DESCRIPTIONS OF NATURE BY THE GREEKS. 25 



from these terrific forms of inanimate nature to celebrate Hi- 

 ero of Syracuse, and the victorious combats of the Greeks with 

 the mighty race of the Persians. 



We must not forget that Grecian scenery presents the pe- 

 cuhar charm of an intimate association of land and sea, of 

 shores adorned with vegetation, or picturesquely girt round by 

 rocks gleaming in the light of aerial tints, and of an ocean 

 beautiful in the play of the ever-changing brightness of its 

 deep-toned moving waves. 



Although to other nations, sea and land, in the different 

 pursuits of life to which they give rise, appeared as two sep- 

 arate spheres of nature, the Greeks — not only those who in- 

 habited the islands, but also those occupying the southern 

 portion of the continent — enjoyed, almost every where, the as- 

 pect of the richness and sublime grandeur imparted to the 

 scenery by the contact and mutual influence of the two ele 

 ments. How can we suppose that so intellectual and highly- 

 gifted a race should have remained insensible to the aspect of 

 the forest-crowned chfts on the deeply-indented shores of the 

 Mediterranean, to the silent interchange of the influences af- 

 fecting the surface of the earth, and the lower strata of the 

 atmosphere at the recurrence of regular seasons and hours, or 

 to the distribution of vegetable forms ? How, in an age when 

 the poetic feelings were the strongest, could this active state 

 of the senses have failed to maniiest itself in ideal contempla 

 tion ? The Greek regarded the vegetable world as standing 

 in a manifold and mythical relation to heroes and to the gods, 

 who were sitpposed to avenge every injury inflicted on the 

 trees and plints sacred to them. Imagination animated veg- 

 etable forrr.'i with life, but the t}^es of poetry, to wliich the 

 peculiar d;rection of mental activity among the ancient Greeks 

 limited them, gave only a partial development to the descrip- 

 tions of natural scenery. Occasionally, however, even in the 

 writings of their tragic poets, a deep sense of the beauty of 

 nature breaks forth in animated descriptions of scenery in the 

 midst of the most excited passions or the deepest tones of sad- 

 ness. Thus, when CEdipus is approaching the grove of the 

 Eumenides, the chorus sings, "the noble resting-place of the il- 

 lustrious Colonos, where the melodious niofhtingale loves to tar 

 ry and pour forth its clear but plaintive notes." Again it sings, 

 *' the verdant gloom of the thickly-mantling ivy, the narcissus 

 steeped in heavenly dew, the golden-beaming crocus, and the 

 hardy and ever fresh-sprouting olive-tree."* Sophocles strives 



* Gi^d. Colon., V. 668-719. Among deUueations of scenery, indica- 



Vol. II — B 



