Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1853-09-24

NEW WORK.

MANUAL OF GREEK LITERATURE, by CHARLES
ANTON, LID New York Harpers. Washington;
| Taylor Maury.
DR.. Anthem is scholar de Repu5ea Laerara 6eee meri
fus and distant be the day when be shall be declared
Emeritus. Each successive publication from his pen is
hailed by the youthful student tending to disspate
the fogs and msts envelopng those various readings
those inaccuracies Of text and that ambiguity Of express
sion which still pervade and mysy the precious remains
Of antiquity.
The Manual Of Greek Literature is Of course compi
a'ion from various sources but carefully arranged and
adapted to the wants and of modern students. or
the long list Of authors laid under contribution the most
prominent appear to be Miller and Donaldson, Saxon
and Celt: the Saxon as is the wont of Saxons, asst
duous of labor and solid body Of eruditon; the Cet
on the other hand less patient of toll but brighter in
genius and equal in intellect The untring efforts, in
deco, Of German phlologists delvng in the mines of
classic lore continue to yield Of concrete and
mixed ores which, dsengaged from the dross, reward
the skill Of the udicous scholar with treasures
precious than the ingots Of California Australia Such
winnower is the learned Professor Of Columbia College
and we know of to whom the inscription the
pedestal Of Godsmiths bust in Westminster Abbey may
more APPLY apply:
"Nihi quod tetigit non ornavt"
Donaldson, by the way, is remarkable man. Some
ten or twelve years ago he published in London The
New Cratyus," work marked by deep research in the
mysteries of philology by reconcile learning, and by
themes absruse be available only to the pursuits
Of the most advanced students in the universities In
vsd lately by his publisher to revise edition of
the work then in press he declares canddly in the pre-
face that after years reflection and meditation
the subjects discussed in his book he has nothing
to offer either in emendation addition to the Original
treatise thus showing clearly that Celtic scholar is
citLe rccreant to the vaunted law Of progress that
this matured creation Of his brain has, like Palas,
sprung into existence complete all points and parfect
in form aud Dsnopy.
or all clinical riddles the most unsoyable perhaps
the rise and progress Of Grecan emnence. That some
fragments Of yagrant tribes clustering along the Darda
nees and occupying rugged tract of two hundred and
fifty miles long by hundred aud eighty widetrbes
of whose pedigree know about much as Of the Pc
ruvian Incas that these roaming clans should have
ttuted themselves arbers of taste unto all generations
originating and producing models of excellence all
and sciences and in all the renements and embellish-
ments Of le that they should have moulded language
such hath not been heard the ear exquisite in har
mony perfect in structure exact knowledge of which,
even at this day, constitutes pathological science
Can such things be without special wonder?"
Whence such should have shed their meteor-ight
over the world and then have disappeared bequeathng
to posterty degenerate sons, ignorant of the Ian
guage of their glorious ancestorsths is the problem
These Greeks be it said in all candor the
percous of men. No language may express the Unborn
contempt the neradcabe in which they held the
rest of mankind, CHASING all, Jew and Gentle, bar
barians Not the lofty disdan which marks the inter
Of the Ceesals with outside barbarians the
compacent pride Of tawny Japanese beholding Dutch
rencgades trampng the crucifx may express the
a..
perory of intellectual culture and reliance the
failing resources of disciplined mind, exalted them
above the standard Of their fellow-men
But truce to the Hellenes We possess comparatively
but scaIy remains of the prolific genius Of this extraor
binary people, thanks to the bgotry Of the infdel
ruian, who under the shadow Of his Turkish dilemma
consumed the vast and precious repository Of Grecan
mind and literature, the worid-renowned Aexandrian
Library. @,