eek _polis_ and the [Greek: aien aristeyein] grew up out of mutual
enmity. Hellenic and philanthropic are contrary adjectives, although the
ancients flattered themselves sufficiently.

Homer is, in the world of the Hellenic discord, the pan-Hellenic Greek.
The [Greek: "agon"] of the Greeks is also manifested in the Symposium in
the shape of witty conversation.

120

Wanton, mutual annihilation inevitable: so long as a single _polis_
wished to exist--its envy for everything superior to itself, its
cupidity, the disorder of its customs, the enslavement of the women,
lack of conscience in the keeping of oaths, in murder, and in cases of
violent death.

Tremendous power of self-control: for example in a man like Socrates,
who was capable of everything evil.

121

Its noble sense of order and systematic arrangement had rendered the
Athenian state immortal--The ten strategists in Athens! Foolish! Too big
a sacrifice on the altar of jealousy.

122

The recreations of the Spartans consisted of feasting, hunting, and
making war . their every-day life was too hard. On the whole, however,
their state is merely a caricature of the polls, a corruption of Hellas.
The breeding of the complete Spartan--but what was there great about him
that his breeding should have required such a brutal state!

123

The political defeat of Greece is the greatest failure of culture; for
it has given rise to the atrocious theory that culture cannot be pursued
unless one is at the same time armed to the teeth. The rise of
Christianity was the second greatest failure: brute force on the one
hand, and a dull intellect on the other, won a complete victory over the
aristocratic genius among the nations. To be a Philhellenist now means
to be a foe of brute force and stupid intellects. Sparta was the ruin of
Athens in so far as she compelled Athens to turn her entire attention
to politics and to act as a federal combination.

124

There are domains of thought where the _ratio_ will only give rise to
disorder, and the philologist, who possesses nothing more, is lost
through it and is unable to see the truth . _e.g._ in the consideration
of Greek mythology. A merely fantastic person, of course, has no claim
either . one must possess Greek imagination and also a certain amount of
Greek piety. Even the poet does not require to be too consistent, and
consistency is the last thing Greeks would understand.

125

Almost all the Greek d