Greek to assimilate to the passion it would excite. NumberLanguage. less instances of this occur in every page of Homer, Hesiod, Pindar, Sophocles, Euripides, and even of Aristophanes to quote instances would be to insult the Greek student. 164 Earliest poets of Greece. 165 Orpheus. Every body knows that the practice of writing in verse was antecedent to the date of prosaic composition. Here, then, the Ado and the ministers of religion chiefly displayed their skill and discernment. By a judicious mixture of short and long syllables; by a junction of consonants which naturally slide into each other; by a careful attention to the rhythm, or harmony resulting from the combination of the syllables of the whole line-they completed the metrical tone of the verse, guided by that delicacy of musical feeling of which they were possessed before rules of prosody were known among men. Much liberty was certainly used in transposing letters, in varying terminations, in annexing prefixes and affixes, both to nouns and other kinds of words where such adjuncts were possible: and upon this occasion we think it probable, that those particles of which we have spoken above were inserted like filling stones thrust in to stop the gaps or chinks of a building. Verses were then clumsy and irregular, as the quantity of vowels was not duly ascertained, and the collision of heterogeneous consonants not always avoided. Probably these primitive verses differed as widely from the finished strains of Homer and his successors, as those of Chaucer and Spencer do from the smooth polished lines of Dryden and Pope. The poetical compositions of the earliest Greeks were not, we think, in the hexameter style. As they were chiefly calculated for religious services, we imagine they resembled the Hebrew iambics preserved in the song of Aaron and Miriam, Deborah and Barak, Psalms, Proverbs, &c. which were indeed calculated for the same purpose. Archilochus perhaps imitated these, though the model upon which he formed his iambics was not generally known. The later dramatic poets seem to have copied from the same archetypes. Hexameters, it is probable, were invented by Orpheus, Linus, Thamyris, Musæus, &c. The first of these travelled into Egypt, where he might learn the hexameter measure from that people, who used to bewail Maneros and Osiris in elegiac strains. This species of metre was first consecrated to theology, and the most profound sciences of moral and natural philosophy; at length it was brought down to celebrate the exploits of kings and heroes. Res gestas regumque, ducumque, et fortia bella, Quo scribi possent numero monstravit Homerus. We have hazarded a conjecture above, importing that the earliest poetical compositions of the Greeks were consecrated to the service of the gods. We shall now produce a few facts, which will furnish at least a presumptive evidence of the probability of that conjecture. Orpheus begins his poem with ancient chaos, its transformations and changes, and pursues it through its various revolutions. He then goes on to describe the offspring of Saturn, that is time, the æther, love, and light. In short, his whole poem is said to have been an oriental allegory, calculated to inspire mankind with the fear of the gods, and to deter them from murder, rapine, unnatural lusts, &c. Greek 166 Museus was the favourite scholar of Orpheus, or perhaps his son. He composed prophecies and hymns, and Language. wrote sacred instructions, which he addressed to his son. He prescribed atonements and lustrations; but his great Musæus. work was a Theogony, or History of the Creation, &c. 167 Melampus brought the mysteries of Proserpine from Melampus. Egypt into Greece. He wrote the whole history of the disasters of the gods. This seer is mentioned by Homer himself. 168 Olen came from Lycia, and composed the first hymn Olen, that was sung in Delos at their solemnities; he probably emigrated from Patara a city of Lycia, where Apollo had a celebrated temple and oracle. The Hyperborean damsels used to visit Delos, where they chaunted sacred hymns in honour of the Delian god. 169 To these we add the great Homer himself, if indeed Homer and the hymns commonly annexed to the Odyssey are his Hesiod. composition. Hesiod's Theogony is too well known to need to be mentioned. From these instances we hope it appears, that the origin of the poetry of Greece is to be found in the temples; and that there, its measure, numbers, rhythm, and other appendages, were originally fabricated. 