tates of Greece lost their independence, and became gradually
subject to a foreign yoke. Handed over from one domination to another,
in the struggles of Alexander's lieutenants, they endeavored to
reconquer their independence by forming themselves into confederations,
but were powerless to unite in the defense of a common cause. The Achaean
and Etolian leagues were weakened by internal discords; and it was in
vain that Sparta tried to recover her ancient liberties.

Divided amongst themselves, the smaller states invoked the aid of
dangerous allies--at one time appealing to Macedon, at another to Egypt.
In this way they prepared for the total ruin of Greek liberty, which was
destined to be extinguished by Rome.[763]

[Footnote 763: Pressense, "Religions before Christ," pp. 136-140.]

During this period of hopeless turmoil and social disorder, all lofty
pursuits and all great principles were lost sight of and abandoned. The
philosophic movement followed the downward course of society, and men
became chiefly concerned for their personal interest and safety. The
wars of the Succession almost obliterated the idea of society, and
philosophy was mainly directed to the securing of personal happiness; it
became, in fact, "the art of making one's self happy." The sad reverses
to which the Grecian mind had been subjected produced a feeling of
exhaustion and indifference, which soon reflected itself in the
philosophy of the age.

2d. In connection with the altered circumstances of the age, we must
also take account of _the apparent failure of the Socratic method to
solve the problem of Being_.

The teaching of Aristotle had fostered the suspicion that the dialectic
method was a failure, and thus prepared the way for a return to
sensualism. He had taught that individuals alone have a real existence,
and that the "essence" of things is not to be sought in the elements of
unity and generality, or in the _idea_, as Plato taught, but in the
elements of diversity and speciality. And furthermore, in opposition to
Plato, he had taught his disciples to attach themselves to sensation, as
the source of all knowledge. As the direct consequence of this teaching,
we find his immediate successors, Dicearchus and Straton, deliberately
setting aside "the god of philosophy," affirming "that a _divinity_ was
unnecessary to the explanation of the existence and order of the
universe." Stimulated by the social degeneracy of the times, the
character