é f i Pee, ia re i « Fae eRe ise NY aged aa «eae “3 ee “ a r base HELLENIC CIVILIZATION 4 HELLENIC CIVILIZATION An Historical Survey BY MAURICE CROISET Administrator of the College of France TRANSLATED BY PAUL B. THOMAS WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY EDWARD DELAVAN PERRY New York ALFRED: A+: KNOPF er COPYRIGHT, 1925, BY ALFRED “MANUFACTURED IN THE U CONTENTS INTRODUCTION PART I—ORIGINS AND BEGINNINGS CHAPTER I Origin anp Earty Procress or HEL- LENIC CIVILIZATION CHAPTER II Tue RE ticion oF THE GREEKS CHAPTER III Tue Testimony or Eric Portry CHAPTER IV Intenuectuat anp Morat Deve.or- MENT IN THE SEVENTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES BEFORE CHRIST PART II—THE FIFTH CENTURY CHAPTER JI = Pourticayt Lire In THE FirtH CEN- TURY CHAPTER II Curr anv THE Great RELIGIOUS MANIFESTATIONS IN THE FIFTH CENTURY CHAPTER III Society anp Customs CHAPTER IV Invetzectuat Activiry anp Works oF ART PART III—THE FOURTH CENTURY CHAPTER I Pourrtics, Bustness, Customs CHAPTER II Oratory, pape History vii 03 52 77 93 ris 123 159 167 vi CONTENTS CHAPTER III Puitosopuy anp ScIENcE 178 CHAPTER IV ‘Tue Arts 193 PART IV—THE LAST PERIODS OF HELLENIC CIVILIZATION CHAPTER I Tue Hewrenistic Krnepoms 203 CHAPTER II Hexzenistic Lrrerature 210 CHAPTER III Puttosopuy ann Science 223 CHAPTER IV Greek Civinization UNDER THE EMPIRE 242 CHAPTER V_ Science anp PuILosopHy 254 CHAPTER VI Tue Enp or HE.LLENIsM 273 CHAPTER VII Conc.uusion 293 INTRODUCTION by Edward Delavan Perry An important indication both of the spread of interest in the civilization of Ancient Greece as a whole and of the gradual change in the points of view from which it is studied may be found in the publication, during recent years, of many works, whether as parts of more or less extensive series or as single issues, presenting one or more aspects of that marvelous achievement of human genius. The materials for our knowledge and comprehension of that period of the world’s history are rapidly increasing. New evidence—archeological, inscriptional, linguistic, literary—is constantly being added, often modifying and sometimes completely overthrowing conceptions hitherto fondly held. Perhaps about no people of history have sweeping generalizations been so readily made and so slavishly adopted as about the Greeks of antiquity. To make the more significant portions of such newly acquired information accessible to that part of the “read- ing public” which cares for these things, but has neither time nor inclination to enter upon the exacting yet nec- essary professional study in these fields, is to perform a most useful service. Certainly not less important is the presentation, in clear, precise, and agreeable form, of the most characteristic features of the Greek civilization, of the main lines of its development through the centuries that lie more or less open to our observation, and the vii Vili INTRODUCTION interpretation to modern minds of ideas and customs in many respects so different from our own, yet forming so largely the basis on which our own civilization rests. With every year it becomes more evident that the Greeks of historical times were a people (or rather a group of peoples) of extraordinary diversity of origin, religious belief and practice, and customs, never for long held together closely in any political union, constantly engaging in war with each other, living under many dif- ferent forms of political organization which sometimes changed with great rapidity, restless, only too often fickle and treacherous, in some respects—particularly in reli- gious ritual—deeply conservative, in others constantly eager for some new thing, commercially enterprising, highly emotional yet endowed with a sense of proportion which generally saved them from extravagance of taste though less often from extravagance of conduct; in short, a people whom it would be excessively difficult to describe adequately in any brief formulas. In dealing with such a subject the danger of failing to see the trees of which the wood is made up is not less that that of failing to see the wood for the trees. And not only were there striking differences of character, customs, political and social organization, among Greek communities at any; given period, but almost any one community varied in such respects from one age to another; while of course the rate of change would itself show many variations. The evidence at our disposal for acquainting ourselves with this ancient Greek civilization is singularly uneven for different regions and periods. For example, the huge losses sustained by the mass of Greek literature in the process of transmission from one generation to another have left great gaps in the writings of some of the most famous and important among Greek historians, whose INTRODUCTION ix accounts at first hand we should so highly prize and so gladly utilize. It happens that for Athens we are vastly better informed than for any other Greek state, and vastly better today than thirty-five years ago, owing to the discovery, in 