1 66 CHRISTIAN GREECE AND LIVING GREEK. tors of their race. Such were those who founded and endowed schools. There were others who were either themselves workers in the fields of literature and learning, or who generously sub- sidized and supported the publication of useful books by others. These were the men who made themselves the leading apostles of freedom and of civilization, by telling their fellow-country- men what they had heard and seen in the do- minions of civilized governments, and exciting in them the desire to obtain similar blessings for their own land. It is among these mer- chants that are to be found the names of the first founders of the Hetairia. It was principally from among them that the emissaries were drawn who spread through the provinces and colonies of the Hellenic race the secret knowl- edge of the national movement which was about to break forth. Of six hundred and ninety-two recorded names of members of the Hetairia, two hundred and fifty-one are those of business men, and thirty-five of ship owners. Bikelas concludes : Trade helped to engender the war of independence, trade brought out and hastened the moral and intellectual awakening of the people. In the merchant ships were raised those sailors who have gained immortality
