Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1897-04-02

rows: Icarus, with his waXen wings,
flying too near the sun; the CentauTs,
half man and half beast; Orpheus, with
bis Tyre; Atlas, with the world on his
back-all these and more have helped
literature, from the graduates speech
on commencement day to Rufus Choate's
eulogium on Daniel Webster at Dart
mouth. Tragedy and comedy were born
in the festivals Of Dionysius at Athens.
The lyric and elegiac and epic poetry OF
Greece 500 years before Christ has its
echoes in the Tennysons, Longfellows
and Bryants Of /, 800 and /, 900 years aft
er Christ There is not an effective pllpit
OF editorial chair or professors room or
cultured parlor or intelligent farmhouse
today in America or Europe that could
not appropriately employ Paul's ejacu-
lation and say, II am debtor to the
Greeks"
The fact is this-Paul had got much
Of his oratorical power Of expression
from the Greeks. That he had studied
their literature was evident when,
standing in the presence Of an audience
Of Greek scholars on Mars hill, which
oyerlooks Athens, he dared to quote
from one Of their own Greek poets,
either Cleanthus OF Aratus, declaring
"As certain also of your own poets have
said, For we are also his offspring F"
And he made accurate quotation, Clean
thus, one Of the poets, having written:
For we thine offspring are. All things that
creep
Are but the echo Of the voice divine.
And Aratus, one Of their own poets,
had written:
Doth care perplexi Is lowering danger nighf
We are his offspring and TO Joye we fly.
1t was rather a risky thing for Paul
to attempt to quote extemporaneously
from a poem in a language foreign to
his and before Greek scholars, but PAU
did it without stammering and then
acknowledged before the most distin-
Quished audience on the planet his in
debtedness to the Greeks. crying out in
his grafton, AS one of your own poets
has said.
Inventors of Architecture.
Furthermore, all the civilized world,
like Paul, is indebted to the Greeks fol
architecture. The world before the time
of the Greeks had built monoliths, obe-
lisks, cromlechs, sphinxes and pyramids,
but they were mostly monumental, tc
the dead whom they failed to memorial
ize. We are not certain even OF the
names of those in whose commemoratior
the pyramids were built But Greek
architecture did most for the living
Ignoring Egyptian precedents and Dor
rowing nothing from other nations
Greek architecture carved its own col
umns, set its own pediments, adjusted
its own entablatures, rounded its owr
holdings and carried out as never be-
fore the three qualities Of right build
ing. called by an old author "frmitas
utilitas. yenustas'-namely, irmness
usefulness, beauty.
Although the Parthenon on the Acrop
oils Of Athens is only wreck Of th'
storms and earthquakes and lombard
ments Of many centuries, and although
Lord Elgin took from one side OF tha
building. at an expense Of $3.50, 600
two shiploads Of sculpture, one shiploa'
going down in the Mediterranean an'
the other shipload now to be found il
the British museum, the Parthenon
though in comparative ruins, has beei
an inspiration to all architects for cen
turies past and will be an inspiration
all the time from now until the worl'
itself is a temple ruin. Oh, that Parthe
nonl One never gets over having ono
seen il. But what must it have beef
when il stood as its architects, Ikitno
and Kallikrates, built it out Of Penteli
can marble, white as Mont Blanc a
MONDAY and as overwhelming. Helgh
above height Overlapping the angus
and majestic pile and rising from it
roof was a statue of Pallas Promachu
in bronze, so tall and flashing that sail
ors far out at sea beheld the plume o
her helmet. Without the aid Of tn
eternal God il never could have beef
planned. ard without the aid Of Co
the chisels and trowels never could hay
, constructed it. There is not fine churcI
building in all tie world, CT pIcperl
constructed courthouse, or beautltu
=, art gallery, or an approI riatc auditc
: rum, or tasteful home, which, tccaus
Of that Parthenon, whether IFS style {
some other style be adopted, is not di
,, rectly or indirectly a dcbtcr to t.
Greeks
Blessings OF Sculpture.
But there is another art in my min
. the most fascinating, elevating an
! inspiring Of all arts and the nearest
the diyiue-for which all the worl
: owes a debt to the Hellenos that WI
!. never be paid. | mean sculpture. :
q least $50 years before Christ the Greel
perpetuated the human face and for
q in terra Gotta and marble. What bles
q ing to the human family that men al
women, nightly useful, who could Ii
>. only within a century may be perpet'
! ated for FIVE or six or ten centurie
How wish that some sculptor conten
/ poraneous with Christ could have p'
!. his matchless form in marblel But Il
!. every grand and exquisite statue
A Martin Luther, Of John Knox, OF WI
a liam Penn, of Thomas Chalmers,
n Wellington, of Lafayette, Of any OF Il
y great statesmen or emancipators or col
4 querors who adorn your parks or I'LL Il
:. inches of your academies, you are deb
;, ors to the Greeks. They covered Il
q Acropolis, they glorifed the temple
;. they adorned the cemeteries with sta
=. ues, some in cedar, some In ivory, son
" in silver, some in gold, some IN si
: diminutive and some in size colossa
Thanks TO Phidias who worked
a stone; to Clearchus, who worked
N bronze to Dontas, who worked IN gol
% and to all ancient chisels OF commenl
Jr .o.;o,,I no Won not realize that