1. it is difficult for us to comprehend the embarrassments which a want of diffused information presented to the progress of the ancient days. with no books, or, at best, but very few, with little or no record of the past, or the distant present, but what confused, distorted and uncertain tradition and rumor could give, with almost no instruments of thought and education, it would seem natural that they should fall into a hopeless barbarism. that they raised themselves so far out of a condition so low and so helpless, that they created so many instruments for us, is a proof of the wonderful capacity for advancement that lies in humanity, and a prophecy of stupendous things yet in store for mankind.
2. one of the most important elements of their progress lay in their great men. it is indispensable that a man, to become great, or famous, by exercising a wide influence, should represent in a large, well defined and successful way, the general tendency and aspiration of his times. he must unite a[114] clear perception of these tendencies in his mind, with the power to give them adequate expression in his words or deeds. he must be so far ahead of his times as to be able to clearly work out what is lying unexpressed in the general mind, but not so far ahead that it cannot come into sympathy and co-operation with him; else he will not be recognized as great. great men are a summary of their times, or of the people they dwell among; they gather its tendencies to a point and express the undefined desire of that period. their value for later times is that they represent the spirit of their race at that time in a form to make a striking impression, and those who have the good fortune to represent the qualities of the best races, or of nations at the most important stage of their history, become the general exemplars of mankind; teaching in a forcible and striking way the lessons which have been wrought out in the experience of a whole people for ages.
3. the poets are the first of these great men of whom history gives us any account, except, perhaps, the heroes whose deeds they sung, which are more or less uncertain, because they clothed the common tradition of their times in an imaginative and fictitious dress. the poets homer and hesiod had great influence on early greece. they summed up its theology and the history of its admired heroes, and gave expression to the early thought and literary turn of that people.
their legislators came next. they gave expression to the genius of their people in institutions and laws. lycurgus arranged the spartan state into a military school. his laws remained in force more than five hundred years. solon was the legislator of athens and his laws were much admired for their wisdom and justice. the greeks could think more wisely than they could act. lycurgus organized the warlike spirit in greece as well as sparta. the small grecian states, determined to keep sparta and each one of the other states from destroying their individual liberties, were trained by the necessity of combating the vigorous military organization of sparta to great ability in war.
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under pericles, a republican statesman of athens, nearly a century later than solon, the full glory of the grecian genius shone forth. he encouraged his countrymen to give the support to art and literature that produced the famous master pieces which have made greece illustrious and influential to this day.
4. socrates appeared soon after. he was the apostle of thought. his influence in leading men to use direct and effective modes of examination and reasoning was incalculable, and has perhaps had more effect on the world than the victorious career of alexander or of the romans. he was followed by plato, a disciple of his, who pushed out to further results the same principles. he is called the prince of philosophers, and has exerted a world-wide influence. he had not the simplicity and plain directness of socrates, though his mind was more polished, and he was more learned. some scholars, however, consider his masterpieces to indicate as powerful a mind as the world has produced. he spent twelve years in travel, and used all the means of education, and study then to be found. his works are still the delight of the most accomplished scholars.
5. aristotle began his career in the last years of plato. he was the tutor of alexander the great. he followed a different line of study, wrote on logic, or the art of reasoning, on the natural sciences, and introduced method in the exercise of the mind and in study. herodotus, xenophon, thucydides, and many other great writers, artists and sculptors, lived about the same period; and thus grecians did for the mind what the romans did for law and government—laid down the fundamental principles which formed the basis of real progress.
the free government of athens encouraged oratory and the art of persuasion. demosthenes was the most celebrated orator among the greeks, and if his state had only been more powerful he would have conquered philip of macedon. he was indeed one of the greatest orators of all times. cicero,[116] among the romans, was a writer and orator of almost equal merit. they both lived just at the downfall of the liberties of their states, and they spoke with more effect to the times after them than to their contemporaries. if they did not succeed in preserving the liberties of greece and rome, they made a great impression, the name of liberty was consecrated by their noble words, and those who destroyed it made infamous by their burning invectives. when a more favorable time came for restoring it, they lived again in influence, and triumphed by the memory and record of their great patriotism and powerful eloquence.
