The Greeks in Bactria and India c9.s1.151

c9.s1.151

One thing, as regards the new cities, seems tolerably certain. Though in theory the Seleucids were autocrats, they could not afford to ride roughshod over the Greeks, and the popularity of the dynasty shows that they did not do so. The Antigonid, with the Macedonian army behind him, could treat Greek cities as he pleased; the Ptolemy, with his army of mercenaries, was not dependent on the Greeks scattered about Egypt; but the force at the disposal of the Seleucids was largely supplied by the Greeks whom they had settled in Asia, and that put them in quite a different position. Whatever that position might be in political or philosophic theory, in actual fact their power was anything but autocratic; it was limited by the necessity of respecting the rights of the cities and colonies which they themselves had founded.