CSII ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT [eth. ann. 20 



under the doiniuiou of Rome, and by interpreting this tribal 

 history from the standpoint which modern eivih'zation lias 

 gained liy the study of savage and barbaric peojjles, we are 

 able to reconstruct an outline of the history of the origin of the 

 Roman empire. 



As tlie Roman empire was founded on the inchoate mon- 

 archies into which the Hellenic and Latin ti-ibes were devel- 

 oped, the literature of this transnuitation is recorded in these 

 languages. The modern European nations are in some sense 

 the t)ffspring of the Roman empire, and a family of these 

 nations was developed. 



After the fall of the Roman empire a period of centuries 

 elapsed which are often called the Dark Ag-es. History which 

 we niay not stop to recount led to what is usuallv denom- 

 inated the Revival of Learning. Then the younger nations 

 sought in the literature of Greece and Rome for tlie history of 

 their origin, and they found in these languages the records of 

 a high state of culture, especially in architecture, sculpture, 

 poetry, and metaphysics. Thus the Greek and Latin lan- 

 guages were the repository of "tlie wisdom of the ancients" 

 on these subjects. To trace the evolution of European relig- 

 ion it is necessary for us to go to its source in the Heljrew; 

 but to discover the origin of the governmental institutions we 

 must go first to the Greek to discover the nature of the bar- 

 baric tribe, and then to the Roman to discover the nature of 

 the monarchy, and from the two sources we may learn the 

 development of tribal society into monarchical society. We 

 must now characterize in a few sentences the agencies by 

 which barbaric society is transformed into monarchical 

 society. 



We first note that the more highl}' cultured tribes are domi- 

 ciled in walled cities. Ever}' sucli city is a center of culture 

 suj^erior to that exhibited bv tribes not vet domiciled in walled 

 cities. 



In savag-ery the custom of causing the captive to " i-un the 

 gantlet " was early observed by civilized men, but the signifi- 

 cance of the custom was not imderstood, for it was sujjposed 

 to be only a method of torture. Prisoners who have long 



