GREEK LITERATURE 



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GREEK LITERATURE 



courses usually begin with such works as The. 

 Apology- of Plato, the orations of Lysia> and 

 the poems of Pindar and other lyricists, and 

 continue with the works of Euripides, Aeschy- 

 lus. Sophocles, Herodotus. Aristophanes. Thu- 

 cydides and Aristotle. 



Words Derived from the Greek. Modern 

 English, as well as French, Spanish and other 

 languages, contains many words of Greek 

 origin. It is true that most of the Greek words 

 in English are less frequently used than the 

 Anglo-Saxon or even the Latin words. But in 

 the arts and sciences the technical words are 

 nearly all Greek or Latin, the Latin words, in 

 turn, being frequently derived from the more 

 ancient Greek. Such words as homiletics, 

 amphibian, ambrosia, amaranth and grammar 

 are all Greek in origin. W.L.W. 



GREEK LITERATURE. Though written in 

 what is known as a "dead language," because 

 in its old form it is spoken by no nation in the 

 present age, the literature of ancient Greece is 

 alive as truly as are the writings of to-day, 

 and it is far more influential than most of 

 them. In every country and every age writers 

 have found in it inspiration and guidance, and 

 in certain departments its productions have 

 never been surpassed. Though less stress is 

 laid on the teaching of Greek literature in 

 schools and colleges now than a generation or 

 two ago, some knowledge of its great master- 

 pieces is necessary- to a liberal education, and 

 the person who cannot understand an allusion 

 to the Iliad or the Odyssey is likely to find 

 himself seriously handicapped in reading many 

 modern works. In such a brief treatment as 

 this must be, it is more satisfactory to divide 

 Greek literature into its various branches than 

 to attempt chronological grouping. 



Poetry. Almost every variety of poetry the 

 Greeks developed to a high point of excellence. 

 Sappho, Anacreon and Pindar wrote lyrics, 

 exquisitely rhythmic poems which were sup- 

 posed to be sung or chanted to the music of 

 the lyre ; and some of their forms and meters 

 modern poets have found well worth imitating. 

 Didactic poetry began with Hesiod, and has 

 seldom if ever risen above his level for this 

 is not one of the highest types of verse. The 

 great glory of Greece, however, was in its 

 epics and dramas. It is really difficult to imag- 

 ine what subsequent literature would have 

 been had there been no Iliad. Vergil's Aeneid, 

 Dante's Inferno, Milton's Paradise Lost and 

 Longfellow's Euangelinc, to mention merely the 

 most outstanding examples, are inestimably 



indebted to it, as are countless shorter poems. 

 If it had culled into being but one poem. 

 Kcatr,' On First Looking into Chapman'.-: 

 Homer, with its haunting description of the 

 men who 



L,ook'd at each other with a wild surmise, 



Silent upon a peak in Darien, 



English literature would owe it a very real debt. 



In the field of drama, both comedy and 

 tragedy were brought to perfection (see 

 DRAMA). Aristophanes was a master of humor 

 and satire, while Aeschylus, Sophocles and 

 Euripides produced tragedies which, in beauty, 

 strength and passion, still rank among the 

 greatest in the world. Even in translation 

 these masterpieces have a depth and dignity 

 possessed by few more modern works. 



Prose. To many a modern reader the word 

 prose suggests, first of all, fiction. Of this form 

 of literature the Greeks knew nothing, or next 

 to nothing. Their myths were tales full of 

 interest and charm, as many modern children 

 can testify, and they had an occasional legend 

 which they delighted in working up, but of 

 stories in the sense in which they are known 

 to-day there were none. But other forms of 

 prose reached a high level. To Herodotus, the 

 "Father of History," and to Thucydides and 

 Xenophon modern historians have looked, not 

 only for much of their ancient material, but for 

 inspiration and for suggestions as to manner. 

 Plato and Aristotle produced philosophic writ- 

 ings which were the world's textbooks for cen- 

 turies, and no modern philosopher is unaffected 

 by them ; while Greek orators, notably Demos- 

 thenes, left practically nothing for later ora- 

 tors to achieve. 



Later, when Alexandria in Egypt became the 

 center of Greek culture, prose and poetry of 

 many forms were produced, but much of it was 

 of a quality inferior to that of the earlier 

 periods. The great Alexandrian Library (see 

 ALEXANDRIA) was a spur to writers, and history, 

 scientific treatises, epics, lyrics and philosophic 

 works were poured forth. Euclid, Archimedes. 

 Josephus, Plutarch and Ptolemy flourished in 

 this period, but of most of these it may be 

 said that it is the content rather than the form 

 of their writings which makes them valuable, 

 and that in a measure shuts them out of the 

 province of fine literature. 



In these volumes there are articles on all the 

 Greek writers named above, and a comprehensive 

 view of Greek literature may be gained by read- 

 ing them in connection with this article. Con- 

 sult Wright's A Short History of Greek Litrni- 

 ture; Carpenter's Long Ago in Greece. 



