Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1884-07-04
EARLY JOURNALISM.
AMONG TIE GREEKS AND RoMAss.
The Ancient as Compared with the Modern
Menus OF Transmitting Ncws-OfIlciai

INV Auettht as compared Win tue Mouern
Mcaus OF transmitting News-0nicial
Gszeftes.
A Boston letter to the New York
Evening Pos. says The annual business
meeting Of the Phi Beta Kappa, OF Harvard
College. was held In Boylston Hall at 10
O'Clock this morning. A procession was
formed at f2 O'Clock and marched TO San
der's Theatre, where Richard Claverhouse
Jebb, Professor Of Geek at the University
OF Glasgow. delivered An Grafton on "Some
Ancient Organs Of Public Opinion" The
following are its notable features:
During several weeks In the early part
OF this year the attention Of the English
public was fixed with intense anxiety on
the fortunes of one man, who had under
taken a perIlous mission In the service OF
his country. When the Egyptian difficulty
was at its worst, General Gordon had
started for Khartoum, to aid the Govern
ment by his personal influence in the
policy Of rcscding the garrisons and re-
firing from the Soudan. The journey,
while IL reflected fresh honor on him,
necessarily imposed grave responsi-
bitity on those who hid sanctioned
1t. Any moment might bring the news
OF his death. IL such news came, IL
was generally thought and said the MIN
istry would fall. In n country with the
temperament OF England the mere exist
tence OF such belief set me thinking. A
wear ago Gordon's name. though familiar
to the well-iniorned classes, would not
have acted like spell in the nation. But
popular biography OF HIM which had ap-
peared had gwen occasion for much writ
ha M CNaAN. - sW.aA ls..I
suiioed to make the broad facts OF his
career known throughout the length and
breadth OF the land.
THE FORCE OP POPULAR vERDIcTs.
People knew that he had welded loose
Chinese rabble into an army, which saved
the reigning dynasty OF China; that, alone
OF all Christians, he is named in the prayers
OF Mecca; that he does not care Tor per-
sonal rewards: that he is fearless OF death
that be trusts in God. To impress these
facts on the popular imagination had been
the work OF few weeks; TO concentrate
the force OF popular opinion, II he had
been sacrificed, would have been the work
OF few hours. Seldom, perhaps, has
anything illustrated more vividly that great
and distinctive condition Of modern exist
ence in free cOuntries-the double power
welded ty the newspaper press. at once
rs the ubiquitous instructor and az the
rapid interpreter OF a national mind. lt
was natural at such a time for Jne whose
pursuits suggested the comparison 10 look
from the modern 10 the ancient world, and
TO attempt some estimate OF the interval
which separates them IN this striking and
important respect. In the ancient ciyiliza.
tlOns were there any agencies which eXer-
cised power analogous in kind. though
not comparable I'm degree, to that OF the
modern pressf To begin with, we feel
at once that the despotic monarchies OF the
ancient East will not detain us long. For
them, national opinion nominally meant
the opinion OF the king. We know the
general manner Of record, which is found
craven or stone In connection with the
images or symbols Of those mon-
archs. As doctors seem still 10 differ O
good deal about the precise translation OF
so many Of those texts II might be rash 10
quote any, but this Is the sort of style
which seems to prevail among the royal
authors: " He csme up with chariots. He
said that he was my first cousin. He lied.
/ impaled him. / am Artakhshatra. /
fayed bis uncles, his brothers. and his
am the King, the son OF Darys-
yush. cruciiied 1900 OF the principal in
babitants. / ain the shining one, the great
and the good" From the mOnsrchial East
we turn with more curiosity TO Greece and
Rome. There, at least, there was q life OF
pubic opinion. Apart from institutions,
which are crystallizcd opinion, were there
any living. non-official voices in which this
public opinion could be heardi
HoHER's GENIUS.
The Home-ic poems are not only the
Oldest monuments OF Greek literature. but
also 'the earliest documents OF the Greek
race. Out OF the twilight OF the prehis-
toric past new people, new type OF
mind, are suddenly disclosed in me-
dium Of pellucid clearress. Like Athene,
springing adult and full-armed from the
head Of Zeus, this new race, when Homer
reveals it, has already attained to a
mature consciousness OF itself, and is
already equipped with the aptitudes
which are to distinguish it throughout
its later history. The genius OF the
Homeric Greek has essentially the same
traits which recur in the ripest age
Of the Greek republics, even as Achilles and
Ulysses are personal ideals which never
lost their hold on the nation. This very
fact points the contrast between two aspects
Of HOmeric liie-the political and the social.
In lIomeric politics public opinion has no
proper place. The king can alone origi-
nate or discuss measures. The popular as
sembly has no active existence. But the
Of Homeric monarchy contains
a social life in which public opinion is con-
stantly alert. The Homeric Greek feels
keenly, observes shrewdly, and hastens TO
his thoughts. An undertOne
Of popular comment pervades Homer's
poems.
After the age which gave birth to the
great epicS an interval elapses before We
again catch the distinct echoes OF pOpu-
lar voice. The individual mind now COM
mences to express itself in forms OF poetry
which are essentially personal, interpreting
the belief and feelings OF the poet himself.
TvrteuS summons the SpartanS in stirring
elegy TO hear his counscls. Sappho utters
bis passion in immortal lyrics. Pindar
weaves his thoughts into those magnificent
odes which gloriiy the heroes and the
athletes. Of Greece. Greek literature is
original, and in ii we trace the course OF
natural growth. and hear the Spontaneous
utterance OF Greek life from generation to
generation. The community which
ATHENIAN DRAMA
addressed was precisely in the mood which
best CRADLES dramatist 10 exert political
and moral force. There was much in its
femper that might remind us Of Elizabcthan
The greatest plea in the English
for the liberty Of the press belongs
TO the close OF that year which saw the
hopes OF the Parliamentarians in their
with the Royalists raised 10 an as
surance OF final success by the crushing de-
feat Of Rupert.
In estimating the influence OF Athenian
drama on public opinion we must, first OF
all. remember the fact which makes the
difference between the position OF
the dramatlst-viewed In this Highland
that OF the epic poet. The epic poet gave
expression to a mass OF popular belief and
feeling in an age when they had rs vet no
direct organ OF utterance. But In the
Athens OF the dramatists the popu-
lar assembly was the constitutional
organ OF public opinion. Every Athe-
nian citizen was, as such, member
OF that assembly. The Influence OF
the Athenian dramatist was IN niea-
sure analogous to that OF the modern
Journalist. An Athenian dramatlst had
for his hearers in the theatre OF Dionysus
many thousands OF men who the next day
might be called upon TO decide question
Of policy in the assembly or to try IN q law
court one Of those cases in which legal
issues were often involved with considera-
lions OF q social or moral kind. In many
verses OF 4Escbylus, for instance, one can
ring as directly political az that
of any leading article or pamphlet.