n origin, and of
the great distinction which existed between them and barbarians. Nor
must we forget the incidental advantages which attended them. The
concourse of so large a number of persons from every part of the
Grecian world afforded to the merchant opportunities for traffic, and
to the artist and the literary man the best means of making their works
known. During the time of the games a busy commerce was carried on;
and in a spacious hall appropriated for the purpose, the poets,
philosophers, and historians were accustomed to read their most recent
works.

The habit of consulting the same oracles in order to ascertain the will
of the gods was another bond of union. It was the universal practice
of the Greeks to undertake no matter of importance without first asking
the advice of the gods; and there were many sacred spots in which the
gods were always ready to give an answer to pious worshippers. The
oracle of Apollo at Delphi surpassed all the rest in importance, and
was regarded with veneration in every part of the Grecian world. In
the centre of the temple of Delphi there was a small opening in the
ground, from which it was said that a certain gas or vapour ascended.
Whenever the oracle was to be consulted, a virgin priestess called
PYTHIA took her seat upon a tripod which was placed over the chasm.
The ascending vapour affected her brain, and the words which she
uttered in this excited condition were believed to be the answer of
Apollo to his worshippers. They were always in hexameter verse, and
were reverently taken down by the attendant priests. Most of the
answers were equivocal or obscure; but the credit of the oracle
continued unimpaired long after the downfall of Grecian independence.

A further element of union among the Greeks was the similarity of
manners and character. It is true the difference in this respect
between the polished inhabitants of Athens and the rude mountaineers of
Acarnania was marked and striking; but if we compare the two with
foreign contemporaries, the contrast between them and the latter is
still more striking. Absolute despotism human sacrifices, polygamy,
deliberate mutilation of the person as a punishment, and selling of
children into slavery, existed in some part or other of the barbarian
world, but are not found in any city of Greece in the historical times.

The elements of union of which we have been speaking only bound the
Greeks together in common feelings