THE PATH OF EVOLUTION 



CHAPTER I 



THE DOWNFALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE 

 WEST AND THE EXTINCTION OF LEARNING 

 THE OPENING OF THE SCHOOLS BY CHARLE- 

 MAGNE THE ARABIAN AND THE JEWISH PHIL- 

 OSOPHY. 



" The tower that had long stood 

 The crush of thunder and the warring winds, 

 Shook by the slow but sure destroyer Time, 

 Now hangs in doubtful ruins o'er its base, 

 And flinty paramids and walls of brass 

 Descend. The Babylonian spires are sunk ; 

 Achaia, Rome and Egypt moulder down. 

 Time shakes the stable tyranny of thrones, 

 And tottering empires rush by their own weight." * 



THE empire of Rome, with its civilization and its 

 learning, was far advanced on the downward path to 

 its ultimate ruin when, in 325, Constantine accepted 

 Christianity as the official religion of the State. The 

 city of Rome had ceased in Diocletian's time to be 

 nominally the seat of government. In 330 Constan- 

 tine established the Imperial City to which he gave 



* John Armstrong. 170*8-1778. 



I 



