The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1886-06-02


the proposition must enhance our appre-
Ciation for the Hellenic nation. In the
domestic and social life of the Greeks,
we find that they enjoyed the same bene-
fits; the same evils, that invade modern
society. They we're, however, moved by
deeper feeling of politeness, as is shown
by their hospitable reception Of utter
strangers. No Greek was so depraved as
to offer, within the precincts Of his own
home, the slightest insult to anyone.
Has this trait been reflected in modern
times? Must we not rather affirm that
modern politeness has reserved the an
cient outward form, but not the inward
feeling? Now, we are prompted by the
desire of selfish popularity and pre-emi-
nence then, were the Greeks promp pied
solely by the desire Of general pleasure.
It has been said that the Greeks, in their
habits Of eating and drinking, were very
Incorporate. If we cite merely such in
stances as the dudish Alcibiades. shall
not aim to refute such statements. re-
fer your attention, however, to the facts
of history and the advice Of all the Gre
clan sages and ask, must we determine
the characteristics of nation from few
isolated examples or does the general
polish polish CO this nation, by contrition with
such rough surisscess, become brighter
Juvenal in his soothing satyre, may ex'
claim, "Graecnlus e$uTienS III coctnm:
jusseris, ibip'; but this is the reflection of
subjective rather than an objective i'm
ago, The cry Of d despairing Conscience, as
it recognizes, from comparison, the su Pc
riority of the Greeks.
In respect, moreover, to their places of
amusement, they were more than mod
ern. Unlike the present age, they had no
theatres, distinct from those for the poor,
for the wealthy and the noble. They had
no low music halls, no theatre comique,
no degrading ballet dances, in fine, no
seething cesspools of moral corruption
and degradation, where alone the poor
could find amusement but they all as
sembled in the same amphitheatre, where
the poor and the needy were improved by
the benevolent influences Of their more
polished associates.
Should we turn from the province Of
domestic life, to that of broader sphere,
we shall find an equal improvement
Take, for example, their process Of i'll
| fictitg capital punishment and compare
it with that of modern times. Ours, alas!
is surviving remnant of our barbaric
nature-a nature, hard to soften ana hard
er to subdue. When we picture the scal,
fold scene of the present day, our bloou
curdles with horror. Not only is the un-
fortunate victim deprived of life, of lib
erty, and of character, but he is exposed
to the taunts, tho Kissing jeers, Of. on un-
sym pathetic crowd. Is this civilization :?
For if it is, would that could never ex-
perience any of its demoralizing influ-
ences What contrast the Greeks Of
fer! They felt the value of life treas
ure that man can take, but God, alone,
can give. They felt, also, the depression
| . k1,o nj h
jected to this damnation, would exert up
on their populace and they strove to
mitigate, by the softest means, this bitter
cup Of woe. Thus in the secret recesses
Of the prison walls, far away from the
taunts of foes, soothed (if words could
soothe the bitterness Of such cup) by
the truest friends of life, they drank this
vial of mans wrath. What modern ma
ton has ever reached this point of refine
ment? The refinement of nation must
be determined, not by the most general
peculiarities of the world, but by those
secret charms that arouse mans tender
est emotione, that invade the very heart
of man, and make him feel that sympa-
thy that binds him to his fellow men.
This, as I said, proves nations refine
ment, and this test the Greeks can stand.
What, also, is more modern than the de-
sire of the women Of Greece to exercise
their pseudo-rights of suffrage? What,
in which Aristophanes, that great father
of comedy, satirises such absurdities :?
What picture he paints of the hopeless
condition of mankind, when the husband
encumbered with all the domestic duties,
is left at home, while his manly wife (but
manly only in dress) undertakes the du-
ties of the agora What completS pro-
totype of the present age AS with us,
so with the Greeks, these instances OF
masculine feminality formed the excep-
ton. No women of modern times, how
ever, are held in higher esteem than these
models of all the womanly graces, Alces-
cestis Of Euripides, the Iphigenia, and his
Clytemnestra. use these examples,
gentlemen, because they are no fancy pic
lures of some Goddesses Of the Myths,
from real life. Thus we can form, from
them, a proper estimate of Grecian wo-
men. What position, moreover, should
Aspasia hold? She was a woman, in
whom were blended the powers of a
mans mind, softened by woman's ten
derness. These examples, as have said,
are facts, and '.facts are stubborn things"
I might dwell, also, at length, upon the
perfection of cosmetical beauty in Greece
and of the adherence in which such a
custom was held, but must omit such
subjects and direct your attention to the
modernness Of the professions in Greece.
In medicine, although the Greeks had
not derived that complete system of med
ical phraseology, which fills modern
treatises on medicine, although they had
not had sufficient experience to derive
from the nature of disease, in its incip-
iency, the exact course it would pursue
and the proper remedies to be adminis-
tered, they did anticipate so fully the val
lie of diagnosis and prognosis, as to re-
cognize the importance of such profess
sion; the value that should be placed
upon the physician that was guided in
his modes OF treatment by facts and rea-
son in contrast to the quack Of the an
cient, as we'll as the modern, world and,
thus, to delineate to posterity the course
they must pursue to attain real sue
cess. Yes, there were then, as now, two
distinct classes Of physicians: the ration
al observer of cause and effect and the
auack that healed by charms and incan-
tations. So forclbly was there impressed
upon the Greeks the value of health that,
in addition to the hygienic gymnasium,
they were the first to establish school OF
medicine; such, the value of health that
they instituted, in the Peiraeus, medical
hospital, elected state board of health,
and employed the services of the best
physicians. What an improvement upon
the modern condition Of mankind! Now
the ricn are pampered and favored by
our practitioners of medicine, while the
poor and needy, deprived not only of all
The luxurles and most Of the necessities
of life, are compelled to lead sordid ex-
istence, but who, by the indifference Of
modern profession, are deprived almost