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in the world's attention. He was the ear- 

 liest essayist, and he is still the first. 

 Plato's poetical and dream-shot diction 

 did not materialize, and Aristotle's style 

 was devoid of charm ; moreover, the Greek 

 mind was too busy with sensuosities and 

 the delights of physical life to waste pre- 

 cious time in leisurely and studious 

 thought. Even in the book-burdened 

 Alexandrian days, when every educated 

 Greek thought himself a critic, nothing 

 closely like a true essay was written. 



The Romans had a clearer comprehen- 

 sion of practical life, as we moderns accept 

 it, than their Hellenic art masters, which 

 should make us expect from Cicero better 

 essays than he wrote. He had style, a 

 clear head, and wide knowledge; but a 

 piece of literature like the " Somnium 

 Scipionis," the " De Amicitia," or the " De 

 Senectute " fails to be satisfactory to us 

 in comparison with what Montaigne and 

 Addison, or even Carlyle and De Quincey, 

 have given us, not to mention Lamb. 

 The Greeks were jocund, but they lacked 

 humor of the sort which distinguishes the 

 267 



