THE DECLINE OF ANCIENT LEARNING 49 



the final steps in the obliteration of the ancient spirit of 

 rationalism. There are also instances of opposition, by 

 whole groups of individuals, to this spread of blind faith 

 with its consequent ignorance. Gnosticism, although not, 

 as is often erroneously supposed because of its name, a 

 creed of the efficacy of natural knowledge, was nevertheless 

 more acceptable than Christianity to individuals of scientific 

 mind, in Alexandria and elsewhere. But eventually these 

 opposing beliefs seem only to have hastened the consolida- 

 tion of doctrines which triumphed as the Christianity of 

 Rome and of Constantinople. Thus it appears that early 

 Christian theology was antagonistic to scientific thought and 

 knowledge and, while not the sole cause of the decline of 

 science, helped to bring about an age of ignorance. 



THE DARK AGES OF SCIENCE 



The period from the close of the fifth century to the begin- 

 ning of the Renaissance in Italy was one of gradual assimila- 

 tion into the life of western Europe of new forces and 

 factors. The Teutonic invaders, who had overrun the 

 western portion of the Roman Empire, were on a cultural 

 level not much above the best of the North American 

 aborigines. They and their culture became, for the time 

 being, the dominant factor in the western world. Greece and 

 Rome, Christianity and the Teutonic barbarians were the 

 immediate sources of our western civilization. The impor- 

 tant service of the Church, which is not always recognized, 

 was her influence upon the barbarians. Christianity became 

 the intellectual power of the world. The Church was mainly 

 responsible, despite other influences, for the gradual re- 

 construction of society, which made possible the return to 

 scientific thinking. "To make out of the barbarized sixth 

 century, stagnant and fragmentary, with little common life, 

 without ideals or enthusiasms, the fifteenth century in full 

 possession again of a common world civilization, keen, 



