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Title: Handbook of Universal Literature
       From The Best and Latest Authorities

Author: Anne C. Lynch Botta

Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8163]
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[This file was first posted on June 23, 2003]

Edition: 10

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HANDBOOK OF UNIVERSAL LITERATURE
_FROM THE BEST AND LATEST AUTHORITIES_

BY
ANNE C. LYNCH BOTTA




PREFATORY NOTE TO THE REVISED EDITION.


Since the first publication of this work in 1860, many new names have
appeared in modern literature. Japan, hitherto almost unknown to
Europeans, has taken her place among the nations with a literature of her
own, and the researches and discoveries of scholars in various parts of
the world have thrown much light on the literatures of antiquity. To keep
pace with this advance, a new edition of the work has been called for.
Prefixed is a very brief summary of an important and exhaustive History of
the Alphabet recently published.




PREFACE.


This work was begun many years ago, as a literary exercise, to meet the
personal requirements of the writer, which were such as most persons
experience on leaving school and "completing their education," as the
phrase is. The world of literature lies before them, but where to begin,
what course of study to pursue, in order best to comprehend it, are the
problems which present themselves to the bewildered questioner, who finds
himself in a position not unlike that of a traveler suddenly set down in
an unknown country, without guide-book or map. The most natural course
under such circumstances would be to begin at the beginning, and take a
rapid survey of the entire field of literature, arriving at its details
through this general view. But as this could be accomplished only by
subjecting each individual to a severe and protracted course of systematic
study, the idea was conceived of obviating this necessity to some extent
by embodying the results of such a course in the form of the following
work, which, after being long laid aside, is now at length completed.

In conformity with this design, standard books have been condensed, with
no alterations except such as were required to give unity to the whole
work; and in some instances a few additions have been made. Where standard
works have not been found, the sketches have been made from the best
sources of information, and submitted to the criticism of able scholars.

The literatures of different nations are so related, and have so
influenced each other, that it is only by a survey of all that any single
literature, or even any great literary work, can be fully comprehended, as
the various groups and figures of a historical picture must be viewed as a
whole, before they can assume their true place and proportions.

A.C.L.B.




CONTENTS.


LIST OF AUTHORITIES

INTRODUCTION.

THE ALPHABET.
1. The Origin of Letters.--2. The Phoenician Alphabet and Inscriptions.--
3. The Greek Alphabet. Its Three Epochs.--4. The Mediaeval Scripts. The
Irish. The Anglo-Saxon. The Roman. The Gothic. The Runic.
CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES

CHINESE LITERATURE.

1. Chinese Literature.--2. The Language.--3. The Writing.--4. The Five
Classics and Four Books.--5. Chinese Religion and Philosophy. Lao-tse.
Confucius. Meng-tse or Mencius.--6. Buddhism.--7. Social Constitution of
China.--8. Invention of Printing.--9. Science, History, and Geography.
Encyclopaedias.--10. Poetry.--11. Dramatic Literature and Fiction.--12.
Education in China.

JAPANESE LITERATURE.

1. The Language.--2. The Religion.--3. The Literature. Influence of
Women.--4. History.--5. The Drama and Poetry.--6. Geography. Newspapers.
Novels. Medical Science.--7. Position of Woman.

SANSKRIT LITERATURE.

1. The Language.--2. The Social Constitution of India. Brahmanism.--3.
Characteristics of the Literature and its Divisions.--4. The Vedas and
other Sacred Books.--5. Sanskrit Poetry; Epic; the Ramayana and
Mahabharata. Lyric Poetry. Didactic Poetry; the Hitopadesa. Dramatic
Poetry.--6. History and Science.--7. Philosophy.--8. Buddhism.--9. Moral
Philosophy. The Code of Manu.--10. Modern Literatures of India.--11.
Education. The Brahmo Somaj.

BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATURE.

1. The Accadians and Babylonians.--2. The Cuneiform Letters.--3.
Babylonian and Assyrian Remains.

PHOENICIAN LITERATURE.

The Language.--The Remains.

SYRIAC LITERATURE.

The Language.--Influence of the Literature in the Eighth and Ninth
Century.

PERSIAN LITERATURE.

1. The Persian Language and its Divisions.--2. Zendic Literature; the
Zendavesta.--3. Pehlvi and Parsee Literatures.--4. The Ancient Religion of
Persia; Zoroaster.--5. Modern Literature.--6. The Sufis.--7. Persian
Poetry.--8. Persian Poets; Ferdusi; Eesedi of Tus; Togray, etc.--9.
History and Philosophy.--10. Education in Persia.

HEBREW LITERATURE.

1. Hebrew Literature; its Divisions.--2. The Language; its Alphabet; its
Structure; Peculiarities, Formation, and Phases.--3. The Old Testament.--
4. Hebrew Education.--5. Fundamental Idea of Hebrew Literature.--6. Hebrew
Poetry.--7. Lyric Poetry; Songs; the Psalms; the Prophets.--8. Pastoral
Poetry and Didactic Poetry; the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.--9. Epic and
Dramatic Poetry; the Book of Job.--10. Hebrew History; the Pentateuch and
other Historical Books.--11. Hebrew Philosophy.--12. Restoration of the
Sacred Books.--13. Manuscripts and Translations.--14. Rabbinical
Literature.--15. The New Revision of the Bible, and the New Biblical
Manuscript.

EGYPTIAN LITERATURE.

1. The Language.--2. The Writing.--3. The Literature.--4. The Monuments.--
5. The Discovery of Champollion.--6. Literary Remains; Historical;
Religious; Epistolary; Fictitious; Scientific; Epic; Satirical and
Judicial.--7. The Alexandrian Period.--8. The Literary Condition of Modern
Egypt.

GREEK LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION.--1. Greek Literature and its Divisions.--2. The Language.--
3. The Religion.

PERIOD FIRST.--1. Ante-Homeric Songs and Bards.--2. Poems of Homer; the
Iliad; the Odyssey.--3. The Cyclic Poets and the Homeric Hymns.--4. Poems
of Hesiod; the Works and Days; the Theogony.--5. Elegy and Epigram;
Tyrtaeus; Achilochus; Simanides.--6. Iambic Poetry, the Fable, and Parody;
Aesop.--7. Greek Music and Lyric Poetry; Terpander.--8. Aeolic Lyric
Poets; Alcaeus; Sappho; Anacreon.--9. Doric, or Choral Lyric Poets;
Alcman; Stesichorus; Pindar.--10. The Orphic Doctrines and Poems.--11.
Pre-Socratic Philosophy; Ionian, Eleatic, Pythagorean Schools.--12.
History; Herodotus.

PERIOD SECOND.--1. Literary Predominance of Athens.--2. Greek Drama.--3.
Tragedy.--4. The Tragic Poets; Aeschylus; Sophocles; Euripides.--5.
Comedy; Aristophanes; Menander.--6. Oratory, Rhetoric, and History;
Pericles; the Sophists; Lysias; Isocrates; Demosthenes; Thucydides;
Xenophon.--7. Socrates and the Socratic Schools; Plato; Aristotle.

PERIOD THIRD.--1. Origin of the Alexandrian Literature.--2. The
Alexandrian Poets; Philetas; Callimachus; Theocritus; Bion; Moschus.--3.
The Prose Writers of Alexandria; Zenodotus; Aristophanes; Aristarchus;
Eratosthenes; Euclid; Archimedes.--4, Philosophy of Alexandria; Neo-
Platonism.--5. Anti-Neo-Platonic Tendencies; Epictetus; Lucian; Longinus.
--6. Greek Literature in Rome; Dionysius of Halicarnassus; Flavius
Josephus; Polybius; Diodorus; Strabo; Plutarch.--7. Continued Decline of
Greek Literature.--8. Last Echoes of the Old Literature; Hypatia; Nonnus;
Musaeus; Byzantine Literature.--9. The New Testament and the Greek
Fathers. Modern Literature; the Brothers Santsos and Alexander Rangabe.

ROMAN LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION.--1. Roman Literature and its Divisions.--2. The Language;
Ethnographical Elements of the Latin Language; the Umbrian; Oscan;
Etruscan; the Old Roman Tongue; Saturnian Verse; Peculiarities of the
Latin Language.--3. The Roman Religion.

PERIOD FIRST.--1. Early Literature of the Romans; the Fescennine Songs;
the Fabulae Atellanae.--2. Early Latin Poets; Livius Andronicus, Naevius,
and Ennius.--3. Roman Comedy.--4. Comic Poets; Plautus, Terence, and
Statius.--5. Roman Tragedy.--6. Tragic Poets; Pacuvius and Attius.--7.
Satire; Lucilius.--8. History and Oratory; Fabius Pictor; Cencius
Alimentus; Cato; Varro; M. Antonius; Crassus; Hortensius.--9. Roman
Jurisprudence.--10. Grammarians.

PERIOD SECOND.--1. Development of the Roman Literature.--2. Mimes,
Mimographers, Pantomime; Laberius and P. Lyrus.--3. Epic Poetry; Virgil;
the Aeneid.--4. Didactic Poetry; the Bucolics; the Georgics; Lucretius.
--5. Lyric Poetry; Catullus; Horace.--6. Elegy; Tibullus; Propertius;
Ovid.--7. Oratory and Philosophy; Cicero.--8. History; J. Caesar; Sallust;
Livy.--9. Other Prose Writers.

PERIOD THIRD.--1. Decline of Roman Literature.--2. Fable; Phaedrus.--3.
Satire and Epigram; Persius, Juvenal, Martial.--4. Dramatic Literature;
the Tragedies of Seneca.--5. Epic Poetry; Lucan; Silius Italicus; Valerius
Flaccus; P. Statius.--6. History; Paterculus; Tacitus; Suetonius; Q.
Curtius; Valerius Maximus.--7. Rhetoric and Eloquence; Quintilian; Pliny
the Younger.--8. Philosophy and Science; Seneca; Pliny the Elder; Celsus;
P. Mela; Columella; Frontinus.--9. Roman Literature from Hadrian to
Theodoric; Claudian; Eutropius; A. Marcellinus; S. Sulpicius; Gellius;
Macrobius; L. Apuleius; Boethius: the Latin Fathers.--10. Roman
Jurisprudence.

ARABIAN LITERATURE.

1. European Literature in the Dark Ages.--2. The Arabian Language.--3.
Arabian Mythology and the Koran.--4. Historical Development of Arabian
Literature.--5. Grammar and Rhetoric.--6. Poetry.--7. The Arabian Tales.
--8. History and Science.--9. Education.

ITALIAN LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION.--1. Italian Literature and its Divisions.--2. The Dialects.
--3. The Italian Language.

PERIOD FIRST.--1. Latin Influence.--2. Early Italian Poetry and Prose.
--3. Dante--4. Petrarch.--5. Boccaccio and other Prose Writers.--6. First
Decline of Italian Literature.

PERIOD SECOND.--1. The Close of the Fifteenth Century; Lorenzo de'
Medici.--2. The Origin of the Drama and Romantic Epic; Poliziano, Pulci,
Boiardo.--3. Romantic Epic Poetry; Ariosto.--4. Heroic Epic Poetry;
Tasso.--5. Lyric Poetry; Bembo, Molza, Tarsia, V. Colonna.--6. Dramatic
Poetry; Trissino, Rucellai; the Writers of Comedy.--7. Pastoral Drama and
Didactic Poetry; Beccari, Sannazzaro, Tasso, Guarini, Rucellai, Alamanni.
--8. Satirical Poetry, Novels, and Tales; Berni, Grazzini, Firenzuola,
Bandello, and others.--9. History; Machiavelli, Guicciardini, Nardi, and
others.--10. Grammar and Rhetoric; the Academy della Crusca, Della Casa,
Speroni, and others.--11. Science, Philosophy, and Politics; the Academy
del Cimento, Galileo, Torricelli, Borelli, Patrizi, Telesio, Campanella,
Bruno, Castiglione, Machiavelli, and others.--12. Decline of the
Literature in the Seventeenth Century.--13. Epic and Lyric Poetry; Marini,
Filicaja.--14. Mock Heroic Poetry, the Drama, and Satire; Tassoni,
Bracciolini, Anderini, and others.--15. History and Epistolary Writings;
Davila, Bentivoglio, Sarpi, Redi.

PERIOD THIRD.--1. Historical Development of the Third Period.--2. The
Melodrama; Rinuccini, Zeno, Metastasio.--3. Comedy; Goldoni, C. Gozzi, and
others.--4. Tragedy; Maffei, Alfieri, Monti, Manzoni, Nicolini, and
others.--5. Lyric, Epic, and Didactic Poetry; Parini, Monti, Ugo Foscolo,
Leopardi, Grossi, Lorenzi, and others.--6. Heroic-Comic Poetry, Satire,
and Fable; Fortiguerri, Passeroni, G. Gozzi, Parini, Ginsti, and others.
--7. Romances; Verri, Manzoni, D'Azeglio, Cantu, Guerrazzi, and others.
--8. History; Muratori, Vico, Giannone, Botta, Colletta, Tiraboschi, and
others.--9. Aesthetics, Criticism, Philology, and Philosophy; Baretti,
Parini, Giordani, Gioja, Romagnosi, Gallupi, Roemini, Gioberti.--From 1860
to 1885.

FRENCH LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION.--1. French Literature and its Divisions.--2. The Language

PERIOD FIRST.--1. The Troubadours.--2. The Trouveres.--3. French
Literature in the Fifteenth Century.--4. The Mysteries and Moralities:
Charles of Orleans, Villon, Ville-Hardouin, Joinville, Froissart, Philippe
de Commines.

PERIOD SECOND.--1. The Renaissance and the Reformation: Marguerite de
Valois, Marot, Rabelais, Calvin, Montaigne, Charron, and others.--2. Light
Literature: Ronsard, Jodelle, Hardy, Malherbe, Scarron, Madame de
Rambouillet, and others.--3. The French Academy.--4. The Drama:
Corneille.--5. Philosophy: Descartes, Pascal; Port Royal.--6. The Rise of
the Golden Age of French Literature: Louis XIV.--7. Tragedy: Racine.--8.
Comedy: Moliere.--9. Fables, Satires, Mock-Heroic, and other Poetry: La
Fontaine, Boileau.--10. Eloquence of the Pulpit and of the Bar:
Bourdaloue, Bossuet, Massillon, Flechier, Le Maitre, D'Aguesseau, and
others.--11. Moral Philosophy: Rochefoucault, La Bruyere, Nicole.--12.
History and Memoirs: Mezeray, Fleury, Rollia, Brantome, the Duke of Sully,
Cardinal de Retz.--13. Romance and Letter Writing: Fenelon, Madame de
Sevigne.--257

PERIOD THIRD.--1. The Dawn of Skepticism: Bayle, J. B. Rousseau,
Fontenelle, Lamotte.--2. Progress of Skepticism: Montesquieu, Voltaire.
--3. French Literature during the Revolution: D'Holbach, D'Alembert,
Diderot, J. J. Rousseau, Buffon, Beaumarchais, St. Pierre, and others.
--4. French Literature under the Empire: Madame de Stael, Chateaubriand,
Royer-Collard, Ronald, De Maistre.--5. French Literature from the Age of
the Restoration to the Present Time. History: Thierry, Sismondi, Thiers,
Mignet, Martin, Michelet, and others. Poetry and the Drama; Rise of the
Romantic School: Beranger, Lamartine, Victor Hugo, and others; Les
Parnassiens. Fiction: Hugo, Gautier, Dumas, Merimee, Balzac, Sand,
Sandeau, and others. Criticism: Sainte-Beuve, Taine, and others.
Miscellaneous.


SPANISH LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION.--1. Spanish Literature and its Divisions.--2. The Language.

PERIOD FIRST.--1. Early National Literature; the Poem of the Cid; Berceo,
Alfonso the Wise, Segura; Don Juan Manuel, the Archpriest of Hita, Santob,
Ayala.--2. Old Ballads.--3. The Chronicles.-4. Romances of Chivalry.--5.
The Drama.--6. Provencal Literature in Spain.--7. The Influence of Italian
Literature in Spain.--8. The Cancioneros and Prose Writing.--9. The
Inquisition.

PERIOD SECOND.--1. The Effect of Intolerance on Letters.--2. Influence of
Italy on Spanish Literature; Boscan, Garcilasso de la Vega, Diego de
Mendoza.--3. History; Cortez, Gomara, Oviedo, Las Casas.--4. The Drama,
Rueda, Lope de Vega, Calderon de la Barca.--5. Romances and Tales;
Cervantes, and other Writers of Fiction.--6. Historical Narrative Poems;
Ercilla.--7. Lyric Poetry; the Argensolas; Luis de Leon, Quevedo, Herrera,
Gongora, and others.--8. Satirical and other Poetry.--9. History and other
Prose Writing; Zurita, Mariana, Sandoval, and others.

PERIOD THIRD.--1. French Influence on the Literature of Spain.--2. The
Dawn of Spanish Literature in the Eighteenth Century; Feyjoo, Isla,
Moratin the elder, Yriarte, Melendez, Gonzalez, Quintana, Moratin the
younger.--3. Spanish Literature in the Nineteenth Century.

PORTUGUESE LITERATURE.

1. The Portuguese Language.--2. Early Literature of Portugal.--3. Poets of
the Fifteenth Century; Macias, Ribeyro.--4. Introduction of the Italian
Style; Saa de Miranda, Montemayor, Ferreira.--5. Epic Poetry; Camoens; the
Lusiad.--6. Dramatic Poetry; Gil Vicente.--7. Prose Writing; Rodriguez
Lobo, Barros, Brito, Veira.--8. Portuguese Literature in the Seventeenth,
Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Centuries; Antonio Jose, Manuel do Nascimento,
Manuel de Bocage.

FINNISH LITERATURE.

1. The Finnish Language and Literature: Poetry; the Kalevala; Loennrot;
Korhonen.--2. The Hungarian Language and Literature: the Age of Stephen
I.; Influence of the House of Anjou; of the Reformation; of the House of
Austria; Kossuth; Josika; Eoetvoes; Kuthy; Szigligeti; Petoefi.

SLAVIC LITERATURES.

The Slavic Race and Languages; the Eastern and Western Stems; the
Alphabets; the Old or Church Slavic Language; St. Cyril's Bible; the
Pravda Russkaya; the Annals of Nestor.

RUSSIAN LITERATURE.

1. The Language.--2. Literature in the Reign of Peter the Great; of
Alexander; of Nicholas; Danilof, Lomonosof, Kheraskof, Derzhavin,
Karamzin.--3. History, Poetry, the Drama: Kostrof, Dmitrief, Zhukoffski,
Krylof, Pushkin, Lermontoff, Gogol.--4. Literature in Russia since the
Crimean War: School of Nature; Turguenieff; Ultra-realistic School:
Science; Mendeleeff.

THE SERVIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

THE BOHEMIAN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

John Huss, Jerome of Prague, Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Comenius, and others.

THE POLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.

Rey, Bielski, Copernicus, Czartoryski, Niemcewicz, Mickiewicz, and others.

ROMANIAN LITERATURE.

Carmen Sylva.

DUTCH LITERATURE.

1. The Language.--2. Dutch Literature to the Sixteenth Century: Maerlant;
Melis Stoke; De Weert; the Chambers of Rhetoric; the Flemish Chroniclers;
the Rise of the Dutch Republic.--3. The Latin Writers: Erasmus; Grotius;
Arminius; Lipsius; the Scaligers, and others; Salmasius; Spinoza;
Boerhaave; Johannes Secundus.--4. Dutch Writers of the Sixteenth Century:
Anna Byns; Coornhert; Marnix de St. Aldegonde; Bor, Visscher, and
Spieghel.--5. Writers of the Seventeenth Century: Hooft; Vondel; Cats;
Antonides; Brandt, and others; Decline in Dutch Literature.--6. The
Eighteenth Century: Poot; Langendijk; Hoogvliet; De Marre; Feitama;
Huydecoper; the Van Harens; Smits; Ten Kate; Van Winter; Van Merken; De
Lannoy; Van Alphen; Bellamy; Nieuwland, Styl, and others.--7. The
Nineteenth Century: Feith; Helmers; Bilderdyk; Van der Palm; Loosjes;
Loots, Tollens, Van Kampen, De s'Gravenweert, Hoevill, and others.

SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE.

1. Introduction. The Ancient Scandinavians; their Influence on the English
Race.--2. The Mythology.--3. The Scandinavian Languages.--4. Icelandic, or
Old Norse Literature: the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, the Scalds, the
Sagas, the "Heimskringla." The Folks-Sagas and Ballads of the Middle
Ages.--5. Danish Literature: Saxo Grammaticus and Theodoric; Arreboe,
Kingo, Tycho Brahe, Holberg, Evald, Baggesen, Oehlenschlaeger, Grundtvig,
Blicher, Ingemann, Heiberg, Gyllenbourg, Winther, Hertz, Mueller, Hans
Andersen, Plong, Goldschmidt, Hastrup, and others; Malte Brun, Rask, Rafn,
Magnusen, the brothers Oersted.--6. Swedish Literature: Messenius,
Stjernhjelm, Lucidor, and others. The Gallic period: Dalin, Nordenflycht,
Crutz and Gyllenborg, Gustavus III., Kellgren, Leopold, Oxenstjerna. The
New Era: Bellman, Hallman, Kexel, Wallenberg, Lidner, Thorild, Lengren,
Franzen, Wallin. The Phosphorists: Atterbom, Hammarskoeld, and Palmblad.
The Gothic School: Geijer, Tegner, Stagnelius, Almquist, Vitalis,
Runeberg, and others. The Romance Writers: Cederborg, Bremer, Carlen,
Knorring. Science: Swedenborg, Linnaeus, and others.

GERMAN LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION.--1. German Literature and its Divisions.--2. The Mythology.
--3. The Language.

PERIOD FIRST--1. Early Literature; Translation of the Bible by Ulphilas;
the Hildebrand Lied.--2. The Age of Charlemagne; his Successors; the
Ludwig's Lied; Roswitha; the Lombard Cycle.--3. The Suabian Age; the
Crusades; the Minnesingers; the Romances of Chivalry; the Heldenbuch; the
Nibelungen Lied.--4. The Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries; the
Mastersingers; Satires and Fables; Mysteries and Dramatic Representations;
the Mystics; the Universities; the Invention of Printing.

PERIOD SECOND.--From 1517 to 1700.--1. The Lutheran Period: Luther,
Melanchthon.--2. Manuel, Zwingle, Fischart, Franck, Arnd, Boehm.--3.
Poetry, Satire, and Demonology; Paracelsus and Agrippa; the Thirty Years'
War.--4. The Seventeenth Century: Opitz, Leibnitz, Puffendorf, Kepler,
Wolf, Thomasius, Gerhard; Silesian Schools; Hoffmannswaldau, Lohenstein.

PERIOD THIRD.--1. The Swiss and Saxon Schools; Gottsched, Bodmer, Rabener,
Gellert, Kaestner, and others.--2. Klopstock, Lessing, Wieland, and Herder.
--3. Goethe and Schiller.--4. The Goettingen School: Voss, Stolberg,
Claudius, Buerger, and others.--5. The Romantic School: the Schlegels,
Novalis; Tieck, Koerner, Arndt, Uhland, Heine, and others.--6. The Drama:
Goethe and Schiller; the _Power Men_; Muellner, Werner, Howald, and
Grillparzer.--7. Philosophy: Kant, Fichte, Schelling, Hegel, Schopenhauer,
and Hartmann. Science: Liebig, Du Bois-Raymond, Virchow, Helmholst,
Haeckel.--8. Miscellaneous Writings.

ENGLISH LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION.--1. _English Literature_. Its Divisions.--2. _The Language_.

PERIOD FIRST.--1. _Celtic Literature_, Irish, Scotch, and Cymric Celts;
the Chronicles of Ireland; Ossian's Poems; Traditions of Arthur; the
Triads; Tales.--2. _Latin Literature_, Bede; Alcuin; Erigena.--3. _Anglo-
Saxon Literature_. Poetry; Prose; Versions of Scripture; the Saxon
Chronicle; Alfred.

PERIOD SECOND.--The Norman Age and the Fourteenth and Fifteenth
Centuries.--1. _Literature in the Latin Tongue_.--2. _Literature in
Norman-French_. Poetry; Romances of Chivalry.--3. _Saxon-English_.
Metrical Remains.--4. _Literature in the fourteenth Century_.--Prose
Writers: Occam, Duns Scotus, Wickliffe, Mandeville, Chaucer. Poetry;
Langland, Gower, Chaucer.--5. _Literature in the Fifteenth Century_.
Ballads.--6. _Poets of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries in
Scotland_. Wyntoun, Harbour, and others.

PERIOD THIRD.--1. _Age of the Reformation_ (1509-1558). Classical,
Theological, and Miscellaneous Literature: Sir Thomas More and others.
Poetry: Skelton, Surrey, and Sackville; the Drama.--2. _The Age of
Spenser, Shakespeare, Bacon, and Milton_ (1558-1660). Scholastic and
Ecclesiastical Literature. Translations of the Bible: Hooker, Andrews,
Donne. Hall, Taylor, Baxter; other Prose Writers: Fuller, Cudworth, Bacon,
Hobbes, Raleigh, Milton, Sidney, Selden, Burton, Browne, and Cowley.
Dramatic Poetry: Marlowe and Greene, Shakspeare, Beaumont and Fletcher,
Ben Jonson, and others; Massinger, Ford, and Shirley; Decline of the
Drama. Non-dramatic Poetry: Spenser and the Minor Poets. Lyrical Poets:
Donne, Cowley, Denham, Waller, Milton.--3. _The Age of the Restoration and
Revolution_ (1660-1702). Prose: Leighton, Tillotson, Barrow, Bunyan,
Locke, and others. The Drama: Dryden, Otway. Comedy: Didactic Poetry:
Roscommon, Marvell, Butler, Pryor, Dryden.--4. _The Eighteenth Century_.
The _First_ Generation (1702-1727): Pope, Swift, and others; the
Periodical Essayists: Addison, Steele. The _Second_ Generation (1727-
1760); Theology: Warburton, Butler, Watts, Doddridge. Philosophy: Hume.
Miscellaneous Prose: Johnson; the Novelists: Richardson, Fielding,
Smollett, and Sterne. The Drama; Non-dramatic Poetry: Young, Blair,
Akenside, Thomson, Gray, and Collins. The _Third_ Generation (1760-1800);
the Historians: Hume, Robertson, and Gibbon. Miscellaneous Prose: Johnson,
Goldsmith, "Junius," Pitt, Fox, Sheridan, and Burke, Criticism: Burke,
Reynolds, Campbell, Kames. Political Economy: Adam Smith. Ethics: Paley,
Smith, Tucker. Metaphysics: Reid. Theological and Religious Writers:
Campbell, Paley, Watson, Newton, Hannah More, and Wilberforce. Poetry:
Comedies of Goldsmith and Sheridan; Minor Poets; Later Poems; Beattie's
Minstrel; Cowper and Burns. 5. _The Nineteenth Century_. The Poets:
Campbell, Southey, Scott, Byron; Coleridge and Wordsworth; Wilson,
Shelley, Keats; Crabbe, Moore, and others; Tennyson, Browning, Procter,
and others. Fiction: the Waverley and other Novels; Dickens, Thackeray,
and others. History: Arnold, Thirlwall, Grote, Macaulay, Alison, Carlyle,
Freeman, Buckle. Criticism: Hallam, De Quincey, Macaulay, Carlyle, Wilson,
Lamb, and others. Theology: Poster, Hall, Chalmers. Philosophy: Stewart,
Brown, Mackintosh, Bentham, Alison, and others. Political Economy: Mill,
Whewell, Whately, De Morgan, Hamilton. Periodical Writings: the Edinburgh,
Quarterly, and Westminster Reviews, and Blackwood's Magazine. Physical
Science: Brewster, Herschel, Playfair, Miller, Buckland, Whewell.--Since
1860. I. Poets: Matthew Arnold, Algernon Swinburne, Dante Rossetti, Robert
Buchanan, Edwin Arnold, "Owen Meredith," William Morris, Jean Ingelow,
Adelaide Procter, Christina Rossetti, Augusta Webster, Mary Robinson, and
others. 2. Fiction: "George Eliot," McDonald, Collins, Black, Blackmore,
Mrs. Oliphant, Yates, McCarthy, Trollope, and others. 3. Scientific
Writers: Herbert Spencer, Charles Darwin, Tyndall, Huxley, and others.
4. Miscellaneous.

AMERICAN LITERATURE.

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.--1. The Seventeenth Century. George Sandys; The Bay
Psalm Book; Anne Bradstreet, John Eliot, and Cotton Mather.--2. From 1700
to 1770. Jonathan Edwards, Benjamin Franklin, Cadwallader Colden.

FIRST AMERICAN PERIOD, FROM 1771 TO 1820.--1. Statesmen and Political
Writers: Washington, Jefferson, Hamilton; The Federalist; Jay, Madison,
Marshall, Fisher Ames, and others.--2. The Poets: Freneau, Trumbull,
Hopkinson, Barlow, Clifton, and Dwight.--3. Writers in other Departments:
Bellamy, Hopkins, Dwight, and Bishop White. Rush, McClurg, Lindley Murray,
Charles Brockden Brown. Ramsay, Graydon. Count Rumford, Wirt, Ledyard,
Pinkney, and Pike.

SECOND AMERICAN PERIOD, FROM 1820 TO 1860.--1. History, Biography, and
Travels: Bancroft, Prescott, Motley, Godwin, Ticknor, Schoolcraft,
Hildreth, Sparks, Irving, Headley, Stephens, Kane, Squier, Perry, Lynch,
Taylor, and others.--2. Oratory: Webster, Clay, Calhoun, Benton, Everett,
and others.--3. Fiction: Cooper, Irving, Willis, Hawthorne, Poe, Simms,
Mrs. Stowe, and others.--4. Poetry: Bryant, Dana, Halleck, Longfellow,
Willis, Lowell, Allston, Hillhouse, Drake, Whittier, Hoffman, and others.
--5. The Transcendental Movement in New England.--6. Miscellaneous
Writings: Whipple, Tuckerman, Curtis, Brigge, Prentice, and others.--7.
Encyclopaedias, Dictionaries, and Educational Books. The Encyclopaedia
Americana. The New American Cyclopaedia. Allibone, Griswold, Duyckinck,
Webster, Worcester, Anthon, Felton, Barnard, and others.--8. Theology,
Philosophy, Economy, and Jurisprudence: Stuart, Robinson, Wayland, Barnes,
Channing, Parker. Tappan, Henry, Hickok, Haven. Carey, Kent, Wheaton,
Story, Livingston, Lawrence, Bouvier.--9. Natural Sciences: Franklin,
Morse, Fulton, Silliman, Dana, Hitchcock, Rogers, Bowditch, Peirce, Bache,
Holbrook, Audubon, Morton, Gliddon, Maury, and others.--10. Foreign
Writers: Paine, Witherspoon, Rowson, Priestley, Wilson, Agassiz, Guyot,
Mrs. Robinson, Gurowski, and others.--11. Newspapers and Periodicals.
--12. Since 1860.

CONCLUSION.

INDEX.




LIST OF AUTHORITIES.


The following works are the sources from which this book is wholly or
chiefly derived:--

Taylor's History of the Alphabet; Dwight's Philology; Herder's Spirit of
Hebrew Poetry; Lowth's Hebrew Poetry; Asiatic Researches; the works of
Gesenius, De Wette, Ewald, Colebrooke, Sir William Jones, Wilson, Ward;
Schlegel's Hindu Language and Literature; Max Mueller's History of Sanskrit
Literature; and What India has taught us; Malcolm's History of Persia;
Richardson on the Language of Eastern Nations; Adelung's Mithridates;
Chodzko's Specimens of the Popular Poetry of Persia; Costello's Rose
Garden of Persia; Remusat's Memoire sur l'Ecriture Chinoise; Davis on the
Poetry of the Chinese; Williams's Middle Kingdom; The Mikado's Empire;
Rein's Travels in Japan; Duhalde's Description de la Chine; Champollion's
Letters; Wilkinson's Extracts from Hieroglyphical Subjects; the works of
Bunsen, Mueller, and Lane; Mueller's History of the Literature of Ancient
Greece, continued by Donaldson; Browne's History of Roman Classical
Literature; Fiske's Manual of Classical Literature; Sismondi's Literature
of the South of Europe; Goodrich's Universal History; Sanford's Rise and
Progress of Literature; Schlegel's Lectures on the History of Literature;
Schlegel's History of Dramatic Art; Tiraboschi's History of Italian
Literature; Maffei, Corniani, and Ugoni on the same subject; Chambers's
Handbooks of Italian and German Literature; Vilmar's History of German
Literature; Foster's Handbook of French Literature; Nisard's Histoire de
la Litterature Francaise; Demogeot's Histoire de la Litterature francaise;
Ticknor's History of Spanish Literature; Talvi's (Mrs. Robinson)
Literature of the Slavic Nations; Mallet's Northern Antiquities; Keyson's
Religion of the Northmen; Pigott's Northern Mythology; William and Mary
Howitt's Literature and Romance of Northern Europe; De s'Gravenweert's Sur
la Litterature Neerlandaise; Siegenbeck's Histoire Litteraire des Pays-
Bas; Da Pontes' Poets and Poetry of Germany; Menzel's German Literature;
Spaulding's History of English Literature; Chambers's Cyclopaedia of
English Literature; Shaw's English Literature; Stedman's Victorian Poets;
Truebner's guide to American Literature; Duyckinck's Cyclopaedia of
American Literature; Griswold's Poets and Prose Writers of America;
Tuckerman's Sketch of American Literature; Frothingham's Transcendental
Movement in New England. French, English, and American Encyclopaedias,
Biographies, Dictionaries, and numerous other works of reference have also
been extensively consulted.




INTRODUCTION.


THE ALPHABET.

1. The Origin of Letters.--2. The Phoenician Alphabet and Inscriptions.--
3, The Greek Alphabet. Its Three Epochs.--4. The Medieval Scripts. The
Irish. The Anglo-Saxon. The Roman. The Gothic. The Runic.


1. THE ORIGIN OF LETTERS.--Alphabetic writing is an art easy to acquire,
but its invention has tasked the genius of the three most gifted nations
of the ancient world. All primitive people have begun to record events and
transmit messages by means of rude pictures of objects, intended to
represent things or thoughts, which afterwards became the symbols of
sounds. For instance, the letter _M_ is traced down from the
conventionalized picture of an owl in the ancient language of Egypt,
_Mulak_. This was used first to denote the bird itself; then it stood for
the name of the bird; then gradually became a syllabic sign to express the
sound "mu," the first syllable of the name, and ultimately to denote "M,"
the initial sound of that syllable.

In like manner _A_ can be shown to be originally the picture of an eagle,
_D_ of a hand, _F_ of the horned asp, _R_, of the mouth, and so on.

Five systems of picture writing have been independently invented,--the
Egyptian, the Cuneiform, the Chinese, the Mexican, and the Hittite. The
tradition of the ancient world, which assigned to the Phoenicians the
glory of the invention of letters, declared that it was from Egypt that
they originally derived the art of writing, which they afterwards carried
into Greece, and the latest investigations have confirmed this tradition.

2. THE PHOENICIAN ALPHABET.--Of the Phoenician alphabet the Samaritan is
the only living representative, the Sacred Script of the few families who
still worship on Mount Gerizim. With this exception, it is only known to
us by inscriptions, of which several hundred have been discovered. They
form two well-marked varieties, the Moabite and the Sidonian. The most
important monument of the first is the celebrated Moabite stone,
discovered in 1868 on the site of the ancient capital of the land of Moab,
portions of which are preserved in the Louvre. It gives an account of the
revolt of the King of Moab against Jehoram, King of Israel, 890 B.C. The
most important inscription of the Sidonian type is that on the magnificent
sarcophagus of a king of Sidon, now one of the glories of the Louvre.

A monument of the early Hebrew alphabet, another offshoot of the
Phoenician, was discovered in 1880 in an inscription in the ancient tunnel
which conveys water to the pool of Siloam.

3. THE GREEK ALPHABET.--The names, number, order, and forms of the
primitive Greek alphabet attest its Semitic origin. Of the many
inscriptions which remain, the earliest has been discovered, not in
Greece, but upon the colossal portrait statues carved by Rameses the
Great, in front of the stupendous cave temple at Abou-Simbel, at the time
when the Hebrews were still in Egyptian bondage. In the seventh century B.
C., certain Greek mercenaries in the service of an Egyptian king inscribed
a record of their visit in five precious lines of writing, which the dry
Nubian atmosphere has preserved almost in their pristine sharpness.

The legend, according to which Cadmus the Tyrian sailed for Greece in
search of Europa, the damsel who personified the West, designates the
island of Thera as the earliest site of Phoenician colonization in the
Aegean, and from inscriptions found there this may be regarded as the
first spot of European soil on which words were written, and they exhibit
better than any others the progressive form of the Cadmean alphabet. The
oldest inscriptions found on Hellenic soil bearing a definite date are
those cut on the pedestals of the statues which lined the sacred way
leading to the temple of Apollo, near Miletus. Several of those, now in
the British Museum, range in date over the sixth century B.C. They belong,
not to the primitive alphabet, but to the Ionian, one of the local
varieties which mark the second stage, which may be called the epoch of
transition, which began in the seventh and lasted to the close of the
fifth century B.C. It is not till the middle of the fifth century that we
have any dated monuments belonging to the Western types. Among these are
the names of the allied states of Hellas, inscribed on the coils of the
three-headed bronze serpent which supported the gold tripod dedicated to
the Delphian Apollo, 476 B.C. This famous monument was transported to
Byzantium by Constantine the Great, and still stands in the Hippodrome at
Constantinople. Of equal interest is the bronze Etruscan helmet in the
British Museum, dedicated to the Olympian Zeus, in commemoration of the
great victory off Cumae, which destroyed the naval supremacy of the
Etruscans, 474 B.C., and is celebrated in an ode by Pindar.

The third epoch witnessed the emergence of the classical alphabets of
European culture, the Ionian and the Italic.

The Ionian has been the source of the Eastern scripts, Romaic, Coptic,
Slavic, and others. The Italic became the parent of the modern alphabets
of Western Europe.

4. THE MEDIAEVAL SCRIPTS.--A variety of national scripts arose in the
establishment of the Teutonic kingdoms upon the ruins of the Roman Empire.
But the most magnificent of all mediaeval scripts was the Irish, which
exercised a profound influence on the later alphabets of Europe. From a
combination of the Roman and Irish arose the Anglo-Saxon script, the
precursor of that which was developed in the ninth century by Alcuin of
York, the friend and preceptor of Charlemagne. This was the parent of the
Roman alphabet, in which our books are now printed. Among other
deteriorations, there crept in, in the fourteenth century, the Gothic or
black letter character, and these barbarous forms are still essentially
retained by the Teutonic nations though discarded by the English and Latin
races; but from its superior excellences the Roman alphabet is constantly
extending its range and bids fair to become the sole alphabet of the
future. In all the lands that were settled and overrun by the
Scandinavians, there are found multitudes of inscriptions in the ancient
alphabet of the Norsemen, which is called the Runic. The latest modern
researches seem to prove that this was derived from the Greek, and
probably dates back as far as the sixth century B.C.The Goths were early
in occupation of the regions south of the Baltic and east of the Vistula,
and in direct commercial intercourse with the Greek traders, from whom
they doubtless obtained a knowledge of the Greek alphabet, as the Greeks
themselves had gained it from the Phoenicians.



CLASSIFICATION OF LANGUAGES.


Modern philologists have made different classifications of the various
languages of the world, one of which divides them into three great
classes: the Monosyllabic, the Agglutinated, and the Inflected.

--The _first_, or Monosyllabic class, contains those languages which
consist only of separate, unvaried monosyllables. The words have no
organization that adapts them for mutual affiliation, and there is in
them, accordingly, an utter absence of all scientific forms and principles
of grammar. The Chinese and a few languages in its vicinity, doubtless
originally identical with it, are all that belong to this class. The
languages of the North American Indians, though differing in many
respects, have the same general grade of character.

The _second_ class consists of those languages which are formed by
agglutination. The words combine only in a mechanical way; they have _no_
elective affinity, and exhibit toward each other none of the active or
sensitive capabilities of living organisms. Prepositions are joined to
substantives, and pronouns to verbs, but never so as to make a new form of
the original word, as in the inflected languages, and words thus placed in
juxtaposition retain their personal identity unimpaired.

The agglutinative languages are known also as the Turanian, from Turan, a
name of Central Asia, and the principal varieties of this family are the
Tartar, Finnish, Lappish, Hungarian, and Caucasian. They are classed
together almost exclusively on the ground of correspondence in their
grammatical structure, but they are bound together by ties of far less
strength than those which connect the inflected languages. The race by
whom they are spoken has, from the first, occupied more of the surface of
the earth than either of the others, stretching westward from the shores
of the Japan Sea to the neighborhood of Vienna, and southward from the
Arctic Ocean to Afghanistan and the southern coast of Asia Minor.

The inflected languages form the _third_ great division. They have all a
complete interior organization, complicated with many mutual relations and
adaptations, and are thoroughly systematic in all their parts. Between
this class and the monosyllabic there is all the difference that there is
between organic and inorganic forms of matter; and between them and the
agglutinative languages there is the same difference that exists in nature
between mineral accretions and vegetable growths. The boundaries of this
class of languages are the boundaries of cultivated humanity, and in their
history lies embosomed that of the civilized portions of the world.

Two great races speaking inflected languages, the Semitic and the Indo-
European, have shared between them the peopling of the historic portions
of the earth; and on this account these two languages have sometimes been
called political or state languages, in contrast with the appellation of
the Turanian as nomadic. The term Semitic is applied to that family of
languages which are native in Southwestern Asia, and which are supposed to
have been spoken by the descendants of Shem, the son of Noah. They are the
Hebrew, Aramaeic, Arabic, the ancient Egyptian or Coptic, the Chaldaic,
and Phoenician. Of these the only living language of note is the Arabic,
which has supplanted all the others, and wonderfully diffused its elements
among the constituents of many of the Asiatic tongues. In Europe the
Arabic has left a deep impress on the Spanish language, and is still
represented in the Maltese, which is one of its dialects.

The Semitic languages differ widely from the Indo-European in reference to
their grammar, vocabulary, and idioms. On account of the great
preponderance of the pictorial element in them, they may be called the
metaphorical languages, while the Indo-European, from the prevailing style
of their higher literature, may be called the philosophical languages. The
Semitic nations also differ from the Indo-European in their national
characteristics; while they have lived with remarkable uniformity on the
vast open plains, or wandered over the wide and dreary deserts of their
native region, the Indo-Europeans have spread themselves over both
hemispheres, and carried civilization to its highest development. But the
Semitic mind has not been without influence on human progress. It early
recorded its thoughts, its wants, and achievements in the hieroglyphs of
ancient Egypt; the Phoenicians, foremost in their day in commerce and the
arts, introduced from Egypt alphabetic letters, of which all the world has
since made use. The Jewish portion of the race, long in communication with
Egypt, Phoenicia, Babylonia, and Persia, could not fail to impart to these
nations some knowledge of their religion and literature, and it cannot be
doubted that many new ideas and quickening influences were thus set in
motion, and communicated to the more remote countries both of the East and
West.

The most ancient languages of the Indo-European stock may be grouped in
two distinct family pairs: the Aryan, which comprises two leading
families, the Indian and Iranian, and the Graeco-Italic or Pelasgic, which
comprises the Greek family and its various dialects, and the Italic
family, the chief-subdivisions of which are the Etruscan, the Latin, and
the modern languages derived from the Latin. The other Indo-European
families are the Lettic, Slavic, Gothic, and Celtic, with their various
subdivisions.

The word Aryan (Sanskrit, Arya), the oldest known name of the entire Indo-
European family, signifies well-born, and was applied by the ancient
Hindus to themselves in contradistinction to the rest of the world, whom
they considered base-born and contemptible.

In the country called Aryavarta, lying between the Himalaya and the
Vindhya Mountains, the high table-land of Central Asia, more than two
thousand years before Christ, our Hindu ancestors had their early home.
From this source there have been, historically, two great streams of Aryan
migration. One, towards the south, stagnated in the fertile valleys, where
they were walled in from all danger of invasion by the Himalaya Mountains
on the north, the Indian Ocean on the south, and the deserts of Bactria on
the west, and where the people sunk into a life of inglorious ease, or
wasted their powers in the regions of dreamy mysticism. The other
migration, at first northern, and then western, includes the great
families of nations in Northwestern Asia and in Europe. Forced by
circumstances into a more objective life, and under the stimulus of more
favorable influences, these nations have been brought into a marvelous
state of individual and social progress, and to this branch of the human
family belongs all the civilization of the present, and most of that which
distinguishes the past.

The Indo-European family of languages far surpasses the Semitic in
variety, flexibility, beauty, and strength. It is remarkable for its
vitality, and has the power of continually regenerating itself and
bringing forth new linguistic creations. It renders most faithfully the
various workings of the human mind, its wants, its aspirations, its
passion, imagination, and reasoning power, and is most in harmony with the
ever progressive spirit of man. In its varied scientific and artistic
development it forms the most perfect family of languages on the globe,
and modern civilization, by a chain reaching through thousands of years,
ascends to this primitive source.




CHINESE LITERATURE.

1. Chinese literature.--2. The Language.--3. The Writing.--4. The five
Classics and four Books.--5. Chinese Religion and Philosophy, Lao-tse,
Confucius, Meng-tse or Mencius.--6. Buddhism.--7. Social Constitution of
China.--8. Invention of Printing.--9. Science, History, and Geography.
Encyclopaedias.--10. Poetry.--11. Dramatic Literature and Fiction.--12.
Education in China.


1. CHINESE LITERATURE.--The Chinese literature is one of the most
voluminous of all literatures, and among the most important of those of
Asia. Originating in a vast empire, it is diffused among a population
numbering nearly half the inhabitants of the globe. It is expressed by an
original language differing from all others, it refers to a nation whose
history may be traced back nearly five thousand years in an almost
unbroken series of annals, and it illustrates the peculiar character of a
people long unknown to the Western world.

2. THE LANGUAGE.--The date of the origin of this language is lost in
antiquity, but there is no doubt that it is the most ancient now spoken,
and probably the oldest written language used by man. It has undergone few
alterations during successive ages, and this fact has served to deepen the
lines of demarkation between the Chinese and other branches of the race
and has resulted in a marked national life. It belongs to the monosyllabic
family; its radical words number 450, but as many of these, by being
pronounced with a different accent convey a different meaning, in reality
they amount to 1,203. Its pronunciation varies in different provinces, but
that of Nanking, the ancient capital of the Empire, is the most pure. Many
dialects are spoken in the different provinces, but the Chinese proper is
the literary tongue of the nation, the language of the court and of polite
society, and it is vernacular in that portion of China called the Middle
Kingdom.

3. THE WRITING.--There is an essential difference between the Chinese
language as spoken and written, and the poverty of the former presents a
striking contrast with the exuberance of the latter. Chinese writing,
generally speaking, does not express the sounds of the words, but it
represents the ideas or the objects indicated by them. Its alphabetical
characters are therefore ideographic, and not phonetic. They were
originally rude representations of the thing signified; but they have
undergone various changes from picture-writing to the present more
symbolical and more complete system.

As the alphabetic signs represent objects or ideas, it would follow that
there must be in writing as many characters as words in the spoken
language. Yet many words, which have the same sound, represent different
ideas; and these must be represented also in the written language. Thus
the number of the written words far surpasses that of the spoken language.
As far as they are used in the common writing, they amount to 2,425. The
number of characters in the Chinese dictionary is 40,000, of which,
however, only 10,000 are required for the general purposes of literature.
They are disposed under 214 signs, which serve as keys, and which
correspond to our alphabetic order.

The Chinese language is written, from right to left, in vertical columns
or in horizontal lines.

4. THE CLASSICS.--The first five canonical books are "The Book of
Transformations," "The Book of History," "The Book of Rites," "The Spring
and Autumn Annals," and "The Book of Odes"

"The Book of Transformations" consists of sixty-four short essays on
important themes, symbolically and enigmatically expressed, based on
linear figures and diagrams. These cabala are held in high esteem by the
learned, and the hundreds of fortune-tellers in the streets of Chinese
towns practice their art on the basis of these mysteries.

"The Book of History" was compiled by Confucius, 551-470 B. C., from the
earliest records of the Empire, and in the estimation of the Chinese it
contains the seeds of all that is valuable in their political system,
their history, and their religious rites, and is the basis of their
tactics, music, and astronomy. It consists mainly of conversations between
kings and their ministers, in which are traced the same patriarchal
principles of government that guide the rulers of the present day.

"The Book of Rites" is still the rule by which the Chinese regulate all
the relations of life. No every-day ceremony is too insignificant to
escape notice, and no social or domestic duty is beyond its scope. No work
of the classics has left such an impression on the manners and customs of
the people. Its rules are still minutely observed, and the office of the
Board of Rites, one of the six governing boards of Peking, is to see that
its precepts are carried out throughout the Empire. According to this
system, all the relations of man to the family, society, the state, to
morals, and to religion, are reduced to ceremonial, but this includes not
only the external conduct, but it involves those right principles from
which all true politeness and etiquette spring.

The "Book of Odes" consists of national airs, chants, and sacrificial odes
of great antiquity, some of them remarkable for their sublimity. It is
difficult to estimate the power they have exerted over all subsequent
generations of Chinese scholars. They are valuable for their religious
character and for their illustration of early Chinese customs and
feelings; but they are crude in measure, and wanting in that harmony which
comes from study and cultivation.

The "Spring and Autumn Annals" consist of bald statements of historical
facts. Of the Four Books, the first three--the "Great Learning," the "Just
Medium," and the "Confucian Analects"--are by the pupils and followers of
Confucius. The last of the four books consists entirely of the writings of
Mencius (371-288 B. C.). In originality and breadth of view he is superior
to Confucius, and must be regarded as one of the greatest men Asiatic
nations have produced.

The Five Classics and Four Books would scarcely be considered more than
curiosities in literature were it not for the incomparable influence, free
from any debasing character, which they have exerted over so many millions
of minds.

5. CHINESE RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY.--Three periods may be distinguished in
the history of the religious and philosophical progress of China. The
first relates to ancient tradition, to the idea of one supreme God, to the
patriarchal institutions, which were the foundation of the social
organization of the Empire, and to the primitive customs and moral
doctrines. It appears that this religion at length degenerated into that
mingled idolatry and indifference which still characterizes the people of
China.

In the sixth century B.C., the corruption of the ancient religion having
reached its height, a reaction took place which gave birth to the second,
or philosophical period, which produced three systems. Lao-tse, born 604
B.C., was the founder of the religion of the Tao, or of the external and
supreme reason. The Tao is the primitive existence and intelligence, the
great principle of the spiritual and material world, which must be
worshiped through the purification of the soul, by retirement, abnegation,
contemplation, and metempsychosis. This school gave rise to a sect of
mystics similar to those of India.

Later writers have debased the system of Lao-tse, and cast aside his
profound speculations for superstitious rituals and the multiplication of
gods and goddesses.

Confucius was the founder of the second school, which has exerted a far
more extensive and beneficial influence on the political and social
institutions of China. Confucius is a Latin name, corresponding to the
original Kung-fu-tse, Kung being the proper name, and Fu-tse signifying
reverend teacher or doctor. He was born 551 B.C., and educated by his
mother, who impressed upon him a strong sense of morality. After a careful
study of the ancient writings he decided to undertake the moral reform of
his country, and giving up his high position of prime minister, he
traveled extensively in China, preaching justice and virtue wherever he
went. His doctrines, founded on the unity of God and the necessities of
human nature, bore essentially a moral character, and being of a practical
tendency, they exerted a great influence not only on the morals of the
people, but also on their legislation, and the authority of Confucius
became supreme. He died 479 B.C., at the age of seventy-two, eleven years
before the birth of Socrates. He left a grandson, through whom the
succession has been transmitted to the present day, and his descendants
constitute a distinct class in Chinese society.

At the close of the fourth century B.C., another philosopher appeared by
the name of Meng-tse, or Mencius (eminent and venerable teacher), whose
method of instruction bore a strong similarity to that of Socrates. His
books rank among the classics, and breathe a spirit of freedom and
independence; they are full of irony on petty sovereigns and on their
vices; they establish moral goodness above social position, and the will
of the people above the arbitrary power of their rulers. He was much
revered, and considered bolder and more eloquent than Confucius.

6. The third period of the intellectual development of the Chinese dates
from the introduction of Buddhism into the country, under the name of the
religion of Fo, 70 A.D. The emperor himself professes this religion, and
its followers have the largest number of temples. The great bulk of
Buddhist literature is of Indian origin. Buddhism, however, has lost in
China much of its originality, and for the mass it has sunk into a low and
debasing idolatry. Recently a new religion has sprung up in China, a
mixture of ancient Chinese and Christian doctrines, which apparently finds
great favor in some portions of the country.

