The Martyrdom of Man.....................................................................................................................................1

Winwood Reade .......................................................................................................................................1

NOTE .......................................................................................................................................................1

AUTHOR�S PREFACE ...........................................................................................................................1

CHAPTER 1. WAR .................................................................................................................................3

CHAPTER 2. Religion..........................................................................................................................62

CHAPTER III. LIBERTY...................................................................................................................111

CHAPTER IV. INTELLECT ...............................................................................................................145

Reade�s full name was William Winwood Reade: on the Martrydom, and on his last book, The Outcast, it

stands as Winwood Reade, his literary choice. A nephew of Charles Reade, he was born at Murrayfield, near

Crieff, on 26 December, 1838, and died at Wimbledon, on 24th April, 1875. (These are the dates of Mr.

Legge, who seems, however, not to have finally correlated them.) He published in 1859 Charlotte and Myra;

in 1860 Liberty Hall Oxon (his college was Magdalen, then known as Hertford); in 1860 The Veil of Isis, an

attack on Catholicism. His first visit to Africa was in 1862. In 1865 he published SeeSaw; in 1868 he again

went to Africa, and in 1873 appeared his African Sketch Book, which is in part an abridgment of his Savage

Africa (1863). The Martyrdom of Man was published in 1872. In 1873 he made his third trip to Africa, as

Times correspondent in the Ashanti War, which he saw through, being the only civilian present at the taking

of Coomassie; and in 1874 appeared his Story of the Ashanti Campaign, embodying, with criticism, his

Times letters. In his last illness he wrote The Outcast (1875) setting forth in fiction form the fate of

persecution attaching to the aggressive profession of 'unbelief.' Orthodox writers have stressed the fact that,

while he again professes his disbelief in immortality, he does not profess to 'know.' The Outcast reached a

third edition in the year of its issue, but does not appear to have been since reprinted until its publication by

In 18623 I made a tour in Western Africa, and afterwards desired to revisit that strange country with the

view of opening up new ground and of studying religion and morality among the natives. I was, however,

unable to bear a second time the great expenses of African travel, and had almost given up the hope of

becoming an explorer when I was introduced by Mr. Bates, the well known Amazon traveller and Secretary

of the Royal Geographical Society, to one of its Associates, Mr. Andrew Swanzy, who had long desired to do

something in the cause of African discovery. He placed unlimited means at my disposal, and left me free to

choose my own route. I travelled in Africa for two years (186870) and made a journey which is mentioned

in the test. The narrative of my travels will be published in due course; I allude to them now in order to show

that I have had some personal experience of savages. I wish also to take the first opportunity of thanking Mr.

Swanzy for his assistance, which was given not only in the most generous but also in the most graceful

With respect to the present work, I began it intending to prove that 'Negroland' or Inner Africa is not cut off

from the mainstream of events, as writers of philosophical history have always maintained, but connected

by means of Islam with the lands of the East; and also that it has, by means of the slavetrade, powerfully

influenced the moral history of Europe and the political history of the United States. But I was gradually led

from writing the history of Africa into writing the history of the world. I could not describe the Negroland of

ancient times without describing Egypt and Carthage. From Egypt I was drawn to Asia and to Greece; from

Carthage I was drawn to Rome. That is the first chapter. Next, having to relate the progress of the

Mohammedans in Central Africa, it was necessary for me to explain the nature and origin of Islam, but that

religion cannot be understood without a previous study of Christianity and of Judaism, and those religions

cannot be understood without a study of religion among savages. That is the second chapter. Thirdly, I

sketched the history of the slavetrade, which took me back to the discoveries of the Portuguese, the glories

of Venetian commerce, the revival of the arts, the Dark Ages, and the invasion of the Germans. Thus finding

that my outline of universal history was almost complete, I determined in the last chapter to give a brief

summary of the whole, filling up the parts omitted, and adding to it the materials of another work suggested

One of my reasons for revisiting Africa was to collect materials for this work, which I had intended to call

The Origin of Mind. However, Mr. Darwin�s Descent of Man has left little for me to say respecting the birth

and infancy of the faculties and affections. I therefore merely follow in his footsteps, not from blind

veneration for a great master, but because I find that his conclusions are confirmed by the phenomena of

savage life. On certain minor points I venture to dissent from Mr. Darwin�s views, as I shall show in my

personal narrative, and there is probably much in this work of which Mr. Darwin will disapprove. He must

I had intended to give my authorities in full with notes and elucidations, but am prevented from doing so by

want of space, this volume being already larger than it should be. I wish therefore to impress upon the reader

that there is scarcely anything in this work which I can claim as my own. I have taken not only facts and

ideas, but phrases and even paragraphs, from other writers. I cannot pay all my debts in full, but I must at

least do myself the pleasure of mentioning those authors who have been my chief guides. On Egypt they are

Wilkinson, Herodotus (Rawlinson�s edition), Bunsen; Ethiopia or Abyssinia, Bruce, Baker, Lepsius;

Carthage, Heeren (African Nations), Niebuhr, Mommsen; East Africa, Vincent (Periplus), Guillain, Hakluyt

Society�s Publications; Moslem Africa (Central), Park, Caillie, Denham and Clapperton, Lander, Barth, Ibn

Batuta, Leo Africanus; Guinea and South Africa, Azurara, Barros, Major, Hakluyt, Purchas, Livingstone;

Assyria, Sir H. Rawlinson, Layard; India, Max Muller, Weber; Persia, Heeren (Asiatic Nations); Central

Asia, Burnes, Wolff, Vambery; Arabia, Niebuhr, Caussin de Perceval, Sprenger, Deutsch, Muir, Burckhardt,

Burton, Palgrave; Palestine, Dean Stanley, Renan, Dollinger, Spinoza, Robinson, Neander; Greece, Grote, O.

Muller, Curtius, Heeren, Lewes, Taine, About, Becker (Charicles); Rome, Gibbon, Macaulay, Becker

(Gallus); Dark Ages, Hallam, Guizot, Robertson, Prescott, Irving; Philosophy of History, Herder, Buckle

Comte, Lecky, Mill, Draper; Science, Darwin, Lyell, Herbert, Spencer, Huxley, Tyndall, Chambers (Vestiges

of Creation), Wallace, Tylor, and Lubbock. All of the works of the above named authors deserve to be

carefully read by the students of universal history, and in them he will find references to the original

authorities, and to all writers of importance on the various subjects treated of in this work. As for my

religious sentiments, they are expressed in opposition to the advice and wishes of several literary friends, and

of the publisher, who have urged me to alter certain passages which they do not like, and which they believe

will provoke against me the anger of the public. Now, as a literary workman I am thankful to be guided by

the knowledge of experts, and I bow to the decisions of the great public, for whom alone I write, whom alone

I care to please, and in whose broad unbiased judgment I place implicit trust. But in the matter of religion I

listen to no remonstrance; I acknowledge no decision save that of the divine monitor within me. My

conscience is my adviser, my audience, and my judge. It bade me write as I have written, without evasion,

without disguise; it bids me to go on as I have begun, whatever the result may be. If therefore my religious

opinions should be condemned, without a single exception, by every reader of the book, it will not make me

regret having expressed them, and it will not prevent me from expressing then again. It is my earnest and

sincere conviction that those opinions are not only true, but also that they tend to elevate and purify the mind.

One thing at all events I knowthat it has done me good to write this book, and therefore I do not think that

The land of Egypt is six hundred miles long, and is bounded by two ranges of naked limestone hills which

sometimes approach and sometimes retire from each other, leaving between them an average breadth of

seven miles. On the north they widen and disappear, giving place to a marshy meadow plain which extends to

the Mediterranean coast. On the south they are no longer of limestone, but of granite; they narrow to a point;

they close in till they almost touch; and through the mountain gate thus formed the river Nile leaps with a

In the winter and spring it rolls a languid stream through a dry and dusty plain. But in the summer an

extraordinary thing happens. The river grows troubled and swift; it turns red as blood, and then green; it rises,

it swells, till at length, overflowing its banks, it covers the adjoining lands to the base of the hills on either

side. The whole valley becomes a lake from which the villages rise like islands, for they are built on artificial

This catastrophe was welcomed by the Egyptians with religious gratitude and noisy mirth. When their fields

had entirely disappeared they thanked the gods and kept their harvesthome. The tax gatherers measured the

water as if it were grain, and announced what the crops and the budget of the next year would be. Gay barges

with painted sails conveyed the merry husbandmen from village to village and from fair to fair. It was then

that they had their boat tournaments, their wrestling matches, their bouts at singlestick and other athletic

sports. It was then that the thimbleriggers and jackpuddings, blind harpers and nigger minstrels from

Central Africa, amused the holidayhearted crowd. It was then that the old people sat over draughts and

dicebox in the cosy shade, while the boys played at mora, or at pitch and toss, and the girls at a game of

ball, with forfeits for the one who missed a catch. It was then that the house father bought new dolls for the

children, and amulets or gold earrings or necklaces of porcelain bugles for the wife. It was then that the

market stalls abounded with joints of beef and venison, and with geese hanging down in long rows, and with

chickens hatched by thousands under heaps of dung. Salted quails, smoked fish, date sweetmeats, doura

cakes, and cheese; leeks, garlic cucumbers, and onions; lotus seeds mashed in milk, roasted stalks of papyrus,

jars of barley beer and palm wine, with many other kinds of food, were sold in unusual plenty at that festive

It was then also that the whiterobed priests, bearing the image of a god and singing hymns, marched with

solemn procession to the waterside, and cast in a sacrifice of gold. For the water which had thus risen was

their life. Egypt is by nature a rainless desert which the Nile and the Nile only, converts into a garden every

Far, far away in the distant regions of the south, in the deep heart of Africa, lie two inland seas. These are the

headwaters of the Nile; its sources are in the sky. For the clouds, laden with waters collected out of many

seas, sail to the African equator, and there pour down a ten months� rain. This ocean of falling water is

received on a region sloping towards the north, and is conveyed by a thousand channels to the vast rocky

cisterns which form the Speke and Baker Lakes.** They, filled and bursting, cast forth the Nile, and drive it

from them through a terrible and thirsty land. The hot air lies on the stream and laps it as it flows. The

parched soil swallows it with open pores, but ton after ton of water is supplied from the gigantic reservoirs

behind, and so it is enabled to cross that vast desert which spreads from the latitude of Lake Tchad to the

The existence of the Nile is due to the Nyanza Lakes alone, but the inundation of the river has a distinct and

Between the Nile and the mouth of the Arabian Gulf are situated the highlands of Abyssinia, rising many

thousand feet above the level of the sea, and intercepting the clouds of the Indian Ocean in their flight

towards the north. From these mountains, as soon as the rainy season has set in, two great rivers come

thundering down their driedup beds, and rush into the Nile. The main stream is now forced impetuously

along; in the Nubian desert its swelling waters are held in between walls of rock; as soon as it reaches the low

White Nile are transparent and pure; but the Atbara and Blue Nile bring down from their native land a black

silt which the flood strews over the whole valley as a kind of topdressing or manure. On that rich and

unctuous mud, as soon as the waters have retired, the natives cast their seed. Then their labours are

completed; no changes of weather need afterwards be feared; no anxious looks are turned towards the sky;

sunshine only is required to fulfil the crop, and in Egypt the sun is never covered by a cloud.

Thus, were it not for the White Nile, the Abyssinian rivers would be drunk up by the desert; and were it not

for the Abyssinian rivers, the White Nile would be a barren stream. The river is created by the rains of the

equator; the land by the tropical rains condensed in one spot by the Abyssinian mountain pile.

In that fair Egyptian valley, fattened by a foreign soil, brightened by eternal sunshine, watered by terrestrial

rain, the natives were able to obtain a year�s food in return for a few days� toil, and so were provided with

A people can never rise from low estate as long as they are engrossed in the painful struggle for daily bread.

On the other hand, leisure alone is not sufficient to effect the selfpromotion of men. The savage of the

primeval forest burns down a few trees every year; his women raise an easy crop from the ashes which

mingle with the soil. He basks all day in the sunshine, or prostrates himself in his canoe with his arms behind

his head and a fishingline tied to his big toe. When the meathunger comes upon him he takes up bow and

arrow and goes for a few days into the bush. His life is one long torpor, with spasms of activity. Century

follows century, but he does not change. Again, the shepherd tribes roam from pasture to pasture; their flocks

and herds yield them food and dress and 'houses of hair,' as they call their tents. They have little work to do;

their time is almost entirely their own. They pass long hours in slow conversation, in gazing at the heavens, in

the sensuous, passive oriental reverie. The intellectual capacities of such men are by no means to be despised,

as those who have lived among them are aware. They are skilful interpreters of nature�s language and of the

human heart; they compose beautiful poems; their religion is simple and sublime; yet time passes on, and

they do not advance. The Arab sheikh of the present day lives precisely as Abraham did three thousand years

It is the first and indispensable condition of human progress that a people shall be married to a single land;

that they shall wander no more from one region to another, but remain fixed and faithful to their soil. Then, if

the Earthwife be fruitful, she will bear them children by hundreds and by thousands; and then calamity will

The Egyptians were islanders, cut off from the rest of the world by sand and sea. They were rooted in their

valley; they lived entirely upon its fruits, and happily these fruits sometimes failed. Had they always been

able to obtain enough to eat, they would have remained always in the semisavage state.

It may appear strange that Egypt should have suffered from famine, for there was no country in the ancient

world where food was so abundant and so cheap. Not only did the land produce enormous crops of corn; the

ditches and hollows which were filled by the overflowing Nile supplied a harvest of wholesome and

nourishing aquatic plants, and on the borders of the desert thick groves of datepalms, which love a neutral

But however plentiful food may be in any country, the population of that country, as Malthus discovered, will

outstrip it in the long run. If food is unusually cheap, population will increase at an unusually rapid rate, and

there is not limit to its ratio of increase � no limit, that is to say, except disease and death. On the other hand,

there is a limit to the amount of food that can be raised, for the basis of food is land, and land is a fixed

quantity. Unless some discovery is made by means of which provisions may be manufactured with as much

facility as children, the whole earth will some day be placed in the same predicament as the island in which

we live, which has outgrown its foodproducing power, and is preserved from starvation only by means of

At the time we speak of, Egypt was irrigated by the Nile in a natural and therefore imperfect manner. Certain

tracts were overflooded; others were left completely dry. The valley was filled with people to the brim. When

it was a good Nile, every ear of corn, every bunch of dates, every papyrus stalk and lotus root was

preengaged. There was no waste and no surplus store. But sometimes a bad Nile came.

The bread of the people depended on the amount of inundation, and that depended on the tropical rains,

which vary more than is usually supposed. If the rainfall in the Abyssinian highlands happened to be slight,

the river could not pay its full tribute of earth and water to the valley below; and if the rainfall was unusually

severe, houses were swept away, cattle were drowned, and the water instead of returning at the usual time,

became stagnant on the fields. In either case famine and pestilence invariably ensued. The plenty of ordinary

years, like a baited trap, had produced a luxuriance of human life, and the massacre was proportionally

severe. Encompassed by the wilderness, the unfortunate natives were unable to escape. They died in heaps;

the valley resembled a field of battle; each village became a charnelhouse; skeletons sat grinning at street

corners, and the winds clattered among dead men�s bones. A few survivors lingered miserably through the

year, browsing on the thorny shrubs of the desert, and sharing with the vultures their horrible repast.

'God made all men equal' is a fine sounding phrase, and has also done good service in its day, but it is not a

scientific fact. On the contrary, there is nothing so certain as the natural inequality of men. Those who outlive

hardships and sufferings which fall on all alike owe their existence to some superiority, not only of body but

of mind. It will easily be conceived that among such superiorminded men there would be some who,

stimulated by the memory of that which was past and by the fear of that which might return, would strain to

the utmost their ingenuity to control and guide the fickle river which had hitherto sported with their lives.

We shall not attempt to trace out their inventions step by step. Humble in its beginnings, slow in its

improvements, the art or science of hydraulics was finally mastered by the Egyptians. They devised a system

of dikes, reservoirs, and lockcanals, by means of which the excessive waters of a violent Nile were turned

from the fields and stored up to supply the wants of a dry year. Thus also the precious fluid was conveyed to

tracts of land lying above the level of the river, and was distributed over the whole valley with such precision

that each lot or farm received a just and equal share. Next, as the inundation destroyed all landmarks,

surveying became a necessary art in order to settle the disputes which broke out every year. And, as the rising

of the waters was more and more carefully observed, it was found that its beginning coincided with certain

aspects of the stars. This led to the study of astronomy and the discovery of the solar year. Agriculture

became a mathematical art. It was ascertained that so many feet of water would yield so many quarters of

corn, and thus, before a single seed was sown, they could count up the harvest as correctly as if it had been

A natural consequence of all this was the separation of the inventor class, who became at first the counsellors

and afterwards the rulers of the people. But while the men of mind were battling with the forces of Nature, a

contest of another kind was also going on. Those who dwell on the rich banks of a river flowing through

desert lands are always liable to be attacked by the wandering shepherd hordes who resort to the waterside in

summer, when the wilderness pasture is dried up. There is nothing such tribes desire better than to conquer

the corngrowing people of the river lands, and to make them pay a tribute of grain when the crops are taken

in. The Egyptians, as soon as they had won their harvests from the flood, were obliged to defend them against

the robbers of the desert, and out of such wars arose a military caste. These allied themselves with the

intellectual caste, who were also priests, for among the primitive nations religion and science were invariably

combined. In this manner the bravest and wisest of the Egyptians rose above the vulgar crowd, and the nation

Then oppression continued the work which war and famine had begun. The priests announced, and the armies

executed, the divine decrees. The people were reduced to servitude. The soldiers discovered the gold and

emerald mines of the adjoining hills, and filled their dark recesses with chained slaves and savage overseers.

They became invaders; they explored distant lands with the spear. Communications with Syria and the

fragrant countries at the mouth of the Red Sea, first opened by means of war, were continued by means of

commerce. Foreign produce became an element of Egyptian life. The privileged classes found it necessary to

be rich. Formerly the priests had merely salted the bodies of the dead; now a fashionable corpse must be

embalmed, at an expense of two hundred and fifty pounds, with asphalt from the Dead Sea and spices from

the Somali groves; costly incense must be burnt on the altars of the gods; aristocratic heads must recline on

ivory stools; fine ladies must glitter with gold ornaments and precious stones, and must be served by

waitingmaids and pages with woolly hair and velvety black skins. War and agriculture were no longer

sufficient to supply these patrician wants. It was no longer sufficient that the people should feed on dates and

the course dourabread, while the wheat which they raised was sold by their masters for gewgaws and

perfumes. Manufactures were established; slaves laboured at a thousand looms; the linen goods of Egypt

became celebrated throughout the world. Laboratories were opened; remarkable discoveries were made. The

Egyptian priests distilled brandy and sweet waters. They used the blowpipe, and were far advanced in the

chemical processes of art. They fabricated glass mosaics, and counterfeited precious stones and porcelain of

exquisite transparency and delicately blended hues. With the fruits of these inventions they adorned their

Thus, when Nature selects a people to endow them with glory and with wealth, her first proceeding is to

massacre their bodies, her second to debauch their minds. She begins with famine, pestilence and war; next,

force and rapacity above, chains and slavery below. She uses evil as the raw material of good; though her aim

is always noble, her earliest means are base and cruel. But as soon as a certain point is reached she washes

her black and bloody hands, and uses agents of a higher kind. Having converted the animal instinct of

selfdefence into the ravenous lust of wealth and power, that also she transforms into ambition of a pure and

lofty kind. At first knowledge is sought only for the things which it will buythe daily bread indispensable

to life, and those trinkets of body and mind which vanity demands. Yet those low desires do not always and

entirely possess the human soul. Wisdom is like the heiress of the novel who is at first courted only for her

At first sight there seems little in the arts and sciences of Egypt which cannot be traced to the enlightened

selfishness of the priestly caste. For in the earlier times it was necessary for the priests to labour unceasingly

to preserve the power which they had usurped. It was necessary to overawe not only the people who worked

in the fields, but their own dangerous allies, the military class; to make religion not only mysterious but

magnificent; not only to predict the precise hour of the rising of the waters, or the eclipses of the moon, but

also to adopt and nurture the fine arts, to dazzle the public with temples, monuments, and paintings. Above

all, it was necessary to prepare a system of government which should keep the labouring classes in subjection

and yet stimulate them to labour indefatigably for the state; which should strip them of all the rewards of

industry and yet keep that industry alive. Expediency will therefore account for much that the Egyptian

intellect produced, but it certainly will not account for all. The invention of hieroglyphics is alone sufficient

to prove that higher motives were at work than mere political calculation and the appetite of gold. For writing

was an invention which at no time could have added in a palpable manner to the wealth or power of the upper

classes, and which yet could not have been finished to a system without a vast expenditure of time and toil. It

could not have been the work of a single man, but of several men labouring in the same direction, and in its

early beginnings must have appeared as unpractical, as truly scientific to them, as the study of solar chemistry

and the observation of the double stars to us. Besides, the intense and faithful labour which is conspicuous in

all the Egyptian works of art could only have been inspired by that enthusiasm which belongs to noble minds.

We may fairly presume that Egypt once possessed its chivalry of the intellect, its heroic age, and that the

violent activity of thought generated by the love of life and developed by the love of power was raised to its

At first the Nile valley was divided into a number of independent states, each possessing its own corporation

of priests and soldiers, its own laws and system of taxation, its own tutelary god and shrine, but each a

member of one body, united by the belief in one religion, and assembling from time to time to worship the

national gods in an appointed place. There, according to general agreement ratified by solemn oaths, all feuds

were suspended, all weapons laid aside. There also, under the shelter of the sanctuary, property was secure,

and the surplus commodities of the various districts could be conveniently interchanged. In such a place,

frequented by vast crowds of pilgrims and traders, a great city would naturally arise, and such it seems

But Egypt, which possesses a simple undivided form, and which is nourished by one great arterial stream,

appears destined to be surmounted by a single head, and we perceive in the dim dawn of history a revolution

taking place, and Menes, the Egyptian Charlemagne, founding an empire upon the ruins of local

governments, and inspiring the various tribes with the sentiment of nationality. Thebes remained the sacred

city, but a new capital, Memphis, was built at the other end of the valley, not far from the spot where Cairo

By degrees the Egyptian empire assumed a consolidated form. A regular constitution was established and a

ritual prescribed. The classes were organised in a more effective manner, and were not at first too strictly

fixed. All were at liberty to intermarry, excepting only the swineherds, who were regarded as unclean. The

system of government became masterly, and the servitude of the people became complete. Designs of

imperial magnitude were accomplished, some of them gigantic but useless, mere exploits of naked human

strength, others structures of true grandeur and utility. The valley was adorned with splendid monuments and

temples; colossal statues were erected, which rose above the houses like the towers and spires of our

cathedral towns. An army of labourers was employed against the Nile. The course of the mighty stream was

altered; its waters were snatched from its bosom and stored up in Lake Moeris, an artificial basin hollowed

out of an extensive swamp, and thence were conducted by a system of canals into the neighbouring desert,

which they changed to smiling fields. For the Sahara can always be revived. It is barren only because it

The Empire consisted of three estatesthe Monarch, the Army, and the Church. There were in theory no

limits to the power of the king. His authority was derived directly from the gods. He was called 'the Sun'; he

was the head of the religion and the state; he was the supreme judge and lawgiver; he commanded the army

and led it to war. But in reality his power was controlled and reduced to mere pageantry by a parliament of

priests. He was elected by the military class, but as soon as he was crowned he was initiated into the

mysteries and subjected to the severe discipline of the holy order. No slave or hireling might approach his

person: the lords in waiting, with the state parasol and the ostrichfeather fans, were princes of the blood; his

other attendants were invariably priests. The royal time was filled and measured by routine: laws were laid

down in the holy books for the order and nature of the king�s occupations. At daybreak he examined and

dispatched his correspondence; he then put on his robes and attended divine service in the temple. Extracts

were read from those holy books which contained the sayings and actions of distinguished men, and these

were followed by a sermon from the High Priest. He extolled the virtues of the reigning sovereign, but

criticised severely the lives of those who had preceded hima postmortem examination to which the king

He was forbidden to commit any kind of excess: he was restricted to a plain diet of veal and goose, and to a

measured quantity of wine. The laws hung over him day and night; they governed his public and private

action: they followed him even to the recesses of his chamber, and appointed a set time for the embraces of

his queen. He could not punish a single person except in accordance with the code; the judges took oath

before the king that they would disobey the king if he ordered them to do anything contrary to law. The

ministry were responsible for the actions of their master, and they guarded their own safety. They made it

impossible for him to forfeit that reverence and affection which the ignorant and the religious always

entertain for their anointed king. He was adored as a god when living, and when he died he was mourned by

the whole nation as if each man had lost a wellbeloved child. During seventytwo days the temples were

closed; lamentations filled the air; and the people fasted, abstaining from flesh and wine, cooked food,

ointments, baths, and the company of their wives. The Army appears to have been severely disciplined. To

run twenty miles before breakfast was part of the ordinary drill. The amusements of the soldiers were athletic

sports and martial games. Yet they were not merely fighting men. They were also farmers. Each warrior

received from the state twelve acres of choice land; these gave him a solid interest in the prosperity of the

The most powerful of the three estates was undoubtedly the Church. In the priesthood were included not only

the ministers of religion, but also the whole civil service and the liberal professions. Priests were the royal

chroniclers and keepers of the records, the engravers of inscriptions, physicians of the sick and embalmers of

the dead, lawyers and lawgivers, sculptors and musicians. Most of the skilled labour of the country was under

their control. In their hands were the linen manufactories and the quarries between the Cataracts. Even those

posts in the Army which required a knowledge of arithmetic and penmanship were supplied by them: every

general was attended by young priest scribes, with papyrus rolls in their hands and reed pencils behind their

ears. The clergy preserved the monopoly of the arts which they had invented; the whole intellectual life of

Egypt was in them. It was they who, with the nilometers, took the measure of the waters, and proclaimed

good harvests to the people or bade them prepare for hungry days. It was they who studied the diseases of the

country, compiled a pharmacopoeia, and invented the signs which are used in our prescriptions at the present

day. It was they who judged the living and the dead, who enacted laws which extended beyond the grave,

who issued passports to paradise, or condemned to eternal infamy the memories of men that were no more.

Their power was immense, but it was exercised with justice and discretion: they issued admirable laws, and

taught the people to obey them by the example of their own humble, selfdenying lives.

Under the tutelage of these pious and enlightened men, the Egyptians became a prosperous and also a highly

moral people. The monumental paintings reveal their whole life, but we read in them no brutal or licentious

scenes. Their great rivals, the Assyrians, even at a later period, were accustomed to impale and flay alive their

prisoners of war. The Egyptians granted honours to those who fought gallantly against them. The penalty for

the murder of a slave was death; this law exists without parallel in the dark slavery annals both of ancient and

of modern times. The pardoning power in cases of capital offence was a cherished prerogative of royalty with

them as with us; and with them also as with us, when a pregnant woman was condemned to death the

execution was postponed until after the birth of the guiltless child. It is a sure criterion of the civilisation of

ancient Egypt that the soldiers did not carry arms except on duty, and that the private citizens did not carry

them at all. Women were treated with much regard. They were allowed to join their husbands in the sacrifices

to the gods; the bodies of man and wife were united in the tomb. When a party was given the guests were

received by the host and hostess seated side by side in a large armchair. In the paintings their mutual affection

is portrayed. Their fond manners, their gestures of endearment, the caresses which they lavish on their

Crimes could not be compounded, as in so many other ancient lands, by the payment of a fine. The man who

witnessed a crime without attempting to prevent it was punished as partaker. The civil laws were

administered in such a manner that the poor could have recourse to them as well as the rich. The judges

received large salaries that they might be placed above the temptation of bribery, and might never disgrace

the image of Truth which they wore round their necks suspended on a golden chain.

But most powerful of all, to preserve the morality of the people by giving a tangible force to public opinion,

and by impeaching those sins against society which no legal code can touch, was that sublime police

When the corpse had been brought back from the embalming house it was encased in a sycamore coffin

covered with flowers, placed in a sledge, and drawn by oxen to the sacred lake. The hearse was followed by

the relations of the deceased, the men unshorn and casting dust upon their heads, the women beating their

breasts and singing mournful hymns. On the banks of the lake sat fortytwo judges in the shape of a crescent;

a great crowd was assembled; in the water floated a canoe, and within it stood Charon the ferryman, awaiting

the sentence of the chief judge. On the other side of the lake lay a sandy plain, and beyond it a range of long,

low hills, in which might be discerned the black mouths of the caverns of the dead.

It was in the power of any man to step forward and accuse the departed before the body could be borne

across. If the charge was held to be proved, the body was denied burial in the consecrated ground, and the

crowd silently dispersed. If a verdict of not guilty was returned, the accuser suffered the penalty of the crime

alleged, and the ceremony took its course. The relatives began to sing with praises the biography of the

deceased; they sang in what manner he had been brought up from a child till he came to man�s estate, how

pious he had been towards the gods, how righteous he had been towards men. And if this was true, if the

man�s life had indeed been good, the crowd joined in chorus, clapping their hands, and sang back in return

that he would be received into the glory of the just. Then the coffin was laid in the canoe, the silent ferryman

plied his oar, a priest read the service of the dead, and the body was deposited in the cemetery caves. If he

was a man of rank he was laid in a chamber of his own, and the sacred artists painted on the walls an

illustrated catalogue of his possessions, the principal occupations of his life, and scenes of the society in

which he moved. For the priests taught that, since life is short and death is long, man�s dwellinghouse is but

a lodging, and his eternal habitation is the tomb. Thus the family vault of the Egyptian was his picture

gallery, and thus the manners and customs of this singular people have, like their bodies, been preserved

There are also still existing on the walls of the temples, and in the grotto tombs, grand historical paintings

which illuminate the terse chronicles engraved upon the granite. Among these may be remarked one subject

in particular which appears to have been a favourite with the artist and the public, for it again and again

recurs. The Egyptians, distinguished always by their smooth faces and shaven heads, are pursuing an enemy

with long beards and flowing robes, who are surrounded by flocks and herds. The Egyptians here show no

mercy; they appear alive with fury and revenge. Sometimes the victor is depicted with a scornful air, his foot

placed upon the neck of a prostrate foe; sometimes he is piercing the body through and through with a spear.

Certain sandals have also been discovered in which the figure of the same enemy is painted on the inner sole,

Those bearded men had inflicted on Egypt long years of dreadful disaster and disgrace. They were the

Bedouins of the Arabian peninsula, a pastoral race who wandered eternally in a burning land, each tribe or

clan within an orbit of its own. When they met they fought, the women uttering savage cries and cursing their

husbands if they retreated from the foe. Accustomed to struggle to the death for a handful of withered grass

or for a little muddy water at the bottom of a well, what a rich harvest must Egypt have appeared to them! In

order to obtain it they were able to suspend all feuds, to take an oath of alliance, and to unite into a single

horde. They descended upon their prey and seized it at the first swoop. There does not appear to have been

even one great battle, and this can be explained if, as is probable enough, the Egyptians before that invasion

The Arab horse, or rather mare, lived in her master�s tent and supped from the calabash of milk, and lay down

to sleep with the other members of the family. She was the playmate of the children; on her the cruel, the

savage Bedouin lavished the one tender feeling of his heart. He treasured up in his mind her pedigree as

carefully as his own; he composed songs in honour of his beloved steedhis friend, his companion, his ally.

He sang to her of the gazelles which they had hunted down, and of the battles which they had fought

togetherfor the Arab horse was essentially a beast of war. When the signal was given for the charge, when

the rider, loudly yelling, couched his spear, she snorted and panted and bounded in the air. With tail raised

and spreading to the wind, with neck beautifully arched, mane flapping, red nostrils dilating, and eyes

glaring, she rushed like an arrow into the midst of the melee. Though covered with wounds, she would never

turn restive or try to escape, but if her master was compelled to take to flight she would carry him till she

It is quite possible that when the mounted army appeared in the river plain the inhabitants were paralysed

with fright, and believed them to be fabulous animals, winged men. Be that as it may, the conquest was

speedy and complete; the imperial Memphis was taken, Egypt was enslaved, and the king and his family and

On the south side of the Nubian desert was the land of Ethiopia, the modern Sudan, which had been

conquered by the Egyptians, and which they used as an emporium in their caravan trade with Central Africa

and the shores of the Red Sea. But it could be reached only by means of a journey which is not without

danger at the present day, and which must have been inexpressibly arduous at a time when the camel had not

The Nile, it is true, flows through this desert, and joins Ethiopia to Egypt with a silver chain. But from the

time of its leaving the Sudan until it reaches the black granite gate which marks the Egyptian frontier, it is

confined within a narrow, crooked, hollow way. Navigation is impossible, for its bed is continually broken up

by rocks and the stream is walled in; it cannot overflow its banks. The reign of the Sahara is uninterrupted,

undisturbed. On all sides is the desert, the brown, shining desert, the implacable waste. Above is a ball of fire

ascending and descending in a steel blue sky; below, a dry and scorching sea which the wind ripples into

gloomy waves. The air is a cloud which rains fire, for it is dim with perpetual dusteach molecule a spark.

The eye is pained and dazzled; it can find no rest. The ear is startled; it can find no sound. In the soft and

yielding sand the footstep perishes unheard; nothing murmurs, nothing rustles, nothing sings. This silence is

terrible, for it conveys the idea of death, and all know that in the desert death is not far off. When the

elements become active they assume peculiar and portentous forms. If the wind blows hard a strange storm

arises; the atmosphere is pervaded by a dull and lurid glare; pillars of sand spring up as if by magic, and whirl

round and round in a ghastly and fantastic dance. Then a mountain appearing on the horizon spreads upward

in the sky, and a darkness more dark than night falls suddenly upon the earth. To those who gasp with

swelled tongues and blackened lips in the last agonies of thirst, the mirage, like a mocking stream, exhibits

lakes of transparent water and shady trees. But the wells of this desert are scanty, and the waters found in

The fugitives concealed the images of the gods, and taking with them the sacred animals, embarked upon

their voyage of suffering and woe. After many weary days they again sighted land; they arrived on the shores

of Ethiopia, the country of the blacks. Once more their eyes were refreshed with green pastures; once more

they listened to the rustling of the palms, and drank the sweet waters of the Nile. Yet soon they discovered

that it was not their own dear river, it was not their own beloved land. In Egypt Nature was a gentle

handmaid; here she was a cruel and capricious queen. The sky flashed and bellowed against them; the rain

fell in torrents, and battered down the houses of the Ethiopianswretched huts like hayricks, round in body

with a coneshaped roof, built of grass and mud. The lowlands changed beneath the flood, not into meadows

of flowers and fields of waving corn, but into a pestilential morass. At the rising of the dogstar came a

terrible fly which drove even the wild beasts from the river banks and destroyed all flocks and herds. At that

evil season the Egyptian colonists were forced to migrate to the forests of the interior, which were filled with

savage tribes. Here were the Troglodytes who lived under ground. An ointment was their only dress; their

language resembled the hissing of serpents and the whistling of bats. Every month they indulged in a carouse;

every month they opened the veins of their sheep and drank of the warm and gurgling blood as if it had been

delicious wine. They made merry when they buried their dead, and, roaring with laughter, cast stones upon

the corpse until it was concealed from view. Here were the rooteaters, the twigeaters and the seedeaters,

who lived entirely on such wretched kinds of food. Here were the elephanteaters, who, sitting on the tops of

trees like birds, watched the roads, and when they had sighted a herd crept after it, and hovered round it till

the sleepy hour of noon arrived. Then they selected a victim, stole up to it snakelike from behind, hamstrung

the enormous creature with a dexterous cut from a sharp sword, and as it lay helpless on the ground feasted

upon morsels of its live and palpitating flesh. Here were the locusteaters, whose harvest was a passing

swarm, for they lit a smoky fire underneath, which made the insects fall like withered leaves; they roasted

them, pounded them, and made them into cakes with salt. The fisheaters dwelt by the coralline borders of

the Red Sea; they lived in wigwams thatched with seaweed, with ribs of whales for the rafters and the walls.

The richest men were those who possessed the largest bones. There was no fresh water near the shore where

they hunted for their food. At stated times they went in herds like cattle to the distant riverside, and singing

to one another discordant songs, lay flat on their bellies and drank till they were gorged.

Such was the land to which the Pharaohs were exiled,. In the meantime the Bedouins established a dynasty

which ruled a considerable time, and is known as that of the Hyksos or Shepherd Kings.

But those barbarians were not domiciled in Egypt. They could not breathe inside houses, and could not

understand how the walls remained upright. The camp was their true fatherland. They lived aloof from the

Egyptians; they did not ally themselves with the country gods; they did not teach the people whom they had

conquered to regard them as the successors of the Pharaohs. Their art of government began and ended with

the collection of a tax. The Shepherd Kings were associated in the minds of the Egyptian fellahin, not with

their ancient and revered religion, not with the laws by which they were still governed under their local

chiefs, but only with the tribute of corn which was extorted from them every harvest by the whip. The idea of

revolution was always present in their minds. Misfortune bestowed upon them the ferocious virtues of the

desert, while the vice of cities crept into the Bedouin camp. The invaders became corrupted by luxurious

indolence and sensual excess, till at length a descendant of the Pharaohs raised an army in Ethiopia and

invaded Egypt. The uprising was general, and the Arabs were driven back into their own harsh and meagre

The period which followed the Restoration is the most brilliant in Egyptian history. The expulsion of the

Bedouins excited an enthusiasm which could not be contained within the narrow valley of the Nile. Egypt

became not only an independent but a conquering power. Her armies overran Asia to the shores of the Euxine

and of the Caspian Sea. Her fleets swept over the Indian Ocean to the mudstained shallows at the Indus

mouth. On the monuments we may read the proud annals of those campaigns. We see the Egyptian army,

with its companies of archers shooting from the ear like the Englishmen of old; we see their squadrons of

light and heavy chariots of war, which skilfully skirmished or heavily charged the dense masses of the foe;

we see their remarkable engines for besieging fortified towns, their scaling ladders, their movable towers, and

their shield covered rams. We see the Pharaoh returning in triumph, his car drawn by captive kings, and a

long procession of prisoners bearing the productions of their respective lands. The nature and variety of those

trophies sufficiently prove how wide and distant the Egyptian conquests must have been, for among the

animals that figure in the triumph are the brown bear, the baboon, the Indian elephant, and the giraffe.

Among the prisoners are negroes of the Sudan in aprons of bulls� hides, or in wild beast skins with the tails

hanging down behind. They carry ebony, ivory, and gold; their chiefs are adorned with leopard robes and

ostrich feathers, as they are at the present day. We see also men from some cold country of the North, with

blue eyes and yellow hair, wearing light dresses and longfingered gloves, while others clothed like Indians

When the kings came back from their campaigns, they built temples of the yellow and rosetinted sandstone,

with obelisks of green granite and long avenues of sphinxes, to commemorate their victories and immortalise

their names. They employed prisoners of war to erect these memorials of war; it became the fashion to boast

that a great structure had been raised without a single Egyptian being doomed to work. By means of these

victories the servitude of the lower classes was mitigated for a time, and the wealth of the upper classes was

enormously increased. The conquests it is true, were not permanent; they were merely raids on a large scale.

But in very ancient times, when seclusion and suspicion formed the foreign policy of states, and when

national intercourse was scarcely known, invasion was often the pioneer of trade. The wealth of Egypt was

not derived from military spoilwhich soon dissolves, however large it may appearbut from the new

It is certain that the riches contained in the country were immense. The house of an Egyptian gentleman was

furnished in an elegant and costly style. The cabinets, tables, and chairs were beautifully carved, and were

made entirely of foreign woodsof ebony from Ethiopia, of a kind of mahogany from India, of deal from

Syria, or of cedar from the heights of Lebanon. The walls and ceilings were painted in gorgeous patterns

similar to those which are now woven into carpets. Every sitting room was adorned with a vase of perfumes,

a flowerstand, and an altar for unburnt offerings. The house was usually one storey high, but the roof was

itself an apartment, sometimes covered, but always open at the sides. There the housemaster would ascent in

the evening to breathe the cool wind, and to watch the city waking into life when the heat was past. The

streets swarmed and hummed with men; the river was covered with gilded gondolas gliding by. And when

the sudden night had fallen, lamps flashed and danced below; from the houseyards came sounds of laughter

and the tinkling of castanets; from the stream came the wailing music of the boatmen and the soft splashing

The Egyptian grandee had also his villa or country house. Its large walled garden was watered by a canal

communicating with the Nile. One side of the canal was laid out in a walk shaded by treesthe leafy

sycamore, the acacia with its yellow blossoms, and the doum or Theban palm. In the centre of the garden was

a vineyard, the branches being trained over trelliswork so as to form a boudoir of green leaves, with clusters

of red grapes glowing like pictures on the walls. Beyond the vineyard, at the further end of the garden, stood

a summer house or kiosk; in front of it a pond which was covered with the broad leaves and blue flowers of

the lotus, and in which waterfowl played. It was also stocked with fish which the owner amused himself by

spearing: or sometimes he angled for them as he sat on his campstool. Adjoining this garden were the

stables and coachhouses, and a large park in which gazelles were preserved for coursing. The Egyptian

gentry were ardent lovers of the chase. They killed wild ducks with throwsticks, made use of decoys, and

trained cats to retrieve. They harpooned hippopotami in the Nile; they went out hunting in the desert with

lions trained like dogs. They were enthusiastic pigeon fanciers, and had many different breeds of dogs. Their

social enjoyments were not unlike our own. Young ladies in Egypt had no croquet, but the gentle sport of

archery was known among them. They had also boating parties on the Nile, and water picnics beneath the

shady foliage of the Egyptian bean. They gave dinners, to which, as in all civilised countries, the fair sex

were invited. The guests arrived for the most part in palanquins, but the young men of fashion drove up to the

door in their cabs, and usually arrived rather late. Each guest was received by a cluster of servants, who took

off his sandals, gave him water to wash his hands, anointed and perfumed him, presented him with a bouquet,

and offered him some raw cabbage to increase his appetite for wine, a glass of which was taken before

The gentlemen wore wigs and false beards, and their hands were loaded with rings. The ladies wore their own

hair plaited in a most elaborate manner, the result of many hours between their little bronze mirrors and the

skilful fingers of their slaves. Their eyelashes were pencilled with the antimonial powder, their fingernails

tinged with the henna�s golden juicefashions older than the Pyramids which still govern the women of the

The guests met in the diningroom, and grace was said before they sat down. They were crowned with

garlands of the lotus, the violet, and the rosethe florists of Egypt were afterwards famous in Rome. A band

of musicians played during the repast on the harp, the lyre, the flute, and the guitar. Some of the servants

carried round glass decanters of wine encircled with flowers, and various dishes upon trays. Others fanned

the porous earthjars which contained the almondflavoured water of the Nile. Others burnt Arabian incense

or flakes of sweetscented wood to perfume the air. Others changed the garlands of the guests as soon as they

began to fade. Between the courses dwarfs and deformed persons skipped about before the company with

marvellous antics and contortions; jugglers and gymnasts exhibited many extraordinary feats; girls jumped

through hoops, tossed several balls into the air after the manner of the East, and performed dances after the

manner of the West. Strange as it may appear, the pirouette was known to the Egyptians three thousand years

ago, and stranger still, their balletgirls danced it in lighter clothing than is worn by those who now grace the

operatic boards. At the beginning of the repast a mummy, richly painted and gilded, was carried round by a

servant, who showed it to each guest in turn and said, 'Look on this, drink and enjoy thyself, for such as it is

now, so thou shalt be when thou art dead.' So solemn an injunction was not disregarded, and the dinner often

ended as might be expected from the manner in which it was begun. The Hogarths of the period have painted

the young dandy being carried home by his footman without his wig, while the lady in her own apartment is

But we must leave these pleasant strolls in the bypaths of history and return to the broad and beaten road. The

vast wealth and soft luxury of the New Empire undermined its strength. It became apparent to the Egyptians

themselves that the nation was enervated and corrupt, a swollen, pampered body from which all energy and

vigour had for ever fled. A certain Pharaoh commanded a curse to be inscribed in one of the temples against

the name of Menes, who had first seduced the Egyptians from the wholesome simplicity of early times. Filled

with a spirit of prophecy, the king foresaw his country�s ruin, which indeed was near at hand, for though he

himself was buried in peace, his son and successor was compelled to hide in the marshes from a foreign foe.

To the same cause may be traced the ruin and the fall, not only of Egypt, but of all the powers of the ancient

world; of Nineveh and Babylon and Persia; of the Macedonian kingdom and the Western Empire. As soon as

those nations became rich they began to decay. If this were the fifth century, and we were writing history in

the silent and melancholy streets of Rome, we should probably propound a theory entirely false, yet justified

at that time by the universal experience of mankind. We should declare that nations are mortal like the

individuals of which they are composed; that wealth is the poison, luxury the disease, which shortens their

existence and dooms them to an early death. We should point to the gigantic ruins aroundto that vast and

mouldering body from which the soul had fledmoralise about Lucullus and his thrushes, recount the

enormous sums that had been paid for a dress, a table or a child, and assure our Gothic pupils that national

But what has been the history of those barbarians? In the Dark Ages there was no luxury in Europe. It was a

miserable continent inhabited by robbers, fetishmen, and slaves. Even the Italians of the eleventh century

wore clothes of unlined leather, and had no taste except for horses and for shining arms, no pride except that

of building strong towers for their lairs. Man and wife grabbled for their supper from the same plate, while a

squalid boy stood by them with a torch to light their greasy fingers to their mouths. Then the India trade was

opened; the New World was discovered; Europe became rich, luxurious, and enlightened. The sunshine of

wealth began first to beam upon the costs of the Mediterranean Sea, and gradually spread towards the North.

In the England of Elizabeth it was declared from the pulpit that the introduction of forks would demoralise

the people and provoke divine wrath. But in spite of sermons and sumptuary laws, Italian luxuries continued

to pour in, and national prosperity continued to increase. At the present day the income of a nation affords a

fair criterion of its intellect and also of its strength. It may safely be asserted that the art of war will soon be

reduced to a simple question of expenditure and credit, and that the largest purse will be the strongest arm. As

for luxury, a small tradesman at the present day is more luxurious than a king in ancient times. It has been

wisely and wittily remarked that Augustus Caesar had neither glass panes to his windows nor a shirt to his

back, and the luxury of the Roman senators may without exaggeration be compared with that of the West

Indian creoles in the eighteenth century. The gentleman and his lady glittered with jewels; the table and

sideboard blazed with plate; but the house itself was little better than a barn, and the attendants a crowd of

dirty, halfnaked slaves who jostled the guests as they performed the service of the table, and sat down in the

verandah over the remnants of the soup before they would condescend to go to the kitchen for the fish.

In the modern world we find luxury the harbinger of progress, in the ancient world the omen of decline. But

how can this be? Nature does not contradict herself; the laws which govern the movements of society are as

Wealth is in reality as indispensable to mankind for purposes of growth as water to the soil. It is not the fault

of the water if its natural circulation is interfered with, if certain portions of the land are drowned while others

are left completely dry. Wealth in all countries of the ancient world was artificially confined to a certain

class. More than half the area of the Greek and Roman world was shut off by slavery from the fertilising

stream. This single fact is sufficient to explain how that old civilisation, in some respects so splendid, was yet

But the civilisation of Egypt was less developed still, for that country was enthralled by institutions from

It has been shown that the instinct for selfpreservation, the struggle for bare life against hostile nature, first

aroused the mental activity of the Egyptian priests, while the constant attacks of the desert tribes developed

the martial energies of the military men. Next, the ambition of power produced an equally good effect. The

priests invented, the warriors campaigned; mines were opened, manufactories were founded; a system of

foreign commerce was established; sloth was abolished by whip and chain; the lower classes were saddled,

the upper classes were spurred; the nation careered gallantly along. Finally, chivalrous ardour, intellectual

passion, inspired heart and brain; war was loved for glory�s sake; the philosopher sought only to discover, the

And then there came a race of men who, like those that inherit great estates, had no incentive to continue the

work which had been so splendidly begun. In one generation the genius of Egypt slumbered, in the next it

died. Its painters and sculptors were no longer possessed of that fruitful faculty with which kindred spirits

contemplate each other�s works; which not only takes, but gives; which produces from whatever it receives;

which embraces to wrestle, and wrestles to embrace; which is sometimes sympathy, sometimes jealousy,

sometimes hatred, sometimes love, but which always causes the heart to flutter, and the face to flush, and the

mind to swell with the desire to rival and surpass; which is sometimes as the emulative awe with which

Michael Angelo surveyed the dome that yet gladdens the eyes of those who sit on the height of fair Fiesole,

or who wander afar off in silver Arno�s vale; which is sometimes as that rapture of admiring wrath which

incited the genius of Byron when his great rival was pouring forth masterpiece on masterpiece with invention

more varied, though perhaps less lofty, and with fancy more luxuriant even than his own.

The creative period passed away, and the critical age set in. Instead of working, the artists were content to

talk. Their admiration was sterile, yet still it was discerning. But the next period was lower still. It was that of

blind worship and indiscriminating awe. The past became sacred, and all that it had produced, good and bad,

was reverenced alike. This kind of idolatry invariably springs up in that interval of languor and reaction

which succeeds an epoch of production In the mindhistory of every land there is a time when slavish

imitation is inculcated as a duty, and novelty regarded as a crime. But in Egypt the arts and sciences were

entangled with religion. The result will easily be guessed. Egypt stood still, and theology turned her into

stone. Conventionality was admired, then enforced. The development of the mind was arrested; it was

In primitive times it is perhaps expedient that rational knowledge should be united with religion. It is only by

means of superstition that a rude people can be induced to support, and a robber soldiery to respect, an

intellectual class. But after a certain time this alliance must be ended, or harm will surely come. The boy must

leave the apartments of the women when he arrives at a certain age. Theology is an excellent nurse, but a bad

mistress for grownup minds. The essence of religion is inertia; the essence of science is change. It is the

function of the one to preserve, it is the function of the other to improve. If, as in Egypt, they are firmly

chained together, either science will advance, in which case the religion will be altered, or the religion will

The religious ideas of the Egyptians became associated with a certain style. It was enacted that the human

figure should be drawn always in the same manner, with the same colours, contour, and proportions. Thus the

The physicians were compelled to prescribe for their patients according to the rules set down in the standard

works. If they adopted a treatment of their own and the patient did not recover, they were put to death. Thus

even in desperate cases heroic remedies could not be tried, and experiment, the first condition of discovery,

A censorship of literature was not required, for literature in the proper sense of the term did not exist.

Writing, it is true, was widely spread. Cattle, clothes, and workmen�s tools were marked with the owners�

names. The walls of the temples were covered and adorned with that beautiful picture character, more like

drawing than writing, which cold delight the eyes of those who were unable to penetrate its sense.

Hieroglyphics may be found on everything in Egypt, from the colossal statue to the amulet and gem. But the

art was practised only by the priests, as the painted history plainly declares. No books are to be seen in the

furniture of houses; no female is depicted in the act of reading; the papyrus scroll and pencil never appear

The library at Thebes was much admired. It had a blue ceiling speckled with golden stars. Allegorical

pictures of a religious character and portraits of the sacred animals were painted on the walls. Above the door

were inscribed these words, 'The Balsam of the Soul.' Yet this magnificent building contained merely a

collection of prayer books and ancient hymns, some astronomical almanacs, some works on religious

philosophy, medicine, music, and geometry, and the historical archives, which were probably little else than a

Even these books, so few in number, were not open to all the members of the learned class. They were the

manuals of the various departments or professions, and each profession stood apart; each profession was even

subdivided within itself. In medicine and surgery there were no general practitioners. There were oculists,

aurists, dentists, doctors of the head, doctors of the stomach, etc., and each was forbidden to invade the

territory of his colleagues. This specialist arrangement has been highly praised, but it has nothing in common

It is one of the first axioms of medical science that no one is competent to treat the disease of a single organ

unless he is competent to treat the diseases of the whole frame. The folly of dividing the diseases of such

organs as the head and stomach, between which the most intimate sympathy exists, is evident even to the

unlearned. But the whole structure is united by delicate white threads, and by innumerable pipes of blood. It

is scarcely possible for any complaint to influence one part alone. The Egyptian, however, was marked off

like a chess board into little squares, and whenever the pain made a move a fresh doctor had to be called in.

This arrangement was part of a system founded on an excellent principle, but carried to absurd excess. It is

needless to explain that division of labour is highly potent in developing skill and economising time. It is also

clearly of advantage that in an early stage of society the son should follow the occupation of the father. It is

possible that hereditary skill or tastes come into play; it is certain that apprenticeship at home is more natural

and more efficient than apprenticeship abroad. The father will take more pains to teach, the boy will take

more pains to learn, than will be the case when master and pupil are strangers to each other.

The founders of Egyptian civilisation were acquainted with these facts. Hence they established customs

which their successors petrified into unchanging laws. They did it no doubt with the best of motives. They

adored the grand and noble wisdom of their fathers; whatever came from them must be cherished and

preserved. They must not presume to depart from the guidance of those godlike men. They must paint as

they painted, physic as they physicked, pray as they prayed. The separation of classes which they had made

And so the arts and sciences were ordered to stand still, and society was divided and subdivided into

functions and professions, trades and crafts. Every man was doomed to follow the occupation of his father, to

marry within his own class, to die as he was born. Hope was torn out of the human life. Egypt was no longer

a nation, but an assemblage of torpid castes isolated from one another and breeding in and in. It was no

longer a body animated by the same heart, fed by the same blood, but an automaton neatly pieced together, of

which the head was the priesthood, the arms were the army, and the feet the workingclass. In quiescence it

was a perfect image of the living form, but a touch came from without, and the arms broke asunder at the

The colony founded in the Sudan by the exiled Pharaohs became after the restoration an important province.

When the new empire began to decline a governorgeneral rebelled, and the kingdom of Ethiopia was

established. It was a medley dominion composed of brown men and black men, shepherds and savages,

halfcaste Egyptians, Arabs, Berbers, and negroes, ruled over by a king and a college of priests. It was

enriched by annual slave hunts into the Black Country, and by the caravan trade in ivory, gold dust, and gum.

It also received East India goods and Arabian produce through its ports on the Red Sea. Meroe, its capital,

attained the reputation of a great city; it possessed its temples and its pyramids like those of Egypt, but on a

smaller scale. The Ethiopian empire in its best days might have comprised the modern Egyptian provinces of

Kordofan and Sennaar, with the mountain kingdom of Abyssinia as it existed under Theodore. Of all the

classical countries it was the most romantic and the most remote. It was situated, according to the Greeks, on

the extreme limits of the world; its inhabitants were the most just of men, and Jupiter dined with them twice a

year. They bathed in the waters of a violetscented spring which endowed them with long life, noble bodies,

and glossy skins. They chained their prisoners with golden fetters; they had bows which none but themselves

could bend. It is at least certain that Ethiopia took its place among the powers of the ancient world. It is

So far had Egypt fallen that now it was conquered by its ancient province. Sabaco of Ethiopia seized the

throne and sat upon it many years. But he was frightened by a dream; he believed that a misfortune impended

His departure was followed by uproar and confusion, a complete disruption of Egyptian society, usurpation,

But why should this have been? Sabaco was an Egyptian by descent, though his blood had been darkened on

the female side. He had governed in the Egyptian manner. He had abolished capital punishment, but in no

other way had altered the ancient laws. He had improved the public works. He had taken the country rather as

a native usurper than as a foreign foe. His reign was merely a change of dynasty, and Egyptian history is

But indirectly the Ethiopian conquest had prepared a revolution. Between the two services, the Army and the

Church, there had existed a constant and perhaps wholesome rivalry since the days of Menes, the first king. It

was a victory of the warrior class which established the regal power. It was a victory of the priests which

assigned to themselves the right hand, to the officers the left hand, of the sovereign when seated on his

throne. It was an evident compromise between the two that the king should be elected from the army, and that

he should be ordained as soon as he was crowned. During the brilliant campaigns of the Restoration the

military had been in power, but a long period of inaction had intervened since then. The discipline of the

soldiers was relaxed; their dignity was lowered; they no longer tilled their own landthat was done by

foreign slaves. Their rivals possessed the affection and reverence of the common people, while these soldiers,

who had never seen a battle, were detested as idle drones who lived upon what they had not earned. Under

the new dynasty their position became insecure. In Ethiopia there was no military casts. The army of Sabaco

had been levied from the pastoral tribes on the outskirts of the desert, from the Abyssinian mountaineers and

the negroes of the river plain. The king of Ethiopia was a priest, elected by his peers. He therefore regarded

the soldier aristocracy with no friendly eye. He did not formally invade their prescriptive rights, but he must

have disarmed them or in some way have taken out their sting. For as soon as he was gone the priests were

able to form an alliance with the people, and to place one of their own caste upon the throne. This king

deprived the soldiers of their lands, and the triumph of the hierarchy was complete.

But in such a country as Egypt Disestablishment is a dangerous thing. During long centuries the people had

been taught to associate innovation with impiety. That venerable structure the Egyptian constitution had been

raised by no human hands. As the gods had appointed certain animals to swim in the water, and others to fly

in the air, and others to move upon the earth, so they had decreed that one man should be a priest, and that

another should be a soldier, and that another should till the ground. There are times when every man feels

discontented with his lot. But it is evident that if men were able to change their occupation whenever they

chose, there would be a continual passing to and fro. Nobody would have patience to learn a trade; nobody

would settle down in life. In a short time the land would become a desert, and society would be dissolved. To

provide against this the gods had ordained that each man should do his duty in that state of life into which he

had been called, and woe be to him that disobeys the gods! Their laws are eternal and can never change.

Such, no doubt, was the teaching of the Egyptian Church, and now the Church had shown it to be false. The

revolution had been begun, and, as usually happens, it could not be made to stop half way. As soon as the

first precedent was unloosed, down came the whole fabric with a crash. The priestking Sethos reigned in

peace, but as soon as he died the central government succumbed; the old local interests which had been lying

dormant for ages raised their heads; the empire broke up into twelve states, each governed by a petty king.

We now approach the event which first brought Egypt into contact with the European world. Psammiticus,

one of the twelve princes, received as his allotment the swampy district which adjoined the seacoast and the

The commerce of Egypt had hitherto been conducted entirely by means of caravans. From Arabia Felix came

a long train of camels laden with the gums of that aromatic land, and with the more precious produce of

countries far beyondwith the pearls of the Persian Gulf and the carpets of Babylon, the pepper and ginger

of Malagar, the shawls of Kashmir, the cinnamon of Ceylon, the fine muslins of Bengal, the calicoes of

Coromandel, the nutmegs and camphor and cloves of the Indian Archipelago, and even silk and musk from

the distant Chinese shores. From Syria came other caravans with the balm of Gilead, so precious in medicine,

asphalt from the Dead Sea for embalming, cedar from Lebanon, and enormous quantities of wine and olive

oil in earthern jars. Meroe contributed the spices of the Somali country, ebony, ivory, ostrich feathers, slaves,

and gold in twisted rings; the four latter products were also imported direct from Darfour, and by another

route which connected Egypt through Fezzan with Carthage, Morocco, and the regions beyond the desert in

the neighbourhood of Timbuktu. In return, the beautiful glass wares of the Egyptians and other artistic

manufactures were exported to Hindustan; the linen goods of Memphis were carried into the very heart of

Africa as Manchester goods are now; and then, as now, a girdle of beads was the essential part of an African

On the side of the Mediterranean Egypt was a closed land, and this Chinese policy had not been adopted from

superstitious motives. The first ships which sailed that sea were pirates who had kidnapped and plundered the

dwellers on the coast. The government had therefore in selfdefence placed a garrison at Rhacotis harbour,

with orders to kill or enslave any stranger who should land. When the Phoenicians from pirates had become

merchants they were allowed to trade with Egypt by way of the land, and with this they were content. It was

Ionia was the fairest province of Asiatic Greece. It lay opposite to Athens, its motherland. The same soft blue

waters, the same fragrant breezes caressed their shores by turn. It was celebrated by the poets as one of the

gardens of the world. There the black soil granted a rich harvest and the fruit hung heavily on the branches. It

was the birthplace of poetry, of history, of philosophy, and of art. It was there that the Homeric poems were

composed. It was there that men first cast off the chains of authority and sought in Nature the materials of a

It was, however, as a seafaring and commercial people that the Ionians first obtained renown. They served on

board Phoenician vessels and laboured in the dockyards of Tyre and Sidon until they learnt how to build the

'seahorses' for themselves, and how to navigate by that small but constant star which the Tyrians had

discovered in the constellation of the Little Bear. They took to the sea on their own account, and in Egypt

they found a good market. The wine and oil of Palestine, which the Phoenicians imported, were expensive

luxuries; the lower classes drank only the fermented sap of the palmtree and barley beer, and had only

castor oil, with which they rubbed their bodies, but with which, for obvious reasons, they could not cook their

food. The Ionians were able to sell red wine and sweet oil at a much lower price, for in the first place they

had vineyards and olive groves of their own, and secondly such bulky wares could be brought by sea more

The Greeks first appeared on the Egyptian coast as pirates clad in bronze, next as smugglers, welcomed by

the people, but in opposition to the laws, and lastly as allies and honoured friends. They took advantage of the

confusion which followed the departure of Sabaco to push up the Nile with thirty vessels, each of fifty oars,

and established factories upon its banks. They negotiated with Psammiticus, who ascertained that their

country produced not only oil but men. He ordered a cargo, and transports arrived with troops. Europeans for

the first time entered the valley of the Nile. Their gallantry and discipline were irresistible, and the empire of

But now commenced a new regime. There succeeded to the throne a series of kings who were not related to

the ancient Pharaohs, who were not always men of noble birth, who were not even good Egyptians. They

were called PhilHellenes, or Lovers of the Greeks. Of these Psammiticus was the founder and the first. He

moved Egypt towards the sea. He placed his capital near the mouth of the river, that the Greek ships might

anchor beneath its walls. This new city of Sais, being distant from the quarries, was built of bricks from the

black mud of the Nile, but it was adorned with spoils from the forsaken Memphis. Chapels, obelisks, and

sphinxes were brought down on rafts. There was also a kind of Renaissance under the new kings; for a short

time the arts again became alive. Psammiticus retained the soldiers who had fought his battles, and sent

children to the camp to be taught Greek. Hence rose a class who acted as brokers, interpreters, and ciceroni to

the travellers who soon crowded into Egypt. The king encouraged such visits, and gave safeconducts to

All this was a cause of deep offence to the people of the land. They regarded their country as a temple, and all

strangers as impure. And now they saw men whose swords had been reddened with Egyptian blood

swaggering as conquerors through the streets, pointing with derision at the sacred animals, eating things

strangled and unclean. The warriors were those who suffered most. As a caste they still survived, but all their

power and prestige were gone. In battle the foreigners were assigned the post of honourthe right wing. In

times of peace the foreigners were the favourite regimentsthe household troops, the Guards. While the

royals lived merrily at Sais crowned with garlands of the papyrus, and revelling at banquets to the music of

the flute, the native troops were stationed on the hot and dismal frontiers of the desert; year followed year,

and they were not relieved. Such a state of things was no longer to be borne. One king had robbed them of

their lands, and now another had robbed them of their honour. They were no longer soldiers, they were

slaves; they determined to leave the country in which they were despised, and to seek a better fortune in the

Sudan. In number two hundred thousand, they gathered themselves together and began their march.

They were soon overtaken by envoys from the king, who had no desire to lose an army. The soldiers were

entreated to return and not to desert their fatherland. They cried out, beating their shields and shaking their

spears, that they would soon get another fatherland. Then the messengers began to speak of their wives and

little ones at home. Would they leave them also, and go wifeless and childless to a savage land? But one of

the soldiers explained, with a coarse gesture, that they had the means of producing families wherever they

might go. This ended the conference. Psammiticus pursued them with his Ionians, but could not overtake

them. In the wastes of Nubia there may yet be seen a colossal statue, on the right leg of which is an

inscription in Greek announcing that it was there they gave up the chase. The Egyptian soldiers arrived at

Meroe in safety; the king presented them with a province which had rebelled. They drove out the men,

In the meantime Psammiticus and his successors opened wider and wider the gloomy portals of the land. The

town of Naucratis was set apart, like Canton, for the foreign trade. Nine independent Greek cities had their

separate establishments within that town, and their magistrates and consuls, who administered their respective

laws. The merchants met in the Hellenion, which was half temple, half exchange, to transact their business

and offer sacrifices to the gods. Naucratis was in all respects a European town. There the garlicchewing

sailors, when they came on shore, could enjoy a holiday in the true Greek style. They could stroll in the

marketplace, where the moneychangers sat before their tables and the wine merchants ran about with

sample flasks under their arms, and where garlands of flowers, strangelooking fish, and heaps of purple

dates were set out for sale. They could resort to the barbers� shops and gather the gossip of the day, or to

taverns where quail fighting was always going on. Nor were the chief ornaments of seaport society wanting

to grace the scene. No Egyptian girl, as Herodotus discovered, would kiss a Greek. But certain benevolent

and enterprising men had imported a number of Heterae or 'ladyfriends,' the most famous of whom was

Rhodopis, 'the rosyfaced,' with whom Sappho�s brother fell in love, and whom the poetess lampooned.

The foreign policy of Egypt was now completely changed. A long period of seclusion had followed the

conquests of the new empire. But the battlepieces of the ancient time still glowed upon the temple walls.

With their vivid colours and animated scenes they seemed to incite the modern Pharaohs to heroic deeds. The

throne was surrounded by warlike and restless men. It was determined that Egypt should become a naval

power. For this, timber was indispensable, and the forests of Lebanon must be seized. War was carried to the

continent. Syria was reduced. A garrison was planted on the banks of the Euphrates. A navy was erected in

the Mediterranean Sea, and the Tyrians were defeated in a great seabattle. The Suez Canal was opened for

Yet, for all that and all that, the Egyptian people were not content. The victories won by mercenary troops

excited little patriotic pride, and the least reverse occasioned the most gloomy forebodings, the most serious

discontent. The Egyptians indeed had good cause to be alarmedthe PhilHellenes were playing at a

dangerous game. Times had changed since Sesostris overran Asia. A great power had arisen on the banks of

the Tigris; a greater power still on the banks of the Euphrates. They had narrowly escaped Sennacherib when

Nineveh was in its glory, and now Babylon had arisen and Nebuchadnezzar had drawn the sword. For a long

time Chaldea and Egypt fought over Syria, their battleground and their prey. At last came the decisive day

of Carchemish. The Phoenicians, the Syrians, and the Jews obtained new masters; the Egyptians were driven

Yet even then the kings were not cured of their taste for war. An expedition was sent against Cyrene, a Greek

kingdom on the northern coast of Africa. It was unsuccessful, and the sullen disaffection which had so long

smouldered burst forth into flame. The king was killed, and Amasis, a man of the people, was placed upon

This monarch did not go to war, and he contrived to favour the Greeks without offending the prejudices of his

fellowcountrymen. He was, however, a true PhilHellene; he encircled himself with a bodyguard of

Greeks; he married a princess of Cyrene; he gave a handsome subscription to the fund for rebuilding the

temple at Delphi; he extended the commerce of Egypt and improved its manufactures. The liberal policy in

trade which he pursued had the most satisfactory results. Never had Egypt been so rich as she was then. But

she was defenceless; she had lost her arms. It is probable that under Amasis she was a vassal of Babylon,

paying tribute every year; and now a time was coming when gold could no longer purchase repose, when the

horrified people would see their temples stripped, their idols dashed to pieces, their sacred animals murdered,

their priests scourged, and the embalmed body of their king snatched from its last restingplace and flung

A vast wilderness extends from the centre of Africa to the jungles of Bengal. It consists of rugged mountain

In its centre is the basin of the Tigris and Euphrates. On its east is the basin of the Indus; on its west is the

basin of the Nile. Each of these river systems is enclosed by deserts. The whole region may be pictured to the

Egypt, Babylonia, and India proper, or the Punjab, are the primeval countries of the ancient world. In these

three desertbound, riverwatered valleys we find, in the earliest dawn of history, civilisation growing wild.

Each in a similar manner had been fostered and tortured by Nature into progress; in each existed a people

skilled in the management of land, acquainted with manufactures, and possessing some knowledge of

The civilisation of India was the youngest of the three, yet Egypt and Chaldea were commercially its vassals

and dependents. India offered for sale articles not elsewhere to be foundthe shining warts of the oyster;

glasslike stones dug up out of the bowels of the earth, or gathered in the beds of driedup brooks; linen

which was plucked as a blossom from a tree, and manufactured into cloth as white as snow; transparent

fabrics, webs of woven wind which when laid on the dewy grass melted from the eyes; above all, those

glistening, glossy threads stolen from the body of a caterpillar, beautiful as the wings of the moth into which

Neither the Indians, the Chaldeans, nor the Egyptians were in the habit of travelling beyond the confines of

their own valleys. They resembled islanders, and they had no ships. But the intermediate seas were navigated

by the wandering shepherd tribes, who sometimes pastured their flocks by the waters of the Indus, sometimes

by the waters of the Nile. It was by their means that the trade between the river lands was carried on. They

possessed the camels and other beasts of burden requisite for the transport of goods. Their numbers and their

warlike habits, their intimate acquaintance with the wateringplaces and seasons of the desert, enabled them

to carry the goods in safety through a dangerous land, while the regular profits they derived from the trade,

and the oaths by which they were bound, induced them to act fairly to those by whom they were employed.

At a later period the Chinese, who were once a great naval people, and who claim the discovery of the New

World, doubled Cape Comorin in their huge junks, and sailed up the western coasts of India into the Persian

Gulf, and along the coast of Arabia to the mouth of the Red Sea. It as probably from them that the arts of

shipbuilding and navigation were acquired by the Arabs of Yemen and the Indians of Guzerat, who then

made it their business to supply Babylon and Egypt and Eastern Africa with India goods. At a later period

still these India goods were carried by the Phoenicians to the coasts of Europe, and acorneating savages

were awakened to industry and ambition. India, as a 'land of desire,' has contributed much to the development

of man. On the routes of the India caravan, as on the banks of navigable rivers, arose great and wealthy cities,

which perished when the route was changed. Open the book of universal history at what period we may, it is

always the India trade which is the cause of internal industry and foreign negotiation.

The intercourse between the Indians, Chaldeans, and Egyptians was often interrupted by wars, which recurred

like epidemics, and which like epidemics closely resembled one another. The roving tribes of the sandy

deserts, the pastoral mountains, or the elevated steppeplateaux pressed by some mysterious impulsea

famine, an enemy in their rear, or the ambition of a single manswept down upon the plains of the Tigris

and Euphrates, and thence spread their conquests right and left. Sometimes they merely encamped, and the

natives recovered their independence. But more frequently they adopted the manners of the conquered

people, and flung themselves into luxury with the same ardour which they had displayed in war. This luxury

was not based on refinement but on sensuality, and it soon made them indolent and weak. Sooner or later they

suffered the fate which their fathers had inflicted, and a new race of invaders poured over the empire, to be

Invasions of this nature were on the whole beneficial to the human race. The mingling of a young, powerful

people with the wise but somewhat weary nations of the plains produced an excellent effect. And since the

conquerors adopted the luxury of the conquered, they were obliged to adopt the same measure for supplying

the foreign goodsfor luxury means always something from abroad. As soon as the first shock was over the

trade routes were again opened, and perhaps extended, by the brandnew energies of the barbarian kings.

Babylonia or Chaldea, the alluvial country which occupies the lower course of the Euphrates, was

undoubtedly the original abode of civilisation in Western Asia. But it was on the banks of the Tigris that the

first great empire arosethe first at least of which we know. For who can tell how many cities, undreamt of

by historians, lie buried beneath the Assyrian plains? And Nineveh itself may have been built from some

dead metropolis, as Babylon bricks were used in the building of Baghdad. Recorded history is a thing of

yesterdaythe narrative of modern man. There is, however, a science of history; by this we are enabled to

restore in faint outline the unwritten past, and by this we are assured that whatever the names and number of

the forgotten empires may have been , they merely repeated one another. In describing the empire of Nineveh

The Assyrian empire covered a great deal of ground. The kingdom of Troy was one of its fiefs. Its rule was

sometimes extended to the islands of the Grecian sea. Babylon was its subject. It stretched far away into Asia.

But the conquered provinces were loosely governed, or rather no attempt was made to govern them at all.

Phoenicia was allowed to remain a federation of republics. Israel, Judah, and Damascus were allowed to

continue their angry bickerings and petty wars. The relations between the conquered rulers and their subjects

were left untouched. Their laws, their manners, and their religion were in no way changed. It was merely

required that the vassal kings or senates should acknowledge the Emperor of Nineveh as their suzerain or

lord, that they should send him a certain tribute every year, and that they should furnish a certain contingent

As long as a vigorous and dreaded king sat upon the throne this simple machinery worked well enough.

Every year the tributes, with certain forms of homage and with complimentary presents of curiosities and

artisans, were brought to the metropolis. But whenever an imperial calamity of any kind occurredan

unsuccessful foreign war, the death or even sickness of the reigning princethe tributes were withheld. Then

the emperor set to work to subdue the provinces again. But this time the conquered were treated not as

enemies only but as traitors. The vassal king and his advisers were tortured to death, the cities were razed to

the ground, and the rebels were transplanted by thousands to another land an effectual method of

destroying their patriotism or religion of the soil. The Syrian expeditions of Sennacherib were provoked by

the contumacy of Judah and of Israel. The kingdom of Israel was blotted out, but a camp plague broke up the

Assyrian army before Jerusalem, and not long afterwards the empire crumbled away. All the vassal nations

became free, and for a short time Nineveh stood alone, naked but unattacked. Then there was war in every

direction, and when it was over the city was a heap of charred ruins, and three great kingdoms took its place.

The first kingdom was that of the Medes, who had set the example of rebellion, and by whom Nineveh had

been destroyed. They inhabited the highland regions bordering on the Tigris, Ecbatana was their capital. They

were renowned for their luxury, and especially for their robes of flowing silk. Their priests were called Magi,

and formed a separate tribe or caste; they were dressed in white, lived only on vegetables, slept on beds of

leaves, worshipped the sun and the element of fire, as symbols of the deity, and followed the precepts of

Zoroaster. The empire of the Medes was bounded on the west by the Tigris. They inherited the Assyrian

The civilisation of Nineveh had been derived from Babylon, a city famous for its rings and gems, which were

beautifully engraved, its carpets in which the figures of fabulous animals were interwoven, its magnifying

glasses, its sundials, and its literature printed in cuneiform characters on clay tablets, which were then baked

in the oven. Many hundreds of these have lately been deciphered, and are found to consist chiefly of military

dispatches, law papers, royal gamebooks, observatory reports, agricultural treatises, and religious

documents. In the partition of Assyria Babylon obtained Mesopotamia, or 'the Land between the Rivers,' and

Syria, including Phoenicia and Palestine. Nebuchadnezzar was the founder of the Empire; he routed the

Egyptians, he destroyed Jerusalem, transplanted the Jews on account of their rebellion, and reduced Tyre

after a memorable siege. He built a new Babylon as Augustus built a new Rome, and the city became one of

the wonders of the world. It was a vast fortified district, five or six times the area of London, interspersed

with parks and gardens and fields, and enclosed by walls on which six chariots could be driven side by side.

Its position in a flat country made it resemble in the distance a mountain with trees waving at the top. These

were the 'hanging gardens,' a grove of large trees planted on the square surface of a gigantic tower, and

ingeniously watered from below. Nebuchadnezzar erected this extraordinary structure to please his wife, who

came from the highlands of Media, and who, weary of the interminable plains, coveted meadows on

mountain tops such as her native land contained. The Euphrates ran through the centre of the city, and was

crossed by a stone bridge which was a marvel for its time. But more wonderful still, there was a kind of

Thames Tunnel passing underneath the river, and connecting palaces on either side. The city was united to its

provinces by roads and fortified posts; rafts inflated with skins, and reed boats pitched over with bitumen,

floated down the river with timber from the mountains of Armenia and stones for the purposes of building. A

canal large enough for ships to ascend was dug from Babylon to the Persian Gulf, and on its banks were

The third kingdom was that of the Lydians, a people in manners and appearance resembling the Greeks. They

did not consider themselves behind the rest of the world. They boasted that they had invented dice, coin, and

the art of shopkeeping, and also that the famous Etruscan state was a colony of theirs. They inhabited Asia

Minor, a sterile, rugged tableland, but possessing a western coast enriched by nature and covered with the

prosperous cities of the Asiatic Greeks. Hitherto Ionia had never been subdued, but the cities were too jealous

of one another to combine, and Croesus was able to conquer them one by one. This was the man whose

wealth is still celebrated in a proverbhe obtained his gold from the washings of a sandy stream. Croesus

admired the Greeks; he was the first of the lionhunters, and invited all the men of the day to visit him at

Sardis, where he had the pleasure of hearing Aesop tell some of his own fables. He was anxious that his

capital should form part of the grand tour which had already become the fashion of the Greek philosophers,

and that they should be able to say when they returned home that they had not only seen the pyramids of

Egypt and the ruins of Troy, but also the treasurehouse of Croesus. When he received a visit from one of

these sages in cloak and beard he would show him his heaps of gold and silver, and ask him whether, in all

his travels, he had ever seen a happier manto which question he did not always receive a very courteous

After long wars, peace was established between the Babylonians, the Lydians, and the Medes on a lasting and

secure foundation. The royal families were united by marriage; alliances, defensive and offensive, were made

and ratified on oath. Egypt was no longer able to invade, and there was a period of delicious calm in that

stormy Asiatic world, broken only by the plaintive voices of the poor Jewish captives who sat by the waters

In the twinkling of an eye all this was changed. A band of hardy mountaineers rushed out of the recesses of

Persia and swept like a wind across the plains. They were dressed in leather from top to toe; they had never

tasted fruit or wine; they had never seen a market; they knew not how to buy or sell. They were taught only

All Asia was covered with blood and flames. The allied kingdoms fell at once. India and Egypt were soon

afterwards added to this empire, the greatest that the world had ever seen. The Persians used to boast that they

ruled from the land of uninhabitable heat to the land of uninhabitable cold; that their dominion began in

regions where the sun frizzled the hair and blackened the faces of the natives, and ended in a land where the

air was filled with snow like feathers and the earth was hard as stone. The Persian empire was in reality

bounded by the deserts which divided Egypt from Ethiopia on the south and from Carthage on the west; by

the desert which divided the Punjab from Bengal; by the steppes which lay on the other side of the Jaxartes;

Darius, the third emperor, invented a system of provincial government which, though imperfect when viewed

by the wisdom of modern times, was far superior to any that had preceded it in Asia. He appointed satraps or

pashas to administer the conquered provinces. Each of these viceroys received with his commission a map of

his province engraved on brass. He was at once the civil governor and commander of the troops, but his

power was checked and supervised by a secretary or clerk of the accounts, and the province was visited by

royal commissioners once a year. The troops in each province were of two kinds; some garrisoned the cities;

others, for the most part cavalry, lived, like the Roman legions, always in a camp; it was their office to keep

down brigands, and to convey the royal treasure from place to place. The troops were subsisted by the

conquered people; this formed part of the tribute, and was collected at the point of the sword. There was also

a fixed tax in money and in kind, which was received by the clerk of the accounts and dispatched to the

The Great King still preserved in his habits something of the nomad chief. He wintered at Babylon, but in the

summer the heat was terrible in that region; the citizens retired to their cellars, and the king went to Susa,

which was situated on the hills, or to Ecbatana, the ancient capital of the Medes, or to Persepolis, the true

hearth and home of the Persian race. When he approached one of these cities the magi came forth to meet

him, dressed all in white and singing hymns. The road was strewn with myrtle boughs and roses, and silver

His palaces were built of precious woods, but the naked wood was never permitted to be seen: the walls were

covered with golden plates, the roof with silver tiles. The courts were adorned with white, green, and blue

hangings, fastened with cords of fine linen to pillars of marble by silver rings. The gardens were filled with

rare and exotic plants; from the cold bosom of the snowwhite stone fountains sprang upwards, sparkling in

the air; birds of gorgeous plumage flashed from tree to tree, resembling flowers where they perched. And as

the sun sank low in the heavens and the shadows on the earth grew deep, the voice of the nightingale was

heard in the thicket, and the low cooing of the dove. Sounds of laughter proceeded from the house; lattices

were opened; ponderous doors swung back, and out poured a troop of houris which a Persian poet alone

would venture to describe. For there might be seen the fair Circassian, with cheeks like the apple in its rosy

bloom; and the Abyssinian damsel, with warm brown skin and voluptuous drowsy eyes; the Hindu girl, with

lithe and undulating form and fingers which seemed created to caress; the Syrian, with aquiline and haughty

look; the Greek with features brightened by intellect and vivacity; and the homeborn beauty prepared

expressly for the harem, with a complexion as white as the milk on which she had been fed, and a face in

All these dear charmers belonged to the king, and no doubt he often wished half of them away. For if he felt a

serious passion rising in his breast, etiquette compelled him to put it down. Inconstancy was enjoined on him

by law. He was subjected to a rotation of kisses by the regulated science of the harem. Ceremony interdicted

affection and caprice. He suffered from unvarying variety and the monotony of eternal change. The whole

empire belonged to him, and all its inhabitants were his slaves. If he happened to be struck to the heart by a

look cast from under a pair of blackedged eyelids, if he became enamoured of a high bosomed virgin, with a

form like the oriental willow, he had only to say the word; she was at once taken to the apartments of the

women, and her parents received the congratulations of their friends. But then he was not allowed to see his

beloved for a twelvemonth: six months she must be prepared with the oil of myrrh, six months with the

sweet odours, before she was sufficiently purified and perfumed to receive the august embraces of the king,

The Great King slept on a splendid couch, overspread by a vine of branching gold, with clusters of rubies

representing grapes. He wore a dress of purple and white, with scarlet trousers, a girdle like that of a woman,

and a high tiara encircled by a skyblue turban. He lived in a prison of rich metal and dazzling stone. Around

him stood the courtiers with their hands wrapped in their robes, and covering their mouths lest he should be

polluted by their baseborn breath. Those who desired to speak to his majesty prostrated themselves before

him on the ground. If any one entered uncalled, a hundred sabres gleamed in the air, and unless the king

An army sat down to dinner in the palace every day, and every day a herd of oxen was killed for them to eat.

These were only the household troops. But when the Great King went to war, the provinces sent in their

contingents, and then might be seen, as in some great exhibition, a collection of warriors from the four

quarters of the earth. Then might be seen the Immortals, or Persian lifeguards; their arms were of gold and

silver, their standards were of silk. Then might be seen the heavyarmed Egyptian troops, with long wooden

shields reaching to the ground; the Greeks from Ionia, with crested helmets and breastplates of bronze; the

furclad Tartars of the steppes, who 'raised hair' like the Red Indians, a people probably belonging to the

same race; the Ethiopians of Africa, with fleecy locks, clad in the skins of lions and armed with throwsticks

and with stakes, the points of which had been hardened in the fire, or tipped with horn or stone; the Berbers in

their fourhorse chariots; the camel cavalry of Arabia, each camel being mounted by two archers sitting back

to back, and thus prepared for the enemy on either side; the wild horsemen of the Persian hills who caught the

enemy with their lassos; the blackskinned but straighthaired aborigines of India, with their bows of the

bamboo and their shields made of the skins of cranes; and above all the Hindus, dressed in white muslin and

seated on the necks of elephants, which were clothed in Indian steel and which looked like moving mountains

with snakes for hands. Towers were erected on their backs, in which sat bowmen, who shot down the foe

with unerring aim, while the elephants were taught to charge, to trample down the opposing ranks in heaps,

and to take up armed men in their trunks and hand them to their riders. Sometimes huge scythes were

fastened to their trunks, and they mowed down regiments as they marched along. The army was also attended

by packs of enormous bloodhounds to hunt the fugitives when a victory had been gained, and by falcons

which were trained to fly at the eyes of the enemy to baffle them, or even blind them as they were fighting.

When this enormous army began to march it devoured the whole land over which it passed. At night the

campfires reddened the sky as if a great city was in flames. In the morning, a little after daybreak, a trumpet

sounded, and the image of the sun, cased in crystal and made of burnished gold, was raised on the top of the

king�s pavilion, which was built of wood, covered with cashmere shawls, and supported on silver poles. As

soon as the ball caught the first rays of the rising sun the march began. First went the chariot with the altar

and the sacred fire, drawn by eight milkwhite horses driven by charioteers, who walked by the side with

golden wands. The chariot was followed by a horse of extraordinary magnitude, which was called the

'Charger of the Sun.' The king followed with the ten thousand Immortals, and with his wives in covered

carriages drawn by mules, or in cages upon camels. Then came the army without order or precision, and there

rose a dust which resembled a white cloud, and which could be seen across the plain for miles. The enemy,

when this cloud drew near, could distinguish within it the gleaming of brazen armour, and they could hear the

sound of the lash, which was always part of the military music of the Persians. When a battle was fought the

king took his seat on a golden throne, surrounded by his secretaries, who took notes during the engagement

This army was frequently required by the Persians. They were a restless people, always lusting after war.

Vast as their empire was, it was not large enough for them. The courtiers used to assure an enterprising

monarch that he was greater than all the kings that were dead, and greater than those that were yet unborn;

that it was his mission to extend the Persian territory as far as God�s heaven reached, in order that the sun

might shine on no land beyond their borders. Hyperbole apart, it was the aim and desire of the kings to annex

the plains of Southern Russia, and so to make the Black Sea a lake in the interior of Persia; and to conquer

Greece, the only land in Europe which really merited their arms. In both these attempts they completely

failed. The Russian Tartars, who had no fixed abode and whose houses were on wheels, decoyed the Persian

army far into the interior, eluded it in pursuit, harassed and almost destroyed it in retreat. The Greeks defeated

them in pitched battles on Greek soil, and defeated their fleets in Greek waters.

This contest, which lasted many years, to the Greeks was a matter of life and death, but it was merely an

episode in Persian history. The defeats of Plataea and Salamis caused the Great King much annoyance, and

cost him a shred of land and sea. But they did not directly affect the prosperity of his empire. What was the

loss of a few thousand slaves, and of a few hundred Phoenician and Egyptian and Ionian ships, to him?

Indirectly, indeed, it decided the fate of Persia by developing the power of the Greeks, but ruined in any case

that empire must have been, like all others of its kind. The causes of its fall must be sought for within and not

without. In the natural course of events it would have become the prey of some people like the Parthian

highlanders or the wandering Turks. The Greek wars had this result; the empire was conquered at an earlier

period than would otherwise have been the case, and it was conquered by a European instead of an Asiatic

There is no problem in history so interesting as the unparalleled development of Greece. How was it that so

small a country could exert so remarkable an influence on the course of events and on the intellectual

progress of mankind? The Greeks, as the science of language clearly proves, belonged to the same race as the

Persians themselves. Many centuries before history begins a people migrated from the highlands of Central

Asia and overspread Europe on the one side, on the other side Hindustan. Celts and Germans, Russians and

Poles, Romans and Greeks, Persians and Hindus, all sprang from the loins of a shepherd tribe inhabiting the

tableland of the sources of the Oxus and Jaxartes, and are quite distinct from the Assyrians, the Arabs, and

Phoenicians, whose ancestors descended into the plains of Western Asia from the tableland of the sources of

the Tigris and Euphrates. It is also inferred from the evidence of language that at some remote period the

Egyptians belonged to the same stock as the mountaineers of Armenia, the Chinese to the same stock as the

highlanders of Central Asia, and that at a period still more remote the Turanian or Chinese Tartar, the Aryan

or Indo European, and the Semitic races and languages were one. Upon this last point philologists are not

agreed, though the balance of authority is in favour of the view expressed. But as regards the descent of the

English and Hindus from the same tribe of Asiatic mountaineers, that is now as much a fact of history as the

common descent of the English and the Normans from the same race of pirates on the Baltic shores. The

Celts migrated first into Europe; they were followed by the GraecoItalian people, and then by the

GermanSlavonians, the Persians and Hindus remaining longest in their primeval homes. The great

difference between the various breeds of the IndoEuropean race is partly due to their intermixture with the

natives of the countries which they colonised and conquered. In India the Aryans found a black race which

yet exist in the hills and jungles of that country, and who yet speak languages of their own which have

nothing in common with the noble Sanskrit. Europe was inhabited by a people of Tartar origin who still exist

as the Basques of the Pyrenees, and as the Finns and Lapps of Scandinavia. It is probable that these people

also were intruders of comparatively recent date, and that a yet more primeval race existed on the gloomy

banks of the Danube and the Rhine, in huts built on stakes in the shallow waters of the Swiss lakes, and in the

mountain caverns of France and Spain. The Aryans, who migrated into India, certainly intermarried with the

blacks, and there can be no reasonable doubt that the Celts who first migrated into Europe took the wives as

well as the lands of the natives. The aborigines were therefore largely absorbed by the Celts, to the detriment

of that race, before the arrival of the Germans, whose blood remained comparatively pure.

