[23] Even the historians of ancient Greece wondered at those gigantic ruins, of which many are still extant. Of these cyclopean remains, as they were often called, no one knew the builders or the history, and they were considered as the labors of the fabulous heroes of a traditional epoch. For an account of these memorials of an _ante-hellenic civilization in Greece, of which we have no record_, particularly the ruins of Orchomonos, Tirgus, Mycene, and the tunnels of Lake Copais, see _Niebuhr's Ancient History_, vol. i. p. 241, _et passim_. [24] Democracy in America, vol. ii. ch. xviii. p. 424. [25] Daniel ii. 44. [26] Daniel ii. 31 to 35. [27] Among many passages illustrative of the ultra utilitarianism of the Chinese, I can find space but for one, and that selected almost at random. After speaking of the exemplary diffusion of primary instruction among the masses, he says that, though they all read, and frequently, yet even their reading is of a strictly utilitarian character, and never answers any but practical purposes or temporary amusement. The name of the author is seldom known, and never inquired after. "That class are, in their eyes, only idle persons, who pass their time in making prose or verse. They have no objection to such a pursuit. A man may, they say, 'amuse himself with his pen as with his kite, if he likes it as well--it is all a matter of taste.' The inhabitants of the celestial empire would never recover from their astonishment if they knew to what extent intellectual labor may be in Europe a source of honor and often wealth. If they were told that a person among us may obtain great glory by composing a drama or a novel, they would either not believe it, or set it down as an additional proof of our well-known want of common sense. How would it be if they should be told of the renown of a dancer or a violin player, and that one cannot make a bound, nor the other draw a bow anywhere without thousands of newspapers hastening to spread the important news over all the kingdoms of Europe! "The Chinese are too decided utilitarians to enter into our views of the arts. In their opinion, a man is only worthy of the admiration of his fellow-creatures when he has well fulfilled the social duties, and especially if he knows better than any one else how to get out of a scrape. You are regarded as a man of genius if you know how to regulate your family, make your lands fruitful, traffic with ability, and realize great profits. This, at least, is the only kind of genius that is of any value in the eyes of these eminently practical men."--_Voyages en Chine_, par M. Huc, Amer. trans., vol. i. pp. 316 and 317. [28] Nat. Hist. of the Varieties of Man. London. [29] According to Latham's classification, _op. cit._ DIVERSITY OF RACES. CHAPTER I. POLITICAL CATASTROPHES. Perishable condition of all human societies--Ancient ideas concerning this phenomenon--Modern theories.