[73] E.g., Iliad XVII. 446: "Nothing then is more wretched
anywhere than man of all that breathes and creeps upon this
earth."
[74] E.g., Theognis, 425-428: "Best of all for all things upon
earth is it not to be born nor to behold the splendors of the
sun; next best to traverse as soon as possible the gates of
Hades." See also the almost identical passage in Oedipus in
Colonus, 1225.--The Anthology is full of pessimistic utterances:
"Naked came I upon the earth, naked I go below the ground--why
then do I vainly toil when I see the end naked before me?"--"How
did I come to be? Whence am l? Wherefore did I come? To pass
away. How can I learn aught when naught I know? Being naught I
came to life: once more shall I be what I was. Nothing and
nothingness is the whole race of mortals."--"For death we are all
cherished and fattened like a herd of hogs that is wantonly
butchered."
The difference between Greek pessimism and the oriental and
modern variety is that the Greeks had not made the discovery that
the pathetic mood may be idealized, and figure as a higher form
of sensibility.
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