8. They developed rapidly under a system so free from restraint, coupled with a nature so ardent, and a thirst for knowledge so absorbing. Still it was at least two hundred years after they had re-arranged their primitive modes of government before they reached a degree of order and system that influenced them to record events as they passed, and observe the world outside of their state, and even then their most learned men wrote little. Men were absorbed in their private matters, or in the affairs of the state. They thought little of the future; they were devoting themselves diligently to the only means of education that existed in those days, intercourse and action. Their priesthood was quite different from what we found it in Chaldea and Egypt. They did not form a class, nor attempt to exercise an influence on government. They were appointed from the body of the citizens to offer sacrifices and conduct religious ceremonies. The high spirited and active minded Greeks were not fit subjects for the dominion of a priestly caste. Although Cecrops, an Egyptian, settled and civilized Athens, and introduced some of the social arrangements of his country, he did not plant the all-controlling priesthood. The Athenians, of all other Greeks, were the thoughtful, progressive intelligence of the nation. The poets compiled the geneaologies and histories of the gods, the heroes, and the past records of the people. There was no other literature, there were no other sources of information but those from which the poets drew—tradition and inherited customs. Of these the poets explained the origin and reason, and no one thought of questioning their tales. They were supposed to be inspired; and their marvelous legends rested, to a certain extent, on monuments, habits, and oral tradition. Their lively narratives charmed and satisfied the public mind and gratified their pride. It was only in later years that the philosophers explained them away. In the early days they had no standard by which to criticise them. All they required was that they should offer a pleasing explanation. The wisest of the Greeks came, ultimately, to believe in one God who ruled with wisdom and justice, and they laid the foundation of all useful knowledge by teaching men to think and reason; but true science was not possible in their age of the world. They, however, prepared the way for it.