Page:Greece from the Coming of the Hellenes to AD. 14.djvu/302

272 from Syria and Asia Minor, though a new monarchy had arisen beyond the Euphrates under the Parthian Arsaces (B.C. 350), one day to be a terror to the West. The minor kingdoms of Pergamus, Pontus, and Bithynia had come into existence, and the con- federacy of the sea-powers Byzantium, Chios, and Rhodes was still an important element in the political situation.

Greece Proper, meanwhile, though political independence was lost, in spite of proclamations of its freedom by various Macedonian pretenders, had enjoyed a good deal of practical liberty amidst the quarrels that distracted and weakened Macedonia. There was an aftermath of literature and art, and at no period was the credit of philosophers higher or the influence of their teaching more marked. But whatever freedom the Greeks possessed it was not generally political. The active and energetic men in the various cities adopted the profession of arms and served in the armies of the various sovereigns in Europe, Asia or Egypt. Those who remained at home devoted themselves either to country life, or, if in cities, to letters and philosophy of a kind. The most active gave themselves up to training for the games, a pursuit, however, which had been spoiled for ordinary people by professionalism, the athletes forming a well-defined class to which it required special aptitude and most elaborate training to aspire.

All political vigour, however, had not died out in Greece. We have seen how the Greeks in B.C. 280–279 were once more able to unite and repel the