The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1906-01-25

conclusive, and however much histor-
ical inquirers may differ as to the rel
ative Importance of any considerable
number of battles, all historians are,
without an exception, agreed that
Marathon marked an epoch in the
development of civilization. Greasy
numbers it among his Fifteen Decisive
Battles of the World, and says of it:
"Had Persia beaten Athens at Mara
thOn, she could have found no obstacle
to prevent Darius from advancing his
sway over all the known Western races
of mankind. The infant energies of
Europe would have been trOdden out
beneath universal conquest, and the
history of the world, like the history
OF Asia, have become mere record of
the rise and fall of despotic dynasties,
of the incursions of barbaric hordes,
and of the mental and political prostra-
tion of millions beneath the diadem,
the tiara, and the sword. & x 1t Sc
cured for mankind the intellectual
treasures of Athens, the growth of free
institutions, the liberal enlightenment
of the Western world, and the gradual
ascendancy for many ages of the great
principles of European civilization"
Now we are not concerned with sub
sequent events in the history of
Greece, other than to note thai, about
century and half later, 1898 B. c.
she passed under the dominion of
Philip of Macedonia, whose son, and
successor, Alexander the Great, re-
united her forces and lead them
against the Persian Empire in cam
paign that for brlliancy, as we'll as
for the rapidity and extent of his
conquests, has seldom, if ever, been
equaled in the annals of military pro-
cedure. And altho be has been termed
"The madman of Macedonis" if we
may judge by the benefits his opera
tions conferred upon the Eastern
world, then certain it is that his was a
systematic madness. He not only
founded the city of Alexandria, which
even now stands brilliant center of
commerce, and Civilizations monu-
ment sufficient to immortalize any
man-but his successors, carrying out
the policies he had inaugurated, found
ed there the Alexandrian Museum and
Library, than which no single educa-
tional institution in the known world
ever exerted a greater influence over
the minds of men. Even modern
science dates it's rise from the study of
nature that began within the confines
of that institution. Greasy says of the
Alexandrian regime:
among his successors the Seleucidae
and the Ptolemies initiated their great
captain In blending schemes of civili.
Zation, of commercial intercourse, and
of literary and scientific research with
all of their enterprises of military
aggrandizement and with all their
systems of civil administration. = n x
tits we'll known that Western Europe In
the middle ages drew its philosophy
its arts, and its science principally from
Eastern teachers. And thus we see
. how the intellectual influence oi
ancient Greece, poured on the Eastern
world by Alexander's victories, anC
then brought back to bear on Medi8
val Europe by the spread of the Sara
cenic powers, has exerted it's action OF
the elements of modern civilization b!
this powerful tho indirect channel"
And thus it came to pass that tn
Grecians lost their independence onl,
to attain, thru their conquerors, world
, wide dominion over the minds of men
q Now we have noted the birth o
civilization, traced its earlier develop
! ment, witnessed its preservation, an
remarked some of the effects of it
r diffusion thruout the Eastern world
r all of which we have seen accomplishe
+ thru the medium of war-and now,
q you please, we shall turn to the West
ern world and note few of the man
/. benefits war conferred upon the civil
q zation of the West Especially durin
,, the first decade of the Christian er'
a e A. d. when the Germans, unde
q Arminius, took up arms and won their il
/. dependence from the invading Roman
r. under Varus. And this event hs
4 for us the added interest that it is pal
;. of our own history-for that the mai
|, stratum of our race was, and is, Ge
v manic, is fact sbundsntly attested b
!. our language, which is, in its element
Is the same that our, forbears brougl
r over from the wilds of Germany.
le Had the Roman invaders been vi