532 



GREECE. (LITERATURE.) 



was not only a strenuous antagonist of these Sophists, 

 but opened a new career to philosophy itself. It lias 

 been justly said of him, that he brought down philo- 

 sophy from heaven to earth, for he gave it again a 

 practical direction, diilering, however, from the for- 

 mer, since the object was no longer merely to string 

 together experiments, but philosophers began to in- 

 \oiigate tlie nature and relations of man, the object 

 and best regulation of life ; and reflection was turned 

 principally to psychology and morals, instead of 

 physics and metaphysics. Socrates had many scholars, 

 some of whom committed his ideas to writing in his 

 manner Cebes, ^Eschines, Xenophon , others, de- 

 viating more or less from his ideas and his manner, 

 were founders of philosophical schools of their own. 

 The four following schools proceeded from that of 

 Socrates : 1 . the Cyrenaic, whose founder was Aris- 

 tippus of Cyrene (see Aristippus); 2. the Megaric, 

 Elian and Eretrian, under Euclid, Fbzedon, and Mene- 

 demus ; 3. the Academic, whose founder was Plato ; 

 and 4. the Cynic, whose founder was Antisthenes. 

 Plato (q. v.) was unquestionably the most compre- 

 hensive and splendid genius. W ith the philosophical 

 knowledge of the former Greek philosophers, he 

 combined that of the Egyptian priests, and the elo- 

 quence of the Sophists. A fondness for the superna- 

 tural, a delicate moral sense, a fine, acute, and pro- 

 found understanding, reign in his productions, which 

 are adorned with all the graces of expression, and 

 are enlivened by a rich imagination. By his poetic 

 talent, the philosophical dialogue of Socrates was 

 presented under a truly dramatic form. While 

 philosophy was making such important progress, 

 history rapidly approached perfection. In the period 

 of 550500 B. C., traditions were first committed to 

 writing in prose, and Cadmus, Dionysius, and Heca- 

 Ueus of Miletus, Acusilaus the Argive, Hellanicus of 

 Mitylene, and Pherecydes of Scyros are among the 

 oldest historical writers. After them appeared Hero- 

 dotus (q. v.), the Homer of history. His example 

 kindled Thucydides to emulation, and his eight books 

 of the history of the Peloponnesian war make him 

 the first philosophical historian, and a model for all 

 his successors. If his conciseness sometimes renders 

 Thucydides obscure, in Xenophon, on the contrary, 

 there prevails the greatest perspicuity ; and he be- 

 came the model or quiet, unostentatious historical 

 writing. These three historians are the most dis- 

 tinguished of this period, in which we must, more- 

 over, mention Ctesias, Philistus, Theopompus, Eu- 

 phorus, who, however, abandoned the genuine style 

 of historical narration for a rhetorical affectation. 

 An entirely new species of poetry was created in 

 this period. From the thanksgiving festivals, which 

 the country people solemnized after the vintage, 

 in honour of the giver of joys, with wild songs and 

 comic dances, arose, especially in Attica, the drama. 

