much to suppose, if the Greek law of marriage had been altered by
Ptolemy, that within three centuries above half the nation would have
spoken the Greek language, and boasted of its Greek origin.

[Illustration: 055.jpg THE GOD SERAPIS]

The stimulus given by Ptolemy Soter to the culture of the age has been
already mentioned. The founding of the famous museum and library
of Alexandria may be, perhaps, regarded as the rounding-off of his
political plans for the consolidation of his kingdom. Alexandria became,
in fact, not only a centre of commerce and government, but also the
intellectual capital of the Greeks. But for this supreme importance of
the city, it is doubtful whether the descendants of Ptolemy Lagus could
have continued to rule the Valley of the Nile.

In return for the literature which Greece then gave to Egypt, she gained
the knowledge of papyrus, a tall rush which grows wild near the sources
of the Nile, and was then cultivated in the Egyptian marshes. Before
that time books had been written on linen, wax, bark, or the leaves of
trees; and public records on stone, brass, or lead: but the knowledge of
papyrus was felt by all men of letters like the invention of printing
in modern Europe. Books were then known by many for the first time,
and very little else was afterwards used in Greece or Rome; for, when
parchment was made about two centuries later, it was too costly to be
used as long as papyrus was within reach. Copies were multiplied on
frail strips of this plant, and it was found that mere thoughts, when
worth preserving, were less liable to be destroyed by time than temples
and palaces of the hardest stone.

[Illustration: 056.jpb MANUSCRIPT ON PAPYRUS; HIEROGLYPHICS, THEBES]

While Egypt, under Ptolemy, was thus enjoying the advantages of its
insulated position, and cultivating the arts of peace, the other
provinces were being harassed by the unceasing wars of Alexander's
generals, who were aiming, like Ptolemy, at raising their own power.
Many changes had taken place among them in the short space of eight
years which had passed since the death of Alexander. Philip Arridaeus,
in whose name the provinces had been governed, had been put to death;
Antigonus was master of Asia Minor, with a kingdom more powerful though
not so easily guarded as Egypt; Cassander held Macedonia, and had the
care of the young Alexander AEgus, who was then called the heir to the
whole of his father's wide conquests, and wh