BROWNR'S HISTORY OF CLASSICAL LITERATI:ME. * Tar subject' of these
volumes is more liraited than their title ;. Greek literature, from the age of Homer to that of Alexander the Great, .for*az , the theme. The execution rather resembles a, series of particular lectures or reviews than a history in the loftier sense of the tetra. The author, indeed, devotes some .ehapters ' to the origin and peculiarities of the Greek language, the chaimeteriatics of the different Greek tribes, and the *Areas of. these on Grecian literature. He also traoes the - historical growth or.the intellectual origin of particular classes of literature, as the drama and philosophy ; and presents the leading qualities of the respective .sehools of each. The greater part of the work, however, is more of a. digest than a history. A biographical no- -lice of the .principal authors, and a sketch of their literary charac- ter, with Aceounta more or less elaborate of their itorks, form the staple Of the volunies. This is not stated as matter of depreciation, but as matter of fact.' - The book - fulfils the object of the author ; which was to bring together within an available compass the results of modem Scholarshiptonching Grecian literature as well in facts as in opk. nions. " This is with judgment in the choice of matter and of scale, as well as with neatness in point of style. In the compass of two not lmilky volumes, the general reader or the claisioal sta- • A History of Classicallaerature, By E. W. Browne, M.A., Prebendary of /B. Faure; and Professor' of Classical Literature in Ring's Wiese, London. In two "volumes. Published by Bentley.
dent has a well-digested review of Greek literature from its origin to a period beyond its zenith. 'The work Will also be found useful as a book of reference respecting any particular class or writer.
Mr. Browne divides his subject into two great divisions. The first book—embracing Horner, Hesiod, the principal lyric poets, and the primitive half-mythic philosophers—he calls the first sera. The second book—which contains the dramatic writers, the histo- rians, the orators, and the philosophers of various schools, or, like Plato and Aristotle, schools in themselves—he terms the second or ilourishing sera. For the purpose of an artificial division, and as a help to the memory of the reader, this classification is useful, but, as it seems to us, inaccurate. Greece and Grecian society might be more flourishing in the age of the dramatists, orators, and philosophers, than in that of Homer, Anacreon, Sappho, and Pinder ; but scarcely literature, until the lesser becomes the greater. The division into poets, and prose writers and philoso- phers, would have been equally useful, and more philosophical and correct; for it happens that the age which saw the rise of prose witnessed the extreme culmination if not the eommencmg decline of poetry. Aristophanes, Euripides, and Herodotus, were contem- poraries. Acuteness of intellect, and that elevated animation of soul which we call genius or imagination, are gifts of nature. The develop- ment, and still more the mode of development, are matters of cir- cumstance or accident. Circumstances of geography, of time, of society, and but for the example of Shakspere we should say the accidents of fortune, not only influence but even direct the course of genius. Johnson probably misunderstands and then rather rudely banters Milton's dread of having fallen on an age too late for heroic song. Perhaps on any other subject than Paradise, which requires and admits of faith in the unseen, and answers all the effect of the simplicity and want of knowledge of an un- cultivated age, Milton might really have been too late. Poets since the revival of learning have had all the advantages of accu- mulated experience, a wider and juster knowledge of creation, and an acquaintance with the truths of science ; but still, except in the instance of Shakspere, it may be doubted whether all this range of subject and richness of illustration compensates for the fresh- ness of spirit with which the beauties of Nature were observed, the trust with which her wonders were received, by an unso- phisticated mind. Mr. Browne, in the following extract, does justice to the devotion of the greater writers of Greece ; but some- thing similar characterizes the true artist in all early ages, if not in all ages. "But Greek literature is not only admirable as presenting a picture of the human intellect in its highest state of perfection, but also for its moral value. It is a monument to all ages of unselfish industry, of enthusiastic devotion to a great purpose. Each author seems impressed with the idea that he has a duty to perform, a message to deliver. The lower motives, which too often give an impulse to the literature of modern times, did not influence them. The poet, the philosopher, the historian, were urged on by an irresistible devotion to their work, or at least felt no motive more se than a desire to be loved and admiredtheir contemporaries, or to enjoy Private an undying reputation in after ages. Private means were, in many eases, only considered valuable as affording to the possessor an opportunity for in- dulging his tastes and undertaking a literary career. They were ungrudg- ingly expended in procuring a liberal education and the advantages of fo- reign travel, for their own sakes, and net with any hope of a pecuniary re- turn. Few writers think so little of self as the ancients : their minds and thoughts are absorbed in that of which they write, their sentiments are freely revealed in their works; but it is wry difficult to derive from them any in- feemation respecting themselves. Although, therefore, it is impossible not to admire the unselfishness from which this results, it is a cause of regret that, for the same reason, the sources hum which their private histories are derived are often of doubtful credit."
