and public life. Among them are Neander,
Heine, Auerbach, Karl Marx, Lassalle,
Disraeli, Halévy, Mendelssohn, Meyerbeer,
Rubinstein, Grisi, Rachel, Montefiore,
Rothschild, Belmont and Hirsch.
Egyptian Literature
This seems to have had no gradual growth, like that of other countries. The most important part of it is religious. The Book of the Dead tells of the adventures of the soul after death. A copy of this book was placed in the coffin with the dead. The main part of the book was written not later than 3000 B. C. There also are books on the gods, hymns to the sun, proverbs and treatises on moral philosophy. Writings on magic are many. The Egyptian works on medicine show that this science was known long before 3000 B. C. We also find scientific works and many letters. We have two stories, The Two Brothers, written by the scribe Euna about the time of the Exodus, and The Romance of Setna, written in the 2d or 3d century B. C. The epic of Pentaur, the subject of which is the deeds of Rameses II, has been called the Egyptian Iliad.
Greek Literature
The two Homeric poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, form the earliest Greek literature which has come down to us. But they are not at all like the simple ballad poetry of other countries. They are works of highly-finished art, which could not possibly have been created till poetry had flourished for a long time. These poems are epics; the name epic being given first to verses which were spoken, while lyric verses were sung, and then to the chief kind of poetry which was thus merely recited, not sung, namely, narrative poetry in hexameter verse. Hexameter verse is known to English readers by Longfellow's Evangeline. The Iliad means the poem of Ilium or Troy, a city of Mysia in the northwest of Asia Minor. Its subject is events in the ten years' siege of Troy by the Greeks. Its hero is Achilles, while that of the Odyssey is Odysseus, one of the Greek leaders at Troy, whose adventures on the homeward voyage are related. Long as these epics are, they were composed to be spoken, and were not written out till years afterward. This is true of classical Greek literature in general. Lyrics were songs sung at banquets; Herodotus, the Father of History, probably recited his accounts at the festival of the Olympian games; and Socrates, the first philosopher, never wrote a word. The Iliad and the Odyssey are said to be the work of Homer; but nothing certain is known concerning the poet or whether they are the work of any one man. In Bœotia epics were written by Hesiod, whose chief works are Theogony and Works and Days.
Lyrics were composed by Archilochus, Sappho, Alcman and many others, but the greatest lyric poet was Pindar. Of his many compositions we have odes written in praise of victorious heroes at the festival games.
Epics had been recited, evening after evening, to the family and retainers of the early chieftain at his home; lyrics had been sung at the feasts of the rich; but the drama was the outcome of a wish to reach a larger audience, the great democracy of Athens. It maintained the features of the epic, the audience being told what was supposed to take place behind the scenes, while the chorus was borrowed from the lyric. Though plays and playwrights were many, to us Æschylus, Sophocles and Euripides in tragedy and Aristophanes and Menander in comedy make the classical Greek drama.
The first historian of prominence was Herodotus of Halicarnassus, whose accounts of his travels in Asia Minor, Persia and other countries are one of the main sources of our knowledge of their early history. A far more painstaking and able historian was Thucydides, whose work on the Peloponnesian War has never been surpassed. Xenophon's writings were valuable, but are not equal to those of Thucydides.
Of the three great Greek philosophers, Socrates is known to us only through the reports of Plato and others. Plato's Dialogues are masterpieces of literary genius, while his philosophy has had the greatest influence on all thinkers since; as has also that of the more practical Aristotle, who wrote on logic, rhetoric, physics, metaphysics, natural history and politics.
Another department of literature in which the Greeks excelled was oratory. In Athens oratory was a regular business, as a suitor was compelled to speak in his own behalf and usually had a speech-writer compose a speech for him to learn and deliver as his own. For example, Lysias composed the greater part of his speeches, which are noted for their style, for his clients. Among them is the speech Against Agoratus. Antiphon's best speech, perhaps, is that On the Murder of Herodes. The greatest of all Athenian orators, however, was the statesman Demosthenes. His orations On the Crown and On the Peace and his Philippics, speeches against Philip of Macedon, are noteworthy examples.
The death of Alexander closes classical Greek literature. When political liberty ended, there ceased to be a great public which called forth an author's best efforts, and hence great works were no longer written. Without a great public, no great artist arises. Still, there were a few later writers who added luster to the times in which they lived, such as Theophrastus, the philosopher Theocritus, the poet Menander,