1891, of a manuscript of Aristotle’s Constitution of Athens—the only one remaining of more than one hundred and fifty similar descriptions of Greek! political organizations. Very few scholars unite with the great learning by which the almost endless details are mastered that pro- found comprehension of the relation of parts to the whole which alone makes possible an accurate and ade- quate generalization. Still fewer add to these the power of concise, clear, and interesting description and exposi- tion. The primacy of the French in these respects will hardly be seriously questioned even by the most patriotic scholars of other countries—just as there are many points in which the French language, with its highly developed and harmonious yet forcible prose style, its delicate and unfailing sense of proportion, its avoidance of involved constructions and exaggerations of every kind, is peculiarly well adapted to the exposition of Greek themes. ‘This happy combination is to be seen, for example, in the famous work of Fustel de Coulanges, La cité antique, originally published in 1864, which after sixty years still remains a standard and invaluable help and guide. In this little book the paramount importance of a thorough study of ancient religion for the compre- hension of the ancient state was—perhaps for the first time—strongly emphasized. A similar insistence upon the necessity of understand- ing ancient religion if we would understand ancient civi- lization is a marked feature of the admirable little book, a model of condensed, clear, and accurate statement, x INTRODUCTION which M. Maurice Croiset of the Collége de France has published in the Collection Payot under the title La Cicilisatiom hellénique. Not less characteristic of the book is the adherence to the historical method of presen- tation, in which the gradual development of the more important features of Greek civilization is traced. While many valuable publications in the field of classical, particularly of Greek, investigation have given him a very high place among scholars, he is best known outside of France as the collaborator with M. Alfred Croiset —par nobile fratrum—in the monumental Histoire de la littérature grecque. Alfred Croiset is no longer living; but Maurice, in spite of his seventy-eight years, is still pursuing his life-work. Mr. Thomas has done competently a most useful task in making the aperew accessible, in an excellent transla- tion, to readers of English to whom French is still a strange tongue. PART I ORIGINS AND BEGINNINGS CHAPTER I ORIGIN AND EARLY PROGRESS OF HELLENIC CIVILIZATION Antecedents. Minoan and Mycenaean Civilizations.— Hellenic civilization, properly so called, begins for us about the eighth century s.c. But this apparent be- ginning was in reality only a continuation, or rather, a revival, Archeological discoveries, especially in the last thirty years, have in fact shown us that a civilization truly worthy of the name had developed in the islands of the féigean Sea, later in Crete, and finally in certain parts of the Greek mainland, during the second millenium B.c., and that it was particularly brilliant toward the middle of that period. ‘The monuments of Crete—notably the palaces of Cnossus, Phestus, and Hagia Triada—altho now reduced to ruins, bear irrefutable witness to it. Moreover, the character of the monuments seems to re- veal an epoch of comparative peace, favorable to the advancement of the arts, to the increase of wealth, and to a quiet and well-organized life. The more or less legendary name of King Minos, represented as a peace- maker and law-giver inspired by the gods, may well remain associated with that succession of remote centuries, of which we know scarcely anything save what is attested by these monuments and their ornamentation. Other no less imposing ruins, at Mycene, at Tiryns, at Orchomenus, and at other places, give evidence that 3 4 HELLENIC CIVILIZATION this civilization had penetrated to many points on the Greek mainland. They lead us to believe that for many centuries powerful chiefs and warriors lived there. ‘These cities are in reality fortresses. ‘They seem to preserve the memory of a sort of military feudalism. Protected by formidable ramparts, and located along the natural trade-routes, they had to be constructed so as at once to guard them and to exploit them. The riches which they contained were well defended, because it was felt, appar- ently, that they were in danger. Evidently redoubtable princes lived behind these massive walls; for them they were citadels, and for their subjects they were places of refuge in case of need. And yet in this state of hostile de- fiance among neighbors art was relished and cultivated. Today, beneath the crumbled palaces, the spade of the ex- cavator discovers relics of brilliant decorations, fragments of columns, painted friezes, and sculptures. In imagina- tion, guided by the remains unearthed, one may restore great banquet halls, royal apartments, and courts of regal splendor. Furthermore, imposing sepulchers bear wit- ness to the pride of princes who sought, even in death, to assert their haughty superiority. This civilization may be called Mycenexan, since the ruins of Mycene today represent to us the highest development of culture in that period. Period of Invasions and Migrations.