Clarksville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1865-1867, 1866-04-20
IFor the Chronicle.]
HISTORICAL READINGS, NO. 8.

From their intercourse with the Ph9ni.
clans, the most maritime nation of the
Ancient World, and who were directly in
lebted to Egypt, the Greeks derived much of
their knowledge. Their civilization must
date from nm early period. No definite time
,an be fixed. When Syrian Princess swayed
the councils of Abab, in Samaria, and
Jehosephat ruled in jerusalem "the blind
old man of Scio's rocky ISLE" wandered
from Grecian hamlet to hamlet, chanting that
wondrous poem which was to modify the
language and the faith of his countrymen-
to be the model for every other bard, and
the admiration of all time.
We have already spoken of the learned
men Of Greece being accustomed to resort to
Egypt for instruction in science and philoso-
ply, and of their receiving thence the first
rudiments Of their civilization. This, of
course, would seem to deprive them of all
claim to originality--a very dubious one,
when asserted by any people. II, however,
Greece did not invent, she cultivated science
with success. Whatever she received, she
increased by what she produced and de-
veloped of her own. In the useful arts, (which
were mostly in the bands of slaves) she did
not, probably, surpass Egypt; but in the
Fine Arts and in abstract and physical
science, she had en- undoubted Superiority
The philosophy of Ancient Greece we read
with admiration and profit We wonder at
the profundity as well as at the acuteness of
the minds from which it originated. In
poetry and art, the monuments of their
genius have long been the standards of taste
among all enlightened nations. The philos-
ply of Aristotle is still studied in many
modern universities, and for ten centuries
reigned supreme in the intellectual world.
Their noble and beautiful literature still re-
mains, fresh in undecaying youth; and
though the people from whom it originated
are no longer the same-though its language
is unspoken and the associations It refers to,
exist no morc--it is still all-powerful to
charm, to soothe, to fill the soul with glad
ness, or touch the eye with tears.
The Greeks made marked achievements in
science. In Mathematics and Astronomy
they did most. The elements of Euclid, one
of their mathcmaticians, isysta classbook
in our colleges. Pythagoras, who lourished
about 500 b. c., taught that the shape Of
the earth was round-that she moves round
the sun, which was the centre Of the uni
verse that the moon reflects the suns rays
and is inhabited--that Venus Is The morn
ing and evening star--that the stars are
worlds, and that the comets are wandering
stars. This system, however, he supported
only by fanciful reasons. II soon, therefore
sank into neglect
The greatest impulse given to the advance.
ment Of science, among the Greeks, was In
the foundation Of the Museum at Alexandria,
under the Ptolemies. This institution was
built on the recognition of better mode oI
philosophising. 1t was magnifcently en-
dowed, and Its existence, and the facilities II
afforded brought together many learned and
acute cuitivators Of science. With II
Appolonius Archimedes, Euclid, Ilipparchus
and Ptolemy were connected. Ifwas here
that the places of the fixed stars were first
determined aud the two-fold motion of the
earth, and the procession of the equinoxes
were discovered. Archimedes did more foI
the advancement Of physical science, than
any philosopher among the Ancients; he in.
vented the method Of exhaustions
several discoveries in States, Hydrostatic,
and Mechanics, and from his knowledge o
Optics was said, by means Of burning
glasses, TO have set Gre to the Roman feet in
the harbor, while besieging Syracuse.
These things would seem to indicate n,
mean acquaintance with science. But it Il
only in comparing them with other nationl
and remembering the early period at which
they existed, that we eau call the dscoverio
Of the Greeks, great. Compared with
modern achievements, their science appear
fragmentary and imperfect. But when w
consider their imperfect mathematical Ian
guage, that their opportunity for observation
was limited their want Of our appliances
we must regard il as highly crediiahle e
their genius and sabiiliiy-that laborinl