The Sun.
London, England, 1824-04-30 00:00:00

GREEK LITERATURE.

A HISTORY of GREEK PROFANE LITERATURE,
from its origin to the taking of Constantinople,
by M. SCIIOET.I., has been recently published at
Paris, and has deservedly obtained much praise.
The history of the literature of various nations
is a subject worthy of interesting the most ele-
vated minds, and capable of alarming the most
laborious talents. •It offers at the same time
more attractions and -greater difficulties, thae
the history of laws and institutions ;—morn
attractions, because it takes us into those ethereal
regions in which, far from the mists Of stormy
politics, taste, sentiment, and genius reign,—
greater difficulties, because it carries us out of the
beaten tracks of history in search of those facts,
frequently very obscure or very doubtful, which
mark the developement, the maturity, and the
decrepitude, of the literary genius of a nation.—
What patience and judgment are required to
discover and collect so many various facts, scat-
tered through books of the most opposite kinds!
What a power of mind to combine their results!
What philosophical impartiality to appreciate the
genius of nations under the divers costumes in
which they are invested ! He who should have
received from -Heaven these triple gifts, would
still have prejudices to overcome if he attempted
to delineate the history of modern literature, for
it is the most delicate point of national vanities.
Italy, Spain, France, England, Germany, are in
this respect like five beautiful women, who, as-
sembled iu a ball-room, treat one another with
great politeness, bet who, each in the circle of
her admirers, requires that it should be admit-
ted, not only that she is handsome, all perfec-
tion, and divine, but also that her neighbour has
some blemishes on her face, defects in her shape,
is dressed in bad taste, and rather aukward in
her carriage. All these hall-room dialogues hare
precisely the same degree of impartiality, justice,
and authority as the literary opinions of one na-
tion on another. It would he absurd inf,leed to
attempt to harmonize them ! But let us speak
of Greek literature and Roman literature, which
now only live in books. We may give the apple
to which we please, without exposing ourselves
to much peril ; or we may even cut it ioto two.
We shall not adopt the latter course, but shall
give it quite entire to Greece.

- We ought, however, to understand each other
as to the point of view on which we wish to make
the comparison. Is it the character quite entire
of the literature of these two nations which Aso
wish to compare, by bringing together in a single
picture, the whole literary life of the two nations
who produced them ? Or is it our wish to cow.
pare the merit of the works composing them,
kind by kind, and age by age ? Under the last
point of view, the Romans of the age of Augus-
tus and Trajan may for an instamt seem to bear
away the palm. A 11 G recce has nothing comparable
to the great political views of Cicero, the majesty
of Livy, the profoundness of Tacitus, and the
exquisite taste of Virgil. But we consider the
literary activity of a nation under a more elevated
point of view ; namely, what is . the mass of ge-
nius, wit, and talent that a nation has developed
in the whole of her. writings. Here the Romans
are evidently inferior. Some superior minds,many
happy imitators, two centuries of literary-emu-
lation, concentrated in the bosom of a rich and
voluptuous capital, all these are not equivalent to
that universal activity of a national genius which,
during more than a thousand years, in the bosom
of twenty small republics, neither rich nor power-
ful, and in the midst of popular commotions,
wars, and disasters, never ceased to produce
original works, models in every kind, or at least
productions containing the germs of the most
beautiful works of succeeding ages. This crea-
tive genius, which animates Hellenic literature,
even in its most licentious flights, combines in sa-
cred as well as profane writings, an elevation of
sentiment, a depth of thought, and a beauty of
expression, such as the human mind left to itself
has never attained among any other people.--
The Hellenic literary genius is in some degree
represented materially by the genius of the artists
of Greece; it seems to assume by turns the ce-
lestial forms of Apollo or Venus, the features of
a philosopher, or those of a wrestler, the graces
of a nymph, or the fantastic attractions of a
young satyr. It is the complete developement
of all the faculties of the mind ; it is the first
known type of a society of intelligences united to
think, to write, to • enjoy the , productions of
genius, and to create for itself a spiritual life, in-
dependent of its civil and political existence.—
The Greeks are a literary nation ; the Romans
are only a political nation, who one day resolved
on having a literature.

There is another point of view under which
the moral philosopher ought to consider the his-
tory of Greek literature: it is that personal in-
dependence which, during a series of centuries,
gave to the writers of Greece a peculiar and
unique character in the annals of the human
race. That free.individuality..raised above the
influence of riches, of governments, and even of
the laws, can only exist in small States, united
by a common language, and yet independent of
one another ; where, consequently, the power of
the Government was but slightly preponderant
over personal power, because the individual
found twenty asylums against one persecution,
and could, according to the measure of his ta-
lents, influence, by the same speech, twenty dif-
where riches, then not very abun-
ferent people ;
dant, were more than balanced in popular esti-
mation by the talents of the mind, by courage,
and even by the simple gift of address and beau-
ty ; where the plainest citizen, by his merit, his
character, and ptiblic favour, might acquire a
moral power almost unlimited ; where, in short,
the names of hero, sage, and poet, were the most
brilliant and the most esteemed titles. Such was
the social condition of Greece before Alexander.
Add, moreover, to the effect of these institutions,
or rather of similar political principles, the effect
of climate and manners ; recollect also those in-
numerable public festivals which brought to-
gether the whole nation in the same enjoyments,
that habit of passing. three parts of their lives
under the porticos and in gardens, their public
places, the small extent and the little luxury of
their private dwellings, the frugality of their re-

pasts, the simplicity of their clothing, the seclu-
sion of w or.len which deprived Athenian society
of any resemblance to the conversations in mo-
dern saloons, and you will feel that a Grey:.
citizen must have been a singular medley of
knight and monk, of prince and democrat; a
medley which neither the efforts of the legis-
lator nor the course of events can ever again
completely produce.