—On the other hand, the epic poets tell us of a confederation of kings called Acheans; and the historians report that toward the end of the second millennium sz. c. great movements of populations took place in Greece and completely over- turned the previous civilization. They refer especially to a conquest of the Peloponnesus by Dorian tribes de- scending from the region of the Pindus. It is probable that there was in fact a long series of migrations extend- — a ORIGIN AND EARLY PROGRESS 5 ing over a period of several centuries—a period of in- cessant conflicts, of violent occupations leading to the forcible expulsion of ancient royal families and of a part of their subjects, and to the subjugation of others, sometimes even to the displacement of entire populations, which had to go forth in search of new settlements. This, we are told, was the time of the establishment of numerous Greek tribes in Asia Minor, along the eastern coast of the A’gean Sea. Gathering there in units, ac- cording to ties of kinship, they gradually formed from north to south along this Asiatic coast the groups called Molians, Ionians, and Dorians, while on the Greek main- land were founded those states whose later glory now fills the pages of history. These several centuries of continuous conflict and disturbance might well be com- pared to a sort of Middle Age, in which the previous civilization declined, but from which, toward the eighth century B.c., the Greece of history emerged. Further on, in speaking of epic poetry, we shall see what progress the Greeks of Asia, the Aolians and es- pecially the Ionians, made at that time in advance of their brothers in Greece proper. For in leaving their native soil these vigorous exiles, who refused to submit to the law of their conquerors, carried precious traditions away with them. It was natural that civilization, tem- porarily endangered, revived first among them. Hence it was in their cities—at Ephesus, at Smyrna, at Miletus, at Colophon, in the islands of Chios and Lesbos—that the arts, poetry, a certain elegance of life, a sense of beauty, once more began to manifest themselves; and from there this brilliant culture gradually extended its beneficent influence to the Greek mainland. But the Greek cities of Asia were unfortunate enough to witness the rise of two dangerously powerful empires near at 6 HELLENIC CIVILIZATION hand: first that of the Lydians, later that of the Persians. Thus it is not in this Asiatic Greece, fascinating as it is, that we can best study the formation of the Hellenic states; let us rather devote our attention to those which survived and endured—the celebrated states of Greece proper. Formation of the Hellenic States——The term “states,” of which one is obliged to make use, is poorly suited, as a matter of fact, to those first attempts at political formation. Rather were they groups of clans or tribes, whose character was in most cases heterogeneous; but usually it came about that one group predominated over the others and thus gave its name to the region occupied. However, from the time indicated above, a definite ten- dency toward organization is to be observed in the majority of these communities. At the time of the conquests and migrations just re- ferred to, it is evident that the peoples who went forth in search of new settlements had to obey orders. But by no means were they mere roving hordes temporarily banded together; on the contrary, they represented a certain inherent system of orderly arrangement associated with them from time immemorial. They were composed of families, phratries, and tribes, each associated in a cult of its own and in the honor paid to a common ancestor, real or fictitious, whose name it bore; and from the mo- ment when they settled down to live anywhere, these traditional groupings constituted the framework of their normal social life. Each family, in the large sense of the word, had its chief, or, as the head of a family was called in the phrase of that time, its king. It had also its own land and its own jurisdiction; and it supplied all, or very nearly all, its own needs. These family kings were more or less subordinate to superior kings, ORIGIN AND EARLY PROGRESS 7 richer and more powerful, whose council they formed; and the superior kings, in turn, were able to recognize at least in certain cases, and especially in time of war, a supreme king. Here, then, we find the rough outline of an organization at once aristocratic and monarchic, altho we should not, of course, conceive such a society as sub- ject to clearly defined hierarchical rules. The geographic conformation of Greece, naturally di- vided into cantons, lent itself poorly to the political fu- sion of these incipient states; moreover, it was not even