76 THE GREEKS IN ASIA. 



sands with a temple between its paws : they entered 

 the great hall of Carnac, filled with columns like a 

 forest, and paved with acres of solid stone. In that 

 country Herodotus resided several years, and took notes 

 on his wooden tablets of everything that he saw, ascer- 

 tained the existence of the Niger, made inquiries about 

 the sources of the Nile, collated the traditions of the 

 priests of Memphis with those of Thebes. To Egypt 

 came the divine Plato, and drank long and deeply of 

 its ancient lore. The house in which he lived at 

 Heliopolis was afterwards shown to travellers ; it was 

 one of the sights of Egypt in Strabo's day. There are 

 some who ascribe the whole civilization of Greece, and 

 the rapid growth of Greek literature, to the free trade 

 which existed between the two lands. Greece imported 

 all its paper from Egypt, and without paper there would 

 have been few books. The skins of animals were too 

 rare, and their preparation too expensive, to permit the 

 growth of a literature for the people. 



Gradually the Greeks become dispersed over the 

 whole Asiatic world, and such was the influence of their 

 superiority that countries in which they had no political 

 power adopted much of their culture and their man- 

 ners. They surpassed the inhabitants of Asia as much 

 in the arts of war as in those of peace. They served 

 as mercenaries in every land ; wherever the kettle- 

 drum was beaten they assembled in crowds. 



It soon became evident to keen observers that the 

 Greeks were destined to inherit the Persian world. 

 That . vast empire was beginning to decay. The 

 character of the ruling people had completely changed. 

 It is said that the Lombards of the fourth generation 

 were terrified when they looked at the portraits of 

 their savage ancestors who, with their hair shaved 



