Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/107

 86 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. in waters full of islands and protecting inlets.* Piracy, that brigandage of the high seas, lived on more or less unchecked in the Archipelago until the power of steam enabled royal cruisers to give successful chase to suspected vessels. In this matter the Cretan dynasty set the example, and assumed the office of maritime police ; but everything connected with the first imperial power is put on Minos' head, whose venerable figure fills the threshold of Greek history. A cursory glance at the map will make it plain why Cretan rulers were led to take that great step. The island lies athwart the southern entrance of the Archipelago, like a lofty citadel of the sea, ruling it in every direction. Its northern coast abounds with harbours ; some are turned towards Cythaera and the southernmost points of Pelopon- nesus, whilst, in the centre, others face the main group of the Cyclades, and others again, to the eastward, open on the Sporades. They seem to be purposely dropped there as outposts ; to the end that on whatever side the enemy should appear, one will always be at hand to cope with him. All the native tribes acknowledged Minos' authority ; his cruisers, as we should say, kept an eye on vessels that navigated these waters ; preventing or punishing depredations, as the case might be, thereby benefit- ing commerce, which under his fostering care was able to widen Its sphere of activity and prosper exceedingly. This seems to have been the first attempt of the Hellenes to establish the dominion of right and law, law which is the work of reflection and reason, whilst right or order is brought about by merging private interests in public ones. Of Minos the story went that he had expelled the Carians out of the Archipelago, and that his ships were manned by Carians. The contradiction is more apparent than real. Under the pressure of the Cretan princes, the marauders, whether Carians, Leleges, or Phoenicians, who infested the island sea, were compelled to clear out or settle down to quiet and regular habits. Some were domiciled on the islands and built them villages ; others became sea-merchants, and not a few entered Minos' fleet. The first Hellenic king, therefore, whose name lived on in men's memory, was a sea king, and his Thalassocracy, or maritime empire, which we descry through the nebulous veil of the myths, is the rudimentary outline, as it were, of that which Athens was
 * Homer, Odyssey,