surpassing dignity. On one hand it is connected with
topics the most sublime, on the other it descends to incidents the most
familiar and useful; on one hand it elevates our minds to the relations
of suns and myriads of worlds, on the other it falls to the every-day
acts of our domestic and individual life; on one hand it turns our
thoughts to a vista of ages so infinite that the vanishing point is in
eternity, on the other it magnifies into importance the transitory
occupation of a passing hour. Knowing how great are the requirements for
the right treatment of such topics, I might shrink from this portion of
my book with a conviction of incapacity. I enter upon it with
hesitation, trusting rather to the considerate indulgence of the reader
than to any worthiness in the execution of the work.

In the history of the philosophical life of Greece, we have seen
(Chapter II.) how important were the influences of maritime discovery
and the rise of criticism. Conjointly they closed the Greek Age of
Faith. In the life of Europe, at the point we have now reached, they
came into action again. [Sidenote: Approach of the Age of Reason.] As on
this occasion the circumstances connected with them are numerous and
important, I shall consider them separately in this and the following
chapter. And, first, of maritime enterprise, which was the harbinger of
the Age of Reason in Europe. It gave rise to three great voyages--the
discovery of America, the doubling of the Cape, and the circumnavigation
of the earth.

[Sidenote: State of Mediterranean trade.] At the time of which we are
speaking, the commerce of the Mediterranean was chiefly in two
directions. The ports of the Black Sea furnished suitable depots for
produce brought down the Tanais and other rivers, and for a large
portion of the India trade that had come across the Caspian. The seat of
this commerce was Genoa.

The other direction was the south-east. The shortest course to India was
along the Euphrates and the Persian Gulf, but the Red and Arabian seas
offered a cheaper and safer route. In the ports of Syria and Egypt were
therefore found the larger part of the commodities of India. This trade
centred in Venice. A vast development had been given to it through the
Crusades, the Venetians probably finding in the transport service of the
Holy Wars as great a source of profit as in the India trade.

[Sidenote: Rivalry of Genoa and Venice.] Toward the latter part of the
fourteent