The prison mirror. [volume] (Stillwater, Minn.) 1887-1894, 1893-05-25

ANCIENT GREEK VS.. MODERN CIVILIZA
TON
paper for Class D. by F. b.

paper for Class d, by F. b.
Taking into consideration the period in which
the Greeks of the Periclean era existed. it can
not be denied that they attained high degree of
civilizations but to maintain that they had
reached so high degree that modern civilization
is not to be compared with theirs, is unreason-
able and farfetched. Yet, it is claimed that the
ancient Greeks were equal, if not superior. to
the people of modern times, either mentally or
morally. Why the champions of the Greeks do
persistently adhere to such assertions is some
thing we cannot understand. 1t would imply
that they are nOn-believers in the theory of ev-
Olution, and in spite of the fact that some 1900
years have passed since the Periclean era of the
Greeks, they would have it, that civilization has
made no progress whatever, but has been at a
standstill during all this vast flight of time. 1t
has been alleged by several that it was not neces-
sary that the Greeks should have had steamships,
railways, or telegraph lines, to prove their high
er civilization, and yet in the same breath, they
claim superior mental qualities for them. Didit
not require mental energy, and vast amounts Oft,
to conceive and produce steamship or lOcOmO-
tive? Surely they did not grow upon trees.
neither were they dropped from the heavens,
nor dug from the bowels of the earth; but they
and were the fruits of unremitting labor And
it cannot be denied that since the advent of these
great inventions, civilization has taken great
strides toward higher plane. Allen, in his His
tory of Civilization. says: Take from mankind,
iron and its alloys and but short period of time
would intervene before the human race would
again relapse into the ways of savagism." If
this be true, surely the thousands of uses to
Irbio irOu iC tO-
place modern civilization far beyond that of
hundreds of years ago. We admit that the
Greeks displayed great intellect, but to compare
it with that of to-day. is prepOsterOuS. True,
they had their great and wise men; but greater
and wiser have existed since, and still exist; and.
as time rolls on, greater and wiser than they will
higher levels the people of the universe. If the
question: Is Christianity necessary for the bet
terment of civilization, were prOpOunded to you,
we do not hesitate to say, that each and every
one of you would pause before answering, that
it is not. Compare the morality of Christianity
with that of Paganism Compare the teachings
of the Man of Nazareth with the teachings of
the priests of pagan Greece where they offered
up sacrifices to So-called gods; gods who were
themselves immoral to an infinite degree, mas
much as they thought nothing of appearing
among mortals for the purpose of cOhabiting
with them. How could the ancient Greeks be
moral when the very gods they wOrShipped were
otherwise? How different is the morality of
the Bible even to that of Socrates or Plato. I'm
agine Plato, representing Socrates, the most eX-
allied enNnciatOr of Greek morals, recommending
that women and children should be in common:
that parents should not be able to recognize
their own children. nor children their parents;
that young men who had distinguished themselves
in war, should have free range amongst the wO-
men of the land, and that women should contend
naked in the public games. Think of such teach
ings emanating from the highest moral author
ity that ancient Greece produced. The world at
present is immoral to great degree; but what
would be the fate of an individual or Individuals
who would endeavOr to teach such doctrine at
the present day? Would they be held up as an
example, as was Socrates? Emphatically no.
The advancement of women is one of the great
strides latter day civilization has made. Athens,
the very center of Greek civilization and culture,
did but little, Or to speak more truthfully, did
nothing to attain such an object. The education
of the Athenian woman was very limited
Among the female sex, none but those of ac-
knOwledged licentiOus manners had even an Op-
portunity of becoming acquainted with the gen.
eral literature or literary characters of their
times; and if history tells the truth, and bogra-
phies do not lie, the literary characters of those
times were not one bit averse to such compan-
ionship, and let it not be forgotten that the lit
erary characters of those days, are the men who
were held before the people, as mOralists of
high degree; among them, Socrates and his apt
disciple, Plato.
In conclusion we will say: We rejoice that we
are permitted to live in period of civilization,
which is free from superstition and the worship