Show UNIVERSITY LECTURE I Greek Literature Discussed By Prof Cummings Lust Evening j I i j The fifth lecture of the Tuesday j i I evening series was delivered at the I I University of Utah by Professor Byron I Cummings last night his subject being be-ing Greek Literature I The gentleman sad in part I we turn the pages of classic lo man literature I we wander along i i the sunny paths and through the rich fields and stately forests of the writings I ci our rren of letters we find eve > I where the footprints o the ancient I Gre ho Greek thought and tSrpelc style ppear on every hand and the i ihojogy of Greece has been a rich i i storehouse from which our best writers I hav < i caught Inspiration and drawn I II I j material for their most beautiful imagery Greek literature is the basis I the groundwork of the literatures of i i i all civilized nations I I The earliest specimens of the writings writ-ings of the Greeks are the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer These with the 1 Works and Days and Theogony of Hesiod form the early epic poetry but it is evident that they were not the i beginning but the culmination of that age which beg n with the sacred hymns and stfrringr war songs of I earlier heroic Greece and closed with I the powerful and fascinating strains i i of that Blind Bard of the Aeeean seethe see-the idol of the muses I After epic poetry reached perfection lyric was perfected and paved the 1 way for the development of the drama To the worship of Dionyssus and the j master hands of Aeschylus Sophocles Euripides and Arlstophams we owe the creation of the Greek drama that garden of thought and song in which we revel with delight The masterpieces master-pieces of Aeschyluc and Sophocles in tragedy and of Aristophanes in comedy 1 have been the models for the dramatic II art of the world and have been equaled only by Shakespeare I In history Herodotus and Thucydide I stand out preeminently and while i I Herodotus is called the Father of History i His-tory Thucydides should be styled the first philosopher of history I Demosthenes and Aeschines leave no doubt of the state of perfection which j the Greeks attained in elegant and forcible prose Demosthenes is still I considered the greatest orator the world has ever produced and is an excellent example to us of what perseverance per-severance can accomplish when coupled I with a noble inspiring aim in life The lecture was illustrated by busts of authors and some excellent views I of Greece and scenes taken from the I leading authors |