Page:The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind.djvu/38



and thought under the conditions supplied by the states of antiquity as well as the contemporary "barbarians." Their colonial and military systems, their commercial policies, their political unions and confederations, were the direct outcome of Phoenician, Egyptian, and Persian influences. The various stages in the history of the Roman Republic were likewise influenced both in form and spirit by contact with the life and thought of the innumerable peoples who came under the sway of the Romans.

The manners and customs, religious institutions and social practices, as well as the art and literature of India, owe their special characteristics to the social, economic, political, and religious intercourse of India with the peoples of Tibet, China, and the diverse