And the young Robber laughed in answer, and sought to knock at the gate. And as he did so the Hermit ran forward and caught him by the skirts of his raiment, and said to him: ‘Stretch forth your hands, and set your arms around my neck, and put your ear close to my lips, and I will give you what remains to me of the knowledge of God.’ And the young Robber stopped. And when the Hermit had given away his knowledge of God, he fell upon the ground and wept, and a great darkness hid from him the city and the young Robber, so that he saw them no more. And as he lay there weeping he was ware of One who was standing beside him; and He who was standing beside him had feet of brass and hair like fine wool. And He raised the Hermit up, and said to him: ‘Before this time thou hadst the perfect knowledge of God. Now thou shalt have the perfect love of God. Wherefore art thou weeping?’ And he kissed him. FOOTNOTES {29} Plato’s _Laws_; Æschylus’ _Prometheus Bound_. {31} Somewhat in the same spirit Plato, in his _Laws_, appeals to the local position of Ilion among the rivers of the plain, as a proof that it was not built till long after the Deluge. {32} Plutarch remarks that the _only_ evidence Greece possesses of the truth that the legendary power of Athens is no ‘romance or idle story,’ is the public and sacred buildings. This is an instance of the exaggerated importance given to ruins against which Thucydides is warning us. {37} The fictitious sale in the Roman marriage _per coemptionem_ was originally, of course, a real sale. {43} Notably, of course, in the case of heat and its laws. {57} Cousin errs a good deal in this respect. To say, as he did, ‘Give me the latitude and the longitude of a country, its rivers and its mountains, and I will deduce the race,’ is surely a glaring exaggeration. {59} The monarchical, aristocratical, and democratic elements of the Roman constitution are referred to. {63a} Polybius, vi. 9. _αὔτη πολιτειῶν ἀνακύκλωσις_, _αὔτς φύσεως οἰκονομία_. {63b} _χωρὶς ὀργῆς ἢ φθόνου ποιούμεηος τὴν ἀπόφασιν_. {63c} The various stages are _σύστασις_, _αὔξησις_, _ἀκμή_, _μεταβολὴ ἐις τοὔμπαλιν_. {68} Polybius, xii. 24. {69a} Polybius, i. 4, viii. 4, specially; and really _passim_. {69b} He makes one exception. {69c} Polybius, viii. 4. {71} Polybius, xvi. 12. {72a} Polybius, viii. 4: _τὸ παραδοξάτον καθ’ ἡμᾶς ἔργον ἡ τύχη συνετέλεσε_; _τοῦτο δ’ ἔστι τὸ πάντα τὰ γνωριζόμενα μέρη τῆς οἰκουμένης ὑπὸ μίαν ἀρχὴν καὶ δυναστείαν ἀγαγεῖν_, _ὂ πρότερον οὐχ εὑρίσκεται γεγονός_. {72b} Polybius resembled Gibbon in many respects. Like him he held that all religions were to the philosopher equally false, to the vulgar equally true, to the statesman equally useful. {76} Cf. Polybius, xii. 25, _ἐπεὶ ψιλῶς λεγόμενον αὐτὄ γεγονὸς ψυχαγωγεῖ μέν_, _ὠφελεῖ δ’ οὐδέν_· _προστεθείσης δὲ τῆς αἰτίας ἔγκαρπος ἡ τῆς ἱστορίας γίγνεται χρῆσις_. {78} Polybius, xxii. 8.