170 The Grecian poets, however, enjoyed another advantage which that class of writers have seldom possessed, which arose from the different dialects into which their language was divided. All those dialects were Different adopted indifferently by the prince of poets; a circum- dialects. stance which enabled him to take advantage of any word with their from any dialect, provided it suited his purpose. This, at the same time that it rendered versification easy, diffused an agreeable variety over his composition. He even accommodated words from Macedonia, Epirus, and Illyricum, to the purposes of his versification: Besides, the laws of quantity were not then clearly ascertained; a circumstance which afforded him another conveniency. Succeeding poets did not enjoy these advantages, and consequently have been more circumscribed both in their diction and numbers. The Greek language, as is generally known, was divided into many different dialects. Every sept, or petty canton, had some peculiar forms of speech which distinguished it from the others. There were, however, four different dialectical variations which carried it over all the others. These were the Attic, Ionic, Æolic, and Doric. These four dialectical distinctions originated from the different countries in the east from which the tribes respectively emigrated. The Attics consisted, 1st, of the barbarous aborigines; 2d, of an adventitious colony of Egyptian Saïtes; 3d, a branch of Ionians from the coast of Palestine. These last formed the old Ionian dialect, from which sprung the Attic and modern Ionic. The Æolians emigrated from a different quarter of the same coast; the inhabitants of which were a remnant of the old Canaanites, and consequently different in dialect from the two first-mentioned colonies. The Dores sprang from an unpolished race of purple fishers on the same coast, and consequently spoke a dialect more coarse and rustic than any of the rest. These four nations emigrated from different regions; a circumstance which, in our opinion, laid the foundation of the different dialects by which they were afterwards distinguished. It is impossible in this short sketch to exhibit an exact view of the distinguishing features of each dialect. Such an analysis would carry us far Leyond the limits of the article: Greek article in question. For entire satisfaction on this head, Language. we must refer the Grecian student to Mattaire's Greca Lingua Dialecti, where he will find every thing necessary to qualify him for understanding that subject. We shall content ourselves with the few observations following. The Athenians being an active, brisk, volatile race, delighted in contractions. Their style was most exquisitely polished. The most celebrated authors who wrote in that dialect were the following: Plato, Thucydides, Xenophon, Demosthenes, and the other orators; Æschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, Aristophanes, Menander, Diphilus, with the other comic and tragic poets. That dialect was either ancient or modern. The ancient Attic was the same with the Ionic. The Ionic, as was said, was the ancient Attic; but when that nation emigrated from Attica and settled on the coast of Asia Minor, they mingled with the Carians and Pelasgi, and of course adopted a number of their vocables. They were an indolent, luxurious, and dissolute people; of course their style was indeed easy and flowing, but verbose, redundant, and without nerves. This, however, is the leading style in Homer; and after him a prodigious number of writers on every subject have used the same dialect, such as Herodotus of Halicarnassus the celebrated historian; Ctesias of Cnidus the historian of Persia and India; Hecatæus of Miletus; Megasthenes the historian, who live under Seleucus Nicator; Hippocrates the celebrated physician of Coos; Hellanicus the historian often mentioned with honour by Polybius; Anacreon of Teia, Alcæus, Sappho of Lesbos, excellent poets; Pherecydes Syrus the philosopher, and a multitude of other persons of the same profession, whom it would be superfluous to mention upon the present occasion. The Æolic and Doric were originally cognate dialects. When the Dorians invaded Peloponnesus, and settled in that peninsula, they incorporated with the Eolians, and their two dialects blended into one produced the new Doric. The original Dores inhabited a rugged mountainous region about Ossa and Pindus, and spoke a rough unpolished language similar to the soil which they inhabited. Andreas Schottus, in his observations on poetry, lib. ii. cap. 50. proves from an old manuscript of "Theocritus, that there were two dialects of the Doric tongue, the one ancient and the other modern; that this poet employed Ionic and the modern Doric; that