Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/141

 Art and Literature after Pericles 93 139. Fall of Thebes and Political Prostration of the Whole Greek World. It then remained to be seen whether Thebes, the new victor, could accomplish what Athens and Sparta had failed in doing and could create a Greek nation. But the supremacy of the Thebans was based upon the genius of a single man, and when Epaminondas fell in battle (362 B.C.), the power of Thebes collapsed. Thus the only powerful Greek states which might have welded the Hellenic world into a nation had crushed each other. Hellas was therefore doomed to fall helplessly before a conqueror from the outside. Yet in spite of their political decline during the two generations since Pericles, the Greeks, and especially the Athe- nians, had made such marvelous progress in art, architecture, literature, philosophy, and science that this period is regarded as one of the greatest in the history of man. II. GREEK ART, LITERATURE, AND PHILOSOPHY 140. Importance of Athens. In spite of the violence and dis- order which we have been describing, there was a great deal of what we should call prosperity. Athens was the leading business center of the Mediterranean. While farming declined, manu- facture and trade flourished, notwithstanding the constant losses due to war. Rich men combined to form the first great banks at Athens, which became the financial center of the ancient world, as New York and London are in our day. Her bankers became the proverbially rich men of the time. So there was wealth and leisure for the more fortunate classes at least. Instead of becom- ing mere money getters, however, the Athenians showed an extraordinary interest in art and philosophy. 141. The Sculpture of Praxiteles. Sculpture had changed much since the days of Pericles. The statues of men and women were no longer modeled in the rigid and severe form which had previously prevailed. Praxiteles, by far the most famous sculp- tor of this period, set the example of a more human and natural way of carving his marble figures. Unlike the cold and majestic