\A Ci'^ ,L^^ xJbu ><!^^^^. THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES FROM THE LIBRARY OF ERNEST CARROLL MOORE Short Histories of the Literatures of the World Edited by Edmund Gosse LITERATURES OF THE WORLD. Edited by EDMUND GOSSE, Hon. M.A. ofTrinityCollege, Cambridge. Asuccessionof attractivevolumes dealingwith the his- toryofliteratureineach country. Eachvolumewillcontain aboutthreehundredand lifty i2mopaf;es, andwilltieatan entireliterature, givinga uniform impressionofitsdevelop- ment, history, and character, and of itsrelation toprevious andtocontemporary work. Each, i2mo,pcelrotvho,l$u1m.e50andedtit;iopnoaslt.age, 14 cents NOW READY. MODERN SCANDINAVIAN LITERATURE. ByDr. Georg Brandhs,ofCopenhagen. CHINESE LITERATURE. By Herbert A. Giles, M.A., LL.D. (Aberd.), Professor of Chinese in the University of Cambridge,andlateH. B. M. ConsulatNingpo. SANSKRIT LITERATURE. By A. A. Macdonell, M.A., Deputy Boden Professor of Sanskrit at the University of 0.\ford. RUSSIAN LITERATURE. ByK. Waliszewski. BOHEMIAN LITERATURE. By Francis, Count LOtzow, authorof"Bohemia: An Historical Sketch." JAPANESE LITERATURE. By W. G. Aston, C. M.G., M. A.,lateActingSecretary at theBritishLegationatTokio. SPANISH LITERATURE. ByJ. Fitzmaurice-Kellv,Mem- beroftheSpanishAcademy. ITALIAN LITERATURE. By Richard Garnett, C. B., LL.D., KeeperofPrinted Books intheBritishMuseum. ANCIENT GREEK LITERATURE. By Gilbert Murray, M. A.,ProfessorofGreekin theUniversityofGlasgow. FRENCH LITERATURE. By Edward Dowden, D. C. L., LL.D., Professor of English Literature at the University of Dublin. MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE. BytheEditor. IN PREPARATION. American Literature. By Prof. W. P. Trent, of Columbia University. German Literature. Hungarian Literature. By Dr. Zoltan Beothy, Professor ofHungarian LiteratureattheUniversityofBudapest. Latin Literature. ByDr.ArthurWoolgar-Verrall, Fellow andSeniorTutorofTrinityCollege, Cambridge. D. APPLETON AND COMPANY, NEW YORK. A HISTORY OF ANCIENT GREEK LITERATURE BY GILBERT MURRAY, M. A. PROFESSOR OF GREEK IN THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW SOME TIME FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD NEW YORK APPLETON AND COMPANY D. 1901 Copyright, 1897, By D. APPLETON AND COMPANY. CoilegB liibraiy EDITOR'S GENERAL INTRODUCTION The vast progress made in all departments of literary scholarship, and the minuteness with which knowledge is now subdivided, threaten to leave the general reader bewildered at the diversityand bulk of whatis presented to him. The exact historian of literature concentrates his attention on so narrow a field that he cannot be expected to appeal to a wide class those who study ; what he writes are, or must in some measure grow to be, his fellow-specialists. But the more precisely each little area is surveyed in detail, the more necessary does it become for us to return at frequent intervals to an inspection of the general scheme of which each topo- graphical study is but a fragment magnified. It has seemed that of late the minute treatment of a multitude of intellectual phenomena has a little tended to obscure the general movement of literature in each race or country. In a crowd of handbooks, each of high authority in itself, the general trend of influence or thread of evolution may be lost. The absence of any collection of summaries of the literature of the world has led the Publisher and the Editor of the present series to believe that a succession of attractive volumes, dealing each with the history of 1440132 EDITOR'S GENERAL INTRODUCTION vi literature in a single counti-y, would be not less welcome than novel. The Editor has had the good fortune to interest in this project a number of scholars whose names guarantee a rare combination of exact knowledge with the power of graceful composition. He has the pleasure of being able to announce that this interest has taken a practical shape, and that already there is being prepared for the press a considerable series of volumes, most of them composed by men pre-eminently recog- nised for their competence in each special branch of the subject. If there are one or two names less generally familiar to the public than the rest, the Editor con- fidently predicts that the perusal of their volumes will more than justify his invitation to them to contribute. Great care will be taken to preserve uniformity of form and disposition, so as to make the volumes convenient for purposesof comparison, and so as toenable theliteratures themselves to be studied in proper correlation. In preparing these books, the first aim will be to make them exactly consistent with all the latest discoveries of fact ; and the second, to ensure that they are agreeable to read. It is hoped that they will be accurate enough to be used in the class-room, and yet pleasant enough and picturesque enough to be studied by those who seek nothing from their books but enjoyment. An effort will be made to recall the history of literature from the company of sciences which have somewhat unduly borne — her down from philology, in particular,and from politi- cal history. These have their interesting and valuable influence upon literature, but she is independent of them, and is strong enough to be self-reliant.