Illustrated history of ancient literature, oriental and classical

Front matter

0 \

-f ^ (A » rJSN\ . ^ O inotiii^A c, ^ ir> t ^ ^ r

^ 8 1' \' . ;> <1 , o O'

Preface

The History of Literature, as a separate branch of the history of civilization, is of comparatively recent origin ; the first work on the subject in any language dating no further back than the sixteenth century, and being little more tlian a crude catalogue of authors and their books. Yet who can deny the great importance of such history? When studied in connection with illustrative extracts from the masterpieces of which it treats, it furnishes a key to the intellectual development of our race, introduces .us to the great minds that stand as beacon lights in successive ages, and with their wisdom widens the scope of knowledge, while it refines the taste and disciplines the judgment. Lord Bacon said but the truth, when he remarked that the history of the world without the history of letters would be as incomplete as a statue of Polyphemus deprived of his single eye.

Nor is this study without results of a direct practical bearing. Certainly all must appreciate the importance of understanding current allusions to the writers and literary w'orks of other ages and countries, and must admit that some acquaintance at least with such writers and works is essential to a well-grounded knowledge of one’s own language and a correct estimate of its literature. But when is such an acquaintance to be obtained, if not during a school or college course ? The engrossing duties of after-life leave little time for the pursuit of liberal studies. And how is such an acquaintjince to be obtained ? All are not linguists, and the greater part must get it second-hand — must avail themselves of the labors of others who havo delved in these unfamiliar fields.

It is to facilitate and popularize this study of genei’al literature by furnishing a complete and carefully condensed text-book on the subject, unencumbered by obscure names and wearisome details, that the volume now offered to the public has been prepared. It presents a full account of the literatures of ancient nations, and, treating of the origin and relationships of their respective languages, incidentally brings forward some of the most interesting facts of Comparative Philology. While the writings of Greece and Rome receive due attention, a new, and, it is believed, peculiarly valuable feature of the book will be found in its treatment of ancient Oriental literature — particularly the Sanscrit and Persian, The labors of European scholars during the last quarter-century have thrown a chain of living interest around the subject, and awakened on this side of the Atlantic as well a thirst for further knowledge, which it is here attempted to satisfy. Tlie

VI

PREFACE.

principles of Egyptian writing are also explained j and the literary treasures recently unearthed amid the ruins of the Nile Valley and elsewhere are described and illustrated.

In treating the subject the author has aimed, while giving a clear outline of each literature as a whole, to make its great writers stand out in bold relief, and to associate them in the pupil’s mind with the works that have made them immortal. With this view brief biographies, not fragmentary or isolated, but grafted on the narrative where they naturally belong, are accompanied with short specimens, carefully selected to give the best idea of each author’s style and genius. In the critical views as well as the historical facts presented, the latest authorities have been followed, and the aid of maps and illustrations has been freely resorted to for the better elucidation of points on which they could throw light.

The present volume has grown out of the author’s experience in the lecture-room ; and in the belief that it is of a scope and grade that will meet the popular want, he now offers it to high-schools, academies, and colleges. From such institutions he feels that no class should graduate in ignorance either of the Greek and Koman classics which have inspired the modern poet and philosopher, or of tliose precious remains of once great Oriental literatures that patient scholars of the nineteenth century have brought to light — that helped to shape the Greek mind itself in the morning of the world. He trusts that it may foster in the young admiration of the brilliant thoughts that sparkle in the pages of ancient lore, a love of literature, and a taste for philological investigations.

Columbia College, June, 1878.

In order that the friends of this popular work on Ancient Literature may be advised of the progress made in philological study during the present decade, the author has thoroughly revised the text, diagrams, and maps. The value of the revision is enhanced by the introduction of a carefully selectetF bibliography ; frequent references to standard monographs — not made to supply omissions, but as guides to those who may desire a full and authoritative course of collateral reading — are incorporated in the narrative. Attention is especially directed to the chapter on Egyptian writing and literature, for which the author is extensively indebted to F. C. H. Wendel, Ph.D. (Strasburg). The results of the vast amount of labor expended in this most interesting and important field during the ten years that have elapsed since the issue of this text-book, are here for the first time given to English readers. Other specialists have materially aided the author in his work of revision. Acknowledgment is due to Dr. H. T. Peck, Professor of the Latin Language and Literature, and Dr. R. J. H. Gottheil, Professor of Syriac and Rabbinical Literature, Columbia College ; to Drs. E. D. Perry and A. V. W. Jackson, instructors respectively in Sanscrit and Avesta, Columbia College ; and to Dr. Chas. E. Moldehnke, the Egyptologist.

