THE DECLINE OF ANCIENT LEARNING 43 



religious atmosphere of Babylonia retarded its growth, so the 

 religious beliefs and practices of the early Christian cen- 

 turies may have possessed qualities unfavorable or even 

 hostile to the scientific spirit. 



It has been widely believed, among those interested in 

 science, that the advent of Christian dogma was mainly 

 responsible for the decline of the ancient spirit of investiga- 

 tion. It is certainly true that the intellectual atmosphere, 

 which came into existence during the first centuries of our 

 era and which culminated in the Dark Ages, was one in which 

 the rational analysis of natural phenomena became almost 

 an impossibility. But there were many factors involved. 

 Fundamental social changes were in progress, in the face of 

 which the decline of science cannot have been solely due to 

 dogmatic theology. The internal decay of the Roman Em- 

 pire, the gradual change in the population from Roman and 

 classical to Teutonic and Christian, were important factors 

 in addition to the antagonism of Christianity to pagan cul- 

 ture. The barbarian invasions of the fifth and sixth cen- 

 turies tended to obliterate the heritage of ancient learning. 

 The intellectual backwardness of the Teutonic invaders, 

 reinforced by the animosity of the Church, but gave the 

 death blow to a culture which had already lost its initial 

 inspiration and vitality. 1 



The decline of science was but one aspect of the collapse of 

 the Roman world. The entire social and economic situation 

 must be taken into account. The period of the Hannibalic 

 or Second Punic War (218-202 b. c.) may be regarded as the 

 summit of Rome's spiritual achievement. Conquest and 

 material greatness came in the centuries which followed. 

 But the seeds of an internal decay had germinated before the 

 opening century of the Christian Era. As we have seen, the 

 Romans made no important additions to the intellectual 

 legacy which they derived from the earlier civilizations, 



1 Uhlhorn, G., "The Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism." Also: 

 Taylor, H. O., "The Classical Heritage of the Middle Ages." 



