172 SOCIAL HEREDITY AND SOCIAL EVOLUTION 



glory waned as soon as Alexander made himself her 

 master. 



The Romans too belonged to the Aryan race and 

 owed their strength during the time of Rome's vigor 

 to the type of men that resulted from a refusal to be 

 servilely obedient to any one power. In its early days 

 Rome was nominally ruled by kings, but kings of 

 limited power and short history. During the period 

 of its growth into the mighty world nation, its lead- 

 ers were constantly elective, and hence were men 

 capable of leading and ruling. The highest office 

 was open to the ambitions of all, and every Roman 

 citizen felt the possibility of becoming a leader. The 

 attempt was early made to separate the Roman 

 people into two classes in accordance with their 

 wealth. But the people refused such a division, and 

 during the early history of the nation, during the 

 time when its power was expanding, this constant 

 unrest of the people was manifest, as shown by the 

 long series of struggles between the patricians and 

 plebeians. As long as this condition for individual 

 equality continued, the nation continued to grow 

 and retain its pristine vigor. But its success as a 

 war nation created an army, and as the army became 

 its ruler in later years, the original vigor of the race 

 disappeared. Nominally, even in the later history of 

 this nation, the emperor was elective, as he had 

 been originally in all the Aryan races ; but the army 

 comprised the electors, and the Roman army, not the 

 people, ruled the Roman empire. From that moment 

 its power as a nation declined. The dominant influ- 

 ence of the army led to the same conditions that are 

 found under the despotism of the Oriental nations. 

 It brought about corruption and led to all of the evils 



