333

ON GREEK LITERATURE.

Come along! I am going
to the Greek class.
But not I; I do not like
Greek.

Why?

Because it is so difficult. The very sight of the verbs frightens me like a hedge bristling with thorns.

Pshaw! All excellent things are difficult, as the proverb says.

Well, I will go, and hear at least the introductory lecture.

Let us go then!

Well, how did you like the lecture?

I was astonished when the Professor spoke of the longevity of the Greek language.

Yes! that is wonderful; Greek is as vital now as it was in the days of Homer.

When did Homer flourish? About 850 years before Christ, according to Herodotus.

ΠΕΡΙ ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΩΝ ΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΩΝ.

"Ιθι δή· ἔρχομαι γὰρ πρὸς τὸ ἀκροατήριον τὸ Ἑλληνικόν. Οὐκ ἔγωγε· καὶ γὰρ μισῶ τὰ Ελληνικά. Τί παθών ;

Διὰ τὸ τηλικαύτας ἔχειν τὴν γλῶτταν τὰς δυσκολίας. ψιλὸν τὸ θέαμα τῶν ῥημάτων φοβεῖ με ὥσπερ περίφραγμα βάτοις φρίσσον καὶ ἀσπαλάθοις. Οὐδὲν λέγεις· χαλεπὰ γὰρ τὰ καλὰ, τὸ τῆς παροιμίας.

Εἶεν· βούλομαι συνέλθεῖν· οὐδεὶς φθόνος τοῦ γε εἰσιτηρίου μετέχειν λόγου. Ἴωμεν.

Νῦν οὖν ἦσθης τῇ ἀκροάσει ;

Καὶ μὴν ἐξεπλάγην ἐπὶ τῷ καθηγητῇ τὴν τῆς Ἑλληνικῆς διαλέκτου μακροβιότητα ἐξηγουμένῳ.

Θαυμαστὸν· ζωτικὴν δή γε δύναμιν ἔχει ἡ γλῶττα, ὥστε ἀκμάζειν τὰ νῦν οὐχ ἧττον ἢ καθ' Ομηρον.

Ὁ δὲ Ομηρος πηνίκα ἤκμασεν ; Ως 1 πεντήκοντα ἔτη ἐπὶ τοῖς ὀκτακοσίοις πρὸ τῆς ἐνσάρκου οἰκονομίας, κατά γε τὸν Ἡρόδοτον.

C

I used to think Greek was a dead language; but the Professor read a passage out of a book recently printed in Athens, which one of the students translated without a blunder.

Of course. No language has so wonderfully resisted the vicissitudes of time.

They say Greek is the most perfect of all languages.

That I do not know: perhaps Sanscrit is more perfect; but so far as culture is concerned Greek certainly has more to boast of than any language that I know.

How many languages do you know?

Some three or four, or halfa-dozen after a fashion. What are the principal excellencies of Greek? It is musical; it is rich; it is flexible; it is copious; and contains the best poetry, philosophy, religion, and science. It is firstrate in all departments.

How do you mean that it produces the best religion?

Of course I mean because the New Testament is a Greek book.

I understand. But do the

ΤΕ

Τριῶν περίπου, ἢ τεττάρων, ἢ τρόπον τινὰ ἕξ. Ποίαις δὴ μάλιστα ἀρεταῖς ὑπερέχει ἡ Ἑλληνικὴ γλῶττα ; Πολλαῖς· καὶ γὰρ ἐμμελής ἐστὶ καὶ ὑγρὰ, καὶ λέξεων ἀφθονίᾳ ἀμήχανον ὅσον σπαργῶσα, καὶ μὴν καὶ περιέχει ποίησιν καὶ φιλοσοφίαν καὶ εὐσέβειαν καὶ ἐπιστήμην ἀρίστην· ὅλως δὴ κατὰ πάντα πρωτεύει. Πῶς τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν λέγεις γλωτταν ὡς βελτίστης ποιητική ἐστιν εὐσεβείας ;

̓Αμέλει ὅτι ἡ καινὴ διαθήκη βι βλος ἐστὶ γεγραμμένη Ελληνι στί.

Μανθάνω· οἱ δὲ δὴ Ἕλληνες

Greeks surpass the English in poetry, or the Germans in philosophy? This is a difficult question. Eschylus is certainly less than Shakespeare, but Homer perhaps is greater than Milton; and as for philosophy, Plato and Aristotle are inferior to none of the most subtle Germans, and they have infinitely more taste.

