After this notice of the chief events of his life, and of his literary productions, it may be proper to say somewhat in regard to the distinctive me rit which has raised Heyne to so eminent a place among the promoters of classical literature. And here it is chiefly as an interpreter of the ancient poets, and as an original investigator of the ancient mythology, that he must rest his claims to the cele brity he has acquired. As a critic of the works of art, his desert is great, but he has no pretensions to original or peculiar discoveries.
The example of the great philologists of Holland, and the more immediate influence of Ernesti and Gesner• on the taste and pursuits of their country men, had, before the middle of the last century, awakened in Germany a new zeal for the study of the ancient authors, and had advanced the criticism of classical literature to a rapid and vigorous matu rity. The great writers of antiquity ought not, how ever, to be read with a regard limited merely to their language; they more especially deserve a close and enthusiastic study for the admirable means which they afford of improving the understanding, and of cultivating the taste. From the year 1760, about which period the Germans had begun to devote themselves with an enthusiasm, as zealous as it was tardy, to the cultivation of their native language and literature, several intelligent philologers displayed a more refined and philosophic method in their treat ment of the different branches of classical learning ; who, without neglecting either the grammatical in vestigation of the language, or the critical constitu tion of the text, no longer regarded a Greek or Roman writer as a subject for the mere gram marian and critic; but considering the study of the ancients, as a school for thought, for feeling, and for taste, initiated us into the great mystery of reading every thing in the same spirit in which it had originally been written. They demonstrated, both by doctrine and example, in what manner it was necessary for us to enter into the thoughts of the writer, to pitch ourselves in unison with his peculiar tone of conception and expression, whe ther erroneous or correct; and in every instance ac curately to investigate the circumstances by which the mind of the poet or philosopher was affected, the motives by which he was animated, and the in fluences which co-operated in giving the intensity and character to his feelings. It was shown how gene
rally the conception of the reader was merely a veil thrown over the thought of the original. It was no longer allowed to combine modern with ancient ideas, to convert the derivative with the original thought, or to translate it by a new and factitious signification. At the head of this school stands Heyne, both as its founder and principal ornament ; and, however some of his disciples may have expos ed themselves to ridicule in their application of the principles on which this system of interpretation rests; yet it cannot be denied, that nothing has contribut ed so decisively to maintain and promote the study of classical literature, as the combination which Heyne has effected of philosophy with erudition, both in his commentaries on the ancient authors, and in those works in which he has illustrated various points of antiquity, or discussed the habit of thinking and spi rit of the ancient world.
The poverty of Germany in manuscripts has compelled her scholars to rest satisfied in gene-. ral with the critical apparatus which the philo sophers of other nations have collected. What they necessarily wanted in the originality of sub sidiary stores, they have, however, endeavoured to supply, by a sound and rational employment of those already compiled; and the praise of useful diligence cannot certainly, with justice, be denied to their labours in this department. Originality, however, was possible in the higher criticism, which does not rest on the collection of readings or the authority of manuscripts, and in the mode of the illustration applied to the ancient writ ers; in these respects, the later philologers of Germany have earned a glory peculiar to themselves, and which must be remembered as long as learning and ingenuity are respected. How cogently have they reasoned on the authenticity or spuriousness of particular writings, and how skilfully have they ap plied the test to the interpolations of later times; to what new conclusions are we now brought in re gard to Orpheus, Homer, Anacreon, Longinus, &c. by the critical investigations of Schneider, Wolf, Fischer, Hermann, Weiske, and others ; how differ ently has the controversy in regard to the authenti city of certain orations of Cicero been recently con cluded by Wolf, compared with the result of Mark land's and Gesner's investigations ! In this depart ment, Heyne does not, however, hold the same pre eminence, which he has attained as an enlightened and popular interpreter ; for though his discussions in the higher criticism are both numerous and valua ble; he is as much surpassed in boldness and origi nality by Wolf, as he is infetior to Hermann in the minuteness and ingenuity of his reasoning.