Rutland herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1823-1847, 1843-08-17
GRECIAN EXCLUSIvENEss

ne spifU OF inc TWO most famous nations OF an.
tquty was remarkably exclusive In the time of
Homer, the Greeks had not begun TO consider
themselves rs distinct race They still looked
with something of childish wonder and awe on
tho riches and wisdom of Sidon and Egvp, From
what causes, and by what gradaiions, heir feel.
ings underwent Il change, it is not easy TO deter.
mine Their history, from the Trojan to the Per.
sian war, is covered with an obscury broken only
by dim and scattered CLEANS of truth But il is
certain that great alteration took place They
regarded themselves as a separate people They
had common religious rites and common princi.
pies of public law, in which foreigners had no
part. In all their political systems monarchical
arS,ocratlca, and democratical there was a strong
family likeness After the retreat of Xerxes and
the fall OF Madonius, national pride rendered the
separation between the Greeks and the Barbarians
complete. The conquerors considered themselves
men OF a superior breed, men who, in their inter
course with neighborinq nations, were 10 teach
and not to learn They looked for nothing ont Of
themselves. They borrowed nothing They
translated nothing. We cannot call TO mind sin
gle expression Of any Greek writer earlier than
the age Of Augustus, indicating an opinion, that
anything worth reading could be written in any
language except his own. The feelings which
sprung from national glory were not altogether
extngulshed by national degradation They were
fondly cherished through ages of slavery and
shame The literature Of Rome herself was re-
garded with contempt bv those who had fled be
fore her arms, and who bowed beneath her faces
Voltaire says in one of his six thousand pamphlets
that he was the first person who told the French
that England had produced .kineng men beside.
the Duke of Marlborough Down to very late
period, the Greeks seemed TO have stood in neec
Of similar information with respect to their masters
With paulus K,mIlus, Sylla and Caesar. the,
were we'll acquainted But the notions which
they entertained respecting Cicero and Virgi
were, probably, not unlike those which Boeal
may have formed about Shakespeare Dionvsu
lived in the most splendid age of Latin poetry AM
/ eloquence He was critic, and, after the man
ner Of his age, an able critic. He studied the Ian
guage of Rome, associated with its learned men
and compiled its history. Yet he seems to hav
thought is literature valuable only for the purpos
of illustrating its antiquities His reading appear
to have been confined to its public records, and Il
a few old annalists. Once, and but once if we re
member rightly. he quotes Ennlus to solve
question of etymoogy He has written much Oh
the art of oratory; yet he has not mentioned tn
name Of Cicero.
race which they dcspised Their epic poet Will
he claimed for them pre-emncnce in the arts
government and war acknowledged their infer
ority in lasto eloquence, and science Men OF let
tiers affected to understand the Greek language bel
ter than their own Pomponius preferred tn
honor of becoming an Athenan, By intellectual
naturalization to all the distinctions which wer
to be acquired in the political contests of Rome
His great friend composed Greek poems and mi
moirs 1t is well known that Petrarch consider
ed that beautiful language in which his sonnet
are written, as barbarous jargon, and ntruse
his fame to those wretched Latin hexameer
which, during the last four centuries, have scare,
ly found four readers. Many eminent Roman
appear to have fell the same contempt for their II,
tive tongue as compaled with the Greek Tn
prejudice continued 10 a very late period Julia
was as partial to the Greek language as Freder
the Great to the French and i, seems that b
f could not express himself with elegance in the
T aIect Of the state which he ruIed.-Meeauiay