why the views of the most distinguished Grecks must necessarily he set down as low and hardly respectable in our age of ever chivalrous and feudal dignity, we must recall to mind the words of comfort wherewith Ulysses soothed his heart in all his ignominious positions: “Forbear, dear heart, forbear! thou hast forborne worse things than these." And let us all, as an application of this mythical example, the story of that Athenian officer who, being threatened with a stick by another officer, in presence of the whole staff, shook off this disgrace with the words: “Strike, but hear me." (This was Themistocles, that ingenious Ulysses of the classical age, who was the very man at that moment of disgrace to send down to his "dear heart" these words of comfort and extremity.) The Greeks were far from making as light of life and death on account of an insult as we, under the influence of inherited chivalrous adventurousness and self-devotion, are wont to do; or from seeking opportunities, as we do in our duels, for risking both in the cause of honour; or from valuing the preservation of a good name (honour) more highly than the acquisition of an evil one if the latter be compatible with fame and the sense of power; or from remaining faithful to the prejudices and the creed of rank, if they could prevent us from becoming tyrants. For this is the ignoble secret of the Greek aristocrat: from sheer jealousy, he considers each one of his peers to be on an equal footing with himself, but is ready, like a tiger, to pounce upon his
