrics 
 in different forms echoed throughout the land. Archil'ochus 
 poured forth his caustic satires ; Tyrtasus, his inspiriting war- 
 songs ; Sappho, her passionate strains ; Anacreon, the joys of 
 the wine-cup; Simon'ides breathed his touching laments; and 
 Pindar stirred the soul with his grand odes, as with the sound 
 of the trumpet. Prose also received attention, and Ionian 
 authors took the initiative in systematic historical composition. 
 Rude religious festivals suggested dramatic representations ; 
 and the pioneers in tragedy and comedy rode about the 
 country, exhibiting their novel art on carts which carried 
 the performers and their machinery. Meanwhile in the 
 East, Assyrian literature reached its highest development 
 at Nineveh, to be buried beneath the ruins of that city, 
 625 B.C. Letters then revived at Babylon, and for nearly a 
 century flourished there ; Jewish poetry declined ; and Con-
 
 28 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 fucius, the philosopher of transcendent wisdom, appeared in 
 China. 
 
 Early in the 5th century, Greece plunged into a struggle for 
 life or death with the Persian Empire a struggle from which 
 she emerged covered with glory, united and free. Her tri- 
 umph is straightway sung in immortal verse, and historians 
 arise to record her exploits. Athens, who faced the enemy at 
 Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea, and drove him back crippled 
 and disgraced to Asia, now becomes the leader of grateful 
 Hellas, and the centre of literature and refinement. Blossom 
 after blossom unfolds in her genial clime. She makes ample 
 amends for her barrenness in the past by unprecedented fruit- 
 fulness, and gives to the nations a drama, lustrous with the 
 names of yEschylus, Sophocles, Euripides (es'ke-lus,sqf'o-k!eez, 
 cu-rip'e-deez] the great tragic trio of antiquity. Comedy also, 
 as represented by Aristophanes, is perfected in her theatre. 
 
 Then come the Peloponnesian War and the consequent hu- 
 miliation of Athens ; the overthrow of her democratic govern- 
 ment, and the partial decline of literature, particularly poetry, 
 with the fall of free institutions. Still, writers of genius are 
 not wanting. The graphic pens of Thucydides and Xenophon 
 lend additional graces to the history of Greece ; Plato and 
 Aristotle make her name immortal in philosophy; and the 
 world's greatest orators electrify her assemblies with their elo- 
 quence. Demosthenes, prince of them all, stands forth as the 
 champion of Grecian liberty, and thunders his Philippics at the 
 wily Macedonian who would enthrall his country. But the 
 star of Macedon was in the ascendant. Chaerone'a decided 
 the fate of Greece ; and she who had withstood the legions 
 of Xerxes, gave way before the invincible phalanx of Philip 
 and Alexander. 
 
 A sad period of decadence followed. Alexandria, in Egypt, 
 founded by the conqueror whose name it bore (332 B.C.), be- 
 came the centre of learning as well as commerce ; and Athens
 
 GENERAL VIEW OF ANCIENT LITERATURE. 29 
 
 yielded to her fate, wasting her time in empty philosophical 
 discussions and the pursuit of pleasure. Poetry languished, 
 yet flashed out occasionally in epic or didactic form, bringing 
 to mind the glories of the past. It is true that in the idyls of 
 Theocritus (little pictures of domestic life) pastoral verse now 
 bloomed for the first time on European soil, and with fine ef- 
 fect ; but it was in far-off Syracuse, not in classic Greece. 
 Here the deepening twilight was fatal to literary growth ; and 
 when Egypt fell beneath the power of Rome in the first cen- 
 tury B.C., Greek letters sought a new asylum in the city of 
 Romulus. 
 
 Turning to Rome, we find that she had long displayed an 
 appreciation of Grecian genius as well as a striking talent for 
 imitation. About the middle of the third century B.C., with 
 little or no literature of her own, she gladly appropriated the 
 foreign treasures held up before her admiring eyes by Liv'ius 
 Androni'cus, a Tarentine Greek, whom the fortunes of war had 
 made the slave of a Roman master. This most ancient of 
 Latin poets put upon the stage versions of the Greek dramas, 
 and with his translation of the Odyssey took his captors cap- 
 tive. Naevius and Ennius, following in the path thus opened, 
 gave Italy its first epics ; Ter'ence and Plautus made the peo- 
 ple familiar with the humors of comedy ; and Cato imparted 
 dignity to Latin prose. 
 
 Oratory, for which the Romans had a natural aptitude, cul- 
 minated in the speeches of Cicero, who ushered in the golden 
 age. In his writings, as well as in the histories of Caesar, 
 Sallust, and Livy, prose now attracted with its finished periods. 
 Nor was poetry less notably represented. Catullus, vehement 
 and pathetic by turns, transplanted the ode and epigram to 
 Italy ; Lucre'tius threw into verse his ideal of philosophy ; 
 Tibullus excelled in simplicity and tenderness ; while Virgil 
 and Horace rivalled, as they doubtless imitated, the first poets 
 
 of Greece. 
 
 B
 
 30 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Virgil's epic, the ^Ene'id, as remarkable for beauty as Ho- 
 mer's is for grandeur, secured to its author the first place 
 among Latin poets ; and next to him stands Horace, with his 
 faultless mastery of metre and keen observation of men and 
 manners. Their genius shed on the court of the first empe- 
 ror, Augustus, a peculiar lustre, still recognized in our appli- 
 cation of the epithet Augustan to the most brilliant period of 
 a nation's literature. 
 
 It is not strange that under the tyranny of the Cassars liter- 
 ary decay set in ; yet Rome's silver age was kept bright by 
 the labors of Persius and Juvenal, the unsparing satirists ; 
 Lucan, author of the epic Pharsalia; the grave and accu- 
 rate historian Tacitus; the two Plinies ; and Quintilian, the 
 rhetorician. Taste, however, had sadly deteriorated ; genius 
 died with patriotism ; and despots sought in vain to restore 
 for their own corrupt purposes the ancient spirit which they 
 had crushed out. At length the degenerate Latin writers laid 
 aside their own manly tongue for Greek ; and the list of the 
 monuments of Roman genius was complete. 
 
 Such has been, in general, the course of every literature. 
 We trace successively the birth of poetry ; the gradual per- 
 fecting of prose; the ripening of simplicity into elegance; 
 the perversion of elegance into affectation ; the language and 
 literature, losing the vigor of manhood, affected with the 
 feebleness of age, and either succumbing at once to some 
 great civil convulsion or perishing by a slow but no less 
 certain living death. As with political, so with literary 
 history : 
 
 " This is the moral of all human tales ; 
 
 'Tis but the same rehearsal of the past, 
 First freedom, and then glory ; when that fails, 
 
 Wealth, vice, corruption, barbarism at last; 
 And History, with all its volumes vast, 
 Hath but one page." 
 BYRON.
 
 PART I. 
 ANCIENT ORIENTAL LITERATURES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 HINDOO LITERATURE. 
 
 THE SANSCRIT LANGUAGE. 
 
 Characteristics. Oldest of all the Indo-European tongues, 
 and most closely resembling the common parent that is lost, 
 is SANSCRIT the language spoken by those fair-skinned Ary- 
 ans who more than thirty centuries ago, swarming through the 
 Hindoo Koosh passes, made the sunny plains of Hindostan 
 their own (page 16). Sanscrit spread over most of the penin- 
 sula ; and the meaning of the word, perfected, is significant of 
 the flexibility, refinement, regularity, and philosophical system 
 of grammar, by which the language was distinguished. In 
 luxuriance of inflection it was unequalled. Its nouns were 
 varied according to eight cases, and three numbers (singular, 
 dual, and plural) ; and its verbs, which assumed causal, desid- 
 erative, and frequentative forms, were carried in conjugation 
 through three voices, the active, middle, and passive. Its 
 chief fault a result of its very richness lay in the frequent 
 use of long compounds, particularly adjectives, presenting what 
 seems to us a confused combination of ideas, sometimes ludi- 
 crously lengthened out ; as in the expressions, " always-to-be- 
 remembered-with-reverence patriot," " water-play-delighted-
 
 32 
 
 SANSCRIT L1TEEATUEE. 
 
 maiden-bathing-fragrant river-breezes" (that is, river-breezes 
 made fragrant by the bathing of maidens delighted with sporting 
 in the water). 
 
 Neither the parallelism of Hebrew poetry (page 89) nor the 
 rhyme of modern times finds a place in Sanscrit verse ; it is 
 distinguished from prose, like Greek poetry, simply by a met- 
 rical arrangement of long and short syllables. The measured 
 cadence gave great delight to the cultivated ear of the Hin- 
 doos. "There are two 
 1 
 
 excellent things in the 
 world," says one of their 
 writers "the friendship 
 of the good, and the beau- 
 ties of poetry." 
 
 Sanscrit is now a dead 
 language. About three 
 hundred years before the 
 Christian era, dialects de- 
 rived from it took its place 
 among the people, and it 
 has since been kept alive 
 only in the conversation 
 and writings of the learn- 
 ed, as the sacred language 
 of the Brahmans, or priest- 
 ly caste.* Yet so exten- 
 sive is its literature that it costs a Brahman half his life to 
 master a portion of its sacred books alone. 
 
 Sanscrit Alphabet. As to the origin of the Sanscrit alpha- 
 bet, consisting of fifty letters, history is silent. It is believed 
 that the entire early literature was preserved for centuries by 
 
 BUAII.MAX Pnir.sT. 
 
 * The language of the Gypsies, descendants of those Hindoos who fled from 
 the persecutions of Tamerlane, is a corrupted Sanscrit.
 
 EARLY RESEARCHES. 33 
 
 oral repetition. When their polished tongue was first ex- 
 pressed in written characters derived directly or indirectly 
 from the Phoenicians so perfectly did these answer the pur- 
 pose that the Hindoos styled their alphabet " the writing of 
 the gods." The Sanscrit letters are still preserved in the 
 written language of the pure Hindoos, but in that of the Mo- 
 hammedan population have been replaced with the Arabic 
 characters. 
 
 History of Sanscrit Researches. Arabian translations of 
 Sanscrit works were made as early as the reign of the Caliph 
 Haroun'-al-Raschid, at Bagdad (800 A.D.), and appeared from 
 time to time in the succeeding centuries. Europeans first 
 knew of the existence of Sanscrit and its literature during the 
 reign of Au'rungzebe (1658-1707), in whose time the French 
 and English obtained a foothold in Hindostan. Before this, 
 the Jesuit Nobili (ndbe-le) had gone to India to study the sa- 
 cred books with a view to the conversion of the Hindoos, and, 
 having mastered them, boldly preached a new Veda; but he 
 died on the scene of his labors, and Europe profited nothing 
 by his researches. It was left for the Asiatic Society, organ- 
 ized at Calcutta in 1784 by Sir William Jones, to open the 
 eyes of Europe to the importance and magnitude of Brahman 
 literature, of which the translation of Sakoon'tala (page 50) by 
 this great orientalist gave a most favorable specimen. 
 
 Following in the footsteps of the English scholar just men- 
 tioned, the German critic Schlegel, in his " Language and Wis- 
 dom of the Indians " (1808) laid the permanent foundations of 
 COMPARATIVE PHILOLOGY, a science of recent birth but one 
 that has been of incalculable service to history, establishing 
 the kinship of the Hindoos and Persians with the old Greeks 
 and Romans, as well as the modern nations of the west, by 
 striking resemblances in their respective tongues. Eminent 
 scholars have since prosecuted the work with enthusiasm 
 especially Bopp, Humboldt, Pott, and Grimm among the Ger-
 
 34 SANSCRIT LITERATURE. 
 
 mans, the French savant Bournouf, Max Miiller in England, 
 and the American Whitney. Sanscrit is no longer a sealed 
 volume. The leading European universities have their pro- 
 fessors of that tongue, who lecture also on comparative gram- 
 mar and the science of language. 
 
 SACKED LITERATURE OF THE HINDOOS. 
 
 The Veda. The language of the ancient Indo-Aryans sur- 
 vives in the Ve'da, the oldest work of Indo-European litera- 
 ture, dating back to the prehistoric era of the Aryan race. 
 The Veda, while rich in striking imagery, is marked by a 
 beautiful simplicity of diction. In its language, we behold the 
 most ancient form of our own tongue ; in the hymns of its 
 poets, those germs of Aryan intellectual development that no 
 long time after bloomed in epic and idyl through the fertile 
 valleys of India, bore immortal fruit on the soil of Greece and 
 Rome, and have been brought to perfection in the grand pro- 
 ductions of modern genius. The Veda is the first of thousands 
 of Indian works ; for Hindoo thought, undisturbed by Assyrian, 
 Egyptian, or Macedonian conqueror, flowed on, ever creative, 
 and still flows, an uninterrupted stream from the day of the 
 Veda to the present. 
 
 The word Veda means knowledge. Though there is really 
 but one the Rig-Veda, or Veda of songs of praise the name 
 is applied also to three other collections of hymns. These are 
 the Vedas of Chants, Sacrificial Rites, and Incantations ; for 
 the Hindoos were believers in the efficacy of sacrifices, some 
 of which were prolonged for months and even years, as well 
 as of talismans, charms, and incantations to ward off disease, 
 bring riches, and inspire love. Each of the last-named Vedas 
 is a medley of extracts from the Rig -Veda, transposed or com- 
 bined into new hymns, with additions from outside sources. 
 
 To the metrical parts of the Vedas are attached the Brah- 
 manas, which abound in tedious descriptions of rites, and
 
 THE VEDA. 35 
 
 were written long after in prose to explain the hymns. There 
 are also collections of rules for worship and sacrifice ; and 
 speculations on philosophy and religion, which display no 
 little acuteness, for the Hindoo mind seems to have been 
 prone to metaphysical investigation and ingenious in reason- 
 ing even to the verge of sophistry. Supplements to the 
 Vedas contain abundant commentaries on their grammar and 
 language, as well as astronomical facts the latter mainly 
 borrowed from other nations and not based on original re- 
 searches or discoveries. 
 
 Finally, the Upave'das (po-pa-va! daz appended) treat of dis- 
 eases and their cure, devotional music, the use of weapons, 
 and the arts ; while the Puranas (poo-raft naz\ of more recent 
 birth, believed to have been revealed from heaven like the 
 Vedas, present in verse the mythology of India and the his- 
 tory of its legendary age. 
 
 Religion of the Veda. The Supreme Being first acknowl- 
 edged by the Aryans was gradually lost sight of, and a worship 
 of Nature arose. In the 1,028 hymns of the Rig-Veda, "thrice 
 eleven " gods are invoked as intelligent beings, the principal 
 of whom are Varuna (vur'oo-nah god of waters), the sun, the 
 moon, the day, fire, storms, the dawn, and the earth ; and to 
 " the three and thirty," offerings were made of butter, cakes, 
 wine, and grain. They were immortal ; clothed with power 
 to answer prayer, and punish those who offended them. But 
 as each great god is recognized as supreme in different hymns, 
 it is with good reason thought that under various names, 
 one great omnipotent Being is worshipped, called in the Veda 
 " God above all gods," " that One alone who has upheld the 
 spheres." "Wise poets," says the Rig -Veda, "make the 
 Beautiful-winged, though he is one, manifold by words."* 
 
 * " He is the only master of the world ; he fills heaven and earth. He gives 
 life and strength : all the other gods seek for his blessing ; death and immor- 
 tality are but his shadow.
 
 36 SANSCRIT LITERATURE. 
 
 In the following hymn to Varuna is apparent the belief 
 that evil-doing is hateful to the Almighty, that man is by 
 nature prone to sin, and that God stands ready to exercise 
 forgiveness. 
 
 HYMN TO VARUNA. 
 
 (We have given Max Midler's literal translation a dress of verse, the 
 better to bring out the effect of the refrain.) 
 
 O Varuna, let me not yet enter the house of clay : 
 
 Mercy, Almighty one, thy mercy I pray ! 
 If, like a cloud the sport of winds, I trembling go astray 
 
 Mercy, Almighty one, thy mercy I pray ! 
 
 Through want of strength, thou strong bright God, I've wandered 
 from the way : 
 
 Mercy, Almighty one, thy mercy I pray ! 
 Thirst comes upon the worshipper, though round the waters play : 
 
 Mercy, Almighty one, thy mercy I pray ! 
 When we do wrong through thoughtlessness, thy hand of vengeance 
 
 stay: 
 Transgressors of thy righteous law, thy mercy, God, we pray ! 
 
 But of all the conceptions of the Vedic writers, that of the 
 Dawn Goddess was the most poetical. Watching for the 
 first flush in the eastern sky, her ancient worshippers, with 
 their hands devoutly placed upon their foreheads, opened 
 their hearts in strains of praise to the gloom - dispelling 
 Dawn, the golden-hued Daughter of Heaven, leading on the 
 sun with her modest smile, "like a radiant bride adorned by 
 her mother for the bridegroom." 
 
 The sun is represented as a glorious prince, hastening after 
 the Dawn-maiden and trying to discover her by a tiny slipper 
 which she has dropped, and which is too small for another to 
 wear ; but the prince never overtakes the flying maid. This 
 beautiful myth is the origin of the tale of Cinderella. 
 
 The mountains covered with frost, the ocean with its waves, the vast regions 
 of heaven, proclaim his power. 
 
 By him the heaven and earth, space and the firmament, have been solidly 
 founded : he spread abroad the light in the atmosphere. 
 
 Heaven and earth tremble for fear before him. He is God above all gods !" 
 
 RIG -VEDA.
 
 THE VEDIC PEOPLE. 37 
 
 The Veda contains no allusions to those corrupt practices 
 which afterward became the distinguishing marks of Brah- 
 manism. At this early period there was no belief in the 
 transmigration of the souls of men into inferior animals ; on 
 the contrary, the Vedic Aryans looked for "excellent treas- 
 ures in the sky." To caste, they were also strangers ; idols 
 were unknown ; and suttee, the burning of the widow at 
 her husband's funeral, was an unheard-of barbarity. 
 
 Social Life of the Vedic People. The hymns of the Rig- 
 Veda picture the manners and customs of an intellectual 
 people, far advanced in the arts. Princely palaces are de- 
 scribed, fortified cities, monarchs possessed of fabulous riches, 
 ladies elegantly attired. There were poor as well as rich, 
 workers in the various handicrafts ; ship-building was prac- 
 tised, and naval expeditions were undertaken. Even at this 
 remote day literary meetings were held. 
 
 Nor were the crimes and vices of later times unknown. 
 Liars are denounced; thieves, robbers, and intoxicating drinks, 
 are mentioned ; while in one hymn, a gambler laments his 
 ruin by " the tumbling dice," and warns others not to play, 
 but rather to practise husbandry. Battles are sung, and wav- 
 ing banners, and chariots drawn by fleet horses. 
 
 The following extract from one of the secular hymns which 
 are interspersed with those of a religious character, shows 
 some knowledge of human nature : 
 
 EVERY ONE TO HIS TASTE. 
 
 "Men's tastes and trades are multifarious, 
 And so their ends and aims are various. 
 The smith seeks something cracked to mend ; 
 The doctor would have sick to tend. 
 The priest desires a devotee 
 From whom he may extract his fee. 
 Each craftsman, makes and vends his ware, 
 And hopes the rich man's gold to share. 
 My sire's a doctor ; I, a bard ; 
 Corn grinds my mother, toiling hard. 
 B 2
 
 38 SANSCRIT LITERATURE. 
 
 All craving wealth, we eacli pursue, 
 
 By dift'ereut means, the end in view, 
 
 Like people running after COAVS, 
 
 AVhich too i'ar off nave strayed to browse 
 
 The draught-horse seeks an easy yoke, 
 
 The merry dearly like a joke, 
 
 Of lovers youthful belles are fond, 
 
 And thirsty frogs desire a pond." Mum. 
 
 LAW-BOOKS OF THE HINDOOS. 
 
 Code of Manu. Of the many Indian treatises on the moral 
 law still extant, the most ancient and important is the Insti- 
 tutes of Manu (inurioo) the time-hallowed monument of a 
 period just subsequent to the Vedic age (variously placed at 
 from 1280 to 880 B.C.). This code is written in verse, as 
 were most Hindoo works, even scientific expositions. Four 
 distinct castes are now recognized, ascending through the suc- 
 cessive grades of laborers, farmers, warriors, and princes, to the 
 highest, which consisted of the priests of Brahma, " the soul 
 of the universe, whom eye, tongue, mind, cannot reach," from 
 whose substance all men proceed and to whom all must re- 
 turn through various states of existence. The childlike relig- 
 ion of the Veda has disappeared. 
 
 The word brahma often occurs in the Vedas with the signi- 
 fication of worship, or hymn, the vehicle of worship. In the 
 later Vedic poems it came to mean an object of worship, the 
 universal but impersonal spiritual principle, all-pervading and 
 self-existent. In Manu's Code, Brahma is endowed with per- 
 sonality, and a definite place is for the first time assigned 
 him in the national religious system, as the creative spirit who 
 made the universe before undiscerned discernible in the be- 
 ginning. He, as the Creator, is united with the three-eyed 
 thousand-named Siva (sdvqJi) the Destroyer, and Vishnu the 
 Preserver, in the Hindoo triad. Vishnu was the first-begotten 
 of Brahma, a benevolent being who, to overcome the malig- 
 nant agents of evil, submitted to various incarnations or em-
 
 CODE OP MANU. 39 
 
 bodiments in human or animal form, known as Avatars. Nine 
 avatars, which the Hindoos believed to have taken place, were 
 favorite themes of Sanscrit poetry ; the tenth, still future, would 
 result in the overthrow of the present state of things and the 
 ushering in of a new and better era. 
 
 Moral Precepts. The Institutes of Manu regulated the 
 moral and social life of the people, prescribing certain rules 
 for the government of society and the punishment of crimes. 
 Purity of life was enjoined on all. One of the chief duties was 
 to honor father and mother the mother a thousand times the 
 most and the Brahman more than either. Widows are forbid- 
 den to remarry, and the duties of a wife are thus described : 
 
 " The wife must always be in a cheerful temper, devoting herself 
 to the good management of the household, taking great care of the 
 furniture, and keeping down all expenses with a frugal hand. The 
 husband to whom her father has given her, she must obsequiously 
 honor while he lives and never neglect him when he dies. The hus- 
 band gives bliss continually to his wife here below, and he will give 
 her happiness in the next world. He must be constantly revered 
 as a god by a virtuous wife, even if he does not observe approved 
 usages, or is devoid of good qualities. A faithful wife, who wishes 
 to attain heaven and dwell there with her husband, must never do 
 anything unkind toward him, whether he be living or dead." 
 
 The following was the punishment for killing a cow, an ani- 
 mal treated with the honors due to a deity : 
 
 " All day he mnst wait on a herd of cows, and stand quaffing the 
 dust raised by their hoofs. 
 
 Free from passion, he must stand when they stand, follow when 
 they move, lie down near them when they lie down. 
 
 By thus waiting on a herd for three months, he who has killed 
 a cow atones for his guilt." 
 
 OTHER EXTRACTS FROM MANU. 
 
 " Greatness is not conferred by years nor by gray hairs, by wealth 
 nor powerful kindred. Whoever has read the Veda, he always is great. 
 
 A Brahman beginning or ending a lecture on the Veda must al- 
 ways pronounce to himself the syllable OM*; for unless the syllable 
 
 * The mystical name formed of the three elements A U M, representing the 
 three forms of the deitv.
 
 40 SANSCRIT LITERATURE. 
 
 OM precede bis learning will slip away from him, and unless it fol- 
 low nothing will be long retained. 
 
 When one among all the organs sins, by that single failure all 
 knowledge of God passes away ; as the water flows through one hole 
 in a leathern bottle. 
 
 The names of women should be agreeable, soft, clear, captivating 
 the fancy, auspicious, ending in long vowels, resembling words of 
 benediction." 
 
 EPIC POETRY. 
 
 Indian literature boasts of two grand epic poems gems that 
 would shine in the crown of a Homer or a Milton ihe Ra- 
 mayana (rah-mati ya-na Adventures of Rama) and the Ma- 
 habharata (ma-hati bati ra-ta Great War of Bharata), "the 
 Iliad and Odyssey of Sanscrit poetry." The date of these 
 epics is uncertain, though probably later than that of Manu's 
 Code. Both contain ancient Vedic traditions, but mingled 
 with these is much that is more recent. It is probable that 
 the old songs and stories were current among the people 
 ages before they were arrayed in their present dress by later 
 poets, who gave them a different religious coloring to suit the 
 Brahmanical doctrines. Their language is an improvement 
 on that of the Veda in polish and softness ; improvement 
 would naturally result from oral repetition. 
 
 The Ramayana, by the poet Valmiki (vahl'me-ke\ relates the 
 achievements of Rama (the name assumed by Vishnu in his 
 seventh avatar, or incarnation), who descended to earth that 
 he might destroy a demon-prince in Ceylon. Rama becomes 
 the first-born of the monarch of Oude and heir-apparent to the 
 throne, marries a lovely princess, Sita (se'tah], whose hand 
 others had vainly sought, and daily increases in popularity. 
 But Rama's mother was not the only queen ; a younger and 
 more beautiful rival prevails on the old king to appoint her 
 son his successor instead of Rama, and to banish the latter 
 for fourteen years. 
 
 Loyal to his father, though he might have seized the crown 
 by force, as his mother in her first disappointment bade him
 
 EPIC POETRY. 9 41 
 
 do, Rama set out for the wilderness, accompanied by his 
 bride, who refused to remain behind in the luxurious capital. 
 Soon after his father died of grief; whereupon the younger 
 brother rejected the crown, and, seeking the exile in the jungle, 
 saluted him as king. Rama, however, declined the honor, 
 and, proceeding to fulfil his mission, slew the demon and con- 
 quered Ceylon. Then with his faithful wife he returned to 
 Oude, to reign jointly with his brother and usher in a golden 
 age. 
 
 The Ramayana, in this fiction, is supposed to refer to the 
 conquest of southern India and Ceylon by the Aryans. It so 
 delighted the Hindoos that it was said, " He who sings and 
 hears this epic continually has attained to the highest enjoy- 
 ment, and will finally be equal to the gods." 
 
 FROM THE RAMAYANA. 
 
 Sita, informed by her husband of his banishment, thus ten- 
 derly pleads to be the companion of his exile : 
 
 "I will not be a charge to thee : the wood will give me roots, 
 The spring will yield me water, ami the branch provide me fruits. 
 In hermit's humble mantle clad, and guarded by my lord, 
 I long to wander through the wood, the rivulet to ford, 
 To climb the rock, and gaze upon the lake that looks so cool ; 
 And oh! the pleasant bathing in the clear and shaded pool, 
 With, waters freshly running from the sweet perennial springs, 
 All lovely with the lotuses and wild swans' silver wings. 
 I would not live in heaven itself, and thou, my love, away ; 
 A thousand years with thee, my love, would seem one blissful day. 
 Then take me with thee to the wood, nor leave me here alone : 
 I will not be a burthen sore to thee, mine own ! mine own !" 
 
 But Rama seeks to dissuade her : 
 
 "The forest life has fears and woes too many to be told : 
 Thirst, hunger, burning heat by day, by night the bitter cold. 
 Each moment on some deadly thing the heedless step may fall, 
 Where serpents with their venomed fangs and poisonous scorpions 
 
 crawl ; 
 
 There thro' the day the tiger roams, the panther and the boar, 
 And thro' the night the caverned hills echo the lion's roar ; 
 There many a river deep and wide will bar thine onward way,
 
 42 SANSCRIT LITEKATURE. 
 
 Where fearful crocodiles amid the foaming waters play. 
 The forest paths, my Sitd dear, are rough aud hard to pass, 
 Tangled "with knotted creeping plants, and thorns, and matted 
 
 grass. 
 O'er many a league the wild woods stretch, and savage beasts 
 
 abound ; 
 
 No fruit or flower may there be seen, and water scarce is found ; 
 No bed is there to rest the limbs, but stretched upon a heap 
 Of fallen leaves and gathered grass the homeless wretch must sleep. 
 No, such a life is not for thee ; cast thou the thought away ; 
 Here in the palace of the king in peace and safety stay. 
 Though far away from thee I go, and thou remainest here, 
 , Still shalt thou live within the heart to which thou art so dear." 
 
 Yet Sita still refuses to be parted from her husband, and 
 with tearful eyes exclaims : 
 
 "And death to me were sweeter far, with thine arms round me 
 
 thrown, 
 
 Than life in thy father's palaces, in safety, but alone. 
 The wife's eternal duty is, as holy priests declare, 
 To follow where her husband goes, his weal and woe to share ; 
 And for the true and loving wife remains the endless bliss 
 Of sharing all this life with him, and the life that follows this." 
 
 But, Rama being still inexorable, Sita bursts forth in anger, 
 upbraids him for his cruelty in deserting her, and finally, over- 
 come by emotion, falls weeping at his feet. Then Rama 
 raises her in his arms, and pours these soothing accents in 
 her ear : 
 
 " Oh ! what is heaven without thee, love ? With thee I'll live and 
 
 die; 
 
 Never will Rama stoop to fear, though Brahma's self come nigh. 
 Obedience to my father's will now sends me to the wood ; 
 For paramount of duties this is counted by the good. 
 Only to try thy mind, my love, thy prayer I first denied : 
 I never dreamed that aught could harm the lady by my side ; 
 But yet I feared to suifer thee, so delicate and fair, 
 The troubles of a forest life and all its woes to share. 
 Now, as the glory of his life the saint can ne'er resign, 
 Thou too, devoted, brave, and true, shalt follow and be mine." 
 
 GRIFFITH. 
 
 As a favorable specimen of the florid description in which 
 Hindoo imagination excels, we quote from the same epic,
 
 EPIC POETRY. 43 
 
 THE DESCENT OF THE GANGES. 
 
 "From the high heaven burst Gauges forth, first on Siva's lofty 
 
 crown ; 
 Headloug then, and prone to earth, thundering rushed the cataract 
 
 down . 
 Swarms of bright-hued fish came dashing ; turtles, dolphins, in their 
 
 mirth, 
 
 Fallen, or falling, glanciug, flashing, to the many-gleaming earth ; 
 And all the host of heaven came down, sprites and genii in amaze, 
 And each forsook his heavenly throne, upon that glorious scene to 
 
 gaze. 
 On cars, like high-towered cities, seen, with elephants and coursers 
 
 rode, 
 
 Or on soft-swinging palanquin lay wondering, each observant god. 
 As met in bright divan each god, and flashed their jewelled vestures' 
 
 rays, 
 
 The coruscating ether glowed, as with a hundred suns ablaze. 
 And in ten thousand sparkles bright went flashing up the cloudy 
 
 spray, 
 The snowy-flocking swans less white, within its glittering mists at 
 
 play. 
 And headlong now poured down the flood, and now in silver circlets 
 
 wound ; 
 Then lake-like spread, all bright and broad, then gently, gently 
 
 flowed around ; 
 Then 'neath the caverued earth descending, then spouted up the 
 
 boiliug tide ; 
 Then stream with stream, harmonious blending, swell bubbling up 
 
 or smooth subside. 
 By that heaven-welling water's breast, the genii and the sages 
 
 stood ; 
 Its sanctifying dews they blest, and plunged within the lustral 
 
 flood." MILMAN. 
 
 The Mahabharata, one of the noblest creations of the Epic 
 Muse, is a colossal poem by Vyasa (ve-ah'sa), containing more 
 than 200,000 lines, and relating the history of a great struggle 
 between two branches of an ancient royal family. Jealousy 
 led to the separation of the rival parties, one of which, the 
 Pandavas (pahri da-vaz\ cleared the jungle and founded the 
 city of Delhi (del'le). But their enemies, the Kurus (Kodrooz), 
 resolving to dispossess them, challenged the Pandavas to a 
 gambling match; the latter accepted, but were cheated out
 
 44 SANSCRIT LITERATURE. 
 
 of all their possessions by the use of loaded dice, and driven 
 into the wilderness. A savage war ensued, resulting in the 
 triumph of the Pandavas, and their elevation over the neigh- 
 boring rajahs. 
 
 The great Hindoo epics are both enlivened by charming 
 episodes. The most beautiful of those interwoven in the 
 Mahabharata are called "the Five Precious Gems." Of 
 these, the magnificent philosophical poem entitled THE DIVINE 
 SONG withdraws the reader for a while from the tumult of 
 war, and introduces him to a profound theological dialogue 
 between a disguised god and one of the principal combatants. 
 It inculcates the existence of one Immutable, Eternal Being, 
 and teems with grand thoughts not unlike those we should 
 expect from a Christian teacher. The immortality of the 
 soul is thus sublimely set forth by the deity, on the eve of a 
 decisive battle, for the purpose of removing the scruples of 
 the chief, while the latter humanely hesitates to precipitate 
 the conflict in view of the slaughter that would ensue : 
 
 "Ne'er was the time when I was not, nor thou, nor yonder kings of 
 
 earth : 
 
 Hereafter, ne'er shall be the time, when one of us shall cease to l>e. 
 The soul, within its mortal frame, glides on thro' childhood, youth, 
 
 and age ; 
 
 Then in another form renewed, renews its stated course again. 
 All indestructible is He that spread the living universe; 
 And who is he that shall destroy the work of the Indestructible? 
 Corruptible these bodies are that wrap the everlasting soul 
 The eternal, unimaginable soul. Whence 011 to battle, Bharata! 
 For he that thinks to slay the soul, or he that thinks the soul is 
 
 slain, 
 
 Are fondly both alike deceived : it is not slain it slayeth not ; 
 It is not born it doth not die ; past, present, future knows it not ; 
 Ancient, eternal, and unchanged, it dies not with the dying frame. 
 Who knows it incorruptible, and everlasting, and unborn, 
 What heeds ho whether he may slay, or fall himself in battle slain ? 
 As their old garments men cast off, anon new raiment to assume, 
 So casts the soul its worn-out frame, and takes at once another form. 
 The weapon cannot pierce it through, nor wastes it the consuming 
 
 fire ; 
 The liquid waters melt it not, nor dries it up the parching wind :
 
 EPIC POETRY. 45 
 
 Impenetrable and unburned ; impermeable and undried ; 
 Perpetual, ever-wandering, firm, indissoluble, permanent, 
 Invisible, unspeakable." MILMAN. 
 
 But of all the episodes, that of Nala (nul'a) and Damayanti 
 is unsurpassed for pathos and tenderness of sentiment. King 
 Nala, enamored of the "softly-smiling" Damayanti, "pearl 
 among women," finds his love returned, and is accepted by 
 her in preference to many other princes and even four of the 
 gods. A jealous demon, however, possesses him, and causes 
 him to lose at play everything except his bride, whom he can- 
 not be prevailed upon to stake. Yet at last, in his madness, 
 he deserts her in the forest, and Damayanti, after many 
 strange adventures, reaches her father's court in safety. 
 There she adopts the device of inviting suitors a second time 
 to propose for her hand, in the hope of bringing her lost hus- 
 band to her side if he should hear that there was danger of 
 his losing her forever. 
 
 Nala, meanwhile, disguised as a charioteer, had entered 
 the service of another king, who now sets forth to offer him- 
 self to the beauteous princess, driven by her husband. When 
 they arrive Damayanti penetrates the disguise of the chari- 
 oteer, and to prove the correctness of her suspicions, puts 
 him to the severest test. She contrives to have his children 
 brought before him. The father's heart is touched at once ; 
 he clasps them in his arms, and bursts into tears. 
 
 " Soon as lie young Indrasena and her little brother saw, 
 Up he sprang, his arms wound round them, to his bosom folding 
 
 both. 
 
 When he gazed upon the children, like the children of the gods, 
 All his heart o'erflowed with pity, and unwilling tears brake 
 
 forth." 
 
 Not wishing, however, to reveal himself to a wife whom he 
 thought false, he added by way of apology for his conduct, 
 
 " Oh ! so like my own twin children was yon lovely infant pair, 
 Seeing them thus unexpected, have I broken out in tears."
 
 46 SANSCEIT LITERATURE. 
 
 Finally Nala makes himself known to Damayanti, and, con- 
 vinced of her faithfulness, is reunited to her and regains his 
 crown. 
 
 Such are the Indian epics and their episodes. They need 
 but a skilful hand to file away their superfluities and reset 
 their choicest gems together in fitting chaplets, that the names 
 of their authors, Valmiki and Vyasa, may be as familiar and 
 as highly honored as those of Homer and Virgil. 
 
 LYRIC AND DIDACTIC POETRY. 
 
 Kalidasa. In lyric poetry, embracing idyls and amatory 
 pieces, Sanscrit is no less rich than in epic, whether quanti- 
 ty or quality be considered. Foremost in this department is 
 Kalidasa (kaJi le-daJi sa\ about whose life, and even his exact 
 period, nothing is certainly known, but whose works have 
 crowned him with immortality. He is the author of many 
 charming verses ; and his poem, " the Seasons," which draws 
 fascinating pictures of the luxuriant landscapes of India, dis- 
 playing on every page the poet's ardent love for the beauties 
 of nature, has the honor of being the first book ever printed 
 in Sanscrit. 
 
 AUTUMN. 
 
 FROM KALIDASA'S SEASONS. 
 
 " Welcome Autumn, lovely bride, 
 Full of beauty, full of pride ! 
 Hear ber anklets' silver ring : 
 'Tis the swans that round her sing. 
 Mark the glory of her face : 
 'Tis the lotus lends its grace. 
 See the garb around her thrown ; 
 Look and wonder at her zone. 
 Robes of maize her limbs enfold, 
 Girt with rice like shining gold. 
 Streams are white with silver wings 
 Of the swans that autumn brings. 
 Lakes are sweet with opening flowers ; 
 Gardens, gay with jasmine bowers ;
 
 EXTRACT FROM KALIDASA's SEASONS. 47 
 
 While the woods, to charm the sight, 
 Show their bloom of purest white. 
 Vainly might the fairest try 
 With the charms around to vie. 
 How can India's graceful daughter 
 Match that swan upon the water? 
 Fair her arching brow above, 
 Swimming eyes that melt with love : 
 But that charming brow can never 
 Beat that ripple on the river; 
 And those eyes must still confess 
 Lilies' rarer loveliness. 
 Perfect are those rounded arms, 
 Aided by the bracelets' charms : 
 Fairer still those branches are, 
 And those creepers, better far, 
 Ring them round with many a fold, 
 Lovelier than gems and gold. 
 Now no more doth Indra's Bow 
 In the evening sunlight glow, 
 Nor his flag, the lightning's glare, 
 Flash across the murky air. 
 Beauty too has left the trees, 
 Which but now were wont to please : 
 Other darlings claim her care, 
 And she pours her blossoms there. 
 
 Now beneath the moonlight sweet, 
 Many troops of maidens meet. 
 Many a pleasant tale they tell 
 Of the youths that love them well ; 
 Of the word, the flush, the glance, 
 The kiss, the sigh, the dalliance. 
 
 Not a youth can wander when 
 Jasmine blossoms scent the glen, 
 While the notes of many a bird 
 From the garden shades are heard, 
 But his melting soul must feel 
 Sweetest longing o'er it steal. 
 Not a maid can brush away 
 Morning dew-drops from the spray, 
 But she feels a sweet unrest 
 Wooingly disturb her breast. 
 As the breezes fresh and cool 
 From the lilies on the pool, 
 Sweet with all the fragrance there, 
 Play, like lovers, with her hair." 
 
 GKIFFITH,
 
 48 SANSCRIT LITERATURE. 
 
 Surpassing "the Seasons" in dignity and elegance, "the 
 Cloud Messenger," by the same author, contains some fine 
 flights of fancy. It tells how an inferior god, banished for 
 twelve months to a sacred forest and thus separated from a 
 wife whom he fondly loves, commits to a passing cloud a mes- 
 sage for his goddess. He directs its imaginary journey through 
 the sky, over forests and hills, to the city of the gods. There 
 it will easily distinguish his wife, whom he paints to the cloud 
 in glowing colors as the "first, best work of the Creator's 
 hand," mourning over their separation. 
 
 " And sad and silent shalt thou find my wife, 
 Half of my soul and partner of my life ; 
 Nipped by chill sorrow, as the flowers enfold 
 Their shrinking petals from the withering cold. 
 I view her now ! Long weeping swells her eyes, 
 And those dear lips are dried by parching sighs. 
 Sad on her hand her pallid cheek declines, 
 And half unseen through veiling tresses shines; 
 As when a darkling night the inoon enshrouds, 
 A few faint rays break straggling through the clouds." 
 
 He then intrusts the cloud with the tender words that he 
 would breathe ; bids it tell his beloved how he sees her in 
 the rippling brooks, how 
 
 " O'er the rude stone her pictured beauties rise ;" 
 
 and finally he charges his messenger to console her afflicted 
 heart with assurances of his unabated love, and to hasten back 
 with tidings that may relieve his soul of its anxiety. The cloud 
 obeys ; but meanwhile the supreme deity learns of the mes- 
 sage, repents of his severity, restores the exile to his wife, and 
 blesses the pair with ceaseless joy. 
 
 Kalidasa also wrote three epics of a romantic character, 
 one of them on the adventures of Nala and his devoted Da- 
 rn ayanti. Well does he merit the title conferred on him by 
 his admiring countrymen, "the Bridegroom of Poesy." 
 
 Jayadeva (jl-a-dava\ a poet probably of more recent times,
 
 LYKIC POETRY. 49 
 
 if not equal to Kalidasa, yet has given us in Gitagovinda one 
 of the most enchanting idyls ever written. In this Song of 
 the Shepherd Govinda, the form assumed by the god Krishna, 
 are set forth in voluptuous colors the adventures of the deity 
 and nine shepherdesses, his beautiful attendants. The whole 
 is supposed to be a mystical allegory. 
 
 The high estimation in which Jayadeva is held, may be in- 
 ferred from the following eulogy by an Oriental critic : "What- 
 ever is delightful in the modes of music, whatever is exquisite 
 in the sweet art of love, whatever is graceful in the strains of 
 poetry all that let the happy and wise learn from the songs 
 of Jayadeva." 
 
 Whittier has furnished us the following spirited version of a 
 Hindoo lyric by a poet who flourished in the third century of 
 our era, and who, if we may judge by his writings, had concep- 
 tions of God and duty not unworthy of a Christian bard. 
 
 GIVING AND TAKING. 
 
 " Who gives and hides the giving hand, 
 Nor counts on favor, fame, or praise, 
 Shall find his smallest gift outweighs 
 The burden of the sea and laud. 
 
 Who gives to whom hath naught been given, 
 His gift in need, though small indeed, 
 As is the grass-blade's wind-blown seed, 
 
 Is large as earth, and rich as heaven. 
 
 Forget it not, O man, to whom 
 
 A gift shall fall while yet on earth ; 
 
 Yea, even to thy sevenfold birth 
 Recall it in the li ves to come. 
 
 Who dares to curse the hands that bless, 
 
 Shall know of sin the deadliest cost ; 
 
 The patience of the heaven is lost 
 Beholding man's uuthaukfulness. 
 
 For he who breaks all laws may still 
 
 In Siva's mercy be forgiven ; 
 
 But none can save, in earth or heaven, 
 The wretch who answers good with ill."
 
 50 SANSCRIT LITERATURE. 
 
 THE DRAMA. 
 
 The Sanscrit Shakespeare. Not the least valuable of San- 
 scrit treasures is its dramatic poetry. Here, as in lyric verse, 
 Kalidasa stands preeminent, the Shakespeare of India. His 
 title to this distinction rests mainly on his drama of Sakoon'- 
 tala, or the Lost Ring, which portrays the simple life and un- 
 sophisticated manners of his countrymen with all his charac- 
 teristic tenderness of expression and rich imagination. 
 
 PLOT OF SAKOONTALA. In early summer the fitting season, 
 sacred as it was to the god of love the play of Sakoontala was 
 wont to be acted in ancient India. The heroine, whose name 
 the drama bears, was the daughter of a nymph, and dwelt at a 
 hermitage in the jungle. Led to her retreat by chance in his 
 pursuit of a deer, a neighboring rajah espies the " slender- 
 waisted" forest maid, with two lovely companions, watering 
 the shrubbery. Concealing himself among the trees, he plays 
 eaves-dropper, and as he watches the trio he cannot restrain 
 his admiration; "the woodland plants," he cries, "outshine 
 the garden flowers." His heart is lost forthwith. Ordering 
 his camp to be pitched near by, he wooes and finally weds 
 Sakoontala, with the assurance that she shall "reign without 
 a rival in his heart." Then leaving his bride a marriage-ring, 
 engraved with his name, as a token of their union, the rajah 
 goes back to his palace, promising that Sakoontala shall soon 
 share his throne. 
 
 " Eepeat each clay one letter of the name 
 Engraven on this gem ; ere thou hast reckoned 
 The tale of syllables, my minister 
 Shall come to lead thee to thy hushand's palace." 
 
 Not long after his departure, a sage whose anger she has 
 incurred pronounces a curse upon the pair, " that he of whom 
 she thought should think of her no more," should even forget 
 her image, and that the spell should cease only at sight of the
 
 DRAMATIC POETKY. 51 
 
 marriage-ring. This token of remembrance, however, was se- 
 cured on her finger ; and at length Sakoontala, re-assured by 
 a favorable omen, leaves the sorrowing companions of her girl- 
 hood, and the venerable hermit, her reputed father, to seek her 
 husband in his capital. 
 
 Arrived in safety, she gains access to the royal presence ; 
 but the king, laboring under the curse, fails to recognize her. 
 Sakoontala is unveiled, and stands before him in all her beau- 
 ty a beauty that stirs him to exclaim : 
 
 " What charms arc here revealed before mine eyes! 
 Truly no blemish mars the symmetry 
 Of that fair form ; yet can I ne'er believe 
 She is my wedded wife ; and like a bee 
 That circles round the flower whose nectared cup 
 Teems with the dew of morning, I must pause 
 Ere eagerly I taste the proffered sweetness." 
 
 Then Sakoontala seeks her ring, but alas ! it is not on her 
 finger ; she must have dropped it in the Ganges. In the midst 
 of her confusion a nymph appears, and carries her off to a sa- 
 cred retreat, where she gives birth to a son. 
 
 Meanwhile a fish is caught, in which is found the fatal ring, 
 stamped with the rajah's name. It is restored to its owner, 
 and at once the recollection of his long-forgotten Sakoontala 
 flashes upon his mind. Overwhelmed with poignant regret 
 for her loss, he abandons himself to melancholy for a time, 
 calling on her beloved name, or trying to beguile his grief by 
 tracing with his pencil her features now but too well remem- 
 bered. At length ambition and piety unite to wake him from 
 his lethargy. He embarks in a campaign against the giants, 
 enemies of the gods ; is victorious ; and finds the consumma- 
 tion of happiness at last in a union with his long-lost wife, and 
 with his son, whose name, Bharata, becomes the most distin- 
 guished in the mythology of India. 
 
 English readers are enabled to enjoy the beauties of Sa- 
 koontala through the metrical version of Prof. Williams.
 
 52 SANSCRIT LITERATURE. 
 
 EXTRACTS FEOM SAKOONTALA. 
 PARTING WORDS OF THE SAGE TO HIS ADOPTED DAUGHTER, 
 
 " This day my loved one leaves me, and my heart 
 Is heavy with its grief : the streams of sorrow, 
 Choked at the source, repress my faltering voice. 
 I have no words to speak ; mine eyes are dimmed 
 By the dark shadows of the thoughts that rise 
 Within my soul. If such the force of grief 
 In an old hermit parted from his nursling, 
 What anguish must the stricken parent feel, 
 Bereft forever of an only daughter ! 
 
 Weep not, my daughter, check the gathering tear 
 That lurks beneath thine eyelid, ere it flow 
 And weaken thy resolve ; be firm and true 
 True to thyself and me ; the path of life 
 Will lead o'er hill and plain, o'er rough and smooth, 
 And all imist feel the steepness of the way ; 
 Tho' rugged be thy course, press boldly on. 
 
 Honor thy betters ; ever be respectful 
 To those above thee. Should thy wedded lord 
 Treat thee with harshness, thou must never be 
 Harsh iu return, but patient and submissive. 
 Be to thy menials courteous, and to all 
 Placed under thee considerate and kind : 
 Be never self-indulgent, but avoid 
 Excess in pleasure ; and, when fortune smiles, 
 Be not puffed up. Thus to thy husband's house 
 Wilt thou a blessing prove, and not a curse. 
 
 How, O my child! shall my bereaved heart 
 Forget its bitterness, when, day by day, 
 Full in my sight shall grow the tender plants 
 Reared by thy care, or sprung from hallowed grain 
 Which thy loved hands have strewn around the door 
 A frequent offering to our household gods." 
 
 THE KING AND SAKOONTALi's PORTRAIT. 
 
 " My finger, burning with the glow of love, 
 Has left its impress on the painted tablet ; 
 While here and there, alas ! a scalding tear 
 Has fallen on the cheek and dimmed its brightness.
 
 SAKOONTALA. 53 
 
 Go fetch the brush that I may finish it. 
 
 A sweet Sirisha blossom should be twiued 
 
 Behind her ear, its perfumed crest depending 
 
 Toward her cheek ; and resting on her bosom, 
 
 A lotus-fibre necklace, soft and bright 
 
 As au autumnal mooubeam, should be traced." 
 
 While gazing on the picture, the king in his infatuation mis- 
 takes for reality a bee which he has himself painted in the act 
 of settling on the rosy lips of his love, and after attempting to 
 drive it off is apprised of his error by an attendant, whom he 
 thus addresses : 
 
 " While all entranced I gazed upon her picture, 
 My loved one seemed to live before my eyes, 
 Till every fibre of my being thrilled 
 With rapturous emotion. Oh ! 'twas cruel 
 To dissipate the day-dream, and transform 
 The blissful vision to a lifeless image. 
 Vain is the hope of meeting her in dreams, 
 For slumber, night by night, forsakes my couch. 
 And now that I would fain assuage my grief 
 By gazing on her portrait, here before me, 
 Tears of despairing love obscure my sight." 
 
 MOXIER WILLIAMS. 
 
 Sakoontala may justly be called the pearl of Eastern dra- 
 matic poetry. It has been translated into every European 
 tongue, and has elicited the admiration of all civilized nations. 
 In the language of Goethe : 
 
 "Would'st thou the young year's blossom and the fruits of its 
 
 decline, 
 
 And all by which the soul is charmed, enraptured, feasted, fed 
 Would'st thou the earth and heaven itself in one sole name com- 
 bine ? 
 I name thee, O Sakoontala ! and all at once is said." 
 
 From the author of this drama we have two other pieces 
 worthy of his fame, " the Hero and the Nymph " and a pop- 
 ular comedy. His era was the golden age of the Hindoo 
 theatre. 
 
 Other noted plays, a few out of many, are " the Toy Cart," 
 a domestic drama with a public underplot ; " the Signet of
 
 54 SANSCEIT LITEEATUEE. 
 
 the Minister," which had a political bearing ; " the Stolen 
 Marriage ;" and an allegorical play, " the Moonrise of Sci- 
 ence." 
 
 The Hindoo Drama, the invention of which was ascribed to 
 an ancient sage inspired by Brahma himself, consisted at 
 first of music, dancing, and pantomime. An outcome of the 
 prevailing mythology, it was made a feature of the Indian 
 festivals, and from very early rude beginnings of which we 
 have no remains gradually progressed to the perfection with 
 which Kalidasa invested it. Unfolding the inner life of the 
 people and illustrating their peculiar institutions, it is at once 
 interesting and valuable, original, and in its delineations of 
 character strikingly true to nature. Love is its principal 
 subject ; and, what is markedly characteristic, its denoue- 
 ments are always happy. Tragedy is foreign to the Hindoo 
 stage. 
 
 The Indian plays began and closed with a benediction or 
 prayer ; in many cases there was a preliminary account of 
 the author, or a colloquy between the manager and one of 
 the actors, leading the way to the play itself. The heroes 
 were generally kings or deities. As foils to these, it was 
 usual to introduce mountebanks or buffoons, and as such 
 Brahmans were made to figure. The Hindoo dramatists did 
 not hesitate to set forth their priests in a ridiculous light ; 
 a remarkable fact, when we remember that the drama in In- 
 dia was a semi-religious institution, and that the managers 
 of companies were usually themselves Brahmans. The play- 
 wright who in Greece should have taken such liberties with 
 his religious superiors would have run the risk of being 
 driven from the stage, if indeed he were not more seriously 
 handled by an indignant audience. 
 
 The consistency observed in managing the dialogue is 
 noteworthy. The parts spoken by divinities and heroes, 
 rulers and priests, are always in ancient Sanscrit ; while the
 
 THE HINDOO DEAMA. 55 
 
 inferior personages and the female characters use the later 
 and more familiar dialect. Want of acquaintance with the 
 sacred language, which thus formed the staple of the classi- 
 cal plays, no doubt prevented the common people from fully 
 understanding and enjoying dramatic representations ; and 
 hence the latter never attained that popularity which they 
 had in other countries. They were the entertainment of the 
 cultured class rather than the masses. 
 
 Another curious feature of the Hindoo drama was the 
 absence of scenery, the plays being mostly represented in 
 the open air, the courts of palaces, etc. The great advan- 
 tage which the modern performer derives from fine scenic 
 effects was entirely wanting. Changes of scene could be in- 
 dicated only in the text, by minute descriptions of the new 
 locality, thrown into the mouths of the speakers and left for 
 the audience to fill out and remember. No shifting of scenes, 
 for instance, as with us, would denote the entrance of one of 
 the characters from out-doors into a drawing-room ; but the 
 personage entering, either in a soliloquy or in colloquy with 
 some other, would immediately call attention to every little 
 point the threshold, the floor, the ceiling, the walls, the 
 doors, the windows, the furniture and the glowing fancy of 
 his hearers would at once picture the scene as vividly as if 
 it stood before them in reality. 
 
 The proprieties were strictly observed. To represent a 
 death scene would have been intolerable ; nor only so, but 
 in the earlier and purer days no dramatist would introduce 
 before his audience a scene of violence, eating, sleeping, or 
 the performance of the marriage ceremony. Even kissing on 
 the stage was repugnant to the Hindoo ideas of delicacy ; so 
 a charming love-scene in the Sakoontala breaks off just at the 
 critical moment when the hero and heroine are about to inter- 
 change a token of affection. 
 
 As to the date of the dramas that have been mentioned,
 
 56 SANSCRIT LITERATURE. 
 
 they are supposed to have been written during the first ten 
 centuries of the Christian Era ; but here, as in the case of 
 the epics and lyrics that preceded them, we are left to con- 
 jecture. Could we know more certainly what times they re- 
 flect, our pleasure in perusing them would be complete. 
 
 TALES AND FABLES. 
 
 India has long enjoyed the reputation, and not without 
 reason, of having been the favorite home of fairy-tale and 
 fable. From her storehouse of fictions, many waifs have 
 crept into the literatures of both Europe and Asia, and strik- 
 ing the popular taste have attained wide currency. Tongues 
 have changed, dynasties have fallen ; but these stories by un- 
 known hands still live in the nursery, influencing the pliant 
 minds of the children of to-day as they have done those of 
 the last twenty centuries. 
 
 The Sanscrit has two great collections of fables, the 
 Pankatantra, Five Stories (more properly Five Sections] ; and 
 the Hitopadesa, Friendly Advice, a compilation from the 
 former by the sage Pilpay (pil'pt). The latter, translated 
 into many languages, has almost rivalled in circulation the 
 Bible itself. In the following fable from "the Friendly Ad- 
 vice" will be seen the germ of La Fontaine's charming imi- 
 tation, "the Milkmaid and the Pitcher of Milk;" both point 
 the same moral as our own cautionary proverb, "Don't count 
 your chickens before they are hatched." 
 
 THE STUPID BKAHMAN. 
 
 "In the town of Devikotta there lived a Brahman of the name of 
 Devasarman. At the feast of the great equinox he received a plate- 
 ful of rice. He took it, went into a potter's shop, which was full of 
 crockery, and, overcome by the heat, he lay down in a corner and be- 
 gan to doze. In order to protect his plate of rice, he kept a stick in 
 his hand ; and he began to think : ' Now if I sell this plate of rice, 
 I shall receive ten cowries. I shall then, on the spot, buy pots and 
 plates, and after having increased my capital again and again I shall
 
 TALES, HISTORY, GRAMMAR. 57 
 
 buy and sell betel nuts and dresses till I grow enormously rich. Then 
 I shall marry four wives, and the youngest and prettiest of the four 
 I shall make a great pet of. Then the other wives will be so angry 
 and begin to quarrel. But I shall be in a great rage, and take a stick, 
 and give them a good flogging.' 
 
 While he said this, suiting the action to the thought, he laid about 
 him with his stick ; the plate of rice was smashed to pieces, and 
 many of the pots in the shop were broken. The potter, hearing the 
 noise, ran in ; and when he saw his pots broken, gave the Brahrnau 
 a good scolding and drove him out of the shop. 
 
 Therefore I say, ' He who rejoices over plans for the future will 
 come to grief, like the Brahman who broke the pots.' " MAX MULLER. 
 
 Of the numerous collections of tales and romances, the best 
 known is " the Ocean of the Rivers of Narratives," the orig- 
 inal of that more familiar compilation, the Arabian Nights. 
 
 HISTORY, GRAMMAR, ETC. 
 
 Sanscrit is also worthily represented in other departments 
 of literature ; on the fine arts we have nothing worthy of 
 notice, but science has not been neglected, while historical, 
 grammatical, and philosophical works, complete the category 
 of its productions. Its chronicles, however, obscured as they 
 are by myths without number, are comparatively valueless \ 
 but one deserves the name of history, the Chronicle of Cash- 
 mere, or the Stream of the Kings, extending from the fabu- 
 lous ages to the reign of Akbar, who reduced that province 
 in the i6th century. 
 
 But in grammar we must certainly award to Sanscrit the 
 very first place. Commentaries on the constructions of the 
 Veda, dating from 750 B.C., embody the earliest attempts at 
 grammatical and critical investigation with which we are ac- 
 quainted ; and in the digest of Panini (pafine-ne} (500 B.C.) 
 we have the first systematic grammar that the world ever pro- 
 duced a book remarkable for its completeness, declared by 
 Max Miiller to be " the perfection of an empirical analysis of 
 language, unsurpassed nay, even unapproached, by anything 
 in the grammatical literature of other nations."
 
 58 
 
 BUDDHIST LITERATURE. 
 
 In connection with the literature of India, we may also men- 
 tion inscriptions on monuments, in temples and grottoes, and 
 on plates of marble and copper. These are worthy of study 
 mainly in view of the historical information they may afford. 
 
 BUDDHIST LITERATURE. 
 
 About 500 B.C., a new and purer religion was preached in 
 
 India by a monk of 
 royal birth, afterward 
 called Buddha ( the 
 Enlightened}. It met 
 with a hearty recep- 
 tion from the people, 
 for it taught men to 
 live in charity with 
 their neighbors, to rev- 
 erence their parents, 
 to practise truth and 
 morality; above all, it 
 overthrew the institu- 
 tion of caste, and abol- 
 ished the foolish sys- 
 tem of Brahman sacri- 
 fices. The riches and 
 fleeting pleasures of 
 this world, Buddha 
 proclaimed unworthy 
 of pursuit, represent- 
 
 A BUDDHIST PBIEST. J ng jjf e i tse lf as a bur- 
 
 den, and promising his followers a paradise of eternal rest* 
 beyond the grave. No wonder that thousands declared in 
 favor of the new faith, which during a struggle of many cen- 
 
 * Nirvana according to gome an everlasting slumber of thought, or total anni- 
 hilation. The literal meaning of the word is blowing out, as of a light.
 
 TIIE SACRED BOOKS. 59 
 
 turies disputed with Brahmanism for the supremacy of India. 
 Pushing out to the northeast, it made its way into Thibet, Chi- 
 na, and Japan ; and at the present day has more followers than 
 any other religious system, their number being estimated at 
 300,000,000. 
 
 The sacred books of the Buddhists are called the Tripitaka 
 (three baskets) ; one is metaphysical, another disciplinary, and 
 the third contains the discourses of Buddha. They are written 
 in a dialect of Sanscrit, and are made up of nearly 600,000 
 stanzas, containing five times as much matter as our Bible. 
 
 EXTRACTS FKOM THE BUDDHIST SCRIPTURES. 
 
 " The succoring of mother ami father, the cherishing of child and 
 wife, and the following of a lawful calling, this is the greatest 
 blessing. 
 
 The giving of alms, the abstaining from sins, the eschewing of in- 
 toxicating drink, diligence in good deeds, reverence and humility, 
 contentment and gratitude, this is the greatest blessing. 
 
 He who lives for pleasure only, his senses uncontrolled, idle and 
 weak, the tempter will certainly overcome him as the wind throws 
 down a weak tree. 
 
 Like a beautiful flower, full of color but without scent, are the fine 
 but fruitless words of him who does not act accordingly. 
 
 As the bee collects nectar, and departs without injuring the flower, 
 or its color and scent, so let the sage dwell on earth. 
 
 Let no man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart, ' It will not 
 come near unto me.' Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot 
 is tilled ; the fool becomes full of evil, even if he gathers it little by 
 little. 
 
 Let us live happily then, though we call nothing our own ; not 
 hating those who hate us, free from greed among the greedy. We 
 shall then be like the bright gods, feeding on happiness." 
 
 NOTES ON HINDOO LITERATURE, ETC. 
 
 The literature of India incalculably vast, and its individual works voluminous. 
 The Mahabhiirata six times as long as the Iliad, Odyssey, and ^Eneid united; 
 the Ramayana half this size. The eighteen Puranas contain 1,600,000 lines. 
 The library of one of the kings said to have numbered so many books that a 
 hundred Brahmans were employed in taking care of it, and a thousand drome- 
 daries were required to convey it from place to place ; twenty years were con-
 
 CO PERSIAN LITEKATUEE. 
 
 sumed in condensing its contents, by the royal command, into an encyclopaedia 
 of 12,000 volumes. Sir William Jones computed that the longest life would not 
 suffice for the perusal of all the Sanscrit writings. First century B.C. believed 
 to have been an Augustan age of Indian literature. 
 
 Writing apparently unknown to the ancient Hindoos before the time of Pani- 
 nL No mention anywhere made, in the early works, of writing materials, pen 
 or brush, paper, bark, or skin. The Vedic hymns sung or repeated probably for 
 a thousand years before they were committed to writing. The use of the alpha- 
 bet long regarded as impious. First letters appear in Buddhist inscriptions of 
 the 3d century B.C. Later Indian manuscripts, beautifully inscribed on palm 
 leaves. The letters of the Sanscrit alphabet thought to be the oldest forms of 
 our Arabic figures, which came originally from India, as did also our decimal 
 system. 
 
 Chess one of the earliest inventions of the Hindoos called chess (king) from 
 the principal piece. The Brahman inventor, so the story goes, asked of the 
 reigning emperor as his reward, a single grain of wheat for the first square of the 
 chess-board, two for the second, four for the third, and so on to the sixty-fourth ; 
 apparently a modest price, but one that it would have taken yearc to pay with 
 the wheat crop of the whole world. Elephants, horses, foot-soldiers, and chari- 
 ots, the original chess-men. From India, the game found its way into China, 
 Japan, and Persia, and finally into Europe. Throwing dice, also, a favorite pas- 
 time ; the " Game of Four Crowns," with playing-cards, early known to the 
 Hindoos. 
 
 Square copper money coined in the 3d century B.C., and stamped with inscrip- 
 tions in a Sanscrit dialect. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 PERSIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Zend. Sprung from the same ancient Aryan tongue as the 
 Sanscrit of India, and distinguished by the same richness of 
 inflection, is Zend (living), the earliest language of Persia, still 
 preserved to us in the Persian Scriptures known as the Avesta. 
 The Veda and the Avesta have been described as " two rivers 
 flowing from one fountain-head;" and beyond a doubt the 
 Vedic Aryans and the Zend-speaking Persians were originally 
 one community, conversing in a common tongue. 
 
 The Avesta was first made known to Europeans by a French
 
 ZOROASTER. Cl 
 
 orientalist, Anquetil Duperron (pnsk-teeV deu-pa-ron*'\ who 
 went to India for the express purpose of discovering the sa- 
 cred books of the ParseeS. With great difficulty he at length 
 possessed himself of the much-desired Zend manuscripts, and 
 in 1771, after long and patient effort, he gave his countrymen 
 the first translation of the Avesta into a European tongue. 
 The language has since been carefully studied, but cannot be 
 said even yet to have been mastered. Time wrought many 
 changes in it ; the Persian of Xerxes' reign differed much 
 more from the Zend of antiquity than our present language 
 does from the English of Chaucer. Further modifications 
 and the introduction of Arabic elements have made modern 
 Persian still more unlike the ancient vernacular. 
 
 The sacred writings of Persia just referred to are among the 
 oldest and most important in the whole range of Indo-Eu- 
 ropean literature. They contain the doctrines of Zoroaster 
 (golden splendor), the Bactrian sage who reformed the religious 
 system of his country. 
 
 Zoroaster is believed to have flourished about 1500 B.C. 
 Nothing is known of his life or history. Yet, through more 
 than thirty" centuries his influence has been felt; and to-day, 
 though they have dwindled to perhaps 150.000 souls, his fol- 
 lowers constitute a thrifty and intelligent population in India 
 and Persia. These Parsees, or Fire-worshippers (called by 
 the Mohammedans Guebres, or infidels), still burn the eternal 
 fire, kindled as they believe from heaven, not for idolatrous 
 worship, but as an emblem of Ormazd, the Almighty source 
 of light. They are descendants of those Zoroastrians whom 
 Darius and Xerxes, having stretched their empire to the des- 
 erts of India, launched against Europe in the mightiest armies 
 ever raised by man, threatening to plant their purer faith amid 
 the ruined shrines of Greece. 
 
 At a later date, when the Caliph Omar converted Persia to 
 Mohammedanism with the sword (641 A.D.), their forefathers 
 
 C 2
 
 62 PERSIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 clung to the ancient faith, and found an asylum across the 
 Indus or in the deserts of their native land. 
 
 The Avesta (sacred text) contains the only existing monu- 
 ments of a once extensive literature. It is divided into dis- 
 tinct parts, made up of separate pieces and fragments, which, 
 repeated orally from generation to generation, were probably 
 collected and reduced to writing in their present form ten cen- 
 turies after the period of Zoroaster (500 B.C.). The compo- 
 sitions in question are chiefly professed revelations and in- 
 structions to mankind, confessions, prayers to the Supreme 
 Being and various inferior deities, and metrical hymns (Gd- 
 i/ids), simple and some of them so grand as to be deemed 
 the productions of Zoroaster himself. 
 
 Zoroaster is represented in the Avesta as conversing with 
 Ormazd, who, in answer to the inquiries of the sage, reveals 
 his will, and prescribes the moral and ceremonial law. Thus, 
 in the following passage, Zoroaster questions Ormazd : 
 
 " O Ormazd, most holy spirit, creator of existent worlds, truth- 
 loving! What, O Ormazd, was the Word which existed before the 
 heaven, before the water, before the cow, before the tree, before the 
 fire, before the truthful man, before the spirits aud animals, before 
 all the existent universe ?" 
 
 Theu Ormazd replies : " I will tell thee, most holy Zoroaster, what 
 was the whole of the Creative Word. It existed before the heaven, 
 before the water, before the cow, before the tree, before the fire, be- 
 fore the truthful man, before tho spirits and animals, before all the 
 existent universe. Such is the whole of the Creative Word, which, 
 even wheu nnpronounced aud nnrecited, outweighs a thousand 
 breathed prayers, which are not pronounced, nor recited, nor sung. 
 And he who in this world, O most holy Zoroaster, remembers the 
 whole of the Creative Word, or utters it, or sings it, I will lead his 
 soul thrice across the bridge of the better world, to the better exist- 
 ence, to the better truth, to the better days. I pronounced this 
 Speech which contains the Word and its working to accomplish the 
 creation of this heaven, before the creation of the earth, of the tree, 
 of the four-footed cow, before the birth of the truthful man." 
 
 "He is a holy man," says Ormazd elsewhere, "who constructs upon 
 the earth a habitation in which he maintains fire, cattle, his wife, his 
 children, and flocks and herds. He who makes the earth produce 
 grain, who cultivates the fruits of the fields, he maintains purity; he
 
 THE AVESTA. 63 
 
 promotes the law of Ormazd as much as if he offered a hundred sac- 
 riflces." 
 
 Avestan Philosophy. The Avesta seems to recognize one 
 eternal Supreme Being, infinite and omnipotent. This was 
 Ormazd (Spiritual Wise One\ whom Zoroaster invokes as the 
 source of light and purity, "true, lucid, shining," all-perfect, all- 
 powerful, all-beautiful, all-wise." Opposed to Ormazd was a 
 principle of darkness and evil, called Ah'riman (Sinful-minded}. 
 The theory of evolution finds no support in the Avesta, which 
 contains an account of the creation of the universe strikingly 
 like that of Moses. Traditions of the fall of man through the 
 falsehood of Ahriman, and of a universal deluge, are also 
 handed down. 
 
 Zoroaster's mission was to exhort men to follow the right 
 and forsake the wrong. " Choose one of these two spirits, 
 the Good or the Base," he said; "you cannot serve both." 
 Again : 
 
 " Of these two spirits, the evil one chose the worst deeds ; the Kind 
 Spirit, he whose garment is the immovable sky, chose what is right ; 
 as they also do who faithfully please Ormazd hy good works. 
 
 Hear with your ears what is hest, perceive with your mind what 
 is pure, so that every man may choose for himself his tenets before 
 the great doom. 
 
 Let our mind, then,O bliss-conferring Truth ! be there where wis- 
 dom abides. Let us be of those who further the well-being of man- 
 kind. 
 
 Then indeed will be the fall of pernicious Falsehood ; but in the 
 beautiful abode of the Good Spirit will be gathered forever those 
 who dwell in good report. 
 
 O men ! if you cling to these commandments which the Wise One 
 has given, which are a torment to the wicked and a blessing to the 
 righteous, then through them will you have the victory." 
 
 Like Buddha, the Persian reformer raised his voice against 
 the priesthood, and the corruptions which had crept into the 
 national religion. Devil-worship, which had come into vogue 
 as a means of averting the evil supposed to be wrought by 
 wicked spirits, he specially denounced, recognizing in sin the
 
 64 PERSIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 cause of all human sorrow, and urging men to wage uncom- 
 promising warfare with the powers of darkness, relying for aid 
 on the Good Spirit. "Give offering and praise," says the 
 Avesta, "to that Lord who made men greater than all earthly 
 beings, and through the gift of speech created them to rule 
 the creatures, as warriors against the evil spirits." Fire was 
 invoked as the symbol of Divinity, and the sun as " the eye 
 of Ormazd ;" but idolatry Zoroaster and his disciples abhorred. 
 Ormazd was the rewarder of the good, the punisher of the 
 bad. Those who obeyed him, and were "pure in thoughts, 
 pure in words, pure in actions," were admitted at death into 
 Paradise, " the House of the Angels' Hymns," where all was 
 brightness : the wicked were consigned to a region of ever- 
 lasting darkness and woe, " the House of Destruction." Of 
 all the religions of human origin, Zoroaster's, though not free 
 from superstition and cumbrous rites, approaches nearest to 
 the truth. It was gladly accepted by the people, and did 
 much to elevate them and improve their condition. We have 
 thrown into verse the following 
 
 HYMN TO ORMAZD. 
 
 Praise to Ormazd, great Creator, 
 
 He it was the cattle made ; 
 Lord of purity and goodness, 
 
 Trees and water, sun aiid shade. 
 Unto him belongs the kingdom, 
 
 Unto him the might belongs; 
 Unto him, as first of beings, 
 
 Light-creator, float our songs. 
 
 Him we praise, Ahurian Mazda, 
 
 With our life and bodies praise; 
 Purer than the purest, fairest, 
 
 Bright through never-ending days. 
 What is good and what is brilliant, 
 
 That we reverence in thee 
 Thy good spirit, thy good kingdom, 
 
 Wisdom, law, and equity. 
 
 Persian Inscriptions. In a flower-clad plain of southwest-
 
 CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 65 
 
 ern Persia, shut in from the outer world by lofty hills, and 
 now dotted with pleasant villages, once stood the great palace 
 of Persep'olis, the wonder of the world for its magnificence 
 which Alexander, in a fit of drunken fury, reduced to a heap 
 of ruins with his wanton torch (331 B.C.). Yet, though silent 
 and deserted, " the piles of fallen Persepolis " speak to us, not 
 only with their strange sculptures, but also through the in- 
 scriptions carved upon them in cuneiform letters, originally 
 adorned with :olcl. 
 
 MOUNTAIN RECORD Of DAFtlUS. 
 
 Not far from these ruins is the famous rock of Behistun, 
 1,700 feet high, and inscribed with the same arrow-headed, 
 wedge-shaped characters. Some of these, protected from the
 
 66 PERSIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 weather by a varnish of flint, have been wonderfully preserved 
 to the present time. 
 
 This mountain -record was set up by Darius I. (516-515 
 B.C.), who, in the shadow of the palace-walls of Persepolis, was 
 wont to sit upon a throne of gold, canopied by a vine of the 
 same precious metal bearing clusters of priceless gems. It is 
 his triumphal tablet, graven with figures of himself and several 
 conquered princes. It records his victories, asserts his hered- 
 itary right to the throne, and enumerates the provinces of his 
 vast empire, in nearly a thousand lines of cuneiform charac- 
 ters in three different languages, the Persian, Scythian, and 
 Babylonian that it might be understood by all his subjects. 
 
 Here the Persian monarch announces his dignity, while he 
 attributes the glory of it all to the God Supreme : 
 
 "I am Darius, the Great King, the King of Kings, the King of 
 Persia, the King of the dependent provinces, the sou of Hystaspes. 
 
 By the grace of Ormazd I am King. Oruiazd has granted me my 
 empire. The countries \vhich have fallen into my hauds, by the 
 grace of Ormazd I have become kiug of them. 
 
 Within these countries, whoever was good, him have I cherished 
 and protected ; whoever was evil, him have I utterly destroyed. By 
 the grace of Ormazd, these countries have obeyed my laws. By tho 
 grace of Ormazd, I hold this empire." 
 
 Other inscriptions were cut by order of Xerxes, whose royal 
 name and title they formally declare ; but there are none of 
 any later date. 
 
 Cuneiform letters were also employed by other nations, as 
 will be hereafter seen (page 105). The Persian writing is the 
 least complicated, and is in the Zend language, but Zend in 
 a later stage of development than the primitive tongue of the 
 Avesta. 
 
 NOTES ON PERSIAN LITERATURE, ETC. 
 
 Ancient Persian records made on leather; parchment the favorite writing 
 material, the high price of papyrus preventing its adoption. Bricks seldom used 
 for inscriptions. A running hand, different from the cuneiform, probably in use
 
 LIBRARIES. THE MAGI. 67 
 
 among the people for ordinary purposes, as every educated person could undoubt- 
 edly write : no trace of this left. 
 
 The kings of Persia founders of a library consisting of historical records, state 
 archives, and royal ordinances. " The house of the rolls " at Babylon is men- 
 tioned in the book of Ezra as being searched, during the reign of Darius, for a 
 certain volume supposed to contain a decree of Cyrus, providing for the rebuild- 
 ing of the Temple at Jerusalem. 
 
 The old priestly order of Media a..d Persia, known as Ma'gi; devoted to sci- 
 entific studies, in which they attained such eminence that they were believed to 
 possess supernatural powers whence our word magic. The " wise men " of the 
 New Testament by some supposed to be Persian Magi. 
 
 The Zoroastrian religion, which was on the wane, restored and maintained in 
 the third century after Christ by the Sassan'idae, who measured swords success- 
 fully with the Roman emperors, and extended the power of Persia. The coins 
 of this dynasty stamped on one side with five altars, which seem to have been 
 carried before the kings in processions as emblematical of their faith. 
 
 Most of the ancient Persian literature lost during the struggle with Alexander 
 the Great, and subsequent wars and convulsions. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 CHINESE LITERATURE. 
 
 Chinese Language. From the Persian Gathas and Vedic 
 hymns, let us now turn to the prose writings of the Chinese 
 philosophers, plain, grave, and moral in their tone. The lan- 
 guage in which their tenets have been preserved differs ma- 
 terially from the musical Sanscrit and its sister Zend. 
 
 Modern Chinese, which has changed but little from the 
 ancient tongue and is the least developed of all existing lan- 
 guages, is monosyllabic ; i. e. each syllable conveys a com- 
 plete idea, all its words are expressed by single separate 
 sounds. Of these elements, or roots, it contains 450 ; changes 
 of emphasis and intonation, accompanied with corresponding 
 changes in meaning, increase this number to 1,263. 
 
 Chinese may be called a language without grammar, as it
 
 68 CHINESE LITERATURE. 
 
 dispenses with inflection and conjugation, and leaves the rela- 
 tions of words and their functions as different parts of speech 
 to be determined by the arrangement. Thus sin means hon- 
 or, honorable, honorably, or to be honorable, according to its po- 
 sition in the sentence. Plurality and gender are generally in- 
 dicated by adding roots with a modifying signification. Son 
 in Chinese is man-child; daughter, -woman-child ; a mare is 
 called a mother-horse; people is the word surnames with a 
 hundred prefixed. This grouping together of roots is carried 
 to great lengths. Writing materials is expressed by two words 
 denoting four precious objects (paper, brush, ink, and palette) ; a 
 trader is a buying-selling-man ; a knife is a sword' s-son; while 
 difference of opinion is expressed by four words meaning / 
 east, thou west. 
 
 Characters used in Writing. The written characters of 
 the Chinese were originally outline pictures of visible objects; 
 specimens are presented below. A crescent (i) stood for the 
 moon; three peaks (2), for a mountain; (3) is a tortoise, (4) a 
 fish, (5) a field. Pictographs were frequently combined to 
 represent a single idea. The notion of song, for instance, 
 was conveyed by a mouth and a bird (6) ; that of tears, by 
 the symbols for eye and water; beauty and goodness, by the 
 representation of a virgin and an infant. 
 
 (3) 
 (1) (K V (4) (6) 
 
 A phonetic symbol is often joined with a pure hieroglyphic 
 in one and the same character ; as in the case of the sign for 
 a rapid stream, which is composed of the ideogram for water 
 and a symbol denoting the sound of a torrent. And quite 
 necessary is the ideographic element: the one sound tschoo, for 
 example, means ape, whirlpool, island, silk, deep, a wine, a kind
 
 CHINESE HIEROGLYPHICS. 69 
 
 of plant, to enclose, to help, to quarrel, to walk, to answer. It 
 would be next to impossible to interpret the written symbol 
 correctly, were not a separate ideogram adopted for each idea. 
 This necessary device, however, involved the wholesale multi- 
 plication of characters. Over 40,000 are contained in the 
 fullest dictionaries ; but three-fourths of this number are al- 
 most wholly unknown, and only about 5,000 are in common 
 use. 
 
 It is interesting to notice how, in the course of ages, the 
 old hieroglyphics have been transformed into the present 
 characters. -The symbol representing the verb to listen, two 
 
 folding-doors and an ear between them j^Lj"^ ls now 
 
 B a v ' 
 
 written Mcf |. Two shells exactly alike originally stood 
 for two friends YJTX YT/ ; this symbol has been changed 
 to rj /7 A mountain is now ^M; a field f4I. The 
 
 most complicated modern character is made by fifty - two 
 strokes of the pen. 
 
 Antiquity of Chinese Literature. China prides herself on 
 her antiquity, and her literature carries us back to the remot- 
 est past. From those early days to the present the chain is 
 almost unbroken, notwithstanding the irreparable loss sus- 
 tained when the ruthless Ching Wang destroyed the great bulk 
 of Chinese literature (220-205 B.C.). This emperor is noted 
 for his erection of the Great Wall, and notorious for his con- 
 tempt of learning. Thinking to reconcile the masses to his 
 despotism by keeping them in ignorance, and to deceive pos- 
 terity with the belief that he had founded the empire, he or- 
 dered all books, except those on husbandry, divination, and 
 medicine, to be burned. Any person found with a book in his 
 possession was condemned to labor four years on the Great
 
 70 CHINESE LITERATURE. 
 
 Wall, and several hundred scholars who resisted the royal de- 
 cree were buried alive. 
 
 The dynasty of " the book-burner," however, was not long 
 after overthrown ; and among the succeeding princes was 
 found a " restorer of literature," who collected and preserved 
 for future generations the writings which, concealed by the 
 people in the walls of their houses or buried beneath the beds 
 of streams, had escaped destruction. To his praiseworthy ef- 
 forts we are indebted for all that remains of the ancient liter- 
 ature, the Sacred Books of China, edited by Confu'cius her 
 admirable philosopher, as well as for the works of Confucius 
 himself and his disciples. 
 
 Confucius, to whom we are thus introduced, the reverend 
 master, the beloved teacher of his countrymen, stands out in 
 bold relief as the most distinguished personage in Chinese 
 history. His birth, which took place 551 B.C., was mysterious- 
 ly predicted, as legend tells us, on a precious stone found in 
 his father's garden : " A child is about to be born, pure as the 
 crystal wave ; he shall be a king, but without territorial do- 
 minion." Wonderfully has this prophecy been fulfilled ; the 
 child, as we shall see, became a king whose subjects were 
 numbered by hundreds of millions. 
 
 Born in an evil age, when corruption had undermined the 
 government, and misrule and violence were everywhere rife, 
 Confucius early dedicated himself to the cause of social and 
 political reform. At twenty-two he entered upon his work as 
 a teacher, thoroughly fitted for the high vocation, for he had 
 been so eager after knowledge as to feel no toil in its pursuit, 
 and sometimes even to forget his food. His merits were rec- 
 ognized; and when at last he was raised to the position of 
 prime-minister, he labored in season and out of season for the 
 welfare of his people and with the best results. But then, 
 as now, princes were ungrateful, and the neglect of his sover- 
 eign led to his resignation. Henceforth the mission of Con-
 
 CONFUCIUS. 71 
 
 fucius, no less useful if humbler than before, was simply to 
 disseminate his precepts, wandering from state to state among 
 the fifteen millions who constituted the population of what was 
 then China. Occupied thus and with the study of the Sacred 
 Books, he finally found rest in his native state, and there passed 
 his declining years in the midst of loving disciples, "uncon- 
 scious," as he tells us, " that he had reached old age." He 
 died at seventy-three, lamenting that, despite his prolonged 
 efforts, so little had been accomplished toward elevating the 
 moral standard of the nation. 
 
 Yet after his death, his influence was destined far to exceed 
 his most sanguine longings ; it has been greater than that of 
 any other human teacher. No other has ever spoken to so 
 many millions, or received such honors from posterity. For 
 more than twenty centuries, his precepts have been taught in 
 the schools of China (and each little village has its common 
 school) ; at stated times, every scholar, on entering in the 
 morning, still bows in adoration before a tablet sacred to Con- 
 fucius. The learned can repeat page 
 after page from his classical books; 
 and scores of his maxims are familiar 
 to the masses, who have positively no 
 other moral law to guide them. His 
 tomb, approached by an avenue of cy- 
 presses through a gate of exquisite work- 
 manship, is inscribed with the words, 
 " The most sagely ancient Teacher ; the 
 all -accomplished, all -informed King." 
 About the spot are imperial tablets ^ 
 "with glowing tributes to the one man 
 whom China delights to honor ;" and 3 
 in the city near by live 50,000 of his de- 
 scendants, constituting a distinct class 
 the head of the family holding large CONKHCIAN PRIEST?
 
 72 
 
 CHINESE LITERATURE. 
 
 estates as "Duke by imperial appointment and hereditary 
 right, continuator of the sage." There is a temple of Confu- 
 cius in every city, and Confucian priests superintend various 
 ceremonies for both mandarins and common people. 
 
 Tenets of Confucius. Confucius claimed no divine inspira- 
 tion ; he founded no new religion. To him the Almighty was 
 " the Unknown God," and there was no Paul to declare him 
 to the philosopher. He avoided referring to a personal Su- 
 preme Being, and thought that the study of themselves should 
 suffice for men. As to death and a future state, he was 
 equally reticent. "While you do not know life," he said to 
 an inquiring disciple, "what can you know about death?" 
 With polygamy, then an institution of his country, he found 
 no fault ; and for women as such he appears to have had 
 no kindly word, or very elevated regard. 
 
 The aim of Confucius was to inculcate certain lofty princi- 
 ples of conduct, to govern men in their relations to each other 
 and to the ruling powers. Respect for learning, filial piety,* 
 and veneration for the men and institutions of ancient days, 
 were corner-stones of his system, and are still 
 deeply impressed on the Chinese mind. His 
 golden rule "What you do not like when done to 
 yourself, do not to others " expressed in written 
 language by a single ideogram was the one word 
 he specially commended as embodying the sum 
 and substance of duty. 
 
 * We find one phase of this in the worship of ancestral tablets. 
 These are of wood, a foot high, and bear the name of the departed 
 ancestor, the hour of his birth, and that of his decease. They 
 are worshipped twice a month with tapers and burning incense. 
 Death is believed to liberate three spirits from the tenement of 
 clay ; while one of these occupies the grave, and another seeks 
 the invisible world, the third is supposed to take up its habita- 
 tion in the tablet erected by filial reverence. The accompanying 
 engraving shows one of these ancestral tablets with its inscription 
 in Chinese.
 
 THE CHINESE CLASSICS. 73 
 
 The practical workings of this rule, as enforced by the au- 
 thority of the great master, were recently exemplified in the 
 case of an American traveller. As he and his companion 
 were passing through a Chinese town, their strange faces and 
 unusual costumes attracted a crowd, and hooting seemed likely 
 to be followed by serious violence. With admirable presence 
 of mind, one of the strangers faced the throng, and amid a 
 shower of mud and stones exclaimed: "Is this the way, O 
 people ! that you obey the precepts of your philosophers, to 
 treat strangers within your walls tenderly? Have you for- 
 gotten the saying of your great master Confucius, " That 
 which I wish another not to do to me, I must not do to 
 him ?" The effect was electric. In a moment every hand 
 was lowered, and the recent assailants sought as best they 
 could to make amends for their rudeness. 
 
 The Chinese Classics comprise the Sacred Books already 
 alluded to, viz., the Five King ; also the Four Shoo, or Books 
 of the Philosophers (Confucius and the writers of his school). 
 King is the equivalent of our word text, and the Five Sacred 
 Texts are the YIH King, Book of Changes ; the SHOO King, 
 Book of History ; the SHE King, Book of Poetry ; the LE KE 
 King, Book of Rites; and the Spring and Autumn, an histor- 
 ical record of events in the native state of Confucius, from 721 
 to 480 B.C. It was written by that philosopher himself, who 
 so entitled it because " its commendations were life-giving like 
 spring, and its censures life-withering like autumn." The first 
 four King, which rank with the most ancient creations of the 
 human mind, were compiled and published by Confucius ; the 
 Book of Rites, originally drawn up by the ruler of Chow in 
 the twelfth century B.C., received additions from subsequent 
 writers. 
 
 Little is known of the true nature of the mysterious Book 
 of Changes ; it apparently relates to divination. The Shoo 
 King gives us the history of China from the earliest periods to
 
 7-i CHINESE LITERATURE. 
 
 about 720 B.C., and contains, besides, discourses on music, 
 astronomy, and the principles of government. Part of it was 
 dictated from memory by a blind man after the destruction of 
 the original tablets. 
 
 In the She King, we have a collection of 305 odes and 
 hymns. Many of them, more than three thousand years old, 
 were written while the Chinese Empire was as yet a mere 
 bundle of feudal states ; here, as in all other lands, the first 
 grand thoughts of the people were cast in the mould of poetry. 
 The odes are in rhyme, and mirror the every-day life and sim- 
 ple manners of antiquity often in a highly metaphorical style, 
 but with a dignity and attractiveness which the later poetry 
 fails to exhibit. They paint pleasing pictures of rural quiet, 
 contain delicate touches of nature, and in some few cases dis- 
 play a high appreciation of woman's worth ; on the whole, 
 however, the status assigned to the gentler sex is low. Ex- 
 tracts from the Book of Poetry follow. 
 
 FESTAL ODE. 
 
 (Celebrating a feast given by an ancient king.) 
 
 " See how the rushes spring 
 
 Thickly along the way ! 
 Ye browsing herds, no foot 
 
 Upon those rushes lay ! 
 Grown to their height ere long, 
 
 They soft and rich shall shine ; 
 Close as the rushes grow, 
 
 Should brethren all combine. 
 Let all at feast appear, 
 
 None absent, none thought mean. 
 Mats for the young be spread ! 
 
 On stools let elders lean ! 
 
 Lo ! double mats are spread, 
 
 Aud stools are featly set. 
 Servants in waiting stand ; 
 
 See ! host and guests are met. 
 He pledges them ; they him ; 
 
 lie drinks, again they till.
 
 EXTKACTS FitOM THE BOOK OF POETIJY. 75 
 
 Sauces and pickles come, 
 
 Roast meat, and broiled ; and still 
 Palates and trine are brought. 
 
 Then lutes and drums appear, 
 Singers fine concord make 
 
 The joyous feasters hear. 
 
 The feasting o'er, from bow, 
 
 Lacquered and strong and bright, 
 Four well-poised shafts each sends, 
 
 That in the target light. 
 The guests are ranged as they 
 
 The mark have nearest hit. 
 They shoot again ; the shafts 
 
 Are fairly lodged in it. 
 Their bearing then is judged; 
 
 Each takes his final place, 
 As mild propriety 
 
 Has round him thrown its grace. 
 
 The long-descended king 
 
 Presides and ends the feast. 
 With spirits sweet and strong 
 
 From vase he cheers each guest. 
 And for the old he prays, 
 
 While all with rapture glow, 
 That they the wrinkled back 
 
 And whitening hair may show ; 
 Striving with mutual help 
 
 In virtue's onward ways, 
 That brightest happiness 
 
 May crown their latest days." 
 
 LEGGE. 
 
 PASTORAL ODE. 
 
 (An industrious wife wakens her husband at early dawn.) 
 
 "'Get up, husband, here's the day !' 
 'Not yet, wife, the dawn's still gray.' 
 'Get up, sir, and on the right, 
 See the morning-star shines bright. 
 Shake off slumber, and prepare 
 Ducks and geese to shoot and snare. 
 
 All your darts and line may kill, 
 I will dress for you with skill.
 
 76 CHINESE LITEKATUKE. 
 
 Tims a blithesome hour we'll pass, 
 Brightened by a cheerful glass ; 
 
 While your lute its aid imparts, 
 To gratify and soothe our hearts.'" 
 LEGGE. 
 
 ODE TO A BRIDE. 
 
 " Gay child of Spriug, the garden's Queen, 
 
 Yon peach-tree charms the roving sight ; 
 Its fragrant leaves, how richly green ! 
 Its blossoms, how divinely bright ! 
 
 So softly smiles the blooming bride, 
 
 By love and conscious virtue led, 
 O'er her new mansion to preside, 
 
 And placid joys around her spread." 
 
 SIH WILLIAM JONES. 
 
 The Book of Rites prescribes rules of conduct for all occa- 
 sions, from the most important down to a mere interchange 
 of greetings. With Chinamen ceremonial is everything, and 
 the influence which this book has exerted on manners and 
 society for three thousand years cannot be estimated. It is 
 still the standard of etiquette, a governing board at Pekin 
 being charged with the duty of enforcing its rigid observance. 
 
 Spring and Autumn, professedly written in the interests of 
 morality and good order, to inspire wicked officials and undu- 
 tiful sons with wholesome terror, disappoints us in the reading. 
 It is made up of short, unconnected sentences, stating isolated 
 facts (some of them quite insignificant) in the baldest manner, 
 without any attempt at rhetorical excellence or any expression 
 of condemnation or praise. Whether a temple is struck by 
 lightning, or a father is murdered by his son, or locusts ap- 
 pear, or some glorious exploit is performed, or the ruler goes 
 on a journey, or the sun is eclipsed it is just stated in so 
 many words nothing more. The historical style of Con- 
 fucius is certainly not striking, and we fail to see why the
 
 ANALECTS OF CONFUCIUS. 77 
 
 guilty should have "quaked with fear" when his annals ap- 
 peared. 
 
 The Four Shoo are constituted as follows: 1. The Confu- 
 cian Analects (literary fragments). 2. The Great Learning. 
 3. The Doctrine of the Mean (as opposed to extremes the 
 Moderate). 4. The works of Mencius, or the philosopher 
 Meng, a disciple of Confucius, and second only to his mas- 
 ter among the sages of China. 
 
 The Analects consist of the sayings of Confucius, as they 
 occur in conversations with his followers. Sententious, sim- 
 ple, and sometimes signally beautiful, they contain the very 
 marrow of wisdom based upon observation and experience. 
 They shine among the laconics of the world. A few speci- 
 mens are subjoined. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE ANALECTS. 
 
 " The Master said : ' lu the Book of Poetry are three hundred 
 pieces, but the design of all may be embraced iii oue sentence Have 
 110 depraved thoughts.' 
 
 There are cases in which the blade springs, but the plant does not 
 go on to flower. There are cases where it flowers, but no fruit is 
 subsequently produced. 
 
 Learning without thought is labor lost; thought without learniug 
 is perilous. 
 
 Worship as if the Deity were present. 
 
 Good government obtains when those who are near are made 
 happy, and those who are far off are attracted. 
 
 Three friendships are advantageous, friendship with the upright, 
 friendship with the sincere, and friendship with the man of observa- 
 tion. Three are injurious, friendship with the man of specious 
 airs, friendship with the insinuatingly soft, and friendship with the 
 glib-tongued. 
 
 To see what is right and not to do it, is want of courage. 
 
 The cautious seldom err. 
 
 If I am building a mountain, and stop before the last basketful of 
 earth is placed on the summit, I have failed of my work. But if I 
 have placed but one basketful on the plain and go on, I am really 
 building a mountain. 
 
 Shall I teach you what knowledge is ? ' When you know a thing, 
 to hold that you know it ; and when you do not know a thing, to 
 confess your ignorance is knowledge. 
 
 D
 
 78 CHINESE LITERATURE. 
 
 Extravagance leads to insubordination, and parsimony to mean- 
 ness. It is better to be mean than insubordinate. 
 
 Learn the past, and you will know the future. 
 
 A poor man who flatters not and a rich man who is not proud, are 
 passable characters ; but they are not equal to the poor who are yet 
 cheerful, and the rich who yet love the rules of propriety. 
 
 When you transgress, fear not to return. 
 
 "Were I to say that the departed were possessed of consciousness, 
 pious sons might dissipate their fortunes in festivals of the dead ; 
 and were I to deny their consciousness, heartless sous might leave 
 their fathers unburied. 
 
 With coarse rice to eat, water to drink, and my bended arm for a 
 pillow I have still happiness even with these ; but riches and hon- 
 ors acquired by unrighteousness are to me as a floating cloud. 
 
 What the superior man seeks is in himself ; what the small man 
 seeks is in others." 
 
 The Great Learning, based on the teachings of Confucius, 
 and ascribed to one or more of his followers, evinces political 
 sagacity in its suggestions for the perfecting of government, 
 insisting that the welfare of the people should be the single 
 aim, and scouting the idea of any divine right in kings to 
 rule except in accordance with the principles of justice and 
 virtue. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE GREAT LEARNING. 
 
 " The ancients who wished to establish illustrious virtue through- 
 out the empire, first ordered well their own states. Wishing to order 
 well their states, they first regulated their families. Wishing to 
 regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons. Wishing 
 to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts. 
 
 From the loving example of one family, a whole state becomes lov- 
 ing ; and from its courtesies, the whole state becomes courteous : 
 while from the ambition and perverseness of one man, the whole state 
 may be led to rebellious disorder: such is the nature of influence. 
 This verifies the saying : ' Affairs may be ruined by a single sentence ; 
 a kingdom may be settled by its one man.' 
 
 It is not possible for one to teach others, while he cannot teach 
 his own family. There is filial piety, there is fraternal submission, 
 there is kindness. Therefore the ruler, without going beyond his 
 family, completes the lessons for the state. 
 
 Never has there been a case of the sovereign loving benevolence, 
 and the people not loving righteousness. Never has there been a 
 case where the people loved righteousness, and the affairs of the sove- 
 reign have not been carried to completion.
 
 DOCTRINE OF THE MEAX. V9 
 
 What a man dislikes iu his superiors, let him not display in the 
 treatment of his inferiors; what be dislikes in inferiors, let him not 
 display iu the service of his superiors. What he hates iu those who 
 are hefore him, let him not therewith precede those who are behind 
 him. What he is unwilling to receive on the right, let him not be- 
 stow on the left. This is what is called ' The principle with which, 
 as with a measuring-square, to regulate one's conduct.' " 
 
 The Doctrine of the Mean was written by the grandson of 
 Confucius, who in his boyhood listened to the wise instructions 
 of the sage, and professed himself ready to carry " the bundle 
 of firewood his grandsire had gathered and prepared," thus 
 leading Confucius to exclaim with delight: " My undertakings 
 will not come to naught; they will be carried on, and flourish." 
 The philosophy of this work is obscure; for while it presents 
 examples of filial piety, and draws an ideal of the perfect man, 
 " possessed of all sagely qualities," who alone is able to " ac- 
 cord with the course of the Mean," its language with reference 
 to that Mean is decidedly mystical. Thus : 
 
 " While there are no stirrings of pleasure, anger, sorrow, or joy," the 
 mind may be said to be iu a state of EQUILIBRIUM. When those feel- 
 ings have been stirred and act in their due degree, there ensues what 
 may be called the state of HARMONY. This equilibrium is the great 
 root from which grow all the human actings in the world, and this 
 harmony is the universal path which they all should pursue. 
 
 Let the states of equilibrium and harmony exist in perfection, and 
 a happy order will prevail throughout heaven and earth, and all 
 things will flourish. 
 
 The Master said : ' Perfect is the virtue which is according to the 
 Mean. Rare have they long been among the people, who could prac- 
 tise it! I kno\v how it is that the path of the Mean is not walked 
 in : the knowing go beyond it, and the stupid do not come up to it.'" 
 
 Mencius, author of the fourth Shoo, lived in a degenerate 
 age, but without fear or favor threw himself into the arena to 
 wrestle with wickedness. In the society around him he found 
 many fitting marks for his shafts of humor and satire. Purifi- 
 cation of heart was his remedy for evil ; the sinlessness of 
 childhood, his standard of moral purity. "The great man," 
 said Mencius, " is he who does not lose his child's heart."
 
 80 CHINESE LITERATURE. 
 
 Virtue and benevolence are insisted on in the voluminous 
 works of this philosopher the Plato of Chinese literature as 
 Confucius was its Socrates* a benevolence that should not 
 only provide for the physical wants of the people, but also se- 
 cure their education and moral advancement. We glean the 
 following pointed sentences from the 
 
 SAYINGS OF MENCIUS. 
 
 " I like life and I also like righteousness. If I cannot keep tlie 
 two together, I will let life go and choose righteousness. 
 
 When one by force subdues men, they do not submit to him ill 
 heart, but because their strength is not adequate to resist. When 
 one subdues men by virtue, in their heart's core they are pleased, and 
 sincerely submit, as was the case with the seventy disciples in their 
 submission to Confucius. 
 
 The noblest thing in the world is the people. To them the spir- 
 its of the earth and the fruits of the earth are inferior. The prince 
 is least important of all. 
 
 Benevolence brings glory, its opposite brings disgrace. 
 
 That whereby man differs from the animals is small. Superior 
 men preserve it, while the mass of men cast it away. 
 
 There is a way to get the kingdom ; get the people, and the king- 
 dom is got. There is a way to get the people ; get their hearts, and 
 the people are got. The people turn to a benevolent rule as water 
 flows downward. 
 
 Mencius said: 'The richest fruit of benevolence is the service 
 of one's parents ; of righteousness, the service of one's elder brother ; 
 of wisdom, the knowing those two things and not departing from 
 them.' " 
 
 Spirit of the Chinese Classics. One prevailing spirit 
 breathes through the nine classical books of the Chinese 
 a spirit of conservatism. Confucius nowhere encourages 
 men to take independent flights into the realms of original 
 thought. He ignores the future, and exalts the past. His 
 motto was not Go np higher, but Walk in the trodden paths. 
 
