158 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



power of mediation between supernatural powers 

 and the world. This religious headship gave to him 

 a power even greater than that obtained by his 

 social and military leadership. In all ages men have 

 been more easily led by supernatural fears and hopes 

 than by those that concern the affairs of the world, 

 as most forcibly when King Henry went a suppliant 

 to Canossa. When these two sources of power were 

 combined, and the early king was regarded both as 

 the father who owned the nation and the king who 

 could mediate between his people and their gods, the 

 inevitable result was that such monarchs acquired 

 absolute authority. 



The result of such conditions was the rapid organ- 

 ization of monarchies and a tremendous impetus 

 toward concentration. The greater the power of the 

 leader, the greater was the reverence he inspired, 

 and hence the closer the union of the individuals 

 under him. The patriarchal system became thus a 

 most powerful influence leading toward organization. 

 The reverence it inspired united all men who recog- 

 nized one individual as their leader, and brought 

 them a united band to his support. It gave the sub- 

 jects a valor which made them at all times willing to 

 sacrifice their own lives for the advantage of this 

 social and religious head. It was, in early ages, the 

 greatest force toward advance. Without organiza- 

 tion civilization could not have developed, and organ- 

 ization grew with the association of men into larger 

 and more concentrated bands. Unless autocratic 

 power had been possible in the hands of some indi- 

 viduals, such concentration would have been difficult 

 or impossible. It was this subservience to the cen- 

 tral head, this feeling of his religious as well as his 



