OF LITERATURE. 



XXXI 



literature was beyond the reach of his despotism. 

 It had already expired. 



To complete the sketch of literary history in 

 classical times, it is necessary only to notice the 

 after-growth of Grecian literature, long posterior 

 to the Alexandrian epoch, in which some of the 

 raciness of ancient genius seemed to be renew- 

 ed. Even during the height of Roman ascen- 

 dency, the Greek intellect had not failed to 

 yield symptoms of life. Thus the historian 

 POLYBIUS,* by the soundness of his judgment, 

 by the proofs he gare of a practised understand- 

 ing, such as became a statesman and a warrior, 

 by the calm and masculine tone of his narrative, 

 deserved the applause of all cultivated ages and 

 the fame of a great political teacher. It is his 

 style alone that condemns him to a subaltern 

 rank in literature. In it we certainly detect a 

 wide departure from pure atticism, an admixture 

 of Macedonian words and terminations, aggra- 

 vated by the adoption of forms and inflections 

 from the poets, and of technical phrases from 

 the school of Aristotle. Yet so much was his 

 work admired that, with a few exceptions, it 

 was chosen as the model, both in matter and 

 composition, by subsequent historians. To the 

 acuteness and soundness of the matter, however, 

 the majority of them made no near approach, 

 while they fell even below the level of the style. 

 They displayed more of the subtle diction of the 

 schools, a greater attachment to poetical flowers, 

 and all the vices of a gaudy rhetoric. Of all 

 those who may be classed among the imitators of 

 Polybius, the best writer was Dionysius of Hali- 

 < arnassus ; but it is requisite to pass by the 

 generation in which he flourished, and to glance 

 at the first three centuries after the birth of 

 Christ, in order to recognise the temporary re- 

 vival of the true Grecian spirit. In poetry, in- 

 deed, nothing very excellent appeared ; but in 

 biography, satire, history, and criticism, we find 

 ample compensation for this deficiency. Ptu- 

 TARCH,f notwithstanding many faults, wrote the 

 lives of great men with a power and liveli- 

 ness, that shine through all his pedantry, all his 

 far-fetched allusions, and all his incessant at- 

 tempts at prettiness. LUCIAN,J attic i his taste, 

 and nearly attic in his language, laughs with 

 infinite good humour, and with wit seldom 

 equalled, at the follies of an age which he could 

 not mend. ARRIAN, by the elegance and ani- 

 mation, as well as by the title, of his principal 

 work, invites and almost sustains a comparison 

 with Xenophon himself: and LONQINUS,|| the 



* B. C. 204 122. t A. U. 49130. J A. D. 122200. 

 A. D. 137161. y A. U. 213273. 



most sublime of systematic critics, though much 

 of his phraseology is marked with the stamp of 

 the third century, throws lustre upon that period 

 by the perspicacity of his intellect, the force of 

 his imagination, and the extent of his learning. 

 His is the last individual name which we need 

 mention in connexion with ancient letters; but, 

 before proceeding to a short review of the 

 middle ages, as an introduction to modern liter- 

 ature, we must notice the chief mental pheno- 

 mena that distinguish the whole interval between 

 the reign of Hadrian and the death of Theodo- 

 ric, an event with which antiquity may be said 

 to close. 



The first thing that strikes us in the writings, 

 both Greek and Latin, of those ages, is the pre- 

 valence of principles and opinions imported from 

 the east. So early as in the time of Plutarch 

 we perceive this tendency to orientalism of 

 thought and manner. His Platonic philosophy 

 takes within its range a considerable portion of 

 eastern and Egyptian doctrine, drawn, it is true, 

 from fountains at which Pinto himself had 

 drunk, but shown in a more open and undis- 

 guised character. Among other oriental contri- 

 butions, the treasures of the Mosaic Scriptures, 

 and the facts and precepts of Christianity, now 

 began to exert a mighty influence on the pro- 

 gress of the human mind. Their operation, 

 however, was not unopposed ; and there is no- 

 thing more remarkable, in the intellectual history 

 of our species, than the violent controversy that 

 was long maintained between the Pagan theories 

 and the poetical spirit of heathenism on the one 

 hand, and the truths and maxims of divine 

 revelation on the other. The contest termina- 

 ted in the banishment of the Pagan philosophers 

 by the emperor Justinian ; but its effects surviv- 

 ed in the literature of succeeding times, and can 

 hardly be said to have yet wholly disappeared. 



A warfare of antagonist principles, so inter- 

 esting and important, could not be carried on 

 without calling into action an eager appetite for 

 inquiry and a fine display of original power. 

 But partly from the paramount impression made 

 by oriental models, and partly from the contro- 

 versial heat which led to a hurried and careless 

 manner of composition, the Greek writings of 

 the period we have specified are unfit to stand 

 the test of a rigorous criticism. The heathen 

 authors, who took a part in the great debate, 

 are confused in arrangement and overladen in 

 diction, and the fire and art of the Christian 

 fathers are obscured by mysticism or injured by 

 an Asiatic pomp and prodigality of phrase. If 

 we look to the west, where the same battle was 

 fought in the Latin language, we shall find the 