 * The two Chinese philosophers remind us of the two Greeks, not only bv the 
 moral tone of their teachings, but by their relative positions as master and fol- 
 lower. Nor were their respective eras widely apart ; compare their dates 
 
 The master, Confucius, 551-478 B.C. The master, Socrates, 470-399 B.C. 
 
 The disciple, Mencius, 370-288 B.C. The pupil, Plato, 429-348 B.C.
 
 THE CHINESE CLASSICS. 
 
 81 
 
 WORSHIPPING THE ANCESTKAI. TABLET (p. 72). 
 
 He sought to reclaim from sin and folly, but only by winning 
 to the purer practices of that venerable antiquity which he 
 so blindly admired. Beyond the old landmarks, he cared 
 not even to point the way. 
 
 It is hardly strange that under such leadership the nation 
 became wedded to formalism, wrapped itself in a complacent 
 aversion to novelty or progress, eschewed dealings with the 
 outer world, and in a word came to an intellectual standstill 
 for four and twenty centuries. 
 
 Other Works. There are numerous commentaries on the 
 old classics, some themselves quite ancient ; but they are mere 
 reproductions or servile imitations of the original texts.
 
 82 CHINESE LITERATURE. 
 
 Different, however, are the works of Lao-Tse, who was con- 
 temporary with Confucius, and whose writings are so mystical 
 that the matter-of-fact Confucius declared himself unable to 
 comprehend them. He made something which he calls Tao 
 the mainspring of the universe, the source and ultimate desti- 
 nation of all things. Many of his followers, to whom he rec- 
 ommended self-denial and retirement, became recluses; their 
 philosophy was perpetuated, and Taoism is still professed to 
 some extent in China. 
 
 Having little imagination for works of fiction and no genius 
 for the higher departments of poetry, the ancient Chinese pro- 
 duced nothing of special note nothing, at least, that has come 
 clown to us except what has been mentioned. We have in- 
 deed numerous chronicles of the various dynasties, industri- 
 ously and no doubt accurately compiled; but they lack the 
 graces of style, and possess little interest for the general Eu- 
 ropean reader. The Bamboo Annals, found in a royal tomb 
 284 A.D., is the oldest of these chronicles that have thus far 
 come to light. 
 
 We are also told that before the Christian Era numerous 
 treatises were written on philosophy, mathematics, medicine, 
 military affairs, husbandry, law, and geography; but many of 
 these perished in the convulsions which afterward shook the 
 empire. 
 
 With the languages of Siam, Burmah, and Thibet all mon- 
 osyllabic like the Chinese are also connected literatures 
 of considerable antiquity. In both Burmah and Siam the 
 drama, often licentious, has always been popular, its exhi- 
 bitions being sometimes prolonged for days. Burmah has 
 records that purport to carry back its history almost to the 
 Christian Era. The best writings of the Siamese are imita- 
 tions of Hindoo fictions, while the literature of Thibet is 
 largely made up of commentaries on the Tripitaka.
 
 WRITING. BOOKS. PRINTING. 
 
 S3 
 
 NOTES ON CHINESE LITERATURE, ETC. 
 
 Bamboo tablets and the stylus, the ancient writing implements; these in the 
 reign of Ching Wang, the book-burner, superseded by the brush, and paper made 
 of closely woven silk. Silk paper, found too expensive, re- 
 placed in turn by paper made of the inner bark of trees, old 
 rags, and worn-out fishing-nets. Books multiply in conse- 
 quence. At the Christian Era, the imperial library con- 
 tained 11,332 sections filled with books on all subjects, but 
 no great productions of genius. The old classics still in 
 the front rank. 
 
 Printing practised in China GOO A.D., nearly 900 years 
 before its invention in Europe. Movable types invented 
 by a blacksmith between 1000 and 1100 A.D. The types, 
 made of clay hardened in the fire, reduced to an exact level 
 by a smooth board, and then cemented to an iron plate with 
 a mixture of resin and wax. The production of books thus 
 greatly facilitated. Chinese books at the present day not 
 printed from movable types, but from wooden blocks of the 
 size of the page, on which the characters are cut in relief. 
 
 Bronze pieces called cash, worth one-tenth of a cent, 
 coined as early as the 12th century B.C. ; strung on cords 
 through holes with which they are pierced ; in later times 
 
 worn as amulets. 
 
 SPECIMEN CASIJ. 
 1 he golden age of China s later ancient literature, the 
 
 period of the Tang dynasty (620-907 A.D.), when the imperial armies penetrated 
 to Samarcand and Bokhara in Turkestan. Le Taipih, the Chinese Anacreon, 
 the greatest poet of this period ; but even he seldom rises above mediocrity. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 HEBREW LITERATURE. 
 
 The Semitic Languages, enumerated on page 16, have cer- 
 tain peculiarities in common : 
 
 They are triliteral, i. e. three consonants enter into the com- 
 position of every root. 
 
 Consonants only are represented by letters ; vowels, indi- 
 cated by points, play a subordinate part. The latter vary ac-
 
 84 HEBREW LITEEATUEE. 
 
 cording to the relation to be expressed ; while the consonant 
 root, which conveys the leading idea, remains unchanged. 
 Thus, in Arabic, the notion of bloodshed is expressed by the 
 triple root qtl: quail is murder; quitl^ enemy; tiqtul means 
 to kill ; quatala, he kills. The picturesque compounds, so con- 
 venient in the Indo-European languages, are here wanting. 
 
 The Semitic verb is deficient in mood-forms, and has in 
 general only two tenses, which represent action completed 
 and action continuing. Case, as a rule, is left undistinguished ; 
 and grammar, on the whole, is crude and imperfect. Brevity 
 is gained, but at the expense of precision. 
 
 Distribution of the Semitic Tongues. The terms Arama'ic, 
 Hebra'ic, and Ar'abic, designate the three great divisions of 
 the Semitic family of languages ; and it may here be noticed 
 that these are much more alike than the Aryan tongues. 
 
 Aramaic (from the Hebrew Aram highlands] was spoken 
 in northern Syria, Mesopotamia, and Babylonia. A dialect 
 of it, the Jews gradually adopted after their return from cap- 
 tivity at Babylon (536 B.C.), retaining the Hebrew as their 
 sacred language, but speaking and writing in Aramaic some- 
 what modified by Greek. Aramaic, therefore, was the tongue 
 in which our Lord and his disciples conversed. 
 
 The Hebraic was spread over Palestine, and included the 
 ancient Phoenician and Carthaginian, with the dialects of the 
 Ammonites, Moabites, and Philis'tines. Samaritan was a 
 mixture of this with the Aramaic spoken by those foreign set- 
 tlers introduced into the land of Israel by the Assyrians, to 
 replace the Ten Tribes whom they had transplanted beyond 
 the Euphrates. 
 
 The softer Arabic, musical by reason of its preponderance 
 of vowel sounds, was carried from Arabia into Africa, where it 
 was long the language of the cultivated Ethiopians, and where 
 it still survives in its derivative, the Abyssinian. 
 
 The Ancient Hebrew shares the imperfections of the Semitic
 
 THE SEMITIC LANGUAGES. 
 
 85 
 
 PRIMCTIVE 
 SEMITIC 
 TONGUE 
 
 AXCIEXT 
 
 COPTIC i 
 
 EGYPTIAN 
 
 Bafcylon & 
 Nineveh 
 
 HEBREW 
 
 TUB SEMITIO FAMILY OF LANGUAGES. 
 
 group to which it belongs. It is one of the oldest members 
 of this family, and was long thought to have been the original 
 language of the human race. Its name is derived by some 
 from Heber, ancestor of Abraham and consequently of the 
 people who spoke the classical tongue of the Old Testament ; 
 while by many it is believed to mean belonging to the other side, 
 that is, of the Jordan an epithet applicable to the Chosen 
 People as coming from beyond that river to dispossess the 
 Canaanitish tribes. 
 
 In the days of the patriarch Abraham, whose father dwelt 
 in " Ur of the Chaldees" (see Map, p. 105) about 2000 B.C., 
 
 the Semitic dialects differed slightly, if at all ; for Abraham, 
 
 D2
 
 86 
 
 HEBREW LITERATURE. 
 
 crossing the Euphrates into Canaan, had no difficulty in mak- 
 ing himself understood, and afterward, when Jacob went back 
 to Mesopotamia, he conversed readily with the people. 
 
 The meagre vocabulary and other defects of the Hebrew 
 are counterbalanced by its euphony, simplicity, and power of 
 poetical expression. Conciseness is its crowning merit. A 
 single sonorous word often conveys an idea that would require 
 a clause of four or five words in English. The whole range 
 of literature in other fields affords no such examples of majes- 
 tic thought, grand imagery, and impetuous, heart-warming out- 
 pourings of soul, as the poetry of that sublime Hebrew tongue 
 which was developed by a simple race of shepherds beneath 
 the mild skies of western Asia. 
 
 The Hebrew Alphabet. The Hebrews early profited by the 
 invention of their Phoenician kinsmen, borrowing from them 
 an alphabet which, as may be seen on the opposite page, they 
 changed little from the original. After the Captivity (588- 
 536 B.C.), the more elegant square characters of the Babylo- 
 nians took the place of the ancient letters ; the latter, how- 
 ever, for reasons political 
 as well as religious, were 
 reproduced on the shekels 
 coined during the period 
 of Jewish independence 
 under the Maccabees 
 
 HEBBEW SHEKEL. (168-37 B.C.), by which 
 
 time the written language was universally expressed in Ara- 
 maic characters. 
 
 The oldest Hebrew alphabet (see Table) contained no more 
 than ten or twelve letters ; the number was afterward in- 
 creased to twenty-two consonants all. These were qualified 
 by vowel sounds, denoted by vowel-points (.- '.. .*. T) placed 
 over or under the consonants to which they belonged. Capi- 
 tals there were none. While some have held that the names
 
 H ft ^j 
 
 O cr 1 
 
 
 
 U 55
 
 38 HEBREW LITERATURE. 
 
 of the letters were given them arbitrarily, merely to facilitate 
 the memorizing of the alphabet, others believe that a con- 
 nection existed between their names and their forms : that, 
 for example, A, called Aleph (ox), was originally a rough 
 picture of an ox's head ; that B was the representation of a 
 house or tent, such being the meaning of its name Beth, etc. 
 
 Spirit of Hebrew Poetry. The most ancient Semitic poetry 
 is found in the pure musical Hebrew of the oldest books of 
 the Bible. Nearly one half of the Old Testament was in verse, 
 mainly lyrical, ranging from the simplest song or dirge to the 
 sublimest strains of prophecy ; yet didactic poetry has also a 
 place, for in it were embodied the proverbs of Israel's wise 
 men. 
 
 Other literatures boast of their epics and dramas ; but the 
 Hebrew, without either, has exerted a far more exalted influ- 
 ence on the human mind than any other. In vain do we 
 search the Veda and the Avesta for conceptions as grand as 
 those in the Scriptures. God is apprehended in all his maj- 
 esty by the Hebrew bards, and speaks through them to na- 
 tions that are yet to be. The Bible poets wrote not merely 
 for the purpose of pleasing ; as teachers and prophets, they 
 had a divine mission and a loftier aim. The graces of rhetoric 
 were employed to present their impressive subjects in the 
 strongest and clearest light. Frequent metaphors embellished 
 their style, and striking personifications endowed it with life 
 and energy. Imagery drawn from the picturesque scenes 
 about them, the hills, the streams, the plains of Palestine, 
 or from their every-day employments as tillers and herdsmen, 
 they used without stint ; while parallelism^ whether it consisted 
 in the repetition of the same sentiment or in a contrasting of 
 opposite ideas, was a peculiar beauty of their poetry. 
 
 Their language significant and striking, their thoughts lofty 
 and solemn, their tone severely moral, their themes of the 
 deepest interest to man, what wonder that the Hebrew poets
 
 PARALLELISM IN HEBREW POETRY. 89 
 
 tower above the sublimest writers of other times and coun- 
 tries ? " Whatever in our literature," says Taylor, " possesses 
 most of simple majesty and force, whatever is most fully 
 fraught with feeling, whatever draws away the soul from its 
 cleaving to the dust and lifts the thoughts toward a brighter 
 sphere all such elements we owe directly or indirectly to 
 the Hebrew Scriptures, especially to those parts that are in 
 spirit and form poetic." 
 
 Parallelism has been mentioned as a distinctive feature of 
 Hebrew poetry. This is defined by Bishop Lowth as " a cer- 
 tain equality, resemblance, or relationship between the mem- 
 bers of a period, so that things shall answer to things and 
 words to words, as if fitted to each other by a kind of rule or 
 measure." 
 
 Parallelism may be either cumulative, antithetical, or con- 
 structive. In the first, a proposition, after having been once 
 stated, is repeated in equivalent words of similar construc- 
 tion, as in Isaiah, lv., 6, 7 : 
 
 " Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found ; 
 Call ye upon him, while he is near. 
 
 Let the wicked forsake his way, 
 
 And the unrighteous man his thoughts : 
 
 And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him ; 
 And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." 
 
 Antithetical parallelism is similar, except that the two pe- 
 riods correspond with each other by an opposition of senti- 
 ments and terms ; as in Proverbs, xxvii., 6 : 
 
 " Faithful are the wounds of a friend ; 
 But deceitful are the kisses of an enemy." 
 
 In the third kind of parallelism, there is neither correspond- 
 ence nor opposition in the sentiment, but simply a similarity 
 of construction in the two periods, as in Psalm xix., 8, 9 : 
 
 "The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; 
 The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.
 
 90 HEBREW LITERATURE. 
 
 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever ; 
 
 The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." 
 
 DAWN OP HEBREW LITERATURE. 
 
 There is good reason for believing that the ancient He- 
 brews had an extensive literature ; but out of their " multi- 
 tude of books," all that have descended to us are those of 
 the Old Testament. Their secular poetical and prose works 
 are wholly lost. 
 
 The Books of Moses. The earliest Hebrew writer of whom 
 we have positive knowledge was Moses, author of the greater 
 part of the Pentateuch* (five volumes the first five books of 
 the Bible), or, as it was called by the Jews, the Book of the 
 Law. 
 
 The first book of the Pentateuch, Genesis (the generation), 
 tells us all that we know of the Creation, the Deluge, the 
 Confusion of languages, the Dispersion, and the lives of the 
 patriarchs, whose history it sketches till the death of Joseph 
 in Egypt, keeping everywhere prominent the relation of Je- 
 hovah to the chosen race. 
 
 Exodus (the going out} continues the story of the Hebrews 
 from the death of Joseph, relates their oppression under the 
 Pharaoh Ram'eses the Great, their miraculous escape from 
 the land of bondage in the reign of his successor, and the 
 promulgation of the commandments on Mount Sinai. It is in 
 this book that we catch our first glimpse of Hebrew poetry in 
 
 * Some hold that the Pentateuch was compiled by Moses from extant writ- 
 ings of an earlier period ; others believe it to have been reduced to its present 
 form at a much later date ; while many theologians ascribe it all to Moses, ex- 
 cept the part that relates to his death and a few interpolated sentences. Its au- 
 thenticity as part of God's Word has been disputed from time to time, and par- 
 ticularly in these later days ; but neither Jews nor Christians doubt its inspira- 
 tion, though they admit that in parts its meaning may have been misconceived. 
 We have here to do with it, as with other parts of the Bible, simply as a literary 
 work.
 
 THE BOOKS OF MOSES. 91 
 
 the Song of Moses and his sister Miriam a magnificent tri- 
 umphal ode, the most ancient in any language. The rescued 
 host pour forth in unison their joy and gratitude ; while in 
 response the exulting prophetess, timbrel in hand, leads the 
 women of Israel, on the shore of that sea which had engulf- 
 ed their enemies, to celebrate their deliverance with sacred 
 dance and rapturous verse. (See Exodus, chapter xv.) 
 
 Leviticus (the book pertaining to the Levites) consists of 
 regulations relative to worship and sacrifice, together with 
 historical items touching the consecration of Aaron, his first 
 offering, and the destruction of two of his sons for their im- 
 piety. Here is developed the theocratic system that lay at 
 the base of Hebrew society. 
 
 Numbers takes its name from the numbering of the Israel- 
 ites in the wilderness of Sinai ; it gives an account of this 
 census, and continues their history during thirty-seven years 
 of subsequent wandering, up to their arrival on the borders 
 of the Promised Land. In this book there are several brief 
 specimens of poetry, commemorative of victory, of the digging 
 of a well in the wilderness, etc. 
 
 In Deuteronomy (the second law) the law is repeated and 
 explained by Moses in three fervid discourses, just before 
 the entrance of the Hebrews into Canaan. The Pentateuch 
 closes with a simple but inexpressibly grand outburst of the 
 Hebrew legislator in song (chapter xxxii.), the blessings he 
 pronounces upon the twelve tribes, and an account of his 
 death. 
 
 Of the facts presented in these first five books of the Old 
 Testament, some are confirmed by hieroglyphic inscriptions 
 and the traditions of different nations ; but of the greater 
 part we should have had no knowledge without the inspired 
 narrative. Aside, therefore, from its religious bearing, the 
 Pentateuch is invaluable as an historical record of primeval 
 ages ; while its clear, concise, dignified style, rich with noble
 
 92 HEBREW LITERATURE. 
 
 thoughts expressed in the venerable manner of antiquity, is 
 worthy of its sublime subjects. 
 
 The Historical Books. The Pentateuch is followed by the 
 historical books of Scripture, which, though extending into 
 the silver age, will for convenience' sake be here considered 
 together. With the Pentateuch they form a complete sum- 
 mary of national history, in which are interwoven religious 
 matters that explain and illustrate it. We may glance briefly 
 at their authorship and contents. 
 
 The Book of Joshua, supposed to have been written by 
 Joshua himself or soon after his death, covers a period of 
 twenty-five years (about 1425 B.C.) ; it relates to the con- 
 quest of Canaan and the partition of that promised land 
 among the twelve tribes, closing with the farewell exhortation 
 and death of the great leader. Judges, ascribed to the 
 Prophet Samuel, continues the history of the nation to about 
 noo B.C.; it tells how the Jews, as a punishment for their 
 apostasy, were at different times reduced to servitude by their 
 heathen enemies, and on their repentance delivered by heroes 
 who became their Judges. Ruth, regarded by the ancient 
 Jews as belonging to the Book of Judges, is of unknown date 
 and authorship, though attributed by some to Samuel. It is 
 an exquisite idyl of domestic life, designed to show the origin 
 of King David. 
 
 The Books of Samuel, the first portion of which Samuel 
 probably composed himself, give an account of the magistra- 
 cy of that prophet and the reigns of Saul and David. The 
 Books of the Kings dwell upon the glorious reign of Solo- 
 mon, and then take us through the divided lines of Israel and 
 Judah, till both were finally overthrown and carried into cap- 
 tivity ; Jewish tradition points to Jeremiah as the author of 
 these books. Ezra seems to have written most of the Chron- 
 icles, which is supplementary to the Kings ; he was also the 
 author of the book that bears his name. This and Nehemiah
 
 THE BOOK OP JOB. 93 
 
 describe the return of the Jews from their captivity in Baby- 
 lon, and the restoration of the temple-worship at Jerusalem. 
 The Book of Esther, possibly from the pen of Mordecai, one 
 of the personages of the story, is devoted to a touching epi- 
 sode of the reign of Ahasuerus, king of Persia, supposed to 
 be identical with Xerxes, the son of Darius Hystaspis. 
 
 The Book of Job is worthy of special mention, as the most 
 artistic specimen of Hebrew genius. Whether this unique 
 poem was the work of Job himself in his later days, or of some 
 other whose name is lost, its author was evidently proficient 
 in all the scientific knowledge of his time. The hero, a native 
 of northern Arabia, whose name has become a synonym for 
 patient suffering, is reduced to the very depths by family be- 
 reavements, bodily anguish, and the well-meant reproaches of 
 his friends; yet his faith in God is unshaken, and in the end 
 that faith is amply vindicated and rewarded. 
 
 Bold imagery, vividness of description, life-like delineations 
 of lofty passion as well as the gentler emotions, combined 
 with master-touches of dramatic art, stamp this poem as the 
 greatest in Oriental literature. Its passages relating to the 
 war-horse, behemoth, and leviathan (chapters xxxix., xl., xli.), 
 are cited by writers on the sublime as among the grandest il- 
 lustrations of their subject; and its descriptions of the,Deity, 
 as manifested in his works, exhibit the noblest conceptions of 
 the Infinite that man's finite intellect is capable of forming. 
 
 GOLDEN AGE OF HEBREW POETKY. 
 
 The Psalms. The flourishing period of DAVID (1085-1015 
 B.C.) ushers in the Augustan age of Hebrew poetry. The 
 Lyric was then carried to perfection by the poet-king himself 
 and his contemporaries in their Psalms, " those delicate, fra- 
 grant, and lovely flowers," as Luther calls them, "springing 
 up out of all manner of beautiful joyous thoughts toward God 
 and his goodness." The strains of " Israel's sweet psalmist,"
 
 94 HEBREW LITERATURE. 
 
 who began as a shepherd-lad to cultivate the arts of music and 
 poetry, breathe a spirit of plaintive tenderness that distin- 
 guishes them from the statelier productions of other contrib- 
 utors to Hebrew psalmody. 
 
 A Utopian theory of the great Plato, but one that he declared 
 could be carried out only by " a god or some divine one," was 
 the training of the Grecian youth in odes like the Psalms : and 
 this the religious instruction of the people was the very ob- 
 ject of the Hebrew lyrics. The plan of the Greek philoso- 
 pher had been put in practice centuries before his day in Pal- 
 estine, and on a far grander scale than ever he imagined. In 
 the royal city of Jerusalem, four thousand musicians appointed 
 by David chanted hymns of triumph and praise, to the accom- 
 paniment of harp and flute ; while in the gorgeous temple of 
 David's son, the sublime worship of Jehovah challenges de- 
 scription. 
 
 For three thousand years, these Hebrew anthems, unap- 
 proached by the religious songs of any other age or people, 
 have been the glory of the Jewish and the Christian Church, 
 eloquently testifying that " there has been one people among 
 the nations one among the millions of the worshippers of 
 stocks taught of God." 
 
 Most of the Psalms date from David's time ; but one (Psalm 
 xc.) carries us as far back as Moses, and others were as late 
 as the Captivity; they thus cover a period of nearly ten cen- 
 turies. They were probably arranged as we now have them 
 in the fifth century B.C. 
 
 Elegiac Poetry. King David was also a writer of elegy, 
 that kind of song in which the Hebrew poets and proph- 
 ets poured out their grief in the unaffected language of 
 nature. Some of his Psalms are beautiful specimens of 
 this species of poetry, especially Psalm xlii., "As the hart 
 panteth after the water -brooks," composed during his exile 
 among the mountains of Lebanon. Another exquisite and
 
 ELEGIAC POETRY. 95 
 
 pathetic elegy of this poet, rendered below in English verse 
 by Lowth, is the 
 
 LAMENTATION FOE SAUL AND JONATHAN. 
 
 " Thy glory, Israel, droops its languid head, 
 
 On Gilboa's heights thy rising beauty dies ; 
 In sordid piles there sleep the illustrious dead, 
 The mighty victor fall'u and vanquished lies. 
 
 Yet dumb be Grief; hushed be her clam'rous voice! 
 
 Tell not iu Gath the tidings of our shame ! 
 Lest proud Philistia in our woes rejoice, 
 
 And rude barbarians blast fair Israel's fame. 
 
 The sword of Saul ne'er spent its force in air; 
 
 The shaft of Jonathan brought low the brave ; 
 In life united equal fates they share, 
 
 In death, united share one common grave. 
 
 Daughters of Judah ! mourn the fatal day, 
 In sable grief attend your monarch's urn ; 
 
 To solemn notes attune the pensive lay, 
 
 And weep those joys that never shall return. 
 
 With various wealth he made your tents o'erflow, 
 In princely pride your charms profusely dressed; 
 
 Bade the rich robe with ardent purple glow, 
 And sparkling gems adorn the tissued vest. 
 
 On Gilboa's heights the mighty vanquished lies, 
 The son of Saul, the generous and the just; 
 
 Let streaming sorrow ever fill these eyes, 
 Let sacred tears bedew a brother's dust. 
 
 Thy firm regard revered thy David's name, 
 
 And kindest thoughts in kindest acts expressed ; 
 
 Not brighter glows the pure and generous flame 
 That lives within the tender virgin's breast. 
 
 But vain the tear and vain the bursting sigh, 
 Though Sion's echoes with our grief resound ; 
 
 The mighty victors fall'u and vanquished lie, 
 And war's refulgent weapons strew the ground." 
 
 Didactic Poetry. In the golden age, didactic poetry also 
 reached the acme of perfection. The Proverbs that then
 
 96 HEBREW LITER ATUBE. 
 
 flowed from the inspired pen of SOLOMON, prince of didactic 
 writers as his father was of lyric poets, are too well known, 
 with all their richness of practical wisdom, to require more than 
 a passing mention. Expressed concisely in energetic words, 
 according to the different forms of parallelism, these moral pre- 
 cepts are indeed "like apples of gold in baskets of silver." 
 
 Of the same general scope as the Proverbs, and by the same 
 author, is Ecclesiastes, or the Preacher. In this book is shown 
 the vanity of earthly pleasures ; and the whole duty of man 
 is summed up in the sentence, " Fear God and keep his com- 
 mandments." The Book of Ecclesiastes has been attributed 
 to Solomon's latter days ; the Proverbs, to his prime ; while 
 that sweet pastoral, the Song of Songs singularly beautiful, 
 whether taken literally as an exponent of happy wedded love, 
 or allegorically as delineating the mutual attachment of God 
 and his people was the joyous outburst of his youth. Solo- 
 mon was also the author of a thousand canticles and various 
 works on miscellaneous subjects ; books of making which, he 
 tells us, there was no end. 
 
 Prophetic Poetry of the Golden Age. The writings of the 
 earlier prophets, florid with high-wrought imagery, revived for 
 a time the waning glories of the golden age. Foremost of this 
 class in eloquence of diction, sublimity of thought, and versa- 
 tility of genius, stands ISAIAH. Majesty united with elaborate 
 finish; a harmony that delights the soul; a variety that im- 
 parts freshness without detracting from dignity; simplicity and 
 unvarying purity of language, conspire to make the lyric 
 verse of " the Evangelical Prophet " the most appropriate em- 
 bodiment of the awful messages of God to the Jews, the prom- 
 ise of a Messiah and universal peace. 
 
 After a career of nearly seventy years, Isaiah sealed his 
 great work with his blood in the reign of the idolatrous Ma- 
 nasseh (698-643 B.C.). His mind has been pronounced " one 
 of the most sublime and variously gifted instruments which
 
 THE PROPHETIC WRITINGS. 97 
 
 the Spirit of God has ever employed to pour forth its Voice 
 upon the world." 
 
 Even the minor prophets, if we except Jonah the oldest, ex- 
 hibit in their compositions unwonted grandeur and elegance : 
 Hosea, with his sententious style ; Amos, " the herdman and 
 gatherer of sycamore fruit ;" Joel and Micah ; Habakkuk, 
 whose fervent prayer to the Almighty is graced with the lof- 
 tiest embellishments, and Nahum, perhaps the boldest and 
 most ardent of all. 
 
 And so the Golden Age of Hebrew Literature ends. We 
 know only its sacred poetry, and much indeed of this has dis- 
 appeared.* The harvest and vintage songs which wakened 
 the echoes amid the vales of Palestine, the pastorals that ac- 
 companied the shepherd's pipe on the hill-sides of Ephraim, 
 all are lost forever; " the voice of mirth and the voice of glad- 
 ness, the voice of the bridegroom and the bride," were forgot- 
 ten in the streets of Jerusalem, when the land was desolate 
 under the Babylonian and "the daughters of music were 
 brought low." 
 
 SILVER AGE. 
 
 The Prophets. The names of three great prophets Jere- 
 miah, Ezekiel, and Daniel illuminate the first page in the 
 history of the decline of Hebrew literature. But in their writ- 
 ings, and notably so in those of the later minor prophets, po- 
 etry was evidently on the wane. They lived in a degenerate 
 day. About half of the prophecy of Jeremiah, denouncing the 
 judgment of Heaven on the disobedient people, is poetry; he 
 lacks the pomp and majesty of Isaiah, but excels in stirring 
 the gentler emotions. 
 
 His Lamentations are beautiful elegies on the fall of his 
 country and the desecration of the temple; every letter seems 
 " written with a tear and every word the sound of a broken 
 
 * For example, the Book of Jasher, which appears to have been a collection of 
 songs iu praise of the just and upright the subject of endless discussions.
 
 98 
 
 HEBREW LITERATURE. 
 
 heart." The verses of the several chapters in the original be- 
 gin with consecutive letters of the alphabet, that they may be 
 the more easily memorized, for it was intended that the sins 
 and sufferings of the Jewish nation should never be forgotten. 
 Can anything be more touching than the personification of 
 Jerusalem, sitting as a solitary widow on the ground and 
 mourning for her children ? 
 
 "Is this nothing to all you who pass along the way ? behold and see 
 If there be any sorrow like unto iny sorrow, which is inflicted on 
 
 me ; 
 Which Jehovah inflicted on me in the day of the violence of his 
 
 wrath . 
 
 For these things I weep, my eyes stream with water, 
 Because the comforter is far away that should tranquillize my soul. 
 My children are desolate, because the enemy was strong." 
 
 Ezekiel and Daniel were carried captives to Babylon, where 
 they made known their prophetic visions. The former wrote 
 partly in poetry, characterized by a rough vehemence peculiar 
 to himself. The Book of Daniel, in which history is combined 
 with prophecy, is in prose, and a portion of it in the Chaldee 
 language. 
 
 Another writer of distinguished merit, belonging to this age, 
 was the scribe and priest Ezra (already mentioned), who was 
 
 THE Toiiu OF EZUA.
 
 THE APOCRYPHA. 99 
 
 permitted to return from Babylon to Jerusalem with a com- 
 pany of his people, 458 B.C. He settled the canon of Script- 
 ure, restoring and editing the whole of the Old Testament. 
 
 The Apocrypha (secret writings) consist chiefly of the stories 
 of To'bit and Judith, the first and second books of Esdras and 
 of the Maccabees, Ba'ruch, the Wisdom of Solomon, and Ec- 
 clesiasticus or the Wisdom of the Son of Sirach. Composed 
 during the three centuries immediately preceding the Christian 
 Era, they bear internal evidence, in their lack of the ancient 
 poetical power, of belonging to an age of literary decline. 
 They were mostly included in the canon of Scripture by the 
 Council of Trent in 1545, but are rejected by Protestants as 
 uninspired. 
 
 Ecclesiasticus, best of the Apocryphal books, is full of 
 moral, political, and religious precepts, its object being to 
 teach true wisdom and its style resembling the didactic poetry 
 of Solomon. The following fine passage, versified by Lowth, 
 
 personifies 
 
 WISDOM. 
 
 "Wisdom shall raise her loud exulting voice, 
 And midst her people glory and rejoice ; 
 Oft the Almighty's awful presence near, 
 Her dulcet sounds angelic choirs shall hear. 
 
 Me before time itself He gave to-day, 
 
 Nor shall my spirit faint or feel decay ; 
 
 I bowed before Him in His hallowed shrine, 
 
 Aud Sion's pride aud Sion's strength was mine. 
 
 Did I not tall as those fair cedars grow, 
 
 Which grace our Lebanon's exalted brow ? 
 
 Did I not lofty as the cypress rise, 
 
 Which seems from Hermon's heights to meet the skies? 
 
 Fresh as Engaddi's palm that scents the air, 
 
 Like rose of Jericho, so sweet, so fair ; 
 
 Green as the verdant olive of the groves, 
 
 Straight as the plane-tree which the streamlet loves, 
 
 Richer than vineyards rise my sacred bowers, 
 
 Sweeter than roses bloom my vernal flowers ; 
 
 Fair love is mine, and hope, and geutle fear ; 
 
 Me science hallows, as a pareut^lear.
 
 100 HEBREW LITEKATUKE. 
 
 Come, who aspire beneath my shade to live ; 
 Come, all my fragrance, all my fruits receive ! 
 Sweeter than houey are the strains I sing, 
 Sweeter than honey-comb the dower I bring ; 
 Me, taste who will, shall feel increased desire, 
 Who drinks shall still my flowing cups require; 
 He whose firm heart my precepts still obeys, 
 With safety walks through life's perplexing maze ; 
 Who cautious follows where my footsteps lead, 
 No cares shall feel, 110 mighty terrors dread. 
 
 Small was my stream when first I rolled along, 
 In clear meanders Eden's vales among ; 
 With fresh'uing draughts each tender plant I fed, 
 And bade each flow'ret raise its blushing head ; 
 But soon my torrent o'er its margin rose, 
 Where late a brook, behold an ocean flows ! 
 For Wisdom's blessings shall o'er earth extend, 
 Blessings that know no bound, that know 110 end." 
 
 The Talmud. Our treatise would be incomplete without 
 some notice of the mysterious book whose name heads this 
 paragraph, the Talmud. Comparatively unknown except in 
 name for centuries, it was repeatedly suppressed in the Dark 
 Ages by popes, kings, and emperors, as likely to be danger- 
 ous to Christianity. 
 
 Talmud means learning. It is essentially a digest of law, 
 civil and criminal, and a collection of traditions orally pre- 
 served. It consists of two parts, viz., the Mishna, or earlier 
 text; and the Gemara (ghe-mah'ra)^ a commentary on the 
 Mishna. The age that gave birth to the Talmud was the 
 period after the Captivity, when a passionate love for their 
 sacred and national writings animated the Jews restored to 
 their country and its institutions. Hundreds of learned men, 
 all great in their day, who treasured in their memories the 
 traditions of a thousand years, contributed to its pages. 
 
 The Talmud was a cyclopaedia treating of every subject, 
 even down to gardening and the manual arts ; it depicts inci- 
 dentally the social life of the people, not of the Jews alone, 
 but of other nations also. *It is enlivened by parables, jests,
 
 THE TALMUD. 101 
 
 and fairy-tales, ethical sayings, and proverbs ; the style is now 
 poetical, anon sublime ; and there may be gathered amid its 
 wilderness of themes " some of the richest and most precious 
 fruits of human thought and fancy." 
 
 After two unsuccessful attempts, the Talmud was finally 
 systemized in a code by the Saint Jehuda (about 200 A.D.). 
 A remarkable correspondence exists between it and the Gos- 
 pel writings, explained by the fact that both reflect in a meas- 
 ure the same times. 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE TALMUD. 
 
 "Tuvii the Bible and turn it again, for everything is in it. 
 
 Bless God for the evil as well as the good. When you hear of a 
 death, say ' Blessed is the righteous Judge.' 
 
 Eveu when the gates of heavcu are shut to prayer, they are open 
 to tears. 
 
 Wheu the righteous die, it is the earth that loses. The lost jewel 
 will always bo a jewel, but the possessor Avho has lost it well may 
 he weep. 
 
 Life is a passing shadow, says the Scripture. Is it the shadow of 
 a tower, of a tree ? A shadow that prevails for a while ? No, it is 
 the shadow of a bird in his flight ; away flies the bird, aud there is 
 neither bird nor shadow. 
 
 Teach thy tongue to say, ' I do not know.' 
 
 If a -word spoken in its time is worth one piece of money, silence 
 in its time is worth two. 
 
 The ass complains of the cold even in July. 
 
 Four shall not enter Paradise : the scoffer, the liar, the hypocrite, 
 and the slanderer. To slander is to murder. 
 
 The camel wanted to have horns, aud they took away his ears. 
 
 Thy friend has a friend, and thy friend's friend has a friend : be 
 discreet. 
 
 The soldiers fight, and the kings are heroes. 
 
 Love your wife like yourself, honor her more than yourself. 
 Whoso lives unmarried, lives without joy, without comfort, without 
 blessing. Ho who forsakes the love of his youth, God's altar weeps 
 for him. It is woman alone through whom God's blessings arc 
 vouchsafed to a house. She teaches the children, speeds the hus- 
 band to the place of worship, welcomes him when he returns, keeps 
 the house godly and pure, and God's blessings'rest upon all these 
 things. He who marries for money, his children shall be a curse to 
 him. 
 
 Men should bo careful lest they cause women to weep, for God 
 counts their tears. -,,
 
 102 HEBREW LITERATURE. 
 
 The world is saved by the breath of school -children. 
 
 When the thief has no opportunity of stealing, he considers him. 
 self au honest man. The thief invokes God while he breaks into tho 
 house. 
 
 Get your living by skinning carcasses in the street, if you cannot 
 otherwise; and do not say, 'I am a great man, this work would not 
 befit my dignity.' Not the place honors the man, but the man the 
 place. 
 
 Youth is a garland of roses ; age is a crown of thorns. 
 
 The day is short and the work is great. It is not incumbent 
 upon thee to complete the work : but thou must not therefore cease 
 from it. If thou hast worked much, great shall be thy reward ; for 
 the Master who employed thee is faithful in his payment. But know 
 that the true reward is not of this world." DEUTSCH. 
 
 RETURNING THE JEWELS. 
 
 "Rabbi Meir, the great teacher, was sitting on the Sabbath-day 
 and instructing the people in the Synagogue. In the meantime, his 
 two sons died ; they were both fine of growth and enlightened in tho 
 law. His wife carried them into the attic, laid them on the bed, and 
 spread a white cloth over their dead bodies. 
 
 In the evening, Rabbi Meir came home. 'Where are my sons,' in- 
 quired he, ' that I may give them my blessing ?' ' They went to tho 
 Synagogue,' was the reply. ' I looked round/ returned he, ' and did 
 not perceive them.' 
 
 She reached him a cup ; he praised the Lord at the close of the 
 Sabbath, drank, and asked again, 'Where are my sons, that they 
 also may drink of the wine of blessing?' 'They cannot be far off,' 
 said she, and set before him something to eat. When he had given 
 thanks after the repast, she said: 'Rabbi, grant me a request.' 
 ' Speak, my love !' answered he. 
 
 ' A few days ago, a person gave me some jewels to take care of, and 
 now he asks for them again ; shall I give them back to him ?' 
 'This my wife should not need to ask,' said Rabbi Meir. ' Wouldst 
 thou hesitate to return every one his own ?' ' Oh ! no,' replied she, 
 ' but I would not return them without thy knowledge.' 
 
 Soon after she led him to the attic, approached, and took the cloth 
 off the dead bodies. 'Oh! my sons!' exclaimed the father sorrow- 
 fully, ' My sons !' She turned away and wept. 
 
 At length she took his hand, and said: 'Rabbi, hast thou not 
 taught me that we must not refuse to return that which hath been 
 intrusted to our care ? Behold, the Lord gave and the Lord hath 
 taken away; praised be the name of the Lord.' 
 
 'The name of the Lord be praised!' rejoined Rabbi Meir. 'It is 
 well said : He who hath a virtuous wife hath a greater treasure thau
 
 EXTKACTS FKOAI T1IE TALMUD. 103 
 
 costly pearls. She openeth her mouth -with wisdom, and on her 
 touguo is the law of kiuduess.' " 
 
 THE PAINTED FLOWERS. 
 
 "The power of Solomou had spread his wisdom to the remotest 
 parts of the kuown world. Queen Sheba, attracted by the splendor 
 of his reputation, visited this poetical king at his own court. There, 
 one day, to exercise the sagacity of the monarch, Sheba presented 
 herself at the foot of the throne : in each hand she held a wreath ; 
 the one was composed of natural, and the other of artificial flowers. 
 Art, in constructiug the mimetic wreath, had exquisitely emulated 
 the lively hues of nature ; so that, at the distance it was held by the 
 queen for the inspection of the king, it was deemed impossible for 
 him to decide, as her question required, which wreath was the pro- 
 duction of nature, and which the work of art. 
 
 The sagacious Solomon seemed perplexed ; yet to bo vanquished, 
 though in a trifle, by a trifling woman, irritated his pride. The sou 
 of David, he who had written treatises on the vegetable productions 
 ' from the cedar to the hyssop,' to acknowledge himself outwitted by 
 a woman, with shreds of paper and glazed paintings ! The honor of 
 the monarch's reputation for divine sagacity seemed diminished, and 
 the whole Jewish court looked solemn and melancholy. 
 
 At length an expedient presented itself to the kiug ; and one, it 
 must be confessed, worthy of the naturalist. Observing a cluster of 
 bees hovering about a window, he commanded that it should bo 
 opened. It was opened ; the bees rushed into the court, and alighted 
 immediately on one of the wreaths, while not a single one fixed on 
 the other. The baffled Sheba had one more reason to bo astonished 
 at the wisdom of Solomon." DISRAELI. 
 
 NOTES ON WRITING, EDUCATION, ETC., AMONG THE HEBREWS. 
 
 The art of writing practised by the Hebrews at a very remote period. In 
 primitive times, records of important events cut in stone; the letters sometimes 
 filled with plaster or melted lead. Engraving also practised with the stylus on 
 rough tablets of boxwood, earthenware, or bone. Leather early employed; the 
 Law written on skins (of " clean animals or birds ") in golden characters. The 
 skins rolled round one or two wooden cylinders, the scroll then tied with a thread 
 and sealed. Parchment written on with reed pens, which, together with a knife 
 for sharpening them and an ink of lamp-black dissolved in gall-juice, were car- 
 ried in an inkhorn suspended from the girdle. Letter-writing in vogue from the 
 time of David. 
 
 Many ancient Jewish cities far advanced in art and literature. Kcudiug anJ
 
 104 EDUCATION AMONG THE HEBREWS. 
 
 writing from the first not confined to the learned, for the people were required to 
 write precepts of the Law upon their door-posts, and on crossing the Jordan were 
 commanded to place certain inscriptions on great stones very plainly, that they 
 might be read by all. Scribes in readiness to serve those who could not write. 
 Schools established in different localities in the prophetical age, in which " the 
 sons of the prophets " lived a kind of monastic life, studying their laws and in- 
 stitutions along with poetry and music. 
 
 After the Captivity, education recognized as all-important, and at length made 
 compulsory. The Jews in consequence soon noted for learning and scholarship. 
 $2,500,000 paid by Ptolemy Philadelphia (2GO B.C.) to seventy Jewish doctors 
 for translating the Old Testament into Greek, at Alexandria ; hence the Septua- 
 yint, as it is called, or version of the Seventy. By 80 B.C.. Palestine filled with 
 nourishing schools. Jerusalem was destroyed because the instruction of the young 
 was neglected Revere a teacher even more than your father A scholar is greater 
 than a prophet common sayings among the Jews. Colleges maintained where 
 lectures were delivered, and the Socratic method of debate was pursued. Every 
 student trained to some trade, the ripest scholars working with their own hands 
 as tent-makers, weavers, carpenters, bakers, cooks, etc. A large library at Jeru- 
 salem composed of volumes in history, royal letters, and various works of the 
 prophets. The most learned of the later Platonists the Jew Phi'lo (20 B.C.-50 
 A.D.), who tried to reconcile the Platonic philosophy with the teachings of the 
 Hebrew Scriptures. 
 
 Kiddles, enigmas, and play upon words, the chief sources of amusement among 
 the Hebrews. Dice mentioned in the Talmud. Public games unknown. Fish- 
 ing with nets and hooks, favorite sports. Dancing practised as a religious rite; 
 the stage on which it was performed in the temples styled the choir: each Psalm 
 perhaps accompanied by a suitable dance. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHALDEAN, ASSYRIAN, ARABIC, AND PHCENICIAN 
 LITERA TURES. 
 
 Cuneiform Letters. North of the Persian Gulf, and drained 
 by the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, lay Chalde'a, or Babylo- 
 nia, the "Land of Shi'nar " (country of the two rivers]. Here 
 arose the earliest cities, amid a population principally Tura- 
 nian and Semitic, with a limited intermixture of the Aryan 
 element. A Semitic dialect prevailed among the people at
 
 CUNEIFORM LETTERS. 
 
 105 
 
 large ; but the Turanian Chaldees, to whom Babylonia was 
 indebted for its aboriginal civilization, through the centuries 
 of their ascendency, political and intellectual, not only kept 
 alive their native tongue in conversation with each other, but 
 inscribing it on imperishable monuments caused it to endure 
 through all time. 
 
 To these Turanians, the honor of having invented cuneiform 
 letters must be conceded ; an honor, indeed, when we re- 
 member that theirs was possibly the most ancient device for 
 embodying human thought. The characters, variously called 
 wedge-formed, arrow-headed, nail-shaped, and swallow-tailed, 
 they appear to have brought with them into the Euphrates 
 valley from the more northerly country which they previously 
 occupied ; and their Semitic co-residents in Babylonia were 
 not slow in adopting the ingenious system which they had 
 elaborated. 
 
 The cuneiform letters, like the hieroglyphics, were at first 
 rude representations of objects, but in most cases the resem- 
 blance to the original was soon lost in the attempt to simplify. 
 In some few instances, however, it may be readily detected;
 
 106 ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 as in -^ ^^>^t the character for fish. The common 
 
 signs eventually acquired phonetic values, the whole number 
 of characters employed amounting to about four hundred. 
 
 When by the victory of Alexander at Arbe'la (331 B.C.) the 
 great Persian Empire fell, cuneiform writing ceased to be 
 practised, and cuneiform literature was buried in the mounds 
 of Assyria and Babylonia for two thousand years. During 
 the present century, it has been disinterred by inquisitive 
 scholars, whose labors have resulted in the restoration of a 
 forgotten history, through the wonderful literature of a peo- 
 ple long known only in name. 
 
 ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Writing Materials. The cuneiform letters heretofore spoken 
 of as in use among the Persians at a later date (p. 66) were 
 doubtless originally intended to be cut on rocks with chisels, 
 and hence were angular instead of round. But the ancient 
 Babylonians preferred bricks and tablets of clay, on which, 
 when moist and soft, they traced their legends, annals, and 
 scientific items, with an ivory or bronze stylus, hardening the 
 surface thus inscribed by baking. The tablets, from one inch 
 in length upward, are pillow-shaped and covered with charac- 
 ters so minute as to be almost illegible without a glass. After 
 baking, to insure their preservation, they were usually coated 
 with thin clay, and on this the inscription below was dupli- 
 cated. 
 
 The Assyrians used similar tablets, and besides carved their 
 records exquisitely on the stone panels of their palaces, and 
 on human-headed bulls of colossal size. The tablets above 
 described, together with terra-cotta cylinders, formed the books 
 of this inventive nation, who also engraved with wonderful 
 delicacy glass, metals, the amethyst, jasper, and onyx.
 
 CUNEIFORM INSCRIPTIONS. 
 
 107 
 
 ASSTKIAN TABLET. 
 
 Stone slabs were generally reserved 
 for royal inscriptions ; the literary 
 classes *of Assyria preferred the 
 cheaper clay, on which they could 
 write more rapidly and quite as legi- 
 bly with their triangular instruments. 
 Something like paper or parchment 
 seems to have been used to a very 
 limited extent ; but if so, it has en- 
 tirely disappeared. It is also thought 
 tha the Chaldeans may have prac- 
 tised a simple method of printing, 
 as wedge -like types of stone have 
 been found among the ruins of their 
 cities. 
 
 Golden Age of Babylonian Litera- 
 ture (2000-1550 B.C.). Very little of the Assyrio-Babyloni- 
 an literature has as yet been recovered. A mine of literary 
 wealth in the valley of the Euphrates still awaits the perse- 
 vering student, for before 2000 B.C. important works were 
 written in Chaldea. In the twentieth century, a golden age 
 dawned on this ancient land ; its great cities became centres 
 of literary refinement, as well as of commerce and art, and 
 a lofty poetical style characterized the writings of the time. 
 Standard texts on religion, science, and remote history were 
 then and shortly thereafter produced, the copying of which 
 appears to have satisfied the ambition of subsequent genera- 
 tions. 
 
 The oldest known specimen of Chaldean writing is a set 
 of bricks, discovered near the site of E'rech (see Map, p. 105). 
 They are thought to have been made about 2008 B.C. As 
 these bricks illustrate the most ancient cuneiform character, 
 two of them are here presented, accompanied with a transla- 
 tion.
 
 108 
 
 ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAX LITERATURE. 
 
 "Beltis, his lady, Jias 
 caused Urukh, the pious 
 chief and king of Ur, 
 king of the land of Ac- 
 cad, to build a temple 
 to her." 
 
 CHA.LDEAN BKIOKS. 
 
 FROM A TABLET OF BABYLONIAN LAWS. 
 
 " A certain man's brother-in-law hired workmen, and on his foun- 
 dation built an enclosure. From the house the judge expelled him. 
 
 His father and his mother a man shall not deny. 
 
 A decision. A sou says to his mother : ' Thou art not my mother.' 
 His hair is cut off; in the city they exclude him from earth and wa- 
 ter, and in the house imprison him. 
 
 A decision. A mother says to her son : ' Thou art not my son.' 
 They imprison her. 
 
 A decision. A woman says to her husband : ' Thou art not my 
 husband.' Into the river they throw her. 
 
 A decision. A husband says to his wife : ' Thou art not my wife.' 
 Haifa ma'neh (thirty ounces) of silver he weighs out iu payment. 
 
 A decision. A master kills his slaves, cuts them to pieces, injures 
 their offspring, drives them from the laud. His hand every day a 
 half measure of corn measures out." 
 
 Babylonian literature was rich in the departments of law, 
 mathematics, astrology, grammar, and history. Nor was 
 fiction wanting ; fables, in which the lower animals carried 
 on spirited dialogues, were favorites with the people. At a 
 very early date, the inscribed tablets and cylinders were col- 
 lected, and the chief cities were made the seats of libraries. 
 
 From a volume of Chaldean hymns, somewhat similar to 
 the Rig- Veda, are taken the following verses to the Babylo- 
 nian Venus :
 
 CURIOSITIES OF BABYLONIAN LITERATURE. 109 
 
 PRAYER OF THE HEART TO ISTAR. 
 
 "Light of heaven, who like the fire dawuest 011 the world, art 
 
 thou ! 
 
 Goddess in the earth, who dawuest like the earth, art thou ! 
 To the house of men iu thy descending thou goest : prosperity ap- 
 proaches thee. 
 
 Day is thy servant, heaven thy canopy. 
 
 Princess of the four cities, head of the sea, heaven is thy canopy. 
 Exalted of the Sun-god, heaven is thy canopy! 
 For my father the Moon-god, revolver of the seasons, sanctuaries I 
 
 build, a temple I build. 
 For my brother the Sun-god, revolver of the seasons, sanctuaries I 
 
 build, a temple I build. 
 
 In the beginning the goddess spoke thus to men : 
 The Lady of Heaven, the divinity of the zenith, am I ! 
 The Lady of Heaven, the divinity of the dawn, am I ! 
 The Queen of Heaven, the opener of the locks of the high heaven, 
 
 my begetter. 
 
 O Istar! Lady of Heaven! may thy heart rest. 
 O Lady, Queen of Heaven ! may thy liver be magnified. 
 O Lady, Queen of the laud of the four rivers of Erech ! may thy 
 
 heart rest. 
 
 O Lady, Queen of Babylon ! may thy liver be magnified ! 
 O Lady, Queen of the Temple of the Resting-place of the World! 
 may thy heart rest." A. H. SAYCE. 
 
 The Babylonians believed in omens. They gathered au- 
 guries from dreams, inspection of the hand, the time of birth, 
 and various phenomena, establishing a national system of div- 
 ination not without its amusing features. For instance, we 
 have the following 
 
 OMENS CONNECTED WITH DOGS. 
 
 "If a blue dog enters into a palace, that palace is burned. 
 
 If a yellow dog enters into the palace, exit from that palace will 
 be baleful. 
 
 If a spotted dog enters into the palace, that palace its peace to the 
 enemy gives. 
 
 If a dog to the palace goes and on a bed lies down, that palace 
 none with his hand takes. 
 
 If a dog to the palace goes and on the royal parasol lies down, that 
 palace its peace to the enemy gives. 
 
 If a white dog into a temple enters, the foundation ojf that temple 
 is not stable.
 
 110 A6SYEIO-BABYLOWIAN LITEEATTJEE. 
 
 If a yellow dog into a temple enters, that temple sees plenty. 
 
 If a spotted, dog into a temple enters, that temple do its gods love." 
 
 Many charms and exorcisms appear in the ancient language 
 of Babylonia, disease being attributed to possession by evil 
 spirits. Specimens follow. 
 
 BABYLONIAN EXOECISMS. 
 
 "Wasting, want of health, the evil spirit of the nicer, spreading 
 quinsy of the throat, the violent and noxious nicer. Spirit of Heav- 
 en ! remember ; Spirit of Earth ! remember. 
 
 Sickness of the stomach, sickness of the heart, palpitation of tho 
 heart, sickness of the head, noxious colic, the agitation of terror, lin- 
 gering sickness, nightmare. Spirit of Heaven! remember; Spirit 
 of Earth! remember. 
 
 Poisonous spittle of the month which, is noxious to the voice, 
 phlegm which is destructive, tubercles of the lungs. Spirit of Heav- 
 en ! remember ; Spirit of Earth ! remember." 
 
 Chambers of Records at Nineveh. The Semites who, as the 
 sacred historian informs us, left the land of Shinar to found 
 Nineveh and the neighboring cities, carried with them the "civ- 
 ilization and literary culture of the Chaldeans. The earliest 
 permanent seat of letters was Ca'lah (see Map, p. 105), where, 
 during the reign of Shalmane'ser II. (858-823 B.C.) many 
 clay tablets borrowed from the Babylonians were copied by 
 Assyrian scribes. This same king erected at Calah an obe- 
 lisk of black marble, containing a narrative of his wars illus- 
 trated by reliefs one of the few Assyrian monuments of its 
 kind commemorative of national triumphs. 
 
 The library thus begun at Calah was enlarged under suc- 
 ceeding kings. Removed at length to Nineveh, it there at- 
 tained vast proportions through the efforts of that munifi- 
 cent patron of literature, Sardanapa'lus II., Assyria's greatest 
 monarch (667-647 B.C.). The number of engraved tablets 
 reached ten thousand. 
 
 Here were grammars* and lexicons, law-books and scien- 
 
 * The grammatical literature of the Assyrians is equalled only by that of the 
 Hindoos and the Greeks.
 
 LITERAKY TREASURES OF XINEVEII. 
 
 Ill 
 
 tific treatises, histories, astro- 
 nomical and arithmetical 
 works, songs, prayers, hymns 
 sometimes approaching the 
 Hebrew sacred lyrics in sub- 
 limity, books of charms and 
 omens, natural histories, bot- 
 anies, and geographies a 
 complete encyclopaedia of an- 
 cient literature. The books 
 of this curious collection were 
 carefully arranged according 
 to their subjects, numbered, 
 catalogued, and placed in 
 charge of librarians. They 
 were public property, intend- 
 ed for the instruction of the 
 people. 
 
 Such was the library of Sar- 
 danapalus principally cop- 
 ied from Babylonian texts ; 
 such, it was buried beneath the ruins of the palace when "the 
 gates of the rivers were opened and Nineveh became a deso- 
 lation ;" such, it lay amid the debris for centuries, " while the 
 cormorant and the bittern lodged in the upper lintels." 
 
 But the mounds that so long covered the site of Nineveh 
 have recently surrendered their treasures.. Clouds that envi- 
 roned the history of the past have been dissipated; ancient 
 nations, for ages wrapped in obscurity, we no longer "see 
 through a glass, darkly ;" and the narrative of the inspired 
 writers of the Bible has been in many places confirmed by the 
 inscriptions disentombed in the East. Among the most inter- 
 esting fragments found scattered through the ruined " Cham- 
 bers of Records " of the Assyrian palace, are the tablets relat- 
 
 E 2 
 
 BLACK OBE:
 
 112 ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 ing to the Creation, the Fall of Man, and the Deluge, copied 
 from Babylonian records hundreds of years older than the 
 Pentateuch. 
 
 FROM THE CHALDEAN ACCOUNT OF THE DELUGE. 
 
 (Compiled originally about 2000 B.C.) 
 
 " The flood reached to heaven : the bright earth to a waste was 
 turned. It destroyed all life from the face of the earth, the strong 
 deluge over the people. Brother saw not brother, they did not know 
 the people. In heaven, the gods feared the tempest and sought ref- 
 uge : they ascended to the heaven of the King of angels and spirits. 
 
 Six days and nights passed; the wind, deluge, and storm, over- 
 whelmed. On the seventh day, in its course, was calmed the storm ; 
 and all the deluge, Avhich had destroyed like an earthquake, quieted. 
 The sea he caused to dry, and the wind and deluge ended. 
 
 I perceived the sea making a tossing; and the whole of mankind 
 turned to corruption ; like reeds the corpses floated. I opened the 
 window, and the light broke over my face ; it passed. I sat down 
 and wept ; over my face flowed my tears. I perceived the shore at 
 the boundary of the sea. To the country of Nizir went the ship. 
 The mountain of Nizir stopped the ship ; and to pass over, it was not 
 able. The first day, and the second day, the mountain of Nizir the 
 same. The third day, and the fourth day, the mountain of Nizir the 
 same. The fifth and sixth, the mountain of Nizir the same. On the 
 seventh day, in the course of it, I sent forth a dove, and it left. The 
 dove w r eut and turned, and a resting-place it did not find, and it re- 
 turned. 
 
 I sent forth a swallow, and it left. The swallow went and turned, 
 and a resting-place it did not find, and it returned. 
 
 I sent forth a raven, and it left. The raven went, and the decrease 
 of the water it saw, and it did eat, it swam, and wandered away, and 
 did not return. 
 
 I sent the animals forth to the four winds. I poured out a liba- 
 tion. I built an altar on the peak of the mountain." -GEORGE SMITH. 
 
 SPECIMENS OF ASSYRIAN SACRED POETRY. 
 A PRAYER FOR THE KING. 
 
 " Length of days, 
 Long, lasting years, 
 A strong sword, 
 A long life, 
 
 Extended years of glory, 
 Preeminence among kings,
 
 SACRED POETRY OF ASSYRIA. 113 
 
 Grant ye to the King my Lord, 
 "\Viio has given such gifts 
 To his gods. 
 
 The bounds vast and wide of his empire, 
 And of his rule, 
 
 May he enlarge and may he complete, 
 Holding over all kings supremacy, 
 And royalty, and empire. 
 May he attain to gray hairs and old age. 
 
 And after the life of these days, 
 
 In the feasts of the Silver Mountain, the heavenly courts, 
 The abode of blessedness : 
 And in the Light 
 Of the Happy Fields, 
 May he dwell a life 
 Eternal, holy, 
 In the presence of the gods 
 Who inhabit Assyria." H. F. TALBOT. 
 
 Here is undoubtedly expressed a belief in the soul's immor- 
 tality, which also appears in the following prayer for the spirit 
 of a dying man : 
 
 " Like a bird may it fly to a lofty place ! 
 To the holy hands of its god may it ascend !" 
 
 A PENITENTIAL PSALM. 
 
 " O my Lord ! my sins are many, my trespasses are great ; and the 
 wrath of the gods has plagued me with disease, and with sickness 
 and sorrow. 
 
 I fainted : but no one stretched forth his hand ! 
 
 I groaned : but no one drew nigh ! 
 
 I cried aloud : but no one heard ! 
 
 O Lord ! do not abandon thy servant ! 
 
 In the waters of the great storm, seize his hand ! 
 
 The sins which ho has committed, turn thou to righteousness." 
 H. F. TALBOT. 
 
 Like their Babylonian kinsmen, the Assyrians put faith in 
 charms, incantations, and exorcisms, using sometimes magic 
 ties or knots. The following is a prescription for giving con- 
 solation in the hour of death: 
 
 " Take a woman's linen kerchief; bind it round the right hand,
 
 114 ARABIC LITERATURE. 
 
 loose it from the left hand. Knot it with seven knots ; do so twice. 
 Sprinkle it with bright wine. Bind it round the head of the sick man. 
 Bind it round his hands and feet, like manacles and fetters. Sit down 
 on his bed. Sprinkle holy water over him. He shall hear the voice 
 of Hea, Davkina* shall protect him, and the Eldest Sou of Heaveii 
 shall find him a happy habitation." 
 
 TRANSLATION OF A LETTER. 
 
 (Written in Assyria more than 2,500 years ago, by an officer named 
 Bel-basa, to Sennacherib.) 
 
 To THE KING JIY LORD, 
 
 From thy servant Bel-basa : 
 
 May there be peace to the King my Lord ; may the gods Nebo and 
 Merodach greatly bless the Lord my King. 
 
 Concerning the palace of the queen which is in the city of Kalzi, 
 which the King has appointed us; the house is decaying, the house 
 is opening its foundation, its bricks are bulging. When, will the 
 King, our Lord, command the master of works ? An order let him 
 make, that he may come and the foundation that he may strengthen. 
 
 ARABIC LITERATURE. 
 
 Himyaritic Inscriptions. The high-spirited war -loving 
 tribes that roved over the tablelands of Arabia, as well as the 
 more refined inhabitants of her ports on the Red Sea, doubt- 
 less cultivated letters. We may suppose the former to have 
 given their florid fancies vent in pastorals, rude songs for the 
 desert bivouac, or triumphal odes. More finished species of 
 poetry would have been congenial to the courtly residents of 
 the cities, whose knowledge of the world was extended by 
 trading expeditions to India, and along the African coast as 
 far as the Mozambique Channel. 
 
 Yet of this probable literature we possess little that is older 
 than the era of Mohammed (600 A.D.), at which time the Ara- 
 bians awoke to a new life, for centuries leading the van of the 
 nations in the march of literature and science. But the little 
 that we have is not without interest. 
 
 God and goddess of the sea and of the lower regions.
 
 IIIMYARITIC INSCRIPTIONS. 115 
 
 * 
 
 At least' eighteen hundred years before the Christian Era, 
 descendants of Joktan, called Sabaeans and afterward Him- 
 yarites, established themselves in southwestern Arabia; but 
 not until about 800 B.C. do they appear to have gained per- 
 manent dominion over the neighboring tribes. Inscriptions 
 in their language, the Himyaritic, a Semitic tongue closely re- 
 lated to the Arabic, if not sufficiently like it to be called by 
 the same name, have been found in the lower part of the Ara- 
 bian peninsula on walls, tombs, dikes, and bronze tablets. 
 
 These are the oldest known Arabic writings, and are be- 
 lieved by scholars to represent the golden age of the Himya- 
 rite monarchy (100 B.C.~5oo A.D.). Gems have also been 
 discovered, inscribed with these same characters. 
 
 PHCENICIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Its Lost Treasures. In the most ancient records, the nar- 
 row strip of coast between the Lib'anus Mountains and the 
 Mediterranean was recognized as an important centre of civ- 
 ilization. Its cities were seats of art and commerce ; Africa, 
 Sicily, and Spain, were dotted with its colonies and trading- 
 stations; the sails of its merchantmen sparkled on every sea; 
 its language was known throughout the ancient world. 
 
 It cannot be that a nation so advanced in knowledge was 
 without a literature ; and if works on their philosophy and re- 
 ligion, on history, geography, navigation, and agriculture, di- 
 dactic poems and love-songs, constitute a literature, vast in- 
 deed was that of the Phoenicians. No department of science 
 or belles-lettres appears to have been overlooked by their 
 authors. 
 
 The famous " Book City," Kir'jath-Se'pher, which, during 
 the conquest of Canaan, was taken by Othniel the future 
 Judge, is thought to have been a Phoenician town. Its name 
 implies that it was a repository of books, probably public rec- 
 ords and works on law perhaps an Athens to the nations of
 
 116 PIICENICIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 
 
 Canaan, whither their youth flocked to consult its libraries 
 and receive instruction at its academies. Its valuable collec- 
 tion of manuscripts was doubtless committed to the flames 
 by the Hebrew conqueror. 
 
 In like manner, the whole constellation of Phoenician 
 hymns, and lyrics, and prose pieces, has become extinct, ex- 
 cept a lonely star left here and there in the works of foreign 
 authors ; or a faint light glimmering on some coin or tablet, 
 gem or tombstone. 
 
 The only important Phoenician writer known to us is San- 
 choni'athon. Fragments of his History, written perhaps in 
 the fourteenth century B.C., have survived through a Greek 
 translation. In accounting for the origin of the universe, San- 
 choniathon taught the theory of evolution, that " from certain 
 animals not having sensation, intelligent animals were pro- 
 duced." 
 
 Phoenician Carthage also developed an extensive literature. 
 The records of the city were kept by native historians ; and 
 we know that Ma'go's great work on agriculture, in twenty- 
 eight parts, was highly appreciated at Rome, and there ren- 
 dered into Latin. When the city of Hannibal fell before her 
 more powerful rival, her vast library was scattered among the 
 African allies of the Romans, and lost to history. 
 
 An interesting relic of Carthaginian literature is the Cir- 
 cumnavigation of Hanno, the history of a voyage undertaken 
 in the sixth century B.C. to the coasts of Libya the oldest 
 history of a voyage existing. This work of Hanno, which used 
 to hang in a temple at Carthage, describes a savage people 
 called Gorillas, whose bodies were covered with hair and who 
 defended themselves with stones. The narrator says: "Three 
 women were taken, but they attacked their conductors with 
 their teeth and hands, and could not be prevailed on to ac- 
 company us. Having killed them, we flayed them, and 
 brought their skins with us to Carthage."
 
 CHALDEAN LEARNING. 117 
 
 NOTES ON ASSYRIO-BABYLONIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Oldest Chaldean book, a work on astrology written before 2000 B.C. The 
 golden age, 2000-1850 B.C. ; oral traditions collected and committed to writing ; 
 tile-libraries in all the principal Chaldean cities. Decline begins 1550 B.C. The 
 term Chaldean long synonymous with man of learning. 
 
 Kise of Assyrian literature, 1500 B.C. ; confined to archives and records for a 
 number of centuries. Eenaissance under Sardauapalus I. and his son Shalmane'- 
 ser II. (885-823 B.C.). Enlargement of the national library in the reign of Tig'- 
 lath-Pile'ser II. (745-727 B.C.) and of Sargon (722-705 B.C.), followed by a re- 
 vival of the study of ancient literature. Copies made of the masterpieces of an- 
 tiquity. Reign of Sardanapalus II. (667-647 B.C.), the golden age of Assyrian 
 letters. Fall of Nineveh, 625 B.C. 
 
 Babylon succeeds as the seat of power and the centre of literature in western 
 Asia; attains the height of its glory under Nebuchadnezzar (604-561 B.C.). 
 Great revival of ancient learning : " the Lady of Kingdoms " soon boasts of a li- 
 brary emulating in extent and variety that of her former rival Nineveh. Little 
 of this later Babylonian literature recovered : its restoration left for future labor- 
 ers in the field of philology. 
 
 During these centuries, a wild poetry probably flourished on the highland 
 wastes of Arabia, and Phoenician cities attained literary greatness. Coins made 
 of British tin, the money of Phoenician commerce. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 The Egyptian Language. There yet remains one field of 
 Oriental literature for us to visit, and it is specially interesting 
 on account of the valuable treasures it long concealed. These 
 have recently been brought to light in the writings of that 
 people who settled the fertile valley of the Nile in prehistoric 
 times, and adorned the land of Egypt with pyramids and 
 obelisks inscribed with their mysterious characters. 
 
 Some have found in the ancient Egyptian a resemblance to 
 the Indo-European tongues, and argue that it was an offshoot 
 from an original parent -stock in which Semitic and Aryan
 
 118 EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 were blended before they separated into distinct languages. 
 Between the Egyptian and the Semitic tongues, however, there 
 is a much more striking likeness and a more probable rela- 
 tionship. 
 
 EGYPTIAN WHITING. 
 
 Hieroglyphics. There is little doubt that the Egyptians 
 practised writing in the days of Me'nes, founder of their mon- 
 archy, more than forty centuries ago. The earliest characters 
 were colored pictures, called hieroglyphics (sacred carvings] by 
 the Greeks, who erroneously believed them to have been used 
 by the priestly caste alone. Just as we have adapted our let- 
 ters to a running hand, so the hieroglyphic was soon abridged 
 into the hieratic character, suitable for rapid writing. This in 
 turn, in the seventh century B.C., gave place to the still sim- 
 pler demotic, or popular hand, the letters of which, mainly pho- 
 netic, bore no likeness to the original pictures. 
 
 As stated on page 19, the hieroglyphic characters were 
 partly pictorial and partly symbolical. Thus, the figure of a 
 man with upraised hands symbolized praise ; a reed with an 
 ink-pot, writing ; an enraged monkey, anger. Day was de- 
 noted by a drawing of the sun ; bravery, by the head of a lion ; 
 adoration, by a box with burning incense ; cunning, by a 
 jackal. A frog suggested the notion of large numbers; while 
 a tadpole implied a million. 
 
 This picture - writing, not in itself complete, was supple- 
 mented to a certain extent with a phonetic system. An ob- 
 ject for which there was no appropriate symbol was repre- 
 sented by the sign of any other object that had the same 
 name when spoken .; as if we should denote the mint where 
 money is coined by a painting of the plant so called, or 
 pike, both the weapon and the fish, by a picture of either. 
 Serious confusion resulted from this practice ; till at last it 
 fortunately occurred to some thinker to substitute for the 
 numberless symbols and pictures in use signs corresponding
 
 EGYPTIAN HIEROGLYPHICS. 119 
 
 to the few simple sounds employed in spoken language. 
 These, often repeated in different combinations, would answer 
 every requirement. 
 
 Still the system was far from perfect, for, as a rule, the 
 vowel sounds were not represented ; only by the context, 
 for instance, could it be told whether str was meant for star, 
 store, stair, or straw. Another difficulty lay in the fact^ that 
 the same consonant was represented by different signs pict- 
 ures of objects whose names commenced with the letter in 
 question. In writing London, the Egyptians might represent 
 L by the figure of a /amb, a /eaf, or a /ion. From this group 
 of characters, it would be necessary to select the one most 
 appropriate ; the lion would be taken for the / in London, 
 the leaf for the / in lotus, the lamb for the / in lady. 
 
 To add to the confusion, the old ideographic characters 
 were all the time measurably used along with the phonetic 
 signs. It is not to be wondered at that the Egyptians them- 
 selves were puzzled to read their own complicated writing, 
 and introduced determinatives as guides to the reader. For 
 example, the drawing of an open mouth was attached to a 
 character to indicate that its phonetic value must be taken ; 
 the representation of a surveying -instrument distinguished 
 the names of Egyptian towns ; that of a mountain, a thing 
 unknown in the Nile valley, marked foreign localities. 
 
 The Rosetta Stone. The finding of the Rosetta Stone in 
 1799 paved the way for the brilliant discoveries of the French 
 savant Champollion (sham-pol' le-on\ before whose time the 
 vast literature of Egypt had been locked up from the world. 
 A French officer, while erecting works a^ Rosetta in the delta 
 of the Nile during Napoleon's Egyptian campaign, unearthed 
 a piece of black basalt, which contained, in equivalent in- 
 scriptions in hieroglyphics and Greek letters, a decree con- 
 ferring divine honors on Ptolemy V., a monarch of the second 
 century B.C. The meaning of the Greek text being known,
 
 120 
 
 EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 THE EOSETTA STONE. 
 
 the hieroglyphics through it were translated ; patient study 
 determined the signification of the separate characters, and 
 a key was thus obtained to other Egyptian inscriptions. The 
 famous Rosetta Stone, resting on a block of red porphyry, 
 now ornaments the Egyptian gallery of the British Museum. 
 
 Champollion thus succeeded in solving a problem that had 
 baffled alike Greeks, Romans, and all subsequent nations.* 
 It has been truly said that he opened the door to " a library 
 of stones and papyri in myriads of volumes," in which every 
 
 * It is but just to say that Gnstav Seyffarth, the eminent German archaeol- 
 ogist, still living (in New York, 1878), as long ago as 182G published a system 
 of interpretation differing from Champollion's, which he claims that the later 
 Egyptologists have virtually adopted.
 
 GOLDEN AGE. 121 
 
 branch of literature is represented. The crumbling walls 
 scattered throughout " the Monumental Land " now utter 
 intelligible words ; the very implements and toys have their 
 stories to tell ; and many a tomb has yielded up its brittle 
 treasure of papyrus, its eulogy or legend, its history or hymn. 
 
 Monuments and Papyri. The ancient Egyptians exceeded 
 all other nations in their fondness for writing. The chisel 
 was kept busy in graving monuments of granite. The reed 
 or goose-quill, with ink-pot and palette, was in constant req- 
 uisition, committing their records to rolls of papyrus some- 
 times a hundred feet long ; and not unfrequently the proces- 
 sions of men, birds, insects, and reptiles, in profile, were illumi- 
 nated with high colors and gold wr-ought in artistic vignettes. 
 
 Golden Age of Egyptian Literature. If we look for a pro- 
 gressive development of Egyptian literature, we shall be dis- 
 appointed. A wonderful sameness pervades every period, 
 with the exception of that which has been called the Ratn- 
 essid, from one of the greatest Pharaohs, Ram'eses II., at 
 whose court Moses was brought up " in all the wisdom of the 
 Egyptians" (i5th century B.C.). Great national triumphs 
 helped to make the reign of this Rameses, the Sesostris of 
 the Greeks, a golden age of art and literature. His court at 
 hundred-gated Thebes was adorned by men of genius, among 
 them the poet and romance-writer Enna, with his simple and 
 majestic style. At their head was the Master of the Rolls, 
 Kagabu the Elegant, who kept the great library founded at 
 the capital by his royal master, and inscribed " Dispensary of 
 the Soul." 
 
 LITEKAEY REMAINS. 
 
 Religious Works. The ancient Egyptians are spoken of 
 by Herodotus as " surpassing all others in the reverence they 
 paid the gods." Their social life, institutions, and govern- 
 ment, all bore a religious impress ; and even art seems to 
 have been cultivated mainly to glorify the deities or invest
 
 122 EGYPTIAN LITEEATUKE. 
 
 the mona-rchs with divine honors. The bulk of Egyptian 
 literature, therefore, is of a religious character. 
 
 Thanks to the custom of enclosing with the embalmed 
 body in the mummy-case papyrus texts from the Book of the 
 Dead or Funeral Ritual, this old Bible of the Egyptians, the 
 greatest of all their theological works, has been preserved to 
 us. The copying of this sacred book, and illuminating it ac- 
 cording to the rank or fortune of the dead man, afforded prof- 
 itable employment to a multitude of priests. 
 
 The Book of the Dead contains 166 chapters. It is intro- 
 duced by a sublime dialogue between Osi'ris, god of the low- 
 er world, and the disembodied soul, at the moment of death. 
 The funeral ceremonies are then prescribed ; after which 
 come the pilgrimage of the soul through the land of the dead 
 its battles with serpents and monsters, and the charms by 
 which they may be vanquished its various transformations 
 the terrible trial in the judgment -hall of Osiris, where the 
 heart of the deceased is weighed in the balance and the 
 final admission of its owner, if not found wanting, to everlast- 
 ing bliss. Thus it will be seen that the immortality of the 
 soul was a cardinal article of Egyptian belief. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE BOOK OF THE DEAD. 
 
 THE SOUL'S DECLARATION OP INNOCENCE IN THE JUDG- 
 MENT-HALL. 
 
 " O ye Lords of Truth ! I have brought yon truth. I have not 
 privily done evil against mankind. I have not aftiicted the misera- 
 ble. I have not told falsehoods. I have had no acquaintance with 
 ein. I have not made the laboring man do more than his daily task. 
 I have not been idle. I have not been intoxicated. I have not been 
 immoral. I have not calumniated a slave to his master. I have not 
 caused hunger. I have not made to weep. I have not murdered. 
 I have not defrauded. 
 
 I have not eaten the sacred bread in the temples. I have not 
 cheated in the weight of the balance. I have not withheld milk 
 from the mouths of sucklings. I have not slandered any one. I 
 have not netted sacred birds. I have not caught the fish which 
 typify them. I have not stopped running water. I have not robbed
 
 THE IIEKMETIC BOOKS. 123 
 
 the gods of their offered haunches. I have not stopped a god from 
 his manifestation. I have made to the gods the offerings that Avero 
 their due. I have given food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, 
 and clothes to the naked. I am pure ! I am pure !" BIRCH AXD 
 PLEYTE. 
 
 Human nature, in its faults and vices, as portrayed in the 
 above passage, seems to have been much the same 3,500 
 years ago as at the present day ; the high-toned moral prin- 
 ciples here implied are certainly worthy of all admiration. 
 
 This Book of the Dead is almost the sole survivor of many 
 sacred works on science, religion, music, and law, called Her- 
 metic Books, from Hermes Trismegistus (thrice greatest), their 
 reputed author and the traditional founder of all Egyptian in- 
 stitutions. The Book of the Breaths of Life, which treats of 
 the resurrection and the subsequent existence of the soul, is 
 another curious work. Copies of it were buried with the 
 mummies of certain priests and priestesses. 
 
 FROM THE BOOK OF THE BREATHS OF LIFE. 
 
 " Hail to thee, (name of the deceased) I 
 
 Thine individuality is permanent. 
 
 Thy body is durable. 
 
 Thy mnuuny doth germinate. 
 
 Thou art not repulsed from heaven, neither from earth. 
 
 Thou dost breathe for ever and ever. 
 
 Thy flesh is on thy bones, 
 
 Like unto thy form on earth. 
 
 Thou dost drink, thou eatest with thy month. 
 
 Thou receivest bread with the souls of the gods. 
 
 Thy soul doth breathe for ever and ever. 
 
 O ye gods that dwell in the Lower Heaven, 
 
 Hearken unto the voice of ! 
 
 He is near unto you. 
 
 There is no fault in him. He liveth in the truth. 
 
 Let him enter then into the Lower Heaven ! 
 
 Ho hath received the Book of the Breaths of Life, 
 
 That he may breathe with his soul, 
 
 And that he may make any transformation at will ; 
 
 That his soul may go wherever it desircth, 
 
 Living on the earlh for ever and ever." DE IIoiUiACK.
 
 124 EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Hymns. Grand hymns to the Egyptian deities have also 
 been recovered, displaying a purer faith than that with which 
 this ancient people has been generally credited. The various 
 gods addressed seem to have been regarded as only different 
 manifestations of one uncreated Supreme Being. 
 
 HYMN OF THE KAMESSID AGE. 
 
 " Glory to thee who hast begotten all that exists ! 
 
 Who hast made man ; 
 Who hast made the gods, and all the beasts of the field ; 
 
 Who makest man to live ; 
 
 Who hast no being second to thee. 
 Lord of generation ! thou hast given the breath of life, 
 Thou makest the world to move in its seasons, 
 And orderest the course of the Nile, whose ways are secret. 
 
 He is the light of the world. 
 
 He shooteth in the green herb, 
 
 And maketh the corn, the grass, and the trees of the field. 
 He giveth to sous the dignity of their fathers." CHABAS. 
 
 The genius of the early Egyptian lyric poets may be esti- 
 mated from the following verses discovered on a monumental 
 tablet among the ruins of Thebes. They are represented as 
 addressed by Amen (a/i'men), the supreme god of that city, to 
 Thothmes III., under whom (1600 B.C.) Egypt rose to the 
 zenith of her military greatness, and according to a popular 
 saying of the day " placed her frontier where it pleased her- 
 self." The hymn is peculiarly beautiful in the original, by 
 reason of the harmonious cadence of its periods, and that par- 
 allelism or "balance of clauses and ideas" which is largely 
 characteristic of Oriental poetry, and which the Egyptians are 
 thought to have invented. 
 
 HYMN TO THOTHMES III. 
 
 " I am come to thee have I given to strike down Syrian princes ; 
 Under thy feet they lie throughout the breadth of their country. 
 Like to the Lord of Light, I made them see thy glory, 
 Blinding their eyes with light, the earthly image of Amen.
 
 SACKED AND SECULAR POETRY. 
 
 125 
 
 I ain come to thee have I given to strike clown Asian people ; 
 Captive now thou hast led the proud Assyrian chieftains; 
 Decked in royal robes, I made them see thy glory ; 
 All in glittering arms and fighting high in thy war-car. 
 
 I am come to thee have I given to strike down western nations; 
 Cyprus both and the Ases have heard thy name with terror. 
 Like a strong-horned bull, I made them see thy glory, 
 Strong with piercing horns, so that none can stand before him. 
 
 I am come to thee have I given to strike down Libyan archers ; 
 All the isles of the Greeks submit to the force of thy spirit. 
 Like a lion in prey, I made them see thy glory, 
 Couched by the corpse ho has made down in the rocky valley. 
 
 I am come to theo have I given to strike down the ends of tho 
 
 ocean ; 
 
 In the grasp of thy hand is the circling zone of waters ; 
 Like the soaring eagle, I made them see thy glory, 
 Whose far-seeing eye there is none can hope to escape from." 
 
 H 
 
 Secular Poetry was at the same time cultivated in ancient 
 Egypt; the people delighted in odes and ballads. The ac- 
 companying harvest- song, presented in the original hiero- 
 glyphics with their equivalents in English words, was found 
 on an ancient tomb : 
 
 HARVEST SONG. 
 
 Thresh for yourselves, 
 Thresh for yourselves, 
 Thresh for yourselves, O oxen ! 
 Thresh for yourselves, 
 Thresh for yourselves, 
 Measures of grain for your- 
 selves, 
 
 Measures of grain for your . 
 masters. 
 
 I I I 
 
 I I 
 
 III 
 
 I I
 
 126 EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 The Egyptian Iliad. There are also extant five copies of 
 an epic poem by Pentaour, a writer of the golden age, one on 
 papyrus, the others in hieroglyphics on temple -walls. This 
 Iliad of Egypt, the only representative of its class in all the 
 literature that has been recovered, celebrates the prowess of 
 Rameses the Great in a war with the Hittites. The grand 
 central scene, vividly portrayed by the hand of a master-artist, 
 discloses the king, forsaken by his cowardly troops in the heat, 
 of battle, calling on the god Amen for aid, and with his assist- 
 ance discomfiting single-handed the hostile multitude. Then 
 he bursts forth into a eulogy of his own bravery, loading the 
 fugitives with reproaches, and contrasting their cowardice with 
 the fiery spirit of his trusty horses that had borne him safely 
 through the battle. 
 
 From this relic of the age of taste and literary culture in 
 ancient Egypt, the following extract is taken. Rameses, sur- 
 rounded by the chariots of the Hittites, thus calls upon his 
 god: 
 
 "Who art thou, then, my father Amen ; art them a father that for- 
 getteth his sou ? Have I done aught without thee ? Did I not 
 march at thy word ? Have I not offered thee myriads of sacrifices ? 
 Have I not filled thy house with prisoners, and built thee a temple to 
 last for millions of years ? I have offered thee all the world. I set 
 up the obelisks of Elephantine ;* by me were the eternal stones set 
 up. Assuredly wretched is the lot of him that resists thy counsel; 
 blessed is he that kuoweth thee, for thy deeds are the fruit of a heart 
 full of love. 
 
 Behold! I am in the midst of a host of strangers, and no man is 
 with me. All my men of war have forsaken me, and when I called 
 them there was none to listen to my voice. But I prefer Amen to a 
 million of soldiers, to ten thousand horsemen, to myriads of assembled 
 brothers and sons. The desigus of man are nothing : Amen overrules 
 them." 
 
 Moral Treatises. Piety, charity, and filial obedience, were 
 esteemed as leading virtues in Egypt, and were inculcated in 
 moral treatises, letters, and dialogues. Before 2000 B.C., the 
 
 * One now stands in the Place de la Concorde, Paris.
 
 PROVERBIAL PHILOSOPHY. 127 
 
 great sage, Prince Ptah-hotep prepared a handbook on practi- 
 cal morality, full of wise maxims, prescribing rules of conduct 
 for the young, and recommending the practice of obedience, 
 honesty, and benevolence, though in a style unconnected and 
 weakened by repetitions. 
 
 Ptah-hotep's curious treatise, which recalls the Proverbs of 
 Solomon, is preserved in the famous Prisse papyrus,* by some 
 considered the oldest book in the world. 
 
 ANCIENT EGYPTIAN PROVERBS. 
 
 " That man is happy who lives on his own labor. 
 
 If thou become great after being small, and gain fortune by toil, 
 and art therefore placed at the head of thy city, be not proud of thy 
 riches, which are thine by the gift of God. Thy neighbor is not in- 
 ferior to thee ; be to him as a companion. 
 
 Slay not, lest thou be thyself in peril of being slain. 
 
 Love thy wife, and cherish her as long as thou livest; be no ty- 
 rant ; flattery acts upon her better than rudeness, and will make her 
 contented and diligent. 
 
 Curse not thy master before God. 
 
 Gossip is abominable. 
 
 If a beggar is made rich, the magistrates will praise him. 
 
 If thou art wise, bring up thy son to fear God. 
 
 Redeem not thy life with that of thy neighbor. 
 
 Fairer is obedience than all things, when it is rendered freely. 
 Very fair is it when a son receives the word of his father ; therefore 
 shall his life be long in the land. Hi's fame shall be known to all 
 men. 
 
 Walk not with a fool." 
 
 Scientific Literature. We have every reason to believe that 
 the Egyptians attained a high degree of scientific knowledge, 
 even at a period far beyond the reach of our investigations. 
 Undoubtedly many books were written on science, to study 
 which the deepest thinkers among the Greeks regarded a 
 journey into Egypt as well worth their while. With the ex- 
 ception, however, of a papyrus on geometry, dating about noo 
 B.C., and some medical treatises, nothing has come to light. 
 
 M. Prisse first published this papyrus in France ; hence its name. 
 
 F
 
 128 
 
 EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 '""' 
 
 TiA 
 
 ~_i -"rli a 
 
 vnv^ ^H^ ^Q 
 
 s, FKOii TUB COLLECTION or TIJE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 Judging from the medical writings that have been found, 
 it would seem that the Egyptian physicians had a superficial 
 acquaintance with the principles of physiology, and adminis- 
 tered various ointments, draughts, the milk of animals, honey, 
 vinegar, and herbs. They were adepts in surgery, and prac- 
 tised specialties ; mummies have been found with gold fillings 
 in their teeth, and bandaged as skilfully as by an expert of 
 to-day. Such was the reputation of Egyptian practitioners 
 that they were sent for from distant countries. 
 
 In later times, medical science was tinctured with magic. 
 Superstitious rites accompanied the administering of medi- 
 cines; charms and love-philters came into vogue; 
 bits of papyri containing magical formula? were 
 worn as amulets; and the sensible remedies of 
 early times were crowded aside by foolish pre- 
 scriptions for acquiring happiness, making friends, 
 obtaining dreams, etc. 
 Fiction and Satire. Works of the imagination would not 
 seem to be in harmony with the grave Egyptian character, 
 nor would satires and caricatures ; yet all three find a place in 
 this comprehensive literature. Even kings did not escape the 
 
 AMULET.
 
 WOEKS OF FICTIOK. 129 
 
 pen and brush of the satirist. The tale and romance, gener- 
 ally the vehicle for some religious doctrine, constituted a fa- 
 vorite branch of literature in the Ramessid age. 
 
 The poet Enna has left us a novel, written more than 3,000 
 years ago for the amusement of the crown-prince, who after- 
 ward perished with his host in the Red Sea. It is entitled 
 " the Tale of the Two Brothers," and is perhaps " the oldest 
 fairy story in the world." It sets forth the rustic life of two 
 devoted brothers ; the false accusation of one by the wife of 
 the other ; the flight of the accused, after a warning given him 
 by his faithful cattle ; his pursuit by the elder brother, who 
 is resolved to avenge the alleged outrage ; the interference, 
 in behalf of the innocent, of a god who creates between 
 pursuer and- pursued a stream full of crocodiles ; and many 
 strange adventures on the part of the fugitive, followed by the 
 reunion of the brothers, the elevation of the younger to the 
 throne of Egypt, and of the elder to the proud position of 
 hereditary prince. 
 
 Other works of fiction are "the Romance of Setna," show- 
 ing the danger of appropriating sacred books ; " the Tale of 
 the Doomed Prince" (who, it was decreed by the Fates when 
 they came to greet him at his birth, was to die by a serpent, a 
 crocodile, or a dog) ; and " the Tale of the Garden of Flow- 
 ers," illustrative of Egyptian social life. 
 
 In the department of letter-writing, Egyptian literature was 
 especially rich. There were also legal documents, histories, 
 biographical sketches, and travels. Nor must fables be for- 
 gotten, in which the animals are represented as conversing, as 
 in the following : 
 
 THE LION AND THE MOUSE. 
 
 MOUSE. "O Pharaoh! if you eat me, you will not be satisfied, 
 your hunger will remain. Give me life as I gave it to you in the 
 day of your straits, in your evil day. 
 
 Remember the hunters; one had a net to catch you, and the other
 
 130 EGYPTIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 a rope. There was also a pit dug before the lion, lie fell in and was 
 a prisoner in the pit ; he was pledged by his feet. Then came the 
 little mouse opposite him, and released him. Now therefore reward 
 me : I am the little mouse." 
 
 Such is the literature which the sands of Egypt have yielded 
 to modern research a literature which, itself of greater an- 
 tiquity, furnished models even to the nations that we call an- 
 cient. While these later nations, judging from the remains 
 that have thus far come to our knowledge, certainly improved 
 on their masters in artistic finish and grandeur of conception, 
 it must be remembered that we have not yet fully sounded the 
 depths of Egyptian literature. We know not what master- 
 pieces may still lie hid beneath the sand, or bear the mummy 
 company in some undiscovered tomb. We are, indeed, jus- 
 tified in expecting greater works from the land that was the 
 fount of Greek inspiration ; the dayspring of knowledge to the 
 Chosen People, in whose mysterious hieroglyphics perhaps 
 Moses wrote the Pentateuch ; whose religion bears in many 
 points a strange analogy to ours ; whose lasting structures are 
 emblematic of the soul's immortality ; and whose lotus-blos- 
 soms, reopening every morning, symbolize the resurrection 
 from the night of death. 
 
 NOTES ON EGYPTIAN EDUCATION, ETC. 
 
 Egyptian education in the hands of priests, who gave instruction in the 
 ochools of Thebes and Memphis to members of their own and the warrior caste. 
 Religion, belles-lettres, science, and music, the branches taught; particular at- 
 tention bestowed upon mathematical studies. The rudiments of education im- 
 parted to children by their parents or in common schools, and supplemented 
 with a severe course of physical training. Reading and writing great accom- 
 plishments among the lower classes, who were generally unlearned. In the 
 earliest periods, education recognized as the great agent of civilization ; the 
 proudest offices within reach of the scholar. No mention made of the educa- 
 tion of women, but girls were doubtless fitted by some system of mental training 
 for the public positions they were afterward allowed to fill. 
 
 Manual labor despised by the aristocratic orders, who looked with contempt 
 even upon painting and sculpture. Dancing, gymnastic exercises, games (one
 
 TABLE OF ORIENTAL LITERATURE. 
 
 131 
 
 like our chequers), fishing in preserves, spearing the hippopotamus from canoes, 
 and hunting wild fowl in the marshes, favorite pastimes. Ladies present at the 
 sports. A keen eye for humor manifested in the fondness of the Egyptians for 
 caricature, from which even their representations of funeral ceremonies were not 
 exempt. 
 
 Gold rings and engraved gems used as currency. Precious stones carved with 
 the sacred beetle of Egypt, the media of exchange throughout the Mediterranean 
 countries. 
 
 SYNCHRONISTIC TABLE OF ORIENTAL LITERATURE. 
 
 
 India. 
 
 Persia. 
 
 The Hebrews. 
 
 Assyria and 
 Babylonia. 
 
 Egypt. 
 
 China. 
 
 B.C 
 
 
 
 
 Birth of 
 
 Ptah-hotep's 
 
 
 
 Earliest 
 
 
 
 Chaldean 
 
 Moral 
 
 
 2000 
 
 Vedic 
 
 
 
 Literature. 
 
 Treatise. 
 
 
 
 Hymns 
 
 Earliest 
 
 Abraham. 
 
 Cuneiform 
 
 Hermetic 
 
 
 
 written. 
 
 metrical 
 
 
 Writing. 
 
 Books. 
 
 The 
 
 
 
 songs. 
 
 
 Golden Age. 
 
 Papyri and 
 
 
 
 Vedic 
 
 Gathas. 
 
 Job. 
 
 
 Inscriptions. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Rise of Assyrian 
 
 
 Five 
 
 1500 
 
 Age. 
 
 Zoroaster. 
 
 
 Literature. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Moses and 
 
 
 Ramessid 
 
 "King." 
 
 
 
 
 the Pentateuch. 
 
 
 Era. 
 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 Epic Poetry, 
 
 
 
 
 succession 
 
 
 Archives 
 
 Fiction, 
 Satire, 
 
 
 1200 
 
 Code 
 of 
 
 of Persian 
 priests 
 
 Early Lyrics 
 and Secular 
 
 and 
 Records. 
 
 Hymns. 
 
 
 
 Maim. 
 
 enlarging 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 
 Odes 
 
 
 
 and 
 
 
 
 Scientific 
 
 
 
 
 modifying 
 
 
 
 Works 
 
 and 
 
 
 
 the 
 
 Sacred 
 
 Golden Age. 
 Psalms of 
 
 
 on 
 various 
 subjects. 
 
 Pastoral 
 
 1000 
 
 Epics. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 David. 
 
 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 
 
 
 Solomon's 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Proverbs. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hymns. 
 
 
 
 Renaissance. 
 
 
 
 
 Lyrics. 
 
 
 Prophetic 
 
 Golden Age of 
 
 Demotic 
 
 
 
 
 
 Poetry. 
 
 Assyrian 
 
 Writing 
 
 
 500 
 
 Paniui. 
 
 Compilation 
 of 
 
 Ezra. 
 
 Literature. 
 
 introduced. 
 
 Confucius. 
 
 
 
 the Avesta. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Grammar. 
 
 
 
 

 
 PAKT II. 
 
 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 BIRTH OF GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Early Settlement of Greece. While Chaldea and Assyria 
 were rising to greatness, while Phoenicia was winning for her- 
 self maritime supremacy, and wonders in art and science were 
 spreading the renown of Egypt throughout the earth, a simple 
 agricultural people was quietly moving westward toward Greece 
 and Italy. In very early times, Aryan tribes known as Pelas- 
 gic quitted their habitations in southwestern Bactria (Map, 
 p. 15), and made their way through Persia and Mesopotamia 
 into Asia Minor. Here, on rich table-lands irrigated by the 
 head-waters of streams flowing into the Black Sea and the 
 Mediterranean, among the gold-bearing mountains and vine- 
 grown valleys of Phrygia (see Map), they cultivated their grain, 
 pastured their sheep, made permanent settlements, and rapid- 
 ly grew into a great nation. These Pelasgic tribes were the 
 ancestors of the Greeks and Romans. 
 
 The same general causes that led to emigration from the 
 mother-country crowded toward the coast communities of this 
 Phrygian people, and ultimately obliged them to seek new 
 homes in the west. Perhaps, paddling from island to island 
 in rude galleys, some crossed the yEge'an ; perhaps, passing
 
 134 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 the Hellespont, some picked their way through Thrace and 
 Macedonia, entered the defiles of the northern mountains, and 
 spread over Greece ; while others, more adventurous, pushed 
 their course still farther, and peopled the Italian peninsula. 
 
 The Pelasgic tribes were probably the first occupants of 
 Greece and Italy. Earlier emigrants from Asia appear to have 
 found all they desired in the accessible districts of central Eu- 
 rope, and not to have climbed the steep ranges that hemmed 
 in those regions on the south. The Greeks themselves claimed 
 with pride to have sprung from the earth ; and a golden grass- 
 hopper, worn in the hair as an ornament by the Athenians, 
 pointed to this belief in their autochthony. 
 
 The Hellenes. Fresh bodies of Pelasgians continued to ar- 
 rive from Asia Minor, until all Greece was populated with a 
 thrifty race of husbandmen and shepherds. Upon this primi- 
 tive Pelasgian stock was afterward engrafted a branch called 
 Hellenic, identical with it in origin, but forced to a higher state 
 of development in the garden of Asiatic culture, and ready to 
 burst into blossom on the soil of Greece. The new-comers 
 were the Helle'nes, a people of greater vigor, physical and in- 
 tellectual. Mingling with their Pelasgian kinsmen in the Gre- 
 cian peninsula, they formed a new nation, endowed with fresh 
 life; and the Pelasgic dialect, modified and energized by their 
 more cultivated tongue, was converted into GREEK. 
 
 The Greeks had a popular proverb, do nothing too much, 
 which they applied in writing as in acting. Pruning away too 
 great exuberance and repressing the Oriental tendency to ex- 
 aggerate, they reduced everything to the standard of a rigid 
 but elegant correctness. More artistic than the Hindoos, less 
 luxuriant in imagination but with a chaster and severer taste, 
 they established a literature richly furnished in every depart- 
 ment, whose influence can be traced in the works of gen- 
 ius that stand out in every age and country. As Professor 
 Jebb says, " the thoughts of the great Greek thinkers have
 
 EARLY SETTLERS OF GREECE. 135 
 
 been bearing fruit in the world ever since they were first ut- 
 tered." 
 
 Thus in Greece, Aryan energy, freed from the trammels of 
 Oriental despotism, seems first to have found its true develop- 
 ment. The facilities which this country enjoyed for intercourse 
 with Egypt and Phoenicia, enabled it to draw from the learn- 
 ing of one, to copy the enterprise and adopt the inventions of 
 the other. This accounts for its having been the seat of the 
 earliest European civilization. 
 
 At a later period, we find the Hellenes separated into three 
 great families the yEolians, occupying generally the north of 
 Greece; the lonians, distributed over the central portions; and 
 the Dorians, settled in the south (the Peloponnesus, island of 
 Pelops}. Connected with these three divisions were as many 
 dialects ^Eolic, Ionic, and Doric Greek of which, Ionic was 
 the softest and most polished. This Ionic, refined and per- 
 fected, became what is known as Attic Greek ; it was the lan- 
 guage of Athens in the golden age of her art and poetry, and 
 for centuries was understood by the educated classes through- 
 out a great part of the civilized world. 
 
 These Hellenic dialects were also spoken on the islands of 
 the ^gean and the coast of Asia Minor; for the tide of emi- 
 gration set back again toward the Asiatic shores, and vEolians, 
 lonians, and Dorians, returned in great colonies to the neigh- 
 borhood of their early home. 
 
 Ancient Greek is the most musical language of the Indo- 
 European group. Sanscrit indeed excels it in regularity, but 
 offends the ear with its sameness, the constant recurrence of 
 a sounds wearying the European reader. No such monoto- 
 nous repetition mars the harmony of Greek, which, on the oth- 
 er hand, presents a pleasing variety in its vowel sounds, its 
 numerous diphthongs, and consonant combinations. Nor is 
 this variety to be wondered at, for tribes differing in their hab- 
 its and intellectual traits, mingling on the shores of the
 
 J36 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 an, contributed different elements to the common language. 
 Above all, the Greeks were gifted with a delicate ear, which 
 led them, in the oral transmission of their earliest poetry, to 
 soften all harshness in their tongue and make it melody itself. 
 
 In common with Sanscrit, Greek was well adapted to the 
 formation of compound words by the combining of primitives ; 
 but this facility for combination was turned to account only so 
 far as was consistent with clearness and taste; the unwieldy 
 polysyllabic compounds of Sanscrit were wanting. The Greek 
 rivals its Indian sister in luxuriance of inflection also, having 
 five cases, three numbers, and three voices for the verb. Ac- 
 cents were used in later days to denote the peculiar key or 
 tone of voice; for the Greeks appreciated the subtle difference 
 between tone (accent) and quantity in pronunciation, a distinc- 
 tion unrecognized in modern languages. 
 
 Greek is universally admired for its dignity, versatility, and 
 precision ; its blending of strength and elegance, unity and 
 variety. It is suited to all departments of composition ; to the 
 effective expression of the various emotions; to stately prose 
 or simple verse. Its perfection at so early a period, particu- 
 larly in view of the social condition of the people who spoke 
 it, is a phenomenon which we vainly seek to explain. 
 
