naturally followed by rapid decay."

In sculpture "the elements of decadence were already traceable." The same fact was asserted of the drama and of politics, these last "containing in themselves no element of permanence." In their system of slavery, "we find an element of rottenness which was sure in the end to produce decay." What was true of Greece will in no respect be denied of all the ancient nations; they destroyed themselves. Compare the Spain and Portugal of to-day with their once brilliant position — without a peer among the nations; their condition is expressed by one word, "degeneration;” not conquest by outside oppressors. There is a universal philosophy in the words of Scripture, “O, Ephraim, thou hast destroyed thyself."

Ancient history needs no interpreter to explain the tendency among all races to degeneration and even death. The "learning of Egypt" was in its day unsurpassed; the "greatness of Babylon' has become a proverb; the "merchants of Tyre' were at the head of the world's commerce; the "wisdom of Greece" has been repeated two thousand years in the thoughts of men; Rome stands as a synonym of "power;" yet every one of these has passed through degeneracy and decay into death.

No man can adequately compute the forces of civilization who does not take such a fact into the account. Is this tendency to "degeneration of races now outgrown? Was it a fault of their times, or is it the law of human nature? Is this tendency in us or in our surroundings? Our purpose is not to enter any domain of science when, with all ancient history (excepting that of the Jews) for a background, we accept one of two alternatives as the rule; either man's natural tendency is upward, or it must be downward. If you please, the predominating tendency must be from the savage state to the civilized or the re

verse.

That the most degraded tribes have become highly civilized is proven, among other examples, by the remarkable history of the English people. The reverse truth is indicated in the history of the Mexicans and in that of the mountain whites of our own nation. Intuitively all men seek the reasons for such changes; are they inherent in human nature, or are they the effects of some outside cause?

History furnishes no example in which savages have civilized themselves; as witness the North American Indians. Indians have been civilized,

but not without external assistance and instruction. Barbarians have never, unaided, risen from their barbarism. Africa, left to its own darkness, has remained in deep degradation. No island of the ocean, upon the approach of the first foreigner, has ever been found in a civilized state. No exceptions, so far as we are aware, break the law that tribes of savages have never civilized themselves. Add to such a fact the danger of deterioration and degeneracy of nations that are left to themselves. Is there no truth in the almost universal beliefs of nations and tribes as to a golden age now lost? What was true in ancient nations obtains in more modern times. The mound-builders of America were vastly superior to the race that succeeded them. Whence has come the degradation of Africa, after peoples that once in their highest civilization ruled the world? It is impossible to forget the once regal power of Asia in fostering the highest human progress. In Asia as in Egypt were taken the first steps in human civilization and learning. It is to Asia we trace all those great religions that have controlled the centuries -the Vedantic, the Buddhist, the Hebrew, the Christian, and the Mohammedan; and it is also the cradle in which were rocked the present progres

It

sive races of Europe. The advantages were all on its soil. Religion, learning and culture were regnant. It gave wisdom to Greece; was the home of philosophy, and took the first steps in the science of observation.

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"The earliest Greek writers (in Ionia) were all," according to Mr. Baldwin in his "Prehistoric Races," "natives of Asia Minor or representatives of its culture. Homer was born and educated there; Hesiod's parentage and literary training were both Ionian; Archilochus, the first Greek who composed Iambic verses according to fixed rules,' was born on that coast in the eighth century before Christ, and had a fame, 'second only to that of Homer.' There appeared the first development of what has been called the 'Greek Philosophy,' and Herodotus tells us that Thales, the father of Greek Philosophy,' was' of Phoenician extraction ;' he was born at Miletus in the seventh century before Christ. Pythagoras was a native of Samos, one of the most important Ionian cities. All the early historians who wrote in Greek, were born and educated in Asia Minor; Herodotus was a native of Helicarnassus; Hecatæus was a native of Miletus; Tyrtæus, born at Miletus nearly seven hundred years before the Christian Era, was one of

those who carried Ionian culture to Athens; and in the same century appeared, on the Asiatic side of the Ægean, Terpander, Alcman, Alcæus, Sappho, and other brilliant Grecian lyrists. In Asia Minor rose the most elegant and beautiful order of Greek architecture - the Ionic."

We are not now inquiring into the causes of the changes in Asia's greatness even while recognizing the fact. The splendor of the great continent is dimmed; her civilization is lost; her power is broken. Her mournful story is thus summed up; "her history presents an unceasing repetition of barbaric invasions instigated by the love of plunder, which swept, wave after wave, over the most fertile and populous provinces where civilization and wealth had begun to appear, and left ruin and demoralization in their departing track."

It is the statement of Max Müller that "the most degraded jargons contain the ruins of former greatness and beauty," proving the possible degeneracy of language. Prescott declares the architecture of a people the surest test of their civilization. Judged by such a standard even Nineveh is open to the light. Layard has recorded that "in Assyria, as in Egypt, the arts do not appear to have advanced after the construction of the earliest edi