7. SOCIAL CONSTITUTION OF CHINA.--The social constitution of China rests
on the ancient traditions preserved in the canonical and classic books.
The Chinese empire is founded on the patriarchal system, in which all
authority over the family belongs to the _pater familias_. The emperor
represents the great father of the nation, and is the supreme master of
the state and the head of religion. All his subjects being considered as
his children, they are all equal before him, and according to their
capacity are admitted to the public offices. Hence no distinction of
castes, no privileged classes, no nobility of birth; but a general
equality under an absolute chief. The public administration is entirely in
the hands of the emperor, who is assisted by his mandarins, both military
and civil. They are admitted to this rank only after severe examinations,
and from them the members of the different councils of the empire are
selected. Among these the Board of Control, or the all-examining Court,
and the Court of History and Literature deserve particular mention, as
being more closely related to the subject of this work. The duty of this
board consists in examining all the official acts of the government, and
in preventing the enacting of those measures which they may deem
detrimental to the best interests of the country. They can even reprove
the personal acts of the emperor, an office which has afforded many
occasions for the display of eloquence. The courage of some of the members
of this board has been indeed sublime, giving to their words wonderful
power.

The Court of History and Literature superintends public education,
examines those who aspire to the degree of mandarins, and decides on the
pecuniary subsidies, which the government usually grants for defraying the
expenses of the publication of great works on history and science.

8. INVENTION OF PRINTING.--At the close of the sixth century B.C. it was
ordained that various texts in circulation should be engraved on wood to
be printed and published. At first comparatively little use seems to have
been made of the invention, which only reached its full development in the
eleventh century, when movable types were first invented by a Chinese
blacksmith, who printed books with them nearly five hundred years before
Gutenberg appeared.

In the third century B.C., one of the emperors conceived the mad scheme of
destroying all existing records, and writing a new set of annals in his
own name, in order that posterity might consider him the founder of the
empire. Sixty years after this barbarous decree had been carried into
execution, one of his successors, who desired as far as possible to repair
the injury, caused these books to be re-written from a copy which had
escaped destruction.

9. SCIENCE, HISTORY, AND GEOGRAPHY.--Comparing the scientific development
of the Chinese with that of the Western world, it may be said that they
have made little progress in any branch of science. There are, however, to
be found in almost every department some works of no indifferent merit. In
mathematics they begin only now to make some progress, since the
mathematical works of Europe have been introduced into their country.
Astrology still takes the place of astronomy, and the almanacs prepared at
the observatory of Peking are made chiefly by foreigners. Books on natural
philosophy abound, some of which are written by the emperors themselves.
Medicine is imperfectly understood. They possess several valuable works on
Chinese jurisprudence, on agriculture, economy, mechanics, trades, many
cyclopaedias and compendia, and several dictionaries, composed with
extraordinary skill and patience.

To this department may be referred all educational books, the most of them
written in rhyme, and according to a system of intellectual gradation.

The historical and geographical works of China are the most valuable and
interesting department of its literature. Each dynasty has its official
chronicle, and the celebrated collection of twenty-one histories forms an
almost unbroken record of the annals from, the third century B.C. to the
middle of the seventeenth century, and contains a vast amount of
information to European readers. The edition of this huge work, in sixty-
six folio volumes, is to be found in the British Museum. This and many
similar works of a general and of a local character unite in rendering
this department rich and important for those who are interested in the
history of Asiatic civilization. "The General Geography of the Chinese
Empire" is a collection of the statistics of the country, with maps and
tables, in two hundred and sixty volumes. The "Statutes of the Reigning
Dynasty," from the year 1818, form more than one thousand volumes. Chinese
topographical works are characterized by a minuteness of detail rarely
equaled.

Historical and literary encyclopaedias form a very notable feature in all
Chinese libraries. These works show great research, clearness, and
precision, and are largely drawn upon by European scholars. Early in the
last century one of the emperors appointed a commission to reprint in one
great collection all the works they might think worthy of preservation.
The result was a compilation of 6,109 volumes, arranged under thirty-two
heads, embracing works on every subject contained in the national
literature. This work is unique of its kind, and the largest in the world.

10. POETRY.--The first development of literary talent in China, as
elsewhere, is found in poetry, and in the earliest days songs and ballads
were brought as offerings from the various principalities to the heads of
government. At the time of Confucius there existed a collection of three
thousand songs, from which he selected those contained in the "Book of
Odes." There is not much sublimity or depth of thought in these odes, but
they abound in touches of nature, and are exceedingly interesting and
curious, as showing how little change time has effected in the manners and
customs of this singular people. Similar in character are the poems of the
Tshian-teng-shi, another collection of lyrics published at the expense of
the emperor, in several thousand volumes. Among modern poets may be
mentioned the Emperor Khian-lung, who died at the close of the last
century.

After the time of Confucius the change in Chinese poetry became very
marked, and, instead of the peaceful tone of his day, it reflected the
unsettled condition of social and political affairs. The simple,
monotheistic faith was exchanged for a superstitious belief in a host of
gods and goddesses, a contempt for life, and an uncertainty of all beyond
it. The period between 620 and 907 A.D., was one of great prosperity, and
is looked upon as the golden age.

11. DRAMATIC LITERATURE AND FICTION.--Chinese literature affords no
instance of real dramatic poetry or sustained effort of the imagination.
The "Hundred Plays of the Yuen Dynasty" is the most celebrated collection,
and many have been translated into European languages. One of them, "The
Orphan of China," served as the groundwork of Voltaire's tragedy of that
name. The drama, however, constitutes a large department in Chinese
literature, though there are, properly speaking, no theatres in China. A
platform in the open air is the ordinary stage, the decorations are
hangings of cotton supported by a few poles of bamboo, and the action is
frequently of the coarsest kind. When an actor comes on the stage, he
says, "I am the mandarin so-and-so." If the drama requires the actor to
enter a house, he takes some steps and says, "I have entered;" and if he
is supposed to travel, he does so by rapid running on the stage, cracking
his whip, and saying afterwards, "I have arrived." The dialogue is written
partly in verse and partly in prose, and the poetry is sometimes sung and
sometimes recited. Many of their dramas are full of bustle and abound in
incident. They often contain the life and adventures of an individual,
some great sovereign or general, a history, in fact, thrown into action.
Two thousand volumes of dramatic compositions are known, and the best of
these amount to five hundred pieces. Among them may be mentioned the
"Orphan of the House of Tacho," and the "Heir in Old Age," which have much
force and character, and vividly describe the habits of the people.

The Chinese are fond of historical and moral romances, which, however, are
founded on reason and not on imagination, as are the Hindu and Persian
tales. Their subjects are not submarine abysses, enchanted palaces, giants
and genii, but man as he is in his actual life, as he lives with his
fellow-men, with all his virtues and vices, sufferings and joys. But the
Chinese novelists show more skill in the details than in the conception of
their works; the characters are finished and developed in every respect.
The pictures with which they adorn their works are minute and the
descriptions poetical, though they often sacrifice to these qualities the
unity of the subject. The characters of their novels are principally drawn
from the middle class, as governors, literary men, etc. The episodes are,
generally speaking, ordinary actions of common life--all the quiet
incidents of the phlegmatic life of the Chinese, coupled with the regular
and mechanical movements which distinguish that people. Among the
numberless Chinese romances there are several which are considered
classic. Such are the "Four Great Marvels' Books," and the "Stories of the
Pirates on the Coast of Kiangnan."

12. EDUCATION IN CHINA. Most of the Chinese people have a knowledge of the
rudiments of education. There is scarcely a man who does not know how to
read the hooks of his profession. Public schools are everywhere
established; in the cities there are colleges, in which pupils are taught
the Chinese literature; and in Peking there is an imperial college for the
education of the mandarins. The offices of the empire are only attained by
scholarship. There are four literary degrees, which give title to
different positions in the country. The government fosters the higher
branches of education and patronizes the publication of literary works,
which are distributed among the libraries, colleges, and functionaries.
The press is restricted only from publishing licentious and revolutionary
books.

The future literature of China in many branches will be greatly modified
by the introduction of foreign knowledge and influences.




JAPANESE LITERATURE

1. The Language.--2. The Religion.--3. The Literature. Influence of
Women.--4. History.--5. The Drama and Poetry.--6. Geography. Newspapers.
Novels. Medical Science.--7. Position of Woman.


1. THE LANGUAGE.--The Japanese is considered as belonging to the isolated
languages, as philologists have thus far failed to classify it. It is
agglutinative in its syntax, each word consisting of an unchangeable root
and one or several suffixes. Before the art of writing was known, poems,
odes to the gods, and other fragments which still exist had been composed
in this tongue, and it is probable that a much larger literature existed.
During the first centuries of writing in Japan, the spoken and written
language was identical, but with the study of the Chinese literature and
the composition of native works almost exclusively in that language, there
grew up differences between the colloquial and literary idiom, and the
infusion of Chinese words steadily increased. In writing, the Chinese
characters occupy the most important place. But all those words which
express the wants, feelings, and concerns of everyday life, all that is
deepest in the human heart, are for the most part native. If we would
trace the fountains of the musical and beautiful language of Japan, we
must seek them in the hearts and hear them flow from the lips of the
mothers of the Island Empire. Among the anomalies with which Japan has
surprised and delighted the world may be claimed that of woman's
achievements in the domain of letters. It was woman's services, not man's,
that made the Japanese a literary language, and under her influence the
mobile forms of speech crystallized into perennial beauty.

The written language has heretofore consisted mainly of characters
borrowed from the Chinese, each character representing an idea of its own,
so that in order to read and write the student must make himself
acquainted with several thousand characters, and years are required to
gain proficiency in these elementary arts. There also exists in Japan a
syllabary alphabet of forty-seven characters, used at present as an
auxiliary to the Chinese. Within a very recent period, since the
acquisition of knowledge has become a necessity in Japan, a society has
been formed by the most prominent men of the empire, for the purpose of
assimilating the spoken and written language, taking the forty-seven
native characters as the basis.

2. RELIGION.--The two great religions of Japan are Shintoism and Buddhism.
The chief characteristic of the Shinto religion is the worship of
ancestors, the deification of emperors, heroes, and scholars, and the
adoration of the personified forces of nature. It lays down no precepts,
teaches no morals or doctrines, and prescribes no ritual.

The number of Shinto deities is enormous. In its higher form the chief
object of the Shinto faith is to enjoy this life; in its lower forms it
consists in a blind obedience to governmental and priestly dictates.

On the recent accession of the Mikado to his former supreme power, an
attempt was made to restore this ancient faith, but it failed, and Japan
continues as it has been for ten centuries in the Buddhist faith.

The religion of Buddha was introduced into Japan 581 A.D., and has exerted
a most potent influence in forming the Japanese character.

The Protestants of Japanese Buddhism are the followers of Shinran, 1262
A.D., who have wielded a vast influence in the religious development of
the people both for good and evil. In this creed prayer, purity, and
earnestness of life are insisted upon. The Scriptures of other sects are
written in Sanskrit and Chinese which only the learned are able to read,
those of the Shin sect are in the vernacular Japanese idiom. After the
death of Shinran, Rennio, who died in 1500 A.D., produced sacred writings
now daily read by the disciples of this denomination.

Though greatly persecuted, the Shin sect have continually increased in
numbers, wealth, and power, and now lead all in intelligence and
influence. Of late they have organized their theological schools on the
model of foreign countries that their young men may be trained to resist
the Shinto and Christian faiths.

3. THE LITERATURE. INFLUENCE OF WOMEN.--Previous to the fourteenth century
learning in Japan was confined to the court circle. The fourteenth,
fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries are the dark ages when military
domination put a stop to all learning except with, a few priests. With the
seventeenth century begins the modern period of general culture. The
people are all fond of reading, and it is very common to see circulating
libraries carried from house to house on the backs of men.

As early as the tenth century, while the learned affected a pedantic style
so interlarded with Chinese as to be unintelligible, the cultivation of
the native tongue was left to the ladies of the court, a task which they
nobly discharged. It is a remarkable fact, without parallel in the history
of letters, that a very large proportion of the best writings of the best
ages was the work of women, and their achievement in the domain of letters
is one of the anomalies with which Japan has surprised and delighted the
world. It was their genius that made the Japanese a literary language. The
names and works of these authoresses are quoted at the present day.

4. HISTORY.--The earliest extant Japanese record is a work entitled
"Kojiki," or book of ancient traditions. It treats of the creation, the
gods and goddesses of the mythological period, and gives the history of
the Mikados from the accession of Jimmu, year 1 (660 B.C.), to 1288 of the
Japanese year. It was supposed to date from the first half of the eighth
century, and another work "Nihonghi," a little later, also treats of the
mythological period. It abounds in traces of Chinese influence, and in a
measure supersedes the "Kojiki." These are the oldest books in the
language. They are the chief exponents of the Shinto faith, and form the
bases of many commentaries and subsequent works.

The "History of Great Japan," composed in the latter part of the
seventeenth century, by the Lord of Mito (died 1700), is the standard
history of the present day. The external history of Japan, in twenty-two
volumes, by Rai Sanyo (died 1832), composed in classical Chinese, is most
widely read by men of education.

The Japanese are intensely proud of their history and take great care in
making and preserving records. Memorial stones are among the most striking
sights on the highways and in the towns, villages, and temple yards, in
honor of some noted scholar, ruler, or benefactor. Few people are more
thoroughly informed as to their own history. Every city, town, and village
has its annals. Family records are faithfully copied from generation to
generation. Almost every province has its encyclopaedic history, and every
high-road its itineraries and guide-books, in which famous places and
events are noted. In the large cities professional story-tellers and
readers gain a lucrative livelihood by narrating both legendary and
classical history, and the theatre is often the most faithful mirror of
actual history. There are hundreds of child's histories in Japan. Many of
the standard works are profusely illustrated, are models of style and
eloquence, and parents delight to instruct their children in the national
laws and traditions.

5. THE DRAMA.--The theatre is a favorite amusement, especially among the
lower classes; the pieces represented are of a popular character and
written in colloquial language, and generally founded on national history
and tradition, or on the lives and adventures of the heroes and gods; and
the scene is always laid in Japan. The play begins in the morning and
lasts all day, spectators bringing their food with them. No classical
dramatic author is known.

Poetry has always been a favorite study with the Japanese. The most
ancient poetical fragment, called a "Collection of Myriad Leaves," dates
from the eighth century. The collection of "One Hundred Persons" is much
later, and contains many poems written by the emperors themselves. The
Japanese possess no great epic or didactic poems, although some of their
lyrics are happy examples of quaint modes of thought and expression. It is
difficult to translate them into a foreign tongue.

6. GEOGRAPHY. NEWSPAPERS AND NOVELS.--The largest section of Japanese
literature is that treating of the local geography of the country itself.
These works are minute in detail and of great length, describing events
and monuments of historic interest.

Before the recent revolution bat one newspaper existed in Japan, but at
present the list numbers several hundred. Freedom of the press is unknown,
and fines and imprisonment for violation of the stringent laws are very
frequent.

Novels constitute a large section of Japanese literature. Fairy tales and
story books abound. Many of them are translated into English; "The Royal
Ronans" and other works have recently been published in New York.

Medical science was borrowed from China, but upon this, as upon other
matters, the Japanese improved. Acupuncture, or the introduction of
needles into the living tissues for remedial purposes, was invented by the
Japanese, as was the moxa, or the burning of the flesh for the same
purpose.

7. POSITION OF WOMAN.--Women in Japan are treated with far more respect
and consideration than elsewhere in the East. According to Japanese
history the women of the early centuries were possessed of more
intellectual and physical vigor, filling the offices of state and
religion, and reaching a high plane of social dignity and honor. Of the
one hundred and twenty-three Japanese sovereigns, nine have been women.
The great heroine of Japanese history and tradition was the Empress Jingu,
renowned for her beauty, piety, intelligence, and martial valor, who,
about 200 A.D., invaded and conquered Corea.

The female children of the lower classes receive tuition in private
schools so generally established during the last two centuries throughout
the country, and those of the higher classes at the hands of private
tutors or governesses; and in every household may be found a great number
of books exclusively on the duties of women.




SANSKRIT LITERATURE.

1. The Language.--2. The Social Constitution of India. Brahmanism.--3.
Characteristics of the Literature and its Divisions.--4. The Vedas and
other Sacred Books.--5. Sanskrit Poetry; Epic; The Ramayana and
Mahabharata. Lyric Poetry. Didactic Poetry; the Hitopadesa. Dramatic
Poetry.--6.. History and Science.--7. Philosophy. 8. Buddhism.--9. Moral
Philosophy. The Code of Manu.--10. Modern Literatures of India.--11.
Education. The Brahmo Somaj.


1. THE LANGUAGE.--Sanskrit is the literary language of the Hindus, and for
two thousand years has served as the means of learned intercourse and
composition. The name denotes _cultivated_ or _perfected_, in distinction
to the Prakrit or _uncultivated_, which sprang from it and was
contemporary with it.

The study of Sanskrit by European scholars dates less than a century back,
and it is important as the vehicle of an immense literature which lays
open the outward and inner life of a remarkable people from a remote epoch
nearly to the present day, and as being the most ancient and original of
the Indo-European languages, throwing light upon them all. The Aryan or
Indo-European race had its ancient home in Central Asia. Colonies migrated
to the west and founded the Persian, Greek, and Roman civilization, and
settled in Spain and England. Other branches found their way through the
passes of the Himalayas and spread themselves over India. Wherever they
went they asserted their superiority over the earlier people whom they
found in possession of the soil, and the history of civilization is
everywhere the history of the Aryan race. The forefathers of the Greek and
Roman, of the Englishman and the Hindu, dwelt together in India, spoke the
same language, and worshiped the same gods. The languages of Europe and
India are merely different forms of the original Aryan speech. This is
especially true of the words of common family life. _Father, mother,
brother, sister_, and _widow_, are substantially the same in most of the
Aryan languages, whether spoken on the banks of the Ganges, the Tiber, or
the Thames. The word _daughter_, which occurs in nearly all of them, is
derived from the Sanskrit word signifying _to draw milk_, and preserves
the memory of the time when the daughter was the little milkmaid in the
primitive Aryan household.

It is probable that as late as the third or fourth century B.C. it was
still spoken. New dialects were engrafted upon it which at length
superseded it, though it has continued to be revered as the sacred and
literary language of the country. Among the modern tongues of India, the
Hindui and the Hindustani may be mentioned; the former, the language of
the pure Hindu population, is written in Sanskrit characters; the latter
is the language of the Mohammedan Hindus, in which Arabic letters are
used. Many of the other dialects spoken and written in Northern India are
derived from the Sanskrit. Of the more important among them there are
English grammars and dictionaries.

2. SOCIAL CONSTITUTION OF INDIA.--Hindu literature takes its character
both from the social and the religious institutions of the country. The
social constitution is based on the distinction of classes into which the
people, from the earliest times, have been divided, and which were the
natural effect of the long struggle between the aboriginal tribes and the
new race which had invaded India. These castes are four: 1st. The Brahmins
or priests; 2d. The warriors and princes; 3d. The husbandmen; 4th. The
laborers. There are, besides, several impure classes, the result of an
intermingling of the different castes. Of these lower classes some are
considered utterly abominable--as that of the Pariahs. The different
castes are kept distinct from each other by the most rigorous laws; though
in modern times the system has been somewhat modified.


THE RELIGION.

In the period of the Vedas the religion of the Hindus was founded on the
simple worship of Nature. But the Pantheism of this age was gradually
superseded by the worship of the one Brahm, from which, according to this
belief, the soul emanated, and to which it seeks to return. Brahm is an
impersonality, the sum of all nature, the germ of all that is. Existence
has no purpose, the world is wholly evil, and all good persons should
desire to be taken out of it and to return to Brahm. This end is to be
attained only by transmigration of the soul through all previous stages of
life, migrating into the body of a higher or lower being according to the
sins or merits of its former existence, either to finish or begin anew its
purification. This religion of the Hindus led to the growth of a
philosophy the precursor of that of Greece, whose aims were loftier and
whose methods more ingenious.

From Brahm, the impersonal soul of the universe, emanated the personal and
active Brahma, who with Siva and Vishnu constitute the Trimurti or god
under three forms.

Siva is the second of the Hindu deities, and represents the primitive
animating and destroying forces of nature. His symbols relate to these
powers, and are worshiped more especially by the Sivaites--a numerous sect
of this religion. The worshipers of Vishnu, called the Preserver, the
first-born of Brahma, constitute the most extensive sect of India, and
their ideas relating to this form of the Divinity are represented by
tradition and poetry, and are particularly developed in the great
monuments of Sanskrit literature. The myths connected with Vishnu refer
especially to his incarnations or corporeal apparitions both in men and
animals, which he submits to in order to conquer the spirit of evil.

These incarnations are called Avatars, or descendings, and form an
important part of Hindu epic poetry. Of the ten Avatars which are
attributed to Vishnu, nine have already taken place; the last is yet to
come, when the god shall descend again from heaven, to destroy the present
world, and to restore peace and parity. The three forms of the Deity,
emanating mutually from each other, are expressed by the three symbols, A
U M, three letters in Sanskrit having but one sound, forming the mystical
name _Om_, which never escapes the lips of the Hindus, but is meditated on
in silence. The predominant worship of one or the other of these forms
constitutes the peculiarities of the numerous sects of this religion.

There are other inferior divinities, symbols of the forces of nature,
guardians of the world, demi-gods, demons, and heroes, whose worship,
however, is considered as a mode of reaching that divine rest, immersion
and absorption in Brahm. To this end are directed the sacrifices, the
prayers, the ablutions, the pilgrimages, and the penances, which occupy so
large a place in the Hindu worship.

3. CHARACTERISTICS OF THE LITERATURE AND ITS DIVISIONS.--A greater part of
the Sanskrit literature, which counts its works by thousands, still
remains in manuscript. It was nearly all composed in metre, even works of
law, morality, and science. Every department of knowledge and every branch
of inquiry is represented, with the single exception of history, and this
forms the most striking general characteristic of the literature, and one
which robs it of a great share of worth and interest. Its place is in the
intellectual rather than in the political history of the world.

The literary monuments of the Sanskrit language correspond to the great
eras in the history of India. The first period reaches back to that remote
age, when those tribes of the Aryan race speaking Sanskrit emigrated to
the northwestern portion of the Indian Peninsula, and established
themselves there, an agricultural and pastoral people. That was the age in
which were composed the prayers, hymns, and precepts afterwards collected
in the form of the Vedas, the sacred books of the country. In the second
period, the people, incited by the desire of conquest, penetrated into the
fertile valleys lying between the Indus and the Ganges; and the struggle
with the aboriginal inhabitants, which followed their invasion, gave birth
to epic poetry, in which the wars of the different races were celebrated
and the extension of Hindu civilization related. The third period embraces
the successive ages of the formation and development of a learned and
artistic literature. It contains collections of the ancient traditions,
expositions of the Vedas, works on grammar, lexicography, and science; and
its conclusion forms the golden age of Sanskrit literature, when, the
country being ruled by liberal princes, poetry, and especially the drama,
reached its highest degree of perfection.

The chronology of these periods varies according to the systems of
different orientalists. It is, however, admitted that the Vedas are the
first literary productions of India, and that their origin cannot be later
than the fifteenth century B.C. The period of the Vedas embraces the other
sacred books, or commentaries founded upon them, though written several
centuries afterwards. The second period, to which belong the two great
epic poems, the "Ramayana" and the "Mahabharata," according to the best
authorities ends with the sixth or seventh century B.C. The third period
embraces all the poetical and scientific works written from that time to
the third or fourth century B.C., when the language, having been
progressively refined, became fixed in the writings of Kalidasa, Jayadeva,
and other poets. A fourth period, including the tenth century A.D., may be
added, distinguished by its erudition, grammatical, rhetorical, and
scientific disquisitions, which, however, is not considered as belonging
to the classical age. From the Hindu languages, originating in the
Sanskrit, new literatures have sprung; but they are essentially founded on
the ancient literature, which far surpasses them in extent and importance,
and is the great model of them all. Indeed, its influence has not been
limited to India; all the poetical and scientific works of Asia, China,
and Japan included, have borrowed largely from it, and in Southern Russia
the scanty literature of the Kalmucks is derived entirely from Hindu
sources. The Sanskrit literature, known to Europe only recently, through
the researches of the English and German orientalists, has now become the
auxiliary and foundation of all philological studies.

4. THE VEDAS AND OTHER SACRED BOOKS.--The Vedas (knowledge or science) are
the Bible of the Hindus, the most ancient book of the Aryan family, and
contain the revelation of Brahm which was preserved by tradition and
collected by Vyasa, a name which means compiler. The word Veda, however,
should be taken, as a collective name for the sacred literature of the
Vedic age which forms the background of the whole Indian world. Many works
belonging to that age are lost, though a large number still exists.

The most important of the Vedas are three in number. First, The "Rig-
Veda," which is the great literary memorial of the settlement of the
Aryans in the Punjaub, and of their religious hymns and songs. Second, The
"Yajur-Veda." Third, The "Sama-Veda."

Each Veda divided into two parts: the first contains prayers and
invocations, most of which are of a rhythmical character; the second
records the precepts relative to those prayers and to the ceremonies of
the sacrifices, and describes the religious myths and symbols.

There are many commentaries on the Vedas of an ancient date, which are
considered as sacred books, and relate to medicine, music, astronomy,
astrology, grammar, philosophy, jurisprudence, and, indeed, to the whole
circle of Hindu science.

They represent a period of unknown antiquity, when the Aryans were divided
into tribes of which the chieftain was the father and priest, and when
women held a high position. Some of the most beautiful hymns of this age
were composed by ladies and queens. The morals of Avyan, a woman of an
early age, are still taught in the Hindu schools as the golden rule of
life.

India to-day acknowledges no higher authority in matters of religion,
ceremonial, customs, and law than the Vedas, and the spirit of Vedantism,
which is breathed by every Hindu from his earliest youth, pervades the
prayers of the idolater, the speculations of the philosopher, and the
proverbs of the beggar.

The "Puranas" (ancient writings) hold an eminent rank in the religion and
literature of the Hindus. Though of a more recent date than the Vedas,
they possess the credit of an ancient and divine origin, and exercise an
extensive and practical influence upon the people. They comprise vast
collections of ancient traditions relating to theology, cosmology, and to
the genealogy of gods and heroes. There are eighteen acknowledged Puranas,
which altogether contain 400,000 stanzas. The "Upapuranas," also eighteen
in number, are commentaries on the Puranas. Finally, to the sacred books,
and next to the Vedas both in antiquity and authority, belong the
"Manavadharmasastra," or the ordinances of Manu, spoken of hereafter.

5. SANSKRIT POETRY.--This poetry, springing from the lively and powerful
imagination of the Hindus, is inspired by their religious doctrines, and
embodied in the most harmonious language. Exalted by their peculiar belief
in pantheism and metempsychosis, they consider the universe and themselves
as directly emanating from Brahm, and they strive to lose their own
individuality, in its infinite essence. Yet, as impure beings, they feel
their incapacity to obtain the highest moral perfection, except through a
continual atonement, to which all nature is condemned. Hence Hindu poetry
expresses a profound melancholy, which pervades the character as well as
the literature of that people. This poetry breathes a spirit of perpetual
sacrifice of the individual self, as the ideal of human life. The bards of
India, inspired by this predominant feeling, have given to poetry nearly
every form it has assumed in the Western world, and in each and all they
have excelled.

Sanskrit poetry is both metrical and rhythmical, equally free from the
confused strains of unmoulded genius and from the servile pedantry of
conventional rules. The verse of eight syllables is the source of all
other metres, and the _sloka_ or double distich is the stanza most
frequently used. Though this poetry presents too often extravagance of
ideas, incumbrance of episodes, and monstrosity of images, as a general
rule it is endowed with simplicity of style, pure coloring, sublime ideas,
rare figures, and chaste epithets. Its exuberance must be attributed to
the strange mythology of the Hindus, to the immensity of the fables which
constitute the groundwork of their poems, and to the gigantic strength of
their poetical imaginations. A striking peculiarity of Sanskrit poetry is
its extensive use in treating of those subjects apparently the most
difficult to reduce to a metrical form--not only the Vedas and Manu's code
are composed in verse, but the sciences are expressed in this form. Even
in the few works which may be called prose, the style is so modulated and
bears so great a resemblance to the language of poetry as scarcely to be
distinguished from it. The history of Sanskrit poetry is, in reality, the
history of Sanskrit literature.

The subjects of the epic poems of the Hindus are derived chiefly from
their religious tenets, and relate to the incarnations of the gods, who,
in their human forms, become the heroes of this poetry. The idea of an
Almighty power warring against the spirit of evil destroys the possibility
of struggle, and impairs the character of epic poetry; but the Hindu
poets, by submitting their gods both to fate and to the condition of men,
diminish their power and give them the character of epic heroes.

The Hindu mythology, however, is the great obstacle which must ever
prevent this poetry from becoming popular in the Western world. The great
personifications of the Deity have not been softened down, as in the
mythology of the Greeks, to the perfection of human symmetry, but are here
exhibited in their original gigantic forms. Majesty is often expressed by
enormous stature; power, by multitudinous hands; providence, by countless
eyes; and omnipresence, by innumerable bodies.

In addition to this, Hindu epic poetry departs so far from what may be
called the vernacular idiom of thought and feeling, and refers to a people
whose political and religious institutions, as well as moral habits, are
so much at variance with our own, that no labor or skill could render its
associations familiar.

The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are the most important and sublime
creations of Hindu literature, and the most colossal epic poems to be
found in the literature of the world. They surpass in magnitude the Iliad
and Odyssey, the Jerusalem Delivered and the Lusiad, as the pyramids of
Egypt tower above the temples of Greece.

The Ramayana (_Rama_ and _yana_, expedition) describes the exploits of
Rama, an incarnation of Vishnu, and the son of Dasaratha, king of Oude.
Ravana, the prince of demons, bad stolen from the gods the privilege of
being invulnerable, and had thus acquired an equality with them. He could
not be overcome except by a man, and the gods implored Vishnu to become
incarnate in order that Ravana might be conquered. The origin and the
development of this Avatar, the departing of Rama for the battlefield, the
divine signs of his mission, his love and marriage with Sita, the daughter
of the king Janaka, the persecution of his step-mother, by which the hero
is sent into exile, his penance in the desert, the abduction of his bride
by Ravana, the gigantic battles that ensue, the rescue of Sita, and the
triumph of Rama constitute the principal plot of this wonderful poem, full
of incidents and episodes of the most singular and beautiful character.
Among these may be mentioned the descent of the goddess Ganga, which
relates to the mythological origin of the river Ganges, and the story of
Yajnadatta, a young penitent, who through mistake was killed by Dasaratha;
the former splendid for its rich imagery, the latter incomparable for its
elegiac character, and for its expression of the passionate sorrow of
parental affection.

The Ramayana was written by Valmiki, a poet belonging to an unknown
period. It consists of seven cantos, and contains twenty-five thousand
verses. The original, with its translation into Italian, was published in
Paris by the government of Sardinia about the middle of this century.

The Mahabharata (the great Bharata) has nearly the same antiquity as the
Ramayana. It describes the greatest Avatar of Vishnu, the incarnation of
the god in Krishna, and it presents a vast picture of the Hindu religion.
It relates to the legendary history of the Bharata dynasty, especially to
the wars between the Pandus and Kurus, two branches of a princely family
of ancient India. Five sons of Pandu, having been unjustly exiled by their
uncle, return, after many wonderful adventures, with a powerful army to
oppose the Kurus, and being aided by Krishna, the incarnated Vishnu,
defeat their enemies and become lords of all the country. The poem
describes the birth of Krishna, his escape from the dangers which
surrounded his cradle, his miracles, his pastoral life, his rescue of
sixteen thousand young girls who had become prisoners of a giant, his
heroic deeds in the war of the Pandus, and finally his ascent to heaven,
where he still leads the round dances of the spheres. This work is not
more remarkable for the grandeur of its conceptions than for the
information it affords respecting the social and religious systems of the
ancient Hindus, which are here revealed with majestic and sublime
eloquence. Five of its most esteemed episodes are called the Five Precious
Stones. First among these may be mentioned the "Bhagavad-Gita," or the
Divine Song, containing the revelation of Krishna, in the form of a
dialogue between the god and his pupil Arjuna. Schlegel calls this episode
the most beautiful, and perhaps the most truly philosophical, poem that
the whole range of literature has produced.

The Mahabharata is divided into eighteen cantos, and it contains two
hundred thousand verses. It is attributed to Vyasa, the compiler of the
Vedas, but it appears that it was the result of a period of literature
rather than the work of a single poet. Its different incidents and
episodes were probably separate poems, which from the earliest age were
sung by the people, and later, by degrees, collected in one complete work.
Of the Mahabharata we possess only a few episodes translated into English,
such as the Bhagavad-Gita, by Wilkins.

At a later period other epic poems were written, either as abridgments of
the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, or founded on episodes contained in
them. These, however, belong to a lower order of composition, and cannot
be compared with the great works of Valmiki and Vyasa.

In the development of lyric poetry the Hindu bards, particularly those of
the third period, have been eminently successful; their power is great in
the sublime and the pathetic, and manifests itself more particularly in
awakening the tender sympathies of our nature. Here we find many poems
full of grace and delicacy, and splendid for their charming descriptions
of nature. Such are the "Meghaduta" and the "Ritusanhara" of Kalidasa, the
"Madhava and Radha" of Jayadeva, and especially the "Gita-Govinda" of the
same poet, or the adventures of Krishna as a shepherd, a poem in which the
soft languors of love are depicted in enchanting colors, and which is
adorned with all the magnificence of language and sentiment.

Hindu poetry has a particular tendency to the didactic style and to embody
religious and historical knowledge; every subject is treated in the form
of verse, such as inscriptions, deeds, and dictionaries. Splendid examples
of didactic poetry may be found in the episodes of the epic poems, and
more particularly in the collections of fables and apologues in which the
Sanskrit literature abounds. Among these the Hitopadesa is the most
celebrated, in which Vishnu-saima instructs the sons of a king committed
to his care. Perhaps there is no book, except the Bible, which has been
translated into so many languages as these fables. They have spread in two
branches over nearly the whole civilized world. The one, under the
original name of the Hitopadesa, remains almost confined to India, while
the other, under the title of "Calila and Dimna," has become famous over
all western Asia and in all the countries of Europe, and has served as the
model of the fables of all languages. To this department belong also the
"Adventures of the Ten Princes," by Dandin, which, in an artistic point of
view, is far superior to any other didactic writings of Hindu literature.

The drama is the most interesting branch of Hindu literature. No other
ancient people, except the Greeks, has brought forth anything so admirable
in this department. It had its most flourishing period probably in the
third or fourth century B.C. Its origin is attributed to Brahm, and its
subjects are selected from the mythology. Whether the drama represents the
legends of the gods, or the simple circumstances of ordinary life; whether
it describes allegorical or historical subjects, it bears always the same
character of its origin and of its tendency. Simplicity of plot, unity of
episodes, and purity of language, unite in the formation of the Hindu
dramas. Prose and verse, the serious and the comic, pantomime and music
are intermingled in their representations. Only the principal characters,
the gods, the Brahmins, and the kings, speak Sanskrit; women and the less
important characters speak Prakrit, more or less refined according to
their rank. Whatever may offend propriety, whatever may produce an
unwholesome excitement, is excluded; for the hilarity of the audience,
there is an occasional introduction on the stage of a parasite or a
buffoon. The representation is usually opened by an apologue and always
concluded with a prayer.

Kalidasa, the Hindu Shakespeare, has been called by his countrymen the
Bridegroom of Poetry. His language is harmonious and elevated, and in his
compositions he unites grace and tenderness with grandeur and sublimity.
Many of his dramas contain episodes selected from the epic poems, and are
founded on the principles of Brahmanism. The "Messenger Cloud" of this
author, a monologue rather than a drama, is unsurpassed in beauty of
sentiment by any European poet. "Sakuntala," or the Fatal Ring, is
considered one of the best dramas of Kalidasa. It has been translated into
English by Sir W. Jones.

Bhavabhuti, a Brahmin by birth, was called by his contemporaries the Sweet
Speaking. He was the author of many dramas of distinguished merit, which
rank next to those of Kalidasa.

6. HISTORY AND SCIENCE.--History, considered as the development of mankind
in relation to its ideal, is unknown to Sanskrit literature. Indeed, the
only historical work thus far discovered is the "History of Cashmere," a
series of poetical compositions, written by different authors at different
periods, the last of which brings down the annals to the sixteenth century
A.D., when Cashmere became a province of the Mogul empire.

In the scientific department, the works on Sanskrit grammar and
lexicography are models of logical and analytical research. There are also
valuable works on jurisprudence, on rhetoric, poetry, music, and other
arts. The Hindu system of decimal notation made its way through the Arabs
to modern nations, our usual figures being, in their origin, letters of
the Sanskrit alphabet. Their medical and surgical knowledge is deserving
of study.

7. PHILOSOPHY.--The object of Hindu philosophy consists in obtaining
emancipation from metempsychosis, through the absorption of the soul into
Brahm, or the universal being. According to the different principles which
philosophers adopt in attaining this supreme object, their doctrines are
divided into the four following systems: 1st, Sensualism; 2d, Idealism;
3d, Mysticism; 4th, Eclecticism.

Sensualism is represented in the school of Kapila, according to whose
doctrine the purification of the soul must be effected through knowledge,
the only source of which lies in sensual perception. In this system,
nature, eternal and universal, is considered as the first cause, which
produces intelligence and all the other principles of knowledge and
existence. This philosophy of nature leads some of its followers to seek
their purification in the sensual pleasures of this life, and in the loss
of their own individuality in nature itself, in which they strive to be
absorbed. Materialism, fatalism, and atheism are the natural consequences
of the system of Kapila.

Idealism is the foundation of three philosophical schools: the Dialectic,
the Atomic, and the Vedanta. The Dialectic school considers the principles
of knowledge as entirely distinct from nature; it admits the existence of
universal ideas in the human mind; it establishes the syllogistic form as
the complete method of reasoning, and finally, it holds as fundamental the
duality of intelligence and nature. In this theory, the soul is considered
as distinct from Brahm and also from the body. Man can approach Brahm, can
unite himself to the universal soul, but can never lose his own
individuality.

The Atomic doctrine explains the origin of the world through the
combination of eternal, simple atoms. It belongs to Idealism, for the
predominance which it gives to ideas over sensation, and for the
individuality and consciousness which it recognizes in man.

The Vedanta is the true ideal pantheistic philosophy of India. It
considers Brahm in two different states: first, as a pure, simple,
abstract, and inert essence; secondly, as an active individuality. Nature
in this system is only a special quality or quantity of Brahm, having no
actual reality, and he who turns away from ail that is unreal and
changeable and contemplates Brahm unceasingly, becomes one with it, and
attains liberation.

Mysticism comprehends all doctrines which deny authority to reason, and
admit no other principles of knowledge or rule of life than supernatural
or direct revelation. To this system belong the doctrines of Patanjali,
which teach that man must emancipate himself from metempsychosis through
contemplation and ecstasy to be attained by the calm of the senses, by
corporeal penance, suspension of breath, and immobility of position. The
followers of this school pass their lives in solitude, absorbed in this
mystic contemplation. The forests, the deserts, and the environs of the
temples are filled with these mystics, who, thus separated from external
life, believe themselves the subjects of supernatural illumination and
power. The Bhagavad-Gita, already spoken of, is the best exposition of
this doctrine.

The Eclectic school comprises all theories which deny the authority of the
Vedas, and admit rational principles borrowed both from sensualism and
idealism. Among these doctrines Buddhism is the principal.

8. BUDDHISM.--Buddhism is so called from Buddha, a name meaning deified
teacher, which was given to Sakyamuni, or Saint Sakya, a reformer of
Brahmanism, who introduced into the Hindu religion a more simple creed,
and a milder and more humane code of morality. The date of the origin of
this reform is uncertain. It is probably not earlier than the sixth
century B.C. Buddhism, essentially a proselyting religion, spread over
Central Asia and through the island of Ceylon. Its followers in India
being persecuted and expelled from the country, penetrated into Thibet,
and pushing forward into the wilderness of the Kalmucks and Mongols,
entered China and Japan, where they introduced their warship under the
name of the religion of Fo. Buddhism is more extensively diffused than any
other form of religion in the world. Though it has never extended beyond
the limits of Asia, its followers number over four hundred millions.

As a philosophical school, Buddhism partakes both of sensualism and
idealism; it admits sensual perception as the source of knowledge, but it
grants to nature only an apparent existence. On this universal illusion,
Buddhism founded a gigantic system of cosmogony, establishing an infinity
of degrees in the scale of existences from that of pure being without form
or quality to the lowest emanations. According to Buddha, the object of
philosophy, as well as of religion, is the deliverance of the soul from
metempsychosis, and therefore from all pain and illusion. He teaches that
to break the endless rotation of transmigration the soul must be prevented
from being born again, by purifying it even from the desire of existence.
He denied the authority of the Vedas, and abolished or ignored the
division of the people into castes, admitting whoever desired it to the
priesthood. Notwithstanding the doctrine of metempsychosis, and the belief
that life is only an endless round of birth and death, sin and suffering,
the most sacred Buddhistic books teach a pure and elevated morality, and
that the highest happiness is only to be reached through self-abnegation,
universal benevolence, humility, patience, courage, self-knowledge, and
contemplation. Much has been added to the original doctrines of Buddha in
the way of mythology, sacrifices, penances, mysticism, and hierarchy.

Buddhism possesses a literature of its own; its language and style are
simple and intelligible to the common people, to whom it is particularly
addressed. For this reason the priests of this religion prefer to write in
the dialects used by the people, and indeed some of their principal works
are written in Prakrit or in Pali. Among these are many legends, and
chronicles, and books on theology and jurisprudence. The literary men of
Buddhism are generally the priests, who receive different names in
different countries. A complete collection of the sacred books of Buddhism
forms a theological body of one hundred and eight volumes.

9. MORAL PHILOSOPHY.--The moral philosophy of India is contained in the
Sacred Book of Manavadharmasastra, or Code of Manu. This embraces a
poetical account of Brahma and other gods, of the origin of the world and
man, and of the duties arising from the relation of man towards Brahma and
towards his fellow-men. Whether regarded for its great antiquity and
classic beauty, or for its importance as being considered of divine
revelation by the Hindu people, this Code must ever claim the attention of
those who devote themselves to the study of the Sanskrit literature.
Though inferior to the Vedas in antiquity, it is held to be equally
sacred; and being more closely connected with the business of life, it has
done so much towards moulding the opinions of the Hindus that it would be
impossible to comprehend the literature or local usages of India without
being master of its contents.

It is believed by the Hindus that Brahma taught his laws to Manu in one
hundred thousand verses, and that they were afterwards abridged for the
use of mankind to four thousand. It is most probable that the work
attributed to Manu is a collection made from various sources and at
different periods.

Among the duties prescribed by the laws of Manu man is enjoined to exert a
full dominion over his senses, to study sacred science, to keep his heart
pure, without which sacrifices are useless, to speak only when necessity
requires, and to despise worldly honors. His principal duties toward his
neighbor are to honor old age, to respect parents, the mother more than a
thousand fathers, and the Brahmins more than father or mother, to injure
no one, even in wish. Woman is taught that she cannot aspire to freedom, a
girl is to depend on her father, a wife on her husband, and a widow on her
son. The law forbids her to marry a second time.

The Code of Manu is divided into twelve books or chapters, in which are
treated separately the subjects of creation, education, marriage, domestic
economy, the art of living, penal and civil laws, of punishments and
atonements, of transmigration, and of the final blessed state. These
ordinances or institutes contain much to be admired and much to be
condemned. They form a system of despotism and priestcraft, both limited
by law, but artfully conspiring to give mutual support, though with mutual
checks. A spirit of sublime elevation and amiable benevolence pervades the
whole work, sufficient to prove the author to have adored not the visible
sun, but the incomparably greater light, according to the Vedas, which
illuminates all, delights all, from which all proceed, to which all must
return, and which alone can irradiate our souls.

10. MODERN LITERATURES OF INDIA.--The literature of the modern tongues of
the Hindus consists chiefly of imitations and translations from the
Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic, and from European languages. There is, however,
an original epic poem, written in Hindui by Tshand, under the title of the
"Adventures of Prithivi Raja," which is second only to the great Sanskrit
poems. This work, which relates to the twelfth century A.D., describes the
struggle of the Hindus against their Mohammedan conquerors. The poem of
"Ramayana," by Tulsi-Das, and that of the "Ocean of Love," are extremely
popular in India. The modern dialects contain many religious and national
songs of exquisite beauty and delicacy. Among the poets of India, who have
written in these dialects, Sauday, Mir-Mohammed Taqui, Wali, and Azad are
the principal.

The Hindi, which dates from the eleventh century A.D., is one of the
languages of Aryan stock still spoken in Northern India. One of its
principal dialects is the Hindustani, which is employed in the literature
of the northern country. Its two divisions are the Hindi and Urdu, which
represent the popular side of the national culture, and are almost
exclusively used at the present day; the first chiefly by writers not
belonging to the Brahminical order, while those of the Urdu dialect follow
Persian models. The writings in each, though numerous, and not without
pretension, have little interest for the European reader.

11. EDUCATION IN INDIA.--For the education of the Brahmins and of the
higher classes, there was founded, in 1792, a Sanskrit College at Benares,
the Hindu capital. The course of instruction embraces Persian, English,
and Hindu law, and general literature. In 1854 universities were
established at Calcutta, Madras, and Bombay. Of late public instruction
has become a department of the government, and schools and colleges for
higher instruction have been established in various parts of the country,
and books and newspapers in English and in the vernacular are everywhere
increasing. As far back as 1824 the American and English missionaries were
the pioneers of female education. The recent report of the Indian
Commission of Education deals particularly with this question, and
attributes the wide difference between the extent of male and female
acquirements to no inferiority in the mental capacities of women; on the
contrary, they find their intellectual activity very keen, and often
outlasting the mental energies of men. According to the traditions of
pre-historic times, women occupied a high place in the early civilization
of India, and their capacity to govern is shown by the fact, that at the
present day one of the best administered States has been ruled by native
ladies during two generations, and that the most ably managed of the great
landed properties are entirely in the hands of women. The chief causes
which retard their education are to be found in the social customs of the
country, the seclusion in which women live, the appropriation of the
educational fund to the schools for boys, and the need of trained
teachers.

Notwithstanding all these disadvantages, the first Asiatic writer in the
languages of the West who has made a literary fame in Europe is a young
Hindu girl, Tora Dutt (1856-1877), whose writings in prose and verse in
English, as well as in French, have called forth admiration and
astonishment from the critics, and a sincere lament for her early death.

12. THE BRAMO-SOMAJ.--In 1830, under this name (Worshiping Assembly),
Rammohun Roy founded a religious society in India, of which, after him,
Keshub Chunder Sen (died 1884) was the most eminent member. Their aim is
to establish a new religion for India and the world, founded on a belief
in one God, which shall be freed from all the errors and corruptions of
the past. They propose many important reforms, such as the abolition of
caste, the remodeling of marriage customs, the emancipation and education
of women, the abolition of infanticide and the worship of ancestors, and a
general moral regeneration. Their chief aid to spiritual growth may be
summed up in four words, self-culture, meditation, personal purity, and
universal beneficence. Their influence has been already felt in the
legislative affairs of India.




BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN LITERATURE

1. The Accadians and Babylonians.--2. The Cuneiform Letters.--3.
Babylonian and Assyrian Remains.


1. ACCADIANS AND BABYLONIANS.--Geographically, as well as historically and
ethnographically, the district lying between the Tigris and Euphrates
forms but one country, though the rival kingdoms of Assyria and Babylonia
became, each in turn, superior to the other. The primitive inhabitants of
this district were called Accadians, or Chaldeans, but little or nothing
was known of them until within the last fifteen or twenty years. Their
language was agglutinative, and they were the inventors of the cuneiform
system of writing. The Babylonians conquered this people, borrowed their
signs, and incorporated their literature. Soon after their conquest by the
Babylonians, they established priestly caste in the state and assumed the
worship, laws, and manners of their conquerors. They were devoted to the
science of the stars, and determined the equinoctial and solstitial
points, divided the ecliptic into twelve parts and the day into hours. The
signs, names, and figures of the Zodiac, and the invention of the dial are
some of the improvements in astronomy attributed to this people. With the
decline of Babylon their influence declined, and they were afterwards
known to the Greeks and Romans only as astrologers, magicians, and
soothsayers.

2. THE CUNEIFORM LETTERS.--These characters, borrowed by the Semitic
conquerors of the Accadians, the Babylonians, and Assyrians, were
originally hieroglyphics, each denoting an object or an idea, but they
were gradually corrupted into the forms we see on Assyrian monuments. They
underwent many changes, and the various periods are distinguished as
Archaic, hieratic, Assyrian, and later Babylonian.

3. BABYLONIAN AND ASSYRIAN REMAINS.--The origin and history of this
civilization have only been made known to us by the very recent
decipherment of native monuments. Before these discoveries the principal
source of information was found in the writings of Borosus, a priest of
Babylon, who lived about 300 B.C., and who translated the records of
astronomy into Greek. Though his works have perished, we have quotations
from them in Eusebius and other writers, which have been strikingly
verified by the inscriptions. The chief work on astronomy, compiled for
Sargon, one of the earliest Babylonian monarchs, is inscribed on seventy
tablets, a copy of which is in the British Museum. The Babylonians
understood the movements of the heavenly bodies, and Calisthenes, who
accompanied Alexander on his eastern expedition, brought with him on his
return the observations of 1903 years. The main purpose of all Babylonian
astronomical observation, however, was astrological, to cast horoscopes,
or to predict the weather. Babylon retained for a long time its ancient
splendor after the conquest by Cyrus and the final fall of the empire, and
in the first period of the Macedonian sway. But soon after that time its
fame was extinguished, and its monuments, arts, and sciences perished.

Assyria was a land of soldiers and possessed little native literature. The
more peaceful pursuits had their home in Babylonia, where the universities
of Erech and Borsippa were renowned down to classical times. The larger
part of this literature was stamped in clay tablets and baked, and these
were numbered and arranged in order. Papyrus was also used, but none of
this fragile material has been preserved.

In the reign of Sardanapalus (660-647 B.C.) Assyrian art and literature
reached their highest point. In the ruins of his palace have been found
three chambers the floors of which were covered a foot deep with tablets
of all sizes, from an inch to nine inches long, bearing inscriptions many
of them so minute as to be read only by the aid of a magnifying glass.
Though broken they have been partially restored and are among the most
precious cuneiform inscriptions. They have only been deciphered within the
present century, and thousands of inscriptions are yet buried among the
ruins of Assyria. The most interesting of these remains yet discovered are
the hymns to the gods, some of which strikingly resemble the Hebrew
Psalms. Of older date is the collection of formulas which consists of
omens and hymns and tablets relating to astronomy. Later than the hymns
are the mythological poems, two of which are preserved intact. They are
"The Deluge" and "The Descent of Istar into Hades." They form part of a
very remarkable epic which centred round the adventures of a solar hero,
and into which older and independent lays were woven as episodes. Copies
are preserved in the British Museum. The literature on the subject of
these remains is very extensive and rapidly increasing.




PHOENICIAN LITERATURE.

The Language.--The Remains.

The Phoenician language bore a strong affinity to the Hebrew, through
which alone the inscriptions on coins and monuments can be interpreted,
and these constitute the entire literary remains, though the Phoenicians
had doubtless their archives and written laws. The inscriptions engraved
on stone or metal are found chiefly in places once colonies, remote from
Phoenicia itself. The Phoenician alphabet forms the basis of the Semitic
and Indo-European graphic systems, and was itself doubtless based on the
Egyptian hieratic writing. Sanchuniathon is the name given as that of the
author of a history of Phoenicia which was translated into Greek and
published by Philo, a grammarian of the second century A.D. A considerable
fragment of this work is preserved in Eusebius, but after much learned
controversy it is now believed that it was the work of Philo himself.




SYRIAC LITERATURE.

The Language.--Influence of the Literature In the Eighth and Ninth
Century.


THE LANGUAGE.--The Aramaic language, early spoken in Syria and
Mesopotamia, is a branch of the Semitic, and of this tongue the Chaldaic
and Syriac were dialects. Chaldaic is supposed to be the language of
Babylonia at the time of the captivity, and the earliest remains are a
part of the Books of Daniel and Ezra, and the paraphrases or free
translations of the Old Testament. The Hebrews having learned this
language during the Babylonian exile, it continued in use for some time
after their return, though the Hebrew remained the written and sacred
tongue. Gradually, however, it lost this prerogative, and in the second
century A.D. the Chaldaic was the only spoken language of Palestine. It is
still used by the Nestorians and Maronites in their religious services and
in their literary works. The spoken language of Syria has undergone many
changes corresponding to the political changes of the country.

The most prominent Syriac author is St. Ephraem, or Ephraem Syrus (350
A.D.), with whom begins the best period of Syriac literature, which
continued until the ninth century. A great part of this literature has
been lost, and what remains is only partially accessible. Its principal
work was in the eighth and ninth centuries in introducing classical
learning to the knowledge of the Arabs. In the seventh century, Jacob of
Edessa gave the classical and sacred dialect its final form, and from this
time the series of native grammarians and lexicographers continued
unbroken to the time of its decline. The study of Syriac was introduced
into Europe in the fifteenth century. Valuable collections of MSS., in
this language, are to be found in the British Museum, and grammars and
dictionaries have been published in Germany and in New York.




PERSIAN LITERATURE.

1. The Persian language and its Divisions.--2. Zendic Literature; The
Zendavesta.--3. Pehlvi and Parsee Literatures.--4. The Ancient Religion of
Persia; Zoroaster.--5. Modern Literature.--6. The Sufis.--7. Persian
Poetry.--8. Persian Poets; Ferdasi; Essedi of Tus; Togray, etc.--9.
History and Philosophy.--10. Education in Persia.


