The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1905-03-18
THE ANCIENT GREEKS
THEY WE'RE MASTERS IN THE
SCIENCE OF GOVERNMENT.

Many Sturdy Qualities Had the Null
titude, but the Individual Could
Not Stand PrOsperity-One Brilliant
Exception to the Rule.
The statues and literary master
pieces of Hellas, whose themes were
mainly legendary, are responsible for
the impression that the ancient Greek
was cast in the heroic mold. The he
roic Greek was a turbulent, master
full, egotistic demigod. He had nc
counterpart in any historical figure ex-
cept Alexander the Great. who DEEM
ed himself a descendant Of Achilles,
the sea nymph's son, and acted very
much like him.
The Greek of history was an uncom
monty consistent republican. In the
tolerance he gave to individualism and
the capacity he showed-inside his city
state-for collective action he carried
the science Of government and Of po-
litical self control in some respects to
a height from which. all subsequent
history is q descending slope. While
maintaining democratic standards, he
did not enforce nor bow to that tyran-
nous and narrowing public opinion
which in our own time threatens to
cast all men in much the same mold.
He found a place in his scheme Of
things for diversities of natural bent
for the effeminate dress Of Alcibiades,
the tub of Diogenes. the ratings of
Cleon, the austerities Of Aristides, the
satire of Aristophanes. the arrogance
Of Phocion. The democracy Of Athens
was never the democracy Of the dead
level. 1t meant, opportunity. not a
steam roller.
AS creditable a story is told on the
side Of collective action. Greek politics
implied, as Mahafy has observed, "the
reasonable discussion Of the public, the
final decision of the majority, the SUBJ
mission Of magistrates and rulers to
the will Of the people," The Greek
"multitude" was tolerant, patient, 10y
al to it's leaders and capable, as it
showed in the Peloponnesian war, of
making exemplary sacrifices and of in
itiating and maintaining Il course of
action for a protracted period, The
whole population Of Athens, for in
stance. abandoned the country and
took to their ships, leaving the enemy
to destroy their city and their posses
sions while they sought him and finally
conquered him on the sea. For that
fortitude it would be impossible to find
modern parallel.
The civic qualities are uppermost in
the great period Of Greek history-a
keen appreciation of humor that acted
a safety valve to the turbulence of
assemblies, an aptitude at public
speaking which was useful in battle as
in council. Every free Greek was at
once a legislator, an orator. a%spotentia1
admiral or general. =
There was n capital defect in the
Hellenic character. The individual
Greek could not stand prosperity. As
Grote put it, 1.-The effects of a copious
draft of glory on the temperament of
enterprising and ambitious Greek
were perfectly m~addening." He was a
good loser, but nearly always a bad
winner. Almost every conspicuous
Greek of history became at the end a
corruptionist or a traitor. Miltiades,
victor Of Marathon, became. a pirate
and died in imprisonment. Themisto-
cles was negotiating to betray the Gre
clan armament to the great king the
day before he destroyed the Persian
feet at Salamis. Alcibiades betrayed
in turn the Athenians, the Spartans
and the Persians. Demosthenes was
banished for enlightenment. The SYRIA
cusan leaders became tyrants when
they could. OF all Greeks only limo
leon, the Corinthian who freed SYRIA
cuse, was ut once honorable, fortunate
and acclaimed.
Although the Hellenic world fringed
the Mediterranean and the Black seas
from end to end, the significant politi-
cal history Of Greece is almost alto
gether the history of Athens and Spar
ia. The great places Of heroic legend.
Ithaca and Pylos and Phthia and Ar
cadia and Argos and Corcyra. "the
Phaeakes' land," figure but family in
the historical period. ithaca was only
q barren rock. Arcadia a recruiting
ground for rustic mercenaries and Ar
COS and Corcyra and such states as Ae-
tolia, Messena, Thessaly and the Achae-
an League ancient prototypes of the
rude and turbulent Balkan states Of to-
day. The transitory pre-eminence Of
Thebes was the pre-eminence Of Its
n great soldier, Epaminondas.
Between them Spartans and Atheni-
ans wrote the great story Of political
Greece. The Spartans were more a
military brotherhood than a state the
men dining in barracks and visiting
their families by stealth and all free
men despising wealth and any toll ex-
cept that Of the gymnasium, the drill
ground and the battlefield. They were
~ ruo,,1 chv GOLF contained home