The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-05-24

A THE time of Christ's birth,
~ France, Germany, England and
all other European countries,
Greece and Italy excepted, were
inhabited by barbaric tribes. The
first reliable information, we have of
the existence of these tribes, has come
to us thru JuIii C8saris COmmentarii
de Bello Calico. Still more reliable
data were transmitted to us thru the
Roman historian Tacitus. While, for
centuries after Christ, the history of
those northern countries is consider
ably shrouded; Greece and Rome, in
the five centuries preceding Christ's
birth, had already passed thru an era
of culture, refinement, literature and
art, the like Of which has never been
surpassed in the succeeding years.
Commencing about 500 B. c., the his
tory of those two countries is we'll
authenticated by manuscripts in book
form, written on the skin of goats
(parchment). About 800 b. c., Lycur-
gus made the Spartan laws, and those
for Athens were made century later
by Solon. None of these laws were
put down in writing previous to about
$50 B. e. The Old Testament, COM
piled from verbal transmissions, seems
to have been written 300 B. c., as is
plainly indicated by the language en-
pIoyed. The oldest authentic manu-
scripts in book form, are the two epic
poems by Homer who lived about 700
b. C. Whether the author, said to
have been blind, wrote those poems
himself, or not, is immaterial. The
two great works, each consisting of
large number of bOOks-tho the whole
of them, in print, give but two medium
size volumes-are the oldest preserved
to posterity; yet, they have never been
equaled, either in point of elegant Ian
gusge, or in point of elevation Of
thought in reference to epic poetry.
This does not necessarily say that
Homer was the greatest of all poets,
tho he is considered SO by many. The
general opinion seems to be, that
Homer, Shakespeare and Goethe, were
the three greatest poets; closely fol-
lowed by Virgil, Horace, Dante,
schiller, Milton and number Of 9TH
ers.
The work of all poets loses consid-
ersbly by translation; each can be
fully appreciated only in the language
in which it was written. Still, an
Englishman can obtain fairly correct
conception of the beauties of Goethe's
Dante's, Rousseau's, ETC., works, by
reading good translation. AS far as
Homer is concerned, a well-defned
knowledge of Greek mythology, as
we'll as a synopsis of the subjects
treated in his works, is indispensable
to a proper appreciation of their
beauty. Perhaps, many readers are
tolerably we'll posted as to the two
matters. Still, we should have then
constantly before our mind while dis
cussing Homer, and, for that reason
both shall be briefly explained
From the Christian standpoint, th'
belief in multiplicity of deities il
paganism. The Greeks and Roman
had god, or goddess, for almost every
thing. What makes this conception O.
religion specially preposterous in ou
eyes, is the fact that these gods wer'
believed to be imbued with human in
stincts, passions and frailties. In fact
the majority of these immortals ar
pictured to us as being very naught
indeed; sometimes even as absolutel
wicked. For all that, it would hardl
do for us to p0oh-pooh the entire be
lief, and to stigmatize it an absurdit!
The Greeks and Romans were ou
superiors in intellectual penetration
and we cannot presume that the
would have worshipped anything ths
was not deserving of being worshippe
according to human reason. Eve
admitting that the supposed jovial an
congenial community of deities exc
cised charm over the minds of tt
poetically.inclined Grecians, we mu'