Strife In Greece

Dominion, Volume 38, Issue 68, 14 December 1944, Page 6

Strife In Greece

Sir, —In view of the discussions concerning the position in Greece, it may be worthwhile recalling that such strife is by no means a product of our times, or of this particular period. This, extract from an address on “The Classics, given to the Classical Association on January 8, 1926, by Earl Baldwin, a former Prime Minister of Britain, deals with this point. He said : “There was no experiment she did not tr” to win organic unity, but she was defeated by those very characteristics of intellect and temperament which raised her to such heights in poetry, art and philosophy. Civic unity she could never achieve, and her attempts to weld together people of the blood were foiled on the very threshold. Failure is in many -ways a more potent teacher than success, and the tragedy of her history only throws into more radiant relief the debt we owe her in those arts wherein she was supreme. She spoke the last word in beauty of speech and of form; her creations aro the touchstone today as they were 2000 years ago, and it is a comforting thought, in these days particularly, that whatever fails to pass this test must ultimately perish from among us ns barbaric and exotic.” —I am, etc.. RANGI. Oriental Bay, December 12.