[[34]] See p. 390.
[[35]] See Chapter XV.
[[36]] See in this connection the reference to Praxiteles on p. 222.
[[37]] Author Unknown: From Select Epigrams from the Greek Anthology, translated by J. W. Mackail.
CHAPTER XX
THE HELLENISTIC AGE
I. THE EXTENT OF GREEK INFLUENCE
Alexander was a great conqueror and he won for himself a mighty empire. But that empire did not last, for his successors were unable to hold it together. It would almost seem as if he had crowded into his short reign of barely thirteen years, hero deeds and marvellous exploits, which however much they may have done to enrich tradition and to appeal to the imagination, were hardly of any great permanent value. Alexander, however, did more than create a passing empire; he did more than any other one man to spread the knowledge of Greek civilization over the world. Wherever he passed with his conquering army he founded cities, where he established colonies of Greeks: men who spoke the Greek tongue, who worshipped the Greek gods, who read and loved Greek literature, and who lived according to Greek ideals. Such cities were founded in Egypt, in Asia Minor, in Syria, in Babylonia, in Persia and even in the distant lands till then unknown, further to the mysterious East.