the old Doric dialect was rough and cumbrous; but that Theocritus has adopted the new as being more soft and mellow." A prodigious number of poets and philosophers wrote in this dialect, such as Epicharmus the poet; Iby cus the poet of Rhegium; Corinna the poetess of Thespis, or Thebes, or Corinth, who bore away the prize of poetry from Pindar; Erynna a poetess of Lesbos; Moschus the poet of Syracuse; Sappho the poetess of Mitylene; Pindarus of Thebes, the prince of lyric poets; Archimedes of Syracuse, the renowned mathematician; and almost all the Pythagorean philosophers. Few historians wrote in that dialect; or if they did, their works have not fallen into our hands. Most of the hymns sung in temples of the gods were composed in Doric; a circumstance which evinces the antiquity of that dialect, and which, at the same time, proves its affinity to the oriental standard. After that the Greek tongue was thoroughly polished by the steps which we have endeavoured to trace in the 171 its evil con preceding pages, conscious of the superior excellency of Greek their own language, the Greeks, in the pride of their Language. heart, stigmatized every nation which did not employ their language with the contemptuous title of barbarians. The parti Such was the delicacy of their pampered ears, that they ality of the could not endure the untutored voice of the people whom Greeks to the called Bagbagoparos. This extreme delicacy produ- their own ced three very pernicious effects; for, 1st, It induced tongue, and them to metamorphose and sometimes even to mangle, sequences. foreign names, in order to reduce their sound to the Grecian standard; and, 2d, It prevented their learning the languages of the east, the knowledge of which would have opened to them an avenue to the records, annals, antiquities, laws, customs, &c. of the people of those countries, in comparison of whom the Greeks themselves were of yesterday, and knew nothing. By this unlucky bias, not only they, but even we who derive all the little knowledge of antiquity we possess through the channel of their writings, have suffered an irreparable injury. By their transformation of oriental names they have in a manner stopped the channel of communication between the histories of Europe and Asia. This appears evident from the fragments of Ctesias's Persian history, from Herodotus, Xenophon, and all the other Grecian writers who have occasion to mention the intercourse between the Greeks and Persians. 3d, It deprived them of all knowledge of the etymology of their own language, without which it was impossible for them to understand its words, phraseology, and idioms, to the bottom. mentioned Plato's Cratylus above. In that dialogue, the divine philosopher endeavours to investigate the etymology of only a few Greek words. His deductions are absolutely childish, and little superior to the random conjectures of a school-boy. Varro, the most learned of all the Romans, has not been more successful. Both stumbled on the very threshold of that useful science; and a scholar of very moderate proficiency in our days knows more of the origin of these two noble languages, than the greatest adepts among the natives did in theirs. By prefixes, affixes, transpositions of letters, new conjunetions of vowels and consonants for the sake of the music and rhythm, they have so disguised their words, that it is almost impossible to develope their original. As a proof of this, we remember to have seen a manuscript in the hands of a private person where the first twelve verses of the Iliad are carefully analysed; and it appears to our satisfaction, that almost every word may be, and actually is traced back to a Hebrew, Phoenician, Chaldean, or Ægyptian original: And we are convinced that the same process will hold good in the like number of verses taken from any of the most celebrated poets of Greece. This investigation we found was chiefly conducted by reducing the words to their original invariable state, which was done by stripping them of prefixes, affixes, &c. These strictures are, we think, well founded; and consequently need no apology to protect them. 172 These imperfections, however, are counterbalanced Beauty of by numberless excellencies: and we are certainly much the Greck more indebted to that incomparable people for the in- language. formation they have transmitted to us through the me dium of their writings, than injured by them in not conveying to us and to themselves more authentic and more ample communications of ancient events and occurrences. Withoutfatiguing our readers with superfluous encomiums on a language which has long ago been extolled perhaps Greek to an extravagant degree by the labours of men of the Language. most enlarged capacity and the most refined taste, we shall now proceed to make a few observations on spirits and accents; which being rather appendages than essentials of the language, we have on purpose reserved for the last place. 