Columbia College, May 1, 1889.

Introduction

Definition and Divisions of Literature, page 11. — Origin and Relationship of Languages, 12. — The Aryans, 13. — Aryan Languages, 16. — Semitic Languages, 16. — Turanian Languages, 17. — Written Language, 18. — Ideographic Writing, 18. — Phonetic Writing, 19. — Modes of Writing and Pointing, 20. — Ancient Writing Materials, 21. — General View of Ancient Literature, 25.

Chapter I. — Hindoo Literature

Sanscrit Language, 31.— Sanscrit Alphabet, 32. — Sanscrit Researches, 33. — The Veda, 34. — The Upavedas, 35. — The Puranas, 35. — Social Life of the Vedic People, 37.— Code of Manu, 38.— Epic Poetry, 40. — The Ramayana, 40. — The Mahabharata, 43. — Lyric and Didactic Poetry, 46. — Kalidasa, 46. — Jayadeva, 48.— Gltagovinda, 49. — The Sanscrit Shakespeare, 50. — Sakoontala, 50. — The Hindoo Drama, 54. — Tales and Fables, 56. — History and Grammar, 57. — Buddhist Literature, 58. — Writing Materials of the Hindoos, 60.

Chapter II. — Persian Literature

Avesta Tongue, 60. — Zoroaster, 61. — The Avesta, 62.— Avesta Philosophy, 63. — Persian Inscriptions, 65. — Rock of Behistun, 65. — The Royal Library, 67.

CONTENTS.

viii

Chapter III. — Chinese Literature

Chinese Language, 67. — Chinese Writing, 68. — Antiquity of Chinese Literature, 69.— Confucius, 70. — The Chinese Classics, 73. — The Four Shoo, 77. — The Confuciau Analects, 77.— Mencius, 79.— Spirit of the Chinese Classics, 80. — Lao- Tse, 82.

Chapter IV. — Hebrew Literature

The Semitic Languages and their Distribution, 84. — The Ancient Hebrew, 85. — Hebrew Alphabet, 86.— Spirit of Hebrew Poetry, 88. — Parallelism, 89.— Dawn of Hebrew Literature, 90. — The Books of Moses, 90.— The Historical Books, 92.— The Book of Job, 93.— Golden Age of Hebrew Poetry, 93. — The Psalms, 93. — Elegiac Poetry, 94. — Didactic Poetry, 95. — Prophetic Poetry, 96. — Silver Age, 97. — The Apocrypha, 99. — The Talmud, 100.

Chapter V. — Chaldean, Assyrian, Arabic, and Pikenician Literatures

Cuneiform Letters, 104. — Assy rio- Babylonian Writing Materials, 106. — Golden Age of Babylonian Literature, 107. — Deluge Tablets, 112. — Arabic Literature, 114. — Himyaritic Inscriptions, 114. — Phoenician Literature, 115. — Carthaginian Relics. 116.

Chapter VI. — Egyptian Literature

Egyptian Language, 118. — The -Rosetta Stone, 119. — Hieroglyphic Writing, 120, 121. — Archaic Age of Egyptian Literature, 122. — Classical Age, 123. — Memoirs of Saneha, 124. — Tale of Snake Island, 125. — Minstrel’s Song. 126. — Golden Age, 126. — Book of the Dead, 126, 127. — Hymns, 128. — Epic Poetry, 129. — Authorship, 130.

