146 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



lightful specimen of the tranquil beauty of 

 Greek prose in its most simple form. These 

 three historians distinguished the period from 

 450 to 400 B. C., during which time we have 

 to notice the introduction of a new class of 

 poetical creations. 



The popular festivals which were celebrated 

 after the vintage, with rude songs and dances, 

 led to the gradual creation of the drama. A 

 more artistic form was given to the wild 

 choruses in honor of Bacchus ; the recitation 

 of fables by an intermediate speaker was intro- 

 duced into the performances ; and soon the 

 games of the vintage festival were repeated on 

 other occasions. The spirit of the drama was 

 thus cherished, until the appearance of ^schy- 

 lus, who may be deemed the author of the 

 dramatic art in Greece. He divided the story 

 into different portions, substituted the dialogue 

 for recitation by a single person, and assigned 

 the various parts to skillful actors. The three 

 great tragic writers are ^Eschylus, Sophocles, 

 and Euripides, while the most distinguished 

 rank in comedy is held by Cratinus, Eupolis, 

 Crates, and especially Aristophanes. 



During this period we find several didactic 

 and lyric poets, while the sister art of elo- 

 quence was illustrated by the names of Lysias, 

 Demosthenes, ^Eschines, Antiphon, Gorgias, 

 and Isocrates. 



The succeeding period, which is usually 

 called the Alexandrine, was characterized by 

 the prevalence of a critical spirit ; the luxuriant 

 bloom of the earlier Greek literature had passed 

 away ; and the fresh creative impulses of 

 genius were made to yield to the love of specu- 

 lation and the influence of erudition. The 

 glowing imaginative philosophy of Plato was 

 succeeded by the more rigid system of Aristotle, 

 who founded the Peripatetic school, and gave 

 order and precision to the principles of reason- 

 ing. With the passion for subtle analysis, 

 which was the characteristic of his mind, he 

 drew a sharp line of distinction between logic 

 and rhetoric, ethics and politics, physics and 

 metaphysics, thus enlarging the boundaries of 

 philosophy, and establishing a system which 

 exercised an undisputed supremacy for ages. 

 The dogmatic tendencies of Aristotle found 

 their counterpart in the skeptical principles of 

 which Pyrrho of Elis was the most dis- 

 tinguished advocate. The same principles 

 prevailed to a certain extent in the Middle and 

 New Academies founded by Arcesilaus and 

 Carneades, while the Socratic philosophy was 

 modified by the disciples of the Stoic school, 

 established by Zeno, and of the Epicurean, 

 which bears the name of its celebrated founder. 

 At length the intellectual scepter, which had 

 been so long wielded by the philosophers and 



poets of Greece, passed from Athens to Alex- 

 andria ; the nation itself was absorbed iu the 

 progress of Roman conquest ; Greek literature 

 ceased to give birth to original productions ; 

 and its brilliant career became the subject of 

 history. 



HEBREW LITERATURE. 



The literature of the ancient Hebrews, apart 

 from its religious character and claims, pre- 

 sents a curious and important subject of inves- 

 tigation. It is the oldest literature of which 

 any remains have come down to modern times. 

 With a rich poetical coloring, a profound 

 sentiment of humanity, and a lofty religious 

 faith, it sustains a most intimate relation to 

 the development of the intellect and the moral 

 and political history of the race. 



The Hebrew language is one of the oldest 

 branches of the numerous family of languages 

 which have received the name of Semitic, on 

 account of the supposed descent of the nations 

 by which they were spoken, from Shem, the 

 son of Noah. These are the Chaldaic, the 

 Aramaic, the Hebrew, the Syriac, the Arabic, 

 the Phoenician, and the Ethiopian. The his- 

 tory of the language has been divided by many 

 critics into four periods. I. From Abraham 

 to Moses. II. From Moses to Solomon. III. 

 From Solomon to Ezra. IV. From Ezra to 

 the end of the age of the Maccabees, when it 

 was gradually lost in the modern Aramaic and 

 became a dead language. The differences, 

 however, which can be traced in the language 

 are so slight, that a sounder division would be 

 into only two periods, the first extending from 

 the time of Moses to the reign of Hezekiah, 

 and the second from the reign of Hezekiah to 

 its final extinction as a spoken language. The 

 written characters or letters, which date from 

 the time of Solomon, were the same as the 

 Phoenician. During the Babylonish captivity, 

 the Hebrews received from the Chaklees the 

 square character in common use, and, in the 

 time of Ezra, the old Hebrew manuscripts 

 were copied in these characters. The punctu- 

 ation of the language was not settled until after 

 the seventh century of the Christian era. The 

 accents, vowels, points, and divisions into 

 words were also introduced at a later period. 



The poetical and religious sentiment was 

 the foundation of Hebrew literature. Lyric 

 poetry received a rich development under 

 David, to whom are ascribed several noble 

 specimens of song and elegy. The fragments 

 of didactic poetry which bear the name of 

 'Solomon are stamped with a character of prac- 

 tical wisdom, and often exhihit an energy of 

 expression, which authorizes us to class them 

 among the most extraordinary productions of 



