SOCIOLOGY AND HERO-WORSHIP 



unrivalled power been thrown in that direction. 

 But granting that this general course of devel- 

 opment was inevitable, the future course of 

 European history was certainly very different, 

 as initiated by Caesar, from what it would have 

 been if initiated by Sulla or Pompeius. When 

 once this distinction between the standpoint of 

 the sociologist and the standpoint of the his- 

 torian is thoroughly grasped, one can find no 

 difficulty in comprehending Mr. Spencer's atti- 

 tude toward the great-man theory. If the pur- 

 pose of the sociologist were to construct concrete 

 history from an a -priori point of view, then he 

 would undoubtedly need to inquire into the 

 mode of genesis of each individual genius, and 

 to take every one of its peculiarities into the 

 account. No such science as this is possible to- 

 day, and it is not likely that any such science 

 will ever be possible ; nothing short of omni- 

 science could compass its problems. As it is, 

 the task of the sociologist is confined to the as- 

 certainment of truths relating to the actions of 

 men in aggregates. It is for the historian to 

 make use of such general truths in interpreting 

 the actions of particular men ; and it is the greater 

 extent to which recent historians have been able 

 to employ sociological generalization that is 

 making the historical writing of to-day so much 

 more satisfactory and profound than the his- 

 torical writing of a generation ago. This in- 

 181 