favorable to a close rapprochement of their own com- ponent elements. The fact is that none of the groups thus outlined was ever sufficiently powerful, for any considerable length of time, to dominate all the others, or even to attempt to do so. Consequently, they re- mained separate and independent. Many of them never achieved any real unification; only a few were successful in so doing, and it is among these few that we may best study the formation of the state in the proper sense of the term. For the sake of simplicity, let us consider here only Sparta and Athens; and without entering into the details of their history—which the limits of this work do not permit—let us state the essential facts in a very few words. | Sparta, born of the Dorian conquest, had to organize its forces with a view to maintaining its domination over a conquered population. There, accordingly, the muili- tary spirit was from the very beginning, and always, associated with the oligarchical spirit. Not only did Sparta have to exclude from the government every ele- ment which did not belong to the conquering race, but it also felt the need of imposing upon itself a rigid dis- cipline capable of maintaining the closest coherence 8 HELLENIC CIVILIZATION among its citizens. It wanted them all to be as much alike as possible. Thus it was led to assume the character of a sort of military camp, under the authority of its two kings, its Council of Elders, and later its ephors, with a rigorous code of laws resolutely hostile to every innova- tion and consequently to every form of individual liberty. Everything was subordinated to the public interest. The children were given a severe, almost cruel, training; the life of the citizen was subject to rules and restrictions of every kind. Accustomed to obedience from infancy, the Spartan was to have no other desires than those of mili- tary honor and patriotism. In this way Sparta suc- ceeded in developing among its people an extraordinary moral force, and this, together with its remarkable military efficiency, for a long time rendered it superior to the majority of the other Greek states. Consequently, it has left the world shining examples of those virtues which it practised. On the other hand, in voluntarily condemning itself to isolation and immobility, it lessened its own share in the general development of Greek civi- lization. The history of Athens is quite different. Whatever were the origins of the Athenian people, every marked evi- dence of an ethnic diversity in them was early effaced. The sense of racial unity made way for the sense of human and social equality. The little patriarchal king- doms were united in Athens, sooner than anywhere else, in an association at once religious and political, the center of which was the Acropolis, the principal seat of the cult of Athena. Ruled at first by kings, the city was after- wards governed by hereditary (later, by elected) magis- trates called archons, who were the leaders of a landed aristocracy. But the growing importance of the small landowners, favored by the nature of the country, the ORIGIN AND EARLY PROGRESS 9 laborious energy of the peasants, and the demands of a rapidly increasing urban population, combined to develop a democratic spirit in the masses. There were conflicts, civil wars, and adjustments. At the beginning of the sixth century B.c. the laws of Solon, in abolishing the burdens of land servitude, marked an important step in the progress of the people. For a time they even estab- lished a certain social equilibrium. They did not, how- ever succeed in placing liberty on a solid foundation; it remained for the tyranny of Pisistratus and his sons to prepare the ground for that. By promoting agriculture and commerce, as also by encouraging intercourse with foreign countries, this tyranny awakened in the people a clearer consciousness of their power. The result was that in 510 3B. c. they drove out the tyrants, and three years later they laid the solid foundations of the democ- racy by the establishment of the constitution of Clisthenes (507 3. c.). In the first half of the fifth century this movement achieved its final consummation when, after the Persian Wars, the lower classes, inspired by victory and by the memory of their sacrifices, swept aside everything which still stood in the way of their ambitions. We shall observe this institution in operation in the following period. What it is necessary to emphasize here is the fact that Athens, from the end of the sixth century B. c., had created a form of political organization founded upon the equality of its citizens before the law. Few facts have been of greater importance than this in the general history of civilization. The City-state and the Citizens.