The old civic spirit more or less survived in the old Greek cities, but not in the new cities
founded by Alexander--not excepting Alexandria. In earlier times, a new city was always a
colony composed of emigrants from some one older city, and it remained connected with its
parent by a bond of sentiment. This kind of sentiment had great longevity, as is shown, for
example, by the diplomatic activities of Lampsacus on the Hellespont in the year 196 B.C. This
city was threatened with subjugation by the Seleucid King Antiochus III, and decided to appeal
to Rome for protection. An embassy was sent, but it did not go direct to Rome; it went first, in
spite of the immense distance, to Marseilles, which, like Lampsacus, was a colony of Phocaea,
and was, moreover, viewed with friendly eyes by the Romans. The citizens of Marseilles,
having listened to an oration by the envoy, at once decided to send a diplomatic mission of their
own to Rome to support their sister city. The Gauls who lived inland from Marseilles joined in
with a letter to their kinsmen of Asia Minor, the Galatians, recommending Lampsacus to their
friendship. Rome, naturally, was glad of a pretext for meddling in the affairs of Asia Minor, and
by Rome's intervention Lampsacus preserved its freedom--until it became inconvenient to the
Romans. *
In general, the rulers of Asia called themselves "Phil-Hellene," and befriended the old Greek
cities as far as policy and military necessity allowed. The cities desired, and (when they could)
claimed as a right, democratic self-government, absence of tribute, and freedom from a royal
garrison. It was worth while to conciliate them, because they were rich, they could supply
mercenaries, and many of them had important harbours. But if they took the wrong side in a
civil war, they exposed themselves to sheer conquest. On the whole, the Seleucids, and the
other dynasties which gradually grew up, dealt tolerably with them, but there were exceptions.
The new cities, though they had a measure of self-government, had not the same traditions as
the older ones. Their citizens were not of homogeneous origin, but were from all parts of
Greece. They were in the main adventurers, like the conquistadores or the settlers in
Johannesburg, not pious pilgrims like the earlier Greek colonists or the New England pioneers.
Consequently no one of Alexander's
* Bevan, House of Seleucus, Vol. II, pp. 45-6.