The Greeks after Alexander the Great this Greek civilization had strength enough to influence the adjoining Indo-Scythian territory. The coins of this empire usually bear Indian and Greek inscriptions in Greek letters; then Indian in Greek letters; finally the native language, but still in Greek letters. The change in the older figures strikes us as strange: thus the Indian zebu, the Tibetan yak, or Greek divinities (Artemis-Selene, DemeterHermes). But the influence reached still further eastward. The Bactrian province of Ferghana (in Chinese, Ta yüan, probably from Toupiovav, as in Strabo) was occupied by the Chinese general Li Kuang li in 101 B. C.; we find here the bridge connecting the Greek and Chinese civilizations, over which came the movement which revolutionised Chinese art under the emperor Wu Ti (140-87 B. C.). It had long been clear that the Chinese at this time and from this district imported the noble Turcoman blood-horses, lucern (in Chinese muh, from μndin), as excellent horse fodder, and the vine (in Chinese, p'u t'au, from Bóтpus). After Chang kien the explorer (Vol. II, p. 79) had brought the vine from Ta yüan to China, the emperor Wu Ti had it planted in the palace gardens at Si ngan fu (Cha ngan). But now critics of Chinese art assign to this very period metal mirrors which show marvellous vine-leaf ornamentation, as well as the lion and the winged horse. It is more than mere conjecture that Chinese art, which had stood still since the second millennium B. C., owed its sudden renascence to Greco-Bactrian influence and the naturalism of Greek art. The excavations of Aurel Stein, 1900-1901, in Chinese (East) Turkestan, in Khotan, have brought to light fresh evidence of the expansion of Greek culture, as well as a further station on the road by which the peoples of the West migrated towards Eastern Asia. A Pallas Athene, represented on a seal in archaic style, a seal with a sitting Greek figure, probably Eros, and, above all, a seal with a portrait head after a Western model, but with thoroughly Chinese features (an illustration of it is given in Stein's "Sand-buried Ruins of Khotan," London, 1903), show that here, half-way between West Iran and Pekin, Greek culture had established a firm footing. The types of the coins for Transoxania or Western Turkestan originated in the Greek centres of civilization in Bactria, so that the silver tetradrachms found in Samarkand and Tashkent must have been struck after the pattern of the coins of Heliocles and Euthydemus, and similarly the path of Greek influences must have led thence through Ferghana, past the Greek city of Alexandria Eschate and Kashgar and Yarkand, to Khotan. And while thus in the remotest east of the countries which were included in the habitable world, on the fringe of the East Asiatic world, the Greek spirit, wantonly prodigal of its forces, was tearing itself to pieces, and nevertheless was able to influence coinage, art, and flora, as far as India and East Asia; while in the Nile valley and at Babylon native authors wrote in Greek, while Greeks had explored the Red Sea, the Nile, the Caspian, and Scythia, this same Hellenism had founded for itself in the West a province of Hellenic manners and customs, and had completely enslaved it. This was the Roman Empire, now coming to the fore, which, as it took its part in this international commerce, offered the Greek intellect a new home with new constitutional and legal principles. Roman historiography, philosophy, eloquence, mathematics, medicine, sculpture, and poetry, the games of Rome, the fauna and flora of Italy, the forms of daily life and the religions of Rome, became Greek. A world-empire could not VOL. V-2 be won except in alliance with a cosmopolitan civilization - Rome herself was powerless to create both these at once. The Greeks had given the Italians the fruit trees of the East (peach, almond, walnut, chestnut, plum). In the midst of this enriched flora there now arose in Italy the Greek house, with its two divisions, ornamented with Greek marble, or the old Italian house transformed with the Greek ridged roof; its rooms, which bore Greek names, were divided by Greek tapestry curtains. In the dining-room (triclinium) the guests reclined, wearing long woollen tunics. The soft house-shoes, slippers, and sandals of the Greeks were in use. The girls in the house wore the Greek skirt (cacomboma). On the high roads were seen the Macedonian kausia as head-wear, together with the Greek (broader-brimmed) petasos; for cold weather the fur tippet (arnacis) of Greek pattern had come into fashion. Whether we regard the higher employments of life, education with its three grades and its three classes of Greek teachers, or the new professions which originated in the growing tendencies of taste (the breeding of poultry, game, or fish), everywhere Greek influence is predominant. In ancient times a critical period (famine, pestilence) or a practical want may have called in individual divinities from the Greek religion (cf. p. 3), and these motives were indeed always important. On the occasion of a pestilence in 293 B. C. the worship of Esculapius was brought to Rome from Epirus, and attracted at the same time the Greek art of medicine. The war troubles of 249 effected the transference of the Greek ideas as to the lower world from Tarentum to the Ara Ditis (in the "Tarentum" on the Campus Martius), so that henceforward Pluto and Proserpine are worshipped as native divinities. Again, the defeat at Lake Trasimene (217 B. C.) aroused a desire to bring in new deities; Venus of Mount Eryx and Mens (woporúvn) then came into the Italian capital. But now another point made itself felt. There was not only the wish to invoke the help of gods from the predominant religion, but a desire was felt for the noisy festivals of the Greeks; thus in 238 B. C. the feast of a Greek goddess was introduced under the name of the Floralia. The ritual of the Greeks was so much more elaborate and