16 



E. WALTER MAUNDER, F.R.A.S., ON 



The Small Seaboard States. 



The great river valley communities of the ancient world do 

 not afford the only type of the civilization of that time. There 

 was another type, strongly contrasted with them in almost 

 every particular. 



" The mountains look on Marathon, 

 And Marathon looks on the sea." 



All along the indented coast of Asia Minor, on the islands of 

 the iEgean, in the creeks and harbours of Greece, cities had 

 sprung up, each more or less isolated. All were on the sea- 

 board, and on the landward side were generally closed in by 

 mountains, so that the geography of the region led inevitably to 

 the formation of little states, each complete in its isolation. 

 One thing linked them together ; it was indeed the sea which 

 divided them, but the sea also united. 



To these little maritime communities commerce was a 

 necessity. The small land area commanded by each could not 

 produce all that was needed, so that intercourse and exchange 

 with other states were vital to them. Their populations, there- 

 fore, were obliged to be adventurous and resourceful. The 

 sailor is the typical " handyman," and must always be on the 

 alert. Further, in the community of ship life the personality 

 of every man counts, and tends to become accentuated. Every 

 ship, too, is a community complete in itself ; sea life, therefore, 

 was a training in the recognition of the corporate character of 

 the home city, and the devotion to the welfare of that home 

 city was increased with every return to it. 



The river valley empire and the secluded seaport city were 

 therefore the very antitheses, the one of the other. The first 

 was a despotism, at the absolute disposal of a single man ; the 

 second tended to become a republic, governed in accordance 

 with the wishes of the majority of its citizens. The two 

 civilizations therefore stood for the two principles which Bacon 

 has named " sovereignty " and " liberty." The principles were 

 there embodied, there took concrete form. 



Here is the interest which attaches to Marathon, and has 

 made it famous through four and twenty centuries : for it was 

 at Marathon that the first " decisive battle of the world " 

 recorded in authentic history took place. Two world principles 

 strove there. 



Darius Hystaspis, the Napoleon of his clay, both in military 

 genius and able administration, had conquered practically the 

 whole world known to him, except the little country of Greece ; 



