The last of his chops, why I almost drops, "And I never larf, and I never smile, But I sit and croak, and a single joke "Oh, I am a cook and a captain bold, WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE WILLIAM EWART GLADSTONE, one of the greatest of English orators and statesmen. Born in Liverpool, December 29, 1809; died at Hawarden, May 19, 1898. Author of "Juventus Mundi," "Studies in Homer and the Homeric Age," "Homeric Synchronism," "The State in its Relations with the Church," "Church Principles considered in their Results," "Gleanings of Past Years." Mr. Gladstone was one of the most powerful and persuasive speakers ever heard in the House of Commons. His clear, far-reaching voice and command of language produced a marvelous effect upon his hearers. Actuated always by the loftiest motives, he well deserved the title given him by his contemporaries, "The Grand Old Man." He added greatly to the scholarship and splendor of the Victorian age. (From "JUVENTUS MUNDI") ETHICS OF THE HEROIC AGE IN general outline, we may thus sum up the moral character of the Homeric Greeks, favorably regarded. A high-spirited, energetic, adventurous, and daring people, they show themselves prone to acts of hasty violence; and their splendid courage occasionally even degenerates, under the influence of strong passion, into ferocity, while their acuteness and sagacity sometimes, though more rarely, take a decided tinge of cunning. Yet they are neither selfish, cruel, nor implacable. At the same time, self-command is scarcely less conspicuous among them than strong, and deep, and quick emotion. They are, in the main, a people of warm affections and high honor, commonly tender, never morbid: they respect the weak and the helpless; they hold authority in reverence. Domestic purity, too, is cherished and esteemed among them more than elsewhere; and they have not yet fallen into the lower depths of sensual excess. The Greek thanks the gods in his prosperity; witness the case of Laertes. It is perhaps less remarkable that in his adversity he appeals to them for aid. If, again, he is discontented, he complains of them; for he harbors no concealed dissatisfaction. Ready enough to take from those who have, he is at least as ready to give to those who need. He represents to the life the sentiment which another great master of manners has given to his Duke of Argyle, in the "Heart of Mid-Lothian": "It is our Highland privilege to take from all what we want, and to give to all what they want." Distinctions of class are recognized, but they are mild and genial; there is no arrogance on the one side, nor any servility on the other. Reverence is paid to those in authority; and yet the Greek thinks in the spirit, and moves in the sphere, of habitual freedom. Over and above his warmth and tenacity in domestic affections, he prizes highly those other special relations between man and man, which mitigate and restrain the law of force in societies as yet imperfectly organized. He thoroughly admires the intelligence displayed in stratagem, whether among the resources of self-defense, or by way of jest upon a friend, or for the hurt or ruin of an enemy; but life in disguise he cannot away with, and holds it a prime article in his creed that the tongue should habitually represent the man. From these facts, if taken alone, we might be tempted to suppose that the Greeks of the Homeric age were an inhuman and savage race, who did not appreciate the value of human life. But this is not so. They are not a cruel people. There is no wanton infliction of pain throughout the whole operation of the Iliad; no delight in the sufferings of others, no aggravation of them through vindictive passion. The only needless wounds given, are wounds inflicted on the dead body of Hector. It seems to be, not a disregard of human life, but an excess of regard for courage, which led them to undervalue the miseries incident to violence. The character of Heracles, or Hercules, is one of which we hear much more evil than good in the Poems, if indeed we hear any good at all. The climax of his misdeeds is in the case of Iphitos, the possessor of certain fine mares. Heracles became his guest, slew him, and carried off the animals. Yet, he is nowhere held up to reprobation. Indeed, he seems to be a sharer of the banquets of the gods, and has Hebè for his wife; his Shade, or Eidolon, however, dwelling in the Underworld. If this passage be genuine, we can only suppose his crimes to be redeemed, in the public judgment, by his courage, together with his divine extraction. And the passage is supported by the application to him of the epithet theios, which is given in the Poems only to the two Protagonists, Achilles and Odysseus, among the living, and of the most distinguished among the dead. Certainly, the indignation of the Greeks is against Paris the effeminate coward, much more than Paris the ravisher. The shame of the abduction lay in the fact that he was the guest of Menelaos. And the guilt of Aigisthos finds its climax in this, that he slew Agamemnon by stealth, at a banquet, like a stalled ox. Piracy, again, was regarded, at the very least, with a moral indifference, which continued down to the time of Thucydides in many parts of Greece. Even Odysseus, the model prince, when he has destroyed the Suitors, and is considering how he can repair his wasted substance, calculates upon effecting it in part by occasional freebooting. To the principle, then, he freely gives his sanction; although he probably attacked the Kicones as allies of Troy; and he disapproved, as it appears, of the raid upon the Egyptians, which in one of his fables he imputes to his ship's company. This act is denominated an outrage; and some disapproval of pirates is implied in another passage. But it is faint. Piracy was a practice connected on one side with trade, |