Rose's account of the Greek struggle for
independence is vivid, patriotic, and full of information on a subject that
few people know much about. The most interesting part of the book to
scholars is the chapters on modern Greek. Dr. Rose says: "The living Greek
of to-day shows much less deviation from the Greek of two thousand and more
years ago than any other European language shows in the course of
centuries." This statement will surprise many, but it is literally true.
Dr. Rose gives the history of the creation of the modern Greek literary
language on the lines of classic Greek, and he advocates the use of modern
Greek, especially in the matter of pronunciation, in teaching classic
Greek. In all this we go with him heartily, and his views are being adopted
in many colleges in Europe and America.
[_From the Evangelist_, February 17th, 1898.]
We commend this book to all who would know what the "concert of European
powers" means to a struggling kingdom and people used as a "buffer state"
between the unspeakable Turk and civilized "Westerns." The historical
chapters of the work are a revelation of the intricacies of "the
disgraceful deals of the great powers whose victim the kingdom of Greece
has been." The story is simply told with great candor and quiet reserve,
but it carries a lesson that moves the heart and stirs the indignation of
dispassionate and perhaps indifferent observers. How hard is it for a
people like the Greeks or the Armenians to get a hearing! What "political
necessities" demand silence; what diplomatic falsehoods, deceptions,
subterfuges are indulged by ministries and cabinets that are called
Christian! The history of Greece from the fall of the Byzantine Empire
up to this hour is a tragedy, and the final deliverance in 1828 was more
painfully sad and disappointing, more shamefully mismanaged and limited,
more wretchedly hampered and hindered in every possible way, than is
easily conceivable, considering the popular sentiment roused by such
Philhellenes as Byron, Erskine, Gladstone, and the Genevan banker Eynard.
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