102 FURTHER THOUGHTS ON EDUCATION: 
the knowledge of the heavenly bodies and the celestial machinery, 
by the Chaldee ; the familiarity with the healing properties of many 
a plant and herb, by the Hebrews ; the skill of the Tyrian artificer ; 
the enterprise of the Pheenician mariner; the geometry of Euclid ; 
the mechanical skill of Archimedes ; together with the vast works of 
art which commemorate the power and resources of the Roman empire, 
all bear witness to the great activity of the intellectual faculties, and 
to the influence they exerted, in remote days. Again, the moral 
precepts inculcated by the sages of Greece, with the codes of laws 
compiled by her legislators ; the uncompromising virtue advocated 
in the early commonwealth of Rome ; and the struggles against the 
inroads of vice and ignorance made by some of her poets and histo- 
rians, during her transition to the imperial despotism ; the ethics of 
Confucius ; and even the purer parts of the Persian and Hindoo 
mythology, all testify of the passions and feelings which then influ- 
enced society, and of the necessity which was then acknowledged of 
endeavouring to control those passions by other than physical force. 
The subversion of all order, the utter neglect of every civilizing 
science, during the long reign of rapine and violence which suc- 
ceeded the general irruption of the northern barbarians, all but an- 
nihilated letters, and effectually checked, for many ages, the advance 
of intellectual improvement. It is probable, indeed, that but for 
the influence which religion is found to possess over the human 
mind, that little or nothing would have been preserved in connection 
with the records and traditions of former days. The faculty of ve- 
neration taught the rude savage to respect the ordinances, and even 
the ministers, of religion. Superstitious dread frequently withheld 
the desecrating hand ; and the ruthless destroyer, who scorned alike 
fear and mercy, was often found shrinking beneath the terrors of 
supposed supernatural agency. Thus the cloistered cell, the cave of 
the anchorite, the wandering pilgrim, and even the deluded fanatic, 
became the repositories of the wisdom and the experience of past 
years. When at length the clouds of ignorance were dispersed, and 
the light of knowledge again dawned upon the world, many a dor- 
mant seed began to germinate, spreading wide its roots through the 
heretofore barren soil, and enriching the intellectual garden with 
many a bright blossom. Science was revived. Knowledge asserted 
its ascendancy. The arts prospered. Social intercourse, and the 
reciprocal dependance of communities on each other, were promoted. 
The deformity, the empty pageant, and the hypocritical austerities 
of religion were exposed. Its ameliorating influence was given free 
scope for exercise. Civilization advanced with rapid strides. By 
