Page:Aeschylus.djvu/15

Rh We must carry our thoughts back to the boyhood of the world. That expression does not only mean that in years the world once was young and now is older, nor only that once men lived of necessity simple lives, not knowing many sciences, and possessing no steam-engines or telegraphs; it means much more than these—that the tone of mind, the buoyancy, the thoughtlessness, which now are found only in boyhood, were then common, in a great measure, to all periods of life. This is a matter infinitely more important than any outward simplicity of life and manners. Let us see a little more closely what it means. The chief source of seriousness in later times is religion. A series of religions, of speculations about the meaning of life, the future to be expected after death, the system of punishments and rewards,—these have gradually sobered the nations of the civilised world. Secondly, the extension of civilisation itself has made each generation more busy than the last, and has deepened the sense of constant responsibility involved in transactions of commerce, in legal and official relations, and so contributed to take away the thoughtless ease and gaiety which existed in the boyhood of the world. To a Greek, in the early days, there were two serious occupations—war, and commerce or piracy; but both were rather opportunities for enterprise than subjects for anxiety. Religion, to a Greek, consisted in an intense love of all that is beautiful, and a firm belief that every stream and tree and cloud was tenanted by a god. All that for us is mere senseless imagery was for him a reality. In the sound of a