Status Updates From The Life of Greece (The Sto...

"The fading of frontiers & the establishment of a common language, the fluid interchange of books & ideas...& the weakening of the old theology, ...the multiplication of schools, universities...combined with wealth, industry, & royal patronage to free science from philosophy, & to encourage it in its work of enlightening, enriching & endangering the world" (627).

"No student with a mind of his own will join in any sweeping judgment about Hellenistic decay; a general conclusion to this effect serves too easily as an excuse for ending the story of Greece before the task is done. We feel in this period a slackening of creative impulse, but we are compensated by the lavish abundance of an art now completely master of its tools" (626).

"The ambition to possess old books became so widespread that men arose who specialized in dyeing and spoiling new manuscripts to sell them as antiquities to collectors of first editions...The office of librarian was one of the highest in the king's gift, and included the obligation of tutoring the crown prince. The names of these librarians have been preserved, with variations, in different manuscripts" (601).