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in any modern community； and the incentives to the acquirement of wealth were； as a consequence； comparatively slight。
I do not mean to say that the Athenians did not engage in business。 Their city was a commercial city； and their ships covered the Mediterranean。 They had agencies and factories at Marseilles； on the remote coasts of Spain； and along the shores of the Black Sea。 They were in many respects the greatest commercial people of antiquity； and doubtless knew； as well as other people； the keen delights of acquisition。 But my point is； that with them the acquiring of property had not become the chief or only end of life。 Production was carried on almost entirely by slave…labour； interchange of commodities was the business of the masters； and commerce was in those days simple。 Banks； insurance companies； brokers' boards；all these complex instruments of Mammon were as yet unthought of。 There was no Wall Street in ancient Athens； there were no great failures； no commercial panics； no over…issues of stock。 Commerce； in short； was a quite subordinate matter； and the art of money…making was in its infancy。
The twenty…five thousand Athenian freemen thus enjoyed； on the whole； more undisturbed leisure； more freedom from petty harassing cares； than any other community known to history。 Nowhere else can we find； on careful study； so little of the hurry and anxiety which destroys the even tenour of modern life；nowhere else so few of the circumstances which tend to make men insane； inebriate； or phthisical； or prematurely old。
This being granted； it remains only to state and illustrate the obverse fact。 It is not only true that Athens has produced and educated a relatively larger number of men of the highest calibre and most complete culture than any other community of like dimensions which has ever existed； but it is also true that there has been no other community； of which the members have； as a general rule； been so highly cultivated； or have attained individually such completeness of life。 In proof of the first assertion it will be enough to mention such names as those of Solon； Themistokles； Perikles； and Demosthenes； Isokrates and Lysias； Aristophanes and Menander； Aischylos； Sophokles； and Euripides； Pheidias and Praxiteles； Sokrates and Plato； Thukydides and Xenophon： remembering that these men； distinguished for such different kinds of achievement； but like each other in consummateness of culture； were all produced within one town in the course of three centuries。 At no other time and place in human history has there been even an approach to such a fact as this。
My other assertion； about the general culture of the community in which such men were reared； will need a more detailed explanation。 When I say that the Athenian public was； on the whole； the most highly cultivated public that has ever existed； I refer of course to something more than what is now known as literary culture。 Of this there was relatively little in the days of Athenian greatness； and this was because there was not yet need for it or room for it。 Greece did not until a later time begin to produce scholars and savants； for the function of scholarship does not begin until there has been an accumulation of bygone literature to be interpreted for the benefit of those who live in a later time。 Grecian greatness was already becoming a thing of the past； when scholarship and literary culture of the modern type began at Rome and Alexandria。 The culture of the ancient Athenians was largely derived from direct intercourse with facts of nature and of life； and with the thoughts of rich and powerful minds orally expressed。 The value of this must not be underrated。 We moderns are accustomed to get so large a portion of our knowledge and of our theories of life out of books； our taste and judgment are so largely educated by intercourse with the printed page； that we are apt to confound culture with book…knowledge； we are apt to forget the innumerable ways in which the highest intellectual faculties may be disciplined without the aid of literature。 We must study antiquity to realize how thoroughly this could be done。 But even in our day； how much more fruitful is the direct influence of an original mind over us； in the rare cases when it can be enjoyed； than any indirect influence which the same mind may exert through the medium of printed books！ What fellow of a college； placed amid the most abundant and efficient implements of study； ever gets such a stimulus to the highest and richest intellectual life as was afforded to Eckermann by his daily intercourse with Goethe？ The breadth of culture and the perfection of training exhibited by John Stuart Mill need not surprise us when we recollect that his earlier days were spent in the society of James Mill and Jeremy Bentham。 And the remarkable extent of view； the command of facts； and the astonishing productiveness of such modern Frenchmen as Sainte…Beuve and Littre become explicable when we reflect upon the circumstance that so many able and brilliant men are collected in one city； where their minds may continually and directly react upon each other。 It is from the lack of such personal stimulus that it is difficult or indeed wellnigh impossible； even for those whose resources are such as to give them an extensive command of books； to keep up to the highest level of contemporary culture while living in a village or provincial town。 And it is mainly because of the personal stimulus which it affords to its students； that a great university； as a seat of culture； is immeasurably superior to a small one。
Nevertheless； the small community in any age possesses one signal advantage over the large one； in its greater simplicity of life and its consequent relative leisure。 It was the prerogative of ancient Athens that it united the advantages of the large to those of the small community。 In relative simplicity of life it was not unlike the modern village； while at the same time it was the metropolis where the foremost minds of the time were enabled to react directly upon one another。 In yet another respect these opposite advantages were combined。 The twenty…five thousand free inhabitants might perhaps all know something of each other。 In this respect Athens was doubtless much like a New England country town； with the all…important difference that the sordid tone due to continual struggle for money was absent。 It was like the small town in the chance which it afforded for publicity and community of pursuits among its inhabitants。 Continuous and unrestrained social intercourse was accordingly a distinctive feature of Athenian life。 And； as already hinted； this intercourse did not consist in evening flirtations； with the eating of indigestible food at unseasonable hours； and the dancing of 〃the German。〃 It was carried on out…of…doors in the brightest sunlight； it brooked no effeminacy； its amusements were athletic games； or dramatic entertainments； such as have hardly since been equalled。 Its arena was a town whose streets were filled with statues and adorned with buildings； merely to behold which was in itself an education。 The participators in it were not men with minds so dwarfed by exclusive devotion to special pursuits that after 〃talking shop〃 they could find nothing else save wine and cookery to converse about。 They were men with minds fresh and open for the discussion of topics which are not for a day only。
A man like Sokrates； living in such a community； did not need to write down his wisdom。 He had no such vast public as the modern philosopher has to reach。 He could hail any one he happened to pass in the street； begin an argument with him forthwith； and set a whole crowd thinking and inquiring about subjects the mere contemplation of which would raise them for the moment above matters of transient concern。 For more than half a century any citizen might have gratis the benefit of oral instruction from such a man as he。 And I sometimes think； by the way； thatcurtailed as it is to literary proportions in the dialogues of Plato； bereft of all that personal potency which it had when it flowed； instinct with earnestness； from the lips of the teachereven to this day the wit of man has perhaps devised no better general gymnastics for the understanding than the Sokratic dialectic。 I am far from saying that all Athens listened to Sokrates or understood him： had it been so； the caricature of Aristophanes would have been pointless； and the sublime yet mournful trilogy of dialogues which pourtray the closing scenes of the greatest life of antiquity would never have been written。 But the mere fact that such a man lived and taught in the way that he did goes far in proof of the deep culture of the Athenian public。 Further confirmation is to be found in the fact that such tragedies as the Antigone； the Oidipous； and the Prometheus were written to suit the popular taste of the time； not to be read by literary people； or to be performed before select audiences such as in our day listen to Ristori or Janauschek； but to hold spell…bound that vast concourse of all kinds of people which assembled at the Dionysiac festivals。
Still further proof is furnished by the exquisite literary perfection of Greek writings。 One of the common arg