Authors of Greece
328 pages
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Authors of Greece

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328 pages
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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Authors of Greece, by T. W. LumbCopyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the copyright laws for your country before downloadingor redistributing this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook.This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do notchange or edit the header without written permission.Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of thisfile. Included is important information about your specific rights and restrictions in how the file may be used. You can alsofind out about how to make a donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts****eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971*******These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!*****Title: Authors of GreeceAuthor: T. W. LumbRelease Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8115] [This file was first posted on June 15, 2003]Edition: 10Language: English*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, AUTHORS OF GREECE ***E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Marc D'Hooghe, Charles Franks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading TeamAUTHORS OF GREECEBy the Reverend T. W. LUMB, M.A.With an Introduction byThe Reverend CYRIL ALINGTON, D.D.AUTHOR'S PREFACEGreek literature is more modern in its tone than Latin or Medieval or Elizabethan. It is the ...

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Publié le 08 décembre 2010
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The Project Gutenberg EBook of Authors of
Greece, by T. W. Lumb
Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be
sure to check the copyright laws for your country
before downloading or redistributing this or any
other Project Gutenberg eBook.
This header should be the first thing seen when
viewing this Project Gutenberg file. Please do not
remove it. Do not change or edit the header
without written permission.
Please read the "legal small print," and other
information about the eBook and Project
Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is
important information about your specific rights and
restrictions in how the file may be used. You can
also find out about how to make a donation to
Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved.
**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla
Electronic Texts**
**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By
Computers, Since 1971**
*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands
of Volunteers!*****
Title: Authors of GreeceAuthor: T. W. Lumb
Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8115] [This file
was first posted on June 15, 2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG
EBOOK, AUTHORS OF GREECE ***
E-text prepared by Ted Garvin, Marc D'Hooghe,
Charles Franks, and the Online Distributed
Proofreading Team
AUTHORS OF GREECE
By the Reverend T. W. LUMB, M.A.
With an Introduction by
The Reverend CYRIL ALINGTON, D.D.AUTHOR'S PREFACE
Greek literature is more modern in its tone than
Latin or Medieval or Elizabethan. It is the
expression of a society living in an environment
singularly like our own, mainly democratic, filled
with a spirit of free inquiry, troubled by obstinate
feuds and still more obstinate problems. Militarism,
nationalism, socialism and communism were well
known, the preachers of some of these doctrines
being loud, ignorant and popular. The defence of a
maritime empire against a military oligarchy was
twice attempted by the most quick-witted people in
history, who failed to save themselves on both
occasions. Antecedently then we might expect to
find some lessons of value in the record of a
people whose experiences were like our own.
Further, human thought as expressed in literature
is not an unconnected series of phases; it is one
and indivisible. Neglect of either ancient or modern
culture cannot but be a maiming of that great body
of knowledge to which every human being has free
access. No man can be anything but ridiculous who
claims to judge European literature while he knows
nothing of the foundations on which it is built.
Neither is it true to say that the ancient world was
different from ours. Human nature at any rate wasthe same then as it is now, and human character
ought to be the primary object of study. The
strange belief that we have somehow changed for
the better has been strong enough to survive the
most devilish war in history, but few hold it who are
familiar with the classics.
Yet in spite of its obvious value Greek literature
has been damned and banned in our enlightened
age by some whose sole qualification for the office
of critic often turns out to be a mental darkness
about it so deep that, like that of Egypt, it can be
felt. Only those who know Greek literature have
any right to talk about its powers of survival. The
following pages try to show that it is not dead yet,
for it has a distinct message to deliver. The skill
with which these neglected liberators of the human
mind united depth of thought with perfection of
form entitles them at least to be heard with
patience.CONTENTS
AUTHOR'S PREFACE.
HOMER
AESCHYLUS
SOPHOCLES
EURIPIDES
ARISTOPHANES
HERODOTUS
