With distinction comes intelligibility, and
it is for the latter quality that we value the
poetry of the Greeks. We are indebted
for this to the fact that intelligence itself
was conceded as the common property of
the Greek mind. They had escaped that
kind of Oriental influence which established
in some countries the system of castes;  a
system which prevailed in Egypt and many
of the Asiatic states, and which restricted
the arts and sciences by hereditary right to
the priests. Every man in Greece was free
to cultivate them;  not so much, however,
for his own benefit, as for the general good
of the community. Their literature, therefore,
had a liberal and diffusive character,
and this insured for it a celebrity not
belonging to any other nation. A knowledge
of it is essentially needful to every student
who proposes for himself a public career.
To the statesman, orator, physician,
theologian, philosopher, historian, antiquary,
polite scholar, philologist, connoisseur, or
artist, it is an indispensable
accomplishment.

The language of Greece is usually
assigned to the Sanscrit family, which
includes also the tongues of India, Persia,
the Latins, and the Germans, and is, therefore,
denominated the Indo-Germanic. The
people of Greece were early called lonians,
supposed to be derived from Javan, the son
of Japheth, as the name Javan, it is said,
was used by the Hebrews to designate them
and their country. The language soon
attained to great perfection, for we find it
in a state of extraordinary excellence in
the time of Homer. The poet himself
testifies to the remarkable improvement that
had already occurred in the condition of
Grecian society;  an improvement due to
the colonies from the East which had been
planted among them, and which introduced
to them their own civilisation and
knowledge, and also the practice of commerce,
after the manner of the Phoenicians.
Oriental influence is recognisable
in the subject and spirit of the fragments
of the earliest Greek poetry. They are
chiefly hymns to the gods, or metrical
fables respecting the origin of the world,
the formation of man, the primæval happiness,
the subsequent apostacy, and the
consequent sorrow. Their theistic notions
are of a more spiritual character than
those of a later period. These were sung,
as were also the Homeric poems afterwards,
by the wandering minstrels, who
strolled from hall to hall, or were attached
to chieftain families or to temple service.

The Greek language consists of many
dialects, arising from the different
provinces and settlements into which the
people were divided. These are called the
Æolic, Doric, Ionic, and Attic, and passed
through many changes, and included many
varieties. In the first, wrote Alcæus,
Sappho, and Corinna;  in the second,
Theocritus, Pindar, Bion, Moschus,
Hesichorus, and Bacchylides;  in the third,
Homer, Hesiod, Anacreon, Herodotus, and
Hippocrates;  and in the fourth, Æschylus,
Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes,
Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, Isocrates, and
Demosthenes.

The first is famous for its lyric poets.
Of Alcæus, only a few fragments remain.
The same fate has befallen Sappho. Their
lyrics were simple in form. They were
composed in stanzas, or strophes, consisting
either of two lines, or verses, of different
metres, or of four verses having at least
two metres. Corinna belongs to a later
period;  but nearly all her productions
have perished. What has been preserved
of Alcæus and Sappho is of such merit
that we cannot but lament that more of
them have not survived. They sang of
Love and Liberty with fervour and skill.
Thus chanted Alcæus over a tyrant of
Mitylene:

       Now let us drink, and with the sound
       Of many footsteps round and round,
       Let the merry dance be led,
       For Myrsilus is dead, is dead.

And in a similar manner Sappho prays
of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, to visit
her, which she does, promising, respecting
her lover, that

   If he now retreats, he shall soon pursue thee;
   If he now spurns presents, he soon shall give them;
   If he loves thee not, he shall quickly love thee,
                         E'en though thou would' st not.

Simple examples these, but there are
more ornate passages also;  yet such are,
after all, more suggestive than realistic—
references to the influence of beauty and
the feelings of the poetess in the presence
of her lover, sketches of home-life, of night
scenery, apostrophes to the evening star
and to the moon, descriptions of childhood,
snatches of bridal song, little pictures
of orchards and the starry heavens,
and one satirical portrait—in all these
there is something more than meets the
eye or ear; for the Greek poetess is
reticent in her style, though strong in the
expression of her feelings. In like manner,
Alcæus can be descriptive and sententious,
now picturing the armour that decorates