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than now; and we know from old descriptions that it could
be pretty dry in those days, too, when the Marathon runners
reached Athens covered with dust. There does not seem to
have been much difference. But man can bring about
considerable changes, for instance by cutting down or burning
the woods. And we know all too well how war may transform
fertile lands into a comparative desert. Moreover, the
Greeks, especially in Attica, were not primarily dependent
upon agriculture, but, if anything, more upon the trade in
their many good harbours, upon shipping, mining, and handicrafts.
That the wonderful culture of Greece declined so
rapidly cannot possibly be accounted for by any changes in
the climate; it must have been due first to the debilitating
effect of the civil wars, then to the enormous expansion
under and after Alexander, and lastly to the gradual
transformation of the race, brought about by various outside
influences and by the constant loss, through emigration, of
the best stocks, which became mixed with foreign elements
and largely disappeared.
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