n inscribed upon their stele by
a Hellene.

* * * * *

At Chaeronea, Greek liberty, Greek heroism, and Greek love, properly
so-called, expired. It is not unworthy of notice that the son of the
conqueror, young Alexander, endeavoured to revive the tradition of
Achilleian friendship. This lad, born in the decay of Greek liberty,
took conscious pleasure in enacting the part of a Homeric hero, on the
altered stage of Hellas and of Asia, with somewhat tawdry histrionic
pomp.[51] Homer was his invariable companion upon his marches; in the
Troad he paid special honour to the tomb of Achilles, running naked
races round the barrow in honour of the hero, and expressing the envy
which he felt for one who had so true a friend and so renowned a poet to
record his deeds. The historians of his life relate that, while he was
indifferent to women,[52] he was madly given to the love of males. This
the story of his sorrow for Hephaistion sufficiently confirms. A kind of
spiritual atavism moved the Macedonian conqueror to assume on the vast
Bactrian plain the outward trappings of Achilles Agonistes.[53]

Returning from this digression upon Alexander's almost hysterical
archaism, it should next be noticed that Plato includes the people of
Elis in the censure which he passes upon the Boeotians. He accused the
Eleans of adopting customs which permitted youths to gratify their
lovers without further distinction of age, or quality, or opportunity.
In like manner, Maximus Tyrius distinguishes between the customs of
Crete and Elis: "While I find the laws of the Cretans excellent, I must
condemn those of Elis for their license."[54] Elis,[55] like Megara,
instituted a contest for beauty among youths; and it is significant that
the Megarians were not uncommonly accused of _Hybris_, or wanton lust,
by Greek writers. Both the Eleans and the Megarians may therefore
reasonably be considered to have exceeded the Greek standard of taste in
the amount of sensual indulgence which they openly acknowledged. In
Ionia, and other regions of Hellas exposed to Oriental influences, Plato
says that paiderastia was accounted a disgrace.[56] At the same time he
couples with paiderastia, in this place, both addiction to gymnastic
exercise and to philosophical studies, pointing out that despotism was
always hostile to high thoughts and haughty customs. The meaning of the
passage, therefore, seems to be that the true type of Greek love h