Space forbids, or it would be possible to write pages on the delights of Greek literature. But to any girl who has leisure and inclination, the study of the Greek language itself is most strongly recommended. Translations abound, and are excellent, but the best translation cannot give the beauty of the original. The study of the lovely, flexible language is in itself an education; it is surely an inducement that the New Testament is written in comparatively easy Greek; and the wealth of literature to which Greek constitutes a title-deed may well repay hard labour.
“Can a girl learn Greek quite alone and unaided?” it may be asked. Well, it can possibly be done, but a little help is invaluable, and there are correspondence and other classes of which anyone who is in real earnest can ascertain particulars and avail herself, if she cannot get individual tuition. The task is not easy, but it is worth while to attempt it.
There is a book which, perhaps better than any other, can help the young to enter into the Greek spirit: The Heroes; Greek Fairy Tales for my Children, by Charles Kingsley. If all the other advice of our chapter proves unpalatable, surely this may be accepted, as the legends are told in the most fascinating and simple way. Nathaniel Hawthorne, in Tanglewood Tales, has embodied olden legends, but in a less charming manner.
Dean Church has recounted for boys stories from Homer, Herodotus, and the Greek tragedians, also from Livy and from Virgil.
The works of Virgil, in Dryden’s translation from the Latin, are published in Morley’s Universal Library for one shilling.
Some knowledge of Latin is more frequently found among girls than a knowledge of Greek, but it seldom extends so far as to afford the enjoyment of reading the classic lore they have learnt with difficulty to spell out at school. And it must be acknowledged that the fascination of Greek literature is altogether different.
Two small books published by the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge, Epicureanism, by W. Wallace, M.A., and Stoicism, by Rev. W. W. Capes, are very useful to those who wish to understand a little about the chief philosophies of the ancient world. To older readers the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, and the Discourses of Epictetus, will be valuable.
The subject is so vast, it is impossible to deal with it here, and it would be absurd to suppose that one brief article could be a comprehensive guide to Greek literature. But that is not needful, or intended. This point alone we wish to emphasise: that culture is altogether impossible without some idea of the mighty Past. And even the busy and the poor may in the present day obtain a glimpse into its beauty and wonder, by means of the translations we have mentioned. One such glimpse will lead on to another.
The Heroes of Asgard, by A. and E. Keary, if still in print, is almost as fascinating in its way as Kingsley’s Heroes. It treats of the Scandinavian mythology in a very attractive form, telling of Baldur the Beautiful, of Loki, Thor, and many other names that should be familiar. No one can plead ignorance of ancient lore, when the stories that embody its mythology are within the mental compass even of a child.
One benefit of the study of olden literature is this; that the mental prospect receives a background as it were. The thoughts found in Greek literature are the thoughts that now influence society; the eternal longings and aspirations of the heart of man were expressed in those days of old; while the gladness of the childhood of the world—a gladness that we know now in youth and the soft spring days, and the beauty of the earth—finds expression in immortal verse. So that of the names already mentioned, and of many others, it may well be said, in Mrs. Browning’s words: