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DECADENCE

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE,


C. F.

CLAY, Manager.
E.C.

EonDon:
lasfioto:

FETTER LANE,
50,

WELLINGTON STREET.

Itipjio;
fitia

F.

A.

gork

G. P.

BROCKHAUS. PUTNAM'S SONS.


CO., Ltd.

JBombOB

nrCa CTaltutta:

MACMILLAN AND

[All lights reserved]

DECADENCE
HENRr SIDGWICK MEMORIAL
LECTURE

by

The Right Hon.

ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR,


[DELIVERED

M.P.

AT NEWNHAM COLLEGE,
25,

JANUARY

1908]

Cambridge
at

the University Press

1908

Cambrtlige:

PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.

AT THE UNIVERSITY

PRESS.

DECADENCE.
I

MUST begin what

have to say with a


I

warning and an apology.


that the present essay

must warn you


to

makes no pretence

be an adequate treatment of some compact

and limited theme


wandering

but rather resembles those

trains of thought,

where we allow

ourselves the luxury of putting wide-ranging


questions, to which our ignorance forbids

any

confident

reply.

apologise for adopting a


in
I

course which thus departs

some measure
its

from familiar precedent.

admit

perils.

But

it

is

just possible that


is

when a

subject, or

group of subjects,

of great inherent interest,


interrogative, treatment

even a
of
it

tentative,

and

may be worth

attempting.

DECADENCE

My
parture,
sort

subject,
is

or at least
I

my

point of de-

Decadence.

do not mean the

of decadence often attributed to certain


artistic

phases of

or literary development, in

which an overwrought technique, straining to


express sentiments too subtle or too morbid,
is

deemed

to

have supplanted the


an
earlier

direct in-

spiration

of

and a simpler age.

Whether

these autumnal glories, these splen-

dours touched with death, are recurring phe-

nomena
be,

in the literary cycle

whether,
other
well

if

they

they

are

connected

with

forms

of decadence,

may be

questions

worth

asking and answering.


questions with which
I

But they are not the


at present concerned.
I

am

The decadence
put questions
political
is

respecting which

wish
it

to
is

not literary or
It
is

artistic,

and

national.
is

the

decadence

which attacks, or
communities and

alleged to attack, great


civilisations
:

historic

which

DECADENCE
is

to societies of
is

men what
senility,

senility is to

man,

and

often,

like

the precursor and

the cause of final dissolution.


It
is

curious

how

deeply

imbedded

in

ordinary discourse are traces of the conviction

that

childhood,
in

maturity,

and old age,


they are in

are stages

the
life.

corporate, as

the individual,
nation,"
tion
"

"A

young and vigorous


civilisa-

"a

decrepit

and moribund

phrases

like these,

and scores of others

containing the same implication,


pingly from the tongue as
if

come

as trip-

they suggested

no

difficulty

and

called
I

for

no explanation.

To

Macaulay (unless
far)
it

am

pressing his famous

metaphor too

seemed natural that ages


like

hence a young country

New Zealand should


decayed.

be flourishing, but not less natural that an old


country like

England should have


tells

Berkeley, in a well-known stanza,

how

the

drama of

civilisation

has slowly travelled west-

DECADENCE
to find
its

ward

loftiest

development, but also

its final

catastrophe, in the
is

New World.
hopeless,

While
or
dis-

every

man who
talks

weary,
if

illusioned

as

he

had caught these

various diseases from the decadent epoch in

which he was born.

But why should

civilisations thus
?

wear out
evi-

and great communities decay


dence
is

and what

there that in fact they


I

do?

These

questions, though

cannot give to them any

conclusive

answers, are of
interest.

much more than


For
if

a merely theoretic

current
less

modes of speech take decadence more or


for

granted, with

still

greater confidence do

they speak of

Progress as assured.

Yet

if

both are real they can hardly be studied apart,


they must
evidently
limit

and qualify each


they cannot

other in actual experience, and

be isolated

in speculation.

Though

antiquity.

Pagan and

Christian,

DECADENCE
took a different view,
it

seems

easier,

a priori,

to understand Progress than Decadence.


if

Even
it
is,

the former be limited, as presumably


limitation of

by the

human

faculty,

we should

expect the ultimate boundary to be capable


of
indefinite

approach,

and we

should

not
it,

expect that any part of the road towards

once traversed,

would have to be

retraced.

Even

in

the organic world, decay and death,

familiar

though they

be,

are

phenomena

that

call for scientific

explanation.

And Weismann
comes about
that

has definitely asked


the higher organisms
that
old

how

it

grow

old

and

die,

seeing

age and death are not inseparable

characteristics of living protoplasm,

and that

the simplest organisms suffer no natural decay,


perishing,

when they do

perish,

by accident,

starvation, or specific disease.

The answer he

gives to his

own
is

question

is

that the death of the individual

so useful to

lo

DECADENCE
all

the race, that Natural Selection has, in

but

the very lowest species, exterminated the potentially

immortal.
is

One

tempted to enquire, whether

this in-

genious explanation could be so modified as to

apply not merely to individuals but to communities.


I

it

needful for the cause of civilisation

as a whole, that the organised

embodiment of
its

each particular

civilisation, if

and when

free
for

development

is

arrested, should

make room
?

younger and more vigorous competitors


if

And
the

so

can

we

find

in

Natural

Selection

mechanism by which the


and dissolution
shall

principle

of decay
in

be so implanted

the

very nature of human associations that a due


succession

among them

shall

always be main-

tained

To
I

this

second question the answer must,

think, be in the negative.

The

struggle for

existence between different races and different

DECADENCE

ii

societies has admittedly played a great part in


social

development.

But

to

extend Weismann's

idea from the organic to the social world, would

imply a prolonged competition between groups


of communities in which decadence

was the

rule,

and groups

in

which
first,

it

was not

ending

in the

survival of the

and the destruction of the


suffered

second.

The groups whose members

periodical decadence

and dissolution would be


:

the

fittest to

survive

just as,

on Weismann's
effici-

theory, those species gain in competitive

ency

whom death has .unburdened of the old. Few will say that in the petty fragment
history which alone
is

of

human

is

open

to our in-

spection, there

satisfactory evidence of

any

such long drawn process.


disposed to

Some may even be


there
is

ask whether

adequate

evidence of such a phenomenon as decadence


at
all.

And

it

must be acknowledged that the

affirmative

answer should be given with caution.

12

DECADENCE
we must
by
not consider a diminution of
absolute,

Evidently

national power, whether relative or

as

constituting

itself
is

a proof of national

decadence.

Holland

not decadent because

her place in the hierarchy of European Powers


is

less exalted

than

it

was two hundred and

fifty

years ago.
at the

Spain was not necessarily decadent

end of the seventeenth century because

she had exhausted herself in a contest far beyond her resources either in
would,
I

money
even

or in men.

It

think, be rash
at

to say that

Venice

was decadent

the end of the eighteenth

century, though the growth of other Powers,

and the diversion of the great trade

routes,

had

shorn her of wealth and international influence.

These are misfortunes which

in the

sphere of

sociology correspond to accident or disease in

the sphere of biology.

And what we
in

are con-

cerned to

know
is

is

whether

the sphere of

sociology there

also anything corresponding

DECADENCE
to the decay of old age

ij

a decay which may be


is

hastened by accident or disease, which must be

ended by accident or disease, but


be distinguished from both.

certainly to

However
the cases
I

this question

should be answered
sufficient to

have cited are

shew
lies.

where the chief


Decadence, even
in isolation.

difficulty of the
if
it

enquiry

be a

reality,

never acts

It is

always complicated with, and

often acts through, other


It
is

more obvious

causes.

always therefore possible to argue that

to

these causes, and not to the

more

subtle

and elusive influences


'decadence,'

collectively described as

the
is

decline

and

fall

of

great

communities

really due.

Yet there are


it

historic tragedies

which

(as

seems to me) do most obstinately refuse


be thus simply explained.
It
is

to

in

vain

that historians enumerate the public calamities

which preceded, and no doubt contributed

to,

14

DECADENCE
Civil dissensions, mili-

the final catastrophe.

tary disasters, pestilences, famines, tyrants, tax-

gatherers,

growing burdens, and waning wealth


is

the

gloomy catalogue

unrolled before our


in all cases

eyes, yet

somehow
:

it

does not

wholly

satisfy us

we

feel that

some of these

diseases

are of a kind which a vigorous body politic

should easily be able to survive, that others are

secondary symptoms of some obscurer malady,

and that
the
full

in neither case

do they supply us with

explanations of which

we

are in search.

Consider for instance the long agony and


final destruction

of

Roman

Imperialism in the

West, the most momentous catastrophe of which

we have

historic record.

It

has deeply stirred the

imagination of mankind,
of great historians,
it

it

has been the theme

has been
yet

much explained

by

political

philosophers,

who

feels

that

either historians or philosophers have laid bare

the inner workings of the

drama

Rome

fell,

DECADENCE
and great was the
what secret mines
fall

15

of

it.

But why

it fell,

by

its

defences were breached,

and what made


ineffectual

its

garrison so faint-hearted and

this is not so clear.

In order to measure adequately the difficulty


of the problem
historical details
let

us abstract our minds from

and compare the position of the

Empire about the middle of the second century,


with
its

position in the middle of the third, or

again at the end of the fourth, and ask of what


forces history gives us an account, sufficient in

these periods to effect 0 mighty a transformation.

Or,

still

better,

imagine

an observer
political

equipped with our current stock of

wisdom, transported to

Rome

in the reign

of
in

Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius, and

ignorance of the event, writing letters to the

newspapers on the future destinies of the Empire.

What would

his forecast

be

We

might suppose him to examine,

in

the

i6

DECADENCE
place, the military position of the State, its
its

first

probable enemies,

capacities for defence.


its

He

would note that only on

eastern boundary

was there an organised


of meeting

military

Power capable

Rome

on anything

like equal terms,

and

this only in the regions adjacent to their


frontier.

common

For the

rest

he would

dis-

cover no civilised enemy along the southern

boundary to the Atlantic or along

its

northern

boundary from the Black Sea to the German


Ocean.
in plenty

Warlike
:

tribes indeed

he would find

difficult to

crush within the limits of


it

their native forests

and morasses, formidable

may be

in

raid,

but without political cohesion,

military unity, or the

means of

military con-

centration

embarrassing therefore rather than


If

dangerous.
legions,

reminded of Varus and his

lost
in

he would ask of what importance,

the story of a world-power could be the loss

of a few thousand

men

surprised at a distance

DECADENCE
from
a
their

17

base

amid the entanglements of


Never,
it

difficult

and unknown country.

would seem, was Empire more fortunately


cumstanced
for

cir-

purposes of

home

defence.

But

(it

might be thought) the burden of

securing frontiers of such length, even against

merely
strictly

tribal

assaults,

though
of view,

easy from

military
to

point

might prove

too

heavy

be

long

endured.

Yet

the

military

forces

scattered

through the

Roman
in

Empire, though apparently adequate


days
of

the
to

her greatness
ideas,

would,

according

modern

seem hardly
let

sufficient for pur-

poses of police,

alone defence.

An army
to preserve
internal
if

corps or less was

deemed enough

what are now mighty kingdoms, from


disorder and external aggression.

And

we

compare with
the

this the contributions, either in

way of money

or of men, exacted from the

territories subject to

Rome

before the

Empire

DECADENCE
into being, or at
it

came

any period of the world's

history since

dissolved away, the comparison


entirely in favour of the
light, if

must surely be

Empire.

But burdens which seem

measured
ability

by

area,

may be heavy

if

measured by
ability

to pay.

Yet when has

to

pay been

greater in the regions bordering the Southern

and Eastern Mediterranean

than under the


it

Roman Empire?
nation,

Travel round

in

imagi-

eastward from
till

the Atlantic

coast

of

Morocco

returning westward you reach the


will

head of the Adriatic Gulf, and you


skirted

have

region,
filled

still

of

immense
cities,

natural
fertile

wealth, once

with great

and

farms, better governed during the


it

Empire than
(at least
till

has ever been governed since

Algeria became French and Egypt British)


including

among

its

provinces what were great


rule,

states before the

Roman

and have been

great states since that rule decayed, divided by

DECADENCE
no international
jealousies, oppressed

19

by no

fear

of conquest, enterprising, cultured.


that to estimate
its

Remember

area of taxation and recruit-

ing you must add to these regions Bulgaria,


Servia,

much

of Austria and Bavaria, SwitzerItaly,

land, Belgium,

France, Spain, and most

of Britain, and you have conditions favourable


to

military strength

and economic prosperity

rarely equalled in the


in the ancient.

modern world and never

Our observer however


feel

might, very rightly,

that a far-spreadirig

Empire

like

that of
differing
liable to

Rome, including regions profoundly


in race, history

and

religion,

would be

other dangers than those which arise from mere


external aggression.
therefore,
is

One

of the

first

questions,

which he would be disposed to ask,

whether so heterogeneous a state was not


danger of dissolution through the

in perpetual

disintegrating influence of national sentiments.


2

20

DECADENCE
would learn probably, with a strong feeling

He

of surprise, that with the single exception of


the Jews, the constituent nations, once

con-

quered, were not merely content to belong to

the Empire, but could scarcely imagine themselves doing anything else
:

that the Imperial

system appealed, not merely to the material


needs of the component populations, but also to
their imagination

and

their loyalty

that Gaul,

Spain, and Britain, though but recently forced

within the pale of civilisation, were as faithful


to the Imperial ideal as the

Greek

of
;

Athens or
and that

the

Hellenised Orientals of Syria

neither historic memories, nor local patriotism,

neither disputed succession, nor public calamities,

nor administrative divisions, ever really


in favour of Imperial Unity.
:

shook the sentiment

There might be more than one Emperor


there could only be one Empire.

but

Howsoever

our observer might disapprove of the Imperial

DECADENCE

21

system he would therefore have to admit that


the Empire, with
lutism and
successfully
since, the
its

all

its

shortcomings,

its

abso-

bureaucracy, had solved more

than

any government, before or

problem of devising a scheme which


the sentiments of East and respected
local
;

equally satisfied

West

which
local

feelings,

enCelt,

couraged
the

government
the

in

which the

Iberian,

Berber, the

Egyptian, the
the
Italian

Asiatic,

the
at

Greek,

the

Illyrian,

were

all

home, and which, though based on

conquest, was accepted by the conquered as


the natural organisation of the civilised world.

Rome had What sources


be
likely to
?

thus unique sources of strength.

of weakness would our observer

detect behind

her imposing exis

terior

The

diminution of population
(rightly
it
I

the

one which has


historians
:

think) most impressed


difficult

and

is

to
its

resist

the

evidence, either of the

fact,

or of

disastrous

22

DECADENCE
I

consequences.

hesitate

indeed

to

accept

without qualification the accounts given us of


the progressive decay of
the
native
Italian

stock from the days of the Gracchi to the disintegration of the

Empire

in the

West
of

and

when we read how

the dearth
it

men was

made good

(in so far as

was made good) by

the increasing inflow of slaves and adventurers

from every corner of the known world, one

wonders whose sons they were who,

for three

centuries and more, so brilliantly led the van

of modern

European

culture,

as

it

emerged

from the darkness of the early Middle Ages.


Passing

by

such

collateral

issues,

however,

and
both

admitting
real
it

depopulation
serious,

to

have
well

been
ask
de-

and

we may
result of

whether

was not the


its

Roman
not

cadence rather than


of

cause,

the

symptom
its

some deep-seated

social

malady,

origin.

We

are

not

concerned

here

with

DECADENCE
the aristocracy of

23

Rome, nor even with the

people

of

Italy.

We

are

concerned

with

the Empire.

We

are not concerned with a

passing phase or fashion, but with a process

which seems to have gone on with increasing


rapidity,
till

through good times as well as bad,

the final cataclysm.

local disease

might

have a
be due

local explanation, a transient

one might

to a

chance coincidence.

But what can

we

say of a disease which was apparently cowith Imperial civilisation


it

extensive

in

area,

and which exceeded


I

in duration.-*
selfish

find

it

hard to believe that either a

aversion to matrimony or a mystical admiration


for celibacy,

though at certain periods the one


in

was common
tian circles,

Pagan and the other

in Chrisin

were more than elements

the

complex of causes by which the


brought about.
vastated

result

was

Like the plagues which dein

Europe

the

second

and

third

24

DECADENCE
must have greatly aggravated
they
are

centuries, they

the

evil,

but

hardly

sufficient

to

account for it
planation of
it

Nor

yet can

we

find

an ex-

in the discouragement, the sense

of impending doom,

by which men's

spirits

were oppressed long before the Imperial power began


things
visibly to wane, for this
is

one of the
does
itself

which,

if

historically

true,

most urgently require explanation.


It

may be however
would
be
too

that

our wandering

politician

well

grounded

in

Malthusian economics to regard a diminution


of population as
calamity.
scribe the
in
if

itself

an overwhelming
to

And
weak

he

were pressed

de-

spots in the

Empire of the
I

Antonines he would be disposed,

think, to

look for them on the ethical rather than on the


military, the economic, or the strictly political

sides of social
say, as in effect

life.

He

would be inclined
does say, that

to

Mr Lecky

in the

DECADENCE
institution of slavery,

25

in the brutalities of the

gladiatorial shows, in the gratuitous distribution

of bread to the urban mobs, are to be found the

corrupting influences which

first

weakened and

then destroyed the vigour of the State.


I

confess that

cannot easily accept this

analysis of the facts.


torial

As

regards the gladia-

shows,

even had they been universal

throughout the Empire, and had they flourished

more rankly as

its

power

declined,

should

still

have questioned the propriety of attributing too


far-reaching
effects

to

such
while

cause.

The

Romans were

brutal
:

they

were con-

quering the world

its

conquest enabled them


;

to be brutal with ostentation

but

we must

not

measure the
tastes

ill

consequences of their barbaric


disgusts,

by the depth of our own

nor

assume the Gothic invasions to be the natural

and

fitting

Nemesis of so much spectacular

shedding of innocent blood.

26

DECADENCE
As
for the public distributions of corn,

one
its

would wish to have more evidence as to


social effects.

But even without

fully

accepting

the theory of the latest


believes that,

Roman

historian,

who

under the then prevailing con-

ditions of transport,
in Antiquity,
if

no very large
its

city could exist

the supply of

food were

left

to private enterprise,
this practice,

we cannot
it

seriously regard
to us, as

strange as

seems

an

important element in the problem.


for the sake of

Granting

argument that
it

it

demoralised

the

mob

of

Rome,

must be remembered that

Rome was not the Empire, nor did the mob of Rome govern the Empire, as once it had
governed the Republic.
Slavery
is

a far more important matter.


of
its

The magnitude
societies,
difficult

effects

on

ancient

as these are to disentangle,

can hardly be exaggerated.


plausibility

But with what


it

can

we

find

in

the

cause of

DECADENCE
Rome's
comitant
decline,

27

seeing that
its

it

was the concan


that

also

of

rise

How

which

in

Antiquity was

common

to every state,

have

this exceptional
It

and malign influence upon


in
;

one?

would not

any case be easy to


but surely
in
it

accept such a theory


impossible

becomes

when we bear
effected

mind the enormous

improvement
in the

under the Empire both Great

law and the practice of slavery.


its evils,

as were

they were diminishing evils

less ruinous as

time went on to the character

of the master, less painful and degrading to the


slave.

Who

can believe that this immemorial


in its decline,
its

custom could,
tion,

destroy a civilisait

which, in
?

vigour,

had helped to

create

Of

course our observer would see

much

in

the social system he was examining which he

would rightly regard as morally detestable and


politically

pernicious.

But the

real

question

28

DECADENCE
*

before him would not be

are these things

good

or bad?' but 'are these things getting better


or getting worse
?
'

And

surely in most cases


'

he would be obliged to answer

getting better,'
his

Many

things moreover would

come under

notice fitted to
less qualified

move

his admiration in a

much
have

manner.

Few governments

been more anxious to foster an alien and higher


culture, than

was the Roman Government


civilisation.

to

foster

Greek

In so far as
it

Rome
carried

inherited

what Alexander conquered,

out the ideal which Alexander had conceived.


In few periods have the rich been readier to

spend of their private fortunes on public

objects.

There never was a community


ciations
for

in

which assomutual
aid

every

purpose

of

or enjoyment sprang more readily into existence.


less

There never was a

military

monarchy

given to wars of aggression.


in

There never

was an age

which there was a more rapid

DECADENCE
advance
in

39

humanitarian

ideals,

or a

more
There
from

anxious seeking after spiritual truth.

was much
politics,

discussion, there
little

was, apart

but

intolerance.
its

Education was

well endowed,

and

professors held in high


for.

esteem.

Physical culture was cared


scientific.

Law

was

becoming

Research was not


could

forgotten.

What more
to

be reasonably

expected

According
analysis
it

our

ordinary

methods

of

is

not easy to say what more could

be reasonably expected.

But plainly much more

was required.
time of which
its
I

In a few generations from the

am

speaking the Empire lost

extraordinary power of assimilating alien and


It

barbaric elements.

became too
:

feeble either

to absorb or to expel

them

and the immigrants

who

in

happier times might have bestowed

renewed vigour on the commonwealth, became,


in

the hour of

its

decline,

a weakness and a

30

DECADENCE
Poverty grew
office,

peril.

as

population shrank.

Municipal

once so eagerly desired, beAssociations

came

the most cruel of burdens.

connected with industry or commerce, which

began by

freely

exchanging public service

for

public privilege, found their

members subjected
due per-

to ever increasing obligations, for the

formance of which they and their children were


liable in person

and

in property.

Thus while

Christianity,

and the other

forces that

made

for

mercy, were diminishing the slavery of the slave,


the needs of the Bureaucracy compelled
it

to

trench ever more and more upon the freedom

of the

free.

It

was each man's duty (so ran

the argument) to serve the

commonwealth

he

could best serve the commonwealth by devoting


himself to his calling
necessity
:

if it

were one of public


required
if

this

duty he should be

under penalties to perform, and to devote


necessary to
its

performance,

labour

to

the

DECADENCE

31

limits of endurance, fortune to the last shilling,

and family
this

to the remotest generation.

Through

crude experiment in socialism, the civilised

world seemed to be rapidly moving towards a

system of universal

caste,

imposed by no im-

memorial custom, supported by no religious


scruple, but forced

on an unwilling people by

the Emperor's edict and the executioner's lash.

These things have

severally

and

collectively

been regarded as the causes why

in the

West

the Imperial system so quickly crumbled into


chaos.

And

so no doubt they were.

But they

obviously require themselves to be explained

by causes more general and more remote

and

what were these

If

answer as

feel dis-

posed to answer
perly

Decadence you
the receiving a name.

will

proless

ask

how

unknown becomes
I

unknown merely by
that
if

reply

there be indeed subtle changes in the


tissues of old

social

communities which make

32

DECADENCE

them, as time goes on, less resistant to the


external attacks and the internal disturbances

by which

all

communities are threatened, overt


is

recognition of the fact

a step in advance.
*

We
but

have not an idea of what


if

life

'

consists

in,

on that account we were

to abstain

from

using the term,

we should

not be better but

worse equipped for dealing with the problems


of physiology
;

while on the other hand


life

if

we
and

could translate

into terms of matter


still

motion to-morrow, we should

be obliged to

use the word in order to distinguish the material

movements which

constitute
not.

life

or exhibit

it,

from those which do

In like

manner we

are ignorant of the inner character of the cell

changes which produce senescence.

But should

we be

better fitted to form a correct conception


if

of the life-history of complex organisms

we

refused to recognise any cause of death but


accident or disease
?
I

admit, of course, that

DECADENCE
the term
'

33

decadence

'

is

less precise

than

old

age

'

as sociology

deals with organisms far


I

less definite

than biology.

admit also that

it

explains nothing.
all,

If its use is to

be

justified at

the justification must depend not on the


it

fact that fact that

supplies an explanation, but on the


rules out explanations

it

which are

obvious but inadequate.


service of

And

this

may be a
facile

some importance.

The

gene-

ralisations with

which we so often season the


;

study of dry historic fact


discussion which

the habits of political

induce us to catalogue for

purposes of debate the outward signs that distinguish (as

we

are prone to think) the standing

from the

falling state,

hide the obscurer, but

more

potent, forces which silently prepare the

fate of empires.

National character

is

subtle

and elusive

not to be expressed in statistics

nor measured

by the rough methods which

suffice the practical moralist or statesman.

And
3

34

DECADENCE
ancient

when through an

and

still

powerful

state there spreads a

mood

of deep discourageills

ment, when the reaction against recurring

grows

feebler,

and the ship

rises less

buoyantly

to each succeeding wave,

when

learning lan-

guishes, enterprise slackens,

and vigour ebbs


is

away, then, as

think, there

present

some

process of social degeneration, which

we must

perforce recognise, and which, pending a satisfactory


analysis,

may
name

conveniently

be

dis-

tinguished by the
I

of 'decadence.'
I

am

well

aware that though the space


to

have just devoted

the illustration
is

of

my
all

theme provided by Roman history

out of

proportion to the general plan of this address,


yet the treatment of
it is

inadequate and perhaps


re-

unconvincing.

