GREAT MEN OF ANCIENT TIMES. 125 



We have confirmation of this in Arnold's Light of Asia, in which 

 the father is spoken of as being an old man. 



MOHAMMED. 



Mohammed, born in 570, was the son of Abdaliah, born in 

 545, consequently Mohammed comes in class b and, with the 

 exception of Napoleon, is the only really great man born so low in 

 the scale. When we look further into- his ancestry we find that 

 Abdaliah was the tenth son of Abd al Muttalib, born before 499, 

 son of Hashim, who was the youngest son of Abd Menaf, who 

 was the youngest son of Cossai. We also find that Hashim was 

 advanced in years when he married Salma, who was a woman of 

 much character and of mature years, who had been previously 

 married and who had two sons. Although Mohammed was born 

 in class b, his father comes in class A, and perhaps is one of the 

 sub-classes, and all of the other known births are also of high 

 rank. We have only to assume that his mother was also well born 

 to have all the elements necessary to account for his greatness 

 in spite of the comparative youth of his father. That Abdaliah 

 was more than ordinarily developed for his years we learn from 

 the statement that he was a merchant on his own responsibility, 

 and that he died two months after the birth of Mohammed. 



GREECE AND ROME IN ANCIENT AND MODERN TIMES. 



In Southern Europe, at the present day, men and women mature 

 early, marry early, have children in early life, and are worn out 

 at an age when they should be in robust health. While this is 

 what happens now, such was not the case when Greece and Rome 

 produced the men who have been the wonders of the world during 

 the past 2,000 years. The difference between the mental ability 

 of the modern Greek and Italian, and that of those who flourished 