 The Greek Alphabet. The Phoenician letters were adopted 
 by the Greeks, legend ascribing their introduction to Cadmus, 
 the storied founder of Thebes (1500 B.C.). Some changes 
 were made in these; new characters were added by the loni- 
 ans; and about 400 B.C. the resulting alphabet, consisting of 
 twenty-four letters, was officially adopted at Athens. The re- 
 semblance between the Greek and the Phoenician alphabet is 
 obvious; see Table, p. 87. 
 
 That there was Pelasgian picture-writing in Greece before 
 the Phoenician alphabet reached that country, is by no means 
 improbable. 
 
 The Beginnings of Greek Poetry are found in the sacred ode,
 
 EAKLIEST FOKMS OF POETRY. 137 
 
 the metrical response of the oracle, the festal song, and the 
 ballad immortalizing the deeds of heroes during the mythical 
 ages. The art of poetry was coeval with the first settlement 
 of the peninsula ; but its higher development followed the 
 transfusion of Hellenic genius into the older Pelasgian race. 
 
 The earliest forms of poetry were hymns to the deities. The 
 religion of the Greeks was a worship of Nature. Imagination 
 peopled every nook of their picturesque land with supernatu- 
 ral beings ; and each was propitiated with song, from the wood- 
 nymph supposed to reside in the spreading oak to the sun-god 
 Apollo, who, with the Nine Muses, the goddesses of poetry, 
 abode on snow-crowned Parnassus. ' 
 
 To Mother Earth (Deme'ter) were poured forth strains of 
 glowing gratitude for her bounty; the Mother of the Gods 
 (Cyb'ele) was worshipped with wilder verse, accompanied with 
 the sound of cymbals and riotous dances ; the god of wine 
 (Diony'sus or Bacchus) was hymned with lively lays in praise 
 of revelry; and so the burden of sacred song varied with the 
 character of the divinity. When spring clothed the earth with 
 beauty, the hymns were joyous; in autumn they breathed a 
 spirit of sadness, and at the grape-harvest was sung a plaintive 
 ditty, the Li'nus, as a coranach for the death of Nature. The 
 perishing of vegetation before the blighting breath of approach- 
 ing winter was symbolized by the fate of the beauteous youth 
 Linus torn and devoured by furious dogs. Of similar alle- 
 gorical significance were many of the hymns. 
 
 The delights and sorrows of domestic life also found utter- 
 ance in verse; when the bride was escorted to her new home 
 the nuptial song was sung, and for the dead the funeral dirge 
 was chanted. At first this was no doubt done with solemn 
 pomp, as a religious ceremony ; but the tendency in Greece 
 was to popularize song, and both dirge and bridal hymn in 
 time lost their mere ritual complexion, and became changed 
 in the mouths of the people into free outpourings of emotion. 
 
 F 2
 
 138 
 
 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 The bard now aimed at entertaining his listeners; he filled 
 an important place at banquets and festivals, where, in short 
 poems, he chanted to the accompaniment of flute or lyre the 
 adventures of heroes, or so transformed old traditions that he 
 was looked upon as their maker (poietes,poef). All Greece 
 honored him, regardless of his nationality. Whether ^Eolian, 
 Dorian, or Ionian, he contributed equally to Hellenic fame, and 
 was entitled to the sympathy and support of all Hellenes. 
 Indeed, he was invested with a sacred character, for he was 
 regarded as divinely inspired. 
 
 Thus was laid the foundation of Greek letters. From such 
 rude beginnings, the Greek imagination, by strides unparalleled 
 in history, mounted to the grandest heights ever attained in 
 poetry. Moreover, to original Greek genius we owe the differ- 
 ent varieties of literary composition, epic, lyric, and dramatic 
 poetry, history, criticism, and oratory. Without the Grecian 
 models, nowhere has marked superiority been attained; the 
 originals themselves have never been surpassed. 
 
 Tradition has given us the names of many poets belonging 
 to the fabulous age ; but their dates are unknown, their very 
 existence may be questioned. 
 
 LEGENDARY POETS OF GREECE. 
 
 ORPHEUS, the Thracian minstrel, in- 
 ventor of religious poetry. 
 
 THAM'YRIS, deprived of his sight and 
 poetical talent for challenging the 
 Muses to a trial of skill on the lyre. 
 
 EUMOLPUS, a Thracian priest; reputed 
 founder of the Eleusiuian Mysteries. 
 
 O'LKN, earliest prophet of Apollo. 
 CHRYSOTH'EMIS, the Cretan. 
 
 Mus-sus (inspired by the Muses), a son 
 or disciple of Orpheus. 
 
 AMPHI'OX, taught of the god Mercu- 
 ry; raised stones into the walls of 
 Thebes by the strains of his lyre. 
 
 PJIILAMMON, son of Apollo, and invent- 
 or of choral music. 
 
 PAMPHOS, author of the first Linus. ( 
 OLYMPUS, introducer of the flute. 
 
 PHEMON'OE, first priestess at the Del- 
 phic shrine, inventor of hexame- 
 ters.
 
 THE HOMEEIC POEMS. 139 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 AGE OF EPIC POETRY. 
 
 HOMER AND HIS WORKS. 
 
 Homer. The oldest literary productions of Greece extant 
 are the poems of Homer, the most ancient monuments of Ary- 
 an poetry west of the Persian Gulf. About 1000 B.C., among 
 the legion of ballad-writers, the reciters of battle-songs, myths, 
 and traditions (known ' as Rhapsodists ode-stitchers}, there 
 arose an Ionian poet who soon towered head and shoulders 
 above them all a giant among the giants of literature HO- 
 MER, of unique genius and world-wide fame. 
 
 As to Homer's life, we must ever remain in the dark. For 
 the honor of giving him birth, seven cities of antiquity disput- 
 ed,* Smyrna seeming to have the best claim. If we may be- 
 lieve tradition, he gave early evidence of his divine powers. 
 Chance took him on a sea-voyage, during which he visited 
 many countries, among them Ithaca, the home of Ulysses, one 
 of his heroes. On the island of Chi'os, his favorite resort, he 
 is thought to have written his epics the Il'iad and Od'yssey, 
 the first in early manhood, the second in old age. 
 
 Legend relates that Homer, twice warned by an oracle to 
 leware of the yoiuig men's riddle, went ashore one day on I'os, 
 an island of the Cyc'lades, and there, noticing some boys who 
 had been fishing, asked them, "What luck?" "What we 
 caught we left, what we could not catch we carried with us," 
 
 * " Septem urbes certant de stirpe insignis Homeri, 
 
 Smyrna, Rhodes, Colophon, Salamis, Chios, Argos, Athenae." 
 For all places mentioned in the history of Grecian literature, see Map, p. 132.
 
 140 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 was the reply. Unable to guess the riddle, the old poet died 
 of vexation. According to another account, disease carried 
 him off. He was buried on the sea-shore at los, where in af- 
 ter years this epitaph marked his tomb : 
 
 " Here Homer the Divine, in earthy bed, 
 Poet of heroes, rests his sacred head." 
 
 Homer's Style. Homer's Iliad was the first Greek poem in 
 which were combined ingenuity of plot, unity of subject, and 
 a faithful delineation of character throughout. He deals with 
 heroes, but they are men of like passions with ourselves. The 
 Odyssey, if less sublime, in its pathos and fine touches of nat- 
 ure shows the same rich gifts of genius as the older poem of 
 loftier flight. Both works are written in hexameter verse, the 
 true metre of the ancient epic. 
 
 The distinguishing features of Homer's style are clearness, 
 a vigor which makes us feel we are in the presence of a mas- 
 ter, and a childlike simplicity that well accords with his sub- 
 lime themes. His fidelity to nature is matched only by Shake- 
 speare's; and imagery, profuse as it is rich, lifelike, and appro- 
 priate, lights up every page. Simile is Homer's own figure ; 
 and transporting pictures flash ever and anon across the scene, 
 called up by his magic wand. For example : 
 
 " As when, high-fed with grain, a stall-bound steed 
 Snaps his strong cord, and flies, from bondage freed, 
 Strikes with resounding hoof the earth, and flies 
 Where the wide champaign spread before him lies, 
 Seeks the remembered -haunts, on fire to lavo 
 His glowing limbs, and dash amid the wave, 
 High rears his crest, and tossing with disdain 
 Wide o'er his shoulders spreads his stream of mane, 
 And fierce in beauty, graceful in his speed, 
 Snuffs his known fellows in the distant mead : 
 Thus Hector" 
 
 " As a young olive, in some sylvan scene, 
 Crowned by fresh fountains with eternal greeji, 
 Lifts its gay head in snowy flowerets fair, 
 And plays and dances to the gentle 'air ;
 
 THE HOMERIC POEMS. 141 
 
 When lo ! by blasts uprooted, whirled around, 
 Low lies the plant, extended on the ground : 
 Thus in his beauty young Euphorbus lay." 
 
 Homer astonishes us with his universal knowledge. He 
 names every part of a vessel technically with all the accuracy 
 of a veteran seaman ; he is as conversant with the details of 
 a sacrifice as the officiating priest ; he describes a conflict be- 
 tween two warriors with the precision of a master of fence ; he 
 sketches the forms and usages of palaces as if born and bred 
 in kings' courts, and is equally familiar with the manners of 
 the meanest hind. Everywhere he is at home. 
 
 Other poets* may be stars in the firmament, but Homer, as 
 Longi'nus says, is the sun in the zenith. His poetry is all 
 nature, life, action, fire. It breathes an atmosphere of pure 
 morality, and furnishes ideal characters long held up as mod- 
 els to the Grecian youth, who learned his verses by heart and 
 in some cases could even repeat his entire poems. Human 
 genius has left on earth at intervals of centuries a few imper- 
 ishable monuments ; none nobler among these than the mar- 
 vellous Greek epics. 
 
 Plan of the Iliad. The Iliad, a poem of twenty-four books, 
 is a tale of the siege of Troy (Il'ium), a city on the coast of 
 Asia Minor (probable date of the siege, 1194-1184 B.C.). 
 The cause of the war was the perfidious conduct of Paris, son 
 of Priam, the Trojan monarch. Hospitably entertained at the 
 court of Menela'us, king of Sparta, he eloped with Helen, the 
 wife of his host, the most beautiful of women, and carried her 
 off to Asia with the treasures of her husband. To avenge this 
 outrage, Menelaus, supported by Nestor the sage of Py'los, 
 called upon the Greek princes, collected an armament of a 
 thousand ships, the command of which was conferred upon 
 
 * In this category we do not mean to include our own Shakespeare ; Homer's 
 pedestal is no loftier than his.
 
 142 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 his brother Agamemnon, and set sail for Troy. A war of ten 
 years followed, which ended in the capture of the city by strat- 
 agem, the slaughter of Priam and his family, and the enslave- 
 ment of many of the Trojans. 
 
 The special subject of the Iliad is the wrath of the Thessa- 
 lian Achilles (a-kil'leez\ the leading warrior of the Grecian 
 host, and the time of the action is near the close of the war. 
 Agamemnon, compelled to restore to her father, a priest of 
 Apollo, the captive maid Chryse'is who had fallen to his share, 
 seizes upon Brise'is, a virgin allotted to Achilles. A quarrel 
 results, and Achilles withdraws from the camp. 
 
 Emboldened by his absence, the Trojans redouble their ef- 
 forts. Misfortunes to the Greek cause follow ; and though 
 many heroes second only to Achilles the stalwart Ajax, the 
 cunning Ulysses, king of Ithaca, Menelaus, and Diomede 
 exert themselves to turn the tide of battle, the Greek host is 
 made keenly to feel the loss of its puissant champion. Jupi- 
 ter, king of heaven, sides with the Trojans; and Hector "of 
 the dancing helm-crest " drives the besiegers to their ships. 
 
 At length Achilles, still unwilling to join in the fray him- 
 self, allows Patro'clus, his bosom-friend, to lead his Myrmidons 
 to the rescue. Arrayed in the armor of the Thessalian chief, 
 Patroclus puts to flight the deceived Trojans ; but, pursuing 
 them too far, receives a death-wound from the hand of Hec- 
 tor. The news of his friend's fall fills Achilles with thirst 
 for revenge. A reconciliation is effected with Agamemnon ; 
 Achilles returns to the field ; the enemy are thrown into con- 
 fusion ; and Hector, pierced by his spear, is dragged in triumph 
 at Achilles' chariot-wheels. The wrath of the Greek hero is 
 finally appeased by the sacrifice of twelve Trojan captives at 
 the funeral of Patroclus. 
 
 To redeem the body of his son, old Priam, alone and un- 
 armed, enters the Grecian camp, is well received by Achilles, 
 who melts into pity at the sight of the grief-stricken suppliant,
 
 HOMER'S ILIAD. 143 
 
 accomplishes his purpose, and returns to Troy with Hector's 
 corpse. This meeting between Achilles and Priam is counted 
 among the finest scenes. The Iliad closes with the obsequies 
 of Hector. 
 
 Achilles, the central figure of the poem, over whose grave 
 Alexander wept jealous tears, was the impersonation of youth 
 ful beauty and physical prowess. Brave, generous, passionate, 
 devoted in his friendship but awful in his implacable anger, in 
 him we are brought face to face with the ideal of Greek chiv- 
 alry. Hector, the magnanimous Trojan hero, was the type of 
 moral courage and domestic virtue. He appears as the affec- 
 tionate husband, the loving father, kind even to fallen Helen. 
 Homer has painted with exquisite touch a parting scene be- 
 tween Hector and his consort Androm'ache, possessed of ev- 
 ery wifely virtue. This passage, herewith presented, is pro- 
 nounced the most beautiful in the Iliad. 
 
 PARTING OF HECTOR AND ANDROMACHE. 
 
 " Hector left in haste 
 
 The mansion, and retraced his way between 
 The rows of stately dwellings, traversing 
 The mighty city. When at length he reached 
 The Scteaii gates, that issue on the field, 
 His spouse, the nobly dowered Andromache, 
 Came forth to meet him daughter of the prince 
 Ei-tion, who, among the woody slopes 
 Of Placos, in the Hypoplacian town 
 Of Thebe,* ruled Cilicia and her sons, 
 And gave his child to Hector great in arms. 
 She came attended by a maid, who bore 
 A tender child a babe too yonug to speak 
 Upon her bosom ; Hector's only son, 
 Beautiful as a star, whom Hector called 
 Scamandrius, but all else Astyanax, 
 The city's lord, since Hector stood the sole 
 Defence of Troy. The father on his child 
 Looked with a silent smile. Andromache 
 
 * A city southeast of Troy, situated at the base of Mount Pla'cos, and hence 
 called Hypoplacian (under Placos).
 
 144 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Pressed to his side meanwhile, and all in teara 
 Clung to his hand, and, thus beginning, said : 
 
 ' Too brave ! thy valor yet will cause thy death. 
 Thou hast no pity on thy tender child, 
 Nor me, unhappy oue, who soon must be 
 Thy widow. All the Greeks will rush on thee 
 To take thy life. A happier lot were mine, 
 If I must lose thee, to go down to earth, 
 For I shall have no hope when thou art gone, 
 Nothing but sorrow. Father have I none, 
 And no dear mother. Great Achilles slew 
 My father, when he sacked the populous town 
 Of the Ciliciaus, Thebe with high gates. 
 'Twas there ho smote Eetiou, yet forbore 
 To make his arms a spoil ; he dared not that, 
 But burned the dead \vitli his bright armor on. 
 And raised a mound above him. Mountain nymphs, 
 Daughters of segis-bearing* Jupiter, 
 Came to the spot and planted it with elms. 
 Seven brothers had J in my father's house, 
 And all went down to Hades in one day ; 
 Achilles the swift-footed slew them all 
 Anioug their slow-paced bullocks and white sheep. 
 My mother, princess on the woody slopes 
 Of Placos, with his spoils he bore away, 
 And only for large ransom gave her back. 
 But her Diana, archer-queen, struck down 
 Within her father's palace. Hector, thou 
 Art father and dear mother now to me, 
 And brother aud my youthful spouse besides. 
 In pity keep within the fortress here, 
 Nor make thy child an orphan nor thy wife 
 A widow.' 
 
 Then answered Hector,.great in war: 'All this 
 I bear in mind, dear wife ; but I should staud 
 Ashamed before the men and long-robed dames 
 Of Troy, were I to keep aloof aud shun 
 The conflict, coward-like. Not thus my heart 
 Prompts me, for greatly have I learned to dare 
 And strike among the foremost sous of Troy, 
 Upholding my great father's fame and mine ; 
 Yet well in my uudoubtiug mind I know 
 
 * The aegis was Jupiter's shield, which inspired fear, and caused darkness, 
 clouds, and storms.
 
 EXTRACT FEOM THE ILIAD. 145 
 
 The day shall come in which our sacred Troy, 
 
 Ami Priam, and the people over whom 
 
 Spear-bearing Priam rules, shall perish all. 
 
 But not the sorrows of the Trojan race, 
 
 Nor those of Hecuba* herself, nor those 
 
 Of royal Priam, nor the woes that wait 
 
 My brothers many and brave, who all at last, 
 
 Slain by the pitiless foe, shall lie in dust, 
 
 Grieve me so much as thine, when some mailed Greek 
 
 Shall lead thee weeping hence, and take from thee 
 
 Thy day of freedom. Thou in Argos then 
 
 Shalt, at another's bidding, ply the loom, 
 
 And from the fountain of Messeis draw 
 
 Water, or from the Hypereian spring, 
 
 Constrained, unwilling try thy cruel lot. 
 
 And then shall some one say who sees thee weep, 
 
 " This was the wife of Hector, most renowned 
 
 Of the horse-taming Trojans, when they fought 
 
 Around their city." So shall some one say, 
 
 And thou shalt grieve the more, lamenting him 
 
 Who haply might have kept afar the day 
 
 Of thy captivity. Oh ! let the earth 
 
 I3e heaped above my head in death, before 
 
 I hear thy cries as thou art borne away !' 
 
 So speaking, mighty Hector stretched his arms 
 To take the boy ; the boy shrank crying back 
 To his fair nurse's bosom, scared to see 
 His father helmeted in glittering brass, 
 And eying with affright the horse-hair plume 
 That grimly nodded from the lofty crest. 
 At this both parents in their fondness laughed ; 
 And hastily the mighty Hector took 
 The helmet from his brow, and laid it down 
 Gleaming upon the ground ; and, having kissed 
 His darling son and tossed him up in play, 
 Prayed thus to Jove, and all the gods of heaven : 
 
 ' O Jupiter and all ye deities, 
 Vouchsafe that this my sou may yet become 
 Among the Trojans eminent like me, 
 And nobly rule in Ilium. May they say, 
 " This man is greater than his father was !" 
 When they behold him from the battle-field 
 Bring back the bloody spoil of the slain foe, 
 That so his mother may be glad at heart.' 
 
 * His mother, Priam's wife, king of Troy.
 
 146 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 So speaking, to the arms of his dear spouse 
 He gave the boy ; she on her fragrant breast 
 Received him, weeping as she smiled. The chief 
 Beheld, and, moved with tender pity, smoothed 
 Her forehead gently with his hand and said : 
 
 ' Sorrow not thus, beloved one, for me. 
 No living man can send me to the shades 
 Before my time ; no man of woman born, 
 Coward or brave, can shun his destiny. 
 But go thou home, and tend thy labors there, 
 The web, the distaff, and command thy maids 
 To speed the work. The cares of war pertain 
 To all rneu born in Troy, and most to me.' 
 
 Thus speaking, mighty Hector took again 
 His helmet, shadowed with the horse-hair plume, 
 While homeward his beloved consort went, 
 Oft looking back and shedding many tears. 
 Soon was she in the spacious palace-halls 
 Of the man-queller Hector. There she found 
 A troop of maidens, with them all she shared 
 Her grief; and all in his own house bewailed 
 The living Hector whom they thought no more 
 To see returning from the battle-field, 
 Safe from the rage and weapons of the Greeks." 
 
 BRYAXT. 
 
 The ancients implicitly believed the story of the Iliad, but 
 modern scepticism has doubted its truth and questioned the 
 authenticity of the poem itself. The German critic Wolf and 
 others have even gone so far as to deny that any such person 
 as Homer ever existed, contending that the name means 
 simply a fitter together en -compiler, and that the great epic is a 
 mosaic of romantic legends by different rhapsodists, for years 
 kept from perishing merely by oral repetition. 
 
 Such, however, is the continuity of the narrative, the identity 
 of style, the consistency in carrying out the several characters, 
 that this theory, ingeniously as it has been urged, lacks credi- 
 bility. We see no reason to doubt that, despite a few minor 
 discrepancies, one great intellect gave birth in the main to 
 both these epics ; that whatever foundations for them may 
 have been laid in previous ballads, the glorious superstruct-
 
 THE ODYSSEY. 147 
 
 ures were reared by one master-builder. It is easier to be- 
 lieve that there was one transcendent genius, than that there 
 were half a dozen of uniform poetic power, competent to have 
 had a hand in works so glorious works displaying perfect 
 unity of design, and taste so faultless that from them, as 
 standards, have been deduced the very principles of criticism 
 and laws of epic poetry. 
 
 Besides the internal evidence of its authenticity, the histor- 
 ical facts woven into the Iliad have just received unexpected 
 confirmation in the discoveries of Dr. Schliemann, a German 
 explorer who claims to have unearthed the Ilium of Homer, 
 and to have found among its ruins gold and amber ornaments 
 once worn by King Priam. 
 
 Plan of the Odyssey. In the Odyssey, divided like the Iliad 
 into twenty-four books, Homer has immortalized the story of 
 the return- voyage of Ulysses (Odysseus in Greek) from Troy 
 to Ithaca. After a series of remarkable adventures and hair- 
 breadth escapes, the hero is cast on the lovely island of the 
 sea-nymph Calypso, who, becoming enamored of him, detains 
 him for seven years. During this time, a number of insolent 
 suitors force themselves upon Ulysses' faithful wife Penelope, 
 take up their residence at her court, and there lead a riotous 
 life, hoping that the queen will bestow her hand on one of 
 them and thus make him lord of Ithaca. They even plan the 
 murder of her son Telem'achus. 
 
 Admonished by Jupiter, Calypso reluctantly allows Ulysses 
 to depart, and he finally reaches Ithaca in safety. Disguised 
 as a beggar, he enters his palace after an absence of twenty 
 years, to endure the insults of the suitors, but to concert with 
 his son for their overthrow. 
 
 On the following day, a great festival is held, and Penelope 
 agrees to give her hand to him who shall send an arrow from 
 Ulysses' bow through a row of twelve rings. The suitors try 
 in turn without success ; but the beggar, obtaining possession
 
 148 GRECIAN LITEEATUEE. 
 
 of the bow, draws the shaft to its head and accomplishes the 
 feat. Then turning on the trembling suitors, he showers his 
 arrows among them, and none escape. The true - hearted 
 Penelope is restored to him whom she had wept as lost,' and 
 husband and wife sit down together to talk over the sorrows 
 of the past 
 
 " She told him of the scorn and wrong 
 
 She long had suffered in her house, 
 From the detested suitor throng, 
 
 Each wooing her to be his spouse ; 
 How, for their feasts, her sheep and kine 
 Were slaughtered, while they quaffed her wine 
 
 In plentiful carouse. 
 
 And he, the nohle wanderer, spoke 
 
 Of many a deed of peril sore, 
 Of men who fell beneath his stroke, 
 
 Of all the sorrowing tasks he bore. 
 She listened with delighted ear ; 
 Sleep never came her eyelids near, 
 
 Till all the tale was o'er." 
 
 Ulysses next discovers himself to his father; and they two, 
 with their friends, succeed in putting down the adherents of 
 the suitors and restoring peace to the kingdom. 
 
 Among the most beautiful passages of the Odyssey is that 
 in wliich the poet introduces us to the happy household of 
 Alcinoiis, king of an island on which Ulysses was thrown. 
 Charming is the simple sketch he gives of the unaffected 
 princess of this isle, just before her marriage, driving her 
 maidens to the river in her father's chariot, to wash the robes 
 of state, lunch, and disport upon the bank while the clothes 
 are drying. The royal mother superintends the weaving, the 
 royal daughter the washing. We quote Homer's description 
 of the 
 
 PALACE AND GARDEN OF ALCINOUS. 
 
 " Ulysses, then, toward the palace moved 
 Of King Alcinoiis, but immersed in thought 
 Stood first and paused, ere with his foot he pressed
 
 EXTRACT FKOM THE ODYSSEY. 149 
 
 The brazen threshold ; for a light he saw, 
 As of the sun or moon, illuming clear 
 The palace of Phseacia's mighty king. 
 
 Walls plated bright with brass on either side 
 Stretched from the portal to the interior house, 
 With azure cornice crowned ; the doors were gold, 
 Which shut the palace fast ; silver the posts 
 Reared on a brazen threshold, and above, 
 The lintels, silver architraved with gold. 
 Mastiffs, in gold and silver, lined the approach 
 On either side, by art celestial framed 
 Of Vulcan, guardians of Alcinoiis' gate 
 Forever, unobnoxious to decay. 
 Sheer from the threshold to the inner honse 
 Fixed thrones the walls, through all their length, adorned, 
 With mantles overspread of subtlest warp 
 Transparent, work of many a female hand. 
 On these the princes of Phseacia sat, 
 Holding perpetual feasts, while golden youths 
 On all the sumptuous altars stood, their hands 
 With burning torches charged, which, night by night, 
 Shed radiance over all the festive throng. 
 
 Full fifty female menials served the king 
 In household offices ; the rapid mills 
 These turning, pulverize the mellowed grain ; 
 Those, seated orderly, the purple fleece 
 Wind off, or ply the loom, restless as leaves 
 Of lofty poplars fluttering in the breeze ; 
 Bright as with oil the new-wrought texture shone. 
 
 Without the court, and to the gates adjoined, 
 A spacious garden lay, fenced all around 
 Secure, four acres measuring complete. 
 There grew luxuriant many a lofty tree, 
 Pomegranate, pear, the apple blushing bright, 
 The honeyed fig, and unctuous olive smooth. 
 Those fruits nor winter's cold nor summer's heat 
 Fear ever, fail not, wither not, but hang 
 Perennial, whose unceasing zephyr breathes 
 Gently on all, enlarging these, and those 
 Maturing genial ; in an endless course 
 Pears after pears to full dimensions swell, 
 Figs follow figs, grapes clustering grow again 
 Where clusters grew, and (every apple stripped) 
 The boughs soon tempt the gatherer as before. 
 
 There too, well-rooted, and of fruit profuse, 
 His vineyard grows ; part, wide-extended, basks 
 In the sun's beams ; the arid level glows ;
 
 150 GKECIAN LITEKATUKE. 
 
 In part they gather, and in part they tread 
 
 The wine-press, while, before the eye, the grapes 
 
 Here put their blossom forth, there gather fast 
 
 Their blackness. On the garden's verge extreme 
 
 Flowers of all hues smile all the year, arranged 
 
 With neatest art judicious, and amid 
 
 The lovely scene two fountains welling forth, 
 
 One visits, into every part diffused, 
 
 The garden ground, the other soft beneath 
 
 The threshold steals into the palace court, 
 
 Whence every citizen his vase supplies. 
 
 Such were the ample blessings on the house 
 Of King Alcmoiis by the gods bestowed." COWPEK. 
 
 Minor Poems of Homer. The Iliad and the Odyssey are the 
 only authentic productions of Homer. To their author, how- 
 ever, have been attributed about thirty hymns and several 
 minor poems, which have little claim to so distinguished an 
 origin. Of these, " the Margites," a satire on a blockhead 
 who knew much " but everything knew ill," was probably 
 the work of some clever Athenian in an age when epic poe- 
 try was a thing of the past ; the poem is no longer extant. 
 
 " The Battle of the Frogs and Mice," a mock heroic of com- 
 paratively modern birth, is still preserved and appreciated. 
 It is a witty burlesque on the Iliad (perhaps the earliest bur- 
 lesque extant), written in a bold and flowing style. The plot 
 is brief. A mouse, Crumb-snatcher, son of the Mice-king, fly- 
 ing from an enemy, reaches a pool over which a courteous 
 frog, Puff-cheek, undertakes to carry him. But during the 
 passage a water-snake appears ; the frightened frog dives to 
 escape his foe, and thoughtlessly leaves his newly-made friend 
 to drown. The mice gather to avenge the loss of their prince; 
 a great battle ensues, and but for the interference of Jupiter 
 the frogs would have been annihilated. 
 
 The so-called HOMERIC HYMNS, which the ancients believed 
 to be the work of Homer, if somewhat inferior in age to the 
 Iliad and Odyssey, are undoubtedly older than the pieces 
 named above. Those addressed to Apollo, Mercury, Venus,
 
 THE HOMERIC HYMNS. 151 
 
 and Ceres, the finest in the collection, are regular poems of 
 some length; the others are simple eulogies or brief preludes 
 to longer pieces. The Hymn to Venus has a tenderness and 
 warmth not unworthy of Homer. The one in honor of Ceres 
 relates the abduction of her daughter Pros'erpine by Pluto, 
 king of the lower world, the mother's search for the stolen 
 maiden, her anger on discovering the ravisher, and the final 
 arrangement that the goddess shall enjoy the society of her 
 daughter during two-thirds of the year. As a favorable speci- 
 men of its style, we cite the lines that follow : 
 
 THE ABDUCTION OF PROSERPINE. 
 
 " In Nysia's vale, with nymphs a lovely train, 
 Sprung from the hoary father of the main, 
 Fair Proserpine consumed the fleeting hours 
 In pleasing sports, and plucked the gaudy flowers. 
 
 Around them wide the flamy crocus glows, 
 Through leaves of verdure blooms the opening rose ; 
 The hyacinth declines his fragrant head, 
 And purple violets decklh' enamelled mead. 
 The fair Narcissus far above the rest, 
 By magic formed, in beauty rose confessed. 
 So Jove, t' ensnare the virgin's thoughtless mind, 
 And please the ruler of the shades, designed. 
 
 He caused it from the opening earth to rise, 
 Sweet to the scent, alluring to the eyes. 
 Never did mortal or celestial power 
 Behold such vivid tints adorn a flower. 
 From the deep root a hundred branches sprung, 
 And to the winds ambrosial odors flung ; 
 Which, lightly wafted on the wings of air, 
 The gladdened earth and heaven's wide circuit share. 
 The joy-dispensing fragrance spreads around, 
 And ocean's briny swell with smiles is crowned. 
 
 Pleased at the sight, nor deeming danger nigh, 
 The fair beheld it with desiring eye : 
 Her eager hand she stretched to seize the flower, 
 (Beauteous illusion of the ethereal power!) 
 When, dreadful to behold, the rocking ground 
 Disparted widely yawned a gulf profound ! 
 Forth rushing from the black abyss, arose 
 The gloomy monarch of the realm of woes,
 
 152 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Pluto, from Saturn sprung. The trembling maid 
 He seized, and to bis golden car conveyed. 
 Borne by immortal steeds the chariot flies : 
 And thus she pours her supplicating cries : 
 
 ' Assist, protect me, thou Avho reign'st above, 
 Supreme and best of gods, paternal Jove !' 
 But ah ! in vain the hapless virgin rears 
 Her wild complaint : nor god nor mortal hears ! 
 Not to the white-armed nymphs with beauty crowned, 
 Her loved companions, reached the mournful sound." 
 
 HOLE. 
 
 There are also various fragments styled Homeric, supposed 
 to have been dropped from the poet's genuine or spurious 
 works. Among these is the beautiful couplet quoted by 
 Plato : 
 
 " Asked and unasked, thy blessings give, O Lord ! 
 The evil, though we ask it, from us ward." 
 
 Cyclic Poets. After the death of Homer, a host of imitators 
 sprung up in Greece and Asia Minor. Rhapsodists by pro- 
 fession, as they wandered among the Grecian cities reciting 
 the Homeric poems, their attention was naturally directed to 
 epic composition, and they sought to supply in verse like Ho- 
 mer's what the Iliad and Odyssey had left untold. Confining 
 themselves to the Cycle (circle) of the Trojan War, they were 
 called Cyc'lic poets. 
 
 One bard sung of the preparations made by the Grecian 
 chiefs and the events of the war prior to Achilles' withdrawal ; 
 two others took up the narrative where the Iliad left it, and 
 described the sack of Troy ; a fourth celebrated the return 
 voyages of the Greek heroes; a fifth supplemented the Odys- 
 sey with the later history of Ulysses. Fragments only of 
 these Cyclic epics survive. 
 
 HESIOD AND HIS WORKS. 
 
 Hesiod. Homer was an Ionian of Asia Minor. Shortly 
 after his time, or, as some think, contemporaneously with him, 
 a new school of epic poetry appeared in the mother-country.
 
 HESIOI AND HIS WORKS. 153 
 
 Its founder was Hesiod, who, like Homer, wrote in the Ionic 
 dialect. 
 
 Hesiod was born at Ascra in Boeotia, and brought up in the 
 midst of rural life at the base of Mount Helicon. Here first 
 he held free converse with the Muses. On his father's death, 
 he was defrauded of his portion of the estate by his younger 
 brother Perses, who bribed the judges charged with making 
 the division. Hesiod felt the wrong keenly, yet seems to have 
 regarded his unnatural brother with fraternal interest ; for one 
 object of his poem entitled "Works and Days," was to reclaim 
 Perses from dissolute improvidence and incite him to a life of 
 industry. 
 
 The first portion of this work i3 devoted to moral lessons ; 
 some in a proverbial form, and others illustrated by narratives 
 and fables. The latter part contains practical directions for 
 the husbandman, and also treats of the art of navigation, im- 
 portant to the Boeotian farmer because much of his produce 
 was shipped to other countries. The whole abounds in ex- 
 cellent precepts for every-day life, and forms the earliest spec- 
 imen of didactic poetry among the Greeks. For ages its lines 
 were committed to memory and recited as part of the course 
 of ethics in their schools. 
 
 FROM HESIOD'S WORKS AND DAYS. 
 EIGHT AND WRONG, 
 
 " Wrong, if he yield to its abhorred control, 
 Shall pierce like iron to the poor man's soul : 
 Wrong weighs the rich man's conscience to the dust, 
 When his foot stumbles on the way unjust. 
 Far different is the path, a path of light, 
 That guides the feet to equitable right : 
 The end of righteousness, enduring long, 
 Exceeds the short prosperity of wrong. 
 The fool by suffering his experience buys ; 
 The penalty of folly makes him wise. 
 But they who never from the right have strayed, 
 Who as the citizen the stranger aid, 
 
 G
 
 154 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 They and their cities flourish : genial Peace 
 
 Dwells in their borders ; and their youth increase : 
 
 Nor Jove, whose radiant eyes behold afar, 
 
 Hangs forth in heaven the signs of grievous war. 
 
 Nor scathe nor famine on the righteous prey ; 
 
 Feasts, strewn by earth, employ their easy day : 
 
 Rich are their mountain oaks ; the topmost trees 
 
 With clustering acorns full, the trunks with hiving bees. 
 
 Still flourish they, nor tempt with ships the main ; 
 
 The fruits of earth are poured from every plain. 
 
 But o'er the Avicked race, to whom belong 
 The thought of evil, and the deed of wrong, 
 Saturniau Jove, of wide beholding eyes, 
 Bids the dark signs of retribution rise. 
 The god sends down his angry plagues from high, 
 Famine and pestilence : in heaps they die. 
 Again, in vengeance of his wrath he falls 
 Oil their great hosts, and breaks their tottering walls ; 
 Arrests their navies on the ocean's plain, 
 And whelms their strength with mountains of the main." 
 
 ELTON. 
 
 SOME OF IIESIOD'S PROVERBS. 
 
 "Than wife that's good man finds no greater gain, 
 But feast-frequenting mates are simply bane. 
 
 Invisible, the gods are ever nigh. 
 
 Senseless is he who dares with power contend. 
 
 Know then this awful truth : it is not given 
 To elude the wisdom of omniscient Heaven. 
 
 Toil, and the slothful man shall envy thee. 
 
 The more children, the more cares. 
 
 Sometimes a day is a step-mother, sometimes a mother. 
 
 Whoever forgeth for another ill, 
 With it himself is overtaken still. 
 
 The procrastinator has ever to contend with loss. 
 
 The idler never shall his garners fill. 
 
 The lips of moderate speech with grace are hung. 
 
 When on your home falls unforeseen distress, 
 Half-clothed come neighbors ; kinsmen stay to dress. 
 
 Justice is a virgin pure. 
 
 The road to vice is broad and easy ; that of virtue, difficult, long, 
 and steep.
 
 HESIOD'S POETRY. 155 
 
 Fools ! not to know how better for the soul, 
 Au honest half than an ill-gotten whole. 
 
 Oh! gorged with gold, ye kingly judges hear! 
 
 Make straight your paths ; your crooked judgments fear. 
 
 How richer he who dines on herbs with health 
 
 Of heart, than knaves with all their wines and wealth. 
 
 He who nor knows himself, nor will take rule 
 From those who do, is either knave or fool." 
 
 Next in importance to the " Works and Days " is " the The- 
 ogony," devoted to the genealogy and history of the Grecian 
 gods, thirty thousand in number. Whatever interest this poem 
 may have possessed for the believer in the Greek mythology, 
 to the reader of the present day it is for the most part tedious, 
 though relieved by occasional grand descriptions of battles 
 between the celestial personages. "The Shield of Hercules" 
 also bears the name of Hesiod ; and of works ascribed to him, 
 but not now extant, there are about a dozen. 
 
 Hesiod mentions a poetical contest between himself and 
 another, which took place at the funeral of Amphid'amas, king 
 of Eubcea, and in which he obtained a tripod as a prize. Tra- 
 dition mentions Homer as his competitor on that occasion, 
 and even gives the inscription placed on the tripod by the 
 
 victor : 
 
 " This Hesiod vows to th' Heliconian Nine, 
 In Chalcis won, from Homer the divine." 
 
 But this part of the story rests on insufficient evidence. 
 
 Hesiod is said to have been slain, during a visit to the Lo- 
 crian town of CEnoe, by two brothers, in revenge for an insult 
 offered to their sister by Hesiod's companion, which caused 
 her to destroy herself. The poet's body, thrown into the sea, 
 was brought to shore by his dog, or as some say by dolphins. 
 Thereupon the indignant people put the murderers to death 
 and razed their dwellings to the ground an incident which 
 shows the sacredness attached to the vocation of the bard in 
 those early times.
 
 156 
 
 AGE OF EPIC POETRY. 
 
 Though Hesiod ranks far below Homer, and indeed is often 
 commonplace, yet at times his style exhibits enthusiasm and 
 even rises to sublimity. We must respect him for the pure 
 morality of his teachings. 
 
 POETS OF THE EPIC CYCLE. 
 
 ABCTI'NUS OF MILE'TUS. 
 
 His poem of 9,100 verses had Mem- 
 non, an Ethiopian chief, for its hero. 
 It treated of the part taken in the 
 Trojan War by the Amazons, who ar- 
 rived after Hector's funeral; the death 
 of their queen, Penthesile'a, at the 
 hand of Achilles ; the fall of Achilles 
 himself; and the sack of Troy. 
 
 LES'CHES OF MYTILE'NE. 
 
 Author of the Little Iliad, a supple- 
 ment to the greater work of that 
 name ; it took up the narrative 
 where Homer leaves off, and carried 
 it to the fall of Troy. 
 
 STASI'NUS OF CYPRUS. 
 
 Wrote the Cypria, in eleven books, 
 narrating the events that preceded 
 the Trojan War, and the incidents of 
 the first nine years of the siege. 
 
 A'GIAS THE TRCEZENIAN. 
 
 His epic in five books, called Nostoi 
 (the Returns), was descriptive of the 
 home-voyages of the Greek heroes. 
 
 EC'GAMON OF CYRE'XE. 
 
 The Telegonia, a continuation of the 
 Odyssey to the death of Ulysses, who 
 falls by the hand of Teleg'onus, his 
 son bv Cir'ce. 
 
 NOTES ON GREEK WRITING, ETC. 
 
 The language of epic poetry perhaps once the common tongue of the people, 
 and merely elaborated by the bards. The art of writing, old in Greece ; while 
 there is no positive evidence of its being known before 800 B.C., the historian 
 Herodotus (450 B.C.) speaks as if it had been familiar to his countrymen for 
 hundreds of years. Homer's epics, though by some thought to have been handed 
 down by oral repetition, probably written on metallic or wooden tablets by their 
 author. Hesiod's works originally committed to leaden tables and deposited in 
 the temple of the Boeotian Muses. 
 
 Greek papyrus-factories on the Nile, 650 B.C. Writing first extensively used 
 by priests and bards, particularly at the temple of Delphi.
 
 EARLY LTKIC POETRY OP GREECE. 157 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 LYRIC POETRY. 
 
 Rise of Lyric Poetry. For more than two hundred years 
 after Homer and Hesiod, no one worthy of the name of poet 
 appeared in Greece. Greek genius seemed to have exhausted 
 itself. A few feeble imitators of the great master, and epic 
 poetry was no more. The spirit of the Iliad and the Odyssey 
 died with the monarchies whose chieftains they immortalized. 
 When popular governments arose, the bard no longer cele- 
 brated the gods and demigods of the past, or traced the gene- 
 alogies of kings, but sung the glories of his country, or poured 
 forth without restraint the emotions of his soul. Thus lyric 
 poetry was the child of liberty. 
 
 Varieties. At the beginning of the seventh century B.C., 
 there was a new birth of poesy; Grecian song burst forth 
 once more, from hearts throbbing with enthusiasm at the tri- 
 umph of free institutions. Solemn dirges and stately hymns 
 chanted by olive-crowned youth bearing offerings to the gods, 
 were no longer paramount; ballads full of human feeling, 
 lyrics appealing directly to the people to the patriot, the 
 artisan, the shepherd, the lover, the pleasure-seeker struck 
 chords that vibrated in many hearts. Feasts afforded fre- 
 quent occasions for outbursts of national feeling, it being the 
 custom of the guests to pass a branch of myrtle from hand to 
 hand, each as he received it repeating an appropriate verse. 
 
 A favorite banquet-song of the fifth century E.G. was the 
 following eulogy of Harmo'dius and Aristogi'ton, the Athenian 
 heroes who slew the tyrant Hipparchus :
 
 158 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 " la a wreath of myrtle I'll wear my glaive, 
 Like Harmodius and Aristogi'ton brave, 
 
 Who striking the tyrant down, 
 
 Made Athens a freeman's town. 
 Harmodius, our darling, thou art not dead! 
 Thou liv'st in the isles of the blest, 'tis said, 
 
 With Achilles first in speed, 
 
 And Tydi'des Diomede. 
 
 In a wreath of myrtle I'll wear my glaive, 
 Like Harmodius and Aristogiton brave, 
 
 When the twain on Athena's day 
 
 Did the tyrant Hipparchus slay. 
 For aye shall your fame in the laud be told. 
 Harmodius and Aristogiton bold, 
 
 Who, striking the tyrant down, 
 
 Made Athens a freeman's town." 
 
 PROF. CONINGTON. 
 
 The flower-songs of the Greeks were especially beautiful ; 
 children enjoyed their nursery rhymes ; while in the Lay of 
 the Swallow, the penniless bard, chanting at the gate, sought 
 an avenue to the charity of his rich neighbor. 
 
 FEOM THE LAY OF THE SWALLOW. 
 
 " The swallow is here, the swallow is here, 
 She comes to proclaim the reviving year ; 
 With her jet-black hood, and her milk-white breast, 
 She is come, she is come, at our behest, 
 The harbinger of the beautiful spring, 
 To claim your generous offering. 
 Let your bountiful door its wealth outpour, 
 What is little to you is to us great store ; 
 A bunch of dry figs, and a savory crnse 
 Of pottage the swallow will not refuse ; 
 With a basket of cheese and a barley cake, 
 And a cup of red wine our thirst to slake." MURE. 
 
 The creations of the lyric muse are graceful, touching, and 
 true to nature. We regret not to exchange the sublime heights 
 of epic poetry for an humbler field in which we may commune 
 with the joys and sorrows, the hopes and fears, of humanity. 
 Here, as Tegner says, Greek poetry arises " slender, smooth,
 
 ELEGIAC POETRY. 159 
 
 erect like the palm-tree with its rich yet symmetrical crown ; 
 and a nightingale sits among the leaves and sings." 
 
 THE ELEGY. 
 
 The lonians, first to free themselves from kingly rule, gave 
 to the Hellenic world the earliest forms of lyric poetry, the 
 elegiac couplet and the lighter iambic verse appropriate to 
 satire. These twin-born metres, of Ionian parentage, grew up 
 side by side in Greece. In the elegiac couplet, a dactylic line 
 of five feet or their equivalent followed the sonorous hexam- 
 eter,* constituting a livelier measure than the old heroic verse, 
 which consisted of hexameters alone. 
 
 The Greek elegy was not necessarily plaintive ; on the con- 
 trary, it did good service in rousing to action in time oi war, 
 and gave fitting expression to the spirit of the banquet-hall. 
 
 Callinus. The inventor of this metre was Calli'nus of 
 Eph'esus, in Ionia, who flourished between 730 and 678 B.C. 
 He attempted by it to excite his countrymen against a horde 
 of barbarian invaders ; but the people were too much ener- 
 vated by intercourse with the effeminate nations of Asia to 
 respond to his thrilling strains. 
 
 The following is a fragment of Callinus, perhaps the oldest 
 war-elegy in existence : 
 
 " How long will ye slumber? When will ye take heart, 
 
 And fear the reproach of your neighbors at hand ? 
 Fy ! comrades, to think ye have peace for your part, 
 
 Whilst the sword and the arrow are wasting our land ! 
 Shame ! grasp the shield close ! cover well the bold breast ! 
 
 Aloft raise the spear as ye march on the foe ! 
 With no thought of retreat, with no terror confessed, 
 
 Hurl your last dart in dying, or strike your last blow I 
 
 * The following lines, with their long and short syllables distinguished and 
 arranged as in the dactylic hexameter and pentameter, will give an idea of the 
 cadence of the elegiac couplet : 
 
 "Give me s5me | more," says the" | miserly | man, though as | rich as a | Croesus; 
 Never ejnough In his ] store, j| If he can | get any | more.
 
 160 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Oh ! 'tis noble and glorious to fight for our all 
 
 For our country, our children, the wife of our love ! 
 Death comes not the sooner ! no soldier shall fall 
 
 Ere his thread is spun out by the sisters above. 
 Once to die is man's doom ; rush, rush to the fight ! 
 
 He cannot escape, though his blood were Jove's own ; 
 For a while let him cheat the shrill arrow by flight : 
 
 Fate will catch him at last in his chamber aloue. 
 Uulamented he dies unregretted? not so, 
 
 When, the tower of his country, in death falls the brave ; 
 Thrice hallowed his name amongst all, high or low, 
 
 As with blessings alive, so with tears in the grave." 
 
 H. N. COLERIDGE. 
 
 Tyrtseus. Another proficient in this variety of elegy was 
 Tyrtaeus, supposed to have been born in the Attic town of 
 Aphidnae. He led the Spartans in the Second Messenian 
 War (685-668 B.C.), they having, by the direction of an 
 oracle, sent to Athens for a general, to secure the success 
 which had before been denied them. The story is that the 
 jealous Athenians despatched to their neighbors a deformed 
 schoolmaster, the cripple Tyrtaeus, in the belief that his ser- 
 vices would be of little value ; but they mistook. The great- 
 est military genius could not have accomplished more; for 
 Tyrtaeus, by his wise counsels and inspiriting war-songs, made 
 his soldiers invincible. Messenia fell, and her citizens be- 
 came slaves to the Spartans. Nor, afterward, was the poetry 
 of Tyrtaeus less efficacious in quelling civil dissensions and 
 establishing domestic peace. In every respect, "the Muse 
 of Sparta," as he was called, proved to be to his adopted 
 country the blessing promised by the oracle. 
 
 Tyrtasus is said to have invented the trumpet, and intro- 
 duced it as a companion to the flute, then the chief instrument 
 in use. Some have interpreted the lameness of the bard as 
 signifying his limping measure, the second line of the elegiac 
 couplet being, as we have seen, a foot shorter than the first. 
 
 Of the many productions of Tyrtasus, consisting of march- 
 ing-songs, as well as warlike and. political elegies, only a few
 
 ELEGIAC POETKY. TYKT^US. 161 
 
 fragments survive. His poems, characterized by terseness 
 and impassioned power, were long popular among the Spar- 
 tans, who, on a campaign, were wont to recite them after each 
 evening meal to kindle afresh their martial fire. 
 
 BATTLE-HYMN OF TYRT^US. 
 
 " Onr country's voice invites the bravo 
 
 The glorious toils of war to try ; 
 Cursed be the coward, or the slave, 
 Who shuns the fight, who fears to die. 
 
 Obedient to the high command, 
 
 Full fraught with patriotic fire, 
 Descends a small but trusty band, 
 
 And scarce restrains the impatient ire. 
 
 Behold ! the hostile crowds advance ; 
 
 Unyielding, we their might oppose; 
 With helm to helm, and lance to lance, 
 
 In awful pomp we meet our foes. 
 
 Uuawed by fear, untaught to yield, 
 
 We boldly tread the ensanguined plain ; 
 And scorn to quit the martial field, 
 
 Though drenched in blood, .though heaped with slain. 
 
 For, though stern Death assail the brave, 
 
 His virtues endless life shall claim ; 
 His fame shall mock the invidious grave, 
 
 To times unborn a sacred name." LOWTH. 
 
 THE SATIKE. 
 
 Archilochus of Pa'ros (728-660 B.C.) was the first great 
 satirist, the inventor of that rapid, loosely-constructed iambic 
 measure so admirably adapted to his withering lampoons. 
 The son of a slave-woman, Archil'ochus was treated with in- 
 dignity in his native island ; so bidding adieu to " the figs and 
 fishy life " of Paros in early youth, he sailed with a colony to 
 Tha'sos in the northern ^Egean. His new home, however, 
 disappointed his expectations ; its gold-mines yielded not the 
 fortune he had dreamed of, and he denounced it as " the sink 
 
 G2
 
 162 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 of all Hellenic ills." The colonists becoming engaged in war 
 with a neighboring people, a pitched battle proved too severe 
 an ordeal for the poet's courage, and dropping his shield he 
 fled. 
 
 Perhaps it was for this cowardly action, perhaps on account 
 of his empty purse, that when he returned to Paros, one of its 
 fair daughters, who had been his boyhood's love, refused him 
 her hand. Her father, also, denied his suit ; whereupon the 
 furious poet poured forth in stinging verses such a torrent of 
 violent invective upon the girl and her whole family, that she, 
 her father, and her sisters, are said to have taken refuge from 
 his scurrilous attacks in suicide. 
 
 The public odium thus excited drove Archilochus from Pa- 
 ros. But the brand of cowardice was upon him. The Spar- 
 tans, whose mothers, pointing to the battle-field, were wont to 
 say " Return with your shields or upon them," disdained the 
 man who could write, 
 
 " That shield some Saian decks, which, 'gainst my grain, 
 
 I left fair, flawless shield beside the wood. 
 Well, let it go ! I and my pnrse remain : 
 
 To-morrow's bull-skin may be just as good." 
 
 Insult met him at every step, till a poetical victory at the 
 Olympic Games restored him to popular favor. He went 
 back to Paros, an old man, to redeem his reputation as a sol- 
 dier by dying in battle with the Naxians. Then all Greece 
 awoke to the greatness of his genius ; and the prediction of 
 an oracle before his birth, that he would be " immortal among 
 men in the glory of his song," was fulfilled. 
 
 Fertility of invention, and an intimate acquaintance with 
 human nature, were conspicuous in the poetry of Archilochus. 
 Elegies and love-songs flowed from his pen, and his philosophi- 
 cal poetry gained for him from Plato the epithet of "Wisest;" 
 but it was in satire that classical writers conceded to him the 
 highest rank. Archilochus likens himself to a hedgehog bris-
 
 SATIRIC POETRY. ARCHILOCHUS. 103 
 
 tling with quills, whose " one great resource is worth all the 
 devices of more powerful animals." From his birthplace, ill- 
 natured satire has been called Parian verse. 
 
 So little remains of the writings of this author that we can 
 hardly decide whether his countrymen judged aright in reck- 
 oning him second only to Homer. The two represented dis- 
 tinct departments of poetry ; each in his own, it was claimed, 
 fell little short of perfection. Where Homer praised, Archil- 
 ochus reviled. Their birthdays were celebrated in one grand 
 festival, and a single double-faced statue perpetuated the mem- 
 ory of the Epic Poet and the Parian Satirist. 
 
 ARCHILOCHUS TO HIS SOUL. 
 
 " My soul, my soul, by cares past all relief 
 Distracted sore, bear up! with inanly breast 
 And dauntless mien, each fresh assault of grief 
 Encountering. By hostile weapons pressed, 
 Stand firm. Let no unlooked-for triumph move 
 To empty exultation, no defeat 
 Cast down. But still let moderation prove 
 Of life's uncertain cup the bitter and the sweet." 
 
 MURE. 
 
 Greek satire had other representatives, whose names will 
 be found at the end of this chapter ; but their genius was 
 of a lower grade. * 
 
 AND DOEIC SCHOOLS. 
 
 Lyric poetry was the peculiar province of the ^olian and 
 Dorian Greeks, who carried it to perfection. The ^Eolic writ- 
 ers were replete with intense passion, and employed lively me- 
 tres of simple structure. The Dorian lyric, intended to be sung 
 by choruses or to choral dances on great occasions, funerals, 
 marriages, or public festivals, was a much more majestic, but 
 at the same time a more intricate and artificial composition. 
 The most distinguished composers of the yolic School were 
 Alcaeus and Sappho ; of the Doric, Simonides and Pindar.
 
 164 GEECIAN LITEKATUKE. 
 
 Alcseus flourished in the latter part of the seventh century 
 B.C. He was a noble of Lesbos, and lived in the stirring times 
 when the constitutional and the aristocratic party contended 
 for the sovereignty. In this struggle Alcaeus appears as the 
 deadly foe of democratic rule ; when his friend Pittacus was 
 clothed with supreme authority by the people, Alcaeus directed 
 against him the keenest shafts of his satire. Pittacus defeated 
 him in an attempt to overthrow the government, but gener- 
 ously spared his life, saying, " Forgiveness is better than re- 
 venge." Of the poet's subsequent career we are ignorant. 
 
 The ancients were loud in their praises of Alcaeus. His 
 poems were polished, full of vehemence and passion, sublime 
 in their denunciations of tyranny and encomiums of freedom. 
 Love and wine were two of his favorite topics ; yet even his 
 jovial pieces were pervaded by a loftiness of sentiment foreign 
 to mere sensual songs. Among his most beautiful composi- 
 tions were the odes to Sappho, whose love he once sought, but 
 whose genius soared to greater heights than his. We take 
 from Alcaeus 
 
 THE CONSTITUTION OF A STATE. 
 
 " What constitutes a state ? 
 Not high-raised battlement or labored mound, 
 
 Thick wall or moated gate ; 
 Not cities fair, with spires and turrets crowned : 
 
 No : Men, high-minded men, 
 With powers as far above dull brutes endued, 
 
 In forest, brake, or den, 
 As beasts excel cold rocks and brambles rude 
 
 Men who their duties know, 
 Know too their rights, and knowing, dare maintain j 
 
 Prevent the long-aimed blow, 
 And crush the tyrant, while they rend the chain." 
 
 SIR WILLIAM JONES. 
 
 The Lesbian Poetesses. Lesbos was the centre of lyric 
 song. To its shores, the waves of ocean are fabled to have 
 borne the lyre of Orpheus, which the people hung in Apollo's
 
 THE LESBIAN POETESSES. 165 
 
 temple : thus traditionally distinguished by fate, it became 
 renowned as the home of Grecian poetesses. 
 
 The Lesbian women were not confined to domestic duties, 
 but were allowed to take part in public affairs. They founded 
 societies for the cultivation of their literary tastes, and before 
 all Greece vindicated the genius of their sex. And Lesbos 
 was the very clime for poetry to ripen in. The love of the 
 beautiful was fed on every side. The island was a paradise 
 of groves and rivulets, of blossoms and perfumes. Among its 
 olive-clad hills, at its fountains set in violets and fringed with 
 fern, under its stately pines, and in its temples shining with 
 ivory and gold, its poetesses received their inspiration. 
 
 Sappho. Greatest of these, and queen of her sex in intel- 
 lectual endowments, was Sappho, " the Lesbian Nightingale," 
 "spotless, sweetly-smiling, violet-wreathed," as Alcaeus fondly 
 described her, whom all Greece knew as The Poetess. 
 
 In her history it is difficult to separate the true from the 
 fabulous. Born at Mytile'ne, the capital of the island, in the 
 latter part of the seventh century B.C., she was deprived of a 
 mother's care at the age of six. In early womanhood, a new 
 calamity befell her in the loss of her husband, and thenceforth 
 she devoted her genius to letters, making the elevation of her 
 countrywomen the great object of her life. Her reputation 
 soon spread throughout Greece. Mytilene became the seat 
 of a brilliant sisterhood eager in the study of the polished 
 arts; sparkling conversation enlivened its meetings; music and 
 poetry were the branches its members specially cultivated ; 
 love was the common subject of their verse; their lives were 
 above reproach. In the centre of this constellation of gifted 
 women blazed Sappho, " Star of Lesbian Song." Greece, cap- 
 tivated by her sweet numbers, accorded her a place by Ho- 
 mer's side then raised her to the level of its goddesses as 
 "the Tenth Muse." 
 
 Ancient story made Sappho the victim of disappointed love.
 
 166 
 
 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Overcome with passion for Pha'on, a beautiful Mytilenean 
 youth notorious for his heart-breaking propensities, and find- 
 ing Phaon indifferent to her advances, she is said to have 
 thrown herself from the Leuca'dian promontory* and drowned 
 her passion in the Ionian Sea. There is, however, no evidence 
 
 TIIE LOVEE'S LEAP. 
 
 * The Leucadian promontory projects from the southern shore of the island of 
 Leucadia, off the coast of Acarnania (see Map, p. 132). On the bluff stood a tem- 
 ple of Apollo, to whom, in very ancient times, human sacrifices were yearly of- 
 fered, a victim being hurled from the rock into the sea below. The priests some-
 
 SAPPHO AND HER STYLE. 167 
 
 to support the story ; on the contrary, the poetess seems to 
 have been implicated with Alcaeus in a conspiracy against 
 Pittacus, who then ruled in Lesbos, and to have been banished 
 in consequence. She is thought to have found an asylum in 
 Sicily. 
 
 SAPPHO'S STYLE. Simplicity, tenderness, concentrated pas- 
 sion, and brilliancy of description, are characteristic of Sap- 
 pho's verse.. Her poetry is the very language of harmony ; 
 no more musical measures than hers were known to the 
 Greeks. Her favorite stanza, an invention of her own, con- 
 sisted of four lines with a cadence like the following : 
 
 Tenderest mistress | of the -heart's emotion, 
 Over whom love sweeps | as the mighty ocean, 
 Unto thee pour we | all our soul's devotion, 
 Glorious Sappho ! 
 
 In depicting love, Sappho is unmatched. Her utterances, 
 indeed, were so intense as to be misconstrued by the sensual 
 Greeks of a later day, and give rise to reports injurious to her 
 good name ; or possibly she may have been confounded with 
 another Sappho, of a different character; but we have no doubt 
 that her life was as pure as her poetry is charming. Her 
 imagery, when imagery she used, Sappho gathered from the 
 
 times took the place of these unfortunates, but on such occasions carefully avoided 
 danger by fastening to their persons flocks of live birds, the flapping of whose 
 pinions during the descent broke their fall. This rite was gradually modified; 
 and at one time we find the leap from the cliff used as an ordeal to test the guilt 
 of suspected persons. 
 
 In Sappho's day it was customary for those suffering the pangs of unrequited 
 affection to take the Lover's Leap from the precipice, after secretly uttering their 
 vows in the sanctuary of the god. Some, intent on suicide, were dashed to pieces 
 on the rocks below or perished in the waves ; others took the precaution to buoy 
 themselves up with feathers or bladders, trusting to a plunge in the cold sea or 
 the bruises they might receive, to cure their passion. Queen Artemisia, of Hali- 
 carnassus, lost her life in taking the Lover's Leap, after putting out the eyes of 
 the youth who would not return her attachment; and one case is recorded in 
 which a man four times resorted to this perilous remedy. The modern Greek 
 sailor still calls the promontory " the Lady's Cape."
 
 168 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 bright-tinted flowers, the starry skies, and fragrant zephyrs of 
 Lesbos, where, as she sung, 
 
 " Through orchard plots, with fragrance crowned, 
 
 The clear cold fountain murmuring flows ; 
 And forest leaves, with rustling sound, 
 Invite to soft repose." 
 
 Judging from her fragments, we must admit that in her pe- 
 culiar department Sappho stands without a peer. Indeed, her 
 own graceful lines may well be applied to herself: 
 
 " The stars that round the beauteous moon 
 
 Attendant wait, cast into shade 
 Their ineffectual lustres, soon 
 
 As she, in full-orbed majesty arrayed, 
 Her silver radiance showers 
 Upon this world of ours," 
 
 for the lesser lights of lyric poesy pale in the lustre of her 
 genius. 
 
 Addison, in his Spectator, makes the following remarks on 
 Sappho, which are fully justified by the praises of ancient crit- 
 ics : " Among the mutilated poets of antiquity, there are none 
 whose fragments are so beautiful as those of Sappho. One 
 may see, by what is left, that she followed nature in all her 
 thoughts, without descending to those little points, conceits, 
 and turns of wit, with which many of our modern lyrics are so 
 miserably infected. Her soul seems to have been made up 
 of love and poetry. She felt the passion in all its warmth and 
 described it in all its symptoms. I do not know, by the char- 
 acter that is given of her works, whether it is not for the bene- 
 fit of mankind that they are lost. They were filled with such 
 bewitching tenderness and rapture, that it might have been 
 dangerous to have given them a reading." 
 
 It is told that a physician, by studying the symptoms of love 
 as described by Sappho, detected in the mysterious sickness 
 of the young Anti'ochus, son of the king of Syria, a hidden 
 passion for his step-mother. The treatment was in accord-
 
 SAPPHO'S POETRY. 169 
 
 ance with the diagnosis, the disease disappearing when the 
 anxious father relinquished to the youth the beautiful object 
 of his affections. 
 
 Sappho's description of the raptures of love, commended by 
 all critics from Longinus down, is certainly a nonpareil. It 
 has been thus translated by Ambrose Philips, a friend of Ad- 
 dison's : 
 
 A LOVE SONG. 
 
 " Blest as tli' immortal gods is lie, 
 The youth who fondly sits by thee, 
 And hears, and sees thee all the while 
 Softly speak and sweetly smile. 
 
 'Twas this deprived my soul of rest, 
 And raised such tumults in my breast ; 
 For while I gazed in transport tost, 
 My breath was gone, my voice was lost. 
 
 My bosom glowed : the subtle flame 
 Ran quick through all my vital frame ; 
 O'er my dim eyes a darkness hung ; 
 My ears with hollow murmurs rung. 
 
 In dewy damps my limbs were chill'd ; 
 My blood with gentle horrors thrill'd ; 
 My feeble pulse forgot to play ; 
 I fainted, sunk, and died away." 
 
 The grave Solon paid our authoress a delicate compliment. 
 Having heard his nephew recite one of her poems, he is said 
 to have exclaimed that he would not willingly die till he had 
 learned it by heart. 
 
 The works of Sappho, comprised in nine books, embraced 
 love-lays, elegies, bridal songs sometimes extended into minia- 
 ture dramas, and amorous hymns to Venus and Cupid. The 
 remnants are principally erotic pieces. We present below the 
 Hymn to Venus, preserved entire, in which the writer delicate- 
 ly makes the goddess her confidante, and modestly discloses 
 the secret of her misplaced affections.
 
 170 GRECIAN LITERATURE,, 
 
 HYMN TO VENUS. 
 
 O Venus, beauty of the skies, 
 
 To whom a thousand temples rise, 
 
 Gayly false iu gentle smiles, 
 
 Full of love-perplexing wiles; 
 
 O goddess ! from my heart remove 
 
 The wasting cares and pains of love. 
 
 If ever thou hast kindly heard 
 A song in soft distress preferred, 
 Propitious to my tuneful vow, 
 
 gentle goddess ! hear me now. 
 Descend, thou bright immortal guest, 
 In all thy radiant charms confessed. 
 
 Thou once didst leave almighty Jove, 
 And all the golden roofs above : 
 The car thy wanton sparrows drew, 
 Hovering in air the^y lightly flew ; 
 As to my bower they winged their way, 
 
 1 saw their quivering pinions play. 
 
 The birds dismissed (while you remain), 
 Bore back their empty car again. 
 Then yon, with looks divinely mild, 
 In every heavenly feature smiled, 
 And asked what new complaints I made, 
 And why I called you to my aid : 
 
 What frenzy in my bosom raged, 
 And by what eure to be assuaged : 
 What gentle youth I would allure ; 
 Whom iu my artful toils secure : 
 Who does thy tender heart subdue, 
 Tell me, my Sappho, tell me, who ? 
 
 Though now he shuns thy longing arms, 
 He soon shall court thy slighted charms ; 
 Though now thy offerings he despise, 
 He soon to thee shall sacrifice ; 
 Though now he freeze, he soon shall burn, 
 And be thy victim in his turn. 
 
 Celestial visitant, once more 
 Thy needful presence I implore !
 
 SAPPHO'S PUPILS. 171 
 
 In pity come aud ease my grief, 
 Bring my distempered soul relief; 
 Favor thy suppliant's hidden fires, 
 And give me all my heart desires." 
 
 AMBROSE PHILIPS. 
 
 THE ROSE. 
 
 " Did Jove a queen of flowers decree, 
 The rose the queen of flowers should be ; 
 Of flowers the eye ; of plants the gem ; 
 The meadow's blush ; earth's diadem ; 
 Glory of colors on the gaze 
 Lightening in its beauty's blaze. 
 It breathes of Love ; it blooms the gnest 
 Of Venus' ever-fragrant breast. 
 In gaudy pomp its petals spread ; 
 Light foliage trembles round its head ; 
 With vermeil blossoms fresh and fair 
 It laughs to the voluptuous air." ELTON. 
 
 Sappho's Pupils. Doubtless many went forth from Sappho's 
 school to reflect, in their own accomplishments, the brilliancy 
 of their mistress. History has preserved the names of two of 
 her pupils Damoph'yla of Asia Minor, noted for a Hymn to 
 Diana ; and ERINNA, a Rhodian maid who shone among the 
 brightest lights of Sappho's circle, and, if we may believe the 
 story, died of a broken heart when compelled by her parents 
 to exchange the delights of literature for the drudgery of the 
 spinning-wheel. This cruel treatment Erinna made the sub- 
 ject of an affecting lament, "the Spindle," a poem of three 
 hundred hexameters, on which her reputation rests. Her 
 death at the age of nineteen cheated the world of a writer 
 who promised to rival Homer himself. 
 
 " The Spindle " is lost ; but the following epigram on a 
 virgin of Lesbos, who died on the day appointed for her 
 marriage, speaks for Erinna : 
 
 " The virgin Myrtis' sepulchre am I; 
 
 Creep softly to the pillar'd mount of woe ; 
 And whisper to the grave, in earth below, 
 ' Grave ! thou art envious in thy cruelty !'
 
 172 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 To thee, now gazing here, her barbarous fate 
 
 These bride's adornments tell ; that, with the fire 
 
 Of Hymen's torch, which led her to the gate, 
 Her husband burned the maid upon her pyre : 
 
 Yes, Hymen ! thou didst change the marriage-song 
 
 To the shrill wailing of the mourners' throng." 
 
 A pointed epitaph in the Greek Anthology shows the esti- 
 mation in which the poetess was held by her countrymen : 
 
 " These are Erinna's songs : how sweet, though slight ! 
 
 For she was but a girl of nineteen years ; 
 Yet stronger far than what most men can write : 
 Had death delayed, whose fame had equalled hers ?" 
 
 Anacreon. In the sixth century, Te'os, a seaport of Ionia, 
 gave birth to the society poet, Anacreon ; who, though an 
 Ionian, wrote rather in the style of the ^Eolian lyrics. His 
 verses, however, while soft and graceful, were marked by lev- 
 ity, and lacked the dignity and depth of the ^Eolic school. 
 " The Muse, good humor, love, and wine," Anacreon tells us, 
 were his themes ; accordingly his songs, brimming with sen- 
 suality, grew in popular estimation as Greece degenerated in 
 public morality. 
 
 When his native city fell a prey to Cyrus the Persian, Anac- 
 reon with the other inhabitants set sail for Thrace (540 B.C.). 
 From Thrace, while yet in his youth, he withdrew to the island 
 of Sa'mos whose tyrant, Polyc 'rates, was a munificent patron 
 of literature and art. Amid the gayety of the Samian court, 
 the witty and pleasure-loving poet found a congenial home, 
 Polycrates making him an intimate companion and confiding 
 to him important state secrets. But the ruler of Samos was 
 treacherously put to death by a Persian satrap ; about which 
 time, Anacreon was invited to Athens by the tyrant Hippar- 
 chus, who sent his royal trireme to bring his poet-laureate 
 across the .^Egean. 
 
 At Athens, Anacreon for a time gave free rein to his pas- 
 sions, joining a set of boon companions who basked in the
 
 ANACREON. 173 
 
 sunshine of royal favor. His voluptuous career was cut short 
 by the assassination of Hipparchus, and he returned to Teos 
 (repeopled during his absence), to be choked by a grape-seed 
 at the advanced age of eighty-five or, if we are to take the 
 story figuratively, to fall a victim to his irrepressible love of 
 the bottle. 
 
 A statue of a drunken old man on the Athenian acropolis 
 kept alive in the minds of the people as well the graceful odes 
 of Anacreon as his prevailing weakness. His friend Simoni- 
 des wrote an epitaph to his memory, in which we catch a 
 glimpse of the exciting whirl of pleasures that made up his 
 existence : 
 
 " Bland mother of the grape ! all-gladdening vine ! 
 
 Teeming inebriate joy ! whose tendrils bloom 
 Crisp-woven in winding trail, now green entwine 
 
 This pillar's top, this mount, Auacreon's tomb. 
 As lover of the feast, the untempered bowl, 
 "While the full draught was reeling in his soul, 
 He smote upon the harp, whose melodies 
 
 Were tuned to girlish loves, till midnight fled ; 
 Now, fallen to earth, embower him as he lies, 
 
 Thy purpling clusters blushing o'er his head : 
 Still be fresh dew upon the branches hung, 
 Like that which breathed from his enchanting tongue." 
 
 The name of Anacreon is attached to about sixty odes, but 
 they are all probably from five hundred to a thousand years 
 later than he. Yet, if they are not by his hand, they breathe 
 his spirit. As a sample of these Anacreontics, we give a par- 
 aphrase of 
 
 CUPID AND THE BEE. 
 
 Young Cupid once a rose caressed, 
 And sportively its leaflets pressed. 
 The witching thing, so fair to view 
 One could not but believe it true, 
 Warmed, on its bosom false, a bee, 
 Which stung the boy-god in his glee. 
 Sobbing, he raised his pinions bright, 
 And flew unto the isle of light,
 
 174 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Where, in her beauty, myrtle-crowned, 
 The Paphian goddess sat enthroned. 
 Her Cupid sought, and to her breast 
 His wounded tiuger, weeping, pressed. 
 " O mother! kiss me," was his cry 
 " O mother! save me, or I die ; 
 A winged little snake or bee 
 With cruel stiug has wounded me !" 
 
 The blooming goddess in her arms 
 Folded and kissed his budding charms ; 
 To her soft bosom pressed her pride, 
 And then with truthful words replied : 
 " If thus a little insect thing 
 Can pain thee with its tiny sting, 
 How languish, think you, those who smart 
 Beneath my Cupid's cruel dart? 
 How fatal must that poison prove 
 That rankles on the shafts of Love !" 
 
 Simonides (556-467 B.C.), who brought into high repute the 
 Doric or Choral School while he also composed in the Ionic 
 dialect, was born in Ceos, an island of the Cyclades. He was 
 one of a brilliant coterie of poets attracted to Athens by the 
 munificence of Hipparchus ; and after the assassination of 
 the latter he withdrew to Thessaly, to find rich and powerful 
 patrons there on whom to lavish his eulogies ; for Simonides 
 was the first poet that set a price upon his talents and turned 
 his panegyrics into gold. He who, when small pay was of- 
 fered, disdained to celebrate a mule victorious in the race on 
 the plea that it was an ass's daughter, when the price was 
 raised found in the " child of thunder-footed steeds" no unfit 
 subject for his facile Muse. 
 
 In connection with this rather unpoetical eye to business, 
 we are told that once Simonides, having extolled in verse one 
 of his Thessalian patrons, was refused more than half the 
 promised price and referred for the balance to the gods Castor 
 and Pollux, whose praises filled most of the poem. The Thes- 
 salian noble was still laughing at his ruse for evading pay- 
 ment, when Simonides was summoned from the room to speak
 
 SIMONIES. 1 75 
 
 with two strangers. Hastening out, he found that they had 
 vanished ; but no sooner had he withdrawn from the apart- 
 ment than the roof fell and killed all whom he had left there. 
 Thus the twin deities discharged their indebtedness to the 
 poet. 
 
 The evening of his days Simonides passed in Syracuse, 
 the ornament of Hi'ero's court, the recipient of royal favors 
 during his life, and at his death of the highest funeral honors. 
 It was here that the poet, who was somewhat of a philoso- 
 pher, confessed his inability to answer the question of the 
 Syracusan monarch, " What is God ?" 
 
 Simonides was remarkably successful in adapting the elegy 
 to funeral songs and epitaphs, and thus embalming Grecian 
 heroism for the contemplation of future ages. He lived in 
 the time of the Persian War, and commemorated its worthies. 
 The tomb of the three hundred who fell at Thermopylae for 
 the liberties of Greece bore this grand inscription from his 
 pen : " Go, stranger, and tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie 
 here in obedience to their laws." In his workshop the epigram 
 was wrought to perfection. " The Simonidean tears " seemed 
 to well up from the very depths of the heart. Among all the 
 epigrammatists known to literature, none have excelled him 
 whom Plato styled " the divine Simonides ;" who was " the 
 voice of Hellas the genius of Fame, sculpturing with a pen 
 of adamant, in letters of indelible gold, the achievements to 
 which the whole world owes its civilization." Fifty-six times, 
 the last time at the age of eighty, he bore away from all com- 
 petitors the prize of poetry. 
 
 Besides dirges and epigrams, hymns, prayers, paeans, and 
 processional odes, flowed from the prolific pen of Simonides. 
 Long a chorus-teacher in the land of his birth, he was pecul- 
 iarly fitted for the composition of solemn choral poetry. 
 " The Lament of Danae," his finest surviving work, is a noble 
 specimen of the Greek lyric. It describes the Argive princess
 
 176 GRECIAN LITERATUEE. 
 
 set adrift with her child in an ark upon the stormy billows by 
 her inhuman parent. Tenderly she folds the sleeping boy in 
 her arms, and prays Father Zeus that like him the sea may 
 sleep. 
 
 DANAE'S LAMENT. 
 
 " Closed in the fine-wrought chest, 
 She felt the rising wind the waters move. 
 Then, by new fear possessed, 
 
 With action wild 
 And cheeks bedewed, she stretched her arms of love 
 
 Toward Perseus : ' O my child, 
 What sorrow wrings my breast ! 
 While thou art sunk so deep 
 In infancy's calm sleep ; 
 Launched in this joyless ark, 
 Bronze-fastened, glimmering-dark, 
 Yet, pillowed on thy tangled hair, 
 Thou slumberest, nor dost care 
 For billows past thee bounding 
 Nor breezes shrilly sounding. 
 Laid in thy mantle red, sweet face, how fair ! 
 Ah! but if Fear 
 
 Had aught of fear for thee, 
 
 Thou even to me 
 Wouldst turn thy tender ear. 
 But now I bid thee rest, my babe ; sleep still ! 
 Rest, O thou sea ! Rest, rest, unbounded ill ! 
 Zeus, Father, some relief, some change from thee ! 
 Am I too bold ? For his sake, pardon me !' " 
 
 EPITAPH ON THE NIECE OF HIPPARCHUS. 
 
 " Archedice, the daughter of King Hippias, 
 
 Who in his time 
 Of all the potentates of Greece was prime, 
 
 This dust doth hide ; 
 Daughter, wife, sister, mother, unto kings she was, 
 
 Yet free from pride." HOBBES. 
 
 Pindar, the friend and pupil of Simonides, the greatest mas- 
 ter of the Doric School, adorned the golden age of Grecian 
 literature, and will there be considered as the representative 
 of lyric poetry.
 
 LYRIC POETRY. 
 
 177 
 
 MINOR ELEGIAC AND IAMBIC POETS. 
 
 MIMNEBMUS of Colophon (634-590 B.C.), 
 the first to adapt the elegiac couplet 
 to plaintive and erotic themes: he 
 bewails the enslavement of his de- 
 generate country by Lydia. Old age 
 the terror of the poet ; life without 
 "the gold -haired goddess" of love 
 not worth living ; a characteristic 
 saying of his, " When the flower of 
 youth is past, it is best to die at 
 once; may death strike me at my 
 sixtieth year." 
 
 SOLON, the Athenian lawgiver (638-559 
 B.C.),the first gnomic poet : embodied 
 his moral maxims (gnomes) in elegiac 
 verse : also a master of the martial 
 elegy, as his famous " Salaminian 
 Ode" shows. Plato declared that 
 if Solon had devoted his genius to 
 the Muses, Homer might not have 
 stood alone in his glory. 
 
 THKOGNIS (583^495 B.C.), a noble of 
 Meg'ara, who opposed the democratic 
 faction, and was in consequence ex- 
 pelled from the state and deprived of 
 his hereditary lands by the Commons. 
 He sang his songs in elegiac verse. 
 Distinguished also as a gnomic poet. 
 The following thoughts are culled 
 from among his sayings: "Wealth 
 is almighty." " Easy among men is 
 the practice of wickedness, but hard 
 the method of goodness." " No one 
 descends to Hades with his riches, 
 nor can he by paying ransom escape 
 death." "Prefer to live piously on 
 small means to being rich on what 
 is gotten unjustly." 
 
 PHOCYL'IDES of Miletus (550-490 B.C.), 
 an Ionian gnomic poet whose didartic 
 couplets, generally marked by sound 
 
 sense, sometimes breathing a worldly 
 spirit, began with the introductory 
 phrase, "And this too is Phocylides'." 
 The following are maxims of his : 
 "First get your living, and then think 
 of getting virtue." " A small city set 
 upon a rock and well-governed is 
 better than all foolish Nineveh." 
 
 XENOPH'ANES of Colophon (about 510 
 B.C.), founder of the Eleatic sect of 
 philosophers: also an elegiac poet: 
 condemns the effeminacy of his coun- 
 trymen, and derides a prevailing pref- 
 erence for physical over intellectual 
 culture. 
 
 THE SATIRISTS. 
 
 SlMONIDES THE ELDER, of AmOrgUS 
 
 (660 B.C.)." the lambographer :" style 
 flowing and polished: masterpiece, 
 a satire on women "Even though 
 they seem to be good, when one has 
 got one she becomes a plague." 
 HIP'PONAX of Ephesus (540 B.C.), the 
 father of parody, and inventor of the 
 choliambic measure, or limping iam- 
 bic, in which the last foot was a spon- 
 dee. He attacked the luxury and 
 vice of his day, sparing neither friend 
 nor relative; it is told that by his 
 crushing satire a sculptor who had 
 caricatured his ugly person was 
 driven to suicide. It was Hipponax 
 who said : " Woman gives two days 
 of happiness to man, the day of her 
 bridal and the day of her funeral." 
 The stranger who passed his tomb 
 was warned : 
 "Wake not the sleeping wasp, for 
 
 though he's dead, 
 
 Still straight and sure his crooked 
 lines are sped." 
 
 H
 
 GRECIAN LITEKATUKE. 
 
 MINOR POETS OF THE CHORAL SCHOOL. 
 
 1-631 B.C.), Sparta's jovial 
 lyric poet, an emancipated Lydian 
 slave. 
 
 STESICH'ORUS of Sicily (632-560 B.C.), 
 inventor of the choric system; named 
 from his occupation Stesi-chorus, lead- 
 er of the chorus. His greatness 
 foreshadowed by a nightingale that 
 alighted on his infant lips and burst 
 into song : hymns, fables, pastorals : 
 the earliest Greek novelist; his love 
 tales and romances narrated in verse. 
 
 TEHPAXDER the Lesbian (about 650 
 B.C.), the founder of Greek musical 
 science, and inventor of the hepta- 
 chord, or seven-stringed lyre. 
 
 IB'YCUS, of Rhegium iu southern Italy 
 (540 B.C.), lived in Samos as the 
 friend of Polycrates. His odes prin- 
 cipally erotic: from the warmth of 
 his passion, Ibycus was styled " the 
 love-maddened." 
 
 BACCHYL'IDES (470 B.C.), the nephew 
 of Simonides of Ceos: hymns, epi- 
 grams, etc., in Doric : style highly 
 polished : a specimen epigram is, 
 
 " The touchstone tries the purity of 
 
 gold, 
 
 And by all-conquering truth man's 
 worth and wit are told." 
 
 TIMOC'REON OF RHODES (471 B.C.), 
 lyric poet and satirist. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 RISE OF GREEK PROSE. 
 
 Earliest Prose Writing's. For several centuries, the liter- 
 ature. of Greece was confined to poetry. In Hellas, as. else- 
 where, verse for a time at first so charmingly and completely 
 filled the popular ear that there was no desire, no room, for 
 prose. But, as new necessities arose, poetry could not suf- 
 fice for Greece ; not with epic and lyric voice alone were her 
 men of genius to gain a hearing from the world. National 
 achievements must be recorded ; the people must be ap- 
 pealed to in the agora; the curtain of metaphysics must be 
 raised ; and so History, Oratory, and Philosophy appeared 
 upon the stage. To these practical new-comers, the plain 
 garb of prose was found more appropriate than the broidery 
 of verse.
 
 EAKLY PROSE WRITINGS 179 
 
 Moreover, the introduction of facilities for writing favored 
 the development of prose literature; for, unlike poetry, it 
 needed a written form to give it permanence. When the art 
 of writing became familiar, and men with its help could rapidly 
 inscribe their thoughts for others still more rapidly to read, 
 prose, as a distinct branch of composition, was born ; and its 
 birth marked an era in the intellectual growth of the Greeks. 
 
 Ever since the introduction of letters, prose had doubtless 
 been used more or less in despatches, records, laws, and official 
 documents. Pherecy'des of Sy'ros and Cadmus of Miletus 
 (about 550 B.C.) were the first to secure its recognition as a 
 department of polite literature, the one embodying in it his 
 philosophical doctrines, the other the fabulous history of his 
 native land with homely strength, if not with artistic finish. 
 
 Era of the Sages. In the period during which prose gained 
 its first foothold flourished the Seven Sages of Greece (665- 
 540 B.C.). Revolutions were then the order of the day, the 
 people were beginning actively to assert their rights, and po- 
 litical questions of vital interest absorbed the attention of 
 thinkers. The flights of fancy became fewer, as these grave 
 problems presented themselves. Philosophers strove to solve 
 them at home ; patriots went abroad to study foreign institu- 
 tions ; and all awoke to the discovery that " knowledge is 
 power." 
 
 The Seven Sages were gnomic poets, as well as philoso- 
 phers and statesmen. Their moral and political maxims 
 they usually threw into verse; but those inscribed on plates 
 of metal and deposited in the temple of Apollo at Delphi, 
 were in prose. In their proverbs, whether prose or poetry, 
 we discern the dawn of moral philosophy. 
 
 SOLON. The greatest of the Seven Sages were Solon and 
 Thales. Solon of Athens was born about 638 B.C. After 
 extensive travels and studies, he drew up for the Athenians 
 (594 B.C.) the famous code called by his name, which re-
 
 180 
 
 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 SOLON'S TABLETS. 
 
 formed many abuses and secured to the people a liberal gov- 
 ernment. His laws were written in prose on the polished 
 
 faces of triangular wooden 
 prisms. These were set 
 in frames, and turned on 
 pivots by persons who 
 wished to consult them. 
 The state copy was carved 
 on four -sided blocks of 
 brass, and kept in the Acropolis. 
 
 After Solon's code was adopted, that it might be the better 
 enforced, its author is said to have absented himself from 
 Athens for ten years, visiting among other courts that of 
 Croesus, King of Lydia. To this visit, Crcesus owed his life; 
 for afterward, when chained to the stake by Cyrus the Persian, 
 the truth of one of Solon's remarks, that no man can be ac- 
 counted happy while he still lives, flashed upon his mind, 
 and he thrice called upon the name of the Athenian sage. 
 Cyrus demanded an explanation of his words, and, struck 
 with the truth of Solon's saying, revoked the order of exe- 
 cution and made Crcesus his friend. 
 
 THALES, of Miletus in Ionia (640-550 B.C.), was the found- 
 er of Greek philosophy. Water, according to his theory, was 
 the source of all things ; without this element, he truly said, 
 his own body would fall into dust. This doctrine he is sup- 
 posed to have derived from the Egyptians, who worshipped 
 the Nile as a god, being dependent on its annual inunda- 
 tions for their crops. 
 
 In mathematical science and astronomy, Thales was an 
 adept. His knowledge of the latter enabled him to predict a 
 solar eclipse, which took place 610 B.C., and to divide the 
 year into three hundred and sixty-five days. If he was an 
 author, not a line of what he wrote has survived. 
 
 Fable. An eutgrowth of these practical times was the
 
 JESOP'S FABLES. 181 
 
 Fable, or Allegory, in which the lower animals were intro- 
 duced as speakers, with the object of satirizing the follies of 
 mankind, or of conveying some useful moral more pointedly 
 than by means of dry argument. 
 
 Destitute of the outward form of poetry, while in a measure 
 retaining its imagery, fable may be regarded as a stepping- 
 stone from the early lyrics to the stately prose of a later 
 period. It at once became popular, as did also a kindred 
 class of humorous tales, the characters of which were inani- 
 mate objects endowed with the power of speech. An earthen 
 pot, for example, is represented as clamoring loudly against 
 the woman who broke it; and she, as bidding it "cease its 
 plaints and show its wisdom by buying a copper ring to 
 bind itself together." 
 
 ^Esop. The great fabulist of Greece, and indeed of all 
 time, was ^sop. Born a Phrygian slave about 620 B.C., he 
 passed from one master to another till at last his wit gained 
 him freedom. Thus left to choose his own course, he became 
 a student in foreign lands. Athens was his home for a num- 
 ber of years; and there, in his well-known fable of "the Frogs 
 asking Jupiter for a King," he read a lesson both to Pisistra- 
 tus the Tyrant and to the people who imagined themselves 
 oppressed under his government. 
 
 By special invitation, JEsop spent some time at the court 
 of Croesus. Here he made the acquaintance of Solon, who 
 had incurred that monarch's displeasure by speaking lightly 
 of his vaunted wealth ; and he is said to have admonished 
 the Athenian sage that a wise man should resolve either not 
 to converse with kings at all, or to converse with them agree- 
 ably." " Nay," replied Solon, " he should either not con- 
 verse with them at all, or converse with them usefully." 
 
 Crcesus commissioned JEsop to go to Delphi for the pur- 
 pose of sacrificing to Apollo and distributing a sum of money 
 among the citizens. But ^Esop quarrelled with the Del-
 
 182 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 phians, and taking it upon himself to withhold from them the 
 Lydian gold, was seized by the enraged people and hurled 
 from a precipice. Legend says that the murderers brought 
 upon themselves the vengeance of heaven in the form of 
 mysterious plagues. 
 
 While these particulars of .^Esop's life rest on rather du- 
 bious authority, it is certain that as a fable-writer he was de- 
 servedly appreciated in ancient Greece. At Athens, ^sop's 
 Fables became indispensable to a polite education. Their 
 author does not appear to have committed them to writing ; 
 they passed from mouth to mouth for generations, undergoing 
 more or less change. Hence we have left only the substance 
 of those pointed stories over which the Athenians went into 
 transports, and which Socrates amused himself by turning into 
 verse during his imprisonment. The young folks of every 
 age, with whom ^Esop has always been a favorite, would 
 applaud the Athenians for placing the statue of the world's 
 great fabulist before those of their Seven Sages. 
 
 When the people of Samos were on the point of executing 
 a public officer who had robbed the treasury, they were in- 
 duced to spare the offender by ^Esop's spicy fable of 
 
 THE FOX AND THE HEDGEHOG. 
 
 A Fox, while crossing a river, was driven by the stream into a 
 narrow gorge, and lay there for a long time Tillable to get out, cov- 
 ered with myriads of horse-flies that had fastened upon him. A 
 Hedgehog, who was wandering in that direction, saw him, and tak- 
 ing compassion on him, asked if he should drive away the flies that 
 were so tormenting him. But the Fox begged him to do nothing of 
 the sort. 
 
 " Why not ?" asked the Hedgehog. 
 
 "Because," replied the Fox, " these flies that are upon me now are 
 already full, and draw bnt little blood ; but should you remove them, 
 a swarm of fresh and hungry ones will come, who will not leave a 
 drop of blood in my body." JAMES. 
 
 Progress of Greek Prose. An impetus was given to the 
 development of Greek prose by the praiseworthy efforts of
 
 EARLY GREEK PROSE. 
 
 183 
 
 Pisistratus (537-527 B.C.), who gathered the first library in 
 Greece, collected and edited the poems of Homer, and im- 
 itated his kinsman Solon in laboring to elevate the literary 
 taste of the people. During his administration and that of 
 his sons Hippias and Hipparchus, also patrons of letters, 
 prose literature took deep root throughout the Ionian col- 
 onies, where history and philosophy had many representa- 
 tives. 
 
 The style of these early writers was for the most part frag- 
 mentary, dry, and inelegant. It soon improved, however, 
 grew into favor, and in the hands of the profound thinkers, 
 fluent historians, and persuasive orators of Greece, was 
 wrought into models which are still the admiration of the 
 world. 
 
 EARLY PROSE WRITERS. 
 
 PHILOSOPHERS. 
 
 AXAXIMANDEB (bom 610 B.C.), first 
 map-drawer, and introducer of the 
 sundial. He represented the earth 
 as cylindrical, and as the centre about 
 which the stars and planets revolved; 
 its inhabitants as the result of fer- 
 mentation caused by the action of 
 the sun's rays on its marshes. His 
 "Treatise on Nature" (547 B.C.), the 
 first work on biology and the ear- 
 liest philosophical essay written in 
 Greek. 
 
 ANAXIM'EOTS (born 556 B.C.) made the 
 earth a leaf-shaped mass floating in 
 the air; the sun and moon flat cir- 
 cular bodies; air the elementary 
 principle from which all things were 
 made and to which they returned : 
 the soul, air. 
 
 HERACLI'TUS of Ephesus (505 B.C.) 
 rejected the nature -worship of his 
 
 countrymen, and believed in an all- 
 wise, omnipresent Power. He is re- 
 corded to have wept continually over 
 the sins of men; hence called the 
 weeping philosopher. Fire the first 
 principle. " No man," said he in al- 
 lusion to the never-ceasing changes 
 in the world, "can wade twice in the 
 same stream." 
 
 HISTORIANS. 
 
 CADMUS of Miletus (540 B.C.): "Pri- 
 meval History of Miletus and Io- 
 nia." 
 
 ACCSILA'US the Argive (525 B.C.) : 
 "Genealogies," a prose translation 
 of Hesiod's "Theogony," altered in 
 parts to suit the theories of the au- 
 thor. 
 
 HECAT^EUS the Milesian (520-479 
 B.C.), "the far - travelled man:" 
 "Genealogies," a history of the
 
 184 
 
 GRECIAN LITEEATURE. 
 
 mythical heroes of Greece ; and a 
 " Description of the Earth," contain- 
 ing a summary of his own travels 
 and explorations. 
 
 CHARON of Lampsacus (500-450 B.C.), 
 the first historian to record authentic 
 events: "History of the Persian 
 
 War," "Annals of Lampsacus," 
 " Chronicles of the Spartan Kings." 
 
 HELLANI'CUS of Mytilene, a noted 
 compiler. 
 
 .XANTHUS the Lydian : " The Lydiaca," 
 a history of Lydia in four volumes. 
 
 SEVEN SAGES AND THEIR MOTTOES. 
 
 SOLON of Athens : " Know thyself." 
 CHI'LO of Sparta : " Consider the end." 
 
 THALES of Miletus : " Who hateth sure- 
 tyship is sure." 
 
 BIAS of Priene : " Most men are bad." 
 
 CLEOBU'LUS of Lindus : "Avoid ex- 
 tremes." 
 
 PIT'TACUS of Mytilene : " Seize time . 
 by the forelock." 
 
 PERIANDER of Corinth : " Nothing is 
 impossible to industry." 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 GOLDEN AGE OF GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 (480-330 B.C.) 
 
 The Attic Period. In their wars with the Persians (492-479 
 B.C.), the Hellenic people fully demonstrated their military 
 superiority, vindicating their manhood on the fields of Mara- 
 thon and Platasa, and in the sea-fight with Xerxes at Salamis. 
 Under the stimulus -of these national triumphs, conducing to 
 national unity, as well as of the free institutions now generally 
 established, the Greek mind was awakened to renewed action ; 
 literature made unprecedented growth, and in the fifth century 
 B.C. matured its choicest products. 
 
 Athens, the laurel-crowned saviour of Greece, hitherto but 
 an indifferent contributor to art and poetry, now became the 
 centre of letters, aspiring through her statesman Pericles (469- 
 429 B.C.) to both literary and political supremacy. Her At-
 
 THE ATTIC PEKIOD. 185 
 
 tic dialect, nervous but not rough, harmonious without a too 
 effeminate softness the perfection of the Greek language 
 materially helped to make her the " mother of eloquence," the 
 home of poets and philosophers, the school of the nations ; 
 while Pericles extended her imperial dominion over many 
 cities and islands, and filled her coffers with their tribute. Her 
 sculptor Phidias devoted his genius to the erection and dec- 
 oration of public edifices; his grand creations in marble 
 adorned her fanes ; and the Parthenon, whose classic beauty 
 has passed into a proverb, owed to him its graceful embellish- 
 ments as well as its renowned statue of Minerva. Another 
 colossal image of the goddess surmounted the Athenian 
 Acropolis, which was crowned with noble temples ; and vota- 
 ries of the sister art added to the attractions of the city with 
 their brush and colors. 
 
 It was at this noonday of Attic glory that Grecian literature 
 reached its meridian. Then lyric verse climbed to heights 
 before unattained; and dramatic poetry, tragic and comic, 
 held its listeners spell-bound. History found distinguished 
 representatives in Herodotus the Ionian, and later in Thucyd- 
 ides and Xenophon, the Athenians. Philosophy, in no other 
 age or clime, has had worthier teachers than Socrates, Plato, 
 and Aristotle ; while the art of persuasion seemed to be im- 
 personated in Pericles, Isoc'rates, .^Eschines (es'ke-neez\ De- 
 mosthenes all true sons of Attica. 
 
 LYRIC POETRY. 
 
 Pindar. Lyric poetry culminated in the sublime odes of 
 Pindar, who ushered in the golden age. Pindar was born of 
 noble parents about 520 B.C., near Thebes, a city of Bceotia. 
 The celestials are fabled to have danced at his birth, and the 
 dropping of honey on his infant lips by a swarm of bees was 
 interpreted as an omen of a brilliant literary career. 
 
 An early display of poetical talent led his father to yield to 
 H 2
 
 186 GRECIAN LITER ATUKE. 
 
 the boy's desire and send him to Athens for instruction ; 
 thence he returned to Thebes, to study under the direction of 
 the Boeotian poetesses, Myrtis and Corinna, who gave the fin- 
 ishing touches to his education. At the age of twenty, he 
 composed an ode which established his reputation throughout 
 Greece, and brought him into great request with princes and 
 heroes who craved immortality for victories at the national 
 games. Corinna was the rival of his youth ; though she re- 
 proached Myrtis for entering the lists against Pindar, she was 
 herself tempted to contend with her former pupil, and five 
 times bore away from him the fillet of victory. 
 
 Pindar made choral poetry his profession, and was hand- 
 somely paid out of the treasuries of the Greek princes and free 
 cities for laudatory odes written to their order. But he never 
 descended to flattery or falsehood ; on the contrary, he leav- 
 ened his panegyrics with salutary advice, and fearlessly de- 
 nounced pride, cupidity, and tyranny, even in monarchs. To 
 the king of Gyrene, for example, whose tyranny afterward cost 
 him his throne, he said : " It is easy for a fool to shake the 
 stability of a city, but it is hard to place it again on its foun- 
 dations." 
 
 Pindar's home was at Thebes, near Dirce's fountain;* but 
 he travelled much in Greece. For a time he was the honored 
 guest of the Athenians ; and no wonder, for when his native 
 city sided with Persia in the deadly struggle with that empire, 
 the poet condemned so pusillanimous a course and upheld 
 Athens in her resistance, styling her " the Pillar of Greece." 
 It is told that he received from the Athenians a gift of 10,000 
 drachmas ($1,800), and that when the Thebans mulcted him 
 for the bold expression of his views, the former generously 
 paid the fine. At Delphi, which Pindar often visited, the peo- 
 ple contributed their finest fruits for his entertainment by 
 
 * From which he has been called " the Dircean Swan."
 
 LYRIC POETRY. PINDAR. 187 
 
 order of the priestess ; and an iron chair was set apart for 
 his use in the temple, where he was wont to sit and sing the 
 praises of Apollo, god of poetry. He lived four years with 
 Hiero, and doubtless sojourned with others of his patrons. 
 But Pindar was no boon companion of kings like Simonides, 
 and while he accepted their costly presents he never forfeited 
 the respect of his countrymen. 
 
 Pindar died at the age of eighty, in the theatre, it is related, 
 amid the acclamations of the audience. He had been taking 
 part as usual, and overcome with weariness, rested his head 
 on the knees of a favorite pupil, and fell into a slumber from 
 which his friends vainly strove to wake him. A tradition, 
 more in accordance with the Greek love of the marvellous, in- 
 forms us that a few days before he died Proserpine (goddess 
 of the lower world) appeared to him, and having reproached 
 him for slighting her in his odes, announced that he should 
 soon compose a song in her honor within the confines of her 
 own kingdom. Shortly after, Pindar's death occurred ; and 
 on the following day, Thebes resounded with a hymn to Pros- 
 erpine sung by an old woman, who declared the poet's ghost 
 had dictated it to her in a dream. 
 
 Statues were erected to Pindar at Athens and in the hippo- 
 drome of Thebes ; a hundred years after, when Alexander the 
 Great destroyed the latter city in consequence of its rebellion, 
 he bade his soldiers spare the house hallowed by having once 
 been the residence of the Theban bard. Statues and dwelling 
 have since passed away, and the only surviving monument of 
 Pindar is that reared by himself in the deathless odes he has 
 left us. 
 
 THE PINDARIC ODE. Pindar's fertile pen enriched every 
 department of lyric poetry ; but all his compositions are lost 
 except a few fragments of paeans and dirges, with forty-five 
 Triumphal Odes (which we have entire) written to commem- 
 orate victories at the Great Games of Greece.
 
 188 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 These games were celebrated at Olympia, Delphi, Neme'a, 
 and on the Corinthian Isthmus : they consisted of athletic 
 sports, races, literary and musical contests. All Greece was 
 represented at them. Peasant and prince, trader and priest, 
 poet and historian, painter and sculptor, hurried to the exciting 
 scene as contestants or spectators ; and the simple crown of 
 olive or laurel, pine or parsley, that was placed on the con- 
 queror's brow, was valued beyond price. All that was needed 
 to complete the triumph was an ode in its honor from the 
 Great Lyrist. This, when obtained, was sung at an honorary 
 banquet or solemn procession, amid great rejoicings ; and was 
 annually rehearsed in the victor's native town to the accom- 
 paniment of soul-stirring music for his family, town, and state, 
 participated in the victor's glory. 
 
