180 COSMOS. 



UNIVERSAL DOMINION OF THE ROMANS INFLUENCE OF A VAST PO- 

 LITICAL UNION ON COSMICAL VIEWS. ADVANCE OF GEOGRAPHY 

 BY MEANS OF INLAND TRADE. STRABO AND PTOLEMY.-THE FIRST 

 ATTEMPTS TO APPLY MATHEMATICS TO OPTICS AND CHEMISTRY. 

 PLINY'S ATTEMPTS TO GIVE A PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE UNI- 

 VERSE. THE RISE OF CHRISTIANITY PRODUCTIVE OF, AND FAVOR- 

 ABLE TO, THE FEELING OF THE UNITY OF MANKIND. 



IN tracing the intellectual advance of mankind and the 

 gradual extension of cosmical views, the period of the uni- 

 versal dominion of the Romans presents itself to our consider- 

 ation as one of the most important epochs in the history of the 

 world. We now, for the first time, find all the fruitful dis- 

 tricts which surround the basin of the Mediterranean asso- 

 ciated together in one great bond of political union, and even 

 connected with many vast territories in the East. 



The present would seern a fitting place again to remind my 

 readers* that the general picture I have endeavored to draw 

 of the history of the contemplation of the universe acquires, 

 from this condition of political azsociation, an objective unity 

 of presentation. Our civilization, understanding the term as 

 being synonymous with the intellectual development of all the 

 nations included in the European Contineut, may be regarded 

 as based on that of the inhabitants of the shores of the Medi- 

 terranean, and more directly on that of the Greeks and Ro- 

 mans. That which we, perhaps too exclusively, term classical 

 literature, received the appellation from the fact of its being 

 recognized as the source of a great portion of our early knowl- 

 edge, and as the means by which the first impulse was awak- 

 ened in the human mind to enter upon a sphere of ideas and 

 feelings most intimately connected with the social and intel- 

 lectual elevation of the different races of men.t In these 

 considerations we do not by any means disregard the import- 

 ance of those elements which have flowed in a variety of dif- 

 ierent directions from the Valley of the Nile, Phoenicia, the 

 Euphrates, and the Indus, into the great stream of Greek and 

 Roman civilization ; but even for these elements we are orig- 

 inally indebted to the Greeks arid to the Romans, who were 

 surrounded by Etruscans and other nations of Hellenic de- 

 scent. How recent is the date of any direct investigation, 

 interpretation, and secular classification of the great monu- 

 ments of rnore anciently civilized nations ! How short is the 

 time that has elapsed since hieroglyphics and arrow-headed 



* See ante, p. 110, 113, 117, and 141. 



t Wilhelm von Humboldt, Ueber die Kawi-Sprache, bd. i., s. xxxvii 



