ferings. Mercury, the messenger of the gods, arrives, commanding him, in the name of Jupiter, to reveal the secret by which the power of Fate may be averted; but in vain. The overwhelming effects of the wrath of the King of Heaven, upon the unconquered and unconquerable victim of his power, are briefly described in a soliloquy of Prometheus, which concludes the poem. 'Now in deed, and not in word, the earth is shaken to its centre. The echo of the thunder bellows around me, and the fiery-forked lightnings gleam, and the whirlwinds roll the dust; the blasts of all the winds leap forth, rushing against each other in tempestuous uproar; and the sky is commingled with the sea; so great, so terrible a tumult, is visibly come upon me. O my worshipped Mother, and thou, Heaven, that circlest the common light of all; behold how unjustly I suffer.'

The triumph of subjection,' says a deep classical scholar, 'was never celebrated in more glorious strains; and we have difficulty in conceiving how the poet, in the Freed Prometheus, could sustain himself on such an elevation.' This sublime poem, is, indeed, a magnificent developement of an unconquerable will, bearing up against a higher power, which had chosen, in the plenitude of its greatness, to lay upon Prometheus a tyrannical hand. Chained to a rock, amidst the most terrible and appalling array of power; threatened by the messenger of the gods; disheartened by the melancholy sympathy of the ocean nymphs, and counselled to submit by Oceanus himself; surrounded by storms, and thunder, and lightning, and earthquakes he still maintains his determined purpose, sustained by an inward energy, which knows not submissionand boldly looking to a dim and distant future for deliverance from his present woes. These noble creations of Grecian genius, need, I trust, no arguments to present, in a striking light, the advantages of their study; they need to be understood only, and they will surely be ranked among the priceless treasures of the human intellect.

Such are the materials for reflection presented in the Grecian

drama, the most perfect display, as I believe, of genius and taste that the world has ever witnessed. To set forth its claims adequately, a critical and philosophical examination of each piece would be required. I have barely given a simple and very imperfect sketch of one of the earliest-illustrated by a few brief quotations, which I have rendered in literal prose. To the drama itself I would urge you to resort, for the best exposition of its preeminent claims-for that ingenious and beautiful intermixture of ancient mythology, religion, deep philosophy, and lofty poetry, with the actual and genuine character of the Grecian intellect in its highest and purest form, which defies all rivalry and surpasses all description.

Another form in which the intellect of Greece was beautitifully manifested, is to be found in her philosophy. We are too much given to hasty decisions on this interesting subject. In the pride of modern superiority, sweeping sentences of condemnation have been passed upon the whole circle of ancient labors in this curious and important department. Lord Bacon pointed out the proper mode of physical inquiry; and this mode has been adopted in mental investigation. The absurd quibbles of the schoolmen were detected, when the light of common sense shed upon them the strong illumination of truth; and the ridicule which they merited, went back and rested upon the head of Aristotle, whose principles they had so ignorantly abused. In the popular language of the last half century, absurdity, sophistry, and unmeaning jargon, have been almost synonymous with the logic and metaphysics of the Greeks. But literary justice requires that the earnest efforts of great minds, in whatever line of exertion, should be studied and appreciated in a spirit of candor.

When I contemplate the noble doctrines of Plato, and his noble manner of maintaining them; when I reflect that he taught the immortality of the soul, the corrupting power of vice, the stain which sin fixes upon the heart; that he supported his tenets by arguments which still serve as a basis to the best reasoning of the moderns; that he showed an unrivalled acute

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ness of intellect in his dialogues, as in the 'Sophist;' and joined to this a high-toned and uncompromising morality, inculcating adherence to duty, at the cost of life itself, pointing out the path of honor and virtue in the most trying situations, where fear and friendship and attachment to the world, and a sense of injustice powerfully aided the solicitations of friends, the arguments of beloved disciples, and the moving spectacle of an agonized family-exhibited in the delineation of Socrates, in the 'Phaedon '—that he portrayed the same great sage, in the character of a benevolent instructer, a kind friend, taking by the hand a youthful pupil, and leading him into the paths of true knowledge--in Theages'—that] he himself performed the part of a devoted and affectionate disciple, in his beautiful and eloquent Apology'-I cannot but think it is much more fashionable to condemn, than it is to study, the philosophy of Athens. I am aware that Plato's imaginative mind led him into many fantastical theories. But it argues, I think, a feeble sense of justice, to scorn his noble views of God, of duty, and of immortality, because we may safely ridicule his 'Pyramid of Fire' and his theory of metempsychosis. We must admire and approve his belief in the divine origin and immutable essence of the soul, though we may neither admire nor approve his Utopian scheme of a republic, founded upon an unqualified extension of this system of psychology. It is but just to the writers of any country and of any age, to separate the great leading truths which they attempt to illustrate and enforce, from the particular forms, in the shape of theories and hypotheses in which those truths are folded; for theories and hypotheses may be false or visionary, but they may serve as vehicles for that sentiment of truth, which, so long as yon broad sky is above us, and this fair earth beneath us, and this mysteriously mingled union of physical and immortal powers is within us-will be an inmate of the human soul.