 PINDAR'S STYLE is original, chaste, full of splendor and 
 majestic energy. The Theban eagle, as he has often been 
 called, soaring to the sun, seems to disdain the commonplace 
 in his solitary flight. His style, however, is not faultless. The 
 over-boldness of his metaphors confuses; his massing of mag- 
 nificent images and high-sounding epithets wearies ; his Doric 
 condensation obscures his meaning; his metre is too compli- 
 cated for the uneducated ear, and his transitions are so abrupt 
 that the reader has difficulty in finding the connection. His 
 subjects were hard to treat ; but Pindar found material and 
 lent variety to his odes by skilfully interweaving legendary 
 lore, history, and fragments of mythology. This was by Co- 
 rinna's advice ; but her young pupil carried it to such excess 
 in his first attempt that his fair teacher warned him, " One 
 should sow with the hand, not with the whole sack." 
 
 Pindar's tone is everywhere moral. He merits indeed the 
 title of "Sacerdotal Poet;" for he upheld the religion of 
 Greece in its purity, rejecting all sensual notions of "the 
 blessed ones," and asserting his faith in their holiness and 
 justice. He taught the immortality of the soul ; "things of
 
 PINDAR'S POETRY. 189 
 
 a day " are men, but after death there is in store " a gladsome 
 life." His belief in an existence beyond the grave is indicated 
 in the following lines from one of his dirges. And here be it 
 observed that no translation can do justice to Pindar ; the 
 Doric diamonds cease to flash when removed from their Doric 
 
 setting. 
 
 " Shines for them the sun's warm glow, 
 When 'tis darkness here below ; 
 And the ground before their towers, 
 Meadow-laud with purple flowers, 
 Teeins with incense-bearing treen, 
 Teems with fruit of golden sheen. 
 Some iu steed and wrestling feat, 
 Some in dice take pleasure sweet, 
 Some in harping : at their side 
 Blooms the spring in all her pride. 
 Fragrance all about is blown 
 
 O'er that country of desire, 
 Ever as rich gifts are thrown 
 
 Freely on the far-seen fire, 
 Blazing from the altar-stone. 
 
 But the souls of the profane 
 Far from heaven removed below, 
 
 Flit on earth in murderous pain, 
 'Neath the unyielding yoke of woe ; 
 While pious spirits tenanting the sky 
 Chant praises to the mighty one on high." 
 
 CONINGTON. 
 
 The more characteristic extract given below consists of 
 portions of the Seventh Olympic Ode, in which the poet sings 
 the praises of Diag'oras of Rhodes for having gained a victory 
 with the cestus (made of leather thongs and worn round the 
 hands in boxing). This ode was so much admired by the 
 Rhodians that they wrote it in golden letters on the wall of 
 Minerva's temple at Lindus. It relates the birth of their 
 patron goddess and the story of their own origin, closing with 
 an invocation to Jupiter, who was worshipped on Ataby'ris, a 
 mountain of the island. Here stood a temple, dedicated to 
 him, containing the fabulous brazen bulls that bellowed when 
 any calamity threatened.
 
 190 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 ODE TO DIAGOKAS. 
 
 " As when a sire the golden bowl, 
 
 All foaming with the dew of wine, 
 Takes with a liberal hand and soul, 
 
 Chief gem where all his treasures shine 
 Then tends the beverage (hallowed first 
 
 By prayers to all the powers above) 
 To slake the youthful bridegroom's thirst, 
 
 In honor of connubial love ; 
 The social pledge he bears on high, 
 
 And, homeward as his course he bends, 
 Blesses the fond connubial tie, 
 
 Admired by all hia circling friends ; 
 
 E'en thus I bring the nectared strain, 
 The Muses' gift, to those who gain 
 The Pythian and Olympic crown; 
 
 Thrice blest, to whom 'tis given to share 
 The arduous fruit of mental care, 
 Cheered by the voice of high renown ! 
 Full many a victor in the fray 
 My life-inspiring strains survey 
 Which bid the sweet-toned lyre its music raise, 
 And wake the sounding flutes through all their notes 
 of praise. 
 
 And now, Diagoras, to thee 
 
 They breathe united melody. 
 
 When Rhodes, the warlike isle, is sung, 
 
 Apollo's bride from Venus sprung; 
 
 He too, the hero brave and bold, 
 
 With hardy frame of giant mould, 
 
 Who, by Alphe'us' sacred tide, 
 
 And where Castalia's waters glide, 
 
 First in the cestus' manly fray, 
 
 Bore the triumphant prize away. 
 
 Let Damage'tus next, his sire, 
 
 To justice dear, the strain inspire. 
 Fixed on that isle which three fair cities grace, 
 Where Embolus protects wide Asia's coast, 
 They dwell united with the Argive host. 
 
 In that blest isle secure at last, 
 
 'Twas thine, Tlepolemus, to meet 
 For each afflictive trial past 
 
 A recompense and respite sweet.
 
 EXTRACT FROM PINDAR. 191 
 
 Chief of Tirynthian hosts, to thee, 
 As to a prcseut deity, 
 
 The fumes of slaughtered sheep arise 
 
 In all the pomp of sacrifice : 
 Awarded by thy just decree, 
 
 The victor gains his verdant prize 
 That crown whose double honors glow, 
 Diagoras, around thy brow ; 
 On which four times the Isthmian pine, 
 And twice the Nemeau olive shine : 
 While Athens on her rocky throne 
 Made her illustrious wreath his own. 
 
 Trophies of many a well-fought field 
 
 He won in glory's sacred cause, 
 The Theban tripod, brazen shield 
 
 At Argos, and Arcadia's vase. 
 Her palms Bceotia's genuine contests yield j 
 Six times .^Egina's prize he gained, 
 As oft Pellene's robe obtained, 
 And graved in characters of fame, 
 Thy column, Megara, records his name. 
 
 Great sire of all, immortal Jove ! 
 On Atabyris' mount enshrined, 
 Oh ! still may thy propitious mind 
 The encomiastic hymn approve, 
 Which celebrates in lawful strain 
 The victor on Olympia's plain, 
 Whose valorous arm the cestus knows to wield. 
 
 Protected by thy constant care, 
 In citizens' and strangers' eyes 
 Still more exalted shall he rise 
 
 Whose virtuous deeds thy favor share : 
 Since he, to violence and fraud unknown, 
 Treads the straight paths of equity alone ; 
 His fathers' counsels mindful to pursue, 
 And keep their bright example still in view. 
 Then let not inactivity disgrace 
 The well-earned fame of thine illustrious race, 
 Who sprang from great Calli'anax, and crown 
 The Erat'idae with splendor all their own. 
 With joy and festal hymns the streets resound 
 
 But soon, as shifts the ever-varying gale, 
 
 The storms of adverse fortune may assail 
 Then, Khodiaus, be your mirth with sober temper- 
 ance crowned." WHEELWRIGHT.
 
 192 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Antimachus. An elegiac poet of the golden age was An- 
 tim'achus of Col'ophon, whose "Ly'de," an elegy on his lost 
 love, enjoyed considerable celebrity. When, however, Antim- 
 achus undertook to read his long " Theba'is " to an audience, 
 their patience became exhausted and one after another de- 
 parted, until finally he had but a single listener left, the 
 young Plato. 
 
 DRAMATIC POETRY. 
 
 Else of the Attic Drama. The Greek drama, like the Hin- 
 doo, had a religious origin. In the festivals of Bacchus, the 
 wine-god, which consisted of licentious dances and songs round 
 his altar by persons disguised in goat-skins as fauns and satyrs 
 (beings half-man and half-goat), we must look for its earliest 
 phase. From the dress of those who composed the chorus, 
 or because a goat was sacrificed, or a goat-skin of wine award- 
 ed to the poet who wrote the best ode for the occasion, such 
 ode was called a tragedy (goat-song) ; and the name was after- 
 ward extended to the entire department of dramatic poetry to 
 which these rude hymns gave rise. 
 
 Comedy, on the contrary, was elaborated from the village- 
 songs rife during the gala-days of the vintage, when companies 
 of noisy revellers,* their cheeks stained with wine-lees, went 
 about from town to town, plunging into all kinds of excesses, 
 and garnishing their songs with jokes at the expense of the 
 spectators. 
 
 The Father of Greek tragedy was THESPIS, the Athenian, 
 who refined the coarse Bacchanalian orgies, and introduced a 
 single actor (generally sustaining the part himself), to alter- 
 nate with the chorus or enter into a, dialogue with its leaders 
 (536 B.C.). Between the hymns, the poet, having smeared his 
 face with paint, would mount a table and recite with copious 
 
 * Some derive our word comedy from kumos, the Greek term for a band of 
 revellers.
 
 DRAMATIC POETRY. 193 
 
 gestures some mythological legend, perhaps relating to Bac- 
 chus. 
 
 With a trained chorus, Thespis strolled about Greece, stop- 
 ping at the towns to give his exhibitions on the wagon which 
 carried his machinery and skin-clad troupe. Dancing was a 
 prominent feature of his entertainments. His pupil Phryn'i- 
 cus improved the performance by exchanging myths for real 
 events and introducing female characters ; but the recitations 
 were still disconnected and the plays lacked method ; albeit 
 Phrynicus was fined by the Athenians for moving their feel- 
 ings too deeply by one of his pieces. 
 
 Birth of Tragedy. Out of these rude materials, ^Eschylus, 
 who was born about ten years after the first Thespian exhibi- 
 tion, constructed genuine tragedy. He added a second actor 
 and remodelled the chorus, making it secondary to the dia- 
 logue, and instituting a connection between its songs and the 
 events represented on the stage. Appropriate theatrical cos- 
 tumes, stationary scenery, painted masks, and thick-soled bus- 
 kins to increase the height of the performers, complete the 
 list of his innovations. Thus the goat-song of early days de- 
 veloped into the true drama (action), the crowning effort of 
 Greek genius. Athens had the honor of creating and per- 
 fecting it ; while in other departments of verse she fell be- 
 hind her neighbors, in dramatic poetry she eclipsed them all. 
 
 The love of the theatre grew into a passion at Athens. 
 When the first rude structure of boards gave way under the 
 weight of the audience, her citizens erected a permanent edi- 
 fice of semicircular form, whose seats, rising in tiers, were 
 hewn in the rocky side of the Acropolis. This new theatre 
 accommodated thirty thousand persons, who sat under the 
 shadow of Athens' patron-goddess, and with reverent gaze 
 watched actors and chorus go through their parts round the 
 altar of Bacchus. 
 
 The performances took place by day, and in the open air,
 
 194 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 the theatre not being roofed. They began immediately after 
 the morning meal, and on great occasions seats were secured 
 and occupied during the preceding night. It was the custom 
 of those who desired a comfortable sitting to bring their own 
 cushions. Tickets of admission at first cost one drachma 
 (18 cents); but Pericles reduced the price to six cents, and 
 thus placed dramatic entertainments within the reach of the 
 poorest citizens. The audience sometimes remained in the 
 theatre twelve hours, gossiping during the intervals, and re- 
 freshing themselves with cake, wine, and sweetmeats. In an- 
 cient Greece, the actor's profession was lucrative and highly 
 honorable ; dramatic authors not unfrequentiy performed parts 
 in their own plays. 
 
 Under the favoring skies of Athens the drama advanced to 
 perfection with marvellous rapidity. In the hands of ^schy- 
 lus it was all grandeur ; Sophocles invested it with beauty, 
 and Euripides with pathos. These three tragic poets, almost 
 contemporaries, were the brightest ornaments of the Attic cap- 
 ital, where there were many bright. Their triumphs cover a 
 period of seventy-eight years (484-406 B.C.), including the 
 proud age of Pericles, but extending beyond it till the Pelo- 
 ponnesian War had deprived Athens of her supremacy. Si- 
 multaneously with Sophocles and Euripides flourished Aris- 
 tophanes, under whom comedy reached its climax. 
 
 It has been computed that during the golden age 250 dra- 
 matic poets flourished, who produced more than 3,400 plays. 
 Out of this vast number, only 44 have survived to our time. 
 
 ./Eschylus (525-456 B.C.). Eleusis, a hamlet of Attica, was 
 the birthplace of ^Eschylus. It is related that in his youth he 
 was charged with watching grapes, and overcome by slumber, 
 saw Bacchus in his dreams, who bade him devote himself to 
 tragedy. The boy forgot not the injunction ; he applied him- 
 self diligently to study, and in his twenty-fifth year contended, 
 though unsuccessfully, for the chaplet of ivy.
 
 AESCHYLUS. 195 
 
 Ten years afterward, he acquitted himself so bravely in the 
 battle of Marathon as to receive a special prize, and have his 
 deeds immortalized in a painting which was hung in the thea- 
 tre at Athens. He also won distinction at Salamis and Pla- 
 taea ; and the name of one of his brothers was long remem- 
 bered in connection with the sinking of the Persian admiral's 
 galley. During the flourishing period of Athenian history 
 that followed, the literary reputation of ^Eschylus became as 
 great as his military renown. He was the hero of thirteen 
 poetical victories. 
 
 In 468 B.C. ^schylus left Athens for the court of Hiero, 
 the Syracusan prince, round which so many great men clus- 
 tered. According to some, the unjust award of the tragic 
 prize to Sophocles, for political reasons, was the cause of his 
 going. The more probable account is that his exile followed 
 a public accusation of impiety, for disclosing certain religious 
 mysteries in one of his plays. The popular excitement ran 
 high ; the poet was attacked with stones, when his brother 
 happily averted the fury of the mob by uncovering before them 
 the stump of his own arm, which had been mutilated at Sala- 
 mis in defence of his country. 
 
 Hiero received our author hospitably ; and the poet made 
 return by writing for him a drama called " the Women of 
 Etna." ^schylus may have visited Athens after this; but 
 if so, he returned to Sicily to die, in the sixty-ninth year of 
 his age. While he sat in a field near Gela absorbed in 
 thought, so the fable goes, an eagle, hovering over the spot 
 with a tortoise in its talons, let the tortoise fall on his bald 
 crown, which it mistook for a shining cobble-stone, for the 
 purpose of breaking the shell. The bird's aim was true ; 
 and the blow fractured the poet's skull. Thus, in fulfilment 
 of an oracular prediction, ^Eschylus received his death-stroke 
 from heaven. 
 
 In sublimity and power of dealing with the terrible, JEschy-
 
 190 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 lus is unequalled. Even the resources of the versatile Greek 
 tongue were hardly adequate to the expression of his con- 
 ceptions. He found congenial subjects only among the 
 gods and demigods of mythology or the tragical events of 
 the heroic period. His genius enabled him to give life 
 and shape to the vast and the supernatural, as few others 
 have done and most effectively, though his plot is always 
 simple. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott thus speaks of ^Eschylus in his Essay 
 on the Drama: "At his summons, the mysterious and 
 tremendous volume of destiny, in which are inscribed the 
 dooms of gods and men, seemed to display its leaves of iron 
 before the appalled spectators ; the more than mortal voices 
 of deities, Titans, and departed heroes, were heard in awful 
 conference; Olympus bowed, and its divinities descended; 
 earth yawned, and gave up the pale spectres of the dead; 
 and the yet more undefined and grisly forms of those in- 
 fernal deities who struck horror into the gods themselves. 
 All this could only be dared and clone by a poet of the 
 highest order." 
 
 But seven of the seventy-five tragedies of ^Eschylus are 
 extant. Of these, " Prometheus Chained " is considered the 
 greatest, and from it we have selected our extracts. The 
 opening scene is laid on the grim ocean's shore near frown- 
 ing Caucasus, to which, in obedience to Jove's command, 
 the giant Prometheus is to be chained. For thirty thousand 
 years a vulture is to tear his vitals, constantly growing out 
 afresh, as a punishment for his having given fire to mortals, 
 and taught them useful arts in opposition to the will of 
 heaven. Strength and Force, grandly personified, drag the 
 victim to the place of torture ; and Vulcan, the god of fire, 
 rivets his fetters to the rock. The chorus is composed of 
 sea-nymphs, who come to offer their sympathy to the sufferer 
 and advise him to submit; but Prometheus, who is the em-
 
 PKOMETHEUS CHAINED. 197 
 
 bodiment of stern independence, fortitude, and decision, en- 
 dures unyieldingly to the last. Even amid "the thunder's 
 deepening roar, blazing wreaths of lightning, and eddying 
 sands whirled on high," while the earth rocks to its centre, 
 and "boisterous billows rise, confounding sea and sky," he 
 hurls a proud defiance at his oppressors. 
 
 SCENE FKOM PKOMETHEUS CHAINED. 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 " Thy dire disasters, unexampled wrongs, 
 
 I weep, Prometheus. 
 From its soft founts distilled, the flowing tear 
 
 My cheek bedashes. 
 
 'Tis hard, most hard ! By self-made laws Jove rules, 
 And 'gainst the host of primal gods he points 
 
 The lordly spear. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 With echoing groans the ambient waste bewails 
 
 Thy fate, Prometheus ; 
 The neighboring tribes of holy Asia weep 
 
 For thee, Prometheus. 
 
 For thee and thine ! names mighty and revered 
 Of yore, now shamed, dishonored, and cast down, 
 
 And chained with thee. 
 
 STROPHE. 
 
 And Colchis, with her belted daughters, weeps 
 
 For thee, Prometheus ; 
 
 And Scythian tribes, on earth's remotest verge, 
 Where lone Mseotis* spreads her wintry waters, 
 
 Do weep for thee. 
 
 ANTISTROPHE. 
 
 The flower of Araby's wandering warriors weep 
 
 For thee, Prometheus ; 
 
 And they who high their airy holds have perched 
 On Caucasus' ridge, with pointed lances bristling, 
 
 Do weep for thee. 
 
 * The Sea of Azof.
 
 198 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 EPODE. 
 
 One only vexed like tbee, and even as thou 
 
 In adamant bound, 
 A Titan, and a god scorned by tbe gods, 
 
 Atlas I knew. 
 
 He on Ms shoulders the surpassing weight 
 Of the celestial pole stoutly upbore, 
 
 And groaned beneath. 
 
 Roars billowy Ocean, and the Deep sucks back 
 Its waters when he sobs ; from earth's dark cavea 
 
 Deep hell resounds ; 
 The fountains of the holy-streaming rivers 
 
 Do moan with him. 
 
 PROMETHEUS. Deem me not self-willed nor with pridr 
 
 high-strung, 
 
 That I am dumb ; my heart is gnawed to see 
 Myself thus mocked and jeered. These gods, to whom 
 Owe they their green advancement but to me ? 
 But this ye know ; and, not to teach the taught, 
 I '11 speak of it no more. Of human kind, 
 My great offence in aiding them, in teaching 
 The babe to speak, and rousing torpid mind 
 To take the grasp of itself of this I '11 talk ; 
 Meaning to mortal men no blame, but only 
 The true recital of mine own deserts. 
 For, soothly, having eyes to see they saw not, 
 And hearing heard not ; but, like dreamy phantoms, 
 A random life they led from year to year, 
 All blindly floundering on. No craft they knew 
 With woven brick or jointed beam to pile 
 The sunward porch ; but in the dark earth burrowed 
 And housed, like tiny ants in sunless caves. 
 No signs they knew to mark the wintry year : 
 The flower-strewn Spring, and the fruit-laden Summer, 
 Uncalendared, unregistered, returned 
 Till I the difficult art of the stars revealed, 
 Their risings and their settings. Numbers, too, 
 I taught them (a most choice device), and how 
 By marshalled signs to fix their shifting thoughts, 
 That Memory, mother of Muses, might achieve 
 Her wondrous works. I first slaved to the yoke 
 Both ox and ass. I, the rein-loving steeds 
 (Of wealth's gay-flaunting pomp the chiefest pride) 
 Joined to the car ; and bade them ease the toils 
 Of laboring men vicarious. I the first 
 Upon the lint-winged car of mariner
 
 PBOMETHEUS CHAINED. 199 
 
 Was launched, sea-wandering. Such wise arts I found, 
 To soothe the ills of man's ephemeral life ; 
 But for myself, plunged in this depth of woe, 
 No prop I find. 
 
 CHORUS. Sad chance ! Thy wit hath slipt 
 From its firm footing theu when needed most, 
 Like some unlearued leech who many healed, 
 But being sick himself, from all his store, 
 Cannot cull out one medicinal drug. 
 
 PROMETHEUS. Hear me yet further ; and in hearing marvel, 
 What arts and curious shifts my wit devised. 
 Chiefest of all, the cure of dire disease 
 Men owe to me. Nor healing food, nor drink, 
 Nor unguent knew they, but did slowly wither 
 And waste away for lack of pharmacy, 
 Till taught by me \o mix the soothing drug 
 And check corruption's march. I fixed the art 
 Of divination with its various phase 
 Of dim revealiugs, making dreams speak truth, 
 Stray voices, and encounters by the way 
 Significant ; the flight of taloned birds 
 On right and left I marked these fraught with ban, 
 With blissful augury those. I first did wrap 
 In the smooth fat the thighs; first burnt the loins, 
 Aud from the flickering flame taught men to spell 
 No easy lore, and cleared the fire-faced signs* 
 Obscure before. Yet more : I probed the earth, 
 To yield its hidden wealth to help man's weakness 
 Iron, copper, silver, gold. None but a fool, 
 A prating fool, will stint me of this praise. 
 And thus, with one short word to sum the tale, 
 Prometheus taught all arts to mortal men." 
 
 JOHX STUART BLACKIE. 
 
 Prometheus may be regarded as typifying the spirit of 
 progress, bound by the shackles of inevitable destiny, chaf- 
 ing under its enslavement, but enduring contumely and suf- 
 fering rather than yield to tyranny. The weird wail of lo on 
 leaving Prometheus, wrung from her by the persecution of 
 Juno, is thus rendered by Mrs. Browning, with all the wild- 
 ness and fire of the original : 
 
 * The sacrificial flame, from which omens were taken.
 
 200 
 
 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 "Io. Eleleu! Eleleu ! 
 
 How the spasm and the pain, 
 And the fire ou the brain, 
 
 Strike me burning through ! 
 How the sting of the curse, all aflame as it flew, 
 
 Pricks me onward again ! 
 How my heart, in its terror, is spurning my breast I 
 
 And my eyes, like the wheels of a chariot, roll round ; 
 I am whirled from my course, to the east and the west, 
 In the whirlwind of frenzy all madly inwound 
 And my mouth is unbridled for anguish and hate, 
 And my words beat in vain, in wild storms of unrest, 
 On the sea of desolate fate." 
 
 EXTANT PLAYS OF /ESCHYLUS. 
 
 PROMETHEUS CHAINED. 
 
 SKVEN AGAINST THEBES. Founded on 
 the siege of Thebes by seven Argive 
 chiefs, who espouse the cause of 
 Polyni'ces against his brother Ete'- 
 ocles, the latter having seized the 
 crown contrary to agreement. A 
 great favorite, and the poet's special 
 pride. 
 
 THE PERSIANS. Subject, the over- 
 throw of Xerxes : thought to be the 
 oldest Greek drama extant. 
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS. Danaus and his 
 fifty daughters solicit of the king of 
 Argos protection from their enemies. 
 The weakest of the seven. 
 
 AGAMEMNON. The murder of Aga- 
 memnon, on his return from Troy, 
 by his wife Clytemnestra and her 
 paramour ^Egisthus, is the material 
 part of the plot. 
 
 CHOEPHOR^E (libation-bearers). Based 
 on the avenging of the crime by Ores- 
 tes, Agamemnon's son, who slays his 
 mother and her guilty partner. 
 
 THE FURIES. Here we have the pur- 
 suit of the parricide by the Furies. 
 Clytemnestra, the Lady Macbeth of 
 the Greek stage ; her deep-laid plan, 
 her cunning welcome of her husband, 
 the fatal strokes dealt by her own 
 hand, her fiendish glorying in the deed 
 of blood, touched with masterly skill. 
 
 The three tragedies last named constitute what is called a trilogy, or group of 
 three dramas founded upon one story. " Prometheus Chained " was one of a 
 trilogy, of which the other two members are lost. 
 
 Sophocles (495-405 B.C.), the rival of ^Eschylus, was born 
 at Colo'nus, an Attic borough a short mile from the capital. 
 He was fortunate in having a father able to give him a liberal 
 education, and entered the service of the Muses at an early 
 age. His skill in music and the exercises of .the gymnasium 
 won him many a garland ; and when hardly sixteen, unrobed
 
 SOPHOCLES. 201 
 
 and crowned, he led the choir of boys with his ivory lyre in 
 the chant of triumph which the Athenians poured forth round 
 the trophy raised at Salamis. 
 
 Sophocles made his de'but as a tragic writer in that success- 
 ful contest with ^Eschylus which, some think, cost Athens her 
 grand old dramatist. Fame spread the news, and Greece 
 looked to Sophocles as the coming man. A succession of 
 plays extended his popularity. He added nineteen prizes to 
 the one wrested from ^Eschylus in 468 B.C. In the year 440 
 he completed the drama of " Antig'one," the oldest of his 
 seven surviving tragedies, which secured for him an impor- 
 tant official position. The " Antigone " ushered in the most 
 active portion of its author's literary life, during which eighty- 
 one of his pieces were written. Although history throws lit- 
 tle light on this period of his career, we know that, unlike his 
 great contemporaries, he never left his native city to enjoy 
 the munificence of foreign patrons. The Greek theatre was 
 indebted to him for a third actor, improvements in scenery, 
 and a further modification of the chorus, which no longer 
 took an active part in the play. 
 
 In his eightieth year, Sophocles was charged with imbecili- 
 ty by an ungrateful son, who regarded with jealous eyes his 
 partiality for a favorite grandchild, and hoped in this way to 
 obtain control of his property. The defence of the alleged 
 dotard was to read before his judges a choral song from a play 
 which he had just finished "CEdipus at Colonus" (p. 206). 
 The vindication was complete ; the judges at once rendered a 
 decision in the old poet's favor, and in a burst of enthusiasm 
 bore him home in triumph. He died at the age of ninety. 
 Some tell us that while he was repeating the pathetic plaints 
 of his "Antigone," his breath suddenly ceased; others, that 
 after gaining a tragic victory, he died of excessive joy as the 
 crown was placed on his brow. He left the Athenians 113 
 dramas. 
 
 I
 
 202 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 STYLE OF SOPHOCLES. As ^schylus is the impersonation 
 of grandeur, so is Sophocles of beauty and harmony. He de- 
 scends from the sublime heights ./Eschylus loved to tread, and, 
 appealing to our sympathy with humanity, finds his way into 
 the secret chambers of the heart. His language is pure; his 
 style, elegant, dignified, vivacious faultless ; in allusion to his 
 sweet diction, he was called by the ancients the Bee of Attica. 
 The type of manly beauty and intellectual power, aesthetic 
 culture and lofty morality, it seems as if Sophocles had been 
 " specially created to represent Greek art in its most refined 
 and exquisitely balanced perfection." 
 
 THE MASTERPIECE OF SOPHOCLES is " King CEdipus." Lai- 
 us, a Theban monarch, told by an oracle (such was the legend) 
 that his children would be the cause of his death, had his in- 
 fant son CEdipus exposed on Mount Citbaeron, hoping thus to 
 escape his destiny. But the boy was discovered by some 
 herdsmen and carried to Corinth, where he grew to man's 
 estate as the adopted son and heir of the king. 
 
 Warned at the Delphic shrine to beware of his native land 
 lest he should imbrue his hands in his father's blood, and be- 
 lieving Corinth to be his birthplace, he withdrew to Thebes ; 
 but on the way he met Lai'us, and, not knowing who he was, 
 killed him in a quarrel. Arrived at Thebes, he won the hand 
 of the widow Jocasta, his own mother, who bore him four chil- 
 dren. All went well for a time. At length, however, an epi- 
 demic broke out; and the oracle assigned as its cause the 
 presence of the late king's murderer. CEdipus strained every 
 nerve to discover the offender, and at last, to his horror, fas- 
 tened the crime, and the more terrible guilt of parricide, upon 
 himself. Unhappy Jocasta hanged herself in the palace, and 
 CEdipus in his frenzy beat out his eyes with her gold-embossed 
 buckles. 
 
 The play opens at Thebes, during the plague. CEdipus, in 
 conversation with a priest and Creon, Jocasta's brother, is in-
 
 EXTRACT FROM SOPHOCLES. 203 
 
 formed of Apollo's will, that, to avert the evil, the land must 
 be purified by the punishment of the assassin. After the 
 catastrophe above related, blinded CEdipus bemoans his lot in 
 heart-rending utterances, but finally accepts his fate with res- 
 ignation. We give the 
 
 CLOSING SCENE OF KING (EDIPUS. 
 [Enter Creon.~\ 
 
 " CREOX. I have not come, O (Edipus, to scorn, 
 Nor to reproach thee for thy former crimes ; 
 But ye, if ye have lost your sense of shame 
 For mortal men, yet reverence the light 
 Of him, our King, the Sun-god, source of life, 
 Nor sight so foul expose unveiled to view, 
 Which neither earth, nor shower from heaven, nor light, 
 Can see and welcome. But with utmost speed 
 Convey him in ; for nearest kin alone 
 Can meetly see and hear their kindred's ills. 
 
 (EDIPUS. Oh ! by the gods ! since thou, beyond my hopes, 
 Dost come all noble unto me all base, 
 In one thing hearken. For thy good I ask. 
 
 CREOX. And what request seek'st thou so wistfully ? 
 
 CEDIPUS. Cast me with all thy speed from out this land, 
 Where never more a man may look on me ! 
 
 CREOX. Be sure I would have done so, but I wished 
 To learn what now the God will bid us do. 
 
 CEDIPUS. The oracle was surely clear enough 
 That I, the parricide, the pest, should die. 
 
 CREOX. So ran the words. But in our present need 
 'Tis better to learn surely what to do. 
 
 CEDIPUS. And will ye ask for one so vile as I ? 
 
 CKEOX. Yea, now thou too wonld'st trust the voice of God. 
 
 CEDIPUS. And this I charge thee, yea, and supplicate : 
 For her within, provide what tomb thou wilt, 
 For for thine own most meetly thou wilt care. 
 But never let this city of my fathers 
 Be sentenced to receive me as its guest ; 
 But suffer me on yon lone hills to dwell, 
 Where stands Cithajron, chosen as my tomb 
 While still I lived, by mother and by sire, 
 That I may die by those who sought to kill. 
 And for my boys, O Creon, lay no charge 
 Of them upon me. They are grown, nor need, 
 Where'er they be, feel lack of means to live. 
 But for my two poor girls, all desolate,
 
 204 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 To whom their table never brought a meal 
 Without my presence, but whate'er I touched. 
 They still partook of with me these I care for. 
 Yea, let me touch them with my hands, and Aveep 
 To them my sorrows. Grant it, O my prince ! 
 
 O born of noble nature ! 
 
 Could I but touch them with my hands, I feel 
 Still I should have them mine, as when I saw. 
 
 [Enter Antigone and Jsmene.] 
 
 What say I ? What is this I 
 Do I not hear, ye gods ! their dear, loved tones, 
 Broken with sobs, and Creon, pitying me, 
 Hath sent the dearest of my children, to me ? 
 Is it not so ? 
 
 CREOX. It is so. I am he who gives thee this, 
 Knowing the joy thou hadst in them of old. 
 
 CEDIPUS. Good luck have thou ! And may the Powers on 
 
 high 
 
 Guard thy path better than they guarded mine! 
 Where are ye, O my children ? Come, oh ! come 
 To these your brother's hands, which but now tore 
 Your father's eyes, that once were bright to see, 
 Who, O my children, blind and knowing naught, 
 Became your father how, I may not tell. 
 I weep for you, though sight is mine no more, 
 Picturing in mind the sad and dreary life 
 Which waits you in the world in years to come ; 
 For to what friendly gatherings will ye go, 
 Or festive joys, from whence, for stately show, 
 Once yonrs, ye shall not home return in tears? 
 Who is there, O my children, rash enough 
 To make his own the shame that then will fall 
 On those who bore me, and on you as well ? 
 What evil fails us here ? Such shame as this 
 Will men lay on you, and who then will dare 
 To make you his in marriage? None, not one, 
 My children! but ye needs must waste away, 
 Unwedded, childless. Thou, Meuceceus' sou, 
 Since thou alone art left a father to them, 
 Suffer them not to wander husbandless, 
 Nor let thy kindred beg their daily bread ; 
 But look on them with pity, seeing them 
 At their age, but for thee, deprived of all. 
 O noble soul, I pray thee, touch my hand 
 In token of consent. And ye, my girls. 
 Had ye the minds to hearken, I would fain 
 Give ye much counsel. As it is, pray for me
 
 KING CEDIPUS. 205 
 
 To live where'er is meet ; and for yourselves 
 A brighter life than his ye call your sire. 
 
 CREOX. Enough of tears and words. Go thou withia 
 
 OEDIPUS. I needs must yield, however hard it be. 
 
 CREOX. In their right season, all things prosper best. 
 
 CEDIPUS. Kuow'st thou my wish ? 
 
 CREOX. Speak, and I then shall hear. 
 
 CEDIPUS. That thou should'st send me far away from home ? 
 
 CREOX. Thou askest what the gods alouo can give. 
 
 CEDIPUS. And yet I go most hated of the gods. 
 
 CREOX. And therefore it may chance thou gain'st thy -wish. 
 
 OEDIPUS. And dost thou promise, then, to grant it me ? 
 
 CREOX. I am not wont to utter idle words. 
 
 CEDIPUS. Lead me then hence. 
 
 CREOX. Go thou, but leave the girls. 
 
 OEDIPUS. Ah ! take them not from me. 
 
 CREOX. Thou must not think 
 
 To have thy way in all things all thy life. 
 Thou hadst it once, yet went it ill with thee. 
 
 CHORUS. Ye men of Thebes, behold this CEdipus, 
 Who knew the famous riddle* and was noblest, 
 Who envied no one's fortune and success : 
 And lo ! in what a sea of direst woe 
 He now is plunged. From hence the lesson draw, 
 To reckon no man happy till ye see 
 The closing day ; until he pass the bourn 
 Which severs life fromVleatb, unscathed by woe." PLUMPTRE. 
 
 CEdipus ended his days in exile at Colonus, where he was 
 received by Theseus, the hero of Attica, and attended to the 
 last by his faithful daughter Antigone. His death is the 
 subject of the play "CEdipus at Colonus," written at the 
 close of the poet's life and reflecting the gentleness and se- 
 renity of his last days. It contains one of the gems of Soph- 
 ocles that chorus which has immortalized the lovely sce- 
 nery about Colonus which the old poet recited before the 
 Athenian judges to prove his sanity. Bulwer furnishes us 
 a spirited version of this famous passage : The chorus in- 
 forms the outcast CEdipus that he has come to ColonQs, 
 
 * The riddle proposed by the Sphinx : " What animal is that which goes on 
 four feet in the morning, two at noon, and three at evening V" The answer of 
 CEdipus was, Mun.
 
 200 
 
 GRECIAN LITEKATUKE. 
 
 " Where ever and aye, through the greenest vale, 
 Gush the wailing notes of the nightingale, 
 From her home where the dark-hued ivy weaves 
 With the grove of the god a night of leaves ; 
 And the vines blossom ont from the lonely glade, 
 And the suns of the summer are dim in the shade, 
 And the storms of the winter have never a breeze, 
 That can shiver a leaf from the charmed trees ; 
 For there, oh ! ever there 
 With that fair monntaiu throng, 
 
 Who his sweet nurses were, 
 
 Wild Bacchus holds his court, the conscious woods among! 
 Daintily, ever there, 
 Crown of the mighty goddesses of old, 
 Clustering Narcissus with his glorious hues 
 Springs from his bath of heaven's delicious dews, 
 And the gay crocus sheds his rays of gold. 
 And wandering there forever 
 The fountains are at play, 
 And Cephissus feeds his river 
 
 From their sweet urns, day by day ; 
 The river knows no dearth ; 
 Adown the vale the lapsing waters glide, 
 And the pure rain of that pellucid tide 
 
 Calls the rife beauty from the heart .of earth ; 
 While by the banks the Muses' choral train 
 Are duly heard and there Love checks her golden rein." 
 
 EXTANT PLAYS OF SOPHOCLES. 
 
 KING OEnirus: this and the next two 
 tragedies form a trilogy. 
 
 (Eoipus AT COLONUS: well adapted 
 to flatter the local pride of the Athe- 
 nians. 
 
 ANTIGONE : based on the story of " the 
 Seven against Thebes." Antigone 
 was the daughter of (Edipus. Her 
 uncle, King Creon, forbids the burial 
 of her brother Polyni'ces, the in- 
 stigator of the war and one of its 
 victims. Sisterly affection proves 
 stronger than fear of the royal de- 
 cree ; Antigone performs the last sad 
 offices for her brother, and is en- 
 tombed alive for her disobedience. 
 
 THE TKACHINIAN WOMEN : subject, the 
 poisoning of Hercules by his wife 
 De'ianira. 
 
 ELECTRA.: called from the heroine, 
 Electra, daughter of Agamemnon, 
 who is overpowered by hatred for 
 her unnatural mother and yEgisthus. 
 The plot culminates with the slaugh- 
 ter of the guiltj 7 pair by Orestes the 
 avenger. Finest passage, the meet- 
 ing between Orestes and his sister. 
 
 AJAX : founded upon the madness of 
 Ajax in consequence of the bestowal 
 of Achilles' arms on Ulysses in pref- 
 erence to himself; his suicide and 
 funeral.
 
 EURIPIDES. 207 
 
 PHILOCTE'TES : the hero was a Thes- 
 salian prince, whom the Greeks 
 treacherously abandoned on the isl- 
 and of Lemnos. Afterward, when 
 informed by the oracle that Troy 
 
 would not fall until the arrows of 
 Hercules, which Philoctetes had, 
 were brought to bear on its defend- 
 ers, they induced him to take part in 
 the war. 
 
 Euripides. In 480 B.C., on the island of Salamis, while 
 the battle that was to decide the future of Greece raged 
 in the neighboring waters, Euripides first saw the light. 
 ^Eschylus, in his prime, was at the time bravely fighting on 
 an Athenian galley; while Sophocles, but fifteen years of 
 age, stood ready, should the gods grant his countrymen suc- 
 cess, to celebrate the victory with the arts in which he ex- 
 celled. 
 
 The third of the illustrious tragic trio was carefully trained; 
 painting, rhetoric, and philosophy, besides the customary 
 gymnastic exercises, engaged his attention ; and he had not 
 attained his eighteenth year when he finished his first drama. 
 Not, however, until 441 B.C. did he, by winning the tragic 
 prize, verify a prediction made before his birth that he would 
 be crowned with sacred chaplets. 
 
 His reputation was now secure; and though he was ex- 
 posed to bitter partisan attacks, his plays became widely 
 popular. The philosopher Socrates always went to see them 
 performed, and is even suspected of having had a hand in 
 their composition. So great was the estimation in which 
 they were held at Syracuse, that, after the surrender of the 
 Athenian armies which had attempted the reduction of that 
 city (413 B.C.), such of the soldiers as could teach their 
 captors verses of Euripides were exempted from the cruel- 
 ties inflicted on their fellows, and sent home to thank the 
 author for their liberty. Athens itself is said to have been 
 saved nine years later, when the Spartan general Lysander 
 was minded to lay it in ashes, by the singing of a chorus 
 of Euripides at the triumphal banquet ; who could raise his
 
 208 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 hand against the city of one that had discoursed poetry so 
 sweet ? 
 
 Like his brother tragedian, Euripides drew his subjects 
 from the mythical history of his country. His plays num- 
 bered seventy-five, some say ninety-two ; and the best of 
 them rank with the best pieces on the roll of dramatic 
 literature. He composed slowly and with care. On one 
 occasion, it is related, when he had completed only four 
 verses in three days, Euripides was told by a poetaster that 
 in the same time he had produced a hundred. "And yours," 
 replied the great man, "will live for three days; mine, for- 
 ever." 
 
 Euripides spent the last two years of his life at the Mace- 
 donian court, then the abode of many illustrious men. He 
 went there in search of rest, but found that he had only ex- 
 changed persecution at home for jealousy abroad. The 
 honors heaped upon him by the Macedonian prince, together 
 with his own superior genius, raised him up enemies. In 
 the king's savage hounds, if we may credit the legend, they 
 saw the means of removing an obnoxious rival ; and while ' 
 Euripides was walking in his patron's garden, he was at- 
 tacked and fatally mangled by the fierce brutes (406 B.C.). 
 
 Athens felt the loss, and went into mourning at news of 
 his death; vainly she supplicated the Macedonian king for 
 his ashes. They were magnificently interred at Pella ; while 
 his country was forced to remain content with a statue, and 
 a cenotaph on which was inscribed, " All Greece is the 
 monument of Euripides." His verses, as he predicted, were 
 immortal ; admiration of them led an epigrammatist to write : 
 
 " If it be true that in the grave the dead 
 Have sense and knowledge, as some men have said, 
 I'd hang myself to see Euripides." 
 
 With Euripides, the glory of the Athenian stage descended
 
 POETRY OP EURIPIDES. 209 
 
 into the tomb ; and Tragedy found no one worthy to fill his 
 place till Shakespeare's day. 
 
 STYLE OF EURIPIDES. S-opnocles once remarked that he 
 represented men as they ought to be, Euripides as they are. 
 This holding of the mirror up to nature was what Athenian 
 taste began to demand; Euripides had the tact to see what 
 was wanted, and the genius to make the innovation success- 
 fully. His heroes and heroines talked and acted like men 
 and women of the day ; hence he has been accused of de- 
 grading his art by introducing the commonplace into his 
 dramas, of lowering Greek tragedy to the level of every-day 
 life. 
 
 A more serious charge also was laid at his door that of 
 impiety. Euripides rejected the faith of his fathers; we 
 need not, therefore, look in his plays for the religious fervor 
 of ^Eschylus, or even for the high moral tone of Sophocles. 
 In one of his lines the doctrine of mental reservation ap- 
 pears, 
 
 " My tongue took an oath, but my mind is unsworn" 
 
 a sentiment which led to his prosecution for justifying per- 
 jury. 
 
 While Euripides was inferior to ^Eschylus in majesty, to 
 Sophocles in symmetry and finish, he surpassed both in de- 
 lineating character, and particularly in representing the hu- 
 man passions. He was the most pathetic of the three, and 
 in the portraiture of woman stands second to no poet, an- 
 cient or modern. His heroines are his master -figures. 
 Traces of art are sometimes apparent in his writings, and 
 occasionally he verges on the sensational. 
 
 THE MEDE'A is the chef d'ceuvre of this author. Its plot 
 is derived from the story of Medea, a Colchian princess pro- 
 ficient in sorcery. She won the love of the Greek prince 
 
 Jason, who came to Colchis in the ship Argo to obtain pos- 
 
 I 2
 
 210 GRECIAN LITEEATUEE. 
 
 session of the Golden Fleece, helped him to secure the object 
 of his search, and eloped with him to Greece. But when 
 Jason beheld the fair Glance, daughter of the King of Cor- 
 inth, he resolved to thrust aside Medea in favor of his new 
 love, forgetful of the dark power of the enchantress. 
 
 The opening scene is laid at Corinth, after the nuptials of 
 Jason and Glauce. The infidelity of her husband has trans- 
 formed Medea into a tigress, whose conflicting passions the 
 poet touches with consummate skill the anger of the dis- 
 honored wife, the love of the tender mother, the steeling of 
 the woman's heart against its deep affection, the all-absorbing 
 thirst for vengeance. 
 
 The play ends with Medea's terrible revenge. Banished 
 by the king from Corinth, she begs for one day of prepara- 
 tion, in which she sends to the bride a costly robe and golden 
 wreath poisoned by her fell arts. The unsuspecting Glauce 
 smilingly arrays herself in these presents ; but her smiles 
 give place to shrieks of agony as the enchanted garments 
 burn into her flesh and the chaplet blazes in her hair. Her 
 father tries to save her, and perishes in her flaming embrace. 
 Medea completes her work by the murder of her two chil- 
 dren Jason's sons and after jeering at her husband's grief 
 disappears with the corpses in a chariot whirled through the 
 air by dragons. 
 
 One of the most affecting passages in Euripides is found in 
 
 MEDEA'S LAST WORDS TO HER SONS. 
 
 " O children, children ! you Lave still a city, 
 A home, where, lost to me and all my -woe, 
 Yon will live out your lives without a mother ! 
 But I lo ! I am for another laud, 
 Leaving the joy of yon: to see you happy, 
 To deck your marriage-bed, to greet your bride, 
 To light your wedding-torch, shall not be mine! 
 O me! thrice wretched in my own self-will ! 
 In vain then, dear my children ! did I rear yon ; 
 In vain I travailed, and with wearing sorrow
 
 EXTRACT FROM EURIPIDES. 211 
 
 Bore bitter anguish in the hour of childbirth ! 
 
 Yea, of a sooth, I had great hope of you, 
 
 That you should cherish iny old age, and deck 
 
 My corpse with loving bauds, and make me blessed 
 
 'Mid women in my death. But now, ah me ! 
 
 Hath perished that sweet dream. For long without you 
 
 I shall drag out a dreary doleful age. 
 
 And you shall never see your mother more 
 
 With your dear eyes : for all your life is chauged. 
 
 Woe ! woe ! 
 
 Why gaze you at me with your eyes, my children ? 
 Why smile your last sweet smile ? Ah me ! ah me! 
 What shall I do ? My heart dissolves within me, 
 Friends, when I see the glad eyes of my sons ! 
 I cannot. No : my will that was so steady, 
 Farewell to it. They too shall go with me : 
 Why should I wound their sire with what wounds them, 
 Heaping tenfold his woes on my own head ? 
 No, no, I shall not. Perish my proud will. 
 
 Yet whence this weakness ? Do I wish to reap 
 
 The scorn that springs from enemies unpunished? 
 
 Dare it I must. What craven fool am I, 
 
 To let soft thoughts flow trickling from my soul ! 
 
 Go, boys, into the house : and he who may not 
 
 Be present at my solemn sacrifice 
 
 Let him see to it. My hand shall not falter. 
 
 Ah ! ah !* 
 
 Nay, do not, O my heart! do not this thing! 
 Suffer them, O poor fool ; yea, spare thy children! 
 There in thy exile they will gladden thee. 
 Not so : by all the plagues of nethermost hell 
 It shall not be that I, that I should suffer 
 My foes to triumph and insult my sons! 
 Die must they : this must be, and since it must, 
 I, I myself will slay them, I who bore them. 
 So is it fixed, and there is no escape. 
 Even as I speak, the crown is on her head, 
 The bride is dying in her robes, I know it. 
 But since this path most piteous I tread, 
 Sending them forth on paths more piteous far, 
 I will embrace my children. O my sons ! 
 Give, give your mother your dear hands to kiss. 
 O dearest hands, and mouths most dear to me, 
 And forms and noble faces of my sons! 
 Be happy even there : what here was yours, 
 Your father robs you of. O delicate scent ! 
 O tender touch and sweet breath of my boys !
 
 212 
 
 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Go, go, go leave me ! Lo, I cannot bear 
 
 To look on you : my woes have overwhelmed me." 
 
 SYMONDS. 
 
 EXTANT PLAYS OF EURIPIDES. 
 
 ALCESTIS, first represented 438 B.C. 
 
 MEDEA, " 431 " 
 
 HIPPOL'YTUS, " 428 " 
 
 HECUBA, " 423 " 
 
 HERACLI'D^E, " 421 " 
 
 THE SUPPLIANTS. 
 
 ION. 
 
 THE RAGING HERCULES. 
 
 ANDROMACHE. 
 
 THE TROJAN WOMEN, 415 B.C. : pa- 
 thetic by reason of the plaints of the 
 captive women. 
 
 ELECTRA, first represented 413 B.C. 
 
 HELEN, " 412 " 
 
 IPHIGENI'A AT TAURIS. 
 
 ORESTES, 408 B.C. : demoralizing in its 
 portraiture of crime. 
 
 THE PHOENICIAN WOMEN. 
 
 THE FEMALE BACCHANALIANS: pro- 
 duced at the Macedonian court. 
 
 IPIIIGENIA AT AULIS: not acted till 
 after the author's death. 
 
 CYCLOPS: a satyric drama (chorus of 
 satyrs). 
 
 Lost Tragedies. Dramatic literature has sustained an ir- 
 reparable loss, not only in the missing plays of the three 
 great masters, but also in those numberless works of their 
 contemporaries and occasionally successful competitors now 
 buried in oblivion. From the allusions of two or three Greek 
 authors, a few meagre particulars may be gleaned, now of 
 one, now of another but they only serve to make us more 
 painfully conscious of our loss. 
 
 Greek Comedy. Comedy was older than tragedy in Greece. 
 Thirty years before the time of Thespis, Susa'rion of Meg'ara, 
 in his burlesque exhibitions, improved somewhat on the ex- 
 tempore jests and village-songs of the Bacchic revellers, and 
 hence has been called the inventor of comedy. Susarion 
 was no great lover of the fair sex, if we may judge by an un- 
 gallant sentiment of his which has been preserved : " Woman 
 is a curse, but we cannot conduct our household affairs with- 
 out this curse ; therefore to marry is an evil, and not to marry 
 is an evil." Perhaps he had taken to wife a Xantippe. 
 
 The poet Epicharmus, also of Megara, but the Sicilian city 
 of that name, first committed his effusions to writing ; he was
 
 GREEK COMEDY. 213 
 
 the author of thirty-five comedies, some of them on subjects 
 not mythological. 
 
 The development of comedy, however, was interrupted^ 
 The Tragic Muse enforced her claims at the expense of her 
 elder sister, and the latter was for a season neglected. But 
 the flourishing era of republican Athens, when the poet was 
 free to lash whom he chose, saw comedy restored to the favor 
 of the satire -loving people. It may be said to have been 
 perfected by Aristophanes. He not only ridiculed the follies 
 and vices of the day, laid bare family secrets on the stage, 
 and edified his audiences by caricaturing the rich and great 
 with masks and costumes which reproduced their peculiari- 
 ties, but fearlessly assailed the government. When all others 
 shrunk from playing so dangerous a role, he himself per- 
 formed the part of the insolent demagogue Cleon (originally 
 a leather-dresser), whom he mercilessly "cut into sandal- 
 strips " in his " Knights." 
 
 Even the gods were not slighted by the comic poets. The 
 gourmand Hercules devours as fast as the cook can prepare 
 victuals ; Prometheus is protected from the elements by an 
 umbrella ; Bacchus swaggers as a fop and coward. Comedy 
 in the hands of Aristophanes and his contemporaries was to 
 the Athenians what our press is to us, but went still further. 
 Always personal and sometimes scurrilous in its attacks, too 
 often coarse and licentious in its tone, it yet doubtless ac- 
 complished much good in restraining political ambition, 
 checking public corruption, and modifying the prevailing 
 faults of society. 
 
 Aristophanes. The oldest comedies extant are those of 
 Aristophanes, a citizen of Athens by birth or adoption, born 
 about the middle of the fifth century B.C. If he was an 
 adopted son, Athens had good reason to be proud of her pro- 
 te'ge'. His society was sought by the learned and great. He 
 became the idol of the people, who fined such as brought libel-
 
 214 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 suits against him, and voted him an olive crown for exposing 
 the misconduct of their rulers. 
 
 Nor was his fame confined to Athens. All Greece, and 
 Sicily too, laughed at his humorous sallies. The Persian king 
 enjoyed his pungent satires, and regarded him as such a pow- 
 er in Greece that when Spartan ambassadors sought an alli- 
 ance with Persia against their Athenian rivals, the king asked 
 on which side the comic poet was arrayed ; for, said he, " the 
 party whose cause Aristophanes espouses will certainly win." 
 
 Aristophanes was loyal to the true interests of his country, 
 and declined the flattering invitations of Dionysius to dwell 
 in ease at Syracuse with the luminaries of his age. He longed 
 for the glorious Athens of the past, and attacked whatever 
 conflicted with his conservative ideas. None escaped his 
 well-aimed shafts. He was specially severe on the Sophists, 
 a new class of teachers at Athens, whose forte lay in chopping 
 logic and splitting hairs, and who taught the tricks of rhetoric 
 rather than practical morality. In his " Clouds " he derides 
 their sharp practices and unsound system of education, striking 
 them over the head of Socrates, the exponent of true philoso- 
 phy, whose life was devoted to combating the false teachings 
 of these very pretenders. 
 
 That Socrates was merely the scape-goat is plain, for he and 
 Aristophanes were intimate friends. When the play was first 
 exhibited, the philosopher, who was in the audience, took it 
 all in good part, and even rose that the people might compare 
 him with the caricature presented, which exaggerated his ec- 
 centricities of dress and figure his pug-nose, thick lips, shabby 
 garments, and absent-minded stare. The chorus of changing 
 clouds symbolized the meretricious charms of sophistry. 
 
 " THE CLOUDS " opens in the sleeping-apartment of Strep- 
 si'ades, an Athenian citizen, his son Pheiclippides occupying 
 a pallet near him. The slaves of the household are abed in 
 an adjoining room. Strepsiades, oppressed by debt incurred
 
 ARISTOPHANES. "215 
 
 through the extravagance of his " precious son," a fast young 
 man addicted to fast horses, is disturbed by the recollection 
 of numerous outstanding bills and notes about to mature. 
 He wakes before daylight and calls a slave : 
 
 " Boy ! light a lamp ; 
 
 Bring me my pocket-book, that I may see 
 
 How my accounts stand, and just cast them up. [Slave oteys.~] 
 
 Let's see now. First, here's Prasias, fifty pounds. 
 Now, what's that for? When did I borrow that? 
 Ah! when I bought that gray. O dear! O dear! 
 I shall grow gray enough, if this goes on. 
 
 PHEIDIPPIDES [talking in his sleep], That's not fair, 
 Philo ! Keep your own side of the course ! 
 
 STREPSIADES. Ay, there he goes ! that's -what is ruining me ; 
 He's always racing, even in his dreams. 
 
 PHEIDIPPIDES [au-aking~\. Good heavens! my dear father, 
 What makes you groan and toss so all night long ? 
 
 STREPSIADES. There's a sheriff's officer at me in the bedclothes. 
 
 PHEIDIPPIDES. Lie quiet, sir, do pray, and let me sleep. 
 
 STREPSIADES. Sleep, if you like ; but these debts, I can tell you, 
 Will fall on your own head some day, young man. 
 Hough ! may those match-makers come to an evil end 
 Who drew me into marrying your good mother! 
 There I was, living a quiet life in the country, 
 Shaved once a week, maybe, wore my old clothes 
 Full of my sheep, and goats, and bees, and vineyards, 
 And I must marry the tine niece of Megacles. 
 Many a fine town-belle, all airs and graces! 
 A pretty pair we were to come together 
 I smelling of the vineyard and sheep-shearing, 
 She with her scents, and essences, and cosmetics, 
 And all the deviltries of modern fashion. 
 Not a bad housekeeper though, I will say that 
 
 SLAVE [examining the lamp, which is going oi/f].-^This lamp has got 
 no oil in it. 
 
 STREPSIADES. Deuce take you, 
 
 Why did you light that thirsty beast of a lamp? 
 Come here, and you shall catch it. 
 
 SLAVE. Catch it why ? 
 
 STREPSIADES [boxes his cars]. For putting such a thick wick in. 
 
 to be sure. 
 
 Well, in due time, this boy of ours was born 
 To me and my grand lady. First of all, 
 We got to loggerheads about his name; 
 She would have something that had got a horse in it
 
 216 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Xanthippus or Charippus or Pliilippides ; 
 
 I was for his grandfather's name Pheidouides.* 
 
 Well, for some time we squabbled ; then at last 
 
 We came to a compromise upon Pheid-ippides. 
 
 This boy she'd take him in her lap and fondle him, 
 
 Aud say, 'Ah! when it grows up to be a man, 
 
 It shall drive horses, like its uncle Megacles, 
 
 And wear a red cloak, it shall.' Then I would say, 
 
 ' He shall wear a good sheep-skin coat, like his own father, 
 
 And drive his goats to market from the farm.'" 
 
 Strepsiades finally bethinks him of a plan for paying his 
 debts. He will have his son trained by the Sophists ; and 
 when the creditors bring the case into court, Pheidippides 
 shall plead his cause, and defeat them with fallacious argu- 
 ments even in the face of a thousand witnesses. Father and 
 son at once arise, dress, and walk out in the direction of 
 the Sophists' school. Arrived in front of it, Strepsiades re- 
 marks : 
 
 " That's the great Thinking-school of our new philosophers ; 
 There live the men who teach that heaven around us 
 Is a vast oven, and we the charcoal in it. 
 And they teach too for a consideration, mind 
 To plead a cause aud win it, right or wrong. 
 
 PHEIDIPPIDES [carelessly]. Who are these fellows ? 
 
 STREPSIADES. I don't quite remember 
 
 The name they call themselves, it's such a long one ; 
 Very hard thinkers but they're first-rate men. 
 
 PHEIDIPPIDES. Faugh! vulgar fellows I know 'em. 
 Dirty vagabonds, 
 Like Socrates there and Chserephon : a low set. 
 
 STREPSIADES. Pray hold your tongue don't show your igno 
 
 ranee, 
 
 But, if you care at all for your old father, 
 Be one of them ; now do, and cut the tnrf. 
 
 PHEIDIPPIDES. Not I, by Bacchus ! not if you would give me 
 That team of Arabs which Leogoras drives. 
 
 STREPSIADES. Do, my dear boy, I beg you go and be taught. 
 
 PHEIDIPPIDES. What shall I learn there ? 
 
 STREPSIADES. Learn ? Why, they do say 
 That these men have the secret of both Arguments, 
 The honest Argument (if there be such a thing) and the other; 
 
 : Hippos means a horse in Greek; pheidon, economical.
 
 ARISTOPHANES. 217 
 
 Now this last this false Argument, yon understand . 
 
 Will make the veriest rascal win his cause. 
 
 So if you'll go and learn for us this glorious art, 
 
 The debts I owe for you will all be cleared; 
 
 For I shan't pay a single man a farthing. 
 
 PHEIDIPPIDES. No I can't do it. Studying hard, you see, 
 Spoils the complexion. How could I show my face 
 Among the knights, looking a beast, like those fellows ? 
 
 STKEPSIADES. Then, sir, henceforth I swear, so help me Ceres, 
 I won't maintain you you, nor your bays, nor your chestnuts. 
 Go to the dogs or anywhere out of my house!" 
 
 Failing to induce his son to enter the Thinking-school, 
 Strepsiades resolves himself to master the fashionable Argu- 
 ment that "pays no bills;" he has an interview with Socrates, 
 and is introduced to the Clouds, the new goddesses of this 
 misty philosophy. 
 
 One of the most beautiful passages of the play having the 
 ring of the true metal is the chorus of Clouds responding to 
 the call of Socrates first, behind the scenes, in the distance ; 
 then nearer ; then rising from the lips of twenty-four gauze- 
 clad nymphs, who descend upon the stage as personifications 
 of the ethereal deities. 
 
 CHORUS OF CLOUDS (in the distance). 
 
 " Eternal clouds ! 
 
 Rise we to mortal view, 
 Embodied in bright shapes of dewy sheen, 
 
 Leaving the depths serene 
 
 Where our loud-sounding Father Ocean dwells, 
 For the wood-crowned summits of the hills : 
 
 Thence shall our glance command 
 The beetling crags which sentinel the land, 
 
 The teeming earth, 
 
 The crops we bring to birth ; 
 Thence shall we hear 
 The music- of the ever-flowing streams, 
 The low deep thunders of the booming sea. 
 
 Lo, the bright Eye of Day unwearied beams ! 
 
 Shedding our veil of storms 
 
 From our immortal forms, 
 We scan with keen-eyed gaze this nether sphere."
 
 218 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 CHORUS OF CLOUDS (nearer). 
 
 " Sisters who bring the showers, 
 
 Let us arise and greet 
 
 This glorious laud, for Pallas' dwelling meet, 
 Rich iu brave men, beloved of Cecrops old ; 
 
 Where Faith aud Reverence reigu, 
 
 Where comes no foot profane, 
 When for the mystic rites the Holy Doors unfold. 
 
 There gifts are duly paid 
 
 To the great gods, and pious prayers are said ; 
 Tall temples rise, and statues heavenly fair. 
 
 There at each holy tide, 
 
 With coronals and song, 
 The glad processions to the altars throng ; 
 
 There in the jocund spring, 
 
 Great Bacchus, festive king, 
 With dance aud tuneful flute his Chorus leads along." 
 
 W. L. COLLINS. 
 
 But though the Clouds assist Socrates in teaching Strepsia 
 des, the pupil proves an utter dunce. Finally, in a moment 
 of impatience, Socrates kicks him out of the school. 
 
 At last Pheiclippides is prevailed upon to study with the 
 Sophists. He proves an apt scholar, rapidly developing into 
 an unprincipled scamp. When his education as a sharper is 
 completed, he brings to bear his specious arguments against 
 the creditors, and cheats them out of their dues. So far, so 
 good ; but his notions of filial duty have also been greatly 
 modified by the instructions of Socrates. A quarrel arising 
 in the family, he hesitates not to fall upon his father with a 
 cudgel, and threatens to do the same by his mother if she 
 provokes him. 
 
 With a curse upon Socrates, the outraged old gentleman 
 calls his slaves, hurries to the Thinking-school, and sets fire 
 to the building. Thus the play ends. 
 
 Beneath the pleasantry of Aristophanes is a substratum of 
 solid sense ; as is apparent in "the Birds," an ingenious play 
 in which the woodland songsters take characters. It was pro-
 
 ARISTOPHANES. 2 1 9 
 
 duced at a time when the Athenians, puffed up with vanity, 
 confidently looked for the reduction of Sicily and the domin- 
 ion of Greece. Aristophanes alone, at this critical period, 
 ventured to raise the note of warning, and satirize their fool- 
 ish ambition. The choruses in this drama ring with the sweet 
 music of the wild woods ; they were rendered by twenty-four 
 performers plumed so as to represent as many different kinds 
 of birds. The Hoopoe thus calls his fellows to a mass-meet- 
 ing: 
 
 " Hoop ! hoop ! 
 Come in a troop, 
 Come at a call 
 One and all, 
 Birds of a feather, 
 All together. 
 
 Birds of an humble gentle bill 
 Smooth and shrill, 
 Djeted on seeds and grain, 
 Rioting on the furrowed plain, 
 Pecking, hopping, 
 Picking, popping, 
 Among the barley newly sown. 
 Birds of bolder, louder tone, 
 Lodging in the shnibs and buslic ?, 
 Mavises and Thrushes. 
 On the summer berries browsing, 
 Ou the garden fruits carousing, 
 All the grubs and vermin smouzing. 
 
 Yon that in an humbler station, 
 With an active occupation, 
 Haunt the lowly watery mead, 
 Warring against the native breed, 
 The gnats and flies, your enemies ; 
 In the level marshy plain 
 Of Marathon pursued and slain. 
 
 Yon that in a squadron driving 
 From the seas are seen arriving, 
 With the Cormorants and Mews, 
 Haste to land and hear the news! 
 
 All the feathered airy nation, 
 Birds of every size and station, 
 Are convened in convocation.
 
 220 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 For an envoy, queer and shrewd, 
 
 Means to address the multitude, 
 And submit to their decision 
 A surprising proposition, 
 For the welfare of the state. 
 
 Come in a flurry, 
 
 With a hurry, scurry, 
 Hurry to the meeting and attend to the debate." 
 
 FKERE. 
 
 STYLE OF ARISTOPHANES. In weighing the merits of Aris- 
 tophanes, it must be remembered that many of his peculiar 
 beauties cannot be translated, and that we lose his local hits 
 from our inability to see things from an Athenian standpoint. 
 He is often indelicate in his allusions ; he is as ready with 
 town slang and the cant of the shop as with the most elegant 
 phrase. But Attic salt seasons the whole, and none ever han- 
 dled the versatile Greek tongue more deftly. In his command 
 of language, he is equalled only by Plato, who felt the comic 
 poet's power when he said that in the soul of Aristophanes 
 the Graces sought an imperishable shrine. Amid all his 
 humor and buffoonery sparkles genius of the highest order. 
 His aim seems to have been to elevate his art. Some of the 
 improvements he claimed to have introduced, are thus set 
 forth in an address which he puts into the mouth of the 
 leader of the chorus in his " Peace :" 
 
 " It was he that indignantly swept from the stage the paltry ignoble 
 
 device 
 Of a Hercules needy and seedy and greedy, a vagabond sturdy and 
 
 stout, 
 Now baking his bread, now swindling instead, now beaten and 
 
 battered about. 
 And freedom he gave to the lacrimose slave who was wont with a 
 
 howl to rush in, 
 And all for the sake of a joke which they make on the wounds 
 
 which disfigure his skin. 
 Such vulgar contemptible lumber at once he bade from the drama 
 
 depart, 
 And then, like an edifice stately and grand, he raised and ennobled 
 
 the art." THOROLD EOGEUS.
 
 COMEDIES OF ARISTOPHANES. 
 
 221 
 
 Aristophanes outlived the license of the old comedy, which 
 died with liberty. When in 404 B.C. the popular government 
 was overthrown, and Thirty Tyrants, supported by Sparta, 
 lorded it over Athens, a statute was passed making personal 
 attacks on the stage capital offences ; an actor who defied the 
 law was actually starved to death. Thenceforth the comic 
 poet dared not individualize the object of his satire ; he tilted 
 against vice and folly in general, or thrust at his intended 
 victims indirectly under assumed names. 
 
 Aristophanes died about 380 B.C. No other comic poet 
 could vie with him during his lifetime ; none worthy to be his 
 successor arose after his death, for " Nature broke the mould 
 in which he was cast." Of fifty-four comedies from his pen, 
 eleven remain entire. 
 
 THE ACHARNIANS 425 B.C. 
 
 THE KNIGHTS 424 " 
 
 THE CLOUDS 423 " 
 
 THE WASPS 422 " 
 
 The persons constituting the 
 chorus were girt in tightly 
 about the waist, to make 
 them as wasp-like as possi- 
 ble in appearance ; skewers 
 did service as stings. 
 
 PEACE 421 " 
 
 THE BIRDS 414 " 
 
 LYSISTRATA 411 " 
 
 THE WOMEN CELEBRATING 
 
 THE FEAST OF CERES.. 411 " 
 Ridicule of Euripides is the 
 staple of this play. 
 
 THE FROGS 405 B.C. 
 
 Here again Euripides is the 
 butt. The chorus was made 
 up to represent frogs, whose 
 croakings were imitated. 
 
 THE WOMEN MET IN ASSEM- 
 BLY 392 " 
 
 Certain strong-minded fe- 
 male communists, advocates 
 of women's rights, seize on 
 the government and under- 
 take the reformation of pub- 
 lic abuses. This play con- 
 tains the longest word known, 
 made up of 77 syllables and 
 1G9 letters. 
 
 PLUTUS... .. 388 " 
 
 IIISTOEY. 
 
 During this halcyon age of Greek poetry, prose also was 
 cultivated, and in the century following the Persian Wars it 
 was brought to maturity. After the victories that secured her 
 freedom, Greece felt the need of a national historian to record
 
 2'22 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 the story of her struggles and triumphs. The earliest narra- 
 tors, as has been shown, confined themselves to mythology 
 and tradition : the times now demanded an artist who could 
 paint with faithful pencil on living canvas those scenes that 
 were the glory of Hellas and in Herodotus of Halicarnas- 
 sus that artist appeared. 
 
 Herodotus (born 484 B.C.). Halicarnassus was the capital 
 of a Dorian confederacy of states in southern Asia Minor. 
 Its queen Artemisia supported Xerxes in his quarrel with 
 Greece ; and although the Athenians, provoked that a woman 
 should take the field against them, offered an immense reward 
 for her capture, she escaped the perils of war, and carried 
 her kingdom safely through the political troubles of the time. 
 
 The parents of Herodotus were persons of rank and prop- 
 erty. His writings prove him to have been well read in the 
 literature of his country. Though not an Ionian born, he 
 adopted the Ionic dialect the dress in which Greek prose 
 first appeared. 
 
 Herodotus spent the best twenty years of his life in travel- 
 ling over the greater part of the known world, studying the 
 history, geography, and customs of the countries he visited. 
 Thebes and Memphis, Tyre and Jerusalem, Babylon and Ec- 
 bat'ana with all he made personal acquaintance, extending 
 his tour as far west as the Greek settlements in Italy, and as 
 far south as the first cataract of the Nile. 
 
 The marvellousness of the stories he collected brought down 
 upon Herodotus the ridicule of his fellow-citizens ; so quitting 
 Halicarnassus when about thirty-seven years of age, he settled 
 at Athens. Here, it is related, he read his history, still in the 
 rough, to the admiring people, who voted him a handsome 
 reward. Here also he seems to have become intimate with 
 Sophocles and his great contemporaries ; and here, perhaps, 
 his ambition was kindled to add another star to the galaxy 
 that made Athens the glory of the world.
 
 HERODOTUS. 223 
 
 Not long, however, did Herodotus remain at the capital. 
 As one of a band of colonists sent out by Pericles in 443 B.C., 
 he crossed to Italy, and aided in founding the town of Thurii, 
 near the ruins of Syb'aris (see Map, p. 304). At Thurii he 
 spent his last years in revising, enlarging, and polishing his 
 history; yet we are not to believe that he ceased to indulge 
 his passion for travelling when Sicily and southern Italy lay 
 so invitingly before him. He died at the age of sixty, leav- 
 ing the great work of his life unfinished. 
 
 The main subject of our author's work is the Graeco-Persian 
 War and the triumph of his country. His narrative is from 
 time to time relieved by delightful episodes. Indeed, we owe 
 to him not a few of those romantic tales that invest ancient 
 history with its peculiar charm ; while modern research has 
 verified many of the wonder-stories that provoked the derision 
 of his countrymen. Nor do his digressions mar the unity of 
 his history, which is planned and developed as skilfully as a 
 drama of Sophocles. 
 
 The style of Herodotus is poetical, clear, familiar, fascinat- 
 ing, and marked by a pleasing variety. " His animation," says 
 Macaulay, "his simple-hearted tenderness, his wonderful talent 
 for description and dialogue, and the pure sweet flow of his 
 language, place him at the head of narrators." His history is 
 the first work of its kind that has descended to us entire. 
 It is divided into nine books, said to have been read by the 
 author at the Olympic Games, and there to have received the 
 names of the Nine Muses, which they still bear.* Certainly 
 no names could have been more appropriately connected 
 with a work that has entitled its author to be called through 
 all time " the Father of History." Extracts follow : 
 
 * An epigram of later date thus accounted for their names : 
 
 " The Muses to Herodotus one day came, nine of them, and dined ; 
 And in return, their host to pay, left each a book behind."
 
 224 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 XEKXES AND THE PILOT. 
 
 " It is said tbat Xerxes, leaving Atheiis, came to a city called E'ion, 
 out the banks of the Stry'mou. Hence lie proceeded 110 farther by 
 laud, but, intrusting the conduct of his forces to Hydarnes, with or- 
 ders to march them to the Hellespont, he went on board a Phoenician 
 vessel to cross over into Asia. After he had embarked, a heavy and 
 tempestuous wind set in from the lake; which, on account of the great 
 number of Persians on board, attendant upon Xerxes, made the situ- 
 ation of the vessel extremely dangerous. The king, in a transport of 
 terror, inquired aloud of the pilot if he thought they were safe. 
 
 ' By no means,' was the answer, ' unless we could be rid of some of 
 this multitude.' 
 
 Upon this Xerxes exclaimed, ' Persians, let me now see which of 
 you loves his prince; my safety, it seems, depends on you.' 
 
 As soon as he had spoken, they first bowed themselves before him, 
 .and then leaped into the sea. The vessel being thus lightened, 
 Xerxes was safely landed in Asia. As soon as he got on shore, he re- 
 warded the pilot with .a golden crown for preserving the life of the 
 king ; but, as he had caused so many Persians to perish, he cut off 
 his head." BELOE. 
 
 ANECDOTE OF QUEEN NITOCEIS. 
 
 "Nitocris had her tomb constructed in the upper part of one of the 
 principal gateways of the city, high above the heads of the passers- 
 by, with this inscription cut upon it: 'If there be one among my 
 successors on the throne of Babylon who is in want of treasure, let 
 him open my tomb, and take as much as he chooses ; not, however, 
 unless he be truly in want, for it will not be for his good.' 
 
 This tomb continued untouched until Darius came to the kingdom. 
 To him it seemed a monstrous thing that he should be unable to use 
 one of the gates of the town, and that a sum of money should belying 
 idle, and moreover inviting his grasp, and he not seize upon it. Now 
 he could not use the gate, because, as he drove through, the dead 
 body would have been over his head. 
 
 Accordingly, he opened the tomb ; but, instead of money, found 
 only the dead body, and a writing which said : ' Hadst thou not 
 been insatiate of pelf, and careless how thou gottest it, thou wouldst 
 not have broken open the sepulchres of the dead.' " 
 
 CUSTOMS OF THE BABYLONIANS. 
 
 " Of their customs, whereof I shall now proceed to give an account, 
 the following is in my judgment the wisest. Once a year, in each 
 village, the maidens of age to marry were collected all together into
 
 EXTRACT FROM HERODOTUS. 225 
 
 one place ; while the men stood round them in a circle. Then a her- 
 ald called up the damsels one by one, and offered them for sale. He 
 began with the most beautiful. When she was sold for no small sum 
 of money, he offered for sale the one who came next to her in beauty. 
 All of them were sold to be wives. 
 
 The richest of the Babylonians who wished to wed, bid against 
 each other for the loveliest maidens ; while the humbler wife-seek- 
 ers, who were iudift'ereut about beauty, took the more homely dam- 
 sels with marriage - portions. For the custom was that when the 
 herald had gone through the whole number of the beautiful damsels, 
 he should then call up the ugliest a cripple, if there chanced to be 
 one and offer her to the men, askiug who would agree to take her 
 with the smallest marriage-portion. And the man who offered to 
 take the smallest sum, had her assigned to him. The marriage-por- 
 tions were furnished by the money paid for the beautiful damsels, 
 and thus the fairer maidens portioned out the uglier. 
 
 No oue was allowed to give his daughter iu marriage to the man 
 of his choice, nor might any one carry away the damsel whom he 
 had purchased without finding bail really and truly to make her his 
 wife. All who liked might come, even from distant villages, and 
 bid for the women. 
 
 The Babylonians have no physicians; but when a man is ill, they 
 lay him in the public square, and the passers-by come up to him, aud 
 if they have ever had his disease themselves or have known any one 
 who has suffered from it, they give him advice, recommending him 
 to do whatever they found good in their own case, or iu the case 
 known to them. And no oue is allowed to pass the sick man iu 
 silence without asking him what his ailment is." KAWLIXSOX. 
 
 Thucydides, on whom the mantle of Herodotus descended, 
 was born in a village of Attica about 471 B.C. We may 
 believe that he received a polite education, and became pro- 
 ficient in military science at an early age. It was in the 
 prime of manhood, if the oft-repeated story is to be credited, 
 that the history of Herodotus, read before an assembled 
 throng, brought tears to his eyes and fired him with a desire 
 to emulate its distinguished author. Greece was then on the 
 eve of the Peloponnesian War, in which the rival states Ath- 
 ens and Sparta figured as chief actors. Thucydides antici- 
 pated the impending storm, and discerned his opportunity; 
 this war should be his subject, and even before it began he 
 was busy collecting preliminary information. 
 
 K
 
 226 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Nor did he serve his country merely in the capacity of his- 
 torian. He engaged actively in the contest, and received as 
 his reward the command of an Athenian squadron. But he 
 committed an unpardonable sin by failing to save a town, 
 which surrendered to the Spartans before he could arrive 
 with assistance. Instigated by Cleon, his countrymen de- 
 prived him of his position and cast him forth an exile. 
 
 Thucydides retired to Thrace, where he had a valuable in- 
 terest in certain gold-mines, and there devoted himself to the 
 preparation of his history, narrowly watching the progress of 
 events and gathering intelligence with the utmost care. His 
 exile of twenty years was indeed " the Muses' blessing ;" it 
 enabled him to pursue his studies without interruption. Long 
 after his death, the plane-tree in whose shadow he was accus- 
 tomed to compose, was pointed out to travellers. 
 
 Thucydides traced the Peloponnesian War to the middle 
 of its twenty-first year (411 B.C.), leaving it to be finished by 
 another. Why he did not complete it himself, being in pos- 
 session of the necessary materials, does not appear. After 
 the Athenian power was broken by Sparta (404 B.C.), the 
 decree of banishment was revoked ; but whether Thucydides 
 ever returned to Athens is a matter of doubt. According to 
 one account, he went back to fall the victim of a conspiracy ; 
 from another we are led to infer that he died a natural death 
 in Thrace about 391 B.C. 
 
 The "History of the Peloponnesian War" is remarkable 
 for its accuracy and impartiality. Truth was the great object 
 of its author, who, dispassionate and unprejudiced, ignores 
 the ingratitude of his country, betrays no resentment even 
 when he speaks of Cleon, and does full justice to his Spartan 
 foes. He intended his work to be an authority, "a possession 
 for everlasting." In it we find the first attempts to treat 
 the philosophy of history, to trace events to their ultimate 
 causes, and deduce from the past lessons for the future. His
 
 , THUCYDIDES. 227 
 
 style is nervous, concise, stately, and even rises to the sub- 
 lime ; but lacks harmony, and is sometimes obscure. About 
 one fourth of his work is composed of speeches, which in- 
 deed make an agreeable variety, but are often involved, and 
 in parts all but unintelligible. Antithesis is a frequent figure. 
 Despite its faults, the history of Thucydides has always 
 been a favorite. Charles V. was never without a copy when 
 on a campaign, and the philosopher Hobbes declared that 
 he valued its eight books above all the rest of Greek histor- 
 ical literature. The extract selected is a description of the 
 plague which broke out at Athens in the year 430, while the 
 Lacedaemonians were ravaging Attica, and which the histo- 
 rian contracted himself, but fortunately survived. 
 
 THE PLAGUE AT ATHENS. 
 
 "While the nature of this distemper was snch as to baffle all de- 
 scription, and its attacks were almost too grievous for human nature 
 to endure, it was still in the following circumstance that its differ- 
 ence from all ordinary disorders was most clearly shown. All the 
 birds and beasts that prey upon human bodies either abstained from 
 touching them (though there were many lying unburied), or died 
 after tasting them. In proof of this, it was noticed that birds of 
 this kind actually disappeared; they were not about the bodies, or 
 indeed to be seen at all. But of course the effects which I have 
 mentioned could best be studied in a domestic animal like the dog. 
 
 Meanwhile the town enjoyed an immunity from all the ordinary 
 disorders: or, if any case occurred, it ended in this. Some died of 
 neglect, others in the midst of every attention. No remedy was 
 found that could be used as a specific ; for what did good in one 
 case, did harm in another. Strong and weak constitutions proved 
 equally incapable of resistance, all alike being swept away, although 
 dieted with the utmost precaution. 
 
 By far the most terrible feature in the malady was the dejection 
 which ensued when they felt themselves sickening ; for the despair 
 into which they instantly fell took away tlieir power of resistance, 
 and left them a much easier prey to the disorder. Besides which, 
 there was the awful spectacle of men dying like sheep, through 
 having caught the infection in nursing each other. This caused the 
 greatest mortality. On the one hand, if they were afraid to visit 
 each other, they perished from neglect : indeed, many houses were 
 emptied of their inmates for want of a nurse : on the other hand, if 
 they ventured to do so, death was the consequence.
 
 228 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 This was especially the case with such as made any pretensions 
 to goodness : a sense of honor prevented them from sparing them- 
 selves in their attendance at their friends' houses, where even the 
 members of the family were at last worn out by the moans of the 
 dying, and succumbed to the force of the disaster. Yet it was with 
 those who had recovered from the disease that the sick found most 
 compassion. These knew what it was from experience, and had 
 now no fear for themselves ; for the same man was never attacked 
 a second time never at least fatally. And such persons not only 
 received the congratulations of others, but themselves also in the 
 elation of the moment half entertained the vain hope that they 
 were for the future safe from any disease whatever. 
 
 An aggravation of the existing calamity was the influx from the 
 country into the city, and this was especially felt by the new arri- 
 vals. As there were no houses to receive them, they had to be 
 lodged at the hot season of the year in stifling cabins, where the 
 mortality raged without restraint ; bodies lay one upon another in 
 the agonies of thirst, and half- dead creatures reeled about the 
 streets and round all the fountains in their longing for water. 
 The sacred places, also, in which they had quartered themselves, 
 were full of corpses of persons that had died there. 
 
 All the burial rites before in use were entirely upset, and they 
 buried the bodies as best they could. Many from want of the 
 proper appliances, through so many of their friends having died 
 already, had recourse to the most shameless sepultures: sometimes 
 getting the start of those who had raised a pile, they threw their 
 own dead body upon the stranger's pile and ignited it; sometimes 
 they tossed the corpse, which they were carrying, on the top of an- 
 other which was burning, and so went off. 
 
 Xor was this the only form of lawless extravagance which owed 
 its origin to the plague. Men now coolly ventured on what they had 
 formerly done in a corner, and riot just as they pleased, seeing the 
 rapid transitions produced by persons in prosperity suddenly dying 
 and those who before had nothing succeeding to their property. 
 So they resolved to spend quickly and enjoy themselves, regarding 
 their lives and riches as alike things of a day. Perseverance in 
 what men called honor was popular with none, it was so uncertain 
 whether they would be spared to attain the object ; but present en- 
 joyment, and all that contributed to it, was laid down as both hon- 
 orable and useful. Fear of gods or law of man there was none to 
 restrain them. As for the first, they judged it to be just the same 
 whether they worshipped the gods or not, as they saw all alike per- 
 ishing ; and for the last, no one expected to live to be brought to 
 trial for his offences, but felt that a far severer sentence had been 
 already passed upon them and hung even over their heads, and be- 
 fore this fell it was only reasonable to enjoy life a little. 
 
 Such was the nature of the calamity, and heavily did it weigh on 
 the Athenians; death raging within the city and devastation with-
 
 XENOPHON. 229 
 
 out. Among other things -which they remembered in their distress 
 was, very naturally, the following verse, which the old men said had 
 long ago been uttered : 
 
 ' A Dorian war shall come, and with it death.' " 
 
 RICHAKD CRAWLEY. 
 
 Xenophon, who in his "Hellenica" continued the story of 
 the Peloponnesian War left unfinished by Thucydides, and 
 carried the history of Greece as far as the battle of Mantine'a, 
 362 B.C., was born at Athens shortly after the middle of the 
 fifth century. Of his early life we know nothing, save that he 
 was the friend and pupil of Socrates ; who, it is related, pre- 
 possessed with his intelligent countenance, once stopped him 
 in a narrow way and demanded where men were made good 
 and honest. Confused by the unexpected inquiry from so 
 great a teacher, the boy hesitated ; whereupon, the philoso- 
 pher exclaimed, " Follow me and learn." Xenophon obeyed, 
 and became a faithful student of his master's moral and phil- 
 osophical doctrines. Together they braved the perils of the 
 Peloponnesian War; and in the battle of De'lium (424 B.C.), 
 where the flower of Athens' chivalry fell, Xenophon's life is 
 said to have been saved by Socrates. 
 
 At the solicitation of his friend, Proxenus the Boeotian, 
 Xenophon joined as a volunteer the famous Expedition of 
 the Ten Thousand, made in the interest of Cyrus the Young- 
 er against his elder brother Artaxerxes, who occupied the Per- 
 sian throne. Feeling the necessity of securing soldiers su- 
 perior in bravery and discipline to the barbarian hordes 
 through which he must cut his way to the capital, Cyrus 
 supported the Spartans in the Peloponnesian War, in order 
 to secure their aid in dethroning Artaxerxes. Accordingly, at 
 his summons, about 10,000 Spartans and other Greeks, de- 
 ceived at first as to the real object of .the campaign, flocked 
 to his standard, and in the spring of 401 B.C., with 100,000 
 Eastern troops, entered the confines of the Persian Empire.
 
 230 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 On the plain of Cunaxa, ninety miles from Babylon, the 
 decisive battle took place between the brothers, Artaxerxes 
 having at his back an army of nearly a million men. Supe- 
 rior numbers, however, availed little against the superior dis- 
 cipline of the Greeks, who quickly routed the wing opposed 
 to them ; but Cyrus, already hailed as king, imprudently 
 spurred into the disordered ranks of the foe, and was struck 
 down while engaged in a furious hand-to-hand conflict with 
 Artaxerxes. 
 
 The fall of Cyrus was the signal for his Asiatic troops to 
 disperse, and the victors found themselves deserted in the 
 heart of the enemy's country, more than 1,200 miles from 
 home. Their generals were soon after seized at a confer- 
 ence and put to death. In this crisis, by the advice of Xen- 
 ophon, inspired as he tells us by a dream, new leaders were 
 chosen, he himself in the place of his friend Proxenus, one 
 of the murdered chiefs. A retreat was determined upon ; 
 and during fifteen months of indescribable hardships, he was 
 the patient guide, the sympathetic but vigilant and prudent 
 commander. At last, from a mountain height, the glittering 
 Euxine broke upon the view of the van, a glad shout rent the 
 air "the Sea! the Sea!" proclaiming that their sufferings 
 were over, while officers and soldiers wept in each other's 
 arms. Here, in the neighborhood of Greek settlements, they 
 were safe, and the march home was easy. The 8,600 sur- 
 vivors owed their lives to Xenophon. 
 
 This " Retreat " of the Greeks is the subject of Xenophon's 
 graphic and interesting history in seven books, the "Anaba- 
 sis " (inarch up, though most of the work is occupied with 
 what happened on the march down}. The chaste, simple 
 style of the author, who throughout modestly speaks of him- 
 self in the third person, recommends his pages to readers 
 of every class. He writes to the point; there is no straining 
 for effect. We extract the passage relating to
 
 EXTRACT FROM XENOPHON'S ANABASIS. '231 
 
 XENOPHON'S DREAM. 
 
 "After the generals were made prisoners, and such of the captains 
 and soldiers as had accompanied them were put to death, the Greeks 
 were in great perplexity, reflecting that they were not far from the 
 king's residence ; that there were around them, on all sides, many 
 hostile nations and cities ; that no one would any longer afford them 
 opportunities of purchasing provisions ; that they were distant from 
 Greece not less than teu thousand stadia ; that there was no one to 
 guide them on the way ; that impassable rivers would intercept them 
 in the midst of their course ; that the Babylonians who had gone up 
 with Cyrus had deserted them ; and that they were left alone, having 
 no cavalry to support them. 
 
 Reflecting, I say, on these circumstances, and beiug disheartened 
 at them, few tasted food that evening, few kindled tires ; and many 
 did not come to the place of arms during the night, but lay down to 
 sleep where they severally happened to be, unable to sleep for sorrow 
 and longing for their country, their parents, their wives and children, 
 whom they never expected to see again. In this state of mind they 
 all went to their resting-places. 
 
 When this perplexity occurred, Xenophon was distressed as well 
 as the other Greeks, and unable to rest; but having at length got a 
 little sleep, he had a dream, in which, in the midst of a thunder-storm, 
 a bolt seemed to him to fall upon his father's house, aud the house in 
 consequence became all in a blaze. Greatly frightened, he immedi- 
 ately awoke, and considered his dream as in one respect favorable, 
 inasmuch as, being in troubles and dangers, he seemed to behold a 
 great light from Jupiter ; but in another respect he was alarmed, be- 
 cause the dream appeared to him to be from Jupiter, who was a king, 
 aud the fire to blaze all around him, lest he should be unable to es- 
 cape from the king's territories, but should be hemmed in on all sides 
 by inextricable difficulties. 
 
 What it betokens, however, to see such a dream, we may conjecture 
 from the occurrences that happened after the dream. What imme- 
 diately followed was this. As soon as he awoke, the thought that 
 first occurred to him was, 'Why do I lie here? The night is passing 
 away. With daylight it is probable that the enemy will come upon 
 us; and, if we once fall into the hands of the king, what is there to 
 prevent us from being put to death with ignominy, after witnessing 
 the most grievous sufferings among our comrades, and enduring every 
 severity of torture ourselves ? Yet no one concerts measures or takes 
 thought for our defence, but we lie still, as if we were at liberty to 
 enjoy repose. From what city, then, do I expect a leader to under- 
 take our defence? W T hat age am I waiting for, to come to myself? 
 Assuredly I shall never be older, if I give myself up to the enemy 
 to-day.' After these reflections he arose, and called together, in the 
 first place, the captains that were under Proxenus. 
 
 When they were assembled, he said, ' For my part, captains, I can-
 
 232 GRECIAN LITEKATURE. 
 
 not sleep, nor, I should think, can you ; nor can I lie still any longer, 
 when I consider in what circumstances we are placed. For it is plain 
 that the euemy did not openly manifest hostility toward us, until they 
 thought tbat they had judiciously arranged their plans; but on our 
 side no one takes any thought how we may best maintain a contest 
 with them. Yet if we prove remiss, and fall into the power of the 
 king, what may we not expect to suffer from a man who cut off the 
 head aud hand of Lis own brother by the same mother and father, 
 even after he was dead, and fixed them upon a stake ? What may 
 not we, I say, expect to suffer, who have no relative to take our part, 
 and who have marched against him to make him a subject instead 
 of a monarch, and to put him to death if it should lie in our power ? 
 Will he not proceed to every extremity, that by reducing us to the 
 last degree of ignominious suffering, he may inspire all men with a 
 dread of ever taking the field against him ? We must, therefore, try 
 every expedient not to fall into his hands. 
 
 For myself, I never ceased, while the truce lasted, to consider 
 ourselves as objects of pity, and to regard the king and his people as 
 objects of envy ; as I contemplated how extensive and valuable a 
 country they possessed, how great an abundance of provisions, how 
 many slaves and cattle, and how vast a quantity of gold and raiment. 
 But since they have put an end to peace, their own haughtiness and 
 our mistrust seem likewise to be brought to an end ; for the advan- 
 tages which I have mentioned lie now as prizes between us, for which- 
 soever of us shall prove the better men. And the gods are the judges 
 of the contest, who, as is just, will be on our side ; since the enemy 
 have offended them by perjury, while we, though seeing many good 
 things to tempt us, have resolutely abstained from all of them through 
 regard to our oaths ; so that, as it seems to me, we may advance to 
 the combat with much greater confidence than they can feel. 
 
 We have bodies, moreover, better able than theirs to endure cold 
 and toil; and we have, with the help of the gods, more resolute 
 minds; while the enemy, if the gods, as before, grant us success, will 
 be found more obnoxious to wounds and death than we are. But 
 possibly others of you entertain the same thoughts ; let us not then, 
 in the name of Heaven, wait for others to come and exhort us to noble 
 deeds, but let us be ourselves the first to excite others to exert their 
 valor. Prove yourselves the bravest of the captains, and more worthy 
 to lead than those who are now leaders. As for me, if you wish to 
 take the start in the course, I am willing to follow you ; or, if you 
 appoint me to be a leader, I shall not make my youth an excuse, 
 but shall think myself sufficiently mature to defend myself against 
 harm.' " WATSON. 
 
 For his sympathy \vith Sparta, and possibly for sharirTg the 
 opinions of his beloved teacher Socrates, Xenophon was ban- 
 ished from Athens; but he was recompensed by the Lacedae-
 
 XENOPHON. CTESIAS. TIIEOPOMPUS. 233 
 
 monians with a house and piece of land in E'lis. Here, amid 
 lovely meadows and woodlands, he built a temple to the god- 
 dess Diana in fulfilment of a vow he had made when encircled 
 by dangers in Asia. Here, free from the cares of public life, 
 he passed many years, happy in the society of his wife, chil- 
 dren, and friends, dividing his time among his farm, his hunt- 
 ing-parks, and his study. He died at the age of ninety. Of 
 his two sons, one fell on the field of Mantinea, after dealing 
 the great Epaminondas his death-blow. 
 
 Besides the "Anabasis" and " Hellenica," Xenophon wrote 
 the " Cy'ropaedi'a " (education of Cyrus the elder Cyrus, king 
 of Persia), a semi-didactic, semi-historical fiction, illustrating 
 a model system of education and setting forth his ideal of 
 government a perfect monarchy. He is also the author of 
 several works written in defence of Socrates or as expositions 
 of his philosophy, of which the " Memorabilia " (memoirs] is 
 particularly interesting, teeming as it does with sayings and 
 anecdotes of the sage. 
 
 In addition to his merits as an historian, Xenophon may 
 justly claim the distinction of having been the first essayist : 
 we have from his pen essays on the Policy of Laeedaemon, on 
 the Chase, Horsemanship, and Cavalry Tactics, not to mention 
 several political treatises ascribed to him. A creditable rep- 
 resentative of elegant Attic prose, Xenophon has been called 
 the Attic Muse. 
 
 Ctesias, a Greek physician attached to the Persian court, 
 who dressed the wounds of Artaxerxes after the battle of Cu- 
 naxa, compiled a history of Persia in twenty-three books, a 
 description of India, and a variety of other works. Of his 
 writings, which were in the Ionic dialect, little has survived. 
 
 Theopompus (probably 378-304 B.C.) is also worthy of 
 mention as an historian. He wrote a History of Greece from 
 41 1 to 394 B.C., and " Philippica," in fifty-eight books, in which 
 he sketched the character of Philip of Macedon. Of the latter 
 
 K2
 
 234 GRECIAN LITEKATUKE. 
 
 work numerous fragments remain. Ancient critics give him 
 credit for general accuracy, though he took rather too rose- 
 colored views of his hero Philip as the promoter of Grecian 
 civilization. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 The earliest philosophical investigations were made by 
 lonians, and THALES of Miletus is recognized as the founder 
 of Greek philosophy. To him and to Pythagoras the various 
 systems may all be traced. 
 
 The Ionic School of Thales, devoted to physical science, 
 rapidly developed, theory after theory being brought forward 
 to explain the universe and the nature of Deity. One philos- 
 opher made the Supreme Being an all-pervading, divine air ; 
 another, Heracli'tus "the Obscure," represented God as a 
 subtile flame, and -reduced the universe to an eternal fire. 
 
 A notable step in advance was taken by ANAXAGORAS (500- 
 428 B.C.), who succeeded to the leadership of this school. 
 The first to make the study of philosophy fashionable at 
 Athens, he became the instructor of some of her great men, 
 Socrates among the number. He represented God as a divine 
 mind, acting on the material world with intelligence and de- 
 sign. Well did Aristotle say that Anaxagoras was like a sober 
 man among stammering drunkards, when compared with ear- 
 lier philosophers. As an astronomer, he anticipated some of 
 the discoveries of more recent times; he correctly explained 
 eclipses, taught that the sun was a molten ball, that from it 
 the moon borrowed her light, that the lunar surface was diver- 
 sified with mountains and valleys, and that the earth itself 
 had been the scene of terrible convulsions. 
 
 The Italic School had meanwhile been founded by PYTHAG'- 
 ORAS, of Samos, born about 540 B.C. He settled in Croto'na, 
 a Greek town of southern Italy, and there imparted to his dis- 
 ciples the philosophical principles which he had gathered in 
 other lands, particularly Egypt.
 
 PYTHAGORAS. 235 
 
 Pythagoras modestly styled himself a lover of wisdom (phi- 
 losopher), not a wise man (sophist). Among his doctrines were 
 the mysterious theory that number is the first principle of all 
 things, the transmigration of souls, and a system of future re- 
 wards and punishments. He forestalled Copernicus in his 
 discovery of the true theory of the solar system that the 
 sun, and not the earth, as was then believed, is its centre ; he 
 taught that the moon was inhabited ; and described the heav- 
 enly bodies as producing harmonious tones in their passage 
 through ether, from which his followers were accustomed to 
 say that to him the gods had revealed " the music of the 
 spheres." 
 
 With such perfect confidence did his disciples regard their 
 master, who usually gave his instructions from behind a thick 
 curtain, that when any one called their doctrines in ques- 
 tion they deemed it sufficient to reply, "He said so" (ipse 
 dixii). Indeed, they invested him with supernatural powers, 
 nor, according to his early biographers, did he deny the 
 soft impeachment. On one occasion, we are told, to con- 
 vince his pupils that he was a god, he showed them his 
 thigh, which was of gold, and declared that he had assumed 
 the form of humanity only the more readily to impart his 
 lessons to mankind. 
 
 Pythagoras was the inventor of the monochord, a one- 
 stringed instrument designed to measure musical intervals, 
 and also of the more useful, if humbler, Multiplication Table. 
 He is the first who practised mesmerism ; at least so we may 
 account for his subduing a fierce Daunian bear, and taming 
 beasts and birds by gently passing his hands over their 
 bodies. 
 
 There are no genuine remnants of this author. The cele- 
 brated "Golden Verses," long attributed to him, there is 
 reason for supposing to have been inspired by his teachings, 
 but written by one of his pupils :
 
 236 GKECIAN LITEKATURE. 
 
 FKOM THE GOLDEN VEESES. 
 
 " Ne'er suffer sleep thiue eyes to close 
 
 Before thy mind bath run 
 O'er every act, aiicl thought, and word, 
 
 From dawn to set of sun ; 
 For wrong take shame, but grateful feel, 
 
 If just thy course hath been ; 
 Such eifort, day by day renewed, 
 
 Will ward thy soul from sin." 
 
 As the Ionics made physics everything, so the Pythago- 
 reans regarded mathematical science as the summum bonum. 
 In their master's eyes the world was "a living arithmetic," 
 and virtue a proportion of all the faculties of the soul. A 
 mystical relation between mathematical and moral truths was 
 a principle of his philosophy. 
 
 Prominent among the followers of Pythagoras was EM- 
 PEDOCLES, of Agrigentum in Sicily (450 B.C.), who combined 
 the previous theories of nature in his own, viz., that four ele- 
 ments earth, air, fire, and water enter into the constitution 
 of the universe, and that these are constantly animated by 
 the two opposing forces of Love and Strife. A peculiar doc- 
 trine of his was that like is perceived only by like ; thus our 
 knowledge of other bodies is due to minute emanations from 
 their substance which enter the pores and impress corre- 
 sponding elements in our own frames. 
 
 Empedocles is said to have arrogated to himself the impor- 
 tance of a god, going about in a purple robe confined with a 
 belt of gold, performing wonderful cures. According to an 
 old legend, he sought to create the belief that he had been 
 translated to heaven, by secretly throwing himself into the 
 crater of Mt. Etna; but the volcano, in a subsequent erup- 
 tion, cast forth one of his brazen sandals and so exposed 
 the fraud. He probably lost his life by accident while ex- 
 amining the crater. 
 
 From the Italic School sprung the sects known as Eleatic,
 
 THE ELEATIC PHILOSOPHY. 237 
 
 Epicurean, and Skeptic. The Eleatic School was founded 
 by XENOPH'ANES (600-500 B.C.), a contemporary of Pythag- 
 oras, and derived its name from the town of E'lea in south- 
 ern Italy. 
 
 Xenophanes asserted the unity of the Deity. "There is 
 one god," he said, "among gods and men the greatest: 
 unlike to mortals in outward shape, unlike in mind and 
 thoughts." This was truly a sublime stand to take in an age 
 of polytheism ; he who feared not to face a superstitious peo- 
 ple with such a doctrine, and ridicule even their divine Ho- 
 mer for his degrading pictures of the deities, deserves to be 
 ranked among the greatest philosophers of Greece. 
 
 , FRAGMENTS FROM XENOPHANES. 
 
 "If sheep, aud swine, and lions strong, and all the bovine crew, 
 Could paint with cunning bauds, and do what clever mortals do, 
 Depend upon it, every pig with snont so broad and blunt, 
 Would make a Jove that like himself would thunder with a grnnt ; 
 And every lion's god would roar, aud every bull's would bellow, 
 And every sheep's would baa, and every beast his worshipped fellow 
 Would find in some immortal form, and naught exist divine 
 But had the gait of lion, sheep, or ox, or grunting swine." 
 