6. great conquerors and warriors, in all times, have also been representative men, giving expression and gratification to the warlike spirit of their people, and producing great changes that have been favorable to the real advancement of mankind. the energies they stirred up, and the mingling of nations they produced generally promoted civilization. alexander the great displayed the wonderful genius and fertility in resources that was peculiarly greek. his nation was almost consoled for the loss of their liberties by the conquests to which he led them. he opened to their study unknown regions, and gave their mental genius a broader play and a fuller occupation. they, to such an extent as change was possible with old civilizations, hellenized the east and prepared the way for the reception of christianity. alexander, in three great battles, conquered the great persian empire with a small army. he never suffered defeat, and died at thirty-three years of age. had he lived, he might have done what hannibal could not do—have crushed the rising power of the roman republic. it would have been a misfortune, for the romans did incalculable service to humanity. greek learning exerted its influence on the east for two hundred and fifty years before its final conquest by the romans. alexander did great service to mankind by his military success. hannibal is an instance of a great man not as fully representative of his own people, perhaps, and whose misfortune it was to have to struggle[117] against a people whose united genius was greater, more inventive, and more patient than his own. the roman pompey represented the aristocratic element of his people, and though a great general, hardly deserved to succeed. julius c?sar possessed the merciful character and intelligence of the greek and the prodigious energy and resolution of the roman. his conquest of gaul and britain introduced civilization into the lands that were, five hundred years later, to begin a new career for mankind. his thorough subjection of the gauls preserved the ancient civilization from the inroads of the vigorous germans until all was ready for the new order of things. more than any other great man, he may be said to have been representative of the best spirit of his time. perceiving that the roman republic was dead, and could not possibly be restored, from the strength of the vices ruling in the state, he repressed its anarchy and set aside its forms, wisely and prudently, with as little bloodshed or cruelty us possible. he thoroughly represented the practical sense and immense vigor of the true roman. he has been severely reproached for destroying the republic, but the republic virtually fell with the gracchi, seventy-five years before, and he established the only government that could possibly preserve the roman state from disorganization.
7. the office of all these, and multitudes of other great men, less representative of the greater qualities of their fellows, or representative of less striking features of their times, has been to sum up the character of their people, and present their special features, condensed, for the observation of mankind, and by their position as leaders, to give their times an opportunity for powerful development, as well as to show what mankind are capable of. in this last view they stimulate individuals to aspiration and effort. millions of men, probably, have had the qualities of alexander and c?sar, millions more those of demosthenes and cicero, of socrates, plato and aristotle, and so of all the different classes of great men, but have wanted the opportunities and peculiar stimulants[118] to develop them. whoever can appreciate them, can, with a favorable balance of faculties to give equally sound judgment, together with equally favorable circumstances, imitate them. modern times have shown multitudes of men who, their character and talents taken as a whole, have shown themselves far greater than any of the ancients. culture and the mingling of races will, perhaps, finally make all men greater than the greatest of the ancients.
8. brutus, one of the murderers of c?sar, wished to restore the glories of the ancient roman republic, and thought c?sar stood in the way. he removed him by violence, and found the difficulties greater than ever. a hundred years of conquest had sapped the virtues of the roman people, and brutus killed himself in despair, saying: “o virtue! thou art but a name!” to c?sar succeeded augustus, by a necessity of things. without c?sar’s clemency, he deluged rome with the blood of its citizens. afterward, however, his rule was less sanguinary, and for thirty years he ruled with mildness, though with despotism. the limited amount of virtue in pagan civilizations wore out; and notwithstanding the intelligence of greece and the good sense of rome, the ancient world was obliged to close its career as it began, by absolute monarchy. it remained for the modern world to find, among its more abundant resources, the means of forever preserving itself from decline. education and purity, science and religion, freedom and fraternity among all races and nations; a knowledge and wisdom not conceived by the ancients, a replacing of war and violence, which are essentially demoralizing, by peaceful means, which shall benefit all and injure none; perfectly free intercourse under the guidance of absolute justice and benevolence; such is the way by which the modern world will work out the problem impossible for the old world to solve. america has gone far toward the goal. in time, all nations will be persuaded to join her in attaining it.
