The 

 Human 

 Harvest 



Renjersal 

 of selec- 

 tion in 

 Rome 



[^4] 



circumstance of war. The individuality of 

 men was lost in the aggrandizement of the 

 few. Independence was swallowed up in 

 ambition, patriotism came to have a new 

 meaning. It was transferred from the hearth 

 and home to the trail of the army. 



It does not matter to us now what were 

 the details of the subsequent history of 

 Rome. We have now to consider only a sin- 

 gle factor. In science this factor is known 

 as "reversal of selection." " Send forth the 

 best ye breed ! " That was the word of the 

 Roman war-call. And the spirit of Domi- 

 nation took these words literally, and the 

 best were sent forth. In the conquests of 

 Rome, Vir^ the real man, went forth to battle 

 and to the work of foreign invasion; Homo^ 

 the human being, remained in the farm and 

 the workshop and begat the new genera- 

 tions. Thus "Vir gave place to Homo." 

 The sons of real men gave place to the sons 

 of scullions, stable-boys, slaves, camp-fol- 

 lowers, and the riff-raff of those the great, 

 victorious army cannot use but does not 

 exclude. 



The fall of Rome was not due to luxury. 



