Page:A History of Ancient Greek Literature.djvu/401

 NEW CENTRES OF LITERATURE 377 Athens remained the headquarters of philosophy; but Hterature in the ordinary sense was gradually attracted to places where it could find high salaries and repose. Even in the great period, poets had collected in the courts of Hiero at Syracuse and Archelaus at Pella. The real superiority of Athens to such retreats was the freedom which it allowed in thought and speech, and the close sympathy and community of culture between the writer and his public ; and, moreover, through most of the fifth century Athens must have been the safest and most orderly place of residence in the world. It was less so in the fourth century. There was more safety in the capitals of the great monarchs, behind fine upon line of trained armies. Pella was safe ; so was Antioch ; so, after the expul- sion of the Gauls, was Pergamus ; so, above all, was Alexandria. And as for the sympathetic public, it was ceasing to exist anywhere. It was always incumbent on a writer to be cultured, and the standard of culture had by this time become uncomfortably high. Books were increasingly written for those who had read all the existing books, and were scarcely intelligible to those who had not. The poet of the third century — nay, even a man like Antimachus long before — only expected to be read by people of his own sort, people with enough leisure and learning to follow easily his ways of thought. One form of pure literature. Comedy, was faithful to its birthplace. The Athenian lightness of wit, freedom of speech, and dramatic spirit could not bear trans- planting. The Middle and New Comedy represented, probably, the most spontaneous and creative work of their age in the domain of pure literature. The division between the two periods is not well marked. The Middle