STUDIES OF THE GREEK POETS BY JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS AUTHOR OF "SKETCHES AND STUDIES IN SOUTHERN EUROPE" ETC. _Im Ganzen, Guten, Schönen_ _Resolut zu leben_ IN TWO VOLUMES VOL. I. [Illustration] NEW YORK HARPER & BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS FRANKLIN SQUARE 1880 TO HENRY GRAHAM DAKYNS ~I Dedicate these Volumes~ IN MEMORY OF COMMON INTERESTS, JOINT STUDIES, AND SIXTEEN YEARS OF FRIENDSHIP PREFACE TO THE AMERICAN EDITION. The studies of Greek Poets, now reprinted, appeared in England in two series, published at an interval of three or four years. In preparing this edition, I have rearranged the chapters of both series in their proper order, and have made certain additions, with the view of rendering the book more complete as a survey of Greek Poetry. Thus I have inserted several new translations in the chapters on the Lyric Poets and the Anthology. The criticism of Euripides has been enlarged, and the concluding chapter has been, in a great measure, rewritten. Each chapter has undergone such revision and alteration in minor details as might remove unnecessary repetitions and bring the whole series of essays into harmony. At the same time I have judged it inexpedient to introduce radical changes into a book which professes to be the reprint of volumes already known to the English public. For this reason the chapters which deal with the Greek Tragedians have been left substantially in their original form, and bear upon their face the record of their composition as almost independent essays. CONTENTS OF VOL. I. CHAPTER I. _THE PERIODS OF GREEK LITERATURE._ Language and Mythology.--The Five Chief Periods of Greek Literature. The First Period: Homer--Religion and State of the Homeric Age--Achilles and Ulysses.--Second Period: Transition--Breaking-up of the Homeric Monarchies--Colonization--the Nomothetæ--Ionians and Dorians--Development of Elegiac, Iambic, Lyric Poetry--Beginning of Philosophy.--Third Period: Athenian Supremacy--Philosophy at Athens--the Fine Arts--the Drama--History--Sparta and Athens--Pericles and Anaxagoras.--Fourth Period: Hegemony of Sparta--Enslavement of Hellas--Demosthenes--Alexander and Achilles--Aristotle--the Hellenization of the East--Menander--the Orators.--Fifth Period: Decline and Decay--Greek Influence upon the World--Alexandria--the Sciences--Theocritus--the University of Athens--Sophistic Literature--Byzantium--Hellas and Christendom Page 13 CHAPTER II. _MYTHOLOGY._