Excerpt from History of Ancient Art
It is through a proper understanding of the historic life of man that we secure a knowledge of the capabilities of the race, and of the relation of man to his fellows and to the earth on which he lives. Man is not a solitary, selfish being; he is bound to his fellows by ties infinite in their nature, and unless he recognizes his obligations, he does not perform his part in the universal struggle by which the race has lifted itself out of barbarism up into the civilization of our modern world. The conquest of nature by man has been very slow. In the barbaric stage of human life nature seemed too strong for man; indeed, even the partial control of nature is a very late acquisition. Man, struggling desperately for existence, has very little time for the cultivation of his higher nature.
History begins when man becomes conscious of himself as a being which has a continuous life, and feels a desire to leave a memory behind him. This history goes back scarcely more than seven thousand years, - hardly a day in the whole period of man's existence.
We are apt to foreshorten history. We cannot tell how long ago it was that the first historic savage built his hut and made his first fire. One of the most important acquisitions, as well as one of the most difficult of accomplishment, was the discovery of the use of fire. In its importance to civilization it is second to no other discovery.
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