A HISTORY OF SCIENCE 



as the metropolis of the loosely bound empire ; one city 

 became the home of culture and the Mecca towards 

 which all eyes turned ; that city, of course, was Athens. 

 For a brief time all roads led to Athens, as, at a later 

 date, they all led to Rome. The waterways which 

 alone bound the widely scattered parts of Hellas into 

 a united whole led out from Athens and back to 

 Athens, as the spokes of a wheel to its hub. Athens 

 was the commercial centre, and, largely for that reason, 

 it became the centre of culture and intellectual influ- 

 ence also. The wise men from the colonies visited the 

 metropolis, and the wise Athenians went out to the 

 colonies. Whoever aspired to become a leader in 

 politics, in art, in literature, or in philosophy, made his 

 way to the capital, and so, with almost bewildering 

 suddenness, there blossomed the civilization of the age 

 of Pericles ; the civilization which produced ^Eschylus, 

 Sophocles, Euripides, Herodotus, and Thucydides; the 

 civilization which made possible the building of the 

 Parthenon. 



ANAXAGORAS 



Sometime during the early part of this golden age 

 there came to Athens a middle-aged man from Cla- 

 zomenae, who, from our present stand-point, was a 

 more interesting personality than perhaps any other 

 in the great galaxy of remarkable men assembled there. 

 The name of this new-comer was Anaxagoras. It was 

 said in after-time, we know not with what degree of 

 truth, that he had been a pupil of Anaximenes. If so, 

 he was a pupil who departed far from the teachings of 

 his master. What we know for certain is that Anaxag- 

 oras was a truly original thinker, and that he became a 



140 



