The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1912-08-25
IS WORLD BETTER
THAN IN OLD TIMES?
FerrerO Writes on Life of
the Ancients
HAD FEWER VICES
Romans Did Not Drink Strong Wines
and They Had Never Even
Heard of Coffee, Tea
or Tobacco

GuglielmO Ferrero in HearstS Magazine.
But If we are more courageous and
|. more humane than the ancents, we are
not, unfortunately, either more sober or
more temperate. In this respect the an
cient world, as 1t appears in history, cuts
far better figure than our own. Here
we have dege nerated. We moderns eat
and drink too much; we use alcohol and
stmulants to excess.
The ancients knew no other ntoxcants
than wine and beer, and their wine they
always drank diluted with water; they
knew nothing about alcoholic liquors,
which in our day have so greatly multi
piled and grown in popular favor. They
bad never heard of tea or coffee, nor had
they discovered tobacco.
We may fairly say that drunkenness
was an extremely rare vice In the ancient
world, just frugaity and temperance
were common virtues. For it will not do
to take too seriously the rich mems or
gies so often alluded to by ancient writ
ers-especially the Latins-the banquets
where we are told dishes of nightingales
tongues were served, and men drank
liauehed pearls These stories match the
legends one hears in Europe about
american corruption" and spring from
the identical source They represent the
exaggerated and violent reaction of an
cient Puritanism against the normal adj
vance of luxury, and against the inevita-
BILE moral slackening that always accom-
panies the growth of wealth.
Ancient Banquets Were Modest
When the dispassionate and unpreju-
diced European observer examines
american corruption at close range he
readily sees that the hgh-soundinS
.t.4..
defects and fraities, of course repre-
hensible. but common to all modern civil
ization and not peculiar to America So,
too, if by MIRAGE we could have looked
In on those celebrated Roman orgies and
banquets about which there has been
so much noise we should find that they
were very modest affairs indeed when
compared with the sumptuousness of
modern banuuets.
As for sobriety and temperance then,
1t is entirely in order for us to have a
regard for our ancestors.
And what of purity of public morals?
This is a more difficult question to an
swer--indeed | should call it almost UNI
answerable. For my part at least, | do
not feel in a position to clear it UP. Judg
ing by Greco-Iatin literature and art one
would say that except in few locali
ties and certain epochs such as the CEN
turtles when Rome was dominated by a
Puritanical aristocracy, the public morals
of both men and women were extremely
free and easy But literature and art are
often enough misleading guides to the
public morals of period, for while vice,
crime and depravity offend the moral
sense, they are far more interesting than
virtue and righteousness as materials for
artistic treatment. Literature and art in
cline to the exceptional and the dram
attic.
Vice Is Really More Interesting
To Judge the moral standards of an
epoch by its literature and art. one would
have to know how far the crimes and
vices described or selected as subjects
for artistic treatment were general
which the rule and which the exception.
Ind how is one going to do that?
Take Paris. From your judgment of
Paris from novels and plays about Pa
rsan life you will conclude that the
French metropolis spends its whole time
in amorous adventure. But any one who
really knows Paris. knows, as he might
easily have inferred priori, that love
fills a much smaller place In the citys
life than 1t does in it's literature. and
that writer's, dramatists and novelists
alike have a way of working amorous
adventures because they get over the
footlghts better than the fight for money,
rival political ambitions or the tribula-
tions of the intellectual life.
Furthermore. when one comes to APP
praise the public morals of an epoch or
OF a people. one dare not forget that that
epoch or people is not the most depraved
In which lamentations against depravity
are loudest Quite the contrary Often
enough the epochs which most lament
their own vices are those in which the
moral conscience is still vital and robust
wherefore the protests against evil, while
those that are silent and have the look
of superior virtue are frequently those
that have fallen to such a low moral
level that they are Indifferent to vice.
Less Distinction Between Classes
The distinction between rich and poor
was far less marked in the ancient world
thar in ours. And this Is possibly the
most singular and important point of diff
ference between the ancient and modern
worlds The idea of the moral equality
of men--as sons of God all--sprang from
Christianity. The ideas of social and po-
litical equality promulgated by the
French revolution have in our day taken
the meaning out of the ancient class, re-
ligious and even national distinction to
| a certain extent.
| To offset this. however. modern society
ranges itself In a hierarchy of wealth. II
4 today all men theoretically consider them
selves equals they nevertheless try indi-
! v,dually to live with people who have
| equal wealth and can therefore indulge
| in similar habits. Precisely because the
| modern world is so rich and enjoys such
| luxury, it's manner of living varies great
| lv with the millionaire, the wealthy and
| the moderately well to do. And as with
! the manner of living, so with tastes and
| inclination. Now we all know that diff
| ferences or likenesses of tastes and IN
! clination are the things that lead or pre-