artistic than that of Rome, that a religious revolution at once resulted. Thus both Italian and Capitoline divinities for instance, Juno Sospita of Lanuvium, and Juno Regina of the Aventine -were now honoured with Greek rites. To the latter a procession of virgins went in pilgrimage, chanting the refrain of the propitiatory hymn which L. Livius Andronicus, a Greek of Lower Italy († 209 B. c.) had composed. The circle of the twelve gods was completed after the Greek model; other assimilations were made, and Greek myths then completely concealed from view the old Italian divinities. But where, nevertheless, some clear ideas of their nature were preserved, there the plastic art of Greece, with its powerfully elaborated types of divinities, crushed the last remnants of native imagery. These dethroned deities seemed almost to exist on sufferance in order to fill up gaps in the chronology. What had become of the time when foreign deities might only be worshipped outside the boundaries of the city (the Pomerium)? With the Greek religion, Greek philosophy, Greek rationalism, and religious inquiry came into Italy, and although hindered in various ways, for example, by 1 Ludi magister or pædagogus in the house; litteratus; rhetor. The Greeks after Alexander the Great the censorship (prohibition of the "Pythagorean" books) and the expulsion of individual teachers, finally, in the dress of the Stoic school, attained to undis puted sovereignty. Thus the past history of Rome was remodelled and given a Greek colouring. The national fancy had already tried to illuminate the obscure beginnings of the city, borrowing many details from the legend of Cyrus in Herodotus. Greek imagination, which had once made Zopyrus, Periander, and Jason of Pheræ living characters, now bestowed form and colour on the not less dark history of the kings of Rome. The siege of Veii was retold with incidents suggested by the Trojan war, and Homeric heroes lent their characteristics: Numa (Ulysses), Marcus Valerius (in the struggle with Tarquinius, a second Menelaus against another Paris), Camillus (Achilles), Manlius Torquatus (Hector). Gods of the Greek type take part in the battles (thus the Dioscuri in the battle on the river Sagra in Bruttium and at Lake Regillus); characters are created according to Greek models (Decemvirs as a parallel to the Thirty Tyrants, Scipio as a new Alcibiades, Fabius as a modernised version of Nicias); the horrors of the plague are transferred from Athens to Sicily, and the hopes raised by the Sicilian expedition are attributed to the Romans at the time of the African enterprise of Scipio. How excellently the occupation of Athens by the Persians supplies particulars for the Gallic conquest! How the accounts of Greek battles (the battle of Cunaxa is a prototype for Cirta) and stories of sieges (Halicarnassus— Saguntum) make up for the Roman deficiency in imaginative power! To fill up the great void of the national past the Roman historians, if so we may call them, borrowed from their Greek precursors the descriptions of diplomatic negotiations, satirical reflections suited to the surrounding tribes of Italy, and questions on the theory of history. It is little wonder that the Roman historians, down to M. Porcius Cato, wrote in Greek. The world has hardly ever seen such vast districts and nations so various thus steeped in a civilization - however much it may have been a "world-civilization" -which still showed its national origin in the greater majority of its component parts. The larger area belonging to the Anglo-Saxon race of to-day is dominated by the English world-language; but the civilization which goes with the language is not purely Anglo-Saxon, it bears only an Anglo-Saxon tinge. Those centuries preceding the Christian era saw the language of Athens become the Greek vernacular, Kový, this in its turn become the language of the world; and a large part of the known world became at the same time a sphere of Greek culture and intellect. B. LESSER GREECE UP TO THE ROMAN CONQUEST ALEXANDER THE GREAT had assumed the part of a champion of freedom in Hellas, since he put an end to the power of the tyrants and showed especial honour to Athens. But in so doing he kept in view his plans for creating a monarchy invested with religious attributes, and demanded the recognition of his divinity. While in the army of Alexander the Greek opposition made common cause with the discontented Macedonian nobility, the cities of Hellas were generally tranquil. Athens, in whose case the war of desperation instigated by Demosthenes had already marked a departure from the prosperous policy of Eubulus, returned after the battle of Charonea to the paths of Eubulus, and flourished with fresh splendour under the guidance of Lycurgus (335-326). In this era of peace the ministry of finance became the most important office in the State; like the military offices, it required to be filled with experts (who, contrary to democratic traditions, were elected and not chosen by lot), and to be secured from rapid changes by a four years' tenure of office. Athens had found in Lycurgus one of her greatest finance ministers. This man, who amid the growing luxury of his native city led a studiously simple life, understood not only how to raise the State revenue once more to twelve hundred talents, but also how to turn his personal credit to the advantage of the State, since private individuals would only lend their money to it on the guarantee of Lycurgus. In order to increase the public interest in the figures of the revenue, the budget was publicly displayed on tablets. The immense naval arsenal at Piræus was now constructed; accommodation for the fleet was for the future provided by three hundred and seventyseven boat-houses. A Panathenaic racecourse was built, the gymnasium in the Lyceum and the theatre of Dionysus were completed, and the fleet was put on a war footing. But after the downfall of Lycurgus Athens entangled herself