But those who are most


as

luctant to admit that decay,

distinguished

from misfortune,

may

lower the general level

of civilisation, can hardly deny that in

many

DECADENCE
cases that level

35

may

for indefinite periods


If

shew

no tendency
is

to rise.

decadence be unknown,
?

not

progress

exceptional

Consider

the
Is

changing
it

politics of the

unchanging East^.

not true that there, while wars and revolutions,

dynastic and religious, have shattered ancient


states

and brought new ones into being, every


it

community, as soon as
tribal

has risen above the


rarest
its

and nomad condition, adopts with the

exceptions a form of government which, from

very generality
call

in

Eastern lands,
'

we

habitually

an

oriental despotism

We

may

crys-

tallise

and

re-crystallise a soluble salt as often

as

we

please,

the

new

crystals

will

always
indeed,

resemble the old ones.

The

crystals,

may be
*
*

of different sizes,

their

component
It

The East'

is

a term most loosely used.

does not here

include China and Japan and does include parts of Africa.

The

observations which follow have no reference either to the Jews


or to the commercial aristocracies of Phoenician origin.

32

36

DECADENCE
may occupy
different positions within
itself
is,

molecules

the crystalline structure, but the structure


will

be of one immutable pattern.

So

it

or

seems

to be, with these oriental states.

They

rise, in turn,

upon the ruins of

their predecessors,
fate.

themselves predestined to perish by a like

But whatever their origin or

history, they are

always either autocracies or aggregations of


autocracies
;

and no differences

of

race,

of

creed, or of language

seem

sufficient to

vary

the violent

monotony of

their internal history.

In the eighteenth century theorists were content to attribute the political servitude of the

Eastern world to the unscrupulous machinations


of tyrants and their tools.
nations are
in truth, is

And

such expla-

good

as far as they go.


far.

But

this,

not very

Intrigue, assassina-

tion, ruthless repression, the

whole machinery

of despotism supply particular explanations of


particular incidents.

They do

not supply the

DECADENCE

37

general explanation of the general phenomenon.

They

tell

you how

this ruler or that

obtained

absolute power.

They do

not

tell
I

you why
furnish the

every ruler
answer.

is

absolute.
fact

Nor can

The

remains that over large and

relatively civilised portions of the world popular

government
sense that

is

profoundly unpopular,

in

the

it is

no natural or spontaneous

social

growth.

Political absolutism not political free-

dom

is

the

familiar

weed

of

the

country.
:

Despots change but despotism remains


if

and

through alien influences,


cities in Asia,
is

like those exercised

by Greek
India,

or by British rule in
it

the type

modified,

may

well

be

doubted whether the modification could long


survive the

moment when

its

sustaining cause

was withdrawn.

Now
where

it

would almost seem as

if

in

lands

this political

type was normal a certain

level of culture (not of course the

same

in

each

38

DECADENCE
If

case) could not permanently be overpassed.

under the excitement of religion or conquest,


or else through causes more complicated and

more obscure,
left

this

limit has

sometimes been

behind, reaction has always followed, and


in.

decadence set

Many

people indeed, as
this

have already observed, take


of course.
It

as a matter
natural

seems

to

them the most


glories

thing in the

world that the

of

the

Eastern Khalifate should decay, and that the

Moors

in

Morocco should

lose

even the memory

of the learning and the arts possessed but three


centuries ago
it

by the Moors

in Spain.
it
it

To me
be easy
be
true,

seems mysterious.

But whether
difficult, if

of comprehension or

only

does

it

not furnish
}

food for disquieting re-

flexion

If there are

whole groups of nations


initiative of

capable on their

own

a certain

measure of

civilisation,
if

but capable apparently

of no more, and

below them again there are

DECADENCE
(as
I

39

suppose) other races

who seem

incapable

of either creating a civilisation of their own, or


of preserving unaided a civilisation impressed

upon them from without, by what


assume that no impassable
of Western progress
yet be in sight.
?

right

do we

limits bar the path


limits

Those

may

not

Surely they are not.

But
that

does

not

survey of history suggest


in the

somewhere
approach
It
}

dim

future they await our

may be
I

replied that the history of

Rome,

on which
arrested

dwelt a

moment

ago, shews that

progress,

and even decadence, may

be but the prelude to a new period of vigorous


growth.

So

that even those races or nations

which seem frozen into eternal immobility may


base upon experience their hopes of an awakening spring.
I

am

not sure, however, that this

is is

the

true interpretation of the facts.

There

no

40

DECADENCE
all

spectacle indeed in

history

more impressive

than the thick darkness settling

down over
but a faint
culture,

Western Europe,

blotting

out

all

and distorted vision of Graeco-Roman and then, as


it

slowly

rises,

unveiling the variety

and
I

rich

promise of the modern world.


this

But

do not think we should make


too

unique

phenomenon support
theory.
I

weighty a load of
it

should not infer from


civilisation

that

when

some wave of
its

has apparently spent


its

force,

we have

a right to regard

with-

drawing sweep as but the prelude to a new


advance.
I

should rather conjecture that in

this particular case

we

should

find,

among

other
dis-

subtle causes of decadence,

some obscure

harmony between the Imperial system and the


temperament of the West, undetected even by
those

who

suffered

from

it.

That system,

though accepted with contentment and even


with pride, though in the days of
its

greatness

DECADENCE
it

41

brought
its

civilisation,

commerce, and security

in

train,

must surely have lacked some

elements which are needed to foster


Teutons,
Celts,

among

and

Iberians
be,

the

qualities,

whatever these

may
It

on which

sustained
oriental

progress depends.
for the Occident,

was perhaps too


it

and

certainly

became more
it

oriental as time

went on.

In the East
successful.
;

was,

comparatively speaking,

If there

was no progress, decadence was slow


for

and but
it

what Western Europe


to

did,

and what

failed

do,

during the long struggle


there might

with

militant

Mahommedanism,

still

be

an Empire
lation.

in the East, largely Asiatic in

popu-

Christian in religion, Greek in culture


political descent.