1. THE PERSIAN LANGUAGE AND ITS DIVISIONS.--The Persian language and its
varieties, as far as they are known, belong to the great Indo-European
family, and this common origin explains the affinities that exist between
them and those of the ancient and modern languages of Europe. During
successive ages, four idioms have prevailed in Persia, and Persian
literature may be divided into four corresponding periods.

First. The period of the Zend (living), the most ancient of the Persian
languages; it was from a remote, unknown age spoken in Media, Bactria, and
in the northern part of Persia. This language partakes of the character
both of the Sanskrit and of the Chaldaic. It is written from right to
left, and it possesses, in its grammatical construction and its radical
words, many elements in common with the Sanskrit and the German languages.

Second. The period of the Pehlvi, or language of heroes, anciently spoken
in the western part of the country. Its alphabet is closely allied with
the Zendic, to which it bears a great resemblance. It attained a high
degree of perfection under the Parthian kings, 246 B.C. to 229 A.D.

Third. The period of the Parsee or the dialect of the southwestern part of
the country. It reached its perfection under the dynasty of the
Sassanides, 229-636 A.D. It has great analogy with the Zend, Pehlvi, and
Sanskrit, and is endowed with peculiar grace and sweetness.

Fourth. The period of the modern Persian. After the conquest of Persia,
and the introduction of the Mohammedan faith in the seventh century A.D.,
the ancient Parsee language became greatly modified by the Arabic. It
adopted its alphabet, adding to it, however, four letters and three
points, and borrowed from it not only words but whole phrases, and thus
from the union of the Parsee and the Arabic was formed the modern Persian.
Of its various dialects, the Deri is the language of the court and of
literature.

2. ZENDIC LITERATURE.--To the first period belong the ancient sacred books
of Persia, collected under the name of _Zendavesta_ (living word), which
contain the doctrines of Zoroaster, the prophet and lawgiver of ancient
Persia. The Zendavesta is divided into two parts, one written in Zend, the
other in Pehlvi; it contains traditions relating to the primitive
condition and colonization of Persia, moral precepts, theological dogmas,
prayers, and astronomical observations. The collection originally
consisted of twenty-one chapters or treatises, of which only three have
been preserved. Besides the Zendavesta there are two other sacred books,
one containing prayers and hymns, and the other prayers to the Genii who
preside over the days of the month. To this first period some writers
refer the fables of Lokman, who is supposed to have lived in the tenth
century B.C., and to have been a slave of Ethiopic origin; his apologues
have been considered the model on which Greek fable was constructed. The
work of Lokman, however, existing now only in the Arabic language, is
believed by other writers to be of Arabic origin. It has been translated
into the European languages, and is still read in the Persian schools.
Among the Zendic books preserved in Arabic translations may also be
mentioned the "Giavidan Kird," or the Eternal Reason, the work of Hushang,
an ancient priest of Persia, a book full of beautiful and sublime maxims.

3. PEHLVI AHD PARSEE LITERATURES.--The second period of Persian literature
includes all the books written in Pehlvic, and especially all the
translations and paraphrases of the works of the first period. There are
also in this language a manual of the religion of Zoroaster, dictionaries
of Pehlvi explained by the Parsee, inscriptions, and legends.

When the seat of the Persian empire was transferred to the southern states
under the Sassanides, the Pehlvi gave way to the Parsee, which became the
prevailing language of Persia in the third period of its literature. The
sacred books were translated into this tongue, in which many records,
annals, and treatises on astronomy and medicine were also written. But all
these monuments of Persian literature were destroyed by the conquest of
Alexander the Great, and by the fury of the Mongols and Arabs. This
language, however, has been immortalized by Ferdusi, whose poems contain
little of that admixture of Arabic which characterizes the writings of the
modern poets of Persia.

4. THE ANCIENT RELIGION OF PERSIA.--The ancient literature of Persia is
mainly the exposition of its religion. Persia, Media, and Bactria
acknowledged as their first religious prophet Honover, or Hom, symbolized
in the star Sirius, and himself the symbol of the first eternal word, and
of the tree of knowledge. In the numberless astronomical and mystic
personifications under which Hom was represented, his individuality was
lost, and little is known of his history or of his doctrines. It appears,
however, that he was the founder of the magi (priests), the conservators
and teachers of his doctrine, who formed a particular order, like that of
the Levites of Israel and of the Chaldeans of Assyria. They did not
constitute a hereditary caste like the Brahmins of India, but they were
chosen from among the people. They claimed to foretell future events. They
worshiped fire and the stars, and believed in two principles of good and
evil, of which light and darkness were the symbols.

Zoroaster, one of these magi, who probably lived in the eighth century
B.C., undertook to elevate and reform this religion, which had then fallen
from its primitive purity. Availing himself of the doctrines of the
Chaldeans and of the Hebrews, Zoroaster, endowed by nature with
extraordinary powers, sustained by popular enthusiasm, and aided by the
favor of powerful princes, extended his reform throughout the country, and
founded a new religion on the ancient worship. According to this religion
the two great principles of the world were represented by Ormuzd and
Ahriman, both born from eternity, and both contending for the dominion of
the world. Ormuzd, the principle of good, is represented by light, and
Ahriman, the principle of evil, by darkness. Light, then, being the body
or symbol of Ormuzd, is worshiped in the sun and stars, in fire, and
wherever it is found. Men are either the servants of Ormuzd, through
virtue and wisdom, or the slaves of Ahriman, through folly and vice.
Zoroaster explained the history of the world as the long contest of these
two principles, which was to close with the conquest of Ormuzd over
Ahriman.

The moral code of Zoroaster is pure and elevated. It aims to assimilate
the character of man to light, to dissipate the darkness of ignorance; it
acknowledges Ormuzd as the ruler of the universe; it seeks to extend the
triumph of virtue over the material and spiritual world.

The religion of Zoroaster prevailed for many centuries in Persia. The
Greeks adopted some of its ideas into their philosophy, and through the
schools of the Gnostics and Neo-Platonists, its influence extended over
Europe. After the conquest of Persia by the Mohammedans, the Fire-
worshipers were driven to the deserts of Kerman, or took refuge in India,
where, under the name of Parsees or Guebers, they still keep alive the
sacred fire, and preserve the code of Zoroaster.

5. MODERN LITERATURE.--Some traces of the modern literature of Persia
appeared shortly after the conquest of the country by the Arabians in the
seventh century A.D.; but the true era dates from the ninth or tenth
century. It may be divided into the departments of Poetry, History, and
Philosophy.

6. THE SUFIS.--After the introduction of Mohammedanism into Persia, there
arose a sect of pantheistic mystics called Sufis, to which most of the
Persian poets belong. They teach their doctrine under the images of love,
wine, intoxication, etc., by which, with them, a divine sentiment is
always understood. The doctrines of the Sufis are undoubtedly of Hindu
origin. Their fundamental tenets are, that nothing exists absolutely but
God; that the human soul is an emanation from his essence and will finally
be restored to him; that the great object of life should be a constant
approach to the eternal spirit, to form as perfect a union with the divine
nature as possible. Hence all worldly attachments should be avoided, and
in all that we do a spiritual object should be kept in view. The great end
with these philosophers is to attain to a state of perfection in
spirituality and to be absorbed in holy contemplation, to the exclusion of
all worldly recollections or interests.

7. PERSIAN POETRY.--The Persian tongue is peculiarly adapted to the
purposes of poetry, which in that language is rich in forcible
expressions, in bold metaphors, in ardent sentiments, and in descriptions
animated with the most lively coloring. In poetical composition there is
much art exercised by the Persian poets, and the arrangement of their
language is a work of great care. One favorite measure which frequently
ends a poem is called the Suja, literally the _cooing of doves_.

The poetical compositions of the Persians are of several kinds; the gazel
or ode usually treats of love, beauty, or friendship. The poet generally
introduces his name in the last couplet. The idyl resembles the gazel,
except that it is longer. Poetry enters as a universal element into all
compositions; physics, mathematics, medicine, ethics, natural history,
astronomy, grammar--all lend themselves to verse in Persia.

The works of favorite poets are generally written on fine, silky paper,
the ground of which is often powdered with gold or silver dust, the
margins illuminated, and the whole perfumed with some costly essence. The
magnificent volume containing the poem of Tussuf and Zuleika in the public
library at Oxford affords a proof of the honors accorded to poetical
composition. One of the finest specimens of caligraphy and illumination is
the exordium to the life of Shah Jehan, for which the writer, besides the
stipulated remuneration, had _his mouth stuffed with pearls_.

There are three principal love stories in Persia which, from the earliest
times, have been the themes of every poet. Scarcely one of the great
masters of Persian literature but has adopted and added celebrity to these
beautiful and interesting legends, which can never be too often repeated
to an Oriental ear. They are, the "History of Khosru and Shireen," the
"Loves of Yussuf and Zuleika," and the "Misfortunes of Mejnoun and Leila."
So powerful is the charm attached to these stories, that it appears to
have been considered almost the imperative duty of all the poets to
compose a new version of the old, familiar, and beloved traditions. Even
down to a modern date, the Persians have not deserted their favorites, and
these celebrated themes of verse reappear, from time to time, under new
auspices. Each of these poems is expressive of a peculiar character. That
of Khosru and Shireen may be considered exclusively the Persian romance;
that of Mejnoun the Arabian; and that of Yussuf and Zuleika the sacred.
The first presents a picture of happy love and female excellence in
Shireen; Mejnoun is a representation of unfortunate love carried to
madness; the third romance contains the ideal of perfection in Yussuf
(Joseph) and the most passionate and imprudent love in Zuleika (the wife
of Potiphar), and exhibits in strong relief the power of love and beauty,
the mastery of mind, the weakness of overwhelming passion, and the
victorious spirit of holiness.

8. PERSIAN POETS.--The first of Persian poets, the Homer of his country,
is Abul Kasim Mansur, called Ferdusi or "Paradise," from the exquisite
beauty of his compositions. He flourished in the reign of the Shah Mahmud
(940-1020 A.D.). Mahmud commissioned him to write in his faultless verse a
history of the monarchs of Persia, promising that for every thousand
couplets he should receive a thousand pieces of gold. For thirty years he
studied and labored on his epic poem, "the Shah Namah," or Book of Kings,
and when it was completed he sent a copy of it, exquisitely written, to
the sultan, who received it coldly, and treated the work of the aged poet
with contempt. Disappointed at the ingratitude of the Shah, Ferdusi wrote
some satirical lines, which soon reached the ear of Mahmud, who, piqued
and offended at the freedom of the poet, ordered sixty thousand small
pieces of money to be sent to him, instead of the gold which he had
promised. Ferdusi was in the public bath when the money was given to him,
and his rage and amazement exceeded all bounds when he found himself thus
insulted. He distributed the paltry sum among the attendants of the bath
and the slaves who brought it.

He soon after avenged himself by writing a satire full of stinging
invective, which he caused to be transmitted to the favorite vizier who
had instigated the sultan against him. It was carefully sealed up, with
directions that it should be read to Mahmud on some occasion when his mind
was perturbed with affairs of state, and his temper ruffled, as it was a
poem likely to afford him entertainment. Ferdusi having thus prepared his
vengeance, quitted the ungrateful court without leave-taking, and was at a
safe distance when news reached him that his lines had fully answered
their intended purpose. Mahmud had heard and trembled, and too late
discovered that he had ruined his own reputation forever. After the satire
had been read by Shah Mahmud, the poet sought shelter in the court of the
caliph of Bagdad, in whose honor he added a thousand couplets to the poem
of the Shah Namah, and who rewarded him with the sixty thousand gold
pieces, which had been withheld by Mahmud. Meantime, Ferdusi's poem of
Yussuf, and his magnificent verses on several subjects, had received the
fame they deserved. Shah Mahmud's late remorse awoke. Thinking by a tardy
act of liberality to repair his former meanness, he dispatched to the
author of the Shah Namah the sixty thousand pieces he had promised, a robe
of state, and many apologies and expressions of friendship and admiration,
requesting his return, and professing great sorrow for the past. But when
the message arrived, Ferdusi was dead, and his family devoted the whole
sum to the benevolent purpose he had intended,--the erection of public
buildings, and the general improvement of his native village, Tus. He died
at the age of eighty. The Shah Namah contains the history of the kings of
Persia down to the death of the last of the Sassanide race, who was
deprived of his kingdom by the invasion of the Arabs during the caliphat
of Omar, 636 A.D. The language of Ferdusi may be considered as the purest
specimen of the ancient Parsee: Arabic words are seldom introduced. There
are many episodes in the Shah Namah of great beauty, and the power and
elegance of its verse are unrivaled.

Essedi of Tus is distinguished as having been the master of Ferdusi, and
as having aided his illustrious pupil in the completion of his great work.
Among many poems which he wrote, the "Dispute between Day and Night" is
the most celebrated.

Togray was a native of Ispahan and contemporary with Ferdusi. He became so
celebrated as a writer, that the title of Honor of Writers was given him.
He was an alchemist, and wrote a treatise on the philosopher's stone.

Moasi, called King of Poets, lived about the middle of the eleventh
century. He obtained his title at the court of Ispahan, and rose to high
dignity and honor. So renowned were his odes, that more than a hundred
poets endeavored to imitate his style.

Omar Kheyam, who was one of the most distinguished of the poets of Persia,
lived toward the close of the eleventh century. He was remarkable for the
freedom of his religious opinions and the boldness with which he denounced
hypocrisy and intolerance. He particularly directed his satire against the
mystic poets.

Nizami, the first of the romantic poets, flourished in the latter part of
the twelfth century A.D. His principal works are called the "Five
Treasures," of which the "Loves of Khosru and Shireen" is the most
celebrated, and in the treatment of which he has succeeded beyond all
other poets.

Sadi (1194-1282) is esteemed among the Persians as a master in poetry and
in morality. He is better known in Europe than any other Eastern author,
except Hafiz, and has been more frequently translated. Jami calls him the
nightingale of the groves of Shiraz, of which city he was a native. He
spent a part of his long life in travel and in the acquisition of
knowledge, and the remainder in retirement and devotion. His works are
termed the salt-mine of poets, being revered as unrivaled models of the
first genius in the world. His philosophy enabled him to support all the
ills of life with patience and fortitude, and one of his remarks, arising
from the destitute condition in which he once found himself, deserves
preservation: "I never complained of my condition but once, when my feet
were bare, and I had not money to buy shoes; but I met a man without feet,
and I became contented with my lot." The works of Sadi are very numerous,
and are popular and familiar everywhere in the East. His two greatest
works are the "Bostan" and "Gulistan" (Bostan, the rose garden, and
Gulistan, the fruit garden). They abound in striking beauties, and show
great knowledge of human nature.

Attar (1119-1233) was one of the great Sufi masters, and spent his life in
devotion and contemplation. He died at the advanced age of 114. It would
seem that poetry in the East was favorable to human life, so many of its
professors attained to a great age, particularly those who professed the
Sufi doctrine. The great work of Attar is a poem containing useful moral
maxims.

Roumi (1203-1272), usually called the Mulah, was an enthusiastic follower
of the doctrine of the Sufis. His son succeeded him at the head of the
sect, and surpassed his father not only in the virtues and attainments of
the Sufis, but by his splendid poetical genius. His poems are regarded as
the most perfect models of the mystic style. Sir William Jones says,
"There is a depth and solemnity in his works unequaled by any poet of this
class; even Hafiz must be considered inferior to him."

Among the poets of Persia the name of Hafiz (d. 1389), the prince of
Persian lyric poets, is most familiar to the English reader. He was born
at Shiraz. Leading a life of poverty, of which he was proud, for he
considered poverty the companion of genius, he constantly refused the
invitation, of monarchs to visit their courts. There is endless variety in
the poems of Hafiz, and they are replete with surpassing beauty of
thought, feeling, and expression. The grace, ease, and fancy of his
numbers are inimitable, and there is a magic in his lays which few even of
his professed enemies have been able to resist. To the young, the gay, and
the enthusiastic his verses are ever welcome, and the sage discovers in
them a hidden mystery which reconciles him to their subjects. His tomb,
near Shiraz, is visited as a sacred spot by pilgrims of all ages. The
place of his birth is held in veneration, and there is not a Persian whose
heart does not echo his strains.

Jami (d. 1492) was born in Khorassan, in the village of Jam, from whence
he is named,--his proper appellation being Abd Arahman. He was a Sufi, and
preferred, like many of his fellow-poets, the meditations and ecstasies of
mysticism to the pleasures of a court. His writings are very voluminous;
he composed nearly forty volumes, all of great length, of which twenty-two
are preserved at Oxford. The greater part of them treat of Mohammedan
theology, and are written in the mystic style. He collected the most
interesting under the name of the "Seven Stars of the Bear," or the "Seven
Brothers," and among these is the famous poem of Yussuf and Zuleika. This
favorite subject, which every Persian poet has touched with more or less
success, has never been so beautifully rendered as by Jami. Nothing can
exceed the admiration which this poem inspires in the East.

Hatifi (d. 1520) was the nephew of the great poet Jami. It was his
ambition to enter the lists with his uncle, by composing poems on similar
subjects. Opinions are divided as to whether he succeeded as well as his
master, but none can exceed him in sweetness and pathos. His version of
the sad tale of Mejnoun and Leila, the Romeo and Juliet of the East, is
confessedly superior to that of Nizami.

The lyrical compositions of Sheik Feizi (d. 1575) are highly valued. In
his mystic poems he approaches to the sublimity of Attar. His ideas are
tinged with the belief of the Hindus, in which he was educated. When a boy
he was introduced to the Brahmins by the Sultan Mohammed Akbar, as an
orphan of their tribe, in order that he might learn their language and
obtain possession of their religions secrets. He became attached to the
daughter of the Brahmin who protected him, and she was offered to him--in
marriage by the unsuspecting parent. After a struggle between inclination
and honor, the latter prevailed, and he confessed the fraud. The Brahmin,
struck with horror, attempted to put an end to his own existence, fearing
that he had betrayed his oath and brought danger and disgrace on his sect.
Feizi, with tears--and protestations, besought him to forbear, promising
to submit to any command he might impose on him. The Brahmin consented to
live, on condition that Feizi should take an oath never to translate the
Vedas nor to repeat to any one the creed of the Hindus. Feizi entered into
the desired obligations, parted with his adopted father, bade adieu to his
love, and with a sinking heart returned home. Among his works the most
important is the "Mahabarit," which contains the chronicles of the Hindu
princes, and abounds in romantic episodes.

The most celebrated recent Persian poet is Blab Phelair (1729-1825). He
left many astronomical, moral, political, and literary works. He is called
the Persian Voltaire.

Among the collections of novels and fables, the "Lights of Canope" may be
mentioned, imitated from the Hitopadesa. Persian literature is also
enriched by translations of the standard works in Sanskrit, among which
are the epic poems of Valmiki and Vyasa.

9. HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY.--Among the most celebrated of the Persian
historians is Mirkhond, who lived in the middle of the fifteenth century.
His great work on universal history contains an account of the origin of
the world, the life of the patriarchs, prophets, and philosophers of
Persia, and affords valuable materials, especially for the history of the
Middle Ages. His son, Khondemir, distinguished himself in the same branch
of literature, and wrote two works which, for their historical correctness
and elegance of style, are in great favor among the Persians. Ferischta,
who flourished in the beginning of the seventeenth century, is the author
of a valuable history of India. Mirgholah, a historian of the eighteenth
century, gives a contemporary history of Hindustan and of his own country,
under the title of "A Glance at Recent Affairs," and in another work he
treats of the causes which, at some future time, will probably lead to the
fall of the British power in India. The "History of the Reigning Dynasty"
is among the principal modern historical works of Persia.

The Persians possess numerous works on rhetoric, geography, medicine,
mathematics, and astronomy, few of which are entitled to much
consideration. In philosophy may be mentioned the "Essence of Logic," an
exposition in the Arabic language of the doctrines of Aristotle on logic;
and the "Moral System of Nasir," published in the thirteenth century A.D.,
a valuable treatise on morals, economy, and politics.

10. EDUCATION IN PERSIA.--There are established, in every town and city,
schools in which the poorer children can be instructed in the rudiments of
the Persian and Arabic languages. The pupil, after he has learned the
alphabet, reads the Koran in Arabic; next, fables in Persian; and lastly
is taught to write a beautiful hand, which is considered a great
accomplishment. The Persians are fond of poetry, and the lowest artisans
can read or repeat the finest passages of their most admired poets. For
the education of the higher classes there are in Persia many colleges and
universities where the pupils are taught grammar, the Turkish and Arabic
languages, rhetoric, philosophy, and poetry. The literary men are
numerous; they pursue their studies till they are entitled to the honors
of the colleges; afterwards they devote themselves to copying and
illuminating manuscripts.

Of late many celebrated European works have been translated and published
in Persia.




HEBREW LITERATURE.

1. Hebrew Literature; its Divisions.--2. The Language; its Alphabet; its
Structure; Peculiarities, Formation, and Phases.--3. The Old Testament.--
4. Hebrew Education.--5. Fundamental Idea of Hebrew Literature.--6. Hebrew
Poetry.--7. Lyric Poetry; Songs; the Psalms; the Prophets.--8. Pastoral
Poetry and Didactic Poetry; the Proverbs and Ecclesiastes.--9. Epic and
Dramatic Poetry; the Book of Job.--10. Hebrew History; the Pentateuch and
other Historical Books.--11. Hebrew Philosophy.--12. Restoration of the
Sacred Books.--13. Manuscripts and Translations.--14. Rabbinical
Literature.--15. The New Revision of the Bible, and the New Biblical
Manuscript.

1. HEBREW LITERATURE.--In the Hebrew literature we find expressed the
national character of that ancient people who, for a period of four
thousand years, through captivity, dispersion, and persecution of every
kind, present the wonderful spectacle of a race preserving its
nationality, its peculiarities of worship, of doctrine, and of literature.
Its history reaches back to an early period of the world, its code of laws
has been studied and imitated by the legislators of all ages and
countries, and its literary monuments surpass in originality, poetic
strength, and religious importance those of any other nation before the
Christian era.

The literature of the Hebrews may be divided into the four following
periods:--

The first, extending from remote antiquity to the time of David, 1010
B.C., includes all the records of patriarchal civilization transmitted by
tradition previous to the age of Moses, and contained in the Pentateuch or
five books attributed to him after he had delivered the people from the
bondage of Egypt.

The second period extends from the time of David to the death of Solomon,
1010-940 B.C., and to this are referred some of the Psalms, Joshua, the
Judges, and the Chronicles.

The third period extends from the death of Solomon to the return from the
Babylonian captivity, 940-532 B.C., and to this age belong the writings of
most of the Prophets, The Song of Solomon, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the
books of Samuel, of Kings, and of Ruth.

The fourth period extends from their return from the Babylonian Captivity
to the present time, and to this belong some of the Prophets, the
Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, the final completion of the Psalms,
the Septuagint translation of the Bible, the writings of Josephus, of
Philo of Alexandria, and the rabbinical literature.

2. THE LANGUAGE.--The Hebrew language is of Semitic origin; its alphabet
consists of twenty-two letters. The number of accents is nearly forty,
some of which distinguish the sentences like the punctuation of our
language, and others serve to determine the number of syllables, or to
mark the tone with which they are to be sung or spoken.

The Hebrew character is of two kinds, the ancient or square, and the
modern or rabbinical. In the first of these the Scriptures were originally
written. The last is deprived of most of its angles, and is more easy and
flowing. The Hebrew words as well as letters are written from right to
left in common with, the Semitic tongues generally, and the language is
regular, particularly in its conjugations. Indeed, it has but one
conjugation, but with seven or eight variations, having the effect of as
many different conjugations, and giving great variety of expression. The
predominance of these modifications over the noun, the idea of time
contained in the roots of almost all its verbs, so expressive and so
picturesque, and even the scarcity of its prepositions, adjectives, and
adverbs, make this language in its organic structure breathe life, vigor,
and emotion. If it lacks the flowery and luxuriant elements of the other
oriental idioms, no one of these can be compared with the Hebrew tongue
for the richness of its figures and imagery, for its depth, and for its
majestic and imposing features.

In the formation, development, and decay of this language, the following
periods may be distinguished:--

First. From Abraham to Moses, when the old stock was changed by the
infusion of the Egyptian and Arabic. Abraham, residing in Chaldea, spoke
the Chaldaic language, then traveling through Egypt, and establishing
himself in Canaan or Palestine, his language mingled its elements with the
tongues spoken by those nations, and perhaps also with that of the
Phoenicians, who early established commercial intercourse with him and his
descendants. It is probable that the Hebrew language sprung from the
mixture of these elements.

Second. From Moses and the composition of the Pentateuch to Solomon, when
it attained its perfection, not without being influenced by the
Phoenician. This is the Golden Age of the Hebrew language.

Third. From Solomon to Ezra, when, although increasing in beauty and
sweetness, it became less pure by the adoption of foreign ideas and
idioms.

Fourth. From Ezra to the end of the reign of the Maccabees, when it was
gradually lost in the Aramaean or Chaldaic tongue, and became a dead
language.

The Jews of the Middle Ages, incited by the learning of the Arabs in
Spain, among whom they received the protection denied them by Christian
nations, endeavored to restore their language to something of its original
purity, and to render the Biblical Hebrew again a written language; but
the Chaldaic idioms had taken too deep root to be eradicated, and besides,
the ancient language was found insufficient for the necessities of an
advancing civilization. Hence arose a new form of written Hebrew, called
rabbinical from its origin and use among the rabbins. It borrowed largely
from many contemporary languages, and though it became richer and more
regular in its structure, it retained little of the strength and purity of
the ancient Hebrew.

3. THE OLD TESTAMENT.--The literary productions of the Hebrews are
collected in the sacred books of the Old Testament, in which, according to
the celebrated orientalist, Sir William Jones, we can find more eloquence,
more historical and moral truth, more poetry,--in a word, more beauties
than we could gather from all other books together, of whatever country or
language. Aside from its supernatural claims, this book stands alone among
the literary monuments of other nations, for the sublimity of its
doctrine, as well as for the simplicity of its style.

It is the book of all centuries, countries, and conditions, and affords
the best solution of the most mysterious problems concerning God and the
world. It cultivates the taste, it elevates the mind, it nurses the soul
with the word of life, and it has inspired the best productions of human
genius.

4. HEBREW EDUCATION.--Religion, morals, legislation, history, poetry, and
music were the special objects to which the attention of the Levites and
Prophets was particularly directed. The general education of the people,
however, was rather simple and domestic. They were trained in husbandry,
and in military and gymnastic exercises, and they applied their minds
almost exclusively to religious and moral doctrines and to divine worship;
they learned to read and write their own language correctly, but they
seldom learned foreign languages or read foreign books, and they carefully
prevented strangers from obtaining a knowledge of their own.

5. FUNDAMENTAL IDEA OF HEBREW LITERATURE.--Monotheism was the fundamental
idea of the Hebrew literature, as well as of the Hebrew religion,
legislation, morals, politics, and philosophy. The idea of the unity of
God constitutes the most striking characteristic of Hebrew poetry, and
chiefly distinguishes it from that of all mythological nations. Other
ancient literatures have created their divinities, endowed them with human
passions, and painted their achievements in the glowing colors of poetry.
The Hebrew poetry, on the contrary, makes no attempt to portray the Deity
by the instruments of sensuous representation, but simple, majestic, and
severe, it pours forth a perpetual anthem of praise and thanksgiving. The
attributes of God, his power, his paternal love and wisdom, are described
in the most sublime language of any age or nation. His seat is the
heavens, the earth is his footstool, the heavenly hosts his servants; the
sea is his, and he made it, and his hands prepared the dry land.

Placed under the immediate government of Jehovah, having with Him common
objects of aversion and love, the Hebrews reached the very source of
enthusiasm, the fire of which burned in the hearts of the prophets so
fervently as to cause them to utter the denunciations and the promises of
the Eternal in a tone suited to the inspired of God, and to sing his
attributes and glories with a dignity and authority becoming them, as the
vicegerents of God upon earth.

6. HEBREW POETRY.--The character of the people and their language, its
mission, the pastoral life of the patriarchs, the beautiful and grand
scenery of the country, the wonderful history of the nation, the feeling
of divine inspiration, the promise of a Messiah who should raise the
nation to glory, the imposing solemnities of the divine worship, and
finally, the special order of the prophets, gave a strong impulse to the
poetical genius of the nation, and concurred in producing a form of poetry
which cannot be compared with any other for its simplicity and clearness,
for its depth and majesty.

These features of Hebrew poetry, however, spring from its internal force
rather than from any external form. Indeed, the Hebrew poets soar far
above all others in that energy of feeling, impetuous and irresistible,
which penetrates, warms, and moves the very soul. They reveal their
anxieties as well as their hopes; they paint with truth and love the
actual condition of the human race, with its sorrows and consolations, its
hopes and fears, its love and hate. They select their images from the
habitual ideas of the people, and personify inanimate objects--the
mountains tremble and exult, deep cries unto deep. Another characteristic
of Hebrew poetry is the strong feeling of nationality it expresses. Of
their two most sublime poets, one was their legislator, the other their
greatest king.

7. LYRIC POETRY.--In their national festivals the Hebrews sang the hymns
of their lyric poets, accompanied by musical instruments. The art of
singing, as connected with poetry, flourished especially under David, who
instituted twenty-four choruses, composed of four thousand Levites, whose
duty it was to sing in the public solemnities. It is generally believed
that the Hebrew lyric poetry was not ruled by any measure, either of
syllables or of time. Its predominant form was a succession of thoughts
and a rhythmic movement, less of syllables and words than of ideas and
images systematically arranged. The Psalms, especially, are essentially
symmetrical, according to the Hebrew ritual, their verses being sung
alternately by Levites and people, both in the synagogues and more
frequently in the open air. The song of Moses after the passage of the Bed
Sea is the most sublime triumphal hymn in any language, and of equal merit
is his song of thanksgiving in Deuteronomy. Beautiful examples of the same
order of poetry may be found in the song of Judith (though not canonical),
and the songs of Deborah and Balaam. But Hebrew poetry attained its
meridian splendor in the Psalms of David. The works of God in the creation
of the world, and in the government of men; the illustrious deeds of the
House of Jacob; the wonders and mysteries of the new Covenant are sung by
David in a fervent out-pouring of an impulsive, passionate spirit, that
alternately laments and exults, bows in contrition, or soars to the
sublimest heights of devotion. The Psalms, even now, reduced to prose,
after three thousand years, present the best and most sublime collection
of lyrical poems, unequaled for their aspiration, their living imagery,
their grand ideas, and majesty of style.

When at length the Hebrews, forgetful of their high duties and calling,
trampled on their institutions and laws, prophets were raised up to recall
the wandering people to their allegiance. ISAIAH, whether he foretells the
future destiny of the nation, or the coming of the Messiah, in his
majestic eloquence, sweetness, and simplicity, gives us the most perfect
model of lyric poetry. He prophesied during the reigns of Azariah and
Hezekiah, and his writings bear the mark of true inspiration.

JEREMIAH flourished during the darkest period in the history of the
kingdom of Judah, and under the last four kings, previous to the
Captivity. The Lamentations, in which he pours forth his grief for the
fate of his country, are full of touching melancholy and pious
resignation, and, in their harmonious and beautiful tone, show his ardent
patriotism and his unshaken trust in the God of his fathers. He does not
equal Isaiah in the sublimity of his conceptions and the variety of his
imagery, but whatever may be the imperfections of his style, they are lost
in the passion and vehemence of his poems.

DANIEL, after having straggled against the corruptions of Babylon, boldly
foretells the decay of that empire with terrible power. His conceptions
and images are truly sublime; but his style is less correct and regular
than that of his predecessors, his language being a mixture of Hebrew and
Chaldaic.

Such is also the style of EZEKIEL, who sings the development of the
obscure prophesies of his master. His writings abound in dreams and
visions, and convey rather the idea of the terrible than of the sublime.

These four, from the length of their writings, are called the Greater
Prophets, to distinguish them from the twelve Minor Prophets: HOSEA, JOEL,
AMOS, OBADIAH, JONAH, MICAH, NAHUM, HABAKKUK, ZEPHANIAH, HAGGAI,
ZECHARIAH, and MALACHI, all of whom, though endowed with different
characteristics and genius, show in their writings more or less of that
fire and vigor which can only be found in writers who were moved and
warmed by the very spirit of God.

8. PASTORAL POETRY AND DIDACTIC POETRY.--The Song of Solomon and the
history of Ruth are the best specimens of the Hebrew idyl, and breathe all
the simplicity of pastoral life.

The books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes contain treatises on moral
philosophy, or rather, are didactic poems. The Proverb, which is a maxim
of wisdom, greatly used by the ancients before the introduction of
dissertation, is, as the name indicates, the prevalent form of the first
of these books. In Ecclesiastes we have described the trials of a mind
which has lost itself in undefined wishes and in despair, and the
efficacious remedies for these mental diseases are shown in the pictures
of the vanity of the world and in the final divine judgment, in which the
problem of this life will have its complete solution. SOLOMON, the author
of these works, adds splendor to the sublimity of his doctrines by the
dignity of his style.

9. EPIC AND DRAMATIC POETRY.--The Book of Job may be considered as
belonging either to epic or to dramatic poetry. Its exact date is
uncertain; some writers refer it to the primitive period of Hebrew
literature, and others to a later age; and, while some contend that Job
was but an ideal, representing human suffering, whose story was sung by an
anonymous poet, others, with more probability, regard him as an actual
person, exposed to the trials and temptations described in this wonderful
book. However this may be, it is certain that this monument of wisdom
stands alone, and that it can be compared to no other production for the
sublimity of its ideas, the vivacity and force of its expressions, the
grandeur of its imagery, and the variety of its characters. No other work
represents, in more true and vivid colors, the nobility and misery of
humanity, the laws of necessity and Providence, and the trials to which
the good are subjected for their moral improvement. Here the great
straggle between evil and good appears in its true light, and human virtue
heroically submits itself to the ordeal of misfortune. Here we learn that
the evil and good of this life are by no means the measure of morality,
and here we witness the final triumph of justice.

10. HEBREW HISTORY.--Moses, the most ancient of all historians, was also
the first leader and legislator of the Hebrews. When at length the
traditions of the patriarchs had become obscured and confused among the
different nations of the earth, Moses was inspired to write the history of
the human race, and especially of the chosen people, in order to bequeath
to coming centuries a memorial of revealed truths and of the divine works
of eternal Wisdom. Thus in the first chapters of Genesis, without aiming
to write the complete annals of the first period of the world, he summed
up the general history of man, and described, more especially, the
genealogy of the patriarchs and of the generations previous to the time of
the dispersion.

The subject of the book of Exodus is the delivery of the people from the
Egyptian bondage, and it is not less admirable for the importance of the
events which it describes, than for the manner in which they are related.
In this, and in the following book of Numbers, the record of patriarchal
life gives place to the teachings of Moses and to the history of the
wanderings in the deserts of Arabia.

In Leviticus the constitution of the priesthood is described, as well as
the peculiarities of a worship.

Deuteronomy records the laws of Moses, and concludes with his sublime hymn
of thanksgiving.

The historical books of Joshua, Judges, Samuel, Kings, Chronicles, Ezra,
etc., contain the history of the Hebrew nation for nearly a thousand
years, and relate the prosperity and the disasters of the chosen people.
Here are recorded the deeds of Joshua, of Samson, of Samuel, of David, and
of Solomon, the building of the Temple, the division of the tribes into
two kingdoms, the prodigies of Elijah and Elisha, the impieties of Ahab,
the calamities of Jedekiah, the destruction of Jerusalem and of the first
Temple, the dispersion and the Babylonish captivity, the deliverance under
Cyrus, and the rebuilding of the city and Temple under Ezra, and other
great events in Hebrew history.

The internal evidence derived from the peculiar character of each of the
historical books is decisive of their genuineness, which is supported
above all suspicion of alteration or addition by the scrupulous
conscientiousness and veneration with which the Hebrews regarded their
sacred writings. Their authenticity is also proved by the uniformity of
doctrine which pervades them all, though written at different periods, by
the simplicity and naturalness of the narrations, and by the sincerity of
the writers.

These histories display neither vanity nor adulation, nor do they attempt
to conceal from the reader whatever might be considered as faults in their
authors or their heroes. While they select facts with a nice judgment, and
present the most luminous picture of events and of their causes, they
abstain from reasoning or speculation in regard to them.

11. HEBREW PHILOSOPHY.--Although the Hebrews, in their different sacred
writings, have transmitted to us the best solution of the ancient
philosophical questions on the creation of the world, on the Providence
which rules it, on monotheism, and on the origin of sin, yet they have
nowhere presented us with a complete system of philosophy.

During the Captivity, their doctrines were influenced by those of
Zoroaster, and later, when many of the Jews established themselves in
Egypt, they acquired some knowledge of the Greek philosophy, and the
tenets of the sects of the Essenes bear a strong resemblance to the
Pythagorean and Platonic schools. This resemblance appears most clearly in
the writings of Philo of Alexandria, a Jew, born a few years before the
birth of our Saviour. Though not belonging to the sect of the Essenes, he
followed their example in adopting the doctrines of Plato and taking them
as the criterion in the interpretation of the Scriptures. So, also,
Flavius Josephus, born in Jerusalem, 37 A.D., and Numenius, born in Syria,
in the second century A.D., adopted the Greek philosophy, and by its
doctrines amplified and expanded the tenets of Judaism.

12. RESTORATION OF THE SACRED BOOKS.--One of the most important eras in
Hebrew literature is the period of the restoration of the Mosaic
institutions, after the return from the Captivity. According to tradition,
at that time Ezra established the great Synagogue, a college of one
hundred and twenty learned men, who were appointed to collect copies of
the ancient sacred books, the originals of which had been lost in the
capture of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, and Nehemiah soon after placed
this, or a new collection, in the Temple. The design of these reformers to
give the people a religious canon in their ancient tongue induces the
belief that they engaged in the work with the strictest fidelity to the
old Mosaic institutions, and it is certain that the canon of the Old
Testament, in the time of the Maccabees, was the same as that which we
have at present.

13. MANUSCRIPTS AND TRANSLATIONS.--Of the canonical books of the Old
Testament we have Hebrew manuscripts, printed editions, and translations.
The most esteemed manuscripts are those of the Spanish Jews, of which the
most ancient belong to the eleventh and twelfth centuries. The printed
editions of the Bible in Hebrew are numerous. The earliest are those of
Italy. Luther made his German translation from the edition of Brescia,
printed in 1494. The earliest and most famous translation of the Old
Testament is the Septuagint, or Greek translation, which was made about
283 B.C. It may, probably, be attributed to the Alexandrian Jews, who,
having lost the knowledge of the Hebrew, caused the translation to be made
by some of their learned countrymen for the use of the Synagogues of
Egypt. It was probably accomplished under the authority of the Sanhedrim,
composed of seventy elders, and therefore called the Septuagint version,
and from it the quotations in the New Testament are chiefly taken. It was
regarded as canonical by the Jews to the exclusion of other books written
in Greek, but not translated from the Hebrew, which we now call, by the
Greek name, the Apocrypha.

The Vulgate or Latin translation, which has official authority in the
Catholic Church, was made gradually from the eighth to the sixteenth
century, partly from an old translation which was made from the Greek in
the early history of the Church, and partly from translations from the
Hebrew made by St. Jerome.

The English version of the Bible now in use in England and America was
made by order of James I. It was accomplished by forty-seven distinguished
scholars, divided into six classes, to each of which a part of the work
was assigned. This translation occupied three years, and was printed in
1611.

14. RABBINICAL LITERATURE.--Rabbinical literature includes all the
writings of the rabbins, or teachers of the Jews in the later period of
Hebrew letters, who have interpreted and developed the literature of the
earlier ages. The language made use of by them has its foundation in the
Hebrew and Chaldaic, with various alterations and modifications in the use
of words, the meaning of which they have considerably enlarged and
extended. They have frequently borrowed from the Arabic, Greek, and Latin,
and from those modern tongues spoken where they severally resided.

The Talmud, from the Hebrew word signifying _he has learned_, is a
collection of traditions illustrative of the laws and usages of the Jews.
The Talmud consists of two parts, the Mishna and the Gemara. The Mishna,
or _second law_, is a collection of rabbinical rules and precepts made in
the second century. The Gemara (_completion_ or _doctrine_) was composed
in the third century. It is a collection of commentaries and explanations
of the Mishna, and both together formed the Jerusalem Talmud.

The Babylonian rabbins composed new commentaries on the Mishna, and this
formed the Babylonian Talmud. Both Talmuds were first committed to writing
about 500 A.D. At the period of the Christian Era, the civil constitution,
language, and mode of thinking among the Jews had undergone a complete
revolution, and were entirely different from what they had been in the
early period of the commonwealth. The Mosaic books contained rules no
longer adapted to the situation of the nation, and many difficult
questions arose to which their law afforded no satisfactory solution. The
rabbins undertook to supply this defect, partly by commentaries on the
Mosaic precepts, and partly by the composition of new rules.

The Talmud requires that wherever twelve adults reside together in one
place, they shall erect a synagogue and serve the God of their fathers by
a multitude of prayers and formalities, amidst the daily occupations of
life. It allows usury, treats agricultural pursuits with contempt, and
requires strict separation from the other races, and commits the
government to the rabbins. The Talmud is followed by the Rabbinites, to
which sect nearly all the European and American Jews belong. The sect of
the Caraites rejects the Talmud and holds to the law of Moses only. It is
less numerous, and its members are found chiefly in the East, or in Turkey
and Eastern Russia.

The Cabala, or oral tradition, is, according to the Jews, a perpetual
divine revelation, preserved among the Jewish people by secret
transmission. It sometimes denotes the doctrines of the prophets, but most
commonly the mystical philosophy, which was probably introduced into
Palestine from Egypt and Persia. It was first committed to writing in the
second century A.D. The Cabala is divided into the symbolical and the
real, of which the former gives a mystical signification to letters. The
latter comprehends doctrines, and is divided into the theoretical and
practical. The first aims to explain the Scriptures according to the
secret traditions, while the last pretends to teach the art of performing
miracles by an artificial use of the divine names and sentences of the
sacred Scriptures.

The Jews of the Middle Ages acquired great reputation for learning,
especially in Spain, where they were allowed to study astronomy,
mathematics, and medicine in the schools of the Moors. Granada and Cordova
became the centres of rabbinical literature, which was also cultivated in
France, Italy, Portugal, and Germany. In the sixteenth century the study
of Hebrew and rabbinical literature became common among Christian
scholars, and in the following centuries it became more interesting and
important from the introduction of comparative philology in the department
of languages. Rabbinical literature still has its students and
interpreters. In Padua, Berlin, and Metz there are seminaries for the
education of rabbins, which supply with able doctors the synagogues of
Italy, Germany, and France. There is also a rabbinical school in
Cincinnati, Ohio. The Polish rabbins and Talmudists, however, are the most
celebrated.

15. THE NEW REVISION OF THE BIBLE.--The convocation of the English House
of Bishops, which met at Canterbury in 1870, recommended a revised version
of the Scriptures, and appointed a committee for the work of sixty-seven
members from various ecclesiastical bodies of England, to which an
American committee of thirty-five was added, and by their joint labors the
revised edition of the New Testament was issued in 1881. The revised Old
Testament is expected to appear during 1884. The advantages claimed for
these new versions are: a more accurate rendering of the text, a
correction of the errors of former translations, the removal of misleading
archaisms and obsolete terms, better punctuation, arrangement in sections
as well as chapters and verses, the metrical arrangement of poetry, and an
increased number of marginal readings.

In 1875, Bryennios, a metropolitan of the Greek Church, discovered in the
library of the Most Holy Sepulchre at Constantinople a manuscript
belonging to the second century A.D., which contains, among other valuable
and interesting documents, one on the "Teaching of the Twelve Apostles,"
many points of which bear on the usages of the church, such as the mode of
baptism, the celebration of the Eucharist, and the orders of the ministry.
It was at first considered authentic and highly important, but more
deliberate study tends to discredit its authority.




EGYPTIAN LITERATURE.

1. The Language.--2. The Writing.--3. The Literature.--4. The Monuments.
--5. The Discovery of Champollion.--6. Literary Remains; Historical;
Religious; Epistolary; Fictitious; Scientific; Epic; Satirical and
Judicial.--7. The Alexandrian Period.--8. The Literary Condition of Modern
Egypt.


1. THE LANGUAGE.--From the earliest times the language of Egypt was
divided into three dialects: the Memphitic, spoken in Memphis and Lower
Egypt; the Theban, or Sahidic, spoken in Upper Egypt; and the Bashmuric, a
provincial variety belonging to the oases of the Lybian Desert.

The Coptic tongue, which arose from a union of ancient Egyptian with the
vulgar vernacular, later became mingled with Greek and Arabic words, and
was written in the Greek alphabet. It was used in Egypt until the tenth
century A.D., when it gave way to the Arabic; but the Christians still
preserve it in their worship and in their translation of the Bible. By
rejecting its foreign elements Egyptologists have been enabled to study
this language in its purity, and to establish its grammar and
construction. It is the exclusive character of the Christian Egyptian
literature, and marks the last development and final decay of the Egyptian
language.

2. THE WRITING.--Four distinct graphic systems were in use in ancient
Egypt: the hieroglyphic, the hieratic, the demotic, and Coptic. The first
expresses words partly by representation of the object and partly by signs
indicating sounds, and was used chiefly for inscriptions. The hieratic
characters presented a flowing and abbreviated form of the hieroglyphic,
and were used more particularly in the papyri. The great body of Egyptian
literature has reached us through this character, the reading of which can
only be determined by resolving it into its prototype, hieroglyphics.

The demotic writing indicates the rise of the vulgar tongue, which took
place about the beginning of the seventh century B.C. It was used to
transcribe hieroglyphic and hieratic inscriptions and papyri into the
common idiom until the second century A.D., when the Coptic generally
superseded it.

3. THE LITERATURE.--The literary history of ancient Egypt presents a
remarkable exception to that of any other country. While the language
underwent various modifications, and the written characters changed, the
literature remained the same in all its principal features. This
literature consists solely of inscriptions painted or engraved on
monuments, or of written manuscripts on papyrus buried in the tombs or
beneath the ruins of temples. It is so deficient in style, and so
unsystematic in its construction, that it has taxed the labors of the
ablest critics for the last fifty years to construct a whole from its
disjointed materials, and these are so imperfect that many periods of
Egyptian history are complete literary blanks. In the great period of the
Rameses, novels or works of amusement predominated; under the Ptolemies,
historical records, and in the Coptic or Christian stage, homolies and
church rituals prevailed; but through every epoch the same general type
appears. Notwithstanding these deficiencies, however, Egypt offers a most
attractive field for the archaeologist, and new discoveries are constantly
adding to our knowledge of this interesting country.

4. THE MONUMENTS.--The monuments of Egypt are religious, as the temples,
sepulchral, as the necropoles, or triumphal, as the obelisks. The temples
were the principal structures of the Egyptian cities, and their splendid
ruins, covered with inscriptions, are among the most interesting remains
of antiquity. Life after death, the leading idea of the religion of Egypt,
was expressed in the construction of the tombs, so numerous in the
vicinity of all the large cities. These necropoles, excavated in the rocks
or hillsides, or built within the pyramids, consist of rows of chambers
with halls supported by columns, which, with the walls, are often covered
with paintings, historical or monumental, representing scenes from
domestic or civil life. The great pyramids were probably built for the
sepulchres of kings and their families, and the smaller ones for persons
of inferior rank.

The most magnificent of the triumphal monuments are the obelisks, gigantic
monoliths of red or white granite, some of which are more than two hundred
feet high, covered with inscriptions, and bearing the image of the
triumphant king, painted or engraved. The splendid obelisk in the Place de
la Concorde, at Paris, celebrates the glories of Rameses II.

The obelisk now in New York is one of a pair erected at Heliopolis, before
the Temple of the Sun, about 1600 B.C. In the reign of Augustus both were
removed to Alexandria, and were known in modern times as Cleopatra's
Needles. One was presented by the Khedive to the city of London in 1877,
and the other to the city of New York the same year. The shaft on the
latter bears two inscriptions, one celebrating Thothmes III., and the
other Rameses II.

One of the most characteristic monuments of Egypt is the statue of the
Sphinx, so often found in the temples and necropoles. It is a recumbent
figure, having a human head and breast and the body of a lion. Whatever
idea the Egyptians may have attached to this symbol, it represents most
truly the character of that people and the struggle of mind to free itself
from the instincts of brutal nature.

5. THE DISCOVERY OF CHAMPOLLION.--During the expedition into Egypt, in
1799, in throwing up some earthworks near Rosetta, a town on the western
arm of the Nile, an officer of the French army discovered a block or
tablet of black basalt, upon which were engraved inscriptions in Egyptian
and Greek characters. This tablet, called the Rosetta Stone, was sent to
France and submitted to the orientalists for interpretation. The
inscription was found to be a decree of the Egyptian priests in honor of
Ptolemy Epiphanes (196 B.C.), which was ordered to be engraved on stone in
sacred (hieroglyphic), common (demotic), and in Greek characters. Through
this interpretation, Champollion (1790-1832), after much study, discovered
and established the alphabetic system of Egyptian writing, and applying
his discovery more extensively, he was able to decipher the names of the
kings of Egypt from the Roman emperors back, through the Ptolemies, to the
Pharaohs of the elder dynasties. This discovery was the key to the
interpretation of all the ancient monuments of Egypt; by it the history of
the country was thrown open for a period of twenty-six centuries, the
annals of the neighboring nations were rendered more intelligible, the
religion, arts, sciences, life, and manners of the ancient Egyptians were
revealed to the modern world, and the obelisks, the innumerable papyri,
and the walls of the temples and tombs were transformed into inexhaustible
mines of historical and scientific knowledge.

6. LITERARY REMAINS; HISTORICAL; RELIGIOUS; EPISTOLARY; FICTITIOUS;
SCIENTIFIC; EPIC; SATIRICAL AND JUDICIAL.--The Egyptian priests from the
earliest times must have preserved the annals of their country, though
obscured by myths and symbols. These annals, however, were destroyed by
Cambyses (500 B.C.), who, during his invasion of the country, burned the
temples where they were preserved, although they were soon rewritten,
according to the testimony of Herodotus, who visited Egypt 450 B.C. In the
third century B.C., Manetho, a priest and librarian of Heliopolis, wrote
the succession of kings, and though the original work was lost, important
fragments of it have been preserved by other writers. There seem to have
been four periods in this history of ancient Egypt, marked by great
changes in the social and political constitution of the country. In the
first epoch, under the rule of the gods, demigods, and heroes, according
to Manetho, it was probably colonized and ruled by the priests, in the
name of the gods. The second period extends from Menes, the supposed
founder of the monarchy, to the invasion of the Shepherd Kings, about 2000
B.C. In the third period, under this title, the Phoenicians probably ruled
Egypt for three centuries, and it was one of these kings or Pharaohs of
whom Joseph was the prime minister. In the fourth period, from 1180 to 350
B.C., the invaders were expelled and native rule restored, until the
country was again conquered, first by the Persians, about 500 B.C., and
again by the Greeks under Alexander, 350 B.C. From that time to the
present no native ruler has sat on the throne of that country. After the
conquest by Alexander the Great, who left it to the sway of the Ptolemies,
it was successively conquered by the Romans, the Saracens, the Mamelukes,
and the Turks. Since 1841 it has been governed by a viceroy under nominal
allegiance to the Sultan of Turkey. In 1865 the title of khedive was
substituted for that of viceroy.

Early Egyptian chronology is in a great measure merely conjectural, and
new information from the monuments only adds to the obscurity. The
historical papyri are records of the kings or accounts of contemporary
events. These, as well as the inscriptions on the monuments, generally in
the form of panegyric, are inflated records of the successes of the heroes
they celebrate, or explanations of the historical scenes painted or
sculptured on the monuments.

The early religion of Egypt was founded on a personification of the laws
of Nature, centred in a mysterious unity. Egyptian nature, however,
supplied but few great objects of worship as symbols of divine power,
the desert, a natural enemy, the fertilizing river, and the sun, the
all-pervading presence, worshiped as the source of life, the lord of time,
and author of eternity. Three great realms composed the Egyptian cosmos; the
heavens, where the sun, moon, and stars paced their daily round, the abode
of the invisible king, typified by the sun and worshiped as Ammon Ra, the
earth and the under-world, the abode of the dead. Here, too, reigned the
universal lord under the name of Osiris, whose material manifestation, the
sun, as he passed beneath the earth, lightened up the under-world, where
the dead were judged, the just recompensed, and the guilty punished.

Innumerable minor divinities, which originally personified attributes of
the one Supreme Deity, were represented under the form of such animals as
were endowed with like qualities. Every god was symbolized by some animal,
which thus became an object of worship; but by confounding symbols with
realities this worship soon degenerated into gross materialism and
idolatry.

The most important religious work in this literature is the "Book of the
Dead," a funeral ritual. The earliest known copy is in hieratic writing of
the oldest type, and was found in the tomb of a queen, who lived probably
about 3000 B.C. The latest copy is of the second century A.D., and is
written in pure Coptic. This work, consisting of one hundred and sixty-six
chapters, is a collection of prayers of a magical character, an account of
the adventures of the soul after death, and directions for reaching the
Hall of Osiris. It is a marvel of confusion and poverty of thought. A
complete translation may be found in "Egypt's Place in Universal History,"
by Bunsen (second edition), and specimens in almost every museum of
Europe. There are other theological remains, such as the Metamorphoses of
the gods and the Lament of Isis, but their meaning is disguised in
allegory. The hymns and addresses to the sun abound in pure and lofty
sentiment.

