The Greek View of Life | Page 2

Edited and Translated by DR. JEBB (Cambridge University Press).
THUCYDIDES (B.C. 471-- ), edited and translated by B. JOWETT (Clarendon Press).

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I.
--THE GREEK VIEW OF RELIGION
1. Introductory
2. Greek Religion an Interpretation of Nature
3. Greek Religion an Interpretation of the Human Passions
4. Greek Religion the Foundation of Society
5. Religious Festivals
6. The Greek Conception of the Relation of Man to the Gods
7. Divination, Omens, Oracles
8. Sacrifice and Atonement
9. Guilt and Punishment
10. Mysticism
11. The Greek View of Death and a Future Life
12. Critical and Sceptical Opinion in Greece
13. Ethical Criticism
14. Transition to Monotheism
15. Metaphysical Criticism
16. Metaphysical reconstruction--Plato
17. Summary

CHAPTER II.
--THE GREEK VIEW OF THE STATE
1. The Greek State a "City"
2. The Relation of the State to the Citizen
3. The Greek View of Law
4. Artisans and Slaves
5. The Greek State primarily Military, not Industrial
6. Forms of Government in the Greek State
7. Faction and Anarchy
8. Property and the Communistic Ideal
9. Sparta
10. Athens
11. Sceptical Criticism of the Basis of the State
12. Summary

CHAPTER III.
--THE GREEK VIEW OF THE INDIVIDUAL
1. The Greek View of Manual Labour and Trade
2. Appreciation of External Goods
3. Appreciation of Physical Qualities
4. Greek Athletics
5. Greek Ethics--Identification of the Aesthetic and Ethical Points of View
6. The Greek View of Pleasure
7. Illustrations.--Ischomachus; Socrates
8. The Greek View of Woman
9. Protests against the Common View of Woman
10. Friendship
11. Summary

CHAPTER IV.
--THE GREEK VIEW OF ART
1. Greek Art an Expression of National Life
2. Identification of the Aesthetic and Ethical points of View
3. Sculpture and Painting
4. Music and the Dance
5. Poetry
6. Tragedy
7. Comedy
8. Summary

CHAPTER V.
--CONCLUSION

THE GREEK VIEW OF LIFE

CHAPTER I
THE GREEK VIEW OF RELIGION
Section 1. Introductory.
In approaching the subject of the religion of the Greeks it is necessary to dismiss at the outset many of the associations which we are naturally inclined to connect with that word. What we commonly have in our mind when we speak of religion is a definite set of doctrines, of a more or less metaphysical character, formulated in a creed and supported by an organisation distinct from the state. And the first thing we have to learn about the religion of the Greeks is that it included nothing of the kind. There was no church, there was no creed, there were no articles; there was no doctrine even, unless we are so to call a chaos of legends orally handed down and in continual process of transformation by the poets. Priests there were, but they were merely public officials, appointed to perform certain religious rites. The distinction between cleric and layman, as we know it, did not exist; the distinction between poetry and dogma did not exist; and whatever the religion of the Greeks may have been, one thing at any rate is clear, that it was something very different from all that we are in the habit of associating with the word.
What then was it? It is easy to reply that it was the worship of those gods--of Zeus, Apollo, Athene, and the rest--with whose names and histories every one is familiar. But the difficulty is to realise what was implied in the worship of these gods; to understand that the mythology which we regard merely as a collection of fables was to the Greeks actually true; or at least that to nine Greeks out of ten it would never occur that it might be false, might be, as we say, mere stories. So that though no doubt the histories of the gods were in part the inventions of the poets, yet the poets would conceive themselves to be merely putting into form what they and every one believed to be essentially true.
But such a belief implies a fundamental distinction between the conception, or rather, perhaps, the feeling of the Greeks about the world, and our own. And it is this feeling that we want to understand when we ask ourselves the question, what did a belief in the gods really mean to the ancient Greeks? To answer it fully and satisfactorily is perhaps impossible. But some attempt must be made; and it may help us in our quest if we endeavour to imagine the kind of questionings and doubts which the conception of the gods would set at rest.
Section 2. Greek Religion an Interpretation of Nature.
When we try to conceive the state of mind of primitive man the first thing that occurs to us is the bewilderment and terror he must have felt in the presence of the powers of nature. Naked, houseless, weaponless, he is at the mercy, every hour, of this immense and incalculable Something so alien and so hostile to himself. As fire it burns, as water it drowns, as tempest it harries and destroys; benignant it may be at times, in warm sunshine and calm, but the kindness is brief and treacherous. Anyhow, whatever its mood, it has to be met and dealt with. By its help, or, if not, in