But Greece, though subject to the Roman arms, soon acquired, by her arts of peace, a silent superiority over her conquerors. The victors became the disciples of the vanquished ; and the most distinguished Romans learned, in the Grecian schools of philosophy, to regard the coun try which they held in subjection, with the gratitude and respect due to a benefactor. These considerations pro bably contributed to secure to the inhabitants of Greece a milder exercise of authority, and more distinguished marks of favour, than were enjoyed by any other province under the yoke of Rome. Of these arts and attainments, to which this singular people were thus indebted for high er honours and advantages than all their military prowess' had been able to command, we now proceed to-offer an abridged view, as a suitable conclusion to the preceding sketch of their eventful history.
Of the state of society and knowledge among the ear lier Greeks, particularly in what has been called the he roic age, as described in the writings of Homer, some ac count has already been given, when narrating the events of that period; and the remarks which follow apply chiefly to those times which were posterior to the first Persian war.
• To agriculture, as an object of study, the Greeks paid little attention ; and the care of its operations was almost entirely left to slaves. The Athenians considered them selves as having first received the common principles of the art from Egypt, and as having communicated the knowledge of it to the other countries of .Greeee. Attica itself, however, was adapted rather to the cultivation of fruits than of grain. Olives and barley formed its prin cipal produce, and the citizens of Athens received their great supplies of wheat from the neighbouring states of Bceotia, or from their own colony of Byzantium. Their writers on the subject, among whom was Xenophon, have done little more than merely detail the common practices of their own times.
The inhabitants of Greece, though possessing a mari time country, surrounded with islands, and provided with excellent harbours, were extremely slow in availing them selves of these advantages ; and made little progress in navigation and commerce, till after the expedition of Xerxes into Peloponnesus. After the example of Athens, especially in the course of the Peloponnesian war, the other states at length directed their attention to the main tenance of a navy; but chiefly for the purposes of war fare. The voyage of Alexander's fleet from Patala to Susa, after sailing down the Indus, was the first instance of Greeks navigating the ocean ; and, previous to that ex pedition, they were entirely confined to the waters of the Mediterranean.
Excepting Corinth and Athens, it was principally in the smaller states, such as Megara, Sicyon, Cos, and Cnidus, (which possessed not sufficient political influence to inter fere in the general affairs of Greece,) that the arts of com merce were most sedulously prosecuted. Athens, how ever, was the great seat of commercial views, where every circumstance favoured the acquisition, and encouraged the expenditure of wealth. Its port, Piraeus, was then the
centre of the traffic of those times, and there every com modity was to be found in abundance.
The fine arts appear to have attracted earlier attention in Greece, than the more useful occupations; and some of the ancient medals, long prior in date to the oldest his torians, exhibit a chasteness and grandeur of design, both in architecture and sculpture, for which it is difficult to account.
The customs and circumstances of the Grecian states tended directly to encourage the progress of these arts. Three public buildings were indispensible in every city ; a temple, a theatre, and a gymnasium, to which were af terwards added the baths, and portico or place of shelter for walking and conversing. In larger towns these edifices were soon multiplied, especially those for the service of religion ; and every city almost forming a distinct commu nity or nation, each required to possess these different buildings within its own walls, and strove to surpass its neighbours in the solidity and beauty of its public struc tures. The exertions of the Greek artists in this at once useful and ornamental study, are not therefore very won derful; but, when it is considered, that its first architects derived their skill from those of Egypt and Persia, and that the Doric order, the foundation of all the rest, and the source of pure taste to all the architecture of Greece, was actually the most ancient, it is not easy to conceive by what accidental or intended principle of the art, a beautiful sim plicity, so opposite to the enormous masses of the Egyp tians, and cumhrous ornaments of the Asiatics, should have been so happily introduced ; unless we ascribe it to the mere circumstance of necessity (the origin of so many human improvements) which obliged the early architects of that country to work with wooden materials: (See AnensrncYvnn.) But in whatever way we may account for the rise of Grecian architecture, its principles have re ceived the approbation of every enlightened people in mo dern times ; and its three orders, the Doric, Ionic, and Co rinthian, still continue to form the invariable standard of good taste in the art." The same causes which rendered the skill of the archi tect so much in request, equally tended to encourage the labours of the painter and sculptor ; and it is a remarka ble circumstance, that, in the most turbulent periods of Grecian history, the fine arts received the most distin guished patronage, and made the most rapid progress. At Athens, particularly, the genius of Greece was nourished by Pisistratus, and brought to perfection by Pericles. The most eminent sculptors of those times were Phidias, Alca menes, and Myron, of Athens ; Polycletes and Lysippus, of Sicyon ; Praxiteles and Scopes or Paros ; and many of the ancient statues which have escaped the ravages of time, furnish ample testimony of the progress which had been made in the art. See DRAWING and SCULPTURE.