The epistolary writings are the best known and understood branch of
Egyptian literature. From the Ramesid era, the most literary of all, we
have about eighty letters on various subjects, interesting as
illustrations of manners and specimens of style. The most important of
these is the "Anastasi Papyri" in the British Museum, written about the
time of the Exodus.

Two valuable and tolerably complete relics represent the fictitious
writing of Egyptian literature; they are "The Tale of Two Brothers," now
in the British Museum, and "The Romance of Setna," recently discovered in
the tomb of a Coptic monk. The former was evidently intended for the
amusement of a royal prince. One of its most striking features is the low
moral tone of the women introduced. "The Romance of Setna" turns upon the
danger of acquiring possession of the sacred books. The opening and date
of the story are missing.

Fresh information is being constantly acquired as to the knowledge of
science possessed by the ancient Egyptians. Geometry originated with them,
or from remote ages they were acquainted with the principles of this
science, as well as with those of hydrostatics and mechanics, as is proved
by the immense structures which remain the wonder of the modern world.
They cultivated astronomy from the earliest times, and they have
transmitted to us their observations on the movements of the sun, the
stars, the earth, and other planets. The obelisks served them as sun
dials, and the pyramids as astronomical observatories. They had great
skill in medicine and much knowledge of anatomy. The most remarkable
medical papyri are to be found in the Berlin Museum.

The epics and biographical sketches are narratives of personal adventure
in war or travel, and are distinguished by some effort at grace of style.
The epic of Pentaur, or the achievements of Rameses II., has been called
the Egyptian Iliad. It is several centuries older than the Greek Iliad,
and deserves admiration for its rapid narrative and epic unity.

The history of Mohan (by some thought to be Moses) has been called the
Egyptian Odyssey, in contrast to the preceding. Mohan was a high official,
and this narrative describes his travels in Syria and Palestine. This
papyrus is in the British Museum, and both epics have been translated.

The satirical writings and beast fables of the Egyptians caricature the
foibles of all classes, not sparing the sacred person of the king, and are
often illustrated with satirical pictures. Besides these strictly literary
remains, a large number of judicial documents, petitions, decrees, and
treaties has been recovered.

7. THE ALEXANDRIAN PERIOD.--Egypt, in its flourishing period, having
contributed to the civilization of Greece, became, in its turn, the pupil
of that country. In the century following the age of Alexander the Great,
under the rule of the Ptolemies, the philosophy and literature of Athens
were transferred to Alexandria. Ptolemy Philadelphus, in the third century
B.C., completed the celebrated Alexandrian Library, formed for the most
part of Greek books, and presided over by Greek librarians. The school of
Alexandria had its poets, its grammarians, and philosophers; but its
poetry lacked the fire of genius, and its grammatical productions were
more remarkable for sophistry and subtlety, than for soundness and depth
of research. In the philosophy of Alexandria, the Eastern and Western
systems combined, and this school had many distinguished disciples.

In the first century of the Christian era, Egypt passed from the Greek
kings to the Roman emperors, and the Alexandrian school continued to be
adorned by the first men of the age. This splendor, more Grecian than
Egyptian, was extinguished in the seventh century by the Saracens, who
conquered the country, and, it is believed, burned the great Alexandrian
Library. After the wars of the immediate successors of Mohammed, the
Arabian princes protected literature, Alexandria recovered its schools,
and other institutions of learning were established; but in the conquest
of the country by the Turks, in the thirteenth century, all literary light
was extinguished.

8. LITERARY CONDITION OF MODERN EGYPT.--For more than nine hundred years
Cairo has possessed a university of high rank, which greatly increased in
importance on the accession of Mehemet Ali, in 1805, who established many
other schools, primary, scientific, medical, and military, though they
were suffered to languish under his two successors. In 1865, when Ismail-
Pacha mounted the throne as Khedive (tributary king), he gave powerful aid
to the university and to public instruction everywhere. The number of
students at the University of Cairo advanced to eleven thousand. The wife
of the Khedive, the Princess Cachma-Afet, founded in 1873, and maintained
from her privy purse, a school for the thorough instruction of girls,
which led to the establishment of a similar institution by the Ministry of
Public Instruction. This princess is the first in the history of Islam
who, from the interior of the harem, has exerted her influence to educate
and enlighten her sex.

When the Khedive was driven into exile in 1879, the number of schools,
nearly all the result of his energetic rule, was 4,817 and of pupils
170,000. Since the European intervention and domination the number of both
has sensibly diminished, and a serious retrograde movement has taken
place.

The higher literature of Egypt at the present time is written in pure
Arabic. The popular writing in magazines, periodicals, etc., is in Arabic
mixed with Syriac and Egyptian dialects. Newspaper literature has greatly
increased during the past eight years.




GREEK LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION.--1. Greek Literature and its Divisions.--2. The Language.--
3. The Religion.

PERIOD FIRST.--1. Ante-Homeric Songs and Bards.--2. Poems of Homer; the
Iliad; the Odyssey.--3. The Cyclic Poets and the Homeric Hymns.--4. Poems
of Hesiod; the Works and Days; the Theogony.--5. Elegy and Epigram;
Tyrtaeus; Archilochus; Simonides.--6. Iambic Poetry, the Fable, and
Parody; Aesop.--7. Greek Music and Lyric Poetry; Terpander.--8. Aeolic
Lyric Poets; Alcasus; Sappho; Anacreon.--9. Doric, or Choral Lyric Poets;
Alcman; Stesichorus; Pindar.--10. The Orphic Doctrines and Poems.--11.
Pre-Socratic Philosophy; Ionian, Eleatic, Pythagorean Schools.--12.
History; Herodotus.

PERIOD SECOND.--1. Literary Predominance of Athens.--2. Greek Drama.--3.
Tragedy.--4. The Tragic Poets; Aeschylus; Sophocles; Euripides.--5.
Comedy; Aristophanes; Menander.--6. Oratory, Rhetoric, and History;
Pericles; the Sophists; Lysias; Isocrates; Demosthenes; Thucydides;
Xenophon.--7. Socrates and the Socratic Schools; Plato; Aristotle.

PERIOD THIRD.--1. Origin of the Alexandrian Literature.--2. The
Alexandrian Poets; Philetas; Callimachus; Theocritus; Bion; Moschus.--3.
The Prose Writers of Alexandria; Zenodotus; Aristophanes; Aristarchus;
Eratosthenes; Euclid; Archimedes.--4. Philosophy of Alexandria; Neo-
Platonism.--5. Anti-Neo-Platonic Tendencies; Epictetus; Lucian; Longinus.
--6. Greek Literature in Rome; Dionysius of Halicarnassus; Flavius
Josephus; Polybius; Diodorus; Strabo; Plutarch.--7. Continued Decline of
Greek Literature.--8. Last Echoes of the Old Literature; Hypatia; Nonnus;
Musaeus; Byzantine Literature.--9. The New Testament and the Greek
Fathers. Modern Literature; the Brothers Santsos and Alexander Rangabe.


INTRODUCTION.

1. GREEK LITERATURE AND ITS DIVISIONS.--The literary histories thus far
sketched, with the exception of the Hebrew, occupy a subordinate position,
and constitute but a small part of the general and continuous history of
literature. As there are states whose interests are so detached from
foreign nations and so centred in themselves that their history seems to
form no link in the great chain of political events, so there are bodies
of literature cut off from all connection with the course of general
refinement, and bearing no relation to the development of mental power in
the most civilized portions of the globe. Thus, the literature of India,
with its great antiquity, its language, which, in fullness of expression,
sweetness of tone, and regularity of structure, rivals the most perfect of
those Western tongues to which it bears such an affinity, with all its
affluence of imagery and its treasures of thought, has hitherto been
destitute of any direct influence on the progress of general literature,
and China has contributed still less to its advancement. Other branches of
Oriental literature, as the Persian and Arabian, were equally isolated,
until they were brought into contact with the European mind through the
medium of the Crusaders and of the Moorish empire in Spain.

We come now to speak of the literature of the Greeks; a literature whose
continuous current has rolled down from remote ages to our own day, and
whose influence has been more extensive and lasting than that of any other
nation of the ancient or modern world. Endowed with profound sensibility
and a lively imagination, surrounded by all the circumstances that could
aid in perfecting the physical and intellectual powers, the Greeks early
acquired that essentially literary and artistic character which became the
source of the greatest productions of literature and art. This excellence
was, also, in some measure due to their institutions; free from the system
of castes which prevailed in India and Egypt, and which confined all
learning by a sort of hereditary right to the priests, the tendency of the
Greek mind was from the first liberal, diffusive, and aesthetic. The
manifestation of their genius, from the first dawn of their intellectual
culture, was of an original and peculiar character, and their plastic
minds gave a new shape and value to whatever materials they drew from
foreign sources. The ideas of the Egyptians and Orientals, which they
adopted into their mythology, they cast in new moulds, and reproduced in
more beautiful forms. The monstrous they subdued into the vast, the
grotesque they softened into the graceful, and they diffused a fine spirit
of humanity over the rude proportions of the primeval figures. So with the
dogmas of their philosophy, borrowed from the same sources; all that could
beautify the meagre, harmonize the incongruous, enliven the dull, or
convert the crude materials of metaphysics into an elegant department of
literature, belongs to the Greeks themselves. The Grecian mind became the
foundation of the Roman and of all modern literatures, and its master-
pieces afford the most splendid examples of artistic beauty and perfection
that the world has ever seen.

The history of Greek literature may be divided into three periods. The
first, extending from remote antiquity to the age of Herodotus (484 B.C.),
includes the earliest poetry of Greece, the ante-Homeric and the Homeric
eras, the origin of Greek elegy, epigram, iambic, and lyric poetry, and
the first development of Greek philosophy.

The second, or Athenian period, the golden age of Greek literature,
extends from the age of Herodotus (484 B.C.) to the death of Alexander the
Great (323 B.C.), and comprehends the development of the Greek drama in
the works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, and of political
oratory, history, and philosophy, in the works of Demosthenes, Thucydides,
Xenophon, Plato, and Aristotle.

The third, or the period of the decline of Greek literature, extending
from the death of Alexander the Great (323 B.C.) to the fall of the
Byzantine empire (1453 A.D.), is characterized by the removal of Greek
learning and literature from Athens to Alexandria, and by its gradual
decline and extinction.

2. THE LANGUAGE.--Of all known languages none has attained so high a
degree of perfection as that of the Greeks. Belonging to the great Indo-
European family, it is rich in significant words, strong and elegant in
its combinations and phrases, and extremely musical, not only in its
poetry, but in its prose. The Greek language must have attained great
excellence at a very early period, for it existed in its essential
perfection in the time of Homer. It was, also, early divided into
dialects, as spoken by the various Hellenic tribes that inhabited
different parts of the country. The principal of these found in written
composition are the Aeolic, Doric, Ionic, and Attic, of which the Aeolic,
the most ancient, was spoken north of the Isthmus, in the Aeolic colonies
of Asia Minor, and in the northern islands of the Aegean Sea. It was
chiefly cultivated by the lyric poets. The Doric, a variety of the Aeolic,
characterized by its strength, was spoken in Peloponnesus, and in the
Doric colonies of Asia Minor, Lower Italy, and Sicily. The Ionic, the most
soft and liquid of all the dialects, belonged to the Ionian colonies of
Asia Minor and the islands of the Archipelago. It was the language of
Homer, Hesiod, and Herodotus. The Attic, which was the Ionic developed,
enriched, and refined, was spoken in Attica, and prevailed in the
flourishing period of Greek literature.

After the fall of Constantinople, in 1453, the Greek language, which had
been gradually declining, became entirely extinct, and a dialect, which
had long before sprung up among the common people, took the place of the
ancient, majestic, and refined tongue. This popular dialect in turn
continued to degenerate until the middle of the last century. Recently
institutions of learning have been established, and a new impulse given to
improvement in Greece. Great progress has been made in the cultivation of
the language, and great care is taken by modern Greek writers to avoid the
use of foreign idioms and to preserve the ancient orthography. Many
newspapers, periodicals, original works, and translations are published
every year in Greece. The name Romaic, which has been applied to modern
Greek, is now almost superseded by that of Neo-Hellenic.

3. THE RELIGION.--In the development of the Greek religion two periods may
be distinguished, the ante-Homeric and the Homeric. As the heroic age of
the Greek nation was preceded by one in which the cultivation of the land
chiefly occupied the attention of the inhabitants, so there are traces and
remnants of a state of the Greek religion, in which the gods were
considered as exhibiting their power chiefly in the changes of the
seasons, and in the operations and phenomena of outward nature.
Imagination led these early inhabitants to discover, not only in the
general phenomena of vegetation, the unfolding and death of the leaf and
flower, and in the moist and dry seasons of the year, but also in the
peculiar physical character of certain districts, a sign of the
alternately hostile or peaceful, happy or ill-omened interference of
certain deities. There are still preserved in the Greek mythology many
legends of charming and touching simplicity, which had their origin at
this period, when the Greek religion bore the character of a worship of
the powers of nature.

Though founded on the same ideas as most of the religions of the East, and
particularly of Asia Minor, the earliest religion of the Greeks was richer
and more various in its forms, and took a loftier and a wider range. The
Grecian worship of nature, in all the various forms which it assumed,
recognized one deity, as the highest of all, the head of the entire
system, Zeus, the god of heaven and light; with him, and dwelling in the
pure expanse of ether, is associated the goddess of the earth, who, in
different temples, was worshiped under different names, as Hera, Demeter,
and Dione. Besides this goddess, other beings are united with the supreme
god, who are personifications of certain of his energies powerful deities
who carry the influence of light over the earth, and destroy the opposing
powers of darkness and confusion as Athena, born from the head of her
father, and Apollo, the pure and shining god of light. There are other
deities allied with earth and dwelling in her dark recesses; and as life
appears not only to spring from the earth, but to return whence it sprung,
these deities are, for the most part, also connected with death; as
Hermes, who brings up the treasures of fruitfulness from the depths of the
earth, and Cora, the child, now lost and now recovered by her mother,
Demeter, the goddess both of reviving and of decaying nature. The element
of water, Poseidon, was also introduced into this assemblage of the
personified powers of nature, and peculiarly connected with the goddess of
the earth; fire, Hephaestus, was represented as a powerful principle
derived from heaven, having dominion over the earth, and closely allied
with the goddess who sprang from the head of the supreme god. Other
deities form less important parts of this system, as Dionysus, whose
alternate joys and sufferings show a strong resemblance to the form which
religious notions assumed in Asia Minor. Though not, like the gods of
Olympus, recognized by all the races of the Greeks, Dionysus exerted an
important influence on the spirit of the Greek nation, and in sculpture
and poetry gave rise to bold flights of imagination, and to powerful
emotions, both of joy and sorrow.

These notions concerning the gods must have undergone many changes before
they assumed the form under which they appear in the poems of Homer and
Hesiod. The Greek religion, as manifested through them, reached the second
period of its development, belonging to that time when the most
distinguished and prominent part of the people devoted their lives to the
affairs of the state and the occupation of arms, and in which the heroic
spirit was manifested according to these ideas. On Olympus, lying near the
northern boundary of Greece, the highest mountain of that country, whose
summit seems to touch the heavens, there rules the assembly or family of
the gods; the chief of which, Zeus, summons at his pleasure the other gods
to council, as Agamemnon summons the other princes. He is acquainted with
the decrees of fate, and able to control them, and being himself king
among the gods, he gives the kings of the earth their powers and dignity.
By his side his wife, Hera, whose station entitles her to a large share of
his rank and dominion; and a daughter of masculine character, Athena, a
leader of battles and a protectress of citadels, who, by her wise
counsels, deserves the confidence which her father bestows on her; besides
these, there are a number of gods with various degrees of kindred, who
have each their proper place and allotted duty on Olympus. The attention
of this divine council is chiefly turned to the fortunes of nations and
cities, and especially to the adventures and enterprises of the heroes,
who being themselves, for the most part, sprung from the blood of the
gods, form the connecting link between them and the ordinary herd of
mankind. At this stage the ancient religion of nature had disappeared, and
the gods who dwelt on Olympus scarcely manifested any connection with
natural phenomena. Zeus exercises his power as a ruler and a king; Hera,
Athena, and Apollo no longer symbolize the fertility of the earth, the
clearness of the atmosphere, and the arrival of the serene spring;
Hephaestus has passed from the powerful god of fire in heaven and earth
into a laborious smith and worker of metals; Hermes is transformed into
the messenger of Zeus; and the other deities which stood at a greater
distance from the affairs of men are entirely forgotten, or scarcely
mentioned in the Homeric mythology.

These deities are known to us chiefly through the names given to them by
the Romans, who adopted them at a later period, or identified them with
deities of their own. _Zeus_ was called by them Jupiter; _Hera_; Juno;
_Athena_, Minerva; _Ares_, Mars; _Artemis_, Diana; _Hermes_, Mercury;
_Cora_, Proserpine; _Hephaestus_, Vulcan; _Poseidon_, Neptune;
_Aphrodite_, Venus; _Dionysus_, Bacchus.


PERIOD FIRST.

FROM REMOTE ANTIQUITY TO HERODOTUS (484 B.C.),

1. ANTE-HOMERIC SONGS AND BARDS.--Many centuries must have elapsed before
the poetical language of the Greeks could have attained the splendor,
copiousness, and fluency found in the poems of Homer. The first
outpourings of poetical enthusiasm were, doubtless, songs describing, in
few and simple verses, events which powerfully affected the feelings of
the hearers. It is probable that the earliest were those that referred to
the seasons and their phenomena, and that they were sung by the peasants
at their corn and wine harvests, and had their origin in times of ancient
rural simplicity. Songs of this kind had often a plaintive and melancholy
character. Such was the song "Linus" mentioned by Homer, which was
frequently sung at the grape-picking. This Linus evidently belongs to a
class of heroes or demi-gods, of which many instances occur in the
religions of Asia Minor. Boys of extraordinary beauty and in the flower of
youth were supposed to have been drowned, or devoured by raging dogs, and
their death was lamented at the harvests and other periods of the hot
season. According to the tradition, Linus sprang from a divine origin,
grew up with the shepherds among the lambs, and was torn in pieces by wild
dogs, whence arose the festival of the lambs, at which many dogs were
slain. The real object of lamentation was the tender beauty of spring,
destroyed by the summer heat, and other phenomena of the same kind which
the imagination of those times invested with a personal form, and
represented as beings of a divine nature. Of similar meaning are many
other songs, which were sung at the time of the summer heat or at the
cutting of the corn. Such was the song called "Bormus" from its subject, a
beautiful boy of that name, who, having gone to fetch water for the
reapers, was, while drawing it, borne down by the nymphs of the stream.
Such were the cries for the youth Hylas, swallowed up by the waters of a
fountain, and the lament for Adonis, whose untimely death was celebrated
by Sappho.

The Paeans were songs originally dedicated to Apollo, and afterwards to
other gods; their tune and words expressed hope and confidence to
overcome, by the help of the god, great and imminent danger, or gratitude
and thanksgiving for victory and safety. To this class belonged the vernal
Paeans, which were sung at the termination of winter, and those sung in
war before the attack on the enemy. The Threnos, or lamentations for the
dead, were songs containing vehement expressions of grief, sung by
professional singers standing near the bed upon which the body was laid,
and accompanied by the cries and groans of women. The Hymenaeos was the
joyful bridal song of the wedding festivals, in which there were
ordinarily two choruses, one of boys bearing burning torches and singing
the hymenaeos to the clear sound of the pipe, and another of young girls
dancing to the notes of the harp. The Chorus originally referred chiefly
to dancing. The most ancient sense of the word is a _place for dancing_,
and in these choruses young persons of both sexes danced together in rows,
holding one another by the hand, while the citharist, or the player on the
lyre, sitting in their midst, accompanied the sound of his instrument with
songs, which took their name from the choruses in which they were sung.

Besides these popular songs, there were the religious and heroic poems of
the bards, who were, for the most part, natives of that portion of the
country which surrounds the mountains of Helicon and Parnassus,
distinguished as the home of the Muses. Among the bards devoted to the
worship of Apollo and other deities, were Marsyas, the inventor of the
flute, Musaeus and Orpheus. Many names of these ancient poets are
recorded, but of their poetry, previous to Homer, not even a fragment
remains.

The bards or chanters of epic poetry were called Rhapsodists, from the
manner in which they delivered their compositions; this name was applied
equally to the minstrel who recited his own poems, and to him who
declaimed anew songs that had been heard a thousand times before. The form
of these heroic songs, probably settled and fixed by tradition, was the
hexameter, as this metre gave to the epic poetry repose, majesty, a lofty
and solemn tone, and rendered it equally adapted to the pythoness who
announced the decrees of the deity, and to the rhapsodist who recited the
battles of heroes. The bards held an important post in the festal
banquets, where they flattered the pride of the princes by singing the
exploits of their forefathers.

2. POEMS OF HOMER.--Although seven cities contended for the honor of
giving birth to Homer, it was the prevalent belief, in the flourishing
times of Greece, that he was a native of Smyrna. He was probably born in
that city about 1000 B.C. Little is known of his life, but the power of
his transcendent genius is deeply impressed upon his works. He was called
by the Greeks themselves, _the poet_; and the Iliad and the Odyssey were
with them the ultimate standard of appeal on all matters of religious
doctrine and early history. They were learned by boys at school, and
became the study of men in their riper years, and in the time of Socrates
there were Athenians who could repeat both poems by heart. In whatever
part of the world a Greek settled, he carried with him a love for the
great poet, and long after the Greek people had lost their independence,
the Iliad and the Odyssey continued to maintain an undiminished hold upon
their affections. The peculiar excellence of these poems lies in their
sublimity and pathos, in their tenderness and simplicity, and they show in
their author an inexhaustible vigor, that seems to revel in an endless
display of prodigious energies. The universality of the powers of Homer is
their most astonishing attribute. He is not great in any one thing; he is
greatest in all things. He imagines with equal ease the terrible, the
beautiful, the mean, the loathsome, and he paints them all with equal
force. In his descriptions of external nature, in his exhibitions of human
character and passion, no matter what the subject, he exhausts its
capabilities. His pictures are true to the minutest touch; his men and
women are made of flesh and blood. They lose nothing of their humanity for
being cast in a heroic mould. He transfers himself into the identity of
those whom he brings into action; masters the interior springs of their
spiritual mechanism; and makes them move, look, speak, and do exactly as
they would in real life.

In the legends connected with the Trojan war, the _anger of Achilles_ and
the _return of Ulysses_, Homer found the subjects of the Iliad and
Odyssey. The former relates that Agamemnon had stolen from Achilles,
Briseis, his beloved slave, and describes the fatal consequences which the
subsequent anger of Achilles brought upon the Greeks; and how the loss of
his dearest friend, Patroclus, suddenly changed his hostile attitude, and
brought about the destruction of Troy and of Hector, its magnanimous
defender. The Odyssey is composed on a more artificial and complicated
plan than the Iliad. The subject is the return of Ulysses from a land
beyond the range of human knowledge to a home invaded by bands of insolent
intruders, who seek to kill his son and rob him of his wife. The poem
begins at that point where the hero is considered to be farthest from his
home, in the central portion of the sea, where the nymph Calypso has kept
him hidden from all mankind for seven years. Having by the help of the
gods passed through innumerable dangers, after many adventures he reaches
Ithaca, and is finally introduced into his own house as a beggar, where he
is made to suffer the harshest treatment from the suitors of his wife, in
order that he may afterwards appear with the stronger right as a terrible
avenger. In this simple story a second was interwoven by the poet, which
renders it richer and more complete, though more intricate and less
natural. It is probable that Homer, after having sung the Iliad in the
vigor of his youthful years, either composed the Odyssey in his old age,
or communicated to some devoted disciple the plan of this poem.

In the age immediately succeeding Homer, his great poems were doubtless
recited as complete wholes, at the festivals of the princes; but when the
contests of the rhapsodists became more animated, and more weight was laid
on the art of the reciter than on the beauty of the poem he recited, and
when other musical and poetical performances claimed a place, then they
were permitted to repeat separate parts of poems, and the Iliad and
Odyssey, as they had not yet been reduced to writing, existed for a time
only as scattered and unconnected fragments; and we are still indebted to
the regulator of the poetical contests (either Solon or Pisistratus) for
having compelled the rhapsodists to follow one another according to the
order of 'the poem, and for having thus restored these great works to
their pristine integrity. The poets, who either recited the poems of Homer
or imitated him in their compositions, were called Homerides.

3. THE CYCLIC POETS AND THE HOMERIC HYMNS.--The poems of Homer, as they
became the foundation of all Grecian literature, are likewise the central
point of the epic poetry of Greece. All that is most excellent in this
line originated from them, and was connected with them in the way of
completion or continuation. After the time of Homer, a class of poets
arose who, from their constant endeavor to connect their poems with those
of this master, so that they might form a great cycle, were called the
Cyclic Poets. They were probably Homeric rhapsodists by profession, to
whom the constant recitation of the ancient Homeric poems would naturally
suggest the idea of continuing them by essays of their own. The poems
known as Homeric hymns formed an essential part of the epic style. They
were hymns to the gods, bearing an epic character, and were called
_proemia_, or preludes, and served the rhapsodists either as introductory
strains for their recitation, or as a transition from the festivals of the
gods to the competition of the singers of heroic poetry.

4. POEMS OF HESIOD.--Nothing certain can be affirmed respecting the date
of Hesiod; a Boeotian by birth, he is considered by some ancient
authorities as contemporary with Homer, while others suppose him to have
flourished two or three generations later. The poetry of Hesiod is a
faithful transcript of the whole condition of Boeotian life. It has
nothing of that youthful and inexhaustible fancy of Homer which lights up
the sublime images of a heroic age and moulds them into forms of
surpassing beauty. The poetry of Hesiod appears struggling to emerge out
of the narrow bounds of common life, which he strives to ennoble and to
render more endurable. It is purely didactic, and its object is to
disseminate knowledge, by which life may be improved, or to diffuse
certain religious notions as to the influence of a superior destiny. His
poem entitled "Works and Days" is so entirely occupied with the events of
common life, that the author would not seem to have been a poet by
profession, but some Boeotian husbandman whose mind had been moved by
circumstances to give a poetical tone to the course of his thoughts and
feelings. The unjust claim of Perses, the brother of Hesiod, to the small
portion of their father's land which had been allotted to him, called
forth this poem, in which he seeks to improve the character and habits of
Perses, to deter him from acquiring riches by litigation, and to incite
him to a life of labor, as the only source of permanent prosperity. He
points out the succession in which his labors must follow if he determines
to lead a life of industry, and gives wise rules of economy for the
management of a family; and to illustrate and enforce the principal idea,
he ingeniously combines with his precepts mythical narratives, fables, and
descriptions. The "Theogony" of Hesiod is a production of the highest
importance, as it contains the religious faith of Greece. It was through
it that Greece first obtained a religious code, which, although without
external sanction or priestly guardians and interpreters, must have
produced the greatest influence on the religious condition of the Greeks.

5. ELEGY AND EPIGRAM.--Until the beginning of the seventh century B.C.,
the epic was the only kind of poetry cultivated in Greece, with the
exception of the early songs and hymns, and the hexameter the only metre
used by the poets. This exclusive prevalence of epic poetry was doubtless
connected with the political state of the country. The ordinary subjects
of these poems must have been highly acceptable to the princes who derived
their race from the heroes, as was the case with all the royal families of
early times. The republican movements, which deprived these families of
their privileges, were favorable to the stronger development of each man's
individuality, and the poet, who in the most perfect form of the epos was
completely lost in his subject, now came before the people as a man with
thoughts and objects of his own, and gave free vent to the emotions of his
soul in elegiac and iambic strains. The word _elegeion_ means nothing more
than the combination of a hexameter and a pentameter, making together a
distich, and an elegy is a poem of such verses. It was usually sung at the
Symposia or literary festivals of the Greeks; in most cases its main
subject was political; it afterwards assumed a plaintive or amatory tone.
The elegy is the first regularly cultivated branch of Greek poetry, in
which the flute alone and neither the cithara nor lyre was employed. It
was not necessary that lamentations should form the subject of it, but
emotion was essential, and excited by events or circumstances of the time
or place the poet poured forth his heart in the unreserved expression of
his fears and hopes.

Tyrtaeus (fl. 694 B.C.), who went from Athens to Sparta, composed the most
celebrated of his elegies on the occasion of the Messenian war, and when
the Spartans were on a campaign, it was their custom after the evening
meal, when the paean had been sung in honor of the gods, to recite these
poems. From this time we find a union between the elegiac and iambic
poetry; the same poet, who employs the elegy to express his joyous and
melancholy emotions, has recourse to the iambus when his cool sense
prompts him to censure the follies of mankind. The relation between these
two metres is observable in Archilochus (fl. 688 B.C.) and Simonides (fl.
664 B.C.). The elegies of Archilochus, of which many fragments are extant
(while of Simonides we only know that he composed elegies), had nothing of
that spirit of which his iambics were full, but they contain the frank
expression of a mind powerfully affected by outward circumstances. With
the Spartans, wine and the pleasures of the feast became the subject of
the elegy, and it was also recited at the solemnities held in honor of all
who had fallen for their country. The elegies of Solon (592-559 B.C.) were
pure expressions of his political feelings. Simonides of Scios, the
renowned lyric poet, the contemporary of Pindar and Aeschylus, was one of
the great masters of elegiac song.

The epigram was originally an inscription on a tombstone, or a votive
offering in a temple, or on any other thing which required explanation.
The unexpected turn of thought and pointedness of expression, which the
moderns consider the essence of this species of composition, were not
required in the ancient Greek epigram, where nothing was wanted but that
the entire thought should be conveyed within the limit of a few distichs,
and thus, in the hands of the early poets, the epigram was remarkable for
the conciseness and expressiveness of its language and differed in this
respect from the elegy, in which full expression was given to the feelings
of the poet.

It was Simonides who first gave to the epigram all the perfection of which
it was capable, and he was frequently employed by the states which fought
against the Persians to adorn with inscriptions the tombs of their fallen
warriors. The most celebrated of these is the inimitable inscription on
the Spartans who died at Thermopylae: "Foreigner, tell the Lacedaemonians
that we are lying here in obedience to their laws." On the Rhodian lyric
poet, Timocreon, an opponent of Simonides in his art, he wrote the
following in the form of an epitaph: "Having eaten much and drank much and
said much evil of other men, here I lie, Timocreon the Rhodian."

6. IAMBIC POETRY, THE FABLE AND PARODY.--The kind of poetry known by the
ancients as Iambic was created among the Athenians by Archilochus at the
same time as the elegy. It arose at a period when the Greeks, accustomed
only to the calm, unimpassioned tone of the epos, had but just found a
temperate expression of lively emotion in the elegy. It was a light,
tripping measure, sometimes loosely constructed, or purposely halting and
broken, well adapted to vituperation, unrestrained by any regard to
morality and decency. At the public tables of Sparta keen and pointed
raillery was permitted, and some of the most venerable and sacred of their
religious rites afforded occasion for their unsparing and audacious jests.
This raillery was so ancient and inveterate a custom, that it had given
rise to a peculiar word, which originally denoted nothing but the jests
and banter used at these festivals, namely, _Iambus_. All the wanton
extravagance which was elsewhere repressed by law or custom, here, under
the protection of religion, burst forth with boundless license, and these
scurrilous effusions were at length reduced by Archilochus into the
systematic form of iambic metre.

Akin to the iambic are two sorts of poetry, the fable and the parody,
which, though differing widely from each other, have both their source in
the turn for the delineation of the ludicrous, and both stand in close
historical relation to the iambic. The fable in Greece originated in an
intentional travesty of human affairs. It is probable that the taste for
fables of beasts and numerous similar inventions found its way from the
East, since this sort of symbolical narrative is more in accordance with
the Oriental than with the Greek character. Aesop (fl. 572 B.C.) was very
far from being regarded by the Greeks as one of their poets, and still
less as a writer. They considered him merely as an ingenious fabulist, to
whom, at a later period, nearly all fables, that were invented or derived
from any other source, were attributed. He was a slave, whose wit and
pleasantry procured him his freedom, and who finally perished in Delphi,
where the people, exasperated by his sarcastic fables, put him to death on
a charge of robbing the temple. No metrical versions of these fables are
known to have existed in early times.

The word "parody" means an adoption of the form of some celebrated poem
with such changes as to produce a totally different effect, and generally
to substitute mean and ridiculous for elevated and poetical sentiments.
"The Battle of the Frogs and Mice," attributed to Homer, but bearing
evident traces of a later age, belongs to this species of poetry.

7. GREEK MUSIC AND LYRIC POETRY.--It was not until the minds of the Greeks
had been elevated by the productions of the epic muse, that the genius of
original poets broke loose from the dominion of the epic style, and
invented new forms for expressing the emotions of a mind profoundly
agitated by passing events; with few innovations in the elegy, but with
greater boldness in the iambic metre. In these two forms, Greek poetry
entered the domain of real life. The elegy and iambus contain the germ of
the lyric style, though they do not themselves come under that head. The
Greek lyric poetry was characterized by the expression of deeper and more
impassioned feeling, and a more impetuous tone than the elegy and iambus,
and at the same time the effect was heightened by appropriate vocal and
instrumental music, and often by the figures of the dance. In this union
of the sister arts, poetry was indeed predominant, yet music, in its turn,
exercised a reciprocal influence on poetry, so that as it became more
cultivated, the choice of the musical measure decided the tone of the
whole poem.

The history of Greek music begins with Terpander the Lesbian (fl. 670
B.C.), who was many times the victor in the musical contests at the
Pythian temple of Delphi. He added three new strings to the cithara, which
had consisted only of four, and this heptachord was employed by Pindar,
and remained long in high repute; he was also the first who marked the
different tones in music. With other musicians, he united the music of
Asia Minor with that of the ancient Greeks, and founded on it a system in
which each style had its appropriate character. By the efforts of
Terpander and one or two other masters, music was brought to a high degree
of excellence, and adapted to express any feeling to which the poet could
give a more definite character and meaning, and thus they had solved the
great problem of their art. It was in Greece the constant endeavor of the
great poets, thinkers, and statesmen who interested themselves in the
education of youth, to give a good direction to this art; they all dreaded
the increasing prevalence of a luxuriant style of instrumental music and
an unrestricted flight into the boundless realms of harmony.

The lyric poetry of the Greeks was of two kinds, and cultivated by two
different schools of poets. One, called the Aeolic, flourished among the
Aeolians of Asia Minor, and particularly in the island of Lesbos; the
other, the Doric, which, although diffused over the whole of Greece, was
at first principally cultivated by the Dorians. These two schools differed
essentially in the subjects, as in the form and style of their poems. The
Doric was intended to be executed by choruses', and to be sung to choral
dances; while the Aeolic was recited by a single person, who accompanied
his recitation with a stringed instrument, generally the lyre.

8. AEOLIC LYRIC POETS.--Alcaeus (fl. 611 B.C.), born in Mytilene in the
island of Lesbos, being driven out of his native city for political
reasons, wandered about the world, and, in the midst of troubles and
perils, struck the lyre and gave utterance to the passionate emotions of
his mind. His war-songs express a stirring, martial spirit; and a noble
nature, accompanied with strong passions, appears in all his poems,
especially in those in which he sings the praises of love and wine, though
little of his erotic poetry has reached our time. It is evident that
poetry was not with him a mere pastime or exercise of skill, but a means
of pouring out the inmost feelings of the soul.  Sappho (fl. 600 B.C.) the
other leader of the Aeolic school of poetry, was the object of the
admiration of all antiquity. She was contemporary with Alcaeus, and in her
verses to him we plainly discern the feeling of unimpeached honor proper
to a free-born and well-educated maiden. Alcaeus testifies that the
attractions and loveliness of Sappho did not derogate from her moral worth
when he calls her "violet-crowned, pure, sweetly smiling Sappho." This
testimony is, indeed, opposed to the accounts of later writers, but the
probable cause of the false imputations in reference to Sappho seems to be
that the refined Athenians were incapable of appreciating the frank
simplicity with which she poured forth her feelings, and therefore they
confounded them with unblushing immodesty. While the men of Athens were
distinguished for their perfection in every branch of art, none of their
women emerged from the obscurity of domestic life. "That woman is the
best," says Pericles, "of whom the least is said among men, whether for
good or for evil." But the Aeolians had in some degree preserved the
ancient Greek manners, and their women enjoyed a distinct individual
existence and moral character. They doubtless participated in the general
high state of civilization, which not only fostered poetical talents of a
high order among women, but produced in them a turn for philosophical
reflection. This was so utterly inconsistent with Athenian manners, that
we cannot wonder that women, who had in any degree overstepped the bounds
prescribed to their sex at Athens, should be represented by the licentious
pen of Athenian comic writers as lost to every sense of shame and decency.
Sappho, in her odes, made frequent mention of a youth to whom she gave her
whole heart, while he requited her love with cold indifference; but there
is no trace of her having named the object of her passion. She may have
celebrated the beautiful and mythical Phaon in such a manner that the
verses were supposed to refer to a lover of her own. The account of her
leap from the Leucadian rock is rather a poetical image, than a real event
in the life of the poetess. The true conception of the erotic poetry of
Sappho can only be drawn from the fragments of her odes, which, though
numerous, are for the most part very short. Among them, we must
distinguish the Epithalamia or hymeneals, which were peculiarly adapted to
the genius of the poetess from the exquisite perception she seems to have
had of whatever was attractive in either sex. From the numerous fragments
that remain, these poems appear to have had great beauty and much of that
expression which the simple and natural manners of the times allowed, and
the warm and sensitive heart of the poetess suggested. That Sappho's fame
was spread throughout Greece, may be seen from the history of Solon, who
was her contemporary. Hearing his nephew recite one of her poems, he said
that he would not willingly die until he had learned it by heart. And,
doubtless, from that circle of accomplished women, of whom she formed the
brilliant centre, a flood of poetic light was poured forth on every side.
Among them may be mentioned the names of Damophila and Erinna, whose poem,
"The Spindle," was highly esteemed by the ancients.

The genius of Anacreon (fl. 540 B.C.), though akin to that of Alcaeus and
Sappho, had an entirely different bent. He seems to consider life as
valuable only so far as it can be spent in wine, love, and social
enjoyment. The Ionic softness and departure from strict rule may also be
perceived in his versification. The different odes preserved under his
name are the productions of poets of a much later date. With Anacreon
ceased the species of lyric poetry in which he excelled; indeed, he stands
alone in it, and the tender softness of his song was soon drowned by the
louder tones of the choral poetry.

The Scolia were a kind of lyric songs sung at social meals, when the
spirit was raised by wine and conversation to a lyrical pitch. The lyre or
a sprig of myrtle was handed round the table and presented to any one who
could amuse the company by a song or even a good sentence in a lyrical
form.

9. DORIC, OR CHORAL LYRIC POETS.--The chorus was in general use in Greece
before the time of Homer, and nearly every variety of the choral poetry,
which was afterwards so brilliantly developed, existed at that remote
period in a rude, unfinished state. After the improvements made by
Terpander and others in musical art, choral poetry rapidly progressed
towards perfection. The poets during the period of progress were Alcman
and Stesichorus, while finished lyric poetry is represented by Ibycus,
Simonides, his disciple Bacchylides and Pindar. These great poets were
only the representatives of the fervor with which the religious festivals
inspired all classes. Choral dances were performed by the whole people
with great ardor and enthusiasm; every considerable town had its poet, who
devoted his whole life to the training and exhibition of choruses.

Alcman (b. 660 B.C.) was a Lydian of Sardis, and an emancipated slave. His
poems exhibit a great variety of metre, of dialect, and of poetic tone. He
is regarded as having overcome the difficulties presented by the rough
dialect of Sparta, and as having succeeded in investing it with a certain
grace. He is one of the poets whose image is most effaced by time, and of
whom we can obtain little accurate knowledge. The admiration awarded him
by antiquity is scarcely justified by the extant remains of his poems.

Stesichorus (fl. 611 B.C.) lived at a time when the predominant tendency
of the Greek mind was towards lyric poetry. His special business was the
training and direction of the choruses, and he assumed the name of
Stesichorus, or leader of choruses, his real name being Tesias. His metres
approach more nearly to the epos than those of Aleman. As Quintilian says,
he sustained the weight of epic poetry with the lyre. His language
accorded with the tone of his poetry, and he is not less remarkable in
himself, than as the precursor of the perfect lyric poetry of Pindar.

Arion (625-585 B.C.) was chiefly known in Greece as the perfecter of the
"Dithyramb," a song of Bacchanalian festivals, doubtless of great
antiquity. Its character, like the worship to which it belonged, was
always impassioned and enthusiastic; the extremes of feeling, rapturous
pleasure, and wild lamentation were both expressed in it.

Ibycus (b. 528 B.C.) was a wandering poet, as is attested by the story of
his death having been avenged by the cranes. His poetical style resembles
that of Stesichorus, as also his subjects. The erotic poetry of Ibycus is
most celebrated, and breathes a fervor of passion far exceeding that of
any similar production of Greek literature.

Simonides (556-468 B.C.) has already been described as one of the great
masters of the elegy and epigram. In depth and novelty of ideas, and in
the fervor of poetic feeling, he was far inferior to his contemporary
Pindar, but he was probably the most prolific lyric poet of Greece.
According to the frequent reproach of the ancients, he was the first that
sold his poems for money. His style was not as lofty as that of Pindar,
hut what he lost in sublimity he gained in pathos.

Bacchylides (fl. 450 B.C.), the nephew of Simonides, devoted his genius
chiefly to the pleasures of private life, love, and wine, and his
productions, when compared with those of Simonides, are marked by less
moral elevation.

Timocreon the Rhodian (fl. 471 B.C.) owes his chief celebrity among the
ancients to the hate he bore to Themistocles in political life, and to
Simonides on the field of poetry.

Pindar (522-435 B.C.) was the contemporary of Aeschylus, but as the causes
which determined his poetical character are to be sought in an earlier
age, and in the Doric and Aeolic parts of Greece, he may properly be
placed at the close of the early period, while Aeschylus stands at the
head of the new epoch of literature. Like Hesiod, Pindar was a native of
Boeotia, and that there was still much love for music and poetry there is
proved by the fact that two women, Myrtis and Corinna, had obtained great
celebrity in these arts during the youth of this poet. Myrtis (fl. 490
B.C.) strove with him for the prize at the public games, and Corinna (fl.
490 B.C.) is said to have gained the victory over him five times. Too
little of the poetry of Corinna has been preserved to allow a judgment on
her style of composition. Pindar made the arts of poetry and music the
business of his life, and his fame soon spread throughout Greece and the
neighboring countries. He excelled in all the known varieties of choral
poetry, but the only class of poems that enable us to judge of his general
style is his triumphal odes. When a victory was gained in a contest at a
festival by the speed of horses, the strength and dexterity of the human
body, or by skill in music, such a victory, which shed honor not only on
the victor, but also on his family, and even on his native city, demanded
a public celebration. An occasion of this kind had always a religious
character, and often began with a procession to an altar or temple, where
a sacrifice was offered, followed by a banquet, and the solemnity
concluded with a merry and boisterous revel. At this sacred and at the
same time joyous festival, the chorus appeared and recited the triumphal
hymn, which was considered the fairest ornament of the triumph. Such an
occasion, a victory in the sacred games and its end, the ennobling of a
ceremony connected with the worship of the gods, required that the ode
should be composed in a lofty and dignified style. Pindar does not content
himself with celebrating the bodily prowess of the victor alone, but he
usually adds some moral virtue which he has shown, and which he recommends
and extols. Sometimes this virtue is moderation, wisdom, or filial love,
more often piety to the gods, and he expounds to the victor his destiny,
by showing him the dependence of his exploits on the higher order of
things. Mythical narratives occupy much space in these odes, for in the
time of Pindar the mythical past was invested with a splendor and
sublimity, of which even the faint reflection was sufficient to embellish
the present.

10. ORPHIC DOCTRINES AND POEMS.--The interval between Homer and Pindar is
an important period in the history of Greek civilization. In Homer we
perceive that infancy of the mind which lives in seeing and imagining, and
whose moral judgments are determined by impulses of feeling rather than by
rules of conduct, while with Pindar the chief effort of his genius is to
discover the true standard of moral government. This great change of
opinion must have been affected by the efforts of many sages and poets.
All the Greek religious poetry, treating of death and of the world beyond
the grave, refers to the deities whose influence was supposed to be
exercised in the dark regions at the centre of the earth, and who had
little connection with the political and social relations of human life.
They formed a class apart from the gods of Olympus; the mysteries of the
Greeks were connected with their worship alone, and the love of
immortality first found support in a belief in these deities. The
mysteries of Demeter, especially those celebrated at Eleusis, inspired the
most animating hopes with regard to the soul after death. These mysteries,
however, had little influence on the literature of the nation; but there
was a society of persons called the followers of Orpheus, who published
their notions and committed them to literary works. Under the guidance of
the ancient mystical poet, Orpheus, they dedicated themselves to the
worship of Bacchus or Dionysus, in which they sought satisfaction for an
ardent longing after the soothing and elevating influences of religion,
and upon the worship of this deity they founded their hopes of an ultimate
immortality of the soul. Unlike the popular worshipers of Bacchus, they
did not indulge in unrestrained pleasure or frantic enthusiasm, but rather
aimed at an ascetic purity of life and manners. It is difficult to tell
when this association was formed in Greece, but we find in Hesiod
something of the Orphic spirit, and the beginning of higher and more
hopeful views of death.

The endeavor to obtain a knowledge of divine and human things was in
Greece slowly and with difficulty evolved from their religious notions,
and it was for a long time confined to the refining and rationalizing of
their mythology. An extensive Orphic literature first appeared at the time
of the Persian war, when the remains of the Pythagorean order in Magna
Graecia united themselves to the Orphic associations. The philosophy of
Pythagoras, however, had no analogy with the spirit of the Orphic
mysteries, in which the worship of Dionysus was the centre of all
religious ideas, while the Pythagorean philosophers preferred the worship
of Apollo and the Muses. In the Orphic theogony we find, for the first
time, the idea of creation. Another difference between the notions of the
Orphic poets and those of the early Greeks was that the former did not
limit their views to the present state of mankind, still less did they
acquiesce in Hesiod's melancholy doctrine of successive ages, each one
worse than the preceding; but they looked for a cessation of strife, a
state of happiness and beatitude at the end of all things. Their hopes of
this result were founded on Dionysus, from the worship of whom all their
peculiar religious ideas were derived. This god, the son of Zeus, is to
succeed him in the government of the world, to restore the Golden Age, and
to liberate human souls, who, according to an Orphic notion, are punished
by being confined in the body as in a prison. The sufferings of the soul
in its prison, the steps and transitions by which it passes to a higher
state of existence, and its gradual purification and enlightenment, were
all fully described in these poems. Thus, in the poetry of the first five
centuries of Greek literature, especially at the close of this period, we
find, instead of the calm enjoyment of outward nature which characterized
the early epic poetry, a profound sense of the misery of human life, and
an ardent longing for a condition of greater happiness. This feeling,
indeed, was not so extended as to become common to the whole Greek nation,
but it took deep root in individual minds, and was connected with more
serious and spiritual views of human nature.

11. PRE-SOCRATIC PHILOSOPHY.--Philosophy was early cultivated by the
Greeks, who first among all nations distinguished it from religion and
mythology. For some time, however, after its origin, it was as far removed
from the ordinary thoughts and occupations of the people as poetry was
intimately connected with them. Poetry idealizes all that is most
characteristic of a nation; its religion, mythology, political and social
institutions, and manners. Philosophy, on the other hand, begins by
detaching the mind from the opinions and habits in which it has been bred
up, from the national conceptions of the gods and the universe, and from
traditionary maxims of ethics and politics. The philosophy of Greece,
antecedent to the time of Socrates, is contained in the doctrines of the
Ionic, Eleatic, and Pythagorean. schools. Thales of Miletus (639-548
B.C.) was the first in the series of the Ionic philosophers. He was one of
the Seven Sages, who by their practical wisdom nobly contributed to the
flourishing condition of Greece. Thales, Solon, Bion (fl. 570 B.C.),
Cleobulus (fl. 542 B.C.), Periander (fl. 598 B.C.), Pittacus of Mytilene
(579 B.C.), and Chilon (fl. 542 B.C.), were the seven philosophers called
the seven sages by their countrymen. Thales is said to have foretold an
eclipse of the sun, for which he doubtless employed astronomical formulae,
which he had obtained from the Chaldeans. His tendency was practical, and
where his own knowledge was insufficient, he applied the discoveries of
other nations more advanced than his own. He considered all nature as
endowed with life, and sought to discover the principles of external forms
in the powers which lie beneath; he taught that water was the principle of
things. Anaximander (fl. 547 B.C.), and Anaximenes (fl. 548 B.C.) were the
other two most distinguished representatives of the Ionic school. The
former believed that chaotic matter was the principle of all things, the
latter taught that it was air. The Eleatic school is represented by
Xenophanes, Parmenides, and Zeno. As the philosophers of the first school
were called Ionians from the country in which they resided, so these were
named from Elea, a Greek colony of Italy. Xenophanes (fl. 538 B.C.), the
founder of this school, adopted a different principle from that of the
Ionic philosophers, and proceeded upon an ideal system, while that of the
latter was exclusively founded upon experience. He began with the idea of
the godhead, and showed the necessity of considering it as an eternal and
unchanging existence, and represented the anthropomorphic conceptions of
the Greeks concerning their gods as mere prejudices. In his works he
retained the poetic form of composition, some fragments of which he
himself recited at public festivals, after the manner of the rhapsodists.
Parmenides flourished 504 years B.C. His philosophy rested upon the idea
of existence which excluded the idea of creation, and thus fell into
pantheism. His poem on "Nature" was composed in the epic metre, and in it
he expressed in beautiful forms the most abstract ideas. Zeno of Elea (fl.
500 B.C.) was a pupil of Parmenides, and the earliest prose writer among
the Greek philosophers. He developed the doctrines of his master by
showing the absurdities involved in the ideas of variety and of creation,
as opposed to one and universal substance. Other philosophers belonging to
Iona or Elea may be referred to these schools, as Heraclitus, Empedocles,
Democritus, and Anaxagoras, whose doctrines, however, vary from those of
the representatives of the philosophical systems above named. Heraclitus
(fl. 505 B.C.) dealt rather in intimations of important truths than in
popular exposition of them; his cardinal doctrine seems to have been that
everything is in perpetual motion, that nothing has any permanent
existence, and that everything is assuming a new form or perishing: the
principle of this perpetual motion he supposed to be _fixe_, though
probably he did not mean material fire, but some higher and more universal
agent. Like nearly all the philosophers, he despised the popular religion.
Empedocles (fl. 440 B.C.) wrote a doctrinal poem concerning nature,
fragments of which have been preserved. He denied the possibility of
creation, and held the doctrine of an eternal and imperishable existence;
but he considered this existence as having different natures, and admitted
that fire, earth, air, and water were the four elements of all things.
These elements he supposed to be governed by two principles, one positive
and one negative, that is to say, connecting love and dissolving discord.
Democritus (fl. 460 B.C.) embodied his extensive knowledge in a series of
writings, of which only a few fragments have been preserved. Cicero
compared him with Plato for rhythm and elegance of language. He derived
the manifold phenomena of the world from the different form, disposition,
and arrangement of the innumerable elements or atoms as they become
united. He is the founder of the atomic doctrine. Anaxagoras (fl. 456
B.C.) rejected all popular notions of religion, excluded the idea of
creation and destruction, and taught that atoms were unchangeable and
imperishable; that spirit, the purest and subtlest of all things, gave to
these atoms the impulse by which they took the forms of individual things
and beings; and that this impulse was given in circular motion, which kept
the heavenly bodies in their courses. But none of his doctrines gave so
much offence or was considered so clear a proof of his atheism as his
opinion that the sun, the bountiful god Helios, who shines both upon
mortals and immortals, was a mass of red-hot iron. His doctrines tended
powerfully by their rapid diffusion to undermine the principles on which
the worship of the ancient gods rested, and they therefore prepared the
way for the subsequent triumph of Christianity.

The Pythagorean or Italic School was founded by Pythagoras, who is said to
have flourished between 540 and 500 B.C. Pythagoras was probably an Ionian
who emigrated to Italy, and there established his school. His principal
efforts were directed to practical life, especially to the regulation of
political institutions, and his influence was exercised by means of
lectures, or sayings, or by the establishment and direction of the
Pythagorean associations. He encouraged the study of mathematics and
music, and considered singing to the cithara as best fitted to produce
that mental repose and harmony of soul which he regarded as the highest
object of education.