THUCYDIDES
PLATO
DEMOSTHENESINTRODUCTION
I count it an honour to have been asked to write a
short introduction to this book. My only claim to do
so is a profound belief in the doctrine which it
advocates, that Greek literature can never die and
that it has a clear and obvious message for us to-
day. Those who sat, as I did, on the recent
Committee appointed by Mr. Lloyd George when
Prime Minister to report on the position of the
classics in this country, saw good reason to hope
that the prejudice against Greek to which the
author alludes in his preface was passing away: it
is a strange piece of irony that it should ever have
been encouraged in the name of Science which
owes to the Greeks so incalculable a debt. We
found that, though there are many parts of the
country in which it is almost impossible for a boy,
however great his literary promise, to be taught
Greek, there is a growing readiness to recognise
this state of affairs as a scandal, and wherever
Greek was taught, whether to girls or boys, we
found a growing recognition of its supreme literary
value. There were some at least of us who saw
with pleasure that where only one classical
language can be studied there is an increasing
readiness to regard Greek as a possible alternative
to Latin.
On this last point, no doubt, classical scholars will
continue to differ, but as to the supreme excellenceof the Greek contribution to literature there can be
no difference of opinion. Those to whom the
names of this volume recall some of the happiest
hours they have spent in literary study will be
grateful to Mr. Lumb for helping others to share the
pleasures which they have so richly enjoyed; he
writes with an enthusiasm which is infectious, and
those to whom his book comes as a first
introduction to the great writers of Greece will be
moved to try to learn more of men whose works
after so many centuries inspire so genuine an
affection and teach lessons so modern. They need
have no fear that they will be disappointed, for Mr.
Lumb's zeal is based on knowledge. I hope that
this book will be the means of leading many to
appreciate what has been done for the world by
the most amazing of all its cities, and some at least
to determine that they will investigate its treasures
for themselves. They will find like the Queen of
Sheba that, though much has been told them, the
half remains untold.
C. A. ALINGTON.
HOMERGreek literature opens with a problem of the first
magnitude. Two splendid Epics have been
preserved which are ascribed to "Homer", yet few
would agree that Homer wrote them both. Many
authorities have denied altogether that such a
person ever existed; it seems certain that he could
not have been the author of both the Iliad and the
Odyssey, for the latter describes a far more
advanced state of society; it is still an undecided
question whether the Iliad was written in Europe or
in Asia, but the probability is that the Odyssey is of
European origin; the date of the poems it is very
difficult to gauge, though the best authorities place
it somewhere in the eighth century B.C.
Fortunately these difficulties do not interfere with
our enjoyment of the two poems; if there were two
Homers, we may be grateful to Nature for
bestowing her favours so liberally upon us; if
Homer never existed at all, but is a mere nickname
for a class of singer, the literary fraud that has
been perpetrated is no more serious than that
which has assigned Apocalyptic visions of different
ages to Daniel. Perhaps the Homeric poems are
the growth of many generations, like the English
parish churches; they resemble them as being
examples of the exquisite effects which may be
produced when the loving care and the reverence
of a whole people blend together in different ages
pieces of artistic work whose authors have been
content to remain unnamed.
It is of some importance to remember that the Iliadis not the story of the whole Trojan war, but only of
a very small episode which was worked out in four
days. The real theme is the Wrath of Achilles. In
the tenth year of the siege the Greeks had
captured a town called Chryse. Among the
captives were two maidens, one Chryseis, the
daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo, the other
Briseis; the former had fallen to the lot of
Agamemnon, the King of the Greek host, the latter
to Achilles his bravest follower. Chryses, father of
Chryseis, went to Agamemnon to ransom his
daughter, but was treated with contumely;
accordingly he prayed to the god to avenge him
and was answered, for Apollo sent a pestilence
upon the Greeks which raged for nine days,
destroying man and beast. On the tenth day the
chieftains held a counsel to discover the cause of
the malady. At it Chalcas the seer before revealing
the truth obtained the promise of Achilles'
protection; when Agamemnon learned that he was
to ransom his captive, his anger burst out against
the seer and he demanded another prize in return.
Achilles upbraided his greed, begging him to wait
till Troy was taken, when he would be rewarded
fourfold. Agamemnon in reply threatened to take
Achilles' captive Briseis, at the same time
describing his follower's character. "Thou art the
most hateful to me of all Kings sprung of Zeus, for
thou lovest alway strife and wars and battles.
Mighty though thou art, thy might is the gift of
some god. Briseis I will take, that thou mayest
know how far str

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