The history of Greece shall remain until the end of time, and as the peoples of the world grow intelligently and intellectually more enlightened they will come to the appreciation of the fact that the Greek people has contributed more material in paving the way to the spiritual freedom and the individual liberty of the world than any other nation on the face of the earth, and that the Greek spirit is still living and ruling in principle in the very heart of the civilized world.
It is essential that every nation in making up the list of its benefactors should give the first place to the most distinguished one. In accordance to the general law the Greek nation of today not only owes its literary language, in part at least, to the exertions of the great patriot Korais, but to him is accredited the prophecy, that, "the Greek nation shall never be great again, unless regenerated in Christ."
Adamantios Korais was born April 27, 1747, in Smyrna. From early youth he devoted himself to the study of old and new languages. In obedience to his father's wishes, he followed a mercantile career during the year 1772-78, without, however, neglecting the sciences. From 1782-88 he studied medicine in Montpellier and established himself as a practising physician in Paris. From there he worked incessantly for the education of his compatriots, and endeavored to awaken a favorable opinion of his nation in the Occidental countries. In 1800 he received the prize of the Academy for an edition of the writings of Hippocrates, but before this time he had attracted the attention of the world of learning by his ability, and Napoleon the Great conferred upon him many honors and titles and appointed him the medical adviser of the Court. Later on he gained fame by his Greek translation of Beccaria's work on crimes and their punishments. This was followed by a work entitled "De l'etat actuel de la civilization en Greece" (Paris, 1803). This was the first publication in Europe which gave true information on the intellectual and moral conditions of the new Greeks. During the period from 1805-27 he published a collection--twenty volumes--of old Greek classics, with critical explanations and prolegomena. In the latter he gave his patriotic teachings and advices. His greatest merit consisted in his promoting the Greek morals and the Greek language; he eliminated as much as possible all foreign elements, but retained all that was good and useful from all centuries, rejecting the one-sided retention of the old words and forms as not compatible with the understanding of the people. He above all, helped to establish a noble literary language. On account of his old age he could take no part in the rising of his fatherland in 1821, but aided it greatly by his patriotic pen. When Greece had gained her independence he took an active interest in the new formation of his country. In 1830-31 he attacked the government of Kapodistria in two publications. He died in 1833. His autobiography appeared in Paris in the same year. The name of Adamantios Korais will never die from the memory of every patriot Greek, and yet his sincere opinion that "the Greek nation shall never be great again, unless regenerated in Christ," had little effect upon the hearts of the people, or rather upon the hearts of the leaders of the people.