The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1839-04-06
Ffom the London aHd WestmiHisier Rerisr
POETRY OF THE ANCIENT GREEKS


Poetry Is the highest and most hsrmonion.
utterance Of mans heart; and verse, its cha,
form, indicates that il aims as beiD,
so even in the meditation Of its sounds. il
This arentest art the Greeks have been. on ,Ia
whole, the foremost masters of the world q;
the earliest period in their history the only inII
and connected records are two poems. Theso
the Had and Odyssey, are the first monumen,.
upon the banks Of the stream Of Europenn a.
istence and they have given rise 10 ali liz
others which we meet with in tracing down
wards that main flood. They awakened and
harmonized the minds Of all Greece, and y
spired those who have inspired mankind
They also exhibit the ages during which tFev
were composed, which are shown under ,he
name and honors Of still earlier and lcper.
dairy time, amplifed and more brightly tinted
but still manifestly TO be recognized. The
tribes and cities were under the rule of here.
ditary kinds, the chiefs and warike band. n
MOBILES, while the crowd Of the people were
comparatively poor, unarmed and helpless. In
the halls Of these leaders. which we're stored
with wine and food, with embroidered gar.
ments, ornaments, furniture of metals and
finely wrought arms, and which resoundet
with the ieasts of their lords, the divine mn.
strel chanted to his harp the ballad which re.
corded the deeds Of those who heard i'm, and
of their glorious ancestors. The old tale
of war, with all its circumstances oflocal and
family names, was rounded and Frightened in.
10 gracefulness and distinct completeness. A
world Of wonder lay on every side about the
near foreground, and filled the past with It's
miracles and over all, spread the region ofthe
gods, who in iestlvity, in wrath, or love, had
often mingled with mortals. But an insrra.
table deaih-land stretched below, the scene Il
unknown sadness and pain, where life faded
into pale and languid dream; and an impe.
netrablc law of destiny, frightened now and
then with an evident CLEAN Of retribution, en-
circled the domlnions both Of men and gods
OF these songs the special and broad aspect
was that of an unbroken painting of the out
ward the clearness and beauty Of which ami
mated the singer into creative Joy, without
awakening the reflective scf-consciousness
which would have mared the simplicity and
directness of his uninterrupted tale. lie re-
garded the spectacle Of life, as tradition pre-
scented il to him, clothed, as by tradition II
must be, in colors Of the present. with eager,
wondering interest, which he impaired to his
hearers; but he did not say to them-what he
had never said TO himself-We, too, are men
| like those OF whom we sing, and II IS our.
selves we see lifted and lighted up in them,
and therefore is it that our hearts beat IN SO
lively accord with theirs. Thus their poetry
had charm Of childish delight and admlra.
tion not indeed Of all the most valuable, but
by far the hardest to reproduce in after ages OF
criticism and science-ages when even gene
rcsity and self-denial can scarcely outlIve toe
impulse Of the moment, without beginning to
consider how generous and self-denying they
are. 1t would be idle'to regret that those old
days Of genial and shrewd instinct could not
last; but il is well to our changed, sharpened,
and more speculative times to look upon the
rude and onward strength which once existed
and which softened itself to melody in The
songs Of Homer.
We could not see those days and poems
with our present sense Of keen and strange
awakening into far more distant mode ofbe
ing had it not so long and so completely
passed away. The busy life of Greece, around
and below the hereditary heroic monarches
was constantly rising and gaining strength
and when accident or revolution left void, or
disclosed weakness in the royalty Of any
state, the new and ready forces walking all
about il thrust themselves into the gap, eyclOd.
ed the old names, and made the dominion Their
own. Before the period Of any much later
literature now extant, the royalties had almost
all vanished even in name and increasing
wealth, numbers, and energy had won poIt'
cal authority for some smaller or larger portion
ofihe citizens Of each staie,for an aristocracy,
or for what the Greeks called dcmocracy%
for ruler, the Tyrannus Of antiquity, whom
circumstances and character, not birth-rlsh+
invested with power. This period may BE
called that Of the tyrannes, as the llomonc
ages were those of legitimate monarchy. But
these later intrusive governors naturally arose
from the wants and energies Of their time
when the traditions and feelings of the old he
roic soveregnties were still fresh The idea
of law for itself, and not impersonated ma
man, had not yet reached its mature and moe
pendent strength /; and the oldest, the ab'e'''
he, in short, who was deemed (if he was not
the worthiesi, easily and often quietly created
an authority which the people felt to be nreo,
full Such ruler more closely rescmhed
Cosmo de MedIci, than the vulgar rufIans
from whom we have derived our conception"
tyrant. His power was no doubt parity
maintained by fear, but was generally +"
great degree, founded on affection, gratitude
and admiration and was for the most part
closely that free movement and active lie Of
the city, that festal splendor and social ease
in the midst Of which it sprang up, and rom
which it derived much of its vigor as wen as
gracefulness. Advancing arts, deepening re- r.
Election, growing population. increasing "ea',a
and expense, and more numerous and closer
relations Of traffic and pleasure between mum
tudes Of men, all marked the period OF 'oe
tyrannies, which Immediately preceded ''' '
liyeliest and most creative age Of art and pm.
losophy that the world has ever known
Science began in Iona and Italy. while tie
| contests of the games were objects Of yearly