Mr. Browne does not, however, remark the necessity for original observation and foreign travel to a Greek writer, and its great ad- vantages— " Segnius irritant animos demiasa per aurem,
Quam quie aunt oculis subjects fidelibus, et qua) Ipse sibi tradit spectator."
All early authors, nolen.s volens, enjoy same of this great ad- vantage of seeing and judging for themselves. The Greeks had it thoroughly and completely. No " records," no books of travels, no accumulation of " materials," enabled a Greek writer to sit at home and compose " new books " in an easy chair. The nearest approach he could make to second-hand matter was the living voice of an original narrator ; and that did not go far. If he wished to de- scribe a place, he must go and look at it; if he wanted knowledge of a foreign country, he must travel thither ; if he wished to write a history, he must read inscriptions in the company of those whose duty it was to inscribe and interpret, and collect original matter as he could. Where precise facts and literal accuracy were in question, this method was open to failure or mistake. In all the high qualities of art—in fidelity, freshness, force, and the realiza- tion of the original to the reader—his circumstances gave to the Greek an advantage, which his successors have to attain by over- coming national custom and individual habit.
From the nature of the case, Mr. Brewne's powers show to more advantage in his general than his particular criticism, or than in his biographical sketches. The following is his account of the es- sential spirit of the Greek drama.
" Although the revival of a taste for epic posh", by the exertions of Pieie- testes, gave a fresh impulse to literature, still, in the long interval which had elapsed between the time of Homer and the rise of Athenian tragedy, Greek intellect had made great advances. The language, the tone of thought, the numerous Homeriams of .2E'schylus, and even of Sophocles, show that the three great dramatists were imbued with the Homeric spirit • and Eschylus modestly tanned his tragedies only slices from the mighty feasts of Homer : but still this spirit was modified by that of their own age. " They were an creative as Homer was, bat their liberty of creating was confined within certain bounds, and limited by the recognized laws of human action. Heroic as were their characters, they must act according to the mo- ral principles which govern man. The pure and awful conception which phalosophic Greece now formed of the divine nature, would not permit it to be defiled by mean or petty passions, or swayed by unworthy motives. The whole religious creed of sEwhylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, was totally dif- ferent from that of Homer, except the mere names of the deities and the machinery of mythology Homer's gods were, as we have seen, rather par- tisans than impartial protectors of the human race canymg out in their go- vernment the eternal principles of immutable justice. The peace of Olym- pus was disturbed by petty quarrels and unworthy jealousies; their every day life was sensual ; their characters were marked with the lowest immoral ity. They were able to be bribed by their worshiper's Sacrifice was a mere price for favour, not an offering of atonement or propitiation. Deceit and fraud were unscrupulously used. Zeus himself, the father of gods and men, was often treated with disrespect, and was, like man, subject to an irresistible destiny. " The supreme being of IF,sehylua and Sophocles is pnrer, loving righteous. ness and hating iniquity, all-seeing, omnipresent, subject neither to sleep nor age. Destiny still existed, stn. ruled mankind, but its power was sub- ordinate to the supreme will of God, (airs,) the divine command, and the eternal principles of justice. " The mythological features and traditions which remain, am those which in the histories of the great tragic families describe the undying vengeance of a pure god exercised against the sinner ; the punishment which pursues unceasingly the violator of the house of life, the perjurer, the adulterer, the violator of hospitality, until he is penitent, purified, and reconciled. " As Homer, Pinder, sEschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, may be con- sidered as the representatives of successive poetical scrag, so their poetry may be said to embody different phases of Greek religious belief. Homer rere- tents the popular, Pinder the priestly creed • ..Eschylus and Sophocles that mysterious need of comfort and support from on high, and riddance of the burden of sin, of which the human heart is naturally conscious ' . Euripides., that philosophical belief which fast degenerates, first into scessticism, and next into infidelity."