The celebrated men of genius of Rome, with
as great powers, grandeur of mind, and virtues as
the Greeks, were in a very ditierent social posi-
tion. A republic better constituted than any of
those of Greece for its own preservation and
Rome never granted to her cid-
tizens an individual liberty comparable to that
enjoyed by the Greeks. Ail its internal relations
were fixed by the power of political corporations,
of dominant families (Plebeian as well as Patri-
cian), of magistrates, each sovereigns in his own
quarter, and the institutions of a national wor-
ship connected with all the civil institutions. It
was the Republic of Sparta on a large scale, and
with more ambitious combinations. Thus Rome,
as long as she really continued herself, was
scarcely more than Sparta the friend of Poets
and Philosophers. This austere, proud, and con-
queror Republic fell under the yoke of a series.
of military dictatorships, which we are pleased
to call the Empire; and almost at the very mo-
ment when national liberty disappeared, indivi-
dual liberty and even individual licentiousness
chewed themselves. Therefore, the necessary
conditions which world enable Rome to produce
men of genius as independaut and original as
Greece existed only a few moments to disappear
for ever.

The greatest men of genius of Rome felt that
they did not breathe in their country the literary air
of Greece. Fatigued with the storms which raged
in the Senate as in the Forum, Cicero was con-
stantly thinking of 'the groves of the Academy
where he passed the only serene days of his life ;
it is in those moments when these recollections
inspired hint that, forgetting the interests of iris
party, his own disquietudes and vanity, he shows
himself a sublime Philosopher and an amiable
man. In vain did Augustus attempt to repro.
duce around him the literary and philosophical
Court of Pericles; the poet of the him-
self, loaded with favours, went in search of the
most sublime inspirations under the sky- of Homer
and Theocritus. It is true that the Greeks, after
they be:•an►e subjects of a great empire, soon lost
their originality and independence of mind, but
some recollections still survived, anti those remi-
niscences were enough to invest Plutarch with
charms far superior to those of all the Roman
Biographers.
This free and original spirit filled also the lives
of the Greeks with interesting situations, lively
and piquant traits, and even amusing anecdotes.
The history of Greek Literature is therefore
in every respect a subject as attractive as it is in-
structive and fertile : but the ditf►culties wl►ich
surround it are far above the ideas generally en-
tertained of them. The few observations which
we have just made ou the moral and literary cha-
racter of the Greeks, ought to convince us how
difficult it. is for a modern to put himself in the
place of one of those Poets, who protnenaded
their indigence and their immortal genius from
Athens to Thebes, or fron► the Palace of Ulysses
to the Palace of Memelaus, singing before a rustic
people, and at the boisterous feasts of warriors,
the great exploits then recent of their national
history.

The author of this History modestly says in
hhis preface, that he shall have attained ids ob-
ject, if competent judges find that he has " se-
lected his materials with judgment, i❑ such a
manner that nothing useful has been rejected,
and nothing superfluous received ; that he has
classed them in .a methodical manner, and so
arranged them, that the selections throw light
upon one another ; in short, that lie has pre-
sented the whole with simplicity and clearnes.."
We consider this History of Greek Literature
as one of the most useful and best edited works
that have lately appeared ; and competent
judges whom we have consulted are of opinion
that M. Schoell - has completely performed the
task which he has undertaken ; and, moreover,
that he lies always appreciated with good taste
a sound and impartial judgtnent, the questions
in dispute among the learned upon several points
of the literary history of Greece.
It may perhaps be asked, -of what utility is
this eternal study of the minute difficulties per-
ceived by critics in the writings of the Greeks
We are almost of their opinion with respect to
those slight variations and grammatical subtle-
ties of which some Hellenists think so much ; but
on the other hand we must observe,that not only do
new manuscripts occasionally find their way out
of the dust of liberaries, but that even a common
stone, covered with an inscription, may fre-
quently put us in possession of unknow❑ facts,
which throw light on the history of manners, and
consequently on that of literature. The Greeks
engraved on marble their treaties of alliance and
of peace, their municipal affairs, their domestic
rejoicings and calamities, and even memoranda
of their friendly visits. Ancient Greece resem-
bles 'an immense engrave!, book ; and which-
ever leaf we turn, we read some fragment of
public or private history. There is therefore
always occasion for new observations.

FUNERAL OF Ma. SMITH, DEMERARA.—OD
the evening before his interment Mrs. Smult re-
ceived a message from the Govcallon, informing
her that the funeral must take place at four in
the morning, and that neither she nor her friend
Mrs. ELLIOTT would he allowed to
.follow the
corpse to the grave. Mr. S3IITII was exceedingly
distressed by this mandate, and, though not per-
mitted to follow her husband to the grave, she
rose at three, and accompanied by Mrs. ELLIOTT,
and conducted by a slave with a lantern, pro-
ceeded to the burial place to meet the corpse.—
The usual service was read by the Rev.
A usys. It is easier to conceive than to express
what a heart-rending scene this must have proved
to the afflicted widow. We hear that Mrs. SMITH
and Mrs. ELLIOTT arrived in England a few days
ago.—(New Times.)