A history of classical Greek literature / by J.P. Mahaffy.

  • John Pentland Mahaffy
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A history of classical Greek literature / by J.P. Mahaffy. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/262 page 6
    ^ j-lJSTORY OF GREEK LITERATURE. ch. l rhetorician lived on to an advanced age, still thinking h^imseH the leading political adviser of Greece, and still wondering, with amusing naivetd. that his advice, however beautifully ex- pressed, had so little effect upon the politics of the day. He wrote most of his Letters, his Phdtp and -Ewfnnrr, m old age, for though not gifted with physical vigour, his health remained excellent In his eighty-second year he composed the Apology entitled irepi dmco^wc, and began to prepare is PanatlJaimo, or panegyric on Athens, in his ninety-fourth yea^ finishing it in his ninety-seventh, though he then su ere ro a painful disease, which attacked him three years before. When he was ninety-eight, the battle of Chatronea supervened, and he at last saw some hope of his ''fe-long desire being accomplished ; for Philip now stood undoubtedly at the hea of Greece, and could carry out the policy the orator had re- commended to him in an open letter. Isocrates according y addressed him another letter (the third), which was the last product of his pen, and which is particularly valuable, as giving a direct contradiction to the fables about his patriotism his dis- gust at the battle, and his consequent death by suicide. For L was no political martyr, having, in fact, always postponed the liberties of Greece, about which he discoursed so muc , to the realisation of his favourite schemes against Persia : e knew that an autocratic ruler was more likely to carry them ou , as the result proved. But he must have died about this time. 8 445. Thus this remarkable writer lived through three ot the most eventful generations in Greek histoiy, and thoug one of the most prominent writers of his time, may be said to have produced no influence whatever except upon the torm of prose writing. For he was in no sense a thorough-gomg man. He was a curious combination of sophist and patriot, of would-be politician and philosopher, of really private and public man at the same time. The candour and honesty o his nature made him in feeling a patriot, while his want_ ot appreciation for deeper politics prevented him from seeing the evils of despotism, or taking any thorough interest m the forms and varieties of constitutions. His bashfulness com- pelled him to remain in private life, while his vanity urged im to appear in public ; his profession suggested to him the study
    digitised image 1
    digitised image 2
    digitised image 3