Chapter III. — Lyric Poetry

Rise and Varieties of Lyric Poetry, 157.— Callinus, 159.— Tyrtjeus, 160.— Archilochus, 161. — Alolic and Doric Schools, 163. — Alcaeus, 164. — The Lesbian Poetesses, 164.— Sappho, 165. — Sappho’s Pupils, 171.— Anacreon, 172. — Simonides, 174. —Minor Lyric Poets, 177.

Chapter IV. — Rise of Greek Prose

Earliest Prose Writings, 178. — The Seven Sages, 179. — Solon, 179. — Thales, 180. — iEsop, 181. — Progress of Greek Prose, 182. — Early Philosophers and Historians, 183.

Chapter V. — Golden Age of Grecian Literature

The Attic Period, 184.— Pindar, 185.— Antimachus, 192. — Dramatic Poetry, 192. — Aschylus, 194. — “Prometheus Chained,” 196. — Sophocles, 200. — “King (Edipus,” 202. — Euripides, 207. — “ Medea,” 209. — Greek Comedy, 212. — Aristophanes, 213. — “ The Clouds,” 214. — “ The Birds,” 219. — History, 221. — Herodotus, 222. — Thucydides, 225. — Xenophon, 229. — Ctesias and Theopompus, 233. — Philosophy, 234. — The Ionic and Italic Schools, 234. — Pythagoras, 235. — Empedocles, 236. — Xenophanes, 237. — Democritus, 237. — School of Epicurus, 238. — Pyrrho, the Skeptic, 238. — The Socratic, School, 239. — Plato and the Academic School, 241. — “ Phaedo,” 244. — Aristotle and the Peripatetic School, 247. — Aristotle’s Writings, 248. — Theophrastus, 252. — The Stoic School, 253. — The Cynics, 254.— Oratory, 255. — Demosthenes, 256. — The Speech “ On the Crown,” 257. — Alschines, 260.

Chapter VI. — The Alexandrian Period

Decline of Letters, 262. — The New Comedy, 263. — Menander, 264.— Philemon, 265.— Pastoral Poetry, 266.— Theocritus, 266. — Bion and Moschus, 269.— The Museum, 272. — The Alexandrian Library, 273. — Poetry at Alexandria, 274. — Callimachus, 274. — Apollonius Rhodius, 275. — Writers on Science, 276. — Critics and Grammarians, 277. — History, 277. — Polybius, 278. — The Septuagint, 279.

Chapter VII. — Later Greek Literature

Decay of Greek Genius, 280.— Writers of the First Century B.C., 281. — Writers

X

CONTENTS.

of the First Three Christian Centuries, 284. — Plutarch, 285. — Lucian, 288. — Pausanias, 292.— Origen, 293.— Neo-Platonism, 293. — Longinus, 294. — Athanasius and Chrysostom, 294. — Novel-writers, 295. — Hierocles, 295.— Byzantine Literature, 297. — The Greek Anthology, 297. — Gems of Greek Thought, 300.

Chapter I. — Latin and its Oldest Monuments

Italy Peopled, 303. — The Latin Language, 304. — Ancient Latin Relics, 305. Chapter II. — Dawn of Roman Literature.

Indebtedness of Rome to Greek Authors, 307. — The Roman Drama, 308. — Livius Andronicus, 309. — Cneius Naevius, 310. — Ennius, 311. — Plautus, 312. — “The Captives,” 313. — Terence, 315. — “ The Self-Tormentor,” 317. — Decline of the Drama, 319. — Epic Poetry, 320. — Nsevius and Ennius as Epic Poets, 320. — Satiric Poetry, 322. — Lucilius, 323. — Early Latin Prose, 324.— Cato the Censor, 324. — Laelius, Scipio, and the Gracchi, 326. — Antonius, Crassus, and Hortensius, 327. — • Minor Historians and Orators, 328.

Chapter III. — Golden Age of Roman Literature

Periods of the Golden Age, 329. — Cicero, 330. — ^Varro, 337. — Julius Caesar, 339. —Sallust, 343. — Cornelius Nepos, 347. — Poets of the Ciceronian Period, 348. — Lucretius, 348.— Catullus, 352. — Poetiy^ of the Augustan Age, 354. — Virgil, 355. — Virgil’s Eclogues, 359.— Georgies, 360. — iEneid, 362. — Horace, 369.— Varius, 375. — Tibullus, 375. — Propertius, 377. — Ovid, 379. — Prose Writers of the Augustan Age, 382. — Livy, 382.