—In almost every part of Greece, broadly speaking, there was formed what was called the “city”? (polis), and what we call the “state.” Of what, precisely, did it consist? This ‘“‘city-state” was a collectivity having a genuine moral unity and tending 10 HELLENIC CIVILIZATION to establish an effective solidarity. All its members were bound together, not only by common interests, but also by clearly defined legal relations—relations based on rights and duties inscribed in a constitution. Neither these rights nor these duties were everywhere the same; but everywhere the citizen was one to whom the city-state at- tributed certain positive rights that were born with him, and, on the other hand, one whom it looked upon as bound to the performance of certain precise obligations in the common interest. ‘The most important of these rights and the foremost of these obligations was to par- ticipate personally in the government. In that respect there was an absolute distinction between the citizen and the foreigner, even in places where foreigners were favorably received, as at Athens; and the distinction was even more radical between the citizen and the slave, who had no rights at all. If man, as Aristotle was to say later on, can fully realize himself only in the highest of associations, which is the city-state, then the Greek citizen alone, as distinguished from the barbarian, was com- pletely a man. To the title of citizen, therefore, was attached a special dignity, and he who bore that title was proudly conscious of the fact. The Law.—From this conception of the city-state there naturally developed a corresponding conception of law. It was in the Greek city-state, indeed, that law was first conceived from the standpoint of the high moral signifi- cance which attaches to the word. Neither in theocracies, nor in despotic monarchies, nor among semi-civilized peoples, could there be law in the proper sense of the term. For theocracies knew only the commandments of God as expressed in the imperious dictates of a sacer- dotal body, or of a superior man, recognized as an inter- preter of the divine will; despotic monarchies had no ORIGIN AND EARLY PROGRESS 11 rules other than the orders of the sovereign; semi- civilized peoples conformed to family customs and to the wishes of their tribal elders and chiefs. In the Greek city-state the law was essentially a product of the in- tellect, conceived with reference to the common interest. The period with which we are concerned witnessed the origin of the principal bodies of Greek law, some of them historic, others semi-legendary—those of Lycurgus, Charondas, Zaleucus, Draco, and Solon. These names, and the traditions to which they are related, teach us a unique fact: everywhere, at some time, the city-state felt the need of laying down certain general rules governing the relations of the citizens among themselves. Intended to repress acts of violence, to determine due reparations, and also to fix the obligations of every member of the community, these laws were adapted to the conditions and requirements of each individual state. Whether they are authorized by divine sanction, or whether they lack such sanction, in the last analysis they always rest upon the at least tacit accord of the citizens; they represent a common will, resulting from prevailing social conditions, of which they are the consecration. Moreover, they are im- posed less as a heritage of the past than as a guarantee of the future peace and stability of the city-state. From this conception sprang the feeling that, if the laws were in any way to be modified, it was to be done with prudent discretion—not for light and transient reasons, but only ‘im order to adapt them to the changes which time nec- essarily brings about in every form of human society. Their real object was to establish the reign of justice— a concept of the first importance, which in Greece becomes more and more closely associated with that of law. For the Greeks, having no decalog, could seek the formula of justice only in their legislation. Essentially human, 12 HELLENIC CIVILIZATION this justice written in their laws is derived in the end from the common agreement of those who are guided by a sense of moral righteousness. It is true, no doubt, that the gods also favor it, that they not only regard it with sympathetic eyes but to a certain extent are even guard- ians of it; but they are not called upon to formulate it thru the mouths of their priests. It is determined of itself by the conditions and requirements of the social life; 1t is regulated and clarified by every-day experience. Opposed incessantly by the passions, its very setbacks serve to show that it can not be dispensed with and help to emphasize the necessity of fortifying it. Defeated every day, it is nevertheless victorious in the long, con- tinous records of public life. Slavery.—With regard to one essential matter, how- ever, justice never succeeded in asserting itself. ) Te 1 Faded soa Seo nt bat dogs ngobees ma oee tie Le $s aD ee near ahr wae aow + esi 2 Porro he apy Paterna Paes angi Tee Ai et io Films acot abode fA ERE SY ROOD AE IR SIS tet id-+ tate i ? Tear er se) Tietoe ees ‘ Fe re =" $s s Fe sein bree by ; ash sis iiererarereeeee paar reeroes: ia yh doa it nen Sac eee sey ? 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