 By degrees, variety and a degree of art were given 

 to the songs of the chorus, or dithyrambics, at the 

 sacrifice of the goat, which, in the process of time, 

 became more serious, while an intermediate speaker 

 related popular fables, and the chorus varied the 

 eternal praises of Bacchus by moral reflections, as 

 the narration prompted. Their reward, if they gave 

 satisfaction, was a goat. Sportive dances were intro- 

 duced, mingled with waggish pranks and every thing 

 to excite laughter. These games of the feast of the 

 vintage were soon repeated on other days. Solon's 

 contemporary, Thespis, who smeared his actors, like 

 vintagers, with lees of wine, exhibited at the cross 

 ways or in the villages, on movable stages, stories 

 sometimes serious with solemn choruses, sometimes 

 laughable with dances, in which satyrs and other ridi- 

 culous characters excited laughter. Their representa- 

 tions were called tragedies (?;*?&*<), that is, songs 



of the sacrifice of the goat, or TjuywS/a/, songs of the 

 vintage; comedies, festive dances, and satirical ac- 

 tions (drama satyr icum). These sports were finally 

 exhibited, with much more splendour, on the stages 

 of the towns, and acquired a more and more distinct 

 character, by their peculiar tone aud morality. In- 

 stead of an intermediate speaker, who related his 

 story extemporaneously, ^Eschylus first substituted 

 actors, who repeated their parts by rote ; and he was 

 thus the actual creator of the dramatic art, which 

 was soon carried to perfection ; tragedy by ^Escliy- 

 lus, Sophocles, Euripides ; comedy by Cratinus, Ku- 

 polis, Crates, but especially by Aristophanes. Under 

 the government of the thirty tyrants, the freedom, 

 which comedy had possessed, of holding up living 

 characters to ridicule, was restricted, and the middle 

 comedy was thus gradually formed, in which the 

 chorus was abolished, and, with delineations of gen- 

 eral character, characteristic masks were also intro- 

 duced. In this, Aristophanes and Alexis were dis- 

 tinguished. The mimes of Sophron of Syracuse, 

 dramatic dialogues in rhythmical prose, formed a dis- 

 tinct species, in connexion with which stands the Sici- 

 lian comedy of Epicharmus. In the order of time, 

 several gnomic and lyric writers belong to this period. 

 Several philosophers appeared as didactic poets 

 Xenophanes, Parmenides, Empedocles; as epic poets, 

 Pisander and Panyasis were famous for their Heraclea , 

 and Antimachus for his Thebaid. The epic soon be- 

 came more and more historical, and lost its beautiful 

 poetic aspect. With poetry, her severer sister, elo- 

 quence, also flourished in this period, which republi- 

 can constitutions rendered necessary, and which the 

 Greek character speedily elevated to the rank of a 

 fine art. Antiphon, Gorgias, Andocides, Lysias, 

 Isocrates, Isasus, Demosthenes, ^Eschines, were high- 

 ly appreciated as masters of this art, for which 

 schools were actually established. We still possess 

 the admired masterpieces of several of these orators. 

 How near rhetoric was then to triumphing over poe- 

 try, is manifested in Euripides, and there is no ques- 

 tion that it had a considerable influence on Plato and 

 Thucydides. Mathematics was now cultivated, and 

 geography served to illustrate history. Astronomy 

 is indebted to the Ionic school, arithmetic to the Ita- 

 lian, and geometry to the Academic school for many 

 discoveries. As mathematicians, Theodorus of Cy- 

 rene, Meton, Euctemon, Archytas of Tarentum, Eu- 

 doxus of Cuidus, were celebrated. Geography was, 

 particularly, enriched by voyages of discovery, which 

 were occasioned by commerce ; and, in this view, 

 Hanno's voyage to the western coast of Africa, the 

 Periplus of Scylax, a description of the coasts of 

 the Mediterranean, and the discoveries of Pythias of 

 Massilia in the north-west of Europe, deserve men- 

 tion. The study of nature was likewise pursued by 

 the philosophers ; but the healing art. hitherto prac- 

 tised by the Asclepiades in the temples Constituted a 

 distinct science, and Hippocrates became the creator 

 of scientific medicine. The following period is usu- 

 ally called the Alexandrine, and might be character- 

 ized as the systematizing or critical period. Athens 

 did not, indeed, cease to sustain its ancient reputa- 

 tion ; but Alexandria was, in reality, the leading 

 city. From this cause, the spirit of Grecian litera- 

 ture necessarily took another turn ; and it is evident, 

 that the use of an immense library must necessarily 

 have made erudition triumph over the former free 

 action of mind, which, however, could not be imme- 

 diately suppressed. In philosophy, Plato's acute and 

 learned disciple, Aristotle, appeared as the founder 

 of the Peripatetic school, which gained distinction by 

 enlarging the territory of philosophy, and by its spi- 

 rit of system. He separated logic and rhetoric, ethics 

 and politics, physics and metaphysics (to which last 



