Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/489

 GOVERNMENT OF MASSALIA 457 especially phil-hellenic ; 1 an impression -which he could hardly have dei-ived from any but Massaliot informants. The Massa- Hots (who in the first century before Christ were trilingues, speaking Greek, Latin, and Gallic*) contributed to engraft upon these unlettered men a certain refinement and variety of wants, and to lay the foundation of that taste for letters which after- wards became largely diffused throughout the Roman Province of Gaul. At sea, and in traffic, the Phcnicians and Carthao-in- ians were their formidable rivals. This was among the causes which threw them betimes into alliance and active cooperation with Rome, under whose rule they obtained favorable treatment, when the blessing of freedom was no longer within their reach. Enough is known about Massalia to show that the city was a genuine specimen of Hellenism and Hellenic influences — acting not by force or constraint, but simply by superior intelligence and activity — by power of ministering to wants which must oth- erwise have remained unsupplied — and by the assimilating ef- fect of a lettered civilization upon ruder neighbors. This is the more to be noticed as it contrasts strikingly with the Macedonian influences which have occupied so much of the present volume ; force admirably organized and wielded by Alexandei-, yet still nothing but force. The loss of all details respecting the history of Massalia is greatly to be lamented ; and hardly less, that of tlie writings of Pytheas, an intelligent Massaliotic navigator, who, at this early age (330-320 B. c.),'* with an adventurous ' Strabo, iv. p. 199. 'E^opoj- 6e vwepiSdXXovoav tu fieye^ic-i 7.iyei ti/v VLeT^TiKiiv, uaTE Tjonep vvv 'IjSripiag koXov/mv enelvoi^ ra TiXelaTa izpoavifieiv fiiXP'- Tadetpuv, ,eXXtivuc t e u.iTO(paivEi roiic uv& pconovc , Kal TToA?M idiug "kh/Ei nepl avTuv ovk koLKora toIc vvv. Compare p. 181. It is to be remembered that Ephorus was a native of tiie Asiatic Kym3 the immediate neighbor of Phokaa, which was the metropolis of Massalia, The Massaliots never forgot or broke off their connection whith Phokiea: see the statement of their intercession with the Eomans on behalf of Phokaea (Justin, xxxvii. 1). Ephorus therefore had good means of learning what- ever Massaliot citizens were disposed to communicate. 3 See the Fragmenta Pytheae collected by Arfwedson, Upsal, 1824. He wrote two works — 1. Ttjc TIepmSoc. 2. Ile^t ^^Ksavov. Win statements were greatly esteemed, and often followed, by Eratosthenes; partially fol- lowed by Hipparchus; harshly judged by Polybius, whom Etrabo in tha TOI.. XII. 39
 * Varro, Antiq. Fragm. p. 350, ed. Bipont.