 " Homer and Hesiod, whom we own great doctors of theology, 
 Said many things of blissful gods that cry for large apology 
 That they may cheat, and rail, and lie, and give the rein to passion, 
 Which were a crime in men who tread the dust in mortal fashion." 
 
 "All eyes, all ears, all thought, is God, the omnipresent soul; 
 And free from toil, by force of mind, he moves the mighty whole." 
 
 BLACKIE. 
 
 The noble conception of Deity entertained by Xenophanes 
 was soon perverted. We find his pupil PARMEN'IDES "the 
 Great " in the next century doing away with the personality 
 of God, and confounding the divine nature with pure being, 
 which he made equivalent to thought. 
 
 DEMOC'RITUS, of Abde'ra in Thrace (460-357 B.C.), known
 
 238 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 as the laughing philosopher from his constantly deriding the 
 weaknesses of men, put forth the atomic theory, that the uni- 
 verse is made up of countless minute, intangible atoms, and 
 that in the motion of such atoms, round and fiery, consisted 
 the movements of the mind and soul. God had no place in 
 this philosophy ; matter, time, space, and motion, were eter- 
 nal. Bodies were formed by the fortuitous concurrence of 
 atoms ; and by the affinities and motions of atoms in the 
 vacuum that made up the universe, all natural phenomena 
 were produced. 
 
 Such was the wisdom of one who laughed at the follies of 
 his fellows, and is stated to have put out his own eyes that 
 nothing might distract the current of his thoughts. 
 
 School of Epicurus. The materialism of Democritus was 
 at a later day elaborated by EPICURUS (born on Samos about 
 340 B.C.) into a system of philosophy which gained so many 
 converts that we are told whole cities could not contain the 
 friends and followers of its author. According to the Epicu- 
 rean philosophy, chance governed the world of atoms ; there 
 was no life beyond the grave. The gods were immortal, but 
 were mere figure-heads, enjoying an emotionless inactivity, 
 indifferent alike to the vices and fortunes of men : most likely 
 Epicurus did not believe in any gods at all, but allowed their 
 existence, as nonentities, that he might not shock the prej- 
 udices of the Athenians. Pleasure he made the chief end of 
 life ; but with him pleasure was not sensual indulgence ; it 
 lay in freedom from pain, the sober exercise of reason, and 
 the nobler enjoyments of man's higher nature. Such a doc- 
 trine, it is plain, was but too easy of perversion. The pure, 
 high-toned " pleasure " of the moral Epicurus degenerated 
 with the voluptuaries and profligates that adopted his tenets 
 into the vilest excesses, and the very name epicure is applied 
 to one unduly addicted to the gratifying of the appetite. 
 
 The Skeptical Philosophy. PYRRHO, who flourished about
 
 SOCRATES. 239 
 
 300 B.C., was the father of the Skeptics. They held that 
 there was no standard of truth appreciable by the human 
 mind ; nothing can therefore be asserted as true. Pyrrho 
 doubted everything ; his disciples used to follow him, lest, in 
 practically applying his theory, he should be run over in the 
 streets or walk off a precipice. 
 
 The Socratic School. When Socrates (470-399 B.C.) came 
 upon the stage in the golden period of Athens, it was to de- 
 nounce the atheistical philosophy of his predecessors, and 
 take the field against the Sophists, who made endless dispu- 
 tation, fallacious but specious, the head and front of their 
 system. " These word - snapping quibblers," says Felton, 
 "were prodigious favorites with the Athenians, men who 
 proved that right was wrong, and wrong right, and that there 
 was neither wrong nor right ; that knowing one thing is 
 knowing everything, and that there is no such thing as know- 
 ing anything at all ; that as the beautiful exists by the pres- 
 ence of beauty, so a man becomes an ass by the presence 
 of an ass ; and so on, ringing myriads of changes, like the 
 fools in Shakespeare, upon these quirks of jugglery." 
 
 Socrates had an effective way of dealing with these gentry. 
 By cunningly contrived questions, which at first seemed to 
 have no bearing on the point at issue, he led them on from 
 admission to admission, until he involved them in absurdities 
 and convicted them out of their own mouths. 
 
 For one like Socrates, the mythology of Greece was too 
 gross, the speculations of the philosophy then current were 
 too unreal and hollow. He aspired to something better. At 
 length the unity of God, the soul's immortality, and the moral 
 responsibility of man, dawned upon his mind sublime truths 
 which he might well have drawn from revelation itself. The 
 practice of virtue he inculcated as indispensable to happi- 
 ness and true religion. A demon, or secret influence, he said, 
 constantly attended him, and was his director in the work of
 
 240 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 social reform no less than in the every -day affairs of life. 
 Whether he deceived himself in this belief or strove to de- 
 ceive others into it that he might gain credence for his doc- 
 trines, certain it is that his teachings exercised a most whole- 
 some influence. All subsequent Greek philosophy is stamped 
 with their impress. 
 
 In his domestic relations, Socrates was not happy. Be- 
 lieving it incumbent on him to devote every moment to phil- 
 osophical inquiry or exhortations of the people to practical 
 morality, he was wont to neglect his legitimate business of 
 stone-cutting, and leave his family to provide for its own sup- 
 port. This was too much for his good wife Xantippe. Some- 
 thing of a shrew even under the best of circumstances, we 
 may imagine that she made his household rather hot, par- 
 ticularly when he brought guests home to dinner and there 
 was nothing in the larder. On one occasion she went so 
 far as to give emphasis to her reproaches with a shower of 
 dish-water. The dripping philosopher, not in the least dis- 
 turbed, calmly remarked, "I thought after so much thunder, 
 we should have some rain." 
 
 Socrates declined the invitation of a Macedonian prince to 
 live in luxury at his court, with the characteristic reply, "At 
 Athens meal is two-pence the measure, and water may be 
 had for nothing." He clung to Athens to the last, and so 
 doing won a martyr's crown. Accused of impiety in corrupt- 
 ing the religious belief of the young committed to his charge, 
 he was condemned to drink the fatal hemlock. Surrounded 
 by sorrowing disciples, who had bribed the jailer and vainly 
 urged him to fly while there was yet time, he calmly placed 
 the cup to his lips, and soon after passed away with not a 
 doubt as to "the undiscovered country." "I derive confi- 
 dence," said he, "from the hope that something of man re- 
 mains after death, and that the condition of good men will 
 then be much better than that of the bad."
 
 THE ACADEMIC PHILOSOPHY. 
 
 241 
 
 Socrates failed to commit his philosophy to writing; it is 
 from the pages of Xenophon and Plato, his most devoted ad- 
 mirers, that we have learned his doctrines. 
 
 The principal schools that originated in the Socratic were 
 the Academic, Peripatetic, Cynic, and Stoic. 
 
 Academic School. Plato, The Academic School was 
 founded by Socrates' pupil, Plato, and derived its name from 
 the grove of Acade'mus, a public garden at Athens in which 
 this philosopher was accustomed to deliver his lectures. 
 Beneath its planes and olives flowed the stream Cephissus; 
 
 statues and temples were 
 scattered through its 
 shade, and solitary paths 
 invited to rest and medi- 
 tation.
 
 242 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Plato was noble-born, tracing his descent from King Co- 
 drus through one parent and from Solon through the other. 
 His great genius was early seen. After mastering the ele- 
 mentary branches, he turned his attention to painting and 
 poetry; but when he compared an epic on which he had tried 
 his hand with Homer's, he threw it into the fire in disgust. 
 Chancing to hear Socrates discourse, he forthwith resolved to 
 forsake the ornamental arts and study philosophy. So, when 
 only twenty, Plato attached himself to Socrates ; his admira- 
 tion quickly ripened into an abiding affection ; and for eight 
 years he sat at the philosopher's feet as a pupil, though now 
 and then obtruding new theories of his own. In the dark 
 days of his master's trial and condemnation, he was still faith- 
 ful ; and when the judges silenced his speech in defence of 
 Socrates, he would have resorted to the money-argument, 
 which then, as now, seldom failed, had not the high-minded 
 sage refused to secure life by such ignoble means. 
 
 After the execution of Socrates, Plato pursued his studies 
 in foreign lands. He visited Italy, Sicily, and Egypt, carefully 
 examining their different systems of philosophy, and possibly 
 even making the acquaintance of the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 During this tour he is related to have been sold into slavery 
 at the instigation of Dionysius, tyrant of Syracuse, whom he 
 had offended by his bold expressions. 
 
 On his return to Athens, in accordance with a long-cher- 
 ished plan, Plato opened an humble dwelling in the grove of 
 Academus for the reception of pupils, and founded the famous 
 Academic School. He soon became the most popular man 
 in Athens. Crowds thronged to his lectures and dialogues, 
 which were free to all ; and even ladies assumed male attire, 
 that they might mingle unnoticed with the listeners and drink 
 in the eloquence which flowed from his lips. His fame went 
 abroad also. Foreign potentates sought his aid in adjusting 
 political difficulties ; and twice, by request, he returned to the
 
 PLATO AND HIS PHILOSOPHY. 243 
 
 Syracusan court to effect a reform in the government but 
 in this case, without success. 
 
 On his eighty-second birthday, while he was pursuing his 
 accustomed occupation, the stylus suddenly fell from Plato's 
 hand, and he expired. Under the trees so long associated 
 with his kindly instruction, he found a final resting-place ; an 
 admiring country preserved his memory by altars and statues ; 
 and the verdict of succeeding generations has been that Plato 
 was the greatest philosopher of antiquity. 
 
 PLATO'S PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEM. Plato was an enthusiast 
 in the pursuit of truth. He believed in a personal God, ra- 
 tional, immutable, eternal. He realized that man could never 
 attain absolute wisdom, possible to God alone ; and looked 
 upon philosophy as " a longing after heavenly wisdom." He 
 sought to correct abuses, to elevate humanity ; and made 
 man's highest duty consist in searching out God and imitat- 
 ing the perfection of the Almighty as his rule of conduct. 
 The four cardinal virtues were wisdom, temperance, courage, 
 and justice ; but none could be virtuous without aid from on 
 high. 
 
 The soul, an emanation from the Supreme Mind, was im- 
 mortal. It existed before its union with the body, and all 
 earthly knowledge is but the recollection of what it possessed 
 in some former state. When, disembodied, it stood face to 
 face with kindred immaterial essences, it acquired those ideas, 
 or forms, which figure so prominently in the Platonic system 
 interpreted by some to mean veritable objective existences 
 too subtile to be discerned by the eye of flesh, and by others 
 explained as mere intuitions or generalizations having no ob- 
 jective reality. 
 
 Plato regarded men as free agents, to be rewarded or pun- 
 ished in a future life for their deeds in this. His poetical 
 fancy fixed on some distant star as the abode of the blessed. 
 The earth he supposed to occupy the centre of the universe.
 
 244 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 It was not eternal, but was made by an intelligent God, who 
 breathed into it a soul; so it was a living creature, self-active, 
 and gifted with the beautiful form of the sphere. 
 
 Nor did the philosopher forget to train the reasoning pow- 
 ers, by the study of mathematics. The importance he attached 
 to this science may be inferred from the sign on his school : 
 " Let no one enter here who is a stranger to geometry." Plato 
 has the honor of having been the inventor of geometrical 
 analysis. 
 
 PLATO'S WORKS, which have descended to us unimpaired, 
 are in the form of dialogues a delightful method of convey- 
 ing philosophical instruction, when, as in Plato's case, the 
 personages introduced as speakers are salient characters, and 
 their idiosyncrasies are maintained throughout with discrim- 
 ination. The dull lessons of dialectics are thus enlivened by 
 graphic portraitures and happy strokes of humor. Plato's 
 language is the perfection of Attic prose, beautified by a poet- 
 ical tinge. "If Jupiter should speak Greek," said ancient 
 critics, "it would be Plato's." What Socrates dreamed on 
 the night before the young Plato entered his school that a 
 cygnet came from the grove of Academus, and, after nestling 
 on his breast for a time, took its flight heavenward, singing 
 sweetly as it rose is recorded as presaging his pupil's sweet 
 mastery of words. 
 
 The Platonic Dialogues, thirty-five in number, discuss vari- 
 ous subjects. One of the finest is " Phasdo," written to prove 
 the immortal nature of the soul. It derives its name from the 
 beloved disciple of Socrates, who is here made by Plato, pre- 
 vented from being present himself, to describe their master's 
 death-scene and repeat his last discourse. Full of sublime 
 and poetical conceptions, the " Phsedo " aims at lifting the 
 mind above the sensual to the spiritual and eternal; at fore- 
 shadowing the joys of the heavenly state, and painting death 
 as a thing to be desired rather than feared, since it is the por-
 
 PLATO ON IMMORTALITY. 245 
 
 tal of bliss. The philosopher Cleom'brotus, on reading this 
 Dialogue, is said to have thrown himself into the sea to ex- 
 change this life for the better one pictured by Plato. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM PH^EDO. 
 
 (Socrates, having proved the immortality of the soul to the satisfaction of 
 all present in the prison, addresses them as follows.) 
 
 " Then, Cebes, beyond question, the sonl is immortal and imperish- 
 able, and onr souls will truly exist in another world !" 
 
 " I am convinced, Socrates," said Cebes, " and have nothing more 
 to object ; but if my friend Simmias, or any one else, has any further 
 objection, he had better speak out, and not keep silence, s.ince I do 
 not know to what other season he can defer the discussion, if there 
 is anything which he wants to say or have said." 
 
 "I have nothing more to say," replied Simmias; "nor can I see 
 any reason for doubt after what has been said. But I still feel and 
 cannot help feeling uncertain in my own mind, when I think of the 
 greatness of the subject and the feebleness of man." 
 
 " Yes, Simmias," replied Socrates, " that is well said ; but O my 
 friends! if the soul is really immortal, what care should be taken of 
 her, not only in respect of the portion of time which is called life, but 
 of eternity ! And the danger of neglecting her from this point of 
 view does indeed appear to be awful. If death had only been the 
 end of all, the wicked would have had a good bargain in dying, for 
 they would have been happily quit not only of their body, but of 
 their own evil together with their souls. But now, inasmuch as the 
 soul is manifestly immortal, there is no release or salvation from evil 
 except the attainment of the highest virtue and wisdom. For the 
 soul, when on her progress to the world below, takes nothing with 
 her but nurture and education ; and these are said greatly to bene- 
 fit or greatly to injure the departed, at the very beginning of his 
 pilgrimage in the other world. 
 
 " Wherefore, Simmias, seeing all these things, what ought not we 
 to do that we may obtain virtue and wisdom in this life ? Fair is 
 the prize, and the hope great! 
 
 "A man of sense ought not to say that the description which I have 
 given of the sonl and her mansions is exactly true. But I do say that, 
 inasmuch as the soul is shown to be immortal, he may venture to 
 think that something of the kind is true. The venture is a glorious 
 one, and he ought to comfort himself with words like these, which is 
 the reason why I lengthen out the tale. 
 
 " Wherefore, I say, let a man be of good cheer about his soul, who 
 has cast away the pleasures and ornaments of the body as alien 
 to him, and has followed after the pleasures of knowledge in this 
 life ; who has arrayed the soul iu her own proper jewels, which are
 
 246 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 temperance, and justice, arid courage, and nobility, and truth thus 
 adorned, she is ready to go oil her journey to the world below when, 
 her hour comes. 
 
 " You, Sirnmias and Cebes, and all other men, will depart at some 
 time or other. Me already, as the tragic poet would say, the voice of 
 fate calls. Soon I must drink the poison ; and I think that I had 
 better repair to the bath first, in order that the women may not have 
 the trouble of washing my body after I am dead." 
 
 When he had done speaking, Crito said : " And have you any com- 
 mands for us, Socrates ? anything to say about your children, or any 
 other matter in which we can serve you?" 
 
 "Nothing particular," he said: "only, as I have always told you, 
 I would have you look to yourselves ; that is a service which you 
 may always be doing to me and mine as well as to yourselves." 
 
 " We will do our best," said Crito ; "but iu what way would you 
 have us bury you ?" 
 
 " Iu any way that you like ; only you must get hold of me, and 
 take care that I do not walk away from you." 
 
 Then he turned to us, and added with a smile : " I cannot make 
 Crito believe that I am the same Socrates who have been talking and 
 conducting the argument ; he fancies that I am the other Socrates 
 whom he will soon see, a dead body and he asks, How shall he bury 
 me ? And though I have spoken many words in the endeavor to 
 show that when I have drunk the poison I shall leave you and go to 
 the joys of the blessed, these words of mine, with which I comforted 
 you and myself, have had, as I perceive, no effect upon Crito. 
 
 " You must be my surety to him that I shall not remain, but go 
 away and depart ; and then he will suffer less at my death, and not 
 be grieved when he sees my body being burned or buried. I would 
 not have him sorrow at my hard lot, or say at the burial, 'Thus we 
 lay out Socrates,' or 'Tims we follow him to the grave or bury him ;' 
 for false words are not only evil in themselves, but they infect the 
 soul with evil. 
 
 " Be of good cheer then, my dear Crito, and say that you are bury- 
 ing my body only, and do with that as is usual, and as you think 
 best." JOWETT. 
 
 In his " Republic," Plato indulges in a political dream, 
 sketching an ideal government and embodying his conception 
 of absolute justice. In his "Atlantis," he describes a large 
 island lying west of Europe, which some have tried to con- 
 nect with America. 
 
 The Academic School long survived its founder ; but little 
 if any advance was made by his successors. Its fundamental 
 tenets outlived Greece and Rome, to reappear in the schools
 
 ARISTOTLE. 247 
 
 of modern times. Many of them are in wonderful harmony 
 with Christian doctrines ; and such a resemblance to the Jew- 
 ish Scriptures has been detected in the writings of their author 
 that he has been called " the Attic Moses." 
 
 Peripatetic School. Aristotle. The Peripatetic was an off- 
 shoot from the Academic School, its founder Aristotle having 
 for twenty years studied under Plato. Its influence cannot 
 be estimated ; for 1,800 years, up to the revival of letters in 
 modern times, its author was recognized as the supreme au- 
 thority on every subject, whether by Moslem or Christian. 
 
 ARISTOTLE (384-322 B.C.) was born at the Thracian town 
 of Stagi'ra. Inheriting from his father literary tastes as well 
 as the means to gratify them, he selected Athens as the scene 
 of his labors, and there, at the age of seventeen, he entered 
 the Academy of Plato. So energetically did he apply him- 
 self, not as a servile follower but often as a pioneer in new 
 paths of his own, that his master said he required the bit 
 rather than the spur, and styled him the Intellect of the 
 school. On one occasion, when none but this ardent pupil 
 was present to hear his lecture, Plato proceeded as usual, 
 saying that " so long as he had Aristotle for an audience, he 
 had the better half of Athens." His industry was proverbial ; 
 he grudged the time needed for repose, and used to sleep 
 with a ball in his hand, that when it fell from his grasp by 
 the relaxing of the muscles the noise would awaken him. 
 
 When Plato died, Aristotle retired from the Academy ; and 
 in 342 B.C. he received the following letter from Philip of 
 Macedon, whose court he had visited as an ambassador : 
 
 "PHILIP to ARISTOTLE, wisheth health : 
 
 Be informed that I have a son, and that I am thankful to the gods, 
 not so much for his birth, as that he was born in the same age with 
 yon ; for if you will undertake the charge of his education, I assure 
 myself that he will become worthy of his father, and of the kingdom 
 which he will inherit." 
 
 There was no declining such an invitation. At Stagira, his
 
 248 GRECIAN LITERATUEE. 
 
 native town, Philip provided a school and the accustomed 
 grove for instruction, in which the philosopher moulded the 
 mind of Alexander the future Conqueror. The king of Mace- 
 don was more than satisfied with the results ; and the royal 
 pupil owned his indebtedness to his teacher, exclaiming, 
 " Philip only gave me life, but Aristotle has taught me the 
 art of living well !" 
 
 When, on the assassination of Philip, Alexander mounted 
 the throne and embarked on that expedition which extended 
 the sway of Macedon over half the known world, he showed 
 his gratitude by making his instructor a munificent present 
 equivalent to nearly $1,000,000, and employed two or three 
 thousand men to fill his cabinets with specimens. Thus 
 supplied with material and funds, Aristotle, established in 
 Athens since 335 B.C. as a distinguished teacher despite 
 his traditional lisp and insignificant appearance, vigorously 
 prosecuted his scientific labors. At the Lyce'um, Apollo's 
 temple, he gave instruction to his disciples, walking up and 
 down in the covered paths (peripatoi} about the building 
 whence the name of his school, Peripatetic. He mastered all 
 existing knowledge, regarding learning as " an ornament to 
 men in prosperity, a refuge in adversity ;" and for thirteen 
 years divided his time between his pupils and his literary 
 work. 
 
 The news of Alexander's sudden death was the signal for 
 Aristotle's enemies, no longer restrained by fear of his royal 
 friend, to show their hand. Impiety was alleged against 
 him ; but mindful of the fate of Socrates, and, as he said, to 
 prevent the Athenians from sinning a second time against 
 philosophy, he retired to Chalcis on the island of Eubcea, 
 where he died within a year. 
 
 PHILOSOPHY AND WRITINGS OF ARISTOTLE. While to 
 some extent following his master, from several of Plato's 
 doctrines Aristotle felt compelled to dissent ; truth, he said,
 
 ARISTOTLE'S PHILOSOPHY. 249 
 
 was dearer to him than any friend.* He did not accept the 
 Ideal theory, but inclined to materialism or to pantheism, 
 making reason divine and omnipresent. He doubted his own 
 immortality, holding that the soul could not exist apart from 
 the body, and that there is " nothing good or bad beyond to 
 the dead." His style was dry, elliptical, and full of techni- 
 calities ; if we compare it with Plato's, we have the opposite 
 poles of the magnet. 
 
 Plato was all imagination, Aristotle was thoroughly practi- 
 cal. The inspiration of the one was a passionate love of 
 wisdom ; the forte of the other was power of analysis, a won- 
 derful faculty of systemizing knowledge. The master capti. 
 vated the heart ; the pupil convinced the reason. " The 
 philosophy of Plato," says Dr. Draper, " is a gorgeous castle 
 in the air ; that of Aristotle is a solid structure laboriously 
 founded on rock." 
 
 Aristotle's style is devoid of ornament, and his subjects 
 are too abstruse for the general run of readers ; but he was 
 a keen observer and a close reasoner. A few paragraphs 
 from his Rhetoric, in which he analyzes the peculiarities 
 of old age, will show how well he understood human nature. 
 
 THE DISPOSITION OF THE OLD. 
 
 "Those who are advanced in life, having been deceived in a 
 greater number of instances, err in everything more on the side of 
 defect than they ought. And they always suppose, bnt never know 
 certainly; and, questioning everything, they always subjoin i per- 
 haps, or a possibly. And they are apt to view things in an unfavor- 
 able light ; for a disposition thus to view things, is the judging of 
 everything on the worse side. 
 
 Moreover, they are apt to be suspicions from distrust, and they are 
 distrustful from their experience. And on this account they neither 
 love nor hate with great earnestness; but, conformably to the re- 
 mark of Bias, they both love as though about to hate, and hate as 
 though about to love. And they are pusillanimous, from their hav- 
 
 * Hence probably the origin of the proverb,." Amictis Plato, sed magis arnica 
 veritas " " Plato is dear, but truth is dearer." 
 
 L
 
 250 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 ing been humbled by the course of life ; for they raise their desires 
 to nothing great or vast, but to things only which conduce to the 
 support of life. 
 
 And they are illiberal ; for property is one of the necessaries ; and 
 they are at the same time aware, from their experience, of the diffi- 
 culty of its acquisition, and of the ease with which it is lost. They 
 are timid and apprehensive of everything ; for their disposition is 
 the reverse of that of the young ; for they have been chilled by 
 years, but the young are warm in their temperament ; so that their 
 age has paved the way to timidity; for fear is a certain kind of 
 chill. 
 
 And they are attached to life, and particularly at its last closing 
 day, from the circumstance that desire is of some object which is 
 absent, and that .men more especially desire that of which they 
 stand in need. 
 
 They have self-love more than is fitting ; for this too is a kind of 
 littleness of spirit. And they live in a greater degree than they 
 ought by the standai'd of expediency, and not of what is honorable, 
 by reason of their self-love : for what is expedient is good rehttircly 
 to one's self, but what is honorable is good absolutely. 
 
 Again, they are not easily inspired with hope, on account of their 
 experience; for the majority of things are but paltry ; wherefore the 
 generality turn out inferior to the expectation; and once more, on 
 account of their timidity they are apt to despond. And they live 
 more in memory than in hope ; for the remnant of life is brief, but 
 what has passed is considerable ; and hope indeed is of what is to 
 come ; whereas memory is of things gone by. The very reason, this, 
 of their garrulity ; for they never cease talking of that which has 
 taken place, since they are delighted in awakening the recollections 
 of things. 
 
 And their anger is keen, but faint. And some of their desires 
 have abandoned them. Others are faint ; so that neither are they 
 liable to the influence of desire, nor apt to act in conformity to it, 
 but with a view to gain ; on which account men of this ago appear 
 to be naturally temperate, for both their desires have relaxed, and 
 they are enslaved to gain. 
 
 The old have moreover ft tendency to pity, but not on the same 
 principle with the young ; for the latter are thus disposed from their 
 love of human nature; the former from their imbecility. Whence 
 they are querulous, and neither facetious nor fond of mirth ; for 
 quernlousness is the very reverse of fondness for mirth. Such is 
 the disposition of those in advanced life." TIIEODOUE BUCKLEY. 
 
 The writings of Aristotle exhausted the fields of art and 
 science ; 400 treatises, most of which have perished, at one 
 time bore his name. Rhetoric, psychology or mental sci-
 
 ARISTOTLE'S MODE OF REASONING. 251 
 
 ence, and natural history, owed to him their origin. In his 
 "Organon" was first presented the method of deduction, the 
 process by which the mind reasons down from general propo- 
 sitions to particular cases, by means of the syllogism, the organ 
 or instrument of reasoning. Men had thus arrived at con- 
 clusions for ages, without any knowledge of Aristotle's for- 
 mulas, just as they had talked correctly though ignorant of 
 analytical grammar. It was reserved for the Stagirite to dis- 
 cover the laws by which they drew conclusions, and thus at 
 once to found and perfect LOGIC. This was the science of 
 reasoning, as contrasted with Plato's dialectics or method of 
 discussing. 
 
 Nor was Aristotle unacquainted with Induction, the great 
 lever of modern philosophy. This process, which reverses 
 the steps of deduction,* and reasons from particular cases up 
 to general laws, was employed in his researches, but was not 
 fully developed till twenty centuries later in the "Novum 
 Organon" of Lord Bacon, opening the way to a new era in 
 scientific investigation. 
 
 Aristotle willed his writings to his disciple Theophrastus, 
 whom we shall next consider ; and for many years they were 
 kept from the world, while numerous imitations and forgeries 
 gained the popular ear through the prestige of Aristotle's name. 
 It was not till 50 B.C. that a complete edition of the genuine 
 works was published, and then at Rome. Meanwhile the Ly- 
 ceum had waned ; its later heads were men of mediocre ability, 
 
 * The difference between reasoning by Deduction and by Induction may be 
 made clearer by the following examples : 
 DEDUCTION. Dogs are quadrupeds. 
 Tray is a dog. 
 
 Therefore, Tray is a quadruped. 
 
 INDUCTION. Tray is a quadruped; Carlo is a quadruped; Fan is a quad- 
 ruped ; Pet is a quadruped ; etc. 
 Tray, Carlo, Fan, Pet, etc., are dogs. 
 Therefore, all dogs are quadrupeds.
 
 2o2 GKECIAN LITEKATUKE. 
 
 and the Peripatetic School was superseded in popular estima- 
 tion by the Epicurean and the Stoic. 
 
 Theophrastus, of Lesbos (374-287 B.C.), a pupil of Plato 
 and afterward of Aristotle, succeeded the latter, by his ap- 
 pointment, as head of the Lyceum. During his time, he 
 maintained the high reputation of the school, attracting many 
 to it from all parts of Greece by his eloquence. That he 
 might address a still larger audience, he wrote numerous 
 treatises on philosophy and natural history. 
 
 His " Moral Characters," which have descended to us, 
 show up in lively colors such representative personages as 
 the Gabbler, the Niggard, the Noodle, the Grumbler, the 
 Swell, the Poltroon, the Slanderer, the Newsmonger, the 
 Clown, etc., from whom, it seems, that Greek society was not 
 exempt any more than our own. These were the first char- 
 acter-sketches ever made; they served as models to La 
 Bruyere in French, to Sir Thomas Overbury and others in 
 English literature. As specimens, we cull the most pointed 
 portions of the sections on the Flatterer and the Unseason- 
 able Man. 
 
 THE FLATTERER. 
 
 "Flattery may be considered as a mode of companionship, de- 
 grading but profitable to him who flatters. 
 
 The Flatterer is a person who will say as he walks with another, 
 'Do you observe how people are looking at you? This happens to 
 no man in Athens but you. A compliment was paid to you yester- 
 day in the Porch. More than thirty persons were sitting there ; 
 the question was started, Who is our foremost man ? Every one 
 mentioned you first, and ended by coming back to your name.' 
 
 Then he will request the company to be silent while the great 
 man is speaking, and will praise him, too, in his hearing, and mark 
 his approbation at a pause with ' True ;' or he will laugh at a frigid 
 joke, and stuff his cloak into his mouth as if he could not repress 
 his amusement. 
 
 He will request those whom he meets to stand still until 'his 
 Honor' has passed. He will buy apples and pears, and bring them 
 in, and give to the children in the father's presence; adding, \vith 
 kisses, ' Chicks of a good father.' Also, when he assists at the pur-
 
 "CHARACTERS" OF THEOPHRASTUS. 253 
 
 chase of slippers, he will declare that the foot is more shapely than 
 the shoe. If his patron is approaching a friend, he will run forward 
 and say, ' He is coming to you ;' and then, turning back, ' I have an- 
 nounced you.' 
 
 He is the first of the guests to praise the wine ; and to say, as he 
 reclines next the host, ' How delicate is your fare ! aud (taking np 
 something from the table) ' Now this how excellent it is !' He will 
 say that his patron's house is well built, that his land is well planted, 
 and that his portrait is a good likeness." JEBB. 
 
 MR. MALAPROP. 
 
 " Unseasonable behavior is such a manner of conversation as is 
 very troublesome to those with whom you converse. 
 
 A man that acts unseasonably will intrude himself upon his friend, 
 when he is engaged in earnest business, and consult him about his 
 own private concerns. When his mistress lies dangerously ill of a 
 fever, he'll make her a visit and carry himself gayly. If he stands in 
 need of a surety, he begs that favor of one who has just smarted for 
 being bound to another. If he is summoned for a witness -in any 
 cause, he appears in court immediately after judgment has been given. 
 
 When he is invited to a wedding, he takes the opportunity to rail 
 at the fair sex. If he meets a friend who has just come home from a 
 long journey, he'll press him to take a Wcilk. He is ever ready aud 
 punctual, as soon as a shop-keeper has sold his goods, to help him to 
 a customer that would have given more. 
 
 If he happens to be in a place where a servant is chastised, all the 
 comfort he gives him is to tell him that he also had formerly a boy 
 whom he chastised in the same manner, and that the poor lad so re- 
 sented this usage that he immediately made way with himself. If 
 he is accidentally present at an arbitration, where the contending 
 parties desire to have the matter in dispute between them amicably 
 settled, instead of promoting a reconciliation, he sets them together 
 by the ears, and makes the difference ten times greater than it was 
 before." GALLY. 
 
 The Stoic School was so called from the Painted Portico 
 (stoa) at Athens, where its founder ZENO, the Cyprian, taught 
 for fifty-eight years (318-260 BrC.). It was based on high 
 moral principles, but was not free from errors. Duty was all 
 in this philosophy ; virtue alone, happiness. Mastery of self, 
 contempt alike for pleasure and pain, were leading doctrines. 
 
 Fate governed the world, even God himself. Yet Zeno did 
 not allow this doctrine to excuse shortcomings or interfere
 
 254 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 with individual responsibility. When his slave, detected in 
 theft, besought exemption from chastisement on the plea that 
 it was fated for him to steal, he replied, " Yes, and it was also 
 fated for you to be flogged." 
 
 Suicide, in Zeno's creed, was justifiable when a man had 
 outlived his usefulness, and the great philosopher practised as 
 he preached ; for, having received a severe fall at the age of 
 ninety-eight, he quietly remarked, "I obey the summons," and 
 went and hanged himself. 
 
 Zeno enjoyed public confidence at home as well as the re- 
 spect of foreign princes ; among his disciples were enrolled 
 some of the greatest men of Greece and Rome. Nothing re- 
 mains of his writings. 
 
 The Cynics derived their name from the gymnasium of Cyn- 
 osarges, near the Lyceum, where they gathered to listen to An- 
 tisthenes, a pupil of Socrates. This extremist perverted his 
 master's theory of virtue, which he made to consist in a com- 
 fortless life, a renunciation of pleasure, and a contemptuous 
 and even shameless independence of manners. Yet Socrates 
 saw pride even through the holes of Antisthenes' shabby robe. 
 
 Antisthenes was not much in metaphysics. He was puzzled 
 by abstract generalizations, and to Plato's Idealism opposed 
 an uncompromising Realism. " Plato," he said, "I can see a 
 horse, and I can see a man, but horsehood and manhood I 
 cannot see." "True," replied Plato, "you have the eye that 
 can see a horse and a man ; but the eye which can see horse- 
 hood and manhood you lack." 
 
 Of the many works of this first Cynic philosopher, scarcely 
 anything is left. They were probably steeped in gall, for his 
 powers of sarcasm were unsurpassed ; he dealt trenchant 
 blows at what he considered folly, wherever he found it. He 
 ridiculed the want of judgment displayed at Athens in the 
 selection of generals, by counselling the Athenians to vote 
 their asses horses. " That is absurd," was the reply. " No
 
 THE CYNIC PHILOSOPHY. 255 
 
 more so," he retorted, "than to think you have made igno- 
 ramuses generals, by simply lifting up the hand." Once when 
 annoyed at a speaker's dilating on the joys of the future state, 
 he abruptly demanded, " Why don't you die, then ?" 
 
 His successor, DIOGENES, carried out the role. Soured by 
 the disgraceful failure of his father, he turned to the ascetic 
 philosophy of the Cynics, and took a morbid pleasure in out- 
 raging society by his infringements on decency. His satirical 
 remarks, which cut to the quick, earned him the title of " the 
 Dog" by way of eminence. He slept wherever he happened 
 to be, on stoops or in a tub ; and eschewing artificial wants, 
 he felt so rebuked when he saw a boy drinking through his 
 hands and receiving his pottage in a hollowed loaf, that he 
 threw away his cup and platter. 
 
 Into such snarling, insolent, and offensive misanthropes did 
 the Cynics degenerate, that the name of their sect was popu- 
 larly traced to the dogs (in Greek cymes] they so much resem- 
 bled. To this complexion did the noble philosophy of Soc- 
 rates come at last. 
 
 ORATORY. 
 
 Political Eloquence, like the drama, history, and philosophy, 
 attained perfection in the golden age. Public speaking was 
 a natural accomplishment of the Greeks ; and from the days 
 of Homer down, soldiers, legislators, and statesmen, had been 
 distinguished as orators. In Pericles, who made eloquence a 
 study, we are introduced to one of the world's most polished 
 speakers. 
 
 But the cultivation of rhetoric and oratory as an art was first 
 popularized by Gorgias of Leonti'ni (see Map, p. 304), who 
 about 427 B.C. transplanted it from Sicily and saw it flourish 
 in Athenian soil as it had never flourished before. Gorgias 
 founded a school of eloquence at Athens, which was thronged 
 by the great men of the time, eager to acquire the persuasive 
 arts of the Sicilian teacher. Thus rhetoric became a fashion-
 
 25 G GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 able accomplishment ; and to such account was it turned by 
 the taste and genius of the Attic Greeks that they soon pro- 
 duced the greatest orators of history. 
 
 Among these was the graceful and elegant LYSIAS (lish'e-as 
 458-378 B.C.), compared by Quintilian to a pure fountain 
 rather than a great river ; and Js^us, the leading barrister of 
 Athens and preceptor of Demosthenes. Greater than either 
 as a teacher and writer of orations for others, though through 
 timidity he rarely appeared in public himself, was ISOCRATES, 
 founder of a school from which Cicero said, "as from the 
 Trojan horse, princes only proceeded ;" to use his own figure, 
 he was a whetstone which imported the power of cutting to 
 other things, but cut not itself. Finally, to this category be- 
 longed the great rivals ^Eschines and Demosthenes, foremost 
 of the Attic orators. 
 
 Demosthenes (384-322 B.C. it is worth remembering that 
 his dates are identical with Aristotle's) stands alone in the 
 power of his eloquence. Born in Attica, he was left fatherless 
 at the age of seven, but inherited a large fortune. The bulk 
 of this his guardians made away with ; although they engaged 
 the best talent in the land to superintend the education of their 
 ward. When Demosthenes arrived at his majority, he brought 
 suit against them, and wrote his maiden speeches with such 
 skill as to obtain a judgment in his favor. 
 
 The study of oratory now became the passion of his life. 
 By indomitable perseverance he overcame what to many would 
 have proved insuperable difficulties shortness of breath, a 
 sickly constitution, a weak and stammering utterance, and 
 awkwardness in gesticulating. He practised on the seashore 
 till his voice rose clear and full above the breakers ; he placed 
 pebbles in his mouth while declaiming to correct his articula- 
 tion, and improved his breathing by running up steep hills. 
 A friendly mirror helped him to make his gestures effective ; 
 and he spent months at a time in a room underground, occu-
 
 DEMOSTHENES. 257 
 
 pied in study, or in copying the history of Thucydides to 
 strengthen his style. Thus, in spite of every natural disad- 
 vantage, he placed himself by his own efforts " at the head of 
 all mighty masters of speech." He lived to receive the hom- 
 age, not only of those Athenians who had hissed the early 
 performances of "the stammerer," but of crowds gathered 
 from all quarters of Greece. 
 
 Conciseness, precision, clearness, compact reasoning, power 
 of invective, and vehemence compared to that of a torrent 
 carrying everything before it, were characteristic of the ora- 
 tions of Demosthenes. Sixty-one of these (probably not all 
 genuine) are still extant, the most famous being the twelve 
 " Philippics," delivered against Philip of Macedon, who was 
 insidiously plotting the subversion of Grecian liberty. De- 
 mosthenes penetrated his designs, disdained his bribes, and 
 for fourteen years struggled nobly against him. His impas- 
 sioned utterances at last roused the slumbering patriotism of 
 his countrymen, and, joined by the Thebans, they met Philip 
 at Chaeronea but only to be hopelessly defeated. The fate 
 of Greece was sealed. Demosthenes fled from the field and 
 escaped to Athens, where he delivered the funeral eulogy on 
 the slain. 
 
 The success of Philip strengthened the Macedonian sympa- 
 thizers in Athens, at the head of whom was the orator ^schi- 
 nes, accused by Demosthenes of being in the pay of Macedon. 
 When, therefore, Ctesiphon proposed that the services of De- 
 mosthenes be rewarded with a golden crown, ^Eschines op- 
 posed the measure. After a delay of six years, during which 
 we may be sure both orators strained every nerve to prepare 
 for the decisive struggle, the final contest took place before a 
 vast and excited concourse. The fiery vigor of Demosthenes, 
 in the most splendid effort of ancient eloquence, swept away 
 like feathers the arguments, the wit, the sarcasm, of his oppo- 
 nent ; yschines was utterly discomfited. 
 
 L2
 
 258 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 The elaborate speech " On the Crown " is the masterpiece 
 of Demosthenes ; we give parts of the peroration. 
 
 FROM DEMOSTHENES' ORATION ON THE CROWN. 
 
 " Do you then, -iEschines, ask me for what merit I claim public 
 honors ? I will tell you. It is because, when all tbe statesmen in 
 Greece had been corrupted, beginning with yourself, first by Philip 
 and then by Alexander, I was never induced nor tempted by oppor- 
 tunity, nor by fair speeches, nor by the magnitude of proffered bribes, 
 nor by hope, nor by fear, nor by favor, nor by any other considera- 
 tion, to swerve a hairVbreadth from the course which I believed to 
 be right and for the public good. Never, in weighing my public 
 counsels, have I, like you, inclined to the scale in which hung iny 
 private advantage ; but all that I have done has been done straight- 
 forwardly, incorruptly, and with singleness of purpose. While I have 
 been charged with affairs of greater magnitude than any of my con- 
 temporaries, the whole of my administration has been pure, honest, 
 disinterested. These are the grounds on which I claim to be hon- 
 ored. 
 
 As for the fortifications and intreuchments which you have sneered 
 at, I deem myself entitled to thanks and gratitude on that behalf. 
 Wherefore should I not ? But I am far, indeed, from placing such 
 services in the same category with my general policy. It is not with 
 stones nor with bricks that I have fortified Athens; it is not upon 
 such works that I chiefly value myself; but if you would truly ap- 
 preciate my fortifications, you will find them in arms, cities, territo- 
 ries, harbors, ships, and men to avail themselves of these advantages. 
 These are the outworks which I have thrown up before Attica, ac- 
 cording to the best of human foresight ; by these have I fortified the 
 whole country, not merely the circuit of the Pirreus and the city. 
 Nor was I defeated by the calculations or preparations of Philip ; far 
 from it : but the generals and the forces of our allies were defeated 
 by Fortune. * * * 
 
 If my measures had been successful O heaven and earth! wo 
 must, beyond all question, have become a first-rate power, as we well 
 deserved to be. If they have failed, we have left to us our honor. 
 No reproach can attach to the state or to its policy, but Fortune must 
 bear the blame, who has so ordered our affairs. Never, never, will 
 the patriotic citizen desert his country's cause, and, hiring himself 
 to her foes, watch his opportunities of injuring her; never will he 
 malign the statesman who in his utterances and his measures has 
 consistently maintained his country's honor; nor will he nurse and 
 treasure up resentment for private wrongs ; nor, lastly, will he 
 maintain a dishonest and a treacherous silence, as you have often 
 done. * * * 
 
 No part, -lEschines, have you taken in any measure for strengthen-
 
 EXTRACT FROM DEMOSTHENES. 259 
 
 ing the country's resources. What alliance has been ever obtained 
 for the state through your instrumentality? What succor? What 
 acquisition of good-will from others, or credit for ourselves ? What 
 embassy ? What public service that has added to our national re- 
 nown ? What public affairs, whether domestic, Hellenic, or foreign, 
 have been brought by you to a successful issue? What ships have 
 you furnished ? What arms ? What dockyards ? What fortifica- 
 tions? What cavalry? In what one respect have you been useful? 
 What pecuniary contribution have you ever made upon public 
 grounds for the benefit of either the rich or the poor ? None. 
 
 You were not deterred by your poverty, but by your anxiety to do 
 nothing opposed to the interests of those for whose benefit all your 
 policy has been designed. But what are the occasions of your brill- 
 iant displays, the exhibition of your youthful vigor? When aught 
 is to be spoken against your countrymen, then is your voice best 
 tuned, then is your memory most accurate ; then you act your part 
 to perfection. * * * 
 
 Every well-affected citizen, Athenians, (in such terms I am able to 
 speak of myself least invidiously) is bound to possess two qualities: 
 when in authority, the fixed resolve to maintain the honor and pre- 
 eminence of his country; under all circumstances and at all times, 
 loyalty. This Nature can command to another power belong 
 strength and success. By this spirit you find me to have been uni- 
 formly actuated. 
 
 Observe never when I was demanded for extradition, nor when 
 Amphictyouic suits were prosecuted against me, nor when threats, 
 nor when promises were brought to bear upon me, nor when these 
 miscreants were let loose like wild beasts upon me never was I in- 
 duced to abandon one jot or tittle of my loyalty to you. From first 
 to last I took the straight and true path of statesmanship that of 
 complete devotion to the maintenance and furtherance of the honor, 
 the power, and the glory of my country. Never was I beheld strut- 
 ting about the Forum, radiant with joy and exultation at foreign 
 success, gesticulating congratulations to those who might be expect- 
 ed to report them elsewhere. Nor have I heard the tidings of our 
 good fortune with dismay and lamentations, and prostration to the 
 earth, like these impious men who inveigh against their country 
 without perceiving that their invective is directed against them- 
 selves, whose eyes are cast abroad, who felicitate themselves on 
 foreign success purchased by the calamities of Greece, and avow 
 their anxiety to secure its permanence. 
 
 Never, O ye Heavenly Powers! never may such designs obtain 
 favor at your hands ! Rather, if it be possible, inspire even these 
 men with better thoughts, and turn their hearts ; but if their moral 
 plague be incurable, cut them off from among us, and drive them 
 forth to destruction, sure and swift, over-land and over sea: while 
 to us who are spared ye vouchsafe the speediest deliverauce from our 
 impending alarms, and abiding security !" SIR ROBERT COLLIER.
 
 2GO GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Twice after the reverse of Chaeronea Demosthenes suc- 
 ceeded in arraying his. country against Macedon at the 
 assassination of Philip and on the death of Alexander. 
 When news of Alexander's decease reached Greece, the or- 
 ator was in exile, having been unjustly convicted of taking 
 Macedonian treasure ; yet he did his utmost to arm the 
 Grecian cities, and was in consequence recalled to Athens 
 by the fickle people. But it was all in vain. 
 
 At last, marked for destruction by the Macedonian regent 
 Antip'ater, and doomed to death by his cowardly fellow- 
 citizens whose necks were now under the tyrant's heel, he 
 fled to the temple of Neptune on Calaure'a and there found 
 relief from his troubles in a quill of poison which he kept 
 ready for an emergency. In Demosthenes, Athens lost an 
 incorruptible patriot antiquity, one of her noblest charac- 
 ters. The Athenians erected to his memory a brazen statue 
 on which was inscribed : 
 
 " Had you for Greece been strong, as wise yon were, 
 The Macedonians bad not conquered her.'' 
 
 ./Eschines (389-314 B.C.), of whose early life little is known, 
 after his defeat at the hands of Demosthenes, went into exile. 
 We are told that his victorious rival magnanimously forgave 
 him, and even offered him money for the journey ; which led 
 ^Eschines to exclaim : " How I regret leaving a country 
 where I have found an enemy so generous that I must de- 
 spair of ever meeting with a friend who shall be like him !" 
 
 ^Eschines afterward established himself as a teacher of 
 oratory in Rhodes. Here he once repeated to his pupils his 
 famous oration against Ctesiphon in the contest for the crown, 
 which filled them with wonder that so able an orator should 
 have been defeated. But when at their request he read the 
 reply of Demosthenes, his audience rose to their feet with 
 eager acclamations ; and the orator, forgetting all jealousy in
 
 THE GOLDEN AGE 
 
 261 
 
 his admiration, cried : " What would you have said, had you 
 heard the wild beast himself roaring it out ?" 
 
 The oration against Ctesiphon is one of three familiarly 
 known in antiquity as " the Three Graces " a title indicative 
 of the refinement and easy flow of the author's style, deficient 
 as it was in the energy and vehemence of his great rival. 
 
 MINOR DRAMATIC AND LYRIC POETS. 
 
 ION (flourished 450 B.C.) : a history and 
 lyrics, as well as tragedies ; called 
 "the Eastern Star," from the first 
 words of an ode he was composing 
 when death overtook him. 
 
 ACHJEUS (born 484 B.C.) : tragic and 
 satirical pieces. 
 
 AG'ATHON the Athenian : received his 
 first tragic prize, 416 B.C. ; his mas- 
 terpiece was " the Flower." 
 
 CALLIS'TRATUS (flourished 420 B.C.): 
 author of the convivial ode celebrat- 
 
 ing the memory of 1 larmodius and 
 Aristogiton (p. 158). 
 
 CRATI'NUS (519-423 B.C.): called the 
 Cup-lover from his excesses; 21 com- 
 edies; 9 prizes; with his last com- 
 edy, " the Wine - flask," he gained 
 the first prize, triumphing over " the 
 Clouds" of Aristophanes. 
 
 EU'POLIS: 15 plays; his first comedy 
 was represented 429 B.C. 
 
 CRATES (450 B.C.) : 14 comedies ; the 
 first poet to represent drunkenness 
 on the Athenian stage. 
 
 METON, the Athenian astronomer (flourished 430 B.C.) : founder of the Lunar 
 Cycle of 19 solar years, which he discovered to be nearly equal to 235 revolu- 
 tions of the moon round the earth. From the " Metonic Cycle " the Greeks 
 computed their festivals; it is still used by the Western churches in fixing 
 Easter. 
 
 HIPPOC'RATES (460-357 B.C.), born on the island of Cos, " the Father of Medi- 
 cine :" knew little of anatomy ; discovered the critical days in fevers. 
 
 NOTES ON GREEK EDUCATION, ETC. 
 
 Education recognized as all-important in ancient Greece, and even made com- 
 pulsory by the great lawgivers. In Homer's time, children taught obedience, 
 respect for the aged, and modesty of deportment ; sons instructed in the use of 
 weapons and gymnastic exercises ; daughters, in domestic economy and virtue. 
 Homer's epics long the chief text-books on all subjects. 
 
 Reading and writing, accomplishments of the earliest periods. An ignorant 
 Greek an anomaly. Even among the Spartans, who affected contempt for lit-
 
 262 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 erature, reading and writing were practised. The magistrates and their officers 
 were provided with wooden cylinders of the same size; when one desired to 
 communicate, he wound a strip of parchment round his cylinder and wrote his 
 message thereon ; then, removing the strip, he sent it to the other party, who 
 was enabled to read it by rolling it upon his own cylinder iu the same folds. 
 
 In the golden age, common schools were the glory of Greece ; the rudiments 
 of education everywhere taught. The importance of grammar urged by Plato, 
 who was the first to explain the difference between nouns and verbs ; articles and 
 conjunctions distinguished by Aristotle, and also differences of number and case. 
 The foundation of scientific grammar laid by the Stoics, who recognized eight 
 parts of speech. Those who could afford it completed their education at the 
 Lyceum, Academy, or some other celebrated school, often paying most extrava- 
 gantly for instruction in rhetoric and philosophy. Some teachers charged their 
 pupils as much as $2,000 apiece for a course of lectures. Foreign languages 
 were never studied by the Greeks. . 
 
 Many private libraries were established during the golden age, but no circu- 
 lating or public libraries. As early as 400 B.C. Athens carried on quite a trade 
 in manuscripts, one quarter of the market-place being called "the book-mart." 
 Books were generally abundant and cheap, being copied by slaves, but rare 
 works were very costly, Plato paid $1,600 for three books, and Aristotle $3,000 
 for a few volumes. 
 
 Wooden tablets for accounts sold for 18 cts. each about 400 B.C. A small 
 blank book of two wax tablets was worth less than a penny. Pencils are said 
 to have been invented 408 B.C. by Apollodorus, the self-styled "Prince of 
 Painters." 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 THE ALEXANDRIAN PERIOD. 
 
 Decline of Letters. The triumph of the Doric states over 
 Athens in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 B.C.) gave the 
 first blow to the intellectual power of Greece. Literary de- 
 cay forthwith set in ; its progress was hastened by internal 
 dissensions, and completed when liberty was hopelessly ex- 
 tinguished by Philip of Macedon and his successors. 
 
 Alexander indeed benefited the East by introducing the 
 Greek language and culture, and building magnificent cities 
 in return for her hordes of barbarians slain ; but his policy
 
 THE ALEXANDRIAN PERIOD. 263 
 
 left out of view the interests of Greece. While Athens re- 
 mained the seminary of Europe for several centuries after his 
 death, Alexandria, founded by him at the mouth of the Nile, 
 became the intellectual as well as commercial capital of the 
 world. From this city, the period we are about to consider 
 derives its name. It extends from the death of Alexander 
 the Great (323 B.C.) to the conquest of Egypt by the Romans 
 (30 B.C.). 
 
 The Alexandrian Age produced no grand masterpieces. 
 No glorious struggle for freedom inspired the historian ; there 
 was no further need for the efforts of the orator ; science and 
 criticism flourished instead of poetry ; and a host of imitators 
 usurped the place of the mighty originals of the olden time. 
 The national taste had sadly deteriorated; an affected ob- 
 scurity was fashionable ; and gaudy tinsel was more highly 
 valued than true gold. 
 
 Yet one bright bloom gladdened this waste Idyllic Poe- 
 try, which expanded into a perfect flower in the hands of 
 Theoc'ritus the Sicilian. A new school of comedy was also 
 established by Menander and Phile'mon ; and many seeds of 
 Greek genius that Alexander had scattered broadcast over 
 the earth sprung up on foreign soil, and yielded fruit but 
 fruit inferior to that ripened under its native sun. 
 
 DRAMATIC POETRY. 
 
 The New Comedy dealt with the follies and vices of society 
 at large, not with individuals, the actor no longer venturing, 
 since the downfall of political liberty, to imitate Aristophanes 
 in representing living characters. Its simple plot was gener- 
 ally based on some love-intrigue. Though the broad fun of 
 the Old Comedy was wanting, quiet humor contrasted hap- 
 pily with pathos, the grave with the gay; the audience, pro- 
 voked by turns to laughter and to tears, were all the time 
 learning some useful principle or moral lesson. Cicero styled
 
 264 GRECIAN LITEEATUEE. 
 
 the New Comedy "the mirror of real life." The chorus now 
 ceased to take part in the representation, and the play was 
 divided into acts separated by intervals of time. 
 
 Of the sixty-four poets associated by the ancients with the 
 New Comedy, the greatest were Menander and Philemon, 
 both citizens of Athens, though Philemon was foreign-born. 
 Not until both had passed from the stage of life was the 
 meed of superior excellence awarded to Menander. 
 
 Menander (341-291 B.C.) dramatized love-stories for the 
 young ivith elegance and dignity ; while the undercurrent of 
 wisdom that flowed through his plays recommended them to 
 the old. Out of a hundred comedies of which he was the au- 
 thor, only a few fragments are left ; but these Goethe pro- 
 nounced " invaluable." So perfectly did he delineate char- 
 acter that Aristophanes, the grammarian, asked whether Me- 
 nander copied life, or life Menander. 
 
 His talent early displayed itself, securing him a crown 
 while he was yet a mere youth, but subjecting him to the dis- 
 pleasure of his defeated rivals, who accused him of presump- 
 tion in vying with experienced poets. Menander replied to 
 the charge by appearing on the stage with an armful of new- 
 born puppies, which he cast into a tub of water. Bidding the 
 audience mark how they swam, he exclaimed : " You ask me, 
 Athenians, how at my years I can have the knowledge of life 
 required in the dramatist ; I ask you under what master and 
 in what school these creatures learned to swim ?" 
 
 Despite his superior merit, however, Menander obtained 
 the dramatic prize but eight times, owing to the greater influ- 
 ence of his rival Philemon with the masses. It is stated that 
 this injustice at length led the poet to drown himself. His 
 plays long served as models to the comic stage. The Ro- 
 mans, Plautus and Terence, helped themselves freely from his 
 treasury, and through their dramas our modern comedy may 
 be traced back to Menander himself.
 
 DEAMATISTS OF THE ALEXANDRIAN AGE. 265 
 
 FRAGMENTS FROM MENANDER. 
 
 "When tliou would'st know thyself, what man thou art, 
 Look at the tombstones as thou passest by : 
 Within those monuments lie bones and dust 
 Of monarchs, tyrants, sages, men whose pride 
 Rose high because of wealth, or noble blood, 
 Or haughty soul, or loveliness of limb ; 
 Yet none of these things strove for them 'gainst time : 
 One common death hath ta'en all mortal men. 
 See thou to this, and know thee who thou art." 
 
 SYMONDS. 
 
 " The sum of all philosophy is this 
 Thou art a man, than whom there breathes no creature 
 More liable to sudden rise and fall." 
 
 " Of all bad things with which mankind are cursed, 
 Their own bad tempers surely are the worst." 
 
 "The maxim ' Know thyself does not suffice; 
 Know others! know them well that's my advice." 
 
 Philemon exhibited the first of his ninety-seven comedies 
 when Menander was a boy of eleven. Nine years later Me- 
 nandei's first piece appeared, and the rivalry between the 
 poets began. In their subsequent contests, Philemon some- 
 times stooped to unworthy means to defeat his opponent ; 
 still, that his countrymen really admired him is evident from 
 the legend current of his death. As he was concluding a 
 comedy in his ninety-ninth year, nine beautiful maidens were 
 said to have entered his chamber and beckoned him away. 
 They were the Muses, about to wing their flight from Athens 
 forever, and with them departed the soul of Philemon the 
 last of the Athenian poets. 
 
 FRAGMENTS FROM PHILEMON. 
 
 "Have faith in God, and fear ; seek not to know him, 
 For thou wilt gain naught else beyond thy search : 
 Whether he is or is not, shun to ask : 
 As one who is, and sees thee, always fear him."
 
 266 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 " All are not just because they do no wrong, 
 But be wbo will not wrong nie when be may, 
 He is tbe truly just. I praise not tbem 
 Wbo, in their petty dealings, pilfer not ; 
 But him whose conscience spurns a secret fraud, 
 When he might plunder and defy surprise. 
 His be the praise who, looking down with scorn 
 On the false judgment of the partial herd, 
 Consults his own clear heart, and boldly dares 
 To be, not to be thought, an honest man." 
 
 PASTORAL POETRY. 
 
 Theocritus (flourished 283-263 B.C.). The pastoral, or 
 bucolic, poetry of the Greeks, which originated in the rude 
 songs of Laconian and Sicilian shepherds, was matured and 
 elevated into a new department of polite composition in the 
 idyls of Theocritus. Born in Sicily, as he tells us in an epi- 
 gram intended to preface his works, he was tempted to the 
 court of Ptolemy Philadelphus. Here his refreshing pictures 
 of rural scenery were the delight of the Alexandrians, shut in 
 by the walls of their city from the beauties of nature. The- 
 ocritus eventually returned to Sicily, and ended his days amid 
 his native fields. 
 
 The poetry of Theocritus exhibits originality and refine- 
 ment, the Doric dialect in which he wrote lending the charm 
 of picturesqueness to his descriptions. Pope commends him 
 for simplicity and truthfulness to nature; Dryden, for "the 
 inimitable tenderness of his passions" and the skill with 
 which he disguised his art. As a delineator of natural scen- 
 ery, he has no superior among ancient or modern poets. 
 There are extant thirty idyls and twenty-two epigrams of 
 this poet. We present below Idyl VIII. 
 
 THE TRIUMPH OF DAPHNIS. 
 
 " Daphnis, the gentle herdsman, met once, as rumor tells, 
 Menalcaa making with his flock the circle of the fells. [play 5 
 
 Both chins were gilt with coming beards, both lads could sing and 
 Mcnalcas glanced at Daphnis, and thus was heard to say:
 
 EXTRACT FROM THEOCRITUS. 267 
 
 'Art thou for siuging, Daplmis, lord of the lowing kiue? 
 I say my songs are Letter, by what thou wilt, thau thine.' 
 Then in his turn spake Daphuis, and thus he made reply : 
 ' O shepherd of the fleecy flock, thou pipest clear and high ; 
 But come what will, Meualcas, thou ne'er wilt sing as I.' 
 
 MEXALCAS. 
 This art thou fain to ascertain, and risk a bet with me ? 
 
 DAPHXIS. 
 This I full fain would ascertain, and risk a bet with thee. 
 
 MEXALCAS. 
 But what, for champions such as we, would seem a fitting prize T 
 
 DAPHXIS. 
 I stake a calf: stake thou a lamb, its mother's self in size. 
 
 MEXALCAS. 
 
 A lamb ni venture never : for aye, at close of day, 
 
 Father and mother count the flock, and passing strict are they. 
 
 DAPHXIS. 
 
 Then what shall be the victor's fee ? What wager wilt thou lay ? 
 
 MEXALCAS. 
 
 A pipe discoursing through nine mouths I made, full fair to view; 
 The wax is white thereon, the line of this and that edge true. 
 I'll risk it : risk my father's own is more than I dare do. 
 
 DAPIIXIS. 
 
 A pipe discoursing through nine mouths, and fair, hath Daplmis too; 
 The wax is white thereon, the line of this and that edge true. 
 But yesterday I made it : this finger feels the pain 
 Still, where indeed the rifted reed hath cut it clean in twain. 
 But who shall be our umpire ? who listen to our strain ? 
 
 MEXALCAS. 
 
 Suppose we hail yon goatherd ; him at whose horned herd now 
 The dog is barking yonder dog with white upon his brow. 
 
 Then out they called : the goatherd marked them, and np came he ; 
 Then out they sang; the goatherd their umpire fain would be. 
 To shrill Menalcas' lot it fell to start the woodland lay : 
 Then Daplmis took it up. And thus Menalcas led the way.
 
 2G8 GRECIAN LITEKATUEE. 
 
 MEXALCAS. 
 
 Ye god-created vales and streams ! Oh ! if Menalcas e'er 
 
 Piped aught of pleasant music in your ears ; 
 Then pasture, nothing loath, his lambs ; and let young Daphnis fare 
 
 No worse, should he stray hither with his steers. 
 
 DAPIIXIS. 
 
 Ye joy-abounding lawns and springs ! If Daphnis sang you e'er 
 Such songs as ne'er from nightingale have flowed ; 
 
 Lend to his herd your fatness ; and let Menalcas share 
 Like plenty, should he wend along this road. 
 
 MEXALCAS. 
 
 'Tis springtide all and greenness, and all the udders teem 
 
 With milk, and all things young have life anew, 
 Where my sweet maiden wanders: but parched and withered seem, 
 
 W T hen she departeth, lawn and shepherd too. 
 
 DAPHXIS. 
 
 There sheep and goats twin-burdened abound, and honey-bees 
 
 Peopling the hives, and oaks of statelier growth, 
 Where falls my darling's footstep : but hungriness shall seize, 
 
 When she departeth, herd and herdsman both. 
 
 MEXALCAS. 
 
 Storms are the fruit-tree's bane ; the brook's, a summer hot and dry; 
 
 The stag's, a woven net ; a gin, the dove's ; 
 Mankind's, a soft sweet maiden. Others have pined ere I: 
 
 Zeus ! Father ! hast not thou thy lady-loves ? 
 
 Thus far, in alternating strains, the lads their woes rehearsed : 
 Then each one gave a closing stave. Thus sang Meualcas first : 
 
 MEXALCAS. 
 
 O spare, good wolf, my weanlings ! their milky mothers spare ! 
 Harm not the little lad who hath so many in his care ! 
 What, Firefly, is thy sleep so deep ? It ill befits a hound, 
 When ranging with his master, to slumber over-sound. 
 And, wethers, of this tender grass take, nothing coy, your fill : 
 So, when the after-math* shall come, will none be weak or ill. 
 So ! so ! feed on, that ye be full, that not an udder fail : 
 Part of the milk shall rear the lambs, and part shall fill my paiL 
 
 Then Daphuis flung a carol out, as of a nightingale : 
 
 * Second crop of grass.
 
 PASTORAL POETRY. 269 
 
 DAPHNIS. 
 
 Mo from her grot but yesterday a girl of haughty brow 
 Spied as I passed her with my kine, aud said, ' How fair art thou!' 
 I gave for answer riot so much as one disdainful word, 
 But, looking ever on the ground, paced onward with my herd. 
 For sweet the heifer's music, and sweet the heifer's breath ; 
 Sweet things to me the youngling calf, sweet things her mother saith ; 
 And sweet is sleep by summer brooks upon the breezy lea : 
 And acorns they grace well the oak, apples the apple-tree, 
 Her calves the cow ; the herdsman, but for his herd cares he. 
 
 So sang the lads ; and thereupon out spake the referee : 
 
 GOATHERD. 
 
 O Daphnis ! lovely is thy voice, thy music sweetly sung ; 
 Such song is pleasanter to me than honey on my tongue. 
 Accept this pipe, for thou hast won. And, should there be some notes 
 That thou couldst teach me, as I plod alongside with my goats ; 
 I'll give thee for thy schooling this ewe, that horns hath none : 
 Day after day she'll fill the can, until the milk o'errun. 
 
 Then how the one lad laughed, and leaped, and clapped his hands 
 
 for glee ! 
 
 A kid that bounds to meet its dam might dance as merrily. 
 Aud how the other inly burned, struck down by his disgrace ! 
 A maid first parting from her home might wear as sad a face. 
 
 Thenceforth was Daphnis champion of all the country side : 
 Aud won, while yet in topmost youth, a Naiad for his bride." 
 
 C. S. CALVERLEY. 
 
 Bion of Smyrna, a contemporary of Theocritus, emigrated 
 to Sicily for the purpose of studying pastoral poetry in its na- 
 tive haunts. What little we know respecting his life is gath- 
 ered from the elegy written by his pupil, the delicate and 
 graceful MOSCHUS, a bucolic poet of Syracuse ranked with 
 Theocritus and Bion, but inferior to both. " The Lament for 
 Bion " intimates that he died from the effects of poison, ad- 
 ministered perhaps by jealous rivals. 
 
 Bion's love-songs and pastorals are characterized by sweet- 
 ness and finish ; they are less life-like, however, than those of 
 Theocritus. The "Lament for Adonis" is the poet's best
 
 270 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 effort; but as it is uninteresting to the general reader, we give 
 a free paraphrase of 
 
 THE BIED-CATCHEK AND LOVE. 
 
 A young bird-catcher sat 'ueath a wide-spreading tree, 
 
 Wliero the breath of the summer breeze sported free, 
 
 Looking round on the neighboring bushes with care, 
 
 To see if a songster were lingering there. 
 
 At length, in the distance, he something espies 
 
 A creature with wings of unusual size 
 
 " Aha ! what a treasure !" he joyously cries ; 
 
 " To catch such a bird would indeed be a prize !" 
 And then sets to work with his rods all together, 
 To take the huge bird without spoiling a feather. 
 
 But the creature, alarmed, from its perch quickly flew ; 
 The boy, all excited, still kept it in view 
 Till it lit on a box-tree then followed his prey ; 
 Alas ! with a cry, it again flew away. 
 At length he grew tired of this profitless chase, 
 And turned toward his home with a wearisome pace. 
 But ere long, on the road, an old farmer he met, 
 Who had taught him his snares for the songsters to set. 
 And he told how the bird all his skill had evaded, 
 And to go see this Avonder the farmer persuaded. 
 
 At length they drew near ; in a thicket of trees, 
 Whose tops gently waved in the murmuring breeze, 
 On a dwarf laurel-bush, on the verge of the grove, 
 In beauty bewitching, there sat errant Love ! 
 His pinions hung prettily down by his side, 
 And his features, the Cyprian goddess's pride, 
 Were as lovely as ever, more roguish by half, 
 For he scarce could refrain from a boisterous laugh. 
 And as soon as he saw him, the husbandman, smiling, 
 Knew at once the young Love-god the boy was beguiling. 
 
 Then said he to the boy : " Quick, away from this grove i 
 The bird thou art seeking is mischievous Love ! 
 Though brilliant his hues as the butterfly's wings, 
 And melody dwells on the strain that he sings, 
 Yet a dangerous prize to the catcher he'll prove. 
 Then away with thy birdlime, nor follow this Love ! 
 When he flies, seize thy chance and escape if thou can, 
 For in vain wilt thou shun him when grown to a man. 
 
 Then thoii'lt be the bird he, the catcher, '11 pursue thee; 
 
 Though now he evades, then he'll quickly fly to thee."
 
 EXTRACTS FROM BION AND 'MOSCHUS. 271 
 
 LINES TO HESPEE. 
 
 " Hesper, tbou golden ligbt of happy love, 
 Hesper, tbou boly pride of purple eve, 
 Moon among stars, but star beside tbe moori, 
 Hail, friend ! and since tbe young moon sets to-night 
 Too soou below tbe mountains, lend tby lamp 
 And guide me to tbe sbepberd wbom I love. 
 No tbeft I purpose ; no wayfaring man 
 Belated would I watcb and make my prey ; 
 Love is my goal, and Love bow fair it is, 
 When friend meets friend sole in tbe silent night, 
 Thou knowest, Hesper !" SYMONDS. 
 
 FROM MOSCHUS'S LAMENT FOE BION. 
 
 " Ye mountain valleys, pitifully groan ! 
 
 Elvers and Dorian springs, for Biou weep! 
 Ye plants, drop tears ; ye groves, lamenting moan ! 
 Exhale your life, wan flowers ; your blushes deep 
 In grief, anemonies and roses, steep ; 
 In whimpering murmurs, hyacinth ! prolong 
 The sad, sad woe tby lettered petals keep ; 
 Our minstrel sings no more his friends among 
 Sicilian Muses! now begin tbe doleful song. 
 
 Ye nightingales! that 'mid thick leaves set loose 
 Tbe gushing gurgle of your sorrow, tell 
 
 Tbe fountains of Sicilian Arethuse 
 That Bion is no more ; with Bion fell 
 The song the music of the Dorian shell. 
 
 Ye swans of Strymon ! now your banks along 
 
 Your plaintive throats with melting dirges swell, 
 
 For him who sang like you the mournful song; 
 Discourse of Bion's death the Thraciau nymphs ainoug^- 
 
 Tbe Dorian Orpheus, tell them all, is dead. 
 
 His herds tbe song and darling herdsman miss, 
 And oaks, beneath whose shade be propped his head. 
 
 Oblivion's ditty now he sings for Dis; 
 
 Tbe melancholy mountain silent is ; 
 His pining cows no longer wish to feed, 
 
 But moan for him ; Apollo wept, I wis, 
 For thee, sweet Bion ! and in mourning weed 
 Tbe brotherhood of Fauns and all tbe Satyr breed.
 
 272 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 The tears by Naiads slied are brimful bourns ; 
 
 Afflicted Pan thy stifled music rues ; 
 Loru Echo 'mid her rocks thy silence mourns, 
 
 Nor with her mimic tones thy voice renews; 
 
 The flowers their bloom, the trees their fruitage lose j 
 No more their milk the drooping ewes supply ; 
 
 The bees to press their honey now refuse ; 
 What need to gather it and lay it by, 
 When thy own honey-lip, my Bion ! thine is dry ?" 
 
 CHAPMAN. 
 
 The Museum. While the Muses who fled with the spirit of 
 Philemon were never induced to return to Hellas, in the East 
 the Greek mind, stimulated by the architectural wonders, the 
 new religious systems, the proficiency in many departments 
 of knowledge, which it encountered, entered upon a new phase 
 of development. Alexandria witnessed its proudest achieve- 
 ments in science. 
 
 This city was embellished with temples and palaces, with 
 parks, fountains, and monuments, until it eclipsed in beauty 
 all others of its time. Our interest, however, centres in its 
 marble Muse'um, or Temple of the Muses, begun by the first 
 Ptolemy and finished by his son Philadelphus, which sent forth 
 the greatest scientists of antiquity. In its halls, those hunger- 
 ing for knowledge were more than satisfied ; up and down its 
 corridors the professors walked as they gave instruction ; while 
 its botanical and zoological gardens afforded opportunities for 
 delightful relaxation. An observatory and the best astronom- 
 ical instruments of the day invited to the study of the heavens, 
 and a dissecting-room was at the disposal of the anatomist. 
 Chemical investigations were facilitated by a laboratory, where 
 thus early the science of alchemy was born, and Philadelphus 
 himself eagerly experimented in search of the elixir of life. 
 To this brilliant centre of letters, the first university in the 
 world, learned men were attracted from all quarters. At one 
 time, 14,000 students were under instruction. 
 
 The Alexandrian Library. The Museum was the seat of a
 
 THE LIBRAKY OF ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 273 
 
 great library, collected in accordance with Ptolemy's command 
 that all the writings of the earth should be brought to Egypt 
 to be transcribed. But once there, the originals seldom parted 
 company with the pictures and statues in Ptolemy's sculptured 
 alcoves, the owners being obliged to content themselves with 
 fac-similes of their treasured rolls made by the royal copyists. 
 
 GUEKKS OF THE ALEX/YNDKIAN PEBIOD. 
 
 The Egyptian kings often paid roundly for valuable manu- 
 scripts. It is stated that Philadelphus borrowed at Athens 
 the plays of Euripides to have them copied for his library, 
 depositing about $10,000 as security for their return. But 
 when the work was done, he sent back the transcript, prefer- 
 ring to lose his money rather than part with the originals. 
 
 M
 
 274 GKECIAN LITEEATUBE. 
 
 Philadelphus left 100,000 volumes in the library. These 
 quadrupled after his death, and rilled the Museum to over- 
 flowing, so that in the Temple of Sera'pis was opened " the 
 Daughter Library" for the reception of additional volumes. 
 The number of these ultimately reached 300,000, making 
 700,000 in all. 
 
 When, after the assassination of Pompey, Caesar fired Alex- 
 andria (47 B.C.), the flames enwrapped the Museum, and its 
 library perished. Antony subsequently gave Cleopatra the 
 Pergamene Collection of parchment books (see p. 24), which, 
 with his kingdom, Attains III. had bequeathed to the Romans 
 (133 B.C.). This, added to the rolls in the Temple of Sera- 
 pis, formed at once an extensive library. It was increased 
 by constant additions, but in the end served as fuel for the 
 four thousand baths of the city, when Alexandria fell before 
 the Mohammedan arms (640 A.D.), and the bigoted caliph 
 decided that "if the Greek writings agreed with the Koran, 
 they were useless and need not be preserved; if they dis- 
 agreed, they were pernicious and ought to be destroyed." 
 
 POETRY AT ALEXANDRIA. 
 
 The first school of poetry at Alexandria was founded by 
 Phile'tas (330-285 B.C.), the elegiac writer, so dwarfish and 
 emaciated that the jesters of his time declared he had to 
 wear leaden shoes to keep the wind from blowing him away. 
 Philetas was the instructor of Theocritus. But the greatest 
 names associated with the Museum are those of Callim'achus 
 and Apollonius Rhodius. 
 
 Callimachus (250 B.C.) shines not only as a lyric and epic 
 poet, but also as a critic and grammarian. From the position 
 of a suburban schoolmaster he rose to that of librarian at the 
 Museum, and made himself " the literary dictator and univer- 
 sal genius of his age." 
 
 Callimachus exercised his talents in all the departments of
 
 APOLLONIUS KHOD1US. 275 
 
 poetry, and wrote as well in prose. His works reached the 
 number of 800 ; which is not to be wondered at when we re- 
 member his remark, "A great book is a great evil." Such of 
 his hymns and epigrams as time has spared, bear the marks 
 of study rather than genius. 
 
 Apollonius, called Ehodius from his long residence in 
 Rhodes, was born at Alexandria, and studied under Cal- 
 limachus. But the master grew jealous of his pupil, and a 
 quarrel arose between them. When, at the instigation of 
 Callimachus, his epic poem on the Argonautic Expedition 
 was unfavorably received by the Alexandrians, Apollonius, in 
 his mortification, left the city and opened a school of rhetoric 
 in Rhodes. Here he revised his poem, and became justly 
 renowned for his brilliant attainments. After the death of 
 Callimachus, he was recalled to Alexandria, read his epic a 
 second time to the people, and had the satisfaction of receiv- 
 ing their warmest commendations with the honorable office 
 of librarian (194 B.C.). 
 
 The " Argonautica," in four books, is all that is left of his 
 works. We take from it the passage which describes the 
 impression made on Medea by Jason, the leader of the ex- 
 pedition ; compare the history of Medea as sketched in 
 connection with the play of Euripides bearing her name, 
 page 210. 
 
 MEDEA IN LOVE. 
 
 " Thus Medea went, her soul absorbed 
 In many musings, such as love incites, 
 Thoughts of deep care. Now all remembered things 
 In apparition rose before her eyes : 
 What was his aspect; what the robe he wore ; 
 "What words he uttered ; in what posture placed, 
 He on the conch reclined; and with what air 
 He from the porch passed forth. Then red the blush 
 Burned on her cheek ; while in her soul she thought 
 No other man existed like to him : 
 His voice was murmuring in her ears, and all 
 The charming words he uttered. Now, disturbed,
 
 276 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 She trembled for his life ; lest the fierce Lulls, 
 
 Or lest ^Ee'tes should, himself, destroy 
 
 The man she loved.* Arid she bewailed him now 
 
 As if already dead ; and down her cheeks, 
 
 In deep commiseration, the soft tear 
 
 Flowed anxiously. With piercing tone of grief 
 
 Her voice found utterance : ' Why, unhappy one ! 
 
 Am I thus wretched ? What concerns it ine, 
 
 Whether this paragon of heroes die 
 
 The death, or flee discomfited ? And yet 
 
 He should unharmed depart. Dread Hecate ! 
 
 Be it thy pleasure ! let him homeward pass, 
 
 And 'scape his threatened fate ; or, if his fate 
 
 Beneath the bulls have destined him to fall, 
 
 First let him know that in his wretched end 
 
 Medea does not glory.' So disturbed, 
 
 Mused the sad virgin in her anguished thoughts." 
 
 ELTON. 
 
 PROSE WRITERS. 
 
 Science. The influence of the Alexandrian university in 
 shaping modern science was all-potential. Among its orna- 
 ments are numbered the mathematicians Euclid and Ar- 
 chime'des, the astronomer Eratos'thenes, Hero the inventor 
 of a steam-engine, and Ctesibius who devised water-clocks, 
 pumps, and other ingenious machines. 
 
 EUCLID (300 B.C.) compressed in one volume all the geo- 
 metrical knowledge extant, adding several original theorems. 
 His " Elements " has been translated into many languages, 
 and though it has attained the venerable age of 2,200 years, 
 its clear demonstrations are still standards in our schools. 
 
 ARCHIMEDES was educated in Alexandria, but afterward 
 lived in Syracuse, where his mathematical genius challenged 
 the admiration of the world. In geometry and mechanics he 
 was the master-mind of antiquity ; and until the star of New- 
 ton rose twenty centuries after, Europe saw not his equal. 
 
 * An allusion to the hostility of ^Eetes, Medea's father, and his fire-breathing 
 bulls, which Jason was required to tame before he could get possession of the 
 Golden Fleece.
 
 PROSE OF THE ALEXANDRIAN AGE. 277 
 
 Many important discoveries in physical science are due to 
 Archimedes, the principle of the lever, which led him to 
 exclaim, "Give me a place to stand on, and I will move the 
 world ;" the process of finding the specific gravity of bodies ; 
 the hydraulic screw and the pulley. Of his many mathemat- 
 ical works, written in Doric Greek, eight survive. 
 
 ERATOSTHENES (276-196 B.C.) was the founder of geodesy 
 and chronology, as well as a proficient in astronomy, gram- 
 mar, and poetry. The ancients styled him Pentathlos (quin- 
 tuple athlete) ; also, from his determining the magnitude of 
 the earth, "Measurer of the Universe." His most important 
 works are " Chronographies," and geographical and math- 
 ematical writings. 
 
 HIPPARCHUS (150 B.C.), an astronomer of the Alexandrian 
 age, deserves mention as the inventor of the planisphere and 
 as the first to make a catalogue of the stars. He devised the 
 method of locating places by latitude and longitude. 
 
 Grammar. The Museum was especially eminent as a 
 school of grammar and criticism, the principal occupation of 
 its scholars being the revision and correction of the texts of 
 the old authors. 
 
 The most distinguished of the Alexandrian critics were 
 ZENOD'OTUS, the first librarian and critical editor of Homer's 
 epics ; ARISTOPHANES OF BYZANTIUM, his pupil (200 B.C.), 
 the inventor of Greek accents and punctuation ; ARISTAR- 
 CHUS (156 B.C.), "the arch - grammarian of Greece," who 
 divided Homer's poems into books, revised the Alexandrian 
 canon, and was the author of 800 commentaries ; and CRA'- 
 TES, head of a grammatical school at Pergamus, and the first 
 to make grammar a popular study at Rome. 
 
 History. POLYBIUS (204-122 B.C.) was the chief historian 
 of the Alexandrian age. Brought to Rome a prisoner after 
 the battle of Pydna (168 B.C.), in which the king of Macedon 
 was overthrown by Paulus yEmilius, he became the intimate
 
 278 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 friend of Scipio Africanus the Younger. Seventeen years 
 elapsed before Polybius was permitted to return to Greece. 
 Then he went back the firm friend of the Romans ; and had 
 his countrymen heeded his counsels, the sack of Corinth 
 might have been averted and Greece might have preserved 
 her independence. So, at least, declared the inscription on 
 -his statue : " Hellas would have been saved had she followed 
 the advice of Polybius." 
 
 Polybius accompanied Scipio in several of his campaigns, 
 and saw Carthage burned to the ground. In his travels, 
 which were varied and extensive, he stored his mind with 
 useful information for his "Universal History," the grand 
 work of his life. Its forty books impartially narrated the 
 history of Rome and the contemporary nations between the 
 years 220 and 146 B.C., but in a style devoid of attractions. 
 Polybius, as Macatilay said, lacked " the art of telling a story 
 in an interesting manner." The first five books of his work, 
 and a few fragments of the others, have been preserved. 
 
 As all eyes have recently been turned on Constantinople, 
 whose important situation has long made its acquisition the 
 traditional policy of Russia, it may not be uninteresting to 
 present the view which Polybius takes of this ancient city, 
 then known as 
 
 BYZANTIUM. 
 
 "Byzantium, of all the cities in the world, is the most, happy iu 
 its situation with respect to the sea, beiug not only secure on that 
 side from all enemies, but possessed also of the means of obtaining 
 every kind of necessaries in the greatest plenty. But with respect 
 to the laud, there is scarcely any place that has so little claim to 
 these advantages. 
 
 With regard to the sea, the Byzantines, standing close upou the 
 entrance of the Euxiue, command so absolutely all that passage that 
 it is not possible for any merchant to sail through it, or return, with- 
 out their permission ; and hence they are the masters of all those 
 commodities which are drawn in various kinds from the countries 
 that lie round this sea, to satisfy the wants or conveniences of other 
 men. For among the things that arc necessary for use, they supply
 
 HISTOKIANS OP THE ALEXANDKIAN AGE. 279 
 
 the Greeks with leather, and with great numbers of very serviceable 
 slaves. Ami with regard to those that are esteemed conveniences, 
 they send honey and wax, with all kinds of seasoned and salted 
 meats ; taking from us in exchange our own superfluous commodi- 
 ties, oil and every sort of wine. They sometimes also furnish us 
 with corn, and sometimes receive it from us, as the wauts of either 
 may require. 
 
 Now it is certain that the Greeks must either be excluded wholly 
 from this commerce, or bo deprived at least of all its chief advan- 
 tages, if ever the Byzantines should engage in any ill designs against 
 them. For as well by reason of the extreme narrowness of the pas- 
 sage as from the numbers of barbarians that are settled around it, 
 wo should never be able to gain an entrance through it into the 
 Euxiue. 
 
 Though the Byzantines, therefore, are themselves possessed of the 
 first and best advantages of this happy situation, which enables 
 them to make both an easy and a profitable exchange of their super- 
 fluous commodities, and to procure in return, without any pain or 
 danger, whatever their own lands fail to furnish ; yet since, through 
 their means chiefly, other countries also are enabled to obtain many 
 things that are of the greatest use, it seems reasonable that they 
 should always be regarded by the Greeks as common benefactors, 
 and receive not only favor and acknowledgments, but assistance 
 likewise to repel all attempts that may bo made against them by 
 their barbarous neighbors. 
 
 And with these barbarous tribes they are involved in constant 
 war. For when they have taken great pains to cultivate their 
 lands, which are by nature very fertile, and the rich fruits stand 
 ready to repay their labors, on a sudden the barbarians, pouring 
 down, destroy one part and carry away the rest ; and leave to the 
 Byzantines, after all their cost and toil, only the pain of beholding 
 their best harvests wasted, while their beauty aggravates the grief, 
 and renders the sense of their calamity more sharp and insupport- 
 able." HAMPTON. 
 
 MAN'ETHO in Egypt, BERO'SUS at Babylon, and TIMJEUS in 
 Sicily, wrote the annals of their several countries. 
 
 The Septuagint. Finally, to the Museum we owe the 
 Septuagint (p. 104), or Greek version of the Old Testament, 
 made by learned Jews employed by Ptolemy. The Jews no 
 longer spoke the ancient Hebrew with fluency, and their 
 version in various parts betrays an imperfect knowledge of 
 the original. The Septuagint served as a basis for transla- 
 tions into many different tongues.
 
 280 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 THE SEVEN PLEIADES. 
 
 THEOCRITUS : the idyl-writer. 
 CALLIMACHUS : poet, grammarian, etc. 
 
 Al'OLLONIUS RlIODIUS. 
 
 HOMER THE YOUNGER. 
 
 ARA'TUS: author of a popular astro- 
 nomical poem ; from him St. Paul 
 
 quoted the expression with reference 
 LYC oriiRON, the Obscure : author of , _ . . , 
 
 , to the Deitv, " in whom we live, and 
 " Cassandra, " the dark poem, and 
 
 ,. move, and have our being. 
 
 Gi tragedies. 
 
 NICANDER, a physician : two didactic 
 
 medical poems on poisons and their 
 antidotes. 
 
 EUPHO'RION, author of three heroic poems and a celebrated grammar AroL- 
 LOUORUS, the didactic poet and MELEA'GER THE EXQUISITE, flourished in the 
 Alexandrian age. Meleager's " Garland " was the first anthology, or collection 
 of epigrams. AN'YTE of Arcadia, " the female Homer," and Nossis, the Locrian 
 poetess (300 B.C.), wrote epigrams. CLEANTIIES, the persevering disciple of Zeno 
 (300-220 B.C.), composed moral treatises and a hymn to Jupiter full of loft}' sen- 
 timents. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 LATER GREEK LITERATURE. 
 
 Extinction of Greek Genius. The long period which now 
 engages our attention is marked by a further decline, and the 
 ultimate extinction of letters. Roman despotism was inimical 
 to literature ; Greece lay prostrate and broken-spirited ; night 
 was fast settling down on the world. Poetry, a faint shadow 
 of its former self, appeared principally in epigrams. The 
 prose of the early Christian centuries exhibits some excep- 
 tional gleams, but they are only the flickerings of a dying 
 flame. 
 
 About the Christian Era is gathered a group of geograph- 
 ical and historical writers with Stra'bo, Diodo'rus Sic'ulus, 
 and Dionysius of Halicarnassus as the prominent figures.
 
 ABOUT THE CHRISTIAN ERA. 281 
 
 The first century after Christ presents to us the authors of 
 the New Testament; Clement of Rome, an eminent authority 
 with the early Christians ; and Josephus, the Jewish historian, 
 all of whom wrote in Greek. Plutarch, the eminent biogra- 
 pher, born about 50 A.D., lived through the first twenty years 
 of the second century, which was also adorned with the names 
 of Lucian and Pausanias the geographer. In the third cen- 
 tury flourished Longi'nus, the greatest rhetorician of this later 
 age ; while the writings of the Christian fathers extend over a 
 period of several hundred years, from the time of Clement 
 just named. 
 
 After the fall of Rome (476 A.D.), Constantinople became 
 the sole centre of letters, and there for nearly a thousand 
 years they languished. After Mahomet II. carried the city 
 by storm in 1453, the native scholars dispersed over Europe, 
 and by awakening an interest in classical studies contributed 
 not a little to the revival of letters. 
 
 THE FIRST CENTURY BEFORE CHRIST. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus (the Sicilian) was the author of " the His- 
 torical Library," which cost him thirty years of labor. Un- 
 folding the story of the human race from remote antiquity to 
 the time of Julius Caesar, his work contains much valuable 
 information. 
 
 Dionysius of Halicarnassus. The longest production of 
 this writer is his "Roman Antiquities," a history of Rome 
 prior to the Punic wars, pervaded by an evident partiality for 
 Greece and her institutions. Dionysius was also a rhetorician 
 of the highest rank, as his critical essays on the eloquence 
 of Demosthenes, the style of Thucydides, and other subjects, 
 testify. 
 
 Strabo, of Pontus in Asia Minor, must be remembered in 
 connection with his "Geography," still extant, an interesting 
 
 work in seventeen books, for which he prepared himself by 
 
 M 2
 
 282 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 travels in Asia, Africa, and Europe. It is not a mere tissue 
 of names and statistics, but is lighted up with sketches of so- 
 cial life, pleasant stories, and epitomes of political history, 
 thus entertaining at the same time that it instructs. 
 
 What this lively writer records of India may interest the 
 
 reader : 
 
 THE WONDERS OF INDIA. 
 
 " Between the Hydaspes and the Acesi'nes is the country of Porus, 
 an extensive and fertile district, containing nearly three hundred 
 cities. Here also is the forest in which Alexander cut down a largo 
 quantity of fir, pine, cedar, and a variety of other trees fit for ship- 
 building, and brought the timber doAvu the Hydaspes. With this ho 
 constructed a fleet near the cities which he built on each side of the 
 river, where he had crossed it and conquered Porus. One of these 
 cities he called Bucephalia, from the horse Bucephalus, which was 
 killed in the battle with Porus. The name Bucephalus (ox-headed) 
 was given to the animal from the breadth of his forehead. 
 
 In the forest before mentioned it is said there is a vast number of 
 monkeys, as large as they are numerous. On one occasion the Mace- 
 donians, seeing a body of them standing in array on some bare emi- 
 nences, prepared to attack them as real enemies. 
 
 The chase of this animal is conducted in two different ways. The 
 hunters, when they perceive a monkey seated on a tree, place in 
 sight a basin containing water, with which they wash their own 
 eyes; then, instead of water, they put a basin of bird-lime, go away, 
 and lie in wait at a distance. The animal, being an imitative creat- 
 ure, leaps down, and besmears itself with the bird-lime, and when it 
 winks, the eyelids are fastened together. The hunters then come 
 upon it, and take it. The other method of capturing them is as fol- 
 lows : the hunters dress themselves in bags like trousers and go 
 away, leaving behind them others Avhich are downy, with the inside 
 smeared over with bird-lime. The monkeys put them on, and are 
 easily taken. 
 
 A very singular usage is related of the high estimation in which 
 the inhabitants of Cathaia (the tract between the Hydaspes and 
 Acesines) hold the quality of beauty. They elect the handsomest 
 person as king. A child, two months after birth, undergoes a public 
 inspection. They determine whether it has the amount of beauty 
 required by law. The presiding magistrate then pronounces wheth- 
 er it is to be allowed to live, or to be put to death. The bride and 
 the husband are respectively the choice of each other, and the wives, 
 it is related, burn themselves with their deceased husbands. The 
 reason assigned for this practice is, that the women sometimes fell 
 in love with young men, and deserted or poisoned their husbands.
 
 EXTRACT FEOM STKABO. 283 
 
 This law was therefore established in order to check the practice of 
 administering poison; but neither the existence nor the origin of 
 the law is probable. 
 
 The dogs in this territory are said to possess remarkable courage. 
 Alexander received from Sopeithes, the monarch, a present of one hun- 
 dred and fifty of them. To prove them, two were set at a lion ; when 
 these were mastered, two others were set on ; when the battle be- 
 came equal, Sopeithes ordered a man to seize one of the dogs by the 
 leg ? aud to drag him away ; or to cut off his leg, if he still held on. 
 Alexander at first refused his consent to the dog's leg being cut off, 
 as he wished to save the dog. But on Sopeithos saying, ' I will give 
 you four in the place of it,' Alexander consented; and he saw the dog 
 permit his leg to be cut off by a slow incision rather than loose his 
 hold. 
 
 Nearchus is surprised at the multitude and the noxious nature of 
 the reptiles. They retreat from the plains to the settlements at the 
 period of inundations, and fill the houses. For this reason the inhab- 
 itants raise their beds from the ground, aud are sometimes compelled 
 to abandon their dwellings. Charmers go about the country, and 
 are supposed to cure wounds made by serpents. This seems to com- 
 prise nearly their whole art of medicine, for disease is not frequent 
 among them, owing to their frugal manner of life, and to the absence 
 of wine. Whenever diseases do occur, they are treated by the Soph- 
 ists (ivise men). 
 
 All the Indians are frugal in their mode of life, aud are happy on 
 account of their simple manners. They never drink wine but at sac- 
 rifices. Their beverage is made from rice instead of barley, and their 
 food consists for the most part of rice pottage. The simplicity of 
 their laws appears from their having few lawsuits. Theft is very 
 rare among them. Their houses aud property are unguarded. These 
 things denote temperance and sobriety. Others of their customs no 
 one would approve ; as their eating always alone, and their not hav- 
 ing all of them one common hour for their meals, but each taking 
 food as ho likes. As an exercise of the body they prefer friction in 
 various ways, but particularly by making use of smooth sticks of 
 ebony, which they pass over the surface of the skin. They marry 
 many wives, who are purchased from their parents, and give in ex- 
 change for them a yoke of oxen. 
 
 Megasthenes divides the philosophers into two kinds, the Brah- 
 mans and the Garmanes. The Brahmaus are held in greater repute. 
 They do not communicate their philosophy to their wives, for fear 
 they should divulge to the profane anything which ought to be con- 
 cealed. They discourse much on death, and discipline themselves to 
 prepare for it. According to the Brahmans, the world was created 
 and is liable to corruption ; it is of a spheroidal figure ; the god who
 
 284 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 made arid governs it, pervades the whole of it ; the earth is situated 
 iu the centre of the universe. Many other peculiar things they say 
 of the principles of generation and of the soul. They invent fables 
 also, after the manner of Plato, on immortality and on the punish- 
 ment in Hades ; and other things of this kind." FALCONER. 
 
 THE FIRST THREE CHRISTIAN CENTURIES. 
 
 Josephus, born A.D. 37 at Jerusalem, was the scion of a 
 noble line. At the early age of fourteen he astonished the 
 chief priests by his mental power and familiarity with the in- 
 tricacies of Jewish law. We next hear of him as spending 
 three years in the desert with a hermit, and then as joining 
 the Pharisees. 
 
 The revolutionary tendencies of his countrymen brought on 
 a war with the Romans, in the course of which Josephus, after 
 the brave defence of a city under his command, was made 
 prisoner by the Roman general Flavius Vespasian. Prophe- 
 sying that Vespasian would one day wear the purple of the 
 emperors, he alone of the captives was spared; the fulfilment 
 of this prediction about three years later insured him the fa- 
 vor of the Flavian family, whose name he prefixed to his own. 
 Vespasian's son, Titus, he accompanied to the siege of Jeru- 
 salem, receiving at the hands of the victorious general after its 
 capture the lives of two hundred and forty of his friends, to- 
 gether with the sacred volumes which he greatly prized. 
 
 From the desolation of his country, Josephus returned to 
 Rome as the honored guest of the emperor and his sons, dur- 
 ing whose reigns he produced his great works, " the History 
 of the Jewish War" and "Jewish Antiquities." These inter- 
 esting standards, though written in a style which has led to 
 their author's being called " the Grecian Livy," are yet tinged 
 with vanity and skepticism. 
 
 Plutarch (50-120 A.D.), the great biographer of antiquity, 
 was born in Chseronea, a Boeotian town. After completing 
 his education at Athens, he sailed to Egypt, and in Domitian's
 
 PLUTARCH AND HIS "LIVES." 285 
 
 reign (81-96 A.D.) visited Rome, where his lectures won gold- 
 en opinions from the learned. 
 
 From Italy, Plutarch returned to his native city, and there 
 passed the last twenty or thirty years of his life, happy in the 
 society of his wife, a paragon of good sense, economy, and vir- 
 tue. Literature was henceforth his pursuit ; but believing it 
 a duty to devote part of his time to the public good, he ac- 
 cepted office from his fellow-townsmen, and was finally made 
 chief-magistrate of Chsronea. He tells us with relish how 
 his neighbors often laughed at his doing what they considered 
 beneath his dignity. When they wondered that so great a 
 man should carry fish from market in his own hands, he told 
 them, "Why, it's for myself;" and when they found fault with 
 him for personally superintending the building of public edi- 
 fices, he silenced them with the reply, "This service is not for 
 myself, but for my country." " The meaner the office you 
 sustain," said Plutarch, " the greater the compliment you pay 
 to the public." 
 
 In his delightful retreat at Chaeronea, Plutarch compiled 
 from two hundred and fifty authorities the work that has given 
 him a niche in the Temple of Fame " Parallel Lives " 
 sparkling with interest and animation, as it is underlaid by 
 good judgment. His plan was to present the biography of a 
 distinguished Greek, follow it with that of some Roman, and 
 then critically compare the two characters. But the " Lives," 
 as we have it, is not the complete work its author probably 
 left at his death, inasmuch as a number of biographies and 
 parallels are wanting. Though Plutarch's passion for story- 
 telling sometimes carries him beyond the bounds of the prob- 
 able, yet his work is an invaluable storehouse j his capital 
 literary portraits have stood the test of time, and are still 
 universally admired. The charms of a book in which are 
 recorded " the greatest characters and most admirable actions 
 of the human race " can never fade.
 
 286 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Among the best of Plutarch's Parallels is his 
 
 COMPAKISON OF DEMOSTHENES AND CICERO. 
 
 " Omitting an exact comparison of their respective faculties in 
 speaking, yet thus muck seems fit to be said : That Demosthenes, to 
 make himself a master in rhetoric, applied, all the faculties he had, 
 natural or acquired, wholly that way ; that he far surpassed in force 
 and strength of eloquence all his contemporaries in political and ju- 
 dicial speaking, in grandeur and majesty all the panegyrical orators, 
 and in acciiracy and science all the logicians and rhetoricians of his 
 day : That Cicero was highly educated, and by his diligent study 
 became a most accomplished general scholar in all these branches, 
 having left behind him numerous philosophical treatises of his own 
 on Academic principles ; as, indeed, even in his written speeches, 
 both political and judicial, we seo him continually trying to show 
 his learning by the way. 
 
 One may discover the different temper of each of them in their 
 speeches. For the oratory of Demosthenes was without any embel- 
 lishment or jesting, wholly composed for real effect and seriousness; 
 not smelling of the lamp, as Pytheas scoffingly said, but of the tem- 
 perance, thoughtfuluess, austerity, and grave earnestness of his tem- 
 per. Whereas Cicero's fondness for mockery often ran him into 
 scurrility ; and in his love of laughing away serious arguments in 
 judicial cases by jests and facetious remarks, with a view to the ad- 
 vantage of his clients, he paid too little regard to what was decent : 
 saying, for example, in his defence of Ca3lius, that he had done no 
 absurd thing in indulging himself so freely in pleasures, it being a 
 kind of madness not to enjoy the things we possess, especially since 
 the most eminent philosophers have asserted pleasure to be the chief 
 good. So also we are told that when Cicero, being consul, undertook 
 the defence of Mnreua against Cato's prosecution, by way of banter- 
 ing Cato, he made a long series of jokes upon the absurd paradoxes, 
 as they are called, of the Stoic sect ; so that, a loud laugh passing 
 from the crowd to the judges, Cato, with a quiet smile, said to those 
 who sat next him, ' My friends, what an amusing consul we have !' 
 
 Cicero was by natural temper very much disposed to mirth and 
 pleasantry, and always appeared with a smiling and serene coun- 
 tenance. But Demosthenes had constant care and thoughtfuluess 
 in his look, and a serious anxiety, which he seldom, if ever, laid aside ; 
 and, therefore, he was accounted by his enemies, as he himself con- 
 fessed, morose and ill-mannered. 
 
 It is very evident, also, from their several writings, that Demos- 
 thenes never touched upon his own praises but decently and without 
 offence when there was need of it, and for some weightier end ; but, 
 upon other occasions, modestly and sparingly. But Cicero's immeas- 
 urable boasting of himself in his orations argues him guilty of an 
 uncontrollable appetite for distinction, his cry being evermore that
 
 EXTRACT FROM PLUTARCH. 287 
 
 arms should give place to the gown, and the soldier's laurel to the 
 tongue. And at last wo find him extolling not only his deeds and 
 actions, but his orations also, as well those that were only spoken as 
 those that were published ; as if he were engaged in a boyish trial 
 of skill, who should speak best, with the rhetoricians Isocrates and 
 Anaximcnes, not as one who could claim the task to guide and iu' 
 struct the Roman nation, the 
 
 Soldier full-armed, terrific to the foe. 
 
