THE DECLINE OF ANCIENT LEARNING 45 



incident to a luxurious standard of living. Disease, partic- 

 ularly malaria, 3 and soil-exhaustion, along with the unwhole- 

 some economic conditions of slavery and of an over-devel- 

 oped urban life, were environmental factors that contrib- 

 uted to the decadence alike of ideals and of physical vigor. 4 

 Rome squandered the accumulated savings of the earlier 

 Mediterranean civilizations, and when the bank was empty 

 she possessed neither the racial stamina nor the material 

 resources to longer resist the barbarians. Appreciation of 

 the significance of scientific knowledge in the perpetuation 

 of any civilization might have saved the day. But if we of 

 the twentieth century fail to appreciate the possibilities 

 involved in man's squandering of the resources accumulated 

 by nature during millions of years, and also the signs of our 

 own deterioration, we need not marvel that Rome did not 

 appreciate the possibilities inherent in the scientific achieve- 

 ments of the ancient world. 5 



Having thus recognized the decline of science as an inci- 

 dent in the collapse of the Greco-Roman culture and not 

 primarily due to the advent of a new religion, the specific 

 influence of Christianity may be considered. The fact to be 

 grasped at the outset is that the actual teachings of Jesus 

 were ethical, not theological. What we have long designated 

 as Christianity is in many respects a direct inheritance from 

 paganism. The spread of its initial doctrines was due to 

 their ethical idealism and to the appeal which the promise of 

 a future life made to the afflicted and oppressed. Reorgani- 

 zation of society was proposed. Slavery was to be abolished, 

 charity was created, self-sacrifice was inculcated. The 

 brotherhood of all mankind was proclaimed. The unifica- 



3 Jones, W. H. S., "Malaria: A Neglected Factor in the History of Greece 

 and Rome." 



4 Ferrero, Guglielmo, "The Greatness and Decline of Rome." The evils 

 of Rome's excessive urbanization are here set forth at length. 



5 Ferrero, Guglielmo, "Ancient Rome and Modern America." The parallel 

 between the urbanization in Rome and in the United States of America is 

 here discussed in an interesting, if not wholly convincing, manner. 



