The last quality of Greek literature of which I wish to speak is not one which we should expect to find in combination with truthfulness; it is certainly very rare in modern realists. Yet the Greek instinct for beauty is beyond question. There is the evidence of Winckelmann, who, living in a world that had forgotten Greek, rediscovered it; or of Keats, who was not brought up to the familiarity with Greek that breeds obtuseness and indifference, but made acquaintance with it when he was of an age to judge. The impression made both on Keats and Winckelmann is that of a new and surpassing beauty. There is the evidence of 'the beautiful mythology of Greece',[122] the offspring of an untaught folk-imagination, and so far richer in the quality of beauty than the mythology of the North. Even in the sawdust of a mythological dictionary the stories of Atalanta, Narcissus, Pygmalion, Orpheus and Eurydice, Phaethon, Medusa keep their magic. [122] Keats, _Preface to Endymion_. The following extract from the hymn of Demeter may illustrate this beauty, though it is not one of the greatest passages of Greek literature and its writer is unknown. It is the story of the Earth Mother and her daughter Persephone: ἡν Αιδωνευς ἡρπαξεν, δωκεν δε βαρυκτυπος ευρυοπα Ζευς, παιζουσαν κουρησι συν Ωκεανου βαθυκολποις ανθεα τ' αινυμενην, ῥοδα και κροκον ηδ' ια καλα λειμων' αμ μαλακον και αγαλλιδας ηδ' ὑακινθον ναρκισσον θ', ὁν φυσε δολον καλυκωπιδι κουρη Γαια Διος βουλησι χαριζομενη Πολυδεκτη, θαυμαστον γανοωντα· σεβας το γε πασιν ιδεσθαι αθανατοις τε θεοις ηδε θνητοις ανθρωποις· του και απο ῥιζης ἑκατον καρα εξεπεφυκει, κωζ' ἡδιστ' οδμη, πας δ' ουρανος ευρυς ὑπερθε γαια τε πας' εγελασσε και ἁλμυρον οιδμα θαλασσης. ἡ δ' αρα θαμβησας' ωρεξατο χερσιν ἁμ' αμφω καλον αθυρμα λαβειν· χανε δε χθων ευρυαγυια Νυσιον αμ πεδιον, τη ορουσεν αναξ Πολυδεγμων ἱπποις αθανατοισι[123] {hên Aidôneus hêrpaxen, dôken de baryktypos euryopa Zeus, paizousan kourêsi syn Ôkeanou bathykolpois anthea t' ainymenên, rhoda kai krokon êd' ia kala leimôn' am malakon kai agallidas êd' hyakinthon narkisson th', hon physe dolon kalukôpidi kourê Gaia Dios boulêsi charizomenê Polydektê, thaumaston ganoônta; sebas to ge pasin idesthai athanatois te theois êde thnêtois anthrôpois; tou kai apo rhizês hekaton kara exepephykei, kôz' hêdist' odmê, pas d' ouranos eurys hyperthe gaia te pas' egelasse kai halmyron oidma thalassês. hê d' ara thambêsas' ôrexato chersin ham' amphô kalon athyrma labein; chane de chthôn euryagyia Nysion am pedion, tê orousen anax Polydegmôn hippois athanatoisi}.