[346] Fifth century B.C.
[347] Holm (Eng. tr. iv, 595-98) misses half the problem when he argues that the Greek cities under the Romans were nearly as free and self-governing as are to-day those of Switzerland, the United States, or the German Empire. The last-named may perhaps approximate at some points; but in the other cases the moral difference is inexpressible. The Greek cities under the Romans were provincialised, and their inhabitants deprived of the powers of State government which they formerly possessed. Their whole outlook on life was changed.
[348] Cp. Finlay, i, 76.
[349] In artistic handicraft, of course, such daily renewal of creative intelligent effort is of great importance to mental health; and the complete lack of it, as in the conventional sculpture of Egypt, tells of utter intellectual stagnation. In the least artistic crafts, however, it is not so essential a condition of sound work.
[350] Cp. Mahaffy, Greek Life and Thought, pp. 4, 10, 15, 131-38, 144.
[351] The change was not so immediately dependent on the Alexandrian régime as Droysen implies (Geschichte Alexanders des Grossen, 3te Aufl. p. 367): the New Comedy had been led up to by the Middle Comedy, which already tended to withdraw from burning questions (cp. K.O. Müller, Lit. of Ancient Greece, Eng. tr. pp. 436-41); but the movement was clearly hastened.
[352] Cp. Mackintosh, On the Progress of Ethical Philosophy, 4th ed. p. 29; Lecky, History of European Morals, 6th ed. i, 128.
[353] Mahaffy, Problems of Greek History, p. 85; Survey of Greek Civilisation, pp. 87, 99, 117; Social Life in Greece, 3rd ed. pp. 83, 137, 440. Cp. the remark of Thirlwall, ch. xii (1st ed. ii, 125), that the tyrants "were the natural patrons of the lyrical poets, who cheered their banquets, extolled their success," etc.
[354] Holm on this head makes an admission (iii, 168) which countervails the remark last above cited from him. Noting the prosperity of art in Asiatic Greece, he writes: "Art as a rule flourishes—we do not say, reaches its highest point, for that is impossible without freedom—where wealth is to be found combined with good taste. And good taste is a gift which even tyrants may possess, and semi-barbarians acquire."
[355] Professor Spalding, Italy and the Italian Islands, i, 117, 118.