SCIENCE AND REVOLUTION 



quirements of the Roman empire, that it was sim- 

 ply adopted ready-made. But it was by no means 

 improved upon. For the thinkers of Rome little 

 understood the historical conditions out of which 

 this philosophy had been evolved. The works of 

 men like Lucretius and Cicero were either dreamy 

 reflections of the scientific systems of their Gre- 

 i cian masters, or muddled by the instincts of the 

 social class to which the philosophers of Rome 

 belonged. 



The Roman world never arrived at an inde- 

 pendent philosophy. No sooner had the Roman 

 emperors taken their seats, than they were called 

 upon to put down rebellions at home and abroad, 

 and to devote the resources of their empire to the 

 maintenance of huge armies. Under these cir- 

 cumstances, science had to give precedence to 

 epics and historical works. Philosophy lived on 

 as a Grecian product. And in proportion as the 

 Roman world disintegrated under the baneful ef- 

 fects of unprofitable slave labor and barbarian 

 attacks, it created an environment in which the 

 warrior survived over the thinker. The mental 

 life of the masses, which had at no time risen 

 above the barbarian level, dragged along in this 

 deep furrow, and the more the dissolution of the 

 Roman empire proceeded, the farther did the in- 



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