side; and at the same time a patriotism that cherishes the memory
and example of the great men of old, who, by their sufferings in
the cause of religion or of freedom, have won for themselves a
deathless glory, and for their nation those privileges of free
life and free institutions of which they are the inheritors and
possessors.

Nations are not to be judged by their size any more than
individuals:

"it is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make Man better be."

For a nation to be great, it need not necessarily be big, though
bigness is often confounded with greatness. A nation may be very
big in point of territory and population and yet be devoid of true
greatness. The people of Israel were a small people, yet what a
great life they developed, and how powerful the influence they
have exercised on the destinies of mankind! Greece was not big:
the entire population of Attica was less than that of South
Lancashire. Athens was less populous than New York; and yet how
great it was in art, in literature, in philosophy, and in
patriotism! (22)

But it was the fatal weakness of Athens that its citizens had no
true family or home life, while its freemen were greatly
outnumbered by its slaves. Its public men were loose, if not
corrupt, in morals. Its women, even the most accomplished, were
unchaste. Hence its fall became inevitable, and was even more
sudden than its rise.