GREECE. (MODERN LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE.) 



551 



and in the Ionian Islands, most of which have since 

 ceased to exist. Even in Constantinople, in the reign 

 of Selim III., some Fanariots (q. v.), especially the 

 noble prince Demetrius Merousi, who founded a na- 

 tional academy at Kura Tschesme in 1805, rendered 

 great services to the modern Greek language and 

 literature. Gratitude to the mother was, with the 

 rest of Europe, a motive for attention to the daugh- 

 ter ; and the language gained alike by the influence 

 of the natives and of foreigners. The works printed 

 at Jassy, Bucharest (where Spiridon Valetas, the or- 

 nament of the court in that place, translated, under 

 the name of Aristomenes, the celebrated treatise of 

 Rousseau, Sitr I'lnegalite des Conditions), Venice, 

 and Leipsic were, at first, mostly theological ; but, 

 with the increase of industry and commerce, particu- 

 larly among the Hydriots, and of the wealth of indi- 

 viduals, the circulation of books was also enlarged by 

 the assistance of foreign and cordial friends of the 

 nation. The language itself, which in its degrada- 

 tion was not destitute of melody and flexibility, gain- 

 ed energy and vivacity from their efforts, although 

 the attempts of some individuals to bring it nearer to 

 the ancient classic dialect, did violence to its idioma- 

 tic character. (See Coray.) The attempt to bring 

 the existing idiom nearer the Byzantine Greek, and 

 the language of the patriarchs, made by the Athen- 

 ian Codrica, the warm adversary of Coray, Jaco- 

 bakis Rhizos, and many others, was more rational ; 

 and the periodical 'E^vs i.oyiof, established at Vien- 

 na by the influence of Coray, with the other similar 

 works which it called into existence, was not without 

 effect. But every attempt will be vain to deprive 

 the modern Greek language of its peculiar character, 

 especially after a conflict which has excited so vio- 

 lently the feelings of the nation. The wealth of the 

 modern Greek language, which former dictionaries 

 show but very imperfectly, because it can only be 

 fully exhibited by the assistance of many glossaries 

 Vendoti,Mod. Gr. Ital. and French (Vienna, 1790); 

 Weigel, Mod. Gr. Germ, and Ital. (Leipsic, 1796); 

 Cumas, Mod. Gr. Russ. and French (Moscow, 1811); 

 Vlani, Mod. Gr. and Ital. (Venice, 1806) ; Schmidt's 

 Mod. Gr. and Germ. Diet. (Leipsic, 1825) would 

 have been more fully displayed by the large diction- 

 ary, intended to fill six folio volumes, the superin- 

 tendence of which was undertaken at Constantinople 

 in 1821, by the patriarch Gregory (q. v.), but which 

 was interrupted by the murder of the old man, April 

 22, 1821, with the destruction of so many institutions 

 of learning fostered by him.* 



For acquiring a knowledge of the. language itself, 

 which differs from the ancient chiefly in the formation 

 of the tenses and in the terminations of the nouns, 

 the means have now increased. The grammar of 

 Christopylus, published in Vienna in 1805, which con- 

 siders the modern Greek as jEolic-Doric, Schmidt's 

 Modern Greek Grammar (Leipsic, 1808), and another 

 German and Greek grammar, by Bojadschi (Vienna, 

 1821 and 1823), besides Jules David's very valuable 

 Methode pour etudier la Langue Grecque Moderns, 

 (Paris, 1821), and a Zutotrnxof jea.y>.}.'i.n\KtiMt tm 'EX- 

 ).n<nxns xcti r^xixris y\u<rfnt (Paris, 1820), W. Mun- 

 nich's Mod. Greek Grammar (Dresden, 1826), Von 

 Ludemann's Manual of the Modern Greek Language 

 /Leipsic, 1826), furnish important assistance. Ger- 

 man philologists, such as Friedemann and Poppo, 

 have, moreover, considered the relations of the mo- 

 dern Greek to the ancient. A work which is highly 

 important for the language, as it exists, is the Re- 

 marks of H. Leake on the Languages spoken in 

 Greece at the present Day, to be found in his Re. 



*The first and second volumes of this Ark of the Greek 

 Language, appeared at Constantinople in 1819, etc., from 

 the press of the patriarch iu the Fanar. 



searches in Greece (1814). (See also the Diction. 