173 The spiritus asper Every word in the Greek language beginning with a vowel is marked with a spirit of breathing: This aspiand lenis. ration is double, namely lenis et asper," the gentle, and rough or aspirated." The gentle accent, though always marked, is not now pronounced, though in the earliest periods of the language it was undoubtedly enounced, though very softly. Both these aspirations were imported from the east. They were actually the Hebrew п he andheth. The former denoted the spiritus ienis, and and latter the spiritus asper. The Hebrew prefixed ha or he to words beginning with a vowel, and of course the Greeks followed their example. These people seem to have delighted in aspirates; and of consequence the letter is, some think, rather too often affixed to the terminations of their words. Every word beginning with had the aspirate joined to g, probably with a design to render the aspiration still more rough. 174 The ac cents. The Greek accents are three in number; the acute, the grave, and the circumflex. The acute raises and sharpens the voice; the grave depresses and flattens it; the circumflex first raises and sharpens the voice, and then depresses and flattens it. It is obviously composed of the other two. The learned author of the Origin and Progress of Language has taken much pains to prove that these accents were actually musical notes, invented and accommodated to raise, depress, and suspend the voice, according to a scale of musical proportions. It is scarce possible, we think, for a modern Greek scholar to comprehend distinctly the ancient theory of accents. These the native Greeks learned from their infancy, and that with such accuracy, that even the vulgar among the Athenians would have hissed an actor or actress off * See Pul- the stage or an orator off the pulpitum*, on account of pitum. a few mistakes in the enunciation of those notes. The elevations, depressions, and suspensions of the voice upon certain syllables, must have made their language sound in the ears of foreigners somewhat like recitative, or something nearly resembling cant. But the little variety of these syllabic tones, and the voice not resting upon them, but running them on without interruption, sufficiently distinguished them from music or cant. Be that as it may, we think it highly probable, that the wonderful effects produced by the harangues of the orators of Greece on the enraptured minds of their hearers, were owing in a good measure to those artificial musical tones by which their syllables were so happily diversified. To this purpose we shall take the liberty to transcribe a passage from Dion. Halic. De Structura Orationis, which we find translated by the author of the Origin and Progress of Language, vol. ii. book 3d, part ii. chap. 7. page 381. "Rhetorical con.position is "Rhetorical con position is a kind of music, differing only from song or instrumental music, in the degree, not in the kind; for in this composition the words have melody, rythm, variety, or change, and what is proper cr becoming: So that the ear in it, as well as in music, is delighted with the meJod red by the rythm, is fond of variety, and deVOL. XVI. Part I. sires with all these what is proper and suitable. The Greek difference, therefore, is only of greater and less." Language. With respect to accents, it may be observed that only one syllable of a word is capable of receiving the acute accent, however many there be in the word. It was thought that the raising the tone upon more than one syllable of the word, would have made the pronunciation too various and complicated, and too like chanting. The grave accent always takes place when the acute is wanting. It accords with the level of the discourse; whereas the acute raises the voice above it. The circumflex accent being composed of the other two is always placed over a long syllable, because it is impossible first to elevate the voice and then to depress it on a short one. Indeed among the Greeks a long syllable was pronounced like two short ones; and we apprehend it was sometimes written so, especially in later times. It is altogether obvious from two learned Greek authors, Dion. Halic. and Aristoxenus, that the Greek accents were actually musical notes, and that these tones did not consist of loud and