12. HISTORY.--It is remarkable that a people so cultivated as the Greeks
should have been so long without feeling the want of a correct record of
their transactions in war and peace. The difference between this nation
and the Orientals, in this respect, is very great. But the division of the
country into numerous small states, and the republican form of the
governments, prevented a concentration of interest on particular events
and persons, and owing to the dissensions between the republics, their
historical traditions could not but offend some while they flattered
others; it was not until a late period that the Greeks considered
contemporary events as worthy of being thought or written of. But for this
absence of authentic history, Greek literature could never have become
what it was. By the purely fictitious character of its poetry, and its
freedom from the shackles of particular truths, it acquired that general
probability which led Aristotle to consider poetry as more philosophical
than history. Greek art, likewise, from the lateness of the period at
which it descended from the representation of gods and heroes to the
portraits of real men, acquired a nobleness and beauty of form which it
could not otherwise have obtained. This poetical basis gave the literature
of the Greeks a noble and liberal turn.

Writing was probably known in Greece some centuries before the time of
Cadmus of Miletus (fl. 522 B.C.), but it had not been employed for the
purpose of preserving any detailed historical record, and even when,
towards the end of the age of the Seven Sages (550 B.C.), some writers of
historical narratives began to appear, they did not select recent
historical events, but those of distant times and countries; so entirely
did they believe that oral tradition and the daily discussions of common
life were sufficient records of the events of their own time and country.
Cadmus of Miletus is mentioned as the first historian, but his works seem
to have been early lost. To him, and other Greek historians before the
time of Herodotus, scholars have given the name of Logographers, from
Logos, signifying any discourse in prose.

The first Greek to whom it occurred that a narrative of facts might be
made intensely interesting was Herodotus (484-432 B.C.), a native of
Halicarnassus in Asia Minor, the Homer of Greek history. Obliged, for
political reasons, to leave his native land, he visited many countries,
such as Egypt, Babylon, and Persia, and spent the latter years of his life
in one of the Grecian settlements in Italy, where he devoted himself to
the composition of his work. His travels were undertaken from the pure
spirit of inquiry, and for that age they were very extensive and
important. It is probable that his great and intricate plan, hitherto
unknown in the historical writings of the Greeks, did not at first occur
to him, and that it was only in his later years that he conceived the
complete idea of a work so far beyond those of his predecessors and
contemporaries. It is stated that he recited his history at different
festivals, which is quite credible, though there is little authority for
the story that at one of these Thucydides was present as a boy, and shed
tears, drawn forth by his own desire for knowledge and his intense
interest in the narrative. His work comprehends a history of nearly all
the nations of the world at that time known. It has an epic character, not
only from the equable and uninterrupted flow of the narrative, but also
from certain pervading ideas which give a tone to the whole. The principal
of these is the idea of a fixed destiny, of a wise arrangement of the
world, which has prescribed to every being his path, and which allots ruin
and destruction not only to crime and violence, but to excessive power and
riches and the overweening pride which is their companion. In this
consists the envy of the gods so often mentioned by Herodotus, and usually
called by the other Greeks the divine Nemesis. He constantly adverts in
his narrative to the influence of this divine power, the Daemonion, as he
calls it. He shows how the Deity visits the sins of the ancestors upon
their descendants, how man rushes, as it were, wilfully upon his own
destruction, and how oracles mislead by their ambiguity, when interpreted
by blind passion. He shows his awe of the divine Nemesis by his moderation
and the firmness with which he keeps down the ebullitions of national
pride. He points out traits of greatness of character in the hostile kings
of Persia, and shows his countrymen how often they owed their successes to
Providence and external advantages rather than to their own valor and
ability. Since Herodotus saw the working of a divine agency in all human
events, and considered the exhibition of it as the main object of his
history, his aim is totally different from that of a historian who regards
the events of life merely with reference to men. He is, in truth, a
theologian and a poet as well as a historian. It is, however, vain to deny
that when Herodotus did not see himself the events which he describes, he
is often deceived by the misrepresentations of others; yet, without his
single-hearted simplicity, his disposition to listen to every remarkable
account, and his admiration for the wonders of the Eastern world,
Herodotus would never have imparted to us many valuable accounts. Modern
travelers, naturalists, and geographers have often had occasion to admire
the truth, and correctness of the information contained in his simple and
marvelous narratives. But no dissertation on this writer can convey any
idea of the impression made by reading his work; his language closely
approximates to oral narration; it is like hearing a person speak who has
seen and lived through a variety of remarkable things, and whose greatest
delight consists in recalling these images of the past. Though a Dorian by
birth, he adopted the Ionic dialect, with its uncontracted terminations,
its accumulated vowels, and its soft forms. These various elements
conspire to render the work of Herodotus a production as perfect in its
kind as any human work can be.


PERIOD SECOND.

THE EPOCH OF THE ATHENIAN LITERATURE (484-322 B.C.).

1. LITERARY PREDOMINANCE OF ATHENS.--Among the Greeks a national
literature was early formed. Every literary work in the Greek language, in
whatever dialect it might be composed, was enjoyed by the whole nation,
and the fame of remarkable writers soon spread throughout Greece. Certain
cities were considered almost as theatres, where the poets and sages could
bring their powers and acquirements into public notice. Among these,
Sparta stood highest down to the time of the Persian war. But when Athens,
raised by her political power and the mental qualities of her citizens,
acquired the rank of the capital of Greece, literature assumed a different
form, and there is no more important epoch in the history of the Greek
intellect than the time when she obtained this pre-eminence over her
sister states. The character of the Athenians peculiarly fitted them to
take this lead; they were Ionians, and the boundless resources and
mobility of the Ionian spirit are shown by their astonishing productions
in Asia Minor and in the islands, in the two centuries previous to the
Persian war; in their iambic and elegiac poetry, and in the germs of
philosophic inquiry and historical composition. The literature of those
who remained in Attica seemed poor and meagre when compared with that
luxuriant outburst; nor did it appear, till a later period, that the
progress of the Athenian intellect was the more sound and lasting. The
Ionians of Asia Minor, becoming at length enfeebled and corrupted by the
luxuries of the East, passed easily under the power of the Persians, while
the inhabitants of Attica, encompassed and oppressed by the manly tribes
of Greece, and forced to keep the sword constantly in their hands, exerted
all their talents and thus developed all their extraordinary powers.

Solon, the great lawgiver, arose to combine moral strictness and order
with freedom of action. After Solon came the dominion of the
Pisistratidae, which lasted from about 560 to 510 B.C. They showed a
fondness for art, diffused a taste for poetry among the Athenians, and
naturalized at Athens the best literary productions of Greece. They were
unquestionably the first to introduce the entire recital of the Iliad and
Odyssey; they also brought to Athens the most distinguished lyric poets of
the time, Anacreon, Simonides, and others. But, notwithstanding their
patronage of literature and art, it was not till after the fall of their
dynasty that Athens shot up with a vigor that can only be derived from the
consciousness of every citizen that he has a share in the common weal.

It is a remarkable fact that Athens produced her most excellent works in
literature and art in the midst of the greatest political convulsions, and
of her utmost efforts for conquest and self-preservation. The long
dominion of the Pisistratids produced nothing more important than the
first rudiments of the tragic drama, for the origin of comedy at the
country festivals of Bacchus falls in the time before Pisistratus. On the
other hand, the thirty years between the expulsion of Hippias, the last of
the Pisistratids, and the battle of Salamis (510-480 B.C.), was a period
marked by great events both in politics and literature. Athens contended
with success against her warlike neighbors, supported the Ionians in their
revolt against Persia, and warded off the first powerful attack of the
Persians upon Greece. During the same period, the pathetic tragedies of
Phrynichus and the lofty tragedies of Aeschylus appeared on the stage,
political eloquence was awakened in Themistocles, and everything seemed to
give promise of future greatness.

The political events which followed the Persian war gradually gave to
Athens the dominion over her allies, so that she became the sovereign of a
large and flourishing empire, comprehending the islands and coasts of the
Aegean and a part of the Euxine sea. In this manner was gained a wide
basis for the lofty edifice of political glory, which was raised by her
statesmen. The completion of this splendid structure was due to Pericles
(500-429 B.C.). Through his influence Athens became a dominant community,
whose chief business it was to administer the affairs of an extensive
empire, flourishing in agriculture, industry, and commerce. Pericles,
however, did not make the acquisition of power the highest object of his
exertions; his aim was to realize in Athens the idea which he had
conceived of human greatness, that great and noble thoughts should pervade
the whole mass of the ruling people; and this was, in fact, the case as
long as his influence lasted, to a greater degree than has occurred in any
other period of history. The objects to which Pericles directed the
people, and for which he accumulated so much power and wealth at Athens,
may be best seen in the still extant works of architecture and sculpture
which originated under his administration. He induced the Athenian people
to expend on the decoration of Athens a larger part of its ample revenues
than was ever applied to this purpose in any other state, either
republican or monarchical. Of the surpassing skill with which he collected
into one focus the rays of artistic genius at Athens, no stronger proof
can be afforded, than the fact that no subsequent period, through the
patronage of Macedonian or Roman princes, produced works of equal
excellence, Indeed, it may be said that the creations of the age of
Pericles are the only works of art which completely satisfy the most
refined and cultivated taste.

But this brilliant exhibition of human excellence was not without its dark
side, nor the flourishing state of Athenian civilization exempt from the
elements of decay. The political position of Athens soon led to a conflict
between the patriotism and moderation of her citizens, and their interests
and passions. From the earliest times, this city had stood in an
unfriendly relation to the rest of Greece, and her policy of compelling so
many cities to contribute their wealth in order to make her the focus of
art and civilization was accompanied with offensive pride and selfish
patriotism. The energy in action, which distinguished the Athenians,
degenerated into a restless love of adventure; and that dexterity in the
use of words, which they cultivated more than the other Greeks, induced
them to subject everything to discussion, and destroyed the habits founded
on unreasoning faith. The principles of the policy of Pericles were
closely connected with the demoralization which followed his
administration. By founding the power of the Athenians on the dominion of
the sea, he led them to abandon land war and the military exercises
requisite for it, which had hardened the old warriors at Marathon. As he
made them a dominant people, whose time was chiefly devoted to the
business of governing their widely-extended empire, it was necessary for
him to provide that the common citizens of Athens should be able to gain a
livelihood by their attention to public business, and accordingly, a large
revenue was distributed among them in the form of wages for attendance in
the courts of justice and other public assemblies. These payments to
citizens for their share in the public business were quite new in Greece,
and many considered the sitting and listening in these assemblies as an
idle life in comparison with the labor of the plowman and vine-grower in
the country, and for a long time the industrious cultivators, the brave
warriors, and the men of old-fashioned morality were opposed, among the
citizens of Athens, to the loquacious, luxurious, and dissolute generation
who passed their whole time in the market-place and courts of justice. The
contests between these two parties are the main subject of the early Attic
comedy.

Literature and art, however, were not, during the Peloponnesian war,
affected by the corruption of morals. The works of this period exhibit not
only a perfection of form but also an elevation of soul and a grandeur of
conception, which fill us with admiration not only for those who produced
them, but for those who could enjoy such works of art. A step farther, and
the love of genuine beauty gave place to a desire for evil pleasures, and
the love of wisdom degenerated into an idle use of words.

2. THE DRAMA.--The spirit of an age is more completely represented by its
poetry than by its prose composition, and accordingly we may best trace
the character of the three different stages of civilization among the
Greeks in the three grand divisions of their poetry. The epic belongs to
their monarchical period, when the minds of the people were impregnated
and swayed by legends handed down from antiquity. Elegiac, iambic, and
lyric poetry arose in the more stirring and agitated times which
accompanied the development of republican governments, times in which each
individual gave vent to his personal aims and wishes, and all the depths
of the human breast were unlocked by the inspirations of poetry. And now,
when at the summit of Greek civilization, in the very prime of Athenian
power and freedom, we see dramatic poetry spring up as the organ of the
prevailing thoughts and feelings of the time, we are naturally led to ask
how it comes that this style of poetry agreed so well with the spirit of
the age, and so far outstripped its competitors in the contest for public
favor.

Dramatic poetry, as its name implies, represents _actions_, which are not,
as in the epos, merely narrated, but seem to take place before the eyes of
the spectator. The epic poet appears to regard the events, which he
relates from afar, as objects of calm contemplation and admiration, and is
always conscious of the great interval between him and them, while the
dramatist plunges with his entire soul into the scenes of human life, and
seems himself to experience the events which he exhibits to our view. The
drama comprehends and develops the events of human life with a force and
depth which no other style of poetry can reach.

If we carry ourselves in imagination back to a time when dramatic
composition was unknown, we must acknowledge that its creation required
great boldness of mind. Hitherto the bard had only sung of gods and
heroes; it was, therefore, a great change for the poet himself to come
forward all at once in the character of the god or hero, in a nation
which, even in its amusements, had always adhered closely to established
usages. It is true that there is much in human nature which impels it to
dramatic representations, such as the universal love of imitating other
persons, and the child-like liveliness with which a narrator, strongly
impressed with his subject, delivers a speech which he has heard or
perhaps only imagined. Yet there is a wide step from these disjointed
elements to the genuine drama, and it seems that no nation, except the
Greeks, ever made this step. The dramatic poetry of the Hindus belongs to
a time when there had been much intercourse between Greece and India; even
in ancient Greece and Italy, dramatic poetry, and especially tragedy,
attained to perfection only in Athens, and here it was exhibited only at a
few festivals of a single god, Dionysus, while epic rhapsodies and lyric
odes were recited on various occasions. All this is incomprehensible, if
we suppose dramatic poetry to have originated in causes independent of the
peculiar circumstances of time and place. If a love of imitation and a
delight in disguising the real person under a mask were the basis upon
which this style of poetry was raised, the drama would have been as
natural and as universal among men as these qualities are common to their
nature.

A more satisfactory explanation of the origin of the Greek drama may be
found in its connection with the worship of the gods, and particularly
that of Bacchus. The gods were supposed to dwell in their temples and to
participate in their festivals, and it was not considered presumptuous or
unbecoming to represent them as acting like human beings, as was
frequently done by mimic representations. The worship of Bacchus had one
quality which was more than any other calculated to give birth to the
drama, and particularly to tragedy, namely, the enthusiasm which formed an
essential part of it, and which proceeded from an impassioned sympathy
with the events of nature in connection with the course of the seasons.
The original participators in these festivals believed that they perceived
the god to be really affected by the changes of nature, killed or dying,
flying and rescued, or reanimated, victorious, and dominant. Although the
great changes, which took place in the religion and cultivation of the
Greeks, banished from their minds the conviction that these events really
occurred, yet an enthusiastic sympathy with the god and his fortunes, as
with real events, always remained. The swarm of subordinate beings by whom
Bacchus was surrounded--satyrs, nymphs, and a variety of beautiful and
grotesque forms--were ever present to the fancy of the Greeks, and it was
not necessary to depart very widely from the ordinary course of ideas to
imagine them visible to human eyes among the solitary woods and rocks. The
custom, so prevalent at the festivals of Bacchus, of taking the disguise
of satyrs, doubtless originated in the desire to approach more nearly to
the presence of their divinity. The desire of escaping from self into
something new and strange, of living in an imaginary world, broke forth in
a thousand instances in those festivals. It was seen in the coloring of
the body, the wearing of skins and masks of wood or bark, and in the
complete costume belonging to the character.

The learned writers of antiquity agree in stating that tragedy, as well as
comedy, was originally a choral song. The action, the adventures of the
gods, was presupposed or only symbolically indicated; the chorus expressed
their feelings upon it. This choral song belonged to the class of the
_dithyramb_, an enthusiastic ode to Bacchus, capable of expressing every
variety of feeling excited by the worship of that god. It was first sung
by revelers at convivial meetings, afterwards it was regularly executed by
a chorus. The subject of these tragic choruses sometimes changed from
Bacchus to other heroes distinguished for their misfortunes and suffering.
The reason why the dithyramb and afterwards tragedy was transferred from
that god to heroes and not to other gods of the Greek Olympus, was that
the latter were elevated above the chances of fortune and the alternations
of joy and grief to which both Bacchus and the heroes were subject.

It is stated by Aristotle, that tragedy originated with the chief singers
of the dithyramb. It is probable that they represented Bacchus himself or
his messengers, that they came forward and narrated his perils and
escapes, and that the chorus then expressed their feeling, as at passing
events. The chorus thus naturally assumed the character of satellites of
Bacchus, whence they easily fell into the parts of satyrs, who were his
companions in sportive adventures, as well as in combats and misfortunes.
The name of tragedy, or goat's song, was derived from the resemblance of
the singers, in their character of satyrs, to goats.

Thus far tragedy had advanced among the Dorians, who, therefore,
considered themselves the inventors of it. All its further development
belongs to the Athenians. In the time of Pisistratus, Thespis (506 B.C.)
first caused tragedy to become a drama, though a very simple one. He
connected with the choral representation a regular dialogue, by joining
one person to the chorus who was the _first actor_. He introduced linen
masks, and thus the one actor might appear in several characters. In the
drama of Thespis we find the satyric drama confounded with tragedy, and
the persons of the chorus frequently representing satyrs. The dances of
the chorus were still a principal part of the performance; the ancient
tragedians, in general, were teachers of dancing, as well as poets and
musicians.

In Phrynichus (fl. 512 B.C.) the lyric predominated over the dramatic
element. Like Thespis, he had only one actor, but he used this actor for
different characters, and he was the first who brought female parts upon
the stage, which, according to the manners of the ancients, could be acted
only by men. In several instances it is remarkable that Phrynichus
deviated from mythical subjects to those taken from contemporary history.

3. TRAGEDY.--The tragedy of antiquity was entirely different from that
which, in progress of time, arose among other nations; a picture of human
life, agitated by the passions, and corresponding as accurately as
possible to its original in all its features. Ancient tragedy departs
entirely from ordinary life; its character is in the highest degree ideal,
and its development necessary, and essentially directed by the fate to
which gods and men were subjected. As tragedy and dramatic exhibitions,
generally, were seen only at the festivals of Bacchus, they retained a
sort of Bacchic coloring, and the extraordinary excitement of all minds at
these festivals, by raising them above the tone of every-day existence,
gave both to the tragic and comic muse unwonted energy and fire.

The Bacchic festal costume, which the actors wore, consisted of long
striped garments reaching to the ground, over which were thrown upper
garments of some brilliant color, with gay trimmings and gold ornaments.
The choruses also vied with each other in the splendor of their dress, as
well as in the excellence of their singing and dancing. The chorus, which
always bore a subordinate part in the action of the tragedy, was in no
respect distinguished from the stature and appearance of ordinary men,
while the actor, who represented the god or hero, required to be raised
above the usual dimensions of mortals. A tragic actor was a strange, and,
according to the taste of the ancients themselves at a later period, a
very monstrous being. His person was lengthened out considerably beyond
the proportions of the human figure by the very high soles of the tragic
shoe, and by the length of the tragic mask, and the chest, body, legs, and
arms were stuffed and padded to a corresponding size; the body thus lost
much of its natural flexibility, and the gesticulation consisted of stiff,
angular movements, in which little was left to the emotion or the
inspiration of the moment. Masks, which had originated in the taste for
mumming and disguises of all sorts, prevalent at the Bacchic festivals,
were an indispensable accompaniment to tragedy. They not only concealed
the individual features of well-known actors, and enabled the spectators
entirely to forget the performer in his part, but gave to his whole aspect
that ideal character which the tragedy of antiquity demanded. The tragic
mask was not intentionally ugly and caricatured like the comic, but the
half-open mouth, the large eye-sockets, and sharply-defined features, in
which every characteristic was presented in its utmost strength, and the
bright and hard coloring were calculated to make the impression of a being
agitated by the emotions and passions of human nature in a degree far
above the standard of common life. The masks could, however, be changed
between the acts, so as to represent the necessary changes in the state or
emotions of the persons.

The ancient theatres were stone buildings of enormous size, calculated to
accommodate the whole free and adult population of a great city at the
spectacles and festal games. These theatres were not designed exclusively
for dramatic poetry; choral dances, processions, revels, and all sorts of
representations were held in them. We find theatres in every part of
Greece, though dramatic poetry was the peculiar growth of Athens.

The whole structure of the theatre, as well as the drama itself, may be
traced to the chorus, whose station was the original centre of the whole
performance. The orchestra, which occupied a circular level space in the
centre of the building, grew out of the chorus or dancing-place of the
Homeric times. The altar of Bacchus, around which the dithyrambic chorus
danced in a circle, had given rise to a sort of raised platform in the
centre of the orchestra, which served as a resting-place for the chorus.

The chorus sang alone when the actors had quitted the stage, or
alternately with the persons of the drama, and sometimes entered into
dialogues with them. These persons represented heroes of the mythical
world, whose whole aspect bespoke something mightier and more sublime than
ordinary humanity, and it was the part of the chorus to show the
impression made by the incidents of the drama on lower and feebler minds,
and thus, as it were, to interpret them to the audience, with whom they
owned a more kindred nature. The ancient stage was remarkably long, and of
little depth; it was called the _proscenium_, because it was in front of
the _scene_. _Scene_ properly means _tent_ or _hut_, such as originally
marked the dwelling of the principal person. This hut at length gave place
to a stately scene, enriched with architectural decorations, yet its
purpose remained the same.

We have seen how a single actor was added to the chorus by Thespis, who
caused him to represent in succession all the persons of the drama.
Aeschylus added a second actor in order to obtain the contrast of two
acting persons on the stage; even Sophocles did not venture beyond the
introduction of a third. But the ancients laid more stress upon the
precise number and mutual relations of these actors than can here be
explained.

4. THE TRAGIC POETS.--Aeschylus (525-477 B.C.), like almost all the great
masters of poetry in ancient Greece, was a poet by profession, and from
the great improvements which he introduced into tragedy he was regarded by
the Athenians as its founder. Of the seventy tragedies which he is said to
have written, only seven are extant. Of these, the "Prometheus" is beyond
all question his greatest work. The genius of Aeschylus inclined rather to
the awful and sublime, than to the tender and pathetic. He excels in
representing the superhuman, in depicting demigods and heroes, and in
tracing the irresistible march of fate. The depth of poetical feeling in
him is accompanied with intense and philosophical thought; he does not
merely represent individual tragical events, but he recurs to the greater
elements of tragedy--the subjection of the gods and Titans, and the
original dignity and greatness of nature and of man. He delights to
portray this gigantic strength, as in his Prometheus chained and tortured,
but invincible; and these representations have a moral sublimity far above
mere poetic beauty. His tragedies were at once political, patriotic, and
religious.

Sophocles (495-406 B.C.), as a poet, is universally allowed to have
brought the drama to the highest degree of perfection of which it was
susceptible. Indeed, the Greek mind may be said to have culminated in him;
his writings overflow with that indescribable charm which only flashes
through those of other poets. His plots are worked up with more skill and
care than those of either of his great rivals, Aeschylus or Euripides, and
he added the last improvement to the form of the drama by the introduction
of a third actor,--a change which greatly enlarged the scope of the
action. Of the many tragedies which he is said to have written, only seven
are extant. Of these, the "Oedipus Tyrannus" is particularly remarkable
for its skillful development, and for the manner in which the interest of
the piece increases through each succeeding act. Of all the poets of
antiquity, Sophocles has penetrated most deeply into the recesses of the
human heart. His tragedies appear to us as pictures of the mind, as
poetical developments of the secrets of our souls, and of the laws to
which their nature makes them amenable.

In Euripides (480-407 B.C.) we discover the first traces of decline in the
Greek tragedy. He diminished its dignity by depriving it of its ideal
character, and by bringing it down to the level of every-day life. All the
characters of Euripides have that loquacity and dexterity in the use of
words which distinguished the Athenians of his day; yet in spite of all
these faults he has many beauties, and is particularly remarkable for
pathos, so that Aristotle calls him the most tragic of poets. Eighteen of
his tragedies are still extant.

The contemporaries of the three great tragic poets, Aeschylus, Sophocles,
and Euripides, must be regarded for the most part as far from
insignificant, since they maintained their place on the stage beside them,
and not unfrequently gained the tragic prize in competition with them; yet
the general character of these poets must have been deficient in that
depth and peculiar force of genius by which these great tragedians were
distinguished. If this had not been the case, their works would assuredly
have attracted greater attention, and would have been read mere frequently
in later times.

5. COMEDY.--Greek comedy was distinguished as the Old, the Middle, and the
New. As tragedy arose from the winter feast of Bacchus, which fostered an
enthusiastic sympathy with the apparent sorrows of the god of nature,
comedy arose from the concluding feast of the vintage, at which an
exulting joy over the inexhaustible riches of nature manifested itself in
wantonness of every kind. In such a feast, the Comus, or Bacchanalian
procession, was a principal ingredient. This was a tumultuous mixture of
the wild carouse, the noisy song, and the drunken dance; and the meaning
of the word comedy is a comus _song_. It was from this lyric comedy that
the dramatic comedy was gradually produced. It received its full
development from Cratinus, who lived in the age of Pericles. Cratinus and
his younger contemporaries, Eupolis (431 B.C.) and Aristophanes (452-380
B.C.), were the great poets of the old Attic comedy. Of their works, only
eleven dramas of Aristophanes are extant. The chief object of these
comedies was to excite laughter by the boldest and most ludicrous
caricature, and, provided that end was obtained, the poet seems to have
cared little about the justice of the picture. It is scarcely possible to
imagine the unmeasured and unsparing license of attack assumed by these
comedies upon the gods, the institutions, the politicians, philosophers,
poets, private citizens, and women of Athens. With this universal liberty
of subject there is combined a poignancy of derision and satire, a
fecundity of imagination, and a richness of poetical expression such as
cannot be surpassed. Towards the end of the career of Aristophanes,
however, this unrestricted license of the comedy began gradually to
disappear.

The Old comedy was succeeded by the Middle Attic comedy, in which the
satire was no longer directed against the influential men or rulers of the
people, but was rich in ridicule of the Platonic Academy, of the newly
revived sect of the Pythagoreans, and of the orators, rhetoricians, and
poets of the day. In this transition from the Old to the Middle comedy, we
may discern at once the great revolution that had taken place in the
domestic history of Athens, when the Athenians, from a nation of
politicians, became a nation of literary men; when it was no longer the
opposition of political ideas, but the contest of opposing schools of
philosophers and rhetoricians, which set all heads in motion. The poets of
this comedy were very numerous.

The last poets of the Middle comedy were contemporaries of the writers of
the New, who rose up as their rivals, and who were only distinguished from
them by following the new tendency more decidedly and exclusively.
Menander (342-293 B.C.) was one of the first of these poets, and he is
also the most perfect of them. The Athens of his day differed from that of
the time of Pericles, in the same way that an old man, weak in body but
fond of life, good-humored and self-indulgent, differs from the vigorous,
middle-aged man at the summit of his mental strength and bodily energy.
Since there was so little in politics to interest or to employ the mind,
the Athenians found an object in the occurrences of social life and the
charm of dissolute enjoyment. Dramatic poetry now, for the first time,
centred in love, as it has since done among all nations to whom the Greek
cultivation has descended. But it certainly was not love in those nobler
forms to which it has since elevated itself. Menander painted truly the
degenerate world in which he lived, actuated by no mighty impulses, no
noble aspirations. He was contemporary with Epicurus, and their characters
had much in common; both were deficient in the inspiration of high moral
ideas.

The comedy of Menander and his contemporaries completed what Euripides had
begun on the tragic stage a hundred years before their time. They deprived
their characters of that ideal grandeur which had been most conspicuous in
the creations of Aeschylus and the earlier poets, and thus tragedy and
comedy, which had started from such different beginnings, here met as at
the same point. The comedies of Menander may be considered as almost the
conclusion of Attic literature; he was the last original poet of Athens;
those who arose at a later period were but gleaners after the rich harvest
of Greek poetry had been gathered.

6. ORATORY, RHETORIC, AND HISTORY.--We may distinguish three epochs in the
history of Attic prose from Pericles to Alexander the Great: first, that
of Pericles and Thucydides; second, that of Lysias, Socrates, and Plato;
and, third, that of Demosthenes and Aeschines. Public speaking had been
common in Greece from the earliest times, but as the works of Athenian
orators alone have come down to us, we may conclude that oratory was
cultivated in a much higher degree at Athens than elsewhere. No speech of
Pericles has been preserved in writing; only a few of his emphatic and
nervous expressions were kept in remembrance; but a general impression of
the grandeur of his oratory long prevailed among the Greeks, from which we
may form a clear conception of his style. The sole object of the oratory
of Pericles was to produce conviction; he did not aim to excite any sudden
or transient burst of passion by working on the emotions of the heart; nor
did he use any of those means employed by the orators of a later age to
set in motion the unruly impulses of the multitude. His manner was
tranquil, with hardly any change of feature; his garments were undisturbed
by any oratorical gesticulations, and his voice was equable and sustained.
He never condescended to flatter the people, and his dignity never stooped
to merriment. Although there was more of reasoning than imagination in his
speeches, he gave a vivid and impressive coloring to his language by the
use of striking metaphors and comparisons, as when, at the funeral of a
number of young persons who had fallen in battle, he used the beautiful
figure, that "the year had lost its spring."

The cultivation of the art of oratory among the Athenians was due to a
combination of the natural eloquence displayed by the Athenian statesmen,
and especially by Pericles, with the rhetorical studies of the sophists,
who exercised a greater influence on the culture of the Greek mind than
any other class of men, the poets excepted. The sophists, as their name
indicates, were persons who made knowledge their profession, and undertook
to impart it to every one who was willing to place himself under their
guidance; they were reproached with being the first to sell knowledge for
money, for they not only demanded pay from those who came to hear their
lectures, but they undertook, for a certain sum, to give young men a
complete sophistical education. Pupils flocked to them in crowds, and they
acquired such riches as neither art nor science had ever before earned
among the Greeks. If we consider their doctrines philosophically, they
amounted to a denial or renunciation of all true science. They were able
to speak with equal plausibility for and against the same position; not in
order to discover the truth, but to show the nothingness of truth. In the
improvement of written composition, however, a high value must be set on
their services. They made language the object of their study; they aimed
at correctness and beauty of style, and they laid the foundation for the
polished diction of Plato and Demosthenes. They taught that the sole aim
of the orator is to turn the minds of his hearers into such a train as may
best suit his own interest; that, consequently, rhetoric is the agent of
persuasion, the art of all arts, because the rhetorician is able to speak
well and convincingly on every subject, though he may have no accurate
knowledge respecting it.

The Peloponnesian war, which terminated in the downfall of Athens, was
succeeded by a period of exhaustion and repose. The fine arts were checked
in their progress, and poetry degenerated into empty bombast. Yet at this
very time prose literature began a new career, which led to its fairest
development.

Lysias and Isocrates gave an entirely new form to oratory by the happy
alterations which they in different ways introduced into the old prose
style. Lysias (fl. 359 B.C.), in the fiftieth year of his age, began to
follow the trade of writing speeches for such private individuals as could
not trust their own skill in addressing a court; for this object, a plain,
unartificial style was best suited, because citizens who called in the aid
of the speech-writer had no knowledge of rhetoric, and thus Lysias was
obliged to originate a style, which became more and more confirmed by
habit. The consequence was, that for his contemporaries and for all ages
he stands forth as the first and in many respects the perfect pattern of a
plain style. The narrative part of the speech, for which he was
particularly famous, is always natural, interesting, and lively, and often
relieved by mimic touches which give it a wonderful air of reality. The
proofs and confutations are distinguished by a clearness of reasoning and
a boldness of argument which leave no room for doubt; in a word, the
speeches are just what they ought to be in order to obtain a favorable
decision, an object in which, it seems, he often succeeded. Of his many
orations, thirty-five have come down to us.

Isocrates (fl. 338 B.C.) established a school for political oratory, which
became the first and most flourishing in Greece. His orations were mostly
destined for this school. Though neither a great statesman nor philosopher
in himself, Isocrates constitutes an epoch as a rhetorician or artist of
language. His influence extended far beyond the limits of his own school,
and without his reconstruction of the style of Attic oratory we could have
had no Demosthenes and no Cicero; through these, the school of Isocrates
has extended its influence even to the oratory of our own day.

The verdict of his contemporaries, ratified by posterity, has pronounced
Demosthenes (380-322 B.C.) the greatest orator that has ever lived, yet he
had no natural advantages for oratory. A feeble frame and a weak voice, a
shy and awkward manner, the ungraceful gesticulations of one whose limbs
had never been duly exercised, and a defective articulation, would have
deterred most men from even attempting to address an Athenian assembly;
but the ambition and perseverance of Demosthenes enabled him to triumph
over every disadvantage. He improved his bodily powers by running, his
voice by speaking aloud as he walked up hill, or declaimed against the
roar of the sea; he practiced graceful delivery before a looking-glass,
and controlled his unruly articulation by speaking with pebbles in his
mouth. His want of fluency he remedied by diligent composition, and by
copying and committing to memory the works of the best authors. By these
means he came forth as the acknowledged leader of the assembly, and, even
by the confession of his deadliest enemies, the first orator of Greece.
His harangues to the people, and his speeches on public and private
causes, which have been preserved, form a collection of sixty-one
orations. The most important efforts of Demosthenes, however, were the
series of public speeches referring to Philip of Macedon, and known as the
twelve Philippics, a name which has become a general designation for
spirited invectives. The main characteristic of his eloquence consisted in
the use of the common language of his age and country. He took great pains
in the choice and arrangement of his words, and aimed at the utmost
conciseness, making epithets, even common adjectives, do the work of a
whole sentence, and thus, by his perfect delivery and action, a sentence
composed of ordinary terms sometimes smote with the weight of a sledge-
hammer. In his orations there is not any long or close train of reasoning,
still less any profound observations or remote and ingenious allusions,
but a constant succession of remarks, bearing immediately on the matter in
hand, perfectly plain, and as readily admitted as easily understood. These
are intermingled with the most striking appeals either to feelings which
all were conscious of, and deeply agitated by, though ashamed to own, or
to sentiments which every man was panting to utter and delighted to hear
thundered forth,--bursts of oratory, which either overwhelmed or relieved
the audience. Such characteristics constituted the principal glory of the
great orator.

The most eminent of the contemporaries of Demosthenes were Isaeus (420-348
B.C.), an artificial and elaborate orator; Lycurgus (393-328 B.C.), a
celebrated civil reformer of Athens; Hypereides, contemporary of Lycurgus;
and, above all, Aeschines (389-314 B.C.), the great rival of Demosthenes,
of whose numerous speeches only three have been preserved. At a later
period we find two schools of rhetoric, the Attic, founded by Aeschines,
and the Asiatic, established by Hegesias of Magnesia. The former proposed
as models of oratory the great Athenian orators, the latter depended on
artificial manners, and produced speeches distinguished rather by
rhetorical ornaments and a rapid flow of diction than by weight and force
of style.

In the historical department, Thucydides (471-391 B.C.) began an entirely
new class of historical writing. While Herodotus aimed at giving a vivid
picture of all that fell under the cognizance of the senses, and
endeavored to represent a superior power ruling over the destinies of
princes and people, the attention of Thucydides was directed to human
action, as it is developed from the character and situation of the
individual. His history, from its unity of action, may be considered as a
historical drama, the subject being the Athenian domination over Greece,
and the parties the belligerent republics. Clearness in the narrative,
harmony and consistency of the details with the general history, are the
characteristics of his work; and in his style he combines the concise and
pregnant oratory of Pericles with the vigorous but artificial style of the
rhetoricians. Demosthenes was so diligent a student of Thucydides that he
copied out his history eight times.

Xenophon (445-391 B.C.) may also be classed among the great historians,
his name being most favorably known from the "Anabasis," in which he
describes the retreat of the ten thousand Greek mercenaries in the service
of Cyrus, the Persian king, among whom he himself played a prominent part.
The minuteness of detail, the picturesque simplicity of the style, and the
air of reality which pervades it, have made it a favorite with every age.
In his memorials of Socrates, he records the conversations of a man whom
he had admired and listened to, but whom he did not understand. In the
language of Xenophon we find the first approximation to the common
dialect, which became afterwards the universal language of Greece. He
wrote several other works, in which, however, no development of one great
and pervading idea can be found; but in all of them there is a singular
clearness and beauty of description.

7. SOCRATES AND THE SOCRATIC SCHOOLS.--Although Socrates (468-399 B.C.)
left no writings behind him, yet the intellect of Greece was powerfully
affected by the principles of his philosophy, and the greatest literary
genius that ever appeared in Hellas owed most of his mental training to
his early intercourse with him. It was by means of conversation, by a
searching process of question and answer, that Socrates endeavored to lead
his pupils to a consciousness of their own ignorance, and thus to awaken
in their minds an anxiety to obtain more exact views. This method of
questioning he reduced to a scientific process, and "dialectics" became a
name for the art of reasoning and the science of logic. The subject-matter
of this method was moral science considered with special reference to
politics. To him may be justly attributed induction and general
definitions, and he applied this practical logic to a common-sense
estimate of the duties of man both as a moral being and as a member of a
community, and thus he first treated moral philosophy according to
scientific principles. No less than ten schools of philosophers claimed
him as their head, though the majority of them imperfectly represented his
doctrines. By his influence on Plato, and through him on Aristotle, he
constituted himself the founder of the philosophy which is still
recognized in the civilized world.

From the doctrine held by Socrates, that virtue was dependent on
knowledge, Eucleides of Megara (fl. 398 B.C.), the founder of the Megaric
school, submitted moral philosophy to dialectical reasoning and logical
refinements; and from the Socratic principle of the union between virtue
and happiness, Aristippus of Cyrene (fl. 396 B.C.) deduced the doctrine
which became the characteristic of the Cyrenian school, affirming that
pleasure was the ultimate end of life and the higher good; while
Antisthenes (fl. 396 B.C.) constructed the Cynic philosophy, which placed
the ideal of virtue in the absence of every need, and hence in the
disregarding of every interest, wealth, honor, and enjoyment, and in the
independence of any restraints of life and society. Diogenes of Sinope
(fl. 300 B.C.) was one of the most prominent followers of this school. He,
like his master, Antisthenes, always appeared in the most beggarly
clothing, with the staff and wallet of mendicancy; and this ostentation of
self-denial drew from Socrates the exclamation, that he saw the vanity of
Antisthenes through the holes in his garments.

Plato (429-348 B.C.) was the only--one of the disciples of Socrates who
represented the whole doctrines of his teacher. We owe to him that the
ideas which Socrates awakened have been made the germ of one of the
grandest systems of speculation that the world has ever seen, and that it
has been conveyed to us in literary compositions which are unequaled in
refinement of conception, or in vigor and gracefulness of style. At the
age of nineteen he became one of the pupils and associates of Socrates,
and did not leave him until that martyr of intellectual freedom drank the
fatal cup of hemlock. He afterwards traveled in Asia Minor, in Egypt, in
Italy, and Sicily, and made himself acquainted with all contemporary
philosophy. During the latter part of his life he was engaged as a public
lecturer on philosophy. His lectures were delivered in the gardens of the
Academia, and they have left proof of their celebrity in the structure of
language, which has derived from them a term now common to all places of
instruction. Of the importance of the Socratic and Pythagorean elements in
Plato's philosophy there can be no doubt; but he transmuted all he touched
into his own forms of thought and language, and there was no branch of
speculative literature which he had not mastered. By adopting the form of
dialogue, in which all his extant works have come down to us, he was
enabled to criticise the various systems of philosophy then current in
Greece, and also to gratify his own dramatic genius, and his almost
unrivaled power of keeping up an assumed character. The works of Plato
have been divided into three classes: first, the elementary dialogues, or
those which contain the germs of all that follows, of logic as the
instrument of philosophy, and of ideas as its proper object; second,
progressive dialogues, which treat of the distinction between
philosophical and common knowledge, in their united application to the
proposed and real sciences, ethics, and physics; third, the constructive
dialogues, in which the practical is completely united with the
speculative, with an appendix containing laws, epistles, etc.

The fundamental principle of Plato's philosophy is the belief in an
eternal and self-existent cause, the origin of all things. From this
divine Being emanate not only the souls of men, which are immortal, but
that of the universe itself, which is supposed to be animated by a divine
spirit. The material objects of our sight, and other senses, are mere
fleeting emanations of the divine idea; it is only this idea itself that
is really existent; the objects of sensuous perception are mere
appearances, taking their forms by participation in the idea; hence it
follows, that in Plato's philosophy all knowledge is innate, and acquired
by the soul before birth, when it was able to contemplate real existences,
and all our ideas of this world are mere reminiscences of their true and
eternal patterns. The belief of Plato in the immortality of the soul
naturally led him to establish a high standard of moral excellence, and,
like his great teacher, he constantly inculcates temperance, justice, and
purity of life. His political views are developed in the "Republic" and in
the "Laws," in which the main feature of his system is the subordination,
or rather the entire sacrifice of the individual to the state.

The style of Plato is in every way worthy of his position in universal
literature, and modern scholars have confirmed the encomium of Aristotle,
that all his dialogues exhibit extraordinary acuteness, elaborate
elegance, bold originality, and curious speculation. In Plato, the powers
of imagination were just as conspicuous as those of reasoning and
reflection; he had all the chief characteristics of a poet, especially of
a dramatic poet, and if his rank as a philosopher had been lower than it
is, he would still have ranked high among dramatic writers for his life-
like representations of the personages whose opinions he wished to combat
or to defend.

Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) occupies a position among the leaders of human
thought not inferior to that of his teacher, Plato. He was a native of
Stagyra, in Macedonia, and is hence often called the Stagyrite. He early
repaired to Athens, and became a pupil of Plato, who called him the soul
of his school. He was afterwards invited by Philip of Macedon to undertake
the literary education of Alexander, at that time thirteen years old. This
charge continued about three years. He afterwards returned to Athens,
where he opened his school in a gymnasium called the Lyceum, delivering
his lessons as he walked to and fro, and from these saunters his scholars
were called Peripatetics, or saunterers. During this period he composed
most of his extant works. Alexander placed at his disposal a large sum for
his collections in natural history, and employed some thousands of men in
procuring specimens for his museum. After the death of Alexander, he was
accused of blasphemy to the gods, and, warned by the fate of Socrates, he
withdrew from Athens to Chalcis, where he afterwards died.

In looking at the mere catalogue of the works of Aristotle, we are struck
with his vast range of knowledge. He aimed at nothing less than the
completion of a general encyclopedia of philosophy. He was the author of
the first scientific cultivation of each science, and there was hardly any
quality distinguishing a philosopher as such, which he did not possess in
an eminent degree. Of all the philosophical systems of antiquity, that of
Aristotle was the best adapted to the physical wants of mankind. His works
consisted of treatises on natural, moral, and political philosophy,
history, rhetoric, criticism,--indeed, there was scarcely a branch of
knowledge which his vast and comprehensive genius did not embrace. His
greatest claim to our admiration is as a logician. He perfected and
brought into form those elements of the dialectic art which had been
struck out by Socrates and Plato, and wrought them, by his additions, into
so complete a system, that he may be regarded as, at once, the founder and
perfecter of logic as an art, which has since, even down to our own days,
been but very little improved. The style of Aristotle has nothing to
attract those who prefer the embellishments of a work to its subject-
matter and the scientific results which it presents.


PERIOD THIRD.

EPOCH OF THE DECLINE OF GREEK LITERATURE, 322 B.C.-1453 A.D.

1. ORIGIN OF THE ALEXANDRIAN LITERATURE.--As the literary predominance of
Athens was due mainly to the political importance of Attica, the downfall
of Athenian independence brought with it a deterioration, and ultimately
an extinction of that intellectual centralization which for more than a
century had fostered and developed the highest efforts of the genius and
culture of the Greeks. While the living literature of Greece was thus
dying away, the conquests of Alexander prepared a new home for the muses
on the coast of that wonderful country, to which all the nations of
antiquity had owed a part of their science and religious belief. In Egypt,
as in other regions, Alexander gave directions for the foundation of a
city to be called after his own name, which became the magnificent
metropolis of the Hellenic world. This capital was the residence of a
family who attracted to their court all the living representatives of the
literature of Greece, and stored up in their enormous library all the best
works of the classical period. It was chiefly during the reigns of the
first three Ptolemies that Alexandria was made the new home of Greek
literature. Ptolemy Soter (306-285 B.C.) laid the foundations of the
library, and instituted the museum, or temple of the muses, where the
literary men of the age were maintained by endowments. This encouragement
of literature was continued by Ptolemy Philadelphus (285-247 B.C.). He had
the celebrated Callimachus for his librarian, who bought up not only the
whole of Aristotle's great collection of works, but transferred the native
annals of Egypt and Judea to the domain of Greek literature by employing
the priest Manetho to translate the hieroglyphics of his own temple-
archives into the language of the court, and by procuring from the
Sanhedrim of Jerusalem the first part of that celebrated version of the
Hebrew sacred books, which was afterwards completed and known as the
Septuagint, or version of the Seventy. Ptolemy Euergetes (247-222 B.C.)
increased the library by depriving the Athenians of their authentic
editions of the great dramatists. In the course of time the library
founded at Pergamos was transferred to Egypt, and thus we are indebted to
the Ptolemies for preserving to our times all the best specimens of Greek
literature which have come down to us. This encouragement of letters,
however, called forth no great original genius; but a few eminent men of
science, many second-rate and artificial poets, and a host of grammarians
and literary pedants.

2. THE ALEXANDRIAN POETS.--Among the poets of the period, Philetas,
Callimachus, Lycophron, Apollonius, and the writers of idyls, Theocritus,
Bion, and Moschus are the most eminent. The founder of a school of poetry
at Alexandria, and the model for imitation with the Roman writers of
elegiac poetry, was Philetas of Cos (fl. 260 B. C), whose extreme
emaciation of person exposed him to the imputation of wearing lead in the
soles of his shoes, lest he should be blown away. He was chiefly
celebrated as an elegiac poet, in whom ingenious, elegant, and harmonious
versification took the place of higher poetry. Callimachus (fl. 260 B.C.)
was the type of an Alexandrian man of letters, distinguished by skill
rather than genius, the most finished specimen of what might be effected
by talent, learning, and ambition, backed by the patronage of a court. He
was a living representative of the great library over which he presided;
he was not only a writer of all kinds of poetry, but a critic, grammarian,
historian, and geographer. Of his writings, a few poems only are extant.
Next to Callimachus, as a representative of the learned poetry of
Alexandria, stands the dramatist Lycophron (fl. 250 B.C.). All his works
are lost, with the exception of the oracular poem called the "Alexandra,"
or "'Cassandra," on the merits of which very opposite opinions are
entertained. Apollonius, known as the Rhodian (fl. 240 B.C.), was a native
of Alexandria, and a pupil of Callimachus, through whose influence he was
driven from his native city, when he established himself in the island of
Rhodes, where he was so honored and distinguished that he took the name of
the Rhodian. On the death of Callimachus, he was appointed to succeed him
as librarian at Alexandria. His reputation depends on his epic poem, the
"Argonautic Expedition."

Of all the writers of the Alexandrian period, the bucolic poets have
enjoyed the most popularity. Their pastoral poems were called Idyls, from
their pictorial and descriptive character, that is, little pictures of
common life, a name for which the later writers have sometimes substituted
the term Eclogues, that is, _selections_, which is applicable to any short
poem, whether complete and original, or appearing as an extract. The name
of Idyls, however, was afterwards applicable to pastoral poems. Theocritus
(fl. 272 B.C.) gives his name to the most important of these extant
bucolics. He had an original genius for poetry of the highest kind; the
absence of the usual affectation of the Alexandrian school, constant
appeals to nature, a fine perception of character, and a keen sense of
both the beautiful and the ludicrous, indicate the high order of his
literary talent, and account for his universal and undiminished
popularity. The two other bucolic poets of the Alexandrian school were
Bion (fl. 275 B.C.), born near Smyrna, and his pupil Moschus of Syracuse
(fl. 273 B.C.). It appears, from an elegy by Moschus, that Bion migrated
from Asia Minor to Sicily, where he was poisoned. He wrote harmonious
verses with a good deal of pathos and tenderness, but he is as inferior to
Theocritus as he is superior to Moschus, whose artificial style
characterizes him rather as a learned versifier than a true poet.

3. PROSE WRITERS OF ALEXANDRIA.--Many of the most eminent poets were also
prose writers, and they exhibited their versatility by writing on almost
every subject of literary interest. The progress of prose writing
manifested itself from grammar and criticism to the more elaborate and
learned treatment of history and chronology, and to observations and
speculations in pure and mixed mathematics. Demetrius the Phalerian (fl.
295 B.C.), Zenodotus (fl. 279 B.C.), Aristophanes (fl. 200 B.C.), and
Aristarchus (fl. 156 B.C.), the three last of whom were successively
intrusted with the management of the Library, were the representatives of
the Alexandrian school of grammar and criticism. They devoted themselves
chiefly to the revision of the text of Homer, which was finally
established by Aristarchus.

In the historical department may be mentioned Ptolemy Soter, who wrote the
history of the wars of Alexander the Great; Apollodorus (fl. 200 B.C.),
whose "Bibliotheca" contains a general sketch of the mystic legends of the
Greeks; Eratosthenes (fl. 235 B.C.), the founder of scientific chronology
in Greek history; Manetho (fl. 280 B.C.), who introduced the Greeks to a
knowledge of the Egyptian religion and annals; and Berosus of Babylon, his
contemporary, whose work, fragments of which were preserved by Josephus,
was known as the "Babylonian Annals." While the Greeks of Alexandria thus
gained a knowledge of the religious books of the nations conquered by
Alexander, the same curiosity, combined with the necessities of the Jews
of Alexandria, gave birth to the translation of the Bible into Greek,
known under the name of Septuagint, which has exercised a more lasting
influence on the civilized world than that of any book that has ever
appeared in a new tongue. The beginning of that translation was probably
made in the reigns of the first Ptolemies (320-249 B.C.), while the
remainder was completed at a later period.

The wonderful advance, which took place in pure and applied mathematics,
is chiefly due to the learned men who settled in Alexandria; the greatest
mathematicians and the most eminent founders of scientific geography were
all either immediately or indirectly connected with the school of
Alexandria. Euclid (fl. 300 B.C.) founded a famous school of geometry in
that city, in the reign of the first Ptolemy. Almost the only incident of
his life which is known to us is a conversation between him and that king,
who, having asked if there was no easier method of learning the science,
is said to have been told by Euclid, that "there was no royal path to
geometry." His most famous work is his "Elements of Pure Mathematics," at
the present time a manual of instruction and the foundation of all
geometrical treatises. Archimedes (287-212 B.C.) was a native of Syracuse,
in Sicily, but he traveled to Egypt at an early age, and studied
mathematics there in the school of Euclid. He not only distinguished
himself as a pure mathematician and astronomer, and as the founder of the
theory of statics, but he discovered the law of specific gravity, and
constructed some of the most useful machines in the mechanic arts, such as
the pulley and the hydraulic screw. His works are written in the Doric
dialect. Apollonius of Perga (221-204 B.C.) distinguished himself in the
mathematical department by his work on "Conic Elements." Eratosthenes was
not only prominent in the science of chronology, but was also the founder
of astronomical geography, and the author of many valuable works in
various branches of philosophy. Hipparchus (fl. 150 B.C.) is considered
the founder of the science of exact astronomy, from his great work, the
"Catalogue of the Fixed Stars," his discovery of the precession of the
equinoxes, and many other valuable astronomical observations and
calculations.

4. ALEXANDRIAN PHILOSOPHY.--Athens, which had been the centre of Greek
literature during the second or classical period of its development, had
now, in all respects but one, resigned the intellectual leadership to the
city of the Ptolemies. While Alexandria was producing a series of learned
poets, scholars, and discoverers in science, Athenian literature was
mainly represented by the establishment of certain forms of mental and
moral philosophy founded on the various Socratic schools. Two schools of
philosophy were established at Athens at the time of the death of
Aristotle: that of the Academy, in which he himself had studied, and that
of the Lyceum, which he had founded, as the seat of his peripatetic
system. But the older schools soon reappeared under new names: the
Megarics, with an infusion of the doctrines of Democritus, revived in the
skeptic philosophy of Pyrrhon (375-285 B.C.). Epicurus (342-370 B.C.)
founded the school to which he gave his name, by a similar combination of
Democritean philosophy with the doctrines of the Cyrenaics; the Cynics
were developed into Stoics by Zeno (341-260 B.C.), who borrowed much from
the Megaric school and from the Old Academy; and, finally, the Middle and
New Academy arose from a combination of doctrines which were peculiar to
many of these sects.

Though these different schools, which flourished at Athens, had early
representatives in Alexandria, their different doctrines, coming in
contact with the ancient religious systems of the Persians, Jews, and
Hindus, underwent essential modifications, and gave birth to a kind of
electicism, which became later an important element in the development of
Christian history. The rationalism of the Platonic school and the
supernaturalism of the Jewish Scriptures were chiefly mingled together,
and from this amalgamation sprang the system of Neo-Platonism. When the
early teachers of Christianity at Alexandria strove to show the harmony of
the Gospel with the great principles of the Greco-Jewish philosophy, it
underwent new modifications, and the Neo-Platonic school, which sprang up
in Alexandria three centuries B.C., was completed in the first and second
centuries of the Christian era. The common characteristic of the Neo-
Platonists was a tendency to mysticism. Some of them believed that they
were the subjects of divine inspiration and illumination; able to look
into the future and to work miracles. Philo-Judaeus (fl. 20 B.C.),
Numenius (fl. 150 A.D.), Ammonius Saccas (fl. 200 A.D.), Plotinus (fl, 260
A.D.), Porphyry (fl. 260 A.D.), and several fathers of the Greek Church
are among the principal disciples of this school.