Chapter IV. — Age of Decline

Silver Age of Roman Letters, 388. — Velleius Paterculus, 389. — Valerius Maximus, 389. — Celsus, 390.— Phaedrus, 390. — Persius, 392. — Seneca, 394. — Lucan, 397. —Pliny the Elder, 401.— Martial, 404.— Statius, 405.— Sulpitia, 406.— Quintilian, 407. — Juvenal, 408. — Tacitus, 412. — Suetonius, 415.— Pliny the Younger. 418.— Apuleius, 420. — Latin Fathers, 421. — Specimens of Later Latin Poetry, 423.— Gems of Latin Thought, 425.

HISTORY OF ANCIENT LITERATURE.

INTRODUCTION.

Literature, in its broadest sense, comprises the written productions of all nations in all ages. It is the permanent expression of the intellectual power of man, and reflects the popular manners, the political condition, the moral and religious status. In its literary productions, a nation bequeaths to posterity an ever-speaking record of its inner life.

The history of literature traces the progress of the human mind from age to age, by landmarks erected by the mind itself. It represents the development of different phases of thought in written language, and shows their influence in moulding the public taste and morals. It investigates the connection between the literatures of different countries, considers the causes of their growth and their decay, and critically examines the works of individual authors.

Literature may be divided into two parts. Ancient and Modern. The former, to which this volume is devoted, includes the literatures of the ancient Oriental nations, the Greeks, and the Romans. To the second division belong the literatures of modern Europe, of the modern Oriental nations, and of America.

After considering the origin and relationship of languages, A 2

INTRODUCTION.

we shall give a brief summary of the history of ancient lit' erature as a whole, without national divisions ; so that the reader, having previously followed the progress of letters from age to age and people to people, may be enabled to study more intelligently the separate literatures of the different countries.

ORIGIN AND RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGES.

The Dawn of History. — When the mist that envelops the early history of the world first rises, it discovers to our view, in parts of western Asia, communities more or less advanced in knowledge and the arts, gathered about certain centres of civilization ; and others, of less culture, leading a wandering life, spent mostly, we may conjecture, in the chase, in predatory excursions, and the tending of herds. We find at this time a thrifty race, called Aryans {aryanz\ settled in the district between the Hindoo Koosh Mountains and the upper course of the Amoo — the ancient Bactria (part of what is now Turkestan and Afghanistan; see Map, p. 15). The region watered by the rivers Euphrates and Tigris was occupied by the forefathers of the Chaldeans and Assyrians, the Jews and Arabians ; while over the plains of Tartary, known as Tufan, wandering tribes were spread — whence their name, Turanians, swift horsemen. Corresponding with these three divisions of the human race are three distinct families of languages, — the Aryan or Indo-European, the Semitic, and the Turanian, — embracing more than one hundred and fifty tongues. {See Rawlinson's ** The Origin of Nations.'')

In Africa, also, civilization was a plant of early growth, Egypt ranking among the most ancient monarchies. Europe, however, in these primeval ages, was either a tenantless wilderness or the home of rude adventurers like the Lapps and Finns, of whom the Basques in the Pyrenees are perhaps the only reni' nants in the west.

RELATIONSHIP OF LANGUAGES.

THE ARYANS.

The Aryans have left no account of themselves sculptured on rocks or the walls of crumbling temples ; but by careful study of the languages of Aryan origin we obtain, after the lapse of four thousand years, a glimpse of the social condition of those who spoke the mother-tongue among the mountains of Bactria. We infer that nouns similar in the various derived languages, — as father {protector)^ brother {helper)^ house, door, walls, boat, grain, etc., — are the names of objects or notions familiar to the original family.* Thus utilizing language as a key to what would otherwise be locked up in the unknown past, we learn that the inhabitants of the fertile Bactrian valleys were devoted to agricultural pursuits. Tilling the ground was an honorable employment, the very name Aryan signifying high-born, noble. We have pictured to us law-abiding communities, grouped together in towns, ruled by chiefs and a king, recognizing family ties, entertaining exalted conceptions of woman, and a solemn regard for the marriage bond — the latter always a mark of high civilization.

