ue in the
carrying-out of her ends. Macedonian character partook of the rugged,
hardy nature of the land, and the women of the country cared more for
outdoor sports and scenes of war than for the enervating luxuries of the
East and the letters of Egypt.

The kingdom of Syria, with its luxurious capital at Antioch, under the
dynasty of the Seleucidae, was perhaps, as a whole, more Hellenistic in
culture than either Egypt or Macedon, and united more generally the
refinement of Greece with the luxury and splendor of the Orient.
Unfortunately, we know but little of this important kingdom, except as
to its wars and politics. Though Antiochus, the real founder of the
dynasty, was a patron of letters and maintained learned men at his
court, no literature of importance arose to tell us of its patrons; and,
excepting the story already told of his romantic marriage with
Stratonice, we know nothing of Antiochus's private life and but few
incidents in the lives of his successors. We know that the population of
Syria was manifold in nationality, in politics, and in manners, and that
the Greek cities, which were so profusely established, developed a high
degree of culture and created a general diffusion of knowledge. Juvenal,
in describing the Greek influence on Rome, speaks of the Syrian river
Orontes as flowing into the Tiber, and, doubtless, the Greek of the
Orient was the type most largely represented in the mixed population of
Rome. Antioch became a formidable rival of Alexandria as a social and
commercial centre, and extended Greek influence over a far wider area
than did the Egyptian city. But when we seek to know something of the
social life of this important branch of Hellenism, of the details of
private life and of the condition of women, we have absolutely no source
of information. Outside of the history of the royal family, there is
unbroken silence as to the more intimate story of Syria.

In this concluding chapter, therefore, we shall confine our attention to
Alexandria and the court of the Ptolemies, whither the centre of gravity
of the Greek world trended after the fall of Greek independence and the
decline of Athens. Its great founder seems to have shown prophetic
insight in his selection of the spot on which to build the city that
should bear his name, and the supremacy of that city was assured when
Alexander by his conquests opened up the Orient to Greek commerce; but
the greatest good fortune of Alexandria lay in