5. ANTI-NEO-PLATONIC TENDENCIES.--While the Neo-Platonism of Alexandria
introduced into Greek philosophy Oriental ideas and tendencies, other
positive and practical doctrines also prevailed, founded on common sense
and conscience. First among these were the tenets of the Stoics, who owed
their system mainly and immediately to the teaching of Epictetus (fl. 60
A.D.), who opposed the Oriental enthusiasm of the Neo-Platonists. He was
originally a slave, and became a prominent teacher of philosophy in Rome,
in the reign of Domitian. He left nothing in writing, and we are indebted
for a knowledge of his doctrines to Arrian, who compiled his lectures or
philosophical dissertations in eight books, of which only four are
preserved, and the "Manual of Epictetus," a valuable compendium of the
doctrines of the Stoics. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius not only lectured at
Rome on the principles of Epictetus, but he left us his private
meditations, composed in the midst of a camp, and exhibiting the serenity
of a mind which had made itself independent of outward actions and warring
passions within. Lucian (fl. 150 A.D.) may be compared to Voltaire, whom
he equaled in his powers both of rhetoric and ridicule, and surpassed in
his more conscientious and courageous love of truth. Though the results of
his efforts against heathenism were merely negative, he prepared the way
for Christianity by giving the death-blow to declining idolatry. Lucian,
as a man of letters, is on many accounts interesting, and in reference to
his own age and to the literature of Greece he is entitled to an important
position both with regard to the religious and philosophical results of
his works, and to the introduction of a purer Greek style, which he taught
and exemplified. Longinus (fl. 230 A.D.), both as an opponent of Neo-
Platonism and as a sound and sensible critic, occupies a position similar
to that of Lucian, in the declining period of Greek literary history.
During a visit to the East, he became known to Zenobia, queen of Palmyra,
who adopted the celebrated scholar as her instructor in the language and
literature of Greece, her adviser and chief minister; and when Palmyra
fell before the Roman power he was put to death by the Roman emperor. To
his treatise on "The Sublime" he is chiefly indebted for his fame. When
France, in the reign of Louis XIV., gave a tone to the literary judgments
of Europe, this work was translated by Boileau, and received by the wits
of Paris as an established manual in all that related to the sublime and
beautiful.

6. GREEK LITERATURE IN ROME.--After the subjugation of Greece by the
Romans, Greek authors wrote in their own language and published their
works in Rome; illustrious Romans chose the idiom of Plato as the best
medium for the expression of their own thoughts; dramatic poets gained a
reputation by imitating the tragedies and comedies of Athens, and every
versifier felt compelled by fashion to revive the metres of ancient
Greece. This naturalization of Greek literature at Rome was due to the
rudeness and poverty of the national literature of Italy, to the influence
exerted by the Greek colonies, and to the political subjugation of Greece.
In Rome, Greek libraries were established by the Emperor Augustus and his
successors; and the knowledge of the Greek language was considered a
necessary accomplishment. Cicero made his countrymen acquainted with the
philosophical schools of Athens, and Rome became more and more the rival
of Alexandria, both as a receptacle for the best Greek writings and as a
seat of learning, where Greek authors found appreciation and patronage.
The Greek poets, who were fostered and encouraged at Rome, were chiefly
writers of epigrams, and their poems are preserved in the collections
called "Anthologies." The growing demand for forensic eloquence naturally
led the Roman orators to find their examples in those of Athens, and to
the study of rhetoric in the Grecian writers.

Among the writers on rhetoric whose works seem to have produced the,
greatest effect at the beginning of the Roman period, we mention Dionysius
of Halicarnassus (fl. 7 B.C.). As a critic, he occupies the first rank
among the ancients. Besides his rhetorical treatises, he wrote a work on
"Roman Archaeology," the object of which was to show that the Romans were
not, after all, barbarians, as was generally supposed, but a pure Greek
race, whose institutions, religion, and manners were traceable to an
identity with those of the noblest Hellenes.

What Dionysius endeavored to do for the gratification of his own
countrymen, by giving them a Greek version of Roman history, an
accomplished Jew, who lived about a century later, attempted, from the
opposite point of view, for his own fallen race, in a work which was a
direct imitation of that just described. Flavius Josephus (fl. 60 A.D.)
wrote the "Jewish Archaeology" in order to show the Roman conquerors of
Jerusalem that the Jews did not deserve the contempt with which they were
universally regarded. His "History of the Jewish Wars" is an able and
valuable work.

At an earlier period, Polybius (204-122 B.C.) wrote to explain to the
Greeks how the power of the Romans had established itself in Greece. His
great work was a universal history, but of the forty books of which it
consisted only five have been preserved; perhaps no historical work has
ever been written with such definiteness of purpose or unity of plan, or
with such self-consciousness on the part of the writer. The object to
which he directs attention is the manner in which fortune or providence
uses the ability and energy of man as instruments in carrying out what is
predetermined, and specially the exemplification of these principles in
the wonderful growth of the Roman power during the fifty-three years of
which he treats. Taking his history as a whole, it is hardly possible to
speak in too high terms of it, though the style has many blemishes, such
as endless digressions, wearisome repetition of his own principles and
colloquial vulgarisms.

Diodorus, a native of Sicily, generally known as the Sicilian (Siculus),
flourished in the time of the first two Caesars. In his great work, the
"Historical Library," it was his object to write a history of the world
down to the commencement of Caesar's Gallic wars. He is content to give a
bare recital of the facts, which crowded upon him and left him no time to
be diffuse or ornamental.

The geography of Strabo (fl. 10 A.D.), which has made his name familiar to
modern scholars, has come down to us very nearly complete. Its merits are
literary rather than scientific. His object was to give an instructive and
readable account of the known world, from the point of view taken by a
Greek man of letters. His style is simple, unadorned, and unaffected.

Plutarch (40-120 A.D.) may be classed among the philosophers as well as
among the historians. Though he has left many essays and works on
different subjects, he is best known as a biographer. His lives of
celebrated Greeks and Romans have made his name familiar to the readers of
every country. The universal popularity of his biographies is due to the
fact that they are dramatic pictures, in which each personage is
represented as acting according to his leading characteristics.

Pausanias (fl. 184 A.D.), a professed describer of countries and of their
antiquities and works of art, in his "Gazetteer of Hellas" has left the
best repertory of information for the topography, local history, religious
observances, architecture, and sculpture of the different states of
Greece.

Among the scientific men of this period we find Ptolemy, whose name for
more than a thousand years was coextensive with the sciences of astronomy
and geography. He was a native of Alexandria, and flourished about the
latter part of the second century. The best known of his works is his
"Great Construction of Astronomy." He was the first to indicate the true
shape of Spain, Gaul, and Ireland; as a writer, he deserves to be held in
high estimation. Galen (fl. 130 A.D.) was a writer on philosophy and
medicine, with whom few could vie in productiveness. It was his object to
combine philosophy with medical science, and his works for fifteen
centuries were received as oracular authorities throughout the civilized
world.

7. CONTINUED DECLINE OF GREEK LITERATURE.--The adoption of the Christian
religion by Constantine, and his establishment of the seat of government
in his new city of Constantinople, concurred in causing the rapid decline
of Greek literature in the fourth and following centuries. Christianity,
no longer the object of persecution, became the dominant religion of the
state, and the profession of its tenets was the shortest road to influence
and honor. The old literature, with its mythological allusions, became
less and less fashionable, and the Greek poets, philosophers, and orators
of the better periods gradually lost their attractions. Greek, the
official language of Constantinople, was spoken there, with different
degrees of corruption, by Syrians, Bulgarians, and Goths; and thus, as
Christianity undermined the old classical literature, the political
condition of the capital deteriorated the language itself. Other causes
accelerated the decadence of Greek learning: the great library at
Alexandria, and the school which had been established in connection with
it, were destroyed at the end of the fourth century by the edict of
Theodosius, and the conquest of Egypt by the Saracens in the seventh
century only completed the work of destruction. Justinian closed the
schools of Athens, and prohibited the teaching of philosophy; the Arabs
overthrew those established elsewhere, and there remained only the
institutions of Constantinople. But long before the establishment of the
Turks on the ruins of the Byzantine empire, Greek literature had ceased to
claim any original or independent existence. The opposition between the
literary spirit of heathen Greece and the Christian scholarship of the
time of Constantine and his immediate successors, which grew up very
gradually, was the result of the Oriental superstitions which distorted
Christianity and disturbed the old philosophy. The abortive attempt of the
Emperor Julian to create a reaction in favor of heathenism was the cause
of the open antagonism between the classical and Christian forms of
literature. The church, however, was soon enabled not only to dictate its
own rules of literary criticism, but to destroy the writings of its most
formidable antagonists. The last rays of heathen cultivation in Italy were
extinguished in the gloomy dungeon of Boethius, and the period so justly
designated as the Dark Ages began both in eastern and western Europe.

8. LAST ECHOES OF THE OLD LITERATURE--From the time when Christianity
placed itself in opposition to the old culture of heathen Greece and Rome,
down to the period of the revival of classical literature in the fifteenth
and sixteenth centuries, the classical spirit was nearly extinct both in
eastern and western Europe. In Italy, the triumph of barbarism was more
sudden and complete. In the eastern empire there was a certain literary
activity, and in the department of history, Byzantine literature was
conspicuously prolific.

The imperial family of the Comneni, in the eleventh and twelfth centuries,
and the Palaeologi, who reigned from the thirteenth century to the end of
the eastern empire, endeavored to revive the taste for literature and
learning. But the echoes of the past became fainter and fainter, and when
Constantinople fell into the hands of the Turks, 1453 A.D., the wandering
Greeks who found their way into Italy could only serve as language-masters
to a race of scholars, who thus recovered the learning that had ceased to
exist among the Greeks themselves.

The last manifestations of the old classical learning by the Alexandrian
school, which had done so much in the second and first centuries before
our era, may he divided into three classes. In the first are placed the
mathematical and geographical studies, which had been brought to such
perfection by Euclid, his successors, and after them by Ptolemy. In the
second class we have the substitution of prose romances for the bucolic
and erotic poetry of the Alexandrian and Sicilian writers. In the third
class the revival, by Nonnus and his followers, of a learned epos, of much
the same kind as the poems of Callimachus. Among the representatives of
the mathematical school of Alexandria was Theon, whose celebrity is
obscured by that of his daughter Hypatia (fl. 415 A.D.), whose sex, youth,
beauty, and cruel fate have made her a most interesting martyr of
philosophy. She presided in the public school at Alexandria, where she
taught mathematics and the philosophy of Ammonius and Plotinus. Her
influence over the educated classes of that city excited the jealousy of
the archbishop. She was given up to the violence of a superstitious and
brutal mob, attacked as she was passing through the streets in her
chariot, torn in pieces, and her mutilated body thrown to the flames.

When rhetorical prose superseded composition in verse, the greater
facility of style naturally led to more detailed narratives, and the
sophist who would have been a poet in the time of Callimachus, became a
writer of prose romances in the final period of Greek literature. The
first ascertained beginning of this style of light reading, which occupies
so large a space in the catalogues of modern libraries, was in the time of
the Emperor Trajan, when a Syrian or Babylonian freedman, named
Iamblichus, published a love story called the "Babylonian Adventures."
Among his successors is Longus, of whose work, "The Lesbian Adventure," it
is sufficient to say, that it was the model of the "Diana" of Montemayor,
the "Aminta" of Tasso, the "Pastor Fido" of Guarini, and the "Gentle
Shepherd" of Allan Ramsay.

While the sophists were amusing themselves by clothing erotic and bucolic
subjects in rhetorical prose, an Egyptian boldly revived the epos which
had been cultivated at Alexandria in the earliest days of the Museum.
Nonnus probably flourished at the commencement of the fifth century A.D.
His epic poem, which, in accordance with the terminology of the age, is
called "Dionysian Adventures," is an enormous farrago of learning on the
well-worked subject of Bacchus. The most interesting of the epic
productions of the school of Nonnus is the story of "Hero and Leander," in
340 verses, which bears the name of Musaeus. For grace of diction,
metrical elegance, and simple pathos, this little canto stands far before
the other poems of the same age. The Hero and Leander of Musaeus is the
dying swan-note of Greek poetry, the last distinct note of the old music
of Hellas.

In the Byzantine literature, there are works which claim no originality,
but have a higher value than their contemporaries, because they give
extracts or fragments of the lost writings of the best days of Greece.
Next in value follow the lexicographers, the grammarians, and
commentators. The most voluminous department, however, of Byzantine
literature, was that of the historians, annalists, chroniclers,
biographers, and antiquarians, whose works form a continuous series of
Byzantine annals from the time of Constantine the Great to the taking of
the capital by the Turks. This literature was also enlivened by several
poets, and enriched by some writers on natural history and medicine.

9. THE NEW TESTAMENT AND THE GREEK FATHERS.--The history of Greek
literature would be imperfect without some allusion to a class of writings
not usually included in the range of classical studies. The first of these
works, the Septuagint version of the Old Testament, before mentioned, and
the Greek Apocrypha, may properly be termed Hebrew-Grecian. Their spirit
is wholly at variance with that of pagan literature, and it cannot be
doubted that they exerted great influence when made known to the pagans of
Alexandria. Many of the books termed the Apocrypha were originally written
in Greek, and mostly before the Christian era. Many of them contain
authentic narratives, and are valuable as illustrating the circumstances
of the age to which they refer. The other class of writings alluded to
comprehends the works of the Christian authors. As the influence of
Christianity became more diffused during the first and second centuries,
its regenerating power became visible. After the time of Christ, there
appeared, in both the Greek and Latin tongues, works wholly different in
their spirit and character from all that is found in pagan literature. The
collection of sacred writings contained in the New Testament and the works
of the early fathers constitute a distinct and interesting feature in the
literature of the age in which they appeared. The writings of the New
Testament, considered simply in their literary aspect, are distinguished
by a simplicity, earnestness, naturalness, and beauty that find no
parallel in the literature of the world. But the consideration must not be
overlooked, that they were the work of those men who wrote as they were
moved of the Holy Ghost, that they contain the life and the teachings of
the great Founder of our faith, and that they come to us invested with
divine authority. Their influence upon the ages which have succeeded them
is incalculable, and it is still widening as the knowledge of Christianity
increases. The composition of the New Testament is historical, epistolary,
and prophetic. The first five books, or the historical division, contain
an account of the life and death of our Saviour, and some account of the
first movements of the Apostles. The epistolary division consists of
letters addressed by the Apostles to the different churches or to
individuals. The last, the book of Revelation, the only part that is
considered prophetic, differs from the others in its use of that
symbolical language which had been common to the Hebrew prophets, in the
sublimity and majesty of its imagery, and in its prediction of the final
and universal triumph of Christianity.

The writings of the Apostolic Fathers, or the immediate successors of the
Apostles, were held in high estimation by the primitive Christians. Of
those who wrote under this denomination, the venerable Polycarp and
Ignatius, after they had both attained the age of eighty years, sealed
their faith in the blood of martyrdom. The former was burned at the stake
in Smyrna, and the latter devoured by lions in the amphitheatre of Rome,
In the second and third centuries, Christianity numbered among its
advocates many distinguished scholars and philosophers, particularly among
the Greeks. Their productions may be classed under the heads of biblical,
controversial, doctrinal, historical, and homiletical. Among the most
distinguished of the Greek fathers were Justin Martyr (fl. 89 A.D.), an
eminent Christian philosopher and speculative thinker; Clement of
Alexandria (fl. 190 A.D.), who has left us a collection of works, which,
for learning and literary talent, stand unrivaled among the writings of
the early Christian fathers; Origen (184-253 A.D.), who, in his numerous
works, attempted to reconcile philosophy with Christianity; Eusebius (fl.
325 A.D.), whose ecclesiastical history is ranked among the most valuable
remains of Christian antiquity; Athanasius, famous for his controversy
with Arius; Gregory Nazianzen (329-390 A.D.), distinguished for his rare
union of eloquence and piety, a great orator and theologian; Basil (329-
379 A.D.) whose works, mostly of a purely theological character, exhibit
occasionally decided proofs of his strong feeling for the beauties of
nature; and John Chrysostom (347-407 A.D.), the founder of the art of
preaching, whose extant homilies breathe a spirit of sincere earnestness
and of true genius. To these may be added Nemesius (fl. 400 A.D.), whose
work on the "Nature of Man" is distinguished by the purity of its style
and by the traces of a careful study of classical authors, and Synesius
(378-430 A.D.), who maintained the parallel importance of pagan and
Christian literature, and who has always been held in high estimation for
his epistles, hymns, and dramas.


MODERN LITERATURE.

At the time of the fall of Constantinople, ancient Greek was still the
vehicle of literature, and as such it has been preserved to our day. After
the political changes of the present century, however, it was felt by the
best Greek writers that the old forms were no longer fitted to express
modern ideas, and hence it has become transfused with those better adapted
to the clear and rapid expression of modern literature, though at the same
time the body and substance, as well as the grammar, of the language have
been retained.

From an early age, along with the literary language of Greece, there
existed a conversational language, which varied in different localities,
and out of this grew the Modern Greek or Neo-Hellenic.

After the fall of Constantinople, the Greeks were prominent in spreading a
knowledge of their language through Europe, and but few works of
importance were produced. During the eighteenth century a revival of
enthusiasm for education and literature took place, and a period of great
literary activity has since followed. Perhaps no nation now produces so
much literature in proportion to its numbers, although the number of
readers is small and there are great difficulties in publishing. In these
circumstances, the Ralli and other distinguished Greeks have nobly come
forward and published books at their own expense, and great activity
prevails in every department of letters.

Since the establishment of Greek independence, three writers have secured
for themselves a permanent place in literature as men of true genius: the
two brothers Panagiotis and Alexander Santsos, and Alexander Rangabe. The
brothers Santsos threw all their energies into the war for independence
and sang of its glories. Panagiotis (d. 1868) was always lyrical, and
Alexander (d. 1863) always satirical. Both were highly ideal in their
conceptions, and both had a rich command of musical language. The other
great poet of regenerated Greece is Alexander Rangabe, whose works range
through almost every department of literature, though it is on his poems
that his claim to remembrance will specially rest. They are distinguished
by fine poetic feeling, rare command of exquisite and harmonious language,
and singular beauty and purity of thought. His poetical works consist of
hymns, odes, songs, narrative poems, ballads, tragedies, comedies, and
translations. There is no department in prose literature which is not well
represented in modern Greek, and many women have particularly
distinguished themselves.




ROMAN LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION.--1. Roman Literature and its Divisions.--2. The Language;
Ethnographical Elements of the Latin Language; the Umbrian; Oscan;
Etruscan; the Old Roman Tongue; Saturnian Verse; Peculiarities of the
Latin Language.--3. The Roman Religion.

PERIOD FIRST.--1. Early Literature of the Romans; the Fescennine Songs;
the Fabulae Atellanae.--2. Early Latin Poets; Livius Andronicus, Naevius,
and Ennius.--3. Roman Comedy.--4. Comic Poets; Plautus, Terence, and
Statius.--5. Roman Tragedy.--6. Tragic Poets; Pacuvius and Attius.--7.
Satire; Lucilius.--8. History and Oratory; Fabius Pictor; Cencius
Alimentus; Cato; Varro; M. Antonius; Crassus; Hortensius.--9. Roman
Jurisprudence.--10. Grammarians.

PERIOD SECOND.--1. Development of the Roman Literature.--2. Mimes,
Mimographers, Pantomime; Laberius and P. Lyrus.--3. Epic Poetry; Virgil;
The Aeneid.--4. Didactic Poetry; the Bucolics; the Georgics; Lucretius.--
5. Lyric Poetry; Catullus; Horace.--6. Elegy; Tibullus; Propertius; Ovid.
--7. Oratory and Philosophy; Cicero.--8. History; J. Caesar; Sallust;
Livy.--9. Other Prose Writers.

PERIOD THIRD.--1. Decline of Roman Literature.--2. Fable; Phaedrus.--3.
Satire and Epigram; Persius, Juvenal, Martial.--4. Dramatic Literature;
the Tragedies of Seneca.--5. Epic Poetry; Lucan; Silius Italicus; Valerius
Flaccus; P. Statius.--6. History; Paterculus; Tacitus; Suetonius; Q.
Curtius; Valerius Maximus.--7. Rhetoric and Eloquence; Quintilian; Pliny
the Younger.--8. Philosophy and Science; Seneca; Pliny the Elder; Celsus;
P. Mela; Columella; Frontinus.--9. Roman Literature from Hadrian to
Theodoric; Claudian; Eutropius; A. Marcellinus; S. Sulpicius; Gellius;
Macrobius; L. Apuleius; Boethius; the Latin Fathers.--10. Roman
Jurisprudence.


INTRODUCTION.

1. ROMAN LITERATURE AND ITS DIVISIONS.--Inferior to Greece in the genius
of its inhabitants, and, perhaps, in the intrinsic greatness of the events
of which it was the theatre, unquestionably inferior in the fruits of
intellectual activity, Italy holds the second place in the classic
literature of antiquity. Etruria could boast of arts, legislation,
scientific knowledge, a fanciful mythology, and a form of dramatic
spectacle, before the foundations of Rome were laid. But, like the ancient
Egyptians, the Etrurians made no progress in composition. Verses of an
irregular structure and rude in sense and harmony appear to have formed
the highest limit of their literary achievements. Nor did even the opulent
and luxurious Greeks of Southern Italy, while they retained their
independence, contribute much to the glory of letters in the West. It was
only in their fall that they did good service to the cause, when they
redeemed the disgrace of their political humiliation by the honor of
communicating the first impulse towards intellectual refinement to the
bosoms of their conquerors. When, in the process of time, Sicily,
Macedonia, and Achaia had become Roman provinces, some acquaintance with
the language of their new subjects proved to be a matter almost of
necessity to the victorious people; but the first impression made at Rome
by the productions of the Grecian Muse, and the first efforts to create a
similar literature, must be traced to the conquest of Tarentum (272 B.C.).
From that memorable period, the versatile talents which distinguished the
Greeks in every stage of national decline began to exercise a powerful
influence on the Roman mind, which was particularly felt in the
departments of education and amusement. The instruction of the Roman youth
was committed to the skill and learning of Greek slaves; the spirit of the
Greek drama was transferred into the Latin tongue, and, somewhat later,
Roman genius and ambition devoted their united energies to the study of
Greek rhetoric, which long continued to be the guide and model of those
schools, in whose exercises the abilities of Cicero himself were trained.
Prejudice and patriotism were powerless to resist this flood of foreign
innovation; and for more than a century after the Tarentine war,
legislative influence strove in vain to counteract the predominance of
Greek philosophy and eloquence. But this imitative tendency was tempered
by the pride of Roman citizenship. That sentiment breaks out, not merely
in the works of great statesmen and warriors, but quite as strikingly in
the productions of those in whom the literary character was all in all. It
is as prominent in Virgil and Horace as in Cicero and Caesar; and if the
language of Rome, in other respects so inferior to that of Greece, has any
advantage over the sister tongue, it lies in that accent of dignity and
command which seems inherent in its tones. The austerity of power is not
shaded down by those graceful softenings so agreeable to the disposition
of the most polished Grecian communities. In the Latin forms and syntax we
are everywhere conscious of a certain energetic majesty and forcible
compression. We hear, as it were, the voice of one who claims to be
respected, and resolves to be obeyed.

The Roman classical literature may be divided into three periods. The
first embraces its rise and progress, oral and traditional compositions,
the rude elements of the drama, the introduction of Greek literature, and
the construction and perfection of comedy. To this period the first five
centuries of the republic may be considered as introductory, for Rome had,
properly speaking, no literature until the conclusion of the first Punic
war (241 B.C.), and the first period, commencing at that time, extends
through 160 years--that is, to the first appearance of Cicero in public
life, 74 B.C.

The second period ends with the death of Augustus, 14 A.D. It comprehends
the age of which Cicero is the representative as the most accomplished
orator, philosopher, and prose-writer of his time, as well as that of
Augustus, which is commonly called the Golden Age of Latin poetry.

The third and last period terminates with the death of Theodoric, 526 A.D.
Notwithstanding the numerous excellences which distinguished the
literature of this time, its decline had evidently commenced, and, as the
age of Augustus has been distinguished by the epithet "golden," the
succeeding period, to the death of Hadrian, 138 A.D., on account of its
comparative inferiority, has been designated "the Silver Age." From this
time to the close of the reign of Theodoric, only a few distinguished
names are to be found.

2. THE LANGUAGE.--The origin of the Latin language is necessarily
connected with that of the Romans themselves. In the most distant ages to
which tradition extends, Italy appears to have been inhabited by three
stocks or tribes of the great Indo-European family. One of these is
commonly known by the name of Oscans; another consisted of two branches,
the Sabelians or Sabines, and the Umbrians; the third was called Sikeli,
sometimes Vituli or Itali.

The original settlements of the Umbrians extended over the district
bounded on one side by the Tiber, and on the other by the Po. All the
country to the south was in possession of the Oscans, with the exception
of Latium, which was inhabited by the Sikeli. But, in process of time, the
Oscans, pressed upon by the Sabines, invaded the abodes of this peaceful
and rural people, some of whom submitted, and amalgamated with their
conquerors; the rest were driven across the narrow sea into Sicily, and
gave their name to the island.

These tribes were not left in undisturbed possession of their rich
inheritance. More than 1000 B.C. there arrived in the northern part of
Italy the Pelasgians (or dark Asiatics), an enterprising race, famed for
their warlike spirit and their skill in the arts of peace, who became the
civilizers of Italy. They were far advanced in the arts of civilization
and refinement, and in the science of politics and social life. They
enriched their newly acquired country with commerce, and filled it with
strongly fortified and populous cities, and their dominion rapidly spread
over the whole peninsula. Entering the territory of the Umbrians, they
drove them into the mountainous districts, or compelled them to live among
them as a subject people, while they possessed themselves of the rich and
fertile plains. The headquarters of the invaders was Etruria, and that
portion of them who settled there were known as Etrurians. Marching
southward, they vanquished the Oscans and occupied the plains of Latium.
They did not, however, remain long at peace in the districts which they
had conquered. The old inhabitants returned from the neighboring highlands
to which they had been driven, and subjugated the northern part of Latium,
and established a federal anion between the towns of the north, of which
Alba was the capital, while of the southern confederacy the chief city was
Lavinium.

At a later period, a Latin tribe, belonging to the Alban federation,
established itself on the Mount Palatine, and founded Rome, while a Sabine
community occupied the neighboring heights of the Quirinal. Mutual
jealousy of race kept them, for some time, separate from each other; but
at length the two communities became one people, called the Romans. These
were, at an early period, subjected to Etruscan rule, and when the
Etruscan dynasty passed away, its influence still remained, and
permanently affected the Roman language.

The Etruscan tongue being a compound of Pelasgian and Umbrian, the
language of Latium may be considered as the result of those two elements
combined with the Oscan, and brought together by the mingling of those
different tribes. These elements, which entered into the formation of the
Latin, may be classified under two heads: the one which has, the other
which has not a resemblance to the Greek. All Latin words which resemble
the Greek are Pelasgian, and all which do not are Etruscan, Oscan, or
Umbrian. From the first of these classes must be excepted those words
which are directly derived from the Greek, the origin of which dates
partly from the time when Rome began to have intercourse with the Greek
colonies of Magna Graecia, partly after the Greeks exercised a direct
influence on Roman literature.

Of the ancient languages of Italy, which concurred in the formation of the
Latin, little is known. The Eugubine Tables are the only extant fragments
of the Umbrian language. These were found in the neighborhood of Ugubio,
in the year 1414 A.D.; they date as early as 354 B.C., and contain prayers
and rules for religious ceremonies. Some of these tables were engraved in
Etruscan or Umbrian characters, others in Latin letters. The remains which
have come down to us of the Oscan language belong to a composite idiom
made up of the Sabine and Oscan, and consist chiefly of an inscription
engraved on a brass plate, discovered in 1793 A.D. As the word Bansae
occurs in this inscription, it has been supposed to refer to the town of
Bantia, which was situated not far from the spot where the tablet was
found, and it is, therefore, called the Bantine Table. The similarity
between some of the words found in the Eugubine Tables and in Etruscan
inscriptions, shows that the Etruscan language was composed of the
Pelasgian and Umbrian, and from the examples given by ethnographers, it is
evident that the Etruscan element was most influential in the formation of
the Latin language.

The old Roman tongue, or _lingua prisca_, as it was composed of these
materials, and as it existed previous to coming in contact with the Greek,
has almost entirely perished; it did not grow into the new, like the
Greek, by a process of intrinsic development, but it was remoulded by
external and foreign influences. So different was the old Roman from the
classical Latin, that some of those ancient fragments were with difficulty
intelligible to the cleverest and best educated scholars of the Augustan
age.

An example of the oldest Latin extant is contained in the sacred chant of
the Fratres Arvales. These were a college of priests, whose function was
to offer prayers for plenteous harvests, in solemn dances and processions
at the opening of spring. Their song was chanted in the temple with closed
doors, accompanied by that peculiar dance which was termed the tripudium,
from its containing three beats. The inscription which embodied this
litany was discovered in Rome in 1778 A.D. The monument belongs to the
reign of Heliogabalus, 218 A.D., but although the date is so recent, the
permanence of religious formulas renders it probable that the inscription
contains the exact words sung by this priesthood in the earliest times.
The "Carmen Saliare," or the Salian hymn, the _leges regiae_, the
Tiburtine inscription, the inscription on the sarcophagus of L. Cornelius
Scipio Barbatus, the great-grandfather of the conqueror of Hannibal, the
epitaph of Lucius Scipio, his son, and, above all, the Twelve Tables, are
the other principal extant monuments of ancient Latin. The laws of the
Twelve Tables were engraven on tablets of brass, and publicly set up in
the comitium; they were first made public 449 B.C.

Most of these literary monuments were written in Saturnian verse, the
oldest measure used by the Latin poets. It was probably derived from the
Etruscans, and until Ennius introduced the heroic hexameter, the strains
of the Italian bards flowed in this metre. The structure of the Saturnian
is very simple, and its rhythmical arrangement is found in the poetry of
every age and country. Macaulay adduces, as an example of this measure,
the following line from the well-known nursery song,----

  "The queen was in her parlor, | eating bread and honey."

From this species of verse, which probably prevailed among the natives of
Provence (the Roman Provincia), and into which, at a later period, rhyme
was introduced as an embellishment, the Troubadours derived the metre of
their ballad poetry, and thence introduced it into the rest of Europe.

A wide gap separates this old Latin from the Latin of Ennius, whose style
was formed by Greek taste; another not so wide is interposed between the
age of Ennius and that of Plautus and Terence, and lastly, Cicero and the
Augustan poets mark another age. But in all its periods of development,
the Latin bears a most intimate relation with the Greek. This similarity
is the result both of their common origin from the primitive Pelasgian and
of the intercourse which the Romans at a later period held with the
Greeks. Latin, however, had not the plastic property of the Greek, the
faculty of transforming itself into every variety of form and shape
conceived by the fancy and imagination; it partook of the spirit of Roman
nationality, of the conscious dignity of the Roman citizen, of the
indomitable will that led that people to the conquest of the world. In its
construction, instead of conforming to the thought, it bends the thought
to its own genius. It is a fit language for expressing the thoughts of an
active and practical, but not of an imaginative and speculative people. It
was propagated, like the dominion of Rome, by conquest. It either took the
place of the language of the conquered nation, or became ingrafted upon
it, and gradually pervaded its composition; hence its presence is
discernible in all European languages.

3. THE RELIGION.--The religion and mythology of Etruria left an indelible
stamp on the rites and ceremonies of the Roman people. At first they
worshiped heaven and earth, personified in Saturn and Ops, by whom Juno,
Vesta, and Ceres were generated, symbolizing marriage, family, and
fertility; soon after, other Etruscan divinities were introduced, such as
Jupiter, Minerva, and Janus; and Sylvanus and Faunus, who delighted in the
simple occupations of rural and pastoral life. From the Etrurians the
Romans borrowed, also, the institution of the Vestals, whose duty was to
watch and keep alive the sacred fire of Vesta; the Lares and Penates, the
domestic gods, which presided over the dwelling and family; Terminus, the
god of property and the rites connected with possession; and the orders of
Augurs and Aruspices, whose office was to consult the flight of birds or
to inspect the entrails of animals offered in sacrifice, in order to
ascertain future events. The family of the Roman gods continued to
increase by adopting the divinities of the conquered nations, and more
particularly by the introduction of those of Greece. The general division
of the gods was twofold,--the superior and inferior deities. The first
class contained the Consentes and the Selecti; the second, the Indigetes
and Semones. The Consentes, so called because they were supposed to form
the great council of heaven, consisted of twelve: Jupiter, Neptune,
Apollo, Mars, Mercury, Vulcan, Juno, Minerva, Ceres, Diana, Venus, and
Vesta. The Selecti were nearly equal to them in rank, and consisted of
eight: Saturn, Pluto, Bacchus, Janus, Sol, Genius, Rhea, and Luna. The
Indigites were heroes who were ranked among the gods, and included
particularly Hercules, Castor and Pollux, and Quirinus or Romulus. The
Semones comprehended those deities that presided over particular objects,
as Pan, the god of shepherds; Flora, the goddess of flowers, etc. Besides
these, there were among the inferior gods a numerous class of deities,
including the virtues and vices and other objects personified.

The religion of the Romans was essentially political, and employed as a
means of promoting the designs of the state. It was prosaic in its
character, and in this respect differed essentially from the artistic and
poetical religion of the Greeks. The Greeks conceived religion as a free
and joyous worship of nature, a centre of individuality, beauty, and
grace, as well as a source of poetry, art, and independence. With the
Romans, on the contrary, religion conveyed a mysterious and hidden idea,
which gave to this sentiment a gloomy and unattractive character, without
either moral or artistic influence.


PERIOD FIRST.

FROM THE CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST PUNIC WAR TO THE AGE OF CICERO
(241-74 B.C.)

1. EARLY LITERATURE OF THE ROMANS.--The Romans, like all other nations,
had oral poetical compositions before they possessed any written
literature. Cicero speaks of the banquet being enlivened by the songs of
bards, in which the exploits of heroes were recited and celebrated. By
these lays national pride and family vanity were gratified, and the
anecdotes, thus preserved, furnished sources of early legendary history.
But these legends must not be compared to those of Greece, in which the
religious sentiment gave a supernatural glory to the effusions of the
bard, painted men as heroes and heroes as deities, and, while it was the
natural growth of the Greek intellect, twined itself around the affections
of the people. The Roman religion was a ceremonial for the priests, and
not for the people, and in Roman tradition there are no traces of elevated
genius or poetical inspiration. The Romans possessed the germs of those
faculties which admit of cultivation and improvement, such as taste and
genius, and the appreciation of the beautiful; but they did not possess
those natural gifts of fancy and imagination which formed part of the
Greek mind, and which made that nation in a state of infancy, almost of
barbarism, a poetical people. With them literature was not of spontaneous
growth; it was chiefly the result of the influence exerted by the
Etruscans, who were their teachers in everything mental and spiritual.

The tendency of the Roman mind was essentially utilitarian. Even Cicero,
with all his varied accomplishments, will recognize but one end and object
of all study, namely, those sciences which will render man useful to his
country, and the law of literary development is modified according to this
ruling principle. From the very beginning, the first cause of Roman
literature will be found to have been a view to utility and not to the
satisfaction of an impulsive feeling.

In other nations, poetry has been the first spontaneous production. With
the Romans, the first written literary effort was history; but even their
early history was a simple record of facts, not of ideas or sentiments,
and valuable only for its truth and accuracy. Their original documents,
mere records of memorable events anterior to the capture of Rome by the
Gauls, perished in the conflagration of the city.

The earliest attempt at versification made by the rude inhabitants of
Latium was satire in a somewhat dramatic form. The Fescennine songs were
metrical, for the accompaniments of music and dancing necessarily
restricted them to measure, and, like the dramatic exhibitions of the
Greeks, they had their origin among the rural population, not like them in
any religious ceremonial, but in the pastimes of the village festival. At
first they were innocent and gay, but liberty at length degenerated into
license, and gave birth to malicious and libelous attacks upon persons of
irreproachable character. This infancy of song illustrates the character
of the Romans in its rudest and coarsest form. They loved strife, both
bodily and mental, and they thus early displayed that taste which, in more
polished ages, and in the hands of cultivated poets, was developed in the
sharp, cutting wit, and the lively but piercing points of Roman satire.

In the Fescennine songs the Etruscans probably furnished the spectacle,
all that which addresses itself to the eye, while the habits of Italian
rural life supplied the sarcastic humor and ready extemporaneous gibe,
which are the essence of the true comic. The next advance in point of art
must be attributed to the Oscans, whose entertainments were most popular
among the Italian nations. They represented in broad caricature national
peculiarities. Their language was, originally, Oscan, as well as the
characters represented. The principal one resembled the clown of modern
pantomime; another was a kind of pantaloon or charlatan, and much of the
rest consisted of practical jokes, like that of the Italian Polincinella.
After their introduction at Rome, they received many improvements; they
lost their native rusticity; their satire was good-natured; their jests
were seemly, and kept in check by the laws of good taste. They were not
acted by common professional performers, and even a Roman citizen might
take part in them without disgrace. They were known by the name of
"Fabulae Atellanae," from Attela, a town in Campania, where they were
first performed. They remained in favor with the Roman people for
centuries. Sylla amused his leisure hours in writing them, and Suetonius
bears testimony to their having been a popular amusement under the empire.

Towards the close of the fourth century, the Etruscan _histriones_ were
introduced, whose entertainments consisted of graceful national dances,
accompanied with the music of the flute, but without either songs or
dramatic action. With these dances the Romans combined the old Fescennine
songs, and the varied metres, which their verse permitted to the vocal
parts, gave to this mixed entertainment the name of Satura (a hodge-podge
or potpourri), from which, in after times, the word satire was derived.

2. EARLY LATIN POETS.--At the conclusion, of the first Punic war, when the
influence of Greek intellect, which had already long been felt in Italy,
had extended to the capital, the Romans were prepared for the reception of
a more regular drama. But not only did they owe to Greece the principles
of literary taste; their earliest poet was one of that nation. Livius
Andronicus (fl. 240 B.C.), though born in Italy, and educated at Rome, is
supposed to have been a native of the Greek colony of Tarentum. He was at
first a slave, probably a captive taken in war, but was finally
emancipated by his master, in whose family he occupied the position of
instructor to his children. He wrote a translation, or perhaps an
imitation of the Odyssey, in the old Saturnian metre, and also a few
hymns. His principal works, however, were tragedies; but, from the few
fragments of his writings extant, it is impossible to form an estimate of
his ability as a poet. According to Livy, Andronicus was the first who
substituted, for the rude extemporaneous effusions of the Fescennine
verse, plays with a regular plot and fable. In consequence of losing his
voice, from being frequently encored, he obtained permission to introduce
a boy to sing the ode or air to the accompaniment of the flute, while he
himself represented the action of the song by his gestures and dancing.

Naevius (fl. 235 B.C.) was the first poet who really deserves the name of
Roman. He was not a servile imitator, but applied Greek taste and
cultivation to the development of Roman sentiments, and was a true Roman
in heart, unsparing in his censure of immorality and his admiration for
heroic self-devotion. His honest principles cemented the strong friendship
between him and the upright and unbending Cato, a friendship which
probably contributed to form the political and literary character of that
stern old Roman. The comedies of Naevius had undoubted pretensions to
originality; he held up to public scorn the vices and follies of his day,
and, being a warm supporter of the people against the encroachments of the
nobility, and unable to resist indulgence in his satiric vein, he was
exiled to Utica, where he died. He was the author of an epic poem on the
Punic war. Ennius and Virgil unscrupulously copied and imitated him, and
Horace writes that in his day the poems of Naevius were in the hands and
hearts of everybody. The fragments of his writings extant are not more
numerous than those of Livius.

Naevius, the last of the older school of writers, by introducing new
principles of taste to his countrymen, altered their standards; and Greek
literature having now driven out its predecessor, a new school of poetry
arose, of which Ennius (239-169 B.C.) was the founder. He earned a
subsistence as a teacher of Greek, was the friend of Scipio, and, at his
death, was buried in the family tomb of the Scipio, at the request of the
great conqueror of Hannibal, whose fame he contributed to hand down to
posterity. Cicero always uses the appellation, "our own Ennius," when he
quotes his poetry. Horace calls him "Father Ennius," a term which implies
reverence and regard, and that he was the founder of Latin poetry. He was,
like his friends Cato the censor, and Scipio Africanus the elder, a man of
action as well as philosophical thought, and not only a poet, but a brave
soldier, with all the singleness of heart and simplicity of manners which
marked the old times of Roman virtue. Ennius possessed great power over
words, and wielded that power skillfully. He improved the language in its
harmony and its grammatical forms, and increased its copiousness and
power. What he did was improved upon, but was never undone; and upon the
foundations he laid, the taste of succeeding ages erected an elegant and
beautiful superstructure. His great epic poem, the "Annals," gained him
the attachment and admiration of his countrymen. In this he first
introduced the hexameter to the notice of the Romans, and detailed the
rise and progress of their national glory, from the earliest legendary
period down to his own times. The fragments of this work which remain are
amply sufficient to show that he possessed picturesque power, both in
sketching his narratives and in portraying his characters, which seem to
live and breathe; his language, dignified, chaste, and severe, rises as
high as the most majestic eloquence, but it does not soar to the sublimity
of poetry. As a dramatic poet, Ennius does not deserve a high reputation.
In comedy, as in tragedy, he never emancipated himself from the Greek
originals.

3. ROMAN COMEDY.--The rude comedy of the early Romans made little progress
beyond personal satire, burlesque extravagance and licentious jesting, but
upon this was ingrafted the new Greek comedy, and hence arose that phase
of the drama, of which the representatives were Plautus, Statius, and
Terence. The Roman comedy was calculated to produce a moral result,
although the morality it inculcated was extremely low. Its standard was
worldly prudence, its lessons utilitarian, and its philosophy Epicurean.
There is a want of variety in the plots, but this defect is owing to the
social and political condition of ancient Greece, which was represented in
the Greek comedies and copied by the Romans. There is also a sameness in
the _dramatis personae_, the principal characters being always a morose or
a gentle father, who is sometimes also the henpecked husband of a rich
wife, an affectionate or domineering wife, a good-natured profligate, a
roguish servant, a calculating slave-dealer and some others.

The actors wore appropriate masks, the features of which were not only
grotesque, but much exaggerated and magnified. This was rendered necessary
by the immense size of the theatre and stage, and the mouth of the mask
answered the purpose of a speaking trumpet, to assist in conveying the
voice to every part of the vast building. The characters were known by a
conventional costume; old men wore robes of white, young men were attired
in gay clothes, rich men in purple, soldiers in scarlet, poor men and
slaves in dark and scanty dresses. The comedy had always a musical
accompaniment of flutes of different kinds.

In order to understand the principles which regulated the Roman comic
metres, it is necessary to observe the manner in which the language itself
was affected by the common conversational pronunciation. Latin, as it was
pronounced, was very different from Latin as it is written; this
difference consisted in abbreviation, either by the omission of sounds
altogether, or by the contraction of two sounds into one, and in this
respect the conversational language of the Romans resembled that of modern
nations; with them, as with us, the mark of good taste was ease and the
absence of pedantry and affectation. In the comic writers we have a
complete representation of Latin as it was commonly pronounced and spoken,
and but little trammeled or confined by a rigid adhesion to Greek metrical
laws.

4. COMIC POETS.--Plautus (227-184 B.C.) was a contemporary of Ennius; he
was a native of Umbria, and of humble origin. Education did not overcome
his vulgarity, although it produced a great effect upon his language and
style. He must have lived and associated with the people whose manners he
describes, hence his pictures are correct and truthful. The class from
which his representations are taken consisted of clients, the sons of
freedmen and the half-enfranchised natives of Italian towns. He had no
aristocratic friends, like Ennius and Terence; the Roman public were his
patrons, and notwithstanding their faults, his comedies retained their
popularity even in the Augustan age, and were acted as late as the reign
of Diocletian. Life, bustle, surprise, unexpected situations, sharp,
sparkling raillery that knew no restraint nor bound, left his audience no
time for dullness or weariness. Although Greek was the fountain from which
he drew his stores, his wit, thought, and language were entirely Roman,
and his style was Latin of the purest and most elegant kind--not, indeed,
controlled by much deference to the laws of metrical harmony, but full of
pith and sprightliness, bearing the stamp of colloquial vivacity, and
suitable to the general briskness of his scenes. Yet in the tone of his
dialogue we miss all symptoms of deference to the taste of the more
polished classes of society. Almost all his comedies were adopted from the
new comedy of the Greeks, and though he had studied both the old and the
middle comedy, Menander and others of the same school furnished him the
originals of his plots. The popularity of Plautus was not confined to
Rome, either republican or imperial. Dramatic writers of modern times, as
Shakspeare, Dryden, and Moliere, have recognized the effectiveness of his
plots, and have adopted or imitated them. About twenty of his plays are
extant, among which the Captivi, the Epidicus, the Cistellaria, the
Aulularia, and the Rudens are considered the best.

Terence (193-158 B.C.) was a slave in the family of a Roman senator, and
was probably a native of Carthage. His genius presented the rare
combination of all the fine and delicate qualities which characterized
Attic sentiment, without corrupting the native purity of the Latin
language. The elegance and gracefulness of his style show that the
conversation of the accomplished society, in which he was a welcome guest,
was not lost upon his correct ear and quick intuition. So far as it can be
so, comedy was, in the hands of Terence, an instrument of moral teaching.
Six of his comedies only remain, of which the Andrian and the Adelphi are
the most interesting. If Terence was inferior to Plautus in life, bustle,
and intrigue, and in the delineation of national character, he is superior
in elegance of language and refinement of taste. The justness of his
reflections more than compensates for the absence of his predecessor's
humor; he touches the heart as well as gratifies the intellect.

Of the few other writers of comedy among the Romans, Statius may be
mentioned, who flourished between Plautus and Terence. He was an
emancipated slave, born in Milan. Cicero and Varro have pronounced
judgment upon his merits, the substance of which appears to be, that his
excellences consisted in the conduct of the plot, in dignity, and in
pathos, while his fault was too little care in preserving the purity of
the Latin style. The fragments, however, of his works, which remain are
not sufficient to test the opinion of the ancient critics.

5. ROMAN TRAGEDY.--While Roman comedy was brought to perfection under the
influence of Greek literature, Roman tragedy, on the other hand, was
transplanted from Athens, and, with few exceptions, was never anything
more than translation or imitation. In the century during which, together
with comedy, it flourished and decayed, it boasted of five distinguished
writers, Livius, Naevius, Ennius (already spoken of), Pacuvius, and
Attius. In after ages, Rome did not produce one tragic poet, unless Varius
be considered an exception. The tragedies attributed to Seneca were never
acted, and were only composed for reading and recitation.

Among the causes which prevented tragedy from flourishing at Rome was the
little influence the national legends exerted over the people. These
legends were more often private than public property, and ministered more
to the glory of private families than to that of the nation at large. They
were embalmed by their poets as curious records of antiquity, but they did
not, like the venerable traditions of Greece, twine themselves around the
heart of the nation. Another reason why Roman legends had not the power to
move the affections of the Roman populace is to be found in the changes
the masses had undergone. The Roman people were no longer the descendants
of those who had maintained the national glory in the early period; the
patrician families were almost extinct; war and poverty had extinguished
the middle classes and miserably thinned the lower orders. Into the
vacancy thus caused, poured thousands of slaves, captives in the bloody
wars of Gaul, Spain, Greece, and Africa. These and their descendants
replaced the ancient people, and while many of them by their talents and
energy arrived at wealth and station, they could not possibly be Romans at
heart, or consider the past glories of their adopted country as their own.
It was to the rise of this new element of population, and the displacement
or absorption of the old race, that the decline of patriotism was owing,
and the disregard of everything except daily sustenance and daily
amusement, which paved the way for the empire and marked the downfall of
liberty. With the people of Athens, tragedy formed a part of the national
religion. By it the people were taught to sympathize with their heroic
ancestors; the poet was held to be inspired, and poetry the tongue in
which the natural held communion with the supernatural. With the Romans,
the theatre was merely a place for secular amusement, and poetry only an
exercise of the fancy. Again, the religion of the Romans was not ideal,
like that of the Greeks. The old national faith of Italy, not being rooted
in the heart, soon became obsolete, and readily admitted the ingrafting of
foreign superstitions, which had no hold on the belief or love of the
people. Nor was the genius of the Roman people such as to sympathize with
the legends of the past; they lived only in the present and the future;
they did not look back on their national heroes as demigods; they were
pressing forward to extend the frontiers of their empire, to bring under
their yoke nations which their forefathers had not known. If they regarded
their ancestors at all, it was not in the light of men of heroic stature
as compared with themselves, but as those whom they could equal or even
surpass.

The scenes of real life, the bloody combats of the gladiators, the
captives, and malefactors stretched on crosses, expiring in excruciating
agonies or mangled by wild beasts, were the tragedies which most deeply
interested a Roman audience.

The Romans were a rough people, full of physical rather than of
intellectual energy, courting peril and setting no value on human life or
suffering. Their very virtues were stern and severe; they were strangers
to both the passions which it was the object of tragedy to excite--pity
and terror. In the public games of Greece, the refinements of poetry
mingled with those exercises which were calculated to invigorate the
physical powers, and develop manly beauty. Those of Rome were sanguinary
and brutalizing, the amusements of a nation to whom war was a pleasure and
a pastime.

It cannot be asserted, however, that tragedy was never to a certain extent
an acceptable entertainment at Rome, but only that it never flourished
there as it did at Athens, and that no Roman tragedies can be compared
with those of Greece.

6. TRAGIC POETS.--Three separate eras produced tragic poets. In the first
flourished Livius Andronicus, Naevius, and Ennius; in the second, Pacuvius
and Attius; in the third, Asinius Pollio wrote tragedies, the plots of
which seem to have been taken from Roman history. Ovid attempted a
"Medea," and even the Emperor Augustus, with other men of genius, tried
his hand, though unsuccessfully, at tragedy.

In the second of the eras mentioned, Roman tragedy reached its highest
degree of perfection simultaneously with that of comedy. While Terence was
successfully reproducing the wit and manners of the new Attic comedy,
Pacuvius (220-130 B.C.) was enriching the Roman drama with free
translations of the Greek tragedians. He was a native of Brundusium and a
grandson of the poet Ennius. At Rome he distinguished himself as a painter
as well as a dramatic poet. His tragedies were not mere translations, but
adaptations of Greek tragedies to the Roman stage. The fragments which are
extant are full of new and original thoughts, and the very roughness of
his style and audacity of his expressions have somewhat of the solemn
grandeur and picturesque boldness which distinguish the father of Attic
tragedy.

Attius (fl. 138 B.C.), though born later than Pacuvius, was almost his
contemporary, and a competitor for popular applause. He is said to have
written more than fifty tragedies, of which fragments only remain. His
taste is chastened, his sentiments noble, and his versification elegant.
With him, Latin tragedy disappeared. The tragedies of the third period
were written expressly for reading and recitation, and not for the stage:
they were dramatic poems, not dramas. Amidst the scenes of horror and
violence which followed, the voice of the tragic muse was hushed. Massacre
and rapine raged through the streets of Rome, itself a theatre where the
most terrible scenes were daily enacted.

7. SATIRE.--The invention of satire is universally attributed to the
Romans, and this is true as far as the external form is concerned, but the
spirit is found in many parts of the literature of Greece. Ennius was the
inventor of the name, but Lucilius (148-102 B.C.) was the father of
satire, in the proper sense. His satires mark an era in Roman literature,
and prove that a love for this species of poetry had already made great
progress. Hitherto, literature, science, and art had been considered the
province of slaves and freedmen. The stern old Roman virtue despised such
sedentary employment as intellectual cultivation, and thought it unworthy
of the warrior and statesman. Some of the higher classes loved literature
and patronized it, but did not make it their pursuit. Lucilius was a Roman
knight, as well as a poet. His satires were comprised in thirty books,
numerous fragments of which are still extant. He was a man of high moral
principle, though stern and stoical; a relentless enemy of vice and
profligacy, and a gallant and fearless defender of truth and honesty.
After the death of Lucilius satire languished, until half a century later,
when it assumed a new garb in the descriptive scenes of Horace, and put
forth its original vigor in the burning thoughts of Persius and Juvenal.

8. HISTORY AND ORATORY.--Prose was far more in accordance with the genius
of the Romans than poetry. As a nation, they had little or no imaginative
power, no enthusiastic love of natural beauty, and no acute perception of
the sympathy between man and the external world. The favorite civil
pursuit of an enlightened Roman was statesmanship, and the subjects akin
to it, history, jurisprudence, and oratory, the natural language of which
was prose, not poetry. And their practical statesmanship gave an early
encouragement to oratory, which is peculiarly the literature of active
life. As matter was more valued than manner by this utilitarian people, it
was long before it was thought necessary to embellish prose composition
with the graces of rhetoric. The fact that Roman literature was imitative
rather than inventive, gave a historical bias to the Roman intellect, and
a tendency to study subjects from an historical point of view. But even in
history, they never attained that comprehensive and philosophical spirit
which distinguished the Greek historians.