 Francais Grec Moderne precede d'un Discours stir la 

 Grammaire et la Syntaxe de I'une et I'autre Langue 

 par Greg. Zalicoglos ; Paris, 1824.) The literature 

 of the modern Greeks, which had consisted chiefly 

 of translations from the French, could not very much 

 elevate the spirit of the people, as the matter pre- 

 sented was, in most cases, uncongenial to their cha- 

 racter ; but after the noble Coray, and others of 

 similar sentiments, had devoted themselves to its 

 improvement, a higher activity was perceptible. The 

 school at Scio (unhappily destroyed by the massacre 

 of April 11, 1822), which had existed since 1800 ; the 

 academy at Yanina, whose director, Athanasius Psa- 

 lida, was regarded as the first modern Greek scholar ; 

 and the academy founded by the French on the 

 Ionian Islands, were points of union for the Greek 

 youth, not without influence on the Greek people. 

 Under the protection of England, and lordGuilford's 

 wise care, the Greek spirit was gradually developed. 

 An Ionic Greek university was opened at Corfu, by 

 the direction of Canning, May 19, 1824. It consists 

 of four faculties, for theology, law, medicine, and phi- 

 losophy. Its chancellor was lord Guilford. The 

 lectures are in the modern Greek language. The 

 most distinguished professors are, Bambas of Scio, 

 Asopios, and Piccolo (who delivers lectures on mo- 

 dern philosophy). In Paris, a distinct professorship 

 of the modern Greek has existed for several years, 

 and M. Clonaris delivers a course of very popular 

 lectures on it. Those delivered by Jacobakis Rhizos 

 Nerulos, at Geneva, were printed iu a French trans- 

 lation (Geneva, 1827). In Munich, a professorship 

 was afterwards established. In Vienna, Petersburg, 

 Trieste, wealthy Greeks afforded important aid to the 

 literature of their countrymen. In Odessa, a Greek 

 theatre has existed for several years, where ancient 

 Greek tragedies, translated into the modern lan- 

 guage, delight the spectators. Such experiments 

 were followed by original productions of Jacobakis 

 Rhizos (Aspasia and Polyxena), of Piculos, and by 

 translations of modern dramatic works by Oiconomos, 

 Coccinakis, &c. The inspiring strains of Rhigas and 

 Polyzois roused the military spirit of their country- 

 men. Christopylus, in the style of the Teian bard, 

 pours out his cheerful strains ; nor must Kalbo and 

 Salomo of Zante be forgotten ; the tone of the pro- 

 ductions of Jannacateky Tianites of Constantinople, 

 is more melancholy. Sakellario's muse is grave 

 (Vienna, 1817), and Perdicari's, satirical. As an 

 improvisator e, Nicolopylus met with applause at Pa- 

 ris. Andreas Mustoxydi, historian of the island of 

 Corfu, is an ornament of modern Greek literature, 

 equally distinguished as an Italian author, by his Life 

 of Anacreon. Among the multitude of translators 

 engaged on political works, Iskenteri, who trans- 

 lated Voltaire's Zadig into modern Greek, is highly 

 esteemed. Bambas, Cumas, (the translator of Krug's 

 System of Philosophy), Alexandridis, Anthimos Ga- 

 zis, Ducas, Gubdelas, Codricas, Condos, Midi. Schi- 

 nas, Spyridon Tricoupi, Solyzoides, were names dis- 

 tinguished before the beginning of the late desolating 

 troubles. The Melissa (the Bee), a modern Greek 

 journal, published by Spyridon Condos and Agatlio- 

 phron, in Paris, in 1821, was discontinued when the 

 contributors engaged in the war of liberty. On the 

 whole, about 3000 works in the modern Greek lan- 

 guage have appeared within fifty years. Fauriel, a 

 Frenchman, collected all the popular modern Greek 

 songs (Paris, 1824 25, 2 vols.), and in them has 

 given the public a commentary on the events of the 

 day. For more minute information, we refer to 

 I ken's Hellenion and Leucotliea, and to the periodi- 

 cals. Consult Jul. David's Comparison of the An- 

 cient and Modern Greek, languages translated from 



