48 BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON 



character, and a moral and social idealism of the most 

 admirable and advanced description. 



In such a work as this it is necessary to refer 

 sometimes to Mr. H. G. Wells's Outline of History. 

 It is a masterpiece of historical writing on the broader 

 scale. No previous "history of the world" can 

 compare with it — in spite of the reputation of the 

 authors as professional historians — in grasp of the 

 real conditions of the procession of history and in 

 breadth of vision. 



But among the errors which inevitably occur, as 

 Mr. Wells freely acknowledges, there is one of grave 

 importance which this little sketch may help to 

 correct. In his eagerness to avoid the bias which his 

 Rationalist views might give, and do full justice to 

 Christianity, Mr. Wells has run to the other extreme. 

 He has fallen under the influence of the old fairy tale 

 of a world lying in darkness and the shadow of death 

 before Christ came. He is quite unjust to the ancient 

 civilizations, particularly Babylonia, Greece, and 

 Rome. He makes the singular mistake of repeating 

 that there was no " God of righteousness " until 

 Hebrew and Christian literature appeared, and he 

 omits some of the finest features of the older civiliza- 

 tions. He would say that this is only a question of 

 difference of estimate between himself and me — 

 certainly he is the last man to be accused of prejudice 

 — but the reader may find that the facts given here in 

 regard to the ancient empires and republics make a 

 material difference in the story of mankind. 



For my purpose it is enough almost to confine 

 myself to two points : the origin of each civilization 

 and the height of culture which it reached. The 

 actual course of evolution is much the same in all 



