The Press.
London, England, 1857-06-13 00:00:00

NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS.

WE have no other resource at this season of the year,
when the number of popular works upon popular sub-
jects, of reprints, poems, and second editions of stan-
dard works is so great, than to give to each a short
notice, in many cases too brief for their merits, but
on the other hand sufficienily full to call the atten-
tion of our readers to such as may suit their wants
or excite their sympathies. To begin, then, with
Finlay's " Greece under the Romans" (I). We have
upon more than one occasion borne testimony to the
valuable historical works of Mr. Finlay. His His-
tories of Greece under the Romans, and under the
Ottoman and Venetian Domination, have established
for him a reputation for careful research, accuracy
in fact, refined scholarship, and solid literary talents.
We are glad to see a new edition of a work so de-
servedly popular. Unquestionably it is one of the
s'andard works of the day, and it should be in every
library. After Mr. Grote's unjust depreciation of
Alexander the Great, it is gratifying to find so
accurate and unprejudiced an historian as Mr.
Finlay adopting a more just view of the policy and
administration of that great hero. We extract the
passages:—

Alexander was the noblest model ails conqueror; his
ambition aspired at eclipsing the glory of his unparalleled
victories by the universal prosperity which was to flow
from his civil government. New cities and extended
commerce were to found an era in the world's history.
Even the strength of his empire was to be based
on a political principle which he has the merit of
discovering, and of which he proved the efficacy; this
principle was the amalgamation of his subjects into one
peot•le by permanent institutions. All other conquerors
have endeavoured to augment their power by the subjec-
tion of one race to another. The merit of Alexander is
very much increased by the nature of his position with
regard to the Greek nation. The Greeks were not favour-
ably disposed either towards his empire or his person ;
they would willingly have destroyed both as the surest way
of securing their own liberty. But the moral energy of
the Greek national characterdid not escape the observation
of Alexander, and he resolved to render this quality avail.
able for the preservation of his empire; by introducing into
the East those municipal institutions which gave it vigour,
and thus facilitate the infusion of some portion of the
Hellenic character into the hearts of his conquered sub-
jects.
The moderation of Alexander in the execution of his
plans of reform and change is as remarkable as the
wisdom of his extensive projects. In order to mould the
Asiatics to his wishes, he did not attempt to enforce laws
and constitutions similar to those of Greece. He had
profited too well by the lessons of Aristotle to think of
treating man as a machine. But he introduced Greek
civilisation as an important element in his civil govern-
ment, and established Greek colonies with political rights
throughout his conquests. It is true that he seized all the
unlimited power of the Persian monarchs, but, at the
same time, he strove to secure administrative responsi-
bility, and to establish free institutions in municipal go-
'eminent. Any laws or constitution which Alexander
could have promulgated to enforce his system of consoli-
dating the population of his empire into one body, would
most probably have been immediately repealed by his
successors, in consequence of the hostile feelings of the
Macedonian army. But it was more difficult to escape
from the tendency imprinted on the administration by the
systematic arrangements which Alexander had introduced.
He seems to have been fully aware of this fact, though it
is impossible to trace the whole series of measures he
adopted to accelerate the completion of his great project
of creating a new state of society, and a new notion, as
well as a new empire, in the imperfect records of his civil
administration which have survived. His death left his
own scheme incomplete, yet his success was wonderful;
for though his empire was immediately dismembered, its
numerous portions long retained a deep imprint of that
Greek civilisation which lie had introduced. The in•
fillet:me of his philanthropic policy survived the kingdoms
which his arms had founded, and tempered the despotic
away of the Itomans by its superior power over society;
nor was the' influence of Alexander's government utterly
effaced in Asia until Mehemet changed the Government,
the religion, and the frame of society in the East,

1(1) Greece wukr the &mans. 13y George ilulay, LL.D.
London: Blackwood..

A~
-.-~~~, s ~ -_.._ .. _...