Page:History of Art in Primitive Greece - Mycenian Art Vol 1.djvu/58

The Country. ^y which, supported by considerations of general import, gave dignity to party strife. On these platforms the attention of the spectators was ever fixed ; on it the politician, artist and poet, the writer and orator, each in turn was called upon to act a part ; and the consciousness of being ever in sight stirred him to the most stupendous display of energy. Nor was this all. The like spirit of emulation was manifest among all these cities, at once sisters and rivals, not one of which willingly submitted to play a subordinate part ; each aimed to rise to the standard of the best, however high that might be, so as to share in the honours that were theirs. The most distinctive and essential peculiarity of the Greek nation, we may boldly affirm without seeming to ignore what has been attempted by others in this department, the action of all others more especially Hellas* own in forwarding ancient culture, is the foundation, the creation of the township or city. The relief of the ground, its being split up into fragments, brought the civitas** into being; the nature whether of soil or climate operated most happily on the human plant, la pianta uonto, as Alfieri has it. Then, too, the land here concurs with the sea, that sea which entirely encircles it, to the develop- ment of robust and pliant bodies, of minds both alert and wishful to learn. No calling is better calculated than that of a seafaring life to harden and fit the body to every kind of hardship ; it trains a man at the same time, through uncalled- for perils to which the most cautious and experienced may be suddenly exposed, to self-reliance and stoutness of heart. Finally, his mind is stirred by unwonted scenes which fall under his observation to note with greater precision peculiarities in things and men, changes in time and surroundings. The vast majority of the Greeks, either from their special calling or the frequency of their voyages, had lived more or less on the sea and received the kind of training which it confers on its devotees. Here, moreover, class differences were not so trenchantly marked as in other countries, whilst on the quiet and more habitually stay-at-home people influences were brought to bear scarcely distinguished, in their effects, from those experienced by the seafaring folk, whether traffickers or fishermen. Here the geo- graphical configuration of the soil is not uniform, as in countries where great stretches of low ground alternate with mountains of