The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-01-01

There was something sing marry SOiSi'Ah
in the sound of the bells that, last night,
welcomed throughout Christendom the
presence. not merely of a new year, but
of another century.
The recorded life of the world is reck-
oned by centuries. As birthday in the
career of ar Individual, therefore. so to-
day is in the existence of the human race
As we enter the portals of this new era, it
is natural that we pause moment on Its
threshold to cast a glance backward on
our progress since the dawn of ciyiliza-
tion; on the battles. sieges, fortunes Of
mankind. that we may estimate the ad-
vancement we have made, and speculate
on the possibility of still happier future
certain great writer. perhaps the one
whose influence has been most generally
felt among English speaking peoples in
the age that has just passed, speaks Of
witnessing a ballet, under the title of
"Prometheus," in which som hundred or
two of men and women represented our
mortal race before the refnements of the
arts and sciences and loves and graces
came on earth to soften them. He de-
scribes the dropping monotony; the
weary, miserable. listIess, mcping life
thus depicted; the sordid passions of hui
man creatures, destitute of those elevat-
ing influences to which we owe so much,
and to whose promoters we render so lit
tie.
The evolution of the civilized man has
been gradual We find in the wilds Of
New Zealand. at the present day, coun-
terparts of the aboriginal human being.
and one among the foremost of modern
historians has predicted that one of these
savages may, at some future day, stand
upon a broken arch of London Bridge to
sketch the ruins of st. Pauls."
In this prophecy we have, concretely
stated, the law that governs nations and
individuals; that applies. and has applied,
to all terrestrial things since the cTea-
ton OF the world-the law of change and
mutability. In obedience to this princi-
pie, governments have risen to power and
eminence, have flourished and decayed.
Where is now the knowledge that was
Egypt, the luxury that was Babylon,
1.-The glory that was Greece, and the gran
deur that was Rome?" Their cities nave
fallen to decay, their mighty conquerors
are but names, their proudest achieve
ments but shadows. Still, let it be re-
membered that our present age is indebt-
ed to these extinct nations for much of
its enlightenment and inspiration in all
that elevates and refines humanity.
The arts and sciences first achieved de-
velopment in Egypt, and were from
thence introduced and improved among
the Phoenicians, Assyrians Babylonians,
and Persians. The fine arts, however.
first attained their full perfection in
Greece. and the institutions and accom-
plishments of the Athenians became the
dominant influences in pagan civilization.
These influences still survived even when,
upon the decline of its political power,
Greece was subjugated by Rome, and the
tide of corruption which had engulfed the
state could not sully the grandeur and
beauty of the monuments Of Hellenic &C.
MUS Greece had left to all posterity
the immortal part of herself; the noblest
expression of the human intellect, the
loftiest aspirations of the human soul.
Then arose one of the greatest nations
the world has ever known. The suprem
acy of the Roman Empire marks the
apotheosis of pagan civilization. The spirit
of Greece lived again in Roman art and
literature; Roman legions penetrated and
subdued nearly every quarter OF the earth, !
until the surface OF most Of the Known |
globe resembled vast camp. The captive |
nations struggled fitfully, sometimes bril- |
liantly and heroicaily, for freedom, and !
the spirit of those rude peoples, who were |
destined to become eventually the domi- |
nant factors in modern civilization, was |
subdued rather than quelled.
Strange that the great pagan colossus !
was destined to transmit to the despised |
barbarian hordes those inspiring and ele- |
waiting influences which it had, in turn, |
received from Athens-stranger still, that |
II was destined TO become the cradle of |
Christianity. In the dark and tortuous |
mazes of the Catacombs lived the first !
Christian communities; in the arena of the |
Coliseum died the first Christian martyrs. |
The Fall of Rome.
At length Rome fell at the hands OF the |
Mortimer who had furnished it. in its
palmy days, with slaves and bondsmen. I
The removal Of the seat of government to
Constantinople was the signal for the |
downfall OF the western branch of the En- |
pire. Franks. Goths Yandals, visigoths, !
Ostrogoths. Alans. Huns. Lombards. Danes. |
and Normans. successfully swept like tor /
rents over the beautiful provinces OF ,
Rome. They conquered but = destroy. !
They demolished almost everything; for |
more than two centuries they built up |
nothing.
The first of these ravages "a D. 476). |
marks the commencement of that ;eriod |
oF history az hn sua
which may be said to have terminated |
with the fall OF the Roman Empire in the /
East. in 1853. During this dark and tur- /
bulent time occurred the commissions and !
labors attendant upon the evolution of our |
modern society and. as such. ii is natu- |
rally OF supreme interest and importance |
20 the modern historian.
The causes of the decline OF letters dur !
ing these centuries are sufficiently OBJ /
vious They are almost Identical with the i
agencies which gradually weakened and |
the West. for as the glory and vitality of |
the state paled so the light Of genius de-
clined.
From the year 400 TO the year 600 was a |
sad period for Europe. The first conquer
ors did not occupy the soil which they
had subdued; they pushed on to new con- |
quests, or rather TO new devastations. The
territory they had left was Immediately
invaded by another tribe more rapacious
than themselves; and thus pushing each
other on, as wave driving wave they COW
cred the face of Europe as with the waters
OF deluge of barbarism for centuries. II
was only after the apparently inexhausti-