The progress of history kept pace in Grecian cultivation with the development of philosophy. Among the oldest histori cal prose writers, arc Cadmus, Dionysius, and Ilecatteus of Miletus, liellanicus of Milylene, and Pherecydes of Seyros. After them appears llerodotus, who has received the name of the Homer of his tory. Ile was followed by Thncyibles, the grave, condensed, and philosophical historian of the Peloponnesian War. Strongly contrasted with his sternness and energy, is Xenophon, whose limpid narrative flows on with the charming facility of a graceful stream, presenting, a delightful specimen of the tranquil beauty of Greek prose in its most simple form. These three historians distin guished the period from 550 to 500 B.C., during which time we have to notice the introduction of a new class of poetical creations.
The popular festivals, which were celebrated after the vintage, with rule songs and dances, led to the gradual cre ation of the drama. A more artistic form was given to the will choruses in honor of Bacchus ; the recitation of fa bles by an intermediate speaker was in troduced into the performances ; and soon the games of the vintage festival were repeated on other occasions. The spirit of the drama was thus cherished, until the appearance of Aschylus, who may be deemed the author of the dra matic art in Greece. lie divided the sto ry into different portions, substituted the dialogue for recitation by a. single per son, and assigned the various parts to skilful actors. The three great tragic writers are Alschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, while the most distinguished rank in comedy is held by Cratinus, Eupolis, Crates, and especially Aristo phones.
During this period we find several didactic and lyric poets, while the sister art of eloquence was illustrated by the names of Lysias, Demosthenes, iEschines, Antiphon, Gorgias, and Isoerates.
The succeeding period, which is usu ally called the Alexandrine, was char acterized by the prevalence of a critical spirit ; the luxuriant bloom of the ear lier Greek literature had passed away ; and the fresh creative impulses of ge nius were made to yield to the love of speculation and the influence of erudi tion. The glowing imaginative philos ophy of Plato was succeeded by the more rigid system of Aristotle, who founded the Peripatetic school, and gave order and precision to the principles of reasoning. With the passion for subtle analysis, which was the characteristic of his mind, he drew a sharp line of distinc tion between logic and rhetoric, ethics and politics, physics and metaphysics, thus enlarging Om boundaries of philos ophy, and establishing a system which exercised an undisputed supremacy for ages. The dogmatic tendencies of Aris
totle found their counterpart in the skeptical principles of which Pyrrho of Elis was the most distinguished advocate. The same principles prevailed to a cer tain extent in the Middle and New Acad emies founded by Arcesilaus and Car neatles, while the Socratic philosophy was modified by the disciples of the Stoic school, established by Zeno, and of the Epicurean, which hears the name of its celebrated founder. At length the intel lectual sceptre which had been so long wielded by the philosophers and poets of Greece. passed from Athens to Alexan dria; the nation itself was absorbed in the progress of Roman conquest ; Greek literature ceased to give birth to original productions ; and its brilliant career be came the subject of history.
Ilebrew Literature.—The language and literature of the ancient Hebrews, apart from its religions character and claims, presents a curious and important subject of investigation. It is the oldest literature of which any remains hare come down to modern times. With a rich poetical coloring, a profound senti ment of humanity, and a luny religious faith, it sustains it most intimate relation to the development of the intellect and the moral and political history of the race. The Ilebrcw language is one of the oldest branches of the numerous family of languages which have received the name Shemitic, on account of the sup posed descent of the nations by which they were spoken, from Shem, the son of Noah. These are the Chaldaic, the Aramtean, the llebrew, the Syriac, the Arabic, the Phoenician, and the Ethio pian. The history of the language has been divided by many critics into four periods. I. From Abraham to Moses. II. From Moses to Solomon. IIT. From Solomon to Ezra. IV. From Ezra to the end of the age of the Maccabees, when it was gradually lost in the modern Aramman and became it dead language. The differences, however, which can be traced in the language are so slight, that a sounder division would be into only two periods, the first extending from the time of Moses to the reign of Ilezekiah, and Plc second from the reign of Ilezekiah to final extinction as a spoken language. The written characters or letters, which date from the time of Solomon, were the same as the Phoenician. Daring the Babylonish captivity, the re ceived from the Chalices the square character in common use, and in the time of Ezra, the old Gebrew manu scripts were copied in these characters. The punctuation of the language was not settled until after the seventh century of the Christian era. The accents, vowels, points, and divisions into words, were also introduced at a later period.