The Eleatic philosophy may be quoted not only as an example of an entire subject, but for the opinions themselves. The reader, in- deed, will sometimes be startled to find how near Greek poetry or speculative philosophy approached the doctrines of revelation.
"In this school philosophical investigation was pursued on more strictly logical principles than have been hitherto observable. The founders of it recognized in existent systems a mixture of what they considered truth and error; they perceived that all contained many arbitrary assumptions and in- consequential reasonings ; and, as a first step, they applied themselves not to fresh investigation, but to examining the theories already existing. Th brought the truth or falsehood of each theory to the test of a strict lo- analysis. It is evident that the introduction of this principle late phi- phical studies forms an sera infinitely more important than one merely inquiry. "The for an advance in original nquiry. "The following is a brief history of the rise of the Eleatic school. The original founders of the Greek colonies carried with them not only commer- cial enterprise and spirit, but also that desire of intellectual advancement which so strongly marks the national charaeter- Hence, the little colony of Elea in Magna Graxia soon grew into eminence for its patronage of science and learning. About the sixtieth Olympiad, although the date is somewhat uncertain, there flourished in the Ionian city of Colophon, which had been previously celebrated as the native town of Minmennits, an elegiac poet named Xenophanes. Political troubles, probably the attack by the monarch of Persia upon the liberties of Ionia, drove him from his native land. He travelled through Sicily and Southern Italy, supporting himself as a waa- dating, minstrel by the recitation of his poems, and finally settled at Elea. " Notwithstanding the assertion of Plato, that the Eleatic doctrines existed previous to the time of Xenophanes no doubt exists that the wandering and exiled rhapsodist turned his thoughts to philosophy, and became the founder of the celebrated philosophical school in his adopted city. Various opinions have been held on the question, as to who was his philosophical instructor; but as the characteristic of his didactic poetry is a determined opposition to the vicious polytheism of the epic poets, there is nothing in his system which might not have been the work of an original thinker, placing himself in direct antagonism to immoral doctrines. Out of the negation of the prevail- ing superstitions his positive doctrines respecting the Deity naturally arose. He denied a plurality of gods; he ridiculed the attributing human forma to the deities; he directed the bitterest attacks against the impiety of repre- senting the gods as guilty of disgraceful crimes, such as are found constantly in the poems of Homer and Hesiod. " His positive doctrines were, that God is omnipotent and all-wise, without beginning or end ; that a plurality of gods is inconsistent with and contra- dictory to the attributes of Deity, for two all-powerful beings could not exist together. It has been doubted whether the monotheism of Xenophanes was not in reality pantheism. He asserts that God was the same as the universe, but he also asserts the existence of a material world. Whether, therefore, his idea of God was a spiritual essence pervading the material universe, it is impossible to determine; but pure pantheism is totally inconsistent with the belief which he undoubtedly entertained, that God had a personal existence, and that he was the all-wise governor of the universe. According to the natural system of Xenophanes, the four elements were the original principles of all things. In the midst of all his hypotheses, this philosopher appears to have been deeply impressed with the imperfection of all human knowledge. He saw that the nature of the Deity and all existing things was beyond the sphere as well of the intellectual powers as the corporeal senses of man. "Although the positions laid down by the Eleatic sehool were rather ne- gative than positive, they nevertheless marked a great and important ad- vance in philosophical speculation ; first in asserting the unity of the Deity; and secondly, in referring the conclusions of other systems to the test of reason."
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