babilities of its future. The ancient city was an overgrown
village that had special advantages for communication and
transportation of goods, or that was located conveniently for
protection against neighboring enemies. The cities of Greece
maintained their independence as political units, but most social
centres that at first were autonomous became parts of a larger state.
The great cities were the capitals of nations or empires, and to
strike at them in war was to aim at the vitals of an organism. Such
were Thebes and Memphis in Egypt, Babylon and Nineveh in the
Tigris-Euphrates valley, Carthage and Rome in the West. Such are
Vienna and Berlin, Paris and London to-day. Lesser cities were centres
of trade, like Corinth or Byzantium, or of culture, such as Athens.
Such was Florence in the Middle Ages, and such are Liverpool and
Leipzig to-day. The municipalities of the Roman Empire marked the
climax of civic development in antiquity.

The social and industrial life of the Middle Ages was rural. Only a
few cities survived the fall of the Roman Empire in the West, and new
centres of importance did not arise until trade revived and the
manufacturing industry began to concentrate in growing towns about the
time of the Crusades. Then artisans and tradesmen found their way to
points convenient to travel and trade, and a city population began the
processes of aggregation and congregation. They grew up rough in
manners and careless of sanitation and hygiene, but they developed
efficiency in local government and an inclination to demand civic
rights from those who had any outside claim of control; they began to
take pride in their public halls and churches, and presently they
founded schools and universities. Wealth increased rapidly, and some
of the cities, like the Hansa towns of the north, and Venice and Genoa
in the south, commanded extensive and profitable trade routes.

Modern cities owe their growth to the industrial revolution and the
consequent increase of commerce. The industrial centres of northern
England are an illustration of the way in which economic forces have
worked in the building of cities. At the middle of the eighteenth
century that part of Great Britain was far less populous and
progressive than the eastern and southern counties. It had small
representation in Parliament. It was provincial in thought, speech,
and habits. It was given over to agriculture, small trade, and rude
home manufacture. Presently