CONDITIONS OF PROGRESS 



explanation of the immobility of Egypt, China, 

 Peru, and Mexico ; and with some further quali- 

 fications an analogous case might be made out 

 for Assyria and Northern India. But no such 

 early cessation of competition could have oc- 

 curred in the case of our Aryan forefathers. 

 Little as we know concerning the circumstances 

 of their prehistoric development, we know at 

 least that it took place on the great highway be- 

 tween the teeming mainland of Asia and the 

 coveted peninsula of Europe. In this swarming 

 region there was kept up until quite recent times 

 that intense competition of tribe with tribe which 

 had all but died out in Egypt and China before 

 the dawn of history. All this entailed for each 

 winning tribe a greater heterogeneity of environ- 

 ment than in any other instance. Under such 

 circumstances uniformity could hardly have car- 

 ried the day so far as to crush out flexibility. 

 Continual change of foes to be overcome, and 

 of natural obstacles to be surmounted, must have 

 given the advantage at last to those tribes which 

 had gained enough uniformity to ensure con- 

 certed action, without sacrificing their versatility 

 of mind in the process. 



To some such considerations as these we 

 must look for the partial explanation of the fact 

 that at the beginnings of recorded history we 

 find in the European Aryans all the essential 

 elements of progressiveness. The continuance 



35 