The most ancient writer of Roman history was Fabius Pictor (fl. 219 B.C.).
His principal work, written in Greek, was a history of the first and
second Punic war, to which subsequent writers were much indebted.
Contemporary with Fabius was Cincius Alimentus, also an annalist of the
Punic war, in which he was personally engaged. He was a prisoner of
Hannibal, who delighted in the society of literary men, and treated him
with great kindness and consideration, and himself communicated to him the
details of his passage across the Alps. Like Fabius, he wrote his work in
Greek, and prefixed to it a brief abstract of Roman history. Though the
works of these annalists are valuable as furnishing materials for more
philosophical minds, they are such as could have existed only in the
infancy of a national literature. They were a bare compilation of facts--
the mere framework of history--diversified by no critical remarks or
political reflections, and meagre and insipid in style.

The versatility of talent displayed by Cato the censor (224-144 B.C.)
entitles him to a place among orators, jurists, economists, and
historians. His life extends over a wide and important period of literary
history, when everything was in a state of change,--morals, social habits,
and literary taste. Cato was born in Tusculum, and passed his boyhood in
the pursuits of rural life at a small Sabine farm belonging to his father.
The skill with which he pleaded the causes of his clients before the rural
magistracy made his abilities known, and he rose rapidly to eminence as a
pleader. He filled many high offices of state. His energies were not
weakened by advancing age, and he was always ready as the advocate of
virtue, the champion of the oppressed, and the punisher of vice. With many
defects, Cato was morally and intellectually one of the greatest men Rome
ever produced. He had the ability and the determination to excel in
everything which he undertook. His style is rude, unpolished, ungraceful,
because to him polish was superficial, and, therefore, unreal. His
statements, however, were clear, his illustrations striking; the words
with which he enriched his native tongue were full of meaning; his wit was
keen and lively, and his arguments went straight to the intellect, and
carried conviction with them.

Cato's great historical and antiquarian work, "The Origins," was a history
of Italy and Rome from the earliest times to the latest events which
occurred in his own lifetime. It was a work of great research and
originality, but only brief fragments of it remain. In the "De Re
Rustica," which has come down to us in form and substance as it was
written, Cato maintains, in the introduction, the superiority of
agriculture over other modes of gaining a livelihood. The work itself is a
commonplace book of agriculture and domestic economy; its object is
utility, not science: it serves the purpose of a farmer's and gardener's
manual, a domestic medicine, herbal, and cookery book. Cato teaches his
readers, for example, how to plant osier beds, to cultivate vegetables, to
preserve the health of cattle, to pickle pork, and to make savory dishes.

Of the "Orations" of Cato, ninety titles are extant, together with
numerous fragments. In style he despised art. He was too fearless and
upright, too confident in the justness of his cause to be a rhetorician;
he imitated no one, and no one was ever able to imitate him. Niebuhr
pronounces him to be the only great man in his generation, and one of the
greatest and most honorable characters in Roman history.

Varro (116-28 B.C.) was an agriculturist, a grammarian, a critic, a
theologian, a historian, a philosopher, a satirist. Of his miscellaneous
works considerable portions are extant, sufficient to display his
erudition and acuteness, yet, in themselves, more curious than attractive.

Eloquence, though of a rude, unpolished kind, must have been, in the very
earliest times, a characteristic of the Roman people. It is a plant
indigenous to a free soil. As in modern times it has flourished especially
in England and America, fostered by the unfettered freedom of debate, so
it found a congenial home in free Greece and republican Rome. Oratory was,
in Rome, the unwritten literature of active life, and recommended itself
to a warlike and utilitarian people by its utility and its antagonistic
spirit. Long before the art of the historian was sufficiently advanced to
record a speech, the forum, the senate, the battlefield, and the threshold
of the jurisconsult had been nurseries of Roman eloquence, or schools in
which oratory attained a vigorous youth, and prepared for its subsequent
maturity.

While the legal and political constitution of the Roman people gave direct
encouragement to deliberative and judicial oratory, respect for the
illustrious dead furnished opportunities for panegyric. The song of the
bard in honor of the departed warrior gave place to the funeral oration.
Among the orators of this time were the two Scipios, and Galba, whom
Cicero praises as having been the first Roman who understood how to apply
the theoretical principles of Greek rhetoric.

All periods of political disquiet are necessarily favorable to eloquence,
and the era of the Gracchi was especially so. After a struggle of nearly
four centuries the old distinction of plebeian and patrician no longer
existed. Plebeians held high offices, and patricians, like the Gracchi,
stood forward as champions of popular rights. These stirring times
produced many celebrated orators. The Gracchi themselves were both
eloquent and possessed of those qualities and endowments which would
recommend their eloquence to their countrymen. Oratory began now to be
studied more as an art, and the interval between the Gracchi and Cicero
boasted of many distinguished names; the most illustrious among them are
M. Antonius, Crassus, and Cicero's contemporary and most formidable rival,
Hortensius.

M. Antonius (fl. 119 B.C.) entered public life as a pleader, and thus laid
the foundation of his brilliant career; but he was through life greater as
a judicial than as a deliberative orator. He was indefatigable in
preparing his case, and made every point tell. He was a great master of
the pathetic, and knew the way to the heart. Although he did not himself
give his speeches to posterity, some of his most pointed expressions and
favorite passages left an indelible impression on the memories of his
hearers, and many of them were preserved by Cicero. In the prime of life
he fell a victim to political fury, and his bleeding head was placed upon
the rostrum, which was so frequently the scene of his eloquent triumphs.

L. Licinius Crassus was four years younger than Antonius, and acquired
great reputation for his knowledge of jurisprudence, for his eminence as a
pleader, and, above all, for his powerful and triumphant orations in
support of the restoration of the judicial office to the senators. From
among the crowd of orators, who were then flourishing in the last days of
expiring Roman liberty, Cicero selected Crassus to be the representative
of his sentiments in his imaginary conversation in "The Orator." Like Lord
Chatham, Crassus almost died on the floor of the Senate house, and his
last effort was in support of the aristocratic party.

Q. Hortensius was born 114 B.C. He was only eight years senior to the
greatest of all Roman orators. He early commenced his career as a pleader,
and he was the acknowledged leader of the Roman bar, until the star of
Cicero arose. His political connection with the faction of Sylla, and his
unscrupulous support of the profligate corruption which characterized that
administration, both at home and abroad, enlisted his legal talents in
defense of the infamous Verres; but the eloquence of Cicero, together with
the justice of the cause which he espoused, prevailed; and from that time
forward his superiority over Hortensius was established and complete. The
style of Hortensius was Asiatic--more florid and ornate than polished and
refined.

9. ROMAN JURISPRUDENCE.--The framework of their jurisprudence the Romans
derived from Athens, but the complete structure was built up by their own
hands. They were the authors of a system possessing such stability that
they bequeathed it, as an inheritance, to modern Europe, and traces of
Roman law are visible in the legal systems of the whole civilized world.

The complicated principles of jurisprudence of the Roman constitution
became, in Rome, a necessary part of a liberal education. When a Roman
youth had completed his studies, under his teacher of rhetoric, he not
only frequented the forum, in order to learn the application of the
rhetorical principles he had acquired, and frequently took some celebrated
orator as a model, but also studied the principles of jurisprudence under
eminent jurists, and attended the consultations in which they gave to
their clients their expositions of law.

The earliest systematic works on Roman law were the "Manual" of Pomponius,
and the "Institutes" of Gaius, who flourished in the time of Hadrian and
the Antonines. Both of these works were, for a long time, lost, though
fragments were preserved in the pandects of Justinian. In 1816, however,
Niebuhr discovered a palimpsest MS., in which the epistles of St. Jerome
were written over the erased "Institutes" of Gaius. From the numerous
misunderstandings of the Roman historians respecting the laws and
constitutional history of their country, the subject continued long in a
state of confusion, until Vico, in his "Scienza nuova," dispelled the
clouds of error, and reduced it to a system; and he was followed so
successfully by Niebuhr, that modern students can have a more
comprehensive and antiquarian knowledge of the subject than the writers of
the Augustan age.

The earliest Roman laws were the "Leges Regiae," which were collected and
codified by Sextus Papirius, and were hence called the Papirian code; but
these were rude and unconnected--simply a collection of isolated
enactments. The laws of the "Twelve Tables" stand next in point of
antiquity. They exhibited the first attempt at regular system, and
embodied not only legislative enactments, but legal principles. So popular
were they that when Cicero was a child every Roman boy committed them to
memory, as our children do their catechism, and the great orator laments
that in the course of his lifetime this practice had become obsolete.

The oral traditional expositions of these laws formed the groundwork of
the Roman civil law. To these were added, from time to time, the decrees
of the people, the acts of the senate, and praetorian edicts, and from
these various elements the whole body of Roman law was composed. So early
was the subject diligently studied, that the age preceding the first two
centuries of our era was rich in jurists whose powers are celebrated in
history.

The most eminent jurists who adorned this period were the Scaevolae, a
family in whom the profession seems to have been hereditary. After them
flourished Aelius Gallus (123-67 B.C.), eminent as a law reformer, C.
Juventius, Sextus Papirius, and L. Lucilius Balbus, three distinguished
jurists, who were a few years senior to Cicero.

10. GRAMMARIANS.--Towards the conclusion of this literary period a great
increase took place in the numbers of those learned men whom the Romans at
first termed _literati_, but afterwards, following the custom of the
Greeks, grammarians. To them literature was under great obligations.
Although few of them were authors, and all of them possessed acquired
learning rather than original genius, they exercised a powerful influence
over the public mind as professors, lecturers, critics, and schoolmasters.
By them the youths of the best families not only were imbued with a taste
for Greek philosophy and poetry, but were also taught to appreciate the
literature of their own country. Livius Andronicus and Ennius may be
placed at the head of this class, followed by Crates Mallotes, C. Octavius
Lampadio, Laelius, Archelaus, and others, most of whom were emancipated
slaves, either from Greece or from other foreign countries.


PERIOD SECOND.

FROM THE AGE OF CICERO TO THE DEATH OF AUGUSTUS (74 B.C.-14 A.D.)

1. DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROMAN LITERATURE.--Latin literature, at first rude,
and, for five centuries, unable to reach any high excellence, was, as we
have seen, gradually developed by the example and tendency of the Greek
mind, which moulded Roman civilization anew. The earliest Latin poets,
historians, and grammarians were Greeks. The metre which was brought to
such perfection by the Latin poets was formed from the Greek, and the
Latin language more and more assimilated to the Hellenic tongue.

As civilization advanced, the rude literature of Rome was compared with
the great monuments of Greek genius, their superiority was acknowledged,
and the study of them encouraged. The Roman youth not only attended the
schools of the Greeks, in Rome, but their education was considered
incomplete, unless they repaired to those of Athens, Rhodes, and Mytilene.
Thus, whatever of national character existed in the literature was
gradually obliterated, and what it gained in harmony and finish it lost in
originality. The Roman writers imitated more particularly the writers of
the Alexandrian school, who, being more artificial, were more congenial
than the great writers of the age of Pericles.

Roman genius, serious, majestic, and perhaps more original than at a later
period, was manifest even at the time of the Punic wars, but it had not
yet taken form; and while thought was vigorous and powerful, expression
remained weak and uncertain. But, under the Greek influence, and aided by
the vigor imparted by free institutions, the union of thought and form was
at length consummated, and the literature reached its culminating point in
the great Roman orator. The fruits which had grown and matured in the
centuries preceding were gathered by Augustus; but the influences that
contributed to the splendor of his age belong rather to the republic than
the empire, and with the fall of the liberties of Rome, Roman literature
declined.

2. MIMES, MIMOGRAPHERS, AND PANTOMIME.--Amidst all the splendor of the
Latin literature of this period, dramatic poetry never recovered from the
trance into which it had fallen, though the stage had not altogether lost
its popularity. Aesopus and Roscius, the former the great tragic actor,
and the latter the favorite comedian, in the time of Cicero, enjoyed his
friendship and that of other great men, and both amassed large fortunes.
But although the standard Roman plays were constantly represented,
dramatic literature had become extinct. The entertainments, which had now
taken the place of comedy and tragedy, were termed _mimes_. These were
laughable imitations of manners and persons, combining the features of
comedy and farce, for comedy represents the characters of a class, farce
those of individuals. Their essence was that of the modern pantomime, and
their coarseness, and even indecency, gratified the love of broad humor
which characterized the Roman people. After a time, when they became
established as popular favorites, the dialogue occupied a more prominent
position, and was written in verse, like that of tragedy and comedy.
During the dictatorship of Caesar, a Roman knight named Laberius (107-45
B.C.) became famous for his mimes. The profession of an actor of mimes was
infamous, but Laberius was a writer, not an actor. On one occasion, Caesar
offered him a large sum of money to enter the lists in a trial of his
improvisatorial skill. Laberius did not submit to the degradation for the
sake of the money, but he was afraid to refuse. The only method of
retaliation in his power was sarcasm. His part was that of a slave; and
when his master scourged him, he exclaimed: "Porro, Quirites, libertatem
perdimus!" His words were received with a round of applause, and all eyes
were fixed on Caesar. The dictator restored him to the rank of which his
act had deprived him, but he could never recover the respect of his
countrymen. As he passed the orchestra, on his way to the stalls of the
knights, Cicero cried out: "If we were not so crowded, I would make room
for you here." Laberius replied, alluding to Cicero's lukewarmness as a
political partisan: "I am astonished that you should be crowded, as you
generally sit on two stools."

Another writer and actor of mimes was Publius Syrus, originally a Syrian
slave. Tradition has recorded a _bon mot_ of his which is as witty as it
is severe. Seeing an ill-tempered man named Mucius in low spirits, he
exclaimed: "Either some ill fortune has happened to Mucius, or some good
fortune to one of his friends!"

The Roman pantomime differed somewhat from the mime. It was a ballet of
action, performed by a single dancer, who not only exhibited the human
figure in its most graceful attitudes, but represented every passion and
emotion with such truth that the spectators could, without difficulty,
understand the story. The pantomime was licentious in its character, and
the actors were forbidden by Tiberius to hold any intercourse with Romans
of equestrian or senatorial dignity.

These were the exhibitions which threw such discredit on the stage, which
called forth the well-deserved attacks of the early Christian fathers, and
caused them to declare that whoever attended them was unworthy of the name
of Christian. Had the drama not been so abused, had it retained its
original purity, and carried out the object attributed to it by Aristotle,
they would have seen it, not a nursery of vice, but a school of virtue;
not only an innocent amusement, but a powerful engine to form the taste,
to improve the morals, and to purify the feelings of a people.

3. EPIC POETRY.--The epic poets of this period selected their subjects
either from the heroic age and the mythology of Greece, or from their own
national history. The Augustan age abounds in representatives of these two
poetical schools, though possessing little merit. But the Romans,
essentially practical and positive in their character, felt little
interest in the descriptions of manners and events remote from their
associations, and poetry, restrained within the limits of their history,
could not rise to that height of imagination demanded by the epic muse.
Virgil united the two forms by selecting his subject from the national
history, and adorning the ancient traditions of Rome with the splendor of
Greek imagination.

Virgil (70-19 B.C.) was born at Andes, near Mantua; he was educated at
Cremona and at Naples, where he studied Greek literature and philosophy.
After this he came to Rome, where, through Maecenas, he became known to
Octavius, and basked in the sunshine of court favor. His favorite
residence was Naples. On his return from Athens, in company with Augustus,
he was seized with an illness of which he died. He was buried about a mile
from Naples, on the road to Pozzuoli; and a tomb is still pointed out to
the traveler which is said to be that of the poet. Virgil was deservedly
popular both as a poet and as a man. The emperor esteemed him and people
respected him; he was constitutionally pensive and melancholy, temperate,
and pure-minded in a profligate age, and his popularity never spoiled his
simplicity and modesty. In his last moments he was anxious to burn the
whole manuscript of the Aeneid, and directed his executors either to
improve it or commit it to the flames.

The idea and plan of the Aeneid are derived from Homer. As the wrath of
Achilles is the mainspring of the Iliad, so the unity of the Aeneid
results from the anger of Juno. The arrival of Aeneas in Italy after the
destruction of Troy, the obstacles that opposed him through the
intervention of Juno, and the adventures and the victories of the hero
form the subject of the poem. Leaving Sicily for Latium, Aeneas is driven
on the coast of Africa by a tempest raised against him by Juno; at
Carthage he is welcomed by the queen, Dido, to whom he relates his past
adventures and sufferings. By his narrative he wins her love, but at the
command of Jupiter abandons her. Unable to retain him, Dido, in the
despair of her passion, destroys herself. After passing through many
dangers, under the guidance of the Sibyl of Cumae, he descends into the
kingdom of the dead to consult the shade of his father. There appear to
him the souls of the future heroes of Rome. On his return, he becomes a
friend of the king of Latium, who promises to him the hand of his
daughter, which is eagerly sought by King Turnus. A fearful war ensues
between the rival lovers, which ends in the victory of Aeneas.

Though the poem of Virgil is in many passages an imitation from the Iliad
and the Odyssey, the Roman element predominates in it, and the Aeneid is
the true national poem of Rome.  There was no subject more adapted to
flatter the vanity of the Romans, than the splendor and antiquity of their
origin. Augustus is evidently typified under the character of Aeneas;
Cleopatra is boldly sketched as Dido; and Turnus as the popular Antony.
The love and death of Dido, the passionate victim of an unrequited love,
give occasion to the poet to sing the victories of his countrymen over
their Carthaginian rivals; the Pythagorean metempsychosis, which he adopts
in the description of Elysium, affords an opportunity to exalt the heroes
of Rome; and the wars of Aeneas allow him to describe the localities and
the manners of ancient Latium with such truthfulness as to give to his
verses the authority of historical quotations. In style, the Aeneid is a
model of purity and elegance, and for the variety and the harmony of its
incidents, for the power of its descriptions, and for the interest of its
plot and episodes, second only to the Iliad. It has been observed that
Virgil's descriptions are more like landscape painting than those of any
of his predecessors, whether Greek or Roman, and it is a remarkable fact,
that landscape painting was first introduced in his time.

4. DIDACTIC POETRY.--The poems, which first established the reputation of
Virgil as a poet, belong to didactic poetry. They are his Bucolics and
Georgics. The Bucolics are pastoral idyls; the characters are Italian in
all their sentiments and feelings, acting, however, the unreal and assumed
part of Greek shepherds. The Italians never possessed the elements of
pastoral life, and could not furnish the poet with originals and models
from which to draw his portraits. When represented as Virgil represents
them in his Bucolics, they are in masquerade, and the drama in which they
form the characters is of an allegorical kind. Even the scenery is
Sicilian, and does not truthfully describe the tame neighborhood of
Mantua. In fact, these poems are imitations of Theocritus; but, divesting
ourselves of the idea of the outward form which the poet has chosen to
adopt, we are touched by the simple narrative of disappointed loves and
childlike woes; we appreciate the delicately-veiled compliments paid by
the poet to his patron; we enjoy the inventive genius and poetical power
which they display, and we are elevated by the exalted sentiments which
they sometimes breathe.

The Georgics are poems on the labors and enjoyments of rural life, a
subject for which Rome offered a favorable field. Though in this style
Hesiod was the model of Virgil, his system is perfectly Italian, so much
so, that many of his rules may be traced in modern Italian husbandry, just
as the descriptions of implements in the Greek poet are frequently found
to agree with those in use in modern Greece. The great merit of the
Georgics consists in their varied digressions, interesting episodes, and
in the sublime bursts of descriptive vigor which are interspersed
throughout them. They have frequently been taken as models for imitation
by the didactic poets of all nations, and more particularly of England.
The "Seasons," for instance, is a thoroughly Virgilian poem.

Lucretius (95-51 B.C.) belongs to the class of didactic poets. He might
claim a place among philosophers as well as poets, for his poem marks an
epoch both in poetry and philosophy. But his philosophy is a mere
reflection from that of Greece, while his poetry is bright with the rays
of original genius. His poem on "The Nature of Things" is in imitation of
that of Empedocles. Its subject is philosophical and its purpose didactic;
but its unity of design gives to it almost the rank of an epic. Its
structure prevents it from being a complete and systematic survey of the
whole Epicurean philosophy, but as far as the form of the poem permitted,
it presents an accurate view of the philosophy which then enjoyed the
highest popularity.

The object of the poem of Lucretius is to emancipate mankind from the
debasing effects of superstition by an exposition of philosophy, and
though a follower of Epicurus, he is not entirely destitute of the
religious sentiment, for he deifies nature and has a veneration for her
laws. His infidelity must be viewed rather in the light of a philosophical
protest against the results of heathen superstition, than a total
rejection of the principles of religious faith.

Lucretius valued the capabilities of the Latin language. He wielded at
will its power of embodying the noblest thoughts, and showed how its
copious and flexible properties could overcome the hard technicalities of
science. The great beauty of his poetry is its variety; his fancy is
always lively, his imagination has always free scope. He is sublime, as a
philosopher who penetrates the secrets of the natural world, and discloses
to the eyes of man the hidden causes of its wonderful phenomena. His
object was a lofty one; for although the absurdities of the national creed
drove him into skepticism, his aim was to set the intellect free from the
trammels of superstition. But besides grandeur and sublimity, we find the
totally different qualities of softness and tenderness. Rome had long
known nothing but war, and was now rent by civil dissension. Lucretius
yearned for peace; and his prayer, that the fabled goddess of all that is
beautiful in nature would heal the wounds which discord had made, is
distinguished by tenderness and pathos even more than by sublimity. He is
superior to Ovid in force, though inferior in facility; not so smooth or
harmonious as Virgil, his poetry always falls upon the ear with a swelling
and sonorous melody. Virgil appreciated his excellence, and imitated not
only single expressions, but almost entire verses and passages; and Ovid
exclaims, that the sublime strains of Lucretius shall never perish until
the world shall be given up to destruction.

5. LYRIC POETRY.--The Romans had not the ideality and the enthusiasm which
are the elements of lyric poetry, and in all the range of their literature
there are only two poets who, greatly inferior to the lyric poets of
Greece, have a positive claim to a place in this department, Catullus and
Horace. Catullus (86-46 B.C.) was born near Verona. At an early age he
went to Rome, where he plunged into all the excesses of the capital, and
where his sole occupation was the cultivation of his literary tastes and
talents. A career of extravagance and debauchery terminated in the ruin of
his fortune, and he died at the age of forty. The works of Catullus
consist of numerous short pieces of a lyrical character, elegies and other
poems. He was one of the most popular of the Roman poets, because he
possessed those qualities which the literary society at Rome most valued,
polish and learning, and because, although an imitator, there was a truly
Roman nationality in all that he wrote. His satire was the bitter
resentment of a vindictive spirit; his love and his hate were both purely
selfish, but his excellences were of the most alluring and captivating
kind. He has never been surpassed in gracefulness, melody, and tenderness.

Horace (65-8 B.C.), like Virgil and other poets of his time, enjoyed the
friendship and intimacy of Maecenas, who procured for him the public grant
of his Sabine farm, situated about fifteen miles from Tivoli. At Rome he
occupied a house on the beautiful heights of the Esquiline. The rapid
alternation of town and country life, which the fickle poet indulged in,
gives a peculiar charm to his poetry. His "Satires" were followed by the
publication of the "Odes" and the "Epistles." The satires of Horace
occupied the position of the fashionable novel of our day. In them is
sketched boldly, but good-humoredly, a picture of Roman social life, with
its vices and follies. They have nothing of the bitterness of Lucilius,
the love of purity and honor that adorns Persius, or the burning
indignation of Juvenal at the loathsome corruption of morals. Vice, in his
day, had not reached that appalling height which it attained in the time
of the emperors who succeeded Augustus. Deficient in moral purity, nothing
would strike him as deserving censure, except such excess as would
actually defeat the object which he proposed to himself, namely, the
utmost enjoyment of life. In the "Epistles," he lays aside the character
of a moral teacher or censor, and writes with the freedom with which he
would converse with an intimate friend. But it is in his inimitable "Odes"
that the genius of Horace as a poet is especially displayed; they have
never been equaled in beauty of sentiment, gracefulness of language, and
melody of versification; they comprehend every variety of subject suitable
to the lyric muse; they rise without effort to the most elevated topics;
and they descend to the simplest joys and sorrows of every-day life.

The life of Horace is especially instructive, as a mirror in which is
reflected a faithful image of the manners of his day. He is the
representative of Roman refined society, as Virgil is of the national
mind. His morals were lax, but not worse than those of his contemporaries.
He looked at virtue and vice from a worldly, not from a moral point of
view, and with him the one was prudence and the other folly.

In connection with Horace, we may mention Maecenas, who, by his good taste
and munificence, exercised a great influence upon literature, and literary
men of Rome were much indebted to him for the use he made of his
friendship with Augustus, to whom, probably, his love of literature and of
pleasure and his imperturbable temper recommended him as an agreeable
companion. He had wealth enough to gratify his utmost wishes, and his mind
was so full of the delights of refined society, of palaces, gardens, wit,
poetry, and art, that there was no room in it for ambition. All the most
brilliant men of Rome were found at his table,--Virgil, Horace,
Propertius, and Varius were among his friends and constant associates. He
was a fair specimen of the man of pleasure and society,--liberal, kind-
hearted, clever, refined, but luxurious, self-indulgent, indolent, and
volatile, with good impulses, but without principle.

6. ELEGY.--Tibullus (b. 54 B.C.) was the father of the Roman elegy. He was
a contemporary of Virgil and Horace. The style of his poems and their tone
of thought are like his character, deficient in vigor and manliness, but
sweet, smooth, polished, tender, and never disfigured by bad taste. He
passed his short life in peaceful retirement, and died soon after Virgil.
The poems ascribed to Tibullus consist of four books, of which only two
are genuine.

Propertius (b. 150 B.C.), although a contemporary and friend of the
Augustan poets, may be considered as belonging to a somewhat different
school of poetry. While Horace, Virgil, and Tibullus imitated the noblest
poets of the Greek age, Propertius, like the minor Roman poets, aspired to
nothing more than the imitation of the graceful, but feeble strains of the
Alexandrian poets. If he excels Tibullus in vigor of fancy, expression,
and coloring, he is inferior to him in grace, spontaneity, and delicacy;
he cannot, also, be compared with Catullus, who greatly surpasses him in
his easy and effective style.

Ovid (43 B.C.-6 A.D.), the most fertile of the Latin poets, not only in
elegy, but also in other kinds of poetry, was enabled by his rank,
fortune, and talents to cultivate the society of men of congenial tastes.
A skeptic and an epicurean, he lived a life of continual indulgence and
intrigue. He was a universal admirer of the female sex, and a favorite
among women. He was popular as a poet, successful in society, and
possessed all the enjoyments that wealth could bestow; but later in life
he incurred the anger of Augustus, and was banished to the very frontier
of the Roman empire, where he lingered for a few years and died in great
misery. The "Epistles to and from Women of the Heroic Age" are a series of
love-letters; with the exception of the "Metamorphoses," they have been
greater favorites than any other of his works. Love, in the days of Ovid,
had in it nothing pure or chivalrous. The age in which he lived was
morally polluted, and he was neither better nor worse than his
contemporaries; hence grossness is the characteristic of his "Art of
Love." His "Metamorphoses" contain a series of mythological narratives
from the earliest times to the translation of the soul of Julius Caesar
from earth to heaven, and his metamorphosis into a star. In this poem
especially may be traced that study and learning by which the Roman poets
made all the treasures of Greek literature their own. "The Fasti," a poem
on the Roman calendar, is a beautiful specimen of simple narrative in
verse, and displays, more than any of his works, his power of telling a
story without the slightest effort, in poetry as well as prose. The five
books of the "Tristia," and the "Epistles from Pontus," were the
outpourings of his sorrowful heart during the gloomy evening of his days.

7. ORATORY AND PHILOSOPHY.--As oratory gave to Latin prose-writing its
elegance and dignity, Cicero (106-43 B.C.) is not only the representative
of the flourishing period of the language, but also the instrumental cause
of its arriving at perfection. He gave a fixed character to the Latin
tongue; showed his countrymen what vigor it possessed, and of what
elegance and polish it was susceptible. The influence of Cicero on the
language and literature of his day was not only extensive, but permanent,
and it survived almost until the language was corrupted by barbarism.
After traveling in Greece and Asia, and holding a high office in Sicily,
he returned to Rome, resumed his forensic practice, and was made consul.
The conspiracy of Catiline was the great event of his consulship. The
prudence and tact with which he crushed this gained him the applause and
gratitude of his fellow-citizens, who hailed him as the father of his
country; but he was obliged, by the intrigues of his enemies, to fly from
Rome; his exile was decreed, and his town and country houses given up to
plunder. He was, however, recalled, and appointed to a seat in the college
of Augurs. In the struggle between Pompey and Caesar, he followed the
fortunes of the former; but Caesar, after his triumph, granted him a full
and free pardon. After the assassination of Caesar, Cicero delivered that
torrent of indignant and eloquent invective, his twelve Philippic
orations, and became again the popular idol; but when the second
triumvirate was formed, and each member gave up his friends to the
vengeance of his colleagues, Octavius did not hesitate to sacrifice
Cicero. Betrayed by a treacherous freedman, he would not permit his
attendants to make any resistance, but courageously submitted to the sword
of the assassins, who cut off his head and hands, and carried them to
Antony, whose wife, Julia, gloated with inhuman delight upon the pallid
features, and in petty spite pierced with a needle the once eloquent
tongue. Cicero had numerous faults; he was vain, vacillating, inconstant,
timid, and the victim of morbid sensibility; but he was candid, truthful,
just, generous, pure-minded, and warm-hearted. Gentle, sympathizing, and
affectionate, he lived as a patriot and died as a philosopher.

The place which Cicero occupies in the history of Roman literature is that
of an orator and philosopher. The effectiveness of his oratory was mainly
owing to his knowledge of the human heart, and of the national
peculiarities of his countrymen. Its charm was owing to his extensive
acquaintance with the stores of literature and philosophy, which his
sprightly wit moulded at will; to the varied learning, which his
unpedantic mind made so pleasant and popular; and to his fund of
illustration, at once interesting and convincing. He carried his hearers
with him; senate, judges, and people understood his arguments, and felt
his passionate appeals. Compared with the dignified energy and majestic
vigor of Demosthenes, the Asiatic exuberance of some of his orations may
be fatiguing to the more sober and chaste taste of modern scholars; but in
order to form a just appreciation, we must transport ourselves mentally to
the excitements of the thronged forum, to the senate, composed of
statesmen and warriors in the prime of life, maddened with the party-
spirit of revolutionary times. Viewed in this light, his most florid
passages will appear free from affectation--the natural flow of a speaker
carried away with the torrent of his enthusiasm. Among his numerous
orations, in which, according to the criticisms of Quintilian, he combined
the force of Demosthenes, the copiousness of Plato, and the elegance of
Isocrates, we mention the six celebrated Verrian harangues, which are
considered masterpieces of Tullian eloquence. In the speech for the poet
Archias, he had evidently expended all his resources of art, taste, and
skill; and his oration in defense of Milo, for force, pathos, and the
externals of eloquence, deserves to be reckoned among his most wonderful
efforts. The oratory of Cicero was essentially judicial; even his
political orations are rather judicial than deliberative. He was not born
for a politician; he did not possess that analytical character of mind
which penetrates into the remote causes of human action, nor the
synthetical power which enables a man to follow them out to their farthest
consequences. Of the three qualities necessary for a statesman, he
possessed only two,--honesty and patriotism; he had not political wisdom.
Hence, in the finest specimens of his political orations, his
Catilinarians and Philippics, we look in vain for the calm, practical
weighing of the subject which is necessary in addressing a deliberative
assembly. Nevertheless, so irresistible was the influence which he
exercised upon the minds of his hearers, that all his political speeches
were triumphs. His panegyric on Pompey carried his appointment as
commander-in-chief of the armies of the East; he crushed in Catiline one
of the most formidable traitors that had ever menaced the safety of the
republic, and Antony's fall followed the complete exposure of his
debauchery in private life, and the factiousness of his public career.

In his rhetorical works, Cicero left a legacy of practical instruction to
posterity. The treatise "On Invention" is merely interesting as the
juvenile production of a future great man. "The Orator," "Brutus, or the
illustrious Orators," and "The Orator to Marius Brutus," are the results
of his matured experience. They form together one series, in which the
principles are laid down, and their development carried out and
illustrated; and in the "Orator" he places before the eyes of Brutus the
model of ideal perfection. In his treatment of that subject, he shows a
mind imbued with the spirit of Plato; he invests it with dramatic
interest, and transports the reader into the scene which he so graphically
describes.

Roman philosophy was neither the result of original investigation, nor the
gradual development of the Greek system. It arose rather from a study of
ancient philosophical literature, than from an emanation of philosophical
principles. It consisted in a kind of eclecticism with an ethical
tendency, bringing together doctrines and opinions scattered over a wide
field in reference to the political and social relations of man. Greek
philosophy was probably first introduced into Rome 166 B.C. But although
the Romans could appreciate the majestic dignity and poetical beauty of
the style of Plato, they were not equal to the task of penetrating his
hidden meaning; neither did the peripatetic doctrines meet with much
favor. The philosophical system which first arrested the attention of the
Romans, and gained an influence over their minds, was the Epicurean. That
of the Stoics also, the severe principles of which were in harmony with
the stern old Roman virtues, had distinguished disciples. The part which
Cicero's character qualified him to perform in the philosophical
instruction of his countrymen was scarcely that of a guide; he could give
them a lively interest in the subject, but he could not mould and form
their belief, and train them in the work of original investigation. Not
being devoutly attached to any system of philosophical belief, he would be
cautious of offending the philosophical prejudices of others. He was
essentially an eclectic in accumulating stores of Greek erudition, while
his mind had a tendency, in the midst of a variety of inconsistent
doctrines, to leave the conclusion undetermined. He brought everything to
a practical standard; he admired the exalted purity of stoical morality,
but he feared that it was impractical. He believed in the existence of one
supreme creator, in his spiritual nature, and the immortality of the soul;
but his belief was rather the result of instinctive conviction, than of
proof derived from philosophy.

The study of Cicero's philosophical works is invaluable, in order to
understand the minds of those who came after him. Not only all Roman
philosophy after his time, but a great part of that of the Middle Ages,
was Greek philosophy filtered through Latin, and mainly founded on that of
Cicero. Among his works on speculative philosophy are "The Academics, or a
history and defense of the belief of the new Academy;" "Dialogues on the
Supreme Good, the end of all moral action;" "The Tusculan Disputations,"
containing five treatises on the fear of death, the endurance of pain,
power of wisdom over sorrow, the morbid passions, and the relation of
virtue to happiness. His moral philosophy comprehends the "Duties," a
stoical treatise on moral obligations, and the unequaled little essays on
"Friendship and Old Age." His political works are "The Republic" and "The
Law;" but these remains are fragmentary.

The extent of Cicero's correspondence is almost incredible. Even those
epistles which remain number more than eight hundred. In them we find the
eloquence of the heart, not of the rhetorical school. They are models of
pure Latinity, elegant without stiffness, the natural outpourings of a
mind which could not give birth to an ungraceful idea. In his letters to
Atticus he lays bare the secret of his heart; he trusts his life in his
hands; he is not only his friend but his confidant, his second self. In
the letters of Cicero we have the description of the period of Roman
history, and the portrait of the inner life of Roman society in his day.

8. HISTORY.--In their historical literature the Romans exhibited a
faithful transcript of their mind and character. History at once gratified
their patriotism, and its investigations were in accordance with their
love of the real and the practical. In this department, they were enabled
to emulate the Greeks and to be their rivals, and sometimes their
superiors. The elegant simplicity of Caesar is as attractive as that of
Herodotus; none of the Greek historians surpasses Livy in talent for the
picturesque and in the charm with which he invests his spirited and living
stories; while for condensation of thought, terseness of expression, and
political and philosophical acumen, Tacitus is not inferior to Thucydides.
The catalogue of Roman historians contains many writers whose works are
lost; such as L. Lucretius, the friend and correspondent of Cicero, L.
Lucullus, the illustrious conqueror of Mithridates, and Cornelius Nepos,
of whom only one work was preserved, the "Lives of Eminent Generals." The
authenticity of this work is, however, disputed. But at the head of this
department, as the great representatives of Roman history, stand Julius
Caesar, Sallust, Livy, and Tacitus, all of whom, except the last, belong
to the Augustan age.

Julius Caesar (100-44 B.C.) was descended from one of the oldest among the
patrician families of Rome. He attached himself to the popular party, and
his good taste, great tact, and pleasing manners contributed, together
with his talents, to insure his popularity. He became a soldier in the
nineteenth year of his age, and hence his works display all the best
qualities which are fostered by a military education--frankness,
simplicity, and brevity. His earliest literary triumph was as an orator,
and, according to Quintilian, he was a worthy rival of Cicero. When he
obtained the office of Pontifex Maximus, he diligently examined the
history and nature of the Roman belief in augury, and published his
investigations. When his career as a military commander began, whatever
leisure his duties permitted him to enjoy he devoted to the composition of
his memoirs, or commentaries of the Gallic and civil wars. He wrote, also,
some minor works on different subjects, and he left behind him various
letters, some of which are extant.

But by far the most important of the works of Caesar is his
"Commentaries," which have come down to us in a tolerably perfect state.
They are sketches taken on the spot, in the midst of action, while the
mind was full, and they have all the graphic power of a master-mind and
the vigorous touches of a master-hand. The Commentaries are the materials
for history, notes jotted down for future historians. The very faults
which may justly be found with the style of Caesar are such as reflect the
man himself. The majesty of his character consists chiefly in the
imperturbable calmness and equanimity of his temper; he had no sudden
bursts of energy and alternations of passion and inactivity. The elevation
of his character was a high one, but it was a level table-land. This
calmness and equability pervades his writings, and for this reason they
have been thought to want life and energy. The beauty of his language is,
as Cicero says, statuesque rather than picturesque. Simple and severe, it
conveys the idea of perfect and well-proportioned beauty, while it
banishes all thoughts of human passion. In relating his own deeds, he does
not strive to add to his own reputation by detracting from the merits of
those who served under him. He is honest, generous, and candid, not only
towards them, but also towards his brave enemies. He recounts his
successes without pretension or arrogance, though he has evidently no
objection to be the hero of his own tale. His Commentaries are not
confessions, although he is the subject of them; not a record of a
weakness appears, nor even a defect, except that which the Romans would
readily forgive, cruelty. His savage waste of human life he recounts with
perfect self-complacency. Vanity, the crowning error in his career as a
statesman, though hidden by the reserve with which he speaks of himself,
sometimes discovers itself in the historian.

The Commentaries of Caesar have been compared with the work of the great
soldier-historian of Greece, Xenophon. Both are eminently simple and
unaffected, but there the parallel ends. The severe contempt of ornament,
which characterizes the stern Roman, is totally unlike the mellifluous
sweetness of the Attic writer.

Sallust (85-35 B.C.) was born of a plebeian family, but, having filled the
offices of tribune and quaestor, attained senatorial rank. He was expelled
from the Senate for his profligacy, but restored again to his rank through
the influence of Caesar, whose party he espoused. He accompanied his
patron in the African war, and was made governor of Numidia. While in that
capacity, he accumulated by rapacity and extortion enormous wealth, which
he lavished in expensive but tasteful luxury. The gardens on the Quirinal
which bore his name were celebrated for their beauty; and there,
surrounded by the choicest works of art, he devoted his retirement to
composing the historical records which survived him. As a politician, he
was a mere partisan of Caesar, and therefore a strenuous opponent of the
higher classes and of the supporters of Pompey. The object of his hatred
was not the old patrician blood of Rome, but the new aristocracy, which
had of late years been rapidly rising up and displacing it. That new
nobility was utterly corrupt, and its corruption was encouraged by the
venality of the masses, whose poverty and destitution tempted them to be
the tools of unscrupulous ambition. Sallust strove to place that party in
the unfavorable light which it deserved; but, notwithstanding the
truthfulness of the picture which he draws, selfishness and not patriotism
was the mainspring of his politics; he was not an honest champion of
popular rights, but a vain and conceited man, who lived in an immoral and
corrupt age, and had not the strength of principle to resist the force of
example and temptation. If, however, we make some allowance for the
political bias of Sallust, his histories have not only the charms of the
historical romance, but are also valuable political studies. His
characters are vigorously and naturally drawn, and the more his histories
are read, the more obvious it is that he always writes with an object, and
uses his facts as the means of enforcing a great political lesson.

His first work is on the "Jugurthine War;" the next related to the period
from the consulship of Lepidus to the praetorship of Cicero, and is
unfortunately lost. This was followed by a history of the conspiracy of
Catiline, "The War of Catiline," in which he paints in vivid colors the
depravity of that order of society which, bankrupt in fortune and honor,
still plumes itself on its rank and exclusiveness. To Sallust must be
conceded the praise of having first conceived the notion of a history, in
the true sense of the term. He was the first Roman historian, and the
guide of future historians. He had always an object to which he wished all
his facts to converge, and he brought them forward as illustrations and
developments of principles. He analyzed and exposed the motives of
parties, and laid bare the inner life of those great actors on the public
stage, in the interesting historical scenes which he describes. His style,
although ostentatiously elaborate and artificial, is, upon the whole,
pleasing, and almost always transparently clear. Following Thucydides,
whom he evidently took as his model, he strives to imitate his brevity;
but while this quality with the Greek historian is natural and
involuntary, with the Roman it is intentional and studied. The brevity of
Thucydides is the result of condensation, that of Salust is elliptical
expression.

Livy (59-18 B.C.) was born in Padua, and came to Rome during the reign of
Augustus, where he resided in the enjoyment of the imperial favor and
patronage. He was a warm and open admirer of the ancient institutions of
the country, and esteemed Pompey as one of its greatest heroes; but
Augustus did not allow political opinions to interfere with the regard
which he entertained for the historian. His great work is a history of
Rome, which he modestly terms "Annals," in one hundred and forty-two
books, of which thirty-five are extant. Besides his history, Livy is said
to have written treatises and dialogues, which were partly philosophical
and partly historical.

The great object of Livy's history was to celebrate the glories of his
native country, to which he was devotedly attached. He was a patriot: his
sympathy was with Pompey, called forth by the disinterestedness of that
great man, and perhaps by his sad end. He delights to put forth his powers
in those passages which relate to the affections. He is a biographer quite
as much as a historian; he anatomizes the moral nature of his heroes, and
shows the motive springs of their noble exploits. His characters stand
before us like epic heroes, and he tells his story like a bard singing his
lay at a joyous festive meeting, checkered by alternate successes and
reverses, though all tending to a happy result at last. But while these
features constitute his charm as a narrator, they render him less valuable
as a historian. Although he would not be willfully inaccurate, if the
legend he was about to tell was interesting, he would not stop to inquire
whether or not it was true. Taking upon trust the traditions which had
been handed down from generation to generation, the more flattering and
popular they were, the more suitable would he deem them for his purposes.
He loved his country, and he would scarcely believe anything derogatory to
the national glory. Whenever Rome was false to treaties, unmerciful in
victory, or unsuccessful in arms, he either ignores the facts or is
anxious to find excuses. He does not appear to have made researches into
the many original documents which were extant at his time, but he trusted
to the annalists, and took advantage of the investigations of preceding
historians. His descriptions of military affairs are often vague and
indistinct, and he often shows himself ignorant of the localities which he
describes. Such are the principal defects of Livy, who otherwise charms
his readers with his romantic narratives, and his lively, fresh, and
fascinating style.

9. OTHER PROSE WRITERS.--Though the grammarians of this period were
numerous, they added little or nothing to its literary reputation. The
most conspicuous among them were Atteius, a friend of Sallust; Epirota,
the correspondent of Cicero; Julius Hyginus, a friend of Ovid; and
Nigidius Figulus, an orator as well as grammarian. M. Vitruvius Pollio,
the celebrated architect, deserves to be mentioned for his treatise on
architecture. He was probably native of Verona, and served under Julius
Caesar in Africa, as a military engineer. Notwithstanding the defects of
his style, the language of Vitruvius is vigorous, and his descriptions
bold; his work is valuable as exhibiting the principles of Greek
architectural taste and beauty, of which he was a devoted admirer.


PERIOD THIRD.

FROM THE DEATH OF AUGUSTUS TO THE CLOSE OF THE REIGN OF THEODORIC
(14-526 A.D.).

1. DECLINE OF ROMAN LITERATURE.--With the death of Augustus began the
decline of Roman literature, and a few names only rescue the first years
of this period from the charge of a corrupt and vitiated taste. After a
while, indeed, political circumstances again became more favorable; the
dangers, which paralyzed genius and talent, and prevented their free
exercise under Tiberius and his tyrannical successors, diminished, and a
more liberal system of administration ensued under Vespasian and Titus.
Juvenal and Tacitus then stood forth, as the representatives of the old
Roman independence. Vigor of thought communicated itself to the language;
a taste for the sublime and beautiful, to a certain extent, revived,
although it did not attain to the perfection which shed a lustre over the
Augustan age. Between the ages of Horace and Juvenal, Cicero and Tacitus,
there was a gap of half a century, in which Roman genius was slumbering.
The gradual growth of a spirit of adulation deterred all who were
qualified for the task of the historian from attempting it. Fear, during
the lifetime of Tiberius and Caligula, Claudius and Nero, and hatred,
still fresh after their deaths, rendered all accounts of their reigns
false. And the same causes which silenced the voice of history
extinguished the genius of poetry and oratory. As liberty declined,
natural eloquence decayed; the orator sought only to please the corrupt
taste of his audiences with strange and exaggerated statements; the poet
aimed to win public admiration through a style over-laden with ornament,
and florid and diffuse descriptions. Literature, in order to flourish,
requires the genial sunshine of human sympathy; it needs either the
patronage of the great, or the favor of the people. Immediately after the
death of Augustus, patronage was withdrawn, and there was no public
sympathy to supply its place. In the reign of Nero, literature partially
revived; for, though the bloodiest of tyrants, he had a taste for art and
poetry, and an ambition to excel in refinement.

2. FABLE.--In fable, as in other fields of literature, Rome was an
imitator of Greece, but nevertheless Phaedrus struck out a new line for
himself, and, through his fables, became not only a moral instructor, but
a political satirist. Phaedrus (fl. 16 A.D.), the originator and only
author of Roman fable, though born in the reign of Augustus, wrote when
the Augustan age had passed away. His works are, as it were, isolated; he
had no contemporaries. Nevertheless, his solitary voice was lifted up when
those of the poet, the historian, and the philosopher were silenced. The
moral and political lessons conveyed in his fables were suggested by the
evils of the times in which he lived. Some of them illustrate the danger
of riches and the comparative safety of obscurity and poverty, in an age
when the rich were marked for destruction, in order that the confiscation
of their property might glut the avarice of the emperor and of his
servants; others were suggested by historical events, being nevertheless
satirical strictures on individuals. The style of Phaedrus is pure and
classical, and combines the simple neatness and graceful elegance of the
golden age with the vigor and terseness of the silver one. He has the
facility of Ovid and the brevity of Tacitus. In the construction of his
fables, he displays observation and ingenuity; but he is deficient in
imagination. He makes his animals the vehicles of his wisdom, but he does
not throw himself into them, or identify himself with them; while they
look and act like animals, they talk like human beings. In this consists
the great superiority of Aesop to his Roman imitator; his brutes are a
superior race, but they are still brutes, and it would seem that the
fabulist had lived among them as one of themselves, had adopted their mode
of life, and conversed with them in their own language. In Phaedrus we
have human sentiments translated into the language of beasts, while in
Aesop we have beasts giving utterance to such sentiments as would be
naturally theirs if they were placed in the position of men.

3. SATIRE AND EPIGRAM.--Roman satire, subsequently to Horace, is
represented by Persius and Juvenal. Persius (34-62 A.D.) early attached
himself to the Stoic philosophy. He was pure in mind, and free from the
corrupt taint of an immoral age. Although Lucilius was, to a certain
extent, his model, he does not attack vice with the biting severity of the
old satirist, nor do we find in his writings the enthusiastic indignation
which burns in the verses of Juvenal. His purity of mind and kindliness of
heart disinclined him to portray vice in its hideous and loathsome forms,
and to indulge in that bitterness of invective which the prevalent
enormities of his times deserved. His uprightness and love of virtue are
shown by the uncompromising severity with which he rebukes sins of not so
deep a dye; and the heart which was capable of being moulded by his
example, and influenced by his purity, would have shrunk from the fearful
crimes which deform the pages of Juvenal. The greatest defect in Persius,
as a satirist, is that the Stoic philosophy in which he was educated
rendered him indifferent to the affairs of the world. His contemplative
habits led him to criticise, as his favorite subjects, false taste in
poetry and empty pretensions to philosophy. Horace mingled in the society
of the profligate and considering them as fools, laughed their folly to
scorn. Juvenal looked down upon the corruption of the age from the
eminence of his virtue, and punished it like an avenging deity. Persius,
pure in heart and passionless by education, while he lashes wickedness in
the abstract, almost ignores its existence, and shrinks from probing to
the bottom the vileness of the human heart. His works comprise six
satires, all of which breathe the natural amiability and placid
cheerfulness of his temper.

Juvenal flourished in the reign of Domitian, towards the close of the
first century A.D., a dark period, which saw the utter moral degradation
of the people, and the bloodiest tyranny and oppression on the part of
their rulers. The picture of Roman manners, as painted by his glowing
pencil, is truly appalling. The fabric of society was in ruins, the
popular religion was rejected with scorn, and the creed of natural
religion had not occupied its place. The emperors took part in public
scenes of folly and profligacy, and exposed themselves as charioteers, as
dancers, and as actors. Nothing was respected but wealth, nothing provoked
contempt but poverty. Players and dancers had all honors and offices at
their disposal; the city swarmed with informers, who made the rich their
prey; every man feared his most intimate friend, and the only bond of
friendship was to be an accomplice in crime. The teacher would corrupt his
pupil, and the guardian defraud his ward. Crimes which cannot be named
were common, and the streets of Rome were the constant scene of robbery,
assault, and assassination. The morals of women were as depraved as those
of men, and there was no public amusement so immoral or so cruel as not to
be countenanced by their presence. In this period of moral dearth, the
fountains of genius and literature were dried up. There was criticism,
declamation, panegyric, and verse writing, but no oratory, history, or
poetry. Juvenal, though himself not free from the declamatory affectation
of the day, attacked the false literary taste of his contemporaries as
unsparingly as he did their depraved morality. His sixteen satires exhibit
an enlightened, truthful, and comprehensive view of Roman manners, and of
the inevitable result of such depravity. The two finest of them are those
which Dr. Johnson has thought worthy of imitation.

The historical value of these satires must not be forgotten. Tacitus lived
in the same perilous times as Juvenal, and when they had come to an end
and it was not unsafe to speak, he wrote their public history, which the
poet illustrates by displaying the social and inner life of the Romans.
Their works are parallel, and each forms a commentary upon the other. The
style of Juvenal is vigorous and lucid; his morals were pure in the midst
of a debased age, and his language shines forth in classic elegance, in
the midst of specimens of declining and degenerate taste.

Juvenal closes the list of Roman satirists, properly speaking. The
satirical spirit animates the piquant epigrams of his friend Martial, but
their purpose is not moral or didactic. They sting the individual, and
render him an object of scorn and disgust, but they do not hold up vice
itself to ridicule and detestation.

Martial (43-104 A.D.) was born in Spain. He early emigrated to Rome, where
he became a favorite of Titus and Domitian, and in the reign of the latter
he was appointed to the office of court-poet. During thirty-five years, he
lived at Rome the life of a flatterer and a dependent, and then he
returned to his native town, where his death was hastened by his distaste
for provincial life. Measured by the corrupt standard of morals which
disgraced the age in which he lived, Martial was probably not worse than
most of his contemporaries; for the fearful profligacy, which his powerful
pen describes in such hideous terms, had spread through Rome its loathsome
infection. Had he lived in better times, his talents might have been
devoted to a purer object; as it was, no language is strong enough to
denounce the impurities of his page, and his moral taste must have been
thoroughly depraved not to have turned with disgust from the contemplation
of such subjects. But not all his poems are of this character. Amidst some
obscurity of style and want of finish, many are redolent of Greek
sweetness and elegance. Here and there are pleasing descriptions of the
beauties of nature, and many are kind-hearted and full of varied wit,
poetical imagination, and graceful expression. To the original
characteristics of the Greek epigram, Martial, more than any other poet,
added that which constitutes an epigram in the modern sense of the term:
pointedness either in jest or earnest, and the bitterness of personal
satire.

4. DRAMATIC LITERATURE.--Dramatic literature never flourished in Rome, and
still less under the empire. During this period there were not wanting
some imitators of Greece in this noble branch of poetry, but their
productions were rather literary than dramatic; they were poems composed
in a dramatic form, intended to be read, not acted. They contain noble
philosophical sentiments, lively descriptions, and passages full of
tenderness and pathos, but they are deficient in dramatic effect, and
positively offend against those laws of good taste which regulated the
Athenian stage. In the Augustan age, a few writers attained some
excellence in tragedy, at least in the opinion of ancient critics.

Under the tyrant Nero, dramatic literature reappeared, specimens of which
are extant in the ten tragedies attributed to Seneca. But the genius of
the author never grasps, in their wholeness, the characters which he
attempts to copy; they are distorted images of the Greek originals, and
the shadowy grandeur of the godlike heroes of Aeschylus stands forth in
corporeal vastness, and appears childish and unnatural, like the giants of
a story-book. The Greeks believed in the gods and heroes whose agency and
exploits constituted the machinery of tragedy, but the Romans did not, and
we cannot sympathize with them, because we see that they are insincere.

