Marathon, Salamis, and Plataea stimulated the patriotism and
enthusiasm of all children of the Greek race. The Greeks, for the
first time, occupied the centre of the historical stage; for the brief
interval of about half a century the different Grecian principalities
lived together in relative harmony. One city was recognized as the
metropolis of the loosely bound empire; one city became the home of
culture and the Mecca towards which all eyes turned; that city, of
course, was Athens. For a brief time all roads led to Athens, as, at a
later date, they all led to Rome. The waterways which alone bound the
widely scattered parts of Hellas into a united whole led out from Athens
and back to Athens, as the spokes of a wheel to its hub. Athens was the
commercial centre, and, largely for that reason, it became the centre of
culture and intellectual influence also. The wise men from the colonies
visited the metropolis, and the wise Athenians went out to the colonies.
Whoever aspired to become a leader in politics, in art, in literature,
or in philosophy, made his way to the capital, and so, with almost
bewildering suddenness, there blossomed the civilization of the age
of Pericles; the civilization which produced aeschylus, Sophocles,
Euripides, Herodotus, and Thucydides; the civilization which made
possible the building of the Parthenon.

ANAXAGORAS

Sometime during the early part of this golden age there came to Athens a
middle-aged man from Clazomenae, who, from our present stand-point,
was a more interesting personality than perhaps any other in the great
galaxy of remarkable men assembled there. The name of this new-comer was
Anaxagoras. It was said in after-time, we know not with what degree of
truth, that he had been a pupil of Anaximenes. If so, he was a pupil who
departed far from the teachings of his master. What we know for certain
is that Anaxagoras was a truly original thinker, and that he became a
close friend--in a sense the teacher--of Pericles and of Euripides. Just
how long he remained at Athens is not certain; but the time came when
he had made himself in some way objectionable to the Athenian populace
through his teachings. Filled with the spirit of the investigator,
he could not accept the current conceptions as to the gods. He was a
sceptic, an innovator. Such men are never welcome; they are the chief
factors in the progress of thought, but they must look always to
posterity for recognition of their wo