 Moreover, the banishment of Demosthenes was infamous, upon con- 
 viction for bribery; Cicero's very honorable, for ridding his country 
 of a set of villains. Therefore when Demosthenes fled his country, 
 no man regarded it ; for Cicero's sake, the senate changed their habit 
 and put on mourning, and would not be persuaded to make any act 
 before Cicero's return was decreed. 
 
 Cicero, however, passed his exile idly iu Macedonia. But the very 
 exile of Demosthenes made up a great part of the services he did for 
 his country ; for he went through the cities of Greece, and everywhere, 
 as we have said, joined in the conflict on behalf of the Grecians, driv- 
 ing out the Macedonian ambassadors, and approving himself a much 
 better citizen than Themistocles and Alcibiades did in the like fort- 
 une. After his return, he again devoted himself to the same public 
 service, and continued firm in his opposition to Antipater and the 
 Macedonians. Whereas La;lius reproached Cicero iu the senate for 
 sitting silent when Caesar, a beardless youth, asked leave to come 
 forward, contrary to the law, as a candidate for the consulship; and 
 Brutus, in Ms epistles, charges him with nursing and rearing a great- 
 er and more heavy tyranny than that they had removed. 
 
 Finally, Cicero's death excites our pity ; for an old man to be mis- 
 erably carried up and down by his servants, flying and hiding him- 
 self from that death which was, in the course of nature, so near at 
 hand and yet at last to be murdered. Demosthenes, though ho 
 seemed at first a little to supplicate, yet, by his preparing and keep- 
 ing the poison by him, demands our admiration ; and still more ad- 
 mirable was his using it. When the temple of the god no longer 
 afforded him a sanctuary, he took refuge at a mightier altar, freeing 
 himself from arms and soldiers, and laughing to scorn the cruelty of 
 Autipater." CLOUGH. 
 
 A moralist as well as a biographer, Plutarch wrote many 
 ethical and philosophical essays. The death of his daughter 
 called forth a feeling letter to his wife, " the Consolation," 
 in which he affectionately bids her not give way to extrava- 
 gant grief, but submit with resignation to the blow, comforting 
 her with thoughts of immortality ; it may be added that he 
 held Plato's views on this subject as on others.
 
 288 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 In his "Essay on Inquisitiveness" he condemns all eager- 
 ness to learn news and impatience in opening letters, or 
 " biting the strings in two, as many will if they do not succeed 
 at once with their fingers." As an example of dignified pa- 
 tience, he instances Rusticus at Rome, who in the midst of 
 a lecture received a letter from the emperor Domitian, but 
 would not open it till Plutarch had finished speaking. 
 
 Lucian (probably 120-200 A.D.), one of the wittiest of 
 Greek writers, was a native of Syria, and passed his boyhood 
 on the banks of the Euphrates. Doubtless his favorite 
 amusement of moulding wax into figures weighed with his 
 parents, no less than their own poverty, when they bound him 
 as an apprentice to his mother's brother to learn the sculp- 
 tor's art. The young Lucian enthusiastically fell in with 
 their decision, fondly anticipating the time when he should 
 astonish his playfellows with little gods cut from the marble 
 by his own hands. But his maiden attempt in the statuary's 
 shop resulted in a broken slab and a cruel whipping at the 
 hands of his uncle. " The first wages I earned," he said, 
 " were tears " but they were also the last. He never re- 
 turned to the chisel and mallet. 
 
 After picking up a rhetorical education, by what means 
 he does not tell us, Lucian established himself at Antioch 
 as a lawyer; but failing of success, he set out on a lect- 
 ure tour through Europe. In Gaul, where rhetoric, the art 
 he taught, was in special demand, he accumulated a fort- 
 une ; with which he retired from his profession in the 
 prime of life, and took up his residence at Athens. Here 
 he prosecuted his literary studies, exchanged his Syrian 
 Greek for pure Attic, and is believed to have written his 
 finest Dialogues. 
 
 At the age of seventy, Lucian found himself so reduced as 
 to be obliged to accept from the Roman emperor the clerk- 
 ship of the Alexandrian courts. This position, which allowed
 
 LUCTAN. 289 
 
 him to continue his literary labors, he is said to have enjoyed 
 until his death. 
 
 LUCIAN'S STYLE AND WRITINGS. Piquant humor, inimita- 
 ble power of satire, and wonderful versatility, are Lucian's 
 strong points. His style is clear and graceful. Of his vo- 
 luminous writings the most popular are the " Dialogues " 
 on various subjects, serious and humorous. He attacked 
 falsehood and trickery, folly and superstition ; and the dead- 
 ly blows he rained upon his country's mythology, which led 
 to his being called "the Blasphemer," indirectly, though un- 
 intentionally, helped the spread of Christianity. 
 
 In the " Dialogues of the Gods," the deities talk over the 
 domestic affairs of the Olympian household, gossip, and wran- 
 gle, and pry into one another's secrets, quite after the manner 
 of humans. Such a belittling of the national divinities could 
 not be without an unsettling effect on the popular faith. 
 The " Dialogues of the Dead " are equally rich with humor 
 and ridicule. 
 
 Against the philosophers of his day, whom he looked upon 
 as miserable charlatans, Lucian launched the laughable Dia- 
 logue entitled " the Sale of the Philosophers," in which the 
 founders of the old schools are disposed of at auction by 
 Jupiter in a slave-market, Mercury playing the part of auc- 
 tioneer. Pythagoras is put up first and sells for $175 ; Di- 
 ogenes, the next, brings less than sixpence ; while Socrates 
 commands the high price of two talents. Pyrrho, the univer- 
 sal doubter, will not believe that he has been sold, even af- 
 ter he has seen himself paid for and delivered. The laughing 
 Democritus and weeping Heraclitus fail to find a purchaser. 
 The attempted 'sale of these two philosophers is thus de- 
 picted : 
 
 "JUPITER. Bring out .another. Stay those two there, that fel- 
 low from AMcra, who is always laughing, and the Ephesian, who is 
 always crying; I've a mind to sell them as a pair.
 
 290 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 MERCURY. Stand out there in the ring, you two. We offer yon 
 here, sirs, two most admirable characters, the wisest we've had for 
 sale yet. 
 
 CUSTOMER. By Jove, they're a remarkable contrast! Why, one 
 of them never stops laughing, while the other seems to be in trouble 
 about something, for he's in tears all the time. Holloa, you fellow ! 
 what's all this about ? What are yon laughing at ? 
 
 DEMOCRITUS. Need you ask ? Because everything seems to me 
 so ridiculous you yourselves included. 
 
 CUSTOMER. What ! do you ineau to laugh at us all to our faces, 
 and mock at all we say and do ? 
 
 DEMOCRITUS. Undoubtedly ; there's nothing in life that's seri- 
 ous. Everything is unreal and empty a mere fortuitous concur- 
 rence of indefinite atoms. 
 
 CUSTOMER. You're an indefinite atom yourself, you rascal ! Con- 
 found your insolence, won't you stop laughing ? But you there, 
 poor soul [to Heraclitus'], why do you weep so ? for there seems more 
 use in talking to you. 
 
 HERACLITUS. Because, stranger, everything in life seems to mo to 
 call for pity and to deserve tears ; there is nothing but what is liable 
 to calamity ; wherefore I mourn for men and pity them. The evil 
 of to-day I regard not much : but I mourn for that which is to come 
 hereafter the burning and destruction of all things. This I grieve 
 for, and that nothing is permanent, but all mingled, as it were, in 
 one bitter cup pleasure that is no pleasure, knowledge that knows 
 nothing, greatness that is so little, all going round and round, and 
 taking their turn in this game of life. 
 
 CUSTOMER. What do you hold human life to be then ? 
 
 HERACLITUS. A child at play, handling its toys, and changing 
 them with every caprice. 
 
 CUSTOMER. And what are men ? 
 
 HERACLITUS. Gods but mortal. 
 
 CUSTOMER. A.nd the gods I 
 
 HERACLITUS. Men but immortal. 
 
 CUSTOMER. You speak in riddles, fellow, and put ns off with puz- 
 zles. You are as bad as Apollo Loxias, giving oracles that no man 
 can understand. 
 
 HERACLITUS. Yea; I trouble not myself for any of ye. 
 
 CUSTOMER. Then no man in his senses is like to buy you. 
 
 HERACLITUS. Woe ! woe to every man of ye, I say ! buyers or not 
 buyers. 
 
 CUSTOMER. Why, this fellow is pretty near mad I'll have naught 
 to do with either of them, for my part. 
 
 MERCURY [turning toJupitei-]. We shall have this pair left on our 
 hands too." COLLINS. 
 
 " The Sale of the Philosophers " has a sequel in " the Re-
 
 LUCIAN'S DIALOGUES. . 291 
 
 suscitated Professors." Permitted to return to earth for a 
 day to revenge themselves on Lucian, the Philosophers capt- 
 ure him, and bring him to trial before the goddess of phi- 
 losophy. He clears himself by showing that he has not 
 attacked the venerable sages themselves, but only the im- 
 postors who cheat the world under their great names. In 
 the beginning of the Dialogue, Lucian is thus assailed by 
 the belligerent Socrates and his confreres : 
 
 " SOCRATES. Pelt the wretch ! pelt him with volleys of stories 
 throw clods at him oyster-shells ! Beat the blasphemer with your 
 clubs don't let him escape ! Hit him, Plato ! and you, Chrysippus ! 
 and yon ! Form a phalanx, and rush on him all together. As Homer 
 says ' Let wallet join with wallet, clnb with club !' He is the com- 
 mon enemy of us all, and there is no man among ye whom he has not 
 insulted. You, Diogenes, now use that staff of yours, if ever you did! 
 Don't stop! let him have it, blasphemer that he is! What! tired 
 already, Epicurus and Aristippust Aristotle, do run a little faster! 
 That's good! we've caught the beast! We've got you, you rascal! 
 You shall soon find out whom you've been abusing ! Now what shall 
 we do with him f Let us think of some multiform kind of death 
 that may suffice for all of us, for he deserves a separate death from 
 each. 
 
 PHILOSOPHER A. I vote that he be impaled. 
 
 PHILOSOPHER B. Yes but be well scourged first. 
 
 PHILOSOPHER C. Let his eyes be gouged out. 
 
 PHILOSOPHER D. Ay but his tongue should bo cut out first. 
 
 SOCRATES. What think you, Empedocles? 
 
 E.MPEDOCLES. He should be thrown down the crater of some vol- 
 cano,* and so learn not to revile his betters. 
 
 PLATO. Nay the best punishment for him will be that, like 
 Penthens or Orpheus, 
 
 ' Torn by the ragged rocks he meet his fate.' 
 
 LUCIAN*. Oh ! no, no, pray ! spare me, for the love of Heaven ! 
 
 SOCRATES. Sentence is passed : nothing can save yon." 
 
 COLLIXS. 
 
 Lucian is also famous in another line. His " True His- 
 tory," a burlesque on the Munchausen stories of the old poets 
 and historians, recounts the stirring adventures of a party of 
 voyagers who sail westward from the Pillars of Hercules 
 
 * An allusion to the fate of Empedocles himself; see p. 236.
 
 292 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 (Strait of Gibraltar). It describes their visit to the moon, 
 their sojourn in a country where wine flowed in rivers, their 
 twenty months' experience inside of a sea-monster that swal- 
 lowed their vessel, and their discovery of "the Island of the 
 Blest," with its golden -paved city and vines loaded with 
 monthly fruitage. The lunarians happened to be engaged in 
 war with the people of the sun, at the time of Lucian's arrival, 
 and he had the good fortune to witness a grand review of the 
 lunar army. There were cavalry mounted on lettuce-winged 
 birds, darters of millet -seed, garlic - fighters, wind - coursers, 
 and archers who rode elephantine fleas. Spiders as large 
 as islands hovered on their flanks. On the side of the sun 
 were mustered horse-ants that covered two acres, archers on 
 colossal gnats, slingers who discharged fetid radishes, and 
 dog-headed men astride of winged acorns. Had novel-writ- 
 ing been in vogue in Lucian's time, he would no doubt have 
 excelled in that department of fiction. 
 
 Pausanias, the Lydian geographer, was a contemporary of 
 Lucian's. It has been said that " no writer of antiquity ex- 
 cept Herodotus has stored away so many valuable facts in 
 a small volume " as he in his " Itinerary of Greece." Pau- 
 sanias made art items a special feature of his Itinerary. 
 
 Other Writers of the Second Century. In the second cen- 
 tury, CLAUDIUS PTOLEMY, the astronomer, put forth his theory 
 of the universe : that the earth is stationary and the centre of 
 eight huge, hollow, crystal spheres, placed one within another. 
 The moon he located in the nearest sphere, Mercury in the 
 next, Venus in the third, the Sun in the fourth, Mars in the 
 fifth, Jupiter in the sixth, and Saturn in the seventh. The 
 eighth sphere he appropriated to the stars, which, despite 
 their distance, were still visible through the transparent crys- 
 tal. All these heavenly bodies he believed to revolve in their 
 respective spheres around the earth. Ptolemy's " Syntaxis," 
 or " Construction," embodying these views, was received as
 
 THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS. 293 
 
 authority until Copernicus, fourteen hundred years later, 
 taught the true theory of the solar system. 
 
 In this century, also, JUSTIN MARTYR wrote his " Apolo- 
 gies " in defence of Christianity against paganism ; and 
 POLYCARP, bishop of Smyrna, his " Epistle to the Philip- 
 pians" both sealing their faith with their blood. From 
 IRENJEUS, bishop of Lyons, we have inherited a valuable 
 legacy in his " Treatise against Heresies." 
 
 Orig'en, the gifted pupil of Cle'mens the Alexandrian, an 
 ardent Christian philosopher, flourished in the third century. 
 Among his writings, which, including his discourses, were 
 numbered by thousands, are " Commentaries on the Script- 
 ures," in the preparation of which he was assisted by clerks 
 who wrote in short-hand from his dictation. Origen also re- 
 plied effectively to CELSUS, an Epicurean philosopher who 
 some years before had attacked Christianity in his "True 
 Story," a powerful and much-read work of the time. 
 
 Neo-Platonism. The Academic philosophy, modified by 
 its later professors and wrapped in a veil of mysticism, gave 
 rise to the eclectic school of the Neo-Platonists, which was 
 popular among the learned till the time of Constantine. The 
 seeds of this philosophy were planted by Philo the Jew, men- 
 tioned on page 104 as attempting to reconcile Plato's doc- 
 trines with the teachings of the Hebrew Scriptures. 
 
 AMMONIUS, of Alexandria, was the real founder of Neo- 
 Platonism, which, as it left his hand, was a medley of Plato's 
 and. Aristotle's tenets harmonized with the leading doctrines 
 of Christianity. Though Ammonius enjoined his disciples to 
 keep the mysteries of his philosophy to themselves, PLOTI'- 
 NUS, one of his distinguished pupils, unfolded them in his 
 writings and taught them publicly at Rome, where he went 
 to live 244 A.D. 
 
 After Plotinus, PORPHYRY became a shining light of the 
 Neo-Platonists ; but he was an outspoken opponent of Chris-
 
 294 GKECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 tianity, maintaining that the world was without beginning, and 
 denying the divinity of our Saviour. His work " Against the 
 Christians" was afterward burned by order of the Roman em- 
 peror Theodosius the Great. 
 
 IAMBLICHUS, a successor of Porphyry, went back to the 
 mystical speculations of Pythagoras, and, taking quite a dif- 
 ferent view from the early Neo-Platonists, turned his phi- 
 losophy to the support of paganism. The emperor Julian 
 the Apostate was one of his converts. 
 
 EUSEBIUS, the learned ecclesiastical historian, ' bishop of 
 Caesare'a in the fourth century, was among those who re- 
 pelled the assaults of Porphyry on the Christian faith. He 
 was a favorite of Constantine, whose life he wrote. 
 
 Long-inns (213-273 A.D.) was the greatest critic and most 
 learned philosopher of his age. He studied and taught at 
 Athens, and by reason of his extensive information was 
 styled " the Living Encyclopaedia." The most distinguished 
 of his pupils was Zenobia, queen of Palmyra, a woman of 
 refined tastes and unusual talent. By his advice, she revolt- 
 ed from Rome; overpowered by the emperor Aurelian, 273 
 A.D., she sought to exculpate herself by throwing the blame 
 upon her counsellor, and Longinus was put to death. 
 
 Part of this author's "Treatise on the Sublime" is all that 
 remains of his many works. 
 
 Athanasius. A century after Longinus, lived Athanasius, 
 one of the main pillars of the early Christian Church. His 
 life was spent in contentions with Arius and his followers, 
 who denied the equality of Christ with the Father ; in con' 
 troversy with them, his vigorous pen was constantly employed. 
 
 St. Chrysostom (golden-mouthed, so called from his eloquence 
 350-407) was the most famous of the Greek fathers. He 
 was archbishop of Constantinople, and a voluminous writer 
 of homilies, epistles, and commentaries. His language is 
 elegant, and his fund of figures inexhaustible.
 
 ROMANCE AND NOVEL WRITERS. 295 
 
 LIGHT LITERATURE. 
 
 Novel-Writers. The novel and romance are not unrepre- 
 sented in Greek literature. HELIODO'RUS, a Phoenician by 
 birth, who lived toward the close of the fourth century, ob- 
 tained a well-deserved reputation as the author of ".^Ethiopi- 
 ca," a touching, pure -toned, but somewhat sensational, ro- 
 mance. Its heroine, Charicle'a, an Ethiopian princess, ex- 
 posed by her mother in infancy and brought up in ignorance 
 of her birth, with her lover. Theagenes, falls into the hands 
 of pirates and undergoes a variety of adventures. The tale 
 ends happily, quite in the modern style. 
 
 Heliodorus, later in life, gave up novel-writing for a mitre, 
 being made bishop of Tricca in Thessaly. 
 
 Another Greek novelist, perhaps a contemporary of Helio- 
 dorus, perhaps belonging to a later generation, was LONGUS, 
 author of the " Loves of Daphnis and Chloe." The scene of 
 this pastoral love-story is laid in the groves of Lesbos, where 
 the hero and heroine have grown up together in the bonds 
 of innocent affection, d la "Paul and Virginia." 
 
 The " Story of Leucippe and Cli'tophon," by ACHILLES 
 TA'TIUS, an Alexandrian rhetorician who flourished about 
 500, stands next to the "^Ethiopica " among the Greek novels. 
 
 Hierocles. The "Facetise" of Hierocles (sth century) 
 must not be forgotten in this connection. Though a Neo- 
 Platonist, grave and learned enough to discuss " Providence 
 and Fate " and make a volume of profound commentaries on 
 the Golden Verses of Pythagoras, he evidently enjoyed a good 
 joke. He has left us twenty-eight brief stories of Scholastic^ 
 or bookworms so unsophisticated and unused to the ways of 
 the world that we may call them simpletons. A few of these 
 are given as samples of his humor ; from which it may be 
 seen that some of the wit that passes for modern is as old 
 as Hierocles.
 
 296 GRECIAN LITEKATUEE. 
 
 STORIES OF SIMPLETONS. 
 
 A simpleton, "wishing to swim, was nearly drowned; whereupon 
 lie swore that he would never touch the water until he had learned 
 how to swim. 
 
 A simpleton, visiting a sick person, inquired about his health. 
 He, however, was not able to reply. Thereupon the simpleton, being 
 angry and scolding the man, said : " I hope that I shall be sick some 
 of these days, and then when you come to ask how I am, I will not 
 answer." 
 
 A simpleton, wishing to teach his horse to bo a small eater, gave 
 him no food at all. At length the horse having starved to death, he 
 exclaimed : "I have suffered a great loss, for now that he had just 
 learned not to eat he has died." 
 
 A simpleton, looking out of the window of a house which, he had 
 bought, asked the passers-by whether the house was becoming to 
 him. 
 
 A simpleton, having dreamed that ho had trodden on a nail and 
 that the wound pained him, on waking bound up his foot. Another 
 simpleton, having learned the cause, remarked : " It served you 
 right, for why do you sleep without sandals?" 
 
 A simpleton, meeting a doctor, hid himself behind a wall. Some 
 one asking the cause, he answered : " I have not been sick for a long 
 time, and therefore I am ashamed to come into the sight of a phy- 
 sician." 
 
 A simpleton had sealed up a vessel of Amiuaian wine which ho 
 had. His servant, having made a hole in the vessel beneath and 
 drawn off some of the wine, he was astonished to see the contents 
 diminished while the seals remained unbroken. A neighbor having 
 told him to look whether it had not been taken out from below, he 
 replied : " Why, you fool, it's the upper part, not the lower, that is 
 missing." 
 
 A simpleton, meeting another simpleton, said, " I heard you were 
 dead." "And yet," replied the other, " you see that I am still alive." 
 " Well," said the first in perplexity, " I don't know what to believe, 
 for he who told me is much more deserving of confidence than you." 
 
 A simpleton, learning that the raven would live more than two 
 hundred years, bought one and brought it up, that he might test the 
 matter. 
 
 Of twin brothers, one died. A simpleton, thereupon, meeting the 
 survivor, asked, " Is it you that died, or your brother ?" 
 
 A simpleton, in danger of being shipwrecked, called for his tab- 
 lets that he might make his will. Seeing, thereupon, his slaves la- 
 menting their lot, he said, "Do not grieve, for I am going to set you 
 free." 
 
 A simpleton, wishing to cross a river, went on board the boat on 
 horseback. When some one asked the reason, he answered that ho 
 wanted to get over in a hurry.
 
 T1IE BYZANTINE PERIOD. 297 
 
 A simpleton and a bald man and a barber, travelling together, 
 agreed to keep watch in turn four hours each while the others slept. 
 The barber's turn came first. He quietly shaved the head of the 
 sleepiug simpleton, aud when the time elapsed awoke him. The lat- 
 ter, scratching his head as he got up, and fiudiug it bare, cried out : 
 " What a rascal that barber is ; he's waked the bald man instead of 
 me!" 
 
 BYZANTINE LITERATURE. 
 
 The list of sophists, grammarians, historians, and other 
 writers belonging to the Byzantine period, contains names 
 without number and without lustre. A love-song of the Jus- 
 tinian era (527-565 A.D.), by the emperor's privy-councillor, 
 will give an idea of the poetry of this age. 
 
 THE DKENCHED LOVEE. 
 
 " The voice of the song and the banquet was o'er, 
 And I hung up my chaplet at Glycera's door, 
 When the mischievous girl from a window above, 
 Who looked down and laughed at the offering of love, 
 Filled with water a goblet whence Bacchus had fled, 
 And poured all the crystal contents on my head. 
 So drenched was my hair, three whole days it resisted 
 All attempts of the barber to friz it or twist it ; 
 But the water (so whimsical, Love, are thy ways!) 
 W T hile it put out my curls, set my heart in a blaze." 
 
 J. H. MKRIVALE. 
 
 THE GREEK ANTHOLOGY. 
 
 The Anthology (bunch of flowers) is a collection of more 
 than four thousand short pithy poems, from the pens of about 
 three hundred Greek writers. 
 
 Melea'ger was the first gatherer of these literary flowers ; 
 his " Garland " contained choice morsels of poetry from the 
 time of Sappho down, many of the best pieces being the work 
 of his own hand. "Meleager's poetry," says Symonds, " has 
 the sweetness of the rose, the full-throated melody of the 
 nightingale." Others added to Meleager's collection, the last 
 ancient anthologist being the historian Aga'thias, who flour- 
 ished at Constantinople in the reign of Justinian. 
 
 N
 
 298 GRECIAN LITEKATUEB. 
 
 The pieces of the Greek Anthology are epigrams and fugi- 
 tive verses, amatory, witty, and didactic. Some of them com- 
 pare favorably with the best efforts of the writers already con- 
 sidered ; while not a few are plainly the sources of some of 
 the household sayings and proverbial philosophy of modern 
 times. 
 
 FLOWERS FROM THE ANTHOLOGY. 
 
 A PIOUS ACT REWARDED. 
 
 "While from the strand his line a fisher threw, 
 Shoreward a shipwrecked human head he drew. 
 His moistened eyes soft drops of pity shed, 
 While gazing on the bald and trnnkless head. 
 No spade he had; hut while his active hands 
 Scraped a small grave among the yielding sands, 
 A store of gold, there Lid, he found. Yes! yes! 
 Heaven will the just man's pious actions bless." 
 
 CARPIIYLLIDES. 
 
 "Enjoy your goods as if your death were near; 
 Save them as if 'twere distant many a year. 
 Sparing or spending, be thy wisdom seen 
 In keeping ever to the golden mean." LUCIAN. 
 
 THE PARTNERSHIP. 
 
 "Damon, who plied the undertaker's trade, 
 With Doctor Cra'teas an agreement made. 
 What linens Damon from the dead could seize, 
 He to the Doctor sent for bandages ; 
 While the good Doctor, here no promise-breaker, 
 Sent all his patients to the undertaker." 
 
 " Swift kindnesses are best ; a long delay 
 In kindness takes the kindness all away." 
 
 THE LESSON OP THE TOPS. 
 
 "An Atarne'an stranger once to Pittacus applied, 
 That ancient sage, Hyrradins' son, and Mytilene's pride ; 
 'Grave sir, betwixt two marriages I now have power to choose, 
 And hope you will advise me which to take and which refuse. 
 One of the maidens, every way, is very near myself; 
 The other's far above me, both in pedigree and pelf.
 
 EXTRACTS FROM THE ANTHOLOGY. 299 
 
 Now which is best ?' The old man raised the staff which old men 
 
 bear, 
 
 And with it pointed to some boys that then were playing there, 
 Whipping their tops along the street : ' Their steps/ ha said, ' pur- 
 sue, 
 
 And look and listen carefully; they'll tell you what to do.' 
 Following them, the stranger went to see what might befall, 
 And ' Whip the top that's nearest you !' was still their constant 
 
 call. 
 
 He, by this boyish lesson taught, resigned the high-born dame, 
 And wed the maiden ' nearest him.' Go thou and do the same." 
 
 ENVY. 
 
 " Poor Diophou of envy died, 
 
 His brother thief to see 
 Nailed near him, to be crucified, 
 Upon a higher tree." 
 
 THE FLEAS OUTWITTED. 
 
 "A countryman once who -was troubled with fleas, 
 Jumped up out of bed iu a thundering breeze, 
 And triumphantly cried, as he blew out the light, 
 ' Now I have you, you rogues, you can't see where to bite !' r 
 
 LCCIAN. 
 CURES FOR LOVE. 
 
 " Hunger, perhaps, may cure your love, 
 Or time your passion greatly alter; 
 If both should unsuccessful prove, 
 I strongly recommend a halter." CRATES. 
 
 "Too much is always bad ; old proverbs call 
 E'en too much honey nothing else than gall." 
 
 THE RAVEN LOCKS. 
 
 " Chloe, those locks of raven hair 
 
 Some people say you dye them black ; 
 But that's a libel, I can swear, 
 
 For I know where you buy them black." 
 
 LOVE SONG. 
 
 " The winecup is glad : dear Zenoph lie's lip 
 It boasts to have touched, -when she stooped down to sip. 
 Happy winecup ! I wish that, with lips joined to mine, 
 All my soul at a draught she would drink up like wine."
 
 300 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 " Short is the rose's bloom ; another morn 
 Will show no rose, but in its stead, a thorn." 
 
 IIELIODORA'S GARLAND. 
 
 ( ' I'll frame, my Heliodora ! a garland for thy hair, 
 Which thou, in all thy beauty's pride, mayst not disdain to wear; 
 For I, with tender myrtles, white violets will twine 
 White violets, but not so pure as that pure breast of thine : 
 With laughing lilies I will twine narcissus; aud the sweet 
 Crocus shall in its yellow hue with purple hyacinth meet : 
 Aud I will twine with all the rest, and all the rest above, 
 Queen of them all, the red, red Rose, the flower which lovers love.' 1 ' 
 MELEAGKU. 
 
 GEMS OF GREEK THOUGHT. 
 HOMER. 
 
 " Mob rule is not good ; let there be one monarch. Victory changes 
 oft her side. Pray, for all men require aid from on high. Even the 
 fool is wise after the event. The man whom Jove loves, is a match 
 for many. Wine leads to folly. The force of uniou conquers all. 
 Too much rest itself becomes a pain. Noblest minds are most easily 
 bent. Few sons are equal to their sires. To sorrow without ceasing 
 is wrong." 
 
 HESIOD. 
 
 " Emulation is good for mortals. The best treasure among meu is 
 a frugal tongue. Idleness, not labor, is disgraceful." 
 
 PINDAR. 
 
 " Mirth is the best physician for man's toils. The guilty souls of 
 those who die here must pay the penalty in another life. Point thy 
 tongue on the anvil of trnth." 
 
 AESCHYLUS. 
 
 "He hears but -half that hears one party only. To know and to 
 conjecture differ widely. To be without evil thoughts is God's best 
 gift." 
 
 SOPHOCLES. 
 
 " Clamorous sorrow wastes itself in sound. Quick resolves are 
 often unsafe. What good man is not his own friend? In a just 
 cause, the weak subdue the strong." 
 
 EURIPIDES. 
 
 " The Deity helps him who helps himself. Gold has greater power 
 over men thau ten thousand arguments. Temperance, the noblest
 
 GEMS OF GKEEK THOUGHT. 301 
 
 gift of Heaven! To form devices, quick is woman's wit. In dark- 
 ness a runaway has mighty strength. Death is a debt that all mor- 
 tals must pay." 
 
 ARISTOPHANES. 
 
 " To fear death is a great folly. Old men are boys twice over. 
 Poverty is a sister of beggary." 
 
 HERODOTUS. 
 
 " Rash haste ever goes before a fall. Men are dependent on cir- 
 cumstances, not circumstances on men. The god loves to cut down 
 all towering things. The god suffers none but himself to be haughty. 
 The hand of a king is very long. Self-restraint brings blessings, 
 not seen at the moment perhaps, yet found out in due time." 
 
 XENOPHON. 
 
 " The sweetest of all sounds is praise. It is impossible for a man 
 attempting many things to do them all well." 
 
 PLATO. 
 
 " A boy is the most ferocious of animals. Wisdom is the true and 
 unalloyed coin. Much learning brings danger to youth. The race 
 of fools is not to be counted. Those are profane who think that 
 nothing exists except what they can grasp with their hands. Dogs 
 are like their mistresses. Let no one speak evil of another. Self- 
 conquest is the greatest of victories." 
 
 ARISTOTLE. 
 
 " One swallow does not make a spring. We ought rather to pay 
 a debt to a creditor than give to a companion. Of this alone is even 
 God deprived, the power of making that which is past never to have 
 been. The beginning is said to be half the whole. All flatterers are 
 mercenary. No one loves the man whom he fears." 
 
 DEMOSTHENES. 
 
 " Success tends to throw a veil over the evil deeds of men. What 
 we wish, that we readily believe. To find fault is easy." 
 
 MENANDER. 
 
 " A daughter is an embarrassing and ticklish possession. He 
 whom the gods love, dies young. Evil communications corrupt good 
 manners (quoted by St. Paul). Whoever blushes seems to be good. 
 Nobody sees his own faults, but every one is lynx-eyed to those of his 
 neighbor. Love blinds all men. Silence has many advantages. 
 He is well cleansed that hath his conscience clean. There is noth-
 
 302 
 
 GRECIAN LITERATURE. 
 
 ing more daring than ignorauce. Truth, when not sought after, 
 sometimes conies to light." 
 
 POLYBIUS. 
 
 "Nothing happens without a cause. Royalty, aristocracy, and 
 democracy, must combine to make a perfect government. Many 
 kuow how to conquer; few are able to use their conquest aright." 
 
 PLUTARCH. 
 
 "Absolute monarchy is a fair field, but has no outlet. What one 
 does not need, is dear at a penny. Often, while we are delighted 
 with the work, we regard the workman with contempt. Dead men 
 do not bite." 
 
 MINOR WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS. 
 
 OPPIAN (second century) : didactic po- 
 ems on fishing and hunting. 
 
 ARRIAN (second century): master- 
 piece, "Expedition of Alexander the 
 Great." 
 
 DION CASSIUS, a Koman senator (born 
 155 A.D.) : " History of Rome " in 80 
 books, from the earliest ages to 229 
 A.D. 
 
 >ELIAN (second century) : a zoology 
 and a miscellaneous history. 
 
 APPIAN of Alexandria (second cen- 
 tury) : a " Roman History " in 24 
 books. 
 
 HERO'DIAN (180-238 A.D.) : " History 
 of the Roman Emperors." 
 
 DIOGENES LAERTIUS : his " Lives of 
 the Philosophers" contains a valua- 
 ble summary of the Epicurean ten- 
 ets. 
 
 GA'LEN (second century), one of the 
 
 world's greatest physicians : medical 
 treatises. 
 
 MUS.EUS ( fifth century ) : the poem 
 " Hero and Leander." 
 
 TRYPIIIODO'RUS (fifth century) : poems 
 on the Battle of Marathon and the 
 sack of Troy; a lipogrammatic Od- 
 yssey, from the first book of which, 
 styled Alpha, the letter a was ex- 
 cluded ; from Beta, the second, b ; 
 and so the several letters in turn 
 through its 24 books. This work 
 is lost. 
 
 QUINTUS SMYRN.EUS ( 500 A.D.) : his 
 poem, "Things Omitted by Homer," 
 a continuation of the Iliad. 
 
 NONNUS (sixth century): "the Dio- 
 nysiaca," an Epic on Bacchus in 48 
 books. 
 
 PROCO'PIUS (nourished 550), the Byz- 
 antine historian : " History of his 
 Own Times."
 
 PART III. 
 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 LA TIN AND ITS OLDEST MONUMENTS. 
 
 Italy Peopled. While watching the rise, meridian splendors, 
 and glowing sunset of Grecian letters, we have left unnoticed 
 the dawn of literary taste in Italy, the sister of Hellas, peo- 
 pled, as we have seen, by kindred Phrygian tribes who spoke 
 dialects of the Phrygo-Hellenic tongue (p. 133). Whether 
 they were the first of human kind to wake the echoes of the 
 Italian solitudes, must ever remain a matter of doubt. Some 
 believe that the Alps had proved an insuperable barrier to pre- 
 vious emigrants from the East ; others, that the adventurous 
 Pelasgians, on descending their slopes, found a Turanian pop- 
 ulation already in possession of the peninsula. If the latter 
 theory be correct, the Turanian aborigines were speedily over- 
 powered by the new-comers and became incorporated with 
 their conquerors. 
 
 When Rome was founded, 753 B.C., the predominant Ital- 
 ian races were distinguished as Latin and Umbrian (embrac- 
 ing the Oscans) ; their languages were closely related, and 
 have been called Italic. The Etruscans, who lived west of the 
 Tiber, though probably of Aryan origin, differed in many re- 
 spects from the Umbrians and Latins.
 
 304 
 
 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 ANCIENT ITALY 
 
 and the 
 
 PLACES NOTED 
 
 in the 
 HISTORY of Its LITERATTRE 
 
 [See the above map for the various localities mentioned in connection with 
 Roman Literature.] 
 
 The Latin Language, in its most ancient form, was probably 
 spoken by the people of Latium at least twelve hundred years 
 before the Christian Era. For many centuries it remained 
 harsh and unpolished, nor did its roughness materially wear 
 away until it came in contact with the Greek, about 250 B.C. 
 Then its vocabulary was enriched, and it gradually acquired 
 elegance and beauty. A knowledge of Greek came to be re- 
 garded as indispensable to a polite education, and Roman 
 children were taught this language before their own. 
 
 A reaction, however, ultimately set in, and the foisting of 
 foreign words and idioms on the native tongue was con-
 
 THE LATIN LANGUAGE. 305 
 
 dcmned as strongly as it had once been favored ; a strange 
 expression was now compelled to run the gantlet of merci- 
 less criticism before it was admitted as part of the language. 
 Caesar advised to shun a new term as one would a reef; 
 Augustus frankly acknowledged that, though he was emperor 
 of the world, he could not make a Latin word ; and Tiberius 
 was thus pointedly rebuked by a Roman grammarian for a 
 verbal error: "Thou, O Caesar! canst confer Roman citizen- 
 ship on men, but not on words." 
 
 When the rest of Italy submitted to the arms of Rome, it 
 accepted the language of the conqueror. Latin also sup- 
 planted the Carthaginian tongue in Africa and Spain, Celtic 
 in Gaul and Britain, and finally was spoken in greater or 
 less purity throughout the empire. 
 
 In its perfection, which it attained during the first century 
 B.C., Latin was characterized by energy, dignity, and preci- 
 sion, its power and gravity compensating for the lack of "At- 
 tic grace." According to its system of grammar, six cases 
 and two numbers were distinguished ; nouns, pronouns, and 
 adjectives, were declined ; and verbs were varied in form 
 through the tenses and moods of two voices. Thus the Latin 
 had one more case-form than the Greek, but lacked the dual 
 number and middle voice of Greek and Sanscrit. 
 
 The Latin alphabet, consisting originally of twenty-one let- 
 ters, was borrowed from the Greeks through a Dorian colony 
 at Cumae. Its resemblance to the Greek may be seen by 
 turning to page 87. The Roman system of notation was an 
 Etruscan invention. 
 
 Ancient Latin Relics. During the five centuries that fol- 
 lowed the founding of Rome, the literary history of the city is 
 all but a blank. Curious specimens of its antique tongue are 
 preserved in fragments of laws and a few inscriptions ; but 
 the songs of the first Latin bards are lost forever. The le- 
 gends of Romulus, the seizure of the Sabine women, the
 
 306 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 stories of Lucretia and Virginia, of Coriolanus and Horatius, 
 these, with many similar traditions, were doubtless the sub- 
 jects of irregular ballads and heroic poems. 
 
 The rough simple verse in which they appeared was called 
 Saturnian ;* it is supposed to have been adopted from the 
 Etruscan poets, and charmed the ears of the Romans until 
 they listened to the more tuneful measures of the Greeks. 
 The time -honored Saturnian verses were then thrust aside, 
 with the old lays that told the proud conquerors of Italy of 
 their humble origin and early struggles. This ballad-poetry 
 may never have been written ; sung from generation to gen- 
 eration, it was kept alive to grace in after -days the epic of 
 Ennius and the pages of the historian Livy. 
 
 The oldest existing Latin poetry is inscribed on a tablet 
 exhumed at Rome in 1778. It is a chant of the Arval Broth- 
 ers, an association of priests founded under the Roman kings, 
 and consists of an invocation to Mars, the god of war, to avert 
 pestilence. Almost as venerable is a fragment from a Sali- 
 an Hymn, sung by the Salian (dancing) priests in honor of 
 Ja'nus. 
 
 Extracts from the Laws of the Twelve Tables (450 B.C.), 
 which were destroyed in the early wars, have been collected 
 from the works of later writers. The old Latin, however, is 
 very obscure ; so much did the language afterward change 
 that in the golden age the Salian poems were enigmas to 
 the Romans themselves. 
 
 There are also traces of an ancient Umbrian literature, 
 which has perished. 
 
 Age of native minstrelsy, 753-250 B.C. : early poetry composed of hymns, fes- 
 tal and religious, banquet songs and funeral odes in commemoration of heroes, 
 
 * From Saturn, an ancient Italian god fabled to have instructed the people 
 in agriculture. The metre was accommodated to the rapid beats of the foot in 
 the country dances at harvest-time.
 
 THE DAWN PERIOD. 307 
 
 rude satiric verses, and, according to Niebuhr, epic poems surpassing the works 
 of later times " in power and brilliance of imagination." No remnants of all this 
 literature. In prose, a primitive oratory. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 DAWN OF ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 As Italy received hei first lessons in reading and writing 
 from the Greeks, in law - making; from Solon, in art from 
 Phidias and Praxiteles, so in polite literature she drew her 
 inspiration from the same source. The early Roman writers 
 not only took their cue from Greek authors, but were in 
 some cases downright imitators ana mere translators. 
 
 A Greek slave, Livius Andronicus, who may be called the 
 father of Roman classical literature, translating the Odyssey 
 into Saturnian verse, introduced his captors to the literary 
 treasures of his country. Enraptured Rome eagerly snatched 
 the crown of letters as it fell from the head of her elder sister, 
 and for a time the borrowed jewels sparkled on her brow. 
 But she paid dearly for her brilliant ornaments ; for, with 
 Greek taste and culture, came also Greek effeminacy and vice. 
 
 The aim of the first Latin writers was to give their tongue 
 the same polish as the model from which they copied ; but 
 an excess of foreign graces was repugnant to the genius of 
 their more stately language, and it was soon seen that the 
 refinement of the Greek would prove fatal to the vigor of 
 Latin. Accordingly the Roman orators set their faces 
 against any further "Grecizing," and struggled as manfully 
 to preserve the purity of their vernacular as they did to main- 
 tain the moral purity of the nation, fast drifting into the dan- 
 gerous quicksands of sloth and self-indulgence. 
 
 The sixth and seventh centuries of Rome, the period cov- 
 N 2
 
 308 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 ered by the present chapter, saw the birth of the regular 
 drama and its decline; the earliest attempts at epic and satiric 
 poetry ; and the rise of a vigorous prose. Livius Androni'cus 
 paraphrased Greek tragedies ; Naevius and Ennius not only 
 contributed to dramatic literature, but called epic poetry into 
 being ; Plautus and Terence set forth a feast of good things 
 in their comedies ; Lucilius, the father of Roman satire, lashed 
 vice and corruption unsparingly in his hexameters ; and Cato 
 laid the foundations of Latin prose. 
 
 DRAMATIC POETRY. 
 
 The Eoman Drama. While in the later and more devel- 
 oped stages of Roman literature the plastic influence of 
 Greece is everywhere perceptible, in the earlier days there 
 were original elements, devoid of polish indeed, but possess- 
 ing the rude vigor that distinguished the nation. There was 
 a sort of drama, for instance, native to Italy. It appeared in 
 its primitive guise in the Fescennine* dialogues metrical 
 songs accompanied with rustic dances which were long the 
 delight of the mirth-loving Italian country-folk. When, how- 
 ever, the improvised jests and satires of these entertainments 
 opened the door to malicious personal abuse, it was found 
 necessary to prohibit libellous verses by law. 
 
 The merry songs called Saturce (from the satura lanx, dish 
 of various fruits offered to the gods) were brought upon the 
 Roman stage in the fourth century B.C. A flute accompa- 
 niment and Etruscan actors, who through ignorance of the 
 Roman language merely played the part of dancers and pan- 
 tomimists, rendered the Saturae highly attractive. At a later 
 period, these medleys formed the afterpieces to regular 
 dramas. 
 
 From the Oscan town Atella in Campa'nia, the so-called 
 
 * From Fescennium, an Etruscan town.
 
 LIVIUS ANDRONICUS. 309 
 
 Atdlane Fables derived their name pieces with simple plots, 
 that pictured ancient village-life in Italy, with its inevitable 
 characters of the chatterbox, the sharper, and the long-eared 
 glutton. It was no disgrace for young nobles, appropriately 
 masked, to improvise the dialogue of the Atellane Fable, or 
 sing the songs in Saturnian verse. 
 
 The regular Roman drama was a copy of the Greek, and 
 first saw the light at the grand celebration over the downfall 
 of Carthage, when (240 B.C.) a real tragedy and comedy were 
 represented. Their author was 
 
 Livius Andronicus (about 285-204 B.C.), who fell into the 
 hands of the Romans when his native city, Tarentum in 
 southern Italy, submitted to their arms. Brought to their 
 capital as a slave, he succeeded in obtaining his liberty and 
 opened a school for his support. The wants of his pupils led 
 him to translate Homer's Odyssey into Latin ; he thus not 
 only provided the Roman schools with a text -book which 
 held its place for centuries, but inspired the people generally 
 with a strong desire to become acquainted with the Greek 
 masterpieces, and gave a spur to the development of a na- 
 tional literature. 
 
 Andronicus was no less successful as a literary caterer, 
 when he put upon the Roman stage his Latin versions of 
 certain Greek plays ; yet, though the public relished higher 
 and more dignified dramatic performances than the Fescen- 
 nines and Saturae, they loved the latter too much to dis- 
 pense with them entirely. The vulgar off-hand humor of the 
 amateur actors in these performances was long exceedingly 
 popular. 
 
 Andronicus had a rough theatre assigned him on the Aven- 
 tine Mount. In accordance with the fashion of his day, he 
 played entire parts without assistance, until an injury to his 
 voice obliged him to delegate the recitative passages to a 
 boy, who sung them to the accompaniment of the flute, while
 
 310 IJOMAN LITEKATURE. 
 
 he made the appropriate gestures. Thus originated a cus- 
 tom which thereafter prevailed at Rome, that of having two 
 actors, one to declaim and the other to gesticulate. 
 
 Livius Andronicus kindled the first spark of literary am- 
 bition in Rome, and paved the way for her future progress in 
 letters. He enjoyed the respect of his contemporaries, and 
 was honored by succeeding generations, though Cicero pro- 
 nounced his plays unworthy of a second reading. If we 
 except a few doubtful lines, posterity knows his dramas only 
 by their titles. 
 
 Cneius Nsevius (269-204 B.C.), a Campanian by birth, after 
 serving in the First Punic War, took up his residence at Rome 
 and there made dramatic literature his profession. His first 
 play was represented about 235 B.C. 
 
 The Greek dramatists furnished Ncevius with the material 
 for his tragedies and comedies, in the latter of which better 
 adapted to his genius, and therefore more original he par- 
 ticularly excelled. Closing his eyes to the danger of satiriz- 
 ing the patrician houses, he fearlessly revived the personal 
 attack of Aristophanes in his ridicule of Scipio and the Me- 
 telli. His lampoons directed against the latter cost him 
 dear. The verse of the poet, " It is fate, not merit, that has 
 made the Metelli always consuls of Rome," stung them to 
 the quick, and they procured his imprisonment. Naevius 
 employed the time in writing comedies ; and after his libera- 
 tion, nowise daunted by his previous bad fortune, he let fly 
 his shafts at the nobility as recklessly as ever. Rome could 
 no longer tolerate him, and sent him forth from her gates to 
 die in exile. 
 
 The fate of Nsevius proved a warning to future comic po- 
 ets. None were ambitious to assume the role which he had 
 played ; but, taking Menander for their model rather than 
 Aristophanes, they sought their subjects in the follies and 
 foibles of society at large.
 
 ]O3 VIUS. ENNIUS. 3 1 1 
 
 So far as we can judge from the scanty fragments that re- 
 main, the style of Naevius, though unpolished (for he still 
 wrote in the old Saturnian verse), was nervous, bold, and 
 pointed. His works were for centuries the delight of the 
 Romans, who admired his independence ; while succeeding 
 authors did not regard it unworthy of their genius to borrow 
 the spirited thoughts of Rome's first native poet. His epi- 
 taph read as follows : 
 
 " If gods might to a mortal pay the tribute of a tear, 
 The Muses would shed one upon the poet Naevius' bier; 
 For when he was transferred unto the regions of the tomb, 
 The people soon forgot to speak the native tongue of Eome." 
 
 Sellar thus puts in English the old Roman's description of 
 a flirt, which survives from one of his comedies : 
 
 " Like one playing at ball in a ring, she tosses about from one to 
 another, and is at home with all. To one she nods, to another 
 winks ; she makes love to one, clings to another. Her hand is busy 
 here, her foot there. To one she gives a ring to look at, to another 
 blows a kiss ; with one she sings, with another corresponds by 
 
 The ablest work of Naevius is an epic poem, which will be 
 described hereafter. 
 
 Ennius, partly Greek, partly Oscan by descent, was born in 
 Rudiae in southern Italy, 239 B.C. After serving with honor 
 in the Roman army in Sardinia, he was induced to visit Rome 
 by Cato the Censor, who appears at one time to have been 
 his patron. 
 
 Filled with a desire to refine the taste of his countrymen, 
 Ennius drew upon Euripides for their benefit. The titles of 
 twenty-five of his tragedies survive ; but the fragments that 
 are preserved of these, as well as of several comedies, show 
 them to be mere copies of Greek pieces. Though gifted with 
 poetical genius and possessed of remarkable learning, Ennius 
 found imitation easier than original composition.
 
 312 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 In the following fragment from one of his plays, Ennius de- 
 nies the providence of God : 
 
 "Yes! there are gods; but they no thought bestow 
 On human deeds, on mortal bliss or woe ; 
 Else would such ills our wretched race assail f 
 Would the good suffer ? Would the bad prevail ?" 
 
 It is not, however, as a dramatic poet that Ennius has won 
 distinction. His renown is based on his "Annals," or "Met- 
 rical Chronicles," of all their poems the favorite with the Ro- 
 mans, in whose minds they were associated with the heroic 
 achievements they commemorated. The "Annals" must be 
 reserved for the present, while we view the progress of com- 
 edy in the works of Plautus and Terence. 
 
 Titus Maccius Plautus (254-184 B.C.), a contemporary of 
 Ennius, was the first great comic poet of Rome. A boorish 
 country-boy, he left his home among the mountains of Um- 
 bria to seek his fortune in the capital, and was at first quite 
 successful as a stage -carpenter and decorator. The sobri- 
 quet Plautus, by which he is universally known, was signifi- 
 cant of his large flat feet; nor do his personal peculiarities 
 generally, judging from a self-painted portrait in one of his 
 comedies, appear to have been of a very prepossessing type : 
 
 "A red-haired man, with round protuberant stomach, 
 Legs with stout calves, and of a swart complexion : 
 Large head, keen eyes, red face, and monstrous feet." 
 
 Unthrifty as he was uncomely, Plautus before long found 
 himself reduced to the menial employment of grinding corn 
 for a baker, to keep body and soul together ; but his hard- 
 ships were the making of the man. While thus engaged, dur- 
 ing his unoccupied hours he tried his hand at writing come- 
 dies. He struck the right vein ; play followed play in rapid 
 succession ; the author rose in public estimation, and during 
 the rest of his life reigned without a peer on the comic stage.
 
 PLAUTUS. 313 
 
 Modern imitations of his comedies prove how lasting has 
 been their popularity. 
 
 The Greek poets inspired the pen of Plautus ; but he 
 paints Roman manners, breathes Roman sentiments, and em- 
 ploys the idiomatic conversational Latin of his time. The 
 tone of his dramas is far from elevating ; his humor, though 
 bold and sprightly, is coarse ; and his Greek pictures of im- 
 becile fathers, dissipated sons, intriguing slaves, jealous hus- 
 bands, hungry parasites, and disreputable female characters 
 (for all other female characters, except servants, were studi- 
 ously kept in the background), had their effect in undermining 
 the stern old Roman virtue. Yet the style of Plautus is flow- 
 ing and animated ; his plays are full of bustle and fun ; and 
 we can but admire his fertility of invention and wonderful 
 command of language. Some of his characters are not un- 
 worthy of Shakespeare. 
 
 Plautus prefaced most of his comedies with prologues, 
 which served the purpose of modern play-bills in that they 
 contained brief analyses of the pieces. Curious requests ap- 
 pear in some of these : women are asked to refrain from dis- 
 turbing the house by gossiping, children are desired to keep 
 quiet, and mothers are besought not to bring infants to the 
 theatre. 
 
 Twenty comedies of Plautus are extant, of which the finest 
 is " the Captives." Its plot is as follows : 
 
 During a war between Elis and ^Etolia, Hegio, a rich 
 ^Etolian, buys at a sale of captives Philoc'rates and Tyndarus 
 his slave, hoping to possess himself of a prisoner of rank to 
 exchange for a son, who has /alien into the enemy's hands. 
 To effect the negotiation, he proposes to send the slave to 
 Elis with a message to the father of Philocrates, who, he 
 learns, is a man of wealth and standing. The devoted Tyn- 
 darus, however, seizes the opportunity to restore Philocrates 
 to liberty, allowing him to go on he journey and remaining
 
 314 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 in his stead, a change of apparel having been made, to impose 
 upon Hegio. The parting scene between the two, in the pres- 
 ence of their master, is among the best passages of the play. 
 The disguised Philocrates, about to leave, has inquired what 
 message he shall carry to the captive's father : 
 
 "TYNDARUS (habited as Philocrates). Say I am well; and 
 
 tell him this, good Tyndarus, 
 We two have lived in sweetest harmony, 
 Of one accord in all things ; never yet 
 Have you been faithless, never I unkind. 
 And still, in this our strait, you have heen true 
 And loyal to the last, through woe and want, 
 Have never failed me, nor in will nor deed. 
 This when my father hears, for such good service 
 To him and to his son, he cannot choose 
 But give you liberty. I will insure it, 
 If I go free from hence. 'Tis you alone, 
 Your help, your kindness, your devoted service, 
 Shall give me to my parents' arms again. 
 
 PHILOCRATES (as Tyndarus). I have done this : I'm glad 
 
 you should remember; 
 And you have well deserved it : for if I 
 Were in my turn to count up all the kindness 
 That you have shown to me, day would grow night 
 Before the tale were told. Were you my slave, 
 You could have shown no greater zeal to serve me." 
 
 Hegio is moved to tears, and exclaims : 
 
 "O ye gods! 
 
 Behold the honest nature of these men ! 
 They draw tears from me. Mark how cordially 
 They love each other ! and what praise the servant 
 Heaps on his master I" 
 
 Hegio, however, soon discovers the trick, and condemns 
 Tyndarus to the quarries a. punishment whose horrors the 
 young man compares to " the torments of the damned." He 
 is freed from bondage on the return of Philocrates with He- 
 gio's son to learn that he also is a son of Hegio, stolen by 
 a slave in his infancy and mourned as lost for twenty years. 
 It had been his good fortune to be bought by the father of
 
 COMEDIES OF PLAUTUS. 315 
 
 Philocrates, and to grow up the companion of the young 
 noble. 
 
 After this happy de'nouement, the play closes with an ad- 
 dress to the audience, valuable for the view it gives of the 
 characters in the popular comedy. 
 
 "Gallants, this play is founded on chaste manners; 
 No amorous intrigues, no child exposed, 
 No close old dotard cheated of his money, 
 No youth in love, making his mistress free 
 Without his father's knowledge or consent. 
 Few of this sort of plays our poets find, 
 T' improve our morals, and make good men better. 
 Now if the piece has pleased you, with our acting 
 If you're content, and we have not incurred 
 Displeasure by it, give us then this token : 
 All who are willing that reward should wait 
 On chaste and virtuous manners, give applause." 
 
 WARXER. 
 
 Among the best-known of our author's comedies are " the 
 Twins " and " the Three Silver Pieces." In the former a se- 
 ries of laughable incidents grows out of the resemblance of 
 twin brothers, separated for many years and suddenly brought 
 together. To this play Shakespeare owed the plot of his 
 "Comedy of Errors." The second derives its name from 
 three coins paid to a man to disguise himself as a foreigner, 
 and pretend to bring a dowry of a thousand gold pieces to the 
 heroine from her father, who is abroad at the time. The un- 
 expected arrival of the father changes the aspect of affairs ; 
 but the marriage takes place, and everything ends happily. 
 
 The best of the remaining plays of Plautus are, 
 
 THE BOASTFUL SOLDIER (Miles Glo- 
 riosus). 
 
 THE HAUNTED HOUSE (Moslellana). 
 
 THE LOST CHILD (Eptdicus), 
 THE SHIPWRECK (Rudens). 
 
 THE PARASITE (Curculio). 
 
 AMPHITRYON. 
 
 THE YOUNG CARTHAGINIAN (Famulus). 
 
 THE POT OF GOLD (^4 ulularia). 
 THE TWIN SISTERS (Bacchides). 
 
 THE TRICKSTER (Pseudolus). 
 
 Terence, " the Prince of the Roman Drama," flourished be-
 
 316 EOMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 tween 195 and 159 B.C. Of his life the accounts are scant) 
 and unsatisfactory. He appears to have been a Carthaginian 
 slave-boy, the property of a Roman senator, who treated him 
 with great kindness, gave him an education, and at last set 
 him free. The youth's mind matured early ; and when only 
 twenty-one he submitted his first comedy, "the Andrian Maid," 
 to the aediles, who superintended dramatic representations, for 
 their acceptance. Referred by them to Caecilius, a comic poet 
 of distinction, he repaired to the house of the latter at supper- 
 time, and, humbly seated on a stool, began to read his play. 
 The first few verses revealed to Qecilius the genius of the 
 young author ; he beckoned Terence to a seat beside him, 
 heard him through, and accepted his comedy at once. 
 
 On the performance of " the Andrian Maid," the reputation 
 of Terence was secured. His plays paid him handsomely, 
 and gave him the entree to the highest literary circles. The 
 great men of Rome became his intimates ; among others, 
 Scipio, the future destroyer of Carthage. They are thought 
 to have encouraged Terence with the view of elevating the 
 masses through his dramas, and are even suspected of hav- 
 ing lent him a helping hand in their composition. 
 
 After completing six comedies, Terence sailed for Greece, 
 to travel and study there. He is believed to have translated 
 over one hundred of Menander's plays. None of these ver- 
 sions survive, and they are supposed to have been lost, to- 
 gether with the poet himself, on the return voyage. 
 
 Terence, Carthaginian though he was, is distinguished for 
 the exceptional purity of his Latin and the beauty of his style. 
 His taste was cultivated ; his sentiments were pure ; and his 
 plays put to shame many a licentious comedy of the English 
 stage. In lively humor and comic effect, however, he falls 
 short both of Plautus and his Greek originals. It was in al- 
 lusion to the source whence he borrowed his plots that Julius 
 Cassar addressed him as " thou half-Menander."
 
 THE PLAYS OF TERENCE. 317 
 
 The masterpiece of Terence is " the Self-Tormentor," a copy 
 of one of Menander's lost plays. Its title is derived from the 
 self-inflicted punishment of Menede'mus, an Athenian, who, 
 having refused his consent to the nuptials of his son Clin'ia 
 with a poor but virtuous Corinthian girl, Antiph'ila, and thus 
 driven Clinia to enlist as a mercenary, is stricken with re- 
 morse, leaves the city, and imposes on himself the severe toil 
 of farm-life. 
 
 Chremes, a neighboring country gentleman, noticing how 
 hard Menedemus works when there is apparently no necessity 
 for it, inquires the reason. The first scene represents a con- 
 versation between the two, in which Menedemus, after asking 
 his neighbor how he found time to pry into other people's 
 affairs, and receiving the memorable answer, " I am a man, 
 and I have an interest in everything that concerns human- 
 ity,"* acquaints him with the state of affairs as told above. 
 
 The love-sick Clinia now returns, and, reluctant to go to 
 his father's house, becomes the guest of Chremes' son, Clit'- 
 ipho, the friend of his youth. At his entreaty, Clitipho sends 
 a slave for Antiphila ; but the cunning fellow brings at the 
 same time the lady-love of Clitipho himself, the dashing beauty 
 Bacchis, introducing her to the family as Clinia's mistress, and 
 passing off the modest Antiphila as one of her servants. The 
 slave thus describes to Clinia, Antiphila and her employments 
 when he came suddenly upon her, and announced her lover's 
 return : 
 
 " Busily plying the web we found her, 
 Decently clad in mourning. She had on 
 No gold or trinkets, but was plain and neat, 
 And dressed like those who dress but for themselves. 
 No female varnish to set off her beauty ; 
 Her hair dishevelledj long, and flowing loose 
 About her shoulders." 
 
 * When the Roman audience heard this sentiment, they shook the theatre 
 with their applause.
 
 318 KOMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Chremes finds Bacchis a very expensive guest, and, an- 
 nouncing to Menedemus the next morning the return of his 
 son, tries to put him on his guard against the extravagant 
 tastes of Clinia's supposed mistress, but without producing 
 any effect on the father thus relieved of his anxiety : 
 
 " CHREMES. First, she's brought with her half a score of maids, 
 Tricked out, the jades, with gold and jewelry ; 
 Why, if her lover were an Eastern prince, 
 He couldn't stand it how on earth can you ? 
 
 MENEDEMUS. Oh ! is she here, too ? 
 
 CHREMES. Is she here, do you ask ? 
 
 Oh ! yes, she's here. There's no doubt as to that. 
 I know it to my cost. They've had one dinner, 
 She and her party. If I give another 
 Suuh as last night, why I'm a ruined man. 
 She's very curious, mind you, as to her wines ; 
 Knows the best brands and drinks them. ' Ha !' she'd say, 
 ' This wine's not dry enough, old gentleman 
 Get us some better, there's a dear old soul !' 
 I had to tap my oldest casks. My servants 
 Are driven alraost wild. And this, remember, 
 Was but one evening. What's your son to do, 
 And you, my friend, that will have to keep her always ? 
 
 MENEDEMUS. Let him do what he will : let him take all, 
 Spend, squander it upon her ; I'm content, 
 So I may keep my son." COLLINS. 
 
 The play is full of amusing incidents, the intrusions of the 
 eager Clitipho on the pretended love-making of his adored 
 Bacchis and Clinia the indignation of Chremes at his son's 
 seeming want of politeness the cozening of Chremes by the 
 clever slave out of a large sum for his young master to give 
 to Bacchis. The discovery that Antiphila is Chremes' own 
 daughter, whom, at her birth, his wife had given to a Corinthi- 
 an woman to expose, adds fresh interest to the plot. The 
 marriage takes place to the delight of all parties. Chremes is 
 persuaded to forgive his son, who promises to abandon Bac- 
 chis for a more modest wife. The " Self-Tormentor " is happy 
 at last, and can afford to indulge in a hearty laugh at the mis- 
 fortunes of his neighbor.
 
 DECLINE OF THE DRAMA. 319 
 
 " I don't profess myself to be a genius 
 I'm not so sharp as some folk that I know ; 
 But this same Chremes this my monitor, 
 My would-be guide, philosopher, and friend, 
 v He beats me hollow. Blockhead, donkey, dolt, 
 Fool, leaden-brains, and all those pretty names 
 They might suit me; to him they don't apply : 
 His monstrous folly wants a name to itself." 
 
 The extant comedies of Terence are, 
 
 THE ANDRIAN MAID (Andrid). 
 THE MOTHER-IN-LAW (Hecyra). 
 THE SELF-TORMENTOR (Heautontimo- 
 roumenos). 
 
 THE EUNUCH (Eunuchus). 
 
 PHORMIO (taketi wholly from a Greek 
 
 comedy of Apollodorus). 
 THE BROTHERS (Adelphi). 
 
 Decline of the Drama. While the comedies of Terence 
 were drawing crowded houses, tragedy, which Ennius attempt- 
 ed to popularize, that the heroic examples of early times might 
 be emulated by his countrymen, was successfully cultivated by 
 his nephew PACUVIUS " the Learned " (220-132 B.C.). The 
 thirteen tragedies of Pacuvius (an accomplished painter as 
 well as poet) were long favorites, particularly with the educated 
 classes. The finest of them, " Orestes in Slavery," contained 
 the famous scene between the bosom friends Py'lades and 
 Orestes, in which each offers his life for the other. At its 
 representation, the audience leaped to their feet and shouted 
 their applause. 
 
 But Rome was no genial home for the tragic drama, and 
 both tragedy and comedy soon began to languish. With 
 Terence, the glory of the Roman theatre expired. Rope- 
 dancing, buffoonery, and the games of the circus, offered supe- 
 rior attractions ; and as the Republic lapsed into the Empire, 
 the degenerate taste of the people sought gratification in the 
 sports of the arena, where gladiators fought together or with 
 wild beasts hardly more of brutes than themselves. In this 
 first period of the national literature, the history of the Roman 
 drama is written.
 
 320 EOMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 EPIC POETRY. 
 
 Naevius, meanwhile, ventured to appeal to the popular taste 
 in a new department of poetry, with his epic, " the (First) Punic 
 War " in which contest, it will be remembered, the poet took 
 an active part. It was written during his banishment at Uti- 
 ca, after he had signalized himself as a dramatist at Rome, 
 and was a work which Cicero said "afforded him a pleasure 
 as exquisite as the finest statue ever chiselled by Myron." 
 
 "The Punic War" entitles Naevius to the claim of original- 
 ity as well as genius. The episode of Dido and ^Eneas, the 
 career of Regulus, and other soul -stirring stories, were told 
 in its Saturnian lines ; and it must ever be a matter of re- 
 gret that so interesting a poem is virtually lost to literature. 
 Naevius is called "the last of the native minstrels." 
 
 Ennius (239-169 B.C.). In Ennius we are introduced to a 
 greater epic poet, and the founder of a new school. Brought 
 to Rome, as we have seen, by Cato, he taught the young no- 
 bles Greek, translated dramas from that tongue, and devoted 
 his leisure to poetical composition. A panegyric on Scipio 
 decided his destiny ; he rapidly rose in the estimation ef the 
 distinguished men of the time, and in 184 B.C. was made a 
 Roman citizen an honor to which Livius Andronicus had 
 never aspired, and which Naevius sought in vain. 
 
 Though a friend of the wealthy and powerful, Ennius him- 
 self seems never to have been rich in this world's goods. A 
 genial bon vivant, he spent his earnings in extravagant living; 
 and much of his poetry was written while he was confined by 
 the gout, a disease brought on by intemperate habits. Hor 
 ace, perhaps, exaggerates his failing when he tells us that 
 "Father Ennius never sung battles unless intoxicated." The 
 family tomb of his friend Scipio became the final resting-place 
 of Ennius ; and from his time the name of poet was honored 
 by the aristocracy of Rome.
 
 EPIC POETRY OF ENNIUS. 321 
 
 Ennius owes his fame chiefly to his " Annals," an historical 
 epic, the work of his old age. Here he wove together the an- 
 cient legends and folk-lore of the Romans handed down in 
 Saturnian ballads, with later accredited events, and contem- 
 porary history, accomplishing the difficult task of adapting 
 the old Latin to dactylic hexameters. Greek metres hence- 
 forth superseded the irregular Saturnian verse, the syllables 
 being arranged according to quantity, and not as before by 
 accent. Moreover, the language was indebted to him not 
 only for this improved versification, but for fresh elements of 
 strength, and grammatical changes for the better. Thus En- 
 nius introduced a new era in Roman literature, laying solid 
 foundations on which his successors built. He is recognized 
 as "the father of Latin song," and it has been well said: 
 " Whatever in the later poets is most truly Roman in senti- 
 ment and morality, appears to be conceived in the spirit of 
 Ennius." 
 
 Ennius had a high opinion of his own talents ; he deemed 
 himself the Roman Homer, and claimed, in accordance with 
 the Pythagorean doctrines, that the soul of the Greek bard 
 had passed into his frame from the intermediate body of a 
 peacock. And indeed his spirited battle-scenes, his " verses 
 fiery to the heart's core," sometimes recalled his sublime pro- 
 totype ; while an air of antiquity breathed in his picturesque 
 style and archaic forms. 
 
 The poet's self-praise \\as echoed by his countrymen. Cic- 
 ero proudly styled him " our own Ennius ;" Virgil enriched 
 the yneid with his most musical verses ; Horace hailed him 
 as "the Calabrian Muse." The triumphs of Rome and her 
 heroes were often told in the verse that he made familiar ; 
 even during the Dark Ages his works remained favorites, un- 
 til in the thirteenth century they gradually sunk into ob- 
 scurity. 
 
 The versatile genius of Ennius displayed itself in satires,
 
 322 ROMAN LITER ATUBE. 
 
 epigrams, and didactic poems, as well as in epics and dramas. 
 A curious specimen of his composition was his metrical trea- 
 tise on edible fish, a compilation from a number of existing 
 works on the subject. 
 
 From the fragments that remain of "the Annals" (600 
 lines in all) we present one of the most pleasing passages, 
 that in which the vestal Il'ia tells her elder sister a dream 
 she has had, foreshadowing her great destiny as the mother 
 of Romulus, founder of Rome. 
 
 ILIA'S DREAM. 
 
 Quick rose the aged dame, with trembling limbs 
 
 The light to bring ; and Ilia then, from sleep aroused, 
 
 With tears and terror tells her wondrous dream : 
 
 " Child of Eurydice, by our sire beloved, 
 
 Through all my fibres fail my strength and life. 
 
 A goodly man, methought, bore me away 
 
 Through pleasant willow-groves and places strange. 
 
 Next, all alone I seemed to wander desolate, 
 
 And slowly, sister, to retrace my steps, 
 
 Thee seeking but not finding ; nor did path 
 
 Steady my steps. Soon a familiar voice 
 
 My father's thus with pitying accents spoke: 
 
 ' Daughter, 'tis thine deep sorrow to endure ; 
 
 This borne, thy great good fortune then is sure !' 
 
 He spoke, and suddenly departing, gave 
 
 To my fond yearning arms no sweet embrace. 
 
 Alas! I saw him not, though eagerly 
 
 To the blue vault of heaven I stretched my hands, 
 
 And called on him with loving tones. At last, 
 
 With aching heart sleep left me, and I woke." 
 
 The "Annals " were continued, and Homer's Iliad was ren- 
 dered into Latin hexameters, by imitators of Ennius. But 
 they were third or fourth rate men, and epic poetry really 
 slumbered after Ennius passed from the stage, till it wakened 
 to new triumphs at the call of Virgil. 
 
 SATIRIC POETRY. 
 
 In this era, we have to chronicle the birth of a new plant in 
 the parterre of Roman literature Satirical Poetry. It was
 
 LUCILIUS. 323 
 
 no exotic, but native-born. The germ appeared in Naavius, 
 the bud in Ennius, the full-blown blossom in Lucilius, the 
 ripe fruit in the golden age of Augustus ; the leaves were 
 still green in the declining days of the empire. 
 
 Lucilius (148-103 B.C.), a Roman knight who fought under 
 Scipio at the siege of Numantia, converted the miscellanies 
 (sat lira) of Ennius into true satire. Though a mere youth, 
 he was intimate with Rome's greatest statesmen, who were 
 accustomed to doff their dignity in his lively society, and even 
 to frolic with him before dinner. Shielded by them, and tak- 
 ing as his standard the stern morality and lofty patriotism of 
 the fathers, he assailed with impunity prevalent social vices, 
 ridiculed superstition, and denounced political corruption. 
 
 In bold relief against this dark background he brought out 
 the noble qualities of Scipio. Always arrayed on the side of 
 virtue, he devoted his brilliant talents to the improvement of 
 the public morals. Yet he occasionally stooped to abuse, if 
 we may believe the story that, having once sued a person for 
 attacking his character, he lost his case because it was shown 
 that he himself was not above similar practices. 
 
 The satires of Lucilius were embraced in thirty books, many 
 fragments of which are extant. His style is forcible and not 
 without elegance, though some of his verses are harsh and oc- 
 casional Greek words lower the standard of his Latinity. He 
 composed with haste, often standing on one foot while he 
 dictated two hundred verses. His satires, had they been 
 preserved, would have been valuable as a mirror of Roman 
 manners. 
 
 VIRTUE AS DEFINED BY LUCILIUS. 
 
 " Virtue, Albinns, consists in being able to give their true worth 
 to the things on which we are engaged, among which we live. The 
 virtue of a man is to understand the real meaning of each thing: to 
 understand what is right, useful, honorable, for him; what things 
 are good, what bad, what is unprofitable, base, dishonorable ; to 
 know the due limit and measure iu making money; to give its prop- 
 
 o
 
 324 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 er worth to wealth ; to assign what is really due to honor ; to be a 
 foe and enemy of bad men and bad principles ; to stand by good 
 men and good principles ; to extol the good, to wish them well, to 
 be their friend through life. Lastly, it is true worth to look on our 
 country's weal as the chief good ; next to that, the weal of our par- 
 ents ; third and last, onr own weal." SELLAR. 
 
 EARLY LATIX PROSE. 
 
 In her prose, Rome owed but little to Greece. Had she 
 never known the Greek masters, she might not have pro- 
 duced a poetical literature, but she would have had her great 
 orators and historians. Statesmanship was the natural pro- 
 fession of her nobles and educated men ; jurisprudence and 
 oratory were essential accomplishments of the aspirant to 
 public honors ; and Latin was peculiarly adapted to prose 
 composition, which appears to have been practised very early 
 in Latium. The development of this primitive, yet nervous, 
 prose was not left to Greek slaves and freedmen, but called 
 forth the efforts of the foremost citizens, Cato the Censor, 
 Lffilius and Scipio, the Gracchus brothers, Crassus and An- 
 tonius, Hortensius. In the period under consideration it 
 began to lose its ruggedness, and acquire polish, grace, and 
 harmony. 
 
 Cato (234-149 B.C.). The early historians of Rome, fol- 
 lowing the example of FABIUS PICTOR, the first of her prose 
 annalists, employed the Greek language. It was the elder 
 Cato, the Censor and moralist, the inflexible enemy of all that 
 was Greek, whose warning voice foretold the national corrup- 
 tion that must follow the introduction of Hellenic literature ; 
 it was Cato, the philosopher, orator, and historian, who digni- 
 fied Latin prose by embodying in it his vigorous thoughts. 
 
 Inured from boyhood to hard toil and simple fare on his 
 father's Sabine farm, Cato took an active part in the war 
 against Hannibal, returning after the conflict to his humble 
 rustic life. But his country soon demanded his services in 
 another field ; at her bar he won even greater glory, and she
 
 CATO THE CENSOR. 325 
 
 rewarded him with every office in her gift. Cato nobly dis- 
 charged his various trusts ; but it is as the uncompromising 
 foe of effeminacy and vice that we know him best. His polit- 
 ical life, a model of economy and uprightness, was a ceaseless 
 battle with corruption a struggle to banish the luxury he 
 despised and restore the stern virtue of his fathers. But it 
 was one man against a nation, and the current was too strong 
 for one alone to stem. He served Rome to the bitter end, 
 and fell in the traces at the age of ninety, his energies unim- 
 paired, his purpose unshaken. 
 
 Amid all his active duties, Cato, whose constitution like 
 his will was of iron, found time for literary work. He is 
 known to have written at least one hundred and fifty orations, 
 not without faults of style, for the amenities he was too apt to 
 disregard, but cogent in their reasoning, clear and powerful in 
 expression. Mutilated remains of his practical hand-book 
 " on Agriculture " are extant, which show him to have been 
 familiar with all the details of the farm and garden. In a 
 work on medicine, dedicated to his son, he exclaims against 
 the Greek physicians, and recommends the simple remedies 
 which he had always found efficacious. His prejudice against 
 medical men was founded on the belief that their introduc- 
 tion from Greece was a deep-laid plot to poison his fellow- 
 citizens ; moreover, he knew that Rome had thriven marvel- 
 lously for five centuries, in blissful ignorance of the medical 
 faculty. 
 
 Gate's chief work was his " Origines " (in seven books), a 
 history of his country, deriving its name from the first three 
 books, which discussed the origin of Rome and the Italian 
 states. The aged patriot prepared this treatise just before 
 his death, to throw it into the scale against Greek influence ; 
 but not a hundred Catos could have turned the balance then. 
 The loss of the " Origines " is an irreparable one to archae- 
 ology.
 
 326 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 SPECIMENS OF CATO'S STYLE. 
 
 " For myself, I think well of .1 merchant as a man of energy and 
 studious of gain ; but it is a career that leads to danger and ruin. 
 Fanning, however, makes the bravest men and the sturdiest sol- 
 diers; and of all sources of gain is the surest, the most natural, and 
 the least invidious. Those who are busy with it have the fewest 
 bad thoughts." TREATISE ox AGRICULTURE. 
 
 "Buy not what you want, but what you must have; what you 
 don't want is dear at a farthing." "Men are worn out by hard 
 work ; but if they do no work, rest and sloth injure them more than 
 exercise." 
 
 HEROISM OF CLEDICIUS. 
 
 During the First Punic War the Roman army was surprised and 
 threatened with destruction, when Cuedicius the Tribune promptly 
 volunteered to engage the enemy with 400 men, while the rest es- 
 caped. The little band was cut down to a man. 
 
 "The immortal gods," said Cato, "granted the tribune a lot ac- 
 cording to his valor. For thus it came to pass. Though he had re- 
 ceived many wounds, none proved mortal; and when his comrades 
 recognized him among the dead, faint from loss of blood, they took 
 him up and he recovered. But it makes a vast difference in what 
 country a generous action is performed. Leonidas of Lacedsemon, 
 who performed a similar exploit at Tliermopylje, is praised. On ac- 
 count of his valor, united Greece testified her gratitude in every pos- 
 sible way, and adorned his exploit with monumental records, pict- 
 ures, statues, eulogies, histories. The Roman tribune gained but 
 faint praise, and yet he had done the same and saved the republic." 
 ORIGINES. 
 
 Laelius and Scipio followed Cato, and improved upon his 
 rude eloquence. Their speeches, which were committed to 
 writing, bore the impress of learning and genius. 
 
 The Gracchi (169-121 B.C.), sons of the noble Cornelia, 
 Scipio's daughter, to whom they owed their early education, 
 introduced a new era in Roman eloquence, and have been 
 called " the founders of classical Latin." Both gave up their 
 lives in the interest of the Commons. 
 
 Tiberius, the elder, was the impersonation of clear-headed, 
 dispassionate, argumentative oratory. Caius, the younger, of 
 greater intellectual power, declaimed with such impetuosity 
 that it was his custom to keep a slave at his side to remind
 
 THE EAELY ORATORS. 327 
 
 him with the note of a flute when his vehemence became im- 
 moderate. Cicero inclined to the belief that, had not Caius 
 Gracchus met an untimely death, he would have been the 
 most brilliant representative of Roman eloquence. Nothing 
 remains of the speeches of Tiberius, and the few fragments 
 we possess of Caius indicate a want of finish. 
 
 Antonius and Crassus were the most distinguished speak- 
 ers of the period that separated the Gracchi from Cicero. 
 Both were diligent students of Greek literature, though both 
 sought to conceal their indebtedness to it. Crassus excelled 
 in the elegance of his language; Antonius, in gesture. 
 
 Hortensius (114-50 B.C.). Crassus, in the last year of his 
 life, highly complimented the young Hortensius, whose prom- 
 ise as an orator he was quick to discern. After the death 
 of Antonius (87 B.C.), Hortensius became "prince of the 
 Roman bar," a position which he enjoyed until eclipsed by 
 the superior genius of Cicero (70 B.C.). During his early 
 manhood he labored with untiring industry, turning his re- 
 markable memory to good account. His style was ornate, 
 his voice perfect ; his gestures were so graceful that actors 
 came to learn their art from him ; never before had Rome 
 listened to a flow of language so copious and elegant. As a 
 matter of course his services were in great demand, and 
 hardly a day passed in which he did not either speak or 
 prepare a speech. 
 
 Thus Hortensius accumulated a vast fortune, which proved 
 his stumbling-block. Wealth begot a love of luxury, his en- 
 ergy gave way to indolence, and he quietly yielded the first 
 place to his youthful rival. His luxurious villas, with their 
 deer-parks, and gardens whose plants he watered with wine, 
 were more to Hortensius than the victories of the forum. In 
 these charming retreats he loved to entertain his friends, and 
 exhibit to them his menagerie and tame fish for which Ire 
 showed more concern than for his servants. The death of a
 
 328 
 
 KOMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 favorite lamprey affected him to tears. At his luxurious man- 
 sion in Rome, the nucleus of the future imperial palace, pea- 
 cocks were served for the first time at a feast. 
 
 The orator's tastes, however, were esthetic as well ; he 
 wrote poetry, and expended large sums on statues and paint- 
 ings. His orations are lost. Only the merest fragments of 
 all the above prose writers survive. 
 
 MINOR DRAMATIC POETS. 
 LAVINIUS, the rival of Terence, who TURPILIUS (125 B.C.), a popular comic 
 
 jealously interrupted the perform- 
 ance of the " Eunuch," denouncing 
 its author as a plagiarist; yet this 
 play brought Terence more than had 
 ever before been paid for a comedy. 
 
 poet. 
 
 Accius (170-94 B.C.), the last of the 
 tragic poets; 37 tragedies, borrowed 
 to a great extent from the Greek; 
 diction majestic and eloquent. 
 
 Early Roman theatres, temporary wooden structures; first stone theatre built 
 by Pompey (55 B.C.), capable of accommodating 40,000 spectators. Potnpey's 
 example promptly followed by others. The orchestra reserved for the chief men 
 of Rome, and not occupied by the chorus 'as in ancient Greece. Awnings for 
 theatres invented by the Romans. The vast size of the later theatres obliged 
 the actors to wear masks with features much larger than life and arranged at 
 the mouth so as to give additional force to the voice. 
 
 MINOR PROSE WRITERS. 
 
 HISTORIANS. 
 
 FABIUS PICTOR : " Annals " of Rome, 
 from the founding of the city to the 
 end of the Second Punic War ; care- 
 less and inaccurate. 
 
 CINCIUS (210 B.C.) : a truthful and dili- 
 gent annalist. 
 
 ACILIUS GLABRIO (180 B.C.) : History 
 of Rome. 
 
 CALPURNIUS Prso : " Annals ;" style 
 barren and lifeless. 
 
 SISEXNA (119-67 B.C.): History of 
 Rome from the destruction of the 
 city by the Gauls. 
 
 ORATORS. 
 
 GAT/RA (180-136 B.C.) : first master of 
 Greek rhetoric; vehemence and ar- 
 tifice his characteristics. 
 
 CARBO (164-119 B.C.) : an unscrupu- 
 lous, but sweet-voiced and powerful 
 pleader. 
 
 RUTILIUS (158-78 B.C.): a distin- 
 guished jurist. 
 
 CATUI.US : graceful and elegant; a 
 
 master of pure Latin. 
 COTTA: soft-spoken and courteous; his 
 
 eloquence of the sweet, persuasive 
 
 kind.
 
 THE GOLDEN AGE. 329 
 
 Study of grammar introduced by Crates, who, fortunately for the Romans, 
 broke his leg while on an embassy to their city from the king of Pergamus (156 
 B.C.)) and during his convalescence lectured on philology at Rome. The earli- 
 est works on Roman law were produced during this period. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 GOLDEN AGE OF ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 (B.C. 80-14 A.D.) 
 
 Divisions and Ornaments. The Golden Age, which now 
 engages our attention, is naturally divided into two distinct 
 periods, bearing the names of Cicero, the greatest of Ro- 
 man writers, and Augustus, the founder of the empire and 
 patron of letters. 
 
 In the Ciceronian Period (80-43 B.C.), a stormy era of 
 conspiracy as well as conquest marked by Catiline's formi- 
 dable attempt to destroy the commonwealth, by the civil war 
 of Caesar and Pompey, and the murder of these renowned 
 leaders political eloquence and history monopolized the at- 
 tention of the master minds of Rome. As a consequence, 
 Latin prose matured early in the golden age ; while poetry 
 boasted of no ornaments until, at the close of the Cicero- 
 nian Period, Lucretius penned his philosophical poem " On 
 the Nature of Things," and Catullus produced his erotic odes 
 and elegies. 
 
 In the Augustan Period (B.C. 42-14 A.D.), the greatest 
 of Roman poets, Virgil and Horace, lived and wrote, prose 
 playing a secondary part. Tibullus and Propertius put forth 
 their sweet elegies, and Ovid his amatory pieces. Even the 
 pages of Livy's history are aglow with poetical coloring. But 
 the blossom was as transient as it was beautiful, and expand- 
 ed only to die.
 
 330 
 
 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 PROSE WRITERS OP THE CICERONIAN PERIOD. 
 
 Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 B.C.) was born at Arpi'- 
 num, a Latian town south-east of Rome. As his family (of 
 equestrian rank) had never distinguished itself, he is known 
 as a novus homo (new man). Detecting unusual talent in the 
 boy, his father resolved to develop it by a thorough education, 
 which he himself superintended at Rome. The most ac- 
 complished teachers were secured, the Greek poet Ar'chias 
 among the number, and the youth was thoroughly grounded 
 in grammar, rhetoric, and Grecian literature. This early 
 
 training Cicero sedulously supplemented with a course on 
 Roman law under Scaevola, avoiding the whirl of dissipation 
 that surrounded him, and even relinquishing social pleasure 
 for the labors of his closet or to study in the forum the style 
 of the first public speakers. "Who can blame me," he asked 
 in his oration for Archias, " if while others are gazing at festal 
 shows and idle ceremonies, exploring new pleasures, engaged
 
 MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO. 331 
 
 in midnight revels, in the distraction of gaming, the madness 
 of intemperance, I dedicate my time to learning and the 
 Muses ?" 
 
 At twenty-five Cicero made his debut ; and within two 
 years he rose to the highest rank at the Roman bar by ably 
 pleading the cause of one Roscius against a friend of the 
 terrible Sulla. Successful in this case, to escape the ven- 
 geance of the dictator as well as to recruit his failing health, 
 Cicero went abroad. At Athens he pursued the study of 
 philosophy with Pompo'nius Atticus, the companion of his 
 boyhood and ever after his warmest friend. In the schools 
 of Asia Minor, as well as at Rhodes, then a great literary 
 centre, he studied under distinguished teachers, storing his 
 memory with valuable knowledge at the same time that he 
 made himself proficient in the rhetorical art. The death of 
 Sulla having removed all danger, at the age of thirty he went 
 back to Italy, thoroughly restored by his travels, and fired 
 with the noble ambition of making himself the Demosthenes 
 of Rome. Step by step he approached the realization of his 
 hopes, and when, in the prosecution of Verres, the rapacious 
 governor of Sicily, he triumphed over Hortensius, who con- 
 ducted the defence (70 B.C.), his end was practically achieved. 
 
 Cicero served his country in many capacities, but in none 
 more effectively than as consul ; since, while holding this 
 office (63-62 B.C.), he saved the republic from a dangerous 
 conspiracy, headed by the profligate Catiline. The consul's 
 tact and courage were sorely tried, but prevailed. Four 
 crushing orations laid bare the plans of the traitor and drove 
 him from the city, to fall in a desperate battle with the Ro- 
 man legions, while a grateful nation greeted the vigilant Cicero 
 as "the Father of his Country." 
 
 But the Roman people were fickle, and at the instigation 
 of an enemy banished Cicero from the city he had saved, 
 58 B.C. The next year, however, the decree was revoked, 
 
 O 2
 
 332 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 and he returned. When the civil war between Csesar and 
 Pompey was imminent, Cicero's indecision told powerfully 
 against him.* At last he joined Pompey, who, provoked at 
 his vacillation, exclaimed : " I wish that Cicero would go over 
 to the other side ; perhaps he would then be afraid of us." 
 The battle of Pharsalia (48 B.C.) overthrew the hopes of the 
 party whose cause he had espoused, and Cicero, returning to 
 Italy, accepted the rule and friendship of Caesar, and settled 
 down to a literary life. 
 
 Shortly after, a plot is laid against the dictator ; the fatal 
 Ides (i5th) of March (44 B.C.) arrive; the assassins do their 
 bloody work in the senate-house ; and Brutus, flourishing his 
 traitorous dagger, cries to Cicero : " Rejoice, O Father of our 
 Country, for Rome is free !" 
 
 But it was grief, not joy, that the dagger of Brutus brought 
 to the Republic ; another Pompey and another Caesar arose 
 to contend for the mastery of the world. Marc Antony as- 
 pired to the dead dictator's place ; but Cicero, now the fore- 
 most statesman in Rome, regarding him as the enemy of lib- 
 erty, upheld the cause of the people and of Octavius, Caesar's 
 young nephew. Into the struggle that ensued, he entered 
 with all the spirit of his youth, thundering against Antony his 
 grand " Philippics," in the second of which are concentrated 
 all his powers of invective, passion, and eloquence. It is 
 Cicero's mightiest effort. 
 
 FEOM THE SECOND PHILIPPIC. 
 
 " When, therefore, this fellow (Antony) had begun to wallow in the 
 treasures of that great man, he began to exult like a buffoon in a 
 
 * A Roman knight, Laberius, who had lost caste by appearing on the stage, 
 made a good hit at Cicero, for his political non-committalism. As lie was going 
 to his place in the theatre one day, Cicero, who was seated in the orchestra, 
 called out to him, " Laberius, I would make room for you, if we were not so 
 crowded here." "You crowded!" answered Laberius. "Why, how is that? 
 you generally manage to sit on two stools."
 
 EXTRACT FROM CICERO'S ORATIONS. 333 
 
 play, who has lately been a beggar and has become suddenly rich.* 
 But, as some poet or other says, 
 
 ' Ill-gotten gains come quickly to an end.' 
 
 It is an incredible thing, and almost a miracle, how he in a few, not 
 months, but days, squandered all that vast wealth. There was an 
 immense quantity of wine, an excessive abundance of very valuable 
 plate, much precious apparel, great quantities of splendid furniture, 
 and other magnificent things in many places, such as one was likely 
 to see belonging to a man who was not indeed luxurious, but who 
 was very wealthy. Of all this in a few days there was nothing left. 
 What Chary bdis was ever so voracious ? Charybdis, do I say f Cha- 
 ry bclis, if she existed at all, was only one animal. The ocean, I swear 
 most solemnly, appears hardly capable of having swallowed up such 
 numbers of things so widely scattered, and distributed in such differ- 
 ent places, with such rapidity. 
 
 Nothing was shut up, nothing sealed up, no list was made of any- 
 thing. Whole storehouses were abandoned to the most worthless of 
 men. Actors seized on this, actresses on that ; the house was crowd- 
 ed with gamblers, and full of drunken men ; people were drinking 
 all day, and that too in many places ; there were added to all this 
 expense (for this fellow was not invariably fortunate) heavy gam- 
 bling losses. You might see, in the cellars of the slaves, conches cov- 
 ered with the most richly embroidered counterpanes of Cneius Pom- 
 poy. Wonder not, then, that all these things were so soon consumed. 
 Such profligacy as that could have devoured, not only the patrimony 
 of one individual, however ample it might have been, but whole cities 
 and kingdoms. 
 
 And then his houses and gardens! O the cruel audacity! Did 
 you dare to enter into that house? Did you dare to cross that most 
 sacred threshold ? and to show your most profligate countenance to 
 the household gods who protect that abode? A house which for n 
 long time no one could behold, no one could pass by, without tears! 
 Are you not ashamed to dwell so long in that house one in which, 
 stupid and ignorant as you are, still you can see nothing which is not 
 painful to you ? 
 
 When you behold those beaks of ships in the vestibule, and those 
 warlike trophies, do you fancy that you are entering into a house 
 which belongs to you? It is impossible. Although you are devoid 
 of all sense and all feeling, still you are acquainted with yourself, 
 and with your trophies, and with your friends. Nor do I believe 
 that yon, either waking or sleeping-, can ever act with quiet sense. 
 
 It is impossible but that, were you ever so drunk and frantic, as in 
 
 * Allusion is here made to Antony's purchase of the goods of Pompey the 
 Great, at auction, after the defeat of the latter in the civil war.
 
 334 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 truth you are, when the recollection of the appearance of that illus- 
 trious man comes across you, you should be roused from sleep by your 
 fears, and often stirred up to madness if awake. I pity even the walls 
 and the roof." YOXGE. 
 
 The patriot paid for his stanch defence of freedom with his 
 life. Octavius and Antony, becoming reconciled, formed with 
 Lepidus the Second Triumvirate, or board of three, to govern 
 the Roman world ; and Cicero knew that the sun of liberty 
 had set. The triumvirs agreed upon a general proscription 
 of their enemies. A reign of terror deluged Italy with blood, 
 but the noblest of those who fell was Cicero. 
 
 Antony demanded his life, and Octavius covered himself 
 with infamy by yielding it. The orator met his fate near his 
 villa at Formiae ; timid throughout his life, in the last scene he 
 exhibited manly fortitude. He is said to have been calmly 
 reading the " Medea " of Euripides in his litter when Antony's 
 myrmidons overtook him ; a desperado who owed him many 
 favors, while even his brutal companions covered their eyes, 
 struck the fatal blow. The head and hands of the murdered 
 orator were cut off and sent to Antony, whose inhuman wife, 
 as she fondled the ghastly head in her lap, maliciously thrust 
 her bodkin into the tongue that had denounced her husband. 
 True as it was, it ill became the time-serving Octavius to 
 say, when afterward wielding the sceptre of the world as Au- 
 gustus Cassar, " Cicero was a good citizen, who really loved 
 his country." 
 
 CICERO'S WORKS. Cicero was emphatically a many-sided 
 man, and filled a wide space in Roman literature. Though 
 he excelled chiefly in oratory, he has left us, besides fifty-nine 
 orations, a number of philospphical treatises, essays, and many 
 letters to his friend Atticus, his brother, and other correspond- 
 ents. While deeply absorbed in public duties, he found op- 
 portunities, without neglecting these, to pursue the study of 
 philosophy, having in view not only his own relaxation, but
 
 CICEKO'S PHILOSOPHICAL WRITINGS, 335 
 
 also the moral advancement of his countrymen. His works 
 on this subject, some of which, for the sake of interest and 
 variety, he wrote in the form of dialogues, present a valuable 
 survey of the Greek systems. They assert his belief in the 
 existence of one Supreme Creator and the immortality of the 
 soul. 
 
 Cicero's chief philosophical writings are "the Tusculan 
 Disputations," imaginary discussions of various practical ques- 
 tions at the author's Tusculan villa, the scorn of death, the 
 endurance of suffering, etc. ; " the Offices," a moral essay ; 
 treatises "On Friendship" and "On Old Age," justly consid- 
 ered as among the most charming productions of their class 
 in any literature ; political dissertations " On the Republic " 
 and "On Laws ;" and a theological disquisition "On the Nat- 
 ure of the Gods." 
 
 THE END OF LIFE. 
 
 [From Cicero's Treatise on Old Age.] 
 
 " An old man, indeed, has nothing to hope for ; yet he is in so much 
 the happier state than a young one; since he has already attained 
 what the other is only lioping for. The one is wishing to live long, 
 the other has lived long. And yet, good gods ! what is there in man's 
 life that can be called long? To my mind, nothing whatever seems 
 of long duration, in which there is any end. For when that arrives, 
 then the time which is past has flowed away ; that only remains 
 which you have secured by virtue and right conduct. Hours indeed 
 depart from us, and days, and months, and years ; nor does past time 
 ever return, nor can it be discovered what is to follow. 
 
 Whatever time is assigned to each to live, with that he ought to be 
 content : for neither need the drama be performed entire by the act- 
 or, in order to give satisfaction, provided he be approved in whatever 
 act he may be ; nor need the wise man live till the plaudit?.* The 
 short period of life is long enough for living well and honorably ; and 
 if you should advance farther, you need no more grieve than farmers 
 do, when the loveliness of spring-time hath passed, that summer and 
 autumn have come. For spring represents the time of youth, and 
 gives promise of the future fruits; the remaining seasons are intend- 
 ed for plucking and gathering those fruits. Now the harvest of old 
 age, as I have often said, is the recollection and abundance of bless- 
 ings previously secured. 
 
 * The last word of the play, which invites the applause of the audience.
 
 336 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 In truth, everything that happens agreeably to nature is to be 
 reckoned among blessings. What, however, is so agreeable to nature 
 as for an old man to die ? which even is the lot of the young, though 
 nature opposes and resists. And thus it is that young men seem to 
 me to die, just as when the violence of flame is extinguished by a 
 flood of water ; whereas old men die, as the exhausted fire goes out, 
 spontaneously, without the exertion of any force. And as fruits 
 when they are green are plucked by force from the trees, but when 
 ripe and mellow drop oif, so violence takes away their lives from 
 youths, maturity from old men ; a state which to me indeed is so de- 
 lightful that, the nearer I approach to death, I seem as it were to be 
 getting sight of land, and at length, after a long voyage, to be just 
 coming into harbor." EDMONDS. 
 
 Cicero also wrote a treatise "On Glory," now lost. It was 
 once in the possession of Petrarch, who commends it in the 
 most flattering terms. The Italian poet was induced to lend 
 it to his aged preceptor ; but the latter, driven by poverty, se- 
 cretly put the work in pawn and died without making known 
 its whereabouts. It never saw the light afterward ; although 
 it is supposed to have been destroyed two centuries later by a 
 plagiarist, who had helped himself to some of its fine periods. 
 
 As a letter-writer, Cicero excels all others. It was the cus- 
 tom of his countrymen to bestow as great pains on private 
 correspondence as on works intended for publication ; and his 
 epistles, eight hundred of which survive, are simple, elegant, 
 and glow with wit, though some of them were written so fast 
 as to be almost illegible. They cast important light on the 
 history of his day. 
 
 Our author also turned his hand to history and poetry, but 
 with indifferent success. His works were extremely popular 
 among his contemporaries, some of them selling by the thou- 
 sand. 
 
 CICERO'S STYLE. Cicero has always been commended for 
 the cadence of his periods. The art of framing harmonious 
 balanced sentences was his special study, and the Latin lan- 
 guage, which he perfected in beauty and richness, was well 
 adapted to his purpose. His style is often exuberant, for he
 
 CICEROS STYLE. 337 
 
 cultivated the flowers of rhetoric. Character he sketched 
 with a powerful pen, and his speeches are enlivened with 
 abundant illustrations drawn from the wonderful storehouse 
 of his memory. Too often, however, vanity crops out, to mar 
 the effect. 
 
 Quintilian declared that as an orator Cicero combined " the 
 force of Demosthenes, the copiousness of Plato, and the ele- 
 gance of Isocrates." Through all his works flows a current 
 of mingled majesty and sweetness. Merivale aptly styles him 
 " the most consummate specimen of the Roman character un- 
 der the influence of Hellenic culture." 
 
 CICERO ON PROVIDENCE. 
 
 [From the Treatise on the Nature of the Gods.] 
 
 " There are aud have been philosophers who have given it as their 
 opinion that the gods exercise no superintending care whatever over 
 human affairs. Now, if the opinion of these men be true, what be- 
 comes of piety? what of public worship? what of religion itself? 
 For all these marks of homage are to be rendered in a pure and holy 
 spirit unto the majesty of the gods, only in case they are observed by 
 these same, and in case any favor has been bestowed by the immortal 
 gods on the race of men. If, however, the gods are neither able nor 
 willing to assist us; if they take no care whatever of us; if they 
 mark not what we do ; if there is nothing that can come from them 
 and exercise an influence on the lives of men, what reason is there 
 why we are to pay any adoration, render any honors, offer any pray- 
 ers, to the immortal gods? 
 
 Piety, jnst as much as the other virtues, cannot exist in outward 
 show and empty feignings; while along with piety, both public 
 worship and religion itself must of necessity be done away with. 
 Remove these, and a great disturbance aud total confusion of life 
 ensue. Nay, indeed, I do not know whether, if piety toward the 
 gods be removed, good faith also, and every social tie that binds to- 
 gether the human race, and justice too, that most excellent of all 
 virtues, would not be removed along with it." CHARLES ANTHON. 
 
 Varro (116-28 B.C.). The great central sun of the Repub- 
 lican Era was Cicero, compared with whom the brightest of 
 his contemporaries seem but as lesser luminaries whose light 
 is swallowed up in his. Of these, Marcus Terentius Varro
 
 338 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 was perhaps the greatest. Years of incessant application, 
 which a boyhood passed among the Sabine mountains at 
 Reate (re'd-te) had prepared him to endure, won for Varro 
 the proud title " Most Learned of the Romans." 
 
 During the civil war, Varro sided with Pompey. After the 
 triumph of Caesar, he retired from public life to his favorite 
 studies, the victor magnanimously recognizing his merit by 
 placing him in charge of the public library at Rome. The 
 material results of his literary labors enabled him to live like 
 a prince, and we find him the proprietor of three sumptuous 
 country-seats, one of which was celebrated for its costly mar- 
 ble aviary of three thousand song-birds Varro's pets. 
 
 All this wealth did not escape the notice of the rapacious 
 triumvirs after the assassination of Caesar. The name of 
 Varro, then more than seventy, was placed on the proscrip- 
 tion list j his property was confiscated ; and Antony sacked 
 his beautiful villa at Casi'num, committing his invaluable li- 
 brary to the flames. The old man owed his life to friends, 
 who concealed him from his implacable foe till the order for 
 his murder was countermanded. Augustus afterward re- 
 stored his fortune, but Varro always keenly missed the so- 
 ciety of his books. At the advanced age of eighty, he com- 
 posed, in dialogue form, an admirable work " On Husbandry," 
 written in a brisk and entertaining style. 
 
