Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/385

 STUDIES IN POLITICAL AREAS 367

ration to the broader one of expansion. From the time there has been a history telling about different tribes and nations on terms of rivalry or acting and reacting upon one another, one has always had the lead. It opens the way, sets the example, and exercises thereby a powerful influence in political, intel- lectual, or economic matters, the first two more often from an economic basis. Such a people always operates with con- centrated strength from a small territory upon outside aims. England offers in the present the most stupendous example of the kind, and that with results which cannot yet be measured.

The progress of historical events enacted within close, con- fined limits gives the impression of something finished, which even appeals to the aesthetic sense in comparison with move- ments losing themselves in the vast perspective. The more thorough comprehension and utilization of natural conditions here necessary cause the historical individuality to mature earlier and to reveal more sharply drawn features. In a restricted environment, moreover, man himself appears great as a molder of history. There is a certain attractive definiteness in the great history of little states, from Greece and Rome to Great Britain. This is undoubtedly what Sporer meant when he said that "the process of development of the ancient mind had something of the clearness and distinctness of an artistic composition."' This is particularly true of the history of the city-states ; they, indeed, are the greatest examples of historical greatness in ancient times. Their importance, as well as the interest which they arouse in us, is altogether out of proportion to their area, but not to the closeness of the connection existing between the land and its people participating as one body in all the move ments of its history.

The very thing which limits and hems in a region often affords to the life forcing its way upward in narrow confinement the possibility of expansion and a field of activity in distant parts. It is true that in the Mediterranean countries the limited character of the area, determined by land and climate, tended to

'Sporer's notice of C. Curtius' "Topographic von Athen," Geographische Mitteilungen, 1869, p. 46.