When I reflect that Aristotle listened twenty years to the instructions of his master; that he compassed the whole extent of human learning; that, in natural history and philosophy, he

stood unrivalled and alone; that he drew up a system of logic, which, more than any system ever devised by man, has received the applause and guided the researches of past ages; that to his instruction the greatest general of antiquity confessedly was more indebted than to all besides, for his commanding preeminence; that Cicero, the best judge in literary and philosophical matters that the ancient world produced, said of him, Excepto Platone, haud scio an recte dixerim principem philoso·phorum ;—I must still believe it more fashionable to utter fluent and flippant contempt against the quibbles of the Stagyrite, than to study the hard, severe, the iron reasoning of 'the Prince of Philosophers.'

When I contemplate the character of Socrates, as portrayed by Plato and Xenophon, his pure, precise, and philosophical ethics, his almost christian temper, his high moral firmness, his confidence in a future existence, his belief in the rewards of virtuewhen I contemplate this character, formed by self-discipline, from natural propensities to licentiousness and depravity—when I read that from his instruction went forth a school of sages to whom Greece owed, in great part, that splendid reputation for wit, genius, and philosophy over which 'decay's effacing fingers' pass but lightly-my belief is yet stronger, that it is much more fashionable to descant upon the worthlessness of Grecian philosophy and Grecian morality, than to study the noble characters which that philosophy and morality produced.

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The most practically useful portion of Greek literature, to an American student destined for public life, would perhaps be considered its oratory. The publicity with which great national questions were discussed in Greece, gave rise, particularly in Athens, to the strenuous study of this art. men were public speakers. It was by direct action popular mind, that commanding influence was won and retained. The example and history of the first of orators, are most worthy models for the imitation of all in every age, who aspire to the glory of oratorical renown. The style and power of the eloquence of Demosthenes have been two long cele

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brated for me to urge them upon your consideration now. But there is one portion of that great man's history, to which I cannot forbear alluding, as a most thrilling passage. I mean the 'Contest for the Crown.' The Athenian people had resolved to reward the public services of Demosthenes, by presenting him with a golden crown. Ctesiphon had taken the lead in this act of popular recognition of the orator's merit, and became, in consequence, odious to his enemies. Eschines, whose jealousy and enmity to Demosthenes had been manifested on several previous occasions, instituted an impeachment, and had Ctesiphon prosecuted before the public assembly. This was a great, an intensely interesting occasion. Public curiosity

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was awake; expectation was excited; the two greatest orators were to appear, in the desperate attempt to measure strength with each other. Never was an occasion more exactly calculated to arouse Athenian inquisitiveness than this. one side was jealousy, vindictiveness, and envy, supported by powers acknowledged to be second to none but those of the man of the nation. On the other, the popular enthusiasm to bear onward, unrivalled reputation to sustain, the consciousness of resistless power, and the tremendous consequences of defeat. Every motive that could be impressed upon the mind in that age, was present before them. The day came on. The crowd was assembled. The orators successivly arose, and the listening multitudes hung, hour after hour, upon the speakers' lips. But the matchless eloquence of Demosthenes prevailed, and his enemy was banished. Fortunately we have these celebrated orations preserved, and can therefore appreciate those gifts, which, at Athens, were ranked so high. The eagerness with which the Greeks listened to these magnificent. efforts of intellect, and read them from year to year, may be estimated by the eagerness with which we lately rushed to the pages of our own Demosthenes, after he had won his splendid victory on the Senate-floor of our country.

1. The orations of Demosthenes afford an admirable study, both to discipline and arouse the mind. It requires no little