AUTHORS OF GREECE

By the Reverend T. W. LUMB, M.A.

With an Introduction by

The Reverend CYRIL ALINGTON, D.D.






AUTHOR'S PREFACE


Greek literature is more modern in its tone than Latin or Medieval or
Elizabethan. It is the expression of a society living in an environment
singularly like our own, mainly democratic, filled with a spirit of
free inquiry, troubled by obstinate feuds and still more obstinate
problems. Militarism, nationalism, socialism and communism were well
known, the preachers of some of these doctrines being loud, ignorant
and popular. The defence of a maritime empire against a military
oligarchy was twice attempted by the most quick-witted people in history,
who failed to save themselves on both occasions. Antecedently then we
might expect to find some lessons of value in the record of a people
whose experiences were like our own.

Further, human thought as expressed in literature is not an
unconnected series of phases; it is one and indivisible. Neglect of