Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/43

 22 Primitive Greece: Mycenian Art. Tyre succeeded to the supremacy which Sidon had lost in the eastern basin, along with all its traffic ; when this division, which had been brought about by the force of circumstances, was finally settled, balance was maintained, the lordship of the Semites under- went no change, and life continued undisturbed until the day when the star of the race began to wane, when Tyre fell to Alexander and a Greek city rose on the African shore, when Carthage, driven from Sicily, then from Spain, finally disappeared amidst the flames she herself had kindled. This was the end. Before that, however, more than a thou- sand years had elapsed, during which the workshops of those cities repeated the same types, with the mechanical facility of an in- dustry which does not derive its inspirations from an art vivified by a vigorous and intense life. The artificer, at different dates, found it easier to turn now to Egypt, now to Chaldaea, some- times even to Greece, for his models. Accordingly we must not expect to find here either gradual modifications of style as would naturally follow on a normal development of the plastic faculty, or local schools, in every one of which would have been disclosed this or that natural tendency of creative force. To use the language of trade, the retail of articles which the Phoenician sold to his customers was pretty much on the same pattern ; nor was there much difference between the goods, whether they came from Tyre, Sidon, or Carthage. Geographically, the extent of Phoenicia appears very large, scattered as it is over a vast area, more especially when we come to the bold flights and brilliant 'successes of Carthage ; but if we look narrowly into the real state of affairs, we shall find that the sum of her activity was centered in one single effort, which brought with it neither variety nor true progress. The testimony of the map then is unreliable and misleading: all those cities dashed with the colour affected by the Queens of Canaan are no more than factories and storehouses, to which the term of branches of the main firm might be aptly applied. Viewed from our standpoint, the whole useful labour of that enterprising and laborious race consists in a skilful eclecticism which Sidon, the eldest daughter of Phoenicia, was first to practise, and whose tradition was taken up and continued by Tyre and Carthage to the last hour of their existence. The case is different with Greece. Greece is in truth multi- form and many-sided, both in space and time. Geography and