Page:Romances of Chivalry on Greek Soil.djvu/8



literary inheritance bequeathed by the ancient Greeks was not neglected by their posterity. It was held in such high honour that instead of being a source of inspiration it was allowed to exercise an intellectual tyranny. What the ancients had written on any subject except religion was invested with authority; they were assumed to have exhausted the whole range of secular knowledge and to have achieved all that was feasible in the realm of profane literature. The mediaeval Greeks lived and thought, not only under the yoke of the Church and the Church's interpretation of the universe, but also under the yoke of their classical antiquity. Their own literary productions, those which they valued most, consisted of inferior imitations of ancient models. The men and women of the better classes enjoyed a classical education, but it was more conventional than—shall I say?—classical education has been among ourselves; and while they did not succeed in penetrating into the spirit of pagan antiquity, they were unable to free themselves from the tyranny of their brilliant ancestors. Later Greek literature is the literature of men who were the slaves of tradition; it was a bondage to noble masters, but still it was a bondage; yet the prospect is relieved by some remarkable exceptions, to which I propose to invite your attention.