rm and purpose these federal leagues are suggestive of
the early federation of the colonies of America.

_Greek Colonization Spreads Knowledge_.--The colonies of Greece,
established on the different islands and along the shores of the
Mediterranean, were among the important {246} civilizers of this early
period. Its colonies were established for the purpose of relieving the
population of congested districts, on the one hand, and for the purpose
of increasing trade, on the other. They were always independent in
government of the mother country, but were in sympathy with her in
language, in customs, and in laws and religion. As the ships plied
their trade between the central government and these distant colonies,
they carried with them the fundamentals of civilization--the language,
the laws, the customs, the art, the architecture, the philosophy and
thought of the Greeks.

There was a tendency, then, to spread abroad over a large territory the
Grecian philosophy and life. More potent, indeed, than war is the
civilizing influence of maritime trade. It brings with it exchange of
ideas, inspiration, and new life; it enables the planting of new
countries with the best products. No better evidence of this can be
seen than in the planting of modern English colonies, which has spread
the civilization of England around the world. This was begun by the
Greeks in that early period, and in the dissemination of knowledge it
represents a wide influence.

_The Conquests of Alexander_.--Another means of the dissemination of
Greek thought, philosophy, and learning was the Alexandrian conquest
and domination. The ambitious Alexander, extending the plan of Philip
of Macedon, who attempted to conquer the Greeks and the surrounding
countries, desired to master the whole known world. And so into Egypt
and Asia Minor, into Central Asia, and even to the banks of the Ganges,
he carried his conquests, and with them the products of Greek learning
and literature. And most potent of all these influences was the
founding of Alexandria in Egypt, which he hoped to make the central
city of the world. Into this place flowed the products of learning,
not only of Greece but of the Orient, and developed a mighty city with
its schools and libraries, with its philosophy and doctrines and
strange religious influences. And for many years the learning of the
world centred about Alexandria, forming a great rival to Athens, which,
{247} though neve