200 RACE 



r'i 



had it not been protected by the courage of a 

 regiment of northmen the Varangian guard, 

 which was recruited from the shores of the 

 Baltic. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion 

 that Greece, like India, was energized during some 

 centuries by streams of northern immigrants, 

 whose blood in the days of Homer retained its 

 physical vitality, in later centuries, as in India, 

 could produce an intellectual ferment, but finally 

 became too attenuated to give changeful vigour 

 to either mind or body. 



We may observe similar features in the history 

 of Rome. The earlier Romans exhibited the 

 simplicity and reticent doggedness of a Germanic 

 race : their women were held in honour, were 

 even a force in politics, and female chastity was 

 an asset of society. Their ideals were of self- 

 control rather than of self-abandonment : the 

 stern endurance of patriotic self-sacrifice was in 

 higher esteem than artistic talents. They favoured 

 the government by council which is so universal 

 a sign of the individualistic ambitions of Northern 

 Europe. But these excellencies evaporated. The 

 republic was torn by personal jealousies : in 

 Rome, as in Greece, politics became a means of 

 securing personal profit. It finally degenerated 

 into Oriental despotism, under which the people 

 accepted without question the ruler who could 

 scheme his election to the throne. Sexual 

 restraint appears to have vanished, and women 

 lost all seriousness of esteem. In the Western 

 Empire an endeavour was actually made to 

 crystallize society upon a caste system. Could 

 we transport ourselves back to those days, 

 we should find ourselves in the conditions 

 which we term Asiatic. The streets and houses 

 of Pompeii recall in miniature those of Canton, 

 and Imperial Rome, with its crowded, servile 