We may freely use the doctrine of intermarriage to explain the difference in colour between the sepoy and his

officer. We may apply itthough with less confidenceto explain the difference in character and aspect

between the Irish and the English, but we do not think that the doctrine will help us much towards

expounding the genius of Greece. And if the superiority of that people was not dependent in any way on race

distinction, inherent or acquired, it must have been in some way connected with locality and other incidents

A glance at the map is sufficient to explain how it was that Greece became civilised before the other

European lands. It is nearest to those countries in which civilisation first arose. It is the borderland of East

and West. The western coast of Asia and the eastern coast of Greece lie side by side; the sea between them is

narrow, with the islands like steppingstones across a brook. On the other hand, a mountain wall extends in

the form of an arc from the Adriatic to the Black Sea and shuts off Europe from Greece, which is thus

compelled to grow towards Asia as a tree grows towards the light. Its coasts are indented in a peculiar manner

by the sea. Deep bays and snug coves, forming hospitable ports, abound. The character of the Aegean is mild

and humane; its atmosphere is clear and favourable for those who navigate by the eye from island to island

and from point to point. The purple shellfish, so much in request with the Phoenicians for their

manufactures, was found upon the coasts of Greece. A trade was opened up between the two lands, and with

trade there came arithmetic and letters to assist the trade, and from these a desire on the part of the Greeks for

more luxury and more knowledge. All this was natural enough. But how was it that whatever came into the

hands of the Greeks was used merely as raw materialthat whatever they touched was transmuted into gold?

How was it that Asia was only their dame�s school, and that they discovered the higher branches of

knowledge for themselves? How was it that they who were taught by the Babylonians to divide the day into

twelve hours afterwards exalted astronomy to the rank of an exact science? How was it that they who

received from Egypt the canon of proportions and the first ideas of the portraiture of the human form,

afterwards soared into the regions of the ideal, and created in marble a beauty more exquisite than can be

The mountains of Greece are disposed in a peculiar manner, so as to enclose extensive tracts of land which

assume the appearance of large basins or circular hollows, level as the ocean and consisting of rich alluvial

soil through which rise steep insulated rocks. The plain subsisted a numerous population; the rock became the

Acropolis or citadel of the chief town, and the mountains were barriers against invasion. Other districts were

parcelled out by water in the same manner; their frontiers were swift streaming rivers or estuaries of the sea.

Each of these cantons became an independent citystate, and the natives of each canton became warmly

attached to their fatherland. Nature had given them ramparts which they knew how to use. They defended

with obstinacy the river and the pass; if those were forced the citadel became a place of refuge and resistance,

and if the worst came to the worst they could escape to inaccessible mountain caves.

Each of these states possessed a constitution of its own, and each was homemade and differed slightly from

the rest. It may be imagined what a variety of ideas must have risen in the process of their manufacture. The

laws were debated in a general assembly of the citizens; each community within itself was full of intellectual

Selfdevelopment and independence are too often accompanied by isolation, and nations, like individuals,

become torpid when they retire from the world. But this was not the case with Greece. Though its people

were divided into separate states, they all spoke the same language and worshipped the same gods, and there

existed certain institutions which at appointed times assembled them together as a nation.

Greece is a country which possesses the most extraordinary climate in the world. Within two degrees of

latitude it ranges from the beech to the palm. In the morning the traveller may be shivering in a snowstorm,

and viewing a winter landscape of naked trees; in the afternoon he may be sweltering beneath a tropical sun,

with oleanders blooming around him and oranges shining in the green foliage like balls of gold. From this

variety of climate resulted a variety of produce which stimulated the natives to barter and exchange. A central

spot was chosen as the market place, and it was made, for the common protection, a sanctuary of Apollo.

The people, when they met for the purposes of trade, performed at the same time religious rites, and also

amused themselves, in the rude manner of the age, with boxing, wrestling, running races, and throwing the

spear; or they listened to the minstrels, who sang the ballads of ancient times, and to the prophets or inspired

politicians, who chanted predictions in hexameters. That sanctuary became in time the famous oracle of

Delphi, and those sports expanded into the Olympian Games. To the great fair came Greeks from all parts of

the land, and when chariot races were introduced it became necessary to make good roads from state to state,

and to build bridges across the streams. The administration of the sanctuary, the laws and regulations of the

games, and the management of the public fund subscribed for the expenses of the fair, could only be arranged

by means of a national council composed of deputies from all the states. This congress was called the

Amphictyonic League, which, soon extending its powers, enacted national laws, and as a supreme court of

At Olympia the inhabitants of the coast displayed the scarlet cloth and the rich trinkets which they had

obtained from Phoenician ships. At Olympia those who had been kidnapped into slavery, and had afterwards

been ransomed by their friends at home, related to an eager crowd the wonders which they had seen in the

And then throughout all Greece there was an inward stirring and a hankering after the unknown, and a desire

to achieve great deeds. It began with the expedition of Jasonan exploring voyage to the Black Sea; it

In such countries as the Grecian states, where the area is small, the community flourishing, and the frontier

inexorably defined, the law of population operates with unusual force. The mountain walls of the Greek

cantons, like the deserts which surrounded Egypt, not only kept out the enemy but also kept in the natives;

they were not only fortresses but prisons. In order to exist, the Greeks were obliged to cultivate every inch of

soil. But when this had been done the population still continued to increase, and now the land could no longer

be increased. In those early days they had no manufactures, mines, or foreign commerce by means of which

they could supply themselves, as we do, with food from other lands. In such an emergency the government, if

it acts at all, has only two methods to pursue. It must either strangle or bleed the population; it must organise

The first method was practised to some extent, but happily the last was now within their power. The Trojan

war had made them acquainted with the Asiatic coast, and overcrowded states began to send forth colonies by

public act. The emigrants consisted chiefly, as may be supposed, of the poor, the dangerous, and the

discontented classes. They took with them no women; they went forth, like the buccaneers, sword in hand.

They swooped down on the Ionian coastthere was at that time no power in Asia Minor which was able to

resist them. They obtained wives, sometimes by force, sometimes by peaceable arrangement with the natives.

In course of time the coast of Asia Minor was lined with rich and flourishing towns. The mother country

continued to pour forth colonies, and colonies also founded colonies. The Greeks sailed and settled in every

direction. They braved the dark mists and the inclement seasons of the Black Sea, and took up their abode

among a people whose faces were almost concealed in furs, who dwelt at the mouths of great rivers and

cultivated boundless plains of wheat. This wheat the Greeks exported to the mother country, with barrels of

the salted tunnyfish, and the gold of Ural, and even the rich products of the Oriental trade which were

brought across Asia from India or China by the waters of the Oxus to the Aral Sea, from the Aral to the

Caspian Sea by land, from the Caspian to the Black Sea by the Volga and the Don.

But where Italy dipped her arched and lovely foot in the blue waters of an untroubled sea, beneath the blue

roof of an unclouded skywhere the flowers never perished, where eternal summer smiled, where mere

existence was voluptuous and life itself a sensual joythere the Greek cities clustered richly

togethercities shining with marble and built in fairy forms, before them the deep tranquil harbour, behind

When a bank of emigrants went forth they took with them fire kindled on the city hearth. Although each

colony was independent, it regarded with reverence the mother state, and all considered themselves with

pride not foreigners but Greeks; for Greece was not a country but a people; wherever the Greek language was

spoken, that was Greece. They all spoke the same grand and harmonious languagealthough the dialects

might differ; they had the same bible, for Homer was in all their hearts, and the memory of their youthful

glory was associated in their minds with the union of Greek warriors beneath the walls of Troy. The chief

colonial states were represented at the meetings of the Amphictyonic League, and any Greek from the Crimea

to Marseilles might contend at the Olympian Games with the full rights of a Spartan or Athenian, a privilege

The intense enthusiasm which was excited by the Olympian Games was the chief cause of the remarkable

development of Greece. The man who won the olive garland on that celebrated course was famous for ever

afterwards. His statue was erected in the public hall at Delphi; he was received by his native city with all the

honours of a formal triumph; he was not allowed to enter by the gatesa part of the city wall was beaten

down. The city itself became during five years the talk of Greece, and wherever its people travelled they were

The passion for praise is innate in the human mind. It is only natural that throughout the whole Greek world a

spirit of eager rivalry and emulation should prevail. In every city was established a gymnasium where crowds

of young men exercised themselves naked. This institution was originally intended for those only who were

in training for the Olympian Games, but afterwards it became a part of daily life, and the Greeks went to the

At first the national prizes were only for athletes, but at a later period the principle of competition was

extended to books and musical compositions, paintings and statues. There was also a competition in rich and

elegant display. The carriages and retinues which were exhibited upon the course excited a desire to obtain

wealth, and gave a useful impulse to foreign commerce, manufactures, and mining operations.

The Greek world was composed of municipal aristocraciessocieties of gentlemen living in towns, with

their farms in the neighbourhood, and having all their work done for them by slaves. They themselves had

nothing to do but to cultivate their bodies by exercise in the gymnasium, and their minds by conversation in

the marketplace. They lived out of doors while their wives remained shut up at home. In Greece a lady

could only enter society by adopting a mode of life which in England usually facilitates her exit. The Greeks

spent little money on their wives, their houses, or their food: the rich men were expected to give dramatic

entertainments , and to contribute a company or a manofwar for the protection of the city. The

marketplace was the Greek club. There the merchants talked their businessthe labours of the desk were

then unknown. The philosopher instructed his pupils under the shade of a planetree, or strolling up and

down a garden path. Mingling with the song of the cicada from the boughs might be heard the chipping of the

chisel from the workshop of the sculptor, and the laughter and shouts from the gymnasium. And sometimes

the tinkle of a harp would be heard; a crowd would be collected, and a rhapsodist would recite a scene from

the Iliad, every word of which his audience knew by heart, as an audience at Naples or Milan knows every

bar of the opera which is about to be performed. Sometimes a citizen would announce that his guest, who had

just arrived from the sea of Azov or the Pillars of Hercules, would read a paper on the manners and customs

of the barbarians. It was in the city that the book was first read and the statue exhibitedthe rehearsal and

the private view; it was in Olympia that they were published to the nation. When the public murmured in

delight around a picture of Xeuxis or a statue of Praxiteles, when they thundered in applause to an ode by

Pindar or a lecture by Herodotus, how many hundreds of young men must have gone home with burning

brows and throbbing hearts, devoured by the love of fame! And when we consider that though the

geographical Greece is a small country, the true Greece that is to say, the land inhabited by the

Greekswas in reality a large country; when we consider with what an immense number of ideas they must

have been brought in contact on the shores of the Black Sea, in Asia Minor, in Southern Italy, in Southern

France, in Egypt, and in Northern Africa; when we consider that, owing to those noble contests of Olympia,

city was every contending against city, and within the city man against man, there is surely no longer

Education in Greece was not a monopoly; it was the precious privilege of all the free. The business of

religion was divided among three classes. The priests were merely the sacrificers and guardians of the

sanctuary; they were elected, like the mayors of our towns, by their fellow citizens for a limited time only,

and without their being withdrawn from the business of ordinary life. The poets revealed the nature, and

portrayed the character, and related the biography of the gods. The philosophers undertook the education of

the young, and were also the teachers and preachers of morality. If a man wished to obtain the favour of the

gods, or to take divine advice, he went to a priest; if he desired to turn his mind to another, though scarcely a

better world, he took up his Homer or his Hesiod; and if he suffered from sickness or mental affliction he sent

It will presently be shown that the philosophers invaded the territory of the poets, who were defended by the

government and by the mob, and that a religious persecution was the result. But the fine arts were free; and

the custom which came into vogue of erecting statues to the gods, to the victors of the games, and to other

illustrious men favoured the progress of sculpture, which was also aided by the manners of the land. The

gymnasium was a school of art. The eyes of the sculptor revelled on the naked formnot purchased, as in

London, at eighteenpence an hour, but visible in marvellous perfection at all times and in every pose. Thus

ever present to the eye of the artist, it was ever present to his brain, and flowed forth from his fingers in

lovely forms. As art was fed by nature, so nature was fed by art. The Greek women placed statues of Apollo

or Narcissus in their bedrooms, that they might bear children as beautiful as those on whom they gazed. Such

children they prayed the gods to give them, for the Greeks loved beauty to distraction, and regarded ugliness

as sin. They had exhibitions of beauty at which prizes were given by celebrated artists who were appointed to

the judgmentseat. There were towns in which the most beautiful men were elected to the priesthood. There

were connoisseurs who formed companies of soldiers composed exclusively of comely young men, and who

could plead for the life of a beautiful youth amidst the wrath and confusion of the battlefield.

The Persian wars gave a mighty impulse to the intellect of Greece. Indeed, before that period Greek art had

been uncouth; it was then that the Age of Marble really began, and that Phidias moulded the ideas of Homer

into noble forms. It was then that Athens, having commanded the Greeks in the War of Independence,

retained the supremacy and became the centre of the nation. Athens had died for Greece; it had been burnt by

the Persians to the ground, and from those glorious ashes arose the Athens of historythe City of the Violet

Crown. To Athens were summoned the great artists: to Athens came every young man who had talent and

ambition: to Athens every Greek who could afford it sent his boys to school. The Academy was planted with

widespreading plane trees and olive groves, laid out in walks with fountains, and surrounded by a wall. A

theatre was built entirely of masts which had been taken from the enemy. A splendid harbour was

constructeda harbour which was in itself a town. All that fancy could create, all that money could

command, was lavished upon the city and its environsthe very milestones on the roads were works of art.

The Persians assisted the growth of Greece, not only by those invasions which had favoured the union,

aroused the ardour, multiplied the desires, and ennobled the ambition of the Greek people, but also by their

own conquests. Their failure in Europe and their success in Asia were equally profitable to the Greeks. Trade

and travel were much facilitated by their extensive rule. A government postal service had been established:

royal couriers might by seen every day galloping at full speed along the splendid roads which united the

provinces of the Punjab and Afghanistan and Bokhara on one side of the Euphrates, and of Asia Minor, Syria

and Egypt on the other side of that river, with the imperial palaces at Babylon, Susa, Ecbatana, and

Persepolis. Caravanserais were fitted up for the reception of travellers in lonely places where no other houses

were to be found. Troops of mounted police patrolled the roads. In desert tracts thousands of earthen jars,

filled with water and planted up to their necks in sand, supplied the want of wells. The old system of national

isolation and closed ports was battered down. The Greeks were no longer forbidden to enter the Phoenician

ports, or compelled to trade exclusively at one Egyptian town. Greek merchants were able to join in the

caravan trade of Central Asia, and to traffic on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Philosophers, taking with them

a venture of oil to pay expenses, could now visit the learned countries of the East with more profit than had

previously been the case. Since that country was deprived of its independence, the priests were inclined to

Egypt from the earliest times had been the university of Greece. It had been visited, according to tradition, by

Orpheus and Homer: there Solon had studied lawmaking, there the rules and principles of the Pythagorean

order had been obtained, there Thales had taken lessons in geometry, there Democritus had laughed and

Xenophanes had sneered. And now every intellectual Greek made the voyage to that country; it was regarded

as a part of education, as a pilgrimage to the cradleland of their mythology. To us Egypt is a land of

surpassing interest, but nevertheless merely a charnelhouse, a museum, a valley of ruins and dry bones. The

Greeks saw it alive. They saw with their own eyes the solemn and absurd rites of the templethe cat

solemnly enthroned, the tame crocodiles being fed, ibis mummies being packed up in red jars, scribes carving

the animal language upon the granite. They wandered in the mazes of the Labyrinth: they gazed on the

mighty Sphinx couched on the yellow sands with a temple between its paws: they entered the great hall of

Carnac, filled with columns like a forest and paved with acres of solid stone. In that country Herodotus

resided several years and took notes on his wooden tablets of everything that he saw, ascertained the

existence of the Niger, made inquiries about the sources of the Nile, collated the traditions of the priests of

Memphis with those of Thebes. To Egypt came the divine Plato, and drank long and deeply of its ancient

lore. The house in which he lived at Heliopolis was afterwards shown to travellersit was one of the sights

of Egypt in Strabo�s day. There are some who ascribe the whole civilisation of Greece, and the rapid growth

of Greek literature, to the free trade which existed between the two lands. Greece imported all its paper from

Egypt, and without paper there would have been few books. The skins of animals were too rare, and their

Gradually the Greeks become dispersed over the whole Asiatic world, and such was the influence of their

superiority that countries in which they had no political power adopted much of their culture and their

manners. They surpassed the inhabitants of Asia as much in the arts of war as in those of peace. They served

as mercenaries in every land; wherever the kettledrum was beaten they assembled in crowds.

It soon became evident to keen observers that the Greeks were destined to inherit the Persian world. That vast

empire was beginning to decay. The character of the ruling people had completely changed. It is said that the

Lombards of the fourth generation were terrified when they looked at the portraits of their savage ancestors

who, with their hair shaved behind and hanging down over their mouths in front, had issued from the dark

forests of Central Europe, and had streamed down from the Alps upon the green Italian plains. The Persians

soon ceased to be the rude and simple mountaineers who had scratched their heads with wonder at the sight

of a silk dress, and who had been unable to understand the object of changing one thing for another. It was

remarked that no people adopted more readily the customs of other nations. Whenever they heard of a new

luxury they made it their own. They soon became distinguished for that exquisite and refined politeness

which they retain at the present day; their language cast off its guttural sounds and became melodious to the

ear. Time went on, and their old virtues entirely departed. They made use of gloves and umbrellas when they

walked out in the sun; they no longer hunted except in battues, slaughtering without danger or fatigue the

lean, mangy creatures of the parks. They painted their faces and pencilled their eyebrows and wore bracelets

and collars, and dined on a variety of entrees, tasting a little here and a little there, drank deep, yawned half

the day in their harems, and had valets de chambre to help them out of bed. Their actions were like water, and

their words were like the wind. Once a Persian�s right hand had been a pledge which was never broken; now

A country in which polygamy prevails can never enjoy a wellordered constitution. There is always an

uncertainty about succession. The kingdom does not descend by rule to the eldest son, but to the son of the

favourite wife; it is not determined beforehand by a national law, constant and unchangeable, given forth

from the throne and ratified by the estates; it may be decided suddenly and at any moment in that hour when

men are weak and yielding, women sovereign and strongwhen right is often strangled by a fond embrace

and reason kissed to sleep by rosy lips. The fatal 'Yes'! is uttered and cannot be revoked. The heir is

appointed and an injustice has been done. But the rival mother has yet a hopethe appointed heir may die.

Then the seraglio becomes a nursery of treason; the harem administration is stirred by dark whispers; the

cabinet of women and eunuchs is cajoled and bribed. A crime is committed and is revenged. The whole

palace smells of blood. The king trembles on his throne. He himself is never safe; he is always encircled by

soldiers; he never sleeps twice in the same place; his dinner is served in sealed trays; a man stands at his left

The satrap form of government is far superior to that of vassal kings. As long as the system of inspection is

kept up there is no comparison between the two. But if once the satrapies are allowed to become hereditary

there is no difference between the two. In the latter days of the Persian empire the satraps were no longer

supervised by royal visitors and clerks of the accounts. Each of these viceroys had his bodyguard of Persians

and his army of mercenary Greeks. Sometimes they fought against each other; sometimes they even contested

for the throne. As for the subject nations, they were by no means idle; revolts broke out in all directions.

Egypt enjoyed a long interlude of independence, though afterwards she was again reduced to servitude. The

Indians appear to have shaken themselves free, and to have attained the position of allies. Many provinces

still recognised the emperor as their suzerain and lord, but did not pay him any tribute. When he travelled

from Susa to Persepolis he had to go through a rocky pass where he paid a toll. The King of Persia could not

A remarkable event now occurred. A pretender to the throne hired a Greek army, led it to Babylon, and

defeated the Great King at the gates of his palace. The empire was won, but the pretender had fallen in the

battle; his Persian adherents went over to the other side; the Greeks were left without a commander and

without a cause. They were in the heart of Asia, cut off from their home by swift streaming rivers and

burning plains of sand. They were only then thousand strong, yet in spite of their desperate condition they cut

their way back to the sea. That glorious victory, that still more glorious retreat, exposed the true state of

affairs to public view, and it became known all over Greece that the Persian empire could be overcome.

But Greece unhappily was subject to vices and abuses of its own, and was not in a position to take advantage

The intellectual achievements of the Greeks have been magnificently praised. And when we consider what

the world was when they found it, and what it was when they left it, when we review their productions in

connection with the time and the circumstances under which they were composed, we are forced to

acknowledge that it would be difficult to exaggerate their excellence. But the splendour of their just renown

must not blind us to their moral defects, and to their exceeding narrowness as politicians.

In the arts and letters they were one nation, and their jealousy of one another only served to stimulate their

inventiveness and industry. But in politics this envious spirit had a very different effect; it divided them, it

weakened them; the Ionian cities were enslaved again and again because they could not combine. And one

reason of their not being able to combine was this: they never trusted one another. It was their inveterate

dishonesty, their want of faith, their disregards for the sanctity of oaths, their hankering after money, which

had much to do with their disunion even in the face of danger. There are some who desire to persuade us that

the Greeks whom the Romans described were entirely a different race from the Greeks of the Persian wars.

But an unprejudiced study of original authorities gives no support to such a theory. From the pirates to the

orators, from the heroic and treacherous Ulysses to the patriotic and venal Demosthenes, we find almost all

their best men tainted with the same disease. Polybius complains that the Greek statesmen would never keep

their hands out of the till. In Xenophon�s Retreat of the Ten Thousand a little banter is exchanged between a

Spartan and an Athenian which illustrates the state of public opinion in Greece. They have come to a country

where it is necessary to rob the natives in order to provide themselves with food. The Athenian says that, as

the Spartans are taught to steal, now is the time for them to show that they have profited by their education.

The Spartan replies that the Athenians will no doubt be able to do their share, as the Athenians appoint their

best men to govern the state, and their best men are invariably thieves. The same kind of pleasantry, no doubt,

goes on in Greece at the present day; to rob a foreigner in the mountains, or to filch the money from the

public chest, are looked upon in that country as 'little affairs' which are not disgraceful so long as they are not

found out. But the modern Greeks are degenerate in every way. The ancient Greeks surpassed them not only

in sculpture and in metaphysics but also in duplicity. With their fine phrases and rhetorical expressions, they

have even swindled history, and obtained a vast amount of admiration under false pretences.

The narrowness of the Greeks was not less strongly marked. When Athens obtained the supremacy a wise

and just policy might have formed the Greeks into a nation. But Pericles had no sympathies beyond the city

walls: he was a good Athenian but a bad Greek. He removed the federal treasury from Delphi to Athens,

where it was speedily emptied on the public works. Since Athens had now become the university and capital

of Greece, it appears not unjust that it should have been beautiful at the expense of Greece. But it must be

remembered that the Athenians considered themselves the only pure Greeks, and no Athenian was allowed to

marry a Greek who was not also an Athenian. Heavy taxes were laid on the allies, and were not spent entirely

on works of art. Besides the money that was purloined by government officials, large sums were distributed

among the citizens of Athens as payment for attending the law courts, the parliament, and the theatre. It was

also ordered that all cases of importance would be tried at Athens, and judicial decisions then as now were

looked upon at Athens as saleable articles belonging to the court. The Greeks soon discovered that the

Athenians were harder masters than the Persians. They began to envy the fate of the Ionian cities, whose

municipal rights were undisturbed. They rose up against their tyrant; long wars ensued; and finally the ships

of Athens were burnt and its walls beaten down to the music of flutes. Then Sparta became supreme, also

tyrannised, and also fell; and then Thebes followed its example, till at last all the states of Greece were so

exhausted that the ambition of supremacy died away, and each city cared only for its own life.

The jealousy and distrust which prevented the union of the Greeks, and the constant wars in which they were

engaged, sufficiently explain how it was that they did not conquer Persian, and by this time Persia had

discovered how to conquer them. When Xerxes was on his famous march he was told by a Greek that if he

chose to bribe the orators of Greece he could do with that country what he pleased, but that he would never

conquer it by force. This method of making war was now adopted by the king. When Agesilaus the Spartan

had already begun the conquest of the Persian empire, ten thousand golden coins marked with the effigy of a

bowman were sent to the demagogues of Athens, Corinth, and Thebes. Those cities at once made war upon

Sparta, and Agesilaus was recalleddriven out of Asia, as he used to say, by ten thousand of the king�s

archers. In this manner the Greek orators, who were often very eloquent men but who never refused a bribe,

kept their country continually at war, till at last it was in such an enfeebled state that the Persian had no

longer anything to fear, and even used his influence in making peace. The land which might have been the

It was now that a new power sprang into life. Macedonia was a hilly country on the northern boundaries of

Greece; a Greek colony having settled there in ancient times, the reigning house and the language of the

courts were Hellenic; the mass of the people were barbarians. It was an old head placed on young

shouldersthe intellect of the Greek united with the strength and sinews of wild and courageous

The celebrated Philip, when a young man, had passed some time in Greece; he had seen what could be done

with money in that country; he conjectured what might be done if the money were sustained by arms. When

he became king of Macedon, he made himself president of the Greek confederation, obtaining by force and

skilful address, by bribery and intrigue, the position which Athens and Sparta had once possessed. He was

preparing to conquer Persia and to avenge the ancient wrongs of Greece when he was murdered, and

Alexander, like Frederick the Great, inherited an army disciplined to perfection and the great design for

Alexander reduced and garrisoned the rebellious Greeks, passed over into Asia Minor, defeated a Persian

army at the Granicus, marched along the Ionian coast, and crossed over the snowy range of Taurus, which the

Persians neglected to defend. He heard that the Great King was behind him with his army entangled in the

mountains. He went back, won the battle of Issus, and took prisoner the mother and wife and daughter of

Darius. He passed into Syria and laid siege to Tyre, the Cherbourg of the Persians, and took it after several

months; this gave him possession of the Mediterranean Sea. He passed down the Syrian coast, crossed the

deserta three days� journeywhich separates Palestine from Egypt, received the submission of that

satrapy and made arrangements for its administration, visited the oracle of Jupiter Ammon in The Sahara, and

returned to Tyre. Thence making a long detour to avoid the sandy deserts of Arabia, he entered the plains of

Mesopotami, inhabited only by the ostrich and the wild ass, and marched towards the ruins of Nineveh, near

which he fought his third and last great battle with the Persians. He proceeded to Babylon, which at once

opened its vast gates. He restored the Chaldean priesthood and the old idolatry of Belus. He took Susa,

Ecbatana, and Persepolis, the other three palatial cities, reducing the highlanders who had so long levied

black mail on the Persian monarchs. He pursued Darius to the moist, forestcovered shores of the Caspian

Sea, and inflicted a terrible death on the assassins of that illfated king. The Persian histories relate that

Alexander discovered Darius apparently dead upon the ground. He alighted from his horse; he raised his

enemy�s head upon his knees; he shed tears and kissed the expiring monarch who opened his eyes and said,

'The world has a thousand doors through which its tenants continually enter and pass away.' 'I swear to you,'

cried Alexander, ' I never wished a day like this. I desired not to see your royal head in the dust, nor that

blood should stain these cheeks.' The legend is a fiction, but it illustrates the character of Alexander. Such

legends are not related of Genghis Khan or of Tamerlane by the people whom they conquered.

Alexander now marched by way of Mushed, Herat, and the reedy shores of Lake Zurrah to Kandahar and

Kabul. He entered that delightful land in which the magpies fluttering from tree to tree, and the white daisies

shining in the meadow grass, reminded the soldiers of their home. Turning again towards the north, he

climbed over the lofty back of the Hindu Kush, where the people are kept inside their houses half the year by

snow, and descended into the province of Bactria, a land of low, waving hills, destitute of trees and covered

only with a dry kind of grass. But as he passed on, crossing the muddy waters of the Oxus, he arrived at the

oases of Bokhara and Samarkand, regions of gardenland with smiling orchards of fruit trees and poplars

rustling their silvery leaves. Finally he reached the banks of the Jaxartes, the frontier of the Persian empire.

Beyond that river was an ocean of salt and sandy plains, inhabited by wild Tartar or Turkish tribes who

boasted that they reposed beneath the shade neither of a tree nor of a king, who lived by rapine like beasts of

prey, and whose wives rode forth to attack a passing caravan if their husbands happened to be robbing

elsewherea practice which gave rise to the romantic stories of the Amazons. These people came down to

the banks of the river near Khojend and challenged Alexander to come across and fight. He inflated the

soldiers� tents, which were made of skins, formed them into rafts, paddled across and gave the Tartars as

much as they desired. He returned to Afghanistan and marched through the western passes into the open

plains of the Punjab, where perhaps at some future day hordes of drilled Mongols and Hindu sepoys will fight

under Russian and English officers for the empire of the Asiatic world. He built a fleet on the Indus, sailed

down it to its mouth, and dispatched his general Nearchus to the Persian Gulf by sea, while he himself

marched back through the terrific deserts which separate Persian from the Indus.

So ended Alexander�s journey of conquest, which was marked not only by heaps of bones on battlefields and

by the blackened ashes of ruined towns, but also by cities and colonies which he planted as he passed. The

memory of that extraordinary man has never perished in the East. The Turkomans still speak of his deeds of

war as if they had been performed a few years ago. In the tea booths of Bokhara it is yet the custom to read

aloud the biography in verse of Secunder Rooniby some believed to be a prophet, by others one of the

believing genii. There are still existing chiefs in the valleys of the Oxus and the Indus who claim to be heirs

of his royal person, and tribes who boast that their ancestors were soldiers of his army, and who refuse to give

He returned to Babylon, and there found ambassadors from all parts of the world waiting to offer him the

homage of their masters. His success was incredible; it had not met with a single check. The only men who

had ever given him cause to be alarmed were his own countrymen and soldiers, but these also he had

The Macedonians had expected that he would adhere to the constitution and customs of their own country,

which gave the king small power in time of peace and allowed full liberty and even licence of speech on the

part of the nobles round the throne. But Alexander now considered himself not king of Macedonia but

emperor of Asia, and successor of Darius, the King of Kings. They had supposed that he would give them the

continent to plunder as a carcass; that they would have nothing to do but plunder and enjoy. There were

disappointed and alarmed when they found that he was reappointing Persian gentlemen as satraps,

everywhere treating the conquered people with indulgence, everywhere levying native troops. They were

disgusted and alarmed when they saw him put on the tiara of the Great King, and the woman�s girdle, and the

white and purple robe, and they burst into fierce wrath when he ordered that the ceremony of prostration

In all this they saw only the presumption of a man intoxicated by success. But Alexander knew well that he

could only govern an empire so immense by securing the allegiance of the Persian nobles; he knew that they

would not respect him unless they were made to humble themselves before him after the manner of their

country, and this they certainly would not do unless his own officers did the same. He therefore attempted to

obtain the prostration of the Macedonians, and alleged as a pretext for so extraordinary a demand the oracle

It is possible, indeed, that he believed this himself, for his vanity amounted to madness. He could not endure

a candid word, and was subject under wine and contradiction to fits of ungovernable rage. At Samarkand he

murdered Clitus, who had insulted him grossly but who was his friend and associate, and who had saved his

life. It was a drunken action, and his repentance was as violent as his wrath. For Alexander was a man of

extremes: his magnanimity and his cruelty were without bounds. If he forgave it was right royally; if he

punished he pounded to the dust and scattered to the winds. Yet with all his faults it is certain that he had

some conception of the art of governing a great empire. Mr. Grote complains that 'he had none of that sense

of correlative right and obligation which characterised the free Greeks,' but Mr. Grote describes Alexander

too much from the Athenian point of view. In all municipalities, in all aristocratic bodies, in all corporate

assemblies, in all robber communities, in all savage families or clans, the privileged members have a sense of

correlative right and obligation. The real question is, how far and to what extent this feeling prevails outside

the little circle of selfish reciprocity and mutual admiration. The Athenians did not include their slaves in

their ideas of correlative right and obligation; nor their prisoners of war, when they passed a public decree to

cut off all their thumbs, so that they might not be able to handle the pike, but might still be able to handle the

oar; nor their allies, when they took their money and spent it all upon themselves. Alexander committed some

criminal and despotic acts, but it was his noble idea to blot out the word 'barbarian' from the vocabulary of

Mr Grote declares that Alexander intended to make Greece Persian, not Persia Greek. Alexander certainly

intended to make Greece a satrapy, as it was afterwards made a Roman province. And where would have

been the loss? The independence of the various Greek cities had at one time assisted the progress of the

nation. But that time was past. Of late they had made use of their freedom only to indulge in civil war. All

that was worthy of being preserved in Greece was its language and its culture, and to that Alexander was not

indifferent. He sent thirty thousand Persian boys to school, and so laid the foundations of the sovereignty of

Greek ideas. He behaved towards the conquered people not as a robber but as a sovereign. The wisdom of his

policy is clearly proved by the praises of the Oriental writers and by the blame of the Greeks, who looked

upon barbarians as a people destined by nature to be slaves. But had Alexander governed Persia as they

desired, the land would have been in a continual state of insurrection, and it would have been impossible for

The story that he wept because there were no more worlds for him to conquer would seem to imply that after

the conquest of the Persian empire there was nothing left for him in the way of war but to go out

savagehunting in the forests of Europe, the steppes of Tartary, or the deserts of Central Africa. However,

there still remained a number of powerful and attractive states, even if we place China entirely aside as a land

which could not be touched by the stream of events, however widely they might overflow.

Alexander no doubt often reflected to himself that after all he had only walked in the footsteps of other men.

It was the genius of his father which had given him possession of Greece; it was the genius of the Persians

which had planted the Asia that he had gathered. It is true that he had conquered the Persian empire more

thoroughly than the Persians had ever been able to conquer it themselves. He had not left behind him a single

rock fortress or forest den uncarried, a single tribe untamed. Yet still he had not been able to pass the frontiers

which they had fixed. He had once attempted to do so and had failed. When he had reached the eastern river

of the Punjab, or 'Land of the Five Streams,' he stood on the brink of the empire with the Himalayas on his

left and before him a wide expanse of sand. Beyond that desert was a country which the Persians had never

reached. There a river as mighty as the Indus took its course towards the sea through a land of surpassing

beauty and enormous wealth. There ruled a king who rode on a white elephant, and who wore a mail coat

composed entirely of precious stone; whose wives slept on a thousand silken mattresses and a thousand

golden beds. The imagination of Alexander was inflamed by these glowing tales. He yearned to discover a

new world, to descend upon a distant and unknown people like a god, to enter the land of diamonds and

rubies, of gleaming and transparent robesthe India of the Indies, the romantic, and half fabulous Bengal.

But the soldiers were weary of collecting plunder which they could not carry, and refused to march.

Alexander spent three days in his tent in an agony of anger and distress. He established garrisons on the

banks of the Indus; there could be little doubt that some day or other he would resume his lost design.

There was one country which had sent him no ambassadors. It was Arabia Felix, situated at the mouth of the

Red Sea, abounding in forests of those tearful trees which shed a yellow, fragrant gum grateful to the gods,

burnt in their honour on all the altars of the world. Arabia was also enriched by the monopoly of the trade

between Egypt and the coast of Malabar. It was filled with rich cities. It had never paid tribute to the Persians.

On the land side it was protected by deserts and by wandering hordes who drank from hidden wells. But it

On the opposite side of the Arabian gulf lay Ethiopia, reputed to be the native land of gold, but chiefly

attractive to a vainglorious and emulative man from the fact that a Persian emperor had attempted its

conquest and had failed. There was also Carthage, the great republic of the West, and there were rich

And can it be supposed that Alexander would remain content when he had not yet made the circuit of the

Grecian world? Was there not Sicily, which Athens had attempted to conquer, and in vain? Rome had not yet

become great, but the Italian citystates were already famed in war. Alexander�s uncle had invaded that

country and had been beaten back. He declared that Alexander had fallen on the chamber of the women and

he on the changer of the men. This sarcasm followed the conqueror into Central Asia, and was flung in his

teeth by Clitus on that night of drunkenness and blood, every incident of which must have been continually

We might therefore fairly infer, even if we had no evidence to guide us, that Alexander did not consider his

career accomplished. But in point of fact we do know that he had given orders to fit out a thousand shipsof

war; that he intended one fleet to attack Arabia from the Mediterranean Sea. He had already arranged a plan

for connecting Egypt with his North African possession that were to be, and had he lived a few years longer

the features of the world might have been changed. The Italians were unconquerable if united, but there was

at that time no supreme city to unite them as they were afterwards united against Pyrrhus. It is at least not

impossible that Alexander might have conquered Italy; that the peninsula might have become a land of

independent cultivated cities like the Venice and Genoa and Florence of the Middle Ages; that Greek might

have been established as the reigning language, and Latin remained a rustic dialect and finally died away. It is

at all events certain that in a few more years Alexander would have made Carthage Greek, and that event

However, this was not to be. Alexander went out in a boat among the marshes in the neighbourhood of

Babylon and caught a fever, the first symptoms of which appeared after a banquet which had been kept up all

the night and the whole of the following day. At that time the Arabian expedition was prepared, and Nearchus

the admiral was under sailing orders. Day after day the king continued to send for his officers to give orders,

and to converse about his future plans. But the fever gradually increased, and while yet in the possession of

his sense he was deprived of the power of speech. The physicians announced that there was no longer any

And then were forgotten all the crimes and follies of which he had been guiltyhis assumption of the

honours of a god, the murder of his bosom friend. The Macedonian soldiers came in to him weeping to bid

him the last farewell. He sat up and saluted them man by man as they marched past his bedside. When this

last duty had been discharged he threw back his weary frame. He expired on the evening of the next day.

The night, the dark, murky night, came on. None dared light a lamp; the fires were extinguished. By the

glimmering of the stars and the faint beams of the horned moon the young nobles of the household were seen

wandering like maniacs through the town. On the roofs of their houses the Babylonians stood grave and

silent, with folded hands and eyes turned towards heaven as if awaiting a supernatural event. High aloft in the

air the trees of the hanging gardens waved their moaning boughs, and the daughters of Babylon sang the dirge

of the dead. In that sorrowful hour the conquerors could not be distinguished from the conquered; the

Persians lamented their just and merciful master; the Macedonians their greatest, bravest king. In an

apartment of the palace an aged woman was lying on the ground; her hair was torn and dishevelled; a golden

crown had fallen from her head. 'Ah! Who will now protect my girls?' she said. Then, veiling her face and

turning from her granddaughters, who wept at her feet, she stubbornly refused both food and light. She who

had survived Darius was unable to survive Alexander. In famine and darkness she sat, and on the fifth day

Alexander�s body lay cold and stiff. The Egyptian and Chaldean embalmers were commanded to do their

work. Yet long they gazed upon that awful corpse before they could venture to touch it with their hands.

Placed in a golden coffin, shrouded in a bed of fragrant herbs, it remained two years at Babylon, and was then

carried to Egypt to be buried in the oasis of Ammon. But Ptolemy stopped it on the road, and interred it at

Alexandria in a magnificent temple, which he built for the purpose and surrounded with groves for the

celebration of funereal rites and military games. Long afterwards, when the dominion of the Macedonians

had passed away, there came Roman emperors who gazed upon that tomb with reverence and awe. The

golden coffin had been sold by a degenerate Ptolemy, and had been changed for one of glass through which

the body could be seen. Augustus placed upon it a nosegay and crown. Septimus Severus had the coffin

sealed up in a vault. Then came the savage Caracalla, who had massacred half Alexandria because he did not

like the town. He ordered the vault to be opened and the coffin to be exposed, and all feared that some act of

sacrilege would be committed. But those august remains could touch the better feelings which existed even in

a monster�s heart. He took off his purple robe, his imperial ornaments, all that he had of value on his person,

The empire of Alexander was partitioned into three great kingdomsthat of Egypt and Cyrene, that of

Macedonia, including Greece, and that of Asia, the capital of which was at first on the banks of the

Euphrates, but was afterwards unwisely transferred to Antioch. In these three kingdoms, and in their

numerous dependencies, Greek became the language of government and trade. It was spoken all over the

worldon the shores of Malabar, in the harbours of Ceylon, among the Abyssinian mountains, in distant

Mozambique. The shepherds of the Tartar steppes loved to listen to recitations of Greek poetry, and Greek

tragedies were performed to Brahmin 'houses' by the waters of the Indus. The history of the Greeks of Inner

Asia, however soon comes to an end. Sandracottus, the Rajah of Bengal, conquered the Greek province of the

Punjab. The rise of the Parthian power cut off the Greek kingdom of Bokhara from the Western world, and it

was destroyed, according to the Chinese historians, by a powerful horde of Tartars a hundred and thirty years

We can now return to African soil, and we find that a city of incomparable splendour has arisen, founded by

Alexander and bearing his name. For as he was on his way to the oasis of Ammon, travelling along the

seacoast, he came to a place a little west of the Nile�s mouth where an island close to the shore, and the

peculiar formation of the land, formed a natural harbour, while a little way inland was a large lagoon

communicating with the Nile. A few houses were scattered about, and this, he was told, was the village of

Rhacotis, where in the old days the Pharaohs stationed a garrison to prevent the Greek pirates from coming

on shore. He saw that the spot was well adapted for a city, and with his usual impetuosity went to work at

once to mark it out. When he returned from the oasis the building of the city had begun, and in a few years it

had become the residence of Ptolemy and the capital of Egypt. It filled up the space between the sea and the

lagoon. On the one side its harbour was filled with ships which came from Italy and Greece and the lands of

the Atlantic with amber, timber, tin, wine, and oil. On the other side were the cargo boats that came from the

Nile with the precious stones, the spices, and the beautiful fabrics of the East. The island on which stood the

famous lighthouse was connected with the mainland by means of a gigantic mole furnished with drawbridges

and forts. It is on this mole that the modern city standsthe site of the old Alexandria is sand.

When Ptolemy the First, one of Alexander�s generals, mounted the throne he applied himself with much

caution and dexterity to that difficult problem the government of Egypt. Had the Greeks been the first

conquerors of the country, it is doubtful whether the wisest policy would have kept its natives quiet and

content. For they were like the Jews, a proud, ignorant, narrowminded, religious race who looked upon

themselves as the chosen people of the gods, and upon all foreigners as unclean things. But they had been

taught wisdom by misfortune; they had felt the bitterness of an Oriental yoke; the feet of the Persians had

been placed upon their necks. On the other hand, the Greeks had lived for centuries among them, and had

assisted them in all their revolts against the Persian king. During their interlude of independence the towns

had been garrisoned partly by Egyptian and partly by Greek soldiers: the two nations had grown accustomed

to each other. Persia had finally reenslaved them, and Alexander had been welcomed as the saviour of their

country. The golden chain of the Pharaohs was broken. It was impossible to restore the line of ancient kings.

The Egyptians therefore cheerfully submitted to the Ptolemies, who reciprocated this kindly feeling to the

full. They patronised the Egyptian religion, they built many temples in the ancient style, they went to the city

of Memphis to be crowned, they sacrificed to the Nile at the rising of the waters, and they assumed the divine

titles of the Pharaohs. The priests were content, and in Egypt the people were always guided by the priests.

The Rosetta Stone, that remarkable monument which, with its inscription in Greek, in the Egyptian

vernacular, and in the sacred hieroglyphics, has afforded the means of deciphering the mysterious language of

the Nile, was a memorial of gratitude from the Egyptian priests to a Greek king, to whom in return for

But while the Ptolemies were Pharaohs to the Egyptians, they were Greeks to the colonists of Alexandria, and

they founded or favoured that school of thought upon which modern science is established.

There is a great enterprise in which men have always been unconsciously engaged, but which they will

pursue with method as a vocation and an art, and which they will devoutly adopt as a religious faith as soon

as they realise its glory. It is the conquest of the planet on which we dwell, the destruction or domestication

of the savage forces by which we are tormented and enslaved. An episode of this war occurring in ancient

Egypt has been described; the war itself began with the rise of our ancestors into the human state, and when,

drawing fire from wood or stone, they made it serve them night and day the first great victory was won. But

we can conquer Nature only by obeying her laws, and in order to obey those laws we must first learn what

Storms and tides, thunder and lightning and eclipse, the movements of the heavenly bodies, the changing

aspects of the earth, were among all ancient people regarded as divine phenomena. In the Greek world there

was no despotic caste, but the people clung fondly to their faith, and the study of Nature which began in Ionia

was at first regarded with abhorrence and dismay. The popular religion was supported by the genius of

Homer. The Iliad and the Odyssey were regarded not only as epic poems but as sacred writ; even the

geography had been inspired. However, when the Greeks began to travel the old legends could no longer be

received. It was soon discovered that the places visited by Ulysses did not exist, that there was no River

Ocean which ran round the earth, and that the earth was not shaped like a round saucer with the oracle of

Delphi in its centre. The Egyptians laughed in the faces of the Greeks, and called them children when they

talked of their gods of yesterday, and so well did their pupils profit by their lesson that they soon laughed at

the Egyptians for believing in the gods at all. Xenophanes declaimed against the Egyptian myth of an

earthwalking, dying resuscitated god. He said that if Osiris was a man they should not worship him, and that

if he was a god they need not lament his sufferings. This remarkable man was the Voltaire of Greece; there

had been freethinkers before his time, but they had reserved their opinions for their disciples.

Xenophanes declared that the truth should be made known to all. He lived, like Voltaire, to a great age; he

poured forth a multitude of controversial works; he made it his business to attack Homer, and reviled him

bitterly for having endowed the gods of his poems with the passions and propensities of men; he denied the

old theory of the Golden Age, and maintained that civilisation was the work of time and of man�s own toil.

His views were no doubt distasteful to the vulgar crowd by whom he was surrounded, and even to cultivated

and imaginative minds which were sunk in sentimental idolatry, blinded by the splendour of the Homeric

poems. He was, however, in no way interfered with; religious persecution was unknown in the Greek world

except at Athens. In that city free thought was especially unpopular because it was imported from abroad. It

was the doctrine of those talented Ionians who streamed into Athens after the Persian wars. When one of

these philosophers announced, in his openair sermon in the marketplace, that the sun which the common

people believed to be alivethe bountiful god Helios which shone both on mortals and immortalswas

nothing but a mass of redhot iron; when he declared that those celestial spirits the stars were only revolving

stones; when he asserted that Jupiter, and Venus and Apollo, Mars, Juno, and Minerva, were mere creatures

of the poet�s fancy, and that if they really existed they ought to be despised; when he said that over all there

reigned, not blind Fate, but a supreme, all seeing Mind, great wrath was excited among the people. A prophet

went about uttering oracles in a shrill voice, and procured the passing of a decree that all who denied the

religion of the city or who philosophised in matters appertaining to the gods should be indicted as state

criminals. This law was soon put in force. Damon and Anaxagoras were banished; Aspasia was impeached

for blasphemy, and the tears of Pericles alone saved her; Socrates was put to death; Plato was obliged to

reserve pure reason for a chosen few, and to adulterate it with revelation for the generality of his disciples;

Alexander had a passion for the Iliad. His edition had been corrected by Aristotle; he kept it in a precious

casket which he had taken from the Persian King, and it was afterwards known as the 'edition of the casket.'

When he invaded Asia he landed on the plains of Troy, that he might see the ruins of that celebrated town and

hang a garland upon the tomb of Achilles. But it was not poetry alone that he esteemed; he had imbibed his

master�s universal tastes. When staying at Ephesus he used to spend hours in the studio of Apelles, sitting

down among the boys who ground colours for the great painter. He delighted in everything that was new and

rare. He invented exploration. He gave a large sum of money to Aristotle to assist him in composing the

history of animals, and employed a number of men to collect for him in Asia. He sent him a copy of the

astronomical records of the Babylonians, although by that time they had quarrelledlike Dionysius and

Plato, Frederick and Voltaire. It is taken for granted that Alexander was the one to blame, as if philosophers

The Ptolemies were not unworthy followers of Alexander. They established the Museum, which was a kind

of college, with a hall where the professors dined together, with corridors for promenading lectures, and a

theatre for scholastic festivals and public disputation. Attached to it also was the Botanical Garden, filled

with medicinal and exotic plants; a menagerie of wild beasts and rare birds; and the famous Library, where

700,000 volumes were arranged on cedar shelves, and where hundreds of clerks were continually at work

copying from scroll to scroll, gluing the separate strips of papyrus together, smoothing with pumicestone

and blackening the edges, writing the titles on red labels, and fastening ivory tops on the sticks round which

All the eminent men of the day were invited to take up their abode at the Museum, and persons were

dispatched into all countries to collect books. It was dangerous to bring original manuscripts into

Egyptthey were at once seized and copied, the originals being retained. The city of Athens lent the

autograph editions of its dramatists to one of the Ptolemies, and saw them no more. It was even said that

Soon after the wars of Alexander, the 'barbarians' were seized with a desire to make known to their

conquerors the history of their native lands. Berosus, a priest of Babylon, compiled a history of Chaldea;

Menander, and Phoenician, a history of Tyre; and Manetho wrote in Greek, but from Egyptian sources, a

history which Egyptology has confirmed. It was at the Museum also that the Old Testament was translated

under royal patronage into Greek, and at the same time the Zoroastrian Bible or Zend Avesta.

There was some good work done at the Museum. Among works of imagination the pastorals of Theocritus

have alone obtained the approbation of posterity. But it was in Alexandria that the immortal works of the

preceding ages were edited and arranged, and it was there that language was first studied for itself, and that

lexicons and grammars were first compiled. It was only in the Museum that anatomists could sometimes

obtain the corpse of a criminal to dissect; elsewhere they were forced to content themselves with monkeys.

There Eratosthenes, the 'Inspector of the Earth,' elevated geography to a science, and Euclid produced that

work which, as Macaulay would say, 'every schoolboy knows.' There the stars were carefully catalogued and

mapped, and chemical experiments were made. Expeditions were sent to Abyssinia to ascertain the cause of

the inundation of the Nile. The Greek intellect had hitherto despised the realities of life: it had been

considered by Plato unworthy of a mathematician to apply his knowledge to so vulgar a business as

mechanics. But this notion was corrected at Alexandria by the practical tendencies of Egyptian science. The

Suez Canal was reopened, and Archimedes taught the Alexandrians to apply his famous screw to the

irrigation of their fields. These Egyptian pumps, as they were then called, were afterwards used by the

No doubt most of the Museum professors were pitiful 'Graeculi' narrowminded pedants such as are

always to be found where patronage exists, parasites of great libraries who spend their lives in learning the

wrong things. No doubt much of the astronomy was astrological, much of the medicine was magical, much of

the geography was mythical, and much of the chemistry was alchemicalfor they had already begun to

attempt the transmutation of metals and to search for the elixir vitae and the philosopher�s stone. No doubt

physics were much too metaphysical, in spite of the example which Aristotle had given of founding

philosophy on experiment and fact; and the alliance between science and labour, which is the true secret of

modern civilisation, could be but faintly carried out in a land which was under the fatal ban of slavery. Yet

with all this it should be remembered that from Alexandria came the science which the Arabs restored to

Europe, with some additions, after the Crusades. It was in Alexandria that were composed those works which

enabled Copernicus to lay the keystone of astronomy, and which emboldened Columbus to sail across the

The history of the nation under the Ptolemies resembles its history under the PhilHellenes, Egypt and Asia

were again rivals, and again contested for the vineyards of Palestine and the forests of Lebanon. Alexander

had organised a brigade of elephants for his army of the Indus, and these animals were afterwards invariably

used by the Greeks in war. Pyrrhus took them to Italy, and the Carthaginians adopted the idea from him. The

elephants of the Asiatic Greeks were brought from Hindustan. The Ptolemies, like the Carthaginians, had

elephant forests at their own doors. Shootingboxes were built on the shores of the Red Sea: elephant hunting

became a royal sport. The younger members of the herd were entrapped in large pits, or driven into

enclosures cunningly contrived; were then tamed by starvation, shipped off to Egypt, and drilled into beasts

of war. On the field of battle the African elephants, distinguished by their huge, flapping ears and their

convex brows, fought against the elephants of India, twisting their trunks together and endeavouring to gore

one another with their tusks. The Indian species is unanimously described as the larger animal and the better

The third Ptolemy made two brilliant campaigns. In one he overran Greek Asia and brought back the sacred

images and vessels which had been carried off by the Persians centuries before; in the other he made an

Abyssinian expedition resembling the achievement of Napier. He landed his troops in Annesley Bay, which

he selected as his base of operations, and completely subdued the mountaineers of the plateau, carrying the

Egyptian arms, as he boasted, where the Pharaohs themselves had never been. But the policy of the Ptolemies

was on the whole a policy of peace. Their wars were chiefly waged for the purpose of obtaining timber for

their fleet, and of keeping open their commercial routes. They encouraged manufactures and trade, and it was

afterwards observed that Alexandria was the most industrious city in the world. 'Idle people were there

unknown. Some were employed in the blowing of glass, others in the weaving of linen, others in the

manufacture of the Papyrus. Even the blind and the lame had occupations suited to their condition.'

The glorious reigns of the three first Ptolemies extended over nearly a century, and then Egypt began again to

decline. Such must always be the case where a despotic government prevails, and where everything depends

on the taste and temper of a single man. As long as a good king sits upon the throne all is well. A gallant

service, an intellectual production, merit of every kind is recognised at once. Corrupt tax gatherers and

judges are swiftly punished. The enemies of the people are the enemies of the king. His palace is a court of

justice always open to his children; he will not refuse a petition from the meanest hand. But sooner or later in

the natural course of events the sceptre is handed to a weak and vicious prince, who empties the treasury of

its accumulated wealth; who plunders the courtiers, allowing them to indemnify themselves at the expense of

those that are beneath them; who dies, leaving behind him a legacy of wickedness which his successors are

forced to accept. Oppression has now become a custom, and custom is the tyrant of kings. In Egypt the

prosperity of the land depended entirely on the government. Unless the public works were kept in good order

half the land was wasted, half the revenue was lost, half the inhabitants perished of starvation. But the dikes

could not be repaired and the screw pumps could not be worked without expense, and so if the treasury was

empty the inland revenue ceased to flow in. The king could still live in luxury on the receipts of the foreign

trade, but the life of the people was devoured, and the ruin of the country was at hand. The Ptolemies became

invariably tyrants and debaucheesperhaps the incestuous marriages practised in that family had something

to do with the degeneration of the race. The Greeks of Alexandria became half Orientals, and were regarded

by their brethren of Europe with aversion and contempt. One by one the possessions of Egypt abroad were

lost. The condition of the land became deplorable. The empire which had excited the envy of the world

became deficient in agriculture, and was fed by foreign corn. Alexandria glittered with wealth which it was

no longer able to defend. The Greeks of Asia began to fix their eyes on the corrupt and prostrate land. Armies

gathered on the horizon like dark clouds; then was seen the flashing of arms; then was heard the rattling of

The reigning Ptolemy had but one resource. In that same year a great battle had been fought, a great empire

had fallen on the African soil. For the first time in history the sun was seen rising in the West. Towards the

West ambassadors from Egypt went forth with silks and spices and precious stones. They returned bringing

with them an ivory chair, a course garment of purple, and a quantity of copper coin. These humble presents

were received in a delirium of joy. The Roman senate accorded its protection, and Alexandria was saved. But

its independence was forfeited, its individuality became extinct. Here endeth the history of Egypt. Let us

There was a time when the waters of the Mediterranean were silent and bare; when nothing disturbed the

solitude of that blue and tideless sea but the weed which floated on its surface and the gull which touched it

A tribe of Canaanites, or people of the plain, driven hard by their foes, fled over the Lebanon and took

possession of a narrow strip of land shut off by itself between the mountains and the sea.

The agricultural resources of the little country were soon outgrown, and the Phoenicians were forced to

gather a harvest from the water. They invented the fishingline and net, and when the fish could no longer be

caught from the shore they had to follow them out to sea or starve. They hollowed trunks of trees with axe

and fire into canoes; they bound logs of wood together to form a raft, with a bush stuck in it for a sail. The

Lebanon mountains supplied them with timber; in time they discovered how to make boats with keels, and to

sheathe them with copper, which also they found in their mountains. From those heights of Lebanon the

island of Cyprus could plainly be seen, and the current assisted them across. They colonised the island; it

supplied them with pitch, timber, copper, and hempeverything that was required in the architecture of a

ship. With smacks and cutters they followed the tunnyfish in their migrations; they discovered villages on

other coasts, pillaged them, and carried off their inhabitants as slaves. Some of these, when they had learnt

the language, offered to pay a ransom for their release; the arrangement was accomplished under oath, and

presents as tokens of goodwill were afterwards exchanged. Each party was pleased to obtain something

which his own country did not produce, and thus arose a system of barter and exchange.

The Phoenicians from fishermen became pirates, and from pirates traders: from simple traders they became

also manufacturers. Purple was always the fashionable colour in the East, and they discovered two kinds of

shellfish which yielded a handsome dye. One species was found on rocks, the other under water. These

shells they collected by means of divers and pointer dogs. When the supply on their own coast was exhausted

they obtained them from foreign coasts, and as the shell yielded but a small quantity of fluid, and therefore

was inconvenient to transport, they preferred to extract the dyeing material on the spot where the shells were

found. This led to the establishment of factories abroad, and permanent settlements were made. Obtaining

wool from the Arabs and other shepherd tribes, they manufactured woven goods and dyed them with such

skill that they found a ready market in Babylonia and Egypt. In this manner they purchased from those

countries the produce and manufactures of the East, and these they sold at a great profit to the inhabitants of

When they sailed along the shores of that savage continent and came to a place where they intended to trade,

they lighted a fire to attract the natives, pitched tents on shore, and held a six days� fair, exhibiting in their

bazaar the toys and trinkets manufactured at Tyre expressly for their naked customers, with purple robes and

works of art in tinted ivory and gold for those who, like the Greeks, were more advanced. At the end of the

week they went away, sometimes kidnapping a few women and children to 'fill up'. But in the best trading

localities the factory system prevailed, and their establishments were planted in the Grecian Archipelago and

in Greece itself, on the marshy shores of the Black Sea, in Italy, in Sicily, on the African coast and in Spain.

Then, becoming bolder and more skilful, they would no longer be imprisoned within the lakelike waters of

the landlocked sea. They sailed out through the Straits of Gibraltar and beheld the awful phenomenon of

tides. They sailed on the left hand to Morocco for ivory and gold dust, on the right hand for amber and tin to

the icecreeks of the Baltic and the foaming waters of the British Isles. They also opened up an inland trade.

They were the first to overcome the exclusiveness of Egypt, and were permitted to settle in Memphis itself.

Their quarter was called the Syrian camp; it was built round a grove and chapel sacred to Astarte. Their

caravan routes extended in every direction towards the treasure countries of the East. Wandering Arabs were

their sailors, and camels were their ships. They made voyages by sand, more dangerous than those by sea, to

Babylon through Palmyra or Tadmor on the skirts of the desert; to Arabia Felix and the market city of Petra;

and to Gerrha, a city built entirely of salt on the rainless shores of the Persian Gulf.

Phoenicia itself was a narrow, undulating plain about a hundred miles in length, and at the most not more

than a morning�s ride in breadth. It was walled in by the mountains on the north and east. To those who sailed

along its coast it appeared to be one great city interspersed with gardens and fields. On the lower slopes of the

hills beyond gleamed the green vineyard patches and the villas of the merchants. The offing was whitened

with sails, and in every harbour was a grove of masts. But it was Tyre which of all the cities was the queen. It

covered an island which lay at anchor off the shore. The Greek poet Nonnus has prettily described the

mingling around it of the sylvan and marine. 'The sailor furrows the sea with his oar,' he says, 'and the

ploughman the soil; the lowing of oxen and the singing of birds answer the deep roar of the main; the wood

nymph under the tall trees hears the voice of the seanymph calling to her from the waves; the breeze from

the Lebanon, while it cools the rustic at his midday labour, speeds the mariner who is outward bound.'

These Canaanitish men are fairly entitled to our gratitude and esteem, for they taught our intellectual

ancestors to read and write. Wherever a factory trade is carried on it is found convenient to employ natives as

subordinate agents and clerks. And thus it was that the Greeks received the rudiments of education. That the

alphabet was invented by the Phoenicians is improbable in the extreme, but it is certain that they introduced it

into Europe. They were intent only on making money, it is true; they were not a literary or artistic people;

they spread knowledge by accident like birds dropping seeds. But they were gallant, hardy, enterprising men.

Those were true heroes who first sailed through the seavalley of Gibraltar into the vast ocean and breasted

its enormous waves. Their unceasing activity kept the world alive. They offered to every country something

which it did not possess. They roused the savage Briton from his torpor with a rag of scarlet cloth, and stirred

him to sweat in the dark bowels of the earth. They brought to the satiated Indian prince the luscious wines of

Syria and the Grecian ambergatherers of the Baltic mud to the nutmeggrowers of the equatorial groves,

from the mulberry plantations of the Celestial Empire to the tinmines of Cornwall and the silver mines of

Spain, emulation was excited, new wants were created, and whole nations were stimulated to industry by the

Shipbuilding and navigation were their inventions, and for a long time were entirely in their hands.

Phoenician shipwrights were employed to build the fleet of Sennacherib: Phoenician mariners were employed

by Necho to sail round Africa. But they could not forever monopolise the sea. The Greeks built ships on the

Phoenician model, and soon showed their masters that kidnapping and piracy was a game at which two could

play. The merchant kings who possessed the whole commercial world were too wise to stake their prosperity

on a single province. They had no wish to tempt a siege of Tyre which might resemble the siege of Troy.

They quickly retired from Greece and its islands, and the western coast of Asia Minor and the margin of the

Black Sea. They allowed the Greeks to take the foot of Italy and the eastern half of Sicily, and did not molest

But in spite of all their prudence and precautions, the Greeks supplanted them entirely. The Phoenicians, like

the Jews, were vassals of necessity and by position: they lived halfway between two empires. They found it

cheaper to pay tribute than to go to war, and submitted to the emperor of Syria for the time being, sending

But when the empire was disputed, as in the days of Nebuchadnezzar and of Necho, they were compelled to

choose a side. Like the Jews, they chose the wrong one, and the old Tyre and Jerusalem were demolished at

From that day the Phoenicians began to go down the hill, and under the Persians their ships and sailors were

forced to do service in the royal navy. This was the hardest kind of tribute that they could be made to pay, for

it deprived them not only of their profits but of the means by which those profits were obtained. In the

Macedonian war they went wrong again; they chose the side of the Persians although they had so often

rebelled against them and Tyre was severely handled by its conqueror. But it was the foundation of

Alexandria which ruined the Phoenician cities, as it ruined Athens. Form that time Athens ceased to be

commercial and became a university. Tyre also ceased to be commercial, but remained a celebrated

manufactory. Under the Roman empire it enjoyed the monopoly of the sacred purple, which was afterwards

adopted by the popes. It prospered under the caliphs; its manufactories in the Middle Ages were conducted by

the Jews; but it fell before the artillery of the Turks to rise no more. The secret of the famous dye was lost,

But while Phoenicia was declining in the East its great colony, Carthage, was rising in the West. This city had

been founded by malcontents from Tyre. But they kindly cherished the memories of their motherland, and,

like the Pilgrim Fathers, always spoke of the country which had cast them forth as 'Home.' And after a time

all the old wrongs were forgotten, all angry feelings died away. Every year the Carthaginians sent to the

national temple a tenth part of their revenues as a freewill offering. During the great Persian wars, when on

all sides empires and kingdoms were falling to the ground, the Phoenicians refused to lend their fleet to the

Great King to make war upon Carthage. When Tyre was besieged by Alexander the nobles sent their wives

The Africa of the ancientsthe modern Barbarylies between the Sahara and the Mediterranean Sea. It is

protected from the everencroaching waves of the sandy ocean by the Atlas range. In its western parts this

mountain wall is high and broad and covered with eternal snow. It becomes lower as it runs towards the east,

also drawing nearer to the sea, and dwindles and dwindles till finally it disappears, leaving a wide,

unprotected region between Barbary and Egypt. Over this the Sahara flows, forming a desert barrier tract to

all intents and purposes itself a sea, dividing the two lands from each other as completely as the

Mediterranean divides Italy and Greece. This land of North Africa is in reality a part of Spain; the Atlas is the

southern boundary of Europe. Grey corktrees clothe the lower sides of those magnificent mountains; their

summits are covered with pines, among which the crossbill flutters, and in which the European bear may

still be found. The flora of the range, as Dr. Hooker has lately shown, is of a Spanish type; the Straits of

Gibraltar is merely an accident; there is nothing in Morocco to distinguish it from Andalusia. The African

animals which are there found are deserthaunting speciesthe antelope and gazelle, the lion, the jackal,

the hyena,* and certain species of the monkey tribe; and these might easily have found their way across the

Sahara from oasis to oasis. It is true that in the Carthaginian days the elephant abounded in the forests of the

Atlas, and it could not have come across from central Africa, for the Sahara, before it was a desert, was a sea.

It is probable that the elephant of Barbary belonged to the same species as the small elephant of Europe, the

bones of which have been discovered in Malta and in certain caves of Spain, and that it outlived the European

kind on account of its isolated position in the Atlas, which was thinly inhabited by savage tribes. But it did

not long withstand the power of the Romans. Pliny mentions that in his time the forests of Morocco were

being ransacked for ivory, and Isidore of Seville, in the seventh century observes that 'there are no longer any

In Morocco the Phoenicians were settled only on the coast. The Regency of Tunis and part of Algeria is the

In that part of Africa the habitable country must be divided into three regions; first a corn region, lying

between the Atlas and the sea, exceedingly fertile but narrow in extent; secondly the Atlas itself, with its

timber stores and elephant preserves; and thirdly a plateau region of poor sandy soil, affording a meagre

pasture, interspersed with orchards of datetrees, abounding in ostriches, lions, and gazelles, and gradually

Africa belonged to a race of man whom we shall call Berbers or Moors, but who were known as the ancients

under many names, and who still exist as the Kabyles or Algeria, the Shilluhs of the Atlas, and the Tuaricks

or tawny Moors of the Sahara. Their habits depended on the locality in which they dwelt. Those who lived in

the Tell or region of the coast cultivated the soil and lived in towns, some of which appear to have been of

considerable size. Those who inhabited the plateau region led a free Bedouin life, wandering from place to

place with flocks and herds, and camping under oblong huts which the Romans compared to boats turned

upside down. In holes and caverns of the mountains dwelt a miserable black race, apparently the aborigines

of the country, and represented to this day by the Rock Tibboos. They were also found on the outskirts of the

desert, and were hunted by the Berbers in fourhorse chariots, caught alive, and taken to the Carthage market

The Phoenician settlements were at first independent of one another, but Carthage gradually obtained the

supremacy as Tyre had obtained it in Phoenicia. The position of Utica towards Carthage was precisely that of

Sidon towards Tyre. It was the more ancient city of the two, and it preserved a certain kind of position

without actual power. Carthage and Utica, like Tyre and Sidon, were at one time always spoken of together.

The Carthaginians began by paying a quitrent or custom to the natives, but that did not last very long; they

made war, and exacted tribute from the original possessors of the soil. When Carthage suffered from

overpopulation colonies were dispatched out west along the coast, and down south into the interior. These

colonies were more on the Roman than the Greek pattern; the emigrants built cities and intermarried freely

with the Berbers, for there was no difference of colour between them, and little difference of race. In course

of time the whole of the habitable region was subdued; the Tyrian factory became a mighty empire. Many of

the roving tribes were broken in; the others were driven into the desert or into wild Morocco. A line of

fortified posts and blockhouses protected the cultivated land. The desire to obtain red cloth and amber and

blue beads secured the allegiance of many unconquerable desert tribes, and by their means, although the

camel had not yet been introduced, a trade was opened up between Carthage and Timbuktu. Negro slaves,

bearing tusks of ivory on their shoulders and tied to one another so as to form a chain of flesh and blood,

were driven across the terrible deserta caravan of death, the route of which was marked by bones bleaching

in the sun. Gold dust also was brought over from those regions of the Niger, and the Carthaginian traders

reached the same land by sea. For they were not content, like the Tyrians, to trade only on the Morocco coast

as far as Mogadore. By good fortune there has been preserved the logbook of an expedition which sailed to

the woodcovered shores of Guinea; saw the hills covered with fire, as they always are in the dry season

when the grass is being burnt; heard the music of the natives in the night; and brought home the skins of three

When Phoenicia died, Carthage inherited its settlements on the coasts of Sicily and Spain and on the

adjoining isles. Not only were these islands valuable possessions in themselvesMalta as a cotton

plantation, Elba as an iron mine, Majorca and Minorca as a recruiting ground for slingers; they wee also

The foreign policy of Carthage was very different from that of the motherland. The Phoenicians had

maintained an army of mercenaries, but had used them only to protect their country from the robber kings of

Damascus and Jerusalem. They had many ships of war, but had used them only to convoy their roundbellied

ships of trade and to keep off the attacks of the Greek and Etruscan pirates. Their settlements were merely

fortified factories; they made no attempt to reduce the natives of the land. If their settlements grew into

colonies they let them go. But Carthage founded many colonies and never lost a single one. Situated among

them, and possessing a large fleet, she was able both to punish and protect. She defended them in time of war;

A policy of concession had not saved the Phoenicians from the Greeks, and now these same Greeks were

settling in the West and displaying immense activity. The Carthaginians saw that they must resist or be

ruined, and they went to war as a matter of business. They first put down the Etruscan rovers, in which

undertaking they were assisted by the events which occurred on the Italian main. They next put a stop to the

Halfway between Algeria and Egypt, in the midst of the dividing sea of sand, is a coast oasis formed by a

tableland of sufficient height to condense the vapours which float over from the sea, and to chill them into

rain. There was a hole in the sky above it, as the natives used to say. To this islandtract came a band of

Greeks directed thither by the oracle at Delphi, where geography was studied as a part of the system. They

The land was remarkably fertile, and afforded them three harvests in the course of the year. One was gathered

on the coast meadows, which were watered by the streams that flowed down from the hills; a second on the

hillsides; a third on the surface of the plateau,* which was about two thousand feet above the level of the

sea. Cyrenaica produced the silphium, or asafoetida, which, like the balm of Gilead, was one of the specifics

of antiquity, and which is really a medicine of value. It was found in many parts of the worldfor instance,

in certain districts of Asia Minor, and on the summit of the Hindu Kush. But the asafoetida of Cyrene was the

most esteemed. Its juice, when dried, was worth its weight in gold; its leaves fattened cattle and cured them

Some singular pits or chasms existed in the lower part of the Cyrene hills. Their sides were perpendicular

walls of rock: it appeared impossible to descend to the bottom of the precipice, and yet, when the traveller

peeped over the brink, he saw to his astonishment that the abyss beneath had been sown with herbs and corn.

Cyrene was renowned as the second medical school of the Greek world. It produced a noted freethinker, who

was a companion of Socrates and the founder of a school. It was also famous for its barbs, which won more

than one prize in the chariot races of the Grecian games. It obtained the honour of more than one Pindaric

ode. But owing to internal dissension it never became great. It was conquered by Persia, it submitted to

Alexander, and Carthage speedily checked its growth towards the west by taking the desert which lay

The Carthaginians hitherto had never paid tribute, and they had never suffered a serious reverse. Alcibiades

talked much of invading them when he had done with Sicily, and the young men of his set were at one time

always drawing plans of Carthage in the dust of the marketplace at Athens; but the Sicilian expedition

failed. The affection of the Tyrians preserved them from Cambyses. Alexander opportunely died. Pyrrhus in

Sicily began to collect ships to sail across, but he who tried to take up Italy with one hand and Carthage with

the other, and who also excited the enmity of the Sicilian Greeks, was not a very dangerous foe. Agathocles

of Syracuse invaded Africa, but it was the action of a desperate and defeated man and bore no result.

Sicily was long the battlefield of the Carthaginians, and ultimately proved their ruin. Its western side

belonged to them: its eastern side was held by a number of independent Greek cities which were often at war

with one another. Of these Syracuse was the most important: its ambition was the same as that of

Carthageto conquer the whole island, and then to extend its rule over the flourishing Greek towns on the

south Italian coast. Hence followed wars generation after generation, till at length the Carthaginians obtained

the upper hand. Already they were looking on the island as their own when a new power stepped upon the

The ancient Tuscans or Etruscans had a language and certain arts peculiar to themselves, and Northern Italy

was occupied by Celtic Gauls. But the greater part of the peninsula was inhabited by a people akin to the

Greeks, though differing much from them in character, dwelling in city states, using a form of the Phoenician

alphabet, and educating their children in public schools. The Greek cities on the coast diffused a certain

A rabble of outlaws and runaway slaves banded together, built a town, fortified it strongly, and offered it as

an asylum to all fugitives. To Rome fled the overbeaten slave, the thief with his booty, the murdered with

bloodred hands. This city of refuge became a wartownto use an African phraseits citizens alternately

fought and farmed; it became the dread and torment of the neighbourhood. However, it contained no women,

and it was hoped that in course of time the generation of robbers would die out. The Romans offered their

hands and hearts to the daughters of a neighbouring Sabine city. The Sabines declined, and told them that

they had better make their city an asylum for runaway women. The Romans took the Sabine girls by force; a

war ensued, but the relationship had been established; the women reconciled their fathers to their husbands,

The hospitality which Rome had offered in its early days in order to sustain its life became a custom and a

policy. The Romans possessed the art of converting their conquered enemies into allies, and this was done by

means of concessions which cities of respectable origin would have been too proud to make.

Their military career was very different from that of the Persians, who swept over the continent in a few

months. The Romans spent three centuries in establishing their rule within a circle of a hundred miles round

the city. Whatever they won by the sword they secured by the plough. After every successful war they

demanded a tract of land, and on this they planted a colony of Roman farmers. The municipal governments of

the conquered cities were left undisturbed. The Romans aimed to establish, at least in appearance, a

federation of states, a United Italy. At the time of the first Punic War this design had nearly been

accomplished. Wild tribes of Celtic shepherds still roamed over the rich plains at the foot of the Alps, but the

Italian boroughs had acknowledged the supremacy of Rome. The Greek cities on the southern coast had, a

few years before, called over Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, a soldier of fortune and the first general of the day. But

the legion broke the Macedonian phalanx, and the broadsword vanquished the Macedonian spear. The Greek

cities were no longer independent except in name. Pyrrhus returned to Greece, and prophesied of Sicily, as he

left its shores, that it would become the arena of the Punic and the Roman arms.

In the last war that was ever waged between the Syracusans and the Carthaginians, the former had employed

some mercenary troops belonging to the Mamertines, an Italian tribe. When the war was ended these soldiers

were paid off and began to march home. They passed through the Greek town of Messina on their road, were

hospitably received by the citizens, and provided with quarters for the night. In the middle of the night they

rose up and massacred the men, married the widows, and settled down as rulers of Messina, each soldier

beneath another man�s vine and figtree. A Roman regiment stationed at Rhegium, a Greek town on the

Italian side of the straits, heard of this exploit, considered it an excellent idea, and did the same. The Romans

marched upon Rhegium, took it by storm, and executed four hundred of the soldiers in the Forum. The king

of Syracuse, who held the same position in eastern Sicily as did Rome on the peninsula, marched against

Messina. The Mamertine bandits became alarmed; one party sent to the Carthaginians for assistance; another

party sent to Rome, declaring that they were kinsmen and desired to enter the Italian league.

The Roman senate rejected this request on account of its 'manifest absurdity.' They had just punished their

soldiers for imitating the Mamertines; how then could they interfere with the punishment of the Mamertines?

But in Rome the people possessed the sovereign power of making peace or war. There was a scarcity of

money at that time; a raid on Sicily would yield plunder, and troops were accordingly ordered to Messina.

For the first time Romans went outside Italythe vanguard of an army which subdued the world. The

Carthaginians were already in Messina: the Romans drove them out, and the war began. The Syracusans were

defeated in the first battle, and then went over to the Roman side. It became a war between Asiatics and

The two great republics were already well acquainted with each other. In the apartment of the Aediles in the

Capitol was preserved a commercial treaty between Carthage and Rome, inscribed on tables of brass in old

Latin; in the time of Polybius it could scarcely be understood, for it had been drawn up twenty eight years

before Xerxes invaded Greece. When Pyrrhus invaded Italy the Carthaginians had taken the Roman side, for

the Greeks were their hereditary enemies. There were Carthaginian shops in the streets of Rome, a city in

beauty and splendour far inferior to Carthage, which as called the metropolis of the Western world. The

Romans were a people of warriors and small farmers, quaint in their habits and simple in their tastes. Some

Carthaginian ambassadors were much amused at the odd fashion of their banquets, where the guests sang old

ballads in turn while the piper played, and they discovered that there was only one service of plate in Rome,

and that each senator borrowed it when he gave a dinner. Yet there were already signs that Rome was

inhabited by a giant race. The vast aqueducts had been constructed; the tunnellike sewers had been

hollowed out; the streets were paved with smooth and massive slabs. There were many temples and statues to

be seen; each temple was the monument of a great victory; each statue was the memorial of a hero who had

The Carthaginian army was composed entirely of mercenary troops. Africa, Spain and Gaul were their

recruiting grounds, an inexhaustible treasury of warriors as long as the money lasted which they received as

pay. The Berbers were a splendid Cossack cavalry; they rode without saddle or bridle, a weapon in each

hand; on foot they were merely a horde or savages with elephanthide shields, long spears, and bearskins

floating from their shoulders. The troops of Spain were the best infantry that the Carthaginians possessed;

they wore a white uniform with purple facings; they fought with pointed swords. The Gauls were brave

troops but were badly armed; they were naked to the waist; their cutlasses were made of soft iron and had to

be straightened after every blow. The Balearic Islands supplied a regiment of slingers whose balls of

hardened clay whizzed through the air like bullets, broke armour, and shot men dead. We read much of the

Sacred Legion in the Sicilian wars. It was composed of young nobles, who wore dazzling white shields and

breastplates which were works of art; who even in the camp never drank except from goblets of silver and

of gold. But this corps had apparently become extinct, and the Carthaginians only officered their troops, who

they looked upon as ammunition, and to whom their orders were delivered through interpreters. The various

regiments of the Carthaginian army had therefore nothing in common with one another or with those by

whom they were led. They rushed to battle in confusion, 'with sounds, discordant as their various tribes,' and

with no higher feeling than the hope of plunder or the excitement which the act of fighting arouses in the

In Rome the army was the nation: no citizen could take office unless he had served in ten campaigns. All

spoke the same language, all were inspired by the same ambition. The officers were often small farmers like

the men, but this civil equality produced no ill effects; the discipline was most severe. It was a maxim that the

soldier should fear his officer more than he feared his foe. The drill was unremitting; when they were in

winter quarters they erected sheds in which the soldiers fenced with swords cased in leather with buttons at

the point and hurled javelins, also buttoned, at one another. These foils were double the weight of the

weapons that were actually used. When the day�s march was over they took pickaxe and spade, and built

their camp like a town with a twelve foot stockade around it, and a ditch twelve feet deep and twelve feet

broad. When the red mantle was hung before the general�s tent each soldier said to himself, 'Perhaps today I

may win the golden crown.' Laughing and jesting they rubbed their limbs with oil, and took out of their cases

the bright helmets and the polished shields which they used only on the battleday. As they stood ready to

advance upon the foe the general would address them in a vigorous speech; he would tell them that the

greatest honour which could befall a Roman was to die for his country on the field, and that glorious was the

sorrow, enviable the woe of the matron who gave a husband or a son to Rome. Then the trumpets pealed, and

the soldiers charged, first firing a volley of javelins and then coming to close quarters with the solid steel. The

chief fault of the Roman military system at that time was in the arrangement of the chief command. There

were two commandersinchief, possessing equal powers, and it sometimes happened that they were both

present on the same spot, that they commanded on alternate days, and that their tactics differed. They were

appointed only for the year, and when the term drew near its end a consul would often fight a battle at a

disadvantage, or negotiate a premature peace, that he might prevent his successor from reaping the fruits of

his twelve month�s toil. The Carthaginian generals had thereby an advantage, but they also were liable to be

The wealth of Carthage was much greater than that of Rome, but her method of making war was more costly,

and a great deal of money was stolen and wasted by the men in power. In Carthage the highest offices of state

were openly bought from a greedy and dangerous populace, just as in Pompey�s time tables were set out in

the streets of Rome at which candidates for office paid the people for their votes. But at this time bribery was

a capital offence at Rome. It was a happy period in Roman history, the interlude between two aristocracies.

There had been a time when a system of hereditary castes prevailed; when the plebeians were excluded from

all share in the public lands and the higher offices of state; when they were often chained in the dungeons of

the nobles, and marked with scars upon their backs: when Romans drew swords on Romans and the tents of

the people whitened the Sacred Hill. But the Licinian Laws were carried; the orders were reconciled; plebeian

consuls were elected; and two centuries of prosperity, harmony, and victory prepared Rome for the

To her subject people Carthage acted as a tyrant. She had even deprived the old Phoenician cities of their

liberty of trade. She would not allow them to build walls for fear they should rebel, loaded them with heavy

burdens grievous to be borne, treated the colonial provinces as conquered lands, and sent decayed nobles as

governors to wring out of the people all they could. If the enemies of Carthage invaded Africa they would

meet with no resistance except from Carthage herself, and they would be joined by thousands of Berbers who

longed to be revenged on their oppressors. But if the enemies of Rome invaded Italy they would find

everywhere walled cities ready to defend their liberties and having liberties to defend. No tribute was taken

by Rome from her allies except that of military service, which service was rewarded with a share of the

The Carthaginians were at a greater distance from the seat of war than the Romans, who had only to sail

across a narrow strait. However, this was counterbalanced by the superiority of the Punic fleet. At that time

the Carthaginians were completely masters of the sea; they boasted that no man could wash his hands in the

salt water without their permission. The Romans had not a single decked vessel, and in order to transport

their troops across the straits they were obliged to borrow triremes from the ItalianGreeks. But their

marvellous resolution and the absolute necessities of the case overmastered their deficiencies and their

singular dislike of the sea. The wreck of a Carthaginian manofwar served them as a model; they ranged

benches along the beach and drilled sailors who had just come from the plough�s tail to the service of the oar.

The vessels were rudely built and the men clumsy at their work, and when the hostile fleets first met the

Carthaginians burst into loud guffaws. Without taking order of battle they flew down upon the Romans, the

admiral leading the van in a sevendecker that had belonged to Pyrrhus. On they went, each ship in a bed of

creamy foam, flags flying, trumpets blowing, and the negroes singing and clanking their chains as they

laboured at the oar. But presently they perceived some oddlooking machines on the forecastles of the

Roman ships; they had never seen such things before, and this made them hesitate a little. But when they saw

in what a lubberly fashion the ships were worked their confidence returned; they dashed in among the Roman

vessels, which they tried to rip up with their aquiline prows. As soon as they came to close quarters the

machines fell down upon them with a crash, tore open their decks, and grappled them tightly in their iron

jaws, forming at the same time a gangway over which the Roman soldiers poured. The sea fight was made a

land fight, and only a few ships with beaks all bent and broken succeeded in making their escape. They

entered the harbour of Carthage with their bows covered with skins, the signal of defeat.

However, by means of skilful manoeuvring the invention of Duilius was made of no avail, and the

Carthaginians for many years remained the masters of the sea. Twice the Roman fleet was entirely destroyed,

and their treasury was now exhausted. But he undaunted people fitted out a fleet by private subscription, and

so rapidly was this done that the trees, as Florus said, were transformed into ships. Two hundred fivedeckers

were ready before the enemy knew that they had begun to build, and so the Carthaginian fleet was one day

surprised by the Romans in no fighting condition, for the vessels were laden to the gunwales with corn, and

only sailors were on board; the whole fleet was taken or sunk, and the war was at an end. Yet when all was

added up it was found that the Romans had lost two hundred vessels more than the Carthaginians. But Rome,

even without large ships, could always reinforce Sicily, while the Carthaginians, without a full fleet, were

completely cut off from the seat of war, and they were unable to rebuild in the manner of the Romans.

The war in Sicily had been a drawn game. Hamilcar Barca, although unconquered, received orders to

negotiate for peace. The Romans demanded a large indemnity to pay for the expenses of the war, and took the

Peace was made, and the mercenary troops were sent back to Carthage. Their pay was in arrear, and there

was no money left. Matters were so badly managed that the soldiers were allowed to retain their arms. They

burst into mutiny, ravaged the country, and besieged the capital. The veterans of Hamilcar could only be

conquered by Hamilcar himself. He saved Carthage, but the struggle was severe. Venerable senators, ladies

of gentle birth, innocent children, had fallen into the hands of the brutal mutineers, and had been crucified,

torn to pieces, tortured to death in a hundred ways. During those awful orgies of Spendius and Matho the

Roman war had almost been forgotten; the disasters over which men had mourned became by comparison

happiness and peace. The destruction of the fleet was viewed as a slight calamity when death was howling at

the city gates. At last Hamilcar triumphed, and the rebels were cast to the elephants, who kneaded their

bodies with their feet and gored them with their tusks; and Carthage, exhausted, faint from loss of blood,

But all was not yet over. The troops that were stationed in Sardinia rebelled, and Hamilcar prepared to sail

The Romans had acted in the noblest manner towards the Carthaginians during the civil war. The Italian

merchants had been allowed to supply Carthage with provisions, and had been forbidden to communicate

with the rebels. When the Sardinian troops mutinied they offered the island to Rome; the city of Utica had

also offered itself to Rome, but the Senate had refused both applications. And now all of a sudden, as if

possessed by an evil spirit, they pretended that the Carthaginian armament had been prepared against Rome,

and declared war. When Carthage, in the last stage of misery and prostration, prayed for peace in the name of

all the pitiful gods, it was granted. But Rome had been put to some expense on account of this intended war;

they must therefore pay an additional indemnity, and surrender Corsica and Sardinia. Poor Carthage was

Hamilcar Barca was appointed commanderinchief. He was the favourite of the people. He had to the last

remained unconquered in Sicily. He had saved the city from the mutineers. His honour was unstained, his

In that hour of calamity and shame, when the city was hung with black, when the spacious docks were empty

and bare, when there was woe in every face and the memory of death in every house, faction was forced to be

silent, and the people were permitted to be heard, and those who loved their country more than their party

rejoiced to see a Man at the head of affairs. But Hamilcar knew well that he was hated by the leaders of the

government, the politicians by profession, those men who had devoured the gold which was the very heart of

Carthage, and had brought upon her by their dishonesty this last distressing war; those men who by their

miserable suspicions and intrigues had ever deprived their best generals of their commands as soon as they

began to succeed, and appointed generals whom theyand the enemyhad no cause to fear. To him was

entrusted by the patriots the office of regenerating Carthage. But how was it to be done? Without money he

was powerless; without money he could not keep his army together; without money he could not even retain

his command. He had been given it by the people, but the people were accustomed to be bribed. Gold they

must have from the men in power; if he had none to give they would go to those who had. His enemies he

knew would be able to employ the state revenues against him. What could he do? Where was the money to be

found? He saw before him nothing but defeat, disgrace, and even an ignominious deathfor in Carthage

they sometimes crucified their generals. Often he thought that it would be better to give up public life, to

abandon the corrupt and ruined city, and to sail to those sweet islands which the Carthaginians had

discovered in the Atlantic Sea. There the earth was always verdant, the sky was always pure. No fiery sirocco

blew, and no cold rain fell in that delicious land. Odoriferous balm dripped from the branches of the trees;

canary birds sang among the leaves; streams of silver water rippled downwards to the sea. There Nature was

a calm and gentle mother: there the turmoils of the world might be forgotten; there the weary heart might be

Yet how could he desert his fatherland in its affliction? To him the nation turned its sorrowful eyes; on him

the people called as men call upon their gods. At this feet lay the poor, torn, and wounded Carthagethe

Carthage once so beautiful and so strong, the Carthage who had fed him from her full breast with riches and

with power, the Carthage who had made him what he was. And should he, who had never turned his back

Then a glorious idea flashed in upon his brain. He saw a way of restoring Carthage to her ancient glory, of

making her stronger than she had ever been, of making her a match for Rome. He announced to the senate

that he intended to take the army to Tangiers to reduce a native tribe which had caused some trouble in the

neighbourhood. He quickly made all arrangements for the march. A few vessels had been prepared for the

expedition to Sardinia. These were commanded by his brother, and he ordered that they should be sailed

along the coast side by side with the army as it marched. It might have appeared strange to some persons that

he should require ships to make war against a tribe of Moors on land. But there was no fear of his enemies

suspecting his design. It was so strange and wild that when it had been actually accomplished they could

The night before he marched he went to the Great Temple to offer the sacrifice of propitiation and entreaty.

He took with him his son, a boy nine years of age. When the libations and other rites were ended and the

victim lay divided on the altar, he ordered the attendants to withdraw. He remained alone with his son.

The temple of Baal was a magnificent building supported by enormous columns, covered with gold, or

formed of a glasslike substance which began to glitter and sparkle in a curious manner as the night came on.

