GREEK AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF THE GREEKS 155 



Syntax 



To syntax so much attention is devoted to-day that we almost 

 lose sight of other aspects of the study of language. Greek syntax, 

 too, displays the obvious and the subtler operations of the national 

 mind. The Roman loves concinnity, subordination; the Greek loves 

 variation, independence, the largest amount of freedom under the 

 sovereignty of law. To fixed forms of thought, to rigidity and uni- 

 formity of expression, the Greek mind is hostile. The acuteness of 

 his logical faculty loves to unbend; an entasis disturbs the level 

 line of thought only to yield a higher beauty than that of mere even- 

 ness. Greek speech is acutely sensitive to the psychological processes 

 of assimilation, attraction, and the varied forms of analogy; all of 

 which give evidence of liveliness and rapidity of comprehension. 

 A passion for precision of outline is voiced in the delight in antithesis. 

 Antithesis is sometimes developed within antithesis; and readily 

 finds expression even when it does not point a contrast in the thought. 

 Greek is the language of "buts": we might almost say of it what 

 Goethe said in another connection: "jedes gesprochene Wort 

 erregt den Widerspruch." Independence of the members of a sen- 

 tence is gained by //.eV and Se, even when syntactical subordination 

 is effected by conjunctions. A further testimony to the antithetical 

 form of thought are the many polar expressions, as when one member 

 of a pair is logically insignificant (H 315-316, Alcman, 4, 43-44); or 

 where a doublet takes the place of a general expression (Sophocles, 

 Antig. 1108-09; cf. a^arot re <aToi re) ; or when opposites are asso- 

 ciated the latter of the two is added solely to explain a general 

 idea already expressed (8 719-20). I cannot pause to remark on the 

 many shades of finesse, on the blending of the intellectual and 

 artistic qualities, on the power to chase the fleeting shadows of the 

 associative analogies of thought, that are apparent to every observer 

 of the syntactical usages of the language. We think of the mental 

 agility demanded by the Greek of his hearers and readers; the 

 sudden shifts of construction, as when an independent clause takes 

 up a relative clause; the striking ellipses, especially in proverbs; the 

 power of minute distinction noticeable in the use of the subjunctive 

 and optative moods with or without av or */, or of the future and 

 subjunctive with or without av or K-V; the blending of the active and 

 the middle with the subtle distinctions of the latter voice; the distinc- 

 tion between the active, reflexive, and middle; the articular infinitive, 

 a late addition to the resources of the language, but rich in possibil- 

 ities; the wide range of the adverb as an attributive (ol del apxavres), 

 a usage forbidden even to German and approached only by English, 

 as in " an out-of-the-way corner." Greek affects active, personal 

 constructions, is poor in impersonals in comparison with Latin; 