low, or simply elevating and depressing the voice; but that they were uttered in such a manner as to produce a melodious rythm in discourse. In a word, the acute accent might be placed upon any syllable before the antepenult, and rose to a fifth in the diatonical scale of music; the grave fell to the third below it. The circumflex was regulated according to the measure of both, the acute always preceding. The grave accent is never marked except over the last syllable. When no accent is marked, there the grave always takes place. Some words are called enclitics. These have no accent expressed, but throw it back upon the preceding word. The circumflex, when the last syllable is short, is often found over the penult, but never over any other syllable but the last or the last but one. 175 centual The ancient Greeks had no accentual marks. They The anci learned those modifications of voice by practice from ent Greeks their infancy; and we are assured by good authority, had no acthat in pronunciation they observe them to this day. maiks. The accentual marks are said to have been invented by a famous grammarian, Aristophanes of Byzantium, keeper of the Alexandrian library under Ptolemy Philopater, and Epiphanes, who was the first likewise who is supposed to have invented punctuation. Accentual marks, however, were not in common use till about the seventh century; at which time they are found in manuscripts. If our curious readers would wish to enter more deeply into the theory of accents, we must remit them to Origin of Language, vol. ii. lib. 2. passim, and to Mr Foster's Essay on the different Nature of Accent and Quantity. Such, in general, are the observations which we thought the nature of our design obliged us to make on the origin and progress of the Greek language. Some of our more learned readers may perhaps blame us for not interspersing the whole disquisition with quotations from the most celebrated writers in the language which has been the object of our researches. We are well aware that this is the general practice in such cases. The books were before us, and we might have transcribed from them more quotations than the nature of an article of this kind would permit. In the first part there were no books in Xx that Greek that language to quote from, because the Greeks knew Language, nothing of their own origin, nor of that of their language, and consequently have recorded nothing but dreams and fictions relating to that subject. Even when we had made considerable progress in our inquiry, the nature of the plan we have adopted excluded in a great measure the use of quotations. When we drew near the conclusion, we imagined that our learned readers would naturally have recourse to the passages alluded to without our information, and that the unlearned would not trouble themselves about the matter. The Greek student who intends to penetrate into the depths of this excellent language, will endeavour to be thoroughly acquainted with the books after mentioned. 176 Books to be studied by every one Aristotle's Rhetoric and Poetics, his book De Interpretatione, especially with Ammonius's Commentary. who wishes Ammonius was a native of Alexandria, and by far the to be a mas- most acute of all the ancient grammarians. ter of this language. Dion. Halic. De Structura Orationis, where, amidst abundance of curious and interesting observations, will be found the true pronunciation of the Greek letters. Demetrius Phalereus De Elocutione; a short essay indeed, but replete with instruction concerning the proper arrangement of words and members in sentences. Longinus, the prince of critics, whose remains are See Gaza. above commendation. Theodorus Gaza ‡ and the other refugees from Constantinople, who found an hospitable reception from the munificent family of the Medici, and whose learned labours in their native language once more revived learning and good taste in Europe. These, with some other critics of less celebrity, but equal utility, will unlock all the treasures of Grecian erudition, without however disclosing the source from which they flowed. To these one might add a few celebrated moderns, such as Mons. Fourmont the Elder, Mons. Gebelin, Abbé Pezron, Salmasius, and especially the learned and industrious Lord Monboddo. 