5+ EPOCHS OF CIVILIZATION.
generalisations. But the subject is of such vast import- ance that it is worthy of an attempt in this direction, though it may prove far from conclusive. One word of explanation is needed before we make Extinction of the attempt. The extinction of a civi- pee cals a lization does not mean the annihilation lation of its cul- of its culture. The individual who is sore: moved chiefly or solely by the impulse for material progress, whose existence is bound up with the comforts and luxuries of animal life, finds himself a complete wreck when deprived of these, and has but little to bequeath to posterity. The man, on the other hand, in whom the impulse for the development of the outer life is well-balanced by that for the unfolding of the inner, whose hopes and aspirations instead of being centred in his material possessions soar beyond them into the region of the ideal and the immaterial, is but little affected by the loss of these, and has suffi- cient internal resource to enable him to survive it. His ‘cultural progress does not perish with his body, but is transmitted to posterity and benefits mankind. As in the case of the individual, so in that of the nation, the force making for cultural development, though of no survival-value in the race for material existence, is. of enormous value to it as enabling it to maintain its life even when outrun in that race by other nations, and. is of supreme value to humanity which is benefited far: . more by the cultural than by the material sore of past generations.