Around the temple walls were idols representing the Phoenician gods; prominent among them was the

hideous statue of Moloch, with its downwardsloping hands and the fiery furnace at its feet. There also might

be seen beautiful Greek statues, trophies of the Sicilian Warsespecially the Diana which the Carthaginians

had taken from Segesta, which was afterwards restored to that city by the Romans, which Verres placed in his

celebrated gallery and Cicero in his celebrated speech. There also might be seen the famous brazen bull

which an Athenian invented for the amusement of Phalaris. Human beings were put inside, a fire was lit

underneath, and the throat was so contrived that the shrieks and groans of the victims made the bull bellow as

if he was alive. The first experiment was made by King Phalaris upon the artist, and the last by the people

Hamilcar caressed his son and asked him if he would like to go to the war; when the boy said yes, and

showed much delight, Hamilcar took his little hands and placed them upon the altar, and made him swear that

he would hate the Romans to his dying day. Long years afterwards, when that boy was an exile in a foreign

landthe most glorious, the most unfortunate of menhe was accused by his royal host of secretly

intriguing with the Romans. He then related this circumstance, and asked if it was likely that he would ever

Hamilcar marched. The politicians supposed that he was merely engaged in a thirdrate war, and were quite

easy in their minds. But one day there came a courier from Tangiers. He brought tidings which plunged the

whole city in a tumult of wonder and excitement. The three great streets which led to the marketplace were

filled with streaming crowds. A multitude collected round the city hall, in which sat the senators anxiously

deliberating. Women appeared on the roofs of the houses and bent eagerly over the parapets, while men ran

along bawling out the news. Hamilcar Barca had gone clean off. He was no longer in Africa. He had crossed

the sea. The Tangier expedition was a trick. He had taken the army right over into Spain, and was fighting

By a strange fortuity, Spain was the Peru of the ancient world. The horrors of the mines in South America,

the sufferings of the Indians, were copied, so to speak, from the early history of the people who inflicted

them. When the Phoenicians first entered the harbours of Andalusia they found themselves in a land where

silver was used as iron. They loaded their vessel with the precious metal to the water�s edge, cast away their

wooden leadweighted anchor, and substituted a lump of pure silver in its stead. Afterwards factories were

established, arrangements were made with the chiefs for the supply of labour, and the mining was conducted

on scientific principles. The Carthaginians succeeded the Phoenicians, and remained, like them, only on the

It was Hamilcar�s design to conquer the whole country, to exact tribute from the inhabitants, to create a

Spanish army. His success was splendid and complete. The peninsula of Spain became almost entirely a

Punic province. Hamilcar built a city which he called New Carthagethe Carthagena of modern timesand

discovered in its neighbourhood rich mines of silverlead which have lately been reopened. He acquired a

private fortune, formed a native army, fed his party at Carthage, and enriched the treasury of the state. He

administered the province nine years, and then dying, was succeeded by his brother, who, after governing or

reigning a few years, also died. Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar, became Viceroy of Spain.

It appears strange that Rome should so tamely have allowed the Carthaginians to take Spain. The truth was

that the Romans just then had enough to do to look after their own affairs. The Gauls of Lombardy had

furiously attacked the Italian cities, and had called to their aid the Gauls who lived beyond the Alps. Before

the Romans had beaten off the barbarians the conquest in Spain had been accomplished. The Romans

therefore accepted the fact, and contented themselves with a treaty by which the government of Carthage

But Hannibal cared nothing about treaties made at Carthage. As Hamilcar without orders had invaded Spain,

so he without orders invaded Italy. The expedition of the Gauls had shown him that it was possible to cross

the Alps, and he chose that extraordinary route. The Roman army was about to embark for Spain, which it

was supposed would be the seat or war, when the news arrived that Hannibal had alighted in Italy with

If wars were always decided by individual exploits and pitched battles Hannibal would have conquered Italy.

He defeated the Romans so often and so thoroughly that at last they found it their best policy not to fight with

him at all. He could do nothing then but sweep over the country with his Cossack cavalry, plunder, and

destroy. It was impossible for him to take Rome, which was protected by walls strong as rocks and by rocks

steep as walls. When he did march on Rome, encamping within three miles of the city and raising a panic

during an afternoon, it was done merely as a ruse to draw away the Roman army from the siege of Capua. But

it did not have even that effect. The army before Capua remained where it was, and another army appeared as

if by magic to defend the city. Rome appeared to be inexhaustible, and so in reality it was.

Hannibal knew well that Italy could be conquered only by Italians. So great a general could never have

supposed that with a handful of cavalry he could subdue a country which had a million armed men to bring

into the field. He had taken it for granted that if he could gain some success at first he would be joined by the

subject cities. But in spite of his great victories they remained true to Rome. Nothing shows so clearly the

immense resources of the Italian Republic as that second Punic War. Hannibal was in their country, but they

employed against him only a portion of their troops. A second army was in Sicily waging war against his

Greek allies; a third army was in Spain, attacking his operations at the base, pulling Carthage out of Europe

by the roots. Added to which, it was now the Romans who ruled the sea. When Scipio had taken New

Carthage and conquered Spain, he crossed over into Africa, and Hannibal was of necessity recalled. He met

on the field of Zama a general whose genius was little inferior to his own, and who possessed an infinitely

better army. Hannibal lost the day, and the fate of Carthage was decided. It was not the battle which did that;

it was the nature and constitution of the state. In itself the battle of Zama was not a more ruinous defeat than

the battle of Cannae. But Carthage was made of different stuff from that of Rome. How could a war between

those two people have ended otherwise than as it did? Rome was an armed nation fighting in Italy for hearth

and home, in Africa for glory and revenge. Carthage was a city of merchants, who paid men to fight for them,

and whose army was dissolved as soon as the exchequer was exhausted. Rome could fight to its last man;

Carthage could fight only to its last dollar. At the beginning of both wars the Carthaginians did wonders, but

as they became poor they became feeble; their strength dribbled out with their gold; the refusal of Alexandria

to negotiate a loan perhaps injured them more deeply than the victory of Scipio.

The fall of the Carthaginian empire is not a matter for regret. Outside the walls of the city existed hopeless

slavery on the part of the subject, shameless extortion on the part of the officials. Throughout Africa Carthage

was never named without a curse. In the time of the mercenary war the Moorish women, taking oath to keep

nothing back, stripped off their gold ornaments and brought them all to the men who were resisting their

oppressors. That city, that Carthage, fed like a vulture upon the land. A corrupt and grasping aristocracy, a

corrupt and turbulent populace, divided between them the prey. The Carthaginian customs were barbarous in

the extreme. When a battle had been won they sacrificed their handsomest prisoners to the gods; when a

battle had been lost the children of their noblest families were cast into the furnace. Their Asiatic character

was strongly marked. They were a people false and sweetworded, effeminate and cruel, tyrannical and

servile, devout and licentious, merciless in triumph, fainthearted in danger, divinely heroic in despair.

Let us therefore admit that, as an imperial city, Carthage merited her fate. But henceforth we must regard her

from a different point of view. In order to obtain peace she had given up her colonies abroad, her provinces at

home, her vessels and elephants of war. The empire was reduced to a municipality. Nothing was left but the

city and a piece of ground. The merchant princes took off their crowns and went back into the glass and

purple business. It was only as a town of manufacture and trade that Carthage continued to exist, and as such

Hannibal was made prime minister, and at once set to work to reform the constitution. The aristocratic party

informed the Romans that he was secretly stirring up the people to war. The Romans demanded that he

should be surrendered; he escaped to the court of Antiochus, the Greek king in Asia Minor, and there he did

attempt to raise war against Rome. The senate were justified in expelling him from Carthage, for he was

really a dangerous man. But the persecution to which he was afterwards subjected was not very creditable to

their good fame. Driven from place to place, he at last took refuge in Bithynia, on the desolate shores of the

Black Sea, and a Roman consul, who wished to obtain some notoriety by taking home the great Carthaginian

as a show, commanded the prince under whose protection he was living to give him up. When Hannibal

heard of this he took poison, saying, 'Let me deliver the Romans from their cares and anxieties since they

think it too tedious and too dangerous to wait for the death of a poor, hated old man.' The news of this

occurrence excited anger in Rome, but it was the presage of a greater crime which was soon to be committed

There was a Berber chief named Masinissa who had been deprived of his estates, and who during the war had

rendered important services to Rome. He was made king of Numidia, and it was stipulated in the treaty that

the Carthaginians should restore the lands and cities which had belonged to him and to his ancestors. The

lands which they had taken from him were accordingly surrendered, and then Masinissa sent in a claim for

certain lands which he said had been taken from his ancestors. The wording of the treaty was ambiguous. He

might easily declare that the whole of the seacoast had belonged to his family in ancient times, and who

could disprove the evidence of a tradition? He made no secret of his design; it was to drive the Phoenician

strangers out of Africa and to reign at Carthage in their stead. He soon showed that he was worthy to be

called the King of Numidia and the Friend of Rome. He drilled his bandits into soldiers; he taught his

wandering shepherds to till the ground. He made his capital, Constantine, a great city; he opened schools in

which the sons of native chiefs were taught to read and write in the Punic tongue. He allied himself with the

powers of Morocco and the Atlas. He reminded the Berbers that it was to them the soil belonged, that the

Phoenicians were intruders who had come with presents in their hands and with promises in their mouths,

declaring that they had met with trouble in their own country, and praying for a place where they might

repose from the weary sea. Their fathers had trusted them; their fathers had been bitterly deceived. By force

and by fraud the Carthaginians had taken all the lands which they possessed; they had stolen the ground on

In the meantime Rome advanced into the East. As soon as the battle of Zama had been fought Alexandria

demanded her protection. This brought the Romans into contact with the GraecoAsiatic world; they found it

in much the same condition as the English found Hindustan, and they conquered it in much the same manner.

Time went on. The generation of Hannibal had almost become extinct. In Carthage war had become a

tradition of the past. The business of that city was again as flourishing as it had ever been. Again ships sailed

to the coasts of Cornwall and Guinea; again the streets were lined with the workshops of industrious artisans.

Such is the vis medicatrix, the restoring power of a widely extended commerce, combined with active

manufactures and the skilful management of soil, that the city soon regained its ancient wealth. The Romans

had imposed an enormous indemnity which was to be paid off by instalments extending over a series of

But in the midst of all their prosperity and happiness there were grave and anxious hearts. They saw ever

before them the menacing figure of Masinissa. The very slowness of his movements was portentous. He was

in all things deliberate, gradual, and calm. From time to time he demanded a tract of land; if it was not given

up at once he took it by force. Then, waiting as if to digest it, he left them for a while in peace.

They were bound by treaty not to make war against the Friend of Rome. They therefore petitioned the senate

that commissioners should be sent and the boundary definitely settled. But the senate had no desire that

Carthage should be left in peace. The commissioners were instructed to report in such a manner that

Masinissa might be encouraged to continue his depredations. They brought back astonishing accounts of the

magnificence and activity of the African metropolis; and among these commissioners there was one man who

never ceased to declare that the country was in danger, and who never rose to speak in the House without

saying before he sat down: 'And it is my opinion, fathers, that Carthage must be destroyed.'

Cato the censor has been called the last of the old Romans. That class of patriot farmers had been

extinguished by Hannibal�s invasion. In order to live during the long war they had been obliged to borrow

money on their lands. When the war was over the prices of everything rose to an unnatural height; the

farmers could not recover themselves, and the Roman law of debt was severe. They were ejected by

thousandsit was the favourite method to turn the women and children out of doors while the poor man was

working in the fields. Italy was converted into a plantation; slaves in chains tilled the land. No change was

made in the letter of the constitution, but the commonwealth ceased to exist. Society was now composed of

the nobles, the moneymerchants or city men, and a mob like that of Carthage which lived on saleable votes,

sometimes raging for agrarian laws, and which was afterwards fed at government expense like a wild beast

At this time a few refined and intellectual men began to cultivate a taste for Greek literature and the fine arts.

They collected libraries, and adorned them with busts of celebrated men and with antiques of Corinthian

bronze. Crowds of imitators soon arose, and the conquests in the East awakened new ideas. In the days of old

the Romans had been content to decorate their doorposts with trophies obtained in single combat, and their

halls with the waxen portraits of their ancestors. The only spoils which they could then display were flocks

and herds, wagons of rude structure, and heaps of spears and helmets. But now the arts of Greece and the

riches of Asia adorned the triumphs of their generals, and the reign of taste and luxury commenced. A race of

dandies appeared who wore semitransparent robes, and who were always passing their hands in an affected

manner through their hairwho lounged with the languor of the Sybarite, and spoke with the lisp of

Alcibiades. The wives of senators and bankers became genteel, kept a herd of ladies� maids, passed hours

before their fulllength silver mirrors, bathed in asses� milk, rouged their cheeks and dyed their hair, never

went out except in palanquins, gabbled Greek phrases, and called their slaves by Greek names even when

they happened to be of Latin birth. The houses of the great were paved with mosaic floors, and the painted

walls were works of art: sideboards were covered with gold and silver plate, with vessels of amber and of the

tinted Alexandrine glass. The bathrooms were of marble, with the water issuing from silver tubes.

New amusements were invented, and new customs began to reign. An academy was established, in which

five hundred boys and girls were taught castanet dances of anything but a decorous kind. The dinner hour was

made later, and instead of sitting at table they adopted the style of lying down to eat on sofas inlaid with

tortoiseshell and gold. It was chiefly in the luxuries of the cuisine that the Romans exhibited their wealth.

Prodigious prices were paid for a good Greek cook. Every patrician villa was a castle of gastronomical

delight: it was provided with its saltwater tank for fish and oysters, and an aviary which was filled with

fieldfares, ortolans, nightingales, and thrushes; a white dovecot, like a tower, stood beside the house, and

beneath it was a dark dungeon for fattening the birds; there was also a poultry ground, with peafowl,

guineafowl, and pink feathered flamingoes imported from the East, while an orchard of figtrees,

honeyapples, and other fruits, and a garden in which the trees of cypress and yew were clipped into fantastic

shapes, conferred an aspect of rural beauty on the scene. The hills round the Bay of Naples were covered with

these villas; and to that charming region it became the fashion to resort at a certain season of the year. In such

places gambling, drinking, and lovemaking shook off all restraints. Blackeyed soubrettes tripped perpetually

about with billetsdoux in Greek; the rattle of the ivory dicebox could be heard in the streets, like the click

of billiard balls in the Parisian boulevards; and many a boat with purple sails and with garlands of roses

twined round its mast floated softly along the water, laughter and sweet music sounding from the prow.

Happily for Cato�s peace of mind, he died before the casino with its cachuchaor cancan, or whatever it

might have beenwas introduced, and before the fashions of Asia had been added to those of Greece. But he

lived long enough to see the Graecomaniacs triumphant. In earlier and happier days he had been able to

expel two philosophers from Rome, but now he saw them swarming in the streets with their ragged cloaks

and greasy beards, and everywhere obtaining seats as domestic chaplains at the tables of the rich. He could

now do no more than protest in his bitter and extravagant style against the corruption of the age. He

prophesied that as soon as Rome had thoroughly imbibed the Greek philosophy she would lose the empire of

the world; he declared that Socrates was a prating, seditious fellow who well deserved his fate; and he warned

his son to beware of the Greek physicians, for the Greeks had laid a plot to kill all the Romans, and the

Cato was a man of an iron body which was covered with honourable scars, a loud, harsh voice, greenishgrey

eyes, foxy hair, and enormous teeth resembling tusks. His face was so hideous and forbidding that, according

to one of the hundred epigrams that were composed against him, he would wander for ever on the banks of

the Styx, for hell itself would be afraid to let him in. He was distinguished as a general, as an orator, and as an

author, but he pretended that it was his chief ambition to be considered a good farmer. He lived in a little

cottage on his Sabine estate, and went in the morning to practise as an advocate in the neighbouring town.

When he came home he stripped to the skin and worked in the fields with his slaves, drinking as they did the

vinegarwater or the thin, sour wine. In the evening he used to boil the turnips for his supper while his wife

made the bread. Although he cared so little about external things, if he gave an entertainment and the slaves

had not cooked it or waited to his liking, he used to chastise them with leather thongs. It was one of his

maxims to sell his slaves when they grew oldthe worst cruelty that a slaveowner can commit. 'For my

part,' says Plutarch, 'I should never have the heart to sell an ox that had grown old in my service, still less my

Cato�s oldfashioned virtue paid very well. He gratified his personal antipathies and obtained the character of

the people�s friend. He was always impeaching the great men of his country, and was himself impeached

nearly fifty times. The man who sets up as being much better than his age is always to be suspected, and Cato

is perhaps the best specimen of the rugged hypocrite and austere charlatan that history can produce. This

censor of morals bred slaves for sale. He made laws against usury and then turned usurer himself. He was

always preaching about the vanity of riches, and wrote an excellent work on the best way of getting rich. He

degraded a Roman knight for kissing his wife in the daytime in the presence of his daughter, and he himself,

while he was living under his daughterinlaw�s roof, bestowed his favours on one of the servant girls of the

establishment, and allowed her to be impudent to her young mistress. 'Old age,' he once said to a

greyheaded debauchee, 'has deformities enough of its own. Do not add to it the deformity of vice.' At the

On the other hand, he was a most faithful servant to his country; he was a truly religious man, and his god

was the Commonwealth of Rome. Nor was he destitute of the domestic virtues, though sadly deficient in that

respect. He used to say that those who beat their wives and children laid their sacrilegious hands on the

holiest things in the world. He educated his son himself, taught him to box, to ride, and to swim, and wrote

out for him a history of Rome in large pothook characters, that he might become acquainted at an early age

with the great actions of the ancient Romans. He was as careful in what he said before the child as if he had

This Cato was the man on whom rests chiefly the guilt of the murder which we must now relate. In public

and in private, by direct denunciation, by skilful innuendo, by appealing to the fears of some and to the

interests of others, he laboured incessantly towards his end. Once, after he had made a speech against

Carthage in the senate, he shook the skirt of his robe as if by accident, and some African figs fell upon the

ground. When all had looked and wondered at their size and beauty he observed that the place where they

It is possible that Cato was sincere in his alarms, for he was one of the few survivors of the second Punic

War. He had felt the arm of Carthage in its strength. He could remember that day when even Romans had

turned pale; when the old men covered their faces with their mantles; when the young men clambered on the

walls; when the women ran wailing round the temples of the gods, praying for protection and sweeping the

shrines with their hair; when a cry went forth that Hannibal was at the gates; when a panic seized the city;

when the people, collecting on the roofs, flung tiles at Roman soldiers, believing them to be the enemy

already in the town; when all over the Campagna could be seen the smoke of ricks and farmhouses mounting

in the air, and the wild Berber horsemen driving herds of cattle to the Punic camp.

Besides, it was his theory that the annihilation of foreign powers was the building up of Rome. He used to

boast that in his Peninsular campaign he had demolished a Spanish town a day. There were in the senate

many enlightened men who denied that the prosperity of Rome could be assisted by the destruction of trading

cities, and Carthage was defended by the Scipio party. But the influence of the banker class was employed on

Cato�s side. They wanted every penny that was spent in the Mediterranean world to pass through their books.

Carthage and Corinth were rival firms which it was to their profit to destroy. These moneymongers

possessed great power in the senate and the state, and at last they carried the day. It was privately resolved

Thus in Africa and in Italy Masinissa and Cato prepared the minds of men for the deed of blood. It was as if

the Furies of the slaughtered dead had entered the bodies of those two old men and kept them alive beyond

their natural term. Cato had done his share. It was now Masinissa�s turn. As soon as he was assured that he

would be supported by the Romans he struck again and again the wretched people, who were afraid to resist

and yet who soon saw that it would be folly to submit. It was evident that Rome would not interfere. If

Masinissa was not checked he would strip them of their cornfields; he would starve them to death. The war

party at last prevailed; the city was fortified and armed. Masinissa descended on their villas, their gardens,

and their farms. Driven to despair, the Carthaginians went forth to defend the crops which their own hands

On a hill near the battlefield sat a young Roman officer, Scipio Aemilianus, a relative of the man who had

defeated Hannibal. He had been sent over from Spain for a squadron of elephants, and arrived in Masinissa�s

camp at this interesting crisis. The news of the battle was soon despatched by him to Rome. The treaty had

The Carthaginians fell into an agony of alarm. They were now so broken down that a vassal of Rome could

defeat them in the open field. What had they to expect in a war with Rome? Ambassadors were at once

dispatched with full powers to obtain peacepeace at any pricefrom the terrible Republic. The envoys

presented themselves before the senate; they offered the submission of the Carthaginians, who formally

disowned the act of war, who had put the two leaders of the warparty to death, and who desired nothing but

the alliance and goodwill of Rome. The answer which they received was this: 'Since the Carthaginians are so

well advised, the senate returns them their country, their laws, their sepulchres, their liberties, and their

estates, if they will surrender three hundred sons of their senators as hostages, and obey the orders of the

The Roman army had already disembarked. When the consuls landed on the coast no resistance was made.

They demanded provisions. Then the city gates were opened, and long trains of bullocks and mules laden

with corn were driven to the Roman camp. The hostages were demanded. Then the senators brought forth

their children and gave them to the city; the city gave them to the Romans; the Romans placed them on board

the galleys, which at once spread their sails and departed from the coast. The roofs of the palaces of Carthage

were crowded with women who watched these receding sails with straining eyes and outstretched arms.

Never more would they see their beloved ones. Yet they would not perhaps have grieved so much at the

The city gates again opened. The senate sent its council to the Roman camp. A company of venerable men

clad in purple, with golden chains, presented themselves at headquarters and requested to know what were

the 'orders of the consuls.' They were told that Carthage must disarm. They returned to the city and at once

sent out to the camp all their fleetmaterial and artillery, all the military stores in the public magazines, and

all the arms that could be found in the possession of private individuals. Three thousand catapults and two

They again came out to the camp. The military council was assembled to receive them. The old men saluted

the Roman ensigns, and bowed low to the consuls, placing their hands upon their breasts. The orders of the

consuls, they said, had been obeyed. Was there anything more that their lords had to command?

The senior consul rose up and said that there was something more. He was instructed by the Roman senate to

inform the senators of Carthage that the city must be destroyed, but that in accordance with the promise of the

Roman senate their country, their laws, their sepulchres, their liberties, and their estates would be preserved,

and they might build another city. Only it must be without walls, and at a distance of at least ten miles from

The Carthaginians cast themselves upon the ground, and the whole assembly fell into confusion. The consul

explained that he could exercise no choice: he had received his orders, and they must be carried out. He

requested them to return and apprise their fellowtownsmen. Some of the senators remained in the Roman

camp; others ventured to go back. When they drew near the city the people came running out to meet them,

and asked them the news. They answered only by weeping and beating their foreheads, and stretching out

their hands and calling on the gods. They went on to the senate house; the members were summoned; an

enormous crowd gathered in the marketplace. Presently the doors opened; the senators came forth, and the

And then there rose in the air a fierce, despairing shriek, a yell of agony and rage. The mob rushed through

the city and tore limb from limb the Italians who were living in the town. With one voice it was resolved that

the city should be defended to the last. They would not so tamely give up their beautiful Carthage, their dear

and venerable home beside the sea. If it was to be burnt to ashes, their ashes should be mingled with it, and

All the slaves were set free. Old and young, rich and poor, worked together day and night forging arms. The

public buildings were pulled down to procure timber and metal. The women cut off their hair to make strings

for the catapults. A humble message was sent in true Oriental style to the consul, praying for a little time.

Days passed, and Carthage gave no signs of life. Tired of waiting, the consul marched towards the city, which

he expected to enter like an open village. He found, to his horror, the gates closed, and the battlements

Carthage was strongly fortified, and it was held by men who had abandoned hope. The siege lasted more than

three years. Cato did not live to see his darling wish fulfilled. Masinissa also died while the siege was going

on, and bitter was his end. The policy of the Romans had been death to all his hopes. His dream of a great

African empire was dissolved. He sullenly refused to cooperate with the Romansit was his Carthage

There was a time when it seemed as if the great city would prove itself to be impregnable; the siege was

conducted with small skill or vigour by the Roman generals. More than one reputation found its grave before

the walls of Carthage. But when Scipio Aemilianus obtained the command he at once displayed the genius of

his house. Perceiving that it would be impossible to subdue the city as long as smuggling traders could run

into the port with provisions, he constructed a stone mole across the mouth of the harbour. Having thus cut

off the city from the sea, he pitched his camp on the neck of the isthmusfor Carthage was built on a

peninsulaand so cut it off completely from the land. For the first time in the siege the blockade was

complete: the city was enclosed in a stone and iron cage. The Carthaginians in their fury brought forth the

prisoners whom they had taken in their sallies, and hurled them headlong from the walls. There were many in

the city who protested against this outrage. They were denounced as traitors; a reign of terror commenced;

the men of the moderate party were crucified in the streets. The hideous idol of Moloch found victims in that

day; children were placed on its outstretched and downward sloping hands and rolled off them into the fiery

furnace which was burning at its feet. Nor were there wanting patriots who sacrificed themselves upon the

altars that the gods might have compassion upon those who survived. But among these pestilence and famine

had begun to work, and the sentinels could scarcely stand to their duty on the walls. Gangs of robbers went

from house to house and tortured people to make them give up their food; mothers fed upon their children; a

terrible disease broke out; corpses lay scattered in the streets; men who were burying the dead fell dead upon

them; others dug their own graves and laid down in them to die; houses in which all had perished were used

And then, as if the birds of the air had carried the news, it became known all over Northern Africa that

Carthage was about to fall. And then from the dark and dismal corners of the land, from the wasted frontiers

of the desert, from the snow lairs, and caverns of the Atlas, there came creeping and crawling to the coast the

most abject of the human raceblack, naked, withered beings, their bodies covered with red paint, their hair

cut in strange fashions, their language composed of muttering and whistling sounds. By day they prowled

round the camp and fought with the dogs for the offal and the bones. If they found a skin they roasted it on

ashes and danced round it in glee, wriggling their bodies and uttering abominable cries. When the feast was

over they cowered together on their hams, and fixed their gloating eyes upon the city, and expanded their

At last the day came. The harbour walls were carried by assault, and the Roman soldiers pressed into the

narrow streets which led down to the water side. The houses were six or seven storeys high, and each house

was a fortress which had to be stormed. Lean and haggard creatures, with eyes of flame, defended their

homesteads from room to room, onwards, upwards, to the death struggle on the broad, flat roof.

Day followed day, and still that horrible music did not ceasethe shouts and songs of the besiegers, the yells

and shrieks of the besieged, the moans of the wounded, the feeble cries of children divided by the sword.

Night followed night, and still the deadly work went on; there was no sleep and no darkness; the Romans

Six days passed thus, and only the citadel was left. It was a steep rock in the middle of the town; a temple of

The rock was covered with people, who could be seen extending their arms to heaven and uniting with one

another in the last embrace. Their piteous lamentations, like the cries of wounded animals, ascended in the

air, and behind the iron circle which enclosed them could be heard the crackling of the fire and the dull boom

The soldiers were weary with smiting: they were filled with blood. Nine tenths of the inhabitants had been

already killed. The people on the rock were offered their lives; they descended with bare hands and passed

under the yoke. Some of them eneded their days in prison; the greater part were sold as slaves.

But in the temple on the summit of the rocky hill nine hundred Roman deserters, for whom there could be no

pardon, stood at bay. The trumpets sounded; the soldiers, clashing their bucklers with their swords and

uttering the warcry alala! alala! Advanced to the attack. Of a sudden the sea of steel recoiled, the standards

reeled; a long tongue of flame sprang forth upon them through the temple door. The deserters had set the

A man dressed in purple rushed out of the temple with an olivebranch in his hand. This was Hasdrubal, the

commanderinchief, and the Robespierre of the reign of terror. His life was given him; he would do for the

triumph. And as he bowed the knee before the consul a woman appeared on the roof of the temple with two

children in her arms. She poured forth some scornful words upon her husband, and then plunged with her

Carthage burned seventeen days before it was entirely consumed. Then the plough was passed over the soil to

put an end in legal form to the existence of the city. House might never again be built, corn might never again

be sown, upon the ground where it had stood. A hundred years afterwards Julius Caesar founded another

Carthage and planted a Roman colony therein. But it was not built upon the same spot. The old site remained

accursed; it was a browsing ground for cattle, a field of blood. When recently the remains of the city walls

were disinterred they were found to be covered with a layer of ashes from four to five feet deep. Filled with

The possessions of the Carthaginians were formed into a Roman province which was called Africa. The

governor resided at Utica, which with the other old Phoenician towns received municipal rights, but paid a

fixed stipend to the state exchequer. The territory of Carthage itself became Roman domain land, and was let

on lease. Italian merchants flocked to Utica in great numbers and reopened the inland trade, but the famous

sea trade was not revived. The Britons of Cornwall might in vain gather on high places and strain their eyes

towards the west. The ships which had brought them beads and purple cloth would come again no more.

A descendant of Masinissa, who inherited his genius, defied the Roman power in a long war. He was finally

conquered by Sylla and Marius, caught, and carried off to Rome. Apparelled in barbaric splendour, he was

paraded through the streets. But when the triumph was over his guards rushed upon him and struggled for the

finery in which he had been dressed. They tore the rings from his ears with such force that the flesh came

away; they cast him naked into a dungeon under ground. 'O Romans, you give me a cold bath!' were the last

The next Numidian prince who appeared at a triumph was the young Juba, who had taken the side of Pompey

against Caesar. 'It proved to be a happy captivity for him,' says Plutarch, 'for from a barbarous and unlettered

Numidian he became an historian worthy to be numbered amongst the learned men of Greece.'

When the empire became established the kingdoms of Numidia, of Cyrene, and of Egypt were swept away.

Africa was divided into seven fruitful provinces ranging along the coast from Tripoli to Tangiers. Egypt was

made a province, with the tropical line for its southern frontier. The oasis of Cyrene, with its fields of

asafoetida, was a middle station between the two. But still the history of Northern Africa and the history of

Egypt remain distinct. The Roman empire, though held together for a time by strong and skilful hands, was

divided by customs and modes of thought arising out of language into the Greek and Latin worlds. In the

countries which had been civilised by the Romans Latin had been introduced. In the countries which before

the Roman conquest had been conquered by Alexander, the Greek language maintained its ground. Greece,

Macedonia, Asia Minor, Syria, Egypt, and Cyrene belonged to the Greek world; Italy Gaul, Spain, and Africa

belonged to the Latin world. Greek was never spoken in Roman Carthage except by a few merchants and

learned men. Latin was never spoken in Alexandria except in the law courts and at Government House.

Whenever there was a partition of the empire Egypt was assigned to one emperor, Carthage to the other. In

the Church history of Africa the same phenomenon may be observed. The Church of Africa was the daughter

of the Church of Rome, and was chiefly occupied with questions of discipline and law. The Church of Egypt

was essentially a Greek church; it was occupied entirely with definitions of the undefinable and solutions of

In one respect, however, the histories of Egypt and Africa are the same. They were both of them cornfields,

and both of them were ruined by the Romans. In the early days of the empire there was a noble reform in

provincial affairs resembling that which Clive accomplished in British India when he visited that country for

the last time. There was then an end to that tyrant of prey who under the republic had contrived in a few years

to extort an enormous fortune from his proconsulate, and who was often accompanied by a wife more

rapacious than himself; who returned to Rome with herds of slaves and cargoes of bullion and of works of

art. Governors were appointed with fixed salaries; the Roman law was everywhere introduced; vast sums of

Unhappily this did not last. Rome was devoured by a population of mean whites, the result of foreign slavery,

which invariably degrades labour. This vast rabble was maintained by the state; rations of bread and oil were

served out to it every day. When the evil time came and the exchequer was exhausted, the governors of

Africa and Egypt were required to send the usual quantity of grain all the same, and to obtain their percentage

as best they could. They were transformed into satraps or pashas. The great landowners were accused of

conspiracy, and their estates escheated to the crown. The agriculturists were reduced to serfdom. There might

be a scarcity of food in Africa, but there must be none in Rome. Every year were to be seen the huge ships

lying in the harbours of Alexandria and Carthage, and the mountains of corn piled high upon the quays.

When the seat of empire was transferred to the Bosphorus the evil became greater still. Each province was

forced to do double work. There was now a populace in Constantinople which was fed entirely by Egypt, and

Africa supported the populace of Rome. While the Egyptian fellah and the Moorish peasant were labouring in

the fields, the sturdy beggars of Byzantium and Rome were amusing themselves at the circus or basking on

But Africa was not only a plantation of corn and oil for their imperial majesties the Italian lazzaroni. It also

contained the preserves of Rome. The lion was a royal beast; it was licensed to feed upon the flock of the

shepherds, and upon the shepherd himself if it preferred him. The unfortunate Moor could not defend his life

without a violation of the game laws, which were quite as ferocious as the lion. It will easily be imagined that

the Roman rule was not agreeable to the native population. They had fallen beneath a power compared with

which that of the Carthaginians was feeble and kind; which possessed the strength of civilisation without its

mercy. But when that power began to decline they lifted up their heads and joined the foreign invaders as

soon as they appeared, as their fathers had joined the Romans in the ancient days.

These invaders were the Vandals, a tribe of Germans from the North who had conquered Spain and who, now

pouring over the Gibraltar Straits, took Carthage and ruled there a hundred years. The Romans struggled hard

to regain their cornfileds, and the old duel of Rome and Carthage was resumed. This time it was Carthage that

was triumphant. It repelled the Romans when they invaded Africa. It became a naval power, scoured the

Mediterranean, reconquered Sicily and Sardinia, plundered the shores of Italy, and encamped beneath the

mouldering walls of Rome. The gates of the city were opened, and the bishop of Rome, attended by his

clergy, came forth in solemn procession to offer the submission of Rome, and to pray for mercy to the

churches and their captives. Doubtless in that army of Germans and Moors by whom they were received there

were men of Phoenician descent who had read in history of a similar scene. Rome was more fortunate than

ancient Carthage: the city was sacked, but it was not destroyed. Not long afterwards it was taken by the

Goths. Kings dressed in furs sat opposite each other on the thrones of Carthage and of Rome.

The Emperor of the East sent the celebrated Belisarius against the Carthaginian Vandals, who had become

corrupted by luxury and whom he speedily subdued. Thus Africa was restored to Rome, but it was a Greek

speaking Rome, and the citizens of Carthage still felt themselves to be under foreign rule. Besides, the war

had reduced the country to a wilderness. One might travel for days without meeting a human being in those

fair coast lands which had once been filled with olive groves, and vineyards, and fields of waving corn. The

savage Berber tribes pressed more and more fiercely on the cultivated territory which still remained. It is

probable that if the Arabs had not come the Moors would have driven the Byzantines out of the land, or at

With the invasion of the Arabs the proper history of Africa begins. It is now that we are able for the first time

to leave the coasts of the Mediterranean and the banks of the Nile, and to penetrate into that vast and

mysterious world of which the ancient geographers had but a faint and incorrect idea.

It is evident enough from the facts which have been adduced in the foregoing sketch that Egypt and Carthage

contributed much to human progressEgypt by instructing Greece, Carthage by drawing forth Rome to the

But these countries did little for Africa itself. The ambition of Egypt was with good reason turned towards

Asia, that of Carthage towards Europe. The influence of Carthage on the regions of the Niger was similar to

that of Egypt on the negro regions of the Nile. In each case it became the fashion for the native chiefs to wear

Egyptian linen or the Tyrian purple, and to decorate their wives with beads which are often discovered by the

negroes of the present day in ancient and forgotten graves. Elephants were hunted and gold pits were dug in

Central Africa, that these luxuries might be procured; but the chief article of export was the slave, and this

commodity was obtained by means of war. The negroes have often been accused of rejecting the civilisation

of the Egyptians and Carthaginians, but they were never brought into contact with those people. The

Those Berber tribes who inhabited the regions adjoining Egypt and Cyrene appear to have been in some

degree improved. But they were a roving people, and civilisation can never ripen under tents. Something,

however, was accomplished among those who were settled in cities or the regions of the coast. That the

Berber race possesses a remarkable capacity for culture has been amply proved. It is probable that Terence

was a Moor. It is certain that Juba, whose works have been unfortunately lost, was of unmixed Berber blood.

Reading and writing were common among them, and they used a character of their own. When the Romans

took Carthage they gave the public library and archives to the Berber chiefs. At one time it seemed as if

Barbary was destined to become a civilised province after the pattern of Spain and Gaul. Numidian princes

adopted the culture of the Greeks, and Juba was placed on his ancestral throne that he might tame his wild

subjects into Roman citizens. But this movement soon perished, and the Moorish chiefs fell back into their

The African Church has obtained imperishable fame. In the days of suffering it brought forth martyrs whose

fiery ardour and serene endurance have never been surpassed. In the days of victory it brought forth minds by

whose imperial writings thousands of cultivated men have been enslaved. But this church was for the most

part confined to the walled cities on the coast, to the farming villages in which the Punic speech was still

preserved, and to a few Moorish tribes who lived under Roman rule. In the days of St. Augustine Christianity

was in its zenith, and St. Augustine complains that there were hundreds of Berber chiefs who had never heard

the name of Christ. Even in Roman Africa the triumph of Christianity was not complete. In Carthage itself

Astarte and Moloch were still adored, and a barefooted monk could not show himself in the streets without

being pelted by the populace. At a later date the Moorish tribes became an heretical and hostile sect; the

religious persecutions of the Arian Vandals were succeeded by the persecutions of the Byzantine Greeks.

Christianity was divided and almost dead when the Arabs appeared, and the Church which had withstood ten

imperial persecutions succumbed to the tax which the conquerors imposed on 'the people of the book.'

The failure of Christianity in Africa was owing to the imperfection of the Roman conquest. Their occupation

was of a purely military kind, and it did not embrace an extensive area. The Romans were entirely distinct

from the natives in manners and ideas. It was natural that the Berbers should reject the religion of a people

whose language they did not understand, whose tyranny they detested, and whose power most of them defied.

But the Arabs were accustomed to deserts; they did not settle, like the Romans and the Carthaginians, on the

coast; they covered the whole land; they penetrated into the recesses of the Atlas; they pursued their enemies

into the depths of the Sahara. But they also mingled persuasion with force. They believed that the Berbers

were Arabs like themselves, and invited them as kinsmen to accept the mission of the prophet. They married

the daughters of the land; they gathered round their standards the warriors whom they had defeated, and led

them to the glorious conquest of Spain. The two peoples became one; the language and religion of the Arabs

With this event the biography of ancient Africa is closed, and the history of Asiatic Africa begins. But I have

in this work a twofold story to unfold. I have to describe the Dark Continent: to show in what way it is

connected with universal history; what it has received and what it has contributed to the development of man.

And I have also to sketch in broad outline the human history itself. This task has been forced upon me in the

course of my inquiries. It is impossible to measure a tributary and to estimate its value with precision except

by comparing it with the other affluents, and by carefully mapping the main stream. In writing a history of

Africa I am compelled to write the history of the world, in order that Africa�s true position may be defined.

And now, passing to the general questions discussed in this chapter, it will be observed that war is the chief

agent of civilisation in the period which I have attempted to portray. It was war which drove the Egyptians

into those frightful deserts in the midst of which their Happy Valley was discovered. It was war which under

the Persians opened lands which had been either closed against foreigners or jealously held ajar. It was war

which colonised Syria and Asia Minor with Greek ideas, and which planted in Alexandria the experimental

philosophy which will win for us in time the dominion of the earth. It was war which united the Greek and

Latin worlds into a splendid harmony of empire. And when that ancient world had been overcome by languor

and had fallen into Oriental sleep; when nothing was taught in the schools which had not been taught a

hundred years before; when the rapacity of tyrants had extinguished the ambition of the rich and the industry

of the poor; when the Church also had become inert, and roused itself only to be cruelthen again came war

across the Rhine and the Danube and the Alps, and laid the foundations of European life among the ruins of

the Latin world. In the same manner Asia awoke as if by magic, and won back from Europe the lands which

she had lost. But this latter conquest, though effected by means of war, was preserved by means of religion,

an element of history which must be analysed with scientific care. In the next chapter I shall explain the

origin of the religious sentiment and theory in savage life. I shall sketch the early career of the three great

Semitic creeds and the characters of three menMoses, Jesus, and Mohammedwho, whatever may have

been their faults, are entitled to the eternal gratitude of the human race. Then, resuming the history of Africa,

I shall follow the course of Islam over the Great Desert into the Sudan, and shall describe its progress in that

country by means of the sword and of the school, something of which I have seen and studied under both

When the poet invokes in his splendid frenzy the shining spheres of heaven, the murmuring fountains, and the

rushing streams; when he calls upon the earth to hearken, and bids the wild sea listen to his song; when he

communes with the sweet secluded valleys and the haughtyheaded hills as if those inanimate objects were

alive, as if those masses of brute matter were endowed with sense and thought, we do not smile, we do not

sneer, we do not reason, but we feel. A secret chord is touched within us: a slumbering sympathy is awakened

into life. Who has not felt an impulse of hatred, and perhaps expressed it in a senseless curse, against a fiery

stroke of sunlight or a sudden gust of wind? Who has not felt a pang of pity for a flower torn and trampled in

the dust, a shell dashed to fragments by the waves? Such emotions or ideas last only for a moment; they do

not belong to us; they are the fossil fancies of a bygone age; they are a heritage of thought from the childhood

of our race. For there was a time when they possessed the human mind. There was a time when the phrases of

modern poetry were the facts of ordinary life. There was a time when man lived in fellowship with nature,

believing that all things which moved or changed had minds and bodies kindred to his own.

To those primeval people the sun was a great being who brightened them in his pleasure and who scorched

then in his wrath. The earth was a sleeping monster: sometimes it rose a little and turned itself in bed. They

walked upon its back when living; they were put into its belly when they died. Fire was a savage animal

which bit when it was touched. The birds and beasts were foreigners possessing languages and customs of

their own. The plants were dumb creatures with characters good or bad, sometimes gloomy in aspect,

malignant in their fruit, sometimes dispensing wholesome food and pleasant shade.

These various forms of nature they treated precisely as if they had been men. They sometimes adorned a

handsome tree with bracelets like a girl; they offered up prayers to the fruit trees, and made them presents to

coax them to a liberal return. They forbade the destruction of certain animals which they revered on account

of their wisdom, or feared on account of their fierceness, or valued on account of their utility. They submitted

to the tyranny of the more formidable beasts of prey, never venturing to attack them for fear the nation or

species should retaliate, but making them propitiatory gifts. In the same manner they offered sacrifices to

avert the fury of the elements, or in gratitude for blessings which had been bestowed. But often a courageous

people, when invaded, would go to war, not only with the tiger and the bear but with powers which to them

were not less humanlike and real. They would cut with their swords at the hot wind of the desert, hurl their

spears into the swollen river, stab the earth, flog the sea, shoot their arrows at the flashing clouds, and build

But when through the operation of the law of growth the intellectual faculties of men become improved, they

begin to observe their own nature, and in course of time a curious discovery is made. They ascertain that

there is something which resides within them entirely independent and distinct from the body in which it is

contained. They perceive that it is this mind, or soul, or genius, or spirit, which thinks and desires and

decides. It commands the body as the chief commands the slave. While the body is asleep it is busy weaving

thoughts in the sleeper�s brain, or wanders into other lands and converses with people whom he, while awake,

has never seen. They hear words of wisdom issuing from the toothless mouth of a decrepit old man. It is

evident that this soul does not grow old, and therefore it does not die. The body, it is clear, is only a garment

When a loved one has been taken she haunts the memory of him who weeps till the image imprinted on the

heart is reflected on the curtain of the eye. Her vision appears not when he is quite asleep, as in an ordinary

dream, but as he is passing into sleep. He meets her in the twilight land which divides the world of darkness

from the world of day. He sees her form distinctly; he clasps it in his arms; he hears the accents of her sweet

and gentle voice; he feels the pressure of her lips upon his own. He awakes, and the illusion is dispelled; yet

with some it is so complete that they firmly believe it was a spirit whom they saw.

Among savages it is not love which can thus excite the imagination and deceive the sense, but reverence and

fear. The great chief is dead. His vision appears in a halfwaking dream: it threatens and it speaks. The

dreamer believes that the form and the voice are real, and therefore he believes that the great chief still exists.

It is thus that the grand idea is born. There is life after death. When the house or garment of the body is

destroyed the soul wanders forth into the air. Like the wind it is unseen; like the wind it can be soft and kind;

like the wind it can be terrible and cruel. The savage then believes that the pains of sickness are inflicted by

the hand which so often inflicted pain upon him when it was in the flesh, and he also believes that in battle

the departed warrior is still fighting with unseen weapons at the head of his own clan. In order to obtain the

goodwill of the fatherspirit, prayers are offered up to him and food is placed beside his grave. He is, in fact,

still recognised as king, and to such phantom monarchs the distinctive title of god is assigned. Each chief is

deified and worshipped when he dies. The offerings and prayers are established by rule; the reigning chief

becomes the family priest; he pretends to receive communications from the dead, and issues laws in their

name. The deeds of valour which the chiefs performed in their lifetime are set to song; their biographies

descend from generation to generation, changing in their course, and thus a regular religion and mythology

It is the nature of man to reason from himself outwards. The savage now ascribes to the various forms of

matter souls or spirits such as he imagines that he has discovered in himself. The food which he places at the

grave has a soul or essence, and it is this which is eaten by the spirit of the dead, while the body of the food

remains unchanged. The river is not mere water which may dry up and perish, but there dwells within it a

soul which never dies; and so with everything that lives and moves, from the blade of grass which shivers in

the wind to the star which slowly moves across the sky. But as men become more and more capable of

general ideas, of classing facts into systems and of arranging phenomena into groups, they believe in a god of

the forests, a god of the waters, and a god of the sky, instead of ascribing a separate god to every tree, to

every river, and to every star. Nature is placed under the dominion of a federation of deities. In some cases

the ancestor gods are identified with these; in others their worship is kept distinct. The trees and the animals,

which were once worshipped for themselves from love or fear, are now supposed to be objects of affection to

These gods are looked upon as kings. Their characters are human, and are reflected from the minds of those

who have created them. Whatever the arithmetical arrangement of the gods may besingle or triune, dual or

pluralthey are in all countries and in all times made by man in his own image. In the plural period some of

the gods are good and some are bad, just as there are good and evil kings. The wicked gods can be softened

by flattery and presents, the good ones can be made fierce by neglect. The wicked gods obtain the largest

offerings and the longest prayers, just as in despotic countries the wicked kings obtain the most liberal

The savage has been led by indigestion and by dreams to believe in the existence of the soul after deathor,

using simpler language, to believe in ghosts. At first these souls or ghosts have no fixed abode; they live

among the graves. At a later period the savage invents a world to which the ghosts depart and in which they

reside. It is situated underground. In that world the ghosts live precisely as they lived on earth. There is no

retribution and no reward for the actions of the earthly life; that life is merely continued in another region of

the world. Death is in fact regarded as a migration in which, as in all migrations, the emigrants preserve their

relative positions. When a man of importance dies his family furnish him with an outfit of slaves and wives,

and pack up in his grave his arms and ornaments and clothes, that he may make his appearance in the

underworld in a manner befitting his rank and fortune. It is believed that the souls of the clothes, as well as

of the persons sacrificed, accompany him there, and it is sometimes believed that all the clothes which he has

The underworld and the upperworld are governed by the same gods or unseen kings. Man�s life in the

upperworld is short: his life in the under world is long. But as regards the existence of the worlds

themselves, both are eternal, without beginning and without end. This idea is not a creation of the ripened

intellect, as is usually supposed. It is a product of limited experience, and expression of a seeming fact. The

savage did not see the world begin; therefore it had no beginning. He has not seen it grow older; therefore it

The two worlds adjoin each other, and the frontier between them is very faintly marked. The gods often dress

themselves in flesh and blood and visit the earth to do evil or to do goodto make love to women, to

torment their enemies, to converse with their favourites and friends. On the other hand there are men who

possess the power of leaving their bodies in their beds and of passing into the other world to obtain divine

poisons which they malignantly employ. The ghosts of the dead often come and sit by their old firesides and

eat what is set apart for them. Sometimes a departed spirit will reenter the family, assuming a body which

resembles in its features the one he previously wore. Distinguished heroes and prophets are often supposed to

be hybrids or mulattoes, the result of a union between a woman and a god. Sometimes it is believed that a

god has come down on earth out of love for a certain nation, to offer himself up as a sacrifice, and so to

quench the bloodthirst of some sullen and revengeful god who has that nation in his power. Sometimes a

savage people believe that their kings are gods who have deigned to take upon them a perishable body for a

time, and there are countries in which a still more remarkable superstition prevails. The royal body even is

immortal. The king never eats, never sleeps, and never dies. This kind of monarch is visible only to his

priests. When the people wish to present a petition he gives them audience seated behind a curtain, from

beneath which he thrusts out his foot in token of assent. When he dies he is secretly buried by the priests, and

The savage lives in a strange world, a world of special providences and divine interpositions, not happening

at long intervals and for some great end, but every day and almost at every hour. A pain, a dream, a sensation

of any kind, a stroke of good or bad luckwhatever, in short, does not proceed from man, whatever we

ascribe, for want of a better word, to chanceis by him ascribed to the direct interference of the gods. He

knows nothing about the laws of nature. Death itself is not a natural event. Sooner or later men make the gods

It is difficult for those who have not lived among savages perfectly to realise their faith. When told that his

gods do not exist the savage merely laughs in mild wonder at such an extraordinary observation being made.

It seems quite natural to him that his gods should be as his parents and grandparents have described; he

believes as he breathes, without an effort; he feels that what he has been taught is true. His creed is in

harmony with his intellect, and cannot be changed until his intellect is changed. If a god in a dream, or

through the priests, has made him a promise and the promise is broken, he does not on that account doubt the

existence of the god. He merely supposes that the god has told a lie. Nor does it seem strange to him that a

god should tell a lie. His god is only a gigantic man, a sensual, despotic king who orders his subjects to give

him the first fruits of the fields, the firstlings of the flock, virgins for his harem, human bodies for his

cannibal repasts. As for himself, he is the slave of that god or king; he prays, that is to say, he begs; he sings

hymns, that is to say, he flatters; he sacrifices, that is to say, he pays tribute, chiefly out of fear, but partly in

the hope of getting something better in returnlong life, riches, and fruitful wives. He is usually afraid to

say of the gods what he thinks, or even to utter their real name. But sometimes he gives vent to the hatred

which is burning in his heart. Writhing on a bed of sickness, he heaps curses on the god who he declares is

'eating his inside'; and when he is converted prematurely to a higher creed his god is still to him the invisible

but human king. 'O Allah!' a Somali woman was heard to say, 'O Allah! May thy teeth ache like mine! O

Allah! May thy gums be sore as mine!' That Christian monarch the late King Peppel once exclaimed, when

he thought of his approaching end, that if he could see God he would kill him at once because he made men

The arithmetical arrangement of the gods depends entirely upon the intellectual faculties of the people

concerned. In the period of thingworship, as it may be termed, every brook, tree, hill, and star is itself a

living creature, benevolent or malignant, asleep or awake. In the next stage every object and phenomenon is

inhabited or presided over by a genius or spirit, and with some nations the virtues and the vices are also

endowed with personality. As the reasoning powers of men expand their gods diminish in number and rule

over larger areas, till finally it is perceived that there is unity in nature, that everything which exists is a part

of one harmonious whole. It is then asserted that one being manufactured the world and rules over it supreme.

But at first the Great Being is distant and indifferent, 'a god sitting outside the universe'; and the old gods

become viceroys to whom he has deputed the government of the world. They are afterwards degraded to the

rank of messengers or angels, and it is believed that God is everywhere present; that he fills the earth and sky;

that from him directly proceeds both the evil and the good. In some systems of belief, however, he is believed

to be the author of good alone, and the dominion of evil is assigned to a rebellious angel or a rival god.

So far as we have gone at present, there has been no question of morality. All doctrines relating to the

creation of the world, the government of man by superior being, and his destiny after death, are conjectures

which have been given out as facts, handed down with many adornments by tradition, and accepted by

posterity as 'revealed religion.' They are theories more or less rational which uncivilised men have devised in

order to explain the facts of life, and which civilised men believe that they believe. These doctrines are not in

themselves of any moral value. It is of no consequence, morally speaking, whether a man believes that the

world has been made by one god or by twenty. A savage is not of necessity a better man because he believes

that he lives under the dominion of invisible tyrants who will compel him some day or other to migrate to

There is a moral sentiment in the human breast which, like intelligence, is born of obscure instincts, and

which gradually becomes developed. Since the gods of men are the reflected images of men, it is evident that

as men become developed in morality the character of their gods will also be improved. The king of a savage

land punishes only offences against himself and his dependents. But when that people become more civilised

the king is regarded as the representative of public law. In the same manner the gods of a savage people

demand nothing from their subjects but taxes and homage. They punish only heresy, which is equivalent to

treason; blasphemy, which is equivalent to insult; and the withholding of tribute and adoration, which is

equivalent to rebellion. And these are the offences which even among civilised nations the gods are supposed

to punish most severely. But the civilised gods also require that men shall act justly to one another. They are

still despots, for they order men to flatter them and to give them money. But they are not mere selfish

despots; they will reward those who do good, they will punish those who do evil to their fellowmen.

That vice should be sometimes triumphant and virtue sometimes in distress creates no difficulty to the savage

mind. If a good man meets with misfortune it is supposed that he is being punished for the sins of an ancestor

or a relation. In a certain stage of barbarism society is composed not of individuals but of families. If a

murder is committed the avengers of blood kill the first man they meet belonging to the guilty clan. If the life

cannot be obtained in that generation the feud passes on, for the family never dies. It is considered just and

proper that children should be punished for the sins of their fathers unto the third and fourth generation.

In a higher state of society this family system disappears; individualism becomes established. And as soon as

this point is reached the human mind takes a vast stride. It is discovered that the moral government of this

world is defective, and it is supposed that poetical justice will be administered in the next. The doctrine of

rewards and punishments in a future state comes into vogue. The world of ghosts is now divided into two

compartments. One is the abode of malignant spirits, the kingdom of darkness and of pain to which are

condemned the blasphemers and the rebels, the murderers and the thieves. The other is the habitation of the

gods, the kingdom of joy and light, to which angels welcome the obedient and the good. They are dressed in

white robes and adorned with golden crowns; they dwell eternally in the royal presence, gazing upon his

To the active European mind such a prospect is not by any means inviting; but heaven was invented in the

East, and in the East to be a courtier has always been regarded as the supreme felicity. The feelings of men

towards their god in the period at which we have now arrived are precisely those of an Eastern subject

towards his king. The Oriental king is the lord of all the land; his subjects are his children and his slaves. The

man who is doomed to death kisses the fatal firman and submits with reverence to his fate. The man who is

robbed by the king of all that he has earned will fold his hands and say 'The king gave and the king taketh

away. Blessed be the name of the king!' The man who lives in a distant province, who knows the king only

by means of the taxes which are collected in his name, will snatch up his arms if he hears that his sacred

person is in danger, and will defend him as he defends his children and his home. He will sacrifice his life for

This kind of devotion is called loyalty when exhibited towards a king, piety when exhibited towards a god.

But in either case the sentiment is precisely the same. It cannot be too often repeated that god is only a special

name for king; that religion is a form of government, its precepts a code of laws; that priests are gatherers of

divine taxes, officers of divine police; that men resort to churches to fall on their knees and to sing hymns

from the same servile propensity which makes the Oriental delight in prostrating himself before the throne;

that the noble enthusiasm which inspires men to devote themselves to the service of their god, and to suffer

death rather than deny his name, is identical with the devotion of the faithful subject who, to serve his royal

master, gives up his fortune or his life without the faintest prospect of reward. The religious sentiment, about

which so much has been said, has nothing distinctive in itself. Love and fear, selfdenial and devotion,

existed before those phantoms were created which men call gods, and men have merely applied to invisible

kings the sentiments which they had previously felt towards their earthly kings. If they are a people in a

savage state they hate both kings and gods within their hearts, and obey them only out of fear. If they are a

people in a higher state love is mingled with their fear, producing an affectionate awe which in itself is

pleasing to the mind. That the worship of the unseen king should survive the worship of the earthly king is

natural enough, but even that will not endure for ever; the time is coming when the crowned idea will be cast

By thus translating, or by retranslating, god into king, piety into loyalty, and so on; by bearing in mind that

the gods were not abstract ideas to our ancestors as they are to us, but bona fide men differing only from men

on earth in their invisibility and other magic powers; by noting that the moral disposition of a god is an image

of the moral sense of those who worship himtheir beauideal of what a king should be; by observing that

the number and arrangement of the gods depend exclusively on the intellectual faculties of the people

concerned, on their knowledge of nature, and perhaps to some extent on the political forms of government

under which they live: above all by remembering that there is a gradual development in supernatural ideas,

the student of comparative religion will be able to sift and classify with ease and clearness dense masses of

mythology. But he must understand that the various stages overlap. Just as sailing vessels and fourhorse

coaches are still used in this age of steam, and as stone implements were still to be found in use long after the

age of iron had set in, so in the early period of godbelief thingworship still to a certain extent endured. In a

treaty between Hannibal and Philip of Macedonia which Polybius preserved, the contracting parties take oath

with one another 'n the presence of Jupiter, Juno, and Apollo; in the presence of the deity of the Carthaginians

and of Hercules and of Iolaus; in the presence of Mars, Triton, and Neptune; in the presence of all the gods

who are with us in the camp; and of the sun, the moon, and the earth; the rivers, the lakes, and the waters.' In

the time of Socrates the Athenians regarded the sun as an individual. Alexander, according to Arian,

sacrificed not only to the gods of the sea but 'the sea itself was honoured with is munificence.' Even in Job,

the purest of all monotheistic works, the stars are supposed to be live creatures which sing around the

Again, in those countries where two distinct classes of men exist, the one intellectual and learned, the other

illiterate and degraded, there will be in reality two religions, though nominally there may be only one. Among

the ancient Sabaeans the one class adored spirits who inhabited the stars, the other class adored the stars

themselves. Among the worshippers of fire that element to one class was merely an emblem, to the other an

actual person. Wherever idols or images are used the same phenomenon occurs. These idols are intended by

the priests as aids to devotion, as books for those who cannot read. But the savage believes that his god

inhabits the image, or even regards the image as itself a god. His feelings towards it are those of a child

towards her doll. She knows that it is filled with sawdust and made of painted wood, and yet she loves it as if

it were alive. Such is precisely the illusion of the savage, for he possesses the imagination of a child. He talks

to his idol fondly and washes its face with oil or rum, beats it if it will not give him what he asks, and hides it

in his waistcloth if he is going to do something which he does not wish it to see.

There is one other point which it is necessary to observe. A god�s moral disposition, his ideas of right and

wrong, are those of the people by whom he is created. Wandering tribes do not as a rule consider it wrong to

rob outside the circle of their clan: their god is therefore a robber like themselves. If they settle in a fertile

country, pass into the agricultural state, build towns, and become peaceful citizens with property of their own

they change their views respecting theft, and accordingly their god forbids it in his laws. But it sometimes

happens that the sayings and doings of the tentgod are preserved in writings which are accepted as

revelation by the people of a later and better age. Then may be observed the curious and by no means

pleasing spectacle of a people outgrowing their religion, and believing that their god performed actions which

The mind of an ordinary man is in so imperfect a condition that it requires a creedthat is to say, a theory

concerning the unknown and the unknowable in which it may place its deluded faith and be at rest. But

whatever the creed may be, it should be one which is on a level with the intellect, and which inquiry will

As for minds of the highest order, they must ever remain in suspension of judgement and in doubt. Not only

do they reflect the absurd traditions of the Jews, but also the most ingenious attempts which have been made

to explain on rational and moral grounds the origine and purpose of the universe. Intense and longcontinued

labour reveals to them this alone, that there are regions of thought so subtle and so sublime that the human

mine is unable therein to expand its wings, to exercise its strength. But there is a wide speculative field in

which man is permitted to toil with the hope of rich reward, in which observation and experience can supply

materials to his imagination and his reason. In this field two great discoveries have been already made. First,

that there is a unity of plan in nature, that the universe resembles a body in which all the limbs and organs are

connected with one another; and second, that all phenomena, physical and moral, are subject to laws as

invariable as those which regulate the rising and setting of the sun. It is in reality as foolish to pray for rain or

a fair wind as it would be to pray that the sun should set in the middle of the day. It is as foolish to pray for

the healing of a disease or for daily bread as it is to pray for rain or a fair wind. It is as foolish to pray for a

pure heart or for mental repose as it is to pray for help in sickness or misfortune. All the events which occur

upon the earth result from law: even those actions which are entirely dependent on the caprices of the

memory or the impulse of the passions are shown by statistics to be, when taken in the gross entirely

independent of the human will. As a single atom man is an enigma: as a whole he is a mathematical problem.

The unity of the universe is a scientific fact. To assert that it is the operation of a single mind is a conjecture

based upon analogy, and analogy may be a deceptive guide. It is the most reasonable guess that can be made,

but still it is no more than a guess, and it is one by which nothing after all is really gained. It tells us that the

earth rests upon the tortoise: it does not tell us on what the tortoise rests. God issued the laws which

manufactured the universe and which rule it in its growth. But who made God? Theologians declare that he

made himself, materialists declare that matter made itself, and both utter barren phrases, idle words. The

whole subject is beyond the powers of the human intellect in its present state. All that we can ascertain is this:

that we are governed by physical laws which it is our duty as scholars of Nature to investigate, and by moral

The dogma of a single deity who created the heavens and the earth may therefore be regarded as an imperfect

method of expressing an undoubted truth. Of all religious creeds it is the least objectionable from a scientific

point of view. Yet it was not a Greek who first discovered or invented the one god, but the wild Bedouin of

the desert. At first sight this appears a very extraordinary fact. How, in a matter which depended entirely

upon the intellect, could these barbarians have preceded the Greeks, so far their superiors in every other

respect? The anomaly, however, can be easily explained. In the first theological epoch every object and every

phenomenon of Nature was supposed to be a creature, in the second epoch the dwelling or expression of a

god. It is evident that the more numerous the objects and phenomena, the more numerous would be the gods,

the more difficult it would be to unravel Nature, to detect the connection between phenomena, to discover the

unity which underlies them all. In Greece there is a remarkable variety of climate and contour; hills, groves,

and streams diversify the scene; rugged, snowcovered peaks and warm coast lands with waving palms lie

side by side. But in the land of the Bedouins Nature may be seen in the nude. The sky is uncovered; the earth

is stripped and bare. It is as difficult for the inhabitants of such a country to believe that there are many gods

as for the people of such a land as Greece to believe that there is only one. The earth and the wells and some

uncouth stones, the sun, the moon, and the stars are almost the only materials of superstition that the Bedouin

can employ; and that they were so employed we know. Stone worship and star idolatry, with the adoration of

ancestral shades, prevailed within Arabia in ancient times, and even now are not extinct. 'The servant of the

sun' was one of the titles of their ancient kings. Certain honours are yet paid to the morning star. But in that

country the onegod belief was always that of the higher class of minds, at least within historic time; it is

therefore not incorrect to term it the Arabian creed. We shall now proceed to show in what manner that belief,

having mingled with foreign elements, became a national religion, and how from that religion sprang two

Long after the building of the Pyramids, but before the dawn of Greek and Roman life, a Bedouin sheikh

named Abraham, accompanied by his nephew Lot, migrated from the plains which lie between the Tigris and

Euphrates, crossed over the SyroArabian desert, and entered Canaan, a country about the size of Wales

lying below Phoenicia between the desert and the Mediterranean Sea. They found it inhabited by a people of

farmers and vinedressers, living in walled cities and subsisting on the produce of the soil. But only a portion

of the country was under cultivation: they discovered wide pastoral regions unoccupied by men, and

wandered at their pleasure from pasture to pasture and from plain to plain. Their flocks and herds were

nourished to the full, and multiplied so fast that the Malthusian Law came into force; the herdsmen of

Abraham and Lot began to struggle for existence; the land could no longer bear them both. It was therefore

agreed that each should select a region for himself. A similar arrangement was repeated more than once in the

lifetime of the patriarch. When his illegitimate sons grew up to man�s estate he gave them cattle and sent

At certain seasons of the year he encamped beneath the walls of cities, and exchanged the wool of his flocks

for flour, oil, and wine. He established friendships with the native kings, and joined them in their wars. He

was honoured by them as a prince, for he could bring three hundred armed slaves into the field, and his circle

of tents might fairly be regarded as a town. Before their canvas doors sat the women spinning wool and

singing the Mesopotamian airs, while the aged patriarch in the Great Tent, which served as the forum and the

guesthouse, measured out the rations for the day, gave orders to the young men about the stock, and sat in

judgement on the cases which were brought before him, as king and father to decide.

He bought from the people of the land a field and a cave, in which he buried his wife and in which he was

afterwards himself interred. He was succeeded by Isaac as head of the family. Esau and Jacob, the two sons

Up to this time the children of Abraham were Bedouin Arabsnothing more. They worshipped Eloah or

Allah, sometimes erecting to him a rude altar on which they sacrificed a ram or kid; sometimes a stone pillar

on which they poured a drink, and then smeared it with oil to his honour and glory. Sometimes they planted a

sacred tree. The life which they led was precisely that of the wandering Arabs who pasture their flocks on the

outskirts of Palestine at the present day. Not only Ishmael, but also Lot, Esau, and various Abrahamites of

lesser note became the fathers of Arabian tribes. The BeniIsrael did not differ in manners and religion from

the BeniIshmael and BeniEsau, and BeniLot. It was the settlement of the clan in a foreign country, the

influence of foreign institutions, which made the Israelites a peculiar people. It was the sale of the shepherd

boyat first a houseslave, then a prisoner, then a favourite of the Pharaohwhich created a destiny for the

House of Jacob, separated it from the Arab tribes, and educated it into a nationality. When Joseph became a

great man he obtained permission to send for his father and his brethren. The clan of seventy persons, with

their women and their slaves, came across the desert by the route of the Syrian caravan. The old Arab, in his

course woollen gown and with his staff in his hand, was ushered into the royal presence. He gave the king his

blessing in the solemn manner of the East, and after a short conversation was dismissed with a splendid gift

of land. When Jacob died his embalmed corpse was carried up to Canaan with an Egyptian escort and buried

in the cave which Abraham had bought. Joseph had married the daughter of a priest of Heliopolis, but his two

sons did not become Egyptians; they were formally admitted into the family by Jacob himself before he died.

When Joseph also died the connection between the Israelites and the court came to an end. They led the life

of shepherds in the fertile pasturelands which had been bestowed upon them by the king. In course of time

the twelve families expanded into twelve tribes, and the tribe itself became a nation. The government of

Memphis observed the rapid increase of this people with alarm. The Israelites belonged to the same race as

the hated Hyksos or Shepherd Kings. With their long beards and flowing robes they reminded the Egyptians

of the old oppressors. It was argued that the Bedouins might again invade Egypt, and in that case the

Israelites would take their side. By way of precaution the Israelites were treated as prisoners of war,

disarmed, and employed on the public works. And as they still continued to increase it was ordered that all

their male children should be killed. It was doubtless the intention of the government to marry the girls as

One day the king�s daughter, as she went down with her girls to the Nile to bathe, found a Hebrew child

exposed on the waters in obedience to the new decree. She adopted the boy and gave him an Egyptian name.

He was educated as a priest, and became a member of the university of Heliopolis. But although his face was

shaved and he wore the surplice, Moses remained a Hebrew in his heart. He was so overcome by passion

when he saw an Egyptian illusing an Israelite that he killed the man upon the spot. The crime became

known: there was a hue and cry; he escaped to the peninsula of Sinai, and entered the family of an Arab

The peninsula of Sinai lies clasped between two arms of the Red Sea. It is a wilderness of mountains covered

with a thin, almost transparent coating of vegetation which serves as pasture to the Bedouin flocks. There is

one spot onlythe oasis of Feiranwhere the traveller can tread on black, soft earth and hear the warbling

of birds among the trees, which stand so thickly together that he is obliged as he walks to part the branches

from his face. The peninsula had not escaped the Egyptian arms; tablets may yet be seen on which are

recorded in paintings and hieroglyphics five thousand years old the victories of the Pharaohs over the people

of the land. They also worked mines of copper in the mountains, and heaps of slag still remain. But most

curious of all are the Sinaitic inscriptions, as they are calledfigures of animals rudely scrawled on the

upright surface of the black rocks and mysterious sentences in an undeciphered tongue.

Among the hills which crown the high plateau there is one which at that time was called the Mount of God. It

was holy ground to the Egyptians, and also to the Arabs, who ascended it as pilgrims and drew off their

sandals when they reached the top. Nor is it strange that Sinai should have excited reverence and dread; it is

indeed a weird and awful land. Vast and stern stand the mountains, with their five granite peaks pointing to

the sky; avalanches like those of the Alps, but of sand, not of snow, rush down their naked sides with a clear

and tinkling sound resembling convent bells; a peculiar property resides in the air; the human voice can be

heard at a surprising distance, and swells out into a reverberating roar; and sometimes there rises from among

Let us attempt to realise what Moses must have felt when he was driven out of Egypt into such a harsh and

rugged land. Imagine this man, the adopted son of a royal personage, the initiated priest, sometimes turning

the astrolabe towards the sky, perusing the papyrus scroll, or watching the crucible and the alembic;

sometimes at the great metropolis enjoying the busy turmoil of the street, the splendid pageants of the court,

reclining in a carpeted gondola or staying with a noble at his country house. In a moment all is changed. He is

alone on the mountainside, a shepherd�s crook in his hand. He is a man dwelling in a tent; he is married to

the daughter of a barbarian; his career is at an end. Never more will he enter that palace where once he was

received with honour, where now his name is uttered only with contempt. Never more will he discourse with

grave and learned men in the peaceful college gardens, beneath the willows that hang over the Fountain of the

Sun. Never more will he see the people of his tribe whom he loves so dearly, and for whom he endures this

miserable fate. They will suffer, but he will not see them; they will mourn, but he will not hear themor

only in his dreams. In his dreams he hears them and sees them, alas, too well. He hears the whistling of the

lash and the convulsive sobs and groans. He sees the poor slaves toiling in the field, their hands brown with

the clammy clay. He sees the daughters of Israel carried off to the harem with struggling arms and streaming

hair, and thenO lamentable sight!the chamber of the woman in labourthe seated shuddering, writhing

formthe mother struggling against maternitythe tortured one dreading her releasefor the kings�s

officer is standing by the door, and as soon as the male child is born its life is at an end.

The Arabs with whom he was living were also children of Abraham, and they related to him legends of the

ancient days. They told him of the patriarchs who lay buried in Canaan with their wives; they told him of

Eloah, whom his fathers had adored. Then, as one who returns to a long lost home, the Egyptian priest

returned to the simple faith of the desert, to the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob. As he wandered on

the mountain heights he looked to the west and he saw a desert: beyond it lay Egypt, the house of captivity,

the land of bandage. He looked to the east and he saw a desert: beyond it lay Canaan, the home of his

ancestors, a land of peace and soon to be a land of hope. For now new ideas rose tumultuously within him.

He began to see visions and to dream dreams. He heard voices and beheld no form; he saw trees which blazed

with fire and yet were not consumed. He became a prophet; he entered the ecstatic state.

Meanwhile the king had died; a new Pharaoh had mounted on the throne; Moses was able to return to Egypt

and to carry out the great design which he had formed. He announced to the elders of the people, to the heads

of houses and the sheikhs of tribes, that Eloah, the God of Abraham, had appeared to him in Sinai and had

revealed his true nameit was Jehovahand had sent him to Egypt to bring away his people, to carry them

to Canaan. The elders believed in his mission and accepted him as their chief. He went to Pharaoh and

delivered the message of Jehovah: the king received it as he would have received the message of an Arab

chiefgods were plentiful in Egypt. But whenever a public calamity occurred Moses declared that Jehovah

was its author, and there were Egyptians who said that their own gods were angry with them for detaining a

people who were irreligious, filthy in their habits, and affected with unpleasant diseases of the skin. The king

gave them permission to go and offer a sacrifice to their desert god. The Israelites stole away, taking with

them the mummy of Joseph and some jewellery belonging to their masters. Guides marched in front bearing a

lighted apparatus like that which was used in Alexander�s camp, which gave a pillar of smoke by day and a

flame by night. Moses led them by way of Suez into Asia, and then along the weedstrewn, shellstrewn

shore of the Red Sea to the wilderness of Sinai and the Mount of God. There with many solemn and imposing

rites he delivered laws which he said had been issued to him from the clouds. He assembled the elders to

represent the people, and drew up a contract between them and Jehovah. It was agreed that they should obey

the laws of Jehovah, and pay the taxes which he might impose, while he engaged on his part to protect them

from danger in their march through the desert and to give them possession of the Promised Land. An ark or

chest of acaciawood was made in the Egyptian style, and the agreement was deposited therein with the ten

fundamental laws which Moses had engraved on stone. A tent of dyed skins was prepared and fitted with

church furniture by voluntary subscription, partly out of stolen goods. This became the temple of the people

and the residence of Jehovah, who left his own dwelling above the vaulted sky that he might be able to

protect them on the way. Moses appointed his brother Aaron and his sons to serve as priests; they wore the

surplice, but to distinguish them from Egyptian priests they were ordered not to shave their heads. The men

of Levi, to which tribe Moses himself belonged, were set apart for the service of the sacred tent. They were in

reality his bodyguard, and by their means he put down a mutiny at Sinai, slaughtering three thousand men.

When thus the nation had been organised the march began. At daybreak two silver trumpets were blown, the

tents were struck, the tribes assembled under their respective banners, and the men who bore the ark went

first with the guides to show the road and to choose an encampment for the night. The Israelites crossed a

stony desert, suffering much on the way. Water was scarce; they had no provisions, and were forced to

subsist on manna or angel�s bread, a gummy substance which exudes from a desert shrub and is a pleasant

As they drew near the land of Canaan the trees of the desert, the palm and the acacia, disappeared. But the

earth became carpeted with green plants and spotted with red anemones like drops of blood. Here and there

might be seen a patch of corn, and at last in the distance rounded hills with trees standing against the sky.

They encamped, and a man from each tribe was deputed to spy the land. In six weeks they returned bringing

with them a load of grapes. Two scouts only were in favour of invasion. The other ten declared that the land

was a good land, as the fruits showeda land flowing with milk and honey; but the people were like giants;

their cities were walled and very great; the Israelites were as grasshoppers in comparison, and would not be

This opinion was undoubtedly correct. The children of Israel were a rabble of field slaves who had never

taken a weapon in their hands. The business before them was by no means to their taste, and it was not what

Moses had led them to expect. He had agreed on the part of Jehovah to give them a land. They had expected

to find it unoccupied and prepared for their reception like a new house. They did not require a prophet to

inform them that a country should be theirs if they were strong enough to take it by the sword, and this it was

clear they could not do. So they poured forth the vials of their anger and their grief. They lifted up their voice

and cried; they wept all the night. Would to God they had died in the wilderness! Would to God they had died

in Egypt! Jehovah had brought them there that they might fall by the sword, and that their wives and little

ones might be a prey. They would choose another captain; they would go back to Egypt. Joshua and Caleb,

the two scouts who had recommended invasion, tried to cheer them up, and were nearly stoned to death for

their pains. Next day the people of Canaan marched out against them: a skirmish took place and the Israelites

were defeated. They went back to the desert, and wandered forty years in the shepherd or Bedouin state.

And then there was an end of that miserable race who were always whining under hardship, hankering after

the fleshpots of the old slave life. In their stead rose up a new generationgenuine children of the desert

who could live on a few dates soaked in butter and a mouthful of milk a day; who were practised from their

childhood in predatory wars; to whom rapine was a business, and massacre a sport. The conquest of Canaan

was an idea which they had imbibed at their mothers� breasts, and they were now quite ready for the work.

Moses before his death drew up a second agreement between Jehovah and the people. It was to the same

effect as the covenant of Sinai. Loyalty and taxes were demanded by Jehovah; long life, success in war, and

fruitful crops were promised in return. Within this contract was included a code of laws which Moses had

enacted from time to time, in addition to the ten commandments; and this second agreement was binding not

Moses died; Joshua was made commanderinchief, and the Israelites began their march of war. This time

The river Jordan rises in the Lebanon mountains, half way between Tyre and Damascus; it runs due south,

and ends its curling, twisting course in the dismal waters of the Dead Sea. Its basin belongs to the desert, for

Along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, parallel to the valley of the Jordan, lies a fertile strip of land

without good harbours, but otherwise resembling Phoenicia, from which it is divided by two large

And thirdly, between the naked valley of the Jordan and this corn producing line of coast there rises a

tableland of limestone formation, honeycombed with caves, watered by running streams of no great size, and

The coast belonged to the Philistines, the basin of the Jordan and the pastoral regions on the south to roving

Arab tribes; the tableland was inhabited by farmers whose towns and villages were always perched on the

tops of hills, and who cultivated the vine on terraces, each vineyard being guarded by a watch tower and a

wall; the valley plains were inhabited by Canaanites or lowlanders, who possessed cavalry and iron chariots

The Israelites differed from other Bedouin tribes in one respectthey were not mounted, and they were

unable to stand their ground against the horsemen of the plain. The Philistines, a warlike people probably of

the Aryan race, also retained their independence. The conquests of the Israelites were confined to the land of

the south, the Jordan valley and the mountain regions, though even in the highlands the conquest under

Joshua was not complete. However, the greater part of Palestine was taken and partitioned among the

Israelitish tribes. Some of these inclined to the pastoral and others to the agricultural condition, and each was

governed by its own sheikh. During four hundred years Ephraim remained the dominant tribe, and with

Ephraim the high priest took up his abode. At a place called Shiloh there was erected an enclosure of low

stone walls over which the sacred tent was drawn. This was the oracle establishment, or House of God, to

which all the tribes resorted three times a year to celebrate the holy feasts with prayer and sacrifice, and

The Levites had no political power and no share in civil life, but they had cities of their own, and they also

travelled about like mendicant friars from place to place performing certain functions of religion, and

It was owing to these two institutions, the oracle and the monkish order, that the nationality of Israel was

preserved. Yet though it escaped extinction it did not retain its unity and strength. So far from extending their

conquests, after their first inroad under Joshua the Israelites constantly lost ground. They were divided into

twelve petty states, always jealous of one another and often engaged in civil war. The natives took advantage

of these dissensions, and subdued them one by one. Now and then a hero would arise, rouse them to a war of

independence, and rule over them as judge for a few years. Then again they would fall apart, and again be

conquered, sometimes paying tribute as vassals, sometimes hiding in the mountain caves. However, at last

there came a change. The temporal and spiritual powers, united in the hands of Moses, were divided at his

death. Joshua became the general of Jehovah; the high priest became his grand vizier. Joshua could do

nothing of importance without consulting the high priest, who read the commands of the Divine Sheikh in the

light and play of Urim and Thummim, the oracular shining stones. On the other hand, the high priest could

not issue laws; he could only give decisions and replies. But now a Nazarite or servant of the Church, named

Samuel, usurped the office, or at all events the powers, of high priest which belonged to the family of Aaron,

and also obtained the dignity of president or judge. He professed to be the recipient of private instructions

from Jehovah, issued laws in his name, and went round on circuit judging the twelve tribes.

In his old age he delegated this office to his sons, who gave false judgments and took bribes. The elders of the

Samuel had established a papacy, intending to make it hereditary in his house, and now the evil conduct of

his sons frustrated all his hopes. He protested in the name of Jehovah against this change in the constitution;

he appealed to his own blameless life; he drew a vivid picture of the horrors of despotism; but in vain. The

people persisted in their demand; they were at that time in the vassal state, and their liege lords, the

Philistines, did not permit them to have smiths lest they should make weapons and rebel. Samuel himself had

united the tribes, and had inspired them with the sentiments of nationality. They yearned to be free, and they

observed that they lost battles because their enemies were better officered than themselves. They saw that

they needed a military chief who would himself lead them to the charge, instead of sacrificing a sucking lamb

Samuel, still protesting, elected Saul to the royal office. The young man was gladly accepted by the people on

account of his personal beauty, and as he belonged to the poorest family of the poorest tribe in Israel, Samuel

hoped that he would be able to preserve the real power in his own hands. But it so happened that Saul was not

only a brave soldier and a good general; he was also at times a 'godintoxicated man,' and did not require a

third person to bring him the instructions of Jehovah. He made himself the Head of the Church, as well as of

the state, and Samuel was compelled to retire into private life. It is for this reason that Saul�s character has

been so bitterly attacked by the priesthistorians of the Jews. For what after all are the crimes of which he

was guilty? He administered the battleoffering himself, and he spared the life of a man whom Samuel had

commanded him to kill as a human sacrifice to Jehovah. Saul was by no means faultless, but his character

was pure as snow when compared with that of his successor. David was undoubtedly the greater general of

the two, yet it was Saul who laid the foundations of the Jewish kingdom. It was Saul who conquered the

Philistines and won freedom for the nation with no better weapons than their mattocks and their axes and

their sharpened goads. Saul�s persecution of David is the worst stain upon his life, yet if it is true that David

had been in Saul�s lifetime privately anointed king, he was guilty of treason and deserved to die. But that

story of the anointing might have been invented afterwards to justify his succession to the throne.

At first David took refuge with the Philistines and fought against his own countrymen. Next he turned

brigand, and was joined by all the criminals and outlaws of the land. The cave of Adullam was his lair,

whence he sallied forth to levy blackmail on the rich farmers and graziers of the neighbourhood, cutting their

throats when they refused to pay. At the same time, he was a very religious man, and never went on a

plundering expedition without consulting a little image which revealed to him the orders and wishes of

Jehovah, just as the Bedouins always pray to Allah before they commit a crime, and thank him for his

Saul was succeeded by his son Ishbosheth, who was accepted by eleven tribes. But David, supported by his

own tribe and by his band of well trained robbers, defied the nation and made war upon his lawful king. He

had not the shadow of a claim; however, with the help of treason and assassination he finally obtained the

crown. His military genius had then full scope. He took Jerusalem, a pagan stronghold which during four

hundred years had maintained its independence. He conquered the coast of the Philistines, the plains of

Canaan, the great city of Damascus, and the tribes of the desert far and near. He garrisoned Arabia Petraea.

This man after God�s own heart had a wellstocked harem, and the usual intrigues took place. He

disinherited his eldest son and left the kingdom to the son of his favourite wifea woman for whom he had

committed a crime which had offended the not overdelicate Jehovah. The nation seemed taken by surprise,

and Solomon, in order to preserve the undivided affections of his people, at once killed his brother and his

The wisdom of Solomon has become proverbial. But whatever his intellectual attainments may have been, he

did not possess that kind of wisdom which alone is worthy of a king. He did not attempt to make his

monarchy enduring, his people prosperous and content. He was a true Oriental sultan, sleek and sensual,

luxurious and magnificent, short sighted and unscrupulous, cutting down the tree to eat the fruit. The capital

of a despot is always favoured, and with the citizens of Jerusalem he was popular enough. They were in a

measure his guests and companions, the inmates of his house. They saw their city encircled with enormous

walls, and paved with slabs of black and shining stone. Their eyes were dazzled and their vanity delighted

with the splendid buildings which he raisedthe ivory palace, the cedar palace, and the temple. The pilgrims

who thronged to the sanctuary from all quarters of the land, and the travellers who came for the purposes of

trade, brought wealth into the city. Foreign commerce was a court monopoly, but the city was a part of the

court. Outside the city walls, however, or at least beyond the circle of the city lands, it was a very different

affair. The rural districts were severely taxed, especially those at a distance from the capital. The tribes of

Israel, which but a few years before had been on terms of complete equality among themselves, were now

trampled underfoot by this upstart of the House of Judah. The tribe of Ephraim, which had so long enjoyed

supremacy, became restless beneath the yoke. While Solomon yet reigned the standard of revolt was raised;

as soon as he died this empire of a day dissolved. Damascus became again an independent state. The Arabs

cut the road to the Red Sea. The King of Egypt, who had probably been Solomon�s liege lord, dispatched an

army to fetch away the treasures of the temple and the palace. The ten tribes seceded, and two distinct

The ten tribes of Israel, or the Kingdom of the North, extended over the lands of Samaria and Galilee. Its

Judah and Benjamin, the royal tribes, occupied the highlands of Judea. Jerusalem was their capital; its temple

was their sanctuary, and the Levites, whom the Israelites had discarded, were their priests. It is needless to

relate the wars which were almost incessantly being waged between these two miserable kingdoms. When the

empire of the Tigris took the place of Egypt as suzerain of Syria both Israel and Judah sent their tribute to

Nineveh; and as the cuneiform history relates, both of them afterwards rebelled. Sennacherib marched against

them and carried off the ten tribes into captivity. Judea was more mountainous, and on that account more

difficult to conquer than the land of the North. The Jews, as they may now be called, defended themselves

stoutly, and a camp plague broke up the army before Jerusalem. By this occurrence Egypt also was preserved

from conquest. At that time Sethos, the priest, was king, and the soldiers, whose lands he had taken, refused

to fight. Both the Egyptians and the Jews ascribed their escape to a miracle performed by their respective

Great events now took place. The Assyrian empire fell to pieces, and Nineveh was destroyed. The Medes

inherited its power on the east of the Euphrates; the Chaldeans inherited its power on the west. Egypt under

the PhilHellenes was again spreading into Asia, and a terrific duel took place between the two powers. The

Jews managed so well that when the Egyptian star was in the ascendant they took the side of Babylon; and

when the Babylonians had won the battle of Carchemish the Jews intrigued with the fallen nation.

Nebuchadnezzar gave them repeated warnings, but at last his patience was exhausted and he levelled the

rebellious city to the ground. Some of the citizens escaped to Egypt; the aristocracy and priesthood were

At Babylon there was a collection of captive kings, each of whom was assigned his daily allowance and his

throne. In this palace of shadows the unfortunate Jehoiachin ended his days. But the Jewish people were not

When the ten tribes seceded they virtually abandoned their religion. They withdrew from the temple which

they had once acknowledged as the dwelling of Jehovah; they had no hereditary priesthood; they had no holy

books; and so as soon as they ceased to possess a country they ceased to exist as a race. But the Jews

Moses had been an Egyptian priest, and the unity of God was a fundamental article of that religion. The unity

of God was also the tenet of the more intelligent Arabs of the desert. Whether therefore we regard that great

man as an Egyptian or as an Arab, it can scarcely be doubted that the views which he held of the Deity were

as truly unitarian as those of Mohammed and AbdulWahhab. It is, however, quite certain that to the people

whom he led Jehovah was merely an invisible Bedouin chief who travelled with them in a tent, who walked

about the camp at night and wanted it kept clean, who manoeuvred the troops in battle, who delighted in

massacres and human sacrifice, who murdered people in sudden fits of rage, who changed his mind, who

enjoyed petty larceny and employed angels to tell lieswho, in short, possessed all the vices of the Arab

character. He also possessed their ideal virtues, for he prohibited immorality and commanded them to be

hospitable to the stranger, to be charitable to the poor, and to treat with kindness the domestic beast and the

It was impossible for Moses to raise their minds to a nobler conception of the Deity; it would have been as

easy to make them see Roman noses when they looked into a mirror. He therefore made use of their

superstition in order to rule them for their own good, and descended to trumpetings and firetricks which

chamber moralists may condemn with virtuous indignation, but which those who have known what it is to

When the settlement in Canaan took place the course of events gave rise to a theory about Jehovah which not

only the Israelites held but also the Philistines. It was believed that he was a mountain god and could not fight

on level ground. He was unlike the pagan gods in one respect, namely, that he ordered his people to destroy

the groves and idols of his rivals, and threatened to punish them if they worshipped any god but him.

However, as might be supposed, although the Israelites were very loyal on the mountains, they worshipped

other gods when they fought upon the plains. Whenever they won a battle they sang a song in honour of

Jehovah and declared that he was 'a man of war,' but when they lost a battle they supposed that Baal or Dagon

had trodden Jehovah under foot. The result of this was a mixed religion: they worshipped Jehovah, but they

worshipped other gods as well. Solomon declared when he opened the temple that Jehovah filled the sky, that

there were no other gods but he. But this was merely Oriental flattery. Solomon must have believed that there

were other gods because he worshipped other gods. His temple was in fact a Pantheon, and altars were raised

on the Mount of Olives to Moloch and Astarte. After the reign of Solomon, however, the Jews became a

civilised people; a literary class arose. Jerusalem, situated on the highway between the Euphrates and the

Nile, obtained a place in the Asiatic world. The minds of the citizens became elevated and refined, and that

reflection of their minds which they called Jehovah assumed a pure and noble form: he was recognised as the

During all these years Moses had been forgotten, but now his code of laws (so runs the legend) was

discovered in a corner of the temple, and laws of a higher kind adapted to a civilised people were issued

under his name. The idols were broken, the foreign priests were expelled. It was in the midst of this great

religious revival that Jerusalem was destroyed, and it may well be that the law which forbade the Jews to

render homage to a foreign king was the chief cause of their contumacy and their dispersal. It was certainly

the cause of all their subsequent calamities: it was their loyalty to Jehovah which provoked the destruction of

the city by the Romans: it was their fidelity to the law which brought down upon them all the curses of the

The reformation in the first period had been by no means complete: there had been many relapses and

backslidings, and they therefore readily believed that the captivity was a judgment upon them for their sins.

By the waters of Babylon they repented with bitter tears; in a strange land they returned to the god of their

fathers and never deserted him again. Henceforth religion was their patriotism. Education became general:

divine worship was organised: schools and synagogues were established wherever Jews were to be found.

And soon they were to be found in all the cities of the Eastern world. They had no land, and therefore adopted

commerce as their pursuit; they became a trading and a travelling people, and the financial abilities which

they displayed obtained them employment in the households and treasuries of kings.

The dispersion of the Jews must be dated from this period and not from the second destruction of the city.

When Cyrus conquered Babylon he restored to the Jews their golden candlesticks and holy vessels, allowed

them to return home, and rendered them assistance partly from religious sympathyfor the Jews made him

believe that his coming had been predicted by their prophetsand partly from motives of policy. Palestine

was the key to Egypt, against which Cyrus had designs, and it was wise to plant in Palestine a people on

whom he could rely. But not all the Jews availed themselves of his decree. The merchants and officials who

were now making their fortunes by the waters of Babylon were not inclined to return to the modest farmer

life of Judea. Their piety was warm and sincere, but it was no longer combined with a passion for the soil.

They began to regard Jerusalem as the Mohammedans regard Mecca. The people who did return were chiefly

the fanatics, the clergy, and the paupers. The harvest, as we shall find was worthy of the seed.