Roman by

Had
much

this

been the course of events large

portions of

mankind would doubtless have been


governed than they
are.
It
is

better

not so clear that they would have been more

43

DECADENCE
Progress
is

'

progressive.'

with the

West with
:

communities of the European type.


t^eir energy of development
is

And

if

some day

to
re-

be exhausted, who can believe that there


mains any external source from which
it

can

be renewed
competent

Where

are the

untried

races

to

construct

out

of

the

ruined

fragments of our civilisation a new and better


habitation for the spirit of
exist
:

man

They do not

and

if

the world
flood,

is
it
it

again to be buried
not be like that
destroyed, the

under a barbaric

will

which

fertilised,

though

first

western provinces of Rome, but like that which


in

Asia submerged for ever the

last traces

of

Hellenic culture.

We
I

are thus brought back to the question

put a few

moments

since.

What grounds
escape the
?

are there for supposing that


fate to

we can

which other races have had to submit

If for periods which,

measured on the

historic

DECADENCE
scale, are

43

of great duration, communities which

have advanced to a certain point appear able to


advance no further;
if

civilisations

wear

out,

and races become

effete,

why
why

should

we expect
is

to progress indefinitely,

for us alone
?

the

doom

of

man

to be reversed
I

To

these questions

have no very

satis-

factory answers to give, nor

do

believe that

our knowledge of national or social psychology


is

sufficient

to

make a

satisfactory

answer

possible.

Some

purely tentative observations


fitting

on the point may, however, furnish a

conclusion to an address which has been tentative throughout,

and aims rather at suggesting


completing them.

trains of thought, than at


I

assume that the

factors

which combine
it

to

make each generation what


of
its

is life

at

the

moment

entrance into adult

are in

the main twofold.

The one

produces the raw

material of society, the process of manufacture

44

DECADENCE
effected

is

by the

other.

The
is

first

is

physio-

logical inheritance, the

second

the inheritance
life,

partly of external conditions of


beliefs^
traditions,

partly of

sentiments, customs, laws,


all

and organisation
surroundings
I

that constitute the social

in

which men grow up to maturity.

hazard no conjecture as to the share borne

respectively

by these two kinds of cause


result.

in pro-

ducing their joint

Nor

are

we

likely to
till,

obtain satisfactory evidence on the subject


in the interests of science,

two communities of

different blood

and

different traditions consent

to

exchange

their children at birth

by a universal
in the

process of reciprocal adoption.

But even
it

absence of so heroic an experiment,


to say that the mobility which
either

seems safe
possible

makes
resides

progress or decadence,

rather

in the causes

grouped under the second head


material

than

in

the physiological
*

on which

Beliefs include knowledge.

DECADENCE
education,
in

45

the

widest

sense of
to

that
If,

amas

biguous
I

term,

has

got

work.

suppose, acquired qualities are not inherited,

the

only

causes

which

could

fundamentally

modify the physiological character of any particular

community are

its

intermixture

with

alien

races through slavery, conquest,


;

or im-

migration
the

or else

new

conditions which varied


in

relative

proportion

which

different

sections of the population contributed


total

to

its

numbers.

If,

for example, the

more

suc-

cessful

members of the community had


if

smaller

families than the less successful; or

medical

administration succeeded in extinguishing maladies to which persons of a particular constitution

were specially

liable

or

if

one

strain

in

mixed race had a


in

larger birth rate than another

these cases and in others like them, there


in the physiological

would doubtless be a change


factor of national character.

But such changes

46

DECADENCE
I

are not likely,


except,

suppose, to be considerable,

perhaps, those due to the mixture of

races ;-^and that only in

new

countries

whose

economic opportunities tempt immigrants widely


differing in culture,

and

in capacity for culture,

from those whose citizenship they propose to


share.

The
which
is

flexible

element

in

any

society, that

susceptible of progress or decadence,


for

must therefore be looked

rather

in

the

physical and psychical conditions affecting the


life

of

its

component
This

units,

than in their inherited


a limit
itself

constitution.

last rather supplies

to variations than

an element which does


this point of
I

vary

though from
is

view
find

its
it

im-

portance

capital.

at

least

quite

impossible to believe that any attempt to provide

widely different races with an identical


political,

environment,

religious,

educational,
alike.

what you

will,

can ever

make them

DECADENCE
They have been
history
different

47

and unequal since

began

different

and unequal they are

destined to remain through future periods of

comparable duration.

But though the advance of each community


is

thus limited by

its

inherited aptitudes,

do

not suppose that those limits have ever been

reached by

its

unaided

efforts.

In the cases

where a forward movement has died away, the


pause must
in part

be due to arrested developnot to a fixed resistance

ment
in the

in the variable,

unchanging factor of national character.


;

Either external conditions are unfavourable


the sentiments, customs and beliefs which

or

make

society possible have hardened into shapes which

make

its

further self-development impossible


spirit

or through mere weariness of

the com-

munity resigns

itself to

a contented, or perhaps
;

a discontented, stagnation

or

it

shatters itself

in pursuit of impossible ideals, or for

other and

48

DECADENCE
its

obscurer reasons, flags in


falls

endeavours, and

short of possible achievement.


I

Now

am
to

quite unable to offer any such

general analysis of the causes by which these

hindrances

progress

are

produced or

re-

moved
But
it

as would furnish a reply to

my

question.

may be worth

noting that a social force

has come into being,


in kind,

new

in

magnitude

if

not

which must favourably modify such


all

hindrances as come under


divisions
in

but the last of the

which
force

have roughly arranged


is

them.

This

the

modern

alliance

between pure science and industry.


this

That on

we must mainly

rely for the

improvement

of the material conditions under which societies


live is in

my

opinion obvious, although no one


it

would conjecture

from a

historic

survey of
effects

political controversy.

Its direct

moral

are less obvious


excellent

indeed there are

many most

people

who would

altogether deny

DECADENCE
their existence.