Language also tells us that this interesting people preferred the arts of peace to war. With the dog for his companion, the shepherd folded his flocks of sheep ; with the horse and ox for his servants, the landholder broke the soil with a plough of bronze. Pigs and fowls were raised ; cattle formed the chief wealth ; and the cows were milked by the daughter of the household — this name meaning milk-maid.

The Aryan drove from village to village in his wheeled car-

* A thousand words have thus been traced through the sister languages of Aryan birth — a number certainly adequate to the wants of primitive man, when we remember that of more than 120,000 words which constitute our present vocabulary but 3,000 are in common use. The Old Testament was translated with the hefp of only 5,642 English words. While Shakespeare’s genius required 21,000 words for its expression, Milton’s epic employs less than half that number.

INTRODUCTION.

riage, over well-constructed roads ; worked the metals ; plied the loom ; moulded clay into pottery ; and even navigated the neighboring waters in boats propelled by oars. He gave names to numbers as far as one hundred, was familiar with the principles of decimals, and took the moon for his guide in dividing the year into months.

A Supreme Being was worshipped in Bactria, the Great Unseen, the Creator and Governor of the world. In the reference to him of controversies that were difficult to settle, we trace the origin of the later trial by ordeal. Even some of our commonest stories are derived from fables current at least two thousand years B.C. in ancient Arya.

Aryan Migrations. — Few in number at first, the Aryans long lived peaceably together. But as the population grew denser, great bodies, either compelled to search for food in other lands or moved by a thirst for exploration, broke away at different periods from the cradle of their race, in quest of new abodes.

Among these emigrants were Teutonic, Lithuanian, and Slavonian hordes, who pushed to the northwest, and became the ancestors of the Scandinavian and German nations, the Letts, Russians, and Poles. The Celts and Graeco - Italic tribes, probably passing between the Caspian Sea and the Black, made their way by different routes into the fertile regions of southern and southwestern Europe. The Slavs, Teutons, and Celts, appear to have dispossessed an indigenous population of supposed Turanian origin.* Of the Aryans who migrated to the northwest. Max Muller says that they “ have been the prominent actors in the great drama of history, and have carried to their fullest growth all the elements of active

* In common with the Celts, the North American Indians, Chinese, Egyptians, and other ancient nations, cherished a tradition that they had supplanted an original population — the children of the soil — of low intellectual powers, feeders on roots, hole-dwellers, serpent-eaters.

ARYAN MIGRATIONS.

life with which our nature is endowed. They have perfected society and morals. They have become, after struggles with Semitic and Turanian races, the rulers of history; and it seems to be their mission to link all parts of the world together by the chains of civilization, commerce, and religion.”

After the last emigration of Aryans to the west, the parent community extended its settlements southward into the Tableland of Iran {erahn) (modern Persia, Afghanistan, and Beloochistan ; see Map), and finally, in consequence of a religious difference, separated into two great branches. One remained on the Iranian plateau, and was ultimately known in history as the Medes and Persians. The other made its way through

INTRODUCTION.

the mountain-passes, crossed the upper Indus (at some uncertain date, between 2000 and 1400 B.C.), and in time effected the conquest of the rich peninsula of Hindostan. The invaders were the “ fair-complexioned ” Indo- Aryans, who spoke the polished Sanscrit, and among whom sprung up the institution of caste and many gross superstitions.

Aryan Languages. — Similarity in the words and grammatical structure of their languages proves that the Hindoos, the Persians, the Greeks and Romans, the Celtic races, the Slavonian and Teutonic nations, — all had a common origin ; that the frozen Icelander and Indian fire-worshipper, the outcast Gypsy and the plaided Highlander, the English master and his Cooley servant, are brothers of the same stock. Their tongues have been derived from the same parent — a language full of poetic grandeur, older than Greek or Sanscrit, and containing the germs of both — a language which has perished.

