HELLENISM

a type of culture peculiar to the ancient Greeks. The Gk. character as reflected in Hellenic religion, poetry, art, and philosophy makes for clearne , measure, and balance, and eschews the vague, the undefined, the exce ive. The Gk. ideal is therefore the antithesis to the Gothic. In architecture the Gothic mind expre ed itself in soaring arches and mysterious curves. The Gothic mythology deais with vast, titanic, cloud-like beings, neither human in character nor restricted in power. The Gk. mind is well illustrated by the motto of the ancient Delphic temple, ‘Nothing in exce .’ In Gk. mythology the outstanding characteristic is the extraordinary definitene of the gods and godde es. Each god has his peculiar attributes, his fixed bodily shape, and his allotted functions. Mystery has no place in the Gk. Pantheon. Similarly in philosophy the theory that virtue lies in preserving the ‘mean’ is characteristically Gk. Thus bravery is regarded as a mean between rashne on the one hand and cowardice on the other.