Beneath the Persian yoke the Jews of Judea were content, and paid their tribute with fidelity. They could do

so without scruple, for they identified Ormuzd with Jehovah, took lessons in theology from the doctors of the

ZendAvesta, and recognised the Great King as God�s viceroy on earth. But when the Persian empire was

broken up Palestine was again tossed upon the waves. The Greek kings of Alexandria and Antioch repeated

the wars of Nebuchadnezzar and Necho. Again Egypt was worsted, and Syria became a province of the

GraecoAsiatic empire. The government encouraged emigration into the newly conquered lands, and soon

Palestine was covered with Greek towns and filled with Greek settlers. Judea alone remained like an island in

the flood. European culture was detested by the doctors of the law, who inflicted the same penalty for

learning Greek as for eating pork. They therefore resisted the spread of civilisation, and Jerusalem was closed

In the Hellenic world toleration was the universal rule. An oracle at Delphi had expressed the opinion of all

when it declared that the proper religion for each man was the religion of his fatherland. Governments,

therefore, did not interfere with the religious opinions of the people, but on the other hand the religious

opinions of the people did not interfere with their civil duties. We allow the inhabitants of the holy city of

Benares to celebrate the rites of their pilgrimage in their own manner, and to torture themselves in

moderation, but we should at once begin what they would call a religious persecution if they were to purify

the town by destroying the shops of the beefbutchers and other institutions which are an abomination in

their eyes. Antiochus Epiphanes was by nature a humane and enlightened prince; he attempted to

Europeanise Jerusalem; he could do this only by abolishing the Jewish laws; he could abolish their laws only

by destroying their religion; and thus he was gradually drawn into barbarous and useless crimes of which he

At first, however, it appeared as if he would succeed. The aristocratic party of Jerusalem were won over to

the cause. A gymnasium was erected, and Jews with artificial foreskins appeared naked in the arena. Riots

broke out. Then royal edicts were issued forbidding circumcision, and keeping of the Sabbath, and the use of

the law. A pagan altar was set up in the Holy of Holies, and swine were sacrificed upon it to the Olympian

Jove. The riots increased. Then a Greek regiment garrisoned the city; all newborn children that were found

to be circumcised were hurled with their mothers from the walls; altar pork was offered as a test of loyalty to

the elders of the Church, and those who refused to eat were put to death with tortures too horrible to be

described. And now the Jews no longer raised riots: they rebelled. The empire was at that time in a state of

weakness and disorder, and under the gallant Maccabees the independence of Judea was achieved. Yet it is

only in adversity that the Jews can be admired. As soon as they obtained the power of self government they

showed themselves unworthy to possess it, and in the midst of a civil war they were enveloped by the Roman

power, which had extended them its protection in the period of the Maccabees. The senate placed Herod the

Herod was a man of the world, and his policy resembled that of the Ptolemies in Egypt. He built the Temple

at Jerusalem and a theatre at Caesarea, in which city he preferred to dwell. The kingdom at his death was

divided between his three sons: they were merely rajahs under the rule of Rome, and the one who governed

Judea having been removed for misbehaviour, that country was attached to the proconsulate of Syria. A

lieutenantgovernor was appointed to reside in the turbulent district to collect the revenues and maintain

order. The position of the first commandant whom Russia sends to garrison Bokhara will resemble that of the

Those Jews of Judea, those Hebrews of the Hebrews, regarded all the Gentiles as enemies of God; they

considered it a sin to live abroad, or to speak a foreign language, or to rub their limbs with foreign oil. Of all

the trees, the Lord had chosen but one vine; and of all the flowers but one lily; and of all the birds but one

dove; and of all the cattle but one lamb; and of all the builded cities only Sion; and among all the multitude of

peoples he had elected the Jews as a peculiar treasure, and had made them a nation of priests and holy men.

For their sake God had made the world. On their account alone empires rose and fell. Babylon had triumphed

because God was angry with his people; Babylon had fallen because he had forgiven them. It may be

imagined that it was not easy to govern such a race. They acknowledged no king but Jehovah, no laws but the

precepts of their holy books. In paying tribute they yielded to absolute necessity, but the taxgatherers were

looked upon as unclean creatures; no respectable men would eat with them or pray with them; their evidence

Their own government consisted of a Sanhedrin or Council of Elders, presided over by the High Priest. They

had power to administer their own laws, but could not inflict the punishment of death without the permission

of the procurator. All persons of consideration devoted themselves to the study of the law. Hebrew had

become a dead language, and some learning was therefore requisite for the exercise of this profession, which

was not the prerogative of a single class. It was a rabbinical axiom that the crown of the kingdom was

deposited in Judah, and the crown of the priesthood in the seed of Aaron, but that the crown of the law was

common to all Israel. Those who gained distinction as expounders of the sacred books were saluted with the

title of rabbi, and were called scribes and doctors of the law. The people were ruled by the scribes, but the

scribes were recruited from the people. It was not an idle castean established Churchbut an order which

was filled and refilled with the pious, the earnest, and the ambitious members of the nation.

There were two great religious sects which were also political parties, as must always be the case where law

and religion are combined. The Sadducees were the rich, the indolent, and the passive aristocrats; they were

the descendants of those who had belonged to the Greek party in the reign of Antiochus, and it was said that

they themselves were tainted with the Greek philosophy. They professed, however, to belong to the

conservative Scripture and original Mosaic school. As the Protestants reject the traditions of the ancient

Church, some of which have doubtless descended viva voce from apostolic times, so all traditions, good and

bad, were rejected by the Sadduccees. As Protestants always inquire respecting a custom or doctrine, 'Is it in

the Bible?' so the Sadduccees would accept nothing that could not be shown them in the law. They did not

believe in heaven and hell because there was nothing about heaven and hell in the books of Moses. The

morality which their doctors preached was cold and pure, and adapted only for enlightened minds. They

taught that men should be virtuous without the fear of punishment and without the hope of reward, and that

The Pharisees were mostly persons of low birth. They were the prominent representatives of the popular

belief, zealots in patriotism as well as in religionthe teaching, the preaching, and the proselytising party.

Among them were to be found two kinds of men. Those Puritans of the Commonwealth with lank hair and

sour visage and upturned eyes, who wore sombre garments, sniffled through their noses, and garnished their

discourse with Scripture texts, were an exact reproduction, so far as the difference of place and period would

allow, of certain Jerusalem Pharisees who veiled their faces when they went abroad lest they should behold a

woman or some unclean thing; who strained the water which they drank for fear they should swallow the

forbidden gnat; who gave alms to the sound of trumpet, and uttered long prayers in a loud voice; who wore

texts embroidered on their robes and bound upon their brows; who followed minutely the observances of the

ceremonial law; who added to it with their traditions; who lengthened the hours and deepened the gloom of

the Sabbath day, and increased the taxes which it had been ordered should be paid upon the altar.

On the other hand, there had been among the Puritans many men of pure and gentle lives, and a similar class

existed among the Pharisees. The good Pharisee, says the Talmud, is he who obeys the law because he loves

the Lord. They addressed their god by the name of 'Father' when they prayed. 'Do unto others as you would

be done by' was an adage often on their lips. That is the law, they said; all the rest is mere commentary. To

the Pharisees belonged all that was best and all that was worst in the Hebrew religious life.

The traditions of the Pharisees related partly to ceremonial matters which in the written law were already

diffuse and intricate enough. But it must also be remembered that without traditions the Hebrew theology was

barbarous and incomplete. Before the captivity the doctrine of rewards and punishments in a future state had

not been known. The Sheol of the Jews was a land of shades in which there was neither joy nor sorrow, in

which all ghosts or souls dwelt promiscuously together. When the Jews came in contact with the Persian

priests they were made acquainted with the heaven and hell of the ZendAvesta. It is probable, indeed, that

without foreign assistance they would in time have developed a similar doctrine for themselves. Already in

the Psalms and Book of Job are signs that the Hebrew mind was in a transition state. When Ezekiel declared

that the son should not be responsible for the iniquity of the father nor the father for the iniquity of the son,

that the righteousness of the righteous should be upon him, and that the wickedness of the wicked should be

upon him, he was preparing the way for a new system of ideas in regard to retribution. But as it was, the Jews

were indebted to the ZendAvesta for their traditional theory of a future life, and they also adopted the

Persian ideas of the resurrection of the body, the rivalry of the evil spirit, and the approaching destruction and

The Satan of Job is not a rebellious angel, still less a contending god: he is merely a mischievous and

malignant sprite. But the Satan of the restored Jews was a powerful prince who went about like a roaring lion,

and to whom this world belonged. He was copied from Ahriman, the God of Darkness, who was ever

contending with Ormuzd, the God of Light. The Persians believed that Ormuzd would finally triumph, and

that a prophet would be sent to announce the gospel or good tidings of his approaching victory. Terrible

calamities would then take place; the stars would fall down from heaven; the earth itself would be destroyed.

After which it would come forth new from the hands of the Creator; a kind of Millennium would be

established; there would be one law, one language, and one government for men, and universal peace would

This theory became blended in the Jewish minds with certain expectations of their own. In the days of

captivity their prophets had predicted that a Messiah or anointed king would be sent, that the kingdom of

David would be restored, and that Jerusalem would become the headquarters of God on earth. All the nations

would come to Jerusalem to keep the feast of tabernacles and to worship God. Those who did not come

should have no rain; and as the Egyptians could do without rain, if they did not come they should have the

plague. The Jewish people would become one vast priesthood, and all nations would pay them tithe. Their

seed would inherit the Gentiles. They would suck the milk of the Gentiles. They would eat the riches of the

Gentiles. These same unfortunate Gentiles would be their ploughmen and their vinedressers. Bowing down

would come those that afflicted Jerusalem, and would lick the dust off her feet. Strangers would build up her

walls, and kings would minister unto her. Many people and strong nations would come to see the Lord of

Hosts in Jerusalem. Ten men in that day would lay hold of the skirt of a Jew saying, 'We will go with you, for

we have heard that God is with you.' It was an idea worthy of the Jews that they should keep the Creator to

In the meantime these prophecies had not been fulfilled, and the Jews were in daily expectation of the

Messiahas they are still, and as they are likely to be for some time to come. It was the belief of the vulgar

that this Messiah would be a man belonging to the family of David, who would liberate them from the

Romans and become their king; so they were always on the watch, and whenever a remarkable man appeared

they concluded that he was the son of David, the Holy One of Israel, and were ready at once to proclaim him

king and to burst into rebellion. This illusion gave rise to repeated riots or revolts, and at last brought about

But among the higher class of minds the expectation of the Messiah, though not less ardent, was of a more

spiritual kind. They believed that the Messiah was that prophet, often called the Son of Man who would be

send by God to proclaim the defeat of Satan and the renovation of the world. They interpreted the prophets

after a manner of their own: the kingdom foretold was the kingdom of heaven, and the new Jerusalem was

not a Jerusalem on earth but a celestial city built of precious stones and watered by the Stream of Life.

Such were the hopes of the Jews. The whole nation trembled with excitement and suspense; the mob of Judea

awaiting the Messiah or king who should lead them to the conquest of the world; the more noble minded

Jews of Palestine, and especially the foreign Jews, awaiting the Messiah or Son of Man who should proclaim

the approach of the most terrible of all events. There were many pious men and women who withdrew

entirely from the cares of ordinary life, and passed their days in watching and in prayer.

The NeoJewish or PersianHebrew religion, with its sublime theory of a single god, with its clearly defined

doctrine of rewards and punishments, with its one grand duty of faith or allegiance to a divine king, was so

attractive to the mind on account of its simplicity that it could not fail to conquer the discordant and jarring

creeds of the pagan world as soon as it should be propagated in the right manner. There is a kind of natural

selection in religion; the creed which is best adapted to the mental world will invariably prevail, and the

mental world is being gradually prepared for the reception of higher and higher forms of religious life. At this

period Europe was ready for the reception of the onegod species of belief, but it existed only in the Jewish

area, and was there confined by artificial checks. The Jews held the doctrine that none but Jews could be

saved, and most of them looked forward to the eternal torture of Greek and Roman souls with equanimity, if

not with satisfaction. They were not in the least desirous to redeem them; they hoarded up their religion as

they did their money, and considered it a heritage, a patrimony, a kind of entailed estate. There were some

Jews in foreign parts who esteemed it a work of piety to bring the Gentiles to a knowledge of the true God,

and as it was one of the popular amusements of the Romans to attend the service at the synagogue a convert

was occasionally made. But such cases were very rare, for in order to embrace the Jewish religion it was

necessary to undergo a dangerous operation and to abstain from eating with the pagansin short, to become

a Jew. It was therefore indispensable for the success of the Hebrew religion that it should be divested of its

local customs. But however much the Pharisees and Sadducees might differ on matters of tradition, they were

perfectly agreed on this point, that the ceremonial laws were necessary for salvation. These laws could never

be given up by Jews unless they first became heretics, and this was what eventually occurred. A schism arose

among the Jews: the sectarians were defeated and expelled. Foiled in their first object, they cast aside the law

of Moses and offered the Hebrew religion without the Hebrew ceremonies to the Greek and Roman world.

We shall now sketch the character of the man who prepared the way for this remarkable event.

It was a custom in Israel for the members of each family to meet together once a year that they might

celebrate a sacred feast. A lamb roasted whole was placed upon the table, and a cup of wine was filled. Then

the eldest son said, 'Father, what is the meaning of this feast?' And the father replied that it was held in

memory of the sufferings of their ancestors, and of the mercy of the Lord their God. For while they were

weeping and bleeding in the land of Egypt there came his voice unto Moses and said that each father of a

family should select a lamb without blemish from his flock, and should kill it on the tenth day of the month

Abib, at the time of the setting of the sun; and should put the blood in a basin, and should take a sprig of

hyssop and sprinkle the doorposts and lintel with the blood; and should then roast the lamb and eat it with

unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They should eat it as if in haste, each one standing with his loins girt, his

sandals on his feet, and his staff in his hand. That night the angel of the Lord slew the first born of the

When the father had thus spoken the lamb was eaten, and four cups of wine were drunk, and the family sang

a hymn. At this beautiful and solemn festival all persons of the same kin endeavoured to meet together, and

Hebrew pilgrims from all parts of the world journeyed to Jerusalem. When they came within sight of the

Holy City and saw the Temple shining in the distance like a mountain of snow, some clamoured with cries of

joy, some uttered low and painful sobs. Drawing closer together, they advanced towards the gates singing the

At this time the subscriptions from the various churches abroad were brought to Jerusalem, and were carried

to the Temple treasury in solemn state; and at this time also the citizens of Jerusalem witnessed a procession

which they did not like so well. A company of Roman soldiers escorted the lieutenantgovernor, who came

up from Caesarea for the festival that he might give out the vestments of the High Priest, which, being the

It was the nineteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar. Pontius Pilate had taken up his quarters in the city,

and the time of the Passover was at hand. Not only Jerusalem, but also the neighbouring villages, were filled

It happened one day that a sound of shouting was heard; the men ran up to the roofs of their houses, and the

maidens peeped through their latticed windows. A young man mounted on a donkey was riding towards the

city. A crowd streamed out to meet him, and a crowd followed him behind. The people cast their mantles on

the road before him, and also covered it with green boughs. He rode through the city gates straight to the

In the outer courts there was a kind of bazaar in connection with the Temple worship. Pure white lambs,

pigeons, and other animals of the requisite age and appearance were there sold, and money merchants, sitting

at their tables, changed the foreign coin with which the pilgrims were provided. The young man at once

proceeded to upset the tables and to drive their astonished owners from the Temple, while the crowd shouted

and the little gamins, who were not the least active in the riot, cried out, 'Hurrah for the son of David!' Then

people suffering from diseases were brought to him, and he laid his hands upon them and told them to have

faith and they would be healed. When strangers inquired the meaning of this disturbance they were told that it

was Joshuaoras the Greek Jews called him, Jesusthe Prophet of Nazareth. It was believed by the

common people that he was the Messiah. But the Pharisees did not acknowledge his mission. For Jesus

belonged to Galilee, and the natives of that country spoke a vile patois, and their orthodoxy was in bad

repute. 'Out of Galilee,' said the Pharisees with scorn, 'out of Galilee there cometh no prophet.'

All persons of imaginative minds know what it is to be startled by a thought; they know how ideas flash into

the mind as if from without, and what physical excitement they can at times produce. They also know what it

is to be possessed by a presentiment, a deep, overpowering conviction of things to come. They know how

The prophet or seer is a man of strong imaginative powers which have not been calmed by education. The

ideas which occur to his mind often present themselves to his eyes and ears in corresponding sights and

sounds. As one in a dream he hears voices and sees forms; his whole mien is that of a man who is possessed;

his face sometimes becomes transfigured and appears to glow with light; but usually the symptoms are of a

more painful kind, such as foaming of the mouth, writhing of the limbs, and a bubbling ebullition of the

voice. He is sometimes seized by these violent ideas against his will. But he can to a certain extent produce

them by long fasting and by long prayer, or in other words by the continued concentration of the mind upon a

single point; by music, dancing, and fumigations. The disease is contagious, as is shown by the anecdote of

Saul among the prophets, and similar scenes have been frequently witnessed by travellers in the East.

Prophets have existed in all countries and at all times, but the gift becomes rare in the same proportion as

people learn to read and write. Second sight in the Highlands disappeared before the school, and so it has

been in other lands. Prophets were numerous in ancient Greece. In the Homeric period they opposed the royal

power and constituted another authority by the grace of God. Herodotus alludes to men who went about

prophesying in hexameters. Thucydides says that while the Peloponnesians were ravaging the lands of Athens

there were prophets within the city uttering all kinds of oracles, some for going out and some for remaining

in. It was a prophet who obtained the passing of that law under which Socrates was afterwards condemned to

death. In Greece, Egypt, and in Israel the priests adopted and localised the prophetic power. The oracles of

Amon, Delphi, and Shiloh bore the same relation to individual prophets as an Established Church to itinerant

preachers. Syria was especially fertile in prophets. Marius kept a Syrian prophetess named Martha, who

attended him in all his campaigns. It matters nothing what the Syrian religion might be; the same

phenomenon again and again recurs. Balaam was a prophet before Israel was established. Then came the

prophets of the Jews, and they again have been succeeded by the Christian cave saint and the Moslem

dervish, whom the Arabs have always regarded with equal veneration. But it was among the Jews from the

time of Samuel to the captivity that prophets or dervishes were most abundant. They were then as plentiful as

politiciansand politicians in fact they were, and prophesied against each other. Some would be for peace

and some would be for war: some were partisans of Egypt, others were partisans of Babylon. The prophetic

ideas differ in no respect from those of ordinary men except in the sublime or ridiculous effect which they

produce on the prophetic mind and body. Sometimes the predictions of the Jewish prophets were fulfilled,

and sometimes they were not. To use the Greek phrase, their oracles were often of base metal, and in such a

case the unfortunate dervish was jeered at as a false prophet, and would in his turn reproach the Lord for

The Jewish prophet was an extraordinary being. He was something more and something less than a man. He

spoke like an angel; he acted like a beast. As soon as he received his mission he ceased to wash. He often

retired to the mountains, where he might be seen skipping from rock to rock like a goat; or he wandered in

the desert with a leather girdle round his loins, eating roots and wild honey, or sometimes browsing on grass

and flowers. He always adapted his actions to the idea which he desired to convey. He not only taught in

parables but performed them. For instance, Isaiah walked naked through the streets to show that the Lord

would strip Jerusalem, and make her bare. Ezekiel cut off his hair and beard and weighed it in the scales: a

third part he burnt with fire, a third part he strewed about with a knife, and a third part he scattered to the

wind. This was also intended to illustrate the calamities which would befall the Jews. Moreover he wore a

rotten girdle as a sign that their city would decay, and buttered his bread in a manner we would rather not

describe, as a sign that they would eat defiled bread among the Gentiles. Jeremiah wore a wooden yoke as a

sign that they should be taken into captivity. As a sign that the Jews were guilty of wantonness in

worshipping idols, Hosea cohabited three years with a woman of the town; and as a sign that they committed

adultery in turning from the Lord their God, he went and lived with another man�s wife.

Such is the ludicrous side of Jewish prophecy; yet it has also its serious and noble side. The prophets were

always the tribunes of the people, the protectors of the poor. As the tyrant revelled in his palace on the taxes

extorted from industrious peasants, a strange figure would descend from the mountains and, stalking to the

throne, would stretch forth a lean and swarthy arm and denounce him in the name of Jehovah, and bid him

repent, or the Lord�s wrath should fall upon him and dogs should drink his blood. In the first period of the

Jewish life the prophets exercised these functions of censor and of tribune, and preached loyalty to the god

who had brought them up out of Egypt with a strong hand. They were also intensely fanatical, and published

Jehovah�s wrath not only against the king who was guilty of idolatry and vice, but also against the king who

took a census, or imported horses, or made treaties of friendship with his neighbours. In the second period the

prophets declared the unity of God and exposed the folly of idolworship. They did even more than this.

They opposed the ceremonial law, and preached the religion of the heart. They declared that God did not care

for their Sabbaths and their festivals, and their new moons, and their prayers and church services and

ablutions, and their sacrifices of meat and oil and of incense from Arabia and of the sweet cane from a far

country. 'Cease to do evil,' said they; 'learn to do well; relieve the oppressed; judge the fatherless; plead for

the widow.' It is certain that the doctrines of the great prophets were heretical. Jeremiah flatly declared that in

the day that God brought them from the land of Egypt he did not command them concerning burnt offerings

or sacrifices, and this statement would be of historical value if prophets always spoke the truth.

They were bitter adversaries of the kings and priests, and the consolers of the oppressed. 'The Lord hath

appointed me,' says one whose oracles have been edited with those of Isaiah, but whose period was later and

whose true name is not known, 'the Lord hath appointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he that

sent me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to give unto them that mourn

beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for lamentation, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness.'

The aristocracy who lived by the altar did not receive these attacks in a spirit of submission. There was a law

ascribed to Moseslike all the other Jewish laws, but undoubtedly enacted by the priest party under the

kingsthat false prophets should be put to death; and though it was dangerous to touch prophets on account

of the people, who were always on their side, they were frequently subjected to persecution. Urijah fled from

King Jehoiakim to Egypt; armed men were sent after him; he was arrested, brought back and killed.

Zachariah was stoned to death in the courts of the Temple. Jeremiah was formally tried and was acquitted,

but he had a narrow escape: he was led, as he remarked, like a sheep to the slaughter. At another time he was

imprisoned; at another time he was let down by ropes into a dry well; and there is a tradition that he was

stoned to death by the Jews in Egypt after all. The nominal Isaiah chants the requiem of such a martyr in a

poem of exquisite beauty and grandeur. The prophet is described as one of hideous appearance, so that people

hid their faces from him. 'His visage was marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of

men.' The people rejected his mission and refused to acknowledge him as a prophet. 'He was despised and

rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.' He was arraigned on a charge of false

prophecy; he made no defence, and he was put to death. 'He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he opened not

his mouth: he was brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he

opened not his mouth. He was taken from the prison to the judgment; he was cut off from the land of the

living.' It was believed by the Jews that the death of such a man was accepted by God as a human sacrifice,

an atonement for the sins of the people, just as the priest in the olden time heaped the sins of the people on

the scapegoat and sent him out into the wilderness. 'He bare the sins of many, and made intercession for the

transgressors. The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Surely he hath borne our griefs and hath

carried our sorrows. His soul was made an offering for sin. He was wounded for our transgressions, he was

There are many worthy people who think it a very extraordinary thing that this poem can be used almost

word for word to describe the rejected mission and martyrdom of Jesus. But as the Hebrew prophets

resembled one another, and were tried before the same tribunal under the same law, the coincidence is not

surprising. A poetical description, in vague and general terms, of the rebellion of the English people and the

execution of Charles the First would apply equally well to the rebellion of the French people and the

The Prophet of Nazareth did not differ in temperament and character from the noble prophets of the ancient

period. He preached, as they did, the religion of the heart; he attacked, as they did, the ceremonial laws; he

offered, as they did, consolation to the poor; he poured forth, as they did, invectives against the rulers and the

rich. But his predictions were entirely different from theirs, for he lived, theologically speaking, in another

world. The old prophets could only urge men to do good that the Lord might make them prosperous on earth,

or at the most that they might obtain an everlasting name. They could only promise to the people the

restoration of Jerusalem and the good things of the Gentiles; the reconciliation of Judah and Ephraim, and the

gathering of the dispersed. The morality which Jesus preached was also supported by promises and threats,

but by promises and threats of a more exalted kind: it was also based upon selfinterest, but upon

selfinterest applied to a future life. For this he was indebted to the age in which he lived. He was superior as

a prophet to Isaiah, as Newton as an astronomer was superior to Kepler, Kepler to Copernicus, Copernicus to

Ptolemy, Ptolemy to Hipparchus, and Hipparchus to the unknown Egyptian or Chaldean priest who first

began to register eclipses and to catalogue the stars. Jesus was a carpenter by trade, and was urged by a

prophetic call to leave his workshop and to go forth into the world, preaching the gospel which he had

received. The current fancies respecting the approaching destruction of the world, the conquest of the Evil

Power, and the reign of God had fermented in his mind, and had made him the subject of a remarkable

hallucination. He believed that he was the promised Messiah or Son of Man, who would be sent to prepare

the world for the kingdom of God, and who would be appointed to judge the souls of men and to reign over

them on earth. He was a man of the people, a rustic and an artisan: he was also an imitator of the ancient

prophets, whose works he studied and whose words were always on his lips. Thus he was led as man and

prophet to take the part of the poor. He sympathised deeply with the outcasts, the afflicted, and the oppressed.

To children and to women; to all who suffered and shed tears; to all from whom men turned with loathing

and contempt; to the girl of evil life who bemoaned her shame; to the taxgatherer who crouched before his

God in humility and woe; to the sorrowful in spirit and the weak in heart; to the weary and the heavy laden,

Jesus appeared as a shining angel with words sweet as the honeycomb and bright as the golden day. He laid

his hands on the heads of the lowly; he bade the sorrowful be of good cheer, for the day of their deliverance

If we regard Jesus only in his relations with those whose brief and bitter lives he purified from evil and

illumined with ideal joys, we might believe him to have been the perfect type of a meek and suffering saint.

But his character had two sides, and we must look at both. Such is the imperfection of human nature that

extreme love is counterbalanced by extreme hate; every virtue has its attendant vice, which is excited by the

same stimulants, which is nourished by the same food. Martyrs and persecutors resemble one another; their

minds are composed of the same materials. The man who will suffer death for his religious faith will

endeavour to enforce it even unto death. In fact, if Christianity were true religious persecution would become

a pious and charitable duty: if God designs to punish men for their opinions it would be an act of mercy to

mankind to extinguish such opinions. By burning the bodies of those who diffuse them many souls would be

saved that would otherwise be lost, and so there would be an economy of torment in the long run. It is

therefore not surprising that enthusiasts should be intolerant. Jesus was not able to display the spirit of a

persecutor in his deeds, but he displayed it in his words. Believing that it was in his power to condemn his

fellow creatures to eternal torture, he did so condemn by anticipation all the rich and almost all the learned

men among the Jews. It was his belief that God reigned in heaven but that Satan reigned on earth. In a few

years God would invade and subdue the earth. It was therefore his prayer, 'Thy kingdom come; thy will be

done in earth as it is in heaven.' God�s will was not at that time done on earth, which was in the possession of

the Prince of Darkness. It was evident, therefore, that all prosperous men were favourites of Satan, and that

the unfortunate were favourites of God. Those would go with their master to eternal pain: these would be

He did not say that Dives was bad or that Lazarus was good, but merely that Dives had received his good

things on earth and Lazarus his evil things on earth, that afterwards Lazarus was rewarded and Dives

tormented. Dives might have been as virtuous as the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is also clothed in fine

linen and who fares sumptuously every day; Lazarus might have been as vicious as the Lambeth pauper who

prowls round the palace gates, and whose mind, like his body, is full of sores. Not only the inoffensive rich

were doomed by Jesus to hellfire, but also all those who did anything to merit the esteem of their fellow

men. Even those that were happy and enjoyed lifeunless it was in his own companywere lost souls.

'Woe unto you that are rich,' said he, 'for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for ye

shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men shall

speak well of you, for so did their fathers of the false prophets.' He also pronounced eternal punishment on all

those who refused to join him. 'He that believeth and is baptised,' said he 'shall be saved. He that believeth not

He supposed that when the kingdom of God was established on earth he would reign over it as viceroy. Those

who wished to live under him in that kingdom must renounce all the pleasures of Satan�s world. They must

sell their property and give the proceeds to the poor, discard all domestic ties, cultivate selfabasement, and

do nothing which could possibly raise them in the esteem of other people. For they could not serve two

masters: they could not be rewarded in the kingdom of this world, which was ruled by Satan, and also in the

new kingdom, which would be ruled by God. If they gave a dinner they were not to ask their rich friends lest

they should be asked back to dinner, and thus lose their reward. They must ask only the poor, and for that

benevolent action they would be recompensed thereafter. They were not to give alms in public or to pray in

public, and when they fasted, they were to pretend to feast; for if it was perceived that they were devout men

and were praised for their devotion, they would lose their reward. Robbery and violence they were not to

resist. If a man smote them on one cheek they were to offer him the other also; if he took their coat they were

to give him their shirt; if he forced them to go with him one mile they were to go with him two. They were to

love their enemies, to do good to them that did them evil. And why? Not because it was good so to do, but

It might be supposed that as in the philosophy of Jesus poverty was equivalent to virtue and misery a passport

to eternal bliss, sickness would be also a beatific state. But Jesus, like the other Jews, believed that disease

proceeded from sin. In Palestine it was always held that a priest or a prophet was the best physician, and

prayer, with the laying on of hands, the most efficacious of all medicines. Among the sins of Asa it is

mentioned that, having sore feet, he went to a doctor instead of to the Lord. Jesus informed those on whom he

laid his hands that their sins were forgiven them, and warned those he healed to sin no more lest a worse

thing should come upon them. Such theological practitioners have always existed in the East, and exist there

at the present day. A text from the Koran written on a board and washed off into a cup of water is considered

God�s own physic; and as the patient believes in it, and as the mind can sometimes influence the body, the

disease is occasionally healed upon the spot. The exploits of the miracle doctor are exaggerated in his

lifetime, and after his death it is declared that he restored sight to men that were born blind, cleansed the

lepers, made the lame to walk, cured the incurable, and raised the dead to life.

In Jerusalem the scribe had succeeded to the seer. The Jews had already a proverb, 'A scholar is greater than a

prophet.' The supernatural gift was regarded with suspicion, and if successful with the vulgar excited envy

and indignation. In the East at the present day there is a permanent hostility between the Mullah, or doctor of

the law, and the dervish, or illiterate 'man of God.' Jesus was, in point of fact, a dervish, and the learned

Pharisees were not inclined to admit the authority of one who spoke a rustic patois and misplaced the

aspirate, and who was no doubt, like other prophets, uncouth in his appearance and uncleanly in his garb. At

Jerusalem Jesus completely failed, and this failure appears to have stung him into bitter abuse of his

successful rivals the missionary Pharisees, and into the wildest extravagance of speech. He called the learned

doctors a generation of vipers, whited sepulchres, and serpents; he declared that they should not escape the

damnation of hell. Because they had made the washing of hands before dinner a religious ablution, Jesus,

with equal bigotry, would not wash his hands at all, though people eat with the hand in the East, and dip their

hands in the same dish. He told his disciples that if a man called another a fool he would be in danger of

hellfire; and whoever spoke against the Holy Ghost, it would not be forgiven him 'neither in this world nor

in the world to come.' He said that if a man had done anything wrong with his hand or his eye, it were better

for him to cut off his guilty hand, or to pluck out his guilty eye, rather than to go with this whole body into

hell. He cursed a fig tree because it bore no fruit, although it was not the season of fruitan action as

rational as that of Xerxes, who flogged the sea. He retorted to those who accused him of breaking the Sabbath

It is evident that a man who talked in such a mannerwho believed that it was in his power to abrogate the

laws of the land, to forgive sins, to bestow eternal happiness upon his friends, and to send all those who

differed from him to everlasting flameswould lay himself open to a charge of blasphemy, and it is also

evident that the 'generation of vipers' would not hesitate to take advantage of the circumstance. But whatever

share personal enmity might have had in the charges that were made against him, he was lawfully condemned

according to Bible law. He declared in open court that they would see him descending in the clouds at the

right hand of the power of God. The High Priest tore his robes in horror; false prophecy and blasphemy had

After the execution of Jesus his disciples did not return to Galilee: they waited at Jerusalem for his second

coming. They believed that he had died as a human sacrifice for the sins of the people, and that he would

speedily return with an army of angels to establish the kingdom of God on earth. Already in his lifetime these

simple creatures had begun to dispute about the dignities which they should hold at court, and Jesus, who was

not less simple than themselves, had promised that they should sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes

of Israel. He had assured them again and again, in the most positive language, that this event would take

place in their own lifetime. 'Verily, verily,' he said, 'there are some standing here who shall not taste of death

till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.' They therefore remained at Jerusalem and scrupulously

followed his commands. They established a community of goods, or at least gave away their superfluities to

the poorer members of the Church, and had charitable arrangements for relieving the sick. They admitted

proselytes with the ceremony of baptism. At the evening repast which they held together they broke bread

and drank wine in a certain solemn manner, as Jesus had been wont to do, and as they especially remembered

he did at the Last Supper. But in all respects they were Jews, just as Jesus himself had been a Jew. They

attended divine service in the temple; they offered up the customary sacrifices; they kept the Sabbath; they

abstained from forbidden meats. They held merely the one dogma that Jesus was the Messiah, and that he

Jerusalem was frequented at the time of the pilgrimage by thousands of Jews from the great cities of Europe,

North Africa, and Asia Minor. These pilgrims were of a very different class from the fishermen of Galilee.

They were Jews in religion but they were scarcely Jews in nationality. They were members of great and

flourishing municipalities; they enjoyed political liberty and civil rights. They prayed in Greek and read the

Bible in a Greek translation. Their doctrine was tolerant and latitudinarian. At Alexandria there was a school

of Jews who had mingled the metaphysics of Plato with their own theology. Many of these Greek Jews

became converted, and it is to them that Jesus owes his reputation, Christianity its existence. The Palestine

Jews desired to reserve the Gospel to the Jews. They had no taste or sympathy for the Gentiles, from whom

they lived entirely apart, and who were associated in their minds with the abominations of idolatry, the

payment of taxes, and the persecution of Antiochus. But these same Gentiles, these poor benighted Greeks

and Romans, were the compatriots and fellowcitizens of the Hellenic Jews, who therefore entertained more

liberal ideas upon the subject. Two parties accordingly arosethe conservative or Jewish party, who would

receive no converts except according to the custom of the orthodox Jews in such cases, and the Greek party,

who agitated for complete freedom from the law of Moses. The latter were headed by Paul, an enthusiastic

and ambitious man who refused to place himself under the rule of the twelve apostles, but claimed a special

revelation. A conference was held at Jerusalem, and a compromise was arranged to the effect that pagan

converts should not be subjected to the rite of circumcision, but that they should abstain from pork and

But the compromise did not last. The Church diverged in discipline and dogma more and more widely from

its ancient form, till in the second century the Christians of Judea, who had faithfully followed the customs

and tenets of the twelve apostles, were informed that they were heretics. During that interval a new religion

had arisen. Christianity had conquered paganism, and paganism had corrupted Christianity. The legends

which belonged to Osiris and Apollo had been applied to the life of Jesus. The single Deity of the Jews had

been exchanged for the Trinity, which the Egyptians had invented and which Plato had idealised into a

philosophic system. The man who had said "Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is

God,' had now himself been made a godor the third part of one. The Hebrew element, however, had not

been entirely cast off. With some little inconsistency, the Jewish sacred books were said to be inspired, and

nearly all the injunctions contained in them were disobeyed. It was heresy to deny that the Jews were the

The Christian religion was at first spread by Jews who, either as missionaries or in the course of their

ordinary avocations, made the circuit of the Mediterranean world. In all large towns there was a Ghetto or

Jews� quarter, in which the traveller was received by the people of his own race. There was no regular clergy

among the Jews, and it was their custom to allow, and even to invite, the stranger to preach in their

synagogue. Doctrines were not strictly defined, and they listened without anger, and perhaps with some hope,

to the statement that Jesus of Nazareth was the Messiah, and that he would shortly return to establish his

kingdom upon earth. But when these Christians began to preach that the eating of pork was not a deadly sin,

and that God was better pleased with a sprinkle than a slash, they were speedily stigmatised as heretics, and

Those strange religious and commercial communities, those landless colonies which an Oriental people had

established all over the world, from the Rhone and the Rhine to the Oxus and Jaxarteswhich corresponded

regularly among themselves, and whose members recognised each other, wherever they might be and in

whatever garb, by the solemn phrase, 'Hear, Israel, there is one God!'afforded a model for the Christian

churches of the early days. The primitive Christians did not indeed live together in one quarter like the Jews,

but they gathered together for purposes of worship and administration in set places at appointed times. They

did not establish commercial relations with the Christians in other towns, but they kept up an active social

correspondence, and hospitably entertained the foreign brother who brought letters of introduction as

credentials of his creed. Travelling, though not always free from danger, was unobstructed in those days:

coasters sailed frequently from port to port, and the large towns were connected by paved roads with a

postinghouse at every sixmile stage. All innkeepers spoke Greek: it was not necessary to learn Latin even

And now we return to that magnificent city which was adorned with the spoils of a hundred lands, into which

streamed all the wealth, the energy, and the ambition of East and West. OstiaontheSea, where the ancient

citizens had boiled their salt.was now a great port in which the grain from Egypt and Carthage was stored up

in huge buildings, and to which in the summer and autumn came ships from all parts of the world. The road

to Rome was fifteen miles in length, and was lined with villas and with lofty tombs. Outside the city, on the

neighbouring hills, were gardens open to the public; and from these hills were conducted streams, by

subterranean pipes, into the town, where they were trained to run like rivulets, making everywhere a pleasant

murmur, here and there reposing in artificial grottoes or dancing as fountains in the air. The streets were

narrow, and the tall houses buried them in deep shade. They were lined with statues; there was a population

of marble men. Flowers glittered on roofs and balconies. Vast palaces of green and white and golden tinted

marble were surrounded by venerable trees. The Via Sacra was the Regent Street of Rome, and was bordered

with stalls where the silks and spices of the East, the wool of Spain, the glass wares of Alexandria, the

smoked fish of the Black Sea, the wines of the Greek isles, Cretan apples, Alpine cheese, the oysters of

Britain, and the veined wood of the Atlas were exposed for sale. In that splendid thoroughfare a hundred

languages might be heard at once, and as many costumes were displayed as if the universe had been invited

to a fancydress ball. Sometimes a squadron of the Imperial Guard would ride byflaxenhaired, blueeyed

Germans covered with shining steel. Then a procession of palefaces, shaven Egyptian priests, bearing a

statue of Isis and singing melancholy hymns. A Greek philosopher would next pass along with abstracted

eyes and ragged cloak, followed by a boy with a pile of books. Men from the East might be seen with white

turbans and flowing robes, or in sheepskin mantles with high black caps; and perhaps beside them a tattooed

Briton gaping at the shops. Then would come a palanquin with curtains half drawn, carried along at a

swinging pace by sturdy Cappadocian slaves, and within it the fashionable lady with supercilious,

halfclosed eyes, holding a crystal ball between her hands to keep them cool. Next a senator in white and

purple robe, receiving as he walked along the greetings and kisses of his friends and clients, not always of the

So crowded were the streets that carriages were not allowed to pass through them in the daytime. The only

vehicles that appeared were the carts employed in the public works; and as they came rolling and grinding

along, bearing huge beams and blocks of stone, the driver cracked his whip and pushed people against the

wall, and there was much squeezing and confusion, during which pickpockets, elegantly dressed, their hands

covered with rings, were busy at their work, pretending to assist the ladies in the crowd. People from the

country passed towards the market, their mules or asses laden with panniers in which purple grapes and

golden fruits were piled up in profusion, and refreshed the eye, which was dazzled by the stony glare.

Hawkers went about offering matches in exchange for broken glass, and the keepers of the cookshops called

out in cheerful tones, 'Smoking sausages!' 'Sweet boiled peas!' ' Honey wine, O honey wine!' And then there

was the crowd itselfthe bright eyed, darkbrowed Roman people, who played in the shade at dice or

mora like the old Egyptians; who lounged through the temples, which were also the museums, to look at the

curiosities; or who stood in groups reading the advertisements on the walls, and the programmes which

announced that on such and such a day there would be a grand performance in the circus and that all would

be done in the best style. A blue awning, with white stars in imitation of the sky, would shade them from the

sun; trees would be transplanted, and a forest would appear upon the stage; giraffes, zebras, elephants, lions,

ostriches, stags, and wild boars would be hunted down and killed; armies of gladiators would contend; and by

way of afterpiece the arena would be filled with water, and a naval battle would be performedships,

So passed the Roman streetlife day, and with the first hours of darkness the noise and the turmoil did not

cease; for then the travelling carriages rattled towards the gates, and carts filled with dungthe only export

of the city. The music of serenades rose softly in the air, and sounds of laughter from the tavern. The night

watch made their rounds, their armour rattling as they passed. Lights were extinguished, householders put up

their shutters, to which bells were fastenedfor burglaries frequently occurred. And then for a time the city

would be almost still. Dogs, hated by the Romans, prowled about sniffing for their food. Men or prey from

the Pontine Marshes crept stealthily along the black side of the street signalling to one another with sharp

whistles or hissing sounds. Sometimes torches would flash against the walls as a knot of young gallants

reeled home from a debauch, breaking the noses of the street statues on their way. And at such an hour there

were men and women who stole forth from their various houses, and with mantles covering their faces

hastened to a lonely spot in the suburbs, and entered the mouth of a dark cave. They passed through long

galleries, moist with damp and odorous of deathfor coffins were ranged on either side in tiers one above

the other. But soon sweet music sounded from the depths of the abyss; an open chamber came to view, and a

tomb covered with flowers, laid out with a repast, encircled by men and women who were apparelled in white

robes, and who sang a psalm of joy. It was in the catacombs of Rome, where the dead had been buried in the

ancient times, that the Christians met to discourse on the progress of the faith; to recount the trials which they

suffered in their homes; to confess to one another their sins and doubts, their carnal presumption, or their lack

of faith; and also to relate their sweet visions of the night, the answers to their earnest prayers. They listened

to the exhortations of their elders, and perhaps to a letter from one of the apostles. They then supped together

as Jesus had supped with his disciples, and kissed one another when the love feast was concluded. At these

meetings there was no distinction of rank; the high born lady embraced the slave whom she had once

scarcely regarded as a man. Humility and submission were the cardinal virtues of the early Christians; slavery

had not been forbidden by the apostles because it was the doctrine of Jesus that those who were lowest in this

world would be highest in the next, his theory of heaven being earth turned upside down. Slavery therefore

was esteemed a state of grace, and some Christians appear to have rejected the freeman�s cap on religious

grounds, for Paul exhorts such persons to become free if they canadvice which slaves do not usually

As time passed on, the belief of the first Christians that the end of the world was near at hand became fainter

and gradually died away. It was then declared that God had favoured the earth with a respite of one thousand

years. In the meantime the gospel or good tidings which the Christians announced was this. There was one

God, the Creator of the world. He had long been angry with men because they were what he had made them.

But he sent his only begotten son into a corner of Syria, and because his son had been murdered his wrath had

been partly appeased. He would not torture to eternity all the souls that he had made; he would spare at least

one in every million that were born. Peace unto earth and goodwill unto men if they would act in a certain

manner; if not, fire and brimstone and the noisome pit. He was the emperor of heaven, the tyrant of the skies;

the pagan gods were rebels, with whom he was at war, although he was allpowerful, and whom he allowed

to seduce the souls of men although he was allmerciful. Those who joined the army of the cross might

entertain some hopes of being saved; those who followed the faith of their fathers would follow their fathers

to hellfire. This creed with the early Christians was not a matter of halfbelief and metaphysical debate, as it

is at the present day, when Catholics and Protestants discuss hellfire with courtesy and comfort over filberts

and port wine. To those credulous and imaginative minds God was a live king, hell a place in which real

bodies were burnt with real flames, which was filled with the sickening stench of roasted flesh, which

resounded with agonising shrieks. They saw their fathers and mothers, their sisters and their dearest friends,

hurrying onward to that fearful pit unconscious of danger, laughing and singing, lured on by the fiends whom

they called the gods. They felt as we should feel were we to see a blind man walking towards a river bank.

Who would have the heart to turn aside and say it was the business of the police to interfere? But what was

death, a mere momentary pain, compared with tortures that would have no end? Who that could hope to save

a soul by tears and supplications would remain quiescent as men do now, shrugging their shoulders and

saying that it is not good taste to argue on religion, and that conversion is the office of the clergy? The

Christians of that period felt more and did more than those of the present day, not because they were better

men but because they believed more; and they believed more because they knew less. Doubt is the offspring

In that age the Christians believed much, and their lives were rendered beautiful by sympathy and love. The

dark, deep river did not existit was only a fancy of the brain: yet the impulse was not less real. The

heartthrob, the imploring cry, the swift leap, the trembling hand out reached to save; the transport of

delight, the ecstasy of tears, the sweet, calm joy that a man had been wrested from the jaws of deathare

these less beautiful, are these less real, because it afterwards appeared that the man had been in no danger

In that age every Christian was a missionary. The soldiers sought to win recruits for the heavenly host; the

prisoner of war discoursed to his Persian jailer; the slave girl whispered the gospel in the ears of her mistress

as she built up the mass of towered hair; there stood men in cloak and beard at street corners who, when the

people, according to the manners of the day, invited them to speak, preached not the doctrines of the Painted

Porch but the words of a new and strange philosophy; the young wife threw her arms round her husband�s

neck and made him agree to be baptised, that their souls might not be parted after death. How awful were the

threats of the heavenly despot; how sweet were the promises of a life beyond the grave! The man who strove

to obey the law which was written on his heart, yet often fell for want of support, was now promised a rich

reward if he would persevere. The disconsolate woman whose age of beauty and triumph had passed away

was taught that if she became a Christian her body in all the splendour of its youth would rise again. The poor

slave who sickened from weariness of a life in which there was for him no hope, received the assurance of

another life in which he would find luxury and pleasure when death released him from his woe.

Ah, sweet fallacious hopes of a barbarous and poetic age! Illusion still cherished, for mankind is yet in its

romantic youth! How easy it would be to endure without repining the toils and troubles of this miserable life

if indeed we could believe that when its brief period was past we should be united to those whom we have

loved, to those whom death has snatched away; or whom fate has parted from us by barriers cold and deep

and hopeless as the grave. If we could believe this the shortness of life would comfort ushow quickly the

time flies by!and we should welcome death. But we do not believe it, and so we cling to our tortured lives,

dreading the dark nothingness, dreading the dispersal of our elements into cold, unconscious space. As drops

in the ocean of water, as atoms in the ocean of air, as sparks in the ocean of fire within the earth, our minds

do their appointed work and serve to build up the strength and beauty of the one great human mind which

grows from century to century and from age to age, and is perhaps itself a mere molecule within some higher

Soon it was whispered that there was in Rome a secret society which worshipped an unknown god. Its

members wore no garlands on their brows; they never entered the temples; they were governed by laws which

strange and fearful oaths bound them ever to obey; their speech was not as the speech of ordinary men; they

buried instead of burning the bodies of the dead; they married, they educated their children after a manner of

their own. The politicians who regarded the established Church as essential to the safety of the state became

alarmed. Secret societies were forbidden by law, and here was a society in which the tutelary gods of Rome

were denounced as rebels and usurpers. The Christians, it is true, preached passive obedience and the divine

right of kings, but they proclaimed that all men were equal before Goda dangerous doctrine in a

community where more than half the men were slaves. The idle and superstitious lazzaroni did not love the

gods, but they believed in them, and they feared lest the 'atheists,' as they called the Christians, would

provoke the vengeance of the whole divine federation against the city, and that all would be involved in the

common ruin. Soon there came a time when every public calamityan epidemic, a fire, a famine, or a

floodwas ascribed to the anger of the offended gods. And then arose imperial edicts, popular commotions,

But the persecutions thus provoked were fitful and brief, and served only to fan the flame. For to those who

believed in heavennot as men now believe, with a slight tincture of perhaps unconscious doubt, but as men

believe in things which they see and hear and feel and knowdeath was merely a surgical operation with the

absolute certainty of consequent release from pain and of entrance into unutterable bliss. The Christians

therefore encountered it with joy, and the sight of their cheerful countenances as they were being led to

execution induced many to inquire what this belief might be which could thus rob death of its dreadfulness

But the great moralists and thinkers of the empire looked coldly down upon this new religion. In their pure

and noble writings they either allude to Christianity with scorn or do not allude to it at all. This circumstance

has occasioned much surprise: it can, however, be easily explained. The success of Christianity among the

people, and its want of success among the philosophers, were due to the same causethe superstition of the

Among the missionaries of the present day there are many men who in earnestness and selfdevotion are not

inferior to those of the apostolic times. Yet they almost invariably failthey are too enlightened for their

congregations. With respect to their own religion, indeed, that charge cannot be justly brought against them.

Set them talking on the forbidden apple, Noah�s ark, the sun standing still to facilitate murder, the donkey

preaching to its master, the whale swallowing and ejecting Jonah, the miraculous conception, the water

turned to wine, the figtree withered by a curse, and they will reason like children, or in other words they will

not reason at all; they will merely repeat what they have been taught by their mammas. But when they

discourse to the savage concerning his belief they use the logic of Voltaire, and deride witches and men

possessed in a style which Jesus and the twelve apostles, the fathers of the Church, the popes of the Middle

Ages, and Martin Luther himself would have accounted blasphemous and contrary to Scripture. Now it is

impossible to persuade an adult savage that his gods do not exist, and he considers those who deny their

existence to be ignorant foreigners unacquainted with the divine constitution of his country. Hence he laughs

in his sleeve at all that the missionaries say. But the primitive Christians believed in gods and goddesses,

satyrs and nymphs, as implicitly as the pagans themselves. They did not deny and they did not disbelieve the

miracles performed in pagan temples. They allowed that the gods had great power upon earth, but asserted

that they would have it only for a time; that it ceased beyond the grave; that they were rebels, and that God

was the rightful king. Here then were two classes of men whose intellects were precisely on the same level.

Each had a theory, and the Christian theory was the better of the two. It had definite promises and threats, and

without being too high for the vulgar comprehension, it reduced the scheme of the universe to order and

But to the philosophers of that period it was merely a new and noisy form of superstition. Experience has

amply proved that minds of the highest order are sometimes unable to shake off the ideas which they imbibed

when they were children; but to those of whom we speak Christianity was offered when their powers of

reflection were matured, and it was naturally rejected with contempt. They knew that the pagan gods did not

exist. Was it likely that they would sit at the feet of those who still believed in them? They had long ago

abandoned the religious legends of their own country; they had shaken off the spell which Homer with his

splendid poetry had laid upon their minds. Was it likely that they would believe in the old Arab traditions, or

in these tales of a god who took upon him the semblance of a Jew, and suffered death upon the gallows for

the redemption of mankind? They had obtained by means of intellectual research a partial perception of the

great truth that events result from secondary laws. Was it likely that they would join a crew of devotees who

prayed to God to make the wind blow this way or that way, to give them a dinner, or to cure them of a pain?

When the Tiber overflowed its banks the pagans declared that it was owing to the wrath of the gods against

the Christians: the Christians retorted that it was owing to the wrath of God against the idolaters. To a man

like Pliny, who studied the phenomena with his notebook in his hand, where was the difference between the

In the Greek world Christianity became a system of metaphysics as abstract and abstruse as any son of Hellas

could desire. But in the Latin world it was never the religion of a scholar and a gentleman. It was the creed of

the uneducated people, who flung themselves into it with passion. It was something which belonged to them

and to them alone. They were not acquainted with Cicero or Seneca: they had never tasted intellectual

delights, for the philosophers scorned to instruct the vulgar crowd. And now the vulgar crowd found teachers

who interpreted to them the Jewish books, who composed for them a magnificent literature of sermons and

epistles and controversial treatises, a literature of enthusiasts and martyrs written in blood and fire. The

people had no share in the politics of the empire, but now they had politics of their own. The lower orders

were enfranchised; women and slaves were not excluded. The barbers gossiped theologically. Children

played at church in the streets. The Christians were no longer citizens of Rome. God was their emperor,

heaven was their fatherland. They despised the pleasures of this life; they were as emigrants gathered on the

shore waiting for a wind to waft them to another world. They rendered unto Caesar the things that were

Caesar�s, for so it was written they should do. They honoured the king, for such had been the teaching of St.

Paul. They regarded the emperor as God�s viceregent upon earth, and disobeyed him only when his

commands were contrary to those of God. But this limitation, which it was the business of the bishops to

define, made the Christians a dangerous party in the state. The Emperor Constantine, whose title was

unsound, entered into alliance with this powerful corporation. He made Christianity the religion of the state

In the days of tribulation it had often been predicted that when the empire became Christian war would cease,

and men would dwell in brotherhood together. The Christian religion united the slave and his master at the

same table and in the same embrace. On the pavement of the basilica men of all races and of all ranks knelt

side by side. If any one were in sickness and affliction it was sufficient for him to declare himself a Christian:

money was at once pressed into his hands: compassionate matrons hastened to his bedside. Even at the time

when the pagans regarded the new sect with most abhorrence they were forced to exclaim, 'See how these

Christians love one another!' It was reasonable to suppose that the victory of this religion would be the

victory of love and peace. But what was the actual result? Shortly after the establishment of Christianity as a

state religion there was uproar and dissension in every city of the Empire; then savage persecutions and

bloody wars, until a pagan historian could observe to the polished and intellectual coterie for whom alone he

wrote that now the hatred of the Christians against one another surpassed the fury of savage beasts against

It is evident that the virtues exhibited by those who gallantly fight against desperate odds for an idea will not

be invariably displayed by those who when the idea is realised enjoy the spoil. It is evident that bishops who

possess large incomes and great authority will not always possess the same qualities of mind as those

spiritual peers who had no distinction to expect except that of being burnt alive. In all great movements of the

mind there can be but one heroic age, and the heroic age of Christianity was past. The Church became the

state concubine; Christianity lost its democratic character. The bishops who should have been the tribunes of

the people became the creatures of the Crown. Their lives were not always of the most creditable kind, but

their virtues were perhaps more injurious to society than their vices. The mischief was done not so much by

those who intrigued for places and rioted on tithes at Constantinople as by those who, often with the best

It was the Christian theory that God was a king, and that he enacted laws for the government of men on earth.

Those laws were contained in the Jewish books, but some of them had been repealed and some of them were

exceedingly obscure. Some were to be understood in a literal sense, others were only metaphorical. Many

cases might arise to which no text or precept could be with any degree of certainty applied. What then was to

be done? How was God�s will to be ascertained? The early Christians were taught that by means of prayer

and faith their questions would be answered, their difficulties would be solved. They must pray earnestly to

God for help: and the ideas which came into their heads after prayer would be emanations from the Holy

In the first age of Christianity the Church was a republic. There was no distinction between clergymen and

laymen. Each member of the congregation had a right to preach, and each consulted God on his own account.

The spiritus privatus everywhere prevailed. A committee of presbyters or elders, with a bishop or chairman,

The second period was marked by an important change. The bishop and presbyters, though still elected by the

congregation, had begun to monopolise the pulpit; the distinction of clergy and laity was already made. The

bishops of various churches met together at councils or synods to discuss questions of discipline and dogma,

and to pass laws, but they went as representatives of their respective congregations.

In the third period the change was more important still. The congregation might now be appropriately termed

a flock; the spiritus privatus was extinct; the priests were possessed of traditions which they did not impart to

the laymen; the Water of Life was kept in a sealed vessel; there was no salvation outside the Church: no man

could have God for a father unless he had also the Church for a mother, as even Bossuet long afterwards

declared; excommunication was a sentence of eternal death. Henceforth disputes were only between bishops

and bishops, the laymen following their spiritual leaders and often using material weapons on their behalf. In

the synods the bishops now met as princes of their congregations, and under the influence of the Holy Ghost

(spiritu sancto suggerente) issued imperial decrees. The penalties inflicted were of the most terrible nature to

those who believed that hellfire and purgatory were at the disposal of the priesthood, while those who

entertained doubts upon the subject allowed themselves to be cursed and damned with equanimity. But when

the Church became united with the state the secular arm was at its disposal, and was vigorously used.

The bishops were all of them ignorant and superstitious men, but they could not all of them think alike. And

as if to ensure dissent they proceeded to define that which had never existed, and which if it had existed could

never be defined. They described the topography of heaven. They dissected the godhead and expounded the

miraculous conception, giving lectures on celestial impregnations and miraculous obstetrics. They not only

said that 3 was 1, and that 1 was 3: they professed to explain how that curious arithmetical combination had

been brought about. The indivisible had been divided and yet was not divided: it was divisible and yet it was

indivisible; black was white and white was black, and yet there were not two colours, but one colour; and

whoever did not believe it would be damned. In the midst of all this subtle stuff, the dregs and rinsings of the

Platonic school, Arius thundered out the commonsense but heretical assertion that the Father had existed

before the Son. Two great parties were at once formed. A council of bishops was convened at Nicaea to

consult the Holy Ghost. The chair was taken by a man who wore a wig of many colours and a silken robe

embroidered with golden thread. This was Constantine the great, patron of Christianity, Nero of the

Bosphorus, murderer of his wife and son. The discussion was noisy and abusive, and the Arians lost the day.

Yet the matter did not end there. Constantius took up the Arian side. Arian missionaries converted the

Vandals and the Goths. Other emperors took up the Catholics, and they converted the Franks. The court was

divided by spiritual eunuchs and theological intrigues: the provinces were laid waste by theological wars

which lasted three hundred years. What a world of woe and desolation, what a deluge of blood, because the

The Arian difference did not stand alone; every province had its own schism. Caste sympathy induced the

emperors to protect the pagan aristocracy from the fury of the bishops, but the heretics belonged chiefly to the

subject nationalities. The Nestorians were men of the Semitic race, the Jacobites were Egyptians, the

Donatists were Berbers. Of such a nature was the treatment which these people received that they were ready

at any time to join the enemies of the empire, whoever they might be. Difference of nationality occasioned

difference in mode of thought. Difference in mode of thought occasioned difference in religious creed.

Difference in religious creed occasioned controversy, riots and persecution. Persecution intensified

distinctions of nationality. Such then was the state of religion in the Grecian world. In the West the Church,

overwhelmed by the barbarians, was displaying virtues in adversity, and was laying the foundations of a

majestic kingdom. But as for the East, Christianity had lived in vain. In Constantinople and in Greece it had

done no good. In Asia, Barbary, and Egypt it had done harm. Its peace was apathy: its activity was war.

Instead of healing the old wounds of conquest it opened them afresh. It was not enough that the peasants of

the ancient race, once masters of the soil, should be crushed with taxes; a new instrument of torture was

invented; their priests were taken from them; their altars were overthrown. But the day of vengeance was at

hand. Soon they would enjoy, under rulers of a different religion but of the same race, that freedom of

The Byzantine empire in the seventh century included Greece and the islands, with a part of Italy. In Asia and

Africa its possessions were those of the Turkish Empire before the cession of Algiers. There was a Greek

viceroy of Egypt: there were Greek governors in Egypt and Asia Minor, Carthage, and Cyrene. The capital

was fed with Egyptian corn and enriched by silken manufacturesfor two Nestorian monks had brought the

eggs of the silkworm from China in hollow canes. These eggs had been hatched under lukewarm dung, and

the culture of the cocoon had been established for the first time on European soil. The eastern boundary of the

empire was sometimes the Tigris, sometimes the Euphrates; the land of Mesopotamia, which lay between the

rivers, was the subject of continual war between the Byzantines and the Persians.

Alexander the Great had not been long dead before the Parthians, a race of hardy mountaineers, occupied the

lands to the east of the Euphrates, made themselves famous in their wars with Rome, and established a wide

empire. In the third century it was broken up into petty principalities, and a private citizen who claimed to be

heiratlaw of the old Persian kings headed a party, seized the crown, restored the Zoroastrian religion, and

raised the empire to a state of power and magnificence scarcely inferior to that of the Great Kings. But the

Greeks were still in Asia Minor and Egypt, and it became the hereditary ambition of the Persians to drive

them back into their own country. In the seventh century Chosroes the Second accomplished this idea, and

restored the frontiers of Cambyses and the first Darius. He conquered Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt. He

carried his arms to Cryene, and extinguished the last glimmer of culture in that ancient colony. Heraclius, the

Byzantine emperor, was in despair. While the Persians overran his provinces in Asia a horde or Cossacks

threatened him in Europe. Constantinople, he feared, would soon be surrounded, and it already suffered

famine from the loss of Egypt, as Rome had formerly suffered when the Vandals plundered it of Africa. He

determined to migrate to Carthage, and had already prepared to depart when the Patriarch persuaded him to

change his mind. He obtained peace from Persia by sending earth and water in the old style, and by promising

to pay as tribute a thousand talents of gold, a thousand talents of silver, a thousand silk robes, a thousand

horses, and a thousand virgins. But instead of collecting these commodities he collected an army, and

suddenly dashed into the heart of Persia. Chosroes recalled his troops from the newly conquered lands, but

was defeated by the Greeks, and was in his turn compelled to sue for ignominious peace. In the midst of the

triumphs which Heraclius celebrated at Constantinople and Jerusalem, an obscure town on the confines of

Syria was pillaged by a band of Arab horsemen, who cut in pieces some troops which advanced to its relief.

This appeared a trifling event, but it was the beginning of a mighty revolution. In the last eight years of his

reign Heraclius lost to the Saracens the provinces which he had recovered from the Persians.

The peninsula of Arabia is almost as large as Hindustan, but does not contain a single navigable river. It is for

the most part a sterile tableland furrowed by channels which in winter roar with violent and muddy streams,

and which in summer are completely dry. In these streambeds at a little depth below the surface there is

sometimes a stratum of water which, breaking out here and there into springs, creates a habitable island in the

waste. Such a fruitful wadi or oasis is sometimes extensive enough to form a town, and each town is in itself

a kingdom. This stony, green spotted land was divided into Arabia Petraea on the north and Arabia Deserta

on the south. The north supplied Constantinople, and the south supplied Persia, with mercenary troops; the

leaders, on receiving their pay, established courts at home, and rendered homage to their imperial masters.

The princes of Arabia Deserta ruled in the name of the Chosroes. The princes of Arabia Petraea were proud

In the southwest corner of the peninsula there is a range of hills sufficiently high to intercept the passing

clouds and rain them down as streams to the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea. This was the land of Yemen or

Sabaea, renowned for its groves of frankincense and for the wealth of its merchant kings. Its forests in ancient

times were inhabited by squalid negro tribes who lived on platforms in the trees, and whose savage stupor

was ascribed to the drowsy influence of the scented air. The country was afterwards colonised by men of the

Arab race who built ships and established factories on the east coast of Africa, on the coast of Malabar, and in

the island of Ceylon. They did not navigate the Red Sea, but dispatched the Indian goods, the African ivory

and gold dust, and their own fragrant produce by camel caravan to Egypt or to Petra, a great market city in

The Pharaohs and the Persian kings did not interfere with the merchant princes of Yemen. In the days of the

Ptolemies a few Greek ships made the Indian voyage, but could not compete with the Arabs who had so long

been established in the trade. But the Roman occupation of Alexandria ruined them completely. The just and

moderate government of Augustus, and the demand for Oriental luxuries at Rome, excited the enterprise of

the Alexandrine traders, and a Greek named Hippalus made a remarkable discovery. He observed that the

winds or monsoons of the Indian Ocean regularly blew during six months from east to west and during six

months from west to east. He was bold enough to do what the Phoenicians themselves had never done. He

left the land and sailed right across the ocean to the Indian shore with one monsoon, returning with the next to

the mouth of the Red Sea. By means of this ocean route the India voyage could be made in half the time. The

goods were thereby cheapened, the demand was thereby increased, the Indian Ocean was covered with Greek

vessels, a commercial revolution was created, the coasting and caravan trade of the Arabs came to an end, the

Romans destroyed Aden, and Yemen withered up and remained independent only because it was obscure.

Arabia had always been a land of refuge, for in its terrible deserts security might always be found. To Arabia

had fled the Priests of the Sun after the victories of Alexander and the restoration of Babylonian idolatry. To

Arabia had fled thousands of Jews after the second destruction of Jerusalem. To Arabia had fled thousands of

Christians who had been persecuted by pagan and still more by Christian emperors. The land was divided

among independent princesmany of them were Christians and many of them were Jews. There is nothing

more conducive to an enlightened scepticism, and its attendant spirit toleration, than the spectacle of various

religious creeds each maintained by intelligent and pious men. A king of Arabia Felix in the fourth century

received an embassy from the Byzantine emperor, with a request that Christians might be allowed to settle in

his kingdom, and also that he would make Christianity the religion of the state. He assented to the first

proposition. With reference to the second he replied 'I reign over men�s bodies, not over their opinions. I

exact from my subjects obedience to the government; as to their religious doctrine, the judge of that is the

But it came to pass that a king of the Jewish persuasion succeeded to the throne: he persecuted his Christian

subjects and made war on Christian kings, burning houses, men, and gospels wherever he could find them. A

Christian Arab made his escape, travelled to Constantinople, and, holding up a charred Testament before the

throne, demanded help in the name of the Redeemer. The emperor at once prepared for war, and dispatched

The old kingdom of Ethiopia had escaped Cambyses and Alexander, and had lost its independence to the

Ptolemies only for a time. The Romans made an Abyssinian expedition with complete success, but withdrew

from the savage country in disdain. Ethiopia was left to its own devices, which soon became of an

Africanising nature. The priests kept the king shut up in his palace and when it suited their convenience sent

him word, in the African style, that he must be tired and that it would be good for him to sleep; upon which

he migrated to the lower world with his favourite wives and slaves. But there was once a king named

Ergamenes who had improved his mind by the study of Greek philosophy, and who, when he received the

message of the priests, soon gave them a proof that they were quite mistaken, and that so far from being

sleepy he was wide awake. He ordered them to collect in the Golden Chapel, and then, marching in with his

guards, he put them all to death. From that time Abyssinia became a military kingdom. As the princes of

Numidia had used elephants after the destruction of the Carthaginian republic, so the Abyssinians used them

in pageantry and war long after the days of the Ptolemies, who had first shown them how the huge beasts

might be entrapped. Hindus were probably employed by the Ptolemies, as they were by the Carthaginians, for

the management of the elephantine stud. In the fourth century two shipwrecked Christians converted the king

and his people to the new religiona beneficial event, for thus they were brought into connection with the

Roman Empire. The Patriarch of Alexandria was the Abyssinian pope, as he is at the present day, and during

all these years he has never ceased to send them their aboona or archbishop. This ecclesiastic is regarded with

much reverence; he costs six thousand dollars; he is never allowed to smoke; and by way of blessing he spits

upon his congregation, who believe that the episcopal virtue resides in the saliva, and not, as we think, in the

Abyssinia had still its ancient seaport in Annesley Bay, and sent trading vessels to the India coast. The

Byzantine emperor, having made his proposals through the Patriarch of Alexandria, and having received from

the Negus a favourable reply, dispatched a fleet of transports down the Red Sea; the king filled them with his

brigand troops; Yemen was invaded and subdued, and now it was the Christians who began to persecute.

Another Arab prince ran off for help, and he went to the Persian king, who at first refused to take the country

as a gift, saying it was too distant and too poor. However, at last he ordered the prisons to be opened, and

placed all the ablebodied convicts they contained at the disposal of the prince. The Abyssinians were driven

out, but they returned and reconquered the land. Chosroes then sent a regular army with orders to kill all the

men with black skins and curly hair. Thus Yemen became a Persian province, and no less than three great

religionsthat of Zoroaster, that of Moses, and that of Jesuswere represented in Arabia.

Midway between Yemen and Egypt is a sandy valley two miles in length, surrounded on all sides by naked

hills. No gardens or fields are to be seen; no trees except some low brushwood and the acacia of the desert.

On all sides are barren and sunburnt rocks. But in the midst of this valley is a wonderful well. It is not that the

water is unusually cool and sweet connoisseurs pronounce it 'heavy' to the tastebut it affords an

inexhaustible supply. No matter what quantity may be drawn up, the water in the well remains always at the

This valley, on account of its well, was made the haltingplace of the India caravans, and there the goods

changed carriersthe south delivered them over to the north. As the north and south were frequently at war,

the valley was hallowed with solemn oaths for the protection of the trade. A sanctuary was established; the

well Zemzem became sacred; its fame spread, and it was visited from all parts of the land by the diseased and

the devout. The tents of the valley tribe became a city of importance, enriched by the customs receipts and

dues of protection, and by the carrier hire of the caravans. When the navigation of the Red Sea put an end to

the carrying trade by land the city was deserted; its inhabitants returned to the wandering Bedouin life. In the

fifth century, however, it was restored by an enterprising man, and the shrine was rebuilt. Mecca was no

longer a wealthy town; it was no longer situated on one of the highways of the world; but it manufactured a

celebrated leather, and sent out two caravans a yearone to Syria and one to Abyssinia. Some of the

Meccans were rich men; Byzantine gold pieces and Persian copper coins circulated in abundance; the ladies

dressed themselves in silk, had Chinese lookingglasses, wore shoes of perfumed leather, and made

themselves odorous of musk. It was the fame of Mecca as a holy place which brought this wealth into the

town. The citizens lived upon the pilgrims. However, they esteemed it a pious duty to give hospitality if it

was required to the 'guests of God, who came from distant cities on their lean and jaded camels, fatigued and

harassed with the dirt and squalor of the way.' The poor pilgrims were provided during six days with pottage

of meat and bread and dates; leather cisterns filled with water were also placed at their disposal.

During four months of the year there was a Truce of God, and the Arab tribes, suspending their hostilities,

journeyed towards Mecca. As soon as they entered the Sacred Valley they put on their palmers�weeds,

proceeded at once to the Caaba or house of God, walked round it naked seven times, kissed the black stone

and drank of the waters of the famous well. Then a kind of Eisteddfod was held. The young men combated in

martial games; poems were recited, and those which gained the prize were copied with illuminated characters

There was no regular government in the holy city, no laws that could be enforced, no compulsory courts of

justice, and no public treasury. The city was composed of several families or clans belonging to the tribe of

the Corayshites, by whom New Mecca had been founded. Each family inhabited a cluster of houses

surrounding a courtyard and well, the whole enclosed by solid walls. Each family was able to go to war and

to sustain a siege. If a murder was committed the injured family took the law into its own hands; sometimes it

would accept a pecuniary compensation there was a regular tariffbut more frequently the money was

refused. They had a belief that if blood was not avenged by blood a small winged insect issued from the skull

of the murdered person and fled screeching through the sky. It was also a point of honour on the part of the

guilty clan to protect the murderer and to adopt his cause. Thus blood feuds rose easily and died hard.

The head of the family was a despot, and enjoyed the power of life and death over the members of his own

house. But he had also severe responsibilities. It was his duty to protect those who dwelt within the circle of

his yard; all its inmates called him father; to all of them he owed the duties of a parent. If his son was little

better than a slave, on the other hand his slave was almost equal to a son. It sometimes happened that

masterless men, travellers, or outcasts required his protection. If it was granted, the stranger entered the

family, and the father was accountable for his debts, delicts, and torts. The body of the delinquent might be

tendered in lieu of fine or feud, but this practice was condemned by public opinion, and in all semisavage

There was a townhall in which councils were held to discuss questions relating to the common welfare of

the federated families, but the minority were not bound by the voice of the majority. If, for instance, it was

decided to make war, a single family could hold aloof. In this townhall marriages were celebrated,

circumcisions were performed, and young girls were invested with the dress of womanhood. It was the

starting place of the militia and the caravans. It was near the Caaba and opened towards it: in Mecca the

Throughout all time Mecca had preserved its independence and its religion; the ancient idolatry had there a

sacred home. The Meccans recognised a single creator, Allah Taala, the Most High God, who Abraham, and

others before Abraham, had adored. But they believed that the stars were live beings, daughters of the Deity,

who acted as intercessors on behalf of men; and to propitiate their favour idols were made to represent them.

Within the Caaba or around it were also images of foreign deities and of celebrated men; a picture of Mary

with the child Jesus in her lap was painted on a column, and a portrait of Abraham with a bundle of divining

Among the Meccans there were many who regarded that idolatry with abhorrence and contempt; yet to that

idolatry their town owed all that it possessed, its wealth and its glory, which extended round a crescent of a

thousand miles. They were therefore obliged as good citizens to content themselves with seeking a simpler

religion for themselves, and those who did protest against the Caaba gods were persuaded to silence by their

families, or, if they would not be silent, were banished from the town under penalty of death if they returned.

But there rose up a man whose convictions were too strong to be hushed by the love of family or to be

quelled by the fear of death. Partly owing to his age and dignified position and unblemished name, partly

owing to the chivalrous nature of his patriarch or patron, he was protected against his enemies, his life was

saved. Had there been a government at Mecca, he would unquestionably have been put to death, and as it was

Mohammed was a poor lad subject to a nervous disease which made him at first unfit for anything except the

When he grew up he became a commercial traveller, acted as agent for a rich widow twentyfive years older

than himself, and obtained her hand. They lived happily together for many years. They were both of them

exceedingly religious people, and in the Ramadan, a month held sacred by the ancient Arabs, they used to

The disease of his childhood returned upon him in his middle age; it affected his mind in a strange manner,

and produced illusions of his senses. He thought that he was haunted, that his body was the house of an evil

spirit. 'I see a light,' he said to his wife, 'and I hear a sound. I fear that I am one of the possessed.' This idea

was most distressing to a pious man. He became pale and haggard; he wandered about on the hill near Mecca,

crying out to God for help. More than once he drew near the edge of a cliff, and was tempted to hurl himself

And then a new idea possessed his mind. He lived much in the open air, gazing on the stars, watching the dry

ground grown green beneath the gentle rain, surveying the firmly rooted mountains and the broad expanded

plain. He pondered also on the religious legends of the Jews which he had heard related on his journeys, at

noonday beneath the palm tree by the well mouth, at night by the camp fire; and as he looked and thought,

the darkness was dispelled, the clouds dispersed, and the vision of God in solitary grandeur rose up within his

mind. And there came upon him an impulse to speak of God; there came upon him a belief that he was a

messenger of God sent on earth to restore the religion of Abraham which the pagan Arabs had polluted with

their idolatry, the Christians in making Jesus a divinity, the Jews in corrupting their holy books.

In the brain of a poet stanzas will sometimes arise fully formed without a conscious effort of the will, as once

happened to Coleridge in a dream; and so into Mohammed�s halfdreaming mind there flew goldenwinged

verses echoing to one another in harmonious sound. At the same time he heard a Voice; and sometimes he

saw a human figure; and sometimes he felt a noise in his ears like the tinkling of bells, or a low, deep hum as

if bees were swarming round his head. At this period of his life every chapter of the Koran was delivered in

throes of pain. The paroxysm was preceded by depression of spirits; his face became clouded; his extremities

turned cold; he shook like a man in an ague and called for a covering. His face assumed an expression

horrible to see; the vein between his eyebrows became distended; his eyes were fixed; his head moved to and

fro, as if he was conversing; and then he gave forth the oracle or sudra. Sometimes he would fall like a man

intoxicated to the ground, but the ordinary conclusion of the fit was a profuse perspiration, by which he

appeared to be relieved. His sufferings were at times unusually severehe used often to speak of the three

His friends were alarmed at his state of mind. Some ascribed it to the eccentricities of poetical genius; others

declared that he was possessed of an evil spirit; others said he was insane. When he began to preach against

the idols of the Caaba, the practice of female infanticide, and other evil customs of the town; when he

declared that there was no divine being but God, and that he was the messenger of God; when he related the

ancient legends of the prophets which he said had been told him by the angel Gabriel, there was a general

outburst of merriment and scorn. They said he had picked it all up from a Christian who kept a jeweller�s

shop in the town. They requested him to perform miracles; the poets composed comic ballads which the

people sang when he began to preach; the women pointed at him with the finger; it became an amusement of

the children to pelt Mohammed. This was perhaps the hardest season of his liferidicule is the most terrible

of all weapons. But his wife encouraged him to persevere, and so did the Voice, which came to him and sang:

'By the brightness of the morn that rises, and by the darkness of the night that descends, thy God hath not

forsaken thee, Mohammed. For know that there is a life beyond the grave, and it will be better for thee than

thy present life; and thy Lord will give thee a rich reward. Did he not find thee an orphan, and did he not care

for thee? Did he not find thee wandering in error, and hath he not guided thee to truth? Did he not find thee

needy, and hath he not enriched thee? Wherefore oppress not the orphan, neither repulse the beggar, but

This Voice was the echo of Mohammed�s conscience and the expression of his ideas. Owing to his peculiar

constitution his thoughts became audible as soon as they became intense. So long as his mind remained pure,

the Voice was that of a good angel; when afterwards guilty wishes entered his heart, the voice became that of

Mohammed�s family did not accept his mission: his converts were at first chiefly made among the slaves. But

soon these converts became so numerous among all classes that the Meccans ceased to ridicule Mohammed

and began to hate him. Nor did he attempt to ingratiate himself in their affections. 'He called the living fools,

the dead denizens of hellfire.' The heads of families took counsel together. They went to Abu Talib, the

patriarch of the house to which Mohammed belonged, and offered the price of blood, and then double the

price of blood, and then a stalwart young man for Mohammed�s life, and then, being always refused, went off

declaring that there would be war. Abu Talib adjured Mohammed not to ruin the family. The prophet�s lip

quivered: he burst into tears, but he said he must go on. Abu Talib hinted that his protection might be

withdrawn. Then Mohammed declared that if the sun came down on his right hand and the moon on his left

he would not swerve from the work which God had given him to do. Abu Talib, finding him inflexible,

assured him that his protection should never be withdrawn. In the meantime the patriarchs returned and said,

'What is it that you want, Mohammed? Do you wish for riches? We will make you rich. Do you wish for

honour? We will make you the mayor of the town.' Mohammed replied with a chapter of the Koran. They

then assembled in the town hall and entered into a solemn league and covenant to keep apart from the family

of Abu Talib. It was sent to Coventry. None would buy with them nor sell with them, eat with them nor drink

with them. This lasted for three years, but when as people passed by the house they heard the cries of the

starving children from behind the walls, they relented and sold them grain. There was one member of the

family, Abu Laheb, who withdrew from it at that juncture and became Mohammed�s most inveterate foe.

Each family agreed also to punish its own Mohammedans. Many were exposed to the glow of the midday sun

on the scorching gravel outside the town, and to the torments of thirst. A mulatto slave was tortured by a

great stone being placed on his chest, the while he cried out continually, 'There is only one God! There is

only one God!' Mohammed recommended his disciples to escape to Abyssinia, 'a land of righteousness, a

land where none was wronged.' They were kindly received by the Negus, who refused to give them up in

spite of the envoys with presents of red leather who were sent to him from Mecca with that request.

During the period of the sacred months Mohammed used often to visit the encampments of the pilgrims

outside the town. He announced to them his mission; he preached on the unity of God and on the terrors of

the judgmentday. 'God has no daughters,' said he, 'for how can he have daughters when he has no spouse?

He begetteth not, neither is he begotten. There is none but he. O beware, ye idolators, of the time that is to

come, when the sun shall be folded up, when the stars shall fall, when the mountains shall be made to pass

away, when the children�s hair shall grow white with anguish, when souls like locust swarms shall rise from

their graves, when the girl who hath been buried alive shall be asked for what crime she was put to death,

when the books shall be laid open, when every soul shall know what it hath wrought! O the striking, the

striking, when men shall be scattered as moths in the wind! And then Allah shall cry to Hell, Art thou filled

But there followed him everywhere a squint eyed man, fat, with flowing locks on both sides of his head, and

clothed in raiment of fine Aden stuff. When Mohammed had finished his sermon he would say, 'This fellow�s

object is to draw you away from the gods to his fanciful ideas; wherefore follow him not, O my brothers,

neither listen to him.' And who should this be but his uncle, Abu Laheb! Whereupon the strangers would

reply, 'Your own kinsmen ought to know you best. Why do they not believe you if what you say is true?' In

return for these kind offices Mohammed promised his uncle that he should go down to be burned in flaming

fire, and that his wife should go too, bearing a load of wood, with a cord of twisted palm fibres round her

And now two great sorrows fell upon Mohammed. He lost almost at the same time his beloved wife and the

noblehearted parent of his clan. The successor of Abu Talib continued the protection, yet Mohammed felt

insecure. His religion also made but small progress. The fact is that he failed at Mecca as Jesus had failed at

Jerusalem. He had made a few ardent disciples who spent the day at his feet, or in reading snatches of the

Koran scrawled on date leaves, shoulderblades of sheep, camel bones, scraps of parchment, or tablets of

smooth white stone. But he had not so much as shaken the ruling idolatry, which was firmly based on custom

and selfinterest. No doubt his disciples would in course of time have diffused his religion throughout

Arabia. Islam was formed; Islam was alive; but Mohammed himself would never have witnessed its triumph

had it not been for a curious accident which now occurred. The Arabs belonging to that city which was

afterwards called Medina had conquered a tribe of Jews. These had consoled themselves for the bitterness of

their defeat by declaring that a great prophet, the Messiah, would soon appear, and would avenge them upon

all their foes. The Arabs believed them and trembled, for they stood in great dread of the book which the

Jews possessed, and which they supposed to be a magical composition. So, when certain pilgrims from

Medina heard Mohammed announce that he was a messenger from God, they took it for granted that he was

the man, and determined to steal a march upon the Jews by securing him for themselves. At their request he

sent a missionary to Medina; the townsmen were converted, and invited him to come and live among them. In

a dark ravine near Mecca, at the midnight hour, his patriarch or father delivered him solemnly into their

hands. Mohammed was now no longer a citizen of Mecca; he was no longer 'protected'; he had changed his

nationality, and he was hunted like a deer before he arrived safely in his new home.

Had Mohammed been killed in that celebrated flight he would have been classed by historians among the

glorious martyrs and the gentle saints. His character before the Hegira resembled the character of Jesus. In

both of them we find the same sublime insanity, compounded of loyalty to God, love for man, and inordinate

selfconceit; both were subject to savage fits of wrath, and having no weapons but their tongues, consigned

souls by wholesale to hellfire. Both also humbled themselves before God, preaching the religion of the

heart, led pure, unblemished lives, devoted themselves to a noble cause, and uttered maxims of charity and

love at strange variance with their occasional invectives. Of the life of Jesus it is needless to speak; if he had

any vices they have not been recorded. But the conduct of Mohammed at Mecca was apparently not less pure.

He was married to an old woman; polygamy was a custom of the land; his passions were strong, as was

afterwards too plainly shown; yet he did not take a second wife as long as his dear Khadijah was alive. He

never frequented the wineshop or looked at the dancing girls or talked abroad in the bazaars. He was more

modest than a virgin behind the curtain. When he met children he would stop and pat their cheeks; he

followed the bier that passed him in the street; he visited the sick; he was kind to his inferiors; he would

accept the invitation of a slave to dinner; he was never the first to withdraw his hand when he shook hands;

he was humble, gentle, and kind; he waited always on himself, mending his own clothes, milking his own

goats; he never struck any one in his life. When once asked to curse someone he said, 'I have not been sent to

curse but to be a mercy to mankind.' He reproached himself in the Koran for having behaved unkindly to a

beggar, and so immortalised his own offence. He issued a text, 'Use no violence in religion.'

But this text, with many others, he afterwards expunged. When he arrived at Medina he found himself at the

head of a small army, and he began to publish his gospel of the sword. Henceforth we may admire the

statesman or the general; the prophet is no more. It will hence be inferred that Mohammed was hypocritical,

or at least inconstant. But he was constant throughout his life to the one object which he had in viewthe

spread of his religion. At Mecca it could best be spread by means of the gentle virtues; he therefore ordered

his disciples to abstain from violence which would only do them harm. At Medina he saw that the Caaba

idolatry could not be destroyed except by force; he therefore felt it his duty to make use of force. He obeyed

his conscience both at Mecca and Medina, for the conscience is merely an organ of the intellect, and is

altered, improved, or vitiated according to the education which it receives and the incidents which act upon it.

And now Mohammed�s glory expanded, and at the same time his virtue declined. He broke the Truce of God:

he was not always true to his plighted word. As Moses forbade the Israelites to marry with the pagans and

then took unto himself an Ethiopian wife, so Mohammed, broke his own marriage laws, beginning the career

of a voluptuary at fifty years of age. His Koran sudras were now official manifestoes, legal regulations,

delivered in an extravagant and stilted style differing much from that of his fervid oracles at Mecca. But

whatever may have been his private defects, when we regard him as a ruler and lawgiver we can only wonder

and admire. He established for the first time in history a united Arabia. In the moral life of his countrymen he

effected a remarkable reform. He abolished drunkenness and gamblingvices to which the Arabs had been

specially addicted. He abolished the practice of infanticide, and also succeeded in rendering its memory

detestable. It is said that Omar, the fierce apostle of Islam, shed but one tear in his life, and that was when he

remembered how in the days of darkness his child had beat the dust off his beard with her little hand as he

was laying her in the grave. Polygamy and slavery he did not prohibit, but whatever laws he made respecting

women and slaves were made with the view of improving their condition. He removed that facility of divorce

by means of which an Arab could at any time repudiate his wife: he enacted that no Moslem should be made

a slave, that the children of a slave girl by her master should be free. Instead of repining that Mohammed did

no more, we have reason to be astonished that he did so much. His career is the best example that can be

given of the influence of the individual in human history. That single man created the glory of his nation and

spread his language over half the earth. The words which he preached to jeering crowds twelve hundred years

ago are now being studied by scholars or by devotees in London and Paris and Berlin; in Mecca, where he

laboured, in Medina, where he died; in Constantinople, in Cairo, in Fez, in Timbuktu, in Jerusalem, in

Damascus, in Basra, in Baghdad, in Bokhara, in Kabul, in Calcutta, in Pekin; on the steppes of Central Asia,

in the islands of the Indian Archipelago, in lands which are as yet unmarked upon our maps, in the oases of

thirsty deserts, in obscure villages situated by unknown streams. It was Mohammed who did all this, for he

uttered the book which carried the language, and he prepared the army which carried the book. His disciples

and successors were not mad fanatics but resolute and sagacious men, who made shrewd friendship with the

malcontent Christians among the Greeks and with the persecuted Jews in Spain, and who in a few years

This empire, it is true, was soon divided, and soon became weak in all its parts. The Arabs could conquer, but

they could not govern. Separate sovereignties or caliphates were established in Babylonia, Egypt, and Spain,

while provinces such as Morocco or Bokhara frequently obtained independence by rebellion. It is needless to

describe at length the history of the Caliphs and their successorsit is only the twicetold tale of the

Euphrates and the Nile. The caliphs were at first Commanders of the Faithful in reality, but they were soon

degraded both in Cairo and Baghdad to the position of the Roman Pope at the present time. The government

was seized by the Praetorian Guards, who in Baghdad were descended from Turkish prisoners or negroes

imported from Zanzibar, and in Egypt from Mamelukes or European slaves, brought in their boyhood from

the wild countries surrounding the Black Sea, and trained up from tender years to the practice of armsthe

sons of Christian parents, but branded with a cross on the soles of their feet that they might never cease to

However, by means of the Arab conquest the East was united as it had never been before. The Euphrates was

no longer a line of partition between two worlds. Arab traders established their factories on both sides of the

Indian Ocean and along the Asiatic shores of the Pacific. Men from all countries met at Mecca once a year.

The religion of the Arabs conquered nations whom the Arabs themselves had never seen. When the

Mohammedan Turks of Central Asia took Constantinople and reduced the caliphates to provinces, although

the people of Mohammed were driven back to their wilderness the strength and glory of his religion was

increased. In the same manner the conquest of Hindustan was an achievement of Islam in which the Arabs

bore no part, and in Africa also we shall find that the Koran reigns over extensive regions which the Arabs

Once upon a time Morocco and Spain were one country, and Europe extended to the Atlas mountains, which

stood upon the shores of a great salt sea. Beyond that ocean, to the south, lay the Dark Continent, surrounded

on all sides by water except on the northeast, where it was joined to Asia near Aden by an isthmus. A

geological revolution converted the African ocean into a sandy plain, and the straits of Babel Mandeb and

Gibraltar were torn open by the retreating waves. But the Sahara, though no longer under water, is still in

reality a sea; the true Africa begins on its southern coast, and is entirely distinct from the Europeanlike

countries between the Mediterranean and the Atlas, and from the strip of garden land which is cast down

every year in the desert by the Nile. The Black Africa or Sudan is a gigantic tableland; its sides are built of

granite mountains which surround it with a parapet or brim, and which send down rivers on the outside

towards the sea, on the inside into the plateau. The outside rivers are brief and swift: the inside rivers are long

and sluggish in their course, winding in all directions, collecting into enormous lakes, and sometimes flowing

A tableland is seldom so uniform and smooth as the word denotes. The African plateau is intersected by

mountain ranges and ravines, juts into volcanic isolated cones, and varies much in its climate, its aspect, its

productions, and its altitude above the sea. It may be divided into platforms or river basins which are true

geographical provinces, and each of which should be labelled with the names of its explorers. There is the

platform of Abyssinai, which belongs to Bruce; the platform of the White Nile, including the Lakes of Burton

(Tanganyika), of Speke (Victoria Nyanza), and of Baker (Albert Nyanza); the platform of the Zambezi, with

its lakes Nyasa and Ngami, discovered by Livingstone, the greatest of African explorers; the platform of the

Congo, including the regions of Western Equatorial Africa, hitherto unexplored; the platform of South Africa

(below 20� S.), which enjoys an Australian climate, and also Australian wealth in its treasurefilled

mountains and its woolabounding plains; and lastly the platform of the Niger, which deserves a place, as

will be shown, in universal history. The discoverers of the Niger in its upper are Park (who first saw the

Niger), Caillie, and myself: in its central and eastern parts Laing, who first reached Timbuktu; Caillie, who

The original inhabitants of Africa were the Hottentots or Bushmen, a dwarfish race who have restless,

rambling, apelike eyes, a click in their speech, and bodies which are the wonder of anatomists. They are

now found only on the South African platform, or perhaps here and there on the platform of the Congo. They

have been driven southward by the negroes, as the Eskimos in America were driven north by the Red Indians

and the Finns in Europe by the Celtic tribes, while the negroes themselves have yielded in some parts of

Africa to Asiatic tribes, as the Celts in Gaul and Britain yielded to the Germans.

