cu. XVIII.] THE EVOLUTION OF SOCIETY. 217 



which may be compared to those lowly organisms made up 

 by the union of auiceba-like units with but little specializa- 

 tion of structure or function. At this stage social organi- 

 zation is but one step removed from that absolute and 

 ferocious anarchy which characterizes the non-social life of 

 ^ brutes. " JMistrust, jealousy, secret ambushes, and implacable 

 vengeances" characterize the mutual relations of these social 

 " aggregates of the first order." Hostility ir, the rule, and 

 peace the exception. The repulsive forces are stronger and 

 the cohesive forces weaker than at any subsequent period. 

 As we have seen above, the selfish impulses which tend to 

 maintain savage isolation are as yet unchecked save by 

 instinctive loyalty within the tribal limits. 



The coalescence of such tribes into civic communities is 

 the formation of social " aggregates of the second order." 

 For a long time these higher aggregates retain conspicuous 

 traces of their mode of composition, as in Greece and Kome,^ 

 until increasing social heterogeneity obliterates the original 

 lines of demarcation ; while new divisions spring up, result- 

 ing from the integration of like parts, as is seen in the guilds 

 of mediaeval Europe, and still better in the localization of 

 industries which marks the present time. 



The coalescence of civic and tribal communities into the 

 nation — an " aggregate of the third order " — is well exem- 

 plified in the history of France, which, from a disorderly 

 collection of independent baronies, has passed by well- 

 defined transitions into a perfectly integral nation. The 

 attainment of this stage is indispensable to a career 

 of permanent progress. As hinted above, the premature 

 overthrow of the Hellenic political system is to be attributed 



* The structure of the Amphiktyonic union shows "that the system ot 

 cities with which we are so familiar in Grecian history grew out y.{ an earlier 

 system of tribes." Freeman, Co7n2Ja/-ative Politics, 'p. 88. Further evidence, 

 in abundance, maj' be found in the succeeding pages of that excellent hook, 

 which reads, from beginning to end, almost like a commentary upon this 

 chapter. 



