244
C. Death of Darius 247
CI. Defeat of Porus 249
CII. The Return to Babylon 251
CIII. Death of Alexander the Great 252
CIV. The Division of the Realm 255
CV. Death of Demosthenes 257
CVI. The Last of the Athenians 260
CVII. The Colossus of Rhodes 262
CVIII. The Battle of Ipsus 265
CIX. Demetrius and the Athenians 266
CX. The Achaean League 268
CXI. Division in Sparta 270
CXII. Death of Agis 274
CXIII. The War of the Two Leagues 276
CXIV. The Last of the Greeks 278
CXV. Greece a Roman Province 280
INDEX 283

[Illustration]

THE STORY OF THE GREEKS.

I. EARLY INHABITANTS OF GREECE.

Although Greece (or Hel'las) is only half as large as the State of New
York, it holds a very important place in the history of the world. It is
situated in the southern part of Europe, cut off from the rest of the
continent by a chain of high mountains which form a great wall on the
north. It is surrounded on nearly all sides by the blue waters of the
Med-it-er-ra'ne-an Sea, which stretch so far inland that it is said no
part of the country is forty miles from the sea, or ten miles from the
hills. Thus shut in by sea and mountains, it forms a little territory by
itself, and it was the home of a noted people.

The history of Greece goes back to the time when people did not know how
to write, and kept no record of what was happening around them. For a
long while the stories told by parents to their children were the only
information which could be had about the country and its former
inhabitants; and these stories, slightly changed by every new teller,
grew more and more extraordinary as time passed. At last they were so
changed that no one could tell where the truth ended and fancy began.

The beginning of Greek history is therefore like a fairy tale; and while
much of it cannot, of course, be true, it is the only information we
have about the early Greeks. It is these strange fireside stories, which
used to