These negroes are sometimes of so deep a brown that the skin appears to be quite black; sometimes their skin

is as light as a mulatto�s. The average tint is a rich deep bronze. Their eyes are dark, though blue eyes are

occasionally seen; their hair is black, though sometimes of rusty red, and is always of a woolly texture. To

this rule there are no exceptionsit is the one constant character, the one infallible sign by which the race

may be detected. Their lips are not invariably thick; their noses are frequently well formed. In physical

appearance they differ widely from one another. The inhabitants of the swamps, the dark forests and the

mountains are flatnosed, long armed, and thincalved, with mouths like mussles, broad splay feet, and

projecting heels. It was for the most part from this class that the American slave markets were supplied; the

negroes of the States and the West Indies represent the African in the same manner as the people of the

Pontine Marshes represent the inhabitants of Italy. The negroes of South Africa stand at the opposite extreme.

Enjoying an excellent climate and a wholesome supply of food, they are superior to most other people of their

race. Yet it is certain that they are negroes, for they have woolly hair, and they do not differ in language or

manners from the inhabitants of the other platforms. When the Portuguese first traded on the African coasts

they gave the name Caffres (or pagans) to the negroes of Guinea, as well as to those of the Cape and

Mozambique. It is quite an accident that the name has been retained for the latter tribes alone, yet such is the

power of a name that the Caffres and negroes are universally supposed to be distinct. It is impossible,

however, to draw any line between the two. Pure negroes are born on the coast of Guinea and in the interior

with complexions as light, with limbs as symmetrical, and with features as near to the European standard as

can be found in all Caffraria. Between the hideous being of the Nile and Niger deltas and the robust

shepherds of the south, or the aristocratic chieftains of the west, there is a wide difference, no doubt but

There is also much variety among the negroes in respect to manners, mental condition, political government,

and mode of life. Some tribes live only on the fruit of net and spear, eked out with insects and berries and

shells. Property is ill defined among them; if a man makes a canoe the others use it when they please; if he

builds a better house than his neighbours they pull it down. Others, though still in the hunting condition, have

gardens of plantains and cassada. In this condition the headman of the village has little power, but property is

secured by law. Other tribes are pastoral, and resemble the Arabs in their laws and customs; the patriarchal

system prevails among them. There are regions in which the federal system prevails; many villages are

leagued together; and the headmen, acting as deputies of their respective boroughs, meet in congress to

debate questions of foreign policy and to enact laws. Large empires exist in the Sudan. In some of these the

king is a despot who possesses a powerful bodyguard equivalent to a standing army, a court with its

regulations of etiquette, and a wellordered system of patronage and surveillance. In others he is merely an

instrument in the hands of priests or military nobles, and is kept concealed, giving audience from behind a

curtain to excite the veneration of the vulgar. There are also thousands of large walled cities resembling those

of Europe in the Middle Ages, or of ancient Greece, or of Italy before the supremacy of Rome, encircled by

pastures and by arable estates, and by farming villages to which the citizens repair at harvesttime to

superintend the labour of their slaves. But such cities, with their villeggiatura, their municipal government,

their agora or forum, their fortified houses, their feuds and street frays of Capulet and Montague, are not

indigenous in Africa; their existence is comparatively modern and is due to the influence of religion.

An African village (old style) is usually a street of huts, with walls like hurdles, and the thatch projecting so

that its owner may sit beneath it in sun or rain. The door is lowone has to crawl in order to go in. There are

no windows. The house is a single room. In its midst burns a fire which is never suffered to go out, for it is a

light in darkness, a servant, a companion, and a guardian angel; it purifies the miasmatic air. The roof and

walls are smokedried but clean; in one corner is a pile of wood neatly cut up into billets, and in another is a

large earthen jar filled with water on which floats a gourd or calabash, a vegetable bowl. Spears, bows,

quivers, and nets hang from pegs upon the walls. Let us suppose that it is night; four or five black forms are

lying in a circle with their feet toward the fire, and two dogs with prickedup ears creep close to the ashes

The day dawns; a dim light appears through the crevices and crannies of the walls. The sleepers rise and roll

up their mats, which are their beds, and place on one side the round logs of wood which are their pillows. The

man takes down his bow and arrows from the wall, fastens wooden rattles round his dogs� necks, and goes

out into the bush. The women replenish the fire, and lift up an inverted basket whence sally forth a hen and

her chickens which make at once for the open door to find their daily bread for themselves outside. The

women take hoes and go to the plantation, or they take pitchers to fill at the brook. They wear round the

waist, before and behind, two little aprons made from a certain bark, soaked and beaten until it is as flexible

as leather. Every man has a plantation of these clothtrees round his hut. The unmarried girls wear no clothes

at all, but they are allowed to decorate themselves with bracelets and anklets of iron, flowers in their ears,

necklaces of red berries like coral, girdles of white shells, hair oiled and padded out with the chignon, and

The ladies fill their pitchers and take their morning bath, discussing the merits or demerits of their husbands.

The air is damp and cold, and the trees and grass are heavy with dew; but presently the sun begins to shine,

the dewdrops fall heavy and large as drops of rain; the birds chirp; the flowers expand their drowsy leaves

and receive the morning calls of butterflies and bees. The forest begins to buzz and hum like a great factory

When the sun is high, boys come from the bush with vegetable bottles frothing over with palm wine. The

cellar of the African, and his glass and china shop, and his clothing warehouse, are in the trees. In the midst

of the village is a kind of shed, a roof supported on bare poles. It is the palaver house, in which at this hour

the old men sit and debate the affairs of state or decide law suits, each orator holding a spear when he is

speaking, and planting it in the ground before him as he resumes his seat. Oratory is the African�s one fine

art. His delivery is fluent; his harangues, though diffuse, are adorned with phrases of wild poetry. That

building is also the club house of the elders, and there, when business is over, they pass the heat of the day,

seated on logs which are smooth and shiny from use. At the hour of noon their wives or children bring them

palm wine, and present it on their knees, clapping their hands in a token of respect. And then all is still; it is

the hour of silence and tranquillity, the hour which the Portuguese call ' the calm.' The sun sits enthroned on

the summit of the sky; its white light is poured upon the earth; the straw thatch shines like snow. The forest is

Then down, down, down sinks the sun, and its rays shoot slantwise through the trees. The hunters return, and

their friends run out and greet them as if they had been gone for years, murmuring to them in a kind of baby

language, calling them by their names of love, shaking their right hands, caressing their faces, patting them

upon their breasts, embracing them in all ways except with the lipsfor the kiss is unknown among the

Africans. And so they toy and babble and laugh with one another till the sun turns red, and the air turns

dusky, and the giant trees cast deep shadows across the street. Strange perfumes arise from the earth; fireflies

sparkle; grey parrots come forth from the forest, and fly screaming round intending to roost in the

neighbourhood of man. The women bring their husbands the gourddish of boiled plantains or bushyams,

made hot with red pepper, seasoned with fish or venison sauce. And when this simple meal is ended, boom!

boom! Goes the big drum; the sweet reed flute pipes forth; the girls and lads begin to sing. In a broad, clean

swept place they gather together, jumping up and down with glee; the young men form in one row, the

women in another, and dance in two long lines, retreating and advancing with graceful undulations of their

bodies and arms waving in the air. And now there is a squealing, wailing, unearthly sound, and out of the

wood, with a hop, skip, and jump, comes Mumbo Jumbo, a hideous mask on his face and a scourge in his

hand. Woe to the wife who would not cook her husband�s dinner, or who gave him saucy words, for Mumbo

Jumbo is the censor of female morals. Well the guilty ones know him as they run screaming to their huts.

Then again the dance goes on, and if there is a moon it does not cease throughout the night.

Such is the picturesque part of savage life. But it is not savage lifeit merely lies upon the surface as paint

lies upon the skin. Let us take a walk through that same village on another day. Here in a hut is a young man

with one leg in the stocks, and with his right hand bound to his neck by a cord. The palm wine, and the

midnight dance, and the furtive caresses of Asua overpowered his discretion; he was detected, and now he is

'put in log.' If his relations do not pay the fine he will be sold as a slave; or if there is no demand for slaves in

that country he will be killed. His friends reprove him for trying to steal what the husband was willing to sell;

Another day the palaverhouse has the aspect of a Crockford�s. An old man who is one of the village

grandees is spinning nuts for high stakes, and has drunk too much to see that he is overmatched. He loses his

mats, his weapons, his goats, his fowls, his plantation, his house, his slaves whom he took prisoners in his

young and warlike days, his wives, his children, and his aged mother who fed him at her breastall are lost,

all are gone. And then, with flushed eyes and trembling hand, he begins to gamble for himself. He stakes his

right leg and loses it. He may not move it until he has won it back or until it is redeemed. He loses both legs;

he stakes his body and loses that also, and becomes a bondservant, or is sold as a slave.

Let us give another scene. A young man of family has died; the whole village is convulsed with grief and

fear. It does not appear natural to them that a man should die before he has grown old. Some malignant power

is at work among them. Is it an evil spirit whom they have unwittingly offended and who is taking its

revenge, or is it a witch? The great fetishman has been sent for, and soon he arrives, followed by his

disciples. He wears a cap waving with feathers and a particoloured garment covered with charmshorns of

gazelles, shells of snails, and a piece of leopards�s liver wrapped up in the leaves of a poisongiving tree. His

face is stained with the white juice from a dead man�s brain. He rings an iron bell as he enters the town, and

at the same time the drum begins to beat. The drum has its language, so that those who are distant from the

village understand what it is saying. With short, lively sounds it summons to the dance; it thunders forth the

alarm of fire or war, loudly and quickly with no interval between the beats; and now it tolls the hour of

judgment and the day of death. The fetishman examines the dead man and says it is the work of a witch. He

casts lots with knotted cords; he mutters incantations; he passes round the villagers and points out the guilty

person, who is usually some old woman whom popular opinion has previously suspected and is ready to

condemn. She is, however, allowed the benefit of an ordeal: a gourd filled with the 'red water' is given her to

drink. If she is innocent it acts as an emetic; if she is guilty it makes her fall senseless to the ground. She is

then put to death with a variety of torturesburnt alive or torn limb from limb; tied on the beach at low

water to be drowned by the rising tide; rubbed with honey and laid out in the sun; or buried in an anthill, the

These examples are sufficient to show that the life of the savage is not a happy one, and the existence of each

clan or tribe is precarious in the extreme. They are like the wild animals, engaged from day to night in

seeking food, and ever watchful against the foes by whom they are surrounded. The men who go out hunting,

the girls who go with their pitchers to the village brook, are never sure that they will return, for there is

always war with some neighbouring village, and their method of making war is by ambuscade. But besides

these real and ordinary dangers, the savage believes himself to be encompassed by evil spirits who may at

any moment spring upon him in the guise of a leopard, or cast down upon him the dead branch of a tree. In

order to propitiate these invisible beings, his life is entangled with intricate rites; it is turned this way and that

way as oracles are delivered or as omens appear. It is impossible to describe, or even to imagine, the

tremulous condition of the savage mind, yet the traveller can see from their aspect and manners that they

Let us now suppose that a hundred years have passed, and let us visit the village again. The place itself and

the whole country around have been transformed. The forest has disappeared, and in its stead are fields

covered with the glossy blades of the young rice, with the tall red tufted maize, with the millet and the Guinea

corn, with the yellow flowers of the tobacco plant growing in wide fields, and with large shrubberies of

cotton, the snowy wool peeping forth from the expanding leaves. Before us stands a great town surrounded

by walls of red clay flanked by towers, and with heavy wooden gates. Day dawns, and the women come forth

to the brook decorously dressed in blue cotton robes passed over the hair as a hood. Men ride forth on

horseback, wearing white turbans and swords suspended on their right shoulders by a crimson sash. They are

the unmixed descendants of the forest savage; their faces are those of pure negroes, but the expression is not

the same. Their manners are grave and composed; they salute one another, saying in the Arabic 'Peace be

with you.' The palaverhouse or townhall is also the mosque; the parliamentary debates and the law trials

which are there held have all the dignity of a religious service; they are opened with prayer, and the name of

the creator is often solemnly invoked by the orator or advocate, while all the elders touch their foreheads with

their hands and murmur in response, Amina! Amina! (Amen! Amen!). The town is pervaded by a bovine

smell, sweet to the nostrils of those who have travelled long in the beefless lands of the people of the forest.

Sounds of industry may also be heardnot only the clinking of the blacksmith�s hammer, but also the

rattling of the loom, the thumping of the clothmaker, and the song of the cordwainer as he sits crosslegged

making saddles or shoes. The women, with bow and distaff and spindle, are turning the soft treewool into

thread; the work in the fields is done by slaves. The elders smoke or take snuff in their verandahs, and

sometimes study a page of the Koran. When the evening draws on there is no sound of flute and drum. A

bonfire of brushwood is lighted in the marketplace, and the boys of the town collect around it with wooden

boards in their hands, and bawl their lessons, swaying their bodies to and fro, by which movement they

imagine the memory is assisted. Then rises a long, loud, harmonious cry, 'Come to prayers, come to prayers!

Come to security! God is great! He liveth and he dieth not! Come to prayers! O thou Bountiful!'

Such towns as these may be less interesting to the traveller than the pagan villageshe finds them merely a

secondhand copy of Eastern life. But though they are not so picturesque, their inhabitants are happier and

better men. Violent and dishonest deeds are no longer arranged by pecuniary compensation. Husbands can no

longer set wifetraps for their friends; adultery is treated as a criminal offence. Men can no longer squander

away their relations at the gaming table, and stake their own bodies on a throw. Men can no longer be

tempted to vice and crime under the influence of palm wine. Women can no longer be married by a great

chief in herds, and treated like beasts of burden and like slaves. Each wife has an equal part of her husband�s

love by law; it is not permitted to forsake and degrade the old wife for the sake of the young. Each wife has

her own house, and the husband may not enter until he has knocked at the door and received the answer,

Bismillah! (In the name of God!) Every boy is taught to read and write in Arabic, which is the religious and

official language in the Sudan, as Latin was in Europe in the Middle Ages; he also writes his own language

with the Arabic character, as we write ours with the Roman letter. In such countries the policy of isolation is

at an end; they are open to all the Moslems in the world, and are thus connected with the lands of the East.

Here there is a remarkable change, and one that deserves a place in history. It is a movement the more

interesting since it is still actively going on. The Mohammedan religion has already overspread a region of

Negroland as large as Europe. It is firmly established not only in the Africa of the Mediterranean and the Nile

and in the oases of the Sahara, but also throughout that part of the continent which we have termed the

In 1797 Mungo Park discovered the Niger in the heart of Africa, at a point where it is as broad as the Thames

at Westminster; in 1817 Rene Caillie crossed it at a point considerably higher up; in 1822 Major Laing

attempted to reach it by striking inland from Sierra Leone, but was forced by the natives to return when he

was only fifty miles distant from the river; and in 1869 I made the same attempt, was turned back at the same

place, but made a fresh expedition, and reached the river at a higher point than Caillie and Park. But my

success also was incomplete, for native wars made it impossible for me to reach the source, though it was

near at hand; and that still remains a splendid prize for one who will walk in my footsteps as I walked in

those of Laing. The source of the Niger, as given in the maps; was fixed by Laing from native information

which I ascertained to be correct. There is no doubt that this river rises in the backwoods of Sierra Leone, at a

distance of only two hundred miles from the coast. It runs for some time as a foaming hilltorrent bearing

obscure and barbarous names, and at the point where I found it glides into the broad, calm breast of the

It flows northeast, and enters the Sahara as if intending, like the Nile, to pour its waters into the

Mediterranean Sea. But suddenly it turns towards the east, so that Herodotus, who heard of it when he was at

Memphis, supposed that it joined the Nile; and such was the prevailing opinion not only among the Greeks

but also among the Arabs in the Middle Ages. They did not know that the eccentric river again wheels round,

flows towards the sea near which it rose, passes through the latitude of its birth, and, having thus described

three quarters of a circle, debouches by many mouths into the Bight of Benin. So singular a course might well

baffle the speculations of geographers and the investigations of explorers. The people who dwell on the banks

of the river do not know where it ends. I was told by some that it went to Mecca, by others that it went to

Jerusalem. Mungo Park�s own theory was ludicrously incorrecthe believed that the Congo was its mouth.

Others declared that it never reached the sea at all. It was Lander who discovered the mouth of the Niger, at

one time as mysterious as the sources of the Nile, and so established the hypothesis which Reichard had

The Niger platform or basin is flat, with here and there a line of rolling hills containing gold. The vegetation

consists of high, coarse grass and trees of small stature, except on the banks of streams, where they grow to a

larger size. The palmoil tree is not found on this plateau, but the shea butter or tallow tree abounds in

natural plantations which will some day prove a source of enormous wealth. As the river flows on, these trees

disappear; the plains widen and are smoothed out, and the country assumes the character of the Sahara.

The negroes who inhabited the platform of the Niger lived chiefly on the banks of the river, subsisting on

lotus root and fish. Like all savages, they were jealous and distrustful; their intercourse was that of war. But

nature, by means of a curious contrivance, has rendered it impossible for men to remain eternally apart.

Common salt is one of the mineral constituents of the human body, and savages, who live chiefly on

vegetable food, are dependent upon it for their life. In Africa children may be seen sucking it like sugar.

'Come and eat with us today,' says the hospitable African; 'we are going to have salt for dinner.' It is not in all

countries that this mineral food is to be found, but the saltless lands in the Sudan contain gold dust, ivory, and

slaves, and so a system of barter is arranged, and isolated tribes are brought into contact with one another.

The two great magazines are the desert and the ocean. At the present day the white, powdery English salt is

carried on donkeys and slaves to the upper waters of the Niger, and is driving back the crystalline salt of the

Sahara. In the ancient days the salt of the plateau came entirely from the mines of Bilma and Toudeyni, in the

desert, which were occupied and worked by negro tribes. But at a period far remote, before the foundations of

Carthage were laid, a Berber nation, now called the Tuaricks, overspread the desert and conquered the oases

and the mines. This terrible people are yet the scourge of the peaceful farmer and the passing caravan. They

camp in leather tents; they are armed with lance and sword, and with shields on which is painted the image of

a cross. The Arabs call them 'the muffled ones,' for their mouths and noses are covered with a bandage,

sometimes black, sometimes white, above which sit in deep sockets, like antlions in their pits, a pair of dark,

cruel, sinister looking eyes. They levy tolls on all travellers, and murder those who have the reputation of

unusual wealthas they did Miss Tinne, whose iron watertanks they imagined to be filled with gold. When

they poured down on the Sahara they were soon attracted by the rich pastures and alluvial plains of the black

country. In course of time their raids were converted into conquests, and they established a line of kingdoms

from the Niger to the Nile, in the borderland between the Sahara and the parallel 10� N. Timbuktu, Haoussa,

Bornu, Bagirmi, Waday, Darfur, and Kordofan were the names of these kingdoms; in all of them Islam is

The Tuaricks of the Sudan were merely the ruling casts, and were much darkened by harem blood, but they

communicated freely with their brethren of the desert, who had dealings with the Berbers beyond the Atlas.

When the Andalusia of the Arabs became a polite civilised land crowds of ingenious artisans, descended from

the old Roman craftsmen or from the Greek emigrants, or from their Arab apprentices, took architecture over

to North Africa. The city of Morocco was filled with magnificent palaces and mosques; it became the

metropolis of an independent kingdom; it was called the Baghdad of the west; its doctors were as learned as

the doctors of Cordova, its musicians as skilful as the musicians of Seville. A wealthy and powerful Morocco

could not exist without its influence being felt across the desert; the position of Timbuktu in reference to

Morocco was precisely that of Meroe to Memphis or to Thebes. The Sahara, it is true, is much wider across

from Morocco to Timbuktu than from Egypt to Ethiopia, but the introduction of camels brought the Atlas and

the Niger near to one another. The Tuaricks, who had previously lived on horses, under whose bellies they

tied water bottles of leather when they went on a long journey, had been able to cross the desert only at

certain seasons of the year; but now, with the aid of the camel, which they at once adopted and from which

they bred the famous Mehara strain, they could cross the Sahara at its widest part in a few days. A regular

trade was established between the two countries, and was conducted by the Berbers. Arab merchants,

desirous of seeing with their own eyes the wondrous land of ivory and gold, took passage in the caravans,

crossed the yellow seas, sprang from their camels upon the green shores of the Sudan, and kneeling on the

banks of the Niger with their faces turned towards Mecca, dipped their hands in its waters and praised the

name of the Lord. They journeyed from city to city and from court to court, and composed works of travel

which were read with eager delight all over the Moslem world, from Spain to Hindustan.

The Arabs thronged to this newly discovered world. They built factories; they established schools; they

converted dynasties. They covered the river with masted vessel; they built majestic temples with graceful

minaret and swelling dome. Theological colleges and public libraries were founded; camels came across the

desert laden with books; the negroes swarmed to the lectures of the mullahs; Plato and Aristotle were studied

by the banks of the Niger, and the glories of Granada were reflected at Timbuktu. That city became the refuge

of political fugitives and criminals from Morocco. In the sixteenth century the Emperor dispatched across the

desert a company of harquebusiers who, with their strange, terrible weapons, everywhere triumphed like the

soldiers of Cortes and Pizarro in Mexico and Peru. These musketeers made enormous conquests not for their

master but for themselves. They established an oligarchy of their own; it was afterwards dethroned by the

natives, but there yet exist men who, as Barth informs us, are called the descendants of the musketeers and

who wear a distinctive dress. But that imperial expedition was the last exploit of the Moors. After the

conquest of Granada by the Christians and of Algeria by the Turks, Morocco, encompassed by enemies,

became a savage and isolated land; Timbuktu, its commercial dependent, fell into decay, and is now chiefly

The Arabs carried cotton and the art of its manufacture into the Sudan, which is one of the largest

cottongrowing areas in the world. Its Manchester is Kano, which manufactures blue cloth and coloured

plaids, clothes a vast negro population, and even exports its goods to the lands of the Mediterranean Sea.

Denham and Clapperton, who first reached the lands of Haoussa and Bornu, were astonished to find among

the negroes magnificent courts; regiments of cavalry, the horses caparisoned in silk for gala days and clad in

coats of mail for war; long trains of camels laden with salt and natron and corn and cloth and cowrie

shellswhich form the currencyand kola nuts, which the Arabs call 'the coffee of the negroes.' They

attended with wonder the gigantic fairs at which the cotton goods of Manchester, the red cloth of Saxony,

doublebarrelled guns, razors, tea and sugar, Nuremberg ware and writingpaper were exhibited for sale.

They also found merchants who offered to cash their bills upon houses at Tripoli, and scholars acquainted

The Mohammedan religion was spread in Central Africa to a great extent by the travelling Arab merchants,

who were welcomed everywhere at the negro or seminegro courts, and who frequently converted the pagan

kings by working miraclesthat is to say, by means of events which accidentally followed their solemn

prayers, such as the healing of a disease, rain in the midst of drought, or a victory in war. But the chief

instrument of conversion was the school. It is much to the credit of the negroes that they keenly appreciate

the advantages of education; they appear to possess an instinctive veneration and affection for the book.

Wherever Mohammedans settled the sons of chiefs were placed under their tuition. A Mohammedan quarter

was established; it was governed by its own laws; its sheikh rivalled in power and finally surpassed the native

kings. The machinery of the old pagan court might still go on; the negro chief might receive the magnificent

title of sultan; he might be surrounded by albinos and dwarfs and bigheaded men and buffoons; he might sit

in a cage, or behind a curtain in a palace with seven gates, and receive the ceremonial visits of his nobles,

who stripped off a garment at each gate and came into his presence naked, and cowered on the ground, and

clapped their hands, and sprinkled their heads with dust, and then turned round and sat with their backs

presented in reverence towards him, as if they were unable to bear the sight of his countenance shining like a

wellblacked boot. But the Arab or Moorish sheikh would be in reality the king, deciding all questions of

foreign policy, of peace and war, of laws and taxes and commercial regulations, holding a position

resembling that of the Gothic generals who placed Libius Severus and Augustulus upon the throneof the

mayors of the palace beside the Merovingian princes, of the Company�s servants at the court of the great

Mogul. And when the Mohammedans had become numerous, and a fitting season had arrived, the sheikh

would point out a well known Koran text and would proclaim war against the surrounding pagan kings. And

so the movement which had been begun by the school would be continued by the sword.

It may, however, be doubted whether the Arab merchants alone would have spread Islam over the Niger

plateau. On the east coast of Africa they have possessed settlements from time immemorial. Before the

Greeks of Alexandria sailed into the Indian Ocean, before the Tyrian vessels, with Jewish supercargoes,

passed through the straits of Babel Mandeb, the Arabs of Yemen had established factories in Mozambique

and on the opposite coast of Malabar, and had carried on a trade between the two lands, selling to the Indians

ivory, ebony, slaves, beeswax, and golddust brought down in quills from the interior by the negroes, to

whom they sold in return the sugar beads, and blue cotton goods of Hindustan. In the period of the caliphs

these settlements were strengthened and increased, in consequence of civil war, by fugitive tribes from Oman

and other parts of the Arabian peninsula. The emigrants made Africa their home; they built large towns which

they surrounded with orchards of the orangetree and plantations of the date; they introduced the culture of

tobacco, sugarcane and cotton. They were loved and revered by the negroes; they made long journeys into

the interior for the purposes of trade. Yet their religion has made no progress, and they do not attempt to

convert the blacks. Their towns resemble those of the Europeans; they dwell apart from the natives, and

The Mohammedans who entered the Niger regions were not only the Arab merchants but also the Berbers of

the desert, who, driven by war or instigated by ambition, poured into the Sudan by tribes, seized lands and

women, and formed mulatto nationalities. Of these the Fulahs are the most famous. They were originally

natives of Northern Africa; having intermarried during many generations with the natives, they have often the

appearance of pure Negroes, but they always call themselves white men, however black their skins may seem

to be. In the last century they were dispersed in small and puny tribes. Some wandered as gipsies selling

wooden bowls; others were roaming shepherd clans, paying tribute to the native kings and suffering much

illtreatment. In other parts they lived a bandit life. Sometimes, but rarely, they resided in towns which they

had conquered, pursued commerce, and tilled the soil. Yet in war they were far superior to the Negroes: if

only they could be united the most powerful kingdoms would be unable to withstand them. And finally their

day arrived. A man of their own race returned from Mecca, a pilgrim and a prophet, gathered them like

The pilgrimage to Mecca is incumbent only on those who can afford it, but hundreds of devout Negroes every

year put on their shrouds and beg their way across the continent to Massowah. There, taking out a few grains

of golddust cunningly concealed between the leaves of their Korans, they pay their passage across the Red

Sea and tramp it from Jidda to Mecca, feeding as they go on the bodies of the camels that have been left to

die, and whose meat is lawful if the throat is cut before the animal expires. As soon as the Negroesor

Takrouri, as they are calledarrive in the Holy City they at once set to work, some as porters and some as

carriers of water in leather skins; others manufacture baskets and mats of date leaves; others establish a

market for firewood, which they collect in the neighbouring hills. They inhabit miserable huts or ruined

houses in the quarter of the lower classes, where the sellers of charcoal dwell and where locusts are sold by

the measure. Some of these poor and industrious creatures spread their mats in the cloisters of the great

Mosque, and stay all the time beneath that sacred and hospitable roof. They are subject to the exclamatory fits

and pious convulsions so common among the Negroes of the Southern States. Often they may be seen

prostrate on the pavement, beating their foreheads against the stones, weeping bitterly, and pouring forth the

The Great Mosque at Mecca is a spacious square surrounded by a colonnade. In the midst of the quadrangle

is the small building called the Caaba. It has no windows; its door, which is seldom opened, is coated with

silver; its padlock, once of pure gold, is now of silver gilt. On its threshold are placed every night various

small wax candles and perfuming pans filled with aloeswood and musk. The walls of the building are covered

with a veil of black silk, tucked up on one side, so as to leave exposed the famous Black Stone which is

niched in the wall outside. The veil is not fastened close to the building, so that the least breath of air causes it

to wave in slow, undulating movements, hailed with prayer by the kneeling crowd around. They believe that

it is caused by the wings of guardian angels who will transport the Caaba to paradise when the last trumpet

At a little distance from this building is the Zemzem well, and while some of the pilgrims are standing by its

mouth waiting to be served, or walking round the Caaba, or stooping to kiss the stone, other scenes may be

observed in the cloisters and the square; and, as in the Temple at Jerusalem, these are not all of the most

edifying nature. Children are playing at games, or feeding the wild pigeons whom long immunity has

rendered tame. Numerous schools are going on, the boys chanting in a loud voice, and the master�s baton

sometimes falling on their backs. In another corner a religious lecture is being delivered. Men of all nations

are clustered in separate groupsthe Persian heretics, with their caps mounting to heaven and their beards

descending to the earth; the Tartar, with oblique eyes and rounded limbs and light silk handkerchief tied

round his brow; Turks with shaven faces and in red caps; the lean Indian pauper, begging with a miserable

whine; and one or two wealthy Hindu merchants not guiltless of dinners given to infidels, and of iced

champagne. At the same time an active business is being done in sacred keepsakesrosaries made of camel

bone, bottles of Zemzem water, dust collected from behind the veil, toothsticks made of a fibrous root such

as that which Mohammed himself was wont to use, and coarsely executed pictures of the Caaba. Mecca itself,

like most cities frequented by strangers, whether pilgrims or mariners, is not an abode of righteousness and

virtue. As the Tartars say of it, 'The Torch is dark at its foot,' and many a pilgrim might exclaim with the

'I set out in the hopes of lightening my sins, And returned, bringing home with me a fresh load of

But the very wickedness of a holy city deepens real enthusiasm into severity and wrath. When

AbdulWahhab saw taverns opened in Mecca itself, and the inhabitants alluring the pilgrims to every kind

of vice; when he found that the sacred places were made a show, that the mosque was inhabited by guides

and officials who were as greedy as beasts of prey, that wealth, not piety, was the chief object of

consideration in a pilgrim, he felt as Luther felt at Rome. The disgust which was excited in his mind by the

manners of the day was extended also to the doctrines that were in vogue. The prayers that were offered up to

Mohammed and the saints resembled the prayers that were once offered up to the Daughters of Heaven, the

intercessors of the ancient Arabs. The pilgrimages that were made to the tombs of holy men were the old

journeys to the ancestral graves. The worship of one God, which Mohammed had been sent to restore, had

again become obscured; the days of darkness had returned. He preached a Unitarian revival; he held up as his

standard and his guide the Koran, and nothing but the Koran; he founded a puritan sect which is now a

hundred years of age, and still remains an element of power and disturbance in the East.

Othman Dan Fodio, the Black Prophet, also went out of Mecca, his soul burning with zeal. He determined to

reform the Sudan. He forbade, like AbdulWahhab, the smoking of tobacco, the wearing of ornaments and

finery. But he had to contend with more gross abuses still. In many negro lands which professed Islam, palm

wine and millet beer were largely consumed; the women did not veil their faces nor even their bosoms;

immodest dances were performed to the profane music of the drum; learned men gained a livelihood by

writing charms, the code of the Koran was often supplanted by the old customary laws. Dan Fodio sent letters

to the great kings of Timbuktu, Haoussa, and Bornu, commanding them to reform their own lives and those

of their subjects, or he would chastise them in the name of God. They received these instructions from an

unknown man, as the King of Kings received the letter of Mohammed, and their fate resembled his. Dan

Fodio united the Fulah tribes into an army which he inspired with his own spirit. Thirsting for plunder and

paradise, the Fulahs swept over the Sudan; they marched into battle with shouts of frenzied joy, singing

hymns and waving their green flags on which texts of the Koran were embroidered in letters of gold. The

empire which they established at the beginning of this century is now crumbling away, but the fire is still

burning on the frontiers. Wherever the Fulahs are settled in the neighbourhood of pagan tribes they are

extending their power, and although the immediate effects are disastrousvillages being laid in ashes, men

slaughtered by thousands, women and children sold as slavesyet in the end these crusades are productive

of good. The villages are converted into towns; a new land is brought within the sphere of commercial and

The phenomenon of a religious Tamerlane has been repeated more than once in Central Africa. The last

example was that of Oumar the Pilgrim, whose capital was Segou, and whose conquests extended from

Timbuktu to Senegal, where he came into contact with French artillery and for ever lost his prestige as a

prophet. But we are taught by the science of history that these military empires can never long endure. It is

probable that Mohammedan Sudan will in time become a province of the Turks. Central Africa, as we have

shown, received its civilisation not from Egypt but from the grand Morocco of the Middle Ages. Egypt has

always lived with its back to Africa, its eyes and often its hands on Syria and Arabia. Abyssinia was not

subdued by the caliphs because it was not coveted by them, and there was little communication between

Egypt and the Sudan. Mohammed Ali was the first to reestablish the kingdom of the Pharaohs in Ethiopia,

and to organise negro regiments. Since his time the Turkish power has been gradually spreading towards the

interior, and the expedition of Baker Pasha, whatever may be its immediate result, is the harbinger of great

events to come. Should the Turks be driven out of Europe, they would probably become the emperors of

Africa, which in the interests of civilisation would be a fortunate occurrence. The Turkish government is

undoubtedly defective in comparison with the governments of Europe, but it is perfection itself in comparison

with the governments of Africa. If the Egyptians had been allowed to conquer Abyssinia there would have

been no need of an Abyssinian expedition, and nothing but Egyptian occupation will put an end to the wars

which are always being waged and always have been waged in that country between bandit chiefs. Those

who are anxious that Abyssinian Christianity should be preserved need surely not be alarmed, for the Pope of

Abyssinia is the Patriarch of Cairo, a Turkish subject, and the aboona or archbishop has always been an

Egyptian. But the Turks no longer have it in their power to commit actions which Europeans would condemn.

They now belong to the civilised system; they are subject to the law of opinion. Already they have been

compelled by that mysterious power to suppress the slavemaking wars which were formerly waged every

year from Kordofan and Sennaar, and which are still being waged from the independent kingdoms of Darfur,

Waday, Bagirmi, and Bornu. Wherever the Turks reign a European is allowed to travel; wherever a European

travels a word is spoken on behalf of the oppressed. That word enters the newspapers, passes into a

diplomatic remonstrance, becomes a firman, and a governor or commandant in some sequestered province of

an Oriental empire suffers the penalty of his misdeeds. It should be the policy of European Powers to aid the

destruction of all savage kingdoms, or at least never to interfere on their behalf.

It has now been shown that a vast region within the Dark Continent, the world beyond the sandy ocean, is

governed by Asiatic laws and has attained an Asiatic civilisation. We must next pass to the Atlantic side, and

study the effects which have been produced among the negroes by the intercourse of Europeans. It will be

found that the transactions on the coast of Guinea belong not only to the biography of Africa but also to

universal history, and that the domestication of the negro has indirectly assisted the material progress of

Europe and the development of its morality. The programme of the next chapter will be as follows: The rise

of Europe out of darkness; the discovery of Western Africa by the Portuguese; the institution of the

slavetrade, and the history of that great republican and philanthropic movement which won its first victory

in the abolition of the slavetrade in 1807, its last in the taking of Richmond in 1865.

THE history of Europe in ancient times is the history of those lands which adjoin the Mediterranean Sea.

Beyond the Alps lay a vast expanse of marsh and forest, through which flowed the swift and gloomy Rhine.

On the right side of that river dwelt the Germans; on its left, the Celtic Gauls. Both people, in manners and

customs, resembled the Red Indians. They lived in round wigwams, with a hole at the top to let out the

smoke. They hunted the white maned bison and the brown bear, and trapped the beaver, which then built its

lodges by the side of every stream. They passed their spare time in gambling, drunkenness, and torpor; while

their squaws cut the firewood, cultivated their gardenplots of grain, tended the shaggy headed cattle, and

the hogs feeding on acorns and beechmast, obedient to the horn of the mistress, but savage to strangers as a

pack of wolves. At an early period, however, the Gauls came into contact with the Phoenicians and the

Greeks; they served in the Carthaginian armies, and acquired a taste for trade; they learnt the cultivation of

the vine, and some of the metallic arts; their priests, or learned men, employed the Greek characters in

writing. But the Gauls had a mania for martial glory, and often attacked the peaceful Greek merchants of

Marseilles. The Greeks at last called in the assistance of the Romans, who not only made war on the hostile

tribes, but on the peaceful tribes as well. Thus began the conquest of Gaul. It was completed by Caesar, who

used that country as an exerciseground for his soldiers, and prepared them, by a hundred battles, for the

Military roads were made across the Alps, Roman colonies were dispatched into the newly conquered land,

Italian farmers took up their abode in the native towns, and the chiefs were required to send their sons to

school. Thus the Romans obtained hostages, and the Celts were pleased to see their boys neatly dressed in

white garments edged with purple, displaying their proficiency on the waxen tablets and the counting board.

In a few generations the Celts had disappeared. On the banks of the Rhone and the Seine magnificent cities

arose, watered by aqueducts, surrounded by gardens, adorned with libraries, temples, and public schools. The

inhabitants called themselves Romans, and spoke with patriotic fervour of the glorious days of the Republic.

Meanwhile the barbarians beyond the Rhine remained in the savage state. They often crossed the river to

invade the land which had ripened into wealth before their eyes: but the frontier was guarded by a chain of

camps; and the Germans, armed only with clumsy spears and wooden shields, could not break the line of

Roman soldiers, who were dressed in steel, who were splendidly disciplined, and who had military engines.

The Gauls had once been a warlike people; they now abandoned the use of arms. The empire insured them

But there came a time when the tribute of the provinces no longer returned to the provinces to be expended

on the public buildings and the frontier garrisons and the military roads. The rivers of gold which had so long

flowed into Rome at last dried up: the empire became poor, and yet its expenses remained the same. The

Praetorian Guards had still to be paid; the mob of the capital had still to be rationed with bread, and bacon,

and wine, and oil, and costly shows. Accordingly the provinces were made to suffer. Exorbitant taxes were

imposed: the aldermen and civil councillors of towns were compelled to pay enormous fees in virtue of their

office, and were forbidden to evade such expensive honours by enlisting in the army, or by taking holy

orders. The rich were accused of crimes that their property might be seized: the crops in the fields were

gathered by the police. A blight fell upon the land. Men would no longer labour, since the fruits of their toil

might at any time be taken from them. Cornfield and meadow were again covered with brambles and weeds;

the cities were deserted; grass grew in all the streets. The province of Gaul was taxed to death, and then

abandoned by the Romans. The government could no longer afford to garrison the Rhine frontier: the legions

The invading armies were composed of free men, who, under their respective captains or heads of clans, had

joined the standard of some noted warrior chief. The spoil of the army belonged to the army, and was divided

according to stipulated rules. The king's share was large, but more than his share he might not have. When the

Germans, instead of returning with their booty, remained upon the foreign soil, they partitioned the land in

the same manner as they partitioned the cattle and the slaves, the gold crosses, the silver chalices; the vases,

the tapestry, the fine linen, and the purple robes. An immense region was allotted to the king; other tracts of

various sizes to the generals and captains (or chiefs and chieftains) according to the number of men whom

they had brought into the field; and each private soldier received a piece of ground. But the army, although

disbanded, was not extinct; its members remained under martial law the barons or generals were bound to

obey the king when he summoned them to war; the soldiers to obey their ancient chiefs. Sometimes the king

and the great barons gave lands to favourites and friends on similar conditions, and at a later period money

The nobles of Roman Gaul lived within the city except during the villeggiatura in the autumn. The German

lords preferred the country, and either fortified the Roman villas or built new castles of their own. They

surrounded themselves with a bodyguard of personal retainers; their prisoners of war were made to till the

ground as serfs. And soon they reduced to much the same condition the German soldiers, and seized their

humble lands. In that troubled age none could hold property except by means of the strong arm. Men found it

difficult to preserve their lives, and often presented their bodies to some powerful lord in return for

protection, in return for daily bread. The power of the king was nominal: sovereignty was broken and

dispersed: Europe was divided among castles: and in each castle was a prince who owned no authority above

his own, who held a high court of justice in his hall, issued laws to his estates, lived by the court fees, by

taxes levied on passing caravans, and by ransoms for prisoners, sometimes obtained in fair war, sometimes by

falling upon peaceful travellers. Dark deeds were done within those ivycovered towers which now exist for

the pleasure of poets and pilgrims of the picturesque. Often from turret chambers and grated windows arose

the shrieks of violated maidens and the yells of tortured Jews. Yet castle life had also its brighter side. To

cheer the solitude of the isolated house minstrels and poets and scholars were courted by the barons, and were

offered a peaceful chamber and a place of honour at the board. In the towns of ancient Italy and Greece there

was no family: the home did not exist. The women and children dwelt together in secluded chambers: the

men lived a club life in the baths, the porticoes, and the gymnasiums. But the castle lord had no companions

of his own rank except the members of his own family. On stormy days, when he could not hunt, he found a

pleasure in dancing his little ones upon his knee, and in telling them tales of the wood and weald. Their

tender fondlings, and their merry laughs, their half formed voices, which attempted to pronounce his name

all these were sweet to him. And by the love of those in whom he saw his own image mirrored, in whom his

own childhood appeared to live again, he was drawn closer and closer to his wife. She became his counsellor

and friend; she softened his rugged manners; she soothed his fierce wrath; she pleaded for the prisoners and

captives, and the men condemned to die. And when he was absent, she became the sovereign lady of the

house, ruled the vassals, sat in the judgmentseat, and often defended the castle in time of siege. A charge so

august could not but elevate the female mind. Women became queens. The Lady was created. Within the

castle was formed that grand manner of gentleness, mingled with hauteur, which art can never stimulate, and

The barons dwelt apart from one another, and were often engaged in private war. Yet they had sons to

educate and daughters to marry; and so a singular kind of society arose. The king's house or court, and the

houses of the great barons, became academies to which the inferior barons sent their boys and girls to school.

The young lady became the attendant of the Dame, and was instructed in the arts of playing on the virginals,

of preparing simples, and of healing wounds; of spinning, sewing, and embroidery. The young gentleman was

at first a Page. He was taught to manage a horse with grace and skill, to use bow and sword, to sound the

notes of venerie upon the horn, to carve at table, to ride full tilt against the quintaine with his lance in rest, to

brittle a deer, to find his way through the forest by the stars in the sky and by the moss upon the trees. It was

also his duty to wait upon the ladies who tutored his youthful mind in other ways. He was trained to deport

himself with elegance; he was nurtured in all the accomplishments of courtesy and love. He was encouraged

to select a mistress among the dames or demoiselles; to adore her in his heart, to serve her with patience and

fidelity, obeying her least commands; to be modest in her presence; to be silent and discreet. The reward of

all this devotion was of no ethereal kind, but it was not quickly or easily bestowed; and vice almost ceases to

be vice when it can only be gratified by means of long discipline in virtue. When the page had arrived at a

certain age, he was clad in a brown frock; a sword was fastened to his side, and he obtained the title of

Esquire. He attended his patron knight on military expeditions, until he was old enough to be admitted to the

order. Among the ancient Germans of the forest, when a young man came of age, he was solemnly invested

with shield and spear. The ceremony of knighthood at first was nothing more than this. Every man of gentle

his actions, to succour the oppressed. Thus, within those castlecolleges arose the sentiment of Honour, the

institution of Chivalry, which, as an old poet wrote, made women chaste and men brave. The women were

worshipped as goddesses, the men were revered as heroes. Each sex aspired to possess those qualities which

the other sex approved. Women admire, above all things, courage and truth; and so the men became

courageous and true. Men admire modesty, virtue, and refinement; and so the women became virtuous, and

modest, and refined. A higher standard of propriety was required as time went on: the manners and customs

of the Dark Ages became the vices of a later period; unchastity, which had once been regarded as the private

wrong of the husband, was stigmatised as a sin against society; and society found a means of taking its

revenge. At first the notorious woman was insulted to her face at tournament and banquet; or knights chalked

an epithet upon her castle gates, and then rode on. In the next age she was shunned by her own sex: the

discipline of social life was established as it exists at the present day. Though it might sometimes be relaxed

in a vicious court, at least the ideal of right was preserved. But in the period of the Troubadours the fair

sinners resembled the pirates of the Homeric age. Their pursuits were of a dangerous, but not of a

dishonourable nature: they might sometimes lose their lives; they never lost their reputation.

We must now descend from ladies and gentlemen to the people in the field, who are sometimes forgotten by

historians. The castle was built on the summit of a hill, and a village of serfs was clustered round its foot.

These poor peasants were often hardly treated by their lords. Often they raised their brown and horny hands

and cursed the cruel castle which scowled upon them from above. Humbly they made obeisance, and bitterly

they gnawed their lips as the baron rode down the narrow street on his great warhorse, which would always

have its fill of corn, when they would starve, followed by his beeffed varlets with faces red from beer, who

gave them jeering looks, who called them by nicknames, who contemptuously caressed their daughters before

their eyes. Yet it was not always thus: the lord was often a true nobleman, the parent of their village, the

godfather of their children, the guardian of their happiness, the arbiter of their disputes. When there was

sickness among them, the ladies of the castle often came down, bringing them soups and spiced morsels with

their own white hands; and the castle was the home of the good chaplain, who told them of the happier world

beyond the grave. It was there also that they enjoyed such pleasures as they had. Sometimes they were called

up to the castle to feast on beef and beer in commemoration of a happy anniversary or a Christian feast.

Sometimes their lord brought home a caravan of merchants whom he had captured on the road and while the

strange guests were quaking for the safety of their bales, the people were being amused with the songs of the

minstrels, and the tricks of the jugglers, and the antics of the dancingbear. And sometimes a tournament was

held: the lords and ladies of the neighbourhood rode over to the castle; turf banks were set for the serfs and a

gallery was erected for the ladies, above whom sat enthroned the one who was chosen as the Queen of Beauty

and of Love. Then the heralds shouted, "Love of ladies, splintering of lances! stand forth, gallant knights; fair

eyes look upon your deeds!" And the knights took up their position in two lines fronting one another, and sat

motionless upon their horses like pillars of iron, with nothing to be seen but their flaming eyes. The trumpets

flourished: 'Laissez aller!,' cried a voice; and the knights, with their long spears in rest, dashed furiously

against each other, and then plied battleaxe and sword, to the great delight and contentment of the populace.

In times of war the castle was also the refuge of the poor, and the villagers fled behind its walls when the

enemy drew near. They did not then reflect that it was the castle which had provoked the war; they viewed it

only as a hospitable fortress which had saved their lives. It was therefore, in many cases, regarded by the

people not only with awe and veneration, but also with a sentiment of filial love. It was associated with their

pleasures and their security. But in course of time a rival arose to alienate the affections, or to strengthen the

In the days of the Republic and in the first days of the Empire, all kinds of skilled labour were in the hands of

slaves: in every palace, whatever was required for the household was manufactured on the premises. But

before the occupation of the Germans, a free class of artisans had sprung up, in what manner is not precisely

known; they were probably the descendants of emancipated slaves. This class, divided into guilds and

corporations, continued to inhabit the towns: they manufactured armour and clothes they travelled as pedlars

about the country, and thus acquired wealth, which they cautiously concealed, for they were in complete

subservience to the castle lord. They could not leave their property by will, dispose of their daughters in

marriage, or perform a single business transaction without the permission of their liege. But little by little

their power increased. When war was being waged, it became needful to fortify the town; for the town was

the baron's estate, and he did not wish his property to be destroyed. When once the burghers were armed and

their town walled they were able to defy their lord. They obtained charters, sometimes by revolt, sometimes

by purchase, which gave them the town to do with it as they pleased; to elect their own magistrates, to make

their own laws, and to pay their liegelord a fixed rent by the year instead of being subjected to loans and

benevolences, and loving contributions. The Roman Law, which had never quite died out, was now revived;

the old municipal institutions of the Empire were restored. Unhappily the citizens often fought among

themselves, and towns joined barons in destroying towns. Yet their influence rapidly increased, and the

power of the castle was diminished. Whenever a town received privileges from its lord, other towns

demanded that the same rights should be embodied in their charters, and rebelled if their request was refused.

Trade and industry expanded; the products of burgher enterprise and skill were offered in the castle halls for

sale. The lady was tempted with silk and velvet; the lord, with chains of gold, and Damascus blades, and suits

of Milan steel; the children clamoured for the sweet white powder which was brought from the countries of

the East. These new tastes and fancies impoverished the nobles. They reduced their establishments; and the

And there were others who went to the Town as well. In classical times the slaves were unable to rebel with

any prospect of success. In the cities of Greece every citizen was a soldier: in Rome an enormous army

served as the slave police. But in the scattered castle states of Europe, the serfs could rise against their lords,

and often did so with effect. And then the Town was always a place of refuge: the runaway slave was there

welcomed; his pursuers were duped or defied; the file was applied to his collar; his blue blouse was taken off;

his hair was suffered to grow; he was made a burgher and a free man. Thus the serfs had often the power to

rebel, and always the power to escape; in consequence of which they ceased to be serfs and became tenants.

In our own times we have seen emancipation presented to slaves by a victorious party in the House of

Commons, and by a victorious army in the United States. It has, therefore, been inferred that slavery in

Europe was abolished in the same manner, and the honour of the movement has been bestowed upon the

Church. But this is reading history upside down. The extinction of villeinage was not a donation but a

conquest: it did not descend from the court and the castle; it ascended from the village and the town. The

Church, however, may claim the merit of having mitigated slavery in its worst days, when its horrors were

increased by the pride of conquest and the hostility of race. The clergy belonged to the conquered people,

whom they protected from harsh usage to the best of their ability. They taught as the Moslem doctors also

teach, and as even the pagan Africans believe, that it is a pious action to emancipate a slave. But there is no

reason to suppose that they ever thought of abolishing slavery, and they could not have done so had they

wished. Negro slavery was established by subjects of the Church in defiance of the Church. Religion has little

power when it works against the stream, but it can give to streams a power which they otherwise would not

Rome was taken and sacked but never occupied by the barbarians. It still belonged to the Romans: it still

preserved the traditions and the genius of empire. Whatever may have been the origin of British or Celtic

Christianity, it is certain that the English were converted by the Papists; the first Archbishop of Canterbury

was an Italian; his converts became missionaries, entered the vast forests of pagan Germany, and brought

nations to the feet of Rome. The alliance of Pepin and the Roman See placed also the French clergy under the

dominion of the Pope, who was acknowledged by Alcuin, the adherent of Charlemagne, to be the "Pontiff of

God, vicar of the apostles, heir of the fathers, prince of the Church, guardian of the only dove without stain."

The ordinance of clerical celibacy increased the efficacy of the priesthood and the power of the Pope. The

ranks of the clergy were recruited, generation after generation, from the most intelligent of the lay men in the

lower classes, and from those among the upper classes who were more inclined to intellectual pursuits than to

military life. These men, divided as they were from family connections, ceased to be Germans, Englishmen,

or Frenchmen, and became catholic or universal hearted men, patriots of religion, children of the Church.

And those enthusiastic laymen who had adopted an ascetic isolated life, or had gathered together in voluntary

associations; those hermits and monks, who might have been so dangerous to the Established Church, were

welcomed as allies. No mean jealousy in the Roman Church divided the priest and the prophet, as among the

ancient Jews; the mullah and the dervish, as in the East at the present time. The monks were allowed to

preach, and to elect their own monastery priests; they were gradually formed into regular orders, and brought

within the discipline of ecclesiastic law. The monks of the East, who could live on a handful of beans, passed

their lives in weaving baskets, in prayer and meditation. But the monks of the West, who lived in a colder

climate, required a different kind of food; and as at first they had no money, they could obtain it only by

means of work. They laboured in the fields in order to live and that which had arisen from necessity was

continued as a part of the monastic discipline. There were also begging friars, who journeyed from land to

land. These were the first travellers in Europe. Their sacred character preserved their lives from all robbers,

whether noble or plebeian, and the same exemption was accorded to those who put on the pilgrim's garb. The

smaller pilgrimage was that to Rome the greater that to the Holy Land, by which the palmers obtained

remission of their sins, and also were shown by the monks of Egypt, Sinai, and Palestine, many interesting

relics and vestiges of supernatural events. They were shown the barns which Joseph had built, vulgarly called

the Pyramids; the bush which had burnt before Moses and was not consumed, and the cleft out of which he

peeped at the "back parts" of Jehovah; the pillar of salt which was once Lot's wife, and which, though the

sheep continually licked it out of shape, was continually restored to its pristine form; the ruins of the temple

which Samson overthrew; the well where Jesus used to draw water for his mother when he was a little boy,

and where she used to wash his clothes; the manger in which he was born, and the table on which he was

circumcised; the caves in which his disciples concealed themselves during the crucifixion, and the cracks in

the ground produced by the earthquake, which followed that event; the tree on which Judas hanged himself,

and the house in which he resided, which was surrounded by the Jews with a wall that it might not be injured

It was not only the rich who undertook this pilgrimage; many a poor man begged his way to the Holy Land.

When such a person was ready to depart, the village pastor clad him in a cloak of coarse black serge, with a

broad hat upon his head, put a long staff in his hand, and hung round him a scarf and script. He was

conducted to the borders of the parish in solemn procession, with cross and holy water the neighbours parted

from him there with tears and benedictions. He returned with cockleshells stitched in his hat, as a sign that

he had been across the seas, and with a branch of palm tied on to his staff, as a sign that he had been to

Jerusalem itself. He often brought also relics and beads; a bag of dust to hang at the bedside of the sick; a

phial of oil from the lamp which hung over the Holy Sepulchre, and perhaps a splinter of the true cross.

When the Saracens conquered Palestine and Egypt, they did not destroy the memorials of Jesus, for they

reverenced him as a prophet. Pious Moslems made also the pilgrimage to Jerusalem; and the Christians were

surprised and edified to see the turbaned infidels removing their sandals like Moses on Mount Sinai, and

prostrating themselves upon the pavement before the tomb. The caliphs were sufficiently enlightened to

encourage and protect the foreign enthusiasts who filled the land with gold; and although the palmers were

exempt from "passage" and "pontage" and other kinds of blackmail levied by the barons on lay travellers,

they found it more easy and more safe to travel in Asia than in Europe. The passion for the pilgrimage to

Palestine, which had gradually increased since the days of Helena and Jerome, burst forth as an epidemic at

the close of the tenth century. The thousand years assigned in Revelation as the lifetime of the earth were

about to expire. It was believed that Jesus would appear in Jerusalem, and there hold a grand assize:

thousands bestowed their property upon the Church, and crowded to the Holy Land.

While they thus lived at Jerusalem and waited for the second coming, continually looking up at the sky and

expecting it to open, there came instead a host of men with yellow faces and oblique slitshaped eyes, who

took the Holy City by assault, drove the Arabs out of Syria, killed many pilgrims, stripped them of all their

money, and if they found none outside their bodies, probed them with daggers, or administered emetics in the

hope of finding some within. When the pilgrims returned, they related their sufferings, and showed their

scars. The anger of Christendom was aroused. A crusade was preached, and the enthusiasm which

everywhere prevailed enabled the Church to exercise unusual powers. The Pope decreed that the men of the

cross should be hindered by none. Creditor might not arrest; master might not detain. To those who joined the

army of the Church, absolution was given; and paradise was promised in the Moslem style to those who died

in the campaign. The tidings flew from castle to castle, and from town to town; there was not a land, however

remote, which escaped the infection of the time. In the homely language of the monk of Malmesbury, "the

Welshman left his hunting, the Scotch his fellowship with vermin, the Dane his drinking party, the

Norwegian his raw fish." Europe was torn up from its foundations and hurled upon Asia. Society was

dissolved. Monks, not waiting for the permission of their superiors, cast off their black gowns and put on the

buff jerkin, the boots and the sword. The serf left his plough in the furrow, the shepherd left his flock in the

field. Men servants and maid servants ran from the castle. Wives insisted upon going with their husbands,

and if their husbands refused to take them, went with some one else. Murderers, robbers, and pirates declared

that they would wash out their sins in pagan blood. In some cases, the poor rustic shod his oxen like horses,

and placed his whole family in a cart, and whenever he came to a castle or a town, inquired whether that was

Jerusalem. The barons sold or mortgaged their estates, indifferent about the future, hoping to win the wealth

of Eastern princes with the sword. During two hundred years, the natives of Europe appeared to have no other

The Christian knights were at length driven out of Asia; in the meantime, Europe was transformed. The kings

had taken no part in the first crusades; the estates of the barons had been purchased partly by them, and partly

by the burghers. An alliance was made between Crown and Town. The sovereignty of the castle was

destroyed. Judges appointed by the king travelled on circuit through the land; the Roman law, from being

municipal became national; the barons became a nobility residing chiefly at the court; the middle class came

into life. The burghers acknowledged no sovereign but the king: they officered their own trainbands; they

collected their own taxes; they were represented in a national assembly at the capital. New tastes came into

vogue; both mind and body were indulged with dainty foods. The man of talent, whatever his station, might

hope to be ennobled; the honour of knighthood was reserved by the king, and bestowed upon civilians. The

spices of the East, the sugar of Egypt and Spain, the silk of Greece and the islands were no longer occasional

luxuries, but requirements of daily life. And since it was considered unworthy of a gentleman to trade, the

profits of commerce were monopolised by the third estate. Education was required for mercantile pursuits; it

was at first given by the priests who had previously taught laymen only to repeat the paternoster and the

credo, and to pay tithes. Schools were opened in the towns, and universities became secular. The rich

merchants took a pride in giving their sons the best education that money could obtain, and these young men

were not always disposed to follow commercial pursuits. They adopted the study of the law, cultivated the

fine arts, made experiments in natural philosophy, and were often sent by their parents to study in the land

beyond the Alps, where they saw something which was in itself an education for the burgher mind

merchants dwelling in palaces, seated upon thrones, governing great cities, commanding fleets and armies,

negotiating on equal terms with the proudest and most powerful monarchs of the North.

Italy, protected by its mountain barrier, had not been so frequently flooded by barbarians as the provinces of

Gaul and Spain. The feudal system was there established in a milder form, and the cities retained more

strength. Soon they were able to attack the castle lords, to make them pull down their towers, and to live like

peaceable citizens within the walls. The Emperor had little power; Florence, Genoa, and Pisa grew into

powerful city states resembling those of Italy before the rise of ancient Rome, but possessing manufactures

which, in the time of ancient Italy, had been confined to Egypt, China, and Hindustan.

The origin of Venice was different from that of its sister states. In the darkest days of Italy, when a horde of

savage Huns, with scalps dangling from the trappings of their horses, poured over the land, some citizens of

Padua and other adjoining towns took refuge in a cluster of islands in the lagoons which were formed at the

mouths of the Adige and the Po. From Rialto, the chief of these islands, it was three miles to the mainland; a

mile and a half to the sandy breakwater which divided the lagoons from the Adriatic. At high water the

islands appeared to be at sea; but when the tide declined, they rose up from the midst of a dark green plain in

which blue gashes were opened by the oar. But even at high water the lagoons were too shallow to be entered

by ships except through certain tortuous and secret channels; and even at low water they were too deep to

be passed on foot. Here, then, the Venetians were secure from their foes, like the lakedwellers of ancient

At first they were merely saltboilers and fishermen, and were dependent on the mainland for the materials of

life. There was no seaport in the neighbourhood to send its vessels for the salt which they prepared: they were

forced to fetch everything that they required for themselves. They became seamen by necessity: they almost

lived upon the water. As their means improved, and as their wants expanded, they bought fields and pastures

on the mainland; they extended their commerce, and made long voyages. They learnt in the dockyards of

Constantinople the art of building tall ships; they conquered the pirates of the Adriatic Sea. The princes of

Syria, Egypt, Barbary, and Spain were all of them merchants, for commerce is an aristocratic occupation in

the East. With them the Venetians opened up a trade. At first they had only timber and slaves to offer in

exchange for the wondrous fabrics and rare spices of the East. In raw produce Europe is no match for Asia.

The Venetians, therefore, were driven to invent; they manufactured furniture and woollen cloth, armour, and

glass. It is evident, from the old names of the streets, that Venice formerly was one great workshop; it was

also a great market city. The crowds of pilgrims resorting to Rome to visit the tombs of the martyrs, and to

kiss the Pope's toe, had suggested to the Government the idea of Fairs which were held within the city at

stated times. The Venetians established a rival fair in honour of St. Mark, whose remains, revered even by the

Moslems, had been smuggled out of Alexandria in a basket of pork. They took their materials, like Moli�re,

wherever they could find themstole the corpse of a patriarch from Constantinople, and the bones of a saint

from Milan. They made religion subservient to commerce: they declined to make commerce subservient to

religion. The Pope forbade them to trade with infidels: but the infidel, trade was their life. Siamo Veneziani

poi Cristiani, they replied. The Papal nuncios arrived in Venice, and excommunicated two hundred of the

leading men. In return they were ordered to leave the town. The fleets of the Venetians, like the Phoenicians

of old, sailed in all the European waters, from the wheat fields of the Crimea to the icecreeks of the Baltic.

In that sea the pirates were at length extinct; a number of cities along its shores were united in a league.

Bruges in Flanders was the emporium of the Northern trade, and was supplied by Venetian vessels with the

commodities of the South. The Venetians also travelled over Europe, and established their financial colonies

in all great towns. The cash of Europe was in their hands; and the sign of three golden balls declared that

During the period of the Crusades, their trade with the East was interrupted but it was exchanged for a

commerce more profitable still. The Venetians in their galleys conveyed the armies to the Holy Land, and

also supplied them with provisions. Besides the heavy sums which they exacted for such services, they made

other stipulations. Whenever a town was taken by the Crusaders, a suburb or street was assigned to the

Venetians; and when the Christians were expelled, the Moslems consented to continue the arrangement. In all

the great Eastern cities, there was a Venetian quarter containing a chapel, a bathhouse, and a factory ruled

Constantinople, during the Crusades, had been taken by the Latins, with the assistance of the Venetians, and

had been recovered by the Greeks, with the assistance of the Genoese. The Venetians were expelled from the

Black Sea, but obtained the Alexandria trade. In the fifteenth century the Black Sea was ruined, for its

caravan routes were stopped by the Turkish wars. Egypt, which was supplied by sea, monopolised the India

trade, and the Venetians monopolised the trade of Egypt. Venice became the nutmeg and pepper shop of

Europe: not a single dish could be seasoned, not a tankard of ale could be spiced, without adding to its gains.

The wealth of that city soon became enormous; its power, south of the Alps, supreme.

Times had changed since those poor fugitives first crept in darkness and sorrow on the islands of the wild

lagoon, and drove stakes into the sand, and spread the reeds of the ocean for their bed. Around them the dark

lone waters, sighing, soughing, and the seabird's melancholy cry. Around them the dismal field of slime, the

salt and sombre plain. On that cluster of islands had arisen a city of surpassing loveliness and splendour.

Great ships lay at anchor in its marble streets; their yards brushed sculptured balconies, and the walls of

palaces as they swept along. Branching off from the great thoroughfares, bustling with commerce,

magnificent with pomp, were sweet and silent lanes of water, lined with summer palaces and with myrtle

gardens, sloping downwards to the shore. In the fashionable quarter was a lakelike space the Park of

Venice which every evening was covered with gondolas; and the gondoliers in those days were slaves

from the East, Saracens or Negroes, who sang sadly as they rowed, the music of their homes the

The government of Venice was a rigid aristocracy. Venice therefore has no Santa Croce; it can boast of few

illustrious names. However, its Aldine Press and its poems in colour were not unworthy contributions to the

revival of ancient learning and the creation of modern art. The famous wanderings of Marco Polo had also

excited among learned Venetians a peculiar taste for the science of exploration. All over Europe they

corresponded with scholars of congenial tastes, and urged those princes who had ships at their disposal to

undertake voyages of enterprise and discovery. Among their correspondents there was one who carried out

their ideas too well. Venice was not so much injured by the potentates who assembled at Cambrai as by a

single man who lived in a lonely spot on the southwest coast of the Spanish peninsula.

That country had been taken from the natives by the Carthaginians, from the Carthaginians by the Romans,

from the Romans by the Goths, from the Goths by the Arabs and the Moors. It was the first province of the

Holy Empire of the Caliphs to shake itself free, and to crown a monarch of its own. The Arabs raised Spain to

a height of prosperity which it has never since attained; they covered the land with palaces, mosques,

hospitals, and bridges; and with enormous aqueducts which, penetrating the sides of mountains, or sweeping

on lofty arches across valleys, rivalled the monuments of ancient Rome. The Arabs imported various tropical

fruits and vegetables, the culture of which has departed with them. They grew, prepared, and exported sugar.

They discovered new mines of gold and silver, quicksilver and lead. They extensively manufactured silks,

cottons, and merino woollen goods, which they despatched to Constantinople by sea, and which were thence

diffused through the valley of the Danube over savage Christendom. When Italians began to navigate the

Mediterranean, a line of ports was opened to them from Tarragona to Cadiz. The metropolis of this noble

country was Cordova. It stood in the midst of a fertile plain washed by the waters of the Guadalquivir. It was

encircled by suburban towns; there were ten miles of lighted streets. The great mosque was one of the

wonders of the mediaeval world; its gates embossed with bronze; its myriads of lamps made out of Christian

bells; and its thousand columns of variegated marble supporting a roof of richly carved and aromatic wood.

At a time when books were so rare in Europe that the man who possessed one often gave it to a church, and

placed it on the altar pro remedio animae suae, to obtain remission of his sins; at a time when three or four

hundred parchment scrolls were considered a magnificent endowment for the richest monastery: when

scarcely a priest in England could translate Latin into his mother tongue; and when even in Italy a monk who

had picked up a smattering of mathematics was looked upon as a magician, here was a country in which

every child was taught to read and write; in which every town possessed a public library; in which book

collecting was a mania; in which cotton and afterwards linenpaper was manufactured in enormous

quantities; in which ladies earned distinction as poets and grammarians, and in which even the blind were

often scholars; in which men of science were making chemical experiments, using astrolabes in the

observatory, inventing flying machines, studying the astronomy and algebra of Hindustan.

When the Goths conquered Spain they were reconquered by the clergy, who established or revived the

Roman Law. But to that excellent code they added some special enactments relating to pagans, heretics, and

Jews. With nations as with individuals, the child is often the father of the man; intolerance, which ruined the

Spain of Philip, was also its vice, in the Gothic days. On the other hand, the prosperity of Spain beneath the

Arabs was owing to the tolerant spirit of that people. Never was a conquered nation so mercifully treated. The

Christians were allowed by the Arab laws free exercise of their religion. They were employed at court; they

held office; they served in the army. The caliph had a bodyguard of twelve thousand men; picked troops,

splendidly equipped; and a third of these were Christians. But there were some ecclesiastics who taught their

congregations that it was sinful to be tolerated. There were fanatics who, when they heard the cry of the

muezzin, "There is no God but God, and Mohammed is the messenger of God," would sign the cross upon

their foreheads and exclaim in a loud voice, "Keep not thou silence, O God, for lo! thine enemies make a

tumult, and they that hate thee have lifted up the head"; and so they would rush into the mosque, and disturb

the public worship, and announce that Mohammed was one of the false prophets whom Christ had foretold.

And when such blasphemers were put to death, which often happened on the spot, there was an epidemic of

martyrsuicide such as that which excited the wonder and disgust of the younger Pliny. And soon both the

contumacy of the Christians and the evil passions of the Moslems, which that contumacy excited, were

increased by causes from without. When Spain had first been conquered, a number of Gothic nobles, too

proud to submit on any terms, retreated to the Asturias, taking with them the sacred relics from Toledo. They

found a home in mountain ravines clothed with chestnut woods, and divided by savage torrents foaming and

gnashing on the stones. Here the Christians established a kingdom, discovered the bones of a saint which

attracted pilgrims from all parts of Europe, and were joined from time to time by foreign volunteers, and by

The Caliph of Cordova was a Commander of the Faithful: he united the spiritual and temporal powers in his

own person: he was not the slave of Mamelukes or Turkish guards. But he had the right of naming his

successor from a numerous progeny, and this custom gave rise, as usual, to seraglio intrigue and civil war.

The empire broke up into petty states, which were engaged in continual feuds with one another. Thus the

Christians were enabled to invade the Moslem territory with success. At first they made only plundering

forays; next they took castles by surprise or by storm and garrisoned them strongly; and then they began

slowly to advance upon the land. By the middle of the ninth century they had reached the Douro and the

Ebro. By the close of the eleventh they had reached the Tagus under the banner of the Cid. In the thirteenth

century the kingdom of Granada alone was left. But that kingdom lasted two hundred years. Its existence was

preserved by causes similar to those which had given the Christians their success. Portugal, Arragon, Leon,

and Castile were more jealous of one another than of the Moorish kingdom. Granada was unaggressive; and

at the same time it belonged to the European family. There was a difference in language, religion, and

domestic institutions between Moslem and Christian Spain; yet the manners and mode of thought in both

countries were the same. The cavaliers of Granada were acknowledged by the Spaniards to be "gentlemen,

though Moors." The Moslem knight cultivated the sciences of courtesy and music, fought only with the foe

on equal terms, esteemed it a duty to side with the weak and to succour the distressed, mingled the name of

his mistress with his Allah Akbar! as the Christians cried, Ma Dame et mon Dieu! wore in her remembrance

an embroidered scarf or some other gage of love, mingled with her in the graceful dance of the Zambra,

serenaded her by moonlight as she looked down from the balcony. Granada was defended by a cavalry of

gallant knights, and by an infantry of sturdy mountaineers. But it came to its end at last. The marriage of

Ferdinand and Isabella united all the crowns of Spain. After eight centuries of almost incessant war, after

three thousand seven hundred battles, the long crusade was ended; Spain became once more a Christian land;

and Boabdil, pausing on the Hill of Tears, looked down for the last time on the beautiful Alhambra, on the

city nestling among rose gardens, and the dark cypress waving over Moslem tombs. His mother reproached

him for weeping as a woman for the kingdom he had not defended as a man. He rode down to the sea and

crossed over into Africa. But that country also was soon to be invaded by the Christians.

That part of the Peninsula which is called Portugal preserved its independence and its dialect from the

encroachments of Castile. While the kingdom of Granada was yet alive, the Portuguese monarch, having

driven the Moors from the banks of the Tagus, resolved to pursue them into Africa. He possessed an excellent

crusade machinery, and naturally desired to apply it to some purpose. In Portugal were troops of military

monks, who had sworn to fight with none but unbelievers. In Portugal were large revenues granted or

bequeathed for that purpose alone. In Portugal the passion of chivalry was at its height; the throne was

surrounded by knights panting for adventure. It is related that some ladies of the English court had been

grossly insulted by certain cavaliers, and had been unable to find champions to redress their wrongs. An equal

number of Portuguese knights at once took ship, sailed to London, flung down their gauntlets, overthrew their

opponents in the lists, and returned to Lisbon having received from the injured ladies the tenderest proof of

It seems that already there had risen between Portugal and England that diplomatic friendship which has

lasted to the pre sent day. A commerce of wine for wool was established between the ports of the Tagus and

the Thames; and with this commerce the pirates of Ceuta continually interfered. Ceuta was one of the pillars

of Hercules: it sat opposite Gibraltar, and commanded the straits. The King of Portugal prepared a fleet; great

wargalleys were built having batteries of mangonels or huge crossbows, with winding gear, stationed in the

bow; great beams, like battering rams; swung aloft; and jars of quicklime and soft soap to fling in the faces of

the enemy. The fleet sailed forth, rustling with flags, beating drums, and, blowing Saracen horns; the passage

to Ceuta was happily made; the troops were landed, and the pirate city taken by assault.

Among those who distinguished themselves in this exploit was the Prince Henry, a younger son of the king.

He was not only a brave knight, but also a distinguished scholar; his mind had been enriched by a study of the

works of Cicero, Seneca, and Pliny, and by the Latin translations of the Greek geographers. He now stepped

on that mysterious continent which had been closed to Christians for several hundred years. He questioned

the prisoners respecting the interior. They described the rich and learned cities of Morocco: the Atlas

mountains, shining with snow and the sandy desert on their southern side. It was there the ancients had

supposed all life came to an end. But now the Prince received the astounding intelligence that beyond the

Sahara was a land inhabited entirely by negroes; covered with fields of corn and cotton watered by majestic

rivers, on the banks of which rose cities as large as Morocco, or Lisbon, or Seville. In that country were gold

mines of prodigious wealth; it was also a granary of slaves. By land it could be reached in a week from

Morocco by a courier mounted on the swift dromedary of the desert, which halted not by day or night. There

were regular caravans or camelfleets, which passed to and fro at certain seasons of the year. The Black

Country, as they called it, could also be reached by sea. If ships sailed along the desert shore towards the

south, they would arrive at the mouths of wide rivers, which flowed down from the goldbearing hills.

This conversation decided Prince Henry's career. To discover this new world beyond the desert became the

object of his life. He was Grand Master of the Order of Christ, and had ample revenues at his disposal and he

considered himself justified in expending them on this enterprise which would result in the conversion of

many thousand pagans to the Christian faith. He retired to a castle near Cape St. Vincent, where the sight of

the ocean continually inflamed his thoughts. It was a cold, bleak headland, with a few juniper trees scattered

here and there: all other vegetation had been withered by the spray. But Prince Henry was not alone. He

invited learned men from all countries to reside with him. He established a court, in which weatherbeaten

pilots might discourse with German mathematicians and Italian cosmographers. He built an observatory, and

founded a naval school. He collected a library, in which might be read the manuscript of Marco Polo, which

his elder brother had brought from Venice; copies on vellum of the great work of Ptolemy; and copies also of

Herodotus, Strabo, and other Greek writers, which were being rapidly translated into Latin under the auspices

of the Pope at Rome. He had also a collection of maps and seacharts engraved on marble or on metal tables,

and painted upon parchment. At a little distance from the castle were the harbour and town of Sagres, from

which the vessels of the Prince went forth with the cross of the order painted on their sails.

They sailed down the coast of the Sahara; on their right was a sea of darkness, on their left a land of fire. The

gentlemen of the household who commanded the ships did not believe in the country of green trees beyond

the ocean of sand. Instead of pushing rapidly along, they landed as soon as they detected any signs of the

natives the old people of Masinissa and Jugurtha attacked them crying, Portugal! Portugal! and having

taken a few prisoners returned home. In every expedition the commander made it a point of honour to go a

little further than the preceding expedition. Several years thus passed, and the Black Country had not been

found. The Canary Islands were already known to the Spaniards: but the Portuguese discovered Porto Santo

and Madeira. A shipload of emigrants was despatched to the former island, and among the passengers was a

female rabbit in an interesting situation. She was turned down with her young ones on the island, and, there

being no checks to rabbitpopulation, they increased with such rapidity that they devoured every green thing,

and drove the colonists across into Madeira. In that island the colonists were more fortunate; instead of

importing rabbits they introduced the vine from Cyprus, and the sugarcane from Sicily; and soon Madeira

wine and sugar were articles of export from Lisbon to London and to other ports. In the meantime the

expeditions to Africa became exceedingly unpopular. The priests declared that the holy money was being

scandalously wasted on the dreams of a lonely madman. That castle on the Atlantic shore, which will ever be

revered as a sacred place in the annals of mankind, was then regarded with abhorrence and contempt. The

common people believed it to be the den of a magician, and crossed themselves in terror when they met in

their walks a swarthy strongfeatured man, with a round barret cap on his head, wrapped in a large mantle,

and wearing black buskins with gilt spurs. Often they saw him standing on the brink of the cliff, gazing

earnestly towards the sea, his eyes shaded by his hand. It was said that on fair nights he might be seen for

hours and hours on the tower of Babel which he had built, holding a strange weapon in his hands, and turning

There was an orthodox geography at that period founded upon statements in the Jewish writings, and in the

Fathers of the Church. The earth was in the centre of the universe; the sun and the moon and the stars humbly

revolving round it. Jerusalem was in the precise centre of the earth. In Eastern India was the Terrestrial

Paradise, situated on high ground, and surrounded by a wall of fire, reaching to the sky. St. Augustine,

Lactantius, and Cosmas Indicopleustes opposed the Antipodes as being contrary to Scripture; and there could

not be people on the other side of the earth, for how would they be able to see the Son of God descending in

his glory? It was also generally believed that there was a torrid zone, an impassable belt on both sides of the

equator, which Providence had created for the lower animals, and in which no man could live. It was to this

fiery land that the Prince kept sending vessel after vessel. The Portuguese did not see what would come of

these expeditions except to make widows and orphans. "The Prince seems to think," said they, "that because

he has discovered two desert islands he has conferred a great blessing upon us but we have enough

uncultivated land without going across the seas for more. His own father, only a little while ago, gave land to

a nobleman of Germany, on condition that he should people it with emigrants. But Dom Henry sends men out

of Portugal instead of asking them in. Let us keep to the country that God has given us. It may be seen how

much better suited those lands are for beasts than men by what happened with the rabbits. And even if there

are in that unfound land as many people as the Prince pretends, we do not know what sort of people they are;

and if they are like those in the Canaries who jump from rock to rock, and throw stones at Christian heads, of

However, an incident occurred which produced a revolution in popular and ecclesiastic feeling. The prisoners

captured on the desert coast offered a ransom for their release and this ransom consisted of negro slaves and

gold. The place where this metal first made its appearance was called the Golden River. It was not in reality a

river but an arm of the sea, and the gold had been brought from the mines of Bambouk in the country of the

negroes. Its discovery created an intense excitement: the priests acknowledged that it could not have been

placed there for the use of the wild animals. Companies were formed and were licensed by the Crown, which

assigned to the Prince a fifth part of the cargoes returned. He himself cared little for the gold but the

discovery of this precious metal, of which India was proverbially the native land, suggested the idea that by

following the coast of Africa the Indies might be reached by sea. Letters and maps which he received from

his Venetian correspondents encouraged him in this belief, and he obtained without delay a Bull from the

Pope granting to the Crown of Portugal all lands that its subjects might discover as far as India inclusive, with

license to trade with infidels, and absolution for the souls of those that perished in these semi commercial,

The practice of piracy was now partly given up: the Portuguese, like the Phoenicians of old, traded in one

place and kidnapped in another. The commodities which they brought home were gold dust, seal skins, and

negroes. Yet still they did not reach the negro land, till at last a merchant of Lagos, one time an equerry in the

Prince's service, knowing his old master had exploration at heart more than trade, determined to push on,

without loitering on the desert coast. He was rewarded with the sight of trees growing on the banks of a great

river, which Prince Henry and his cosmographers supposed to be the Nile. On one side were the brown men

of the desert with long tangled hair, lean, and fierce in expression, living on milk, wandering with their

camels from place to place. On the other side were large, stout, comely men with hair like wool, skins black

The Portuguese had now discovered the coast of Guinea, and they were obliged to give up their predatory

practices. Instead of an open plain in which knights habited in armour and men dressed in quilted cotton

jackets could fight almost with impunity against naked Moors, they entered rivers the banks of which were

lined with impenetrable jungles. The negroes, perched in trees, shot down upon them from above, or attacked

the ships' boats in midchannel with their swift and light canoes. The Portuguese had no firelocks, and the

crossbow bolt was a poor missile compared with the arrows which the negroes dipped in a poison so subtle

that as soon as the wounded man drank he died, the blood bursting from his nose and ears. A system of barter

was therefore established, and the negroes showed themselves disposed to trade. The Gold Coast was

discovered: a fort and a chapel were built at Elmina, where a commandant was appointed to reside. This

ancient settlement has just been ceded to the English by the Dutch. The ships carried out copper bracelets,

brass basins, knives, rattles, looking glasses, coloured silks, and woollen goods, green Rouen cloth, coral,

figured velvet, and dainty napkins of Flanders embroidered with gold brocade, receiving chiefly gold dust in

exchange. This trade was farmed out to a company for five years, on condition that the company should each

The excitement which followed the discovery of gold dust, and the institution of the House of Mines,

gradually died away. The noble Prince Henry was no more. The men who went out to the coast were not of

the class who devote their lives to the chivalry of enterprise. An official who had just returned from Elmina

being presented to the king, His Majesty asked him how it was that although he had lived in Africa his face

and hands were so white. The gentleman replied that he had worn a mask and gloves during the whole period

of his absence in that sultry land; upon which the king told him what he thought he was fit for in words too

vigorous to be translated. This same king, John the second, was a vigorousminded man, and in him the

ambition of Prince Henry was revived. He found in a chest belonging to the late king a series of letters from a

Venetian gentleman giving much information about the India trade, and earnestly advising him to prosecute

his explorations along the coast. The librarians of St. Mark had also sent maps in which the termination of the

continent was marked. The king sent out new expeditions and fostered the science of nautical astronomy. A

Jew named Zacuto and the celebrated Martin Behem improved the mariner's compass and modified the old

Alexandrian astrolabe, so that it might be used at sea. Wandering knights from distant lands volunteered for

these expeditions desiring to witness the tropical storms and the strange manners of the New World, as it was

Many skilful mariners and pilots visited Lisbon, were encouraged to remain, and became naturalised

Portuguese. Among these was the glorious Christopher Columbus, who made more than one voyage to the

Gold Coast, married a Portuguese lady, and lived for some time in the Azores. It was his conviction that the

eastern coast of Asia could be reached by sailing due west across the ocean. It was his object not to discover a

new land, but to reach by sea the country which Marco Polo had visited by land. He eventually sailed with

letters to the Emperor of China in his pockets and came back from the West India Islands thinking that he had

been to Japan. He made his proposals in the first place to the king, who referred it to a council of learned

men. There were now two plans for sailing to India before the court: the one by following the African coast,

the other by sailing west across the ocean. But expeditions of all kinds were at that time unpopular in Lisbon.

The Guinea trade did not pay, and it was strenuously urged at the council that the West African Settlements

should be abandoned. The friends of exploration were obliged to stand on the defensive. They could not carry

the proposal of Columbus; it was all that they could do to save the African expeditions. But when Columbus

had won for Castile the east coast of Asia (as was then supposed) the king perceived that if he wished to have

an Indian empire he must set to work at once. He accordingly conducted the naval expeditions with such

vigour that the Cape of Storms was discovered, was then called the Cape of Good Hope, and, was then

doubled, though without immediate result, the sailors forcing their captain to return. The king also sent a

gentleman, named Covilham, to visit the countries of the East by land. His instructions were to trace the

Covilham went to Alexandria in the pilgrim's garb, but instead of proceeding to the Holy Land, he passed on

to Aden, and sailed round the Indian Ocean or the Green Sea, that Lake of Wonder with the precious

ambergris floating on its waters and pearls strewed upon its bed, whitened with the cotton sails of the Arab

vessels, of the Gujrat Indians, and even of the Chinese, whose fourmasted junks were sometimes to be seen

lying in the Indian harbours with great wooden anchors dangling from their bows. The east coast of Africa, as

low down as Madagascar, or the Island of the Moon, was lined with large towns in which the Arabs resided

as honoured strangers, or in which they ruled as kings. On this coast Covilham obtained in formation

respecting the Cape. He then crossed over to the India shore; he sailed down the coast of Malabar from city to

city, and from port to port. He was astounded and bewildered by what he saw: the activity and grandeur of

the commerce; the magnificence of the courts; the halfnaked kings blazing with jewels, saying their prayers

on rosaries of precious stones, and using golden goblets as spittoons; the elephants with pictures drawn in

bright colours on their ears, and with jugglers in towers on their backs; the enormous temples filled with

lovely girls; the idols of gold with ruby eyes; the houses of red sandal wood; the scribes who wrote on palm

leaves with iron pens; the pilots who took observations with instruments unknown to Europeans; the huge

bundles of cinnamon or cassia in the warehouses of the Arab merchants; the pepper vines trailing over trees;

He returned to Cairo, and there found two Jews, Rabbi Abraham and Joseph the Shoemaker, whom the king

had sent to look after him. To them he gave a letter for the king, in which he wrote that the ships which sailed

down the coast of Guinea might be sure of reaching the termination of the continent by keeping on to the

south; and that when they arrived in the Eastern ocean, they must ask for Sofala and the Island of the Moon."

Covilham himself did not return. He had accomplished one part of his mission; he had traced the Venetian

A fable had arisen, in the Dark Ages, of a great Christian king in Central Asia; and when it was clearly

ascertained that the Grand Khan was not a Christian, and that none of the Tartar princes could possibly be

Christians, as they could not keep Lent, having no fish or vegetables in their country, it was hoped that

Prester John, as the myth was called, might be found elsewhere. Certain pilgrims were met with at Jerusalem

who were almost negroes in appearance. Their baptism was of three kinds of fire, of water, and of blood:

they were sprinkled, they were circumcised, they were seared on the forehead with a redhot iron in the form

of a cross. Their king, they said, was a good Christian and a hater of the Moslems, and was descended from

the Queen of Sheba. This swarthy king, the ancestor of Theodore, could be no other than Prester John; and

Covilham felt it his duty to bear him the greetings of his master before he went home to enjoy that reputation

which he had so gloriously earned, and to take a part in the great discoveries that were soon to be made.

But the king of Abyssinia wanted a tame white man. He gave his visitor wife and lands; he treated him with

honour; but he would not let him go. This kind of complimentary captivity is a danger to which African

travellers are always exposed. It is the glory and pride of a savage king to have a white man at his court. And

so Covilham was detained, and he died in Abyssinia. But he lived to hear that Portugal had risen in a few

years to be one of the great European powers, and that the flag he loved was waving above those castles and

cities which he had been the first of his nation to behold. His letter arrived at the same time as the ship of

Dias, who had doubled the Cape. The king determined that a final expedition should be sent, and that India

It was a f�te day in Lisbon. The flags were flying on every tower; the fronts of the houses were clothed in

gorgeous drapery, which swelled and floated in the wind; stages were erected on which mysteries were

performed; bells were ringing, artillery boomed. Marble balconies were crowded with ladies and cavaliers,

and out of upper windows peeped forth the faces of girls, who were kept in semiOriental seclusion.

Presently the sound of trumpets could be heard; and then came in view a thousand friars, who chanted a

litany, while behind them an immense crowd chanted back in response. At the head of this procession rode a

gentleman richly dressed; he was followed by a hundred and fortyeight men in sailors' clothes, but bare

footed, and carrying tapers in their hands. On they went till they reached the quay where the boats, fastened

to the shore, swayed to and fro with the movement of the tide, and strained at the rope as if striving to depart.

The sailors knelt. A priest of venerable appearance stood before them, and made a general confession, and

absolved them in the form of the Bull which Prince Henry had obtained. Then the wives and mothers

embraced their loved ones whom they bewailed as men about to die. And all the people wept. And the

Thirtytwo months passed, and again the waterside was crowded, and the guns fired, and the bells rang.

Again Vasco da Gama marched in procession through the streets; and behind him walked, with feeble steps,

but with triumph gleaming in their eyes, fiftyfive men the rest were gone. But in that procession were

not only Portuguese, but also men with white turbans and brown faces; and sturdy blacks, who bore a chest

which was shown by their straining muscles to be of enormous weight; and in his hand the Captain General

held a letter which was written with a pen of iron on a golden leaf, and which addressed the king of Portugal

and Guinea in these words: "Vasco da Gama, a gentleman of thy house, came to my country, of whose

coming I was glad. In my country there is plenty of cinnamon, cloves, pepper, and precious stones. The

things which I am desirous to have out of thy country are silver, gold, coral, and scarlet."

That night all the houses in Lisbon were illuminated; the gutters ran with wine; the skies, for miles round,

were reddened with the light of bonfires. The king's men brought ten pounds of spices to each sailor's wife, to

give away to her gossips. The sailors themselves were surrounded by crowds, who sat silent and

openmouthed, listening to the tales of the great waters, and the marvellous lands where they had been.