An awful belief in destiny, and the hopeless yet patient struggle of a
great and good man against this all-ruling power, are the mainspring of
Greek tragedy. This belief the Romans did not transfer into their
imitations, but they supplied its place with the stern fatalism of the
Stoics. The principle of destiny entertained by the Greek poets is a
mythological, even a religious one. It is the irresistible will of God.
God is at the commencement of the chain of causes and effects, by which
the event is brought about which God has ordained; his inspired prophets
have power to foretell, and mortals cannot resist or avoid. It is rather
predestination than destiny. The fatalism of the Stoics, on the other
hand, is the doctrine of practical necessity. It ignores the almighty
power of the Supreme Being, and although it does not deny his existence,
it strips him of his attributes as the moral governor of the universe.
These doctrines, expressed equally in the writings of Seneca the
philosopher, and in the tragedies attributed to him, lead to the
probability, amounting almost to certainty, that he was their author. But
whatever be the case in regard to their authorship, it is certain that,
notwithstanding their false rhetorical taste and the absence of all ideal
and creative genius, they have found many admirers and imitators in modern
times. The French school of tragic poets took them for their model;
Corneille evidently considered them the ideal of tragedy, and Racine
servilely imitated them.

5. EPIC POETRY.--At the head of the epic poets who flourished during the
Silver Age, stands Lucan (39-66 A.D.). He was born at Cordova, in Spain,
and probably came to Rome when very young, where his literary reputation
was soon established. But Nero, who could not bear the idea of a rival,
forbade him to recite his poems, then the common mode of publication.
Neither would he allow him to plead as an advocate. Smarting under this
provocation, he joined in a conspiracy against the emperor's life. The
plot failed, but Lucan was pardoned on condition of pointing out his
confederates, and in the vain hope of saving himself from the monster's
vengeance, he actually impeached his mother. This noble woman was
incapable of treason. Tacitus says, "the scourge, the flames, the rage of
the executioners who tortured her the more savagely, lest they should be
scorned by a woman, were powerless to extort a false confession." Lucan
never received the reward which he purchased by treachery. When the
warrant for his death was issued, he caused his veins to be cut asunder,
and expired in the twenty-seventh year of his age.

The only one of his works which survives is the "Pharsalia," an epic poem
on the subject of the civil war between Caesar and Pompey. It bears
evident marks of having been left unfinished; it has great faults and at
the same time great beauties. The sentiments contained in this poem
breathe a love of freedom and an attachment to the old Roman
republicanism. Its subject is a noble one, full of historic interest, and
it is treated with spirit, brilliancy, and animation. The characters of
Caesar and Pompey are masterpieces; but while some passages are scarcely
inferior to any written by the best Latin poets, others have neither the
dignity of prose, nor the melody of poetry. Description forms the
principal feature in the poetry of Lucan; in fact, it constitutes one of
the characteristic features of Roman literature in its decline, because
poetry had become more than ever an art, and the epoch one of erudition.

Silius Italicus (fl. 54 A.D.) was the favorite and intimate of two
emperors, Nero and Vitellius. He left a poem, the "Punica," which contains
the history in heroic verse of the second Punic war. The Aeneid of Virgil
was his model, and the narrative of Livy furnished his materials. It is
considered the dullest and most tedious poem in the Latin language though
its versification is harmonious, and will often, in point of smoothness,
bear comparison with that of Virgil.

Valerius Flaccus flourished in the reign of Vespasian. He is author of the
"Argonautica," an imitation and in some parts a translation of the Greek
poem of Apollonius Rhodius on the same subject. He evidently did not live
to complete his original design. In the Argonautica there are no glaring
faults or blemishes, but there is also no genius, no inspiration. He has
some talents as a descriptive poet; his versification is harmonious and
his style graceful.

P. Statius (61-95 A.D.) was the author of the Silviae, Thebaid, and
Achilleid. The "Silviae" are the rude materials of thought springing up
spontaneously in all their wild luxuriance, from the rich, natural soil of
the imagination of the poet. The subject of the "Thebaid" is the ancient
Greek legend respecting the war of the Seven against Thebes, and the
"Achilleid" was intended to embrace all the exploits of Achilles, but only
two books were completed. The poems of Statius contain many poetical
incidents, which might stand by themselves as perfect fugitive pieces. In
these we see his natural and unaffected elegance, his harmonious ear, and
the truthfulness of his perceptions. But, as an epic poet, he has neither
grasp of mind nor vigor of conception; his imaginary heroes do not inspire
and warm his imagination; and his genius was unable to rise to the highest
departments of art.

6. HISTORY.--For the reasons already stated, Rome for a long period could
boast of no historian; the perilous nature of the times, and the personal
obligations under which learned men frequently were to the emperors,
rendered contemporary history a means of adulation and servility. To this
class of historians belongs Paterculus (fl. 30 A.D.), who wrote a history
of Rome which is partial, prejudiced, and adulatory. He was a man of
lively talents, and his taste was formed after the model of Sallust, of
whom he was an imitator. His style is often overstrained and unnatural.

Under the genial and fostering influence of the Emperor Trajan, the fine
arts, especially architecture, flourished, and literature revived. The
same taste and execution which are visible in the bas-reliefs on the
column of Trajan adorn the literature of his age as illustrated by its two
great lights, Tacitus and the younger Pliny. There is not the rich,
graceful manner which invests with such a charm the writers of the Golden
Age, but the absence of these qualities is amply compensated by dignity,
gravity, and honesty. Truthfulness beams throughout the writings of these
two great contemporaries, and incorruptible virtue is as visible in the
pages of Tacitus as benevolence and tenderness are in the letters of
Pliny. They mutually influenced each other's characters and principles;
their tastes and pursuits were similar; they loved each other dearly,
corresponded regularly, corrected each other's works, and accepted
patiently and gratefully each other's criticism.

Tacitus (60-135 A.D.) was of equestrian rank, and served in several
important offices of the empire. His works now extant are a life of his
father-in-law, Agricola, a tract on the manners and nations of the
Germans, a small portion of a voluminous work entitled "Histories," about
two thirds of another historical work, entitled "Annals," and a dialogue
on the decline of eloquence. The life of Agricola, though a panegyric
rather than a biography, is a beautiful specimen of the vigor and force of
expression with which this greatest painter of antiquity could throw off
any portrait which he attempted. Even if the likeness be somewhat
flattered, the qualities which the writer possessed, his insight into
character, his pathetic power, and his affectionate heart, render this
short piece one of the most attractive biographies extant. The treatise on
the "Geography, Manners, and Nations of Germany," though containing
geographical descriptions often vague and inaccurate, and accounts
evidently founded on mere tales of travelers, bears the impress of truth
in the salient points and characteristic features of the national manners
and institutions of Teutonic nations. The "Histories," his earliest
historical work, of which only four books and a portion of the fifth are
extant, extended from the year 69 to 96 A.D., and it was his intention to
include the reigns of Nero and Trajan. In this work he proposed to
investigate the political state of the commonwealth, the feeling of its
armies, the sentiments of its provinces, the elements of its strength and
weakness, and the causes and reasons for each historical phenomenon. The
principal fault which diminishes the value of his history as a record of
events is his too great readiness to accept evidence unhesitatingly, and
to record popular rumors without taking sufficient pains to examine into
their truth. His incorrect account of the history, constitution, and
manners of the Jewish people is one among the few instances of this fault,
scattered over a vast field of faithful history. The "Annals" consist of
sixteen books; they begin with the death of Augustus, and conclude with
that of Nero (14-68 A.D.). The object of Tacitus was to describe the
influence which the establishment of tyranny on the ruins of liberty
exercised for good or for evil in bringing out the character of the
individual. In the extinction of freedom there still existed in Rome
bright examples of heroism and courage, and instances not less prominent
of corruption and degradation. In the annals of Tacitus these individuals
stand out in bold relief, either singly or in groups upon the stage, while
the emperor forms the principal figure, and the moral sense of the reader
is awakened to admire instances of patient suffering and determined
bravery, or to witness abject slavery and remorseless despotism.

Full of sagacious observation and descriptive power, Tacitus engages the
most serious attention of the reader by the gravity of his condensed and
comprehensive style, as he does by the wisdom and dignity of his
reflections. Living amidst the influences of a corrupt age, he was
uncontaminated. By his virtue and integrity, and his chastened political
liberality, he commands our admiration as a man, while his love of truth
is reflected in his character as a historian. In his style, the form is
always subordinate to the matter; his sentences are suggestive of far more
than they express, and his brevity is enlivened by copiousness, variety,
and poetry; his language is highly figurative; his descriptions of scenery
and incidents are eminently picturesque, his characters dramatic, and the
expression of his own sentiments almost lyrical.

Suetonius was born about 69 A.D. His principal extant works are the "Lives
of the Twelve Caesars," "Notices of Illustrious Grammarians and
Rhetoricians," and the Lives of the Poets Terence, Horace, Persius, Lucan,
and Juvenal. The use which he makes of historical documents proves that he
was a man of diligent research, and, as a biographer, industrious and
careful. He indulges neither in ornament of style nor in romantic
exaggeration. The pictures which he draws of some of the Caesars are
indeed terrible, but they are fully supported by the contemporary
authority of Juvenal and Tacitus. As a historian, Suetonius had not that
comprehensive and philosophical mind which would qualify him for taking an
enlarged view of his subject; he has no definite plan or method, and
wanders at will from one subject to another just as the idea seizes him.

Curtius is considered by some writers as belonging to the Silver Age, and
by others to a later period. His biography of Alexander the Great is
deeply interesting. It is a romance rather than a history. He never loses
an opportunity, by the coloring which he gives to historical facts, of
elevating the Macedonian conqueror to a super-human standard. His florid
and ornamented style is suitable to the imaginary orations which are
introduced in the narrative, and which constitute the most striking
portions of the work.

Valerius Maximus flourished during the reign of Tiberius. His work is a
collection of anecdotes entitled "Memorable Sayings and Deeds," the object
of which was to illustrate by examples the beauty of virtue and the
deformity of vice. The style is prolix and declamatory, and characterized
by awkward affectation and involved obscurity.

7. RHETORIC AND ELOQUENCE.--Under the empire, schools of rhetoric were
multiplied, as harmless as tyranny could desire. In these the Roman youth
learned the means by which the absence of natural endowments could be
compensated. The students composed their speeches according to the rules
of rhetoric; they were then corrected, committed to memory, and recited,
partly with a view to practice, partly in order to amuse an admiring
audience. Nor were these declamations confined to mere students. Public
recitations had, since the days of Juvenal, been one of the crying
nuisances of the times. Seneca, the father of the philosopher of the same
name, a famous rhetorician himself, left two works containing a series of
exercises in oratory, which show the hollow and artificial system of those
schools. He was born in Cordova in Spain (61 A.D.), and as a professional
rhetorician amassed a considerable fortune.

Quintilian (40-118 A.D.) was the most distinguished teacher of rhetoric of
this age. He attempted to restore a purer and more classical taste, but,
although to a certain extent he was successful, the effect which he
produced was only temporary. For the instruction of his elder son he wrote
his great work, "Institutes of Oratory," a complete system of instruction
in the art of oratory; and in it he shows himself far superior to Cicero
as a teacher, though he was inferior to him as an orator.

His work is divided into twelve books, in which he traces the progress of
the orator from the very cradle until he arrives at perfection. In this
monument of his taste and genius he fully and completely exhausted the
subject, and left a text-book of the science and art of nations, as well
as a masterly sketch of the eloquence of antiquity.

The disposition of Quintilian was as affectionate and tender as his genius
was brilliant and his taste pure; few passages throughout the whole range
of Latin literature can be compared to that in which he mourns the loss of
his wife and children. It is the touching eloquence of one who could not
write otherwise than gracefully.

Among the pupils of Quintilian, Pliny the younger took the highest place
in the literature of his age. He was born in Como, 61 A.D., and adopted
and educated by his maternal uncle, the elder Pliny. He attained great
celebrity as a pleader, and stood high in favor with the emperor. His
works consist of a panegyric on Trajan, and a collection of letters in ten
books. The panegyric is a piece of courtly flattery in accordance with the
cringing and fawning manners of the times. The letters are very valuable,
not only for the insight which they give into his own character, but also
into the manners and modes of thought of his illustrious contemporaries,
as well as the politics of the day. For liveliness, descriptive power,
elegance, and simplicity of style, they are scarcely inferior to those of
Cicero, whom he evidently took for his model. These letters show how
accurate and judicious was the mind of Pliny, how prudent his
administration in the high offices which he filled under the reign of
Trajan, and how refined his taste for the beautiful. The tenth book, which
consists of the letters to Trajan, together with the emperor's rescripts,
will be read with the greatest interest. The following passages from his
dispatch respecting the Christians, written while he was procurator of the
province of Bithynia, and the emperor's answer, are worthy of being
transcribed, both because reference is so often made to them, and because
they throw light upon the marvelous and rapid propagation of the gospel,
the manners of the early Christians, the treatment to which their
constancy exposed them, and the severe jealousy with which they were
regarded:--

"It is my constant practice, sire, to refer to you all subjects on which I
entertain doubt. For who is better able to direct my hesitation, or to
instruct my ignorance? I have never been present at the trials of
Christians, and, therefore, I do not know in what way, or to what extent
it is usual to question or to punish them. I have also felt no small
difficulty in deciding whether age should make any difference, or whether
those of the tenderest and those of mature years should be treated alike;
whether pardon should be accorded to repentance, or whether, where a man
has once been a Christian, recantation should profit him; whether, if the
name of Christian does not imply criminality, still the crimes peculiarly
belonging to the name should be punished. Meanwhile, in the case of those
against whom informations have been laid before me, I have pursued the
following line of conduct: I have put to them, personally, the question
whether they were Christians. If they confessed, I interrogated them a
second and third time, and threatened them with punishment. If they still
persevered, I ordered their commitment; for I had no doubt whatever, that
whatever they confessed, at any rate, dogged and inflexible obstinacy
deserved to be punished. There were others who displayed similar madness;
but, as they were Roman citizens, I ordered them to be sent back to the
city. Soon, persecution itself, as is generally the case, caused the crime
to spread, and it appeared in new forms. An anonymous information was laid
against a large number of persons, but they deny that they are, or ever
have been, Christians. As they invoked the gods, repeating the form after
me, and offered prayer with incense and wine, to your image, which I had
ordered to be brought together with those of the deities, and besides,
cursed Christ, while those who are true Christians, it is said, cannot be
compelled to do any one of these things, I thought it right to set them at
liberty. Others, when accused by an informer, confessed that they were
Christians, and soon after denied the fact. They said they had been, but
had ceased to be, some three, some more, not a few even twenty years
previously. All these worshiped your image and those of the gods, and
cursed Christ. But they affirmed that the sum-total of their fault, or
their error, was that they were accustomed to assemble on a fixed day,
before dawn, and sing an antiphonal hymn to Christ as God; that they bound
themselves by an oath, not to the commission of any wickedness, but to
abstain from theft, robbery, and adultery; never to break a promise, or to
deny a deposit, when it was demanded back. When these ceremonies were
concluded, it was their custom to depart, and again assemble together to
take food harmlessly and in common. That after my proclamation, in which,
in obedience to your command, I had forbidden associations, they had
desisted from this practice. For these reasons, I the more thought it
necessary to investigate the real truth, by putting to the torture two
maidens who were called deaconesses; but I discovered nothing, but a
perverse and excessive superstition. I have, therefore, deferred taking
cognizance of the matter until I had consulted you; for it seemed to me a
case requiring advice, especially on account of the number of those in
peril. For many of every age, sex, and rank are, and will continue to be
called in question. The infection, in fact, has spread not only through
the cities, but also through the villages and open country; but it seems
that its progress can be arrested. At any rate, it is clear that the
temples, which were almost deserted, begin to be frequented; and solemn
sacrifices, which had been long intermitted, are again performed, and
victims are being sold everywhere, for which, up to this time, a purchaser
could rarely be found. It is, therefore, easy to conceive that crowds
might be reclaimed, if an opportunity for repentance were given."

Trajan to Pliny: "In sifting the cases of those who have been indicted on
the charge of Christianity, you have adopted, my dear Secundus, the right
course of proceeding; for no certain rule can be laid down which will meet
all cases. They must not be sought after, but if they are informed
against, and convicted, they must be punished; with this proviso, however,
that if any deny that he is a Christian, and proves the point by offering
prayers to our deities, notwithstanding the suspicions under which he has
labored, he shall be pardoned on his repentance. On no account should any
anonymous charges be attended to, for it would be the worst possible
precedent, and is inconsistent with the habits of our time."

8. PHILOSOPHY AND SCIENCE.--Philosophy, and particularly moral philosophy,
became a necessary study at this time, when the popular religion had lost
its influence. In the general ruin of public and private morals, virtuous
men found in this science a guide in the dangers by which they were
continually threatened, and a consolation in all their sorrows. The Stoic
among the other schools met with most favor from this class of men, for it
offered better security against the evils of life, and taught men how to
take shelter from baseness and profligacy under the influence of virtue
and courage. The doctrines of the Stoics suited the rigid sternness of the
Roman character. They embodied that spirit of self-devotion and self-
denial with which the Roman patriot, in the old times of simple republican
virtue, threw himself into his public duties, and they enabled him to meet
death with a courageous spirit in this degenerate age, in which many of
the best and noblest willingly died by their own hands, at the imperial
mandate, in order to save their name from infamy, and their inheritance
from confiscation.

Seneca, (12-69 A.D.), a native of Cordova in Spain, was the greatest
philosopher of this age. He early displayed great talent as a pleader, but
in the reign of Claudius he was banished to Corsica, where he solaced his
exile with the study of the Stoic philosophy; and though its severe
precepts exercised no moral influence on his conduct, he not only
professed himself a Stoic, but imagined that he was one. A few years
after, he was recalled by Agrippina, to become tutor to her son Nero. He
was too unscrupulous a man of the world to attempt the correction of the
vicious propensities of his pupil, or to instill into him high principles.
After the accession of Nero, he endeavored to arrest his depraved career,
but it was too late. Seneca had, by usury and legacy-hunting, amassed one
of those large fortunes of which so many instances are met with in Roman
history; feeling the dangers of wealth, he offered his property to Nero,
who refused it, but resolved to rid himself of his former tutor, and
easily found a pretext for his destruction. In adversity the character of
Seneca shone with brighter lustre. Though he had lived ill, he could die
well. He met the messengers of death without trembling. His noble wife,
Paulina, determined to die with him. The veins of both were opened at the
same time, but the little blood which remained in his emaciated frame
refused to flow. He suffered excruciating agony. A warm bath was tried,
but in vain; and a draught of poison was equally ineffectual. At last he
was suffocated by the vapor of a stove.

Seneca lived in a perilous atmosphere. He had not firmness to act up to
the high moral standard which he proposed to himself. He was avaricious,
but avarice was the great sin of his times. The education of one who was a
brute rather than a man was a task to which no one would have been equal;
he therefore retained the influence which he had not the uprightness to
command, by miserable and sinful expedients. He had great abilities, and
some of the noble qualities of the old Romans; and had he lived in the
days of the republic, he would have been a great man.

Seneca was the author of twelve ethical treatises, the best of which are
entitled, "On Providence," "On Consolation," and "On the Perseverance of
Wise Men." He cared little for abstract speculation, and delighted to
inculcate precepts rather than to investigate principles. He was always a
favorite with Christian writers, and some of his sentiments are truly
Christian. There is even a tradition that he was acquainted with St. Paul.
He may unconsciously have imbibed some of the principles of Christianity.
The gospel had already made great and rapid strides over the civilized
world, and thoughtful minds may have been enlightened by some of the rays
of divine truth dispersed by the moral atmosphere, just as we are
benefited by the light of the sun, even when its disk is obscured by
clouds. His epistles, of which there are one hundred and twenty-four, are
moral essays, and are the most delightful of his works. They are evidently
written for the public eye; they are rich in varied thought, and their
reflections flow naturally, and without effort. They contain a free and
unconstrained picture of his mind, and we see in them how he despised
verbal subtleties, the external badges of a sect or creed, and insisted
that the great end of science is to learn how to live and how to die. The
style of Seneca is too elaborate to please. It is affected, often florid,
and bombastic; there is too much sparkle and glitter, too little repose
and simplicity.

Pliny the elder (A.D. 23-79) was born probably at Como, the family
residence. He was educated at Rome, where he practiced at the bar, and
filled different civil offices. He perished a martyr to the cause of
science, in the eruption of Vesuvius, which took place in the reign of
Titus, the first of which there is any record in history. The
circumstances of his death are described by his nephew, Pliny the younger,
in two letters to Tacitus. He was at Misenum, in command of the fleet,
when, observing the first indications of the eruption, and wishing to
investigate it more closely, he fitted out a light galley, and sailed
towards the villa of a friend at Stabiae. He found his friend in great
alarm, but Pliny remained tranquil and retired to rest. Meanwhile, broad
flames burst forth from the volcano, the blaze was reflected from the sky,
and the brightness was enhanced by the darkness of the night. Repeated
shocks of an earthquake made the houses rock to and fro, while in the air
the fall of half burnt pumice-stones menaced danger. He was awakened, and
he and his friend, with their attendants, tied cushions over their heads
to protect them from the falling stones, and walked out to see if they
might venture on the water. It was now day, but the darkness was denser
than the darkest night, the sea was a waste of stormy waters, and when at
last the flames and the sulphureous smell could no longer be endured,
Pliny fell dead, suffocated by the dense vapor.

The natural history of Pliny is an unequaled monument of studious
diligence and persevering industry. It consists of thirty-seven books, and
contains 20,000 facts (as he believed them to be) connected with nature
and art, the result not of original research, but, as he honestly
confessed, culled from the labors of other men.

Owing to the extent of his reading, his love of the marvelous, and his
want of judgment in comparing and selecting, he does not present us with a
correct view of the science of his own age. He reproduces errors evidently
obsolete and inconsistent with facts and theories which had afterwards
replaced them. With him, mythological traditions appeared to have almost
the same authority as modern discoveries; the earth teems with monsters,
not exceptions to the regular order of nature, but specimens of her
ingenuity. His peculiar pantheistic belief prepared him to consider
nothing incredible, and his temper inclined him to admit all that was
credible as true.

He tells us of men whose feet were turned backwards, of others whose feet
were so large as to shade them when they lay in the sun; others without
mouths, who fed on the fragrance of fruits and flowers. Among the lower
animals, he enumerates horned horses furnished with wings; the mantichora,
with the face of a man, three rows of teeth, a lion's body, and a
scorpion's tail; the basilisk, whose very glance is fatal; and an insect
which cannot live except in the midst of the flames. But notwithstanding
his credulity and his want of judgment, this elaborate work contains many
valuable truths and much entertaining information. The prevailing
character of his philosophical belief, though tinctured with the stoicism
of the day, is querulous and melancholy. Believing that nature is an all-
powerful principle, and the universe instinct with deity, he saw more of
evil than of good in the divine dispensation, and the result was a gloomy
and discontented pantheism.

Celsus probably lived in the reign of Tiberius. He was the author of many
works, on various subjects, of which one, in eight books, on medicine, is
now extant. The independence of his views, the practical, as well as the
scientific nature of his instructions, and above all, his knowledge of
surgery, and his clear exposition of surgical operations, have given his
work great authority; the highest testimony is borne to its merits by the
fact of its being used as a text-book, even in the present advanced state
of medical science. The taste of the age in which he lived turned his
attention also to polite literature, and to that may be ascribed the
Augustan purity of his style.

Pomponius Mela lived in the reign of Claudius. He is considered as the
representative of the Roman geographers. Though his book, "The Place of
the World," is but an epitome of former treatises, it is interesting for
the simplicity of its style and the purity of its language.

Columella flourished in the reigns of Claudius and Nero. He is author of
an agricultural work, "De Re Rustica," in which he gives, in smooth and
fluent, though somewhat too diffuse a style, the fullest and completest
information on practical agriculture among the Romans in the first century
of the Christian era.

Frontinus (fl. 78 A.D.) left two valuable works, one on military tactics,
the other a descriptive architectural treatise on those wonderful
monuments of Roman art, the aqueducts. Besides these, there are extant
fragments of other works on surveying, and on the laws and customs
relating to landed property, which assign Frontinus an important place in
the estimation of the students of Roman history.

9. ROMAN LITERATURE FROM HADRIAN TO THEODORIC (138-526 A.D.).--From the
death of Augustus, Roman literature had gradually declined, and though it
shone forth for a time with classic radiance in the writings of Persius,
Juvenal, Quintilian, Tacitus, and the Plinies, with the death of freedom,
the extinction of patriotism, and the decay of the national spirit,
nothing could avert its fall. Poetry had become declamation; history had
degenerated either into fulsome panegyric or the fleshless skeletons of
epitomes; and at length the Romans seemed to disdain the use of their
native tongue, and wrote again in Greek, as they had in the infancy of the
national literature. The Emperor Hadrian resided long at Athens, and
became imbued with a taste and admiration for Greek; and thus the
literature of Rome became Hellenized. From this epoch the term classical
can no longer be applied to it, for it no longer retained its purity. To
Greek influence succeeded the still more corrupting one of foreign
nations. With the death of Nerva, the uninterrupted succession of emperors
of Roman or Italian birth ceased. Trajan himself was a Spaniard, and after
him not only foreigners of every European race, but even Orientals and
Africans were invested with the imperial purple, and the huge empire over
which they ruled was one unwieldy mass of heterogeneous materials. The
literary influence of the capital was not felt in the interior portions of
the Roman dominions. Schools were established in the very heart of nations
just emerging from barbarism; and though the blessings of civilization and
intellectual culture were thus distributed far and wide, still literary
taste, as it flowed through the minds of foreigners, became corrupted, and
the language of the imperial city, exposed to the infecting contact of
barbarous idioms, lost its purity.

The Latin authors of this age were numerous, but few had taste to
appreciate and imitate the literature of the Augustan age. They may be
classified according to their departments of poetry, history, grammar and
oratory, philosophy and science.

The brightest star of the poetry of this period was Claudian (365-404
A.D.), in whom the graceful imagination of classical antiquity seems to
have revived. He enjoyed the patronage of Stilicho, the guardian and
minister of Honorius, and in the praise and honor of him and of his pupil,
he wrote "The Rape of Proserpine," the "War of the Giants," and several
other poems.

His descriptions indicate a rich and powerful imagination, but, neglecting
substance for form, his style is often declamatory and affected. Among the
earliest authors of Christian hymns were Hilarius and Prudentius, Those of
the former were expressly designed to be sung, and are said to have been
set to music by the author himself. Prudentius (fl. 348 A.D.) wrote many
hymns and poems in defense of the Christian faith, more distinguished for
their pious and devotional character than for their lyric sublimity or
parity of language. To this age belong also the hymns of Damasus and of
Ambrose.

Among the historians are Flavius Eutropius, who lived in the fourth
century, and by the direction of the Emperor Valens composed an "Epitome
of Roman History," which was a favorite book in the Middle Ages. Ammianus
Marcellinus, his contemporary, wrote a Roman history in continuation of
Tacitus and Suetonius. Though his style is affected and often rough and
inaccurate, his work is interesting for its digressions and observations.
Severus Sulpicius wrote the history of the Hebrews, and of the four
centuries of the church. His "Sacred History," for its language and style,
is one of the best works of that age.

In the department of oratory may be mentioned Cornelius Fronto, who
flourished under Domitian and Nerva, and was endowed with a rich
imagination and a mind stored with vast erudition in Greek and Latin
literature, Symmachus, distinguished for his opposition to Christianity,
and Cassiodorus, minister and secretary of the Emperor Theodoric.

In the decline of Roman, as of Greek literature, grammarians took the
place of poets and of historians; they commented on and interpreted the
ancient classics, and transmitted to us valuable information concerning
the Augustan writers. Among the most important works of this kind are the
"Attic Nights" of Gellius, who was born in Rome, and lived under Hadrian
and the Antonines. In this work are preserved many valuable passages of
the classics which would otherwise have been lost. Macrobius, who
flourished in the middle of the fifth century, was the author of different
works in which the doctrines of the Neo-Platonic school are expounded. His
style, however, is very defective.

A striking characteristic of the writings, both in Greek and Latin, of the
last ages of the empire, is the prevalence of principles and opinions
imported from the East. The Neo-Platonic school, imbued with Oriental
mysticism, had diffused the belief in spirits and magic, and the
philosophy of this age was a mixture of ancient wisdom with new
superstitions belonging to the ages of transition between the decadence of
the ancient faith and the development of a new religion. The best
representative of the philosophy of this age is Apuleius, born in Africa
in the reign of Hadrian. After having received his education in Carthage
and Athens, he came to Rome, where he acquired great reputation as a
literary man, and as the possessor of extraordinary supernatural powers.
To this extensive philosophical knowledge and immense erudition he united
great polish of manner and remarkable beauty of person. He wrote much on
philosophy; but his most important work is a romance known as
"Metamorphoses, or the Golden Ass," containing his philosophical and
mystic doctrines. In this book, the object of which is to encourage the
belief in mysticism, the writer describes the transformation of a young
man into an ass, who is allowed to take his primitive human form only
through a knowledge of the mysteries of Isis. The story is well told, and
the romance is full of interest and sprightliness; but its style is
incorrect, florid, and bombastic.

Boethius (470-524), the last of the Roman philosophers, was the descendant
of an illustrious family. He made Greek philosophy the principal object of
his meditations. He was raised to the highest honors and offices in the
empire by Theodoric, but finally, through the artifices of enemies who
envied his reputation, he lost the favor of his patron, was imprisoned,
and at length beheaded. Of his numerous works, founded on the peripatetic
philosophy, that which has gained him the greatest celebrity is entitled
"On the Consolations of Philosophy," composed while he was in prison. It
is in the form of a dialogue, in which philosophy appears to console him
with the idea of Divine Providence. The poetical part of the book is
written with elegance and grace, and his prose, though not pure, is fluent
and full of tranquil dignity. The work of Boethius, which is known in all
modern languages, was translated into Anglo-Saxon by King Alfred, 900 A.D.

The fathers of the church followed more particularly the philosophy of
Plato, which was united and adapted to Christianity. St. Augustine is the
most illustrious among the Christian Platonists.

The most eloquent orators and writers of this period were found among the
advocates of Christianity; and among the most celebrated of these Latin
fathers of the Christian church we may mention the following names.
Tertullian (160-285), in his apology for the Christians, gives much
information on the manners and conduct of the early Christians; his style
is concise and figurative, but harsh, unpolished, and obscure. St. Cyprian
(200-258), beheaded at Carthage for preaching the gospel contrary to the
orders of the government, wrote an explanation of the Lord's Prayer, which
affords a valuable illustration of the ecclesiastical history of the time.
Arnobius (fl. 300) refuted the objections of the heathen against
Christianity with spirit and learning, in his "Disputes with the
Gentiles," a work rich in materials for the understanding of Greek and
Roman mythology. Lactantius (d. 335), on account of his fine and eloquent
language, is frequently called the Christian Cicero; his "Divine
Institutes" are particularly celebrated. St. Ambrose (340-397) obtained
great honor by his conduct as Bishop of Milan, and his writings bear the
stamp of his high Christian character. St. Augustine (360-430) was one of
the most renowned of all the Latin fathers. Though others may have been
more learned or masters of a purer style, none more powerfully touched and
warmed the heart towards religion. His "City of God" is one of the great
monuments of human genius. St. Jerome (330-420) wrote many epistles full
of energy and affection, as well as of religious zeal. He made a Latin
version of the Old Testament, which was the foundation of the Vulgate, and
which gave a new impulse to the study of the Holy Scriptures. Leo the
Great (fl. 440) is the first pope whose writings have been preserved. They
consist of sermons and letters. His style is finished and rhetorical.

10. ROMAN JURISPRUDENCE.--In the period which followed, from the death of
Augustus to the time of the Antonines, Roman civilians and legal writers
continued to be numerous, and as a professional body they seem to have
enjoyed high consideration until the close of the reign of Alexander
Severus, 385* A.D. After that time they were held in much less estimation,
as the science fell into the hands of freedmen and plebeians, who
practiced it as a sordid and pernicious trade. With the reign of
Constantine, the credit of the profession revived, and the youth of the
empire were stimulated to pursue the study of the law by the hope of being
ultimately rewarded by honorable and lucrative offices, the magistrates
being almost wholly taken from the class of lawyers. Two jurists of this
reign, Gregorianus and Hermogenianus, are particularly distinguished as
authors of codes which are known by their names, and which were recognized
as standard authorities in courts of justice. The "Code of Theodosius" was
a collection of laws reduced by that emperor, and promulgated in both
empires 438 A.D. It retained its authority in the western empire until its
final overthrow, 476 A.D., and even after this, though modified by the
institutions of the conquerors. In the eastern empire, it was only
superseded by the code of Justinian. This emperor undertook the task of
reducing to order and system the great confusion and perplexity in which
the whole subject of Roman jurisprudence was involved. For this purpose he
employed the most eminent lawyers, with the celebrated Tribonian at their
head, to whom he intrusted the work of forming and publishing a complete
collection of the preceding laws and edicts, and who devoted several years
of unwearied labor and research to this object. They first collected and
reduced the imperial constitutions from the time of Hadrian downwards,
which was promulgated as the "Justinian Code." Their next labor was to
reduce the writings of the jurisconsults of the preceding ages, especially
those who had lived under the empire, and whose works are said to have
amounted to two thousand volumes. This work was published 533 A.D., under
the title of "Pandects," or "Digest," the former title referring to their
completeness as comprehending the whole of Roman jurisprudence, and the
latter to their methodical arrangement. At the same time, a work prepared
by Tribonian was published by the order of the emperor, on the elements or
first principles of Roman law, entitled "Institutes," and another
collection consisting of constitutions and edicts, under the title of
"Novels," chiefly written in Greek, but known to the moderns by a Latin
translation. These four works, the Code, the Pandects, the Institutes, and
the Novels, constituted what is now called the Body of Roman Law.

The system of jurisprudence established by Justinian remained in force in
the eastern empire until the taking of Constantinople, 1453 A.D. After the
fall of the western empire, these laws had little sway until the twelfth
century, when Irnerius, a German lawyer who had studied at Constantinople,
opened a school at Bologna, and thus revived and propagated in the West a
knowledge of Roman civil law. Students flocked to this school from all
parts, and by them Roman jurisprudence, as embodied in the system of
Justinian, was transmitted to most of the countries of Europe.

During the fourth and fifth centuries, the process of the debasement of
the Roman tongue went on with great rapidity. The influence of the
provincials began what the irruptions of the northern tribes consummated.
In many scattered parts of the empire it is probable that separate Latin
dialects arose, and the strain upon the whole structure of the tongue was
prodigious, when the Goths poured into Italy, established themselves in
the capital, and began to speak and write in a language previously foreign
to them. With the close of the reign of Theodoric the curtain falls upon
ancient literature.




ARABIAN LITERATURE.

1. European Literature in the Dark Ages.--2. The Arabian language.--3.
Arabian Mythology and the Koran.--4. Historical Development of Arabian
Literature.--5. Grammar and Rhetoric.--6. Poetry.--7. The Arabian Tales.--
8. History and Science.--9. Education.


1. EUROPEAN LITERATURE IN THE DARK AGES.--The literature, arts, and
sciences of the Arabs formed the connecting link between the civilizations
of ancient and modern times. To them we owe the revival of learning in
Western Europe, and many of the inventions and useful arts perfected by
later nations.

From the middle of the sixth century A.D. to the beginning of the
eleventh, the interval between the decline of ancient and the development
of modern literature is known in history as the Dark Ages. The sudden rise
of the Arabian Empire and the rapid development of its literature were the
great events which characterize the period.

At the beginning of this epoch classical genius was already extinct, and
the purity of the classical tongues was yielding rapidly to the
corruptions of the provinces and of the new dialects. Many other causes
conspired to work great changes in the fabric of society, and in the
manifestations of human intellect. Throughout this period the treasures of
Greek and Latin literature, exposed to the danger of perishing and
impaired by much actual loss, exerted no influence on the minds of those
who still used the tongues to which they belong. Greek letters, as we have
seen, decayed with the Byzantine power, and the vital principle in both
became extinct long before the sword of the Turkish conqueror inflicted
the final blow. The fate of Latin literature was not less deplorable. When
province after province of the Roman dominions was overrun by the northern
hordes, when the imperial schools were suppressed and the monuments of
ancient genius destroyed, an enfeebled people and a debased language could
not withstand such adverse circumstances. During the seventh and eighth
centuries Latin composition degenerated into the rudeness of the monkish
style. The care bestowed by Charlemagne upon education in the ninth
century produced some purifying effect upon the writings of the cloister;
the tenth was distinguished by an increased zeal in the task of
transcribing the classical authors, and in the eleventh the Latin works of
the Normans display some masculine force and freedom. Latin was the
repository of such knowledge as the times could boast; it was used in the
service of the church, and in the chronicles that supplied the place of
history, but it was not the vehicle of any great production stamped with
true genius and impressing the minds of posterity. Still, genius was not
altogether extinguished in every part of Europe. The north, which sent out
its daring tribes to change the aspect of civil life, furnished a fresh
source of mental inspiration, which was destined, with the recovered
influence of the classic spirit and other prolific causes, to give birth
to some of the best portions of modern literature.

At the memorable epoch of the overthrow of the Roman dominion in the West
(476 A.D.), the seats of the Teutonic race extended from the banks of the
Rhine and the Danube to the rock-bound coasts of Norway. The victorious
invaders who occupied the southern provinces of Europe speedily lost their
own forms of speech, which were broken down, together with those of the
vanquished, into a jargon unfit for composition. But in Germany and
Scandinavia, where the old language retained its purity, song continued to
flourish. There, from the most distant eras described by Tacitus and other
Latin writers, the favorite attendants of kings and chiefs were those
celebrated bards who preserved in their traditionary strains the memory of
great events, the praises of the gods, the glory of warriors, and the laws
and customs of their countrymen. Intrusted, like the Grecian heroic
minstrelsy, to oral recitation, it was not until the propitious reign of
Charlemagne that these verses were collected. But, through the bigotry of
his successor or the ravages of time, not a fragment of this collection
remains. We are enabled, however, to form an idea of the general tone and
tenor of this early Teutonic poetry from other interesting remains. The
"Nibelungen-Lied" (_Lay of the Nibelungen_) and "Heldenbuch" (_Book of
Heroes_) may be regarded as the Homeric poems of Germany. After an
examination of their monuments, the ability of the ancient bards, the
honor in which they were held, and the enthusiasm which they produced,
will not be surprising.

Equally distinguished were the Scalds of Scandinavia. Ever in the train of
princes and gallant adventurers, they chanted their rhymeless verse for
the encouragement and solace of heroes. Their oldest songs, or sagas, are
mostly of a historical import. In the Icelandic Edda, however, the richest
monument of this species of composition, the theological element of their
poetry is shadowed out in the most picturesque and fanciful legends.

Such was the intellectual state of Europe down to the age of Charlemagne.
While in the once famous seats of arts and arms scarcely a ray of native
genius or courage was visible, the light of human intellect still burned
in lands whose barbarism had furnished matter for the sarcasm of classical
writers.

Charlemagne encouraged learning, established schools, and filled his court
with men of letters; while in England, the illustrious Alfred, himself a
scholar and an author, improved and enriched the Anglo-Saxon dialect, and
exerted the most beneficial influence on his contemporaries.

The confusion and debasement of language in the south of Europe has
already been alluded to. But the force and activity of mind, that formed
an essential characteristic of the conquering race, were destined
ultimately to evolve regularity and harmony out of the concussion of
discordant elements. The Latin and Teutonic tongues were blended together,
and hence proceeded all the chief dialects of modern Europe. Over the
south, from Portugal to Italy, the Latin element prevailed; but even where
the Teutonic was the chief ingredient, as in the English and German, there
has also been a large infusion of the Latin. To these two languages, and
to the Provencal, French, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese, called, from
their Roman origin, the Romance or Romanic languages, all that is
prominent and precious in modern letters belongs. But it is not until the
eleventh century that their progress becomes identified with the history
of literature. Up to this period there had been little repose, freedom, or
peaceful enjoyment of property. The independence and industry of the
middle classes were almost unknown, and the chieftain, the vassal, and the
slave were the characters which stood out in the highest relief.
Throughout the whole of the eleventh century, the social chaos seemed
resolving itself into some approach to order and tranquillity. The gradual
abolition of personal servitude, hardly accomplished in three successive
centuries, now began. A third estate arose. The rights of cities, and the
corporation-spirit, the result of the necessity that drove men to combine
for mutual defense, led to intercourse among them and to consequent
improvement in language. Chivalry, also, served to mitigate the
oppressions of the nobles, and to soften and refine their manners. From
the date of the first crusade (1093 A.D.) down to the close of the twelfth
century, was the golden age of chivalry. The principal thrones of Europe
were occupied by her foremost knights. The East formed a point of union
for the ardent and adventurous of different countries, whose courteous
rivalry stimulated the growth of generous sentiments and the passion for
brave deeds. The genius of Europe was roused by the passage of thousands
of her sons through Greece into Asia and Egypt, amidst the ancient seats
of art, science, and refinement; and the minds of men received a fresh and
powerful impulse. It was during the eleventh century that the brilliancy
of the Arabian literature reached its culminating point, and, through the
intercourse of the Troubadours with the Moors of the peninsula, and of the
Crusaders with the Arabs in the East, began to influence the progress of
letters in Europe.

2. THE ARABIAN LANGUAGE.--The Arabian language belongs to the Semitic
family; it has two principal dialects--the northern, which has, for
centuries, been the general tongue of the empire, and is best represented
in literature, and the southern, a branch of which is supposed to be the
mother of the Ethiopian language. The former, in degenerated dialects, is
still spoken in Arabia, in parts of western Asia, and throughout northern
Africa, and forms an important part of the Turkish, Persian, and other
Oriental languages. The Arabic is characterized by its guttural sounds, by
the richness and pliability of its vowels, by its dignity, volume of
sound, and vigor of accentuation and pronunciation. Like all Semitic
languages, it is written from right to left; the characters are of Syrian
origin, and were introduced into Arabia before the time of Mohammed. They
are of two kinds, the Cufic, which were first used, and the Neskhi, which
superseded them, and which continue in use at the present day. The Arabic
alphabet was, with a few modifications, early adopted by the Persians and
Turks.

3. ARABIAN MYTHOLOGY AND THE KORAN.--Before the time of Mohammed, the
Arabians were gross idolaters. They had some traditionary idea of the
unity and perfections of the Deity, but their creed embraced an immense
number of subordinate divinities, represented by images of men and women,
beasts and birds. The essential basis of their religion was Sabeism, or
star-worship. The number and beauty of the heavenly luminaries, and the
silent regularity of their motions, could not fail deeply to impress the
minds of this imaginative people, living in the open air, under the clear
and serene sky, and wandering among the deserts, oases, and picturesque
mountains of Arabia. They had seven celebrated temples dedicated to the
seven planets. Some tribes exclusively reverenced the moon; others the
dog-star. Some had received the religion of the Magi, or fire-worshipers,
while others had become converts to Judaism.

Ishmael is one of the most venerated progenitors of the nation; and it is
the common faith that Mecca, then an arid wilderness, was the spot where
his life was providentially saved, and where Hagar, his mother, was
buried. The well pointed out by the angel, they believe to be the famous
Zemzem, of which all pious Mohammedans drink to this day. To commemorate
the miraculous preservation of Ishmael, God commanded Abraham to build a
temple, and he erected and consecrated the Caaba, or sacred house, which
is still venerated in Mecca; and the black stone incased within its walls
is the same on which Abraham stood.

Mohammed (569-632 A.D.) did not pretend to introduce a new religion; his
professed object was merely to restore the primitive and only true faith,
such as it had been in the days of the patriarchs; the fundamental idea of
which was the unity of God. He made the revelations of the Old and New
Testaments the basis of his preaching. He maintained the authority of the
books of Moses, admitted the divine mission of Jesus, and he enrolled
himself in the catalogue of inspired teachers. This doctrine was
proclaimed in the memorable words, which for so many centuries constituted
the war-cry of the Saracens,--_There is no God but God, and Mohammed is
his prophet_. Mohammed preached no dogmas substantially new, but he
adorned, amplified, and adapted to the ideas, prejudices, and inclinations
of the Orientals, doctrines which were as old as the race. He enjoined the
ablutions suited to the manners and necessities of hot climates. He
ordained five daily prayers, that man might learn habitually to elevate
his thoughts above the outward world. He instituted the festival of the
Ramadan, and the pilgrimage to Mecca, and commanded that every man should
bestow in alms the hundredth part of his possessions; observances which,
for the most part, already existed in the established customs of the
country.

The Koran (Reading), the sacred book of the Mohammedans, is, according to
their belief, the revelation of God to their prophet Mohammed. It contains
not only their religious belief, but their civil, military, and political
code. It is divided into 114 chapters, and 1,666 verses. It is written in
rhythmical prose, and its materials are borrowed from the Jewish and
Christian scriptures, the legends of the Talmud, and the traditions and
fables of the Arabian and Persian mythologies. Confusion of ideas,
obscurity, and contradictions destroy the unity and even the interest of
this work. The chapters are preposterously distributed, not according to
their date or connection, but according to their length, beginning with
the longest, and ending with the shortest; and thus the work becomes often
the more unintelligible by its singular arrangement. But notwithstanding
this, there is scarcely a volume in the Arabic language which contains
passages breathing more sublime poetry, or more enchanting eloquence; and
the Koran is so far important in the history of Arabian letters, that when
the scattered leaves were collected by Abubeker, the successor of Mohammed
(635 A.D.) and afterwards revised, in the thirtieth year of the Hegira,
they fixed at once the classic language of the Arabs, and became their
standard in style as well as in religion.

This work and its commentaries are held in the highest reverence by the
Mohammedans. It is the principal book taught in their schools; they never
touch it without kissing it, and carrying it to the forehead, in token of
their reverence; oaths before the courts are taken upon it; it is learned
by heart, and repeated every forty days; many believers copy it several
times in their lives, and often possess one or more copies ornamented with
gold and precious stones.

The Koran treats of death, resurrection, the judgment, paradise, and the
place of torment, in a style calculated powerfully to affect the
imagination of the believer. The joys of paradise, promised to all who
fall in the cause of religion, are those most captivating to an Arabian
fancy. When Al Sirat, or the Bridge of Judgment, which is as slender as
the thread of a famished spider, and as sharp as the edge of a sword,
shall be passed by the believer, he will be welcomed into the gardens of
delight by black-eyed Houris, beautiful nymphs, not made of common clay,
but of pure essence and odors, free from all blemish, and subject to no
decay of virtue or of beauty, and who await their destined lovers in rosy
bowers, or in pavilions formed of a single hollow pearl. The soil of
paradise is composed of musk and saffron, sprinkled with pearls and
hyacinths. The walls of its mansions are of gold and silver; the fruits,
which bend spontaneously to him who would gather them, are of a flavor and
delicacy unknown to mortals. Numerous rivers flow through this blissful
abode; some of wine, others of milk, honey, and water, the pebbly beds of
which are rubies and emeralds, and their banks of musk, camphor, and
saffron. In paradise the enjoyment of the believers, which is subject
neither to satiety nor diminution, will be greater than the human
understanding can compass. The meanest among them will have eighty
thousand servants, and seventy-two wives. Wine, though forbidden on earth,
will there be freely allowed, and will not hurt or inebriate. The
ravishing songs of the angels and of the Houris will render all the groves
vocal with harmony, such as mortal ear never heard. At whatever age they
may have died, at their resurrection all will be in the prime of manly and
eternal vigor. It would be a journey of a thousand years for a true
Mohammedan to travel through paradise, and behold all the wives, servants,
gardens, robes, jewels, horses, camels, and other things, which belong
exclusively to him.

The hell of Mohammed is as full of terror as his heaven is of delight. The
wicked, who fall into the gulf of torture from the bridge of Al Sirat,
will suffer alternately from cold and heat; when they are thirsty, boiling
water will be given them to drink; and they will be shod with shoes of
fire. The dark mansions of the Christians, Jews, Sabeans, Magians, and
idolaters are sunk below each other with increasing horrors, in the order
of their names. The seventh or lowest hell is reserved for the faithless
hypocrites of every religion. Into this dismal receptacle the unhappy
sufferer will be dragged by seventy thousand halters, each pulled by
seventy thousand angels, and exposed to the scourge of demons, whose
pastime is cruelty and pain.

It is a portion of the faith inculcated in the Koran, that both angels and
demons exist, having pure and subtle bodies, created of fire, and free
from human appetites and desires. The four principal angels are Gabriel,
the angel of revelation; Michael, the friend and protector of the Jews;
Azrael, the angel of death; and Izrafel, whose office it will be to sound
the trumpet at the last day. Every man has two guardian angels to attend
him and record his actions, good and evil. The doctrine of the angels,
demons, and jins or genii, the Arabians probably derived from the Hebrews.
The demons are fallen angels, the prince of whom is _Eblis_; he was at
first one of the angels nearest to God's presence, and was called
_Azazel_. He was cast out of heaven, according to the Koran, for refusing
to pay homage to Adam at the time of the creation. The genii are
intermediate creatures, neither wholly spiritual nor wholly earthly, some
of whom are good and entitled to salvation, and others infidels and
devoted to eternal torture. Among them are several ranks and degrees, as
the _Peris_, or fairies, beautiful female spirits, who seek to do good
upon the earth, and the _Deev_, or giants, who frequently make war upon
the Peris, take them captive, and shut them up in cages. The genii, both
good and bad, have the power of making themselves invisible at pleasure.
Besides the mountain oL Kaf, which is their chief place of resort, they
dwell in ruined cities, uninhabited houses, at the bottom of wells, in
woods, pools of water, and among the rocks and sandhills of the desert.
Shooting stars are still believed by the people of the East to be arrows
shot by the angels against the genii, who transgress these limits and
approach too near the forbidden regions of bliss. Many of the genii
delight in mischief; they surprise and mislead travelers, raise
whirlwinds, and dry up springs in the desert. The _Ghoul_ lives on the
flesh of men and women, whom he decoys to his haunts in wild and barren
places, in order to kill and devour them, and when he cannot thus obtain
food, he enters the graveyards and feeds upon the bodies of the dead.

The fairy mythology of the Arabians was introduced into Europe in the
eleventh century by the Troubadours and writers of the romances of
chivalry, and through them it became an important element in the
literature of Europe. It constituted the machinery of the _Fabliaux_ of
the Trouveres, and of the romantic epics of Boccaccio, Ariosto, Tasso,
Spenser, Shakspeare, and others.

The three leading Mohammedan sects are the Sunnees, the Sheahs, and the
Wahabees. The Sunnees acknowledge the authority of the first Caliphs, from
whom most of the traditions were derived. The Sheahs assert the divine
right of Ali to succeed to the prophet; consequently they consider the
first Caliphs, and all their successors, as usurpers. The Wahabees are a
sect of religious reformers, who took their name from Abd al Wahab (1700-
1750), the Luther of the Mohammedans. They became a formidable power in
Arabia, but they were finally overcome by Ibrahim Pacha in 1816.

4. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE ARABIAN LITERATURE.--The literature of
the Arabians has, properly speaking, but one period; although from remote
antiquity poetry was with them a favorite occupation, and long before the
time of Mohammed the roving tribes of the desert had their annual
conventions, where they defended their honor and celebrated their heroic
deeds. As early as the fifth century A.D., at the fair of Ochadh, thirty
days every year were employed not only in the exchange of merchandise, but
in the nobler display of rival talents. A place was set apart for the
competitions of the bards, whose highest ambition was to conquer in this
literary arena, and the victorious compositions were inscribed in golden
letters upon Egyptian paper, and suspended upon the doors of the Caaba,
the ancient national sanctuary of Mecca. Seven of the most famous of these
ancient poets have been celebrated by Oriental writers under the title of
the Arabian Pleiades, and their songs, still preserved, are full of
passion, manly pride, and intensity of imagination and feeling. These and
similar effusions constituted the entire literature of Arabia, and were
the only archives of the nation previous to the age of Mohammed.

The peninsula of Arabia, hitherto restricted to its natural boundaries,
and peopled by wandering tribes, had occupied but a subordinate place in
the history of the world. But the success of Mohammed and the preaching of
the Koran were followed by the union of the tribes who, inspired by the
feelings of national pride and religious fervor, in less than a century
made the Arabian power, tongue, and religion predominant over a third part
of Asia, almost one half of Africa, and a part of Spain; and, from the
ninth to the sixteenth century, the literature of the Arabians far
surpassed that of any contemporary nation.

After the fall of the Roman empire in the fifth century A.D., when the
western world sank into barbarism, and the inhabitants, ever menaced by
famine or the sword, found full occupation in struggling against civil
wars, feudal tyranny, and the invasion of barbarians; when poetry was
unknown, philosophy was proscribed as rebellion against religion, and
barbarous dialects had usurped the place of that beautiful Latin language
which had so long connected the nations of the West, and preserved to them
so many treasures of thought and taste, the Arabians, who by their
conquests and fanaticism had contributed more than any other nation to
abolish the cultivation of science and literature, having at length
established their empire, in turn devoted themselves to letters. Masters
of the country of the magi and the Chaldeans, of Egypt, the first
storehouse of human science, of Asia Minor, where poetry and the fine arts
had their birth, and of Africa, the country of impetuous eloquence and
subtle intellect--they seemed to unite in themselves the advantages of all
the nations which they had thus subjugated. Innumerable tre