Spoken as we have seen from India to the west of Europe, these tongues have been called Indo-European. They embrace the dialects of India and Persia ; the Welsh, and the Celtic of Scotland and Ireland ; the Latin and its derivatives, the Romance languages, viz., Italian, Spanish, French, etc. ; Greek ; Russian and Polish ; English, German, Danish, and Swedish (see diagram preceding the title-page).

Some philologists hold that the primitive home of the Indo- European race cannot be determined, and incline to the opinion that the Asiatic representatives of the family emigrated from Europe into Asia. {Consult Brugman^s ’‘^Elements of the Comparative Grammar of the Indo- Germanic Languages f p. 2.)

THE SEMITES.

The Semitic Languages, in like manner, may all be traced to a common source. To this group belong the Syriac, the Hebrew, the Arabic, the Ethiopic, the ancient Phoenician, and the Carthaginian ; while the cuneiform inscriptions of Bab-

SEMITES AND TURANIANS.

ylonia and Assyria are the written characters of a Semitic tongue common to those countries. (See Chart, p. 85.)

Philology has not followed the Semites to a home as limited as that of the Aryans ; though tradition points to Armenia as their early domicile, ethnological science to Arabia or Africa. It declares, however, the Semitic and the Aryan to be distinct forms of speech, perhaps branches of a common stem, but neither derivable from the other.

THE TURANIANS.

Turanian Dialects. — Here there is slighter evidence of relationship. The Turanian languages, though they seem to be members of the same original family, differ widely; for those who spoke them were nomads, wanderers over the globe, whose customs, laws, and dialects were modified with every change of habitation and condition. To this sporadic group belong the Mongolian tongues, the Turkish, Finnic, and Hungarian, together with certain Polynesian dialects ; but the Chinese, Japanese, Australian, North American Indian, South African, and many others of the nine hundred languages spoken on the earth, bear hardly enough resemblance to these to be classed in the same family.

SYSTEMS OF WRITING.

Language is either spoken or written. Spoken language we find to have been used as a medium of communication between men in the earliest periods to which history carries us back. It is the expression of reason, and as such constitutes a line of demarcation between man and the lower animals. Without it, indeed, the brute can, to a certain extent, make known his emotions and desires. The house-dog, by the distinctive character of his bark, welcomes his master or threatens the intrusive stranger. The hen warns her chicks of danger by one set of signals, and calls them to feed by another.

INTRODUCTION.

The ant, discovering an inviting grain too heavy for itself alone, bears the intelligence to its fellows and promptly returns with aid. But such limited means of communication fall infinitely short of the perfect system which is exclusively man’s birthright — which uses articulate sounds to represent ideas, and combines them so as to express every shade of thought.

Written Language. — Spoken Language lives only for the moment; words uttered to-day die and are forgotten to-morrow. To give permanency to his passing thoughts, when advancing civilization showed such permanency to be desirable, man devised Writing, the art of representing ideas by visible characters. Written Language is the vehicle of literature — the material in which the thinker embodies his conceptions for future generations, just as the sculptor gives permanent forms to his ideals in marble, or the painter on the glowing canvas.

Writing is either Ideographic or Phonetic. The Ideographic System represents material objects directly, by pictures or symbols. The Phonetic System uses certain characters to express the articulate sounds by which such objects or notions are denoted, and thus indirectly, through the two media of sounds and characters, indicates the objects or notions themselves.

Ideographic Writing. — It has long been contended that the earliest method of conveying ideas was by means of pictorial images, and there is no reason for disputing such a theory. But this is not written language ; it is mere thoughtpainting, or the representation of objects and actions by pict^ ures, and may satisfy the wants of primitive races in convey^ ing a limited amount of information. Thus the American Indians informed one another of the presence and movements of troops, or of engagements that had taken place, by means of pictures. The emblems employed were generally understood among the different tribes: e. g., a tree with human legs

SYSTEMS OF WRITING.

Stood for a botanist ; and the figure of a man with two bars on the stomach and four across the legs, was a prescription ordering abstinence from food for two days, and rest for four. The original characters of the Egyptians and Chinese, of the cuneiform systems, and of the Aztecs, were, in like manner, mere pictures^ and nothing more.

