New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1871-02-26
THE ATHENS OF PERICLES.
EY L. w. BALL.

The Periclean Athens was an intensely
luminous point in the far depth OF the
worlds historic fOretime. Indeed, without
the Ionian Herodotus the foretime of which
we speak would have been for us pretty
much a blank. The radiance of Athens en-
ables us to see, not only itself, but the bar
barous outlying world. which without it
would have been left in eclipse. The
Athens OF the time of which we are speak
ing was indeed an anomaly and unaccOnnt
able phenomenon in the then social world
All we know is, that such peerless com
lnunity lowered and blossOmed in those
far Oft gloomy and lonely ages. Outside
were peoples who had vet hardly emerged
into historic beings, il we except certain
barbaric empires and theOcracles Or sacer
docies. in which the development OF the
reason was utterly oppressed and checked
by the dictates of a sO-called divine allthOri-
tv. One of these huge aggregates OF irration-
aiAsiatic power and superstition precipitated
itself Ell masse on little Athens, to quench
the spark of intelligence and the hopes of ii
rational civilization indefinitely: but the
pluciy little Egean commonwealth,
through the cOnsunlniate strategy OF her
greatest man of action, sent the million
headed Oriental brute back, bowling and in
dsmav, TO his lair; and so we people OF the
nineteenth century know that the earth re-
wolves around the sum- and travel by stea'n,
and publish news by the aid OF lightning,
and are capable Of free governments, and
enjoy free thought and free speech Oh all
subjects whatsoever. Thanks To Themis-
tocieS' SO that he did not ''Saye his land
in vain after all, as Byron alleges. The
Periclean Athens may be called an ana
chronisnl. an anticipation'and fOretaste of a
remote and at that time seemingly impos-
sible future, the point OF departure Of the
nineteenth century OF the Christian era,
prematurelv introduced into the worlds
chronology, before the world WAS ready tor
il. and long, long before its civilization
could find the least possible chance OF
full and perfect development Those
orators talked with such eloquelce
those PHILOSOPHERS discoursed and reasoned
SO indefatigably, subtilely, profoundly, and
truly on man i'll all his relations and on
every branch Of lis mysterious nature, and
on his mysterious finA destiny, and they
| theorized so sagaciously on the best Organi-
| zation. on the aims and possibilities OF
| human society and those poets sang so
| spontaneously. sweetlv. aud sublimely: and
! those poets wrote so that their works are
| truly possessions forever: and vet they were
| to lind no listeners or readers. no tit audi
| ence or intelligent public capable of apDre-
| eating their IDEAS fully and acting upon
| them. until their very dust had been blown
| for ages round about the globe, and their
| i;,therland. the hieron p,do'l, or sacred soil
as Sophoclcs calls il, Of iilustrlous Athens
| q worn and barren Gesolatior, had become
| the haunt OF a robber spawn of barbarous
| interopers. with not II drop OF Hellenic
| blood in their veins. thank Heaven tC
| make the scholar Of to-day hang his head
for shame az the degradation of the pool
relics Of his beloved city and its outlying
| ion Houiic .H0Vnty for WGrch.