The great productions of Athenian and Roman genius are indeed still what
they were. But though their positive value is unchanged, their relative
value, when compared with the whole mass of mental wealth possessed by
mankind, has been constantly falling. They were the intellectual all of
our ancestors. They are but a part of our treasures. Over what tragedy
could Lady Jane Grey have wept, over what comedy could she have smiled,
if the ancient dramatists had not been in her library? A modern reader
can make shift without _Oedipus_ and _Medea_, while he possesses
_Othello_ and _Hamlet_. If he knows nothing of _Pyrgopolynices_ and
_Thraso_, he is familiar with _Bobadil_, and _Bessus_, and _Pistol_, and
_Parolles_. If he cannot enjoy the delicious irony of Plato, he may find
some compensation in that of Pascal. If he is shut out from
_Nephelococcygia_, he may take refuge in _Lilliput_.... We believe that
the books which have been written in the languages of Western Europe,
during the last two hundred and fifty years--translations from the
ancient languages of course included,--are of greater value than all the
books which at the beginning of that period were extant in the
world.--LORD MACAULAY. _Lord Bacon._