The test of a written language is its ability to express abstract thoughts by single signs or combinations of signs ; in this direction, rude symbols are found utterly wanting. It may be that picture-drawing gave the first impulse to the invention of phonetic writing; yet the origin of such writing, with its gradual development, is as hidden from us as that of language itself. We are justified, however, in assuming that wherever we have history, we have also written language.

Phonetic Writing. — There are two systems of' phonetic writing, the Syllabic and the Alphabetic. The characters of the former are used to represent syllables^ or combinations of sounds (either words or parts of words) uttered by distinct impulses of the voice ; those of the latter represent the elements of which these syllables are composed, or letters. History indicates that written language is always phonetic. In Egypt it is both syllabic and alphabetic ; in Babylon, syllabic alone.

The characters by which the elementary sounds of any language are denoted, arranged in order, constitute its Alphabet. A perfect alphabet would be one in which every letter represented but one simple sound, and every simple sound was represented by but one letter — a perfection never yet attained.

It is to the Egyptians that the world is indebted for Alphabetic Writing. Their hieroglyphics were partly alphabetic, partly syllabic, and partly determinative, the latter, in the course of centuries, becoming word-signs or ideograms (see p. 1 20). From a modification of their alphabet employed by them in transliterating Semitic words and names, the Phoenician alphabet was derived. This modified alphabet, including

INTRODUCTION.

several syllabic signs, consisted of about thirty characters. It has been conjectured that Phoenicians, dwelling or trading in Egypt, saw the advantage of written language, and employed this transliteration alphabet to write their own tongue. All the modifications introduced by them are graphic in nature, and designed to simplify the original characters. It is further important to note that the Phoenician alphabet is not derived from the hieroglyphics, but from the second form of the hieratic (see p. 122, and table, p. 87, where the theory is illustrated). The Hittite hieroglyphics (p. 114) may be derived from the Egyptian ; but other ancient Oriental alphabets, as the Babylonian, the Chinese, and perhaps the Sanscrit, were possibly independently invented and developed.

Such is the most probable account of the origin of letters. Tradition variously ascribes their invention to Thoth, an Egyptian god, to Cadmus of Phoenicia, to Odin the supreme deity of the Scandinavians, and to others. Of the varied exports of the Phoenicians, their alphabet was the most precious. Wherever their sails were spread, their letters were made known, and all nations sooner or later profited by this great Semitic invention. In the table on page 87 may be traced a decided resemblance between several of the Phoenician characters and the hieroglyphics in which they originated; also the successive changes by which they were modified in the earlier and later Greek and Latin letters — whence most of our English capitals. {See Taylor’s “ The Alphabet.”)

Modes of Writing and Pointing.— As regards the direction in which their writing ran, ancient nations differed. In the Egyptian hieroglyphics there was no established order; but the figures of men and animals, facing the beginning of the lines, often gave a clue to the direction in which they were meant to be read. As a general rule, the Indo-Europeans wrote from left to right, the Semites from right to left. The Laws of Solon and other Greek writings of that period (about

MODES OF PUNCTUATING.

600 B.C.) appeared in lines running alternately from right to left and from left to right, as an ox walks in ploughing ; this “ox-turning system” {boustrophedon)^ however, was soon followed by our present method. The Chinese, Japanese, and Mongols, wrote in columns, which were read from the top of the page, and from right to left. In the ancient Mexican pictographs, similar columns were read from the bottom.

The ancients did not separate sentences, or their subdivisions, with points ; but wrote their words together, leaving the meaning to be deciphered from the context. Rings, ovals, or squares, were sometimes drawn around proper names, and words were occasionally separated by some device — a diagonal bar or wedge ^ , as in ancient Persian inscriptions ; or a letter placed on its side, as between the following words: CONJUGIHKARISSIMAE. In a Roman inscription found near Bath, England, a small v occurs after every word : JULIUSvVITALISvFABRI. A peculiar sign was used, in some cases, immediately before the name of a god or of a person.