LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE. 



145 



nnil Days, the last, an agricultural poem, 

 interspersed with moral reflections and pruden- 

 tial maxims. 



The third period commences with the 

 growth of lyric poetry, of apologues and phi- 

 losophy, with which history gained a new 

 development and a higher degree of certainty. 

 Lyric poetry sprung up on the decline of the 

 Epic school, and was much cultivated from the 

 beginning of the epoch of the Olympiads (776 

 B. C.) to the first Persian war. The poems of 

 this period are considered among the most 

 valuable productions of Grecian literature. 

 Many of them resembled the epic, and con- 

 tained the subjects of heroic song. They 

 were sung by bands of youths and maidens, 

 accompanied by instrumental music. Among 

 the most celebrated of the lyric poets were 

 Archilochus of Paros, the inventor of the 

 Iambus; Tyrtseus, Terpander, and Alcman, 

 whose martial strains enkindled the valor of 

 the Spartans ; Callimachus of Ephesus, in- 

 ventor of the elegaic measure ; Simonides and 

 Anacreon of Ceos ; the impassioned Sappho of 

 Mitylene ; Stesichorus, Hipponax, and Pindar. 

 Many didactic poems, fables, and proverbs 

 were written during this period, and served to 

 prepare the way for prose composition. 



The philosophy of this age was marked by 

 its constant reference to practical affairs. 

 Among its expounders we may consider the 

 seven wise men of Greece, as they are called 

 (Periander, or according to some, Epimenides 

 of Crete, Pittacus, Thales, Solon, Bias, Chilp, 

 and Cleobulus), of whom six acquired their 

 fame, not by the teaching of speculative ab- 

 stractions, but by their admirable wisdom in 

 the affairs of life, and their skill in the offices 

 of state. Their celebrated sayings are the 

 maxims of experience, applied to the practical 

 relations of life. But with the progress of 

 intellectual culture, a taste for speculative 

 inquiries was unfolded. This resulted in the 

 establishment of the Ionic philosophy by 

 Thales, the Italian, by Pythagoras, and the 

 older and later Eleatic. With the develop- 

 ment of these schools, we are brought to the 

 scientific period of Greek literature. The 

 Ionic school ascribed a material origin to the 

 universe. Its principal followers were Phere- 

 cydes, Anaximander, Anaxamines, Anaxago- 

 ras, Diogenes of Apollonia, and Archilaus of 

 Miletus. Of the Pythagorean school, which 

 explained the organization of the world by 

 number and measure, were Ocellus Lucanus, 

 Timaeusof Locris, Epicharmus,Theages, Archy- 

 tas, Philolaus, and Eudoxus. To the older 

 Eleatic school, which cherished a more sub- 

 lime, but less intelligible conception of the 

 origin of the world, assuming the fact of a 



pure necessary existence, belonged Xenophanes 

 and Parmenides ; to the later Eleatic, Melissus 

 and Diagoras. Until about the commence- 

 ment of the 90th Olympiad, the philosophers 

 and their disciples were dispersed throughout 

 the various Grecian cities. Athens subse- 

 quently became their chief residence, where 

 the class of men called Sophists first rose into 

 importance as public teachers. Of these, the 

 most distinguished names that have been pre- 

 served to us are Gorgias of Leontium , Protag- 

 oras of Abdera, Hippias of Elis, Prodicus of 

 Cos, Trasimseus, and Tisias. They were 

 especially devoted to the subjects of politics 

 and eloquence, but also made a study of the 

 natural sciences, mathematics, the theory of 

 the fine arts, and philosophy. Professing the 

 art of logic as a trade, they were less earnest 

 in the pursuit of truth than in the construc- 

 tion of plausible arguments. Their fallacious 

 pretenses awakened the honest indignation of 

 Socrates, who not only became their zealous 

 antagonist, but gave a vigorous and original 

 impulse to the progress of philosophy. This 

 shrewd and subtle reasoner opened a new 

 direction to philosophical research, turning it 

 to the study of human nature and of the laws 

 of psychology and ethics, instead of barren 

 speculations and theories. Without leaving 

 any written record of his genius, he is known 

 at the present day by the affectionate and 

 beautiful memorials which have been conse- 

 crated to his character in the productions of 

 his disciples. 



Among these, Plato was pre-eminent by the 

 force and comprehensiveness of his reason, the 

 marvelous keenness of his insight in the region 

 of transcendental ideas, the vigor and acuteness 

 of his logical faculties, and the winning sweet- 

 ness and grace of expression, which lend a 

 charm to his writings that has never been 

 equaled in philosophical literature. The 

 masterly conversations of Socrates, in which 

 he expounded the principles of his philosophy 

 in the streets and market place of Athens, are 

 reproduced with admirable dramatic effect, in 

 the glowing pages of his eloquent disciple. 



The progress of history kept pace in Grecian 

 cultivation with the development of philosophy. 

 Among the oldest historical prose writers, are 

 Cadmus, Dionysius, and Hecatseus of Mile- 

 tus, Hellanicus of Mitylene, Pherecydes of 

 Scyros. After them appears Herodotus, who 

 has received the name of the Homer of history. 

 He was followed by Thucydides, the grave, 

 condensed, and philosophical historian of the 

 Pelopennesian war. Strongly contrasted with 

 his sternness and energy, is Xenophon, whose 

 limpid narrative flows on with the charming 

 facility of a graceful stream, presenting a de- 