9. before we proceed with the chronology of the christian era we must briefly notice the one perfect man, jesus christ.[119] to pronounce on the miraculous and divine claims made for his character and deeds would carry us outside of our theme. we can only deal with him as with other historical men, in his historical character and relations. these are extremely remarkable.
that individual sprang, like socrates, from the poorer classes, and, like him without the advantages of education, produced a system which proved a marvel of perfection, adapted to all times, but most perfectly to the most perfect state of mankind, and consequently growing up with the progress of nations to an ever-increasing influence. its moral precepts, even in our day, are as far ahead of our civilization as that is behind a perfect condition. this man made an extraordinary impression. in three hundred years, by merely publishing his ideas in a quiet way, which was the only mode the hostility of the roman rulers would permit, his followers overthrew the prevailing religious systems which had been established as many thousand years, and spread his influence world-wide.
his birth became the commencement of the era of humanity. like socrates, he went about among the people with a few chosen friends, setting forth his ideas, chiefly in conversation. he did not write; the simple record of his life and a few of his discourses being recorded by his disciples. again, like socrates, his life was ended by violence. all the records of that life show that he was as perfect as we can conceive. in no respect does he seem to have wanted any feature of a noble manhood, in any degree, nor to have shared the prejudices or defects of his age. he lived as we may conceive man to live when his mental and moral habits are accurately adjusted and harmonized with his relations and his duties, which he has learned perfectly to appreciate. his public career lasted but three years and a half, and shines in history a beam of light. he inspired his appreciative followers with rapturous admiration, a passionate attachment to his person, and pleasure in obedience to his teachings, stronger than death; and in those whose plans and prejudices he crossed, and whose ambitions[120] he rebuked, a deadly hatred which could only be satisfied with his blood.
10. immediately after his death his followers commenced to publish and enforce his teachings with great success, and on the outbreak of persecution, without making opposition, they scattered in all directions, proclaiming them with undiminished zeal. very soon their converts numbered tens of thousands, in all parts of the roman empire. persecution increased their fervor and their numbers, without leading them to revolt or resistance, until, in the course of time, an emperor found it politic to profess christianity. this high patronage, and the active part the emperors took in the affairs of the church from that time, had the effect to corrupt its simplicity of manners, as the adhesion of greek philosophers, who imported into its doctrines their crude theories, adulterated its teachings, and much that was quite foreign to its essential character continued associated with its promulgation and institutions for fifteen hundred years, and, indeed, remnants of the same foreign element yet linger in it.
notwithstanding the embarrassing load which the fantastic distortion of its original simplicity and directness laid upon it, it continued to exert great influence, and seems destined to return, in time, to its original form and purity, and to employ its primitive power to crown the work of civilization.
11. such is the historical report of the man who introduced into the process of human progress an element of unexampled power. an impartial estimate of the influence of jesus christ on history must allow that he is the most important character that has ever appeared among men. the unhappy association of his ideas with the vagaries of an imperfect philosophy and the unwholesome ambitions of power, greatly curtailed their usefulness; but the simple majesty of his character and his discourses could not always be obscured, and the luster of both has never shone more clearly nor exerted more influence than they do in this age.
the course of the history of christianity will be seen to be[121] intimately connected with every stage of advancement from the time the roman empire began to wear out; it was the nucleus which survived its fall, around which the surging waves of invasion raged in vain, and which immediately began the work of reconstruction.