 The genius of Varro was remarkably versatile ; as over six 
 hundred different books on various subjects, in both prose 
 and verse, abundantly testify. In fertility he surpassed all 
 other Romans ; and we can but wonder, with St. Augustine, 
 how he found time to write so much. His most creditable 
 work was his " Antiquities Divine and Human," a lost treas- 
 ure, of which the present age, with its profound interest in the 
 religions of the past, severely feels the want. 
 
 Varro also prepared a treatise " On the Latin Language," 
 edited a popular encyclopaedia of the liberal arts, and wrote
 
 JULIUS CAESAR. 339 
 
 on history. Throughout his works he appears as a pure pa- 
 triot, a defender of ancient simplicity and virtue. His satires 
 on effeminacy and affectation are caustic ; no one can help 
 enjoying his humorous etchings of the spruce dandy, the 
 dainty epicure, and the finical poet who gargles his throat 
 before reciting his pieces. In every kind of writing that 
 he attempted (and there was little he did not attempt) he 
 is worthy of respect : the familiar line from Dr. Johnson's 
 epitaph on our own Goldsmith, would apply with equal force 
 to Varro " He touched nothing that he did not adorn." 
 
 Little survives of Varro's writings beyond the treatise on 
 agriculture, and a part of that on the Latin language. 
 
 Julius Caesar. July i2th, 100 B.C., was the birthday of 
 Caius Julius Cassar, by some believed to be, as Shakespeare 
 styled him, " the foremost man of all this world." The pe- 
 riod at which he lived was a critical one in history. Roman 
 virtue had depreciated, justice was bought and sold, luxury 
 had sapped the vigor of the nation, and vice ran riot. Only 
 one-man power, and that wielded by a clear head and power- 
 ful arm, could save the state. The times demanded a states- 
 man who would not shrink from taking upon himself all need- 
 ful responsibilities ; and in Julius Cffisar that statesman was 
 forthcoming. 
 
 Caesar's whole career evinces ambition, courage, and deter- 
 mination. Sulla himself he feared not to defy, when ordered 
 to divorce his wife for political reasons ; and he was adroit 
 enough to escape the vengeance of the ruthless dictator who 
 saw in " the loose-girt boy " many Mariuses. Leaving Rome 
 for the East, he acquitted himself with signal ability, though 
 only twenty-two, in a campaign against Mytilene ; and when 
 captured by pirates on the high seas, he paid them an ex- 
 tortionate ransom, but promptly turned the tables on them by 
 overhauling their vessel with a small fleet, and nailing them 
 to crosses on the coast of Asia Minor.
 
 340 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 At Rhodes he studied oratory and rhetoric. On his return 
 to Rome he gave evidence of his powers in the forum, and 
 was hailed as second in eloquence to Cicero only. His readi- 
 ness to protect the poor and the oppressed, together with his 
 insinuating manners, made Cassar the idol of the people, who 
 bestowed upon him various offices and finally raised him to 
 the consulship. At the expiration of his term, he was intrust- 
 ed with the government of the two Gauls ; and the military 
 skill he displayed in this position, during nine years of active 
 service (58-50 B.C.), proved him to be one of the world's 
 great captains. Overpowering many fierce tribes, he carried 
 the terror of the Roman eagles into the forests of Germany 
 and even across the Channel. A million human beings are 
 computed to have been sacrificed in his Gallic campaigns. 
 
 Jealous of these brilliant successes, and recognizing in 
 Caesar a dangerous opponent of his schemes for political ag- 
 grandizement, Pompey prevailed on the senate to demand the 
 resignation of his victorious rival. This brought matters to a 
 crisis. Caesar with his legions crossed the Rubicon, which 
 separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy (49 B.C.), and was soon 
 in Rome, whence Pompey and his friends had fled. The bat- 
 tle of Pharsalia the next year decided the question in favor of 
 Caesar; Pompey's party was overthrown in Africa and Spain, 
 and the Roman world remained the prize of the conqueror. 
 
 Not long, however, did he enjoy it. Fearing his ambition, 
 or pretending to do so, a number of " liberators " conspired 
 against his life. On the i5th of March, 44 B.C., he fell pierced 
 by their daggers at the foot of Pompey's statue, as that last 
 cry, wrung from his heart by the ingratitude of a trusted 
 friend, resounded through the senate -house, "Thou, too, 
 Brutus, my son !" 
 
 We can hardly see how, amid the excitements of such a 
 career, Caesar found any time to devote to literary pursuits; 
 yet his name is hardly less eminent in letters than for states-
 
 CAESAR'S WRITINGS. 341 
 
 manship and military genius. He seems to have had the 
 rare ability of " employing at the same time his ears to listen, 
 his eyes to read, his hand to write, and his voice to dictate." 
 While crossing the Alps, on one occasion, he wrote a gram- 
 matical treatise of no little merit. 
 
 The greatest of Caesar's works are his "Commentaries" on 
 the Gallic and the Civil War the former in seven books, 
 to which an eighth was added at the author's request by 
 his fellow-soldier HIRTIUS. In " the Gallic War," Caesar not 
 only recounts his successes and feats of engineering skill, but 
 also entertains us with pleasing descriptions of the countries 
 he visited and the tribes he encountered. He always aims 
 at justifying himself, and so plausibly defended his course 
 in "the Civil War" as to carry conviction even to the preju- 
 diced. 
 
 In Caesar's style, conciseness goes hand in hand with sim- 
 plicity and perspicuity. Dispensing with ornament, he uses 
 every word to the best advantage and this despite the fact 
 that he wrote with amazing rapidity. Though, perhaps, he 
 lacks vivacity and energy, there is no purer Latin than his. 
 We subjoin some interesting paragraphs from the Commen- 
 taries on the Gallic War, relating to the customs of 
 
 THE ANCIENT GAULS AND GERMANS. 
 
 "The whole nation of Gauls is extremely addicted to supersti- 
 tion; whence, in threatening distempers and the imminent dangers 
 of war, they make no scruple to sacrifice men, or engage themselves 
 by vow to such sacrifices. In these they make use of the ministry of 
 the Druids: for it is a prevalent opinion among them that nothing 
 but the life of man can atone for the life of man, insomuch that they 
 have established even public sacrifices of this kind. Some prepare 
 liii^e colossuses of osier twigs, into which they put men alive, and 
 setting tire to them, those within expire amid the flames. They 
 prefer for victims such as have been convicted of theft, robbery, or 
 other crimes, believing them the most acceptable to the gods; but, 
 when criminals are wanting, the innocent are often made to suffer. 
 
 Mercury is the chief deity with them ; of him they have many im- 
 ages, account him the inventor of all arts, their guide and conductor
 
 342 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 in their journeys, and the patron of merchandise and ga'.:i. Next to 
 him are Apollo and Mars, Jnpiter and Minerva. Their notions in 
 regard to these are t >retty much the same as those of other nations. 
 Apollo is their god or physic, Minerva of works and manufactures ; 
 Jove holds the empire of heaven, and Mars presides in war. To this 
 last, when they resolve on a battle, they commonly devote the spoil. 
 If they prove victorious, they offer up all the cattle taken, and set 
 apart the rest of the plunder in a place appointed for that purpose ; 
 it is common in many provinces to see these monuments of offerings 
 piled up in consecrated places. Nay, it rarely happens that any one 
 shows so great a disregard of religion as either to conceal the plunder 
 or pillage ths public oblations; ami the severest punishments are 
 inflicted on such offenders. . 
 
 The Gauls fancy themselves to be descended from the god Pluto ; 
 which, it seems, is an established tradition among the Druids. For 
 this reason they compute the time by nights, not by days; and, in 
 the observance of birthdays, new moons, and the beginning of the 
 year, always commence the celebration from the preceding night. 
 In one custom they differ from almost all other nations, that they 
 never suffer their children to come openly into their presence until 
 they are old enough to bear arms; for the appearance of a son in 
 public with his father before he has reached the age of manhood is 
 accounted dishonorable. 
 
 Whatever fortune the woman brings, the husband is obliged to 
 equal it out of his own estate. This whole sum, with its annual 
 product, is left untouched, and falls always to the share of the sur- 
 vivor. The men have power of life and death over their wives and 
 children; and, when any father of a family of illustrious rank dies, 
 his relations assemble, and, on the least ground of suspicion, put even 
 his wives to the torture like slaves. If they are found guilty, iron 
 and fire are employed to torment and destroy them. Their funerals 
 are magnificent and sumptuous, according to their quality. Every- 
 thing that was dear to the deceased, even animals, are thrown into 
 the pile ; and, formerly, such of their slaves and clients as they 
 loved most sacrificed themselves at the funeral of their lord. 
 
 The Germans differ widely in their manners from the Gauls ; for 
 neither have they Druids to preside in religious affairs, nor do they 
 trouble themselves about sacrifices. They acknowledge no gods but 
 those that they can see, and by whose power they are apparently 
 benefited : the sun, the moon, fire. Of others they know nothing, 
 not even by report. Their whole life is addicted to hunting and 
 war; and from their infancy they are inured to fatigue and hard- 
 ships. Agriculture is little regarded among them, as they live most- 
 ly on milk, cheese, and the flesh of animals. Nor has any man lands 
 of his own, or distinguished by fixed boundaries. The magistrates 
 and those in authority portion out yearly to every canton and family 
 such a quantity of laud, and in what part of the country they think 
 proper; and the year following remove them to some other spot.
 
 SALLUST, THE IIISTOIUAN. 343 
 
 Many reasons are assigned for this practice ; lest, seduced by habit 
 and continuance, they should learn to prefer pillage to war ; lest a 
 desire of enlarging their possessions should gain ground, and prompt 
 the stronger to expel the weaker; lest they should become curious 
 in their buildings, in order to guard against the extremes of heat 
 and cold; lest avarice should get footing among them, whence 
 spring factious and discords; in tine, to preserve contentment and 
 equanimity among the people, when they liud their possessions noth- 
 ing inferior to those of the most powerful. 
 
 It is accounted honorable for states to have the country all around 
 them lie waste and depopulated; for they think it an argument of 
 valor to expel their neighbors, and suffer none to settle near them ; 
 at the same time that they are themselves also the safer, as having 
 nothing to apprehend from sudden incursions. When a state-is en- 
 gaged in war, either offensive or defensive, they make choice of mag- 
 istrates to preside in it, whom they arm with the power of life and 
 death. In time of peace there are no public magistrates; but the 
 chiefs of the several provinces and clans administer justice, and de- 
 cide differences within their respective limits. Robbery has nothing 
 infamous in it when committed without the territories of the state 
 to which they belong ; they even pretend that it serves to exercise 
 their youth, and prevent the growth of sloth. The laws of hospital- 
 ity are held inviolable among them. All that fly to them for refuge, 
 on whatever account, are sure of protection and defence." DUNCAN. 
 
 Sallust (86-34 B.C.). Another historian, whose name is 
 as familiar as Caesar's to classical students, is Caius Sallustius 
 Crispus, popularly known as Sallust. From his native town 
 Amiternum, in the country of the Sabines, he came to Rome, 
 ambitious of public honors, and gradually worked his way up 
 to a seat in the senate. Alleged immorality, however, caused 
 his expulsion from that body, and not until he had rendered 
 important service to Caesar in the civil war did he recover his 
 good standing. Caesar made him governor of the rich prov- 
 ince of Numidia (46 B.C.), which Sallust pretty thoroughly 
 plundered during his one year of office, returning to Rome 
 with fabulous riches. It was fortunate for him that, when a 
 Numiclian commission arrived to prosecute him for extortion, 
 his powerful patron interposed to save him from punishment. 
 
 On the assassination of Caesar, Sallust retired from public 
 life and devoted part of his ill-gotten gains to the erection of
 
 344 KOMAN LITEKATUEE. 
 
 a splendid mansion on one of the seven hills. It was sur- 
 rounded by lovely pleasure-grounds, adorned with baths, stat- 
 ues, and other magnificent works of art, prominent among 
 which, on exquisitely chiselled columns, rose a temple, paved 
 in mosaic, and set off with Grecian marbles. " The Gardens 
 of Sallust " were preferred by many of the Roman emperors 
 to the imperial palace itself. 
 
 Here or at his Tiburtine villa, our author, thoroughly con- 
 vinced of the vanity of political honors, and filled with re- 
 morse for his youthful indiscretions, spent the last nine years 
 of his life in the compilation of historical works which give us 
 a high opinion of his abilities. His first effort was "the Con- 
 spiracy of Catiline," the facts of which were vividly impressed 
 upon' his memory, since, when a student at Rome, he was a 
 witness of its thrilling scenes. "The Jugurthine War," which 
 followed, treats of the struggle which the Roman people car- 
 ried on with Jugurtha, king of Numidia. This unscrupulous 
 prince had made his way to an undivided throne over the 
 murdered bodies of his two cousins, allies of the Romans, se- 
 curing impunity for a time by buying up the senate. Having, 
 however, caused the assassination of another kinsman in the 
 very streets of Rome, whither he had been summoned, on the 
 pledge of the public faith, to expose those who had taken his 
 bribes, he was ordered to quit Italy. It was on leaving the 
 capital that Jugurtha, looking back, uttered those words so 
 significant of the prevalent corruption : " O venal city and 
 destined soon to perish, if you can but find a purchaser !" 
 
 A Roman army followed him into Africa; but little was 
 effected until the consul Metellus assumed the command, and, 
 proof against Numidian gold, prosecuted the war in earnest. 
 After five years' continuance, it was successfully terminated 
 by Marius. Sallust's history ends with the betrayal of Jugur- 
 tha to the Romans, and the triumph of the consul Marius, 
 "on whom the hopes of the state were then placed." Plutarch
 
 SALLUST'S STYLE. 345 
 
 adds that, after figuring in the procession, Jugurtha was set 
 upon by the people, who tore the rings from his ears and even 
 stripped him of his clothes ; then he was pushed into a damp 
 dungeon to starve, shuddering as he cried to the bystanders 
 with a maniacal laugh, " Plow cold is this bath of yours !" 
 
 Another work of Sallust was a History of Rome from 78 to 
 66 B.C., fragments of which remain. 
 
 SALLUST'S STYLE, modelled after that of Thucydides, is sen- 
 tentious, energetic, and an improvement on the original in 
 clearness. Condensation without obscurity is its crowning 
 excellence ; and its finish, though too plainly showing marks 
 of labor, is always attractive. 
 
 The forte of Sallust lay in delineating character ; his por- 
 traits of Catiline and Jugurtha are as vivid as if the men 
 themselves stood before us. Especially striking are his pict- 
 ures of remorse. Catiline, who murdered his own son to in- 
 duce an infamous beauty to become his wife, "at peace with 
 neither gods nor men, finds no comfort either waking or sleep- 
 ing ; his complexion is pale, his eyes haggard, his walk some- 
 times quick and sometimes slow, and distraction is apparent 
 in every look." Jugurtha, red with the blood of many vic- 
 tims, " fears his subjects and his enemies alike, is ever on the 
 watch, starts from his sleep to seize his arms, and is so agi- 
 tated by terror as to appear under the influence of madness." 
 
 Sallust also affects the moralist, and throughout his works 
 is as loud in the praises of virtue as in his life he was care- 
 less of her interests. From " the Jugurthine War " we take 
 an interesting account of the 
 
 CAPTUEE OF A NUMIDIAN FOET. 
 
 " Not far from the river Mulucha, which separated the kingdoms 
 of Jugurtha and Bocchus, there stood, in the midst of a plain, a 
 small fort, on a rock of considerable breadth, and of prodigious 
 height, naturally as steep on every side as art or labor could render 
 it ; it had no access, except at one place, and that was by means of 
 a narrow path. As the king's treasure was deposited in this place,
 
 346 ROMAN L1TERATUEK. 
 
 Mavius exerted his utmost efforts to reduce it ; and succeeded, more 
 by accident than by prudent management. 
 
 The castle was abundantly provided with men, arms, provisions, 
 and a spring of water; its situation rendered it impossible to make 
 use of mounds and turrets, and the machinery usually employed in 
 a siege ; the path to it was very narrow, with a precipice on each 
 side. The moving galleries were pushed forward with infinite haz- 
 ard, and to no purpose; for, when they advanced toward the gar- 
 rison, they were either destroyed by fire or crushed by prodigious 
 stones. The soldiers could neither maintain their footing nor inake 
 use of their batteries without exposing themselves to continual dan- 
 ger. The most adventurous were either slain or wounded, and the 
 rest were greatly discouraged. 
 
 Marius, having thus spent many toilsome days, now hesitated 
 whether he should abandon his enterprise, which had proved unsuc- 
 cessful, or wait the interposition of fortune, which had so frequently 
 befriended him. While these reflections day and night occupied his 
 mind, a Ligurian, a common soldier of the auxiliary cohorts, who 
 had gone out of the camp in search of water, happened to observe, 
 liot far from the opposite side of the castle, some periwinkles creep- 
 ing among the rocks ; gathering one, then another, and still climb- 
 ing to procure more, he was led insensibly almost to the top of 
 the mountain, where, perceiving all was quiet in that quarter, the 
 natural desire of viewing unknown objects prompted him to pro- 
 ceed. 
 
 It chanced that an oak-tree, of considerable magnitude, here grew 
 out of the side of the rock, and, bending its trunk downward near 
 the root, then taking a turn, mounted upward, as is natural to trees 
 in such situations. 
 
 By the help of this, the Ligurian, laying hold of the branches of 
 the tree or of the prominences of the rock, was at length enabled to 
 survey the whole plan of the castle, without being disturbed by the 
 Numidians, who were all engaged on that side on which the attack 
 had been made. Having carefully examined whatever he thought 
 would be useful to him in the execution of his design, he returned 
 the same way; not hastily, as he went up, but pausing at every 
 step, and observing everything with the utmost care. 
 
 On his return to the camp, he hastened to Marius, informed him 
 of what he had done, pressed him to make an attempt on the castle 
 on that side where he himself had mounted, and promised that he 
 would lead the way, and be the first to face the danger. Marius de- 
 spatched some of those who attended him, accompanied by the Li- 
 gurian, to examine the spot ; and, although their reports varied as 
 to the facility or the difficulty of the undertaking, the consul, en- 
 couraged by the hope of success, determined to make the attempt. 
 He accordingly selected, from among the trumpeters and cornet- 
 blowers of the line, five of the most active and enterprising men. to- 
 gether with four centurions to support them, and, putting the whole
 
 EXTRACT FROM SALLUST. 347 
 
 under the command of the Ligurian, he ordered them to be in readi- 
 ness to set out on the following day. 
 
 At the time appointed the party left the camp, having previously 
 taken such measures as were necessary for the expedition. The cen- 
 turions, according to the instructions which they had received from 
 their guide, had changed their arms and dress, and marched with 
 their heads and feet bare, that they might have the freer prospect, 
 and climb with more facility. Their swords and bucklers were slung 
 across their shoulders ; the latter, of the Numidian kind, and covered 
 with hides, as well for the sake of lightness, as that all noise might 
 be avoided if they struck against the rock. 
 
 The Ligurian, leading the way, fixed cords about the stones, and 
 such roots of trees as appeared proper for the purpose, to assist the 
 soldiers in climbing ; stretching his hand, from time to time, to such 
 as were discouraged at so rugged a march. When the ascent was 
 more steep than ordinary, he would send them up before him un- 
 armed, and then follow himself with their arms. Wherever it ap- 
 peared more dangerous to climb, he went foremost ; and, by ascend- 
 ing and descending several times, encouraged the rest to follow him, 
 and retired to make way for them. At length, after much tedious 
 labor, they gained the castle, which was quite deserted on that side, 
 the Numidians being all employed in the opposite quarter. 
 
 When Marius was informed of the success of the Ligurian, al- 
 though he had kept the garrison employed the whole day by a con- 
 tinued attack, he now, encouraging the soldiers, sallied from under 
 the moving galleries, and, drawing up his men in the form of a 
 shell, rushed forward to the castle ; while the slingers and archers 
 poured their volleys from a distance, and the engines incessantly 
 played on the besieged. The Numidians, who had often before 
 broken to pieces and even burned the Roman galleries, did not now 
 defend themselves within their battlements, but passed whole days 
 and nights without their walls ; they railed at the efforts of the Ro- 
 mans, upbraided Marius with madness, and in the height of their ex- 
 ultation threatened to make our men slaves of Jugurtha. 
 
 While both sides were warmly engaged in this vigorous struggle 
 for glory and empire on the one hand, and life and liberty on the 
 other, the trumpets on a sudden sounded in the enemy's rear. The 
 women and children, who had come out to see the engagement, first 
 fled in dismay ; after them, such as were nearest the walls ; and at 
 last the whole, armed and unarmed, fairly gave way. The Romans 
 now pressed onward with greater vigor, overthrowing the enemy, and 
 wounding most of them ; then, advancing over the heaps of slain, 
 they flew to the walls, all thirsting for glory, and each striving to be 
 foremost, without regard to plunder. Thus did accidental success 
 justify the rashness of Marius, while his imprudence contributed to 
 heighten his glory." 
 
 Cornelius Nepos (74-24 B.d), though inferior to the writers 
 
 P
 
 348 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 just treated, deserves mention for his "Lives of Eminent 
 Commanders," his only extant work. These sketches, espe- 
 cially the biography of Pomponius Atticus, are clearly writ- 
 ten and furnish valuable information respecting the times to 
 which they relate ; but Nepos was not an accurate compiler, 
 and dependence cannot always be placed on his statements. 
 As a specimen of his style, we quote from his "Lives " 
 
 THE CHARACTER OF ALCIBIADES. 
 
 " Nature seems to have tried in him what she could do. For it ie 
 agreed upon among all who have written about him, that nobody 
 was more extraordinary than he, either in vices or in virtues ; being 
 born in a very great city, of a great family, much the handsomest 
 man of his time, fit for all things, and abounding in judgment for 
 the management of affairs. For he was a very great commander, 
 both by sea and laud ; so eloquent that he mightily prevailed in 
 speaking; and such was the plausibility of his elocution and lan- 
 guage that in haranguing nobody was able to stand before him. 
 
 The same man, when occasion required, was laborious, hardy, gen- 
 erous, splendid no less in his equipage than his diet, affable, fawn- 
 ing, very cunningly serving the times. The same, when he had un- 
 bent himself, and there was no reason why he should take upon him 
 any labor of thought, was found to be luxurious, dissolute, and in- 
 temperate, in so much that all wondered that in the same man there 
 should be so much unlikeuess to himself, and natures so different." 
 JOHN CLARKE. 
 
 POETS OP THE CICERONIAN PERIOD. 
 
 Lucretius (95-55 B.C.). Meanwhile Italy produced two 
 poets of high rank, Lucretius and Catullus. Of Lucretius we 
 have little trustworthy information. A native of Italy, he ap- 
 pears, in accordance with the common practice, to have stud- 
 ied philosophy at Athens, where he became the classmate of 
 Memmius. From his poetry, we may infer his indifference to 
 all things transient, alike to social pleasures and the stormy 
 sea of politics that surged around him ; his life was probably 
 one of deep thought, tinged with sadness. In dignity he was 
 a true Roman ; in sympathy for his kind, a true man. With 
 nature he must have held frequent converse, for Homer alone
 
 LUCKETIUS. 349 
 
 of ancient writers excels him in description. His life ended 
 with suicide. 
 
 The only work of Lucretius was what Macaulay styles " the 
 finest didactic poem in any language," "On the Nature of 
 Things." It was dedicated to his school-friend Memmius, at 
 whose suggestion it is said to have been written. The old 
 story that, having been crazed by a love-philter administered 
 through the jealousy of his wife, the poet composed this work 
 during the temporary returns of reason, is now discredited as 
 a fabrication of later times. 
 
 The poem is divided into six books, and embodies the dog- 
 mas of Epicurus, which Lucretius vivified with the spirit of 
 poetry and beautified with its most attractive drapery. Pleas- 
 ure, the chief end of existence, is to be sought by banishing 
 care and distressing thoughts. God created not ; but eternal 
 atoms, variously and ceaselessly active, constitute all existing 
 things. The soul is material, and dies with the body ; it be- 
 hooves us, therefore, to make the most of the little time allot- 
 ted us out of eternity, by dividing it between moderate enjoy- 
 ment and philosophical contemplation. 
 
 Lucretius also accounted for the origin of the universe, 
 whose government by a Divine Being he scouted ; for that of 
 plants, men, and animals, teaching the survival of the fittest; 
 for that of language and the arts. To elevate his readers 
 above degrading superstitions and the cowardly fear of death 
 is his primary aim ; and " the constant presence of this prac- 
 tical purpose imparts to his words that peculiar tone of im- 
 passioned earnestness to which there is no parallel in ancient 
 literature." In one of many passages on the subject, he thus 
 speaks of 
 
 THE DREAD OF DEATH. 
 
 " Were then the Nature of Created Things 
 To rise abrupt, and thus repining mau 
 Address : ' O mortal ! whence these useless fears ? 
 This weak, superfluous sorrow ? why the approach
 
 350 KOMAN LITEKATUKE. 
 
 Dread'st tlioii of death ? For if the time elapsed 
 Have smiled propitious, and uot all its gifts, 
 As if adveutured in a leaky vase, 
 Beeu idly wasted, profitless, and vain 
 Why quitt'st thou not, thou fool! the feast of life 
 Filled, an 1 with mind all panting for repose ? 
 But if thyself have squandered every boon, 
 And of the past grown weary why demand 
 More days to kill, more blessings to pervert, 
 Nor rather headlong hasten to thine end ?' 
 Were Nature thus to address us, could we fail 
 To feel the justice of her keen rebuke ? 
 So true the picture, the advice so sage ! 
 
 But to the wretch who moans the approach of death 
 With grief unmeasured, louder might she raise 
 Her voice severe : ' Vile coward ! dry thine eyes 
 Hence with thy snivelling sorrows, and depart!' 
 Should he, moreo'er, have passed man's mid-day hour 
 ' What! thou lament, already who hast reaped 
 An ample harvest ? By desiring thus 
 The past once more, the present thon abhorr'st, 
 And life flies on imperfect, uuenjoyed, 
 And death untimely meets thee, ere thy soul, 
 Cloyed with the banquet, is prepared to rise. 
 Leave, then, to others bliss thy years should slum ; 
 Come, cheerful leave it, since still leave thon must.' 
 Justly, I deem, might Nature thus reprove : 
 For, through creation, old to young resigns, 
 And this from that matures; nor aught descends 
 To the dread gnlfs, the fancied shades of hell. 
 The mass material must survive entire 
 To feed succeeding ages, which, in turn, 
 Like theo shall flourish, and like thee shall die ; 
 Nor more the present ruins than the past. 
 Thus things from things ascend; and life exists 
 To none a.freehold, but a use to all. 
 
 Reflect, moreo'er, how less than naught to us 
 Weighs the long portion of eternal time 
 Fled ere our birth : so, too, the future weighs 
 When death dissolves us. What of horror, then, 
 Dwells there in death ? what gloomy, what austere ? 
 Can there be elsewhere slumber half so sound ?" 
 
 JOHN MASON GOOD. 
 
 Lucretius reasons plausibly, but on some points, it is too 
 evident, unsatisfactorily even to himself. His work contains 
 much that is worthy of praise, but this only makes its atheis-
 
 EXTRACT FROM LUCRETIUS. 351 
 
 tical tendencies more dangerous. It was left unfinished at 
 the poet's death, to be revised and edited by other hands. 
 
 The style of Lucretius is not uniformly harmonious ; some 
 of his verses lack polish, and he inclines to antique forms. 
 Yet it is dignified, luminous, and animated; glows with all the 
 poet's enthusiasm, and is marked by tenderness and pathos. 
 The pictures drawn are so real as to awaken the emotions 
 that would be experienced on beholding the originals. Schle- 
 gel gives Lucretius high praise: "As a painter and worship- 
 per of nature, he is the first of all the poets of antiquity." 
 
 In the extract given below, the touching description of the 
 cow searching for her calf that has been offered in sacrifice, 
 will show how he dignifies commonplace subjects : 
 
 VARIETY IN NATURE. 
 
 " Thus Nature varies ; man, and brutal beast, 
 And herbage gay, and silver fishes mute, 
 And all the tribes of heaven, o'er many a sea, 
 Through many a grove that wing, or urge their song 
 Near many a bank of fountain, lake, or rill, 
 Search where thou wilt, each differs in his kind, 
 In form, in figure differs. Hence alone 
 Knows the fond mother her appropriate young, 
 The appropriate young their mother, 'mid the brutes, 
 As clear discerned as man's sublimer race. 
 Thus oft before the sacred shrine, perfumed 
 With breathing frankincense, the affrighted calf 
 Pours o'er the altar, from his breast profound, 
 The purple flood of life. But wandering wild 
 O'er the green sward, the dam, bereft of hope, 
 Beats with her cloven hoof the indented dale, 
 Each spot exploring, if, perchance, she still 
 May trace her idol ; through the umbrageous grove, 
 With well-known voice, she moans ; and oft reseeks, 
 Urged by a mother's love, the accustomed stall. 
 Nor shade for her, nor dew-distended glebe, 
 Nor stream soft gliding down its banks abrupt, 
 Yields aught of solace ; nor the carking care 
 Averts, that preys within ; nor the gay young 
 Of others soothe her o'er the joyous green : 
 So deep she longs, so lingers for her own. 
 Thus equal known, thus longed for, seek, in turn,
 
 352 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 The tender heifer, tremulous of voice, 
 
 Aud the gay bleatiug lamb, their horned dams, 
 
 Lured by the milky fount that nurtures life." 
 
 Catullus (87-54 B.C.). Verona in Cisalpine Gaul gave 
 birth to Catullus, the first great Roman lyrist. It was no 
 doubt to avail himself of the superior advantages Rome offer- 
 ed, that while still in the greenness of his youth he exchanged 
 his provincial quarters for the capital. Here we catch occa- 
 sional glimpses of him moving among the elite as the equal 
 of men like Nepos, Hortensius, and Cicero ; or as the reckless 
 sensualist throwing himself at the feet of some dissolute siren. 
 
 Upon the notorious " Lesbia," who stole, our poet sung, 
 
 " The charms most rare of every fair 
 To frame a perfect whole," 
 
 Catullus wasted alike his love and the finest lyrics of which 
 the Latin boasts. The coquettish beauty at first gloried in her 
 conquest of Rome's most popular poet, and appears for a time 
 to have been true. Then she grew cold, and cast him off for 
 new admirers. But Catullus, though outraged by her fickle- 
 ness, could not overcome his unworthy passion : 
 
 "I curse her every hour sincerely, 
 Yet hang me but I love her dearly." 
 
 At last, however, he renounced his faithless mistress, bidding 
 her adieu in an ode which closes with one of his most beau- 
 tiful similes : 
 
 "Nor give that love a thought which I 
 So nursed for thee in days gone by, 
 Now by thy guile slain in an hour, 
 E'en as some little wilding flower, 
 That on the meadow's border blushed, 
 Is by the passing ploughshare crushed." 
 
 Catullus spent his hours of relaxation at his villa in the 
 suburbs of the Latian town of Ti'bur, or at his favorite Sirmio 
 on a lovely lake in northern Italy, the subject of one of his 
 most graceful odes. Toward the close of his life, in the hope
 
 CATULLUS. 353 
 
 of refilling a purse which his extravagance had depleted, he 
 went to Bithynia in Asia Minor as a staff-officer of the praetor 
 Memmius, to whom Lucretius inscribed his poem. But in 
 consequence of the selfishness of his superior, Catullus came 
 back with wallet still lighter. Of two friends who went to 
 Spain on a similar errand, he archly inquired: 
 
 " And have you netted worse than worst 
 A good deal less than yon disbursed ; 
 Like me, who following about 
 My prajtor, was in fact cleaned out?" 
 
 The death of a brother to whom he was devotedly attached 
 plunged Catullus in grief; and now with nothing to live for, 
 sated with worldly pleasure, in which he found the vanity of 
 vanities, he longed for the fate that soon overtook him. 
 
 THE STYLE OF CATULLUS, called by the ancients " the Ac- 
 complished," is lively, graceful, and vigorous ; he writes in the 
 language of nature, and excels in suiting his words to the sen- 
 timents expressed. The musical measures of the Greeks, 
 adapted by him to his native tongue, lent intensity to his 
 words, and there were "lutes in his very lines." From the 
 Greek writers, particularly Sappho and Callimachus of Alex- 
 andria, he borrowed largely. One of his odes to Lesbia is ev- 
 idently an imitation of Sappho's celebrated love-song quoted 
 
 on p. 169 : 
 
 TO LESBIA. 
 
 " Tne equal of a God he seems to me, 
 
 Surpassing wealth doth his blessed lot appear, 
 Who, sitting often opposite to thee, 
 May gaze and hear. 
 
 The radiance of thy smile from me hath reft, 
 
 From miserable me, all sense away, 
 For when I look on Lesbia naught is left 
 That Love can say. 
 
 My tongue is dumb, while through each trembling limb 
 
 The thin flame mounts, till self-wrought murmurs rise 
 To fill mine cars, and night grown doubly dim 
 
 Veils o'er mine eyes." C. N. GREGORY.
 
 354 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 His book of poems, 116 in number, was dedicated to Cor- 
 nelius Nepos. Their subjects are as various as the metres in 
 which they are written, for they reflect the passing emotions 
 of the poet, now lighted with gayety, now clouded with sorrow, 
 anon ablaze with love. 
 
 Among the other pieces of Catullus must be mentioned his 
 cutting satires, in which even Caesar was not spared ; his ex- 
 quisite epithalamia y or marriage-hymns ; and the " Atys," a 
 weird poem remarkable for its metrical effects. Our poet's 
 lyric powers may be further judged of by the following 
 
 ELEGY ON LESBIA'S SPARROW. 
 
 " Loves and Graces, mourn with me, 
 Mourn, fair youths, where'er ye be ! 
 Dead my Lesbia's sparrow is, 
 Sparrow, that -was all her bliss, 
 Than her very eyes more dear ; 
 For he made ho r dainty cheer, 
 Knew her well, ad any maid 
 Knows her mother, never strnyed 
 From her lap, but still would go 
 Hopping round her to and fro, 
 And to her, and her alone, 
 Chirrnp'd with such pretty tone. 
 Now he treads that gloomy track, 
 Whence none ever may come back. 
 Out upon you, and your power, 
 Which all fairest things devour, 
 Orcus' gloomy shades, that e'er 
 Ye should take my bird so fair ! 
 Oh ! poor bird ! Oh ! dismal shades ! 
 Yours the blame is, that my maid's 
 Eyes, dear eyes! are swoll'n and red, 
 Weeping for her darling dead." 
 
 THEODORE MARTIX. 
 
 POETRY OF THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 
 
 As prose reached its highest development in the last years 
 of the Republic, so many causes contributed to perfect Latin 
 verse in the reign of the first Roman emperor, Augustus. 
 Secured upon the throne by his triumph at Actium (31 B.C.),
 
 POETS OF THE AUGUSTAN AGE. 355 
 
 Augustus pursued a conciliatory course, with a view to win- 
 ning the love of his subjects, and he was eminently success- 
 ful. All classes, tired of civil war and its attendant proscrip- 
 tions and massacres, hailed with delight the return of peace ; 
 and under the patronage of the emperor, seconded by his 
 minister Maecenas, poetry revived. 
 
 Augustus was as fortunate in finding at Rome a number of 
 youthful poets, many of them in humble circumstances and of 
 provincial origin, as in the possession of a minister who could 
 appreciate and foster their talents. Maecenas knew the value 
 of genius too well to let it die of neglect; and his name, as 
 the patron of art and letters, has passed into a proverb. His 
 luxurious gardens were the haunt of poets and savants, and 
 round his sumptuous table sat an inspired circle who poured 
 their grateful tributes into the ears of their master and his. 
 
 Thus the munificence of Augustus and Maecenas, them- 
 selves both critics and writers, combined with the political 
 quiet that gave leisure for literary pursuits, to make their 
 period the golden age of poetry. Prose, on the other hand, 
 declined. Political eloquence was powerless in the face of 
 despotism ; while the veracious historian must needs tread a 
 dangerous path, or seal his lips. 
 
 The poets of the Augustan era were deficient, as a rule, in 
 that creative genius which characterized the age of Pericles 
 in Greece, their works being rather the fruits of art and in- 
 dustry. A long and careful training, in which Greek studies 
 played a prominent part, prepared them for their high pro- 
 fession ; Horace tells us that at the age of twenty-three he 
 was still " seeking the truth among the groves of Academus." 
 Works on various subjects could now be consulted in the 
 public libraries of Rome ; and Alexandrian models helped to 
 mould the literary taste of the day. 
 
 The Augustan poets will now be considered in turn. 
 
 Virgil. In the little village of Andes near Mantua, on the 
 P2
 
 356 
 
 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 ROMANS OF TUB ACGCSTAX AGE. 
 
 i5th of October, B.C. 70, Rome's greatest poet, Virgil (Pub- 
 lius Virgilius Maro), first saw the light. His boyhood was 
 spent on the banks of the winding Mincio in a quiet round 
 of rural pursuits ; his father, as owner of a small farm, being 
 among those whom the poet subsequently pictured as the 
 happiest of men. 
 
 Alive to the importance of education, Virgil's parents set 
 aside a portion of their slender means to provide for his in- 
 struction ; and when he reached the age of twelve, his father 
 entered him in a school at Cremona. In his seventeenth 
 year he went to Rome, and there prosecuted the higher stud- 
 ies, familiarizing himself with the Greek poets, and spending 
 his leisure in the composition of lyric pieces. Having com-
 
 VIRGIL. 357 
 
 pleted his education, Virgil returned to his native place, 
 where, amid the natural attractions that surrounded him, he 
 conceived the idea of rivalling Theocritus in bucolic poetry, 
 and in 42 B.C. began his Eclogues. 
 
 After the victory of the Triumvirs in the civil war, the 
 lands about Cremona and Mantua were divided among the 
 soldiers who had served against Brutus, and the estate of 
 Virgil, neutral though he had been, was taken from him. On 
 the poet's application to Octavius, however, it was restored, 
 and in one of his Eclogues he gave utterance to his sincere 
 gratitude. Shortly after, Virgil was ejected again, and this 
 time narrowly escaped with his life by swimming the Mincio. 
 Nor does he appear to have ever been reinstated. Octavius, 
 however, loaded him with favors j and a house in Rome near 
 the palace of his friend Maecenas, with a lovely villa in the 
 suburbs of Naples, where the climate agreed better with his 
 delicate constitution than the damp air of the north, recon- 
 ciled him to the loss of his boyhood's home. 
 
 The Eclogues, published about 37 B.C., established Virgil's 
 reputation as a pastoral poet, and gained him no mean place 
 among the literary and political celebrities that crowded 
 the house of Maecenas. It was by the advice of this states- 
 man that the poet undertook the most finished and original 
 of all his productions, the Georgics, a work which, though 
 only about 2200 lines in length, occupied him for seven years. 
 
 Having declared in this poem that "he would wed Caesars 
 glories to an epic strain," Virgil was held to his promise by 
 the emperor, at whose solicitation he gave the rest of his life 
 (eleven years) to the composition of the ^Eneid. In this 
 great epic, like the Odyssey a sequel to the Iliad, the origin 
 of Rome is traced back to ancient Troy, and the genealogy of 
 Augustus to her greatest surviving hero, " the pious ^Eneas." 
 Death stopped the poet's pen when three years' labor was 
 yet necessary, in his estimation, to perfect his work.
 
 358 EOMAN LITEKATURE. 
 
 It appears that in the year 19 B.C. Virgil undertook a tour 
 through Greece and Asia Minor, to acquaint himself with the 
 geography of the countries described in the ^Eneid ; but 
 meeting Augustus at Athens, he changed his plans and start- 
 ed with the emperor for Rome. On the way he was seized 
 with a mortal illness, and only lived to reach the harbor of 
 Brundisium in southern Italy. On his death-bed, Virgil be- 
 sought his friends to bring him the manuscript of his epic, 
 that he might consign it to the flames ; but they wisely saved 
 a masterpiece which the modesty of its author would have 
 condemned to oblivion. 
 
 Virgil was interred at Naples. A simple vault, overgrown 
 with ivy and wild myrtle, still marks his grave. On a marble 
 slab set in the rock opposite is the inscription which Dryden 
 has thus rendered : 
 
 " I sung flocks, tillage, heroes : Mantua gave 
 Me liie ; Bnmdisium, deatli ; Naples, a grave." 
 
 Virgil has been described as a tall, dark-complexioned man, 
 careless of his dress, and with awkward country airs. His life 
 was that of a student ; and despite the fact that he was a mar- 
 tyr to dyspepsia and pulmonary disease, he did not allow his 
 delicate health to interfere with his literary labors. Of gen- 
 tle, unassuming manners, he would fly from the admiring 
 crowds that followed him in the streets ; and none would 
 have inferred from his appearance or conversation that he 
 was a great poet. He was more than a great poet he was 
 a pure, unselfish, honest man, uncontaminated by the prevail- 
 ing vices. Not the least among his virtues was filial piety. 
 His countrymen felt how great and noble he was, when they 
 rose in the theatre and paid him equal honor with the em- 
 peror himself. 
 
 Had he lived, it was Virgil's purpose, after completing the 
 ^Eneid, to study philosophy, the love of which he had imbibed 
 in early life from the verses of Lucretius. The investigation
 
 VIRGIL'S ECLOGUES. 359 
 
 of truth was his highest aim ; and there are reasons for be- 
 lieving that he had in mind the preparation of a grand phil- 
 osophical poem that might have cast into the shade the 
 stately treatise " On the Nature of Things." 
 
 Such liberality had Virgil experienced from his friends that 
 he left a fortune of $400,000, to be divided, as he never mar- 
 ried, among his brother, Augustus, Maecenas, and others of 
 his associates. 
 
 THE ECLOGUES. Virgil was the first Roman writer to cul- 
 tivate pastoral poetry, and his Eclogues (selections], or more 
 properly Bucolics (shepherd poems}, are mostly dialogues, in 
 imitation of the idyls of Theocritus. Various subjects are 
 charmingly discussed by imaginary shepherds, in whom one 
 sometimes recognizes the poet and his friends. 
 
 The least understood of Virgil's Eclogues is the one enti- 
 tled " Pollio," from the name of the consul to whom it is ad- 
 dressed. It was written B.C. 40, and predicts the coming of 
 a wondrous Child, whose birth would usher in a golden age 
 of peace and happiness. Some have seen in this child an un- 
 conscious allusion to the Babe of Bethlehem, whose advent 
 the Sibylline oracles are believed to have foretold. Perhaps 
 Virgil had heard of the Hebrew prophecies indirectly through 
 the Alexandrian Greeks, and recast them in Latin verse ; 
 perhaps it was but a Roman infant Pollio's child whose 
 birth he sung in an exaggerated strain. However this may 
 be, we may remember that the heathen as well as the Jewish 
 world at this time expected a great reformer, who should re- 
 store the innocence and bliss of by-gone ages. 
 
 EXTRACT FROM THE POLLIO. 
 
 " Comes the Last Age, of which the Sibyl sung 
 A new-born cycle of the rolling years ; 
 Justice returns to earth, the rule returns 
 Of good King Saturn ; lo ! from the high heavens 
 Comes a new seed of men. Lucina chaste, 
 Speed the fair infant's birth, with whom shall end
 
 360 K03IAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Our ago of iron, and the golden prime 
 Of earth return ; thine own Apollo's reigti 
 In him begins anew. This glorious age 
 Inaugurates, O Pollio, with thee; 
 Thy consulship shall date the happy months ; 
 Under thine auspices the Child shall purge 
 Our guilt-stains out, and free the land from dread. 
 He with the gods and heroes like the gods 
 Shall hold familiar converse, and shall rule 
 With his great father's spirit the peaceful world. 
 For thee, O Child ! the earth uutilled shall pour 
 Her early gifts, the winding ivy's wreath, 
 Smiling acanthus, and all flowers that blow. 
 The ground beneath shall cradle thee in blooms, 
 The venomed snake shall die, the poisonous herb 
 Perish from out thy path. 
 
 So, when the years shall seal thy manhood's strength, 
 The busy merchant shall forsake the seas 
 Barter there shall not need ; the soil shall bear 
 For all men's use all products of all clinics. 
 The glebe shall need no harrow, nor the vino 
 The searching knife, the oxen bear no yoke ; 
 The wool no longer shall be schooled to lie, 
 Dyed in false hues ; but, coloring as he feeds, 
 The ram himself in the rich pasture-lauds 
 Shall wear a fleece now purple and now gold, 
 And the lambs grow in scarlet. So the Fates, 
 Who know not change, have bid their spindles run, 
 And weave for this blest age the web of doom." 
 
 W. L. COLLIXS. 
 
 THE GEORGICS. Having shown his powers in the Ec- 
 logues, Virgil was not unwilling to put them to a further 
 proof, when Maecenas suggested a work on husbandry, which 
 should dignify that ancient art and revive a love for the sim- 
 ple pursuits of the fathers of the Republic. 
 
 Taking Hesiod's "Works and Days" as his model, he add- 
 ed the artistic Georgics (agricultural poem) to the works of 
 Cato and Varro on rural life. No less elevated in tone than 
 theirs, it possesses an additional attraction in its dress of 
 verse, glows with the author's love of nature, and displays his 
 ardent zeal to check the national decay. Virgil labored upon 
 the Georgics for seven years, it being his habit to rise betimes
 
 VIRGIL'S GEOKGICS. 3d 
 
 and dictate in the early morning verses which he spent the 
 rest of the day in polishing and condensing. 
 
 The Georgics is a didactic poem, and as such, with the 
 work of Lucretius, represents the only department in which 
 the Romans excelled both the Greeks and all modern na- 
 tions. The first of its four books is devoted to tillage ; it 
 gives directions for ploughing (early and often, was Virgil's 
 motto), sowing, and fertilizing, and explains the signs of the 
 weather. We learn from it that the pests of the modern 
 farmer were not unknown to the old Roman husbandman : 
 
 " With ponderous roller smooth the level floor, 
 And bind with chalky cement o'er and o'er ; 
 Lest springing weeds expose thy want of art, 
 And worn in many a chink the surface part: 
 There huilds the field-mouse underneath the ground, 
 And loads her little barn with plunder crow nod ; 
 There works the mole along her dark abode, 
 There in its hollow lurks the lonely toad, 
 There wastes the weevil with insatiate rage, 
 There the wise ant that dreads the wants of age." 
 
 Arboriculture is treated minutely in the second book, the 
 vine receiving the principal share of attention. Here we 
 have the most beautiful of those digressions which lend an 
 enchanting variety to the style of the Georgics the poet's 
 glowing eulogy of his native land. 
 
 PRAISES OF ITALY. 
 
 "Yet nor the Median groves, nor rivers, rolled, 
 Ganges, and Hermus, o'er their beds of gold, 
 Nor Ind, nor Bactra, nor the blissful laud 
 Where incense spreads o'er rich Panchaia's sand, 
 Nor all that fancy paints in fabled lays, 
 O native Italy ! transcend thy praise. 
 Though here no bulls beneath the enchanted yoke 
 With fiery nostril o'er the furrow smoke, 
 No hydra teeth embattled harvest yield, 
 Spear and bright helmet bristling o'er the field ; 
 Yet golden corn each laughing valley fills, 
 The vintage reddens on a thousand hills,
 
 362 KOMAN LITEKATUEE. 
 
 Luxuriant olives spread from shore to shore, 
 And flocks unnumbered range the pastures o'er. 
 Hence the proud war-horse rushes on the foe, 
 Clituuiuus! hence thy herds, more white than suow, 
 And stately bull, that, of gigantic size, 
 Supreme of victims, on the altar lies, 
 Bathed in thy sacred stream oft led the traiu 
 When Rome in pomp of triumph deck'd the fane. 
 Here Spring perpetual leads the laughing Hours, 
 And Winter wears a wreath of summer flowers : 
 The o'erloaded branch twice fills with fruits the year, 
 And twice the teeming flocks their offspring rear. 
 
 Yet here no lion breeds, no tiger strays, 
 No tempting aconite the touch betrays, 
 No monstrous snake the uncoiling volume trails, 
 Or gathers orb on orb his iron scales. 
 But many a peopled city towers around, 
 And many a rocky cliff with castle crowned, 
 And many an antique wall whose hoary brow 
 O'ershades the flood that guards its base below. 
 
 All hail, Saturnian earth ! hail, loved of fame, 
 Laud, rich in fruits and men of mighty name ! 
 For thee I dare the sacred founts explore, 
 For thee, the rules of ancient art restore, 
 Themes once to glory raised again rehearse, 
 And pour through Romau towns the Ascraan verse." 
 
 SOTHEBY. 
 
 The raising of cattle and the management of bees form the 
 subjects of the remaining books of the Georgics. 
 
 THE ^ENEID narrates in epic verse the adventures of ^ne- 
 as, the legendary ancestor of the Romans. Virgil sums up 
 his plot in the opening lines : 
 
 "Arms and the man I sing, who first, 
 By Fate of Ilian realm amerce'd, 
 To fair Italia onward bore, 
 And landed on Lavinium's shore : 
 Long tossing earth and ocean o'er, 
 By violence of heaven, to sate 
 Fell Juno's unforgetting hate : 
 Much labored too in battle-field, 
 Striving his city's walls to build, 
 
 And give his Gods a home. 
 Thence come the hardy Latin brood, 
 The ancient sires of Alba's blood, 
 
 And lofty-rampired Rome."
 
 VIRGIL'S ^ENEID. 363 
 
 ./Eneas, the son of Venus by the Trojan shepherd Anchi'- 
 ses, escaped from burning Troy with his aged father, little 
 son, and household gods. He lay concealed for a time in the 
 mountains ; and, when the victorious Greeks had all with- 
 drawn, took ship with the remnant of his people to found a 
 new Troy in the west. After seven years of hardships and 
 mistakes, the Trojans embark from Sicily for "the Hespe- 
 rian shore." 
 
 Here the ^Eneid takes up the story. In the first book we 
 see the Trojan fleet driven by a tempest, sent at Juno's solic- 
 itation, on the opposite coast of Africa, near the rising walls 
 of Carthage. Dido, its queen, whom the murder of her hus- 
 band Sichaeus by her unnatural brother had driven from Tyre, 
 receives the strangers hospitably, and by the strategy of Ve- 
 nus conceives a passionate love for ^Eneas. At her request 
 the Trojan prince tells the pathetic story the fall of his na- 
 tive city through the wiles of the Greeks, and his subsequent 
 trials. 
 
 ^Eneas returns Dido's love, but only at last to betray his 
 confiding hostess, and fly with his vessels under cover of the 
 night, in obedience to a warning from Mercury, the messen- 
 ger of Jove. Too " pious " to disregard the heavenly com- 
 mand, he left Dido to end her sorrow on the funeral pyre. 
 
 After a temporary sojourn in Sicily, where he celebrates 
 funeral games to his father's memory, ^Eneas at length reaches 
 Cumae in Italy, and at once seeks the Sibyl. She informs 
 him that his trials are not over, and takes him to the lower 
 world that he may hold an interview with his father Anchises. 
 There he descries among other shades the injured Dido, to 
 whom he endeavors to excuse his conduct. 
 
 " 'Mid these among the branching treen 
 Sad Dido moved, the Tyrian queen, 
 Her death-wound ghastly yet and green. 
 Soon as .(Eneas caught the view 
 And through the mist her semblance knew,
 
 364 KOMAN LITEKATUKE. 
 
 Like one who spies, or thinks he spies, 
 Through flickering clouds the new moon rise, 
 The tear-drop from his eyelids broke, 
 And thus iu tenderest tones he spoke . 
 
 ' Ah Dido ! rightly then I read 
 The news that told me you were dead, 
 
 Slain by your own rash hand ! 
 Myself the cause of your despair! 
 Now by the blessed stars I swear, 
 By heaven, by all that dead men keep 
 In reverence here 'mid darkness deep, 
 Against my will, ill-fated fair, 
 
 I parted from your laud.' " 
 
 CONINGTOX. 
 
 But Dido averts her eyes " that neither smiled nor wept," 
 and moves away in silence to join Sichaeus, who "gives her 
 love for love." 
 
 JEneas learns from the lips of Anchises the future of his 
 race, and beholds the shadowy forms of kings, generals, and 
 statesmen that are to shed glory on the Roman name. "Au- 
 gustus Cassar, god by birth," figures, as we should expect, the 
 proudest of the throng. At last he espies the great Marcel- 
 lus, " the Sword of Rome," glittering in the spoils of the Pu- 
 nic War ; and by his side 
 
 " A youth full-armed, by none excelled 
 In beauty's manly grace." 
 
 In answer to the inquiry of yEneas, Anchises tells his son 
 that this youth is " our own Marcellus," and eulogizes his vir- 
 tues. Thus Virgil immortalized the name of a Roman prince 
 of great promise, son of Octavia, the emperor's sister, whose 
 premature death had filled the Roman world with sorrow. 
 When, at the request of Augustus, the poet read this portion 
 of his epic before the royal family, all were moved to tears, 
 and the bereaved mother fainted. She afterward showed her 
 appreciation of Virgil's genius by presenting him about $400 
 for each of the twenty-seven lines. The passage is well worth 
 repeating here :
 
 VIUGIL'S ^ENEID. 365 
 
 VIRGIL'S TRIBUTE TO MARCELLUS. 
 
 " Seek not to know (the ghost replied with tears) 
 The sorrows of thy sous in future years. 
 This youth (the blissful vision of a day) 
 Shall just be shown on earth, then snatched away. 
 The gods too high had raised the Roman state, 
 Were but their gifts as permanent as great. 
 What groans of men shall fill the Martian field ! 
 How fierce a blaze his flaming pile shall yield ! 
 What funeral pomp shall floating Tiber see, 
 When rising from his bed, he views the sad solemnity! 
 No youth shall equal hopes of glory give, 
 No youth afford so great a cause to grieve. 
 The Trojan honor, and the Roman boast, 
 Admired when living, and adored when lost! 
 Mirror of ancient faith in early youth ! 
 Undaunted worth, inviolable truth ! 
 No foe, unpunished, in the fighting field 
 Shall dare thee, foot to foot, with sword and shield! 
 Much less in arms oppose thy matchless force, 
 When thy sharp spurs shall urge thy foaming horse. 
 Ah! couldst thou break through Fate's severe decree, 
 A new Marcellus shall arise iu thee! 
 Full canisters of fragrant lilies bring, 
 Mixed with the purple roses of the spring : 
 Let me with funeral flowers his body strow ; 
 This gift which parents to their children owe, 
 This unavailing gift, at least I may bestow !" DRYDEN. 
 
 From Cumae the Trojan chief sails to Latium, the land of 
 his destiny, and there he receives from King Lati'nus the 
 promise of his daughter Lavinia's hand. But this provokes a 
 war with Turnus, a neighboring prince, to whom Lavinia had 
 been secretly plighted by the queen-mother. Not until he 
 had subdued Turnus and his Latin allies did ^Eneas make 
 Lavinia his own and rule as king of Latium. The poem 
 ends with the fall of Turnus in a duel between the rival 
 chiefs. To finish the story, Alba Longa was built by Ene- 
 as' son lulus, from whose royal line in later ages sprung 
 Romulus, founder of Rome, the Julian family, and their 
 great hero Julius Caesar. 
 
 The passion of Dido, as portrayed in the fourth book of the
 
 366 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 ^Eneid, is the most masterly piece of Virgil's handiwork. We 
 present below the closing scenes that sealed her sad fate. 
 
 THE DEATH OF DIDO. 
 
 "Now, rising from Tithonus' bed, 
 The Dawn ou earth her freshness shed : 
 The queen from off her turret height 
 Perceives the first dim streak of light, 
 The fleet careering on its way, 
 And void and sailless shore and bay ; 
 She smites her breast, all snowy fair, 
 And rends her goldeu length of hair: 
 ' Great Jove ! and shall he go ?' she cries, 
 
 ' And leave our realm a wanderer's mock ? 
 Quick, snatch your arms and chase the prize, 
 
 And drag the vessels from the dock ! 
 Fetch flames, bring darts, ply oars! yet why f 
 What words are these, or where am I ? 
 Why ra-ve I thus ? Those impious deeds 
 Poor Dido ! how your torn heart bleeds. 
 Too late! it should have bled that day 
 When at his feet your sceptre lay. 
 Lo here, the chief of stainless word, 
 Who takes his household gods ou board, 
 Whose shoulders safe from sword and fire 
 Conveyed his venerable sire ! 
 Oh ! had I rent him limb from limb 
 And cast him o'er the waves to swim, 
 His friends, his own Ascanius killed, 
 And with the child the father filled ! 
 Yet danger in the strife had been : 
 
 Who prates of danger here ? 
 A death-devoted, desperate queen, 
 
 What foe had I to fear ? 
 No, I had sown the flame broadcast, 
 Had fired the fleet from keel to mast, 
 Slain son and sire, stamped out the race, 
 And thrown at length with steadfast face 
 
 Myself upon the bier. 
 
 If needs must be that wretch abhorred 
 
 Attain the port and float to land ; 
 If such the fate of heaven's high lord, 
 
 And so the moveless pillars stand ; 
 Scourged by a savage enemy, 
 
 An exile from his son's embrace,
 
 EXTRACT FROM VIRGII/S ^ENEID. 367 
 
 So let him sue for aid, and see 
 
 His people slain before liis face ; 
 Nor when to humbling peace at length 
 
 He stoops, be his or life or laud, 
 But let him fall in manhood's strength 
 
 And welter tombless on the sand. 
 Such malison to heaven I pour, 
 A last libation with my gore. 
 And, Tyrians, you through time to come 
 
 His seed with deathless hatred chase : 
 Be that your gift to Dido's tomb : 
 
 No love, no league 'twixt race and race. 
 Rise from my ashes, scourge of crime, 
 
 Born to pursue the Cardan horde 
 To-day, to-morrow, through all time, 
 
 Oft as our hands can wield the sword : 
 Fight shore with shore, fight sea with sea, 
 Fight all that are or e'er shall be !' 
 
 She ceased, and with her heart debates 
 How best to leave the life she hates. 
 Then to Sichaens' nurse she cried 
 (For hers ere while at Tyre had died) : 
 ' Good nurse, my sister Anna bring : 
 O'er face and body bid her fling 
 
 Pure drops from lustra! bough: 
 So sprinkled come, and at her side 
 The victims lead: you too provide 
 
 A fillet for your brow. 
 A sacrifice to Stygian Jove 
 I hero perform, to ease my love, 
 And give to flame the fatal bed 
 Which pillowed once the Trojan's head.' 
 Thus she : the aged dame gives heed, 
 And, feebly hurrying, mends her speed. 
 
 Then, maddening over crime, the queen, 
 
 With bloodshot eyes, and sanguine streaks 
 
 Fresh painted on her quivering cheeks, 
 And wanning o'er with death foreseen, 
 Through inner portals wildly fares, 
 
 Scales the high pile with swift ascentj 
 Takes up the Dardan sword and bares, 
 
 Sad gift, for different uses meant. 
 She eyed the robes with wistful look, 
 
 And, pausing, thought awhile and wept : 
 Then pressed her to the couch, and spoke 
 
 Her last good-night or ere she slept.
 
 368 KOMAX LITERATURE. 
 
 ' Sweet relics of a time of love, 
 
 When fate aud heaven were kind, 
 Receive my life-blood and remove 
 
 These torments of the mind. 
 My life is lived, and I have played 
 
 The part that Fortune gave, 
 Aud now I pass, a queenly shade, 
 
 Majestic to the grave. 
 A glorious city I have built, 
 
 Have seen my walls ascend, 
 Chastised for blood of husband spilt 
 
 A brother, yet no friend. 
 Blest lot! yet lacked one blessing more, 
 That Troy had never touched my shore.' 
 Then as she kissed the darling bed, 
 ' To die ! and unrevenged !' she said, 
 ' Yet let me die : thus, thus I go 
 Exulting to the shades below. 
 Let the false Dardan feel the blaze 
 That burns me pouring on his gaze, 
 And bear along, to cheer his way, 
 Tljti funeral presage of to-day.' 
 
 Thus as she speaks, the attendant train 
 Behold her writhing as in pain, 
 Her hands with slaughter sprinkled o'er, 
 And the fell weapon spouting gore. 
 Loud clamors thrill the lofty halls : 
 Fame shakes the town, confounds, appalls : 
 Each house resounds with women's cries, 
 And funeral wails assault the skies : 
 E'en as one day should Avar o'erthrow 
 
 Proud Carthage or her parent Tyre, 
 And fire-flood stream with furious glow 
 
 O'er roof, and battlement, and spire." 
 
 CONINGTOX. 
 
 Virgil's epic was the pride of his countrymen, who, with a 
 pardonable national vanity, pronounced it superior to Ho- 
 mer's. Tenderness, grace, elegance, rhythmical perfection, 
 brilliance of description, it certainly possesses ; yet, with all 
 its beauties, it is not faultless. We miss the wonderful imag- 
 ination that plays through every page of the Iliad ; indeed, 
 Homer furnished the originals of many of its most striking 
 figures. Nor did Virgil disdain levying on Latin authors also.
 
 HORACE. 369 
 
 Whatever recommended itself to him in the poetry of others, 
 he borrowed for his own. And yet he must not be regarded 
 as a plagiarist ; doubtless it was his intention to enshrine in 
 a national epic literary monuments of all the great minds of 
 his country. 
 
 ^Eneas, his hero, too often appears as the boaster or the 
 heartless hypocrite, rather than as the ideal of greatness and 
 piety it was designed to draw. The author himself seems to 
 have felt the inferiority of his epic to the Iliad, and hence his 
 wish to destroy it We are told that it was first written in 
 prose ; and then the artist, having a clear conception of the 
 whole, threw different portions into verse as the spirit moved 
 him. 
 
 Horace (65-8 B.C.). The great lyric poet of Rome was 
 Horace (Quintus Horatius Flaccus), a freedman's son, of 
 Venusia on the roaring Au'fidus. That he might enjoy the 
 best educational advantages, his father took him to Rome at 
 the early age of twelve. Here he was placed in charge of a 
 famous schoolmaster, called by his pupils " the Flogger ;" 
 under whose rod the country lad made the acquaintance of 
 Ennius and Homer. To the watchful care and liberality of 
 his parent, who remained to guard him from the temptations 
 of the metropolis, he gratefully acknowledged that he owed 
 everything. 
 
 Horace was at Athens, finishing his course, when Cassar 
 fell beneath the daggers of the conspirators. With a number 
 of hot-headed fellow-students he promptly espoused the cause 
 of Brutus the Liberator, and served in the civil war as mili- 
 tary tribune. But Horace's courage could not stand the touch 
 of cold steel ; he ignominiously fled from the field of Philippi, 
 and his estate was confiscated as a reward for his patriotism. 
 Poverty now compelled him to take a clerkship at Rome ; 
 and to add to his slender income he began writing verses. 
 This brought him into notice, and in 38 B.C. he had the hon-
 
 370 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 or of an introduction to the social circle that gathered round 
 Maecenas. His little farm, fifteen miles from Tibur, the ruins 
 of which are still pointed out to tourists, was the gift of his 
 munificent patron. 
 
 This " Sabine farm " was at once Horace's joy and pride. 
 Between Rome and Tibur, therefore, he made frequent jour- 
 neys, and the simple country-folk, won by his affability, hailed 
 with delight the occasions when, tired of city excitements, he 
 sought relaxation among them. Beset by the throng of gos- 
 sips and favor-seekers who haunted his footsteps as the friend 
 of Maecenas, Horace in his Sixth Satire breaks out into enthu- 
 siastic praises of his rural home, with its simple fare and free- 
 dom from annoyances : 
 
 " This fortune's favorite son ('tis cried) 
 Is ever by Maecenas' side, 
 Companion \vheresoe'er he goes, 
 In rural sports or festal shows. 
 Should any rumor, without head 
 Or tail, about the streets be spread, 
 Whoever meets me gravely nods, 
 And says, 'As you approach the gods, 
 It is no mystery to you ; 
 What do the Dacians mean to do ?' 
 ' Indeed I know not.' ' How you joke, 
 And love to sneer at simple folk.' 
 ' Then, pr'ythee, where are Caesar's bauds 
 Allotted their long-promised lands ?' 
 . Although I swear I know no more 
 Of that than what was asked before, 
 They stand amazed, and think me then 
 The most reserved of mortal men. 
 Bewildered thus amidst a maze, 
 I lose the sunshine of my days, 
 And often wish : Oh ! when again 
 Shall I behold the rural plain ? 
 And when with books of sages deep 
 Sequestered ease and gentle sleep, 
 In sweet oblivion, blissful balm ! 
 The busy cares of life becalm. 
 Oh ! when shall Pythagoric beans 
 With wholesome juice enrich my veins T
 
 IIOKACE. 371 
 
 Aud bacon, Lam, and savory pottage, 
 Be served within my simple cottage ? 
 O uights that furnish such a feast 
 As even gods themselves might taste !" 
 
 FRANCIS. 
 
 The loss of his friend Virgil cast a shadow over Horace's 
 latter years. His own death was sudden. A short month 
 before, Maecenas had breathed his last ; and thus the promise 
 of the poet not to survive his patron was almost literally ful- 
 filled. In an ode to Maecenas, Horace had sung, 
 
 " Should you, alas ! be snatched away, 
 Wherefore, ah ! wherefore should I stay, 
 My value lost, no longer whole, 
 And but possessing half my soul? 
 One day (believe the sacred oath) 
 Shall lead the funeral pomp of both ; 
 With thee to Pluto's dark abode, 
 With thee I'll tread the dreary road." 
 
 The remains of the poet were laid by the side of his friend; 
 and thus, devoted to each other in life, they slept together in 
 the grave. 
 
 Horace, in his youth, was a free liver, a voluptuary ; such, 
 indeed, were the men of his day, Virgil alone excepted. Time, 
 however, corrected his tastes, and at the close of his life we 
 find him playing the part of the moralist. If there is much to 
 condemn in his character, there is also much to admire, his 
 even temper, contented disposition, and independent spirit. 
 Quick to resent an affront, he was as ready to forgive an in- 
 jury. His friends found him ever a genial, frank, warm- 
 hearted companion. 
 
 As to his personal appearance, we may judge from his own^ 
 accounts that he was gray in advance of his years, short, cor- 
 pulent, and withal blear-eyed. This last defect furnished 
 Augustus with a ready joke, when he had Horace on one side 
 and the asthmatic Virgil on the other : " I sit between sighs 
 
 and tears," he used to say. 
 
 Q
 
 372 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 WORKS OF HORACE. The earliest poetical efforts of Hor- 
 ace were Satires, which, though written in hexameter verse, 
 he called prose-poems. Holding up to contempt the follies of 
 fashionable society, fortune -hunting, extravagance, avarice, 
 etc., they pleased the Romans and rapidly grew in popularity. 
 But Horace merely derides, he does not chastise, the vices of 
 his day, evidently deeming ridicule a more effective weapon 
 than denunciation. 
 
 In his Epodes, Horace aimed his blows at individuals with 
 something like the force of Archilochus. But personal satire 
 was not the author's forte, and his Epodes are hardly equal 
 to his other productions. 
 
 It is to his Odes, in the lyric metres of Alcaeus and Sappho, 
 whose poetry he not only loved, but recast after his own ideas 
 in his native tongue, that Horace owes his renown. Always 
 brief and to the point, clear and elegant in their condensa- 
 tion, graceful, spicy, true to nature, these poems have been 
 read with pleasure for nineteen centuries. They deal with a 
 great variety of subjects the grand as well as the common- 
 place ; and, whatever the theme, their author is equally ad- 
 mirable. He paints pictures of moral beauty and sublimity 
 with singular impressiveness. Nowhere in the classics is a 
 nobler character sketched than that drawn by Horace of a 
 man firm in the cause of justice (Book III., 3). Byron pre- 
 sejnts it in an English dress : 
 
 " The man of firm and noble soul 
 No factious clamors can control ; 
 No tlireat'uiug tyrant's darkling brow 
 
 Can swerve him from his just intent : 
 Gales the warring waves which plough 
 
 By Auster on the billows spent, 
 To curb the Adriatic main, 
 Would awe his fixed, determined mind in vain. 
 
 Ay, and the red right arm of Jo-re, 
 Hurtling his lightnings from above,
 
 ODES OF HORACE. 3/"3 
 
 With all his terrors then unfurled, 
 
 He would uumoved, uuawed behold : 
 The flames of an expiring world 
 
 Again in crashing chaos rolled, 
 In vast promiscuous ruin hurled, 
 Might light his glorious funeral pile : 
 Still dauntless, 'mid the wreck of earth he'd smile." 
 
 Horace began writing his odes at the age of thirty-five, and 
 was seven years in completing the first three books ; they 
 were issued 23 B.C. That he designed them to include all 
 his lyric productions is evident from the following ode, with 
 which the third book closes : 
 
 "And now 'tis done : more durable than brass 
 My monument shall be, and raise its head 
 O'er royal pyramids : it shall not dread 
 
 Corroding rain or angry Boreas, 
 
 Nor the long lapse of immemorial time. 
 I shall not wholly die : large residue 
 Shall 'scape the queen of funerals. Ever new 
 
 My after-fame shall grow, while pontiffs climb 
 
 With silent maiils the Capitolian height. 
 
 ' Born,' men \vill say, ' where Aufidus is loud, 
 Where Daunus, scant of streams, beneath him bowed 
 
 The rustic tribes, from dimness he waxed bright, 
 
 First of his race to wed the jEoliau lay 
 To notes of Italy.' Put glory on, 
 My own Melpomene, by genius won, 
 
 And crown me of thy grace with Delphic bay." 
 
 COMXGTON. 
 
 - The odes of the fourth book were written at the request of 
 Augustus, who commissioned the favorite poet to celebrate 
 the victories of his step-sons over a German tribe. After pub- 
 lishing the original three books, Horace wrote his Epistles, 
 the most finished of all his works. They bear the ripe fruits 
 of his experience, and are full of wise reflections which do 
 credit to his knowledge of men and manners. Sprightliness 
 and wit constitute their charm. Their subjects are various, 
 several of them being literary criticisms ; the longest, called 
 " the Art of Poetry," possesses the greatest value.
 
 374 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 The works of Horace have maintained their popularity in 
 all ages; his sententious sayings have become aphorisms; and 
 to-day he is a greater favorite with scholars than ever. Few 
 classical poets have been so fortunate in their translators. 
 
 ODE TO MAECENAS. 
 
 " Strong doors, wakeful watch-dogs, securely had barred 
 
 Dauae in her tower of brass, 
 If Venns and Jove had not laughed at such guard 
 And the shower of gold caused to pass. 
 
 Through an army of guards will bright gold make its way; 
 
 It will pierce through the thickest of walls ; 
 More power it has and may strike more dismay 
 
 Than the lightning from heaven that falls. 
 
 Through lucre the house of the Argive seer* fell: 
 
 Philip forced cities' gates with his gold ; 
 The power of rivals with bribes he could quell : 
 
 We know, too, how fleets have been sold. 
 
 The iucrease of wealth ever brings with it care 
 
 And hungry ambition for more ; 
 Thus, Maecenas, O knight with whom none can compare! 
 
 Great fortune I ever forswore. 
 
 The more that a man to himself shall deny, 
 
 The more he shall have from the gods ; 
 Poor, I seek for the home of contentment, and fly 
 
 With joy from the wealthy abodes. 
 
 With my stream of pure water, few acres of wood, 
 
 And secure that my harvest will pay, 
 A pleasure I have more substantial than could 
 
 Be to him that o'er Afric holds sway. 
 
 Though for me never works the Calabrian bee, 
 
 Though for me is no Formian wine, 
 Though no sheep in the pastures of Gaul feed for me, 
 
 Yet poverty never is mine. 
 
 * Amphiara'us, whose wife betrayed him for a pearl necklace, and was after- 
 ward murdered by her son.
 
 VARIUS. TIBULLUS. 373 
 
 Much must that man want ever who much shall demand ; 
 
 What he gains whets the covetous vice ; 
 Happy he to whom God with a niggardly hand 
 
 Has granted what yet will suffice." YARDLEY. 
 
 TO PYRRHA. 
 
 " What scented stripling, Pyrrha, wooes thee now 
 
 In pleasant cavern, all with roses fair? 
 For whom those yellow tresses hiudest thou 
 
 With simple care ? 
 
 Full oft shall he thine altered faith bewail, 
 His altered gods ; and his unwonted gazo 
 Shall watch the waters darken to the gale 
 In wild amaze, 
 
 Who now believing gloats on golden charms ; 
 
 Who hopes thee ever kind and ever void ; 
 Nor, hapless! knows the changeful wind's alarms, 
 Nor thee, untried. 
 
 For me, let Neptune's temple wall declare 
 
 How, safe escaped, in votive offering 
 . My dripping garments own, suspended there, 
 Him Ocean-king." 
 
 GLADSTONE. 
 
 Varius (74-14 B.C.). Older than Horace or Virgil in the 
 Augustan galaxy was Varius, the friend who introduced them 
 both to Maecenas. An epic on the death of Caesar, highly 
 esteemed by his countrymen, and a tragedy entitled "Thy- 
 estes," classed with the finest Greek dramas, have won for 
 Varius an enviable fame. 
 
 Both are lost ; but we still have the benefit of the poet's 
 labors as the editor of Virgil's ^-Eneid. 
 
 Albius Tibullus (59-19 B.C.), another poet of the Augustan 
 age, perfected the erotic elegy which Catullus had introduced 
 from Greece. The meagre accounts that remain of his life in- 
 form us that he was a knight, and lost his estates near Rome 
 for political reasons, after the overthrow of Pompey. These 
 he partially recovered, it is supposed through the influence of
 
 376 ROMAN LITER ATUKE. 
 
 Messa'la, a noble of the old school, whose praises he never 
 tired of sounding. As aide-de-camp, he accompanied Mes- 
 sala in his expedition against the rebellious Aquitanians, and 
 doubtless figured in the triumph decreed his victorious friend 
 by the emperor. 
 
 A peaceful life, however, was more in accordance with his 
 tastes. The hills and dales, the corn-fields, vineyards, and 
 meadows, possessed greater charms for him than the favor of 
 Augustus, who vainly sought to attract Tibullus to his court. 
 Hence we find the poet generally living at his country-seat, 
 amid rural enjoyments. 
 
 The elegies of Tibullus preserve the names of two Roman 
 beauties "Delia," the early mistress of his heart, and*Nem'- 
 esis," her successor. Delia, "with her queenly charms and 
 golden locks," first brought him to her feet, and he wooed her 
 in his most finished strains. But, like Catullus, he soon found 
 occasion to lament his fair one's inconstancy. Delia jilted 
 him for a richer lover, and Tibullus transferred his affections 
 to the imperious Nemesis. 
 
 The style of Tibullus is sweet and polished. A pensive, 
 almost melancholy tone pervades his verses. In the follow- 
 ing plaintive elegy, the injured but forgiving poet recalls to 
 his false one how tenderly he nursed her through a critical 
 sickness, picturing his dream of happiness with her installed 
 as the mistress of his rural home, and his rude awakening: 
 
 ELEGY TO DELIA. 
 
 " Oh ! I was harsh to say that I could part 
 
 From thce ; but, Delia, I am bold 110 more ! 
 Driven like a top, which boys with ready art 
 Keep spinning round upon a level floor. 
 
 Burn, lash me, love, if ever after this 
 
 By me one cruel, blustering word is said : 
 
 Yet spare, I pray tliee by our stolen bliss, 
 By mighty Venus and thy comely head.
 
 PROPEKTIUS. 377 
 
 When thou didst lie, by foil disease o'erpowered, 
 I rescued thee, by prayers, from death's domaiu ; 
 
 Pure sulphur's cleansiug fumes I round thee showered, 
 While an enchantress sung a magic strain. 
 
 Yes and another now enjoys the prize, 
 
 And reaps the fruit of all my vows for thee : 
 
 Foolish, I dreamed of life 'ueath golden skies, 
 
 Wert thou but saved not such great heaven's decree. 
 
 I said I'll till my fields, she'll guard my store 
 
 When crops are threshed in autumn's burning heat ; 
 
 She'll keep my grapes in baskets brimming o'er, 
 And my rich must expressed by nimble feet. 
 
 She'll count my flock ; some home-born slave of mine 
 Will prattle in my darling's lap and play : 
 
 To rural god ripe clusters for the vine, 
 
 Sheaves for my crops, cates for my fold, she'll pay. 
 
 Slaves all shall own her undisputed rule; 
 
 Myself a cipher how the thought would please! 
 Here will Messala come, for whom she'll pull 
 
 The sweetest apples from the choicest trees; 
 
 And, honoring one so great, for him prepare 
 
 And serve the banquet with her own white hands. 
 
 Fond dream ! which now the east and south winds bear 
 Away to far Armenia's spicy lands." 
 
 CRAXSTOCN. 
 
 Propertius. With the name of Tibullus is often linked 
 that of Propertius, who was born about 50 B.C. at Assisium, 
 among the Umbrian mountains. In this lovely spot he was 
 prepared for the study of the law, which he afterward adopted 
 as his profession at Rome. But Propertius found this calling 
 distasteful; relinquishing it, accordingly, for the pursuits of 
 literature, he aspired to be a Roman Callimachus, and ground- 
 ed himself in the principles of Alexandrian verse. But too 
 much study made him artificial, and his numerous mytholog- 
 ical allusions and digressions encumber rather than embel- 
 lish. He lacks the sweetness, simplicity, and tenderness, of 
 Tibullus.
 
 378 EOMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Catullus had his "Lesbia;" Tibullus, his "Delia;" and 
 Propertius, profiting not by the example of his brother bards, 
 lavished his affections on the accomplished but fickle " Cyn- 
 thia," who played him false as soon as a rich praetor laid a 
 fortune at her feet. Cynthia was the single theme of our 
 poet's love-lays, all rapture or gentle reproach. In an elegy 
 to Maecenas, who had pressed him to attempt an epic, he 
 sings : 
 
 " You ask me why love-elegy so frequently I follow, 
 
 And why my little book of tender trifles only sings: 
 It is not from Calliope, iior is it from Apollo, 
 
 But from my own sweet lady-love my inspiration springs. 
 
 If in resplendent purple robe of Cos my darling dresses, 
 I'll till a portly volume with the Coan garments' praise ; 
 
 Or if her truant tresses wreathe her forehead with caresses, 
 The tresses of her queenly brow demand her poet's lays." 
 
 In another elegy he describes his Cynthia's charms : 
 
 "'Twas not her face, though fair, so smote my eye 
 
 (Less fair the lily than my love : as snows 
 Of Scythia with Iberian vermeil vie ; 
 As float in milk the petals of the rose) ; 
 
 Nor locks that down her neck of ivory stream, 
 
 Nor eyes my stars twin lamps with love aglow; 
 
 Nor, if in silk of Araby she gleam 
 
 (I prize not baubles), does she thrill me so, 
 
 As when she leaves the mantling cup to thread 
 The mazy dance, and moves before my view, 
 
 Graceful as blooming Ariadne led 
 
 The choral revels of the Bacchic crew." 
 
 The death of Propertius is supposed to have taken place 
 about 15 B C. Of his elegies, there is none better than 
 
 LOVE'S DREAM REALIZED. 
 
 ''Not in his Dardan triumph so rejoiced the great Atrides, 
 
 When fell the mighty kingdom of Laomedou of yore ; 
 Not so Ulysses, when he moored his wave-worn raft beside his 
 Beloved Dulichian island-home his weary wanderings o'er;
 
 OVID. 379 
 
 As I, when last eve's rosy joys I ruminated over: 
 
 To me another eve like that were immortality ! 
 Awhile before with downcast head I walked a pining lover 
 
 More useless I had grown, 'twas said, than water-tank run dry. 
 
 No more my darling passes me with silent recognition, 
 Nor can she sit unmoved while I outpour my tender vow. 
 
 I wish that I had sooner realized this blest condition ; 
 'Tis pouring living water on a dead man's ashes now. 
 
 In vain did others seek my love, in vain they called upon her, 
 She leaned her head upon my breast, was kind as girl could be. 
 
 Of conquered Parthiaus talk no more, I've gained a nobler honor, 
 For she'll be spoils, and leaders, and triumphal car to me. 
 
 Light f my life ! say, shall my bark reach shore with gear befitting, 
 Or, dashed amid the breakers, with her cargo ruu aground ? 
 
 With thee it lies : but if, perchance, through fault of my committing, 
 Thou giv'st me o'er, before thy door let my cold corse be found." 
 
 CRAKSTOUN. 
 
 Ovid (43 B.C.-I7 A.D.). Publius Ovidius Na'so, the last 
 of the Augustan poets, was a knight of Sulmo, an ancient 
 Samnite town in the eastern part of Italy. Designed for the 
 legal profession, he was sent to Rome to be educated ; but 
 the writing of verses was more congenial than rhetorical 
 studies ; and an eminent critic of the day, on hearing one of 
 his early declamations, described it as "nothing else than 
 poetry out of metre." 
 
 After the death of an elder son, his father consented that 
 Publius should follow the bent of his own inclinations, and 
 the poet went abroad to study in Greece and travel in Asia 
 Minor. Returning to Rome, he began his literary career as 
 the glory of the Augustan age was beginning to fade. 
 
 For twenty-two years Ovid wasted his talents on the com- 
 position of licentious love-poems. In the "Loves" (Amo'res), 
 the earliest of his works, one Corinna is addressed through- 
 out. The hearty reception with which these loose songs met 
 at Rome is a sad comment on the degeneracy of the pub- 
 lic taste and morals. They were followed by the "Hero'- 
 
 Q2
 
 380 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 ides," a collection of twenty-one imaginary love-letters, in- 
 scribed by the heroines of the past to their absent or unfaith- 
 ful lords an original idea with Ovid. Penelope indicts an 
 epistle to Ulysses, Medea to Jason, Sappho to Phaon, etc. 
 In the one last named, translated by Pope, the Lesbian poet- 
 ess informs the youth of her resolve to take the Lover's Leap. 
 
 "A spring there is, where silver waters show, 
 Clear as a glass, the .shining sands below ; 
 A flowery lotus spreads its arms above, 
 Shades all the banks, and seems itself a grove : 
 Eternal greens the mossy margin grace, 
 Watched by the sylvan genius of the place. 
 Here as I lay, and swelled with tears the flood, * 
 Before my sight a watery virgin stood : 
 She stood and cried, 'O yon that love in vain, 
 Fly hence, and seek the fair Leucadian main ! 
 There stands a rock, from whose impending steep 
 Apollo's fane surveys the rolling deep ; 
 There injured lovers, leaping from above, 
 Their flames extinguish and forget to love. 
 Hence, Sappho, haste! from high Leucadia throw 
 Thy wretched weight, nor dread the deeps below.' 
 She spoke, and vanished with the voice I rise, 
 And silent tears fall trickling from my eyes. 
 I go, ye nymphs, those rocks and seas to prove : 
 And much I fear ; but ah ! how much I love ! 
 To rocks and seas I fly from Phaon's hate, 
 And hope from seas and rocks a milder fate." 
 
 In the " Art of Love," Ovid again overleaped the bounds 
 of propriety, and threw so brilliant a coloring into his pictures 
 of vice that his readers were fain to linger over them, to en- 
 joy, and to admire, with manifest danger to their own morals. 
 When even a daughter of the imperial line was corrupted 
 by them, Augustus, the professed defender of virtue, felt 
 that it was time to stop the dissemination of such principles, 
 and visited the poet with his displeasure. In consequence 
 of a subsequent and more serious offence, in some way con- 
 nected with the royal family, but the nature of which we can 
 only conjecture, Ovid suddenly received notice to quit the
 
 OVID'S POETRY. 381 
 
 capital forever, and retire to To'mi, a dreary and desolate 
 village on the Black Sea, A.D. 9. Despite his urgent pray- 
 ers, the decree of banishment was never revoked. 
 
 The works of his eight years' exile are the " Tristia," or 
 Sorrows, " Letters from Pontus," and some shorter poems ; 
 they prove his genius to have been crushed, his spirit broken. 
 Tomi gave Ovid a grave ; even his request to be buried in 
 Italy was refused. 
 
 The best of Ovid's works were the "Fasti," or Roman Cal- 
 endar, a pleasant almanac in verse, and the " Metamorphoses," 
 ingenious in both conception and expression. While engaged 
 on the Fasti, which he intended to complete in twelve books, 
 one dedicated to each month, the poet was surprised by the 
 decree of banishment, and left his work unfinished. 
 
 The Metamorphoses, from which modern writers have large- 
 ly drawn, gives an account of the transformations of ancient 
 mythology, such as the changing of lo into a heifer, Daphne 
 into a laurel, the sisters of Phaeton into the poplars of the Po, 
 and Atlas into a mountain of stone by the gorgon-head of 
 Perseus. One of the prettiest of these poems relates to the 
 metamorphosis of the ivory statue wrought by Pygmalion, into 
 a living bride, by the goddess of beauty, in answer to the 
 sculptor's prayer : 
 
 PYGMALION'S STATUE. 
 
 " The sculptor sought 
 
 His home, and, bending o'er the couch that bore 
 His Maiden's life-like image, to her lips 
 Fond pressed his own and lo ! her lips seemed warm, 
 And warmer, kissed again ; and dimpling to his touch 
 The ivory seems to yield, as in the sun. 
 The vraxen labor of Hymettus' bees, 
 By plastic fingers wrought, to various shape 
 And use by use is fashioned. Wonder-spelled, 
 Scarce daring to believe his bliss, in dread 
 Lest sense deluded mock him, on the form 
 He loves again and yet again his hand 
 Lays trembling touch, and to his touch a pulse
 
 382 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Within throbs answering palpable : 'twas flesh! 
 'Twas very life ! Then forth iu eloquent flood 
 His grateful heart its thanks to Venus poured ! 
 The lips he kissed were living lips that felt 
 His passionate pressure ; o'er the virgin cheeks 
 Stole deepening crimson ; and the unclosing eyes 
 At once on heaven and on their lover looked !" 
 
 HENRY KING. 
 
 With the death of Ovid, the flourishing period of poetry ter- 
 minated. Among his contemporaries, we may mention, in 
 passing, the epic poets ALBINOVA'NUS author of the These'id, 
 and CORNELIUS SEVE'RUS, who wrote an heroic on the war 
 between Augustus and Sextus Pompey. The didactic poets 
 GRATIUS and MANILIUS also flourished in the Augustan age ; 
 the former memorable for his poem on hunting, the latter for 
 his " Astronomica." 
 
 PROSE WRITERS. 
 
 Titus Livius. The last ornament of the Augustan Era is 
 the historian Livy, born at Pata'vium (now Padua) about 59 
 B.C. the scion of a noble line that had figured proudly in the 
 annals of the Republic. His was the uneventful life of the 
 scholar, and few particulars of his biography have therefore 
 been preserved. He appears to have begun his career as a 
 rhetorician; to have come to the capital about B.C. 31, for 
 what precise purpose we cannot say, and there to have gained 
 a ready introduction at court. The emperor, already favora- 
 bly impressed with his ability, is said to have placed at his 
 disposal a suite of rooms in the palace. 
 
 Perhaps, as his importunities made the reluctant Virgil the 
 great epic poet of Rome, so Augustus may have stirred the 
 ambition of Livy to become its historian ; whether he did or 
 not, we find the rhetorician of Patavium, soon after taking up 
 his abode at the imperial city, entering upon the composition 
 of his "Annals," a work which progressed simultaneously with 
 the ^Eneid. As the different decades (divisions often books)
 
 LIVY. 383 
 
 were completed, the author, after first reading them to Augus- 
 tus and Maecenas, published them for the perusal of his coun- 
 trymen. They at once made his reputation, and became the 
 received authority on the national history, raising Livy during 
 his lifetime, as at the present day, to the rank of the most dis- 
 tinguished historians. The estimation in which they were 
 held may be inferred from the story of Pliny that a citizen 
 of Cadiz came all the way to Italy merely to see the great 
 writer the whole Roman world was talking about. 
 
 For forty years Livy labored on his history. At the time 
 of his death, which took place in his native town, 17 A.D., he 
 had finished 142 books, covering nearly seven and a half cen- 
 turies from the founding of Rome. It is supposed that he 
 intended to add eight more, embracing the entire reign of 
 Augustus. Only thirty-five of the original books have been 
 recovered. 
 
 The loss of the decades relating to the civil wars is much 
 to be deplored, and it has ever been the hope of scholars that 
 some day the missing parts would be found. Several times 
 has the literary world been thrown into excitement by false 
 rumors of their discovery. Once, we are told, a learned man 
 detected in the parchment covering of a battledoor with which 
 he was playing a page of the favorite historian ; but on has- 
 tening to the maker of the toy, to rescue the prized manuscript 
 to which it had belonged, he found that all had been utilized 
 in a similar manner. A meagre synopsis of the books that 
 have perished, serves only to make us regret their loss the 
 more keenly. 
 
 Livy's " Annals " is a model of elegant historical writing, 
 and a repertory of tales and traditions of early heroism, which 
 have made Roman virtue and prowess the admiration of the 
 world ; yet his statements must be taken with many grains of 
 allowance. Not that he wilfully misrepresented, but rather 
 that he trusted too implicitly authorities of doubtful veracity,
 
 384 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 and shrunk from the labor of thorough original investigation. 
 Moreover, a vein of exaggeration runs through his pages. It 
 was doubtless his intention to be impartial ; but carried away 
 by a natural bias, he was too ready to color or cover over the 
 blots on his country's escutcheon. That he stooped not to 
 curry favor with his superiors is evident from the epithet ap- 
 plied to him by Augustus "the Pompeyite" by reason of 
 his warm praises of Caesar's rival. Ignorance of geography, 
 military science, and even of the constitutional development 
 of Rome, is conspicuous in his narrative. 
 
 As an artist, however, Livy was great. He excels in de- 
 picting character, whether directly by description, or indirect- 
 ly in the actions or utterances of the old Roman worthies. 
 Hence, artificial as they are and often smelling of the rhetori- 
 cian's lamp, the speeches which Livy puts in the mouths of his 
 different personages display his genius to advantage. One of 
 the finest, given below, is that of the old Horatius, pleading 
 with the people for the life of his son. According to the le- 
 gend, in a war between Rome and Alba Longa, it was agreed 
 by the contending parties, to save unnecessary bloodshed, that 
 the question at issue should be decided by a hand-to-hand 
 conflict between three champions on each side, the brothers 
 Horatii for Rome, the Curiatii for Alba. All fell save one 
 Horatius. We leave the conclusion of the story to Livy : 
 
 THE CRIME AND PUNISHMENT OF HORATIUS. 
 
 " Horatius advanced at the head of the Romans, bearing in triumph 
 the spoils of the three brothers. Near the gate Capena he was met 
 by his sister, a maiden who had been betrothed to one of the Curia- 
 tii ; observing on her brother's shoulder the military robe of her 
 lover, made by her own hands, she tore her hair, and with loud and 
 mournful outcries called on the name of the deceased. His sister's 
 lamentations, in the midst of his own triumph and of so great public 
 joy, irritated the fierce youth to such a degree that, drawing his 
 sword, he plunged it into her breast, at the same time upbraiding her 
 in these words : ' Begone to thy spouse with thy unseasonable love, 
 since thou could st forget what is due to the memory of thy deceased
 
 EXTRACT FROM LIVY. 385 
 
 brothers, to him who still survives, and to thy native country ; 60 
 perish every daughter of Koine that shall mourn for its enemy !' 
 
 Both the senate and people were shocked at the horrid deed ; but 
 still, in their opinion, his recent merit outweighed its guilt : he was, 
 however, instautly carried before the king for judgment. The king, 
 unwilling to take on himself a decision of so melancholy a nature, 
 summoned au assembly of the people, and then said : ' I appoint two 
 commissioners to pass judgment on Horatius for murder, according 
 to the law.' The law was of dreadful import : ' Let two commission- 
 ers pass judgment for murder; if the accused appeal from the com- 
 missioners, let the appeal be tried; if their seuteuce be confirmed, 
 cover his head, hang him by a rope on the gallows, let him be scourged 
 either within the Pomceriuni* or without the Pomoerium.' 
 
 The two commissioners appoiuted were of opinion that, according 
 to this law, they were not authorized to acquit him ; and, after they 
 had found him guilty, one of them pronounced judgment in these 
 words : ' Publius Horatius, I sentence thee to punishment as a mur- 
 derer; go, lictor, bind his hands.' The lictor had come up to him, 
 and was fixing the cord, when Horatius, by the advice of Tullus, who 
 wished to give the mildest interpretation to the law, said, 'I appeal ;' 
 so the trial on the appeal came before the Commons. 
 
 During this trial, the people were very deeply affected, especially 
 by the behavior of Publius Horatius, the father, who declared that 
 ' in his judgment his daughter was deservedly put to death ; had it 
 not been so, he would, by his own authority as a father, have inflict- 
 ed punishment on his son.' He then besought them that 'they 
 would not leave him childless, whom they had beheld, but a few 
 hours ago, surrounded by a progeny of uncommon merit.' Uttering 
 these words, the old man embraced the youth, and pointing to the 
 spoils of the Cnriatii, which were hung up in the place where now 
 stands the Horatiaii column, exclaimed : 
 
 'O my fellow -citizens! can you bear to behold him laden with 
 chains, and condemned to ignominy, stripes, and torture, whom but 
 just now you saw covered with the ornaments of victory, marching 
 in triumph a sight so horrid that scarcely could the eyes of the Al- 
 bans themselves endure it? Go, lictor, bind the arms which but 
 now wielded those weapons that acquired dominion to the Roman 
 people ; cover the head of that man to whom your city owes its lib- 
 erty ; hang him upon the gallows. Scourge him within the Pomce- 
 rium ; but do it between those pillars to which are suspended the 
 trophies of his victory. Scourge him without the Pomoerium ; but 
 do it between the graves of the Curiatii. For to what place can ye 
 lead this youth, where the monuments of his glory would not re- 
 deem him from the ignominy of such a punishment ?' 
 
 The people could not withstand either the tears of the father, or 
 
 * A consecrated ground in ancient Rome, on which it was unlawful to build.
 
 386 K03IAN LITERATURE. 
 
 the intrepid spirit of the youth himself, which no kind of danger 
 could appall ; and* rather out of admiration of his bravery than re- 
 gard to the justice of his cause, they passed a sentence of acquittal. 
 Wherefore, that some expiation might be made for the act of mani- 
 fest murder, the father was ordered to make atonement for his son 
 at the public expense. After performing expiatory sacrifices, which 
 continued afterward to be celebrated by the Horatiau family, he laid 
 a beam across the street, and, covering the young man's head, made 
 him pass, as it were, under the yoke. The beam remains to this 
 day, being constantly kept iu repair at the expense of the public, 
 and is called the Sister's beam. A tomb of squared stone was raised 
 for Horatia ou the spot where she fell." BAKER. 
 
 In addition to the " Annals of Rome," Livy also wrote his- 
 torical and philosophical dialogues, which we know only by 
 name. 
 
 Pompeius Trogus, contemporary with Livy, produced a his- 
 tory of the world, extending from the founding of Nineveh to 
 the Christian Era. Macedonia fills an important place in this 
 work, an abridgment of which is still in existence. 
 
 A prominent rhetorician of the Augustan period was the 
 elder SENECA, of Cordova, in Spain. Portions of his works 
 (which consist of rhetorical exercises on imaginary cases, 
 historical events, and circumstances in the lives of great 
 men, written for the benefit of his sons) have survived ; but 
 nothing remains of a history of Rome ascribed to him. 
 
 The orators MESSALA and ASINIUS POLLIO graced the early 
 years of the first emperor's reign ; but, when political elo- 
 quence was interdicted, they retired to private life, Pollio, 
 to win new laurels by his tragedies and other literary compo- 
 sitions. Both were patrons of literature, and loved to gather 
 round them the eminent poets of their day. Messala's ora- 
 tions, known to us only by a few fragments that remain, were 
 regarded as almost equal to Cicero's ; while Pollio, none of 
 whose works have been preserved, was ranked by his contem- 
 poraries with Cicero as an orator, with Virgil as a poet, and 
 with Sallust as an historian.
 
 EDUCATION AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 387 
 
 MINOR POETS AND PROSE WRITERS. 
 
 HELVIUS CINNA (50 B.C.) : author of 
 the lost epic " Smyrna," the fruit of 
 nine years' labor. In one of his Ec- 
 logues, Virgil compared himself in 
 the company of Cinna and his friend 
 Varius to a goose among swans. 
 
 LICIXIUS CALVUS (82-47 B.C.): poet 
 and orator; elegies, epigrams, and 
 love-songs in the style of Catullus; 
 an epic " lo ;" no remains. 
 
 VALGIUS RUFUS, a friend of Horace : 
 an epic and elegiac poet. 
 
 GALLUS : a noted jurist. 
 
 TU'BERO (48 B.C.) the historian: con- 
 temporary with Sallust. 
 
 VERKIUS FLACCUS : a renowned gram- 
 marian; author of a voluminous Lat- 
 in lexicon, which is lost. His work 
 was subsequently condensed into 
 twenty volumes. 
 
 VITRUVIUS POLLIO, the great architect 
 of the Augustan Era : he prepared a 
 comprehensive work on the science 
 of architecture, long received as au- 
 thority. 
 
 TITUS LABIE'NUS : an orator and his- 
 torian. 
 
 NOTES ON EDUCATION, ETC., AMONG THE ROMANS. 
 
 Education never compulsory, as in Greece. Its chief aim in early times to 
 make warriors and statesmen. Children usually grounded in the rudiments by 
 their mother, the father occasionally doing service as a teacher of reading and 
 writing. From the Greeks, the Romans adopted the custom of employing pceda- 
 goyi to instruct their children or accompany them to and from school. 
 
 Private schools in Rome about 450 B.C. ; Virginia insulted by Appius Clau- 
 dius, while on her way to school. The youth instructed at these institutions in 
 reading, writing, and arithmetic, and required to memorize the laws of the Twelve 
 Tables. Grammar was next essayed ; and a course in rhetoric and oratory com- 
 pleted the Roman boy's education. Many continued their studies at Athens, 
 Rhodes, or Alexandria. 
 
 The teachers often provincials or freedmen. In the golden age, Greek tutors 
 very generally the companions and flatterers of the wealthy Romans. During 
 the reign of Augustus, great schools at Cordova and Marseilles rivalled the 
 academy of Flaccus at Rome, the favorite of the emperor, who paid Flaccus a 
 salary of $3,600, and offered special inducements in the way of prizes to such as 
 would join his school. Under Vespasian the first Roman college, the Athenaeum, 
 was established; botany, zoology, and mineralogy, now became favorite studies. 
 
 Rome had its booksellers in the golden age, to supply the demand for standard 
 authors and school manuals. Books multiplied rapidly by transcription, and 
 were cheap in proportion. At the beginning of the first century B.C., many 
 private libraries in Rome; every noble took pride in his collection of manu- 
 scripts. First public library founded by Asinius Pollio, whose example was 
 followed by others.
 
 388 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Earliest known attempts at journalism, 59 B.C. The Ada of the senate and 
 of the people, the first publications. The latter, a daily (diurna, whence jour- 
 nal), had an extensive circulation throughout the Roman territories. Stenog- 
 raphy practised at this time by the Romans, and subsequently taught in their 
 schools. Cicero said to have been the inventor of their system of short-hand. 
 Sympathetic ink in use for writing love-letters and secret correspondence. For 
 this purpose Ovid recommends milk, which may be made visible by dusting pow- 
 dered charcoal on the letters. To keep mice from gnawing their papyrus and 
 parchment rolls, some Roman writers mixed wormwood with their inks. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 AGE OF DECLINE. 
 
