The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-10-14

The Greeks we're at all times keenly sensitive
t. the power Of eloqncnce fromHomer downward,
"shapelinoss" 81 words never failed 10 win favor
with a Greek audience. As We have seen. n
great development Of the art of oratory took
place in Sicily about the middle Of the MN
century B. &, and it was not long ere the teach
erS Of the art carried their skill to Old Greece
where they received a cordial welcome. II was
mainly owing 10 his c!oQuence that PerioleS 50
long maintained his ground at Athens, ana every
young Athenlan who wished to come Forward
I'm public life began by acquiring skill In speech.
Those who would not or could not attend the
new masters Of rhetoric became jealous ~ those
who did attend them. and perhaps thi, is one
reason for the abuse leyelled by the typical
domasogue Gloon at tho clever speakers Of
his time. Here. as everywhere in Greece. native
! force and acquired dcNterity were In con-
nirt. and What i II that you young men WANT
was n question asked at Athens as we'll rs SNra-
cu-c. Yet, even during the Peloronnosian war
when Antiphon defended himself In a speech
which Thucy dideS Describes "a the best OF is
Kind spoken in Athens down to that time,
Athonian Oratory was immature, and II was not
tul the next century that eloquence was raised
to it, greatest height in tho speeches OF Lysias
and Demosthenes
What Is here said Of oratorical prose ia no
loss bIIllfHblf W INV II'NF VI '''"'' 80 Wv
Periclean age no writer on morals or physics
can be- compared In respect of style with Plato
who belongs to the next generation. The
fact should not blind us. however. TO the real
progress which was made during the nth CEN
fury n. G. in speculation on the nature OF the
universe. The great Sicilian, Empedocles OF
AgriGentum, had explained the universe on
mechanical principles. All matter, he said
consisted Of the four elements, earth. water
air and fire, which were set in motion by two
opposing powers. love and hatred ATTRACTION
and repulsionL These elements, he held, were
mixed together in a vast orb or sphere, which
were whirled around by the energy Of the con-
tending powers. BY attraction. air and fire
were drawn into the outer parts Of the sphere,
and formed the atmosphere and the lumina-
rie-; earth and water sank to the middle.
AnaXagoras. to whom We have previously
referred. improved upon this system. instead u
four elements. he assumed the existence Of
things, equal in number to the qualities Of
which We have perception, by the union and
separation Of these things tho objects OF sense
came into being. In everything there was n
portion Of everything. but not, Of course. an
equal portion: hence arises the difference be-
tween one thing and another, between flesh
and blood. earth and water, In order TO ac-
count for this union and separation, AnaGa-
goras assumed n moving and directing mind,
which was Of a nature distinct from everything
else, by the action Of mind the original mass
or mixture was separated and arranged. Yet
AnaNagoras did not succeed in escaping from
the difficulties which had beset his predecessors.
just as in Empedocles the existence Of love"
and hate" Is a mere assumption made to eN-
plain the world. so is II with the mind" Of
AuaNagoras. he required a motive power for
the creation Of objects Of sense, and. therefore,
assumed the existence Of a cause the origin
and nature Of which he cannot explain. Other
difficulties arose from the qualitative nature Of
the elements which he poStulated.
Demo. rltu.. following in the steps Of Leucip-
pus, his master at Abdera, sought to give a still
more simple and more purely mechanical ac-
count Of the origin Of the universe. lie dis
carded the qualitative difference Of the elements
or atoms, which were. however. he thought,
Of various shapes and sizes and indivisible.
Moving downward through the void. " these
atoms impinged on each other. and. thus be-
coming entangled. formed masses. larger or
smaller. more or less dense or rough. From
| these primary qualities arose the secondary
qualities Of taste. smell. &C. Besides atoms
and void" there was nothing. By them. and
them only, was explained the whole world Of
matter and mind. Such was the great physical
system of Democritus. In his own age it was
disregardcd. at any rate at Athens. Socrates
turned away from IL to his Dlalectics. Plato 10
his Ideas" More than a century afterward
Euicurus made it the foundation Of his phil
oSophy: and In modern times II has been adopt
ed in n slightly different form as the basis Of
natural science.
We have seen that the feeling OF the old
fashioned Athenians In the age OF Pericles
strongly condemned the soph!sts and all their
works. Yet Of some Of these writers II must be
said that they made greater contributions to
moral science than were made by Plato himself.
The sophists were among the first to protest
against slavery. an honor which Euripides
shares with them: and TO Protagoras we owe
the saying that punishment il inflicted for the
reformation Of the offender, not for the salts.
faction Of revenge or for the adjustment Of the
balance Of fault and retribution. In other
respects. it may be admitted. the views
of P~rotagoraS were less advanced like Hobbies
he maintained that might was right, which
was inconsistent with his own condemnation
Of slavery. His most famous doctrine was
expressed in the words. Man is the measure
Of all things" which. II It meant that there
was no knowledge outside the human mind.
was true enough. hut far from true II 1t i'm
Piled that every man is entitled 10 have his
own Wow " right or wrong. lie refused like
Confucius and our modern agnostics 10 enter
into any arguments about the existence or ma
ture OF the gods. on the ground that the human
faculties were inadequate and human life
too short for such discussion. views which
naturally brought him into diSrepute as an
atheist. or the ethical teaching Of Democritus
10 whom we have just alluded there are many
interesting fragments. Sometimes he speaks
az a unitarian. Pleasure and disgust are
the criter.a Of good and evil" which Is, how
ever, but SMOTHER way OF saving that a prop
erly trained nature will hate evil and love
good. The highest virtue. he says. is 10 fulfil
all duty to the State, IL il in the State that a
mans nature becomes realized. and he shows
his qualities. good or bad, Duty must he
done for its own sake. without thought OF the
gods or n future existence, for which. indeed.
there is no room in the system Of Democritus.
From the consciousness OF duty fulfilled arises
the peace of mind which Is the true human
felicity. This peace Is neither the rapture
Of the mystic nor the dream of the idealist.
II is the calm satisfaction Of the man who does
not seek his pleasures in what is mortal. or
Undertake tasks which are too high for him.
The greatest help toward attaining this peace
Is education. Of which Democritus says that
ia L.. -. -. a a