Page:Christian Greece and Living Greek.djvu/174

152 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. convince his countrymen that the political resur- rection of Greece had to be prepared by means of spiritual regeneration, and as a corollary that the spiritual regeneration would positively be followed by political resurrection. He im- plored them in the name of the Fatherland, of wife and child, of God and religion, of all that was sacred to the Greeks, of the graves of father and mother, that the people should rise against the barbaric oppressors who had robbed them of law and morals and honor, of life and faith and virtue. Korai's' opinions and views were shared by a large number of travellers who, as we have re- lated already, visited Greece in the beginning of this century, men of excellent character, and with sound, profound judgment. Every change in the fate of the Greek people, every political movement of theirs had its reflex on the rest of Europe. During the fifteenth century, as we have seen, when the conquest of the Os- mans forced Greek scholars to disperse, they united with the humanists, and this memorable union brought about a revival of Greek learning in the schools of the Western world. When in the seventeenth century Crete was taken by the Turks Europe regretted to see all places of classi-