49

To

regard

it

as a force fitted

to

rouse and sustain the energies of nations


:

would seem to them absurd


be to rank
it

for

this

would

with those other forces which have


stirred the

most deeply
munities,
exertions,

emotions of great com-

have urged

them

to

the greatest
effectually

have released them most


fetters of

from the benumbing


preoccupations,
politics.

merely personal

with

religion, patriotism,

and

Industrial expansion under scientific

inspiration, so far
this,
is

from deserving praise like


view,
'

in

their

at

best,
at

but a

new
the

source
prolific

of

material

well-being,

worst

parent of physical ugliness in

many
cities,

forms,
polluted

machine
rivers,

made

wares,

smoky

and desecrated landscapes,

appropriately associated with materialism and


greed.
I

believe this view to be utterly misleading,

confounding accident with essence, transient ac4

so

DECADENCE
characteristics.

companiments with inseparable

Should we dream of thus judging the other


great social forces of which
I

have spoken

Are we

to ignore
it

what

religion has

done

for the

world because

has been the

fruitful

excuse for

the narrowest bigotries and the most cruel persecutions


politics,
?

Are we

to underrate the

worth of

because

politics

may mean no more than

the mindless clash of factions, or the barren

exchange of one
another?
its

set of tyrants or jobbers for

Is patriotism to

be despised because

manifestations have been sometimes vulgar,


selfish,

sometimes
criminal
?

sometimes

brutal,

sometimes

Estimates like these seem to


All

me

worse

than useless.

great

social

forces

are not merely capable of perversion, they are

constantly perverted.

Yet were they eliminated


were each man, acting

from our

social system,

on the advice, which Voltaire g^ve but never


followed, to disinterest himself of
all

that goes

DECADENCE
on beyond the
decadence
advanced.
I

51

limits of his

own cabbage

garden,
far

take

it,

would have already

But

if

the proposition
criticised,
it

am
still

defending

may

be wrongly

is

more
it

likely to

be wrongly praised.
itself

To some

will

commend

as a eulogy on an industrial as distin-

guished

from

military

civilisation

as

suggestion that in the peaceful pursuit of wealth


there
is

that

which of

itself

may

constitute a
true,

valuable social tonic.


it

This may be

but

is

not

my

contention.

In talking of the

alliance

between industry and science


at least as

my em-

phasis

is

much on
I

the word science

as on the

word

industry.

am
of

not concerned
population

now

with the proportion

the

devoted to productive labour, or the esteem


in

which they are held.


I

It

is

on the

effects

which
in

believe are following,


larger

and are going


from the
42

yet

measure

to

follow,

52

DECADENCE
between
scientific

intimate relation

discovery

and

industrial

efficiency,

that

most desire

to insist.

Do

you then,

it

will

be asked, so highly rate


it

the utilitarian aspect of research as to regard

as a source, not merely of material convenience,

but of spiritual elevation

Is

it

seriously to

be ranked with religion and patriotism as an


important force for raising men's lives above

what
it

is

small, personal,

and self-centred

Does
into a

not rather pervert pure knowledge

new

contrivance for making money, and give a

fresh triumph to the

'growing materialism of

the age
I

'

do not myself believe that


less

this

age

is

either

spiritual
I

or

more sordid than

its

predecessors.
reverse.

believe, indeed, precisely the


this
is

But however
if

may

be,

is

it

not

plain that

a society

to

be moved by the
it

remote speculations of isolated thinkers

can

DECADENCE
only be on condition that their isolation
is

53

not

complete

Some

point of contact they must


in

have with the world


if

which they

live,

and

their influence

is

to

be based on widespread
in

sympathy, the contact must be


there can be,
if

a region where

not

full

mutual comprehension,
practical

at least a large

measure of

agreement

and willing co-operation.


touched
religion.
plete,
it

Philosophy has never

the

mass

of

men

except

through

And, though the


is

parallel is not

com-

safe to say that science will never


its

touch them unaided by


Its

practical applications.
for

wonders may be catalogued

purposes of

education, they

may be

illustrated

by arresting

experiments, by numbers and magnitudes which


startle or fatigue the

imagination

but they will

form no familiar portion of the


ture of ordinary

intellectual furni-

men

unless they be connected,

however remotely, with the conduct of ordinary


life.

Critics

have made merry over the naive

54

DECADENCE
man
as the

self-importance which represented

centre and final cause

of the

universe,

and

conceived the stupendous mechanism of nature


as primarily designed to satisfy his wants and
minister to
his

entertainment.

But there

is
it

another, and an opposite, danger into which


is

possible to
it

fall.

The

material world,

how-

soever

may have gained

in sublimity, has,

under the touch of science,


domestic charm.

lost (so to
it

speak) in

Except where
life,

affects the

immediate needs of organic

it

may seem
that in the

so remote from the concerns of

men

majority

it

will

rouse

no

curiosity,
its

while

of

those

who

are fascinated by

marvels, not a

few

will

be

chilled

by

its

impersonal

and

indifferent immensity.

For

this

latter

mood

only religion or re-

ligious philosophy can supply

a cure.

But
is

for

the

former,

the appropriate

remedy

the

perpetual

stimulus

which

the

influence

of

DECADENCE
science on the business of
their

55

mankind

offers

to
I

sluggish
this

curiosity.

And even now


be underrated.

believe
in

influence

to

If

the last hundred years the whole material


life

setting of civilised

has altered,

we owe

it

neither to politicians nor to political institutions.

We

owe

it

to the

combined
science

efforts

of those

who have advanced


have applied
it.

and those who

If

our outlook

upon the

Universe has suffered modifications in detail so


great and so numerous that they amount collectively to a revolution,
it is

to

men

of science

we owe

it,

not to theologians or philosophers.

t)n these indeed new and weighty responsibilities

are being cast.

They have

to

harmonise

and

to coordinate,

to prevent

the

new from

being one-sided, to preserve the valuable essence


of what
is

old.

But science
all

is

the great in-

strument of social change,


cause
its

the greater be-

object

is

not change but knowledge

56

DECADENCE
its

and

silent appropriation

of this dominant

function,
strife, is

amid the din of

political
all

and

religious

the most vital of

the revolutions

which have marked the development of modern


civilisation.
It

may seem
of this

fanciful to find in a single recent

aspect

revolution

an influence which
in its

resembles religion or patriotism


to

appeals

the

higher side of

ordinary characters

especially since

we

are accustomed to regard

the appropriation by industry of scientific discoveries merely as a


material

means of multiplying the


life.

conveniences of

But

if

it

be

remembered

that this process brings vast sections

of every industrial community into admiring relation with the highest intellectual achievement,

and the most disinterested search


that

for truth

those

who

live

by ministering

to

the

common wants
support on those

of average humanity lean for

who

search

among

the deepest

DECADENCE
mysteries of Nature
;

57

that their
;

dependence
that

is

rewarded by growing success


gives
in
its

success

turn

an incentive to individual

effort in

no wise to be measured by personal


of gain
affect
;

expectation

that

the energies thus


character

aroused

may

the

whole

of

the community, spreading the beneficent contagion of hope and high

endeavour through
fields
it

channels scarcely known, to workers^ in


the most remote;
if all

this

be borne

in

mind

may perhaps seem


I

not unworthy of the place


it.

have assigned But


I

to

do not

offer this speculation,

whatever
original

be

its

worth,
It

as
is

an answer to

my

question.

but an aid to optimism, not

a reply to pessimism.

