Evening star., 1924-09-30
NEW BOOKS
AT RANDOM
SEA POWER IN ANCIENT HISTORY.
Arthur MacCartney Shepard. Lit
tie BROWN a. 20


tie, Brown & Co.
The past becomes luminous and use
full precisely in the measure to which
1t Is brought forward alive and set
down before US in features resem-
bling those that mark cur own pres
ent, In problems not greatly differ
ent from our own. This Is the living
thread Of history. constant in funda-
mentals Of fact and sequence. This is
the line along which general interest
is ever fresh, where meanings are
simple and lessons clear. The rest Of
history Is for the student, curious
about far origins, and fitful growths.
and strange departures. and faint
surVivals, and elusive relationships,
and the abstract philosophic outlook
upon the progress Of mankind. 1t is
one or the living chapters out of the
past that in Sea Power in Ancient
History" Arthur MacCartney Shep-
ard moves forward into a place be-
side the question Of sea power in the
present.
Every book perpetrated in these
epidemic days Of authorship should
be required by law to frame sound
justification for its descent upon a
defenseless public. Mr.. Shepard an
NfSAP0SSo Nihlc Edluldly TtIOTIn Dy d
justification not only sound, but one
that offers, besides. a distinct lure
to readers. both those of the student
type and the larger class Of outfarers
into all fields Of general interest and
common concern
Sea power today and sea power
among the ancients are, in essence
identical. That is, they are identical
IN fundamentals. SO this author says,
and 1t is along this line that he sets
the general course OF the study in
hand. His sound justification for the
story is based upon this claim, one
that proved, gives his book an un-
questionable place Of importance and
interest in the modern outlook upon
history. A large claim, though, and
upon its face a doubtful one. For
has not the world progressed might
iy since those ancient days? Has
not science in this long and active
interim SO multiplied the art Of ma
terial progress as to change the very
face OF nature itself? Not quite. That
is one Of the things which science
has not done, not yet materially
changed the face of nature. And it is
this geographic stability of the good,
old earth that, clear up to the present
time. has made the Fundamentals of
sea power what they have ever been.
What they were when the first ad-
venturing peoples Of recorded history
sailed out into the adjacent waters
that were at once protection. oppor-
tunity, menace. In proof Mr.. Shepard
links that far past with our own i'm
mediate present He brings it right
up to the naval armament reduction
conference OF 1921, in order to let US
see that the ancients and the moderns
"a
one in the spirit animating their re-
spective maritime activities. A dra-
matte and illuminating conjunction,
this, calculated to lift the past p, a
new Importance, to supply the pres
ent with vital meaning, to project
the future in line OF logical devel-
opment as against simply erratic
and fortuitous advance.
Upon this single but vital funda-
mental the author builds in adequate
detail the multitudinous changes in
method, in the means to reach a de-
sired end. that have attended the
enormous strides Of science, that
have followed upon the growth of
mankind in complexity of life and
toward a larger conception of che es-
sential unity of all the peoples of the
earth.
To those having a mind for il there
Is here, besides, a Fascinating and
profitable line of comparison and con-
trast set up between the mere me-
chanics Of the old sea craft and the
new. revealing in those primitive in
ventions the seed of what have come
to be the present marvels OF con-
struction whose purpose. nation by
nation. is that sea power which early
man sought and seized, which he held
or lost either to the rise of great
peoples on the one hand or to their de-
cay and submergence on the other.
All preliminary matter, this, to the
business OF the story itself. Alto
gether essential matter. neverthe-
less For it not only gives a good
accounting OF much that would other
wise be held as plainly arbitrary and
unaccountable, but it sounds a call
to keen interest. IL enmesheS ones
curiosity and whets ones appetite
for the story itself. An old, old
story, so we thought, probably a dry
story. go VIC feared. In effect, hap
PLY, neither old nor dry. AS new,
instead, as the still unbelievable air
ship, as succulent as the morning. s
news on the great fleets lowering
around the shores of the wide world
itself.
Now for the story itself, about
which one needs to say little. For. II
a man knows enough to lay foun-
dation such as this, SO rooted in
sense of the unity Of mans life and
growth, so grounded in the truth
that we of the present must have old
knowledge supplied in such stable
features and problems as most nearly
resemble those Of our own time, and
If that man is able to set that roun-
dation in words and phrases and
sentences that make pictures all
moving along in a line before one
why. that man can be counted on to
tell a high and romantic story in a
high and romantic manner. AND
that is Just the way he does tell this
story. even though it be the authenti-
the sober annals Of an ancient
people.
So here is the story OF certain
great seafanng nations OF the past;
Greece and Rome the chief of these;
Phoenicia and Carthage contributing
to the main development Of sea pow
er. Each of these in it's time and
place is set down. Then the causes
that led each to fare out upon the
waters till the sea became its prov
ince, its means Of growth. Other sea-
bordering peoples laid a similar
course. Then conf1ict-sea wars. with
their victories and defeats-all are
set down here by name and date, and
circumstance and effect. You know
these names, some of them, for your
histories have gone over them for
YOU. And, while this book is history
owns up to it; indeed, makes the
claim straight-you will read it in
the spirit of adventure. adventure
that is true. And the tremendous
business of claiming the sea and
holding it went on. The claim NOV
ing out into trade and increasing con-
facts and growing civilization. The
holding of the sea eliminating in