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CHAPTER III
BRIDGING THE OLD WORLD AND THE NEW
i. Ark of Safety for the Old Wisdom. 2. Ireland's Educational Proficiency.
3. Centers of Intellectual Activity. 4. Text-books and
Learned Degrees.
i. ARK OF SAFETY FOR THE OLD WISDOM
OUR modern civilization has so clearly the imprints
of Greece and Rome upon it that the student
usually fails to realize the immense vicissi-
tudes through which it has passed in its duration to our
day. The fabric of the old world of antiquity to which
Caesar more than any other had given name and form
was never more securely established than during the two
centuries which followed his death. A long period of
peace prevailed over the vast empire, and a knowledge of
the liberal arts spread into the remotest provinces. From
Rome as a center Christianity as well as letters went forth,
the former spreading in the face of persecution till Con-
stantine in 312 A. D. put the seal of legality upon it.
But already the structure of Roman civilization, built up
on foundations laid down by Assyrian, Persian, Greek
and Celtic conquests, was shaking under the blows dealt
upon it from the north. Till the termination of the reign
of the Antonines, for a century and a half, the period of
peace and prosperity continued. Then came a century
that was full of menace and trouble but in which no
vital injury was inflicted on the body politic. And then
at last in the middle of the fourth century Rome began
to crumble. Barbarians and pestilence were delivering
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