lived 384-322 B.C. ETHICS, POLITICS, METAPHYSICS, RHETORIC, etc. Affects all subsequent thought. Aristotelian philosophy was a kind of religion with mediaeval scholars. Its influence at present on the increase. Translated into Arabic (twelfth century) by Averrhoes, thence into Latin. Dominates the thinking of the Middle Ages (“schoolmen”). His literary criticism carried on by Horace, garbled by Boileau. Literary criticism of Aristotle leads to Puttenham’s _Art of English Poesie_, Sidney’s _Defense of Poesie_, Dryden’s _Of Dramatic Poesie_, etc. The erroneous “Aristotelian” doctrines of Boileau, etc., dominate English style of the “correct” age (Pope, etc.). Biography and Essays PLUTARCH fl. A.D. 80 PARALLEL LIVES The model for later writers. French translation by Amyot, favourite reading of Montaigne. Starting-point for biographies and biographical essays (_e.g._ of Macaulay). North’s translation of Plutarch’s _Lives_ supplied Shakespeare with subjects and characters (Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Brutus, Antony). MORAL ESSAYS Greatly read after Revival of Learning. Humorous and Satirical Essays LUCIAN fl. A.D. 160 DIALOGUES AND SKETCHES Affecting Rabelais, Voltaire. Effect not reducible to a few words. Swift’s _Gulliver’s Travels_ takes its rise from Lucian’s _True History_. Sterne is sometimes called “the English Lucian.” Fable Aesop Sixth century B.C.? FABLES Passed on from Phaedrus, etc., to all W. Europe. Source of the majority of our fables since Alfred (in Caxton, etc.). Character Sketches Theophrastus fl. 320 B.C. CHARACTERS Imitated by La Bruyère “Characters” of Hall, Overbury, Earle, etc. SYNOPTICAL VIEW OF RELATIONS OF GREEK LITERATURE WITH ENGLISH. [Illustration] II LATIN LITERATURE AND ENGLISH The fashion of treating Latin literature as of all importance to English is passing away in the better understanding of things. It is true that the knowledge of Latin has been always more widely spread than the knowledge of Greek, and that our speech is more deeply tinged with Latinity. Yet Greek literature is the source and origin of almost all that is best in Latin, and its influence to-day is far more vital. Let it be added that, while in point of matter and thought Latin borrowed unsparingly from Greek, in point of style its principles were less sound or consistent.