 Silver Age of Roman Letters. With the death of Augustus 
 and the accession of his step-son Tiberius, despotism in its 
 worst form was established at Rome, and, as in Greece, a de- 
 cline of letters immediately followed. Symptoms of literary 
 decay had already shown themselves in the reign of the first 
 emperor, although he took care to conceal his assumption of 
 absolute power under the mask of republican forms, and was 
 known to all as a patron of learning. Tiberius, on the con- 
 trary, openly declared himself the enemy of freedom, both 
 political and intellectual; and when, in 37 A.D., his attend- 
 ants, no longer able to endure his rule of blood, smothered 
 the monster with pillows, Latin literature was at its lowest ebb. 
 
 A brief renaissance, however, succeeded ; so that the impe- 
 rial fiend Nero was able to number among his victims an epic 
 poet, Lucan, and a philosopher and dramatist of no common 
 stamp, Seneca. Under the Caesars, genius was hopelessly 
 fettered ; a chance word might condemn its author to the 
 headsman ; the poet, the historian, the orator, must needs 
 suppress his sentiments or forfeit his self-respect by flattering 
 the reigning despot.
 
 PERIOD OF DECLINE. 389 
 
 A brighter day dawned with the mild rule of Nerva, Tra- 
 jan, Hadrian, and the Antonines (96-180 A.D.). During this 
 golden age of the Roman empire, poetry for a time recov- 
 ered its vitality, and through the stinging satires of Juvenal 
 denounced the abuses that had prevailed in the days of Nero 
 and Domitian; while in the histories of Tacitus, prose indig- 
 nantly broke its enforced silence, and held up to public de- 
 testation the despots of the past. But this revival was short- 
 lived. Latin literature rapidly degenerated, for Latin genius 
 was no more. In the later centuries of the empire, science 
 and jurisprudence alone flourished on the soil where poetry 
 had now ceased to bloom. 
 
 ERA OF THE CAESARS (14-90 A.D.). 
 
 In the reign of Tiberius, we meet with the names of Vel- 
 leius Paterculus, the court historian ; Celsus, the scientist ; 
 and Phasdrus. 
 
 Velleius Paterculus is memorable for his epitome of Ro- 
 man history, a work in other respects meritorious, but marred 
 by its author's servile praise of Tiberius. Yet we must re- 
 member that Velleius was not permitted to see the worst 
 phase of this emperor's tyranny. When the treachery of the 
 prime minister Seja'nus was exposed, the historian, though 
 not implicated with him, was one of the first to be put to 
 death. He was thus prevented from witnessing the murders 
 of hundreds of other innocent persons atrocities that might 
 have altered his estimate of his ungrateful master. 
 
 Valerius Maximus, his contemporary and fellow -flatterer, 
 prepared a cyclopaedia of anecdotes gleaned from the history 
 of Rome and foreign countries, entitled "Remarkable Deeds 
 and Sayings." It was designed for the use of persons who 
 had not the time or inclination to make original investiga- 
 tions, and, though written in an artificial style, contains much 
 that is interesting.
 
 390 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Celsus was the author of a scientific encyclopaedia, whose 
 twenty books were devoted to farming, medicine, rhetoric, 
 jurisprudence, and military tactics. The eight books on med- 
 icine still survive, constituting the great Roman authority on 
 that subject. 
 
 Before his day the art of medicine and surgery had been 
 almost entirely confined to Greek physicians ; but Celsus 
 dignified it as a calling worthy of Romans, not only practis- 
 ing with success among his countrymen, but committing to 
 writing the results of his experience. He was the first an- 
 cient author who recommended the tying of blood-vessels for 
 the purpose of checking hemorrhage. 
 
 Phaedrus, the only noteworthy poet of Tiberius's reign, is 
 known to us by his fables. Of his life, we have few facts. He 
 is supposed to have been brought from Thrace to Rome, as a 
 captive ; and to have lived there as the slave of Augustus, 
 who, recognizing his latent talent, gave him an education and 
 finally his freedom. 
 
 In the sunshine of his patron's smiles, Phaeclrus led a hap- 
 py life ; but on the death of Augustus he was exposed to the 
 persecutions of Sejanus, who virtually controlled the state 
 under the succeeding emperor, and who affected to see in the 
 poet's fables masked attacks upon his own vicious career. 
 Phaedrus, however, outlived all his enemies, and died at a 
 good old age. 
 
 The fables of Phaedrus, preserved in a single manuscript, 
 were discovered in an abbey at Rheims (1561), and, after 
 narrowly escaping destruction at the hands of some French 
 fanatics, were published to the world. In the main trans- 
 lated or imitated from ^Esop, whom their author thus made 
 known to the Romans, they commend themselves for their 
 conciseness and simplicity, as well as for the moral lessons 
 they convey. His "pleasant tales " may be judged of by the 
 following specimens :
 
 FABLES OF PH^EDKUS. 391 
 
 THE FOX AND THE GOAT. 
 
 "A crafty knave will make escape, 
 Wheii once he gets into a scrape, 
 Still meditating self-defence, 
 At any other man's expense. 
 A fox by some disaster fell 
 Into a deep and fenced well : 
 A thirsty goat came down in haste, 
 And asked about the water's taste, 
 If it was plentiful and sweet? 
 At which the fox, in rank deceit : 
 ' So great the solace of the run, 
 I thought I never should have done. 
 Be quick, my friend, your sorrows drown.' 
 This said, the silly goat comes down. 
 The subtle fox herself avails, 
 And by his horns the height she scales, 
 And leaves the goat in all the mire, 
 To gratify his heart's desire." 
 
 THE BALD MAN AND THE FLY. 
 
 " As on his head she chanced to sit, 
 A man's bald pate a gadfly bit ; 
 He, prompt to crush the little foe, 
 Dealt on himself a grievous blow. 
 At which the fly, deriding, said : 
 
 ' You who would strike an insect dead 
 For one slight sting, in wrath so strict, 
 What punishment will you inflict 
 Upon yourself, whose heavy arm, 
 Not my poor bite, did all the harm ?' 
 
 ' Oh !' says the party, ' as for me, 
 I with myself can soon agree; 
 The intention of the act is all. 
 But thou, detested cannibal ! 
 Bloodsucker ! to have thee secured, 
 More would I gladly have endured.' 
 
 What by this moral tale is meant 
 Is, those who wrong not with intent 
 Are venial ; but to those that do, 
 Severity is surely due." CHRISTOPHER SMART. 
 
 The three great ornaments of Nero's reign (54-68 A.D.) 
 were Persius the satirist, Seneca, and his nephew Lucan.
 
 392 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Persius. Born at the Etruscan town of Volaterrae (34 A.D.), 
 Persius was brought to Rome by his mother at the age of 
 twelve, and there educated. In the Stoic, Cornu'tus, he found 
 his ideal preceptor, and to this "best of friends" the poet 
 pays a beautiful tribute in the following verses, among the 
 finest he ever wrote : 
 
 "When first I laid the purple* by, and free, 
 Yet trembling at my new-felt liberty, 
 Approached the hearth, and on the Lares hung 
 The bulla, from my willing neck unstrung ; 
 When gay associates, sporting at my side, 
 And the white boss, displayed with conscious pride, 
 Gave me, unchecked, the haunts of vice to trace, 
 And throw my wandering eyes on every face, 
 I fled to you, Cornutus, pleased to rest 
 My hopes and fears on your Socratic breast ; 
 Nor did you, gentle sage, the charge decline. 
 Then, dextrous to beguile, your steady line 
 Reclaimed, I know not by what winning force, 
 My morals, warped from virtue's straighter course. 
 
 Can I forget how many a summer's day, 
 Spent in your converse, stole unmarked away ? 
 Or how, while listening with increased delight, 
 I snatched from feasts the earlier hours of night? 
 One time (for to your bosom still I -grew), 
 One time of study and of rest we knew ; 
 One frugal board where, every care resigned, 
 An hour of blameless mirth relaxed the mind." GIFFORD. 
 
 Death overtook our poet in his 28th year (62 A.D.). All 
 we have of his writings is six satires only 650 hexameter 
 lines. After his death these were published, and elicited un- 
 bounded admiration. Other works of his were torn up by his 
 mother, who deemed them unworthy of his genius. Persius 
 bequeathed to Conjiitus his library of 700 manuscripts. 
 
 The satires of Persius were written in the interest of moral- 
 ity, and what gave them weight was that all knew their author 
 
 * An allusion to the change from the purple-bordered toga of the youth, to the 
 toga virilis, or manly robe.
 
 PEKSIUS. 393 
 
 to be a man who practised the virtue he commended, a man 
 of stainless character in an age of universal licentiousness. 
 And yet we do not find him lashing vice as we should expect. 
 Was he loath to do so, lest the very pictures he must draw 
 might corrupt? Or, was Persius forced to hold his peace in 
 the presence of a despot who revelled in the vilest excesses, 
 whose policy it was to reduce his subjects to his own low 
 level ? Perhaps for both reasons he preferred to assail wick- 
 edness in the abstract. Certainly his " maidenly modesty " 
 shrunk from portraying the hideous sins that flaunted around 
 him, while his philosophical tenets inclined him to keep aloof 
 from the world. 
 
 Poetasters and pedants that pandered to the perverted 
 taste of the day, received the brunt of his attack in his First 
 Satire. The Second discusses the proper subjects of prayer. 
 How few, says the poet, would be willing to have their peti- 
 tions made public: 
 
 " Hard, bard the task, from the low muttered prayer 
 To free the fanes ; or find one suppliant there, 
 Who dares to ask but what his state requires, 
 And live to heaven and earth with known desires ! 
 
 Sound sense, integrity, a conscience clear, 
 Are begged aloud, that all at hand may hear ; 
 But prayers like these (half whispered, half suppressed) 
 The tongue scarce hazards from the conscious breast : 
 ' that I could my rich old uncle see 
 In funeral pomp !' ' O that some deity 
 To pots of buried gold would guide my share !' 
 ' O that my ward, whom I succeed as heir, 
 Were once at rest ! poor child, he lives in pain, 
 And death to him must be accounted gain.' 
 ' By wedlock thrice has Nerius swelled his store, 
 And now is he a widower once more.!' ", 
 
 *-** 
 
 The Second Satire concludes with these noble lines : 
 
 " No ; let me bring the immortal gods a mind, 
 Where legal and where moral sense are joined 
 With the pure essence ; holy thoughts, that dwell 
 In the soul's most retired and sacred cell ;
 
 394 ROMAN LITERATUKE. 
 
 A bosom dyed in honor's noblest grain, 
 Deep-dyed with these let me approach the fane, 
 And Heaven will hear the humble prayer I make, 
 Though all my offering be a barley-cake." GIFFORD. 
 
 Lucius Annseus Seneca, son of the rhetorician, was born at 
 Cordova B.C. 7, but received his education at Rome under 
 the supervision of his father. From the first he displayed 
 great interest in his studies, and as he grew in years he in- 
 dulged his natural bent for philosophical researches. So 
 thorough a Pythagorean did he become that he even es- 
 chewed animal food, lest he should devour flesh that had 
 once been animated by a human soul. On the remonstrance 
 of his parent, however, he renounced vegetarianism and " lived 
 as others lived " again. At a later period we find him the 
 leader of the Stoics at Rome. 
 
 Seneca early made his mark as an orator. Hearing him 
 plead eloquently on one occasion in the senate, Caligula, out 
 of jealousy, threatened to have him executed, and was de- 
 terred only by the consideration that Seneca had the con- 
 sumption and was not likely to live for any length of time. 
 
 But Seneca survived this imperial butcher, to become the 
 instructor and moral guide of the youthful Nero. While 
 Nero submitted to his counsels, Rome enjoyed a halcyon age, 
 long remembered by her people as the Five Years. His in- 
 fluence led to the adoption of many salutary measures ; it is 
 thought to have been at his instigation that Nero despatched 
 an expedition to explore the sources of the Nile the first re- 
 corded in history. Well would it have been for Rome, had 
 Nero continued to follow the advice of Seneca. 
 
 This, however, was not to be ; a sudden change took place 
 in the disposition of the prince, when his mother was charged 
 with conspiring against him. It was her life or his ; and 
 Nero won. The taste of blood transformed him into a mon- 
 ster, and he forthwith entered upon a reign of horrors that
 
 SENECA, THE MORALIST. 395 
 
 has no equal in history. Virtue was now the surest road to 
 ruin. Falsely accused of complicity in a conspiracy, Seneca 
 was sentenced to put an end to his own life (65 A.D.). With 
 perfect calmness he received the royal mandate, and caused 
 his veins to be severed ; but the blood flowing too slowly, he 
 entered a vapor-bath and ended his sufferings by suffocation. 
 His wife Paulina elected to die with him, and in the same 
 manner ; but Nero had her veins ligatured, and thus added 
 several years of misery to her life. To his friends, Seneca 
 was permitted to leave no more valuable legacy than his vir- 
 tuous example. 
 
 Seneca was a great moral leader, the first of a class of phi- 
 losophers who aimed at winning the people back to the virtue 
 of primitive Rome. His teachings were in strange contrast 
 to the age in which he lived; they bear a striking resem- 
 blance to those of the Gospel, with which he may have 
 become acquainted through St. Paul. The fathers of the 
 Church were loud in their praises of "the divine pagan," 
 but there is no evidence that, as some have stated, Seneca 
 was persuaded by the apostle to become a Christian. 
 
 Our philosopher is described as simple in his tastes. 
 Though the envied possessor of a princely fortune, he could 
 consistently write in support of temperance on his table of 
 gold. A cupful of water from the brook was sweeter to him 
 than beakers of Italy's choicest wines, and the fruits of the 
 wild wood he preferred to the luxurious dishes fashion re- 
 quired him to spread before the rich and great. His fault 
 was weakness, which betrayed him into flattery, and perhaps 
 made him an unwilling accessory to some of his master's 
 crimes. 
 
 Seneca was the author, not only of philosophical treatises, 
 but also of ten tragedies, and one hundred and twenty-four 
 moral epistles. He even attempted a satire on the stupidity 
 of the emperor Claudius, representing him as transformed
 
 396 KOMAN LITEKATURE. 
 
 after death, not into a god, as the senate decreed, but into a 
 pumpkin. Several other works from his pen are lost. 
 
 The best of Seneca's treatises are those on Anger, Provi- 
 dence, and Consolation. His style, labored, antithetical, and 
 full of repetitions, has an artificial glitter about it that im- 
 presses the reader unfavorably. 
 
 EXTKACTS FROM SENECA'S WRITINGS. 
 ON 
 
 " How idle are many of those things that make us stark mad ! A 
 resty horse, the overturning of a glass, the falling of a key, the drag- 
 ging of a chair, a jealousy, a misconstruction. How shall that man 
 endure the extremities of hunger and thirst, that flies into a rage only 
 for the putting of a little too much water in his wine ? What haste 
 is there to lay a servant by the heels, or break a leg or an arm imme- 
 diately for it ? The answer of a servant, a wife, a tenant, puts some 
 peopje out of all patience, and yet they can quarrel with the govern- 
 ment for not allowing them the same liberty in public which they 
 themselves deny to their own families. If they say nothing, 'tis con- 
 tumacy ; if they speak or laugh, 'tis insolence. Neither are our eyes 
 less curious and fantastical than our ears. When we are abroad, we 
 can bear well enough with foul ways, nasty streets, noisome ditches ; 
 but a spot upon a dish at home, or an unswept hearth, absolutely 
 distracts us. And what's the reason, but that we are patient iu the 
 one place and peevish in the other ? 
 
 Nothing makes us more intemperate than luxury. When Ave are 
 once weakened with our pleasures, everything grows intolerable. 
 And we are angry as well with those things that cannot hurt us as 
 with those that do. We tear a book because it is blotted ; and our 
 clothes because they are not well made things that neither deserve 
 our anger nor feel it. The tailor perchance did his best, or had no 
 intent to displease us. If so, first, why should we be angry at all? 
 Secondly, why should we be angry with the thing for the man's 
 eake ? Nay, our anger extends even to dogs, horses, and other beasts. 
 
 Cyrus, iu his design upon Babylon, found a river in his way that 
 put a stop to his march. The current was strong, and carried away 
 one of the horses that belonged to his own chariot ; upon this he swore 
 that, since it had obstructed his passage, it should never hinder that 
 of another, and presently set his whole army to work on it, which 
 diverted it into a hundred and fourscore channels, and laid it dry. 
 In this ignoble and unprofitable employment he lost his time and the 
 soldiers their courage ; moreover, he gave his adversaries an oppor- 
 tunity of providing themselves, while he was waging war with a 
 river instead of au enemy."
 
 EXTRACTS FKOM SENECA. 397 
 
 OX A HAPPY LIFE. 
 
 " It is dangerous for a man too suddenly or too easily to believe 
 himself. Wherefore let us examine, watch, observe, and inspect our 
 own hearts; for we ourselves are our own greatest flatterers. Wo 
 should every night call ourselves to account ' What infirmity have 
 I mastered to-day ? What passion opposed ? What temptation re- 
 sisted ? What virtue acquired ?' Our vices will abate of themselves, 
 if they be brought every day to the shrift. O the blessed sleep that 
 follows such a diary ! O the tranquillity, liberty, and greatness of 
 that mind that is a spy upon itself, and a private censor of its own 
 manners ! It is my custom every night, so soon as the candle is out, 
 to run over all the words and actions of the past day ; and I let noth- 
 ing escape me. What can be more reasonable than this daily review 
 of a life that we cannot warrant for a moment ?" I/ESTRANGE. 
 
 MISCELLANEOUS SAYINGS. 
 
 " Those whom God loves, he disciplines. 
 
 We can never quarrel enough with our vices. 
 
 The day of death is the birthday of eternity. 
 
 There is no need to pray the aadile to admit you to the ear of an 
 image, that so your petitions may be heard the better. God is near 
 you ; he is with you ; a holy spirit resides within us, our constant 
 guardian. 
 
 Let us be liberal after the example of our great Creator, and give 
 to others with the same consideration that he gives to us. 
 
 How many are unworthy of the light ; yet the day dawns. 
 
 The good-will of the benefactor is the fountain of all benefits. 
 
 To obey God is liberty. 
 
 Apply thyself to the true riches. It is shameful to depend for a 
 happy life on silver and gold." 
 
 Lucan (39-65 A.D.), the nephew of Seneca, though born at 
 Cordova, was brought up at Rome, and there became the fel- 
 low-pupil and favorite companion of Nero. But the superior 
 genius of the Spanish youth provoked the jealousy of his royal 
 master, who had rather too high an opinion of his own attain- 
 ments, and was nettled by the public verdict that Lucan, then 
 only twenty-three years of age, was the greatest of living poets. 
 At length the awarding of the prize to Lucan in a literary 
 contest between them so enraged the emperor that he forbade 
 his former friend to recite any more pieces.
 
 398 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Lucan's indiscretion sealed his fate. Not content with li- 
 bellous attacks upon Nero, he became implicated in a con- 
 spiracy against the government, upon the detection of which 
 he was condemned to death. Nero allowing him to choose 
 the manner in which he should suffer, the poet had his veins 
 opened in a hot bath. Becoming faint from loss of blood, he 
 recited a passage from his own " Pharsalia," descriptive of the 
 death of a snake-bitten soldier : 
 
 " So the warm blood at once from every part 
 Kan purple poison down, and drained the fainting heart. 
 Blood falls for tears, and o'er his mournful face 
 The ruddy drops their tainted passage trace. 
 Where'er the liquid juices find a way, 
 There streams of blood, there crimson rivers stray ; 
 His mouth and gushing nostrils pour a flood, 
 And e'eu the pores ooze out the trickling blood. 
 In the red deluge all the parts lie drowned, 
 And the whole body seems one bleeding wound" 
 
 and so he passed away. 
 
 Lucan was interred at Rome in his own garden. An an- 
 cient monument in the church of Santo Paulo contains an 
 inscription to his memory, probably placed there by order of 
 Nero, who seems after all to have rendered secret homage to 
 his genius and virtue. The talents of his wife have been 
 highly commended; and it is probable that she assisted him 
 in composing his work. 
 
 The epic " Pharsalia " is the only poem of Lucan's that we 
 now possess. Its subject is the civil war between Ccesar and 
 Pompey ; and it receives its name from the place at which 
 the decisive battle between the rival commanders was fought. 
 Though inferior to the ^Eneid, it certainly displays talent of a 
 high order. Critics have differed in their estimate of Lucan. 
 That he has faults, none will deny who are familiar with his 
 tumid style and love of tinsel. On the other hand, energy, 
 exuberant imagination, and a fervent love of liberty, are his 
 peculiar excellences. The defects of the Pharsalia are excus-
 
 LUCAN. 399 
 
 able in a youth of twenty-six. Had the author lived to revise 
 and finish the work, it might have equalled Virgil's epic. 
 
 Lucan is partial to the supernatural ; dreams, witches, and 
 ghosts, enter freely into his machinery. In the sixth book of 
 the Pharsalia, he makes Pompey's son consult the witch Erich- 
 tho on the eve of the battle. His picture of the weird woman 
 is quoted here as one of the most imaginative passages in the 
 whole range of classical poetry. Erichtho is the type of a 
 class of impostors firmly believed in by the Romans of that 
 day ; the powers with which the poet endows her are sim- 
 ply those attributed to her by popular superstition. 
 
 THE WITCH ERICHTHO. 
 
 " Whene'er the proud enchantress gives command, 
 Eternal Motion stops her active hand; 
 No more heaven's rapid circles journey on, 
 But universal Nature stands foredone ; 
 The lazy god of day forgets to rise, 
 And everlasting night pollutes the skies. 
 Jove wonders to behold her shake the pole, 
 And, unconseuting, hears his thunders roll. 
 Now, with a word she.hides the sun's bright face, 
 And blots the wide ethereal azure space : 
 Loosely, anon, she shakes her flowing hair, 
 And straight the stormy lowering heavens are fair : 
 At ouco she calls the golden light again ; 
 The clouds fly swift away, and stops the drizzly rain. 
 
 In stillest calms, she bids the waves run high ; 
 And smooths the deep, tho' Boreas shakes the sky : 
 When winds are hushed, her potent breath prevails, 
 Wafts on the bark, and fills the flagging sails. 
 Streams have run back at murmurs of her tongue, 
 And torrents from the rock suspended hung : 
 No more the Nile his wonted seasons knows, 
 And in a line the straight Mseander flows. 
 The ponderous earth, by magic numbers struck, 
 Down to her inmost centre deep has shook ; 
 Then, rending with a yawn, at once made way, 
 To join the upper and the nether day : 
 While wondering eyes, the dreadful cleft between, 
 Another starry firmament have seen.
 
 KO1TAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Each deadly kind, by nature formed to kill, 
 
 Fears the dire hags, and executes their \vill : 
 
 Lions to them their nobler rage submit, 
 
 And fawning tigers crouch beneath their feet : 
 
 For them the snake foregoes her wintry hold, 
 
 And on the hoary frost untwines her fold ; 
 
 The poisonous race they strike with stronger death, 
 
 And blasted vipers die by human breath. 
 
 But these, as arts too gentle and too good, 
 Nor yet with death or guilt enough imbrued, 
 With haughty scorn the fierce Erichtho viewed. 
 New mischief she, new monsters, durst explore ; 
 And dealt in horrors never known before. 
 From towns and hospitable roofs she flies, 
 And every dwelling of mankind defies; 
 Through unfrequented deserts lonely roams, 
 Drives out the dead, and dwells within their tombs. 
 Grateful to hell the living hag descends, 
 And sits in black assemblies of the fiends. 
 Dark matted elf-locks dangling on her brow, 
 Filthy and foul, a loathsome burden grow: 
 Ghastly, and frightful pale, her face is seen; 
 Unknown to cheerful day and skies serene ; 
 But, -when the stars are veiled, when storms arise, 
 And the blue forky flame at midnight flies, 
 Then, forth from graves she takes her wicked way, 
 And thwarts the glancing lightnings as they play : 
 Where'er she breathes blue poisons round her spread, 
 Tho withering grass avows her fatal tread. 
 
 Oft in the grave the living has she laid, 
 And bid reviving bodies leave the dead : 
 Oft at the funeral pile she seeks her prey, 
 And bears the smoking ashes warm away ; 
 Snatches some burning bone, or flaming brand, 
 And tears the torch from the sad father's hand. 
 Her teeth from gibbets gnaw the strangling noose, 
 And from the cross dead murderers unloose : 
 Her charms the use of sun-dried marrow find, 
 And husky entrails withered in the wind. 
 
 Where'er the battle bleeds, and slaughter lies, 
 Thither, preventing birds and beasts, she hies ; 
 Nor then content to seize the ready prey, 
 From their fell jaws she tears their food away ; 
 She marks the hungry wolf's pernicious tooth, 
 And joys to rend the morsel from his mouth :
 
 PLIXY THE ELDER. 401 
 
 Nor ever yet remorse could stop her hand, 
 
 When human gore her cursed rites demand. 
 
 When blooming youths in early manhood die, 
 
 She stands a terrible attendant by ; 
 
 The downy growth from off" their cheeks she tears, 
 
 Or cuts left-banded some selected hairs. 
 
 Oft, when in death her gasping kindred lay, 
 
 Some pious office would she feign to pay ; 
 
 And, while close hovering o'er the bed sbe hung, 
 
 Bit the pale lips, and cropped the quiveriug tongue ; 
 
 Then, in hoarse murmurs, ere tbe ghost could go, 
 
 Muttered some message to the shades below." 
 
 ROWE. 
 
 The Flavian Era is memorable for a few writers of note. 
 Pliny the Elder, called also the Naturalist, was an intimate 
 friend of the emperor Vespasian ; while the names of Martial, 
 Statius, and Quintilian, are associated with the reign of Do- 
 mitian, Vespasian's son (81-96 A.D.). 
 
 Pliny the Elder (23-79 A.D.) was born at Como in Cis- 
 alpine Gaul, and there passed his boyhood. We find him 
 afterward at Rome attending rhetorical lectures, and still 
 later in his career serving as a soldier in Germany. Nero 
 made him proconsul of Spain, and at the expiration of his 
 term he returned to Rome to find his old friend Vespasian 
 invested with the purple. 
 
 Pliny had already become distinguished as the author of a 
 treatise on "the Use of the Javelin," a "History of the Ger- 
 man Wars," and eight books on ''Difficulties in the Latin 
 Language." He now devoted himself to the compilation of 
 his " Natural History," the only work we have left from kis 
 pen, which Cuvier pronounced "one of the most precious 
 monuments that have come down to us from ancient times." 
 
 We might well wonder how, in the face of his onerous pub- 
 lic duties, Pliny found time for literary pursuits so engrossing, 
 did not his nephew, Pliny the Younger, describe to us his 
 wonderful industry. His day's work began at i or 2 A.M.,
 
 402 EOMAN LITEKATUEE. 
 
 even in winter; sometimes at midnight. Before sunrise he 
 repaired to the palace to chat informally with Vespasian, who 
 like him was accustomed to rob the night of a few hours ; 
 after which he applied himself to business and study, devot- 
 ing every spare moment to the accumulation of knowledge. 
 "No book so bad but that something good may be gleaned 
 from it," was his motto. To be without a volume and a port- 
 able writing-desk was a crime in Pliny's eyes. A slave con- 
 stantly attended him, to take down his words in short-hand ; 
 during his meals he employed a reader, and even in his 
 bath he dictated or listened. "I remember his chicling 
 me," said his nephew, "for taking a walk, saying 'You might 
 have saved three hours.' Compared with him, I am an idle 
 vagabond." 
 
 Pliny the Elder was a martyr to science. In August, 79 
 A.D., while in command of the Mediterranean squadron, to 
 which he had been appointed by Vespasian, word was brought 
 him that Vesuvius was in a state of eruption. Desiring to in- 
 vestigate the phenomenon, he steered straight for the blazing 
 mountain, pushed on through the rain of hot ashes and pum- 
 ice-stones, and when advised by the pilot to turn back fear- 
 lessly replied, " Fortune favors the brave !" He effected a 
 landing, but only to be suffocated by the sulphurous vapors 
 that proved fatal to so many of the inhabitants of Hercula- 
 neum and Pompeii. 
 
 Pliny was the master-compiler of antiquity ; and he was 
 only a compiler, as he himself acknowledged. His Natural 
 History, in thirty-seven books, is a storehouse of quaint lore, 
 according to its author a condensation of two thousand vol- 
 umes, relating to astronomy, geography, zoology, botany, min- 
 eralogy, diseases and their remedies, etc. A penchant for the 
 marvellous, which shows him to have been a man of infinite 
 credulity, was a weakness of Pliny ; yet his stories were im- 
 plicitly trusted in the Dark Ages, and many of them re-
 
 EXTKACTS FROM PLIXY THE ELDEE. 403 
 
 appeared in the tales of the Arabian Nights. A few of his 
 curious statements are subjoined : 
 
 ECCENTRICITIES OF NATURE. 
 
 " Some individuals are born with certain parts of the body en- 
 dowed with properties of a marvellous nature. Such was the case 
 with King Pyrrhus, the great toe of whose right foot cured diseases 
 of the spleen merely by touching the patient. We are also informed 
 that this toe could not be reduced to ashes together with the other 
 portions of the body. 
 
 India and Ethiopia abound iu wonders. According to Megasthe- 
 nes, on a mountain called Nulo there dwells a race of men who have 
 their feet turned backward, with eight toes on each foot. On many 
 of the mountains, again, there is a tribe of men who have the heads 
 of dogs ; instead of speaking they bark, and, furnished Avith claws, 
 they live by hunting and catching birds. According to Ctesias, tLo 
 number of this people is more than 120,000. This author speaks also 
 of another race of men called Single-legs, who have only one limb, 
 but, are able to leap with surprising agility. The same people are 
 also called Foot-sbadowers, because they are in the habit of lying on 
 their backs, and protecting themselves from the sun by the shade of 
 their feet. 
 
 At the very extremity of India, near the source of the river Ganges, 
 there is the nation of Mouthless people; their bodies are rough and 
 overgrown with hair, and they cover themselves with a down plucked 
 from the leaves of trees. These people subsist only by breathing and 
 by the odors which they inhale through the nostrils. They support 
 themselves upon neither meat nor drink ; when they go upon a long 
 journey, they carry with them only odoriferous roots and flowers, 
 and wild apples, that they may not be without something to smell 
 at. But an odor which is a little more powerful than usual easily 
 destroys them." 
 
 HYDROPHOBIA. 
 
 " Canine madness is fatal to man during the heat of the Dog-star, 
 and proves so in consequence of those who are bitten having a dead- 
 ly horror of water. For this reason, during the thirty days that the 
 star exerts its influence, we try to prevent the disease in dogs ; or, 
 if they are attacked by it, give them hellebore. 
 
 We have a single remedy against the bite, which has been but 
 lately discovered the root of the wild rose, which is called dog- 
 rose. Columella informs us that if, on the fortieth day after the 
 birth of a pup, the last bone of the tail is bitten off, the sinew will 
 follow with it ; after which the tail will not grow, and the dog will 
 never become rabid." 
 
 E, 2
 
 404 EOMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 REMEDIES FOR TOOTHACHE, ETC. 
 
 "Toothache is alleviated by .scarifying the gums with bones of 
 the sea-dragon, or by rubbing the teeth once a year with the brains 
 of a dog-fish boiled in oil. It is a very good plan, too, for the cure 
 of toothache, to lance the gums with the sting of the ray. This 
 sting is pounded and applied to the teeth with white hellebore, hav- 
 ing the effect of extracting them without the slightest difficulty. A 
 decoction is made of a single frog boiled in two-thirds of a pint of 
 vinegar, and the teeth are rinsed with it. It is generally thought 
 that this recipe applies more particularly to the double teeth, and 
 that the vinegar prepared as above mentioned is remarkably useful 
 for strengthening them when loose. Ashes, also, of burnt crabs make 
 an excellent dentifrice. 
 
 There is a small frog which ascends trees, and croaks aloud there; 
 if a person suffering from cough spits into its mouth and then lets it 
 go, he will experience a cure. For cough attended with spitting of 
 blood, it is recommended to beat up the raw flesh of a snail, and to 
 drink it in hot water." RILEY. 
 
 Martial (43-117 A.D.). The chief poet of Domitian's 
 reign was Martial, master of the Latin epigram. Born in 
 Spain, Martial came to Rome in Nero's time and began the 
 study of law. But rinding it uncongenial, he adopted litera- 
 ture as a profession, and rose to distinction under Titus and 
 Domitian, his sordid flattery of the latter securing him wealth 
 and honors. 
 
 The epigrams of Martial are pithy, pointed with satire, and 
 not without elegance ; but the pleasure of reading them is 
 constantly interrupted by coarse allusions and even down- 
 right obscenity. Hence it has been justly said that Martial 
 taught vice while reproving it. His poems, however, contain 
 valuable pictures of Roman manners. 
 
 THE BEAU. 
 
 " They tell me, Cotilus, that you're a beau : 
 What this is, Cotilus, I wish to know. 
 'A beau is one who, with the nicest care, 
 In parted locks divides his curling hair ; 
 One who with balm and cinnamon smells sweet, 
 Whose humming lips some Spanish air repeat ;
 
 MARTIAL. STATIUS. 405 
 
 Whoso naked arras arc smoothed with pumice-stone, 
 
 And tossed about with graces all his own. 
 
 A beau is one who takes his .constant seat, 
 
 From morn to evening, where the ladies meet ; 
 
 And ever, on some sofa hovering near, 
 
 Whispers soft nothings in some fair one's ear ; 
 
 Who scribbles thousand billets-doux a day ; 
 
 Still reads and scribbles, reads and sends away. 
 
 A beau is one who shrinks, if nearly pressed 
 
 By the coarse garment of a neighbor gnest ; 
 
 Who knows who flirts with whom, and still is found 
 
 At each good table in successive round. 
 
 A beau is one none better knows than he 
 
 A race-horse and his noble pedigree.' 
 
 Indeed ? Why, Cotilus, if this be so, 
 
 What teasing trifling thing is called a beau !" 
 
 " With but one eye Philoeuis weeps. How done 
 If you' inquire, know she hath got but one." 
 
 Statius (61-96 A.D.), a contemporary and rival of Martial, 
 was the author of the epic " Theba'is," based on the strife of 
 the sons of (Edipus (see p. 200). Despite the fact that the 
 poet gave a year's work to each of its twelve books, this epic 
 has little to recommend it. 
 
 Statius began another poem on the life of Achilles, which 
 he did not live to finish. His forte lay not in the line of epics, 
 but in the improvising of short pointed pieces, thirty-two of 
 which are preserved in the collection called " Silvae." Juve- 
 nal bears witness to his popularity. 
 
 Statius was patronized by the emperor Domitian, but is said 
 to have been stabbed by the latter with a stylus, in a fit of 
 anger. The following tender lines are from a poem addressed 
 to his wife Claudia. 
 
 STATIUS TO HIS WIFE. 
 
 " Whither could ocean's waves my bark convey, 
 Nor thou be fond companion of my way f 
 Yes did I seek to fix my mansion drear 
 Where polar ice congeals the inclement year ;
 
 406 EOMAN LITEKATUBE. 
 
 Where the seas darken round far Thule's isle, 
 
 Or unapproached recedes the head of Nile ; 
 
 Thy voice would cheer me on. May that kind Power, 
 
 Who joined our hands when in thy beauty's flower, 
 
 Still, when the blooming years of life decline, 
 
 Prolong the blessing, and preserve thee mine ! 
 
 To thee, whose charms gave first the enamoring wound, 
 
 And my wild youth in marriage fetters bound; 
 
 To theo submissive, I received the rein, 
 
 Nor sigh for change, but hug the pleasing chain. 
 
 And thou hast listened, with entranced desire, 
 The first rude sounds that would my lips inspire ; 
 Thy watchful ear would snatch, with keen delight, 
 My verse, low-murmured through the live-long night. 
 To only thee my lengthened toils were known, 
 And with thy yars has my Thebaid grown. 
 I saw thee, what thou art, when late I stood 
 On the dark verge of the Lethsean flood ; 
 When glazed in death, I closed my quivering eyes, 
 Eelenting Fate restored me to thy sighs ; 
 Thou wert alone the cause, the Power above 
 Feared thy despair and melted to thy love." ELTON. 
 
 Sulpitia. We must not pass over the Roman lyric poetess 
 Sulpitia, the Sappho of Domitian's age a noble lady of ex- 
 ceptional genius, who claims that she 
 
 " First taught the Koman dames to vie 
 With Gra3cia's nymphs of lyric minstrelsy." 
 
 A short satire on Domitian's expulsion of the Greek philos- 
 ophers from Italy, bearing the name of Sulpitia, still survives. 
 It is valuable, as the only fragment we have from a Roman 
 poetess. From it we extract the following apt simile : 
 
 "It fares with Eomans as with wasps, whose home 
 Is hung where Juno's temple rears its dome ; 
 A bristling crowd, they wave their flickering wings, 
 Their yellow bodies barbed with quivering stings. 
 But not like wasps, thus tremblingly alive, 
 The bee, secure returning, haunts her hive ; 
 Forgetful of the comb, by sloth oppressed, 
 The swarm, the queen, die slow in pampered rest : 
 And this the sous of Romulus have found, 
 Sunk in the lap of peace, in long perdition drowned."
 
 QUINTILIAN. 407 
 
 Quintilian (35-95 A.D.), of Spanish parentage but Roman 
 education, for many years taught eloquence successfully in the 
 capital, numbering among his pupils the nephews of Domitian. 
 He had the good fortune to enjoy the favor of the emperor, 
 and filled a professorship to which was attached an annual 
 salary of about $4,000. 
 
 Quintilian is honored as the author of the "Institutes of 
 Oratory," an exhaustive rhetorical treatise in twelve books, 
 devoted to the education of the orator from infancy. "No 
 other author," it has been said, "ever adorned a scientific 
 treatise with so many happy metaphors." No other author, 
 it may be added, ever succeeded better in investing a dry 
 subject with general interest. The "Institutes" may be read 
 with profit by all who desire to improve their style. 
 
 Quintilian insists on virtue as a requisite of the perfect 
 orator ; yet with strange inconsistency excuses a falsehood 
 if told in a good cause, and justifies the doing of evil that 
 good may come. We present a few paragraphs on 
 
 THE EMBELLISHMENT OF STYLE. 
 
 " By polish and embellishment of style the orator recommends 
 himself to his auditors iii his proper character; in his other efforts 
 he courts the approbation of the learned, in this the applause of the 
 multitude. Cicero, in pleading the cause of Cornelius, fought -with 
 arms that were not only stout, but dazzling; nor would he, merely 
 by instructing the judge, or by speaking to the purpose in pure Latin 
 and with perspicuity, have caused the Roman people to testify their 
 admiration of him not only by acclamations, but even by tumults of 
 applause. It was the sublimity, magnificence, splendor, and dignity 
 of his eloquence, that drew forth that thunder of approbation. 
 
 This grace of style may contribute in no small degree to the suc- 
 cess of a cause ; for thos"e who listen with pleasure are both more 
 attentive and more ready to believe ; they are very frequently cap- 
 tivated with pleasure, and sometimes hurried away in admiration. 
 Thus the glitter of a sword strikes something of terror into the eyes ; 
 and thunderstorms themselves would not alarm us so much as they 
 do, if it were their force only, and not also their flame, that was 
 dreaded. Cicero, accordingly, in one of his letters to Brutus, makes 
 with good reason the following remark : 'That eloquence which ex-
 
 408 KOHAN LITERATURE. 
 
 cites no admiration, I account as nothing.' Aristotle, also, thinks 
 that to excite admiration should be one of our greatest objects. 
 
 But let the embellishment of our style be manly, noble, and chaste ; 
 let it not affect effeminate delicacy, or a complexion counterfeited by 
 paint, but let it glow with geuuiue health and vigor. Should I think 
 a piece of laud better cultivated, in which the owner should show me 
 lilies, auemoaies, and violets, and fountaius playing, than otie in which 
 there is a plentiful harvest, or vines laden -with grapes ? Should I 
 prefer barren plane-trees, or clipped myrtles, to elms embraced with. 
 vines, and fruitful olive-trees? The rich may have such unproduc- 
 tive gratifications ; but what would they be, if they had nothing 
 else? 
 
 Whatever may be attractive in conception, elegant in expression, 
 pleasing in figures, rich in metaphor, or polished in composition, the 
 orator, like a dealer, as it were, in eloquence, will lay before his audi- 
 ence for them to inspect, and almost to handle ; for his success en- 
 tirely concerns his reputation, aud not his cause. But when a serious 
 affair is in question, and there is a contest in real earnest, anxiety for 
 mere applause should be an orator's last concern. Indeed, no speak- 
 er, where important interests are involved, should be very solicitous 
 about his words." WATSON. 
 
 Among the lesser lights of the first Christian century were 
 QUINTUS CURTIUS, who compiled a " History of Alexander 
 the Great;" COLUMELLA, a writer on agriculture; POMPONIUS 
 MELA, the first Latin geographer ; PROBUS, the grammarian ; 
 VALERIUS FLACCUS, who wrote the epic " Argonautica," in 
 imitation of Apollonius Rhodius ; and SILIUS ITALICUS, au- 
 thor of a third-rate epic on the Punic Wars. 
 
 AGE OF TRAJAN AND THE ANTONINES. 
 
 Juvenal (40-125 A.D.), the single poet of this age, ranks 
 with Rome's great writers. The accounts of his life are frag- 
 mentary and obscure. A native of Aqui'num in Latium, he 
 came to Rome, and was apparently a student of rhetoric, per- 
 haps an advocate. A chance lampoon on an actor revealed 
 to him his satirical talent, and forthwith he applied himself to 
 that branch of poetry in which he became so eminent. Too 
 modest at first to read his satires even before his friends, Ju- 
 venal postponed publishing them until his sixtieth year, when 
 they took Rome by storm. Sixteen of them survive.
 
 JUVENAL. 409 
 
 His fierce diatribes not unnaturally gave offence in high 
 places ; and at length the emperor Ha'drian* quietly sent 
 their author off to Egypt, to command a Roman cohort sta- 
 tioned there -a disgrace which brought the old satirist in 
 sorrow to the grave. 
 
 Juvenal probed Roman society to its very depths, laying 
 bare vices of the blackest dye. In his day, the degenerate 
 masters of the world even out-sodomed Sodom in depravity. 
 Nobles and emperors openly perpetrated the vilest crimes. 
 High-born ladies, in male attire, entered the arena to fight like 
 gladiators ; revelled in reckless extravagance ; plunged into 
 immoralities that call up a blush in the very recital, and even 
 added the arts of the poisoner to their accomplishments. Thus 
 the poet exclaims against these fashionable murderesses : 
 
 " They sec upon the stage the Grecian wife 
 Redeeming with her own her husband's life; 
 Yet, in her place, would willingly deprive 
 Their lords of breath, to keep their dogs alive ! 
 Abroad, at home, the Belides t you meet, 
 And Clytemuestras swarm in every street ; 
 But here the difference lies those bungling wives 
 With a blunt axe hacked out their husbands' lives; 
 While now the deed is done with dexterous art, 
 And a drugged bowl performs the axe's part." 
 
 In the blaze of his satire Juvenal brought out the represent- 
 
 * Hadrian was for the most part a patron of literary men, and himself spoke 
 and wrote with eloquence. Pope's paraphrase has made familiar his verse ad- 
 dressed to his soul : 
 
 "Ah! fleeting spirit! wandering fire, 
 
 That long hast warmed my tender breast, 
 Must thou no more this frame inspire, 
 No more a pleasing, cheerful guest ? 
 Whither, ah! whither art thou flying? 
 
 To what dark undiscovered shore ? 
 Thou seem'st all trembling, shivering, dying, 
 And wit and humor are no more." 
 
 f The fifty daughters of Danaus, who stabbed their husbands on the marriage- 
 night.
 
 410 ROMAN LITEKATUEE. 
 
 ative characters of his time. Parasites, hypocrites, and pan- 
 ders, upstarts, legacy -hunters, and gamblers, ballet-dancers 
 and fortune-tellers, gluttons and sots, defile before us in his 
 pages till we turn with nausea from the revolt-ing panorama. 
 Well might the poet sigh : 
 
 " Oh ! happy were our sires, estranged from crimes ; 
 And happy, happy were the good old times, 
 Which saw beneath their kings', their tribunes' reign, 
 One cell the nation's criminals contain !" 
 
 Juvenal's vividness of description and minuteness of detail 
 show him to have been personally familiar with the vices he 
 lashed ; that he kept himself unspotted we can neither assert 
 nor deny. His satires are full of moral precepts and virtuous 
 sentiments; the Tenth, perhaps the gem of the collection, has 
 lent more thoughts and expressions to modern times than any 
 other Latin poem of equal length. It closes with a beautiful 
 petition : 
 
 JUVENAL'S PEAYEE. 
 
 " O Thou who know'st the wants of human kind, 
 Vouchsafe me health of body, health of mind ; 
 A soul prepared to meet the frowns of fate, 
 And look undaunted on a future state ; 
 That reckons death a blessing, yet can bear 
 Existence nobly, with its weight of care ; 
 That anger and desire alike restrains, 
 And counts Alcides' toils, and cruel pains, 
 Superior far to banquets, wanton nights, 
 And all the Assyrian monarch's soft delights! 
 
 Here bound, at length, thy wishes. I but teach 
 What blessings man, by his own powers, may reach. 
 The path to peace is virtue. We should see, 
 If wise, O Fortune, naught divine in thee : 
 But wo have deified a name alone, 
 And fixed in heaven thy visionary throne!" 
 
 Brevity, intensity, and vigor, are conspicuous elements in 
 our author's style. He always used "the best words in the 
 right places." Said Dryden, his only peer in satiric poetry, 
 "Juvenal gives me as much pleasure as I can bear." We
 
 EXTRACT FROM JUVENAL. 411 
 
 extract from the Tenth Satire one of his most graphic pas- 
 sages : 
 
 THE INSTABILITY OF FORTUNE. 
 
 [Illustrated by the fall of Sejauus.] 
 
 " Some, Power hurls headlong from her envied height; 
 Some, the broad tablet, flashing on the sight, 
 With titles, names : the statues, tumbled down, 
 Are dragged by hooting thousands through the town ; 
 The brazen cars torn rudely from the yoke, 
 And, with the blameless steeds, to shivers broke 
 Then roar the flames ! The sooty artist blows, 
 And all Sejanus* in the furnace glows ; 
 Sejanus, once so honored, so adored, 
 And only second to the world's great lord, 
 Runs glittering from the mould, in cups and cans, 
 Basins and ewers, plates, pitchers, pots, and pans. 
 
 ' Crown all your doors with bay, triumphant bay! 
 Sacred to Jove, the milk-white victim slay ; 
 For lo ! where great Sejauus by the throng, 
 A joyful spectacle! is dragged along. 
 What lips ! what cheeks! ha, traitor! for my part, 
 I never loved the fellow in my heart.' 
 
 ' But tell me, why was he adjudged to bleed ? 
 And who discovered, and who proved the deed V 
 
 1 Proved ! a huge wordy letter came to-day 
 From Capreae.' Good ! what think the people ? They 
 They follow fortune, as of old, and hate, 
 With their whole souls, the victim of the state. 
 Yet would the herd, thus zealous, thus on fire, 
 Had Nnrsiat met the Tuscan's fond desire, 
 Aud crushed the unwary prince, have all combined, 
 And hailed Sejanus master of mankind! 
 
 Lured by the splendor of his happier hour, 
 Wouldst thou possess Sejauus' wealth aud power; 
 See crowds of suppliants at thy levee wait, 
 Give this to sway the army, that the state ; 
 And keep a prince in ward, retired to reign 
 O'er Caprese's crags, with his Chaldean train ? 
 Yes, yes, thou wouldst (for I can read thy breast) 
 Enjoy that favor which he once possessed, 
 
 * The wicked minister of the emperor Tiberius, who encouraged his master in 
 the most detestable vices. At length, having engaged in a conspiracy with the 
 view of usurping the empire, he was executed by Tiberius. The fate of the 
 bronze statues raised in his honor is related by the poet. 
 
 f The Etruscan goddess of fortune.
 
 412 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Assume all offices, grasp all commands, 
 
 The Imperial Horse, aiid the Praetorian Bauds. 
 
 'Tis Nature, this ; e'en those who want the will, 
 
 Pant for the dreadful privilege to kill : 
 
 Yet what delight can rank and power bestow, 
 
 Since every joy is balanced by its woe!" GIFFORD. 
 
 Tacitus (54-118 A.D.). Foremost among the prose writers 
 of this later period was Caius Cornelius Tacitus, by some con- 
 sidered the greatest of Roman historians. Of his early life 
 we know nothing, though as a youth he seems to have mas- 
 tered those arts which afterward made him a successful ora- 
 tor. In the reign of Vespasian he took to wife the daughter 
 of Julius Agricola, the Roman governor of Britain, and began 
 a public career which culminated under Nerva ^97 A.D.) in 
 the consulship. After this he probably confined his attention 
 to.literature, busying himself with the compilation of historical 
 works until death put an end to his labors. 
 
 The first of these in the order of time was the " Agricola," 
 an admirable biography of the author's father-in-law, "the 
 hero of a hundred fights, the conqueror of those warlike isl- 
 anders whom the mighty Julius left to their original freedom, 
 and whom Claudius and his captains imperfectly subdued." 
 It is particularly valuable for the light it casts on the history 
 of Britain, and the influence of Roman institutions. 
 
 "Agricola," said Tacitus, "gave private encouragement 
 and public aid to the building of temples, courts of justice, 
 and dwelling-houses, praising the energetic and reproving the 
 indolent. Thus an honorable rivalry took the place of com- 
 pulsion. He likewise provided a liberal education for the 
 sons of the chiefs, and showed such a preference for the nat- 
 ural powers of the Britons over the industry of the Gauls that 
 they who lately disdained the tongue of Rome now coveted 
 its eloquence. Hence, too, a liking sprung up for our style 
 of dress, and the togd became fashionable. Step by step they 
 were led to things which dispose to vice the lounge, the
 
 TACITUS. 413 
 
 bath, the elegant banquet. All this, in their ignorance, they 
 called civilization." 
 
 The " Agricola " was followed by " the Germania," a trea- 
 tise on the situation, customs, and tribes of Germany, in whose 
 freedom-loving warriors Tacitus saw an enemy to be feared. 
 What more caustic satires than his telling contrasts of their 
 simple habits with Roman luxury, their stern morality with 
 Roman profligacy? The Germania may be regarded as a 
 warning from a patriotic historian to his vice-ridden, enervated 
 countrymen a warning which they would have done well to 
 regard. Particularly pleasing are its picturesque sketches of 
 German life, written in concise, vigorous language. 
 
 The remaining works of Tacitus are his "Histories," "An- 
 nals," and a Dialogue on "the Decline of Eloquence." The 
 Histories covered the reigns of the Roman emperors from 
 Galba to Domitian inclusive (69-96 A.D.) ; about one-third 
 of the work is preserved. The genius of Tacitus did ample 
 justice to the tremendous issues of this eventful period, de- 
 scribed by him as follows : 
 
 " I am entering on the history of a period rich in disasters, fright- 
 ful in its wars, torn by civil strife, and even in peace full of horrors. 
 Four emperors perished by the sword. There were three civil wars : 
 there were more with foreign enemies : there were often wars that 
 had both characters at once. Now, too, Italy was prostrated by dis- 
 asters, either entirely novel or that recurred only after a long suc- 
 cession of ages. Cities in Campania's richest plains were swallowed 
 up and overwhelmed ; Rome was wasted by conflagrations, its old- 
 est temples were consumed, and the Capitol itself was fired by the 
 hands of citizens. Never, surely, did more terrible calamities of the 
 Roman people, or evidence more conclusive, prove that the gods take 
 no thought for our happiness, but only for our punishment." 
 
 In the "Annals" (sixteen books), which traced the history 
 of the emperors from the death of Augustus up to the point 
 at which the Histories had opened, the voice of the indignant 
 satirist is everywhere heard. Portions of this work, which 
 were published about 115 A.D., are lost. We extract the 
 historian's vivid description of the burning of Rome.
 
 414 EOMAN LITEEATUEE. 
 
 THE BUKNING OF ROME. 
 
 " There followed a dreadful disaster, whether fortuitously or by 
 the wicked contrivance of the prince is not determined, for both 
 are asserted by historians. But of all the calamities which ever be- 
 fell this city from the rage of fire, this was the most terrible. It 
 broke out in that part of the Circus which is coutiguous to mounts 
 Palatine and Coslius, where, by reason of shops in which were kept 
 such goods as minister aliment to fire, the moment it commenced it 
 acquired strength, and being accelerated by the wind, it spread at 
 once through the whole extent of the Circus. For neither were the 
 houses secured by enclosures, nor the temples environed with walls, 
 nor was there any other obstacle to intercept its progress ; but the 
 flame, spreading every way impetuously, invaded first the lower re- 
 gions of the city, then mounted to the higher; then again ravaging 
 the lower, it baffled every effort to extinguish it, by the rapidity of its 
 destructive course, and from the liability of the city to conflagration 
 in consequence of the narrow and intricate alleys, and the irregu- 
 larity of tho streets in ancient Rome. 
 
 Add to this the wailings of terrified women, the infirm condition 
 of tho aged, and the helplessness of childhood ; such as strove to 
 provide for themselves, and those who labored to assist others ; 
 these dragging the feeble, those waiting for them ; some hurrying, 
 others lingering ; altogether created a scene of universal confusion 
 and embarrassment. While they looked back upon tho danger in 
 their rear, they often found themselves beset before, aud on their 
 sides; or if they had escaped into the quarters adjoining, these too 
 were already seized by tho devouring flames; even the parts which 
 they believed to bo remote and "exempt, were found to be in tho 
 same distress. 
 
 At last, not knowing what to shun or where to seek sanctuary,, 
 they crowded the streets, and lay along in the open fields. Some, 
 from the loss of their whole substance, even the means of their daily 
 sustenance, others, from affection for their relatives whom they had 
 not been able to snatch from the flames, suffered themselves to per- 
 ish in them, though they had opportunity to escape. Neither dared 
 any man offer to check tho fire : so repeated were the menaces of 
 many who forbade to extinguish it ; and because others openly threw 
 fire-brands, with loud declarations ' that they had one who author- 
 ized them ;' whether they did it that they might plunder with less 
 restraint, or in consequence of orders given. 
 
 Nero, who was at that juncture sojourning at Antium, did not re- 
 turn to the city till the fire approached that quarter of his house 
 which connected the palace with the gardens of Maecenas ; nor could 
 it, however, be prevented from devouring the house, and palace, and 
 everything around. But for the relief of tho people thus destitute 
 aud driven from their dwellings, ho opened the field of Mars, and
 
 EXTRACT FKOM TACITUS. 415 
 
 oven his own gardens. He likewise reared temporary houses for 
 the reception of the forlorn multitude ; from Ostia and the neigh- 
 boring cities were brought household necessaries, and the price of 
 grain was reduced to three sesterces (about Hi cts.) the measure. 
 All which proceedings, though of a popular character, were thrown 
 away, because a rumor had become universally current, that at the 
 very time when the city was in flames Nero, going on the stage of 
 his private theatre, sung ' The Destruction of Troy,' assimilating 
 the present disaster to that catastrophe of ancient times. 
 
 At length, on the sixth day, the conflagration was stayed by pull- 
 ing down an immense quantity of buildings, so that an open space 
 and, as it were, void air, might check the raging element by break- 
 ing the continuity. . . . But not all the bounties that the prince 
 could bestow, nor all the atonements which could be presented to 
 the gods, availed to relieve Nero from the infamy of being believed 
 to have ordered the fire. Hence, to suppress the rumor, he falsely 
 charged with the guilt and punished with the most exquisite tort- 
 ures, the persons commonly called Christians, who were hated for 
 their enormities.* Christus, the founder of that sect, was put to 
 death as a criminal by Pontius Pilate, procurator of Judea, in the 
 reign of Tiberius; but the pernicious superstition, repressed for a 
 time, broke out again, not only through Judea, where the mischief 
 originated, but through the city of Rome also, whither all things 
 horrible and disgraceful flow from all quarters, as to a common re- 
 ceptacle, and where they are encouraged. 
 
 Accordingly, first those were seized who confessed they were 
 Christians ; next, on their information, a vast multitude were con- 
 victed, not so much on a charge of burning the city as of hating the 
 human race. And in their deaths they were also made the subjects 
 of sport, for they were covered with the hides of wild beasts and 
 worried to death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and when 
 day declined burned to serve for nocturnal lights.! Nero offered his 
 own gardens for that spectacle, and exhibited a Circeusian game, in- 
 discriminately mingling with the common people in the habit of a 
 charioteer, or else standing in his chariot. Whence a feeling of com- 
 passion arose toward the sufferers, though guilty and deserving to 
 be made examples of by capital punishment, because they seemed 
 not to be cut off for the public good, but victims to the ferocity of 
 one man." 
 
 Suetonius, a contemporary of Tacitus, appears to have been 
 born in the reign of Vespasian. His literary labors began in 
 Trajan's time ; and under Hadrian he occupied the honorable 
 
 * Tacitus shared the unjust prejudice current among the Eomans. 
 f This was the first of the ten persecutions of the Christians.
 
 416 EOMAN LITEEATUEE. 
 
 position of private secretary, which, however, he lost in con- 
 sequence of disrespect to the empress. 
 
 The best- known of his works, and the only one that has 
 been preserved entire, is his " Lives of the Twelve Caesars," 
 full, interesting, and trustworthy in its information, clear and 
 vigorous in style. The " Caesars " of Suetonius has always 
 been a standard. The Romans dwelt on his stories with 
 gusto; but in such frightful colors did he paint the deeds 
 of Caligula that the tyrant Com'modus made death by wild 
 beasts the penalty for reading his life of that emperor. After 
 the invention of printing, editions of Suetonius multiplied 
 rapidly. 
 
 EXTKACTS FROM SUETONIUS^ 
 SUPERSTITION OF AUGUSTUS. 
 
 " Some signs and omens he regarded as infallible. If in the morn- 
 ing bis shoe was put on wrong, the left instead of the right, that 
 boded some disaster. If when he commenced a long journey, by sea 
 or land, there happened to fall a mizzling rain, he held it to be a 
 good sign of a speedy and happy return. He was much affected like- 
 Avise with anything out of the common course of nature. A palm- 
 tree which chanced to grow up between some stones in the court of 
 his house, he transplanted into a court Avhere the images of the house- 
 hold gods were placed, and took all possible care to make it thrive. 
 He also observed certain, days ; as never to go from home the day 
 after the market-days, nor to begin any serious business upon the 
 nones." 
 
 CIIAKACTEE OF CALIGULA. 
 
 " Caligula evinced the savage barbarity of his temper by the fol- 
 lowing indications. When flesh was only to be had at a high prico 
 for feeding his wild beasts, he ordered that criminals should bo 
 given them to be devoured. After disfiguring many persons of hon- 
 orable rank, by branding them in the face with hot irons, he con' 
 demned them to the mines, to work in repairing the highways, or 
 to fight with wild beasts ; or, tying them by the neck and heels, 
 would shut them up in cages, or saw them asunder. 
 
 Nor were these severities inflicted merely for crimes of great enor- 
 mity, but for making remarks on his public games, or for not having 
 sworn by the Genius of the emperor. He compelled parents to bo 
 present at the execution of their sous ; and to one who excused him-
 
 EXTRACTS FKOM SUETONIUS. 417 
 
 self on account of indisposition, he sent his own litter. He burned 
 alive the writer of a farce, for some witty verse which had a double 
 meaning. A Koman knight, who had been exposed to the wild 
 beasts, crying out that he was innocent, Caligula called him back, 
 and having had his tongue cut out, remanded him to the arena. 
 
 Even in the midst of his diversions, while gaming or feasting, 
 this savage ferocity never forsook him. Persons were often put to 
 the torture in his presence, while he was dining or carousing. At 
 Puteoli, at the dedication of the bridge, he invited a number of peo- 
 ple to come to him from the shore, and then suddenly threw them 
 headlong into the sea ; thrusting down with poles and oars those 
 who, to save themselves, hadgot hold of the rudders of the ships. 
 As often as he met with handsome men, who had fine heads of hair, 
 ho would order the back of their heads to be shaved, to make them 
 look ridiculous. At a sumptuous entertainment, he fell suddenly 
 into a violent fit of laughter, and upon the consuls', who reclined 
 next to him, respectfully asking him the occasion, ' Nothing,' replied 
 he, ' but that upon a single nod of mine, you might both have your 
 throats cut.' 
 
 In profuse expenditure he surpassed all the prodigals that ever 
 lived ; inventing a new kind of bath, washing in precious unguents, 
 both warm and cold, drinking pearls of immense value dissolved in 
 vinegar, and serving up for his guests loaves and other victuals mod- 
 elled in gold. He built two ships with ten banks of oars, the sterns 
 of which blazed with jewels while the sails were of various colors. 
 They were fitted up with baths, galleries, and saloons, and supplied 
 with a great variety of vines and fruit-trees. In these he would sail 
 in the daytime along the coast of Campania, feasting amidst dancing 
 and concerts of music." 
 
 STUPIDITY OF CLAUDIUS. 
 
 "Among other things, people wondered at the indifference and 
 absent-mindedness of Claudius. Placing himself at table a little 
 after Messalina's death, he inquired, 'Why does not the empress 
 come f Many of those he had condemned to death, he ordered the 
 day after to be invited to his table, and to game with him, and sent 
 to reprimand them as sluggish fellows for not making greater haste. 
 The following expression he had in his mouth at all hours, ' What ! 
 do you take me for a fool ?' 
 
 A man engaged in. litigation before his tribunal drew Claudius 
 aside and told him, ' I dreamt I saw you murdered ;' and shortly af- 
 terward, when the defendant came to deliver his plea to the emperor, 
 the plaintiff, pretending to have discovered the murderer, pointed to 
 him as the man he had seen in his dream : whereupon, as if he had 
 been taken in the act, he was hurried away to execution." DR. 
 THOMSON.
 
 418 ROMAN L1TEKATUKE. 
 
 Pliny the Younger (62-113 A.D.), nephew and adopted son 
 of the naturalist, learned his early lessons from Quintilian and 
 other celebrated rhetoricians. After figuring for a time as a 
 successful advocate, he was elevated to the consulship, and in 
 Trajan's reign, having served his second term as consul, re- 
 ceived the appointment of governor of Bithynia. 
 
 Pliny took a prominent stand as the champion of the 
 wronged, and delighted in compelling dishonest governors to 
 disgorge their stolen spoils. The*eloquent speeches identified 
 with his name have perished, with the exception of a single 
 specimen, a panegyric on Trajan. It is as a letter-writer that 
 Pliny is entitled to a place among the worthies of Latin liter- 
 ature. His epistles to his friends and the emperor (in ten 
 books) are among the most pleasing relics of antiquity, af- 
 fording, as they do, many instructive glimpses of contemporary 
 society. They are written with life and polish, and show their 
 author to have been " the perfect type of a pagan gentleman." 
 
 While governor of Bithynia, Pliny corresponded frequently 
 with Trajan on official business. We give below one of his 
 letters in relation to the Christians, with Trajan's reply. 
 
 PLINY'S LETTER ON THE CHRISTIANS. 
 
 " I had never attended at the trial of a Christian ; hence I knew 
 not what were the usual questions asked them, or what the punish- 
 ments inflicted. I doubted, also, whether to make a distinction of 
 age.s, or to treat young and old alike ; whether to allow time for re- 
 cantation, or to refuse all pardon whatever to one Avho had been a 
 Christian ; whether, finally, to make the name penal, though no 
 crime should be proved, or to reserve the penalty for the combina- 
 tion of both. Meanwhile, when any were reported to me as Chris- 
 tians, I followed this plan. I asked them whether they were Chris- 
 tians. If they said yes, I repeated the question twice, adding threats 
 of punishment ; if they persisted, I ordered punishment to be inflict- 
 ed. For I felt sure that whatever it was they confessed, their in- 
 flexible obstinacy well deserved to be chastised. There were even 
 some Roman citizens who showed this strange persistence; those I 
 determined to send to Rome. 
 
 As often happens in cases of interference, charges were now lodged
 
 EXTKACT FROM PLINY. 419 
 
 more generally than before, and several forms of guilt came before 
 me. An anonymous letter was sent, containing the names of many 
 persons, who, however, denied that they were or had been Chris- 
 tians. As they invoked the gods and worshipped with wine and 
 frankincense before your image, at the same time cursing Christ, I 
 released them the more readily, as those who are really Christians 
 cannot be got to do any of these things. Others, who were named 
 to me, admitted that they were Christians, but immediately after- 
 ward denied it ; some said they had been so three years ago, others 
 at still more distant dates, one or two as long ago as twenty years. 
 All these worshipped yonr image and those of the gods, and abjured 
 Christ. But they declared that all their guilt or error had amount- 
 ed to was this : they met on certain mornings before daybreak, and 
 snng one after another a hymn to Christ as God, at the same time 
 binding themselves by an oath not to commit any crime, but to ab- 
 stain from theft, robbery, adultery, perjury, or repudiation of trust. 
 After this was done, the meeting broke up ; they, however, came to- 
 gether again to eat their meal in common, being quite guiltless of 
 any improper conduct. But since my edict forbidding (as yon or- 
 dered) all secret societies, they had given this practice up. 
 
 However, I thought it necessary to apply the torture to some 
 young women who were called ministrce (deaconesses), in order, if 
 possible, to find out the truth. But I could elicit nothing from them 
 except evidence of some debased and immoderate superstition ; so I 
 deferred the trial, and determined to ask your advice. For the mat- 
 ter seemed important, especially since the number of those who run 
 into danger increases daily. All ages, all ranks, and both sexes, are 
 among the accused, and the taint of the superstition is not confined to 
 the towns ; it has actually made its way into the villages. But I be- 
 lieve it possible to check and repress it. At all events, it is certain 
 that temples which were lately almost empty are now well attended, 
 and sacred festivals long disused are being revived. Victims too are 
 flowing in, whereas a few years ago such things could hardly find a 
 purchaser. From this I infer that vast numbers might be reformed, 
 if an opportunity of recantation were allowed them." t 
 
 TRAJAN'S REPLY. 
 
 " I entirely approve of yonr conduct with regard to those Chris- 
 tians of whom you had received information. We can never lay 
 down a universal rnle, as if circumstances were always the same. 
 They are not to be searched for; but if they are reported and con- 
 victed, they must be punished. But if any denies his Christianity 
 and proves his words by sacrificing to our divinity, even if his for- 
 mer conduct may have laid him under suspicion, he must be allowed 
 the benefit of his recantation. No weight whatever should be at- 
 tached to anonymous communications; they are no Roman way of 
 dealing, and are altogether reprehensible." CRUTTWELL. 
 
 S
 
 420 RO3IAN LITERATURE. 
 
 During the period under consideration, FLORUS abridged 
 Livy's " Annals ;" AULUS GELLIUS (125-175 A.D.) crowded 
 into his "Attic Nights" (a work in twenty books, prepared by 
 night at Athens) a vast store of historical anecdotes and ex- 
 tracts from works now lost; GAIUS, the jurist, composed his 
 " Institutes ;" and FRONTO wrote his epistles. 
 
 Apuleius. Last of the writers of this age, but by no means 
 least when we consider the influence of his tales upon mod- 
 ern fiction, is Apuleius, author of the romance of " the Golden 
 Ass." Lucius, the hero, an enthusiast in the study of magic, 
 having seen the sorceress Pam'phile transform herself into 
 an owl by rubbing an ointment on her person, endeavors, 
 with the help of her maid, to imitate her example. But 
 the girl selects the wrong box of ointment from her mis- 
 tress's cabinet; and Lucius, on applying it, is changed into 
 a donkey. 
 
 Hardly, however, had the metamorphosis been effected when 
 a band of robbers made a descent upon the house, loaded 
 a portion of their plunder on the ass's back, and made good 
 their escape, driving Lucius before them. In search of rose- 
 leaves, which the maid told him would remove the spell, the 
 hero meets with a series of marvellous adventures. Among 
 the episodes introduced is the oft-repeated tale of Cupid and 
 Psy'cfre. In the Decameron, Don Quixote, and Gil Bias, some 
 of these old Roman stories are told over again. 
 
 The style of Apuleius is unnatural ; his Latin is bad. Be- 
 sides "the Golden Ass," he wrote a discourse on Magic, on 
 " the God of Socrates," and the " Florida," a collection of 
 paragraphs from his own orations. 
 
 LATER LATIN AUTHORS. 
 
 After its temporary revival under Trajan's kindly rule, 
 Latin literature gradually sunk into a hopeless decline. In 
 the long array of names that represent the last three cen-
 
 THE CHRISTIAN FATHERS. 421 
 
 turies of the Roman Empire, we find none more worthy 
 of respect than those of the Latin fathers. Greatest of 
 these was 
 
 St. Augustine (354-430 A.D.), of whom Tulloch said " no 
 single name has ever made such an impression upon Chris- 
 tian thought." 
 
 Impressed with the truth of the Gospel by the eloquence 
 of Ambrose at Milan, where he had gone to teach rhetoric, 
 Augustine at length received baptism, to the delight of his 
 saintly mother Mon'ica, who had long prayed for his conver- 
 sion. When raised to the bishopric of Hippo in Africa, Au- 
 gustine zealously engaged in a controversy with Pela'gius and 
 his followers, who entertained heterodox views in relation to 
 grace and original sin. The bishop put forth. fifteen treatises 
 in refutation of the Pelagian heresies. His greatest works 
 were "the City of God," a vindication of Christianity, " Con- 
 fessions," and a treatise on the Trinity. 
 
 Ambrose, bishop of Milan, who lived in the last half of the 
 fourth century, was the author of numerous epistles and 
 hymns, the Te Deum being one of his compositions. His 
 "Offices" defines the duties of Christian pastors. 
 
 St. Jerome (Hieronymus) (340-420), the great apostle of 
 monasticism, from a convent at Bethlehem promulgated his 
 Latin version of the Old and New Testaments, called the 
 Vulgate (common} because designed for the use of the com- 
 mon people, who understood no language but Latin. Jerome's 
 Bible, adopted as a standard version, was the first book ever 
 put to press (1455). 
 
 St. Gregory, bishop of Constantinople, the last of the four 
 great Latin fathers and the most poetical of early Christian 
 writers, has left us a book of epistles, orations, and religious 
 poems. He pressed into the service of Christianity the arts 
 of Greek rhetoric, and assailed Julian the Apostate in two 
 speeches that recall the invective of the Attic orators.
 
 422 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 Tertullian (150-230), "the Master," one of the earlier 
 Christian authors, is worthy of mention not only for his nu- 
 merous practical treatises on Penance, Idolatry, Theatrical 
 Exhibitions, etc., but also for his polemical works against 
 unbelievers, and the "Apologeticus" in defence of Christian- 
 ity. In after-life Tertullian joined a heretical sect. 
 
 Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, the pupil of Tertullian, defend- 
 ed his religion with an eloquent pen, and finally laid down his 
 life for his faith (258). 
 
 Lactantius, " the Christian Cicero," was the most learned 
 man of Constantine's age (306-337). His earliest effort, an 
 hexameter poem, " the Banquet," gained him such reputation 
 that the emperor Diocletian appointed him to give instruction 
 in rhetoric at Nicomedia. The " Banquet " is lost ; but seve- 
 ral of the author's prose works remain, the greatest being his 
 "Divine Institutions." In his treatise "On the Death of the 
 Persecutors," Lactantius endeavors to prove the avenging 
 hand of God in the violent ends of those emperors who had 
 oppressed his people. 
 
 Boethius. Finally, we must notice the famous moral trea- 
 tise "On the Consolation of Philosophy," by Boethius, a Ro- 
 man noble who outlived the fall of his country (476). A 
 model of integrity and justice, Boethius was loaded with 
 honors by Theod'oric, the Ostrogothic king of Italy ; but 
 at last, falsely- accused by his enemies of witchcraft and 
 treason, he was executed by his suspicious master (525). 
 
 The above-mentioned work was much read during the 
 Middle Ages. Alfred the Great rendered it into Anglo-Saxon ; 
 Chaucer, into English; and later writers have reproduced its 
 sentiments. 
 
 SPECIMENS OF LATER POETRY. 
 
 As a favorable specimen of later Latin poetry, we quote a 
 few verses from an eclogue on hunting by NEMESIAN (280),
 
 NEMESIAN. CLAUDIAN. 423 
 
 a favorite poet in the time of Charlemagne, extensively read 
 
 in the schools : 
 
 " The toil that should round lawn aud forest spread, 
 Hemming the nimble prey iu moveless dread, 
 Must with inwoven plumes its threads divide, 
 From every various wing diversely dyed. 
 This the keen wolf and flying stag shall scare, 
 The fox, the monstrous boar, and shaggy bear; 
 As if with lightning flash, aghast, confound, 
 Aud still forbid to pass the checkered bound. 
 This then, with various paint anointing, smear; 
 Let florid hues Avith snowy white appear, 
 And lengthen oil the threads the alternate fear. 
 A thousand terrors from his painted wings, 
 To aid thy enterprise, the vulture brings. 
 The swan, the goose, the crane, aud each that laves 
 His webbed feet amid the stagnant waves. 
 Then rarer plumes shall brighter tints bestow, 
 Where scarlet deepens in its native glow : 
 Where flights of birds on blooming pinions rise, 
 Aud plumage reddens with its saffron dyes, 
 Or streaks in green its pied varieties. 
 
 Thy gear complete, when autumn's end is near, 
 Aud showery winter overhangs the year, 
 Begin : your hounds unkennel in the mead; 
 Begin : o'er champaign fields impel the steed. 
 Hunt, while the daybreak sheds its glimmering light, 
 And the fresh dews retain the sceifteo tracks of night.'' 
 
 ELTON. 
 
 A different style was that of CLAUDIAN, the court poet in 
 the reign of Theodosius the Great (379-395)- Tawdry and 
 artificial in general, it was displayed to the best advantage in 
 his amatory pieces and marriage hymns ; as in this descrip- 
 tion of 
 
 THE SLEEPING VENUS. 
 
 " It chanced, iu quest of slumbers cool, the Queen 
 Of Love in vine-wrought grot retired unseen ; 
 Her star-bright limbs on tufted grass were spread, 
 A heap of flowers the pillow for her head. , 
 
 The Idaliau maids lie round; the Graces twine 
 Their arms, and screened by spreading oak recline. 
 The winged boys, where shade invites, repose 
 On every side ; unstrung their loosened bows ;
 
 424 UoiiAX LITERATURE. 
 
 While, on a neighboring branch suspended high, 
 With gentle flames their breathing quivers sigh. 
 Some wakeful sport, or through the thickets rove; 
 Climb for the nest, or blithely strip the grove 
 Of dewy apples for the Queen of Love ; 
 Along the bough's curved windings creeping cling, 
 Or hang from topmost elm with light-poised wiug." 
 
 AUSONIUS of Bordeaux, an affected verse -maker of the 
 fourth century, wrote much that is second-rate, in the way 
 of epigrams and idyls, too often of a licentious tone ; but 
 there is some merit in the following reflections on 
 
 ROSES. 
 
 " 'TVas spring ; the morn returned in saffron veil, 
 And breathed a bracing coolness in the gale. 
 Through the broad walks I trod the garden bowers, 
 And roamed, refreshed against the noontide hours. 
 I saw the hoary dew's congealing drops 
 Bend the tall grass and vegetable tops ; 
 The sprinkled pearls on every rose-bush lay, 
 Anon to melt before the beams of day. 
 I saw a moment's interval divide 
 The rose that blossomed from the rose that died. 
 This with its cap of tufted moss looked green ; 
 That, tipped with reddening purple, peeped between. 
 Oue reared its obelisk with opening swell, 
 The bud unsheathed its crimson pinnacle; 
 Another, gathering every purfled fold, 
 Its foliage multiplied, its blooms unrolled. 
 While this, that ere the passing moment flew, 
 Flamed forth one blaze of scarlet on the view, 
 Now shook from withering stalk the waste perfume, 
 Its verdure stript, and pale its faded bloom. 
 
 I marvelled at the spoiling flight of time, 
 That roses thus grew old in earliest prime. 
 E'en while I speak, the crimson leaves drop round, 
 And ar red brightness veils the blushing ground. 
 These forms, these births, these changes, bloom, decay, 
 Appear and vanish in the self-same day. 
 One day the rose's age ; and while it blows, 
 In dawn of youth, it withers to its close. 
 O virgins ! roses cull while yet ye may ; 
 So bloom your hours, and so shall haste away." 
 
 ELTON.
 
 BRIEF EXTRACTS. 425 
 
 GEMS OF LATIN THOUGHT.* 
 PLAUTUS. 
 
 "Easy is sway over the good. Man to bis fellow-mau is a wolf. 
 No one left to himself is sufficiently wise. All things are riot equal- 
 ly sweet to all. No one is inquisitive witbout being ill-natured. A 
 woman wbo lias good principles bas dowry enough. Courage iu 
 danger is half the battle. Good fortune finds good friends. Love is 
 very fruitful iu both honey and gall. Flame is very near to smoke." 
 
 TEREXCE. 
 
 "The strictest administration of law is often the greatest wrong. 
 Without danger no great and memorable dee.d is done. Fortune fa- 
 vors tbe brave. Many men, many minds. Nothing in excess. As 
 we can, when we cannot as we would. Nothing is said now that has 
 not been said before. Obsequiousness begets friends, truthfulness 
 hatred." 
 
 VAKRO. 
 
 " It is divine nature that has given the country, human art that 
 has built cities. As a state ought to worship the gods in its public 
 capacity, so ought each family." 
 
 CICERO. 
 
 "Justice gives everyone his due. No one was ever great without 
 divine inspiration. The noblest spirit is the most strongly attracted 
 by the love of glory. One man is more useful in one thing, another 
 in another. Guilt lies in the very hesitation, even though the act 
 itself has not been reached. The chief recommendation comes from 
 modesty. Fear is no lasting teacher of duty. Any man may err, 
 but no one but a fool will persevere in error. The memory of a well- 
 spent life is everlasting. Whatever you do, you should do it with 
 your might. Glory follows virtue like its shadow." 
 
 LUCRETIUS. 
 
 "The ring on the finger is worn thin by constant use. It is pleas- 
 ant, when winds roughen the sea with great waves, to behold from 
 the shore another's arduous toil. We are all sprung from heavenly 
 seeds. Weigh well with judgment ; -what seems true, hold fast ; gird 
 thyself against what is false. We see that the mind strengthens 
 with the body, and with the body grows old." 
 
 * For these " Gems," as well as those under Greek literature, we have drawn 
 to some extent on the collections of Ramage.'
 
 426 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 CATULLUS. 
 
 "Nothing is sillier than a silly laugh. What a woman says to her 
 foud lover may well be written on the wind aud rapid stream." 
 
 SALLUST. 
 
 "Every one is the architect of his own fortune. The endowments 
 of the mind form the only illustrious and lastiug possession. Fear 
 closes the ears of the mind. The mind is the leader and director of 
 the life of mortals. In grief aud miseries, death is a respite from 
 sorrows, not a punishment. To have the same likes and dislikes, 
 this in a word is firm friendship." 
 
 VIRGIL. 
 
 " Endure, and preserve yourselves for prosperous times. We are 
 not all able to accomplish all things. Love conquers all things, aud 
 to love let us yield. Praise large farms, cultivate a small one. The 
 only safety for the vanquished is to hope for no safety. Accursed 
 thirst for gold, what dost thou not drive mortal breasts to do ? No- 
 where is faith safe. Whatever shall happen, every kind of fortune 
 is to be overcome by patient endurance. Hug the shore ; let others 
 launch out into the deep." 
 
 HORACE. 
 
 "There is a mean iu all things. It is right for one craving for- 
 giveness for his sins to grant it to others in turn. There is nothing 
 too high for mortals ; iu our folly we storm heaven itself. Life has 
 given nothing to mortals without great toil. Avoid inquiring what 
 is about to be to-morrow. To die for one's native land is sweet and 
 glorious. Punishment presses on crime as a companion. He has 
 carried every point who has mingled the useful with the agreeable." 
 
 LIVY. 
 
 "Wounds cannot be cured unless they are touched and handled. 
 Necessity is the ultimate and strongest weapon. In nothing do 
 events less answer to men's expectations than in war. It is safer 
 that a wicked man should not be accused at all than that he should 
 be acquitted. In difficult and almost hopeless cases the boldest 
 counsels are the safest." 
 
 TIBULLUS. 
 
 "There is a God who forbids that crimes should be concealed. 
 Happy thou who shalt learn by another's suffering how to avoid 
 thine own. While thy early summer-time is blooming, use it; it 
 slips away with no slow foot."
 
 GEMS OF LATIN THOUGHT. 427 
 
 PKOPEETIUS. 
 
 " Neither is beauty a thing eternal, nor is fortune lasting to any ; 
 later or sooner death awaits everybody. In maddening love nobody 
 sees. Let no one be willing to injure the absent. Great love crosses 
 even the shores of death." 
 
 OVID. 
 
 "A wounded member that cannot be healed must be cut off with 
 the knife, lest the healthy part be affected. It is the coward's part 
 to wish for death. Even the uuconquered man grief conquers. A 
 mind conscious of rectitude laughs at the lies of minor. The reefed 
 sail escapes the storms of winter." 
 
 NEPOS. 
 
 "No evil is great which is the last. Peace is obtained by war. 
 The mother of a coward is not wont to weep." 
 
 PH^EDRUS. 
 
 " The poor man, striving to imitate the powerful, conies to grief. 
 The fair speeches of a bad man are full of snares. Rashness is an 
 advantage to few, a source of evil to many. The learned man al- 
 vrays has his riches within himself." 
 
 PLINY. 
 
 The Elder. "Every one is pleased with his own, and wherever wo 
 go the same story is found. No one of mortals is wise at all hours. 
 Our ancestors used to say that the master's eye is the best fertilizer 
 for the field." 
 
 The Younger. " Nothing seems as good, when we have gained it, 
 as it did when we were wishing for it. I deem him the best and 
 most commendable who pardons others as if he himself daily went 
 astray, yet abstains from faults as if he pardoned no one." 
 
 LUCAN. 
 
 " Great fear is concealed by daring. The prosperous man knows 
 not whether he is truly loved. An offence in which many are en- 
 gaged, goes unpunished." 
 
 PETEONIUS ARBITER. 
 
 " A physician is nothing more than a satisfaction to the mind. 
 Fear first made gods in the Avorld. There is no one of us that sin- 
 neth not ; we are men, not gods. Poverty is the sister of a sound 
 mind."
 
 428 
 
 ROMAN LITERATURE. 
 
 TACITUS. 
 
 " Traitors are odious even to those whom they benefit. When the 
 state is most corrupt, the laws are most numerous. There will be 
 vices as long as there are men. Everything unknown is magnified. 
 It is a peculiarity of the human miud to hate one whom you have 
 injured." 
 
 JUVENAL. 
 
 " Rare is the combination of beauty and modesty. Nature never 
 says one thing, and wisdom another. Himself being the judge, no 
 guilty man is acquitted. The anger of the gods, however great it 
 may be, yet certainly is slow. Less frequent enjoyment of them 
 makes pleasures keener." 
 
 MINOR POETS AND PROSE WRITERS. 
 
 CUEMU'TIUS CORDUS, the historian: 
 "Annals." Cordus offended Tibe- 
 rius by styling Cassius " the last of 
 the Romans," and starved himself 
 to death to escape the tyrant. 
 
 AUFID'IUS BASSUS: histories of the 
 civil and German wars. 
 
 ASCO'NIUS PEDIA'NUS : a grammarian 
 of Patavium ; commentaries on Cic- 
 ero's orations. 
 
 PETRO'NIUS ARBITER, the companion 
 and victim of Nero : author of " Sa- 
 tyricon," a witty romance, of which 
 a few fragments remain. 
 
 JULIUS FRONTI'NUS : a self-made man 
 of the Flavian era ; works on the 
 Roman aqueducts, military tactics, 
 the measurement of land, etc. 
 
 LICINIA'NUS (age of the Antonines) : 
 a history of republican Rome ; style 
 affected. 
 
 MARCUS AURELIUS, the emperor (1G1- 
 180): a devoted Stoic; his "Medi- 
 tations " (in Greek) full of noble sen- 
 timents. 
 
 PAPINIAN AND ULPIAN, the jurists 
 (about 200) : writers on law. 
 
 SPARTIA'NUS (300): "Biographies of 
 the Roman Emperors." 
 
 DONA'TUS (4th century) : the 
 preceptor of St. Jerome ; his " Art of 
 Grammar" once a popular text-book. 
 
 PRUDENTIUS CI-F/MEXS (4th century) : 
 a Christian poet; hymns, etc. 
 
 AVIE'NUS (4th century) : poems on as- 
 tronomical and geographical subjects. 
 
 AMMIA'NUS MARCELLI'NUS (died about 
 400) : the last Latin historian ; his 
 " Thirty-one Books of Events," a con- 
 tinuation of the history of Tacitus 
 through the reign of Valens (378). 
 
 SY.MMACHUS (400) : a high-minded op- 
 ponent of Christianity; defeated by 
 Ambrose in an attempt to restore the 
 altar of Victory ; orations, epistles. 
 
 RUTILIUS (5th century) : poetical diary 
 of a journey from Rome to Gaul; 
 style terse and elegant. 
 
 PRISCIAN (6th century) : the greatest 
 of classical grammarians; the most 
 complete Latiu Grammar of antiqui- 
 ty.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Academic School of Philosophy, 241. 
 Accius, 328. 
 AcluBus, 261. 
 Achilles Tatius, 295. 
 Acusilaus, 183. 
 
 , 302. 
 t'iil, the, 362. 
 
 , 257, 260. 
 yEschylus, 193, 194 
 Jbop, 181. 
 Agathon, 261. 
 Agias, the Troezenian, 156. 
 Albrnovanus, 382. 
 Alcieus, 164. 
 Alcman, 178. 
 
 Alphabetic Writing, 19, 20. 
 Alphabets, Table of Ancient, 87. 
 Ambrose, 421. 
 Amrnonius, 293. 
 Amos, 97. 
 Amphion, 138. 
 Anacreon, 172. 
 Anaxagoras, 234. 
 Anaximander, 183. 
 Anaximenes, 183. 
 Anthology, the, 297. 
 Antimachus, 192. 
 Antisthenes, 25 1. 
 Antonius, 327. 
 Anyte, 280. 
 Apocrypha, the, 99. 
 Apollodorus, 280. 
 Apollonius Rhodius, 275. 
 Appian. 302. 
 
 Apuleius, 420. 
 
 Arabic literature, 114. 
 Aratus, 280. 
 Archilochus, 161. 
 Archimedes, 276. 
 Arctinus of Miletus, 156. 
 Aristarchus, 277. 
 
 Aristophanes, 213 ; of Byzantium, 277. 
 Aristotle, 247. 
 Arrian, 302. 
 Aryans, the, 13. 
 
 Assyrio-Babylonian literature,.106-114. 
 Athanasius, 294. 
 Augustine, St., 421. 
 
 Augustus, 329, 334, 338, 354, 357, 373, 
 
 380, 382. 
 
 Aurelius, Marcus, 428. 
 Ausonius, 424. 
 Avatars, 39. 
 Avesta, 60, 62. 
 Avienus, 428. 
 
 Bacchylides, 178. 
 Bassus Aufidius, 428. 
 Berosus. 279. 
 Bias of Priene, 184. 
 Bion, 269. 
 Boethius, 422. 
 Book of the Dead, 122. 
 Buddhist literature, 58. 
 
 Cadmus of Miletus, 179, 183. 
 Caecilius, 316. 
 Caesar, Julius, 339. 
 Callimachus, 274. 
 Callinus, 159. 
 Callistratus, 261. 
 Calpurnius Piso, 328. 
 Calvus, Liciuius, 387. 
 Carbo, 328. 
 
 Carthaginian literature, 116. 
 Cato the Censor, 324. 
 Catullus, 352. 
 Catulus, 328. 
 
 Celsus, the philosopher, 293 ; the phy- 
 sician, 390. 
 
 Champollion, 119, 120. 
 Charon of Lampsacus, 184. 
 Chilo of Sparta, 184. 
 Chinese, language, 67 ; literature, 67-83. 
 Chrysostom, St., 294. 
 Cicero, 330. 
 Cincius, 328. 
 Cinna, 387. 
 Claudian, 423. 
 Cleanthes. 280. 
 Cleobulus of Lindus, 184. 
 Cleon, 213, 226. 
 Columella, 408. 
 Comparative Philology, 33. 
 Confucius, 70-73. 
 Cordus, Cremutius, 428.
 
 430 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Corinna, 186, 188. 
 
 Cornelius Severus, 382. 
 
 Cornutus. 392. 
 
 Cotta, 328. 
 
 Crassus, 327. 
 
 Crates, the poet. 2G1 ; the grammarian, 
 
 277, 329. 
 Cratinus, 261. 
 Croesus, 180, 181. 
 Ctesias, 233. 
 
 Cuneiform letters, 19, 65, 66, 104. 
 Curtius, Quintus, 408. 
 Cyclic Poets, 152, 156. 
 Cynics, the, 254. 
 Cyprian, 422. 
 Cyrus the Younger, 229. 
 
 Damophyla, 171. 
 
 Daniel, 9*8. 
 
 Darius, 66. 
 
 David, 93, 94. 
 
 Democritus, 237. 
 
 Demosthenes, 256. 
 
 Diodorus Siculus, 281. 
 
 Diogenes, the Cynic, 255 ; Laertius, 302. 
 
 Dion Cassius, 302. 
 
 Dionysius, of Syracuse, 214, 242; of 
 
 Halicarnassus, 281. 
 Donatus, JElius, 428. 
 Drama, Hindoo, 54; Greek, 192, 263; 
 
 Roman, 308. 
 
 Ecclesiastes, 96. 
 
 Ecclesiasticus, 99. 
 
 Egyptian literature, 117-131. 
 
 Eleatic School of Philosophy, 237. 
 
 Empedocles, 236. 
 
 Enna, 121, 129. 
 
 Ennius, 311, 320. 
 
 Epicharmus, 212. 
 
 Epicurus, 238. 
 
 Eratosthenes, 277. 
 
 Erin n a, 171. 
 
 Euclid, 276. 
 
 Eugamon of Cyrene, 156. 
 
 Eumenes, 24. 
 
 Euphorion, 280. 
 
 Eupolis, 261. 
 
 Euripides, 207. 
 
 Eusebius, 294. 
 
 Ezekiel. 98. 
 
 Ezra, 92, 98. 
 
 Fabius Pictor, 324, 328. 
 
 Flacctis, Verrius, 387 ; Valerius, 408. 
 Frontinus, 428. 
 
 Galba, 328. 
 
 Galen, 302. 
 
 Gallus, ^Elius, 387. 
 
 Glabrio. Acilius, 328. 
 
 Gorgias, 255. 
 
 Gracchi, the, 326. 
 
 Gratius, 382. 
 
 Greece, language of, 135 ; literature of, 
 
 133-302. 
 Gregory, St., 421. 
 
 Habakkuk, 97. 
 
 Hebrew, language, 84; literature, 83- 
 104. 
 
 Hecatffius, the Milesian, 183. 
 
 Heliodorus, 295. 
 
 Hellanicus, 184. 
 
 Heraclitus, 183. 
 
 Hermes Trismegistus, 123. 
 
 Herod ian*, 302. 
 
 Herodotus, 222. 
 
 Hesiod, 152. 
 
 Hiero, 175, 187, 195. 
 
 Hierocles, 295. 
 
 Hieroglyphics, 18; Chinese, 68; Cunei- 
 form,' 105, 106, 108; Egyptian, 118. 
 
 Himyaritic inscriptions, 1 14. 
 
 Hipparchus, the astronomer. 277. 
 
 Hippocrates, 261. 
 
 Hipponax, 177. 
 
 Hirtius, 341. 
 
 Homer, 139-152. 
 
 Horace, 369. 
 
 Hortensius, 327. 
 
 Hosea, 97. 
 
 lamblichus, 294. 
 
 Ibycus, 178. 
 
 Iliad, the, 141. 
 
 Ion, 261. 
 
 Ionic School of Philosophy, 234. 
 
 Ireiifeus, 293. 
 
 Isa?us, 256. 
 
 Isaiah, 96. 
 
 Isocrates, 256. 
 
 Italic School of Philosophy, 234 
 
 Jayadeva, 48. 
 Jehuda, 101. 
 Jeremiah. 97. 
 Jerome, St., 421.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 431 
 
 Job, Book of, 93. 
 Joel, 97. 
 Jonah, 97. 
 
 Jones, Sir William, 33. 
 Josephus, 284. 
 Joshua, Book of, 92. 
 Judges, Book of. 92. 
 Justin Martyr, 293. 
 Juvenal, 408. 
 
 Kalidasa, 46 ; lyrics of, 46 ; epics of, 48 ; 
 
 dramas of, 50, 53. 
 King, the live, 73. 
 Kings, Books of the, 92. 
 
 Labienus, Titus, 387. 
 
 Lactantius, 422. 
 
 Lfelius, 326. 
 
 Language, spoken, 17 ; written, 18 ; the 
 Sanscrit, 31 ; the Zend, 60; the Chi- 
 nese, 67; the Hebrew, 84; the Chal- 
 dean, 105 ; the Egyptian, 1 17 ; the 
 Greek, 135 ; the Latin, 304. 
 
 Languages, origin and relationship of, 
 12; Aryan, 16; Semitic, 16, 83, 84; 
 Turanian, 17. 
 
 Latin, language, 304; literature, 303- 
 4-28. 
 
 Lavinius, 328. 
 
 Lesches of My tilene, 156. 
 
 Library, the Pergamene, 24, 274; the 
 royal Persian, 67 ; the imperial Chi- 
 nese, 83 ; the Hebrew, at Jerusalem, 
 104; the royal Assyrian, 110; the 
 Egyptian, 121 ; the Alexandrian, 272. 
 
 Licinianus, 428. 
 
 Literature, General View of Ancient, 
 25; Hindoo, 31-60; Persian, 60-67; 
 Chinese, 67-83; Hebrew, 83-104; 
 Assyrio- Baby Ionian, 104-114; Ara- 
 bic, 114; Phoenician, 115; Egyptian, 
 117-131 ; Grecian, 133-302 ; Koman, 
 303-428. 
 
 Living Andronicus, 309. 
 
 Livy, 382. 
 
 Longinus, 294. 
 
 Longus, 295. 
 
 Lucan, 397. 
 
 Lucian, 288. 
 
 Lucilius, 323. 
 
 Lucretius, 348. 
 
 Lyceum, the, 248. 
 
 Lycophron, 280. 
 
 L\ MUS, 256. 
 
 Mahabharata, the, 43. 
 Manetho, 279. 
 Manilius, 382. 
 Manu, Code of, 38. 
 Marcelliuus, 428. 
 Martial, 404. 
 Maximus, Valerius, 389. 
 Meleager, 280, 297, 300. 
 Menander. 264. 
 Mencius, 79. 
 Messala, 376, 386. 
 Micah, 97. 
 Mimnermus, 177. 
 Moschus, 269, 271. 
 Moses, 90. 
 Musieus, 138. 302. 
 Museum, the, 272. 
 Myrtis, 186. 
 
 Naevius, 310,320. 
 Nahum, 97. 
 Nemesian, 422. 
 Neo-Platonism, 293. 
 Nepos, Cornelius, 347. 
 Nicander, 280. 
 Nonnus, 302. 
 Nossis, 280. 
 
 Odyssey, the, 147. 
 Oppian", 302. 
 Origen, 293. 
 Ovid, 379. 
 
 Pacuvius. 319. 
 
 Panini, 57. 
 
 Papinian, 428. 
 
 Parallelism, 89. 
 
 Paterculus, Velleius, 389. 
 
 Pausanias, 292. 
 
 Pedianus, 428. 
 
 Pentaour, 126. 
 
 Pentateuch, 90. 
 
 Periander, 184. 
 
 Peripatetic School of Philosophy, 247. 
 
 Persian literature, 60-67. 
 
 Persius, 392. 
 
 Petronius Arbiter, 428. 
 
 Phzedrus, 390. 
 
 Pherecydes of Syros, 179. 
 
 Philemon, 265. 
 
 Philo, 104, 293. 
 
 Phocylides, 177. 
 
 Phoenician literature, 115. 
 
 1'hrynicus, 193.
 
 432 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Pilpay, 56. 
 
 Pindar, 185. 
 
 Pittacus, 164, 184. 
 
 Plato, 241. 
 
 Plautus, 312. 
 
 Pliny, the Elder, 401 ; the Younger, 418. 
 
 Plotinus, 293. 
 
 Plutarch, 284. 
 
 Pollio, Asinius, 386 ; Vitruvius, 387. 
 
 Polybius, 277. 
 
 Polycarp, 293. 
 
 Porphyry, 293. 
 
 Priscian, 428. 
 
 Prisse Papyrus, 127. 
 
 Probus, 408. 
 
 Procopius, 302. 
 
 Propertius, 377. 
 
 Proverbs, the, 96. 
 
 Prudentius Clemens, 428. 
 
 Psalms, the, 93. 
 
 Ptolemy, the astronomer, 292. 
 
 Puranas, 35. 
 
 Pyrrho, 238. 
 
 Pythagoras, 234. 
 
 Quintilian, 407. 
 Quiiitus Smyrnaius, 302. 
 
 Rfimayana, the, 40. 
 
 Rig- Veda, 34. 
 
 Kosetta Stone, 119. 
 
 Rufus, Valgius, 387. 
 
 Rutilius, the jurist, 328 ; the poet, 428. 
 
 Sakoontala, 50. 
 Sallust, 343. 
 Samuel, Books of, 92. 
 Sanscrit, language, 31 ; literature, 31-60. 
 Sappho, 165. 
 Scipio, 323, 326. 
 
 Semites, 16 ; languages of, 83. 84. 
 Seneca, the rhetorician, 386 ; the moral- 
 ist, 394. 
 
 Septuagint, the, 104, 279. 
 Seyffarth, 120. 
 Shoo, the four, 77. 
 Silius Italicus, 408. 
 Simonides, 174 ; the Elder, 177. 
 Sisenna, 328. 
 Skeptics, the, 238. 
 Socrates, 239. 
 Solomon, 96, 
 Solon, 177, 179, 184. 
 Sophocles, 200. 
 
 Spartianus, 428. 
 
 Stasinus of Cyprus, 156. 
 
 Statius, 405. 
 
 Stesichorus, 178. 
 
 Stoic School of Philosophy, 253 
 
 Strabo, 281. 
 
 Suetonius, 415. 
 
 Sulpitia, 406. 
 
 Susarion, 212. 
 
 Symmachus, 428. 
 
 Tacitus, 412. 
 
 Talmud, the, 100. 
 
 Terence, 315. 
 
 Terpander, 178. 
 
 Tertullian, 422. 
 
 Thales, 180, 184, 231. 
 
 Theocritus, 266. 
 
 Theognis, 177. 
 
 Theophrastus, 252. 
 
 Theopompus, 233. 
 
 Thespis, 192. 
 
 Thucydides, 225. 
 
 Tibullus, 375. 
 
 Timaeus, 279. 
 
 Timocreon, 178. 
 
 Trogus, Pompeius, 386. 
 
 Tryphiodorus, 302. 
 
 Tubero, 387. 
 
 Turanians, 12; languages of, 17. 
 
 Turpilius, 328. 
 
 Tyrtaeus, 160. 
 
 Ulpian, 428. 
 
 Varius, 375. 
 Varro, 337. 
 Veda, the, 34. 
 Virgil, 355-369. 
 
 Writing, ideographic, 18 ; phonetic, 19 : 
 among the Hindoos, 60 ; of the 
 Persians, 66 ; Chinese, 68 ; Hebrew, 
 86; Cuneiform, 104; Egyptian, 118; 
 Greek, 136, 156, 180, 262.' 
 
 Xanthus, 184. 
 Xenophanes, 177, 237. 
 Xenophon, 229. 
 
 Zend, 60. 
 Zeno, 253. 
 Zenodotus, 277. 
 Zoroaster, 61-64.
 
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