498 THE GREEK SPIRIT. 



the achievements of the Greeks, so deep is the debt 

 which we owe to them, that criticism appears ungrate- 

 ful or obtuse. It is scarcely possible to indicate the 

 vices and defects of this people without seeming guilty 

 of insensibility or affectation. It is curious to observe 

 how grave and sober minds accustomed to gather evi- 

 dence with care, and to utter decisions with impartiality, 

 cease to be judicial when Greece is brought before 

 them. She unveils her beauty, and they can only 

 admire : they are unable to condemn. Those who 

 devote themselves to the study of the Greeks become 

 nationalised in their literature, and patriots of their 

 domain. It is indeed impossible to read their works 

 without being impressed by their purity, their calmness, 

 their exquisite symmetry and finish resembling that 

 which is bestowed upon a painting or a statue. But it 

 is not only in the Greek writings that the Greek spirit is 

 contained : it has entered the modern European mind ; it 

 permeates the world of thought ; it inspires the ideas of 

 those who have never read the Greek authors, and who 

 perhaps regard them with disdain. We do not see the 

 foundations of our minds : they are buried in the past. 

 The great books and the great discoveries of modern 

 times are based upon the works of Homer, Plato, 

 Aristotle and their disciples. All that we owe to 

 Rome we owe to Greece as well, for Italy was a child 

 of Greece. The cities on the southern coast bestowed on 

 the rude natives the elements of culture, and when 

 Rome became famous it was colonised by Grecian 

 philosophers and artists. To Rome we are indebted 

 for those laws from which our jurisprudence is de- 

 scended, and to Rome we are indebted for something 

 else besides. We shall not now pause on the Rome 

 of the Republic, when every citizen was a soldier, and 