177 Vast extent of the guage, We shall now give a very brief account of the vast extent of the Greek language even before the Macedonian empire was erected; at which period, indeed, it became in a manner universal, much more than ever the Latin language could accomplish notwithstanding the vast extent of the Roman empire. Greece, originally Hellas, was a region of small exGreek lan- tent, and yet sent out many numerous colonies into different parts of the world. These colonies carried their native language along with them, and industriously diffused it wherever they formed a settlement. The Iones, Æoles, and Dores, possessed themselves of all the west, and north-west coast of the Lesser Asia and the adjacent islands; and there even the barbarians learned that polished language. The Greek colonies extended themselves along the south coast of the Euxine sea as far as Sinope, now Trebizund, and all the way from the west coast of Asia Minor: though many cities of barbarians lay between, the Greek tongue was understood and generally spoken by people of rank and fashion. There were Greek cities on the north coast of the Euxine sea to the very eastern point, and perhaps beyond even those limits; likewise in the Taurica Chersonesus, or Crim Tartary; and even to the mouth of the Danube, the straits of Caffa, &c. In the neighbourhood of all these colonies, the Greek language was carefully propagated among the barbarians, who carried on commerce with the Greeks. A great part of the south of Italy was planted with Greek Greek cities on both coasts; so that the country was Language, denominated Magna Gracia. Here the Greek tongue universally prevailed. In Sicily it was in a manner vernacular. The lonians had sent a colony into Egypt in the reign of Psammitichus; and a Greek settlement had been formed in Cyrenia many ages before. The Phocians had built Massilia or Marseilles as early as the reign of Cyrus the Great, where some remains of the Greek language are still to be discovered. Cæsar tells us, that in the camp of the Helvetii registers were found in Greek letters. Perhaps no language ever had so extensive a spread, where it was not propagated by the law of conquest. ken at pre sent 178 The Greek tongue, at this day, is confined within Greek spovery narrow limits. It is spoken in Greece itself, except in Epirus, and the western parts of Macedonia. It is likewise spoken in the Grecian and Asiatic islands, in Candia or Crete, in some parts of the coast of Asia Minor, and in Cyprus: but in all these regions, it is much corrupted and degenerated. As a specimen, we shall insert a modern Greek song, and the advertisement of a quack medicine, which with other plunder, was brought by the Russians from Chocsim or Chotzim in 1772. With dire misfortunes, pains, and woes, O'erwhelm'd, ingulph'd, I struggling fight; O'er my frail bark proud billows close, To plunge her deep in lasting night. Rough seas of ills incessant roar, Fierce winds adverse, with howling blast, Heave surge on surge. Ah! far from shore My found'ring skiff shall sink at last. Involv'd in low'ring darksome clouds, 'Mid sultry fogs, I pant for breath; Huge foaming billows rend my shrouds, Red lightnings dart from pole to pole, When shall the friendly dawning rays Greek Language. In dark despair, with tempests tost, I veer my sail from side to side. Conduct me, Heav'n! to yond' fair coast, Or plunge me in the 'whelming tide. The Quack Bill. ΒΑΛΣΑΜΟΝ ΤΗΣ ΙΕΡΟΥΣΑΛΗΜ, ΑΠΟ ΤΟΥΤΟ τὸ μπαλσαμον ὠφελεῖ εἰς τὸ ἀδυνατόν τομαχι, καὶ βοηθεῖ τὴν χονευσιν δυναμώνει τὴν καρδίαν. συκώνει όλας τὰς ἐμφράξεις τῆς κοιλιας ωφελεῖ εἰς τὴν σενωσιν καὶ βῆχα πα λαιδν. Ιατρέυει τὰς ἐσωτερικὰς πληγὰς τῆ ςήθος, καὶ το πνεύμονος ἤγουν πλεμονία. κινεῖ τα καταμήνια τῶν γυναικών. Εις τὰς ἑξωτερικὰς πληγὰς πρέπει νὰ βάζεται μὲ τὸ ξανθὸ τόσον εις παλαιὰς. Οσον καὶ ἐιονέας, καθὼς εἶναι ἡ οπαθιᾶις, και μαχαιριαῖς, καὶ ἄλλα κοψίματα ίατρευει καθελογῆς Φισολα, καὶ ὀλας τὰς βρομερὰς πληγὰς ὁπδ ἔφθασαν ἐς τὸ κόκαλο, θαυμάσιως, ὠφελεῖ εἰς τὰ ἀυτία ὁπᾶ τρέχουν ἔμπυον να σας ζεται δύο ἢ τρεῖς κόμπος ἤχουν σαλαγματίας μεθαμπάκι βρεμμένον εἰς αυτό, βάνεται εἰς τὰς πληγωμένας δοντοκοιλιαῖς καὶ θέλουν ατρευθῆ. καὶ ἀκόμι δυναμώνει τὰ ὁδόντια ὁπᾶ και νοῦν ται δε θελουν νὰ πέσουν. βοηθᾶ καὶ ἀπὸ τὴν πανόκλαν. ́H dóσis sowtegixãs äs eivas dexx ǹ nai dádena xos sis ǹ ὀλίγον κρασί, ἢ καὶ νερον, τὸ κάθε ταχυ καὶ βράδυ. ὡς τὸ με ταχειρίζεται, καὶ εἶνα θαυμάσιον μετὴν δοκιμὴν βεβαιωμενον. ̓Αληθὲς βάλσαμον τ8 Βασίλει8. Instead of giving a literal and bald translation of this advertisement, which runs exactly in the style of other quack bills, it may be sufficient to observe, that the medicine recommended is said, when taken inwardly, to raise the spirits, remove costiveness and inveterate coughs; to cure pains of the breast and bellyaches; to assist respiration, and remove certain female obstructions. When applied externally, it cures wounds and sores, whether old or fresh, removes ringing of the ears, fastens the teeth when loose, and strengthens the gums. All this, and much more, it is said to do in a wonderful manner; and is declared to be the true royal balsam of Jerusalem, and an universal specific. It is indeed next to a miracle that so many monuments of Grecian literature are still to be found among men. Notwithstanding the burning of the famous library of Alexandria, and the almost numberless wars, massacres, and devastations, which have from time to time in a manner desolated those countries where the Greek language once flourished; we are told that there still remain about 3000 books written in that language. 