64 AMONG THE GREEKS. 



in the successive appearance of different forms of 

 life. His nearest approach to true Evolution teach- 

 ing was in his account of the development of the 

 faculties and arts among the races of men. In 

 shutting out Aristotle and his view of Nature, he 

 excluded the only Greek who came near the mod- 

 ern idea of descent of higher forms from lower. 

 The animals and plants of Lucretius arise full- 

 formed direct from the earth. This is not Evolu- 

 tion, yet it plays an important part in the later 

 history of the idea. Views not unlike these were 

 revived as late as the eighteenth century. 



Although a Roman, Lucretius was virtually a 

 Greek in his natural philosophy. He terminated 

 a period of thought, and in his poem summed up 

 all the non-Aristotelian teachings in a pure form. 

 After him the Greek ideas were grafted upon 

 Arabic and Christian philosophy and science. 

 This is, therefore, the point at which to consider 

 what were the Greek legacies to their followers. 



The Legacy of the Greeks. 



The first element in the legacy of the Greeks 

 was their scientific curiosity, their desire to find a 

 natural explanation for the origin and existence of 

 things. This is by no means a universal character- 

 istic of the human mind, for we know that many 

 Eastern races are wholly devoid of it, and have 

 made no scientific progress. The ground motive 



