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been an invaluable guide to the student of the cuneiform inscriptions of Babylonian history; and that Manetho, if preserved complete, would have saved us volumes of controversy on Egyptian chronology.
Through Greece we have the great poet Menander. The sayings of this poet have unfortunately come down to us only in the shape of a very few fragments, but some that have come down to us in the New Testament, quoted by St. Paul, are household words to-day, and are sublime. For instance: "Evil communications corrupt good manners" (I Cor. xv, 33). And also, though not quoted by St. Paul:
"If thou wouldst know thyself, and what thou art,
Look on the sepulchres as thou dost pass:
There lie within the bones and little dust
Of mighty kings and wisest men of old:
They who once prided them on birth or wealth
Or glory of great deeds, or beauteous form,
Yet nought of these might stay the hand of Time,
Look, and bethink thee thou art even as they.
Such is one result of the building up of commerce from humble beginnings, the amassing of wealth commercially and intellectually by the long intercourse and interchange of commodities and languages with other nations. Aggressive action on others was the downfall of the Phoenicians. Next in the procession of commercial nations we see the Romans. The history of Rome is the most interesting and entrancing in Europe. Having cleared the Carthaginians from their way, in succession every other opponent was subjected. The Empire of Rome extended from the Indus to the British Isles, and from the Sahara to the North Sea. Every product of every country was to be found in Rome; every subject of every nation resided there either free or as a slave. The wealth from commerce and power in the Roman Empire was enormous, and stimulated and encouraged the highest pursuits of literature and learning. The legacy given by Rome to civilization and literature is incalculable in its value. In all parts of Europe, the British Isles, in Asia and in Africa, even
