The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-02
GREECE.
A BR1Er SKETCH OF THE ORIGIN. PREEM
INENCE, INFLUENCE. AND MODERN
NESS OF ANCIENT GREECE.

INHNCE, INFLUENCE, AND MODERN
NESS OF ANCIENT GREECE.
An Essay Read, May 2Ist, 1886, Before
the Literary Club of Abbeville, s
C., by Wister Archer, NJ. A., Phi. B..
Principal OF the Abbeville High
school.
Gintlemen The choice of my subject
Greece. has been dictated by desire to
eradicate, from the minds of the igno
rant. the belief that this empire ever has
been ancient except in point OF time, OF
that this language can ever be considered
dead in point of reality; for the word,
dead, implies extirpation of imperial po-
sition and the impossibility OF the lam
guage's continuing to undergo any
Changes that time and other incidental as
sociations may work upon it. This, how
ever, is not true. Temporal mutGnt ct nos
,nutdmur iLIiscum. We might, with
equal Justice, speak of the English of the
time of Chaucer, as dead, as speak of the
Greek of antiquity as such; for, when we
compare these with their corresponding
modern languages, we find, in each IN
stance, equal changes. The cause OF the
diversity of belief is this:-In the time
Just emerging from infancy into youth
and had not vet attained manhood's per-
fetian, whereas the Greek of Pericles, OF
J.ysias and Demosthenes, had, already,
s.t::neeII :.lla highest point. ever reached
bv language, and had only one alterna-
tive before it, to remain as such or to de-
cline. Some people are impressed with
the belief that ancient Greece was ma
ton, entirely distinct from modern ma.
tons in manners, customs, and general
habits, as we'll as in point of times but L
shall endeavor to prove to your mlnds
the modernness of ancient Greece, as we'll
as the influence that it has exerted upon
the subsequent course of language.
Greece, the smallest of the three penin-
sulas Of Southern Europe, jutting out in
TO the Mediterranean sea which washes
its Southern and Western coasts, while
the far-famed Egean lashes it on the
East. is the home, no less Of the gods and
philosophers, than Of the poets, painters,
and sculptors. BY the proximity of the
surrounding watery expanse, we might
Imagine that it's air is thick, dense, and
fossy, like that of England; but, here, no
gulf stream extends its influence to cloud
the serenity of its skies. From the
heights of Pelion or Hymetters, clad
with natures sweetest verdure, over
WHICH LuS D66S "ouiSl III SPi Az >
time. iu such profusion, that Homer has
com pared with them the mighty host OF
Troy beseiging Greeks-here, we might
stand and gaze almost from one extreml-
ty of the ancient world to the other, so
clear and pure was its atmosphere. NO
atmosphere can ever be compared with
this, so clear, so fresh, so exhillrating,
that men would fain loare such spot
and cease to drink in natures purest
draughts. It's coast is inundated by nu-
merous bays and gulfs, affording pleasant
and safe harbours for steam-beaten ships
and foretelling that commercial emlnence
which proclaimed Athens, in peace and
in war, "the mistress OF the sea-" Should
~e turn our eye over the small eNpanse
of country, stretched before our view, we
would be struck with the diversified ma
ture of its topography. No level expanse
of surface extends before our gaze; but,
on every side, we see crags and noun
tains, rising to lend their beauty to this
country's scenery and to aid in determin-
ing the nature and deStiuies of it's people.
AS we turn southwark into Greece, we
are, first, met by the Immortal vale OF
Tempe, the home Of the Muses., where
they we're went to meet and hold commu-
Mon in the haZy mist of the morning OF
in the dim twilight of the setting sun
here, they were went to sit, about the lof-
ty throne Of Jupiter, in councils Of peace
and of war; from here, Jupiter was wont
to send forth his messengers of death and
prosperity; and from here, sounded the
rumblings of tho mighty thanders, the
echoes Of Jovs's hoary locks, as they
G1ashed in anger. Such is the situation
OF this pass that it would require the
combined efforts of only few men to re-
sist the world. Further on, we reach the
Pass of Thermopylae, the Gibraltar OF
Southern and Central Greece, the key oi
its Notifications on the North. What can
blot out or diminish the greatness of such
n pass! Here it was, that Leonidas and
his three hundred Spartans, sent to check
Xerxes, with his millions, in their course
of devastation and subjection, did not on
3y not falter, but when they recognized
the inevitable fate that awaited them,
they stood like men and fought bravely,
It'll the last man expired" Thus, we
might continue to dwell upon the Incl
dents connected with historic Greece,
where every vale and every hill was clad
arrive at Mount Taygetus, which echoes,
still, with the death cries of the Spartan
infant. From the abruptness of the
mountain sides of Greece, we might con.
lecture that no large rivers traverse its
narrow surface. But, here and there
might be seen a streamlet, vending its
way to the gulf or sea, small and seem
ingly insignificant, until aroused by 6
sudden rain, when it would swell its tor.
rent and come rushing down the noun
tain sides with powerful momentum
Small though these brooklets be, they
have been immortalized in the grandes
epic that ever flowed from the mind O
man. We have, thus, before US, a brie
delineation of the Typographical and eli
snatic nature of this country, to prepare
us to understand those peculiar traits
that have, always. characterized Greect
and her people.
shall, next, consider the origin of thi:
nation, pointing out the ties Of relation
ship that bind this nation to the nations
of Europe and of America. If the en-
quiring eye will glance over the CONT
nent Of Asia, he will find, between the
of country, known as the table-land o
Asia, or the Plateau of Thibet. This wa:
the primary abode of the mother Of many
languages. Here, originated and lived
the Indo- Germanic language that ha!
spread its branches into the four quarter.
of the globe and united us all by ties o
direct relationship. Although the like
ness between some OF these languages il
more striking than that between others
this does not prove lack of relationship
but can be fully explained by this law 0
nature as we'll as of language, that tai
earlier the separation, the wider the di
vergence of similarity, and the longe
any languages associate, the closer they
become in sound and structure. Finally
this old mother tongue separated int
three parts, the Aryan, the South Eu
ropean, and the North European. Tn
Arxyop cop cists of tho Trapjon and the Tn