492 THE GREEK FLAW. 



earth-shores dissolve, and we faintly discern the glassy 

 glimmering of the houndless sea. We shall descend 

 to the mouth of the river, we shall explore the un- 

 known waters which lie beyond the Present, we shall 

 survey the course which man has yet to run. But 

 before we attempt to navigate the Future, let us re- 

 turn for a moment to the Past ; let us endeavour to 

 ascertain the laws which direct the movements of the 

 stream, and let us visit the ruins which are scattered 

 on its banks. 



The progress of the human race is caused by the 

 mental efforts which are made at first from necessity 

 to preserve life, and secondly from the desire to 

 obtain distinction. In a healthy nation, each class 

 presses into the class which lies above it ; the blood 

 flows upwards, and so the whole mass, by the united 

 movements of its single atoms, rises in the scale. The 

 progress of a nation is the sum total of the progress of 

 the individuals composing it. If certain parts of the 

 body politic are stifled in their growth by means of 

 artificial laws, it is evident that the growth of the 

 whole will be arrested ; for the growth of each part is 

 dependent on the growth of all. It is usual to speak 

 of Greece as a free country ; and so it was in com- 

 parison with Asia. But more than half its inhabitants 

 were slaves ; labour was degraded ; whatever could be 

 done by the thought alone, and by delicate movements 

 of the hands was carried to perfection ; but in physical 

 science the Greeks did little, because little could be 

 done without instruments, and instruments can seldom 

 be invented except by free and intelligent artisans. 

 So the upper part of the Greek body grew ; the lower 

 part remained in a base and brutal state, discharging 

 the offices of life, but without beauty and without 