179 Distin- We shall now conclude this section with a brief deguished tail of the most distinguished stages and variations stages of through which this noble tongue made its progress the Greck from the age language. of Homer to the taking of Constantinople, anno Chr. 1453; a period of more than 2000 years. Homer gave the Greek poetry its colour and consistency, and enriched, as well as harmonized, the language. It seems, from the coincidence of epithets and cadence in Homer and Hesiod, that the Greek heroic verse was formed spontaneously, by the old Ado, a sort of improvisatori; and that Homer and his first followers adopted their versification. The Iliad and Odyssey have much of the air of extempore compositions; an epithet Greek is never wanting to fill up a verse; and a set of expres- Languags. sions are mechanically annexed to such ideas as were of frequent recurrence. Hence that copiousness and waste of words in the old Greek bard, which forms such a contrast to the condensed and laboured composition of Virgil. The Greek prose was of a more difficult structure; and it may be distributed into different styles or degrees of purity. Of the prose authors now extant, the first and best style is that of Herodotus, and of Plato in the florid or mixed kind, of Xenophon in the and simple, of Thucydides and Demosthenes in the austere. Nothing, perhaps, is so conducive to form a good taste in composition as the study of these writers. pure The style of Polybius forms a new epoch in the history of the Greek language: it was the idiotic or popular manner of expression, especially among military men, in his time, about the 15oth Olympiad. It became the model of succeeding writers, by introducing a from the anxious labour of the Old Greeks respecting simple unstudied expression, and by emancipating them the cadence and choice of words. The style of the New Testament, being plain and popular, frequently resembles that of Polybius, as has been shown by Raphebii, 1725. lius, and by Kirchmaier, de parallelismo N. T. et Poly Before this historian, the Alexandrian Jews had formed a new or Hellenistic style, resulting from the expression of oriental ideas and idioms in Greek words, after that language had lost of its purity, as it gained in general use, by the conquests of Alexander. The Hellenistic is the language of the Septuagint, the Apocrypha, the New Testament, and partly of Philo and Josephus. This mixture in the style of the evangelists and apostles, is one credential of the authenticity of the best of all books, a book which could not have been written but by Jewish authors in the first century. See the fine remarks of Bishop Warburton, Doctrine of Grace, book i. ch. 8-10. Critics lose their labour in attempting to adjust the Scripture-Greek to the standard of Atticism. The diction of the Greek historians, and geographers of the Augustan age, is formed on that of Polybius; but improved and modernized, like the English of the present age, if compared with that of Clarendon or Bacon. More perspicuous than refined, it was well suited to such compilations as were then written by men of letters, such as Dionysius, Diodorus, and Strabo, without much experience or rank in public life. The ecclesiastical style was cultivated in the Christian schools of Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople; rank and luxuriant, full of oriental idioms, and formed in a great measure on the Septuagint version. Such is, for instance, the style of Eusebius. After him, the best Christian writers polished their compositions in the schools of rhetoric under the later sophists. Hence the popular and flowing purity of St Chrysostome, who has more good sense than Plato, and perhaps as many good words. On the Greek of the Byzantine empire, there is a good dissertation by Ducange, de causis corruptæ Græcitatis, prefixed to his Glossary, together with Portius's Grammar of the modern Greek. This last stage of the Greek language is a miserable picture of Turkish barX x 2 barism. |