Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/46



saw in the last chapter what is the essential difference between the City-State of Greek and Roman antiquity, and the territorial State of modern times. Neither Greek nor Roman could think of his State as having an existence apart from the city in which its business was carried on; while we moderns can perfectly well picture to ourselves a France of which Paris should be no longer the capital, or an Italy where the centre of government should be once more shifted from Rome to Florence or Milan. Once, indeed, in the history of Athens the Athenian people were forced to leave their city, and to take refuge in their ships and in the island of Salamis; yet their State continued to exist, and to exist at Athens. Never at any moment of their history did they show more clearly their conviction of the identity of State and city. The sacred olive-tree in the Erechtheum put forth a fresh sprout, as they believed, but two days after the Persians had burnt the temple. The solemn procession of