in the (Lamian) war with Macedon (cf. Vol. IV, p. 131), and had to consent to a diminution of her political privileges and to the introduction of a Macedonian garrison. The attempt of Polyperchon to restore the old constitution on a democratic basis. failed completely (Vol. IV, p. 132). Demetrius of Phaleron, at once a statesman, philosopher, and orator, made Athens independent under a moderate oligarchy, even though the Macedonian garrison was left. Under his government (318-307) not only did a sound financial policy prevail, so that the revenue rose again to the amount which had been realised under Lycurgus, and the burdensome requirements for the theatre (Choregia) could be paid out of the State coffers and splendid festivals held, but owing to Demetrius the researches of his master Theophrastus in the field of jurisprudence were revived and a reformation of the laws was carried out. But the luxury of the "Tyrant," and the way in which he allowed himself to be fêted, made him hated; Athens therefore greeted with effusion the man who liberated her from the Phalerian, Demetrius Poliorcetes, son of Antigonus (Vol. IV, p. 134). All Central Greece and the Peloponnese, with the exception of Messenia and Sparta, were freed from Macedonian and Egyptian garrisons; the old congress of Corinth (ibid. p. 299) was solemnly revived to maintain the national peace; and Demetrius Poliorcetes, like Philip and Alexander, was nominated commander-in-chief of the league. The recall of Demetrius to Asia Minor by his father Antigonus (ibid. p. 132) did not directly destroy his power, but it gave opportunity for energetic opponents, such as Demochares, the nephew of Demosthenes, to come forward, and led to the revolt of Athens after the battle at Ipsus (301). Under the leadership of Lachares, Athens offered a desperate resistance, for which the temple treasures and the golden robe of Athene had to furnish means. However, in 294 Athens again fell to Demetrius, and henceforth was garrisoned for many years by the Macedonians. Victory over the Spartans, whom he had attacked, did not now attract Demetrius so much as the crown of Macedonia (cf. Vol. IV, p. 135); this he secured by the conquest of Boeotia, where the historian Hieronymus of Cardia was governor, but he only held it for The Greeks after Alexander the Great a short time. The son of Demetrius, the able Antigonus Gonatas, then ruled Greece on the basis of a new treaty and by the help of partisans, who governed in the various towns as tyrants. It was everywhere evident that a more effectual resistance to despotism could be offered by the new leagues than by the antique city-state. The individual Greek city-state was a shuttlecock in the hands of the warring kings of the Diodochi. What assistance could be given in the struggle by alliances of the old pattern! To-day cemented, to-morrow disunited - there was no relying on them, and no strength in them. Finally, after centuries, the further step was successfully taken, and the union of the country (cf. Vol. IV, p. 274) was achieved under a form which allowed to the individual city-state self-government, its own laws and "the constitution of its fathers," but also rendered possible a combination of all the States for foreign policy. The contest with the great powers was now put on another basis. The new form of union was the federation of which we have examples in the Ætolian and Achæan Leagues (c. 280). This marks the greatest advance of Greek development since the seventh century. In order not to leave the greater city-states at the mercy of a numerical majority of the smaller, votes were taken in the Achæan League by cities, each of which had more or less votes according to their population. The highest official of the league (strategos) had to attend to current business; he was assisted by a board of officials (Apocletai in the Ætolian League, Damiurgi in the Achæan) who presided in the congress of the league. Most of the States of Central Greece united in the Ætolian League, the communities of the Peloponnesus in the Achæan League (2,330 square miles), so that a rural population formed the core of the first, while the second was composed mainly of the inhabitants of small towns. These leagues were now the representatives of the political power of Greece. But they only found clever diplomatists, not great men, to lead them. Thus Aratus (Strategos of the Achæan League after 251 and 245; cf. Vol. IV, p. 140) obtained some increase of territory and temporary successes, but he was quite incompetent to lead the whole federation firmly towards a great goal. Vacillation between a pro-Macedonian and an anti-Macedonian policy was an attitude most injurious to the Greek cause at those grave times. It was Sparta and her reforming monarchs that produced this wavering. The struggle between landowners and mortgagees under King Agis (242), the revolution in all conditions of tenure by the "Lycurgan" redivision of the soil under King Cleomenes (226), also the hegemony which Sparta claimed and indeed already had assumed over the Achæans, led to a great combination between Antigonus Doson of Macedonia, the Achæan League, the Thessalians, Epirotes, Acarnanians, Boeotians, Phocians, Locrians, and the towns of Euboea (223). The battle of Sellasia (221) drove Cleomenes into poverty and exile at Alexandria. The peace congress of Naupactus in 217 welded together all the States which we have enumerated with the Ætolian League, for common defence against the West. No one more clearly indicated the dangers which threatened Greece than Agelaus of Naupactus: "If the clouds which are rising from the West settle over Greece, then the truces and the wars, the childish games, in short, which we now play together, will be so entirely taken from us that we shall implore the gods of their goodness to grant us the liberty to wage war and conclude peace, if we wish to be arbitrators of our own quarrels." However the struggle between Carthage |