They told of the wonders of the Guinea coast, and of the men near the Cape, who rode on oxen and played

sweet music on the flute; and of the birds which looked like geese, and brayed like donkeys, and did not

know how to fly, but put up their wings like sails, and scudded along before the wind. They told how as they

sailed on towards the south, the north star sank and sank, and grew fainter and fainter, until at last it

disappeared; and they entered a new world, and sailed beneath strange skies; and how, when they had

doubled the Cape, they again saw sails on the horizon, and the north star again rose to view. They told of the

cities on the Eastern shore, and of their voyage across the Indian Ocean, and of that joyful morning when,

And then they sank their voices, and their eyes grew grave and sad as they told of the horrors of the voyage;

of the long, long nights off the stormy Cape when the wind roared, and the spray lashed through the rigging,

and the waves foamed over the bulwarks, and the stones that were their cannonshot crashed from side to

side, and the ships like live creatures groaned and creaked, and hour after hour the sailors were forced to

labour at the pumps till their bones ached, and their hands were numbed by cold. They told of treacherous

pilots in the Mozambique, who plotted to run their ships ashore; and of the Indian pirates, the gipsies of the

sea, who sent their spies on board. They told of that new and horrible disease which, when they had been long

at sea, made their bodies turn putrid and the teeth drop from their jaws. And as they told of those things, and

named the souls who had died at sea, there rose a cry of lamentation, and widows in new garments fled

That night, the Venetian ambassador sat down and wrote to his masters that he had seen vessels enter Lisbon

harbour laden with spices and with India drugs. His next letter informed them that a strong fleet was being

prepared, and that Vasco da Gama intended to conquer India. The Venetians saw that they were ruined. They

wrote to their ally, the Sultan of Egypt, and implored him to bestir himself. They gave him artillery to send to

the India princes. They offered to open the Suez canal at their own expense, that their ships might arrive in

the Indian Ocean before the Portuguese. On the other hand, came the terrible Albuquerque, who told the

Sultan to beware, or he would destroy Mecca and Medina, and turn the Nile into the Red Sea. The Indian

Ocean became a Portuguese lake. There was scarcely a town upon its shores which had not been saluted by

the Portuguese bombardiers. Not a vessel could cross its waters without a Portuguese passport. As a last

resource, the Venetians offered to take the India produce off the king's hands, and to give him a fair price.

This offer was declined, and Lisbon, instead of Venice, became the marketplace of the India trade. The

great cities on the Euphrates, the Tigris, and the Nile fell into decay; the caravan trade of Central Asia

declined; the throne of commerce was transferred from the basin of the Mediterranean to the basin of the

Atlantic; and the oceanic powers, though rigidly excluded from the commerce itself, were greatly benefited

by the change. They had no longer to sail through the straits of Gibraltar; Lisbon was almost at their doors.

The achievements of the Portuguese were stupendous for a time. They established a chain of forts all

down the western coast of Africa, and up the east coast to the Red Sea; then round the Persian Gulf, down the

coast of Malabar, up the coast of Coromandel, among the islands of the Archipelago, along the shores of

Siam and Burma to Canton and Shanghai. With handfuls of men they defeated gigantic armies; with petty

forts they governed empires. But from first to last they were murderers and robbers, without foresight,

without compassion. Our eyes are at first blinded to their vices by the glory of their deeds; but as the light

fades, their nakedness and horror are revealed. We read of Arabs who had received safe conducts, and who

made no resistance, being sewed up in sails and cast into the sea, or being tortured in body and mind by hot

bacon being dropped upon their flesh; of crocodiles being fed with live captives for the amusement of the

soldiers, and being so well accustomed to be fed that whenever a whistle was given they raised their heads

above the water. We read of the wretched natives taking refuge with the tiger of the jungle and the panther of

the hills; of mothers being forced to pound their children to death in the rice mortars, and of other children

being danced on the point of spears, which it was said was teaching the young cocks to crow. The generation

of heroes passed away; the generation of favourites began. Courtiers accepted offices in the Indies with the

view of extorting a fortune from the natives as rapidly as could be done. It was remarked that humanity and

justice were virtues which were always left behind at the Cape of Good Hope by passengers for India. It was

remarked that the money which they brought home was like excommunicated money, so quickly did it

disappear. And as for those who were content to love their country and to serve their king, they made enemies

of the others, and were ruined for their pains. Old soldiers might be seen in Lisbon wandering through the

streets in rags, dying in the hospitals, and crouched before the palace which they had filled with gold. Men

whose names are now worshipped by their countrymen were then despised. Minds which have won for

themselves immortality were darkened by sorrow and disgrace. In the island of Macao, on the Chinese coast,

there is a grove paved with soft green velvet paths, and roofed with a dome of leaves which even the rays of a

tropical sun cannot pierce through. In the midst is a grotto of rocks, round which the roots of gigantic trees

clamber and coil; and in that silent hermitage a poor exile sat and sang the glory of the land which had cast

The vast possessions of the Spaniards and Portuguese were united under Philip the Second, who closed the

port of Lisbon against the heretical and rebellious natives of the Netherlands. The Dutch were not a people to

undertake long voyages out of curiosity, but when it became necessary for them in the way of business to

explore unknown seas they did so with effect. Since they could not get cinnamon and ginger, nutmegs and

cloves at Lisbon, they determined to seek them in the lands where they were grown. The English followed

their example, and so did the French. There was for a long period incessant war within the tropics. At last

things settled down. In the West and East Indies the Spaniards and Portuguese still possessed an extensive

empire; but they no longer ruled alone. The Dutch, the English, and the French obtained settlements in North

America and the West India Islands, in the peninsula of Hindustan, and the Indian Archipelago; and also on

West Africa is divided by nature into pastoral regions, agricultural regions, and dense forest, mountains, or

dismal swamps, where the natives remain in a savage and degraded state. The hills and fens are the slave

preserves of Africa, and are hunted every year by the pastoral tribes, with whom war is a profession. The

captives are bought by the agricultural tribes, and are made to labour in the fields. This indigenous

slavetrade exists at the present time, and has existed during hundreds of years.

The Tuaricks or Tawny Moors inhabiting the Sahara on the borders of the Sudan, made frequent forays into

that country for the purpose of obtaining slaves, exacted them as tribute from conquered chiefs, or sometimes

bought them fairly with horses, salt, and woollen clothes. When Barbary was inhabited by rich and luxurious

people, such as the Carthaginians, who on one occasion bought no less than five thousand negroes for their

galleys, these slaves must have been obtained in prodigious numbers, for many die in the middle passage

across the desert, a journey which kills even a great number of the camels that are employed. The negroes

have at all times been highly prized as domestic and ornamental slaves, on account of their docility and their

singular appearance. They were much used in ancient Egypt, as the monumental pictures show: they were

articles of fashion both in Greece and Rome. Throughout the Middle Ages they were exported from the east

coast to India and Persia, and were formed into regiments by the Caliphs of Baghdad. The Venetians bought

them in Tripoli and Tunis, and sold them to the Moors of Spain. When the Moors were expelled, the trade

still went on; negroes might still be seen in the markets of Seville. The Portuguese discovered the slaveland

itself, and imported ten thousand negroes a year before the discovery of the New World. The Spaniards, who

had often negro slaves in their possession, set some of them to dig in the mines at St. Domingo: it was found

that a negro's work was as much as four Indians', and arrangements were made for importing them from

Africa. When the Dutch, the English, and the French obtained plantations in America, they also required

negro labour, and made settlements in Guinea in order to obtain it. Angola fed the Portuguese Brazil; Elmina

fed the Dutch Manhattan; Cape Coast Castle fed Barbados, Jamaica, and Virginia; Senegal fed Louisiana and

the French Antilles; even Denmark had an island or two in the West Indies, and a fort or two upon the Gold

Coast. The Spaniards alone having no settlements in Guinea, were supplied by a contract or assiento; which

at one time was enjoyed by the British Crown. We shall now enter into a more particular description of this

Sailing through the Straits of Gibraltar, on the left hand for some distance is the fertile country of Morocco

watered by streams descending from the Atlas range. Then comes a sandy shore, on which breaks a savage

surf; and when that is passed, a new scene comes to view. The ocean is discoloured; a peculiar smell is

detected in the air; trees appear as if standing in the water; and small black specks, the canoes of fishermen,

The first region, Senegambia, still partakes of the desert character. With the exception of the palm and the

gigantic Adansonia, the trees are for the most part stunted in appearance. The country is open, and is clothed

with grass, where antelopes start up from their forms like hares. Here and there are clumps of trees, and long

avenues mark the water courses, which are often dry, for there are only three months' rain. The interior

abounds with gumtrees, especially on the borders of the desert. The people are Mohammedans, fight on

horseback, and dwell in towns fortified with walls and hedges of the cactus. In this country the French are

masters, and have laid the foundations of a military empire; an Algeria on a smaller scale.

But as we pass towards the south, the true character of the coast appears. A mountain wall runs parallel with

the sea, and numberless rivers leap down the hill slopes, and flow towards the Atlantic through forest covered

and alluvial lands, which they themselves have formed. These rivers are tidal, and as soon as the salt water

begins to mingle with the fresh, their banks are lined with mangrove shrubberies, forming an intricate

bowerwork of stems, which may be seen at low water encrusted with oysters, thus said by sailors to grow on

trees. The mountain range is sometimes visible as a blue outline in the distance; or the hills, which are shaped

like an elephant's back, draw near the shore: or rugged spurs jut down with their rocks of torn and tilted

granite to the sea. The shore is sculptured into curves; and all along the coast runs a narrow line of beach,

sometimes dazzling white, sometimes orange yellow, and sometimes a deep cinnamon red.

This character of coast extends from Sierra Leone to the Volta, and includes the Ivory Coast, the Pepper

Coast, and the Gold Coast. Then the country again flattens; the mountain range retires and gives place to a

gigantic swamp, through which the Niger debouches by many mouths into the Bight of Benin, where,

according to the old sailor adage, "few come out, though many go in." It is indeed the unhealthiest region of

an unhealthy coast. A network of creeks and lagoons unite the various branches of the Niger, and the marshes

are filled with groves of palmoil trees, whose yellow bunches are as good as gold. But in the old day the

famous red oil was only used as food, and the sinister name of the Slave Coast indicates the commodity

Again the hills approach the coast, and now they tower up as mountains. The Peak of Cameroons is situated

on the Line; it is nearly as high as the Peak of Teneriffe; the flowers of Abyssinia adorn its upper sides, and

on its lofty summit the smoke of the volcano steals mistlike across a sheet of snow.

A little lower down, the primeval forest of the Gorilla Country resembles that of the opposite Brazil; but is

Farther yet to the south, and a brighter land appears. We now enter the Portuguese province of Angola. The

land, far into the interior, is covered with farmhouses and coffee plantations, and smiling fields of maize.

San Paolo de Loanda is still a great city, though the colony has decayed; though the convents have fallen into

ruin, though oxen are stalled in the college of the Jesuits. Below Angola, to the Cape of Good Hope, is a

waterless beach of sand. The west coast of Africa begins with a desert inhabited by Moors; it ends with a

In the eighteenth century, a trifling trade was done in ivory and gold; but these were only accessories; the

Guinea trade signified the trade in slaves. At first the Europeans kidnapped the negroes whom they met on

the beach, or who came off to the ships in their canoes; but the "treacherous natives" made reprisals; the

practice was, therefore, given up, and the trade was conducted upon equitable principles. It was found that

honesty was the best policy, and that it was cheaper to buy men than to steal them. Besides the settlements

which were made by Europeans, there were many native ports upon the Slave Coast, and of these Whydah,

the seaport of Dahomey, was the most important. When a slave vessel entered the roads, it fired a gun, the

people crowded down to the beach, the ship's boat landed through an ugly surf, and the skipper made his way

to a large tree in the vicinity of the landingplace, where the governor of the town received him in state, and

regaled him with tradegin, by no means the most agreeable of all compounds. The capital was situated at a

distance of sixty miles, and the captain would be carried there in a hammock, taking with him some

handsome silks and other presents for the king. This monarch lived by hunting his neighbours and by selling

them to Europeans. There was a regular warseason, and he went out once a year, sometimes in one

direction, sometimes in another. Kings in Africa have frequently a bodyguard of women.

A certain king of Dahomey had developed this institution into female regiments. These women are nominally

the king's wives; they are in reality old maids the only specimens of the class upon the continent of

Africa; they are excellent soldiers hardy, savage, and courageous. In the siege of Abbeokuta, the other

day, an Amazon climbed up the wall; her right arm was cut clean off, and as she fell back she pistolled a man

with her left. When the king returned from his annual campaign, he sent to all the white men at Whydah, who

received the special title of the "king's friends," and invited them up to witness his "customs" and to purchase

his slaves, In the first place, the king murdered a number of his captives to send to his father as tokens of

regard; and the traders were mortified to see good flesh and blood being wasted on religion. However, slaves

were always in abundance. They were also obtained from the settlements upon the coast. The Portuguese

Angola could alone be dignified with the name of colony. The Dutch, English, and French settlements were

merely fortified factories, half castle, half shop, in which the agents lived, and in which the dry goods, rum,

tobacco, trade powder and muskets, were stored. There were native traders, who received a quantity of such

goods on trust, and travelled into the interior till they came to a Wartown. They then ordered so many

slaves; and laid down the goods. The chief ordered out the militia, made a night march, attacked a village just

before the dawn, killed those who resisted, carried off the rest in irons manufactured at Birmingham, and

handed them over to the trader; who drove them down to the coast. They were then warehoused in the fort

dungeons, or in buildings called "barracoons" prepared for their reception; and as soon as a vessel was ready

they were marked and shipped. On board they were packed on the lower deck like herrings in a cask. The

cargo supposed that it also resembled herrings, in being exported as an article of food.

The slaves believed that all white men were cannibals; that the red caps of the trade were dyed in negro

blood, and that the white soap was made of negro brains. So they often refused to eat; upon which their

mouths were forced open with an instrument known in surgery as speculum oris, and used in cases of

lockjaw; and by means of this ingenious contrivance they breakfasted and dined against their will. Exercise

also being conducive to health, they were ordered to jump up and down in their fetters; and if they declined to

do so, the application of the cat had the desired effect, and made them exercise not only their limbs, but also

their lungs, and so promoted the circulation of the blood and the digestion of the horsebeans on which they

were fed. Yet such was the obstinacy of these savage creatures, that many of them sulked themselves to

death; and sometimes, when indulged with an airing on deck, the ungrateful wretches would jump overboard,

and, as they sank, waved their hands in triumph at having made their escape. On reaching the West Indies

they were put into regular schools of labour, and gradually broken in; and they then enjoyed the advantage of

dwelling in a Christian land. But their temporal happiness was not increased. If a lady put her cook into the

oven because the pie was overdone; if a planter soused a slave in the boiling sugar; if the runaway was hunted

with bloodhounds, and then flogged to pieces and hung alive in chains; if the poor old wornout slave was

turned adrift to die, the West Indian laws did not interfere. The slave of a planter was "his money" it was only

when a man killed another person's slave that he was punished; and then only by a fine. It may be said,

without exaggeration, that dogs and horses now receive more protection in the British dominions than

In order to understand how so great a moral revolution has been wrought we must return for a moment to the

Middle Ages. We left the burgher class in alliance with the kings, possessing liberal charters, making their

own laws, levying their own taxes, commanding their own troops. Their sons were not always merchants like

themselves: they invaded the intellectual dominions of the priests: they became lawyers, artists, and

Then another change took place. Standing armies were invented, and the middle class were reenslaved.

Their municipal rights were taken from them; troops were stationed in their towns; the nobles collected round

the king, who could now reward their loyalty with lucrative and honourable posts, the command of a

regiment, or the administration of a province. Heavy taxes were imposed on the burghers and the peasants,

and these supported the nobles and clergy who were exempt. Aristocracy and monarchy became fast friends,

The rebellion of the German monk established an idol of ink and paper, instead of an idol of painted wood or

stone; the Protestant believed that it was his duty to study the Bible for himself, and so education was spread

throughout the countries of the Reformed Religion. A desire for knowledge became general, and the

academies of the Jesuits were founded in self defence. The enlargement of the reading class gave the Book

that power which the pulpit once enjoyed, and in the hands of Voltaire the Book began to preach. The

fallacies of the Syrian religion were exposed: and with that religion fell the doctrine of passive obedience and

divine right: the doctrine that unbelievers are the enemies of God: the doctrine that men who adopt a

particular profession are invested with magical powers which stream into them from other men's finger ends:

the doctrine that a barbarous legal code was issued viv� voce by the Creator of the world. Such notions as

these are still held by thousands in private life, but they no longer enter into the policy of states or dictate

Voltaire destroyed the authority of the Church and Rousseau prepared the way for the destruction of the

Crown. He believed in a dreamland of the past which had never existed: he appealed to imaginary laws of

Nature. Yet these errors were beneficial in their day. He taught men to yearn for an ideal state, which they

with their own efforts might attain; he inspired them with the sentiment of Liberty, and with a reverence for

the Law of Right. Virtuous principles, abstract ideas, the future Deities of men were now for the first time

lifted up to be adored. A thousand hearts palpitated with excitement; a thousand pens were drawn; the people

that slumbered in sorrow and captivity heard a voice bidding them arise; they strained, they struggled, and

they burst their bonds. Jacques Bonhomme, who had hitherto gone on all fours, discovered to his surprise that

he also was a biped; the world became more light; the horizon widened; a new epoch opened for the human

The antislavery movement, which we shall now briefly sketch, is merely an episode in that great rebellion

against authority which began in the night of the Middle Ages; which sometimes assumed the form of

religious heresy, sometimes of serf revolt; which gradually established the municipal cities, and raised the

slave to the position of the tenant; which gained great victories in the Protestant Reformation, the two English

Revolutions, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution; which has destroyed the tyranny of

governments in Europe, and which will in time destroy the tyranny of religious creeds.

In the middle of the eighteenth century negro slavery, although it had frequently been denounced in books,

had not attracted the attention of the English people. To them it was something in the abstract, something

which was done beyond the seas. But there rose an agitation which brought up its distant horrors in vivid

It had been the custom of the Virginian or West Indian planter, when he left his tobacco or sugar estate for a

holiday in England, to wear very broad hats and very wide trousers and to be accompanied by those slaves

who used to bring him his coffee in the early morning, to brush away the bluetailed fly from his siesta, and

to mix him rum and water when required. The existence of such attendants was some what anomalous in this

island, and friends would often observe with a knowing air it was lucky for him that Sambo was not up to

English law. That law, indeed, was undefined. Slavery had existed in England and had died out of itself, in

what manner and at what time no one could precisely say. It was, however, a popular impression that no man

could be kept as a slave if he were once baptised. The planters enjoyed the same kind of reputation which the

nabobs afterwards obtained: a yellow skin and a bad heart were at one time always associated with each

other. The negroes were often encouraged to abscond, and to offer themselves before the font. They obtained

as sponsors respectable welltodo men, who declared that they would stand by their godsons if it came to

a case at law. The planters were in much distress, and in order to know the worst went to Messrs. York and

Talbot, the Attorney and Solicitor General for the time being, and requested an opinion. The opinion of York

and Talbot was this: that slaves breathing English air did not become free; that slaves on being baptised did

not become free; and that their masters could force them back to the plantations when they pleased.

The planters, finding that the law was on their side, at once acted on their opinion. Advertisements appeared

in the newspapers offering rewards for runaway slaves. Negroes might be seen being dragged along the

streets in open day: they were bought and sold at the Poultry Compter, an old city jail. Free men of colour

There was a young man named Granville Sharp, whose benevolent heart was touched to the quick by the

abominable scenes which he had witnessed more than once. He could not believe that such was really English

law. He examined the question for himself, and, after long search, discovered precedents which overthrew the

opinion of the two great lawyers. He published a pamphlet in which he stated his case; and not content with

writing, he also acted in the cause, aiding and abetting negroes to escape. On one occasion a Virginian had

disposed of an unruly slave to a skipper bound for the West Indies. The vessel was lying in the river; the

unfortunate negro was chained to the mast; when Granville Sharp climbed over the side with a writ of Habeas

Corpus in his hand. James Somerset's body was given up, and with its panting, shuddering, hopeful, fearful

soul inside, was produced before a Court of Justice that Lord Mansfield might decide to whom it belonged.

The case was argued at three sittings, and excited much interest throughout the land. It ended in the liberation

Several hundred negroes were at once bowed out by their masters into the street, and wandered about,

sleeping in glasshouses; seated on the doorsteps of their former homes, weeping, and cursing Granville

Sharp. It was resolved to do something for them, and a grant of land was obtained from the native chiefs at

the mouth of the Sierra Leone River: a company was formed; four hundred destitute negroes were sent out;

and, as if there were no women in Africa, fifty "unfortunates" were sent out with them. The society of these

ladies was not conducive to the moral or physical wellbeing of the emigrants, eightyfour of whom died

before they sighted land, and eightysix in the first four months after landing. The philanthropists thus

produced a middle passage at which a slave trader would have been aghast. In a short time the white women

were dead, and the Granvilles, as they are traditionally called upon the coast, adopted savage life. But the

settlement was repeopled from another source. In the American Revolutionary War, large numbers of

negroes had flocked to the royal standard, attracted by the proclamations of the British generals. These

runaway slaves were sent to Nova Scotia, where they soon began to complain; the climate was not to their

taste, and they had not received the lands which had been promised them. They were then shipped off to

Sierra Leone. They landed singing hymns, and pitched their tents on the site of the present town. The

settlement was afterwards recruited with negroes in thousands out of slave ships; but the American element

may yet be detected in the architecture of the native houses and in the speech of the inhabitants.

In the meantime the slavetrade was being actively discussed. Among those who felt most deeply on the

question was Dr. Peckard, of St. John's College, Cambridge, who, being in 1785 ViceChancellor, gave as a

subject for the Latin essay, "Anne liceat invitos in servitutem dare?" Is it right to make men slaves against

Among the candidates was a certain bachelor of arts, Mr. Thomas Clarkson, who had gained the prize for the

best Latin essay the year before, and was desirous of keeping up his reputation. He therefore took unusual

pains to collect materials respecting the African slavetrade, to which he knew Dr. Peckard's question

referred. He borrowed the papers of a deceased friend who had been in the trade, and conversed with officers

who had been stationed in the West Indies. He read Benezet's Historical Account of Guinea, and was thence

guided to the original authorities, which are contained in the large folios of Hakluyt and Purchas. These old

voyages, written by men who were themselves slavers, contain admirable descriptions of native customs, and

also detailed accounts of the way in which the mantrade was carried on. Clarkson possessed a vivid

imagination and a tender heart: these narratives filled him with horror and alarm. The pleasure of research

was swallowed up in the pain that was excited by the facts before him. It was one gloomy subject from

morning to night. In the daytime he was uneasy; at night he had little rest. Sometimes he never closed his

eyes from grief. It became not so much a trial for academical reputation as for the production of a work which

might be useful to injured Africa. He always slept with a candle in the room that he might get up and put

down thoughts which suddenly occurred to him. At last he finished his painful task, and obtained the prize.

He went to Cambridge, and read his essay in the Senate House. On his journey back to Lon don the subject

continually engrossed his thoughts. "I became," he says, "very seriously affected upon the road. I stopped my

horse occasionally, and dismounted and walked. I frequently tried to persuade myself, in these intervals, that

the contents of my essay could not be true. Coming in sight of Wades Mill, in Hertfordshire, I sat down

disconsolate on the turf by the roadside and held my horse. Here a thought came into my mind, that if the

contents of the essay were true, it was time that some person should see these calamities to their end."

On arriving in London he heard for the first time of the labours of Granville Sharp and others. He determined

to give up his intention of entering the Church, and to devote himself entirely to the destruction of the

slavetrade. At this time a Committee was formed for the purpose of preparing the public mind for abolition.

Granville Sharp, to whom more than to any other individual the abolition of the slavetrade is due, became

the president, and Clarkson was deputed to collect evidence. He called on the leading men of the day and

endeavoured to engage their sympathies in the cause. His modest, subdued demeanour, the sad, almost tearful

expression of his face, which the painter of his portrait has fortunately seized, the earnestness and passion

with which he depicted the atrocities of the slavehunt in Africa and the miseries of the slave hold at sea,

secured him attention and respect from all; and among those with whom he spoke was one whose fame is the

William Wilberforce was the son of a rich merchant at Hull, and inherited a large fortune. He went to

Cambridge, and was afterwards elected member for his native city, an honour which cost him �8,OOO. He

became a member of the fashionable clubs, and chiefly frequented Brooks', where he became a votary of faro

till his winnings cured him of his taste for play. He soon obtained a reputation in the House and the salon. He

had an easy flow of language, and a voice which was melody itself. He was a clever mimic and an

accomplished musician. He possessed the rare arts of polished raillery and courteous repartee. Madame de

Stael declared that he was the wittiest man in England. But presently he withdrew from her society and that

of her friends, because it was brilliant and agreeable. He also took his name off all his clubs. He was

travelling on the Continent with Pitt, who was his bosom friend, when a change came over him. In the days

of his childhood he had been sent to reside with an aunt who was a great admirer of Whitfield's preaching,

and kept up a friendly connection with the early Methodists. He was soon infected with her ideas, and "there

was remarked in him a rare and pleasing character of piety in his twelfth year." This excited much

consternation among the other members of his family. His mother at once came up to London and fetched

him home. "If Billy turns Methodist," said his grandfather, "he shall not have a sixpence of mine." We are

informed that theatrical diversions, card parties, and sumptuous suppers (at the fashionable hour of six in the

evening) obliterated these impressions for a time. They were not, however, dead, for the perusal of

Doddridge's "Rise and Progress" was sufficient to revive them. This amiable and excellent young man

became the prey of a morbid superstition. Often in the midst of enjoyment his conscience told him he was not

in the true sense of the word a Christian. "I laughed, I sang, I was apparently gay and happy, but the thought

would steal across me, What madness is all this: to continue easy in a state in which a sudden call out of the

world would consign me to everlasting misery, and that when eternal happiness is within my grasp?" The

sinful worldling accordingly reformed. He declined Sunday visits; he got up earlier in the morning; he

wrestled continually in prayer; he began to keep a common place book, serious and profane, and a Christian

duty paper. He opened himself completely to Pitt, and said he believed the Spirit was in him. Mr. Pitt was

apparently of a different opinion, for he tried to reason him out of his convictions. "The fact is," says Mr.

Wilberforce, "he was so absorbed in politics that he had never given himself time for due reflection in

religion. But amongst other things he declared to me that Bishop Butler's work raised in his mind more

doubts than it had answered." Now if that was the character of Pitt's intellect we must venture to think that the

Superstition intensifies a man. It makes him more of what he was before. An evilnatured person who takes

fright at hell fire becomes the most malevolent of human beings. Nothing can more clearly prove the natural

beauty of Wilberforce's character than the fact that he preserved it unimpaired in spite of his Methodistic

principles. It would be unjust to deny that after he became a Methodist he became a wiser and a better man.

His intellect was strengthened, his affections were sweetened, by a faith the usual tendency of which is to

harden the heart and to soften the head. He endeavoured to control a human, and therefore sometimes

irritable, temper; he laid down for himself the rule to manifest rather humility in himself than dissatisfaction

at others; and so well did he succeed that a female friend observed, "If this is madness I hope that he will bite

Yet there was a flaw in Wilberforce's brain, or he could never have supposed that a man might be sent to hell

for playing the piano. He soon showed that in another age he might have been an excellent inquisitor; and

inquisitors there were not less pure hearted, not less benevolent in private life than Wilberforce himself. He

desired to do something in public for the glory of God, and he believed it was his mission to reform the

manners of the age. When a man of fashion was always a gambler, and when all the clubs in St. James' Street

were hells; when speeches were often incoherent in the House after dinner; when comic songs were

composed against Mr. Pitt, not because he had a mistress, but because he had none; when ladies called

adultery " a little affair "; when the Prince of Wales was a young man about town, grazing on the middle

classes, it cannot be questioned that, from the royal family downwards, there was room for improvement. The

reader will perhaps feel curious to learn in what manner Mr. Wilberforce commenced his laudable but

difficult crusade. He obtained a royal proclamation for the discouragement of vice and immorality; and letters

from the secretaries of state to the lordslieutenant, expressing his Majesty's pleasure, that they recommend it

to the justices throughout their several counties to be active in the execution of the laws against immoralities.

He also started a society, to assist in the enforcement of the proclamation, as a kind of amateur detective

corps, to hunt up indecent and blasphemous publications. And that was what he called reforming the manners

Happily, the slavetrade question began to be discussed, and Mr. Wilberforce obtained a cause which was

worthy of his noble nature. The miseries of Africa had long attracted his attention: even in his boyhood he

had written on the subject for the daily journals. Lady Middleton, who had heard from an eyewitness of the

horrors of slavery, had begged him to bring it before parliament. Mr. Pitt had also advised him to take up the

question, and he had agreed to do so whenever an opportunity should occur. This happened before his

acquaintance with Clarkson, to whom he said at their first interview that abolition was a question near his

heart. A short time after, there was a dinner at Mr. Bennet Langton's, at which Sir Joshua Reynolds, Boswell,

Windham, and himself were present. The conversation turned upon the African slavetrade, and Clarkson

exhibited some specimens of cotton cloth manufactured by the natives in their own looms, the plant being

grown in their own fields. All the guests expressed themselves on the side of abolition, and Mr. Wilberforce

was asked if he would bring it forward in the House. He said that he would have no objection to do so when

The Committee now went to work in earnest, and held weekly meetings at Mr. Wilberforce's house. Clarkson

was sent to Bristol and Liverpool, where he collected much information, though not without difficulty, and

even, as he thought, danger of his life. A commission was appointed by the Lords of the Privy Council to

collect evidence. It was stated by the Liverpool and planter party that not only the colonial prosperity, but the

commercial existence of the nation was at stake; that the Guinea trade was a nursery for British seamen; that

the slaves offered for sale were criminals and captives who would be eaten if they were not bought; that the

middle passage was the happiest period of a negro's life; that the sleeping apartments on board were

perfumed with frankincense; and that the slaves were encouraged to disport themselves on deck with the

music and dances of their native land. On the other hand, the Committee proved from the muster rolls which

Clarkson had examined that the Guinea trade was not the nursery of British seamen, but its grave; and they

published a picture of an African slaver, copied from a vessel which was lying in the Mersey, and certain

measurements were made, which, being put into feet and inches, justified the statement of a member in the

Lord Chancellor Thurlow and two other members of the Cabinet were opposed to abolition, and therefore Mr.

Pitt could not make it a government measure; and so although it was called the battle between the giants and

the pigmies; although Pitt, Fox, Burke, Sheridan, Windham, and Wilberforce, the greatest orators and

statesmen of the day, were on one side, and the two members for Liverpool on the other, the brute votes went

But now the nation was beginning to be moved. The Committee distributed books, and hired columns in the

newspapers. They sealed their letters with a negro in chains kneeling, and the motto, "Am I not a man and a

brother?" Wedgwood made cameos with the same design; ladies wore them in their bracelets or their

hairpins; gentlemen had them inlaid in gold on the lids of their snuff boxes. Cowper sent to the Committee

the well known poem, "Fleecy locks and black complexion"; the Committee printed it on the finest

hotpressed paper, folded it up in a small and neat form, gave it the appropriate title of "A subject for

conversation at the teatable," and cast it forth by thousands upon the land. It was set to music, and sung as a

street ballad. People crowded at shop windows to see the picture of the ship in which the poor negroes were

packed like herrings in a cask. A murmur arose, and grew louder and louder; three hundred thousand persons

gave up drinking sugar in their tea; indignation meetings were held; and petitions were sent into Parliament

by the ton. Everything seemed to show that the nation had begun to loathe the trade in flesh and blood, and

would not be appeased till it was done away. And then came events which made the sweet words Liberty,

Humanity, Equality, sound harsh and ungrateful to the ear: which caused those who spoke much of

philanthropy, and eternal justice, to be avoided by their friends, and perhaps supervised by the police; which

rendered negroes and emancipation a subject to be discussed only with sneers and shakings of the head.

When the slavetrade question had first come up, Mr. Pitt proposed to the French Government that the two

nations should unite in the cause of abolition. Now in France the peasantry themselves were slaves; and the

negro trade had been bitterly attacked in books which had been burnt by the public executioner, and the

authors of which had been excommunicated by the Pope. Mr. Pitt's proposal was at once declined by the

coterie of the OEil de Boeuf. In the meantime it was discovered that the French nation was heavily in debt;

there was a loss of nearly five million sterling every year; a fact by no means surprising, for the nobles and

clergy paid no taxes; each branch of trade was an indolent monopoly; and poor Jacques Bonhomme bore the

weight of the court and army on his back. Chancellors of the Exchequer one after, the other were appointed,

and attempted in vain to grapple with the difficulty. As a last resource, the House of Commons was revived,

that the debt of bankrupt despotism might be accepted by the nation. A Parliament was opened at Versailles;

lawyers and merchants dressed in black walked in the same procession, and sat beneath the same roof with

the haughty nobles, rustling with feathers, shining with gold, and wearing swords upon their thighs. But the

commoners soon perceived that they had only been summoned to vote away the money of the nation; they

were not to interfere with the laws. Their debates becoming offensive to the king, the hall in which they met

was closed against them. They then gathered in a tennis court, called themselves the National Assembly, and

took an oath that they would not dissolve until they had regenerated France. Troops were marched into

Versailles; a coup d'etat was evidently in the wind. And then the Parisians arose; the army refused to fight

against them; the Bastille was destroyed; the National Assembly took the place of the OEil de Boeuf:

democracy became the Mayor of the Palace. A constitution was drawn up, and was accepted by the king. The

nobility were deprived of their feudal rights; church property was resumed by the nation; taxes were imposed

on the rich as well as on the poor; the peasantry went out shooting every Sunday; the country gentlemen fled

Such was the state of affairs in France when Wilberforce suggested that Clarkson should be sent over to Paris

to negotiate with the leading members of the National Assembly. There was in Paris a Society called the

Friends of the Blacks; Condorcet and Brissot were among its conductors. Clarkson, therefore, was sanguine

of success; but it was long before he could obtain a hearing. At last he was invited to dinner at the house of

the Bishop of Chartres, that he might there meet Mirabeau and Seiyes, the Duc de Rochefoucauld, P�tion de

Villeneuve, and Bergasse, and talk the matter over. But when the guests met, a much more interesting topic

was in everybody's mouth. The king at that time lived at Versailles, a little town inhabited entirely by his

servants and his body guards. The Parisians for some time had been uneasy; they feared that he would

escape to Metz; and that civil war would then break out. There was a rumour of a bond signed by thousands

of the aristocrats to fight on the king's side. The Guards had certainly been doubled at Versailles; and a

Flanders regiment had marched into the town with two pieces of cannon. Officers appeared in the streets in

strange uniforms, green faced with red; and they did not wear the tricolour cockade which had already been

adopted by the French nation. And while thus uneasy looks were turned towards Versailles, an incident took

place which heightened the alarm. On October 1st a banquet had been given by the Guards to the officers of

the Flanders Regiment. The tables were spread in the court theatre: the boxes were filled with spectators.

After the champagne was served, and the health of the royal family had been drunk, the wine and the

shouting turned all heads; swords were drawn and waved naked in the air: the tricolour cockades were

trampled under foot; the band struck up the tender and beautiful ballad, 'O Richard! O my King! the world is

all forsaking thee!'; the queen came in and walked round the tables, bowing, and bestowing her sweetest

smiles; the bugles sounded the charge; the men from different regiments were brought in; all swore aloud

they would protect the king, as if he was just then in danger of his life; and some young ensigns carried by

assault certain boxes which expressed dissent at these proceedings. This was the subject of conversation at

the dinner to which Clarkson was invited; and the next day the women of Paris marched upon Versailles; the

king was taken to the Tuileries and the National Assembly became supreme under favour of the mob.

After several weeks Clarkson at last received a definite reply. The Revolution, he was told, was of more

importance than the abolition of the slavetrade. In Bordeaux, Marseilles, Rouen, Nantes, and Havre, there

were many persons in favour of that trade. It would be said that abolition would be making a sacrifice to

England. The British parliament had as yet done nothing, and people doubted the sincerity of Pitt. Mr.

Clarkson asked whether, if the question were postponed to the next legislature, it would be more difficult to

carry it then than now. "The question produced much conversation, but the answer was unanimous that

people would daily more and more admire their constitution, and that by the constitution certain solid and

fixed principles would be established, which would inevitably lead to the abolition of the slavetrade; and if

the constitution were once fairly established, they would not regard the murmurs of any town or province."

Clarkson was not the only envoy who was defeated by the planter interest on French soil. In the flourishing

colony of St. Domingo there were many mulatto planters, free and wealthy men, but subject to degrading

disabilities. When they heard of the Revolution, they sent Og� to Paris with a large sum of money as a

present to the National Assembly, and a petition for equal rights. The president received him and his

companions with cordiality: he bid them take courage; the Assembly knew no distinction between black and

white; all men were created free and equal. But soon the planters began to intrigue, the politicians to

prevaricate, and to postpone. Og�'s patience was at last worn out; he declared to Clarkson that he did not care

whether their petition was granted them or not. "We can produce," he said, "as good soldiers on our estates as

those in France. If we are once forced to desperate measures, it will be in vain to send thousands across the

Atlantic to bring us back to our former state." He finally returned to St. Domingo, armed his slaves, was

defeated and broken on the wheel. Then the slaves rose and massacred the whites, and the cause of abolition

was tarnished by their crimes. In England the tide of feeling turned; a panic fell upon the land. The practical

disciples of Rousseau had formed a club in Paris, the members of which met in a Jacobin church, whence

they took their name. This club became a kind of caucus for the arrangement of elections, to decide the

measures which should be brought forward in the National Assembly, and to preach unto all men the gospel

of liberty, equality, and fraternity. It had four hundred daughter societies in France; it corresponded with

thousands of secret societies abroad; it had missionaries in the army, spies in foreign lands. It desired to

create a universal republic; it grew in power, in ambition, and in bravado; it cast at the feet of the kings of

Europe the head of a king; it offered the friendship and aid of France to all people who would rise against

their tyrants. Thomas Paine, who used to boast that he had created the American Revolution with his

pamphlet, "Common Sense," now tried to create an English Revolution with his "Rights of Man." In the loyal

towns his effigy, with a rope round its neck, was flogged with a cart whip, while the marketbell tolled, and

the crowd sang the national anthem, with three cheers after each verse. In other towns, 'No King! Liberty!

Equality!' were scribbled on the walls. The soldiers were everywhere tampered with, and the king was

mobbed. Pitt, the projector of Reform Bills, became a tyrant. Burke, the champion of the American

It was not a time to speak of abolition, which was regarded as a revolutionary measure. And such in reality it

was, though accidentally associated in England with religion and philanthropy, on account of the character of

its leaders. It was pointed out that the atheist philosophers had all of them begun by sympathising with the

negroes; one of Thomas Paine's first productions was an article against slavery. The Committee was declared

to be a nest of Jacobins, their publications were denounced as poisonous. There was a time when the king had

But now the philanthropist was in disgrace at court. At this time poor Clarkson's health gave way, and he was

carried off the field. And then from Paris there came terrible news; the people were at last avenged. The long

black night was followed by a bloodred dawn. The nobles who had fled to foreign courts had returned with

foreign troops; the kings of Europe had fallen on the new republic, the common enemy of all. The people

feared that the old tyranny was about to be replaced, and by a foreign hand; they had now tasted liberty; they

knew how sweet it was; they had learnt the joy of eating all the corn that they had sown; they had known

what it was to have their own firelocks and their own swords, and to feel that they, the poor and hungry serfs,

were the guardians of their native land. They had learnt to kiss the tricolour; to say Vive la nation! to look

forward to a day when their boys, now growing up, might harangue from the Tribune, or sit upon the Bench,

or grasp the fieldmarshal's baton. And should all this be undone? Should they be made to return to their

boiled grass and their stinging nettle soup? Should the days of privilege and oppression be restored?

The nation arose and drove out the invaders. But there had been a panic, and it bore its fruits. What the

Jacobins were to Pitt, the aristocrats were to Danton and Robespierre. Hundreds of royalists were guillotined,

but then, thousands had plotted the overthrow of the Republic, thousands had intrigued that France might be a

conquered land. Such at least was the popular belief; The massacres of September, the execution of the king

and queen, were the result of fear. After which, it must be owned, there came a period when suspicion and

slaughter had become a habit; when blood was shed to the sound of laughter; when heads, greeted with roars

of recognition, were popped out of the little national sashwindow, and tumbled into the sawdust, and then

were displayed to the gallery in the windows, and to the pit upon the square. The mere brute energy which lay

at the bottom of the social mass rose more and more towards the top; and at length the leaders of the people

were hideous beings in red woollen caps, with scarcely an idea in their heads or a feeling in their hearts;

ardent lovers of liberty, it is true, and zealots for the fatherland, scarcely taking enough from the treasury to

fill their bellies and to clothe their backs (Marat, when killed, had elevenpence halfpenny in his possession),

but mere senseless fanatics, who crushed that liberty which they tried to nurse; who governed only by the

guillotine, which they considered a sovereign remedy for all political disorders; who killed all the great men

The death of Robespierre closed the Revolution; the last mobrising was extinguished by the artillery of

Bonaparte. The Jacobins fell into disrepute; there was a cry of "Down with the Jacoquins!"; stones were

hurled in through their windows; the orators were hustled and beaten as they sallied forth, and the ladies who

knitted in the gallery were chastised in a manner scarcely suited for adults. The age of revolutions for a time

was past; Bonaparte became Dictator; Thomas Paine took to drink; the English reign of terror was dispelled;

the abolitionists again raised their voices on behalf of the negro, and in 18O7 the slavetrade was abolished.

That traffic, however, was only abolished so far as English vessels and English markets were concerned, and

Government now commenced a long series of negotiations with foreign powers. In course of time the other

nations prohibited the slavetrade, and conceded to Great Britain the police control of the Guinea coast, and

the right of search. A squadron of gunboats hovered round the mouths of rivers, or sent up boating

expeditions, or cruised to and fro a little way out at sea, with a man always at the masthead with a spy glass

in his hand, scanning the horizon for a sail. When a sail was sighted, the gunboat got up steam, bore down

upon the vessel, ordered her to heave to, sent men on board, and overhauled her papers. If they were not in

order, or if slaves were on board, or even if the vessel was fitted up in such a way as to have the appearance

of a slaver, she was taken as a prize; the sailors were landed at the first convenient spot; the slaver was sold,

and the money thereby obtained, with a bounty on each captured slave, was divided among the officers and

crew. The slaves were discharged at Sierra Leone, where they formed themselves into various townships

according to their nationalities, spoke their own language, elected their own chiefs, and governed themselves

privately by their own laws, opinion acting as the only method of coercion a fact deserving to be noted by

those who study savage man. However, this was only for a time. All these imported negroes were educated

by the missionaries, and they now support their own church; the native languages and distinctions of

nationality are gradually dying out; the descendants of naked slaves are many of them clergymen, artisans,

shopkeepers, and merchants; they call themselves Englishmen, and such they feel themselves to be. However

ludicrous it may seem to hear a negro boasting about Lord Nelson and Waterloo, and declaring that he must

go home to England for his health, it shows that he possesses a kind of emulation, which, with proper

guidance, will make him a true citizen of his adopted country, and leave him nothing of the African except

But the slavetrade was not extinguished by the "sentimental squadron." The slavers could make a profit if

they lost four cargoes in every five; they could easily afford to use decoys. While the gunboat was giving

chase to some old tub with fifty diseased and usedup slaves on board, a clipper with several hundreds in her

holds would dash out from her hidingplace among the mangroves and scud across the open sea to Cuba and

It was impossible to blockade a continent; but it was easy to inspect estates. The negroes were purchased as

plantation hands; a contraband labourer was not a thing to be concealed. There were laws in Cuba and Brazil

against negro importation, but these existed only for the benefit of the officials. The bribery practice was put

an end to in Brazil about 1852; that great market was for ever closed. Slavers were ruined; African chiefs

became destitute of rum and this branch of commerce began to look forlorn. Yet still Cuba cried, 'More! Give

me more!'; still the profits were so large that the squadron was defeated and the mansupply obtained. Half a

million of money a year, and no small amount of men, did that one island cost Great Britain. Yet still it might

be hoped that even Cuba would he filled full in time; that the public opinion of Europe would act upon

Madrid; that in time it would imitate Brazil. But in 1861 there happened an event which made the Cubans

turn their back on Spain, and look with longing eyes the other way; and a beautiful vision uprose before their

minds. They dreamt of a New Empire to which Cuba would belong, and to which slavery in a state of

medieval beauty would be restored. It was only a dream; it was quickly dispelled; they awoke to find Liberty

When Great Britain was teasing the colonies into resistance, it was often predicted that they would not unite.

There was little community of feeling between the old Dutch families of New York, the Quakers of

Pennsylvania, the yeomen of New England, who were descended from Roundheads, and the country

gentlemen of Virginia, who were descended from Cavaliers. But when the king closed Boston Port, and the

vessels mouldered in the docks, and the shops were closed, and the children of fishermen and sailors began to

cry for bread, the colonies did unite with one heart and one hand to feed the hunger of the noble town; and

then to besiege it for its own sake, and to drive the red coats back into their ships. Yet when the war was over,

and the squirrel guns had again been hung upon the wall, and the fire of the conflict had died out, the old

jealousy reappeared. A loosejointed league was tried and came to nought. The nation existed; the nation was

in debt; union could not be dispensed with. But each colony approached this Union as a free and sovereign

state. If one colony had chosen to remain apart, the others would not have interfered; if one colony after

entering the Union had chosen to withdraw, its right to do so would not have been denied. In European

countries, republican or royal, the source of authority is the nation; all powers not formally transferred reside

with the Assembly or the Crown. In America, however; it was precisely the reverse; all powers not delivered

At the time of the Revolution, negro slavery existed in the colonies without exception. But it did not enter the

economy of Northern life. Slavery will only pay when labour can be employed in gangs beneath an overseer,

and where work can be found for a large number of men without cessation throughout the year. In the culture

of rice, sugar, cotton, and tobacco, these conditions exist; but in corngrowing lands labour is scanty and

dispersed, except at certain seasons of the year. Slaves in the North were not employed as field hands, but

only as domestic servants in the houses of the rich. They could therefore be easily dispensed with; and it was

proposed by the Northern delegates, when the Constitution was being prepared, that the African slavetrade

should at once be abolished, and that certain measures should be taken, with a view to the gradual

emancipation of the negro. Upon this question Virginia appears to have been divided. But Georgia and the

Carolinas at once declared that they would not have the slavetrade abolished: they wanted more slaves; and

unless this species of property were guaranteed, they would not enter the Union at all. They demanded that

slavery should be recognised and protected by the Constitution. The Northerners at once gave in; they only

requested that the words 'slave' and 'slavery' might not appear. To this the Southerners agreed, and the

contract was delicately worded; but it was none the less stringent all the same. It was made a clause of the

Constitution that the slave trade should not be suppressed before the year 18O8. It might then be made the

subject of debate and legislation not before. It was made a clause of the Constitution that, if the slaves of

any state rebelled, the national troops should be employed against them. It was made a clause of the

Constitution that, if a slave escaped to a free state, the authorities of that state should be obliged to give him

up. And lastly, slave owners were allowed to have votes in proportion to the number of their slaves. Such

was the price which the Northerners paid for nationality a price which their descendants found a hard and

heavy one to pay. The fathers of the country ate sour grapes, and the children's teeth were set on edge.

But the Southerners had not finished yet. The colonies possessed, according to their charters, certain regions

in the wilderness out west, and these they delivered to the nation. A special proviso was made, however, by

South Carolina and by Georgia, that at no future time should slavery be forbidden in the territories which they

gave up of their own free will and these territories in time became slave states. It is therefore evident that the

South intended from the first to preserve, and also to extend slavery. It must be confessed that their policy

was candid and consistent, and of a piece throughout. They refused to enter the Union unless their property

was guaranteed; they threatened to withdraw from the Union whenever they thought that the guarantee was

about to be evaded or withdrawn. The clauses contained in the Constitution were binding on the nation; but

they might be revoked by means of a constitutional amendment, which could be passed by the consent of

threefourths of the states. Emigrants continually poured into the north; and these again streamed out towards

the west. It was evident that in time new states would be formed, and that the original slave states would be

left in a minority. These states were purely agricultural; they had no commerce; they had no manufactures.

Indigo, rice, and tobacco were the products on which they lived; and the markets for these were in an ugly

state. The East Indies had begun to compete with them in rice and indigo; the demand for tobacco did not

increase. There was a general languor in the South; the young men did not know what to do. Slavery is a

wasteful and costly institution, and requires large profits to keep it alive; it seemed on the point of dying in

the South, when there came a voice across the Atlantic crying for cotton in loud and hungry tones; and the

In the seventeenth century the town of Manchester was already known to fame. It was a seat of the woollen

manufacture, which was first introduced from Flanders into England in the reign of Edward the Third. It

bought yarn from the Irish, and sent it back to them as linen. It imported cotton from Cyprus and Smyrna, and

worked it into fustians, vermilions, and dimities. In the middle of the eighteenth century the cotton industry

had become important. In thousands of cottages surrounding Manchester might be heard the rattle of the loom

and the humming of the onethread wheel, which is now to he seen only in the opera of Marta. Invention, as

usual, arose from necessity; the weavers could not get sufficient thread, and were entirely at the mercy of the

spinners. Spinning machines were accordingly invented: the water frame, the spinning jenny, and the mule.

And now the weavers had more thread than they could use, and the power loom was invented to preserve the

equilibrium of supply and demand. Then steam was applied to machinery; the factory system was

established; hundredhanded engines worked all the day: and yet more labourers were employed than had

ever been employed before; the soft white wool was carded, spun, and woven in a trice; the cargoes from the

East were speedily devoured; and now raw material was chiefly in demand. The American cotton was the

best in the market; but the quantity received had hitherto been small. The picking out of the small black seeds

was a long and tedious operation. A single person could not clean more than a pound a day. Here, then, was

an opening for Yankee ingenuity; and Whitney invented his famous sawgin, which tore out the seeds as

quick as lightning with its iron teeth. Land and slaves abounded in the South; the demand from Manchester

became more and more hungry it has never yet been completely satisfied and, under King Cotton, the

South entered upon a new era of wealth, vigour, and prosperity as a slave plantation. The small holdings were

unable to compete with the large estates on which the slaves were marshalled and drilled like convicts to their

work; society in the South soon became composed of the planters, the slaves, and the mean whites who were

While the intellect of the North was inventing machinery, opening new lands, and laying the foundations of a

literature, the Southerners were devoted entirely to politics; and by means of their superior ability they ruled

at Washington for many years, and almost monopolised the offices of state. When America commenced its

national career there were two great sects of politicians; those who were in favour of the central power, and

those who were in favour of state rights. In the course of time the national sentiment increased, and with it the

authority of the President and Congress; but this centralising movement was resisted by a certain party of the

North whose patriotism could not pass beyond the state house and the city hall. The Southerners were

invariably provincial in their feelings; they did not consider themselves as belonging to a nation, but a league;

they inherited the sentiments of aversion and distrust with which their fathers had entered the Union; threats

and provisos were always on their lips. The executive, it was true, was in their hands, but the House of

Representatives belonged to the North. In the Senate the states had equal powers, irrespective of size and

population. In the Lower House the states were merely sections of the country; population was the standard

of the voting power. The South had a smaller population than the North; the Southerners were therefore a

natural minority, and only preserved their influence by allying themselves with the states' rights party in the

In the North politics was a question of sentiment, and sentiments naturally differ. In the South politics was a

matter of life and death; their bread depended on cotton; their cotton depended on slaves; their slaves

depended on the balance of power. The history of the South within the Union is that of a people struggling for

existence by means of political devices against the spirit of the nation and the spirit of the age. By annexation,

purchase, and extension they kept pace with the North in its rush towards the West. Free states and slave

states ran neck and neck towards the shores of the Pacific. The North obtained Vermont, Ohio, Indiana,

Illinois, Maine, Michigan, Iowa, Wisconsin, and California. The South obtained Tennessee, Kentucky,

Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, and Texas. Whenever a territory became a

state, the nation possessed the power of rejecting and therefore of modifying its constitution. The Northern

politicians made an effort to prohibit slavery in all new states; the South as usual threatened to secede, and

the Union which had been manufactured by a compromise was preserved by a compromise. It was agreed

that a line should be drawn to the Pacific along the parallel 36� 3O'; that all the states which should

afterwards be made below the line should be slave holding; and all that were made above it should be free.

But this compromise was not, like the compromise of the constitution, binding on the nation, and only to be

set aside by a constitutional amendment. It was simply a parliamentary measure, and as such could be

repealed at any future session. However, it satisfied the South; the North had many things to think of; and all

The mysterious principle which constitutes the law of progress produces similar phenomena in various

countries at the same time, and it was such an active period of the human mind which produced about forty

years ago a Parisian Revolution, the great Reform Bill, and the American agitation against slavery. There was

a man in a Boston garret. He possessed some paper, pens and ink, and little else besides; and even these he

could only use in a fashion of his own. He had not what is called a style; nor had he that rude power which

can cast a glow on jagged sentences and uncouth words. This poor garretteer, a printer in his working hours,

relied chiefly on his type for light and shade, and had much recourse to capital letters, italics and notes of

exclamation, to sharpen his wit, and to strengthen his tirades. But he had a cause, and his heart was in that

cause. When W. L. Garrison commenced his Liberator the government of Georgia set a price upon his head,

he was mobbed in his native city, and slavery was defended in Faneuil Hall itself, sacred to the memory of

men who cared not to live unless they could be free. The truth was, that the Northerners disliked slavery, but

nationality was dear to them and they believed that an attack upon the 'domestic institution' of the South

endangered the safety of the Union. But the abolitionists became a sect; they increased in numbers and in

talent; they would admit of no compromise; they cared little for the country itself so long as it was stained.

They denounced the constitution as a covenant with death, and an agreement with hell. No union with

slaveholders! they cried. No union with midnight robbers and assassins! Hitherto the war between the two

great sections of the country had been confined to politicians. The Southerners had sent their boys to

Northern colleges and schools. Attended by a retinue of slaves they had passed the summer at Saratoga or

Newport, and some times the winter at New York. But now their sons were insulted, their slaves decoyed

Abolition societies were everywhere formed, and envoys were sent into the slave states to distribute abolition

tracts and to publish abolition journals, and to excite, if they could, a St. Domingo insurrection. The

Northerners were shocked at these proceedings and protested angrily against them. But soon there was a

revulsion of feeling in their minds, The wild beast temper arose in the South, and went forth lynching all it

met. Northerners were flogged and even killed. Negroes were burnt alive. And so the meetings of

abolitionists were no longer interrupted at the North; mayors and selectmen no longer refused them the use

of public halls. The sentiment of abolition was however not yet widely spread. There were few Northerners

who preferred to give up the Union rather than live under a piebald constitution, or who considered it just to

break a solemn compact in obedience to an abstract law. But there now arose a strong and resolute party who

declared that slavery might stay where it was, but that it must go no farther. The South must be content with

what it had. Not another yard of slave soil should be added to the Union. On the other hand, the South could

not accept such terms. Slavery extension was necessary for their lives. More land they must have or they

could not exist. There was waste land in abundance in the South; but it was dead. Their style of agriculture

was precisely that which is pursued in Central Africa. They took a tract from the wilderness and planted it

again and again with cotton and tobacco till it gave up the ghost, and would yield no more. They then moved

on and took in another piece. Obliged to spend all their cash in buying prime slaves at two hundred pounds a

piece, they could not afford to use manure or to rotate their crops; they could not afford to employ so costly a

species of labour on anything less lucrative than sugar, cotton, and tobacco. Besides, if slavery were not to be

extended they would be surrounded and hemmed in by free states; the old contract would be annulled.

Already the South were in a minority. The free states and slave states might be equal in number; but they

were not equal in population and prosperity. The Northerner who travelled down South was astonished to

find that the cities of the maps were villages, and the villages clusters of log huts. Fields covered with weeds,

and mossgrown ruins showed where farms once flourishing had been. He rode through vast forests and

cypress swamps, where hundreds of mean whites lived like Red Indians, hunting and fishing for their daily

bread, eating clay to keep themselves alive, prowling round plantations to obtain stolen food from the slaves.

He saw plantations in which the labour was conducted with the terrible discipline of the prison and the hulks;

and where as he galloped past the line of hoeing slaves, so close that he splashed them with mud, they hoed

on, they toiled on, not daring to raise their eyes from the ground. From early dawn to dusky eve it was so

with these poor wretches: no sound broke the silence of those fearful fields but the voice of the overseer and

the cracking of the whip. And out far away in the lone western lands, by the side of dark rivers, among trees

from which drooped down the dull grey Spanish moss, the planters went forth to hunt; there were

wellknown coverts where they were sure to find; and as the traveller rode through the dismal swamp he

might perhaps have the fortune to see the game; a black animal on two legs running madly for its life, and

behind it the sounding of a horn, and the voices of hounds in full cry a chase more infernal than that of the

But the end of all this was at hand. Kansas, a tract of rich prairie land, was about to become a territory, and

would soon become a state. It was situated above the 36� 3O' line, and therefore belonged to the North. But

the Southerners coveted this Naboth's vineyard; their power at Washington was great just then; they

determined to strike out the line which had been in the first place demanded by themselves. With much show

of justice and reason they alleged that it was not fair to establish the domestic institutions of a country

without consulting the inhabitants themselves. They proposed that, for the future, the question of slavery or

free soil should be decided by a majority of votes among the settlers on the spot. This proposal became law,

and then commenced a race for the soil. In Boston a political society was formed for the exportation to

Kansas of Northern men. In the slave state. Missouri, blue lodges were formed for a similar purpose, and

hundreds of squatters, dressed in flannel shirts, and huge boots up to their knees, and skin caps on their heads,

bristling with revolvers and bowie knives, stepped across the Border. For the first time the people of the

North and South met face to face. A guerrilla warfare soon broke out; the New Englanders were robbed and

driven back; they were murdered, and their scalps paraded by Border ruffians upon poles. The whole country

fell into a distracted state. The Southerners pursued their slaves into Boston itself, and dragged them back,

according to the law. A mad abolitionist invaded Virginia with a handful of men, shot a few peaceful citizens,

and was hanged. A time of terror fell upon the South; there was neither liberty of print nor liberty of speech;

the majority reigned; and the man who spoke against it was lynched upon the spot. A Southerner assaulted

The North at last was thoroughly aroused. The people itself began to stir; a calm, patient, lawabiding race,

slow to be moved, but when once moved, swerving never till the thing was done. A presidential election was

at hand, and a Northerner was placed upon the throne. The South understood that this was not a casual

reverse, which might be redeemed when the four years had passed away. It was to them a sign that the days

of their power had for ever passed. The temper of the North was not to be mistaken. It had at last rebelled; it

would suffer tyranny no more. Mr. Lincoln's terms were conciliatory in the extreme. Had the South been

moderate in its demands, he would have been classed with those statesmen who added compromise to

compromise, and so postponed the evil but inevitable day. He was not an abolitionist. He offered to give

them any guarantee they pleased a constitutional amendment if they desired it that slavery as it stood

should not be interfered with. He offered to bring in a more stringent law, by which their fugitive slaves

should be restored. But on the matter of extension he was firm. The Southerners demanded that a line should

again be drawn to the Pacific; that all south of that line should be made slave soil, and that slavery should be

more clearly recognised by the central government, and more firmly guaranteed. These terms were not more

extravagant than those which their fathers had obtained. But times had changed: the sentiment of nationality

was now more fully formed; "Uncle Tom�s Cabin" had been written; the American people were heartily

ashamed of slavery; they refused to give it another lease. The ultimatum was declined; the South seceded, and

the North flew to arms, not to emancipate the negro, but to preserve the existence of the nation. They would

not indeed submit to slavery extension; they preferred disunion to such a disgrace. But they had no intention

when they went to war of destroying slavery in the states where it existed; they even took pains to prove to

the South that the war was not an antislavery crusade. The negroes were treated by the Northern generals

not as men, but as contraband of war; even Butler in New Orleans did not emancipate the slaves; a general

who issued a proclamation of that nature was reprimanded by the government, although he only followed the

example of British generals in the Revolutionary war. But as the contest became more severe and more

prolonged, and all hopes of reconciliation were at an end, slavery became identified with the South in the

Northern mind, and was itself regarded as a foe. The astute and cautious statesman at the head of affairs

perceived that the time had come; the constitution was suspended during the war; and so, in all legality and

It is impossible to view without compassion the misfortunes of men who merely followed in the footsteps of

their fathers, and were in no sense more guilty than Washington and Jefferson, who remained slaveholders to

their dying day. It was easy for Great Britain to pay twenty millions; it was easy for the Northern states to

emancipate their slaves, who were few in number, and not necessary to their life. But it was impossible for

the South to abandon slavery. The money of a planter was sunk in flesh and blood. Yet the Southern

politicians must be blamed for their crazy ambition, and their blind ignorance of the world. Instead of

preparing as the Cuban planters are preparing now for those changes which had been rendered inevitable by

the progress of mankind, they supposed that it was in their power to defy the spirit of the age, and to establish

an empire on the pattern of ancient Rome. They firmly believed that, because they could not exist without

selling cotton, Great Britain could not exist without buying it from them; which is like a shopkeeper

It may console those who yet lament the lost cause if we picture for their benefit what the Southern empire

would have been. There would have been an aristocracy of planters, herds of slaves, a servile press, a servile

pulpit, and a rabble of mean whites formed into an army. Abolition societies would have been established in

the North, to instigate slaves to rebel or run away; a cordon of posts with a system of passports would have

been established in the South. Border raids would have been made by fanatics on the one side, and by

desperadoes on the other. Sooner or later there must have been a war. Filibustering expeditions on Mexico

and Cuba would have brought about a war with Spain, and perhaps with France. It was the avowed intention

of the planters, when once their empire was established, to import labour from Africa; to reopen the trade as

in the good old times. But this, Great Britain would certainly have not allowed; and thus, again, there would

have been war. Even if the planters would have displayed a little common sense, which is exceedingly

improbable, and so escaped extirpation from without, their system of culture would have eaten up their lands.

But happily such hypotheses need no longer be discussed; a future of another kind is in reserve for the

Southern states. America can now pursue with untarnished reputation her glorious career, and time will soften

the memories of a conflict, the original guilt of which must be ascribed to the founders of the nation, or rather

I have now accomplished the task which I set myself to do. I have shown to the best of my ability what kind

of place in universal history Africa deserves to hold. I have shown that not only Egypt has assisted the

development of man by educating Greece, Carthage by leading forth Rome to conquest, but that even the

obscure Sudan, or land of the negroes, has also played its part in the drama of European life.

The slavetrade must be estimated as a war; though cruel and atrocious in itself, it has, like most wars, been

of service to mankind. I shall leave it to others to trace cut in detail the influence of the negro in the human

progress. It will be sufficient to observe that the grandeur of West Indian commerce in the last generation,

and of the cotton manufacture at the present time, could not have been obtained without the assistance of the

negro: and that the agitation on his behalf, which was commenced by Granville Sharp, has assisted much to

expand the sympathies, and to educate the heart of the Anglo Saxon people, who are somewhat inclined to

pride of colour and prejudice of race. Respecting the prospects of the negro, it is difficult for me to form an

opinion; but what I have seen of the Africans in their native and semicivilised condition inclines me to take

a hopeful view. The negroes are imitative in an extraordinary degree, and imitation is the first principle of

progress. They are vain and ostentatious, ardent for praise, keenly sensitive of blame. Their natural wants,

indeed, are few; they inherit the sober appetites of their fathers who lived on a few handfuls of rice a day; but

it will, I believe, be found that when they enjoy the same inducements to work as other men, when they can

hope to distinguish themselves in the Parliament, the pulpit, or in social life, they will become as we are, the

slaves of an idea, and will work day and night to obtain something which they desire, but do not positively

need. Whether the negroes are equal in average capacity to the white man, whether they will ever produce a

man of genius, is an idle and unimportant question; they can at least gain their livelihood as labourers and

artisans; they are therefore of service to their country; let them have fair play, and they will find their right

place whatever it may be: As regards the social question, they will no doubt, like the Jews, intermarry always

with their own race, and will thus remain apart. But it need not be feared that they will become hostile to

those with whom they reside. Experience has shown that, whenever aliens are treated as citizens, they

become citizens, whatever may be their religion or their race, It is a mistake to suppose that the civilised

negro calls himself an African, and pines to return to his ancestral land. If he is born in the States, he calls

himself an American he speaks with an American accent; he loves and he hates with an American heart.

It is a question frequently asked of African travellers, What is the future of that great continent? In the first

place, with respect to the West Coast, there is little prospect of great changes taking place for many years to

come. The commerce in palm oil is important, and will increase. Cotton will be received in large quantities

from the Sudan. The East Coast of Africa, when its resources have been developed, will be a copy of the

West Coast. It is not probable that European colonies will ever flourish in these golden but unwholesome

lands. The educated negroes will in time monopolise the trade, for they can live at less expense than

Europeans, and do not suffer from the climate. They may perhaps at some future day possess both coasts, and

thence spread with Bible and musket into the interior. This prospect, however, is uncertain, and in any case

That part of Africa which lies above the parallel 1O� North belongs to the Eastern Question. What ever may

be the ultimate destiny of Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco, will be shared by the regions of the central Niger,

That part of the continent which lies below the parallel 2O� South, already belongs in part, and will in time

entirely belong to settlers of the AngloSaxon race. It resembles Australia, not only in its position with

respect to the Equator, but also in its natural productions. It is a land of wool and mines, without great

navigable rivers, interspersed with sandy deserts, and enjoying a wholesome though sultry air. Whatever may

Between these two lines intervenes a region inhabited for the most part by pagan savages, thinly scattered

over swamp and forest. This concealed continent, this unknown world, will at some faroff day, if my

surmises prove correct, be invaded by three civilising streams; by the British negroes from the coasts by the

Mohammedan negroes in robe and turban from the great empires of the Niger region; and by the farmers and

When, therefore, we speculate on the future of Africa, we can do no more than bring certain regions of that

continent within the scope of two general questions; the future of our colonies, and the future of the East; and

Upon this subject I shall offer a few remarks; and it is obvious that in order to form some conception of the

future it is necessary to understand the present and the past. I shall therefore endeavour to ascertain what we

have been and what we are. The monograph of Africa is ended. I shall make my sketch of history complete,

adding new features, passing quickly over the parts that have been already drawn. I shall search out the origin

of man, determine his actual condition, speculate upon his future destiny, and discuss the nature of his

relations towards that unknown Power of whom he is the offspring and the slave. I shall examine this planet

and its contents with the calm curiosity of one whose sentiments and passions, whose predilections and

antipathies, whose hopes and fears, are not interested in the question. I shall investigate without prejudice; I

What are the materials of human history? What are the earliest records which throw light upon the origin of

man? All written documents are things of yesterday, whether penned on prepared skins, papyrus rolls, or the

soft inner bark of trees; whether stamped on terracotta tablets, carved on granite obelisks, or engraved on

the smooth surface of upright rocks. Writing, even in its simplest picture form, is an art which can be

The oldest books are therefore comparatively modern, and the traditions which they contain are either false or

but little older than the books themselves. All travellers who have collected traditions among a wild people

know how little that kind of evidence is worth. The savage exaggerates whenever he repeats, and in a few

The evidence of language is of more value. It enables us to trace back remotely divided nations to their

common birth place, and reveals the amount of culture, the domestic institutions, and the religious ideas

which they possessed before they parted from one another. Yet languages soon die, or rather become

metamorphosed in structure as well as in vocabulary; the oldest existing language can throw no light on the

The archives of the earth also offer us their testimony: the graves give up their dead, and teach us that man

existed many thousand years ago, in company with monstrous animals that have long since passed away; and

that those men were savages, using weapons and implements of stone, yet possessing even then a taste for

ornament and art, wearing shell bracelets, and drawing rude figures upon horns and stones. The manners and

ideas of such early tribes can best be inferred by a study of existing savages. The missionary who resides

among such races as the Bushmen of Africa or the Botocudos of Brazil may be said to live in prehistoric

But as regards the origin of man, we have only one document to which we can refer; and that is the body of

man himself. There, in unmistakable characters, are inscribed the annals of his early life. These hieroglyphics

are not to be fully deciphered without a special preparation for the task: the alphabet of anatomy must first be

mastered, and the student must be expert in the language of all living and fossil forms. One fact, however, can

be submitted to the uninitiated eye, and it will be sufficient for the purpose. Look at a skeleton and you will

see a little bone curled downwards between the legs, as if trying to hide itself away. That bone is a relic of

prehuman days, and announces plainly whence our bodies come. We are all of us naked under our clothes,

and we are of all us tailed under our skins. But when we descend to the manlike apes, we find that, with

them as with us, the tail is effete and in disuse; and so we follow it downwards and downwards until we

discover it in all its glory in the body of the fish; being there present, not as a relic or rudimentary organ, as in

man and the apes; not a mere appendage, as in the fox; not a secondary instrument, a spare hand, as in certain

monkeys, or a flyflapper, as in the giraffe; but as a primary organ of the very first importance, endowing the

fish with its locomotive powers. Again, we examine the body of the fish, and we find in it also rudimentary

organs as useless and incongruous as the tail in man; and thus we descend step by step, until we arrive at the

The method of development is still being actively discussed, but the fact is placed beyond a doubt. Since The

Origin of Species appeared, philosophical naturalists no longer deny that the ancestors of man must he sought

for in the lower kingdom. And, apart from the evidence which we carry with us in our own persons, which we

read in the tailbone of the skeleton, in the hair which was once the clothing of our bodies, in the nails which

were once our weapons of defence, and in a hundred other facts which the scalpel and the microscope

disclose; apart from the evidence of our own voices, our incoherent groans and cries, analogy alone would

lead us to, believe that mankind had been developed from the lowest forms of life. For what is the history of

the individual man? He begins life as an ambiguous speck of matter which can in no way be distinguished

from the original form of the lowest animal or plant. He next becomes a cell; his life is precisely that of the

animalcule. Cells cluster round this primordial cell, and the man is so far advanced that he might be mistaken

for an undeveloped oyster; he grows still more, and it is clear that he might even be a fish; he then passes into

a stage which is common to all quadrupeds, and next assumes a form which can only belong to quadrupeds of

the higher type. At last the hour of birth approaches; coiled within, the dark womb he sits, the image of an

ape; a caricature and, a prophecy of the man that is to be. He is born, and for some time he walks only on all

fours; he utters only inarticulate sounds; and even in his boyhood his fondness for climbing trees would seem

to be a relic of the old arboreal life. Since, therefore, every man has been himself in such a state that the most

experienced observer could not with the aid of the best microscopes have declared whether he was going to

be man or plant, man or animalcule, man or mollusc, man or lobster, man or fish, man or reptile, man or bird,

man or quadruped, man or monkey; why should it appear strange that the whole race has also had its

animalcule and its reptile days? But whether it appears strange or not, the public must endeavour to accustom

its mind to the fact which is now firmly, established, and will never be overthrown.

Not only are the bodies, but also the minds of man constructed on the same pattern as those of the lower

animals. To procure food; to obtain a mate; and to rear offspring; such is the real business of life with us as it

is with them. If we look into ourselves we discover propensities which declare that our intellects have arisen

from a lower form; could our minds be made visible we should find them tailed. And if we examine the

minds of the lower animals, we find in them the rudiments of our talents and our virtues. As the beautiful yet

imperfect human body has been slowly developed from the base and hideous creatures of the water and the

earth, so the beautiful yet imperfect human mind has been slowly developed from the instincts of the lower

animals. All that is elevated, all that is lovely in human nature has its origin in the lower kingdom. The

philosophic spirit of inquiry may be traced to brute curiosity, and that to the habit of examining all things in

search of food. Artistic genius is an expansion of monkey imitativeness. Loyalty and piety, the reverential

virtues, are developed from filial love. Benevolence and magnanimity, the generous virtues, from parental

love. The sense of decorum proceeds from the sense of cleanliness; and that from the instinct of sexual

display. The delicate and ardent love which can become a religion of the heart, which can sanctify and soften

a man's whole life; the affection which is so noble, and so pure, and so free from all sensual stain, is yet

derived from that desire which impels the male animal to seek a mate; and the sexual timidity which makes

the female flee from the male is finally transformed into that maiden modesty which not only preserves from

vice, but which conceals beneath a chaste and honourable reticence the fiery love that burns within; which

compels the true woman to pine in sorrow, and perhaps to languish into death, rather than betray a passion

There is a certain class of people who prefer to say that their fathers came down in the world through their

own follies rather than to boast that they rose in the world through their own industry and talents. It is the

same shabbygenteel sentiment, the same vanity of birth which makes men prefer to believe that they are

degenerated angels, rather than elevated apes. In scientific investigations such whims and fancies must be set

aside. It is the duty of the inquirer to ascertain the truth, and then to state it as decisively and as clearly as he

can. People's prejudices must not be respected but destroyed. It may, however, be worth while to observe, for

the comfort of weak souls, that in these new revelations of science human nature is not in any way degraded.

A woman's body is not less lovely because it was once a hideous mass of flesh. A woman's modesty is not

less noble because we discover that it was once a mere propensity, dictated, perhaps, by the fear of pain. The

beauty of the mind is not less real than the beauty of the body, and we need not be discouraged because we

ascertain that it has also passed through its embryonic stage. It is Nature's method to take something which is

in itself paltry, repulsive, and grotesque, and thence to construct a masterpiece by means of general and

gradual laws; those laws themselves being often vile and cruel. This method is applied not only to single

individuals, but also to the whole animated world; not only to physical but also to mental forms. And when it

is fully realised and understood that the genius of man has been developed along a line of unbroken descent

from the simple tendencies which inhabited the primeval cell, and that in its later stages this development has

been assisted by the efforts of man himself, what a glorious futurity will open to the human race! It may well

be that our minds have not done growing, and that we may rise as high above our present state as that state is

removed from the condition of the insect and the worm. For when we examine the human mind we do not

find it perfect and mature; but in a transitional and amphibious condition. We live between two worlds; we

soar in the atmosphere; we creep upon the soil; we have the aspirations of creators and the propensities of

quadrupeds. There can be but one explanation of this fact. We are passing from the animal into a higher form;

and the drama of this planet is in its second act. We shall now endeavour to place the first upon the stage,

and, then passing through the second, shall proceed to speculate upon the third. The scene opens with the

THAT region of the universe which is visible to mortal eyes has been named the solar system: it is composed

of innumerable stars, and each star is a white hot sun, the centre and sovereign of a world. Our own sun is

attended by a company of cold, dark globes, revolving round it in accordance with the law of gravitation;

they also rotate like joints before the fire, turning first one side, and then the other, to the central light. The

path that is traced by the outermost planet is the limit of the sun's domain, which is too extensive to be

measured into miles. If a jockey mounted on a winner of the Derby had started when Moses was born, and

had galloped ever since at full speed, he would be by this time about half the way across, Yet this world

seems large to us, only because we are so small. It is merely a drop in the ocean of space. The stars which we

see on a fine night are also suns as important as our own; and so vast is the distance which separates their

worlds from ours, that a flash of lightning would be years upon the road. These various solar systems are not

independent of one another they are members of the same community. They are sailing in order round a point

to us unknown. Our own sun, drawing with it the planets in its course, is spinning furiously upon its axis, and

dashing through space at four miles a second. And not only is the solar system an organ of one gigantic form;

it has also grown to what it is, and may still be considered in its youth. As the body of a plant or animal arises

from a fluid alike in all its parts, so this world of ours was once a floating fiery cloud, a nebula or mist, the

molecules of which were kept asunder by excessive heat. But the universe is pervaded by movement and by

change; there came a period when the heat declined, and when the atoms obeying their innate desires rushed

to one another, and, concentrating, formed the sun, which at first almost filled the solar world. But as it

cooled, and as it contracted, and as it rotated, and as it revolved, it became a sphere in the centre of the world;

and it cast off pieces which became planets, satellites, attendant stars, and they also cast off pieces which

became satellites to them. Thus the earth is the child, and the moon the grandchild of the sun. When our

planet first came out into the world it was merely a solar fragment, a chip of the old star, and the other planets

were in a similar condition. But these sunballs were separated from one another, and from their parent form,

by oceans of ether, a kind of attenuated air, so cold that frost itself is fire in comparison. The sun burning

always in this icy air is gradually cooling down; but it parts slowly with its heat on account of its enormous

size. Our little earth cooled quickly, shrank in size it had once extended to the moon and finally went

out. From a globe of glowing gas it became a ball of liquid fire, enveloped in a smoky cloud. When first we

are able to restore its image and examine its construction, we find it composed of zones or layers in a molten

state, arranged according to their weight; and above it we find an atmosphere also divided into layers. Close

over the surface vapour of salt was suspended in the air; next, a layer of dark, smoky, carbonic acid gas; next,

oxygen and nitrogen, and vapour of water or common steam. Within the sphere, as it cooled and changed,

chemical bodies sprang from one another, rushed to and fro, combined with terrible explosions; while in the

variegated atmosphere above, gashurricanes arose and flung the elements into disorder. So sped the earth,

roaring and flaming through the sky, leaving behind it a fiery track, sweeping round the sun in its oval course.

Year followed year, century followed century, epoch followed epoch. Then the globe began to cool upon its

surface. Flakes of solid matter floated on the molten sea, which rose and fell in flaming tides towards a

hidden and benighted moon. The flakes caked together, and covered the ball with a solid sheet, which was

upraised and cracked by the tidal waves beneath, like thin ice upon the Arctic seas. In time it thickened and

became firm, but subterranean storms often ripped it open in vast chasms, from which masses of liquid lava

spouted in the air, and fell back upon the hissing crust. Everywhere heaps of ashes were thus formed, and the

earth was seamed with scars and gaping wounds. When the burning heat of the air had abated, the salt was

condensed, and fell like snow upon the earth, and covered it ten feet thick. The Atlantic and Pacific Oceans,

lying overhead in the form of steam, descended in one great shower, and so the primeval sea was formed. It

was dark, warm, and intensely salt; at first it overspread the surface of the globe; then volcanic islands were

cast up; and as the earth cooled downwards to its core, it shrivelled into folds as an apple in the winter when

its pulp dries up. These folds and wrinkles were mountain ranges, and continents appearing above the level of

the sea. Our planet was then divided into land and water in the same proportions as exist at the present time.

For though land is always changing into water, and water is always changing into land, their relative

quantities remain the same. The air was black, night was eternal, illumined only by lightning and volcanoes;

the earth was unconscious of the sun's existence; its heat was derived from the fire within, and was uniform

from pole to pole. But the crust thickened; the inner heat could no longer be felt upon the surface; the

atmosphere brightened a little, and the sun's rays penetrated to the earth. From the shape, the altitude, and the

revolutions of our planet, resulted an unequal distribution of solar heat, and to this inequality the earth is

indebted for the varied nature of its aspects and productions. Climate was created: winds arose in the air;

currents in the deep; the sun sucked up the waters of the sea, leaving the salt behind; rainclouds were

formed, and fresh water bestowed upon the land. The underground fires assisted the planet's growth by

transforming the soils into crystalline structures, and by raising the rocks thus altered to the surface; by

producing volcanic eruptions, hot springs, and other fiery phenomena. But the chief architect and decorator of

this planet was the sun. When the black veil of the earth was lifted, when the sunlight entered the turbid

waters of the primeval sea, "an interesting event" took place. The earth became with young.

In water there are always floating about a multitude of specks which are usually minute fragments of the soil.

But now appeared certain specks which, though they resembled the others, possessed certain properties of a

very peculiar kind. First, they brought forth little specks, precise copies of themselves: they issued their own

duplicates. And secondly, they performed in their own persons an elaborate chemical operation. Imbibing

water and air, they manufactured those elements with the assistance of the solar rays, into the compounds of

which their own bodies were composed, giving back to the water those components which they did not

require. And then appeared other little specks which swallowed up the first, and manufactured them into the

compounds more complex still, of which they, the second comers, were composed. The first were embryonic

plants; the second were embryonic animals. They were both alike in appearance; both repeated themselves, or

reproduced, in the same manner. The difference between them was this, that the plants could live on raw air

and water, the animals could live only on those elements when prepared by sun light in the body of the plant.

The office of vegetation upon the earth is therefore of a culinary nature, and the plant, when devoured, gives

the animal that heat which is its life, just as coal (a cake of fossil vegetation) gives heat to the apartment in

which it is consumed. But this heat, whether it lies hidden in the green and growing plant, or in its black and

stony corpse, was at first acquired from the sun. Glorious Apollo is the parent of us all. Animal heat is solar

heat; a blush is a stray sunbeam; Life is bottled sunshine, and Death the silentfooted butler who draws out

Those dots of animated jelly, without definite form or figure, swimming unconsciously in the primeval sea,

were the ancestors of man. The history of our race begins with them, and continues without an interruption to

the present day; a splendid narrative, the materials of which it is for science to discover, the glories of which

Owing to the action of surrounding forces, the outer parts of the original jellydot became harder and more

solid than the parts within, and so it assumed the shape of the cell or sphere. Its food consisted of microscopic

fragments of vegetable matter imbibed through its surface or outer rind, such portions as were not "made up"

being expelled or excreted in the same manner as they were taken in. There was no difference of parts, except

that the outside was solid and the inside soft. The creature's body was its hand, its stomach, and its mouth.

When it had lived a certain time it burst and died, liberating, as it did so, a brood of cells which had slowly

ripened within. But sometimes these new cells, instead of being detached when they were born, remained

cohering to the parent cell, thus making the animal consist of several cells instead of only one. In the first

case the process is termed reproduction; in the second case it is termed growth. But the two operations are in

reality the same. Growth is coherent reproduction; reproduction is detached growth.

Time goes on. Our animal is now a cellrepublic enclosed by a wrapper of solidified and altered cells. Next,

in this wrapper a further change takes place. It protrudes into limbs; a gaping month appears. The limbs or

tentacles grasp the food and put it within the mouth; other limbs sprout forth and carry their owner from place

to place. In the meantime the cells within are also changed; their partitions are removed; the manywalled

apartments are converted into galleries or tubes, along which the food is conveyed from one part of the body

to another. These tubes are filled with blood, pumped backwards and forwards by the heart. The muscles

which move the outer limbs are equipped with nerves, the movements of which are directed from centres in

the spine and brain. The functions of life are thus divided, and each department has an organ of its own. The

reproductive function is divided farther still. Two separate elements are formed; one prepares and ejects the

spermcell which the other receives, and unites to the germcell. At a later period in the history of life this

arrangement is supplanted by another, more complicated still. The two elements no longer coexist in the

same form, and thus reproduction can only be effected by means of cooperation between two distinct and

These various inventions of Nature, so far as we have gone; the limbs of locomotion and prehension; the

heart with its vessels; the brain with its nerves; and the separation of the sexes, all occurred in the marine

Similar changes, but inferior in degree, occurred in the vegetable world. The shapeless specks became

onecelled: they were next strung together like a chain of beads; they then grew into seaweed and aqueous

plants, which floated about, and finally obtained a footing on the land. But they dwelt long ages on the earth

before their sex appeared. There were no flowers in that primeval world, for the flower is a sign of love.

Gigantic mosses and tree ferns clothed the earth, and reproduced themselves by scattering cells around.

Animals followed their prey, the plants, from the water to the land and became adapted for terrestrial life. At

that period the atmosphere was thickened with carbonic acid gas, and was more pestilential than the Black

Hole of Calcutta. Only reptiles, with sluggish and imperfect respiratory organs, could breathe in such an air.

But that fatal gas was bread to the vegetable world, which took the carbon into its body, and thus the

atmosphere was purified in time. The vast masses of carbon which the plants took out of the air in order to

allow a higher class of animal to appear upon the stage, were buried in the earth, hardened into coal, and were

The coalmatter being thus removed, the air was bright and pure; the sun glowed with radiance and force; the

reptiles were converted into birds and quadrupeds of many kinds; insects rising from the land and from the

water hummed and sparkled in the air; the forests were adorned with flowers, and cheered with song. And as

the periods rolled on, the inhabitants of the earth became more complex in their structure, more symmetrical

in form, and more advanced in mental power, till at last the future lord of the planet himself appeared upon

the stage. The first act of the drama is here concluded: but the division is merely artificial; in Nature there is

no entr'acte; no curtain falls. Her scenes resemble dissolving views; the lower animals pass into man by soft,

We must now consider the question, How and why have these marvellous changes taken place? How and

It has been already shown that continual changes occurred in the primeval atmosphere and in the primeval

sea. These changes acting upon animal life produced changes in its composition. For as animals are the result

and expression of the conditions under which they are born, it is natural to suppose that when these

conditions are changed, the animals should also change. When the conditions of life are abruptly altered and

instantaneously transformed, the animals are of course destroyed; but when, as is usually the case, the

changes are gradual, the animals are slowly modified into harmony with the neighbouring conditions. The

primeval speck of life being acted upon by a variety of forces, became varied in its structure and as these

forces varied from period to period, the organisms also varied. Complexity of parts results from complexity

of environment. Multiformity of circumstance produces multiformity of species. The development of animal

life from the homogeneous to the heterogeneous, from the simple to the complex, from uniformity to

multiformity, is caused by the development of the earth itself from a monotonous watercovered globe with

one aspect, one constitution, and one temperature to this varied earth on which we dwell, where each foot of

land differs in some respect from the one beside it. The modifications on modifications of the animal are due

to the modifications on modifications of the medium in which and on which it lived. And this operation of

Nature is hastened and facilitated by a law which in itself is murderous and cruel. The earth is over

populated upon principle. Of the animals that are born, a few only can survive. There is not enough food for

all; Nature scrambles what there is among the crowd. If any animal possesses an advantage, however slight,

over those with whom he competes in this foodscramble or struggle for existence, he will certainly survive;

and if he survives, then some one else, so gentle Nature orders it, must die. This law of competition becomes

itself a force by developing slight variations along lines of utility into widely different and specific forms.

But how is it that animals of the higher type prevail? Why should species, with a tendency towards a

complicated structure, generally triumph over simple forms? The reason appears to be this, that whenever a

change takes place, it is almost invariably a change towards complexity. Now it is an ascertained law that

animals are invigorated by a slight change; they are therefore improved by an approach towards complexity.

Let us take the most mysterious of all progressive operations the division of the sexes. The hermaphrodite

can fertilise itself, but its organs are so arranged that it can be fertilised by another individual, the wind or the

water acting as the gobetween. The offspring of such separate unions are always more vigorous than the

homeborn progeny of the hermaphrodite. The latter are therefore killed off by means of the struggle for

existence, and sexual union, at first the exception, becomes the rule. Just as a body of artisans can do more

work and better work when each man devotes his whole life to a single department of the craft, so it is good

for the animal that division of labour should be established in its structure; that instead of the creature being

its own mouth, its own stomach, its own organ of excretion, reproduction, and locomotion, it should be

divided into separate parts, one of which moves it, another part takes the food, another part chews, another

part digests, another part prepares the blood, another part pumps the blood to and fro, another part reproduces

the species, another part nourishes the young, while over all presides the brain.

But how is it that some animals have progressed while others have remained at the bottom of the scale, and

others again have advanced only to a certain point? If all have grown out of such specks of animated jelly as

are still to be found within the sea, how is it that some have remained throughout infinite periods of time

unchanged; that others have remained in the form of the sponge, rooted upon rocks; that others, like the

lobster, have never exchanged their jointed bodies for the more perfect skeleton of the fish; that some fish

have taken to the land, and have been converted into reptiles, and then into birds or quadrupeds, while others

have remained in the aqueous condition; and lastly, that one animal, namely Man, has contrived to distance

In reply, let me ask those who admit the development of all civilised people from the savage state and that

no geologist will now deny; let me ask them how it is that Europeans have advanced (this involving a

change in the structure of the brain), while others have remained in the savage state, others in the pastoral

condition, others fixed at a certain point of culture, as the Hindus and the Chinese? The analogy is perfect,

and the answer is in either case the same. Those forms remain stationary which are able to preserve their

conditions of life unchanged. The savages of the primeval forest, when the game is exhausted in one region,

migrate to another region where game exists. They remain therefore in the hunting state. The shepherds of the

boundless plains, when one pasture is devoured by their flocks, migrate to another pasture where they find

grass and water in abundance. But when, in a land like Egypt, the inhabitants are confined to a certain tract of

land they are unable to evade the famine of food produced by the vicissitudes of nature and the law of

population; they are compelled to invent in order to subsist; new modes of life, new powers, new desires, new

sentiments arise; and the human animal is changed. Then a second period of immobility arrives; by means of

In the primeval sea the conditions of life were constantly changing, but its inmates could usually keep them

constant by migration. For instance, let us imagine a species accustomed to dwell at the bottom of the sea,

feeding on the vegetable matter and oxygen gas which come down by liquid diffusion from the waters of the

surface. By elevation of the seabed, or by the deposit of sediment from rivers, that part of the sea which this

species inhabits becomes gradually shallow and light. The animal would migrate into deep dark water, and

would therefore undergo no change. But let us suppose that it is prevented from migrating by a wall of rocks.

It would then be exposed to light, and to other novel forces, and it would either change or die.

