Evening star., 1927-11-20
The Lyric of Greek History.

|
~ HESE are the steps to the
Parthenon. Broken, ruineu
steps; masses OF marpie iyins
in chaos; stately columns
fallen and overgrown with
moss; between them. where fericies
walked on Parian stone, weeos anu
clumps of earth. through wnleh YOU
nick YOUR way patiently upward, care
less of the sun. Near the top OF the
hill six pillars stand. precarious sur
viyors of earthquake and war; tney
were the Propylaea, or Gate, TO the
| Temple of the Virgin Athene. 1t is
MAGNIFICENT, even in it's desolatlon,
| but you pass through 1t eagerly; you
| are on the summit of the Acropolls
| now: you shade your eyes and eaten
YOUR breath, and for long time you
are still. 1t is the Parthenon.
Why does it seem so dear to us, TINS
diving masterpiece? Why do tears
come to our eyes as we stand among
it's ruins and see the holes torn in its
walls by Venetian gunners' shells! is
not Chartres or Rheims as beautlful!
Yes; perhaps more beautiful. ana
graced with infinitely delicate detali.
which is not here, and lifting us with
a thousand spires and arches to some
majesty. proportion and symmetry In
the highest, simplicity and nobility
made one, audacity and power. ma.
turity and restraint; this is one Of the
places where men have touched per-
fection.
X * X X
But we do not see only the Parthe.
non. We do not see merely the
Areopagus, where the great council
sat; nor merely the Theater Of Diony-
sus, where Socrates calmly stood in
his place while Aristophanes attacked
him; nor merely the purple hills whose
vines made all Greece glad: nor mere
ly the lakelike seas that taught all
Greece to honor beauty. These are
realities. but they are symbols. too:
they mean half the world to US be-
cause every one Of them is rich with
the memory of genius. Here it was
that men made fairer gods than ever
before, and gave nature second life
with poetry, and dared to think of
Joy and loveliness as divine: here first
they placed Moira, dark fate, over
gods and men, and sought to under.
stand the world in terms of law; here
first they called intelligence and cour-
age the highest virtues; here first
they named. and almost made, poetry
and philosophy. epic and lyric, his
tory and rhetoric, drama and ode,
mathematics and mechanics, geom.
etry and physics. biology and psychol.
ogy. anatomy and physiology, aris-
tocracy and democracy; here first men
put kings and queens aside and ruled
themselves: here first men carved
stone into such statuary that one
oh nf
Beethoven said Of his music-that none
who knew it could be quite happy
again. Here began the life of reason,
which left so vivifying legacy to
Rome. the Renaissance. and the En-.
lightenment: here worship lost it's
superstition and fear and became con.
sistent with maturity and control:
here Prometheus stood erect in the
sight Of God.
What a people and what history:
Egypt is an epic, Judea is a tragic
drama, Greece is a lyric ode-exalted.
beautiful and brief. To know the
Greeks, to see them grow, almost in a
century, from savagery to civilization
and subtlety, to linger with delight on
their achievements in government, in
science, in philosophy in religion. in
literature and in art-this in itself IL
an education; all the world is here.
Let us sit down on this cool slab end
feast. If it is warm we shall throw
aside all that we may and cleanse our
bodies with the sun that shone
through the Parthenon upon Athene's
golden head. We need not go back to.
day; we shall sleep here on the grass
and play Endymion to the moon.
II II u X
The Aegeans.
To see the scene in perspective we
must look across the silvered Mediter.
ranean half way to Egypt, where lies
before Christ a remarkable cMinoan")
civilization developed, which was to