ROMAIC LITERATURE. Already some centuries before ancient Greek declined and be came extinct there existed a dialect among the common people which gradually replaced the majestic tongue of Hellas. Until about the middle of the 18th century this dialect, out of which grew the Romaic or Neo-Hellenic, de generated in form and became split up Into various other dialects. During the Turkish dominion Greek pride of •race was kept alive by dwelling on past glories. With the dawn of independence efforts were made to revive those glories. Ancient authors were studied, ancient names were given to their children, and literary men endeavored to graft the ancient language on to the modern. In the first newspapers which appeared there began an artificial process of grammatical reconstruction that led to curi ous and confusing results. Ancient Greek acci dence and words were intertwined with modern French syntax, and a *literary* dialect arose, a language of books that grew quite distinct from the language of the people. Unfortu nately no Greek Chaucer or Dante appeared to crystalize the incongruities and dialects into a fixed language for both the written and the spoken word. But for centuries there had been In continuous use among exiled Greeks a literary language lineally descended from the Byzantines, and which could be read and under stood by all educated Greeks. At first limited to a small circle, this literary language gradu ally made its way during the 19th century as a spoken speech among the people—a commonly called Romaic, but a form santine Greek. Educated Greeks speak in the general dialect except with those to whom some ceremony must be used. For many years the Greeks have been purging their language of Turkish and Italian words, so that newspapers are now written almost in the style of classical writers.
Ptochoprodromos or Prodromos, who flour ished about 1150 An., is the first Romaic author of whom there is definite record. He left two long Romaic poems addressed to the Emperor Manuel Comnenus. To the early 14th century belongs a metrical (Chronicle of the Conquest of the Morea.> Folksongs especially composed the most widely cultivated form of literature in the heroic eKlepht) songs, though their literary quality is not very high (see KLEPFITS). Among the mass of Ramie literature that emanated from Greece, Constantinople and the islands of the eastern Mediterranean after 1453, there were but few works of importance, notwith; standing the wide range of historical and theological prose, allegorical and erotic poetry, mystery plays and spiritual hymns. The most celebrated compositions before 1800 are ham's Sacrifice,' a 16th century mystery play; the chivalric romance, (Erotocritus,' by Vicen tius Cornaro who has been styled the modern Homer;' and the gruesome drama by Chortakis, adapted from the Italian. A re vival of enthusiasm for education and literature occurred in the 18th century; Bucharest and Jassy became centres of Hellenic culture, which later found a seat at the University of Corfu, founded by Lord Guildford in 1808. Rhigas of
Velestinm (d. 1998), inspired by the French Revolution, aroused the patriotic ardor of his compatriots for liberty. He wrote the war song, (On, Sons of the Hellenes l> — which has been called the Greek 'Marseillaise.> Joannes Velaras of Epirus (d. 1823) was a doctor by profession and a writer of satirical fables. With the emancipation of Greece in 1821 several men of genius were connected, notably the brothers Panaglotis and Alexandro Svotsos, and Alexandro Rangab6. The first two heartened the people in the struggle for independence with lofty ideals and in eloquent language. Rangabe (Rangavis), though chiefly remembered as a poet, covered a wider field of literature, His works comprise songs, hymns, ballads, narrative poems, comedies and tragedies. Adainantios Koran (1748-1833) deserves a high place in Romaic literature; he was one of the early reformers in the long-drawn-out contro versy over the ancient and the *vulgar)) Greek. Dyonisius Solomos (1798-1857) wrote the Greek national anthem, the to Freedom,) and a number of powerful dramatic poems, in cluding one on the death of Byron. Of the later writers Valaoritis of Corcyra (1824-79) is the most notable, both as poet and an artist in his craft. His thoughts are expressed in the language of the peasantry, refined and uplifted. Other celebrated poets are Julius Typaldos (181443) and Markoras of Corfu ; Demetrios Bikelos, who translated some of Shakespeare's plays; the Anacreontic Christopulos; Georgios Sonres, a witty and versatile journalist and poet. Among, the best colloquial story writers are Palamas, Karkavitsa and Eftaliotis. These have preserved the pure dialect of the people and valuable pictures of modern peasant hfe. Axiotes and the Cretan Damverges are racy in dialogue when their characters converse, but in their own persons they use a rather stilted and conventional style. Between 1892 and 1900, M. Pallis issued a translation into modem Greek of the first half of the Iliad.) Although the form of the modern sentence differs widedly from the ancient, yet owing to the simplicity of Homer's style, Pallis keeps surprisingly dose to his model Quite a number of Greek authors compose their works in French, German or thus reaching a wider circle of readers. struggle between ancient and modern Greek assumed an alarming shape on 21 Nov. 1901 when a meeting of 10,000 people held in the temple of Jupiter at Athens protested against the proposed issue of a translation of the Gospel into the popular language, Ronnie. The meeting was broken up by troops and some 20 persons were killed or injured. The translation had been made by the queen's order, but the students of the university objected to it on the ground that the original text was sacred and should not be tampered with, and that if the Gospels were promulgated in the kingdom in the dialect spoken there the feeling of Pan-Hellenism might be weakened, as a dif ferent dialect was spoken by the Greeks in