But the Greeks are weak in science.

No ; Aristotle, Hippocrates, Aretæus, Euclid, Archimedes are weighty names in science even at the present day.

Well, if this be so, I will try and master the verb. Try, and you will never repent. A little Greek is not a dangerous, but a useful thing; and much Greek is gold to the wise. God be with you !

μῶν ὑπερβάλλουσιν ἤτοι τοὺς Αγγλους τῇ ποιήσει ἢ τοὺς Γερμανοὺς τῇ σοφίᾳ; Τοῦτο ἔχει ἀπορίαν. ὁ γοῦν Αἰσχύλος ἀναμφισβητήτως λείπεται τοῦ Σχακσπῆρος, ὁ δ ̓ αὖ Ομηρος εἰκότως μείζων τοῦ Μίλτωνος· τῆς δε φιλοσοφίας ἕνεκα, ὁ τε Πλάτων καὶ ὁ ̓Αριστοτέ λης, ταῖς μὲν διανοίαις οὐδὲν ὑστερούντες τῶν λεπτοτάτων τῶν Γερμανῶν, τῷ γε τῆς λέξε ως γλαφυρῷ ἀμήχανον ὅσον ὑπερβάλλουσιν. Ύστεροῦσι μέντοι οἱ Ἕλληνες τῇ γε ἐπιστήμῃ.

Οὐδαμῶς· σεμνὰ γὰρ καὶ καθ ̓ ἡμᾶς ὀνόματα ἐν τοῖς περὶ τὰς ἐπιστήμας ἐπικρατεῖ ὁ τε ̓Αρι· στοτέλης καὶ ὁ Εὐκλείδης, ἔτι δὲ ὁ ̓Αρχιμήδης καὶ ὁ Ἱπποκράτης καὶ ὁ ̓Αρεταῖος. Εἶεν, οὕτως δὴ 1 πειράσομαι ἐκμαθεῖν τὸ ῥῆμα.

Πειρῶ σύγε· οὐ γὰρ ἂν σοι μεταμελήσειε. ὁ Ἑλληνισμὸς ὀλίγος μὲν ἐνυπάρχων, οὐ κινδυνῶδες ἀλλ ̓ ὠφέλιμον, πολὺς δὲ χρυσὸν ἀντισηκοῖ, τοῖς γε συνετοῖς. ̓Αγαθὸν ἔχοις δαίμονα ἐν ἅπᾶσι παραστάτην.

36

ON ANIMALS.

So you are studying natural history? Yes;

I have commenced with the amoeba, intending to mount up to man.

What is the amoeba? I have never seen one.

For that you will require a microscope: the amoeba is one of the smallest of living creatures, that floats about in the water, frequently changing its shape-whence the name. There is a class of animals called molluscs, I believe? Yes; creatures with soft bodies, as we have men with soft brains.

How do such creatures contrive to keep their shape in this hard world?

They live mostly in water; and in order that they may not be dashed out of shape by the storms,

ΠΕΡΙ ΖΩΩΝ.

̓Αλλὰ σύγε σπουδάζεις περὶ τὰ φυσικά· οὕτως ἔχει; Οὕτως· καὶ μὴν τὴν ἀρχήν γε πεποιημαι ἀπὸ τῆς ἀμοιβῆς, ἀναβησόμενος ἔπειτα μέχρι τοῦ ἀνθρώπου.

Ποιόν τι θηρίον τοῦτο ἡ ἀμοιβή ; οὐ γάρ τοι οὐδὲν οὐδέποτε εἶδον τοιουτώδες.

Καὶ γὰρ εἰς τοῦτό γε πάνυ ἀναγκαῖόν ἐστι τὸ μικροσκοπεῖον· ἐπείπερ τῶν ζωὴν ἐχόντων θρεμμάτων μικρότατόν ἐστιν ἡ ἀμοιβὴ, νήχεσθαι δὲ φιλεῖ ἐν τοῖς ὕδασι πολλάκις μεταβάλλουσα τὴν μορφὴν, ὅθεν δὴ καὶ τὸ ὄνομα. ὑπάρχει, οἶμαι, εἶδός τι ζώων οἷς τοὔνομα μαλακόζωα· οὐχ οὕτως ; Καὶ μάλα γε· θρέμματα δηλαδὴ μαλακοῖς τοῖς σώμασι, καθάπερ δήπου ἀνθρώποις περιπίπτομεν μαλακοὺς ἔχουσι τοὺς ἐγκεφά λους.

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