Will) ARE THE Twenty (^ri^atest Men? 



31 



SilAKESPCARC xrcatcit of modern pods 

 COLUMBUS, diicoicrcr of America 

 JULIUS C/eSAR. the Roman Empire 

 GUTENBERG, ioventor of typosraphy 

 NEWTON, founder of modern aatroooniy 



• nd pbytics 

 DANTE, falhcr of modern poetry 

 OARWIN. founder of new seieace ... 

 STEPHENSON, innnlor of loeonoliie 



HOMER, ancient poetry 



BUDDHA, founder o' Buddhism 

 ARISTOTLE, ancient philosophy .. 

 MICHAEL ANCELO. painter, sculptor 

 FRANKLIN, diseovercr of electric forces 

 ABRAHAM LINCOLN 

 MOSES, early theocratic civilisatiois 



SOCRATES. Athenian philosopher 



J5T PAUL. Apostle of Christianity 

 WATT inventor of steam-power machines 

 CONFUCIUS Chinese philosopher 

 CHARLEMAGNE, founder of Earop<aii 



Stale System 



LUTHER Apostle of the Rcformalioa 



It is inlcrcsling 10 cuiupaie this final list with 

 Mr. Carnegie's original twenty. Of Mr. Carnegie's 

 twenty only seven appear in the final list. Of Mr 

 F"r(-deric Harrison's twenty, fourteen appear. 



An analysis of the twenty greatest selected as the 

 resultant of this symposium produces some very 

 remarkable results. In the first case, with the excep- 

 tion of Charlemagne, there is not one royal personage 

 in the twenty. In the second [)la<;e, there is not one 

 soldier, excepting Julius Cresar, if we classify Charle 

 magne as a sovereign rather than as a soldier. 

 .\ccording to the authors of this symposium it is 

 from the philosophers and religious teachers that the 

 greatest men are drawn. Jesus Christ, although 

 mentioned in certain li.sts, was e.xcluded from others 

 on the ground that he was, as Nfr. Frederic Harrison 

 remarks, /tors concours : but among the greatest we 

 find Confucius, Moses, Buddha, and St. Paul as 

 founders of religious systems, while Socrates and 

 .\ristoile represent philosophy, so that the religious 

 founders and philosophers contribute six out of the 

 twenty. Poets, scientific men, and inventors each 

 contribute three to the twenty. The poets are 

 Homer, Dante, and Shakespeare ; the inventors 

 (lutcnbcrg, Ste[ihenson, and VVatt : men of .science, 

 Newton, Harwin, and Franklin. There reninin only 

 two who may be .said to be classed by themselve.s — 

 Columbus, the dis<:overer of America, and Abraham 

 T,incoln, who was evidently regarded as the great 

 Rt.'fiublic's greatest son. Washington takes a second 

 place. 



The ni-cessiiy of restricting the list to twenty is 



unjust to Luther, who polls as many votes as Charle- 

 magne, and ought therefore by right to be bracketed 

 with Charlemagne and Confucius, each of whom has 

 seven votes cast in this favour. If Luther were 

 included that would add another to the list of religious 

 founders. 



It is interesting to note the distribution of great 

 men among various nations. As most of those who 

 contribute to the symposium are English-speaking 

 men, it is only natural thiU we have more than our fair 

 proportion in the final twenty. The English-speaking 

 men are Shakespeare, Newton, Darwin, Stephenson, 

 Watt, Franklin, and Abraham I^incoln. Italy contri- 

 butes Columbus, Julius Cssar, Dante, Michael Angelo ; 

 .Ancient Greece contributes Homer, Aristotle and 

 Socrates. There are two Jews, Moses and St. Paul ; 

 one Chinese, Confucius; one Indian, Buddha ; and 

 one German, Gutenberg, the inventor of typography. 

 France is left out altogeth?r — unless Charlemagne can 

 be called a Frenchman, which probably will be stoutly 

 contested by the Germans — so is Spain, Russia, and 

 the great Egyptian and Babylonian civilisations. 



A LIST OF ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY. 



In the foregoing pages I have published twent) 

 two complete lists of twenties and several communica- 

 tions from others who have suggested one or two 

 names without taking the trouble to compile lists of 

 their own. Of those who have taken part in this 

 symposium sixteen belong to the English-speaking 

 world, with nine from other nationalities. Those who 

 have taken part represent all classes, with the ex- 

 ception of the clergymen of the Church of England, 

 none of whom have contributed to the symposium. 

 If tiie lists are examined we find that twenty-three 

 contributors, each endeavouring to select twenty of 

 the greatest men of the world, have between them 

 nominated 150 for that honour. The following is a 

 complete list giving the nun ber of votes accorded to 

 each greatest man, the maximum number of votes 

 being twenty-one : — 



Mo. of Voles. 



Adam I 



.Man who first made implements out of bmn/f ... 1 



Inventor of the spinning wheel ... ... ... i 



Cheops (Pyramid builder) ... ... ... 2 



Noah I 



Abraham, B.C. 21 53 .. i 



Moses, I jih century B.C. ... ... ... 8 



Solomon, about loi 5-977 B.C. ... ... 1 



Homer, loth or iilh century B.C. ... ... 9 



Lycurgus, about 820 B.C. ... ... 1 



.Flsop, about 620 B.C. 560 B.C. ... i 



Cyrus, B.C. 590 B.C. 529 i 



Jeremiah, B.C. 580 i 



Confucius, B.C. 551— B.C. 479 7 



.Eschylus, B.C. 525— B.C. 456 ... i 



Cincinnatus, a^out 520 B.C.--435 B.( . ' 



Buddha, 5th century B.C. ... >> 



Heraclitus of Ephesus, 5ih century B.C. , 



