Life of Empires.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14141, 26 February 1910, Page 2 (Supplement)

Life of Empires.

THE WARNING OP HISTORY,

NONE ARE IMMORTAL,

! In thesa.days few people have suffr cieut leisure to devote much time to the study of ancient history, or the older civilisations which have preceacd us—and yet there is much to be Jearut oi the possibilities of the future by examining some of tho achievements of tne past. It is not only possible, but highly probable, that tho accumulation of knowledge and civilisation of the world to-day is no higher', if as high as it has been at various periods ' in- the past, and even modern empires must take second place to those which are to have existed in remote ages. One has only to remember that .Nineveh, the ancient capital of Syria which was totally destroyed six hundred years before Christ, and of which no vestige remains, had a population of nearly three millions, and wouid even i-i these days of large cities, have ranked as the third, if not the second ' town in the world. Or recall that Alexanna the pride of Egypt five centuzes before Christ, and later the second city of the Roman Empire, was the ?£ X ° f to the sevenfamni 0 ? 1 } Ury< %* P°*«*ed the most lamous library then known in the world, a library of 700,000 books, whose destruction probably involved to agC ? J lll lrr ?Parable loss of ac- ' twt 1 ! ,nved ? 0> A - nd t0 So even further back, how can we moderns road «ithout a thrill, of tho glories of Babyi ?i3? Tf lre o , f wWch tha "Nidation ? * ascribed to a date nearly three thousand yean before Christ. In arts in , science, m military achievements, this city of Babylon itself became, during «ie reign of Semiramis, the) world's wonder city It was famous for its art ZtlnrTi f °l its ? Wn S «chi. ™S;S I ¥* ut y>: an d more still, for the wonderful hanging gardens, wlnoh were TW iS b - OS f d ? ys of w °rld-wide fame. Ihe city indeed was so vast and exwheni+T I,B "^*^ 0 area that saM+W+l ca .P* ul : e .? in 438 B.C. it is dfsW ih he ! m^. a ? lfca nts of the more distant suburbs did not even know of the fact untd the following day. And it the glories of the New East have departed, what can one sav to torn of ?vf ° f the earl y <*&■£ other U hß Chmese ' who . amoDßrt other things, gave us the mariner's compass we know comparative^&tle a "tW ST enOUeh te bo C6rteia «>at fi.r ™J , 5 r tw °/ ears a «° the y lurr T ad / anced than they are tot£-„ A? a f r fc . there did exist an extensive record, in writing, of the earlv ™d mt t thron .V ome two hundred Prl y * rfow C3ms*, of th< feZ" the founder o the Tsin dynasty, he caused all exist- ? S *w U2 T nt3 . *° "a destroyed in order that he might pose to posterity ns . * ?° }e / ou " der of the Empire/ It buildmg of the great wall of China a Tar arv Para A nf > **? J' mpiro from &° a > the countf y 2S **¥"* WltK 6vid ences of the pes- ■ .a* ancient civilisation, ' W? & A' WOU , ,d ' haTe ™&mtr to learn from the modern world—in' fact His douhtfuL whether.in mattern con! ledge the West can even to-day teach anything to the East. 7 * And yet what has become of all these glories of the past? What reof Babylon of Nineveh, of a score of other great cities of olden times? Nothing—not even a village! And it is Sir™ 0 m 8 - The nations vvhich were great a thousand years ago ha.ve dKappeared—the Greeks, the Romans, the Moors are nothing but a naß > e -- ? hB E , m P ir « of Charlemagne comprised nearly one-third of Europe; . indeed, hTe and the Pope Adrian I prnd tieally governed all Europe-and this Z^lr thol i? and Tears ago, when England was stdl a conglomeration of petty kingdoms. v \ nn ,Y e see new empires coming np and hear their claims to a perffi +i 7 ' Tl can °nly remember that .? alt °J der empires did the same, Si ST aVe nevertheless all come to much the same end, and) we must try a n | w ™y *o avoid sharing their fate Sometimes when a country seems to be most strong it is within measureabe distance of its fall— Spam and Holland are a few instances of this i\ therefore behoves us to 7 take heed d what has been, and try and find thi right way to go on R B.W baMr W T fi f * a "rt then ftll back Let us hope that Ensland thi migbtest of the modern Emm "s 'mJ continue to progress and 3 Li)l t h l ea ?Z l estm ?. Wop old-time'laurek