2. Greek Influence
Nothing struck the imagination of ancient writers on early Gallic culture more than the part played by Massilia. Daughter of the Greeks, and friend of the Romans long before Gaul became part of the Empire, she stood forth as a light of civilization in the midst of barbaric darkness. With such a tradition and such a friendship it is no wonder that we find so much said in her praise.
Ammianus,[12] following the Greek Timagenes, gives the traditional account of the coming of the Phocaeans to Massilia in the sixth century B.C. Whether they really fled from the persecution of the Persian Harpalus—a motive unknown to Herodotus—or whether, as Athenaeus quoting Aristotle says, their object was merely trade,[13] need not be discussed here. Nor need we go into the confusion in ancient writers between Phocaea and Phocis[14] in regard to the origin of Massilia; the point is that it was of Greek origin, as all the authorities agree.[15] From Greece culture came to Gaul, and once more (as Norden remarks in another connexion) ‘it is the East that gives and the West that receives’.
The coins of Massilia bear testimony to her influence on Gaul. The early specimens of her drachms, bearing the head of Artemis with sprigs of olive in her hair, show a high artistic development. Their beauty diminishes as time goes on, partly because of the large numbers in which they were produced, since for a long time they were the chief currency for Southern Gaul as far as Lyons and for the whole valley of the Po. So frequently were they copied by the Celtic tribes that the imitations are far commoner than the originals.[16]
It is probable, moreover, that Massilia’s artistic contribution did not stop here. We possess a torso in sixth-century style of Aphrodite with a dove on her right hand, which Prof. Percy Gardner believes to be the work of Phocaean Greeks at Massilia. Sculpture of this kind must have been a new ray of light for the civilization (or the lack thereof) in Celtic Gaul.
Her friendship with Rome is well attested. Cicero mentions[17] the support given to Rome by the Massilians at the time of the Gallic campaigns. When Fonteius, who had been governor of Gallia Narbonensis, was impeached for extortion, Massilia came up in his defence. Strabo regards the connexion as a well-known fact.[18] Ammianus, too, knew of this traditional friendship: ‘Massilia ... cuius societate et viribus in discriminibus arduis fultam aliquotiens legimus Romam.’[19]
It is well known that at the time of the second Punic war Massilia gave faithful and effective support to her ally.[20] Yet such was the independence of Massilia’s Greek spirit, that when Caesar, in the Civil war,[21] sent Domitius to take her, she alone of all the Gallic cities refused him admittance. Her citizens replied with a dignity and a self-consciousness that argue a high level of development, that they were indeed allies of the Roman people, but that they would not and could not decide between the two parties: if they were approached in a friendly spirit they would listen to both sides; if in a hostile way they would listen to neither. Caesar’s siege of the town was at first unsuccessful, and he had to depart leaving the operations in the hands of others. When, at length, Massilia capitulated, he deprived her of her material resources, but (as was fitting) left her liberty unviolated.[22]
But the connexion with Rome was not political only. It is probable that the Massilians traded with Italy in early times[23] and that their city, once the rival of Carthage,[24] grew to renewed importance as a commercial centre for Rome after the Punic wars. The Massilians were early Rome’s agents for the products of Gaul.[25] In order to make bronze to send to Rome they obtained tin from Cornwall[26] to blend with their own copper. Theophrastus[27] speaks of their export to Rome of precious stones, and the Romans knew the value of their corn trade.[28] ‘Frumenti praecipue ac pabuli ferax (Gallia).’[29]
Yet the chief connexion with Rome, the bond most frequently mentioned by Roman writers, was along the line of Massilia’s culture. Cicero speaks with enthusiasm[30] of the city which possessed a statue of Minerva, and it is well known that the Romans regularly sent their sons there,[31] rather than to Athens,[32] to study Greek. The young Agricola looked on it as his Alma Mater.[33] The climate was milder and healthier than that of Athens and its morals had a better reputation. Plautus uses the phrase ‘mores Massilienses’ in the sense of irreproachable character.[34] Valerius Maximus speaks of the city as ‘severitatis custos acerrima’. They prohibited pantomimes on moral grounds;[35] sumptuary laws limited personal expense; and women were not allowed to drink wine.[36] Such was the moral austerity (at any rate in early times[37]) of the Massilians, and this reputation no doubt enhanced its popularity—with parents at any rate—as an educational centre.
