The weekly intelligencer., 1897-04-03

time of the Greeks had built monollthS, |
obelisks, cromlcchs, sphynxes and pyra-
mids. but they were mostly monu-
mental to the dead whom they failed
to mcmorialize. We are not certain |
even of the names of those in whose !
the pyramids were
built. But Greek architecture did most |
for the living. Ignoring Egyptian
and borrowing nothing
from other nations, Greek architecture
carved its own columns, set its own
pediments, adjusted its own entabla-
lures, rounded its own holdings, and
carried out as never before the three
Qualities of right building, called by
an old author ''irmitas, utilitas, venus
tas," namely, firmness, usefulness,
beauty. Although the Pantheon on
the Acropolis of Athens is only wreck
of the storms and earthquakes and
bombardments of many centuries, and
although Lord Elgin took from one
side of that building, at an expense OF
$3.50. 900, two ship loads of sculp-
ture, one ship load going down
in the Mediterranean and the
other ship load now to be found in the
British museum, the Parthenon, though
in comparative ruins, has been an in
spiration to all architects for centuries
past, and will be an inspiration all the
time from now until the world itself Is
a temple ruin. Oh, that Parthenon!
One never gets over having once seen
it. But what must it have been when
it stood as it's architects, IkitnoS and
Killikrates, built it out of Pentelican
marble, white as Mont Blanc at noon
day. and as overwhelming. Height
above height. Overtopping the august
and majestic pile, and rising from its
roof. was a statue of Pallas Promachus
in bronze so tall and flashing that sail
ors far out at sea beheld the plume of
her helmet Without the aid of the
Eternal God it never could have been
planned, and without the aid of God
the chisels and trowels never could
have constructed it. There is not
fine church building in all the world,
or properly constructed courthouse,
or beautiful art gallery, or an appro-
pirate auditorium, or a tasteful home,
which, because of that Parthenon,
whether it's style or some other style
be adopted, is not directly or indirect
ly a debtor to the Greeks.
the most fascinating, elevating and
inspiring of all arts, and the nearest
to the divine-for which all the world
owes a debt to the Hellenes that will
never be paid. l mean sculpture. At
least $50 years before Christ the Greeks
perpetuated the human face and form
in terra Gotta and marble. What .
blessing to the human family that men
and women, nightly useful, who could
live only within a century may be per-
petuated for five or six or ten centuries.
How / wish that some sculptor,
contemporaneous with Christ, could
have put His matchless form in
marble. But for every grand and
exquisite statue of Martin Luther,
of John Knox, of William Penn, of
Thomas Chalmers, of Wellington, of
Lafayette, or any of the great states
men or emancipatOrs or conquerors
who adorn your parks or fll the inches
of your academies, you are debtors to
the Greeks. They covered the Aero
polls, they glorified the temples, they
adorned the cemeteries with statues,
some in cedar, some in ivory, some in
silver, some in gold, some in size di-
minutive and some in size colossal.
Thanks to Phidias, who worked in
stone; to Clearchus, who worked in
bronze; to Dontas, who worked in
gold, and to all ancient chisels of COM
memoration! Do you not realize that
for many of the wonders of sculptu re
we are debtors to the Greeks?
Yea. For the science of medicine,
the great art of healing, we must
thank the Greeks. There is the inn
mortal Greek doctor, Hippocrates, who
first opened the door for disease to go
out and health to come in. He first set
forth the Importance of cleanliness
and sleep, making the patient before
treatment to be washed and take slum-
ber on the hide of sacrificed beast.
He first discovered the Importance of
thorough prognosis and diagnosis. He
formulated the famous oath of Hip
poerates which is taken by physicians
of our day. He emancipated medicine
from superstition, empiricism and
priestcraft. He was the father of all
the infirmaries. hospitals and medical
colleges of the last 23 centuries, An
cient medicament and surgery had be-
fore that been anatomical and physio-
logical assault and battery, apd long
after the time of Hippocrates the
Greek doctor, where his theories
were not known, the Bible speaks
of fatal medical treatment, when il
SAYS: "In his disease he sought not
to the Lord, but TO the physicians, and
Asa slept with his fathers" And we
read in the New Testament Qf the pooF
woman who had been treated by in=
competent doctors who asked large
fees, where it says: ''She had suffered
many things of many physicians, and
had spent all that she had, and was
nothing better. but rather grew
worse" For our glorious science OF
medicine and surgery, more sublime
than astronomy, for we have more to
do with disease than with stars; more
beautiful than botany, for bloom of
health in the cheek of wife and child
is worth more to us than all the roses
in the garden-for this grandest of all
sciences, the science of healing, every
pillow of recovered invalid, every ward
of American and European hospital
may well cry out, .'Thapk God for old
Dr. Hippocratesl l, like Pagi, am iRz
debted to the Greeks"
Furthermore, all the world is obli=
gated to Hellas more than it gan ever
pay for its hereics in the cause of
| liberty and right. United Europe toE
day had not better think that the
Greeks will not hight There may be
fallings back and vacillatioas aud tenn
porary defeat, but if Greece Is right all
Europe cannot put her down, The
other nations, before they open the
portfolios of their men-of-war against
that small kingdom, had better read OF
the battle of Marathon, where 10000
Athenians, led ON by Miltiades, tri-
umphed over 1OO, 900 of their enemies.
At that time in Greek council of war
five generals were for beginning the
battle and five against 1t. Callimachus
presided at the council of war, had the
deciding vote, and Miltiades addressed
him, saving:
1T now rests with you, GallimaehHs,
either to enslave Athens, or by insur:
ing her freedom, to win yourself an
immortality of fame, for never since
the Athenians were people were they
IN sHch danger as they are in at thi:
moment. II they bow the knee te
these Medes, they are 10 he given UP tt
Hippias, and you know what they Wil
| +han have IN suffer. Int il Athens come