Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 11.djvu/163

Rh of Cyprus, Leontios Machaira, in the beginning of the 15th century, and Georgios Boustronios, whose narrative extends from 1456 to 1501. His sixth volume contains curious documents (the assizes of Cyprus, Cretan wills, &amp;lt;fec.), which afford insight into the forms of modern Greek prevalent among the Cypriotes arid Cretans, though a con siderable number of them are written in classical Greek. Miklosisch and Miiller have made a similar collection of documents, Acta et Diplomats Grceca MediiJEvi. Even in the 18th century we find the classical language used much more frequently than the modern. Meletios, the man whose name stands most prominent in this period, wrote his Ecclesiastical History from the time of Christ to the year 1700 in ancient Greek, and his work had to be translated into modern Greek to give it currency among the masses. Another ecclesiastical history by Sergios Makraios, given in the collection of Sathas (from 1750 to 1800), is written in the same language, and we find some writers like Caisarios Dapoute and Meletios using sometimes the ancient and sometimes the modern form. We have almost no attempts at elegant literature in the modern Greek prose of this period. But it is possible that manuscripts containing such works may be hid among private family documents. One has recently been edited by Innocente Damaria (Turin, 1872), The Loves of Erogelos and Erasmia, by Holophilos, which was most probably written between the 12th and 15tli centuries, but which might have been written by any one of the Scriptores Erotici, as the language discloses modern forms only in one or two sentences.

In the 18th century a revival of enthusiasm for educa- tion and literature took place among the Greeks. Schools were established in every important Greek city, school books and translations from Continental languages poured forth from the presses of Venice, Trieste, Vienna, and other places where the Greeks had influence. The leaders in this move ment were Eugenios Bulgaris, Nikephoros Theotokis, and Adamantios Corais. The first two, both natives of Corfu, were devout adherents of the Greek Orthodox Church, warm partisans of Russia, and both became archbishops in the Russo-Greek Church. They were true but narrow p;itriots. They wrote much in defence of Greek orthodoxy a.s agxiast Latin heresy. Bulgaris also wrote on philosophy an I Theotokis on physics, and the latter prepared or trans lated educational treatises on physics, mathematics, and geography. Far before these stands Adamantios Corais, who was above everything a Greek of widest aim and of the greatest culture. He was born in Smyrna in April 1748. He studied nearly every branch of learning, medicine, theology, and literature, in the universities of Italy and France, and then devoted his life to the resuscita tion of his country from ignorance and servitude. He edited a very great number of the classical writers, with admirable critical notes, and generally with prolegomena, which tried to awaken the interest of his countrymen iu their past glories, and strove to rouse them to emulate their ancestors. He also devoted his attention to the modern language, especially in his "Ara/cra, discussed the writings which had appeared in it, prepared a provisional dictionary of it, and determined the mode in which the popular dialect might become the basis of a literary language.

From the time of Corais we may date a new era in the history of the literature. Henceforth the works become exceedingly numerous, and efforts are made in every direc tion of literary activity. Perhaps no nation now produces so much literature in proportion to its numbers. The Greeks seem restless in their desire to give expression to their thoughts. They have indeed great difficulties to con tend with in the way of publishing. The number of readers is necessarily small, owing to the smallness of the nation. To take an instance, one of their most important periodicals, the AOr /vaiov, containing articles on archaeology and literary history, which should be known to all scholars, had not more than 150 subscribers in 1876, as we are informed in the preface ; 600 copies were published, of which 100 were sent by the university of Athens to the various libraries in Europe and America, 150 were distri buted free, and only 150 were subscribed and paid for. The number of subscribers had not increased in August 1879. In these circumstances many rich Greeks have come nobly forward and published books at their own expense ; and much credit is due to the Zosimades, the Ralli, and the other Greeks who have served their country in this way. Very frequently scholars produce their best works for periodicals or even newspapers ; and some most valuable treatises have been published as supplements to Greek periodicals. Trans lations of many of the best French novels have also been given away with these periodicals, and occasionally some of our most esteemed English writers have been thus made known to the Greeks ; for instance, a translation of the Bride of Lammermoor was published by the editors of the Pandora. These circumstances, while impeding the pro duction of Greek books, also tend to prevent foreigners from knowing exactly what the Greeks have done. Another circumstance that marks this period deserves notice. Almost every literary man of eminence makes efforts in every literary direction. Theologians, scholars, physicians, are all found in the list of poets. The same persons write school-books, histories, dramas, lyrics, and novels. It would be impossible to give even a notion of this endless activity. All that can be done is to point out a few of the principal writers.

In the early part of this period two poets claim our notice, Rhegas of Velestino in Thessaly, and Christopoulos. Rhegas was the poet of liberty, and his great war song, Aerre TratSes TWJ/ EAAfjvwj, is well known to English readers through Byron s translation. He wrote many songs or hymns calculated to rouse his fellow-countrymen, but acting rashly he was seized and shot at Belgrade in 1798 at the age of forty-four. Christopoulos was born in Macedonia in 1770, and died in 1847. He devoted himself to songs of love and wine, and many of his anacreontics are melodious, graceful, and charming. Somewhat later than Christopoulos comes Jacobos Rizos Neroulos, who was born in Constantinople in 1778, and died in 1850. Neroulos wrote lyrics, tragedies, and comedies with considerable success, but his best known book is a work published at Geneva in French in 1826 Cours de la littcrature Grecque moderne and admirably translated into modern Greek by Miss Olympia Abbot of Thessalonica. It is an interesting account of modern Greek literature up to the time at which the lectures were delivered, and is written in a bright and forcible style. It is perhaps rather too favourable to the phanariots, to whom Neroulos himself belonged, but it is an honest de fence; and it has to be remembered, on the other hand, that he lashed the vices of the phanariots with great boldness in his comedies. From these writers we pass to the era of the independence of Greece. During this last period three writers have appeared who have established for themselves a permanent place in the history of mankind as men of true genius, Panagiotis Sontsos, Alexander Sontsos, and Alexander Rizos Rangabe. Panagiotis and Alexander Sontsos were brothers, and belonged to the phanariots. They were born in Constantinople in the first quarter of this century, and were educated first in Chios and then in the universities of Italy and France. They threw all their energies into the war for independence, and sang of its glories. But they conceived a determined dislike to Capodistrias. They were still more bitter against Otho, and, adopting extreme opinions and always discontented, they fell out of sympathy with their fellow-countrymen. Panagiotis received high posts of 