Here progress is the result of absolute necessity, and such must always be the case. Animals which inhabit the

waters have no innate desire to make acquaintance with the land; but it sometimes happens that they live in

shallow places, where they are left uncovered at low water for a certain time, and so in the course of

geological periods the species becomes amphibious in habit; and then the hard struggle for life in the water,

with the abundance of food upon the land, leads them to adopt terrestrial life. There are creatures now

existing of whom it is not easy to say whether they belong to the water or the land: there are fishes which

walk about on shore, and climb trees: It is not difficult to imagine such animals as these deserting the water,

But the development of life, in its varied aspects, must always remain incomprehensible to those who have

not studied the noble science of geology, or who at least have not made themselves acquainted with its chief

results. Unless the student understands what extraordinary transformation scenes have taken place upon the

globe, all that is now land, having formerly been sea, and all that is now sea having formerly been land, not

only once, but again, and again, and again; unless he understands that these changes have been produced by

the same gradual, and apparently insignificant, causes as those which are now at work before our eyes; the

sea gnawing away the cliff upon the shore; the river carrying soil to the sea; the glacier gliding down the

mountain slope; the iceberg bearing huge boulders to mid ocean; the coralline insects building archipelagoes;

the internal fires suddenly spouting forth stones and ashes, or slowly upheaving continents; unless he fully

understands how deliberate is Nature's method, how prodigal she is of time, how irregular and capricious she

is in all her operations he will never cease to wonder that allied forms should be distributed in apparent

disorder and confusion, instead of being arranged on a regular ascending scale. And, moreover, unless he

understands how Nature, like the Sibyl, destroys her own books, he will never cease to wonder at missing

For it is not one missing link, but millions, that we require. It would however be just as reasonable to expect

to find every book that ever was written; every claytablet that ever was baked in the printing ovens of

Chaldaea; every rock that was ever inscribed; every obelisk that was ever engraved, every temple wall that

was ever painted with hieroglyphics, as to expect to find every fossil of importance. Where are the missing

links in literature, and where are the primeval forms? Where are the ancient Sanskrit hymns that were written

without ink on palm leaves with an iron pen? Where are the thousands of Hebrew bibles that were written

before the tenth century A.D.? Where are the lost books of the Romans and the Greeks? We know that many

manuscripts have been consumed in great fires; the fire of Alexandria in the time of Julius Caesar, which no

doubt destroyed papyri that could never be replaced; the fire in the time of Omar; the fires lighted by Popes

and reverend Fathers of the Church; and the fire of Constantinople during the Crusades, which robbed us for

ever of Arian's history of the successors of Alexander; Ctesias' history of Persia, and his description of India;

several books of Diodorus, Agatharcides, and Polybius; twenty orations of Demosthenes, and the Odes of

Sappho. But the material of books, whether paper or parchment, bark, clay, or stone, is always of a perishable

nature, and, under ordinary circumstances, is destroyed sooner or later by the action of the atmosphere. Were

it not that books can be copied, what would remain to us of the literature of the past?

In a rainless country such as Egypt, which is a museum of Nature, a monumental land, not only painted and

engraven records, but even paper scrolls of an immense antiquity, have been preserved. But if we add to these

the rock inscriptions, the printed bricks, and inscribed cylinders of Western Asia, how scanty and fortuitous

are the remains! Let us now remember that fossils cannot be copied; once destroyed, they are for ever lost. Is

it wonderful, therefore, that so few should be left? Fires greater than those of Alexandria and Constantinople

are ever burning beneath our feet; at this very moment a precious library may be in flames. Yet that is not the

worst. The action of air and water is fatal to the archives of Nature, which it is not part of Nature's plan to

preserve for our instruction. Those animals which have neither bones nor shells are at once destroyed; and

those which possess a solid framework are only preserved under special and exceptional conditions. The

marvel is not that we find so little, but that we find so much. The development of man from the lower animals

is now an authenticated fact. We believe, therefore, that connecting links between man and some apelike

animal existed for the same reason that we believe the Second Decade of Livy existed. It is not impossible

that the missing books of Livy may be, discovered at some future day beneath the Italian soil. It is not

impossible that forms intermediate between man and his apelike ancestors may be discovered in the

unexplored strata of equatorial Africa, or the Indian Archipelago. But either event is improbable in the

extreme; and the existence of such intermediate forms will be admitted by the historians of the next

We shall now proceed to describe the rise and progress of the mental principle. The origin of mind is an

inscrutable mystery, but so is the origin of matter. If we go back to the beginning we find a world of gas, the

atoms of which were kept asunder by excessive heat. Where did those atoms come from? How were they

made? What were they made for? In reply to these questions theology is garrulous, but science is dumb.

Mind is a property of matter. Matter is inhabited by mind. There can be no mind without matter; there can be

no matter without mind. When the matter is simple in its composition, its mental tendencies are also simple;

the atoms merely tend to approach one another and to cohere; and as matter under the influence of varied

forces (evolved by the cooling o the world) becomes more varied in its composition, its mental tendencies

become more and more numerous, more and more complex, more and more elevated, till at last they are

developed into the desires and propensities of the animal, into the aspirations and emotions of the man. But

the various tendencies which inhabit the human mind, and which devote it to ambition, to religion, or to love,

are not in reality more wonderful than the tendency which impels two ships to approach each other in a calm.

For what can be more wonderful than that which can never be explained? The difference between the mind of

The simplest atoms are attracted to one another merely according to distance and weight. That is the law of

gravitation. But the compound atoms, which are called elements, display a power of selection. A will unite

itself to C in preference to B; and if D passes by, will divorce itself from C, and unite itself to D. Such

compounds of a compound are still more complex in their forms, and more varied in their minds. Water,

which is composed of two gases oxygen and hydrogen when hot, becomes a vapour; when cold,

becomes a crystal. In the latter case it displays a structural capacity. Crystals assume particular forms

according to the substances of which they are composed; they may be classed into species, and if their forms

are injured by accident, they have the power of repairing their structure by imbibing matter from without. A

live form is the result of matter subjected to certain complex forces, the chief of which is the chemical power

of the sun. It is continually being injured by the wear and tear of its own activity; it is continually darning and

stitching its own life. After a certain period of time it loses its selfmending power, and consequently dies.

The crystal grows from without by simple accretions or putting on of coats. The plant or animal grows and

regrows from within by means of a chemical operation. Moreover, the crystal is merely an individual; the

plant or animal is the member of a vast community; before it dies, and usually as it dies, it produces a

repetition of itself. The mental forces which inhabit the primeval jellydot are more complex than those

which inhabit the crystal; but those of the crystal are more complex than those of a gas, and those of a gas

than those of the true elementary atoms which know only two forces attraction and repulsion the

The absorption of food and the repetition of form in the animal are not at first to he distinguished from that

chemical process which is termed growth. Then from this principle of growth, the root of the human flower,

two separated instincts like twin seedleaves arise. The first is the propensity to preserve selflife by seeking

food; from this instinct of self preservation our intellectual faculties have been derived. The second is the

propensity to preserve the life of the species; and from this instinct of reproduction our moral faculties have

The animal at first absorbs its food and unites with its mate as blindly and as helplessly as the crystal shapes

itself into its proper form, as oxygen combines with hydrogen, or as ships roll towards each other in a calm.

How then can a line be drawn between the inorganic and the organic, the lifeless and the alive? The cell that

vibrates in the water, and the crystal that forms in the frost, are each the result of certain forces over which

they have no control. But as the body of the animal is developed in complexity, by the action of complex

forces, certain grey lumps of matter make their appearance within its structure, and out of these rises a spirit

which introduces the animal to himself, which makes him conscious of his own existence. He becomes aware

that he is alive; that he has an appetite; and that other animals have an appetite for him. His mind, though

feeble and contracted, is improved by experience. He devises stratagems to avoid his enemies, or to seize his

prey. At certain seasons he becomes conscious of his desire for a mate and that which, with his ancestors, was

a blind tendency, an inherited part of growth, becomes with him a passion brightened by intelligence.

It is usually supposed that the transition of an apelike animal into man is the most remarkable event in the

history of animated forms. But this idea arises from human vanity and ignorance. The most remarkable event,

after the origin of life, is certainly that to which we now allude; the first glimmering of consciousness and

reason. Yet even here we can draw no dividing line. The animal becomes conscious that he desires food, and

at certain periods, a mate; but the desires themselves are not new; they existed and they ruled him long

before. When developed to a certain point, he begins to "take notice," as the nurses say; but his nature

remains the same, However, this intelligence becomes in time itself a force, and gradually obtains to some

extent the faculty of directing the forces by which the animal was once despotically ruled. By an effort of the

human brain, for example, the reproductive force, or tendency, or instinct, can be obliterated and suppressed.

What we have to say, then, respecting the origin of our early ancestors is this: That when matter was

subjected to a complicated play of forces, chief among which was solar influence, plants and animals came

into life; and that when animals were subjected to an everincreasing variety of forces, they became varied in

their structure; and that when their structure had attained a certain measure of variety they became conscious

of their own existence; and that then Nature endowed them with the faculty of preserving their lives and that

of their species by means of their own conscious efforts. Next, it will be shown that the successful

competitors in the struggle for existence not only obtained the food and females for which they strove, but

also, by means of the efforts which they made in order to obtain them, raised themselves unconsciously in the

animated scale. And lastly, we shall find that men who, in the savage state, are little better than the brutes,

their lives being absorbed in the business of selfpreservation and reproduction, are now in the civilised

condition becoming conscious of the scheme of Nature, and are beginning to assist her by the methodical

The lower animals have a hard matter to earn their daily bread, and to preserve their children from starvation;

and with them the course of true love does not by any means run smooth. Since only a few can succeed in the

scramble for food, and not all can obtain mates, for polygamy frequently prevails, it follows as a matter of

necessity that those animals which are the strongest, the swiftest, and the most intelligent will survive and

leave offspring, and by the continued survival of the fittest the animated world improves from generation to

generation, and rises in the scale. So far as strength and swiftness are concerned, limits are placed upon

improvement. But there are no limits to the improvement of intelligence. We find in the lower kingdom

muscular power in its perfection; but the brain is always imperfect, always young, always growing, always

capable of being developed. In writing the history of animal progress we must therefore concentrate our

attention upon the brain, and we shall find that the development of that organ is in great measure due to the

Whether Nature has placed pain at the portals of love throughout the animal kingdom as she has at the portals

of maternity, or whatever may be the cause, it is certain that the female flees from the male at the courting

season, and that he captures her by means of his strength, swiftness, dexterity, or cunning, in the same

manner as he obtains his prey. He is also obliged to fight duels in order to possess or to retain her, and thus

his courage is developed. But at a later period in animal life a more peaceable kind of courtship comes into

vogue. The females become queens. They select their husbands from a crowd of admirers, who strive to

please them with their colours, their perfumes, or their music. The cavaliers, adorned in their bright wedding

suits, which they wear only at the lovemaking season, display themselves before the dames. Others serenade

them with vocal song, or by means of an apparatus fitted to the limbs, which corresponds to instrumental

music. Rival troubadours will sing before their lady, as she sits in her leafy bower till one of them is

compelled to yield from sheer exhaustion, and a feathered hero has been known to sing till be dropped down

dead. At this period sexual timidity becomes a delicious coyness which arouses the ardour of the male. Thus

love is born: it is brought forth by the association of ideas. The desire of an animal to satisfy a want grows

In the same manner the love of the young for its parents grows out of its liking for the food which the parents

supply; and the love of parents for the young, though more obscure, may perhaps also be explained by

association. The mother no doubt believes the offspring to be part of herself, as it was in fact but a short time

before, and thus feels for it a kind of selflove. The affection of the offspring for the parents, and of parents

for the offspring, and of spouses for each other, at first endures only for a season. But when the intelligence

of the animals has risen to a certain point, their powers of memory are improved, they recognise their parents,

their spouses, their young, long after the business of the nest is over, and consort together to renew their

caresses and endearments. In this manner the flock is formed; it is based upon domestic love. And soon

experience teaches them the advantages of union. They are the better able when in flocks to obtain food, and

to defend themselves against their foes. They accordingly dwell together, and by means of their social habits

their intelligence is quickened, their affections are enlarged. The members of animal societies possess in a

marvellous degree the power of cooperation, the sentiment of fidelity to the herd. By briefly describing what

the lower animals do, and what they feel, we shall show that they possess in a dispersed and elementary

In their communities there is sometimes a regular form of government and a division into castes. They have

their monarch, their labourers, and soldiers, who are sterile females like the Amazons of Dahomey. They

have slaves which they capture by means of military expeditions, attacking the villages of their victims and

carrying off the prisoners in their mouths. They afterwards make the slaves carry them. They have domestic

animals which they milk. They form alliances with animals of a foreign species or nationality and admit them

into the community when it can be profited thereby. They build houses or towns which are ingeniously

constructed, and which, in proportion to the size of the architects, are greater than the Pyramids. They have

clubhouses or salons which they decorate with flowers and bright shells. They march in regular order; when

they feed they post sentries which utter alert cries from time to time, just as our sentries cry 'All's well'. They

combine to execute punishment, expelling or killing an illconducted member of the tribe. As among

savages, the sick and the weakly are usually killed: though some times they are kept alive by alms; even the

blind being fed by charitable persons. They labour incessantly for the welfare of the community; they bear

one another's burdens; they fight with indomitable courage for the fatherland, and endeavour to rescue a

comrade even against overwhelming odds. The domestic virtues are strong among them. Their conjugal love

is often intense and pure; spouses have been known to pine to death when parted from each other. But if they

have human virtues, they have also human vices; conjugal infidelity is known among them; and some

animals appear to be profligate by nature. They are exceedingly jealous. They sport, and gamble, and frisk,

and caress, and kiss each other, putting mouth to mouth. They shed tears. They utter musical sounds in tune.

They are cleanly in their persons. They are ostentatious and vain, proud of their personal appearance,

bestowing much time upon their toilet. They meditate and execute revenge, keeping in memory those who

have offended them. They dream. They are capable of reflection and selection; they deliberate between two

opposite desires. They are inquisitive and often fall victims to their passion for investigating every object

which they have not seen before. They profit by experience; they die wiser than they were born, and though

their stock of knowledge in great measure dies with them, their young ones acquire some of it by means of

These remarkable mental powers were acquired by the lower animals partly through the struggle to obtain

food, which sharpened their intelligence; and partly through the struggle to obtain the favours of the females,

which developed their affections. In all cases, progress resulted from necessity. Races change only that they

may not die; they are developed, so to speak, in selfdefence. They have no inherent tendency to rise in the

organic scale as plants grow to their flower, as animals grow to their prime. They have, however, a capacity

for progress, and that is called forth by circumstances acting upon them from without. The law of growth in

the lower kingdom is this, that all progress is preceded by calamity, that all improvement is based upon

defect. This law affords us the clue to a phenomenon which at first is difficult to understand. That animal

which has triumphed over all the rest was exceedingly defective in its physique. The race has not been to the

swift, nor the battle to the strong. But the very defects of that animal's body made it exclusively rely upon its

mind; and when the struggle for life became severe, the mind was improved by natural selection, and the

Our apelike ancestors were not unlike the existing gorilla, chimpanzee, and orangutang. They lived in

large herds and were prolific; polygamy was in vogue, and at the courting season loveduels were fought

among the males. They chiefly inhabited the ground, but ascended the trees in search of fruit, and also built

platforms of sticks and leaves, on which the females were confined, and which were occasionally used as

sleepingplaces, just as birds sometimes roost in old nests. These animals went on all fours, rising to the

upright posture now and then, in order to see some object at a distance, but supporting that posture with

difficulty, holding on to a branch with one hand. They were slow in their movements; their body was almost

naked, so scantily was it clothed with hair; the males had but poorly developed tusks, or canineteeth; the

ears were flattened from disuse, and had no longer the power of being raised; the tail as in all great apes had

disappeared beneath the skin. This defenceless structure resulted from the favourable conditions under which,

during many ages, these animals had lived. They inhabited a warm tropical land; they had few enemies, and

abundant food; their physical powers had been enfeebled by disuse, But nothing is ever lost in nature. What

had become of the force which had once been expended on agility and strength? It had passed into the brain.

The chimpanzee is not so large a creature or so strong as the gorilla; but, as I was informed by the natives in

that country where the two species exist together, the chimpanzee is the more intelligent of the two. In the

same manner our apelike ancestors were inferior to the chimpanzee in strength and activity, and its superior

All gregarious animals have a language, by means of which they communicate with one another, Some times

their language is that of touch: cut off the antennae of the ant, and it is dumb. With most animals the language

is that of vocal sound, and its varied intonations of anger, joy, or grief may be distinguished even by the

human ear. Animals have also their alarmcries, their lovecalls, and sweet murmuring plaintive sounds,

which are uttered only by mothers as they fondle and nurse their young. The language of our progenitors

consisted of vocal sounds, and also movements of the hands. The activity of mind and social affection

developed in these animals through the Law of Compensation, made them fond of babbling and gesturing to

one another, and thus their language was already of a complicated nature, when events occurred which

developed it still more. Owing to causes remotely dependent on geological revolutions, dark days fell upon

these creatures. Food became scanty; enemies surrounded them. The continual presence of danger, the habit

of incessant combat, drew them more closely together. Their defects of activity and strength made them rely

on one another for protection. Nothing now but their unexampled power of combination could save their

lives. This power of combination was entirely dependent upon their language, which was developed and

improved until at length it passed into a new stage. The first stage of language is that of intonation, in which

the ideas are arranged on a chromatic scale. We still use this language in conversing with our dogs, who

perfectly understand the difference between the curses, not loud but deep, which are vented on their heads,

and the caressing sounds, which are usually uttered in falsetto; while we understand the growl, the whine, and

The new stage of language was that of imitation. Impelled partly by necessity, partly by social love,

combined with mental activity, these animals began to notify events to one another by imitative sounds,

gestures, and grimaces. For instance, when they wished to indicate the neighbourhood of a wild beast, they

gave a low growl; they pointed in a certain direction; they shaped their features to resemble his; they crawled

stealthily along with their belly crouched to the ground. To imitate water, they bubbled with their mouths;

they grubbed with their hands and pretended to eat, to show that they had discovered roots. The pleasure and

profit obtained from thus communicating their ideas to one another led them to invent conversation.

Language passed into its third stage the conventional or artificial. Certain objects were pointed out, and

certain sounds were uttered, and it was agreed that those sounds should always signify the objects named. At

first this conventional language consisted only of substantives; each word signified an object, and was a

sentence in itself. Afterwards adjectives and verbs were introduced; and lastly words, which had at first been

Combination is a method of resistance; language is the instrument of combination. Language, therefore, may

be considered the first weapon of our species, and was improved, as all weapons would be, by that long,

neverceasing war, the battle of existence. Our second weapon was the hand. With monkeys the hand is used

as a foot, and the foot is used as a hand. But when the hand began to be used for throwing missiles, it was

specialised more and more, and feet were required to do all the work of locomotion. This separation of the

foot and hand is the last instance of the physiological division of labour; and when it was effected, the human

frame became complete. The erect posture was assumed; that it is modern and unnatural is shown by the

difficulty with which it is maintained for any length of time. The centre of gravity being thus shifted, certain

alterations were produced in the physical appearance of the species; since that time, however, the human

body has been but slightly changed, the distinctions which exist between the races of men being unimportant

and external. Such as they are, they have been produced by differences of climate and food acting indirectly

upon the races throughout geological periods; and it is also possible that these distinctions of hair and skin

were chiefly acquired at a time when man's intelligence being imperfectly developed, his physical

organisation was more easily moulded by external conditions than was afterwards the case. For while with

the lower animals the conditions by which they are surrounded can produce alterations throughout their

whole structure, or in any part; with men, they can produce an alteration only in the brain. For instance, a

quadruped inhabits a region which, owing to geological changes, is gradually assuming an Arctic character.

In the course of some hundreds or thousands of centuries the species puts on a coat of warm fur, which is

either white in colour, or which turns white at the snowy period of the year. But when man is exposed to

similar conditions he builds a warm house and kills certain animals, that he may wear their skins. By these

means he evades the changed conditions so far as his general structure is concerned. But his brain has been

indirectly altered by the climate. Courage, industry, and ingenuity have been called forth by the struggle for

existence; the brain is thereby enlarged, and the face assumes a more intelligent expression.

Of such episodes the ancient history of man was composed. He was ever contending with the forces of

nature, with the wild beasts of the forest, and with the members of his own species outside his clan. In that

long and varied struggle his intelligence was developed. His first invention, as might be supposed, was an

improvement in the art of murder. The lower animals sharpen their claws and whet their tusks. It was merely

an extension of this instinct which taught the primeval men to give point and edge to their sticks and stones;

and out of this first invention the first great discovery was made. While men were patiently rubbing sticks to

point them into arrows, a spark leapt forth and ignited the wooddust which had been scraped from the sticks.

Thus fire was found. By a series of accidents its uses were revealed. Its possessors cooked their food, and so

were improved in health and vigour both of body and of mind. They altered the face of nature by burning

down forests. By burning the withered grass they favoured the growth of the young crop, and thus attracted,

in the prairie lands, thousands of wild animals to their fresh green pastures. With the assistance of fire they

felled trees and hollowed logs into canoes. They hardened the points of stakes in the embers; and with their

new weapons were able to attack the Mammoth, thrusting their spears through his colossal throat. They made

pots. They employed their new servant in agriculture and in metallurgy. They used it also as a weapon; they

shot flaming arrows, or hurled fiery javelins against the foe. Above all, they prepared, by means of fire, the

vegetable poison which they discovered in the woods; and this invention must have created a revolution in

the art of ancient war. There is a custom in East Africa for the king to send fire to his vassals, who extinguish

all the fires on their hearths, and relight them from the brand which the envoy brings. It is possible that this

may be a relic of tribe subjection to the original fire tribe: it is certain that the discovery of fire would give the

tribes which possessed it an immense advantage over all the others. War was continually being waged among

the primeval men, and tribes were continually driven, by battle or hunger, to seek new lands. As hunters they

required vast areas on which to live, and so were speedily dispersed over the whole surface of the globe, and

adopted various habits and vocations according to the localities in which they dwelt. But they took with them,

from their common home, the elements of those pursuits. The first period of human history may be entitled

forestlife. The forest was the womb of our species, as the ocean was that of all our kind. In the dusky

twilight of the primeval woods the nations were obscurely born. While men were yet in the hunting stage,

while they were yet mere animals of prey, they made those discoveries by means of which they were

afterwards formed into three great families the pastoral, the maritime, and the agricultural.

When a female animal is killed, the young one, fearing to be alone, often follows the hunter home; it is tamed

for sport, and when it is discovered that animals can be made useful, domestication is methodically pursued.

While men were yet in the forest they tamed only the dog to assist them in hunting, and perhaps the fowl as

an article of food. But when certain tribes, driven by enemies or by starvation from their old haunts, entered

the prairie land, clad in skins or barkcloth, taking with them their firesticks, and perhaps some blacksmith's

tools, they adopted breeding as their chief pursuit, and subdued to their service the buffalo, the sheep, the

goat, the camel, the horse, and the ass. At first these animals were merely used as meat; next, their

milkgiving powers were developed, and so a daily food was obtained without killing the animal itself; then

they were broken in to carry burdens, to assist their masters in the chase and in war; and clothes and houses

The forest tribes who settled on the banks of rivers learnt to swim and to make nets, fishtraps, rafts, and

canoes. When they migrated they followed the river, and so were carried to the sea. Then the ocean became

their fishpond. They learnt to build large canoes, with mast and matting sails; they followed the fish far

away; lost the land at night, or in a storm; discovered new shores, returned home, and again set out as

colonists, with their wives and families, to the lands which they had found. By such means the various tribes

Thirdly, when the tribes were in the forest condition they lived partly upon roots and berries, partly upon

game. The men hunted, and the women collected the vegetable food, upon which they subsisted exclusively

during the absence of their husbands. When the habitations of a clan were fixed, it often happened that the

supply of edible plants in the neighbourhood would be exhausted, and starvation suggested the idea of

sowing and transplanting. Agriculture was probably a female invention; it was certainly at first a female

occupation. The bush was burnt down to clear a place for the crop, and the women, being too idle to remove

the ashes from the soil, cast the seed upon them. The ashes acting as manure, garden varieties of the eating

plants appeared. Among the pastoral people, the seed bearing grasses were also cultivated into

largegrained corn. But as long as the tribes could migrate from one region to another, agriculture was

merely a secondary occupation, and was left, for the most part, in female hands. It was when a tribe was

imprisoned in a valley with mountains or deserts all around that agriculture be came their main pursuit, as

breeding was that of the shepherd wanderers, and fishing that of the people on the shore.

The pastoral tribes had a surplus supply of meat, milk, wool, and the rude products of the ancient loom. The

marine tribes had salt and smoked fish. The agricultural tribes had garden roots and grain. Here, then, a

division of labour had arisen among the tribes; and if only they could be blended together, a complete nation

would be formed. But the butcher tribes, the fishmonger tribes, and the baker tribes lived apart from one

another; they were timid, ferocious, and distrustful; their languages were entirely distinct. They did not dare

to communicate with one another, except to carry on dumb barter, as it is called. A certain tribe, for example,

who desired salt approached the frontier of the seacoast people, lighted a fire as a signal, and laid down

some meat or flour. They then retired; the coast tribe came up, laid down salt, and also retired. The meat or

flour tribe again went to the spot; and if the salt was sufficient, they took it away; if not, they left it

untouched, to indicate that they required more; and so they chaffered a considerable time, each bid consisting

It is evident that such a system of trade might go on for ages without the respective tribes becoming better

acquainted with each other. It is only by means of war and of religion that the tribes can be compressed into

the nation. The shepherd tribes had a natural aptitude for war. They lived almost entirely on horseback; they

attacked wild beasts in handtohand conflict on the open plain, and they often fought with one another for a

pasture or a well. They were attracted by the crops of the agricultural people, whom they conquered with

facility. Usually they preferred their roaming life, and merely exacted a tribute of corn. But sometimes a

people worsted in war, exiled from their pastures, wandering homeless through the sandy deserts, discovered

a fruitful river plain, in which they settled down, giving up their nomad habits, but keeping their flocks and

herds. They reduced the aborigines to slavery; made some of them labourers in the fields; others were

appointed to tend the flocks; others were sent to the river or the coast to fish; others were taught the arts of

the distaff and the loom; others were made to work as carpenters and smiths. The wives of the shepherd

conquerors were no longer obliged to milk the cows and camels, and to weave clothes and tents; they became

ladies, and were attended by domestic slaves. Their husbands became either military nobles or learned

priests; the commanderinchief or patriarch became the king. Foreign wars led to foreign commerce, and

the priest developed the resources of the country. The simple fabrics of the old tent life were refined in

texture and beautified with dyes; the potter's clay was converted into fine porcelain and glass, the

blacksmith's shop became a manufactory of ornamented arms; ingenious machines were devised for the

irrigation of the soil the arts and sciences were adopted by the government, and employed in the service of

Here then we have a nation manufactured by means of war. Religion is afterwards useful as a means of

keeping the conquered people in subjection; but in this case it plays only a secondary part. In another class of

When the human herd first wandered through the gloomy and gigantic forest, sleeping on reed platforms in

the trees, or burrowing in holes, there was no government but that of force. The strongest man was the leader,

and ceased to be the leader when he ceased to he the strongest. But as the minds of men became developed,

the ruler was elected by the members of the clan, who combined to depose him if he exceeded his rightful

powers; and chiefs were chosen not only for their strength, but also sometimes for their beauty, and

sometimes on account of their intelligence. These chiefs possessed but little power; they merely expressed

and executed the voice of the majority. But when it was believed that the soul was immortal, or, in other

words, that there were ghosts; when it was believed that the bodies of men were merely garments, and that

the true inmates were spirits, whom death stripped bare of flesh and blood, but whom death was powerless to

kill; when it was believed that these souls or ghosts dwelt among the graves, haunted their old homes,

hovered round the scenes in which they had passed their lives, and even took a part in human affairs, a theory

arose that the ghost of the departed chief was still the ruler of the clan, and that in his spiritual state he could

inflict terrible punishments on those by whom he was offended, and could also bestow upon them good

fortune in hunting, in harvests, and in war. So then homage and gifts were rendered to him at his grave. A

child of his house became the master of the clan, and professed to receive the commands of the deceased. For

the first time the chiefs were able to exercise power without employing force; but this power had also its

In the first place the chief feared he would be punished by the ghost if he injured the people over whom he

ruled, and there were always prophets or seers who could see visions and dream dreams when the mind of the

people was excited against the chief. By means therefore of religion, which at first consisted only in the fear

of ghosts, the government of the clan was improved; savage liberty or licence was restrained; the young

trembled before the old, whom previously they had eaten as soon as they were useless. Religion was also of

service in uniting separated clans. In the forest, food was scanty; as soon as a clan expanded it was forced to

divide, and the separated part pursued an orbit of its own. Savage dialects change almost day by day; the old

people can always speak a language which their grandchildren do not understand, and so, in the course of a

single generation, the two clans become foreigners and foes to one another. But when ghostworship had

been established, the members of the divided clans resorted to the holy graves at certain seasons of the year to

unite with the members of the parent clan in sacrificing to the ancestral shades; the season of the pilgrimage

was made a Truce of God; a fair was held, at which trade and competitive amusements were carried on. Yet

still the clans or tribes had little connection with one another, excepting at that single period of the year. It

was for war to continue the work which religion had begun. Some times the tribes uniting invaded a foreign

country, and founded an empire of the kind which has already been described; then the army became a

nation, and the camp a town. In other cases the tribes, being weaker than their neighbours, were compelled

for their mutual protection to draw together into towns, and to fortify themselves with walls.

In its original condition the town was a federation. Each family was a little kingdom in itself, inhabiting a

fortified cluster of dwellings, having its own domestic religion, governed by its own laws. The paterfamilias

was king and priest; he could put to death any member of his family. There was little distinction between the

wives, the sons, and the daughters, on the one hand, and the slaves, the oxen, and the sheep on the other.

These family fathers assembled in council, and passed laws for their mutual convenience and protection. Yet

these laws were not national; they resembled treaties between foreign states; and two houses would

frequently go to war and fight pitched battles in the streets without any interference from the commonwealth

at large. If the town progressed in power and intelligence, the advantages of centralisation were perceived by

all; the fathers were induced to emancipate their children, and to delegate their royal power to a senate or a

king; each man was responsible for his own actions, and for them alone; individualism was established. This

important revolution, which, as we have elsewhere shown, tends to produce the religious theory of rewards

and punishments in a future state, was itself in part produced by the influence and teaching of the priests.

Besides the worship of the ancestral shades the ancient people adored the great deities of nature who

governed the woods and the waters, the earth and the sky. When men died, it was supposed that they had

been killed by the gods; it was therefore believed that those who lived to a good old age were special

favourites of the divine beings. Many people asked them by what means they had obtained the good graces of

the gods. With savages nothing is done gratis; the old men were paid for their advice; and in course of time

the oracle system was established. The old men consulted the gods they at first advised, they next

commanded what gifts should be offered on the altar. They collected taxes, they issued orders on the divine

behalf. In the city of federated families the priests formed a section entirely apart; they belonged not to this

house, or to that house, but to all; it was to their interest that the families should be at peace; that a national

religion should be established; that the household gods or ancestral ghosts should be degraded, that the

despotism of the hearth should be destroyed. They acted as peacemakers and arbitrators of disputes. They

united the tribes in the national sacrifice and the solemn dance. They preached the power and grandeur of the

gods. They became the tutors of the people; they rendered splendid service to mankind. We are accustomed

to look only at the dark side of those ancient faiths; their frivolous and sanguinary laws, their abominable

offerings, their grotesque rites. Yet even the pure and lofty religions of Confucius and Zoroaster; of Moses,

and Jesus, and Mohammed; of the Brahmins and the Buddhists, have not done so much for man as those

barbarous religions of the early days. They established a tyranny, and tyranny was useful in the childhood of

mankind. The chiefs could only enact those laws which were indispensable for the life of the community. But

the priests were supposed to utter the commands of invisible beings whose strange tempers could clearly be

read in the violent outbreaks and changing aspects of the sky. The more irrational the laws of the priests

appeared, the more evident it was that they were not of man. Terror generated piety; wild savages were tamed

into obedience; they became the slaves of the unseen; they humbled themselves before the priests, and

implicitly followed their commands that they might escape sickness, calamity, and sudden death; their minds

were subjected to a useful discipline; they acquired the habit of selfdenial, which like all habits can become

a pleasure to the mind, and can be transmitted as a tendency or instinct from generation to generation. They

were ordered to abstain from certain kinds of food; to abstain from fishing and working in the fields on days

sacred to the gods of the waters and the earth; they were taught to give with generosity not only in fear, but

also in thanksgiving. Even the human sacrifices which they made were sometimes acts of filial piety and of

tender love. They gave up the slaves whom they valued most to attend their fathers in the Underworld; or sent

But the chief benefit which religionconferred upon mankind, whether in ancient or in modern times, was

undoubtedly the oath. The priests taught that if a promise was made in the name of the gods, and that promise

was broken, the gods would kill those who took their name in vain. Such is the true meaning of the Third

Commandment. Before that time treaties of peace and contracts of every kind in which mutual confidence

was required could only be effected by the interchange of hostages. But now by means of this purely

theological device a verbal form became itself a sacred pledge: men could at all times confide in one another;

and foreign tribes met freely together beneath the shelter of this useful superstition which yet survives in our

courts of law. In those days, however, the oath required no law of perjury to sustain its terrors: as Xenophon

wrote, "He who breaks an oath defies the gods"; and it was believed that the gods never failed sooner or later

The priests, in order to increase their power, studied the properties of plants, the movements of the stars; they

cultivated music and the imitative arts; reserving their knowledge to their own caste, they soon surpassed in

mental capacity the people whom they ruled. And being more intelligent, they became also more moral, for

the conscience is an organ of the mind; it is strengthened and refined by the education of the intellect. They

learnt from Nature that there is unity in all her parts; hence they believed that one god or manlike being had

made the heavens and the earth. At first this god was a despotic tithetaker like themselves; but as their own

minds became more noble, and more pure; as they began to feel towards the people a sentiment of paternity

and love, so God, the reflected image of their minds, rose into a majestic and benignant being, and this idea

reacted on their minds, as the imagination of the artist is inspired by the masterpiece which he himself has

wrought. And, as the Venus of Milo and the Apollo Belvedere have been endowed by man with a beauty

more exquisite than can be found on earth; a beauty that may well be termed divine; so the God who is

worshipped by elevated minds is a mental form endowed with power, love, and virtue in perfection. The

Venus and the Apollo are ideals of the body; God is an ideal of the mind. Both are made by men; both are

superhuman in their beauty; both are human in their form. To worship the image made of stone is to worship

the work of the human hand. To worship the image made of ideas is to worship the work of the human brain.

Godworship, therefore, is idolatry; but in the early ages of mankind how fruitful of good was that error, how

ennobling was that chimera of the brain! For when the priests had sufficiently progressed in the wisdom of

morality to discover that men should act to others, as they would have others act to them; and that they

should never do in thought what they would not do in deed; then these priests, the shepherds of the people,

desired to punish those who did evil, and to reward those who did good to their fellowmen; and thus, always

transferring their ideas to the imaginary being whom they had created, and whom they adored, they believed

and they taught that God punished the guilty, that God rewarded the good; and when they perceived that men

are not requited in this world according to their deeds, they believed and they taught that this brief life is

merely a preparation for another world; and that the souls or ghosts will be condemned to eternal misery, or

exalted to everlasting bliss, according to the lives which they have led within the garment of the flesh.

This belief, though not less erroneous than that on which the terrors of the oath were based; this belief,

though not less a delusion than the faith in ghosts, of which, in fact, it is merely an extension; this belief,

though it will some day become pernicious to intellectual and moral life, and has already plundered mankind

of thousands and thousands of valuable minds, exiling earnest and ardent beings from the mainstream of

humanity, entombing them in hermitage or cell, teaching them to despise the gifts of the intellect which

nature has bestowed, teaching them to waste the precious years in barren contemplations and in selfish

prayers; this belief has yet undoubtedly assisted the progress of the human race. In ancient life it exalted the

imagination, it purified the heart, it encouraged to virtue, it deterred from crime. At the present day a tender

sympathy for the unfortunate, a jealous care for the principles of freedom, a severe public opinion, and a law

difficult to escape are the safeguards of society but there have been periods in the history of man when the

fear of hell was the only restriction on the pleasure of the rulers; when the hope of heaven was the only

The doctrine of rewards and punishments in a future state is comparatively modern; the authors of the Iliad,

the authors of the Pentateuch, had no conception of a heaven or a hell; they knew only Hades or Scheol,

where men dwelt as shadows, without pain, without joy; where the wicked ceased from troubling and the

weary were at rest. The sublime conception of a single God was slowly and painfully attained by a few

civilised people in ancient times. The idea that God is a being of virtue and of love has not been attained even

in the present day except by a cultivated few. Such is the frailty of the human heart that men, even when they

strive to imagine a perfect being, stain him with their passions, and raise up an idol which is defective as a

moral form. The God of this country is called a God of love; but it is said that he punishes the crimes and

even the errors of a short and troubled life with torture which will have no end. It is not even a man which

theologians create; for no man is quite without pity; no man, however cruel he might he, could bear to gaze

for ever on the horrors of the fire and the rack; no man could listen for ever to voices shrieking with pain, and

ever crying out for mercy and forgiveness. And if such is the character of the Christian God, if such is the

idea which is worshipped by compassionate and cultivated men, what are we to expect in a barbarous age?

The God of Job was a sultan of the skies, who, for a kind of wager, allowed a faithful servant to be tortured,

like that man who performed vivisection on a favourite dog which licked his hand throughout the operation.

The Jehovah of the Pentateuch was a murderer and bandit; he rejoiced in offerings of human flesh The gods

of Homer were lascivious and depraved. The gods of savages are merely savage chiefs.

God, therefore, is an image of the mind, and that image is ennobled and purified from generation to

generation, as the mind becomes more noble and more pure. Europeans believe in eternal punishment, partly

because it has been taught them in their childhood and because they have never considered what it means;

partly because their imaginations are sluggish, and they are unable to realise its cruelty; and partly also, it

must be feared, because they have still the spirit of revenge and persecution in their hearts. The author of Job

created God in the image of an Oriental king, and in the East it is believed that all men by nature belong to

the king, and that he can do no wrong. The Bedouins of the desert abhorred incontinence as a deadly sin; but

brigandage and murder were not by them considered crimes. In the Homeric period, piracy was a profession,

and vices were the customs of the land. The character of a god is that of the people who have made him.

When, therefore, I expose the crimes of Jehovah, I expose the defective morality of Israel; and when I

criticise the God of modern Europe, I criticise the defective intellects of Europeans. The reader must

endeavour to bear this in mind, for, though he may think that his idea of the creator is actually the Creator,

We shall now return to the forest and investigate the origin of intellect; we shall first explain how the aptitude

for science and for art arose; and next how man first became gifted with the moral sense.

The desire to obtain food induces the animal to examine everything of novel appearance which comes within

its range of observation. The habit is inherited and becomes an instinct, irrespective of utility. This instinct is

curiosity, which in many animals is so urgent a desire that they will encounter danger rather than forego the

examination of any object which is new and strange. This propensity is inherited by man, and again passes

through a period of utility. When fire is first discovered, experiments are made on all kinds of plants, with the

view of ascertaining what their qualities may be. The remarkable knowledge of herbs which savages possess;

their skill in preparing decoctions which can act as medicines or as poisons, which can attract or repel wild

animals, is not the result of instinct but of experience; and, as with the lower animals, the habit of

foodseeking is developed into curiosity, so the habit of searching for edibles, medicine, and poison becomes

the experimental spirit, the passion of inquiry which animates the lifetime of the scientific man, and which

makes him, even in his last hours, observe his own symptoms with interest, and take notes on death as it

draws near. It has been said that genius is curiosity. That instinct is at least an element of genius; it is the

The artistic spirit is, in the same manner, developed from the imitative instinct, the origin of which is more

obscure than that of the inquisitive propensity. However, its purpose is clear enough; the young animal learns

from its parent, by means of imitation, to feed, to arrange its toilet with beak or tongue, and to perform all the

other offices of life. The hen, for instance, when she discovers food, pecks the ground, not to eat, but to show

her chickens how to eat, and they follow her example. The young birds do not sing entirely by instinct, they

receive lessons from their parents. The instinct of imitation, so essential to the young, remains more or less

with the adult, and outlives its original intent. Animals imitate one another, and with the monkeys this

propensity becomes a mania. It is inherited by men, with whom even yet it is half an instinct, as is shown by

the fact that all persons, and especially the young, reflect, in spite of their own efforts, the accent and the

demeanour of those with whom they live. This instinct, when adroitly managed, is a means of education; it is,

in fact, the first principle of progress. The Red Indians are not imitative, and they have now nearly been

destroyed; the negroes imitate like monkeys, and what is the result? They are preachers, traders, clerks, and

artisans, all over the world, and there is no reason to suppose that they will remain always in the imitative

stage. With respect to individuals it is the same. Paradoxical as it may appear, it is only the imitative mind

which can attain originality, the artist must learn to copy before he can create. Mozart began by imitating

Bach; Beethoven began by copying Mozart. Moli�re mimicked the Greek dramatists before he learnt to draw

from the world. The manysided character of Goethe's mind, which has made him a marvel among men, was

based upon his imitative instincts; it has been said that he was like a chameleon, taking the hue of the ground

on which he fed. What, in fact, is emulation but a noble form of imitativeness? Michaelangelo saw a man

modelling in clay in the garden of Lorenzo, and was seized with the desire to become a sculptor; and most

men who have chosen their own vocation could trace its origin in the same way to some imitative impulse.

Among the primeval men this instinct, together with wonder and the taste for beauty, explains the origin of

art: The tendency to reproduce with the hand whatever pleases and astonishes the mind, undoubtedly begins

at an early period in the history of man; pictures were drawn in the period of the mammoth; I once saw a boy

from a wild bush tribe look at a ship with astonishment and then draw it on the sand with a stick. It frequently

happens in savage life, that a man is seized with a passion for representing objects, and such a Giotto is

always invited, and perhaps, paid, to decorate walls and doors. With this wallpainting the fine arts began.

Next the outlines were engraved with a knife, making a figure in relief. Next came a statue with the back

adhering to the wall, and lastly the sculptured figure was entirely detached. In the same manner painting was

also separated from the wall; and mural painting was developed into another form of art. By means of a series

of pictures a story was told; the picturewriting was converted into hieroglyphics, and thence into a system of

alphabetical signs. Thus the statue, the picture, and the book are all descended from such figures as those

which savages scrawl with charcoal on their hut walls, and which seldom bear much resemblance to the thing

portrayed. The genius of art and the genius of science are developed by means of priesthoods and religion but

when a certain point has been attained, they must be divorced from religion, or they will cease to progress.

And now, finally, with respect to music. There is a science of music; but music is not a science. Nor is it an

Words at first were rather sung than spoken, and sentences were rhythmical. The conversation of the

primeval men was conducted in verse and song; at a later period they invented prose; they used a method of

speech which was less pleasing to the ear, but better suited for the communication of ideas. Poetry and music

ceased to be speech, and became an art, as pantomime, which once was a part of speech, is now an art

exhibited upon the stage. Poetry and music at first were one; the bard was a minstrel, the minstrel was a bard.

The same man was composer, poet, vocalist, and instrumentalist, and instrumentmaker. He wrote the music

and the air; as he sang he accompanied himself upon the harp, and he also made the harp. When writing came

into vogue the arts of the poet and the musician were divided, and music again was divided into the vocal and

the instrumental, and finally instrumentmaking became a distinct occupation, to which fact may partly he

The human language of speech bears the same relation to the human language of song as the varied bark of

the civilised dog to its sonorous howl. There seems little in common between the lady who sings at the piano

and the dog who chimes in with jaws opened and nose upraised; yet each is making use of the primitive

Gestures with us are still used as ornaments of speech, and some savage languages are yet in so imperfect a

condition that gestures are requisite to elucidate the words. Gestures are relics of the primeval language, and

so are musical sounds. With the dog of the savage there is much howl in its bark: its voice is in a transitional

condition. The peasants of all countries sing in their talk, and savages resemble the people in the opera. Their

conversation is of a "libretto" character; it glitters with hyperbole and metaphor, and they frequently speak in

recitative, chanting or intoning, and ending every sentence in a musically sounded O! Often also in the midst

of conversation, if a man happens to become excited, he will sing instead of speaking what he has to say; the

other also replies in song, while the company around, as if touched by a musical wave, murmur a chorus in

perfect unison, clapping their hands, undulating their bodies, and perhaps breaking forth into a dance.

Just as the articulate or conventional speech has been developed into rich and varied tongues, by means of

which abstract ideas and delicate emotions can be expressed in appropriate terms, so the inarticulate or

musical speech, the true, the primitive language of our race, has been developed with the aid of instruments

into a rich and varied language of sound in which poems can be composed. When we listen to the sublime

and mournful sonatas of Beethoven, when we listen to the tender melodies of Bellini, we fall into a trance;

the brain burns and swells; its doors fly open; the mind sweeps forth into an unknown world where all is dim,

dusky, unutterably vast; gigantic ideas pass before us; we attempt to seize them, to make them our own, but

they vanish like shadows in our arms. And then, as the music becomes soft and low, the mind returns and

nestles to the heart; the senses are steeped in languor; the eyes fill with tears; the memories of the past take

form; and a voluptuous sadness permeates the soul, sweet as the sorrow of romantic youth when the real

What, then, is the secret of this power in music? And why should certain sounds from wood and wire thus

touch our very heart strings to their tune? It is the voice of Nature which the great composers combine into

harmony and melody; let us follow it downwards and downwards in her deep bosom, and there we discover

music, the speech of passion, of sentiment, of emotion, and of love; there we discover the divine language in

its elements; the sigh, the gasp, the melancholy moan, the plaintive note of supplication, the caressing

murmur of maternal love, the cry of challenge or of triumph, the song of the lover as he serenades his mate.

The spirit of science arises from the habit of seeking food; the spirit of art arises from the habit of imitation,

by which the young animal first learns to feed; the spirit of music arises from primeval speech, by means of

which males and females are attracted to each other. But the true origin of these instincts cannot be

ascertained: it is impossible to account for primary phenomena. There are some who appear to suppose that

this world is a stageplay, and that if we pry into it too far, we shall discover ropes and pulleys behind the

scenes, and that so agreeable illusions will be spoiled. But the great masters of modern science are precisely

those whom Nature inspires with most reverence and awe. For as their minds are wafted by their wisdom into

untravelled worlds, they find new fields of knowledge expanding to the view; the firmament ever expands,

the abyss deepens, the horizon recedes. The proximate Why may be discovered; the ultimate Why is

unrevealed. Let us take, for instance, a single law. A slight change invigorates the animal; and so the

offspring of the pair survive the offspring of the single individual. Hence the separation of the sexes, desire,

affection, family love, combination, gregariousness, clanlove, the Golden Rule, nationality, patriotism, and

the religion of humanity, with all those complex sentiments and emotions which arise from the fact that one

animal is dependent on another for the completion of its wants. But why should a slight change invigorate the

animal? And if that question could be answered; we should find another why behind. Even when science

shall be so far advanced that all the faculties and feelings of men will be traced with the precision of a

mathematical demonstration to their latent condition in the fiery cloud of the beginning, the luminous haze,

the nebula of the sublime Laplace: even then the origin and purpose of creation, the How and the Why, will

remain unsolved. Give me the elementary atoms, the philosopher will exclaim; give me the primeval gas and

the law of gravitation, and I will show you how man was evolved, body and soul, just as easily as I can

explain the egg being hatched into a chick. But, then, where did the egg come from? Who made the atoms

and endowed them with the impulse of attraction? Why was it so ordered that reason should be born of

refrigeration, and that a piece of whitehot star should cool into a habitable world, and then be sunned into an

intellectual salon, as the earth will some day be? All that we are doing, and all that we can do, is to

investigate secondary laws; but from these investigations will proceed discoveries by which human nature

The ideas and sentiments, the faculties and the emotions, should be divided into two classes; those which we

have in common with the lower animals, and which therefore we have derived from them; and those which

have been acquired in the human state. Filial, parental, and conjugal affection, fellow feeling and devotion

to the welfare of the community, are virtues which exist in every gregarious association. These qualities,

therefore, were possessed by the progenitors of man before the development of language, before the

separation of the foot and the hand. Reproduction was once a part of growth: animals, therefore, desire to

perpetuate their species from a natural and innate tendency inherited from their hermaphrodite and

animalcule days. But owing to the separation of the sexes, this instinct cannot be appeased except by means

of co operation. In order that off spring may be produced, two animals must enter into partnership; and in

order that offspring may be reared, this partnership must be continued for a considerable time. All living

creatures of the higher grade are memorials of conjugal affection and parental care; they are born with a

tendency to love, for it is owing to love that they exist. Those animals that are deficient in conjugal desire or

parental love produce or bring up no offspring, and are blotted out of the book of Nature. That parents and

children should consort together is natural enough; and the family is multiplied into the herd. At first the

sympathy by which the herd is united is founded only on the pleasures of the breeding season and the duties

of the nest. It is based entirely on domestic life. But this sympathy is extended and intensified by the struggle

for existence; herd contends against herd, community against community; that herd which best combines will

undoubtedly survive; and that herd in which sympathy is most developed will most efficiently combine.

Here, then, one herd destroys another, not only by means of teeth and claws, but also by means of sympathy

and love. The affections, therefore, are weapons, and are developed according to the Darwinian Law. Love is

as cruel as the shark's jaw, as terrible as the serpent's fang. The moral sense is founded on sympathy, and

sympathy is founded on self preservation. With all gregarious animals, including men, selfpreservation is

dependent on the preservation of the herd. And so, in order that each may prosper, they must all combine

In the first period of the human herd, cooperation was merely instinctive, as it is in a herd of dogfaced

baboons. But when the intelligence of man was sufficiently developed, they realised the fact that the welfare

of each individual depended on the welfare of the clan, and that the welfare of the clan depended on the

welfare of each efficient individual. They then endeavoured to support by laws the interests of the

association; and though, owing to their defective understandings, they allowed, and even enjoined, many

customs injurious to their own welfare, yet, on the whole, they lived well and wisely within the circle of their

clan. It will now be seen that the moral laws by which we are guided are all due to the law of

selfpreservation. It was considered wicked and wrong to assault, to rob, to deceive, or in any way to ill

treat or offend an ablebodied member of the clan; for, if he were killed or disabled, his services were lost to

the clan, and if he were made discontented he might desert to another corporation. But these vices were

wrong, merely because they were injurious; even murder in the abstract was not regarded by them as a sin.

They killed their sickly children, and dined upon their superannuated parents without remorse; for the

community was profited by their removal. This feeling of fidelity to the clan, though, no doubt, often

supported by arguments addressed to the reason, was not with them a matter of calculation. It was rooted in

their hearts; it was a true instinct inherited from animal and ancient days; it was with them an idea of duty,

obedience to which was prompted by an impulse, neglect of which was punished by remorse. In all fables

there is some fact; and the legends of the noble savage possess this element of truth, that savages within their

own communion do live according to the Golden Rule, and would, in fact, be destroyed by their enemies if

they did not. But they are not in reality good men. They have no conscience outside their clan. Their virtue

after all is only a kind of honour among thieves. They resemble those illustrious criminals who were excellent

husbands and fathers, and whose biographies cannot be read without a shudder. Yet it is from these people

that our minds and our morals are descended. The history of morals is the extension of the reciprocal or

selfish virtues from the clan to the tribe, from the tribe to the nation, from the nation to all communities living

under the same government, civil or religious, then to people of the same colour, and finally to all mankind.

In the primitive period, the males contended at the courting season for the possession of the females;

polygamy prevailed, and thus the strongest and most courageous males were the fathers of all the children

that were born; the males of the second class died "old maids." The weakly members of the herd were also

unable to obtain their share of food. But when the period of brute force was succeeded by the period of law, it

was found that the men of sickly frames were often the most intelligent, and that they could make themselves

useful to the clan by inventing weapons and traps, or at least by manufacturing them.

In return for their sedentary labour, they were given food; and as they were too weak to obtain wives by

force, females also were given them; the system of loveduels was abolished; the women belonged to the

community, and were divided fairly, like the food. The existence of the clan depended on the number of its

fighting men, and therefore on the number of children that were born. The birth of a male child was a matter

of rejoicing: the mother was honoured as a public benefactress. Then breeding began to be studied as an art;

young persons were methodically paired. It was observed that children inherit the qualities and inclinations of

If food was scarce and if children were difficult to rear, the newborn infants were carefully examined, and

those that did not promise well were killed. Promiscuous intercourse on the part of the females was found to

result in sterility, and was forbidden. Cohabitation during the suckling period, which lasted at least three

years, was supposed to injure the mother's milk, on which the savage baby is entirely dependent; and during

that period the woman was set apart. Premature unions among children were forbidden, and sometimes

prevented by infibulation, but savages seldom seem to be aware that for the young to marry as soon as the age

of puberty has been attained is injurious to the womb and to the offspring. The ancient Germans, however,

Finally the breeders made a discovery from which has resulted one of the most universal of moral laws, and

one which of all laws has been the least frequently infringed. Clans made war on foreign clans not only for

gamepreserves, and fish waters, and root, and berry grounds, but also for the purpose of making female

prisoners. A bachelor was expected to catch a wild wife for his own benefit, and for that of the community.

He accordingly prowled round the village of the enemy, and when an eligible person came down to the brook

to fill her pitcher, or went into the bush to gather sticks, he burst forth from his ambush, knocked her down

with his club, and carried her off in triumph to his own people. It was observed that the foreign wives

produced more children, and stronger children, than the homeborn wives, and, also that the nearer the

blood relationship between husband and wife, the more weakly and the less frequent were the offspring. On

this account a law was passed forbidding marriage between those who were closely related to one another;

sometimes even it was forbidden to marry within the tribe at all; and all wives were obtained from foreign

tribes by means of capture or exchange. These laws relating to marriage, enacted by the elders, and issued as

orders of the gods, were at first obeyed by the young merely out of fear; but in the second generation they

were ingrained on the minds of children, and were taken under the protection of the conscience.

When the clans or families first leagued together in order to form a town, the conscience of each man was

confined to his own circle. He left it at home when he went out into the town. He considered it laudable to

cheat his fellow townsmen in a bargain, or to tell them clever lies. If he committed a murder or a theft, his

conscience uttered no reproach. But each father was responsible for the crimes of the members of his clan; he

might inflict what punishment he chose on the actual offender; but he himself was the culprit in the eyes of

the law, and was condemned to pay the fine. If the municipal government was not fully formed, the injured

family took its own revenge; it did not seek for the thief or murderer himself; the individual did not exist; all

the family to them were one. No man, therefore, could break a law without exposing his revered father and all

the members of his family to expense, and even to danger of their lives. No savage dares to be unpopular at

home; the weight of opprobrium is more than any man can bear. His happiness depends on the approbation of

those with whom he lives; there is no world for him outside his clan. The town laws were, therefore,

respected by each man for the sake of his family, and then by a wellknown mental process they came to be

respected for themselves, and were brought under the moral law which was written on the heart. Men ceased

to be clansmen; they became citizens. They next learnt to cherish and protect those foreigners who came to

trade and who thus conferred a benefit upon the town; and at last the great discovery was made. Offences

against the Golden Rule are wrong in themselves, and displeasing to the gods. It is wicked for a man to do

that which he would not wish a man to do to him; it is wrong for a man to do that to a woman which he

would not wish done to his sister or his wife. Murder, theft, falsehood, and fraud, the infliction of physical or

mental pain, all these from time immemorial had been regarded as crimes between clansmen and clansmen;

they were now regarded as crimes between man and man. And here we come to a singular fact. The more

men are sunk in brutality the less frequently they sin against their conscience; and as men become more

virtuous, they also become more sinful. With the primeval man the conscience is an instinct; it is never

disobeyed. With the savage the conscience demands little; that little it demands under pain of death; it is,

therefore, seldom disobeyed. The savage seldom does that which he feels to be wrong. But he does not feel it

wrong to commit incest, to eat 'grandfather soup', to kill a sickly child like a kitten, to murder any one who

lives outside his village. In the next period, the matrimonial and religious laws which have proceeded from

the science of breeding and the fear of ghosts place a frequent restraint upon his actions. He now begins to

break the moral law; he begins a career of sin; yet he is, on the whole, a better man.

We finally arrive at the civilised man; he has refined sentiments and a cultivated intellect; and now scarcely a

day passes in which he does not offend against his conscience. His life is passed in self reproach. He

censures himself for an hour that he has wasted; for an unkind word that he has said; for an impure thought

which he has allowed to settle for a moment on his mind. Such lighter sins do not indeed trouble ordinary

men, and there are few at present whose conscience reproaches them for sins against the intellect. But the

lives of all modern men are tormented with desires which may not be satisfied; with propensities which must

be quelled. The virtues of man have originated in necessity; but necessity developed the vices as well. It was

essential for the preservation of the clan that its members should love one another, and live according to the

Golden Rule; men, therefore, are born with an instinct of virtue. But it was also essential for the existence of

the clan that its members should be murderers and thieves, crafty and ferocious; fraudulent and cruel. These

qualities, therefore, are transmitted by inheritance. But as the circle of the clan widens, these qualities are

rarely useful to their possessors, and finally are stigmatised as criminal propensities. But because their origin

was natural and necessary, their guilt is not lessened an iota. All men are born with these propensities; all

know that they are evil; all can suppress them if they please. There are some, indeed, who appear to be

criminals by nature; who do not feel it wrong to prey upon mankind. These are cases of reversion; they are

savages or wild beasts; they are the enemies of society, and deserve the prison, to which sooner or later they

are sure to come. But it is rare indeed that these savage instincts resist a kind and judicious education; they

may all be stifled in the nursery. Life is full of hope and consolation; we observe that crime is on the

decrease, and that men are becoming more humane. The virtues as well as the vices are inherited; in every

succeeding generation the old ferocious impulses of our race will become fainter and fainter, and at length

There is one moral sentiment which cannot be ascribed to the law of gregarious preservation, and which is

therefore of too much importance to be entirely passed over, though it cannot here be treated in detail. The

sense of decorum which is outraged at the exposure of the legs in Europe is as artificial as that which is

shocked at the exhibition of the female face in the East: if the young lady of London thinks that the absence

of underclothing in the Arab peasant girl "looks rather odd," on the other hand no Arab lady could look at her

portrait in an evening dress without a feeling of discomfort and surprise. Yet although the minor details of

nudity are entirely conventional; although complete nudity prevails in some parts of Africa, where yet a

petticoat grows on every tree, and where the people are by no means indifferent to their personal appearance,

for they spend half their lives upon their coiffure; although in most savage countries the unmarried girl is

never permitted to wear clothes; although decoration is everywhere antecedent to dress, still the traveller does

find that a sentiment of decency, though not universal, is at least very common among savage people.

Selfinterest here affords an explanation, but not in the human state; we must trace back the sentiment to its

remote and secret source in the animal kingdom. Propriety grows out of cleanliness through the association of

ideas. Cleanliness is a virtue of the lower animals, and is equivalent to decoration; it is nourished by vanity,

which proceeds from the love of sexual display, and that from the desire to obtain a mate; and so here we do

arrive at utility after all. It is a part of animal cleanliness to deposit apart, and even to hide, whatever is

uncleanly; and men, going farther still, conceal whatever is a cause of the uncleanly. The Tuaricks of the

desert give this as their reason for bandaging the mouth; it has, they say, the disgusting office of chewing the

food, and is therefore not fit to be seen. The custom probably originated as a precaution against the poisonous

wind and the sandy air; yet the explanation of the people themselves, though incorrect, is not without its

value in affording a clue to the operations of the savage mind. But the sense of decorum must not be used by

writers on Mind to distinguish man from the lower animals, for savages exist who are as innocent of shame

There is in women a peculiar timidity, which is due to nature alone, and which has grown out of the

mysterious terror attendant on the functions of reproductive life. But the other qualities, physical or mental,

which we prize in women are the result of matrimonial selection. At first the female was a chattel common to

all, or belonging exclusively to one, who was by brute force the despot of the herd. When property was

divided and secured by law, the women became the slaves of their husbands, hewing the wood, drawing the

water, working in the fields; while the men sewed and washed the clothes, looked after the house, and idled at

the toilet, oiling their hair, and adorning it with flowers, arranging the chignon or the wig of vegetable fibre,

filing their teeth, boring their ears, putting studs into their cheeks, staining their gums, tattooing fanciful

designs upon their skins, tying strings on their arms to give them a rounded form, bathing their bodies in

warm water, rubbing them with limejuice and oil, perfuming them with the powdered bark of an aromatic

tree. Decoration among the females was not allowed. It was then considered unwomanly to engage in any but

what are now regarded as masculine occupations. Wives were selected only for their strength. They were

hard, coarse, illfavoured creatures, as inferior to the men in beauty as the females are to the males almost

throughout the animal kingdom. But when prisoners of war were tamed and broken in, the women ceased to

be drudges, and became the ornaments of life. Poor men select their domestic animals for utility: rich men

select them for appearance. In the same manner, when husbands became rich they chose wives according to

their looks. At first the hair of women was no longer than that of men, probably not so long. But long hair is

universally admired. False hair is in use all over the world, from the Eskimos of the Arctic circle to the

negroes of Gaboon. By the continued selection of longhaired wives the flowing tresses of the sex have been

produced. In the same manner the elegance of the female form, its softness of complexion, its gracefulness of

curve are not less our creation than the symmetry and speed of the racehorse, the magnificence of garden

flowers, and the flavour of orchard fruits. Even the reserved demeanour of women, their refined sentiments,

their native modesty, their sublime unselfishness, and power of self control are partly due to us.

The wife was at first a domestic animal like a dog or a horse. She could not be used without the consent of

the proprietor; but he was always willing to let her out for hire. Among savages it is usually the duty of the

host to lend a wife to his stranger guest, and if the loan is declined the husband considers himself insulted.

Adultery is merely a question of debt. The law of debt is terribly severe: the body of the insolvent belongs to

the creditor to sell or to kill. But no other feelings are involved in the question. The injured husband is merely

a creditor, and is always pleased that the debt has been incurred. Petitioner and corespondent may often be

seen smoking a friendly pipe together after the case has been proved and the money has been paid. However,

as the intelligence expands and the sentiments become more refined, marriage is hallowed by religion;

adultery is regarded as a shame to the husband, and a sin against the gods; and a new feeling Jealousy

enters for the first time the heart of man. The husband desires to monopolise his wife, body and soul. He

intercepts her glances; he attempts to penetrate into her thoughts. He covers her with clothes; he hides even

her face from the public gaze. His jealousy, not only anxious for the future, is extended over the, past. Thus

women from their earliest childhood are subjected by the selfishness of man to severe but salutary laws.

Chastity becomes the rule of female life. At first it is preserved by force alone. Male slaves are appointed to

guard the women who, except sometimes from momentary pique, never betray one another, and are allied

But as the minds of men are gradually elevated and refined through the culture of the intellect, there rises

within them a sentiment which is unknown in savage life. They conceive a contempt for those pleasures

which they share with the lowest of mankind, and even with the brutes. They feel that this instinct is

degrading: they strive to resist it; they endeavour to be pure. But that instinct is strong with the accumulated

power of innumerable generations; and the noble desire is weak and newly born: it can seldom be sustained

except by the hopes and fears of religion, or by the nobler teaching of philosophy. But in women this new

virtue is assisted by laws and customs which were established, long before, by the selfishness of men. Here,

then, the abhorrence of the impure, the sense of duty, the fear of punishment, all unite and form a moral law

which women themselves enforce, becoming the guardians of their own honour, and treating as a traitor to

her sex the woman who betrays her trust. For her the most compassionate have no mercy: she has broken

those laws of honour on which society is founded. It is forbidden to receive her; it is an insult to women to

allude to her existence, to pronounce her name. She is condemned without inquiry, as the officer is

condemned who has shown cowardice before the foe. For the life of women is a battlefield: virtue is their

courage, and peace of mind is their reward. It is certainly an extraordinary fact that women should be

subjected to a severe social discipline, from which men are almost entirely exempt. As we have shown, it is

explained by history; it is due to the ancient subjection of woman to the man. But it is not the women who are

to he pitied: it is they who alone are free; for by that discipline they are preserved from the tyranny of vice. It

would be well for men if they also were ruled by a severe opinion. The passions are always foes, but it is only

when they have been encouraged that they are able to become masters; it is only when they have allied

themselves with habit that their terrible power becomes known. They resemble wild beasts which men feed

and cherish until they are themselves devoured by their playmates. What miseries they cause, how many

intellects they paralyse, how many families they ruin, how many innocent hearts they break asunder, how

many lives they poison, how many young corpses they carry to the tomb! What fate can be more wretched

As to the beautiful mind of Mendelssohn every sound, whatever it might be the bubbling of a brook, the

rustling of the wind among the trees, the voice of a bird, even the grating of a wheel inspired a musical

idea, so how melancholy is the contrast! so how deep is the descent! so to the mind that is

steeped in sensuality every sight, every sound, calls up an impure association. The voluptuary dreads to be

alone; his mind is a monster that exhibits foul pictures to his eyes: his memories are temptations: he

struggles, he resists, but it is all in vain: the habits which once might so easily have been broken are now

harder than adamant, are now stronger than steel: his life is passed between desire and remorse: when the

desire is quenched he is tortured by his conscience: he soothes it with a promise; and then the desire comes

again. He sinks lower and lower until indulgence gives him no pleasure: and yet abstinence cannot be

endured. To stimulate his jaded senses he enters strange and tortuous paths which lead him to that awful

borderland where all is darkness, all is horror, where vice lies close to crime. Yet there was a time when that

man was as guileless as a girl: he began by learning vice from the example of his companions, just as he

learnt to smoke. Had his education been more severe: had the earliest inclinations been checked by the fear of

ruin and disgrace, he would not have acquired the most dangerous of all habits. That men should be subjected

to the same discipline as women is therefore to be wished for: and although the day is far distant, there can be

no doubt that it will come: and the future historian of morals will record with surprise that in the nineteenth

century society countenanced vices in men which it punished in women with banishment for life.

Since men are in a transitional condition; since Nature ordains that the existence of the race can only be

preserved by means of gross appetites inherited from our ancestors, the animals, it is obvious that men should

refine them so far as they are able. Thus the brute business of eating and drinking is made in civilised life the

opportunity of social intercourse; the family, divided by the duties of the day, then assemble and converse:

men of talent are drawn together and interchange ideas. Many a poem, many an invention, many a great

enterprise, has been born at the table; loves and friendships have originated there. In the same manner the

passions are sanctified by marriage. Blended with the pure affections their coarseness disappears: their

If we place exceptions aside, and look at men in the mass, we find that, like the animals, they are actively

employed from morning to night in obtaining food for themselves and for their families. But when they have

satisfied their actual wants, they do not, like the animals, rest at their ease: they continue their labour. Let us

take the life of an ordinary man. He adopts an occupation at first in order to get his bread; and then that he

may marry and have children; and these also he has to feed. But that is not all. He soon desires to rise in his

profession, or to acquire such skill in his craft that he may he praised by his superiors and by his companions.

He desires to make money that he may improve his social position. And lastly, he begins to love his

occupation for itself, whatever it may be: the poor labourer has this feeling as well as the poet or the artist.

When the pleasures of money and fame have been exhausted: when nothing remains on earth that can bribe

the mind to turn from its accustomed path, it is labour itself that is the joy; and aged men who have neither

desires, nor illusions, who are separated from the world, and who are drawing near to the grave, who believe

that with life all is ended, and that for them there is no hereafter, yet continue to work with indefatigable zeal.

This noble condition of the mind which thus makes for itself a heaven upon earth can be attained by those

who have courage and resolution. It is merely the effect of habit: labour is painful to all at first; but if the

student perseveres he will find it more and more easy, until at last he will find it necessary, to his life. The

toils which once were so hard to endure are now sought and cherished for themselves: the mind becomes

The love of esteem is the second stimulant of labour; it follows the period of necessity; it precedes the period

of habit. It is founded on that feeling of sympathy which unites the primeval herd, and which is necessary to

its life. The man who distinguishes himself in battle; the man who brings home a deer, or a fish, or a store of

honey, or a bundle of roots is praised by his comrades; so he is encouraged to fresh exertions, and so the

emulation of others is excited. The actions of savages are entirely directed by the desire to exist, and by the

desire to obtain the praises of their fellows. All African travellers have suffered from the rapacity of chiefs,

and yet those same chiefs are the most openhanded of men. They plunder and beg from the white man his

cloth, in order to give it away; and they give it away in order to obtain praise. A savage gentleman is always

surrounded by a host of clients, who come every morning to give him the salutation, who chant his praises

and devour him alive. The art of song had its origin in flattery. Mendicant minstrels wander from town to

town, and from chief to chief, singing the praises of their patrons and satirising those who have not been

generous towards them. In Africa the accusation of parsimony is a more bitter taunt than the accusation of

cowardice. Commerce first commenced in necessity. The inland people required salt; the coast people

required vegetables to eat with their fish. But soon the desire of esteem induced men to contrive, and labour,

and imperil their lives in order to obtain ornaments or articles of clothing which came from abroad. In Central

Africa it is more fashionable to wear a dirty rag of Manchester cloth, such as we use for a duster, than their

own beautiful aprons of woven grass. An African chief will often commission a trader to buy him a

handsome saddle, or some curious article of furniture, on condition that he will not supply it to any one else,

just as connoisseurs will pay a higher price for a work of art when the mould has been broken.

Both in civilised and in savage life the selfish desires of man are few, and are quickly satisfied. Enormous

sums are lavished upon cookery and wines, but more from ostentation than from true gourmanderie. The love

of display, or the more noble desire to give pleasure to their friends, has much to do with the enthusiasm of

those who spend fortunes on works of art and objects of virtue; and there are few amusements which can be

enjoyed alone. Nihil est homini amicum sine homine amico. All the actions of men may therefore be traced

first to the desire of preserving life and continuing their species; secondly to the desire of esteem; and thirdly

to the effects of habit. In the religious conduct of man there is nothing which cannot be thus explained. First,

men sacrifice and pray in order to escape sickness and death; or if they are a little more advanced, that they

may not be punished in a future state. Secondly, they desire to win the esteem and affections of the gods; they

are ambitious of obtaining a heavenly reputation. And lastly, prayer and praise, discipline and selfdenial,

become habits, and give pleasure to the mind. The rough hair shirt, the hard bed, the cold cell, the meagre

food, the long vigil, the midnight prayer, are delights to the mind that is inured to suffer; and as other men

rejoice that they have found something which can yield them pleasure, so the ascetic rejoices that he has

In the preceding sketch, which is taken from the writings of others, I have told how a hot cloud vibrating in

space, cooled into a sun rotating on its axis, and revolving round a point, to us unknown; and how this sun

cast off a piece, which went out like a coal that leaps from the fire, and sailed round the sun a cinder wrapped

in smoke; and how, as it cooled, strange forces worked within it, varied phenomena appeared upon its

surface; it was covered with a salt sea; the smoke cleared off; the sunlight played upon the water; gelatinous

plants and animals appeared at first simple in their forms, becoming more complex as the forces which acted

on them increased in complexity; the earth wrinkled up; the mountains and continents appeared; rainwater

ascended from the sea, and descended from the sky; lakes and rivers were created; the land was covered with

ferns, and gigantic mosses, and grasses tall as trees; enormous reptiles crawled upon the earth, frogs as large

as elephants, which croaked like thunder; and the air, which was still poisonous and cloudy, was cleared by

the plants feeding on the coaly gas; the sun shone brightly; sex was invented; love was born; flowers bloomed

forth, and birds sang; mammoths and mastodons revelled upon the infinity of pastures the world became

populous; the struggle for life became severe; animals congregated together; male struggled against male for

spouses, herd struggled against herd for subsistence; a nation of apes, possessing peculiar intelligence and

sociability, were exposed to peculiar dangers; as a means of resistance, they combined more closely; as they

combined more closely, their language was improved; as a means of resistance, they threw missiles with their

hands; thus using their hands, they walked chiefly with their feet; the apes became almost man, half walking,

half crawling through the grim forests, jabbering and gesticulating in an imitative manner, fighting furiously

for their females at the rutting season, their matted hair begrimed with dirt and blood, fighting with all nature,

even with their own kind, but remaining true to their own herd; using the hand more and more as a weapon

and a tool, becoming more and more erect; expressing objects by conventional sounds or words; delighting

more and more to interchange ideas; sharpening stones and pointing sticks, heading javelins with bone and

horn, inventing snares and traps; then fire was discovered, and, by a series of accidents, its various uses were

revealed; the arts of agriculture, domestication, and river navigation were acquired: the tribes migrating from

the forests were scattered over the world; their canoes of hollow trees skimmed the tepid waters of the Indian

Ocean; their coracles of skin dashed through the icy waves of the Arctic seas; in valleys between mountains,

or in fertile river plains, they nurtured seedbearing grasses into grain; over pastoral mountains, or sandy

deserts, or broad grassy steppes, they wandered with their flocks and herds; these shepherd tribes poured

down on the plains, subdued the inhabitants and reduced them to serfdom; thus the nation was established,

The period thus rapidly described, which begins with the animal globules preying on the plant globules in the

primeval sea, and which ends with the conquest by the carnivorous shepherds of the vegetable eaters in the

river plains, may be termed the Period of War. Throughout that period mind was developed by necessity. The

lower animals merely strive to live, to procure females, and to rear their young. It is so ordered by Nature,

that by so striving to live they develop their physical structure; they obtain faint glimmerings of reason; they

think and deliberate, they sympathise and love; they become Man. In the same way the primeval men have no

other object than to keep the clan alive. It is so ordered by Nature, that, in striving to preserve the existence of

the clan, they not only acquire the arts of agriculture, domestication, and navigation; they not only discover

fire, and its uses in cooking, in war, and in metallurgy; they not only detect the hidden properties of plants,

and apply them to save their own lives from disease, and to destroy their enemies in battle; they not only

learn to manipulate Nature, and to distribute water by machinery; but they also, by means of the long

lifebattle, are developed into moral beings: they live according to the Golden Rule, in order that they may

exist, or, in other words, they do exist because they live according to the Golden Rule. They have within them

innate affections, which are as truly weapons as the tiger's teeth and the serpent's fang; which belong,

therefore, to the Period of War. Their first laws, both social and religious, are enacted only as war measures.

The laws relating to marriage and property are intended to increase the fertility and power of the clan; the

laws relating to religion are intended to preserve the clan from the fury of the gods, against whom, at an

earlier period, they actually went to war. But out of this feeling of sympathy, which arose in necessity, arises

a secondary sentiment, the love of esteem; and hence wars, which at first were waged merely in selfdefence,

or to win food grounds and females necessary for the subsistence and perpetuation of the clan, are now

waged for superfluities, power, and the love of glory; commerce, which was founded in necessity, is

continued for the acquisition of ornaments and luxuries; science, which at first was a means of life, provides

wealth, and is pursued for fame; music and design, which were originally instincts of the hand and voice, are

developed into arts. It is therefore natural for man to endeavour to better himself in life, that he may obtain

the admiration of his comrades. He desires to increase his means or to win renown in the professions and the

arts. Thus man presses upon man, and the whole mass rises in knowledge, in power, and in wealth. But owing

to the division of classes resulting from war, and also from the natural inequality of man, the greater part of

the human population could not obey their instinctive aspirations; they were condemned to remain stationary

and inert. By means of caste, slavery, the system of privileged classes, and monopolies, the people were

forbidden to raise themselves in life; they were doomed to die as they were born. But that they might not be

altogether without hope, they were taught by their rulers that they would be rewarded with honour and

happiness in a future state. The Egyptian fellah received the good tidings that there was no caste after death;

the Christian serf was consoled with the text, that the poor would inherit the kingdom of heaven. This long

and gloomy period of the human race may be entitled Religion. History is confined to the upper classes. All

the discoveries, and inventions, and exploits of ancient times are due to the efforts of an aristocracy; not only

the Persians and Hindus, but also the Greeks and the Romans, were merely small societies of gentlemen

reigning over a multitude of slaves. The virtues of the lower classes were loyalty, piety, obedience.

The third period is that of Liberty: it belongs only to Europe and to modern times. A middle class of

intelligence and wealth arises between the aristocracy and the plebeians. They contend with the monopolies

of caste and birth; they demand power for themselves; they espouse the cause of their poorer brethren; they

will not admit that equality in heaven is a valid reason for inequality on earth; they deny that the aristocracy

of priests know more of divine matters than other men; they interpret the sacred books for themselves, and

translate them into the vulgar tongue; they separate religion from temporal government, and reduce it to a

system of metaphysics and morality. It is in this period that we are at present. Loyalty to the king has been

transformed into patriotism; and piety, or the worship of God, will give way, to the reverence of law and the

love of mankind. Thus the mind will be elevated, the affections deepened and enlarged; morality, ceasing to

It is difficult to find a title for the fourth period, as we have as yet no word which expresses at the same time

the utmost development of mind and the utmost development of morals. I have chosen the word Intellect,

because by the education of the intellect the moral sense is of necessity improved. In this last period the

destiny of Man will be fulfilled. He was not sent upon the earth to prepare himself for existence in another

world; he was sent upon earth that he might beautify it as a dwelling, and subdue it to his use; that he might

exalt his intellectual and moral powers until he had attained perfection, and had raised himself to that ideal

which he now expresses by the name of God, but which, however sublime it may appear to our weak and

imperfect minds, is far below the splendour and majesty of that power by whom the universe was made.

We shall now leave the darkness of the primeval times, and enter the theatre of history. The Old World is a

huge body, with its head buried in eternal snows; with the Atlantic on its left, the Pacific on its right, the

Indian Ocean between its legs. The left limb is sound and whole; its foot is the Cape of Good Hope. The right

limb has been broken and scattered by the sea; Australia and the Archipelago are detached; Asia has been

amputated at the thigh. The lower extremities of this Old World are covered for the most part with thorny

thickets and with fiery plains. The original natives were miserable creatures, living chiefly on insects and

shells, berries and roots; casting the boomerang and the bonepointed dart; abject, naked, brutish, and

forlorn. We pass up the body in its ancient state; through the marsh of Central Africa, with its woollyhaired

blacks upon the left, and through the jungles of India, with its straighthaired blacks upon the right; through

the sandy wastes of the Sahara, and the broad Asiatic tablelands; through the forest of Central Europe, the

Russian steppes, and the Siberian plains, until we arrive at the frozen shores of the open Polar Sea. The land

is covered with fields of snow, on which white bears may be seen in flocks like sheep. Ice mountains tower in

the air, and, as the summer approaches, glide into the ocean and sail towards the south, The sky is brightened

by a rosy flame, which utters a crisp and crackling sound. All else is silent, nature is benumbed. The signs of

human habitations are rare; sometimes a tribe of Esquimaux may be perceived, dwelling in snow huts,

enveloped in furs, driving sledges with teams of dogs, tending their herds of reindeer on the mossgrounds,

or dashing over the cold waters in their canoes to hunt the walrus and the seal.

This gloomy region, where the year is divided into one day and one night, lies entirely outside the stream of

history. We descend through the land of the pine to the land of the oak and beech. Huge woods and dismal

fens covered Europe in the olden time; by the banks of dark and sullen rivers the beavers built their villages;

the bears and the wolves were the aristocracy of Europe; men paid them tribute in flesh and blood. A people,

apparently of Tartar origin, had already streamed into this continent from Asia; but the true aborigines were

not extinct; they inhabited huts built on piles in the lakes of Switzerland; they herded together in mountain

caves. They were armed only with stone weapons; but they cultivated certain kinds of grain, and had tamed

the reindeer, the ox, the boar, and the dog. In ancient history Europe has no place. Even the lands to the south

of the Alps were inhabited by savages at a time when Asia was in a civilised condition.

It is therefore Asia that we must first survey; it is there that the history of books and monuments begins. The

Tigris and Euphrates rise in a tableland adjoining the Black Sea, and flow into the Persian Gulf. On the right

is a desert extending to the Nile; on the left, a chain of hills. A shepherd people descended from the plateau,

occupied the land between the rivers, the plains between the Tigris and the hills, and the alluvial regions at

the lower course of the Euphrates. They wandered over the Arabian desert with their flocks and herds, settled

in Canaan and Yemen, crossed over into Africa, extended along its northern shores as far as the Atlantic,

overspread the Sahara, and made border wars upon the Sudan. In the course of many centuries the various

branches of this people diverged from one another. In Barbary and Sahara they were called Berbers; in the

valley of the Nile, Egyptians; Arabs, in the desert and in Yemen; Canaanites, in Palestine; Assyrians, in

Mesopotamia and the upper regions of the Tigris; Chaldeans or Babylonians, in the lower course of the

Euphrates. The Canaanites, the Arabs of Yemen, and the Berbers of Algeria adopted agricultural habits and

lived in towns; the Berbers of Sahara, the Bedouins of the SyroArabian desert and of the waste regions in

Assyria, remained a pastoral and wandering people. But in Chaldea and in Egypt the colonists were placed

under peculiar conditions. Famines impelled the shepherds to make war on other tribes; famines impelled the

Chaldeans and Egyptians to contend with the Euphrates and the Nile, to domesticate the waters, to store them

in reservoirs, and to distribute them, as required, upon the fields. It is not improbable that the Egyptians were

men of Babylonia driven by war or by exile into the African deserts; that they were composed of two noble

classes, the priests and the military men; that they took with them some knowledge of the arts and sciences,

which they afterwards developed into the peculiar Egyptian type; that they found the valley inhabited by a

negro race, fishing in papyrus canoes, living chiefly on the lotus root, and perhaps growing doura corn; that

they reduced those negroes to slavery, divided them into castes, allowed them to retain in each district the

form of animal worship peculiar to the respective tribes:, making such worship emblematical, and blending it

with their own exalted creed; and finally, that they married the native women, which would thus account for

the dash of the 'tarbrush' plainly to be read by the practised eye in the portraits, though not in the

conventional faces of the monuments. On the other hand it may he held that Egypt was colonised by a Berber

tribe; that its civilisation was entirely indigenous; that the distinction of classes arose from natural selection,

and was afterwards petrified by law, and that the negro traits in the Egyptian physiognomy were due to the

importation of Ethiopian girls, who have always been favourites in the harems of the East. But whichever of

these hypotheses may be true, the essential point is this, that civilisation commenced in the application of

mechanics to the cultivation of the fields, and that this science could only have been invented under pressure

Let us now pass beyond the Tigris and climb up the hills which bound it on the left. We find ourselves on the

steppes of Central Asia, in some parts lying waste in salt and sandy plains, in others clothed with fields of

waving grass. Over these broad regions roamed the Turks or Tartars, living on mares' milk, dwelling in

houses upon wheels. Beyond the steppes towards the east is another chain of hills, and beyond them lies the

Great Plain of China, watered by two majestic rivers, the Yangtse Kiang and the Hoang Ho. The people of

the steppes and the mountains poured down upon this country, subdued the savage aborigines, covered the

land with rice fields, irrigated by canals, and established many kingdoms which were afterwards blended into

To the right hand of the Tartar steppes, as you travel towards China, is a lofty tableland, the region of the

sources of the Oxus and Jaxartes. Thence descended a people who called themselves the Aryas, or "the

noble"; they differed much in appearance from the sliteyed, smoothfaced, and fleshylimbed Mongols;

and little in appearance, but widely in language, from the people of the tableland of the Tigris and

Euphrates. They poured forth in successive streams over Persia, Asia Minor, Greece, Italy, and the whole of

Europe from the Danube and the Rhine to the shores of the Atlantic. They also descended on the Punjab, or

country of the Indus, where they established their first colony, and thence spread to the region of the Ganges,

and over the Deccan. They intermarried much with the native women, but divided the men into servile castes,

and kept them in subjection partly by means of an armed aristocracy, partly by means of religious terror.

These then are the elemental lands; China, India, Babylonia, and Egypt. In these countries civilisation was

invented; history begins with them. The Egyptians manufactured linen goods, and beautiful glass wares, and

drew gold, ivory, and slaves from the Sudan. Babylonia manufactured tapestry and carpets. These people

were known to one another only by their products; the wandering Bedouins carried the trade between the

Euphrates and the Nile. A caravan route was also opened between Babylon and India via Bokhara or Balkh

and Samarkand. India possessed much wealth in precious stones, but the true resources of that country were

its vegetable products and the skilful manufactures of the natives. India, to use their own expression, sells

grass for gold. From one kind of plant they extracted a beautiful blue dye: from another they boiled a juice,

which cooled into a crystal, delicate and luscious to the taste; from another they obtained a kind of wool,

which they spun, wove, bleached, glazed, and dyed into fabrics transparent as the gossamer, bright as the

plumage of the jungle birds. And India was also the halfway station between China, Ceylon, and the Spice

Islands on the one hand: and of the countries of Western Asia on the other. It was enriched not only by its

At an early epoch in history, the Chinese became a great navigating people; they discovered America, at least

so they say; they freighted their junks with cargoes of the shining fibre, and with musk in porcelain jars; they

coasted along the shores of the Pacific, established colonies in Burmah and Siam, developed the spice trade

of the Indian Archipelago and the resources of Ceylon, sailed up the shores of Malabar, entered the Persian

Gulf, and even coasted as far as Aden and the Red Sea. It was probably from them that the Banians of Gujrat

and the Arabs of Yemen acquired the arts of shipbuilding and navigation. The Indian Ocean became a basin

of commerce; it was whitened by cotton sails. The Phoenicians explored the desolate waters of the

Mediterranean Sea; with the bright red cloth, and the blue bugles, and the speckled beads, they tempted the

savages of Italy and Greece to trade; they discovered the silver mines of Spain; they sailed forth through the

Straits of Gibraltar, they braved the storms of the Atlantic, opened the tin trade of Cornwall, established the

amber diggings of the Baltic. Thus a long thread of commerce was stretched across the Old World from

England and Germany to China and Japan. Yet, still the great countries in the central region dwelt in haughty

isolation, knowing foreign lands only by their products until the wide conquests and the superb

administration of the Persians made them members of the same community. China alone remained outside.

Egypt, Babylonia, and India were united by royal roads with halfway stations in Palestine and Bokhara, and

with seaports in Phoenicia, and on the western coast of Asia Minor That country is a tableland belted on all

sides by mountains; but beneath the wall of hills on the western side is a fruitful strip of coast, the estuary

land of four rivers which flow into the Mediterranean parallel to one another. That coast is Ionia; and

The tableland was occupied by an Aryan or Arya nation, from whom bands of emigrants went forth in two

directions. The Dorians crossed the Hellespont, and, passing through Thrace, settled in the hill cantons of

Northern Greece, and thence spread over the lower parts of the peninsula. The Ionians descended to the

fruitful western coast, and thence migrated into Attica, which afterwards sent back colonies to its ancient

birthplace. These two people spoke the same language, and were of the same descent; but their characters

differed as widely as the cold and barren mountains from the soft and smiling plains. The Dorians were rude

in their manners, and laconic in their speech, barbarous in their virtues, morose in their joys. The Ionians

lived among holidays, they could do nothing without dance and song. The Dorians founded Sparta, a republic

which was in reality a camp, consisting of soldiers fed by slaves. The girls were educated to be viragoes; the

boys to bear torture, like the Red Indians, with a smile. The wives were breedingmachines, belonging to the

state; a council of elders examined the newborn children, and selected only the finer specimens, in order to

keep up the good old Spartan breed. They had no commerce and no arts; they were as filthy in their persons

as they were narrow in their minds. But the Athenians were the true Greeks, as they exist at the present day;

intellectual, vivacious, inquisitive, shrewd, artistic, patriotic, and dishonest; ready to die for their country, or

to defraud it. The Greeks received the first rudiments of knowledge from Phoenicia; the alphabet was

circulated throughout the country by means of the Olympian fairs; colonies were sent forth all round the

Mediterranean; and those of Ionia and the Delta of the Nile obtained partial access to the arts and sciences of

The Persian wars developed the genius of the Greeks. The Persian conquests opened to them the University

of Egypt. The immense area of the Greek world, extending from the Crimea to the straits of Gibraltar, for at

one time the Greeks had cities in Morocco; the variety of ideas which they thus gathered, and which they

interchanged at the great festival, where every kind of talent was honoured and rewarded the spirit of noble

rivalry, which made city contend with city, and citizen with citizen, in order to obtain an Olympian

reputation; the complete freedom from theology in art; the tastes and manners of the land; the adoration of

beauty; the nudity of the gymnasium: all these sufficiently explain the unexampled progress of the nation,

and the origin of that progress, as in all other cases, is to be found in physical geography. Greece was divided

into natural cantons; each state was a fortress; while Egypt, Assyria, India, and China were wide and open

plains, which cavalry could sweep, and which peasants with their sickles could not defend. But the rivalry of

the Greeks among themselves, so useful to the development of mental life, prevented them from combining

into one great nation; and Alexander, although he was a Greek by descent, for he had the right of contending

at the Olympian games, conquered the East with an army of barbarians, his Greek troops being merely a

But the kingdoms of Asia and Egypt were Greek, and in Alexandria the foundations of science were laid. The

astrolabes which had been invented by the Egyptians were improved by the Greeks and afterwards by the

Arabs, were adapted to purposes of navigation by the Portuguese, and were developed to the sextant of the

nineteenth century. The Egyptians had invented the blowpipe, the crucible, and the alembic; the

Alexandrines commenced or continued the pursuit of alchemy, which the Arabs also preserved, and which

has since grown into the science of Lavoisier and Faraday. Hippocrates separated medicine from theology;

his successors dissected and experimented at Alexandria, learning something no doubt from th Egyptian

school; the Arabs followed in a servile manner the medicine of the Greeks, and the modern Europeans

obtained from the Canon of Avicenna the first elements of a science which has made much progress, but

which is yet in its infancy, and which will some day transform us into new beings. The mathematical studies

of the Alexandrines were also serviceable to mankind, and the work of one of their professors is a textbook

in this country; they discovered the Precession of the Equinoxes; and the work which they did in Conic

Sections enabled Kepler to discover the true laws of the planetary motions. But Alexandria did not possess

that liberty which is the true source of continued progress. With slaves below and with despots above, the

mind was starved in its roots, and stifled in its bud, dried and ticketed in a museum. The land itself had begun

The foot of Italy was lined with Greek towns, and these had spread culture through the peninsula, among a

people of a kindred race. They dwelt in cities, with municipal governments, public buildings, and national

schools. One Italian city, founded by desperadoes, adopted a career of war; but the brigands were also

industrious farmers and wise politicians; they conciliated the cities whom they conquered. Rome became a

supreme republic, ruling a number of minor republics, whose municipal prerogatives were left undisturbed,

who paid no tribute save military service. The wild Gauls of Lombardy were subdued. The Greeks on the

coast were the only foreigners who retained their freedom in the land. They called over Pyrrhus to protect

them from the Romans; but the legion conquered the phalanx, the broadsword vanquished the Macedonian

spear. The Asiatic Carthaginians were masters of the sea; half Sicily belonged to them; they were, therefore,

neighbours of the Romans. They had already menaced the cities of the southern coast; the Romans were

already jealous and distrustful; they had now a Monroe doctrine concerning the peninsula: an opportunity

occurred, and they stepped out into the world. The first Punic war gave them Sicily, the second Punic war

Rome also extended her power towards the East. She did not invade, she did not conquer, she did not ask for

presents and taxes, she merely offered her friendship and protection. She made war, it is true, but only on

behalf of her allies. And so kingdom after kingdom, province after province, fell into her vast and patient

arms. She became at first the arbiter and afterwards the mistress of the world. Her legions halted only on the

banks of the Euphrates, and on the shores of the Sahara, where a wild waste of sand and a seahorizon

appeared to proclaim that life was at an end. She entered the unknown world beyond the Alps, established a

chain of forts along the banks of the Danube and the Rhine from the Black Sea to the Baltic, covered France

with noble cities, and made York a Roman town. The Latin language was planted in all the countries which

this people conquered, except in those where Alexander had preceded them. The empire was therefore

divided by language into the Greek and Latin world. Greece, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt belonged to the

Greek world: Italy, Africa, Spain, and Gaul belonged to the Latin world. But the Roman law was everywhere

in force, though not to the extinction of the native laws. In Egypt, for instance, the Romans revived some of

the wise enactments of the Pharaohs which had been abrogated by the Ptolemies. The old courts of injustice

were swept away. Tribunals were established which resembled those of the English in India. Men of all races,

and of all religions, came before a judge of a foreign race, who sat high above their schisms and dissensions,

who looked down upon them all with impartial contempt, and who reverenced the law which was entrusted to

his care. But the provinces were forced to support not only a court but a city. As London is the market of

England, to which the best of all things find their way, so Rome was the market of the Mediterranean world;

but there was this difference between the two, that in Rome the articles were not paid for. Money, indeed,

might be given, but it was money which had not been earned, and which therefore would come to its end at

Rome lived upon its principal till ruin stared it in the face. Industry is the only true source of wealth, and

there was no industry in Rome. By day the Ostia road was crowded with carts and muleteers, carrying to the

great city the silks and spices of the East, the marble of Asia Minor, the timber of the Atlas, the grain of

Africa and Egypt; and the carts brought nothing out but loads of dung. That was their return cargo. London

turns dirt into gold. Rome turned gold into dirt. And how, it may be asked, was the money spent? The answer

is not difficult to give. Rome kept open house. It gave a dinner party every day; the emperor and his

favourites dined upon nightingales and flamingo tongues, on oysters from Britain, and on fishes from the

Black Sea; the guards received their rations; and bacon, wine, oil, and loaves were served out gratis to the

people. Sometimes entertainments were given in which a collection of animals as costly as that in Regent's

Park was killed for the amusement of the people. Constantine transferred the capital to Constantinople; and

now two dinners were given every day. Egypt found the bread for one, and Africa found it for the other. The

governors became satraps, the peasantry became serfs, the merchants and land owners were robbed and

ruined, the empire stopped payment, the legions of the frontier marched on the metropolis, the dikes were

The empire had been already divided. There was an empire of the West, or the Latin world; there was an

empire of the East, or the Greek world. The first was overrun by the Germans, the second by the Arabs. But

Constantinople remained unconquered throughout the Dark Ages; and Rome, though taken and sacked, was

never occupied by the barbarians. In these two great cities the languages and laws of the classical times were

preserved; and from Rome religion was diffused throughout Europe; to Rome a spiritual empire was restored.