Massilia stood for a very long time far above any other Gallic city in culture. The Rhodians in Livy[38] are made to say that the Massilians would long ago have been barbarized by the uncivilized tribes around (tot indomitae circumfusae gentes) had it not been for their sheltered situation; and Pomponius Mela[39] speaks of Massilia as ‘olim inter asperas posita’, and remarks that the Massilians nevertheless retained their individuality after the civilization of the rest. They had their own constitution, and it was prominent enough for Aristotle to notice.[40]
Many writers tell us how the Massilians spread their Greek civilization among the Gauls.[41] Strabo speaks of Massilia as the School of Gaul, which so hellenized the barbarians that they drew up their contracts in Greek.[42] So Ammianus[43] says that after the foundation of Massilia ‘men gradually became civilized in these parts, and the pursuit of praiseworthy branches of knowledge, begun by the bards and the Celtic philosophers (euhages and drasidae), grew and prospered’. The bards sang in heroic verse, to the accompaniment of tuneful music, the deeds of the valiant. The euhages were natural philosophers who investigated the secrets of the physical world, ‘scrutantes seriem et sublimia naturae pandere conabantur’. And, according to Pythagoras, the drasidae, who were of loftier spirit and lived in exclusive clubs and colleges, investigated and pronounced on occult metaphysical questions. So effectively did Greek influence spread, ‘ut non Graecia in Galliam emigrasse, sed Gallia in Graeciam translata videretur’.[44]
To a certain extent Massilia must have been influenced by her surroundings. ‘Massilia’, says the consul in Livy,[45] ‘inter Gallos sita traxit aliquantum ab accolis animorum’. Her inhabitants must have learned much of the physical features and culture of the land from the barbarians. But the overwhelming strength of influence was on their side. The fact that they were not swamped is in itself a striking testimony. It meant that they possessed a culture which was destined not only to hold its own, but to win increasingly as time went on. It was owing to them that the Gauls appointed professors and doctors,[46] and many of their teachers are mentioned in ancient literature. Telon and Gyareus are called by Lucan[47] ‘gemini fratres, fecundae gloria matris’, and together with Lydanus, Pytheas, Eratosthenes, Eudimenes, are famous for mathematics and astronomy[48] in the early days of Massilia. Seneca mentions a rhetorician Moschus, who had been found guilty of poisoning and taught at Massilia,[49] and notices also Agroitas as a rhetorician of distinction.[50] Natural philosophy was not neglected. Plutarch[51] mentions Euthymenes of Massilia, whose opinion he quotes on the overflowing of the Nile, and refers to the famous Pytheas on the causes of the tides. Of the eight recensions of Homer, which were known before Zenodotus, one was the famous διόρθωσις Μασσαλιωτική[52] to which Wolf assigns an honourable place.[53]
As for their proficiency in languages, it is well known that they were called trilingues,[54] speaking Greek and Latin and Celtic. The Greek of Massilia left its mark on the French language after a lapse of many centuries, especially on the proper names of Aquitaine,[55] and Christian times afford many instances in literature and inscriptions of this influence. To name two only, the Acta Martyrum were written in Greek, the language of Irenaeus (second century), by the order of the Churches of Vienne and Lyons,[56] and as late as the sixth century Caesarius[57] could make the people of his congregation at Arles sing in Greek. As late as the Middle Ages the territory around Massilia was called Graecia, and its sea Mare Graecum.[58]
Such was the great part played by Massilia. Tradition tells how the leaders of the Phocaeans, Protis and Simos, when they landed in Gaul, went to the local King Nannus for help. They were invited to attend a ceremony at which the daughter of the king extended a cup of water to the suitor whom she favoured. She bestowed the token on Protis, who thus married a daughter of the soil on which he was to establish Massilia.[59] So Massilia ruled the household of Gaul and set in order its culture. In imperial times there was a decline,[60] and the Massilians found their pre-eminence shaken and their trade ruined by the colony which Caesar sent to Arles (destined to develop into a commercial centre) under Tiberius, father of the Emperor.[61] Under Marcus Aurelius they had to give up their ancient constitution and fall into line with the other imperial cities.[62] But their work was accomplished. They kept the torch of civilization burning until they could pass it on to Romanized Gaul. Even then they retained their culture, and retained it longer than the other towns. The capture of Massilia in 477 by the Goths completed the separation of Gaul from Rome and prepared the way for the Gallo-Frankish state.
As she had given the impetus to letters, so, in later times, she proved their salvation. At the time of the great invasions at the beginning of the fifth century, and at its end when the Visigoths were encroaching more and more, Massilia was a refuge for Christian monks to whose labours literature owes so much. The Monastery of St. Victor ranked with Lérins as a centre of Christian education, and many famous men found a refuge there during the menace of troublous times. Victorinus, Prosper of Aquitaine, Gennadius, Musaeus, Salvian, were among those who sought its peace.[63]
Justinus tells of the Celtic chief Catumandus who was chosen by the neighbouring tribes to lead an army against the prosperous Massilia. Being terrified, however, by the figure of a fierce-looking woman whom he saw in a dream, he made peace with the Massilians and begged to be allowed to enter their city and worship their gods. In the portico of the temple he saw the statue of Minerva and exclaimed that that was the figure of his dream.[64]
Thus it was that the goddess of culture saved Massilia, and through Massilia, Gaul.