Such a reply can only

be given by a sociology which has arrived


at
scientific

conclusions on the life-history of

different types of society,


^

and has

risen

above

See note

at the

end of the paper.

58

DECADENCE

the empirical and merely interrogative point of

view which,
in this

for

want of a better,

have adopted

address.

No
the

such sociology exists at

present, or

seems

likely

soon to be created.

In

its

absence

conclusions at

which

provisionally arrive are that

we cannot

regard
less

decadence and arrested development as

normal

in

human communities than

progress

though the point at which the energy of advance


is

exhausted
different

(if,

and when
and

it is

reached) varies
:

in

races

civilisations
is

that

the

internal causes

by which progress
lie

encouraged,

hindered, or reversed,

to

a great extent

beyond the
sion,

field

of ordinary political discuseasily expressed in current


:

and are not

political

terminology

that the influence

which a

superior civilisation, whether acting by example


or imposed by force,

may have

in

advancing
is

an

inferior one,

though often beneficent,


;

not
will

likely to

be self supporting

its

withdrawal

DECADENCE

59

be followed by decadence, unless the character


of the civilisation be in harmony both with the

acquired temperament and the innate capacities


of those

who have been induced


own

to accept
still

it

that as regards those nations


in virtue of their

which

advance

inherent energies, though

time has brought perhaps


it

new causes

of disquiet,
;

has brought also new grounds of hope

and

that whatever be the perils in front of us, there


are, so far,

no symptoms either of pause or of

regression in the onward

movement which

for

more than a thousand years has been characteristic

of Western civilisation.

NOTE TO PAGE
This remark

57.

arises out of a train of

thought suggested

by two questions which are very pertinent to the subject


of the Address.
(i)
Is a

due succession of men above the average

in original capacity necessary to maintain social progress ?

and
(2)

If so, can

we discover any law according

to

which

such

men

are produced ?

6o

DECADENCE
I

entertain

no doubt myself
but,

that the answer to the

first

question should be in the affirmative.


cellent thing
is
;

Democracy

is

an exit

though quite consistent with progress,


Its

not progressive /(?r se.


if it

value

is

regulative not

dynamic

and

meant

(as

it

never does) substantial uniformity,

instead of legal equality,

we should become

fossilised at once.
;

Movement may be controlled or checked by the many it If (for the is initiated and made effective by the few. in all its mental capacity illustration) we suppose sake of many forms to be mensurable and commensurable, and
then imagine two societies possessing the same average
capacity

but

an average made up

in

one case of equal

units, in the other of

a majority slightly below the average

and a minority much above it, few could doubt that the second, not the first, would show, the greatest aptitude for
movement.
It

might go wrong, but


question

it

would

go.
its

The second
is

how
its

is

this

originality (in

higher manifestations called genius) effectively produced?

not so simple.

Excluding education in

narrowest sense
to

would regard as having much


Original capacity

do with the matter

which few the


of the

only alternatives seem to be the following:

may be no more than one

ordinary variations incidental to heredity.

community
it

may breed

a minority thus exceptionally gifted, as

breeds

a minority of

men

over six feet

six.

There may be an
is

average decennial output of congenital geniuses as there

an average decennial output of congenital idiots


the

though

number

is

likely to

be smaller.

DECADENCE
But
if

6i

this

be

the

sole

cause of the phenomenon,

why does

the

same race apparently produce many men

of genius in one generation and few in another?

Why

are years of abundance so often followed by long periods

of

sterility ?

The most obvious


be that
in

explanation of this would seem to


give

some periods circumstances

many openings
is

to genius, in

some periods
it

few.

The
truth.

genius

constantly

produced

but

is

only occasionally recognised.

In this there must be some

A mob

orator in

Turkey, a religious reformer in seventeenth century Spain,


a military leader in the Sandwich islands, would hardly get
their chance.

Yet the theory of opportunity can scarcely


For
it

be reckoned a complete explanation.


accounted
countries
for

leaves un-

the variety of genius which has in

some

marked epochs of vigorous national development.


fifth

Athens in the
fifteenth

and fourth

centuries, Florence in the

and

early sixteenth centuries,

Holland

in the later

sixteenth

and seventeenth
diplomatists,

centuries, are the typical examples.

In such periods the opportunities of statesmen, soldiers,


orators,

and

may have been

specially frequent.

But whence came the


the philosophers
opportunities

poets, the sculptors, the painters,


letters?

and the men of


they'i
if

\Vhat peculiar

had

The

only explanation,

we

reject the idea of a

mere

coincidence, seems to be, that quite apart from opportunity,

the exceptional

stir

and fervour of national

life

evokes or

may evoke qualities which in ordinary times lie dormant, unknown even to their possessors. The potential Miltons

62

DECADENCE
'

are

mute

'

and

inglorious

'

not because they cannot find

a publisher, but because they have nothing they want to


publish.

They

lack the kind of inspiration which,

on

this

view, flows from social surroundings

where great

things,

though of quite another kind, are being done and thought.


If
this

theory be true (and

it

is

not

without

its

difficulties)

one would

like

to

know whether
the

these un-

doubted outbursts of

originality in

higher and rarer


rise in

form of genius, are symptomatic of a general

the

number

of persons exhibiting original capacity of a more


If so,

ordinary type.

then the conclusion would seem to

be that some kind of widespread exhilaration or excitement


is

required in order to enable any

community

to extract
it

the best results from the raw material transmitted to


natural inheritance.

by

Canthridge : Printed at the University Press.

m
SMC

111

.B2 1908

Bal four. Arthur James Bal four. Earl of.

Decadence

AFF-0152 (sk)

^^^MABi

LIBRARYJ

o m

*-f^

'.:^-.vi

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