The sun., 1916-01-09
SOME NEW BOOKS.
The Gen,us Of the Greeks.

fat Yard and Company may receive |
me customary welcome. Whatever |
Mr.. Chapman chooses to say, whether |
Or not It is possible to agree with his |
sonclusions. he has begun by doing |
ne Indispensable thing; he has
earned to think clearly and to write
English. This latter important ac-
,omplishment Is achieved by only !
lbout one In every one thousand Eng
ish writer's.
This volume contains four essays,
'Euripides and the Greek Genius"
Shakespeare" "Balzac" and la Vie
?arisienne." The first puts one in a
foubtful frame Of mind; the second
n Q constantly questioning mood; the
.hird II appeasng, and the fourth
makes one fatty contradictory. To
,egin with the first essay. one must
admit that Euripides Is known to the
English reading. public through the
,ranslations Of Gilbert Murray. Until
these translations were made Euripi-
les was consigned to the shelf
marked "for scholars only" Gilbert
Murray was the first scholar to make
English literature out of Greek litera-
.ure. The "Medea" of Gilbert Murray
land we say Gilbert Murray, instead of
Turipides, advisedly) might have been
written last year 1t is full of mod
.rn doctrine and would serve as sauce
% . suffragist speech as aptly as
'Warbrides." But We have to face
he fact that Mr.. Chapman is sure
the IL always sure; 1t is one Of tho
leasing charms of his wrtings) that
rive us correct renderings Of Euripi-
les; that. in fact. they often con-
vey totally contradictory impressions.
This Is the more serious and deplor-
able since Mr.. Chapman's first sem
lence assures us that the perfection
H Greek literature will excite the
world long after modern literature ia
forgotten; that when Shakespeare
has come to his end and lain down
among the Egyptians Homer will still
10 marching on to glory: for Homer
eoats in the main stream of history
while Shakespeare is in an eddy
Like whistler. Mr.. Chapman never
argues, he tells you: and his state
nents, 30 forcefully and definitely
made. are there not to be proved but
to ne taken or left as the reader
chooses. At least they stimulate
thought and study. The best way TO
come at any real knowledge of the
Greek genius. MIR. Chapman says.
would be to go. innocent of prejudice
Or prepossession, to the Greeks them
selves; but this Is the harder to do in
that the texts have been established
through modern research. The main
IN los "a
the paths made by English and Ger
man scholarship. Mr. Chapman's pre-
liminary glance at the guides is dis
ulusioning. We must. he says. II we
would look at the classics with undis-
torted view, make allowances for GER
tain social laws of refraction; we mus,
take into account modern inventions
such as spectacles. beer and sausages
also the Anglican communion. schoo
honor and soap. Mr.. Chapmans analy-
sis Of German scholarship IL delight
full and amusing. To be short. he feels
that with erudition and modern psy
chology they have confused our no
tions OF thought and Greek civiliza.
ton, that "swarming, thieving, CLEAN
ing eyed civilization with its Bay %
Ealamis and IIermes of PraNiteles."
As to our British guides. thos,
eentlemen who pay afternoon calls
eat small cakes, row on the Thame.
and are all for morality. their inter
probation of the Greek genius is $,
different from the German that IL 4
impossible both should he right. Will,
the Germans use Greek as a stalking
horse for Teutonic psychology, Eng
lish scholars use it as n dressmaker'
model upon which to- hang home mad
British lyrics and British stock moral
fly. Here Mr.. Chapman Illustrate
with examples from English poetry
which, at any rate, are highly enter
tanning. Browning. he says. derive
the same lesson from "AlCeste" tina
he found in James Lees Wife
His appeal was always 10 rohus
feeling as the worlds salvation. Gil
bert Murray, he continues. sheds,
sad, clinging. Tennysonian moralit
over Dionysus, while .Jowctt an
nounces Plato theologically !pun
and gives him a ticket of leave to wal
anywhere in England. There is
whole school of limp GreCism in Eng
land which has grown up out Of Keats
'Grecian Urn and Is now buttresse
with philosophy and adorned wit
scholarship" AS to Keats's own rt
iationship to Greek thought, Mr., Char
man says, he drips with aromati
poetry. which has a wonder and
beauty Of its Own-and whose strik
ing quality il excess" The strikin
quality of Greek poetry is restraint.
An amusing passage on Enplis
poetry follows:
The scented, Wholesome saectncss
the modern aesthetic schooi sin Englar
Soes home TO its admirers because 1t
sasy art Once enjoy hit OF It and 80
never forget II. It is always the sam
She odd reliable" the oxford brand. Il
true, safe British. patriotic. moral. mob
echnol Of verse which exhibits the ma
nsrs and feelings of a gentleman and h
success written In every trait of
Dhysiosnomy.
One wonders "a little If SwubJri
and RossettI are included in tn
striking Characterization. SWi
burne's specific contribution to q
transcription OF Greek thought
said to he the poetic nature view
Of the "hymeneal note. and Gilbe
Murray's. the. discovery that Il
word "God" could be introduced an
where with effect Whenever a mi
writes of literature, he writes
Anatole France very justly says,
himself and 50 through all the
srictures We 60 ON seeing not nee"
sarily pure Greek thought, but ia
Mr.. Chapman, incisiVc, witty, We
Aaliphtful but also "A little slaDlai