The condition of the Roman world at one time bore a curious resemblance to that of China. In each of these

great empires, separated by a continent, the principal feature was that of peace. Vast populations dwelt

harmoniously together, and were governed by admirable laws. The frontiers of each were threatened by

barbarians. The Chinese built a wall along the outskirts of the steppes; the Romans built a wall along the

Danube and the Rhine. In China, a man dressed in yellow received divine honours; in Rome, a man dressed

in purple received divine honours; in each country the religion was the religion of the state, and the emperor

was the representative of God. In each country, also, a religious revolution occurred. A young Indian prince,

named Sakya Muni, afflicted by the miseries of human life which he beheld, cast aside his wealth and his

royal destiny, became a recluse, and devoted his life to the study of religion. After long years of reading and

reflection he took the name of Buddha, or "the Awakened." He declared that the soul after death migrates into

another form, according to its deeds and according to its thoughts. This was the philosophy of the Brahmins.

But he also proclaimed that all existence is passion, misery, and pain, and that by subduing the evil emotions

of the heart the soul will hereafter finally obtain the calm of nonexistence, the peaceful Nirvana, the

A religion so cheerless, a philosophy so sorrowful, could never have succeeded with the masses of mankind if

presented only as a system of metaphysics. Buddhism owed its success to its catholic spirit and its beautiful

morality. The men who laboured in the fields had always been taught that the Brahmins were the aristocracy

of heaven, and would be as high above them in a future state as they were upon the earth. The holy books

which God had revealed were not for them, the poor darkskinned labourers, to read; burning oil poured into

their ears was the punishment by law for so impious an act. And now came a man who told them that those

books had not been revealed at all, and that God was no respecter of persons; that the happiness of men in a

future state depended, not upon their birth, but upon their actions and their thoughts. Buddhism triumphed for

a time in Hindustan, but its success was greatest among the stranger natives in the northwest provinces, the

IndoScythians and the Greeks. Then came a period of patriotic feeling; the Brahmins preached a war of

independence; the new religion was associated with the foreigners, and both were driven out together. But

Buddhism became the religion of Ceylon, Burmah, and Siam, and finally entered the Chinese Empire. It

suffered and survived bloody persecutions. It became a licensed religion, and spread into the steppes of

Tartary among those barbarians by whom China was destined to be conquered. The religion of the Buddhists

was transformed; its founder was worshipped as a god; there was a doctrine of the incarnation; they had their

own holy books, which they declared to have been revealed; they established convents and nunneries,

splendid temples, adorned with images, and served by priests with shaven heads, who repeated prayers upon

rosaries, and who taught that happiness in a future state could best be obtained by long prayers and by liberal

At the period of the importation of Buddhism into China, a similar event occurred in the Roman world. It was

the pagan theory that each country was governed by its own gods. The proper religion for each man, said an

oracle of Delphi, is the religion of his fatherland. Yet these gods were cosmopolitan; they punished or

rewarded foreigners. Imilkon, having offended the Greek gods in the Sicilian wars, made atonement to them

when he returned to Carthage: he offered sacrifices in the Phoenician temples, but according to the milder

ceremonies of the Greeks. The Philistines sent back the ark with a propitiatory present to Jehovah. Alexander,

in Asia Minor, offered sacrifices to the gods of the enemy. The Romans, when they besieged a town, called

upon its tutelary god by name, and offered him bribes to give up the town. Rome waged war against the

world, but not against the gods; she did not dethrone them in their own countries; she offered them the

freedom of the city. Men of all races came to live in Rome; they were allowed to worship their own gods; the

religions of the empire were regularly licensed; Egyptian temples and Syrian chapels sprang up in all

directions. But though the Romans considered it right that Egyptians should worship Isis, and that

Alexandrines should worship Serapis, they justly considered it a kind of treason for Romans to desert their

tutelary gods. For this reason, foreign religions were sometimes proscribed. It was also required from the

subjects of the empire that they should offer homage to the gods of Rome, and to the genius or spirit of the

emperor; not to the man, but to the soul that dwelled within. The Jews alone were exempt from these

regulations. It was believed that they were a peculiar people, or rather that they had a peculiar god. While the

other potentates of the celestial world lived in harmony together, Jehovah was a sullen and solitary being,

who separated his people from the rest of mankind, forbade them to eat or drink with those who were not of

their own race, and threatened to punish them if they worshipped any gods but him. On this account the

Roman government, partly to preserve the lives of their subjects, and partly out of fear for themselves,

believing that Jehovah like the other gods, had always an epidemic at his command, treated the Jews with

These people were scattered over all the world; they had their Ghetto or Petticoat Lane in every great city of

the empire; their religion, so superior to that of the pagans, had attracted much attention from the Gentiles.

Ovid, in his "Art of Love," counsels the dandy who seeks a mistress to frequent the theatre, or Temple of Isis,

or the synagogue on the Sabbath day. But the Jews in Rome, like the Jews in London, did not attempt to

make proselytes, and received them with reluctance and distrust. Their sublime faith, divested of its Asiatic

customs, was offered to the Romans some Jewish heretics called Christians or Nazarenes.

A young man named Joshua or Jesus, a carpenter by trade, believed that the world belonged to the devil, and

that God would shortly take it from him, and that he the Christ or Anointed would be appointed by God to

judge the souls of men, and to reign over them on earth. In politics he was a leveller and communist, in

morals he was a monk; he believed that only the poor and the despised would inherit the kingdom of God. All

men who had riches or reputations would follow their dethroned master into everlasting pain. He attacked the

churchgoing, sabbatarian everpraying Pharisees; he declared that piety was worthless if it were praised on

earth. It was his belief that earthly happiness was a gift from Satan, and should therefore be refused. If a man

was poor in this world, that was good; he would be rich in the world to come. If he were miserable and

despised, he had reason to rejoice; he was out of favour with the ruler of this world, namely Satan, and

therefore he would be favoured by the new dynasty. On the other hand, if a man were happy, rich, esteemed,

and applauded, he was for ever lost. He might have acquired his riches by industry; he might have acquired

his reputation by benevolence, honesty, and devotion; but that did not matter; he had received his reward. So

Christ taught that men should sell all that they had and give to the poor; that they should renounce all family

ties; that they should let tomorrow take care of itself; that they should not trouble about clothes: did, not

God adorn the flowers of the fields? He would take care of them also if they would fold their hands together

and have faith, and abstain from the impiety of providing for the future. The principles of Jesus were not

conducive to the welfare of society; he was put to death by the authorities; his disciples established a

commune; Greek Jews were converted by them, and carried the new doctrines over all the world. The

Christians in Rome were at first a class of men resembling the Quakers. They called one another brother and

sister; they adopted a peculiar garb, and peculiar forms of speech; the Church was at first composed of

women, slaves, and illiterate artisans but it soon became the religion of the people in the towns. All were

converted excepting the rustics (pagani) and the intellectual free thinkers, who formed the aristocracy.

Christianity was at first a republican religion; it proclaimed the equality of souls; the bishops were the

representatives of God, and the bishops were chosen by the people. But when the emperor adopted

Christianity and made it a religion of the state, it became a part of imperial government, and the parable of

Dives was forgotten. The religion of the Christians was transformed; its founder was worshipped as a god;

there was a doctrine of the incarnation; they had their own holy books, which they declared to have been

revealed; they established convents, and nunneries, and splendid temples, adorned with images, and served

by priests with shaven heads, who repeated prayers upon rosaries, and who taught that happiness in a future

state could best be obtained by long prayers and by liberal presents to the Church. In the Eastern or Greek

world, Christianity in no way assisted civilisation, but in the Latin world it softened the fury of the

conquerors, it aided the amalgamation of the races. The Christian priests were reverenced by the barbarians,

The Church, it is true, was divided by a schism; Ulphilas, the apostle of The Goths, was an Arian; the dispute

which had arisen in a lecture room at Alexandria, between a bishop and a presbyter, was continued on a

hundred battlefields. But the Franks were Catholics, and the Franks became supreme. The Arians were

worsted in the conflict of swords as they had formerly been worsted in the conflict of words. The Empire of

the West was restored by Charlemagne, who spread Christianity among the Saxons by the sword, and

confirmed the spiritual supremacy of Rome. He died, and his dominions were partitioned among kings who

were royal only in the name. Europe was divided into castlestates. Savage isolation, irresponsible power:

such was the order of the age. Yet still there was a sovereign whom all acknowledged, and whom all to a

certain extent obeyed. That sovereign was the Pope of Rome. The men who wore his livery might travel

throughout Europe in safety, welcome alike at cottage and castle, paying for their board and lodging with

their prayers. If there is a Great Being who listens with pleasure to the prayers of men, it must have been in

the Dark Ages that he looked down upon the earth with most satisfaction. That period may be called The Age

of the Rosary. From the Shetland Islands to the shores of China, prayers were being strung, and voices were

being sonorously raised. The Christian repeated his Paternosters and his credos on beads of holy clay from

Palestine; the Persian at Teheran, the negro at Timbuctoo; the Afghan at Kabul, repeated the ninetynine

names of God on beads made of camel bones from Mecca. The Indian prince by the waters of the Ganges

muttered his devotions on a rosary of precious stones. The pious Buddhist in Ceylon, and in Ava, and in

Pekin, had the beads ever between his fingers, and a prayer ever between his lips.

By means of these great and cosmopolitan religions, all of which possessed their sacred books, all of which

enjoined a pure morality, all of which united vast masses of men of different and even hostile nationalities

beneath the same religious laws, beneath the same sceptre of an unseen king; all of which prescribed

pilgrimage and travel as a pious work, the circulation of life in the human body was promoted; men

congregated together at Rome, Jerusalem, Mecca, and Benares. Their minds and morals were expanded.

Religious enthusiasm united the scattered princes of Europe into one great army, and poured it on the East.

The dukes and counts and barons were ruined; the castle system was extinguished: and the castle serfs of

necessity were free. The kings allied themselves with the free and fortified cities, who lent troops to the

crown, but who officered those troops themselves; who paid taxes to the crown, but who voted those taxes in

constitutional assemblies, and had the power to withhold them if they pleased. Those towns now became not

only abodes of industry and commerce, but of learning and the arts. In Italy the ancient culture had been

revived. In Italy the towns of the Western Empire had never quite lost their municipal prerogatives. New

towns had also arisen, founded in despair and nurtured by calamity. These towns had opened a trade with

Constantinople, a great commercial city in which the Arabs had a quarter and a mosque. The Italians were

thus led forth into a trade with the Mohammedans, which was interrupted for a time by the Crusades only to

be afterwards resumed with redoubled vigour and success. For then new markets were opened for the spices

of the East. Pepper became a requisite of European life; and pepper could be obtained from the Italians alone.

The Indian trade was not monopolised by a single man, as it was in the lands of the East. It was distributed

among an immense population. Wealth produced elegance, leisure, and refinement. There came into

existence a large and activeminded class, craving for excitement, and desirous of new things. They

hungered and thirsted after knowledge; they were not content with the sterile science of the priests. And when

it was discovered that the world of the ancients lay buried in their soil, they were seized with a mania

resembling that of treasureseekers in the East, or of the goldhunters in the New World.

The elements of the Renaissance were preserved partly in Rome and the cities of the West, partly in

Constantinople, and partly in the East. The Arabs, when they conquered Alexandria, had adopted the physical

science of the Greeks, and had added to it the algebra and arithmetic of India. Plato and Aristotle, Galen and

Hippocrates, Ptolemy and Euclid, had been translated by the Eastern Christians into Syriac, and thence into

the Arabic. But the Arabs had not translated a single Greek historian or poet. These were to he found at

Constantinople, where the Greek of the ancients was still spoken in its purity at the court and in the convents

though not by the people of the streets. The Greeks also had preserved the arts of their forefathers; though

destitute of genius, they at least retained the art of laying on colours, of modelling in clay, and of sculpturing

in stone. The great towns of Italy, desirous to emulate the beauties of St. Sophia, employed Greeks to build

them cathedrals, and to paint frescoes on their convent walls, and to make them statues for their streets. These

Greek strangers established academies of art; and soon the masters were surpassed by their pupils. The

Italians disdained to reproduce the figures of the Greek school, with their meagre hands, and sharp pointed

feet, and staring eyes. Free institutions made their influence felt even in the arts; the empire of authority was

shaken off. The fine arts spread beyond the Alps; they were first adopted and nurtured by the Church,

afterwards by the Town. Oilpainting was invented in the North. Masterpieces of the ancients were

discovered in the South. Then the artists ceased to paint Madonnas, and children, and saints, and crucifixions.

They were touched with the breath of antiquity; they widened their field; their hands were inspired by

poetical ideas. It is a significant fact that a Pope should himself conceive the project of pulling down the

ancient Basilica of St. Peter, every stone of which was consecrated by a memory, and of erecting in its stead a

The Pope was also urged to set on foot a crusade; not to rescue the sepulchre from the hands of the infidels,

but in the hope that the lost writings of the Greeks and Romans might be discovered in the East. For now had

arrived the bookhunting age. In the depth of the Dark Ages there had always been ecclesiastics who drew

the fire of their genius from the immortal works of the pagan writers. There were also monks who had a

passion for translating the writings of the Greeks into Latin; who went to Constantinople and returned with

chests full of books, and who, if Greek manuscripts could not otherwise be procured, travelled into Arab

Spain, settled at Cordova, and translated the Greek from the Arabic version, together with the works of

Averroes and Avicenna. The Greeks, frequently visiting Italy, were invited to give lectures on their literature,

and lessons in their language. The revival of Greek was commenced by Boccacio, who copied out Homer

with his own hand; and a Greek academy was established at Florence. Petrarch revived the literature of Rome

he devoted his life to Cicero and Virgil; he wrote the epitaph of Laura on the margin of the Aeneid; he died

with his head pillowed on a book. The Roman law was also revived; as Greeks lectured on literature in Italy,

And now began the search for the lost. Pilgrims of the antique wandered through Europe, ransacking

convents for the treasures of the past. At this time whatever taste for learning had once existed among the

monks appears to have died away. The pilgrims were directed to look in lofts, where rats burrowed under

heaps of parchment; or to sift heaps of rubbish lying in the cellar. In such receptacles were found many of

those works which are yet read by thousands with delight, and which are endeared to us all by the

associations of our boyhood. It was thus that Quintilian was discovered, and, to use the language of the time,

was delivered from his long imprisonment in the dungeons of the barbarians. Lucretius was disinterred in

Germany; a fragment of Petronius in Britain. Cosmo de' Medici imported books in all languages from all

parts of the world. A copyist became Pope, founded the Library of the Vatican, and ordered the translation of

the Greek historians and philosophers into Latin. A great reading public now existed; the invention of

printing, which a hundred years before would have been useless, spread like fire over Europe, and reduced,

by fourfifths, the price of books. The writings of the classical geographers inspired Prince Henry and

Columbus. The New World was discovered; the searoute to India was found. Cairo and Baghdad, the great

broker cities between India and Europe, were ruined. As the Indian Ocean, at first the centre of the world, had

yielded to the Mediterranean, so now the basin of the Mediterranean was deserted, and the Atlantic became

supreme. Italy decayed; Spain and Portugal succeeded to the throne. But those countries were ruined by

religious bigotry and commercial monopolies. The trade of Portugal did not belong to the country, but to the

court. The trade of Spain was also a monopoly shared between the Crown and certain cities of Castile. The

Dutch, the English, and the French obtained free access to the tropical world, and bought the spices of the

East with the silver of Peru. And then the great movement for Liberty commenced. All people of the Teutonic

race; the Germans, the Swiss, the Dutch, the English and the Scotch, the Danes and the Swedes, cast off the

yoke of the Italian supremacy, and some of the superstitions of the Italian creed.

But now a new kind of servitude arose. The kings reduced the burghers of Europe to subjection. The

constitutional monarchies of the Middle Ages disappeared. In England alone, owing to its insular position, a

standing army was not required for the protection of the land. In England, therefore, the encroachments of the

Crown were resisted with success. Two revolutions established the sovereignty of an elected parliament, and

saved England from the fate of France. For in that land tyranny had struck its roots far down into the soil, and

could not be torn up without the whole land being rent in twain. In Spain, despotism might rule in safety over

ignorance; but the French had eaten of the Tree of Knowledge, and they demanded to eat of the Tree of Life.

A bread riot became a rebellion; the rebellion became a revolution. Maddened by resistance, frenzied with

fear, they made their revolution a massacre. Yet, in spite of mummeries and murders, and irreligious

persecutions; in spite of follies perpetrated in the name of Reason, and cruelties committed in the name of

Humanity, that revolution regenerated France, and planted principles which spread over the continent of

Europe, and which are now bearing fruit in Italy and Spain. With the nineteenth century, a new era of history

Such then is the plain unvarnished story of the human race. We have traced the stream of history to its source

in the dark forest; we have followed it downwards through the steppes of the shepherds and the valleys of the

great priest peoples; we have swept swiftly along, past pyramids and pagodas, and the brickpiles of

Babylon; past the temples of Ionia, and the amphitheatres of Rome; past castles and cathedrals lying opposite

to mosques with graceful minaret and swelling dome; and so, onwards and onwards, till towns rise on both

sides of the stream; towns sternly walled with sentinels before the gates; so, onwards and onwards, till the

stream widens and is covered with ships large as palaces, and towering with sail; till the banks are lined with

gardens and villas; and huge cities, no longer walled, hum with industry, and becloud the air; and deserts or

barren hills are no longer to be seen; and the banks recede and open out like arms, and the earthshores

dissolve, and we faintly discern the glassy glimmering of the boundless sea. We shall descend to the mouth of

the river, we shall explore the unknown waters which lie beyond the present, we shall survey the course

which man has yet to run. But before we attempt to navigate the future, let us return for a moment to the past;

let us endeavour to ascertain the laws which direct the movements of the stream, and let us visit the ruins

The progress of the human race is caused by the mental efforts which are made at first from necessity to

preserve life, and secondly from the desire to obtain distinction. In a healthy nation, each class presses into

the class which lies above it; the blood flows upwards, and so the whole mass, by the united movements of its

single atoms, rises in the scale. The progress of a nation is the sumtotal of the progress of the individuals

composing it. If certain parts of the body politic are stifled in their growth by means of artificial laws, it is

evident that the growth of the whole will be arrested; for the growth of each part is dependent on the growth

of all. It is usual to speak of Greece as a free country; and so it was in comparison with Asia. But more than

half its inhabitants were slaves; labour was degraded; whatever could be done by thought alone, and by

delicate movements of the hands, was carried to perfection; but in physical science the Greeks did little,

because little could be done without instruments, and instruments can seldom be invented except by free and

intelligent artisans. So the upper part of the Greek body grew; the lower part remained in a base and brutal

state, discharging the offices of life, but without beauty and without strength. The face was that of Hyperion;

the legs were shrivelled and hideous as those of a satyr. In Asia human laws have been still more fatal to the

human progress. In China there is no slavery, and there is no caste; the poorest man may be exalted to the

highest station; not birth but ability is the criterion of distinction; appointments are open to the nation, and are

awarded by means of competitive examinations. But the Chinese are schoolboys who never grow up;

generals and statesmen who incur the displeasure of the Crown are horsed and flagellated in the Eton style, a

bamboo being used instead of a birch. The patriarchal system of the steppes has been transferred to the

imperial plain. Just as a Chinese town is merely a Tartar camp encircled by earthen walls; just as a Chinese

house is merely a Tartar tent, supported by wooden posts and cased with brick, so it is with the government,

domestic and official, of that country. Every one is the slave of his father, as it was in the old tentlife; every

father is the slave of an official who stands in the place of the old clan chief; and all are slaves of the

emperor, who is the viceroy of God. In China, therefore, senility is supreme; nothing is respectable unless it

has existed at least a thousand years; foreigners are barbarians, and property is insecure.

In this one phrase the whole history of Asia is contained. In the despotic lands of the East, the peasant who

grows more corn than he requires is at once an object of attention to the police; he is reported to the governor,

and a charge is laid against him, in order that his grain may be seized. He not only loses the fruit of his toil,

but he also receives the bastinado. In the same manner, if a merchant, by means of his enterprise, industry,

and talents, amasses a large fortune; he also is arrested and is put to death, that his estate may escheat to the

Crown. As the Chinese say, "The elephant is killed for his ivory." This, then, is the secret of Asiatic apathy,

and not the heat of the climate, or the inherent qualities of race. Civilised Asia has been always enthralled,

because standing armies have always been required to resist the attacks of those warlike barbarians who

cover the deserts of Arabia and Tartary, the highlands of Ethiopia and Kabul. Asia, therefore, soon takes a

secondary place, and Europe becomes the centre of the human growth. Yet it should not be forgotten that

Asia was civilised when Europe was a forest and a swamp. Asia taught Europe its A B C; Asia taught Europe

to cipher and to draw; Asia taught Europe the language of the skies, how to calculate eclipses, how to follow

the courses of the stars, how to measure time by means of an instrument which recorded with its shadow the

station of the sun; how to solve mathematical problems; how to philosophise with abstract ideas. Let us not

forget the school in which we learnt to spell, and those venerable halls in which we acquired the rudiments of

The savage worships the shades of his ancestors chiefly from selfish fear; the Asiatic follows, from blind

prejudice, the wisdom of the ancients, and rejects with contempt all knowledge which was unknown to them.

Yet within these superstitions a beautiful sentiment lies concealed. We ought, indeed, to reverence the men of

the past, who, by their labours and their inventions, have made us what we are. This great and glorious city in

which we dwell, this mighty London, the metropolis of the earth; these streets flowing with eagerminded

life, and gleaming with prodigious wealth; these forests of masts, these dark buildings, turning refuse into

gold, and giving bread to many thousand mouths; these harnessed elements which whirl us along beneath the

ground, and which soon will convey us through the air; these spacious halls, adorned with all that can exalt

the imagination or fascinate the sense; these temples of melody; these galleries, exhibiting excavated worlds;

these walls covered with books in which dwell the souls of the immortal dead, which, when they are opened,

transport us by a magic spell to lands which are vanished and passed away, or to spheres created by the poet's

art; which make us walk with Plato beneath the plane trees, or descend with Dante into the dolorous abyss

to whom do we owe all these? First, to the poor savages, forgotten and despised, who, by rubbing sticks

together, discovered fire, who first tamed the timid fawn, and first made the experiment of putting seeds into

the ground. And, secondly, we owe them to those enterprising warriors who established nationality, and to

There is a land where the air is always tranquil, where Nature wears always the same bright yet lifeless smile;

and there, as in a vast museum, are preserved the colossal achievements of the past. Let us enter the sad and

silent river; let us wander on its dusky shores. Buried cities are beneath our feet; the ground on which we

tread is the pavement of a tomb. See the Pyramids towering to the sky; with men, like insects, crawling round

their base; and the Sphinx, couched in vast repose, with a ruined temple between its paws. Since those great

monuments were raised, the very heavens have been changed. When the architects of Egypt began their work,

there was another polar star in the northern sky, and the Southern Cross shone upon the Baltic shores. How

glorious are the memories of those ancient men, whose names are forgotten, for they lived and laboured in

the distant and unwritten past. Too great to be known, they sit on the height of centuries and look down on

fame. The boat expands its white and pointed wings; the sailors chaunt a plaintive song; the waters bubble

around us as we glide past the tombs and temples of the bygone days. The men are dead, and the gods are

dead. Nought but their memories remain. Where now is Osiris, who came down upon earth out of love for

men, who was killed by the malice of the Evil One, who rose again from the grave, and became the Judge of

the dead? Where now is Isis the mother, with the child Horus on her lap? They are dead; they are gone to the

Men die, and the ideas which they call gods die too; yet death is not destruction, but only a kind of change.

Those strange ethereal secretions of the brain, those wondrously distilled thoughts of oursdo they ever

really die? They are embodied into words; and from these words, spoken or written, new thoughts are born

within the brains of those who listen or who read. There was a town named Heliopolis; it had a college

garden, and a willow hanging over the Fountain of the Sun; and there the professors lectured and discoursed

on the Triune God, and the creation of the world, and, the Serpent Evil, and the Tree of Life; and on chaos

and darkness, and the shining stars; and there the stone quadrant was pointed to the heavens; and there the

laboratory furnace glowed. And in that college two foreign students were received, and went forth learned in

its lore. The first created a nation in the Egyptian style; the second created a system of ideas; and, strange to

say, on Egyptian soil the two were reunited: the philosophy of Moses was joined in Alexandria to the

philosophy of Plato, not only by the Jews, but also by the Christians; not only in Philo Judaeus, but also in the

Over the bright blue waters, under the soft and tender sky, with the purple sails outspread and roses twining

round the mast, with lute and flute resounding from the prow, and red wine poured upon the sea, and

thanksgiving to the gods, we enter the Piraeus, and salute with our flag the temple on the hill. Vessels sweep

past us, outward bound, laden with statues and paintings, for such are the manufactures of Athens, where the

milestones are masterpieces, and the streetwalkers poets and philosophers. Imagine the transports of the

young provincial who went to Athens to commence a career of ambition, to make himself a name! What

raptures he must have felt as he passed through that City of the Violet Crown with Homer in his bosom, and

hopes of another United Greece within his heart! What a banquet of delights, what varied treasures of the

mind were spread before him there! He listened first to a speech of Pericles on political affairs, and then to a

lecture by Anaxagoras. He was taken to the studio of Phidias and of Polygnotus: he went to a theatre built of

Persian masts to see a new tragedy by Sophocles or Euripides, and finished the evening at Aspasia's

establishment, with odes of Sappho, and ballads of Anacreon, and sweeteyed musicians, and intellectual

So great are the achievements of the Greeks, so deep is the debt which we owe to them, that criticism appears

ungrateful or obtuse. It is scarcely possible to indicate the vices and defects of this people without seeming

guilty of insensibility or affectation. It is curious to observe how grave and sober minds accustomed to gather

evidence with care, and to utter decisions with impartiality, cease to be judicial when Greece is brought

before them. She unveils her beauty, and they can only admire: they are unable to condemn. Those who

devote themselves to the study of the Greeks become nationalised in their literature, and patriots of their

domain, It is indeed impossible to read their works without being impressed by their purity, their calmness,

their exquisite symmetry and finish resembling that which is bestowed upon a painting or a statue. But it is

not only in the Greek writings that the Greek spirit is contained: it has entered the modern European mind it

permeates the world of thought; it inspires the ideas of those who have never read the Greek authors, and who

perhaps regard them with disdain. We do not see the foundations of our minds: they are buried in the past.

The great books and the great discoveries of modern times are based upon the works of Homer, Plato,

Aristotle, and their disciples. All that we owe to Rome we owe to Greece as well, for Italy was a child of

Greece. The cities on the southern coast bestowed on the rude natives the elements of culture, and when

To Rome we are indebted for those laws from which our jurisprudence is descended, and to Rome we are

indebted for something else besides. We shall not now pause on the Rome, of the Republic, when every

citizen was a soldier, and worked in the fields with his own hands; when every temple was the monument of a

victory, and every statue the memorial of a hero; when doorposts were adorned with the trophies of war, and

halls with the waxen images of ancestors; when the Romans were simple, religious, and severe, and the vices

of luxury were yet unknown, and banquets were plain and sociable repasts, where the guests in turn sang old

ballads while the piper played. Nor shall we pause on the Rome of Augustus, when East and West were

united in peace and with equal rights before the law; when the tyranny of petty princedoms, and the chicanery

of Grecian courts of law, and the bloodfeuds of families had been destroyed; and the empire was calm and

not yet becalmed, and rested a moment between tumult and decay. We shall pass on to a Rome more great

and more sublime; a Rome which ruled Europe, but not by arms; a Rome which had no mercenary legions, no

Praetorian Guards, and which yet received the tribute of kings, and whose legates exercised the power of

proconsuls. In this Rome a man clad in the purple of the Caesars and crowned with the tiara of the Pontifex

sent forth his soldiers armed with the crucifix, and they brought nations captive to his feet. Rome became a

city of God: she put on a spiritual crown. She cried to the kings, Give! and gold was poured into her

exchequers; she condemned a man who had defied her, and he had no longer a place among mankind; she

proclaimed a Truce of God, and the swords of robber knights were sheathed; she preached a crusade, and

Europe was hurled into Asia. She lowered the pride of the haughty, and she exalted the heart of the poor; she

softened the rage of the mighty, she consoled the despair of the oppressed. She fed the hungry, and she

clothed the naked; she took children to her arms and signed them with the Cross; she administered the

sacraments to dying lips, and laid the cold body in the peaceful grave. Her first word was to welcome, and her

In the Dark Ages the European States were almost entirely severed from one another; it was the Roman

Church alone which gave them one sentiment in common, and which united them within her fold. In those

days of violence and confusion, in those days of desolation and despair, when a stranger was a thing which,

like a leper or a madman, any one might kill, when every gentleman was a highway robber, when the only

kind of lawsuit was a duel, hundreds of men dressed in gowns of coarse dark stuff, with cords round their

waists and bare feet, travelled with impunity from castle to castle, preaching a doctrine of peace and good

will, holding up an emblem of humility and sorrow, receiving confessions, pronouncing penance or

absolutions, soothing the agonies of a wounded conscience, awakening terror in the hardened mind. Parish

churches were built: the baron and his vassals chanted together the Kyrie Eleison, and bowed their heads

together when the bell sounded and the Host was raised. Here and there in the sombre forest a band of those

holy men encamped, and cut down the trees and erected a building which was not only a house of prayer, but

also a kind of model farm. The monks worked in the fields, and had their carpenters' and their blacksmiths'

shops. They copied out books in a fair hand: they painted Madonnas for their chapel: they composed music

for their choir: they illuminated missals: they studied Arabic and Greek: they read Cicero and Virgil: they

Bright, indeed, yet scanty are these gleams. In the long night of the Dark Ages we look upon the earth, and

only the convent and the castle appear to be alive. In the convent the sound of honourable labour mingles

with the sound of prayer and praise. In the castle sits the baron with his children on his lap, and his wife,

leaning on his shoulder: the troubadour sings, and the page and demoiselle exchange a glance of love. The

castle is the home of music and chivalry and family affection. The convent is the home of religion and of art.

But the people cower in their wooden huts, half starved, half frozen, and wolves sniff at them through the

chinks in the walls. The convent prays, and the castle sings: the cottage hungers, and groans, and dies. Such is

the dark night: here and there a star in the heaven: here and there a torch upon the earth: all else is cloud and

bitter wind. But now, behold the light glowing in the East: it brightens, it broadens, the day is at hand! The

sun is rising, and will set no more: the castle and the convent disappear: the world is illumined: freedom is

restored. Italy is a garden, and its blue sea shines with sails. New worlds are discovered, new arts are

invented: the merchants enrich Europe, and their sons set her free. In a hall at Westminster, in a redoubt at

Bunker Hill, in a tennis court at Versailles, great victories are won, and liberty at last descends even to the

poor French peasant growing grey in his furrow, even to the negro picking cotton in the fields. Yet after all,

how little has been done! The sun shines as yet only on a corner of the earth: Asia and Africa are buried in the

night. And even here in this island, where liberty was born, where wealth is sustained by enterprise and

industry, and war comes seldom, and charity abounds, there are yet dark places where the sunlight never

enters, and where hope has never been: where day follows day in neverchanging toil, and where life leads

only to the prison, or the work house, or the grave. Yet a day will come when the whole earth will be as

If we compare the present with the past, if we trace events at all epochs to their causes, if we examine the

elements of human growth, we find that Nature has raised us to what we are, not by fixed laws, but by

provisional expedients, and that the principle which in one age effected the advancement of a nation, in the

next age retarded the mental movement, or even destroyed it altogether. War, despotism, slavery, and

superstition are now injurious to the progress of Europe, but they were once the agents by which progress was

produced. By means of war the animated life was slowly raised upward in the scale, and quadrupeds passed

into man. By means of war the human intelligence was brightened, and the affections were made intense;

weapons and tools were invented; foreign wives were captured, and the marriages of blood relations were

forbidden; prisoners were tamed, and the women set free; prisoners were exchanged, accompanied with

presents; thus commerce was established, and thus, by means of war, men were first brought into amicable

relations with one another. By war the tribes were dispersed all over the world, and adopted various pursuits

according to the conditions by which they were surrounded. By war the tribes were compressed into the

nation. It was war which founded the Chinese Empire. It was war which had locked Babylonia, and Egypt,

and India. It was war which developed the genius of Greece. It was war which planted the Greek language in

Asia, and so rendered possible the spread of Christianity. It was war which united the world in peace from the

Cheviot Hills to the Danube and the Euphrates. It was war which saved Europe from the quietude of China. It

was war which made Mecca the centre of the East. It was war which united the barons in the Crusades, and

Even in recent times the action of war has been useful in condensing scattered elements of nationality, and in

liberating subject populations. United Italy was formed directly or indirectly by the war of 1859, 1866, and

187O. The last war realised the dreams of German poets, and united the Teutonic nations more closely than

the shrewdest statesmen could have conceived to be possible a few years ago. That same war, so calamitous

for France, will yet regenerate that great country, and make her more prosperous than she has ever been. The

American War emancipated four million men, and decided for ever the question as to whether the Union was

a nationality or a league. But the Crimean War was injurious to civilisation; it retarded a useful and inevitable

event. Turkey will some day be covered with cornfields; Constantinople will some day be a manufacturing

town; but a generation has been lost. Statesmen and journalists will learn in time that whatever is conquered

for civilisation is conquered for all. To preserve the Balance of Power was an excellent policy in the Middle

Ages, when war was the only pursuit of a gentleman, and when conquest was the only ambition of kings. It is

now suited only for the highlands of Abyssinia. The jealousy with which 'true Britons' regard the Russian

success in Central Asia is surely a very miserable feeling. That a vast region of the earth should be opened,

that robbery and rapine and slavemaking raids should be suppressed, that wastelands should be cultivated,

that new stores of wealth should be discovered, that new markets should be established for the products of

European industry, our own among the rest, that Russia should adjoin England in Asia as she adjoins

Germany in Europewhat a lamentable occurrence, what an ominous event! In Central Africa it often

happens that between two barbarous. and distrustful nations there is a wide neutral ground, inhabited by wild

beasts, which prey upon the flocks and herds on either side. Such is the policy which maintains the existence

The great Turkish and Chinese Empires, the lands of Morocco, Abyssinia, and Tibet, will be eventually filled

with free, industrious, and educated populations. But those people will never begin to advance until their

property is rendered secure, until they enjoy the rights of man; and these they will never obtain except by

means of European conquest. In British India the peasant reaps the rice which he has sown; and the merchant

has no need to hide his gold beneath the ground. The young men of the new generation are looking forward to

the time when the civil appointments of their country will he held by them. The Indian Mutiny was a mutiny

only, and not a rebellion; the industrial and mercantile classes were on the English side. There is a sickly

school of politicians who declare that all countries belong to their inhabitants, and that to take them is a

crime. If any country in Asia did belong to its inhabitants, there might be some force in this objection. But

Asia is possessed by a few kings and by their soldiers; these rulers are usually foreigners; the masses of the

people are invariably slaves. The conquest of Asia by European Powers is therefore in reality emancipation,

and is the first step towards the establishment of Oriental nationality. It is needless to say that Europe will

never engage in crusades to liberate servile populations; but the pride and ignorance of military despots will

provoke foreign wars, which will prove fatal to their rule. Thus war will, for long years yet to come, be

required to prepare the way for freedom and progress in the East; and in Europe itself, it is not probable that

war will ever absolutely cease until science discovers some destroying force, so simple in its administration,

so horrible in its effects, that all art, all gallantry, will be at an end, and battles will be massacres which the

A second expedient of Nature is religion. Men believe in the existence of beings who can punish and reward

them in this life or in the next, who are the true rulers of the world, and who have deputed certain men, called

priests, to collect tribute and to pass laws on their behalf. By means of these erroneous ideas, a system of

government is formed to which kings themselves are subjected; the moral nature of man is improved, the

sciences and arts are developed, distinct and hostile races are united. But error, like war, is only provisional.

In Europe, religion no longer exists as a political power, but it will probably yet render service to civilisation

in assisting to Europeanise the barbarous nations whom events will in time bring under our control.

A third expedient of Nature is inequality of conditions. Sloth is the natural state of man; prolonged and

monotonous labour is hard for him to bear. The savage can follow a trail through the forest, or can lie in

ambush for days at a time; this pertinacity and patience are native to his mind,; they belong to the animals

from whom he is descended: but the cultivation of the soil is a new kind of labour, and it is only followed

from compulsion. It is probable that when domestic slavery was invented, a great service was rendered to

mankind, and it has already been shown that when prisoners of war were tamed and broken in, women were

set free, and became beautiful, longhaired, lowvoiced, sweeteyed creatures, delicate in form, modest in

demeanour, and refined in soul. It was also by means of slavery that a system of superfluous labour was

established; for women, when slaves, are made only to labour for the essentials of life. It was by means of

slavery that leisure was created, that the priests were enabled to make experiments, and to cultivate the arts,

that the great public buildings of the ancient lands were raised. It was slavery which arrested the progress of

Greece; but it was also slavery which enabled all the free men of a Greek town to be sculptors, poets, and

philosophers. Slavery is now happily extinct, and can never be revived under the sanction of civilised

authority. But a European Government, ought perhaps to introduce compulsory labour among the barbarous

races that acknowledge its sovereignty and occupy its land. Children are ruled and schooled by force, and it is

not an empty metaphor to say that savages are children. If they were made to work, not for the benefit of

others, but for their own; if the rewards of their labour were bestowed, not on their masters, but on

themselves, the habit of work would become with them a second nature, as it is with us, and they would learn

to require luxuries which industry only could obtain. A man is not a slave in being compelled to work against

his will, but in being compelled to work without hope and without reward. Enforced labour is undoubtedly a

hardship, but it is one which at present belongs to the lot of man, and is indispensable to progress.

Mankind grows because men desire to better themselves in life, and this desire proceeds from the inequality

of conditions. A time will undoubtedly arrive when all men and women will be equal, and when the love of

money, which is now the root of all industry, and which therefore is now the root of all good, will cease to

animate the human mind. But changes so prodigious can only be effected in prodigious periods of time.

Human nature cannot be transformed by a coup d'etat, as the Comtists and Communists imagine. It is a

complete delusion to suppose that wealth can be equalised and happiness impartially distributed by any

process of law, Act of Parliament, or revolutionary measure. It is easy to compose a pathetic scene in a novel,

or a loud article in a magazine by contrasting Dives lunching on turtle at Birch's with Lazarus feeding on

garbage in a cellar. But the poor man loses nothing , because another man is rich. The Communist might as

well denounce one man for enjoying excellent health, while another man is a victim to consumption. Wealth,

like health, is in the air; if a man makes a fortune he draws money from Nature and gives it to the general

stock. Every millionaire enriches the community. It is undoubtedly the duty of the government to mitigate so

far as lies within its power, the miseries which result from overpopulation. But as long as men continue

unequal in patience, industry, talent, and sobriety, so long there will be rich men and poor men men who

roll in their carriages, and men who die in the streets. If all the property of this country were divided, things

would soon return to their actual condition, unless some scheme could also be devised for changing human

nature; and as for the system of the Commune, which makes it impossible for a man to rise or to fall, it is

merely the old caste system revived; if it could be put into force, all industry would be disheartened,

It is not, however, strange that superficial writers should suppose that the evils of social life can be altered by

changes in government and law. In the lands of the East, in the Spain and Portugal of the sixteenth century, in

the France of the eighteenth century, in the American Colonies, and in England itself, whole classes were at

one time plunged by misgovernment into suffering of body and apathy of mind. But a government can confer

few benefits upon a people except by destroying its own laws. The great reforms which followed the

publication of "The Wealth of Nations" may all be summed up in the word Repeal. Commerce was regulated

in former times by a number of paternal laws, which have since been happily withdrawn. The government

still pays with our money a number of gentlemen to give us information respecting a future state, and still

requires that in certain business transactions a document shall be drawn up with mysterious rites in a

mediaeval jargon; but, placing aside hereditary evils which, on account of vested interests, it is impossible at

once to remove, it may fairly be asserted that the government of this country is as nearly perfect as any

government can be. Power rests upon public opinion, and is so beautifully poised that it can be overthrown

and replaced without the business of the state being interrupted for a day. If the Executive is condemned by

the nation, the press acts with irresistible force upon the Commons; a vote of censure is passed and the rulers

of a great empire abdicate their thrones. The House of Lords is also an admirable Upper Chamber; for if it

were filled with ambitious men elected by the people it would enter into conflict with the Commons. And as

for the Royal Image it costs little and is useful as an emblem. The government of England possesses at the

same time the freedom which is only found in a republic, and the loyalty which is only felt towards a

Some writers believe that this monarchy is injurious to the public and argue as follows: There are no paupers

in America, and America is a republic. There are many paupers in England, and England is a monarchy.

Therefore England should imitate America. It may astonish these writers to learn that America is in reality

more of a monarchy than England. Buckingham Palace is a private dwelling; but the White House, though it

has none of the pomp, has all the power of a Court. The king of America has more to give away than any king

of Great Britain since the time of Charles the Second. He has the power to discharge of his own good

pleasure and mere motion every ambassador, every consul, every head of department, every government

employ�, down to the clerk on two hundred dollars a year, and to fill their places with his own friends. In

America the opinion of the public can with difficulty act upon the government. The press has no dignity, and

very little power. Practices occur in the House of Representatives which have been unknown in England since

the days of Walpole. If the prosperity of a country depended on its government, America would be less

prosperous than England. But in point of fact America is the happiest country in the world. There is not a

man in the vast land which lies between the oceans who, however humble his occupation may be, does not

hope to make a fortune before he dies. The whole nation is possessed with the spirit which may be observed

in Fleet Street and Cheapside; the boys sharpeyed and curious, the men hastening eagerly along, even the

women walking as if they had an object in view. There are in America no dulleyed heavyfooted labourers,

who slouch to and fro from their cottage to their work, from their work to the beerhouse, without a higher

hope in life than a sixpence from the squire when they open a gate. There are no girls of the milliner class

who prefer being the mistresses of gentlemen to marrying men of their own station with a Cockney accent

and red hands. The upper classes in America have not that exquisite refinement which exists in the highest

circles of society in Europe. But if we take the whole people through and through, we find them the most

civilised nation on the earth. They, preserve in a degree hitherto without example the dignity of human nature

unimpaired. Their nobleness of character results from prosperity; and their prosperity is due to the nature of

their land. Those who are unable to earn a living in the east, have only to move towards the west.

This then is the reason that the English race in America is more happy, more enlightened, and more thriving,

than it is in the motherland. Politically speaking, the emigrant gains nothing; he is as free in England as he is

in America; but he leaves a land where labour is depreciated, and goes to a land where labour is in demand.

That England may become as prosperous as America, it must be placed under American conditions; that is to

say, food must be cheap, labour must be dear, emigration must be easy. It is not by universal suffrage, it is

not by any Act of Parliament that these conditions can be created. It is Science alone which can Americanise

England; it is Science alone which can ameliorate the condition of the human race.

When Man first wandered in the dark forest, he was Nature's serf; he offered tribute and prayer to the winds,

and the lightning, and the rain, to the cavelion, which seized his burrow for its lair, to the mammoth, which

devoured his scanty crops. But as time passed on, he ventured, to rebel; he made stone his servant; he

discovered fire and vegetable poison; he domesticated iron; he slew the wild beasts or subdued them; he

made them feed him and give him clothes. He became a chief surrounded by his slaves; the fire lay beside

him with dull red eye and yellow tongue waiting his instructions to prepare his dinner, or to make him

poison, or to go with him to the war, and fly on the houses of the enemy, hissing, roaring, and consuming all.

The trees of the forest were his flock, he slaughtered them at his convenience; the earth brought forth at his

command. He struck iron upon wood or stone and hewed out the fancies of his brain; he plucked shells, and

flowers, and the bright red berries, and twined them in his hair; he cut the pebble to a sparkling gem, he made

the dull clay a transparent stone. The river which once he had worshipped as a god, or which he had vainly

attacked with sword and spear, he now conquered to his will. He made the winds grind his corn and carry him

across the waters; he made the stars serve him as a guide. He obtained from salt and wood and sulphur a

destroying force. He drew from fire, and water, the awful power which produces the volcano, and made it do

the work of human hands. He made the sun paint his portraits, and gave the lightning a situation in the

Thus Man has taken into his service, and modified to his use, the animals, the plants, the earths and the

stones, the waters and the winds, and the more complex forces of heat, electricity, sunlight, magnetism, with

chemical powers of many kinds. By means of his inventions and discoveries, by means of the arts and trades,

and by means of the industry resulting from them, he has raised himself from the condition of a serf to the

condition of a lord. His triumph, indeed, is incomplete; his kingdom is not yet come. The Prince of Darkness

is still triumphant in many regions of the world; epidemics still rage, death is yet victorious. But the God of

Light, the Spirit of Knowledge, the Divine Intellect, is gradually spreading over the planet and upwards to the

skies. The beautiful legend will yet come true; Ormuzd will vanquish Ahriman; Satan will be overcome;

Virtue will descend from heaven, surrounded by her angels, and reign over the hearts of men. Earth, which is

now a purgatory, will be made a paradise, not by idle prayers and supplications, but by the efforts of man

himself, and by means of mental achievements analogous to those which have raised him to his present state.

Those inventions and discoveries which have made him, by the grace of God, king of the animals, lord of the

elements, and sovereign of steam and electricity, were all of them founded on experiment and observation.

We can conquer Nature only by obeying her laws, and in order to obey her laws we must first learn what they

are. When we have ascertained, by means of Science, the method of Nature's operations, we shall be able to

take her place and to perform them for ourselves. When we understand the laws which regulate the complex

phenomena of life, we shall be able to predict the future as we are already able to predict comets and eclipses

Three inventions which perhaps may be long delayed, but which possibly are near at hand, will give to this

overcrowded island the prosperous conditions of the United States. The first is the discovery of a motive

force which will take the place of steam, with its cumbrous fuel of oil or coal; secondly, the invention of

aerial locomotion which will transport labour at a trifling cost of money and of time to any part of the planet,

and which, by annihilating distance, will speedily extinguish national distinctions; and thirdly, the

manufacture of flesh and flour from the elements by a chemical process in the laboratory, similar to that

which is now performed within the bodies of the animals and plants. Food will then be manufactured in

unlimited quantities at a trifling expense; and our enlightened posterity will look back upon us who eat oxen

and sheep just as we look back upon cannibals. Hunger and starvation will then be unknown, and the best part

of the human life will no longer be wasted in the tedious process of cultivating the fields. Population will

mightily increase, and the earth will be a garden. Governments will be conducted with the quietude and

regularity of club committees. The interest which is now felt in politics will be transferred to science; the

latest news from the laboratory of the chemist, or the observatory of the astronomer, or the experimenting

room of the biologist will be eagerly discussed. Poetry and the fine arts will take that place in the heart which

religion now holds. Luxuries will be cheapened and made common to all; none will be rich, and none poor.

Not only will Man subdue the forces of evil that are without; he will also subdue those that are within. He

will repress the base instincts and propensities which he has inherited from the animals below; he will obey

the laws that are written on his heart; he will worship the divinity within him. As our conscience forbids us to

commit actions which the conscience of the savage allows, so the moral sense of our successors will

stigmatise as crimes those offences against the intellect which are sanctioned by ourselves. Idleness and

stupidity will be regarded with abhorrence. Women will become the companions of men, and the tutors of

their children. The whole world will be united by the same sentiment which united the primeval clan, and

which made its members think, feel, and act as one. Men will look upon this star as their fatherland; its

progress will be their ambition; the gratitude of others their reward. These bodies which now we: wear belong

to the lower animals; our minds have already outgrown them; already we look upon them with contempt. A

time will come when Science will transform them by means which we cannot conjecture, and which, even if

explained to us, we could not now under stand, just as the savage cannot understand electricity, magnetism,

steam. Disease will be extirpated; the causes of decay will be removed; immortality will be invented. And

then, the earth being small, mankind will migrate into space, and will cross the airless Saharas which separate

planet from planet, and sun from sun. The earth will become a Holy Land which will be visited by pilgrims

from all the quarters of the universe. Finally, men will master the forces of Nature; they will become

Man then will be perfect; he will then be a creator; he will therefore be what the vulgar worship as a god. But

even then, he will in reality be no nearer than he is at present to the First Cause, the Inscrutable Mystery, the

GOD. There is but a difference in degree between the chemist who today arranges forces in his laboratory

so that they produce a gas, and the creator who arranges forces so that they produce a world; between the

gardener who plants a seed, and the creator who plants a nebula. It is a question for us now to consider

whether we have any personal relations towards the Supreme Power; whether there exists another world in

which we shall be requited according to our actions. Not only is this a grand problem of philosophy; it is of

all questions the most practical for us, the one in which our interests are most vitally concerned. This life is

short; and its pleasures are poor; when we have obtained what we desire, it is nearly time to die. If it can be

shown that, by living in a certain manner, eternal happiness may be obtained, then clearly no one except a

fool or a madman would refuse to live in such a manner. We shall therefore examine the current theory

respecting the nature of the Creator, the design of Creation; and the future destiny of Man. But before we

proceed to this inquiry, we must first state that we intend to separate theology from morality. Whatever may

be the nature of the Deity, and whether there is a future life or not, the great moral laws can be in no way

changed. God is a purely scientific question. Whether he is personal or impersonal, definable or undefinable,

our duties and responsibilities remain the same. The existence of a heaven and a hell can affect our

The popular theory is this: the world was made by a Great Being; he created man in his own image; and

therefore his mind is analogous to that of man. But while our minds are imperfect, troubled by passions,

stained with sin, and limited in power, his mind is perfect in beauty, perfect in power, perfect in love. He is

omnipotent and omnipresent. He loves men whom he has made, but he sorrows over their transgressions. He

has placed them on earth as a means of probation; those who have sinned and repent, those who are contrite

and humble, he will forgive, and on them he will bestow everlasting happiness. Those who are wicked, and

stubborn, and hard of heart, those who deny and resist his authority, he will punish according to his justice.

This reward is bestowed, this punishment is inflicted on the soul, a spirit which dwells within the body during

life. It is something entirely distinct from the intellect or mind. The soul of the poorest creature in the streets

and the souls of the greatest philosopher or poet are equal before the Creator; he is no respecter of person;

souls are measured only by their sins. But the sins of the ignorant will be forgiven; the sins of the more

Now this appears a very reasonable theory as long as we do not examine it closely, and as long as we do not

carry out its propositions to their full extent. But when we do so, we find that it conducts us to absurdity, as

The souls of idiots not being responsible for their sins will go to heaven; the souls of such men as Goethe and

Rousseau are in danger of hellfire. Therefore it is better to be born an idiot than to be born a Goethe or a

It is asserted that the doctrine of the immortality of the soul, and of happiness in a future state, gives us a

solution of that distressing problem, the misery of the innocent on earth. But in reality it does nothing of the

kind, It does not explain the origin of evil, and it does not justify the existence of evil. A poor helpless infant

is thrust into the world by a higher force; it has done no one any harm, yet it is tortured in the most dreadful

manner; it is nourished in vice, and crime, and disease; it is allowed to suffer a certain time and then it is

murdered. It is all very well to say that afterwards it was taken to everlasting bliss; but why was it not taken

there direct? If a man has a child and beats that child for no reason whatever, is it any palliation of the crime

This brings us to the character of the Creator. We must beg to observe again that we describe, not the actual

Creator, but the popular idea of the Creator. It is said that the Supreme Power has a mind; this we deny, and

to show that our reasons for denying it are good, we shall proceed to criticise this imaginary mind.

In the first place, we shall state as an incontrovertible maxim in morality that a god has no right to create men

except for their own good. This may appear to the reader an extraordinary statement; but had he lived in

France at the time of Louis XIV, he would also have thought it an extraordinary statement that kings existed

for the good of the people and not people for the good of kings. When the Duke of Burgundy first

propounded that axiom, St. Simon, by no means a servile courtier, and an enlightened man for his age, was

"delighted with the benevolence of the saying, but startled by its novelty and terrified by its boldness." Our

proposition may appear very strange, but it certainly cannot be refuted; for if it is said that the Creator is so

great that he is placed above our laws of morality, then what is that but placing Might above Right? And if

the maxim be admitted as correct, then how can the phenomena of life be justified?

It is said that the Creator is omnipotent, and also that he is benevolent. But one proposition contradicts the

other. It is said that he is perfect in power, and that he is also perfect in purity. We shall show that he cannot

The conduct of a father towards his child appears to be cruel, but it is not cruel in reality. He beats the child,

but he does it for the child's own good; he is not omnipotent; he is therefore obliged to choose between two

evils. But the Creator is omnipotent; he therefore chooses cruelty as a means of education or development; he

therefore has a preference for cruelty or he would not choose it; he is therefore fond of cruelty or he would

Again, either sin entered the world against the will of the Creator, in which case he is not omnipotent, or it

entered with his permission, in which case it is his agent, in which case he selects sin, in which case he has a

preference for sin, in which case he is fond of sin, in which case he is sinful, which is an absurdity again.

The good in this world predominates over the bad; the good is ever increasing, the bad is ever diminishing.

But if God is Love why is there any bad at all? Is the world like a novel in which the villains are put in to

make it more dramatic, and in which virtue only triumphs in the third volume? It is certain that the feelings of

the created have in no way been considered. If indeed there were a judgmentday it would be for man to

appear at the bar not as criminal but as an accuser. What has he done that he should be subjected to a life of

torture and temptation? God might have made us all happy, and he has made us all miserable. Is that

benevolence? God might have made us all pure, and he has made us all sinful. Is that the perfection of

morality? If I believed in the existence of this mancreated God, of this divine Nebuchadnezzar, I would say,

'You can make me live in your world, O Creator, but you cannot make me admire it; you can load me with

chains, but you cannot make me flatter you; you can send me to hellfire, but you can not obtain my esteem.

And if you condemn me, you condemn yourself. If I have committed sins, you invented them, which is

worse. If the watch you have made does not go well, whose fault is that? Is it rational to damn the wheels and

But it is when we open the Book of Nature, that book inscribed in blood and tears; it is when we study the

laws regulating life, the laws productive of development, that we see plainly how illusive is this theory that

God is Love. In all things there is cruel, profligate, and abandoned waste. Of all the animals that are born a

few only can survive; and it is owing to this law that development takes place. The law of Murder is the law

of Growth. Life is one long tragedy; creation is one great crime. And not only is there waste in animal and

human life, there is also waste in moral life. The instinct of love is planted in the human breast, and that

which to some is a solace is to others a torture. How many hearts yearning for affection are blighted in

solitude and coldness! How many women seated by their lonely firesides are musing of the days that might

have been! How many eyes when they meet these words which remind them of their sorrows will be filled

with tears! O cold, cruel, miserable life, how long are your pains, how brief are your delights! What are joys

but pretty children that grow into regrets? What is happiness but a passing dream in which we seem to be

asleep, and which we know only to have been when it is past? Pain, grief, disease, and deathare these the

inventions of a loving God? That no animal shall rise to excellence except by being fatal to the life of

othersis this the law of a kind Creator? It is useless to say that pain has its benevolence, that massacre has

its mercy. Why is it so ordained that bad should be the raw material of good? Pain is not less pain because it

is useful; murder is not less murder because it is conducive to development. Here is blood upon the hand still,

To this then we are brought with the muchbelauded theory of a semihuman Providence, an anthropoid

Deity, a Constructive Mind, a Deus Paleyensis, a God created in the image of a watchmaker. What then are

we to infer? Why, simply this, that the current theory is false; that all attempts to define the Creator bring us

only to ridiculous conclusions; that the Supreme Power is not a Mind, but something higher than a Mind; not

a Force, but something higher than a Force; not a Being, but something higher than a Being; something for

which we have no words, something for which we have no ideas. We are to infer that Man is not made in the

image of his Maker, and that Man can no more understand his Maker than the beetles and the worms can

understand him. As men in the days of ignorance endeavoured to discover perpetual motion and the

philosopher's stone, so now they endeavour to define God. But in time also they will learn that the nature of

the Deity is beyond the powers of the human intellect to solve. The universe is anonymous; it is published

under secondary laws; these at least we are able to investigate, and in these perhaps we may find a partial

solution of the great problem. The origin of evil cannot be explained, for we cannot explain the origin of

matter. But a careful and unprejudiced study of Nature reveals an interesting fact and one that will be of value

The earth resembles a picture, of which we, like insects which crawl upon its surface, can form but a faint and

incoherent idea. We see here and there a glorious flash of colour; we have a dim conception that there is

union in all its parts; yet to us, because we are so near, the tints appear to be blurred and confused. But let us

expand our wings and flutter off into the air; let us fly some distance backwards into Space until we have

reached the right point of view. And now the colours blend and harmonise together, and we see that the

The body of a human individual is composed of celllike bodies which are called "physiological units." Each

cell or atom has its own individuality; it grows, it is nurtured, it brings forth young, and it dies. It is in fact an

animalcule. It has its own body and its own mind. As the atoms are to the human unit, so the human units are

to the human whole. There is only One Man upon the earth; what we call men are not individuals but

components; what we call, death is merely the bursting of a cell; wars and epidemics are merely

inflammatory phenomena incident on certain stages of growth. There is no such thing as a ghost or soul; the

intellects of men resemble those instincts which inhabit the corpuscules, and which are dispersed when the

corpuscule dies. Yet they are not lost, they are preserved within the body and enter other forms. Men

therefore have no connection with Nature, except through the organism to which they belong. Nature does

not recognise their individual existence. But each atom is conscious of its life; each atom can improve itself

in beauty and in strength; each atom can therefore, in an infinitesimal degree, assist the development of the

Human Mind. If we take the life of a single atom, that is to say of a single man, or if we look only at a single

group, all appears to be cruelty and confusion; but when we survey mankind as One, we find it becoming

more and more noble, more and more divine, slowly ripening towards perfection. We belong to the minutiae

of Nature, we are in her sight, as the raindrop in the sky; whether a man lives, or whether he dies, is as much

a matter of indifference to Nature as whether a raindrop falls upon the field and feeds a blade of grass, or

falls upon a stone and is dried to death. She does not supervise these small details. This discovery is by no

means flattering, but it enlarges our idea of the scheme of creation. That universe must indeed be great in

The following facts result from our investigations: Supernatural Christianity is false. Godworship is

idolatry. Prayer is useless. The soul is not immortal. There are no rewards and there are no punishments in a

It now remains to be considered whether it is right to say so. It will doubtless be supposed that I shall make

use of the plea that a writer is always justified in publishing the truth, or what he conscientiously believes to

be the truth, and that if it does harm he is not to blame. But I shall at once acknowledge that truth is only a

means towards an end the welfare of the human race. If it can be shown that by speaking the truth an

injury is inflicted on mankind, then a stubborn adherence to truth becomes merely a Pharisee virtue, a

spiritual pride. But in moral life Truth, though not infallible, is our safest guide, and those who maintain that

it should be repressed must be prepared to bring forward irrefutable arguments in favour of their cause. If so

much as the shadow of a doubt remains, their client, Falsehood, is non suited, and Truth remains in

possession of the conscience. Let us now hear what the special pleaders have to say. The advocates for

Christianity versus Truth will speak first, and I shall reply; and then the advocates for Deism will state their

case. What they will endeavour to prove is this, that even admitting the truth of my propositions, it is an

immoral action to give them to the world. On the other hand, I undertake to show that the destruction of

Christianity is essential to the interests of civilisation; and also that man will never attain his full powers as a

moral being until he has ceased to believe in a personal God and in the immortality of the soul.

"Christianity, we allow, is human in its origin, erroneous in its theories, delusive in its threats and its

rewards,' say the advocates for Christianity. 'Jesus Christ was a man with all the faults and imperfections of

the prophetic character. The Bible is simply a collection of Jewish writings. The miracles in the Old

Testament deserve no more attention from historians than the miracles in Homer. The miracles in the gospels

are like the miracles in Plutarch's Lives; they do not lessen the value of the biography, and the value of the

biography does not lessen the absurdity of the miracles. So far we go with you. But we assert that this

religion with all its errors has rendered inestimable services to civilisation, and that it is so inseparably

associated in the minds of men with purity of life, and the precepts of morality, that it is impossible to attack

Christianity without also attacking all that is good, all that is pure, all that is lovely in human nature. When

you travelled in Africa did you not join in the sacrifices of the pagans? Did you not always speak with respect

of their wood spirits and their water spirits, and their gods of the water and the sky? And did you not take off

your shoes when you entered the mosque, and did you not, when they gave you the religious blessing, return

the religious reply? And since you could be so tolerant to savages, surely you are bound to be more tolerant

still to those who belong to your own race, to those who possess a nobler religion, and whose minds can be

made by a careless word to suffer the most exquisite pain. Yet you attack Christianity, and you attack it in the

wrong way. You ought, in the interests of your own cause, to write in such a manner that minds might be

gradually trained to reflection and decoyed to doubt. It is not only heartless and inhuman, it is also unwise, it

is also unscientific, to say things which will shock and disgust those who are beginning to inquire, and it is

bad taste to jest on subjects which if not sacred in themselves are held sacred in the, eyes of many thoughtful

and cultivated men. You ought to adopt a tone of reluctance and to demonstrate, as it were against your will,

the errors of the popular religion. Believers at least have a right to demand that if you discuss these questions

upon which their hopes of eternal happiness are based, you will do so with gravity and decorum."

To this I reply that the religion of the Africans, whether pagan or Moslem, is suited to their intellects, and is

therefore a true religion; and the same may be said of Christianity among uneducated people. But Christianity

is not in accordance with the cultivated mind; it can only be accepted or rather retained by suppressing

doubts, and by denouncing inquiry as sinful. It is therefore a superstition, and ought to be destroyed. With

respect to the services which it once rendered to civilisation, I cheerfully acknowledge them, but the same

argument might once have been advanced in favour of the oracle at Delphi, without which there would have

been no Greek culture, and therefore no Christianity. The question is not whether Christianity assisted the

civilisation of our ancestors, but whether it is now assisting our own. I am firmly persuaded that whatever is

injurious to the intellect is also injurious to moral life; and on this conviction I base my conduct with respect

to Christianity. That religion is pernicious to the intellect; it demands that the reason shall be sacrificed upon

the altar; it orders civilised men to believe in the legends of a savage race. It places a hideous image, covered

with dirt and blood, in the Holy of Holies; it rends the sacred Veil of Truth in twain, It teaches that the

Creator of the Universe, that sublime, that inscrutable power, exhibited his back to Moses, and ordered Hosea

to commit adultery, and Ezekiel to eat dung. There is no need to say anything more. Such a religion is

blasphemous and foul. Let those admire it who are able. I, for my part, feel it my duty to set free from its

chains as many as I can. Upon this point my conscience speaks clearly, and it shall be obeyed. With respect to

manner and means, I shall use the arguments and the style best suited for my purpose. There has been enough

of writing by implication and by innuendo; I do not believe in its utility, and I do not approve of its disguise.

There should be no deceit in matters of religion. In my future assaults on Christianity I shall use the clearest

Ridicule is a destructive instrument, and it is my intention to destroy. If a man is cutting down a tree, it is

useless asking him not to strike so hard. But because I make use of ridicule, it does not follow that I am

writing merely for amusement; and because I tear up a belief by the roots, it does not follow that I am

indifferent to the pain which I inflict. Great revolutions cannot be accomplished without much anguish and

some evil being caused. Did not the Roman women suffer when the Christians came and robbed them of their

gods, and raised their minds, through pain and sorrow, to a higher faith? The religion which I teach is as high

above Christianity as that religion was superior to the idolatry of Rome. And when, the relative civilisations

of the two ages are compared, this fetish of ink and paper, this Syrian book is, in truth, not less an idol than

those statues which obtained the adoration of the Italians and the Greeks. The statues were beautiful as

statues; the book is admirable as a book; but the statues did not come down from heaven; the book was not a

magical composition; it bears the marks not only of human genius, but also of human depravity and

As for the advocates of Deism they acknowledge that Christianity is unsuited to the mental condition of the

age; they acknowledge that the Bible ought to be attacked as Xenophanes attacked Homer; they acknowledge

that the fables of a god impregnating a woman, of a god living on the earth, are relics of pagan superstition;

they acknowledge that the doctrine of eternal punishment is incompatible with justice, and is therefore

incompatible with God. But they declare that Christianity should not be destroyed but reformed; that its

barbarous elements should be expelled, and that then, as a pure Godworship, it should be offered to the

world. "It is true', they say, 'that God is an idol, an image made of human ideas which, to superior beings,

would appear as coarse and vile for such a purpose as the wood and the stone of the savage appear to us. But

this idolatry is conducive to the morality of man. That exquisite form which he raises in his mind, and before

which he prostrates him self in prayer, that God of purity and love, becomes his ideal and example. As the

Greek women placed statues of Apollo and Narcissus in their chambers that the beauty of the marble form

might enter their wombs through the windows of their eyes, so by ever contemplating perfection the mind is

ennobled, and the actions born of it are divine. And surely it is a sweet and consoling faith that there is above

us a great and benignant Being who, when the sorrows of this life are past, will take us to himself. How can it

injure men to believe that the righteous will he rewarded and that the wicked will be punished in a future

state? What good can be done by destroying a belief so full of solace for the sorrowful, so full of promise for

the virtuous, so full of terror for the workers of iniquity? You do not deny that �much anguish and some evil

will be caused� by the destruction of this belief; and what have you to show on the other side? What will you

place in the balance? Consider what a dreadful thing it is to take even from a single human being the hopes of

'All men cannot be philosophers; all cannot resign themselves with fortitude and calm to the deathwarrant of

the soul. Annihilation has perhaps more terrors for the mind than eternal punishment itself. O, make not the

heart an orphan, cast it not naked and weeping on the world! Take it not away from its father, kill not its

hopes of an eternal home! There are mothers whose children have gone before them to the grave, poor

miserable women whose beauty is faded, who have none to care for them on earth, whose only happiness is

in the hope that when their life is ended they will be joined again to those whom they have lost. And will you

take that hope away? There are men who have passed their whole lives in discipline and selfrestraint that

they may be rewarded in a future state; will you tell them that they have lived under an illusion, that they

would have done better to laugh, and to feast, and to say �Let us make merry, for tomorrow we shall die�?

There are men whom the fear of punishment in a future life deters from vice and perhaps from crime. Will

you dare to spread a doctrine which unlooses all restraints, and leaves men to the fury of their passions? It is

true that we are not demoralised by this belief in the impersonality of God and the extinction of the soul; but

it would be a dangerous belief for those who are exposed to strong temptations, and whose minds have not

In the first place, I admit that the worship and contemplation of a manlike but ideal Being must have,

through the law of imitation, an ennobling effect on the mind of the idolater, but only so long as the belief in

such a Being harmonises with the intellect. It has been shown that this theory of a benignant God is

contradicted by the laws of Nature. We must judge of the tree by its fruits; we must judge of the maker by

that which he has made. The Author of the world invented not only the good but also the evil in the world; he

invented cruelty; he invented sin. If he invented sin how can he be otherwise than sinful? And if he invented

cruelty how can he be otherwise than cruel? From this inexorable logic we can only escape by giving up the

hypothesis of a personal Creator. Those who believe in a God of Love must close their eyes to the

phenomena of life, or garble the universe to suit their theory. This, it is needless to say, is injurious to the

intellect; whatever is injurious to the intellect is injurious to morality; and, therefore, the belief in a God of

Love is injurious to morality. Godworship must be classed with those provisional expedients, Famine, War,

Slavery, the Inequality of Conditions, the Desire of Gain, which Nature employs for the development of man,

and which she throws aside when they have served her turn, as a carpenter changes his tools at the various

The abolition of this ancient and elevated faith; the dethronement of God; the extinction of piety as a personal

feeling; the destruction of an Image made of golden thoughts in the exquisite form of an Ideal Man, and

tenderly enshrined in the human heart these appear to be evils, and such undoubtedly they are. But the

conduct of life is a choice of evils. We can do nothing that is exclusively and absolutely good. Le genre

humain n'est pas place entre le bien et le mal, mais entre le mal et le pire. No useful inventions can be

introduced without some branch of industry being killed and hundreds of worthy men being cast, without an

occupation, on the world. All mental revolutions are attended by catastrophe. The mummeries and massacres

of the German Reformation, though known only to scholars, were scarcely less horrible than those of Paris in

1793, and both periods illustrate the same law. I have facts in my possession which would enable me to show

that the abolition of the slavetrade, that immortal and glorious event, caused the death of many thousand

slaves, who were therefore actually killed by Sharp, Clarkson, Wilberforce, and their adherents. But by

means of abolition millions of lives have since been saved. The first generation suffered; prisoners were

captured to be sold, and the market having been suppressed, were killed. This was undoubtedly an evil. But

then the slavemaking wars came to an end, and there was peace. In the same manner I maintain that even

should the present generation be injured by the abolition of existing faiths, yet abolition would be justified.

Succeeding generations would breathe an atmosphere of truth instead of being reared in an atmosphere of

falsehood, and we who are so deeply indebted to our ancestors have incurred obligations towards our

posterity. Let us therefore purify the air, and if the light kills a few sickly plants which have become

acclimatised to impurity and darkness, we must console ourselves with the reflection that in Nature it is

But the dangers of the Truth are not so great as is commonly supposed. It is often said that if the fears of

hellfire were suddenly removed men would abandon themselves with out restraint to their propensities and

appetites; that recklessness and despair would take possession of the human race, and society would be

dissolved. But I believe that the fears of hellfire have scarcely any power upon earth at all, and that when

they do act upon the human mind it is to make it pious, not to make it good. A metaphysical theory cannot

restrain the fury of the passions: as well attempt to bind a lion with a cobweb. Prevention of crime it is well

known depends not on the severity but on the certainty of retribution. Just as a criminal is often acquitted by

the jury because the penalties of the law are disproportione to the magnitude of the offence, so the diabolic

laws which inflict an eternal punishment for transitory sins have been tempered by a system of free pardons

which deprive them of any efficiency they might have once possessed. What would be the use of laws against

murder if the condemned criminal could obtain his liberty by apologising to the Queen? Yet such is the

Christian system, which, though in one sense beautiful on account of its mercy, is also immoral on account of

its indulgence. The supposition that the terrors of hellfire are essential or even conducive to good morals is

contradicted by the facts of history. In the Dark Ages there was not a man or a woman, from Scotland to

Naples, who doubted that sinners were sent to hell. The religion which they had was the same as ours, with

this exception, that everyone believed in it. The state of Europe in that pious epoch need not be described.

Society is not maintained by the conjectures of theology, but by those moral sentiments, those gregarious

virtues, which elevated men above the animals, which are now instinctive in our natures, and to which

intellectual culture is propitious. For, as we become more and more enlightened, we perceive more and more

clearly that it is with the whole human population as it was with the primeval clan; the welfare of every

individual is dependent on the welfare of the community, and the welfare of the community depends on the

welfare of every individual. Our conscience teaches us it is right, our reason teaches us it is useful, that men

should live according to the Golden Rule. This conduct of life is therefore enjoined upon every man by his

own instincts, and also by the voice of popular opinion. Those cannot be happy who are detested and

despised by their fellow men; and as for those, the outlaws of society, who, like domestic animals run wild,

herd together in secret places, and, faithful only to their own gang, make war upon mankind, the Law, which

is seldom evaded, the Law, which never forgives, chases them from den to den, and makes their lives as full

The current religion is indirectly adverse to morals, because it is adverse to the freedom of the intellect. But it

is also directly adverse to morals by inventing spurious and bastard virtues. One fact must be familiar to all

those who have any experience of human naturea sincerely religious man is often an exceedingly bad man.

Piety and vice frequently live together in the same dwelling, occupying different chambers, but remaining

always on the most amicable terms. Nor is there anything remarkable in this. Religion is merely loyalty: it is

just as irrational to expect a man to be virtuous because he goes to church, as it would be to expect him to be

virtuous because he went to court. His king, it is true, forbids immorality and fraud. But the chief virtues

required are of the lickspittle denomination what is called 'a humble and a contrite heart.' When a

Christian sins as a man, he makes compensation as a courtier. When he has injured a fellow creature, he

goes to church with more regularity, he offers up more prayers, he reads a great number of chapters in the

Bible, and so he believes that he has cleared off the sins that are laid to his account. This, then, is the

immorality of religion as it now exists. It creates artificial virtues and sets them off against actual vices.

Children are taught to do this and that, not because it is good, but to please the king. When Christians are

informed that not only our physical but our moral actions are governed by unchangeable law, and that the evil

treatment of the mind, like the evil treatment of the body, is punished by a loss of happiness and health, they

cry out against a doctrine which is so just and so severe. They are like the young Roman nobles who

complained when the Tarquins were expelled, saying, that a king was a human being, that he could be angry

and forgive, that there was room for favour and kindness, but that the law was a deaf and inexorable thing

leges rem surdam inexorabilem esse; that it allowed of no relaxation and indulgence nihil laxamenti nec

veniae habere, and that it was a dangerous thing for weak and erring men to live by their integrity alone

periculosum esse in tot humanis erroribus sola innocentia vivere. Christians believe themselves to be the

aristocracy of heaven upon earth; they are admitted to the spiritual court, while millions of men in foreign

lands have never been presented. They bow their knees and say that they are miserable sinners, and their

hearts rankle with abominable pride. Poor infatuated fools! Their servility is real, and their insolence is real,

Even with Christians of comparatively blameless lives their religion is injurious. It causes a waste of moral

force. There are passionate desires of virtue, yearnings for the good, which descend from time to time like a

holy spirit upon all cultivated minds, and from which, strange as it may seem, not even freethinkers are

excluded. When such an impulse animates the godless man he expends it in the service of mankind; the

Christian wastes it on the air; he fasts, he watches, and he prays. And what is the object of all his petitions

and salaams? He will tell you that he is trying to save his soul. But the strangest feature in the case is this. He

not only thinks that it is prudent and wise on his part to improve his prospects of happiness in a future state;

he considers it the noblest of all virtues. But there is no great merit in taking care of one's own interests

whether it be in this world or the next. The man who leads a truly religious life in order to go to heaven is not

more to be admired than the man who leads a regular and industrious life in order to make a fortune in the

city; and the man who endeavours to secure a celestial inheritance by going to church, and by reading

chapters in the Bible, and by having family prayers, and by saying grace in falsetto with eyes hypocritically

closed, is not above the level of those who fawn and flatter at Oriental courts in order to obtain a monopoly or

The old proverb holds good in religious as in ordinary life, that selfpreservation is the first law of Nature.

As long as men believe that there is a god or king who will listen to their prayers and who will change his

mind at their request; as long as they believe that they can obtain a mansion in the heavenly Belgravia, so

long they will place the duties of the courtier above the duties of the man, so long they will believe that

flattery is pleasing to the Most High, so long they will believe that they can offend against the law and escape

the penalties of the law, so long they will believe that acts of devotion may be balanced against acts of

immorality, so long they will make selfishness a virtue, and salvation of the soul a higher principle of conduct

than social love. But when the faith in a personal god is extinguished; when prayer and praise are no longer to

be heard; when the belief is universal that with the body dies the soul, then the false morals of theology will

no longer lead the human mind astray. Piety and virtue will become identical. The desire to do good which

arose in necessity, which was developed by the hopes of a heavenly reward, is now an instinct of the human

race. Those hopes and illusions served as the scaffolding, and may now safely be removed.

There will always be enthusiasts for virtue as there are now, men who adorn and purify their souls before the

mirror of their conscience, and who strive to attain an ideal excellence in their actions and their thoughts. If

from such men as these the hope of immortality is taken, will their natures be transformed? Will they who are

almost angels turn straightway into beasts? Will the sober become drunkards? Will the chaste become

sensual? Will the honest become fraudulent? Will the industrious become idle? Will the righteous love that

which they have learnt to loathe? Will they who have won by hard struggles the sober happiness of virtue

return to the miseries of vice by which few men have not at one time or another been enthralled? No; they

will pass through some hours of affliction; they will bear another illusion to the grave; not the first that they

have buried, not the first they have bewailed. And then, no longer able to hope for themselves, they will hope

for the future of the human race: unable to believe in an eared God who listens to human supplications they

will coin the gold of their hearts into useful actions instead of burning it as incense before an imaginary

We do not wish to extirpate religion from the life of man; we wish him to have a religion which will

harmonise with his intellect, and which inquiry will strengthen, not destroy. We wish, in fact, to give him a

religion, for now there are many who have none. We teach that there is a God, but not a God of the

anthropoid variety, not a God who is gratified by compliments in prose and verse, and whose attributes can

be catalogued by theologians. God is so great that he cannot be defined by us. God is so great that he does not

deign to have personal relations with us human atoms that are called men. Those who desire to worship their

Creator must worship him through mankind. Such it is plain is the scheme of Nature. We are placed under

secondary laws, and these we must obey. To develop to the utmost our genius and our love, that is the only

true religion. To do that which deserves to be written, to write that which deserves to be read, to tend the sick,

to comfort the sorrowful, to animate the weary, to keep the temple of the body pure, to cherish the divinity

within us, to be faithful to the intellect, to educate those powers which have been entrusted to our charge and

to employ them in the service of humanity, that is all that we can do. Then our elements shall be dispersed

and all is at an end. All is at an end for the unit, all is at an end for the atom, all is at an end for the speck of

flesh and blood with the little spark of instinct which it calls its mind, but all is not at an end for the actual

Man, the true Being, the glorious One. We teach that the soul is immortal; we teach that there is a future life;

we teach that there is a Heaven in the ages far away; but not for us single corpuscules, not for us dots of

animated jelly, but for the One of whom we are the elements, and who, though we perish, never dies, but

grows from period to period and by the united efforts of single molecules called men, or of those cellgroups

called nations, is raised towards the Divine power which he will finally attain. Our religion therefore is

Virtue, our Hope is placed in the happiness of our posterity; our Faith is the Perfectibility of Man.

A day will come when the European God of the nineteenth century will be classed with the gods of Olympus

and the Nile; when surplices and sacramental plate will be exhibited in museums; when nurses will relate to

children the legends of the Christian mythology as they now tell them fairy tales. A day will come when the

current belief in property after death (for is not existence property, and the dearest property of all? ) will be

accounted a strange and selfish idea, just as we smile at the savage chief who believes that his gentility will

be continued in the world beneath the ground, and that he will there be attended by his concubines and slaves.

A day will come when mankind will be as the Family of the Forest, which lived faithfully within itself

according to the Golden Rule in order that it might not die. But Love not Fear will unite the human race. The

world will become a heavenly Commune to which men will bring the inmost treasures of their hearts, in

which they will reserve for themselves not even a hope, not even the shadow of a joy, but will give up all for

all mankind. With one faith, with one desire, they will labour together in the Sacred Causethe extinction of

disease, the extinction of sin, the perfection of genius, the perfection of love, the invention of immortality, the

You blessed ones who shall inherit that future age of which we can only dream; you pure and radiant beings

who shall succeed us on the earth; when you turn back your eyes on us poor savages, grubbing in the ground

for our daily bread, eating flesh and blood, dwelling in vile bodies which degrade us every day to a level with

the beasts, tortured by pains, and by animal propensities, buried in gloomy superstitions, ignorant of Nature

which yet holds us in her bonds; when you read of us in books, when you think of what we are, and compare

us with yourselves, remember that it is to us you owe the foundation of your happiness and grandeur, to us

who now in our libraries and laboratories and startowers and dissectingrooms and work shops are

preparing the materials of the human growth. And as for ourselves, if we are sometimes inclined to regret that

our lot is cast in these unhappy days, let us remember how much more fortunate we are than those who lived

before us a few centuries ago. The working man enjoys more luxuries today than did the King of England in

the AngloSaxon times; and at his command are intellectual delights, which but a little while ago the most

learned in the land could not obtain. All this we owe to the labours of other men. Let us therefore remember

them with gratitude; let us follow their glorious example by adding something new to the knowledge of

All men indeed cannot be poets, inventors, or philanthropists; but all men can join in that gigantic and

godlike work, the progress of creation. Whoever improves his own nature improves the universe of which

he is a part. He who strives to subdue his evil passionsvile remnants of the old fourfooted lifeand who

cultivates the social affections: he who endeavours to better his condition, and to make his children wiser and

happier than himself; whatever may be his motives, he will not have lived in vain. But if he act thus not from

mere prudence, not in the vain hope of being rewarded in another world, but from a pure sense of duty, as a

citizen of Nature, as a patriot of the planet on which he dwells, then our philosophy which once appeared to

him so cold and cheerless will become a religion of the heart, and will elevate him to the skies; the virtues

which were once for him mere abstract terms will become endowed with life, and will hover round him like

guardian angels, conversing with him in his solitude, consoling him in his afflictions, teaching him how to

live, and how to die. But this condition is not to be easily attained; as the saints and prophets were often

forced to practise long vigils and fastings and prayers before their ecstasies would fall upon them and their

visions would appear, so Virtue in its purest and most exalted form can only be acquired by means of severe

and longcontinued culture of the mind. Persons with feeble and untrained intellects may live according to

their conscience; but the conscience itself will be defective. To cultivate the intellect is therefore a religious

duty; and when this truth is fairly recognised by men, the religion which teaches that the intellect should be

We have written much about inventions and discoveries and transformations of human nature which cannot

possibly take place for ages yet to come, because we think it good that the bright though distant future should

be ever present in the eyes of man. But we shall now consider the existing generation, and we shall point out

the work which must be accomplished, and in which all enlightened men should take a part. Christianity must

be destroyed. The civilised world has outgrown that religion, and is now in the condition of the Roman

Empire in the pagan days. A coldhearted infidelity above, a sordid superstition below, a school of Plutarchs

who endeavour to reconcile the fables of a barbarous people with the facts of science and the lofty

conceptions of philosophy; a multitude of augurs who sometimes smile when they meet, but who more often

feel inclined to sigh, for they are mostly serious and worthy men. Entering the Church in their youth, before

their minds were formed, they discover too late what it is that they adore, and since they cannot tell the truth,

and let their wives and children starve, they are forced to lead a life which is a lie. What a state of society is

this in which 'freethinker' is a term of abuse, and in which doubt is regarded as a sin! Men have a

Bluebeard's chamber in their minds which they dare not open; they have a faith which they dare not examine

lest they should be forced to cast it from them in contempt. Worship is a convention, churches are bonnet

shows, places of assignation, shabbygenteel salons where the parochial 'at home' is given, and respectable

tradesmen exhibit their daughters in the wooden stalls. O wondrous, awful, and divine religion! You elevate

our hearts from the cares of common life, you transport us into the unseen world, you bear us upwards to that

sublime temple of the skies where dwells the Veiled God, whom mortal eye can never view, whom mortal

mind can never comprehend. How art thou fallen! How art thou degraded! But it will be only for a time. We

are now in the dreary desert which separates two ages of Belief. A new era is at hand.

It is incorrect to say "theology is not a progressive science." The worship of ancestral ghosts, the worship of

pagan deities, the worship of a single god, are successive periods of progress in the science of Divinity. And

in the history of that science, as in the history of all others, a curious fact may be observed. Those who

overthrow an established system are compelled to attack its founders, and to show that their method was

unsound, that their reasoning was fallacious, that their experiments were incomplete. And yet the men who

create the revolution are made in the likeness of the men whose doctrines they subvert. The system of

Ptolemy was supplanted by the system of Copernicus, yet Copernicus was the Ptolemy of the sixteenth

century. In the same manner, we who assail the Christian faith are the true successors of the early Christians,

above whom we are raised by the progress, of eighteen hundred years. As they preached against gods that

were made of stone, so we preach against gods that are made of ideas. As they were called atheists and

blasphemers so are we. And is our task more difficult than theirs? We have not, it is true, the same stimulants

to offer. We cannot threaten that the world is about to be destroyed; we cannot bribe our converts with a

heaven, we cannot make them tremble with a hell. But though our religion appears too pure, too unselfish for

mankind, it is not really so, for we live in a noble and enlightened age. At the time of the Romans and the

Greeks the Christian faith was the highest to which the common people could attain. A faith such as that of

the Stoics and the Sadducees could only be embraced by cultivated minds, and culture was then confined to a

chosen few. But now knowledge, freedom, and prosperity are covering the earth; for three centuries past,

human virtue has been steadily increasing, and mankind is prepared to receive a higher faith. But in order to

build we must first destroy. Not only the Syrian superstition must be attacked, but also the belief in a personal

God, which engenders a slavish and oriental condition of the mind; and the belief in a posthumous reward

which engenders a selfish and solitary condition of the heart. These beliefs are, therefore, injurious to human

nature. They lower its dignity; they arrest its development; they isolate its affections.

We shall not deny that many beautiful sentiments are often mingled with the faith in a personal Deity, and

with the hopes of happiness in a future state; yet we maintain that, however refined they may appear, they are

selfish at the core, and that if removed they will be replaced by sentiments of a nobler and a purer kind. They

cannot be removed without some disturbance and distress; yet the sorrows thus caused are salutary and

sublime. The supreme and mysterious Power by whom the universe has been created, and by whom it has

been appointed to run its course under fixed and invariable law; that awful One to whom it is profanity to

pray, of whom it is idle and irreverent to argue and debate, of whom we should never presume to think save

with humility and awe; that Unknown God has ordained that mankind should be elevated by misfortune, and

I give to universal history a strange but true titleThe Martyrdom of Man. In each generation the human

race has been tortured that their children might profit by their woes. Our own prosperity is founded on the

agonies of the past. Is it therefore unjust that we also should suffer for the benefit of those who are to come?

Famine, pestilence, and war are no longer essential for the advancement of the human race. But a season of

mental anguish is at hand, and through this we must pass in order that our posterity may rise. The soul must

be sacrificed; the hope in immortality must die. A sweet and charming illusion must be taken from the human