Nor were these privileges
confined to the wealthy and noble, who were able, when the time came,
to make payment in kind, but the poorest and most helpless outcast,
the beggar, the fugitive, and the exile, found countenance and
protection, when he made his plea in the name of Zeus, the god of
hospitality.
V
This frankness and simplicity of manners runs through the whole life
of the Homeric Greek, and is reflected in every page of the two great
epics which are the lasting monuments of that bright and happy age. As
civilisation advances, and life becomes more complicated and
artificial, human activity tends more and more to split up into an
infinite number of minute occupations, and the whole time and energy
of each individual are not more than sufficient to make him master in
some little corner of art, science, or industry. A vast system of
commerce brings the products of the whole world to our doors; and it
is almost appalling to think of the millions of toiling hands and busy
brains which must pass all their days in unceasing toil, in order that
the humblest citizen may find his daily wants supplied. To give only
one example: how vast and tremendous is the machinery which must be
set at work before a single letter or post-card can reach its
destination! This multiplication of needs, and endless subdivision of
labour, too often results in stunting and crippling the development of
the individual, so that it becomes harder, as time advances, to find a
complete man, with all his faculties matured by equable and harmonious
growth.
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