_Dionysiaca_, a poetic history of the expedition of Bacchus to
India, declamatory, copious, and powerful, full alike of faults and
talent; Musaeus (date absolutely unknown) has remained justly celebrated
for his delicious little poem _Hero and Leander_, countless times
translated both in prose and verse.

GRECIAN CHRISTIAN WRITERS.--It is necessary to revert to the fourth
century in order to enumerate Grecian Christian writers. As might be
expected these were almost all controversial orators. Saint Athanasius of
Alexandria was an admirable man of action, a fiery and impassioned
orator, the highly polemical historian of the Church, after the manner of
Bossuet in his _History of Variations_. Saint Basil, termed by his
admirers "the Great," without there being much hyperbole in the
qualification, was an incomparable orator. He, as it were, reigned over
Eastern Christianity, thanks to his word, his skill, and his courage.
Even to us his works possess charm. He intermingled the finest ideas of
Plato and of Christianity in the happiest and most orthodox manner. The
humanists held him in esteem for having rendered justice to antiquity in
his _Lecture on Profane Authors_ and having advised Christians to
study it with prudence but with esteem. Saint Gregory of Nazianzen, the
intimate friend of Saint Basil, was also a great orator, exalted, ardent,
and lyrical, whilst he was also as a poet, refined, gracious, and full of
charm. Saint Gregory of Nyssa, brother of Saint Basil, was essentially a
theologian and in his day a theological authority.

SAINT JOHN CHRYSOSTOM.--The most splendid figure of the Greek Church was
Saint John Chrysostom, celebrated in political history for his struggle
with the Emperor Arcadius and the Empress Eudoxia, and for the
persecutions he had in consequence to suffer. His heated, fiery, and
violent eloquence, which was altogether that of a tribune of the people,