(1908) Decadence

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DECADENCE

CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS WAREHOUSE, CLAY, MANAGER.

C. F. Honfcon: :

FETTER LANE, 50,

j: ti

?orb

:

E.G.

WELLINGTON STREET.

F.

A.

G. P.

tfotnbag anto Calcutta:

BROCKHAUS. PUTNAM'S SONS,

MACMILLAN AND

[All Rights reserved]

CO., LTD.

DECADENCE HENRT SIDGWICK MEMORIAL LECTURE

by

THE RIGHT HON.

ARTHUR JAMES BALFOUR, [DELIVERED

AT NEWNHAM

JANUARY

25,

COLLEGE,

1908]

CAMBRIDGE at

the University Press

1908

M.P.

Cambridge:

PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A. AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS.

DECADENCE. MUST begin what I have to say with a I must warn you warning and an apology. I

makes no pretence to be an adequate treatment of some compact and limited theme but rather resembles those that the present essay

;

wandering

where we allow

trains of thought,

ourselves the luxury of putting wide-ranging questions, to which our ignorance forbids

confident

reply.

I

apologise for adopting a

course which thus departs

from familiar precedent.

But

it

is

any

just possible that

in I

some measure

admit

when a

its

perils.

subject, or

of great inherent interest,

group of subjects,

is

even a

and interrogative, treatment

of

it

tentative,

may be worth

attempting.

DECADENCE

6

My

Decadence.

is

parture, sort

or at least

subject,

my

point of de-

do not mean the

I

of decadence often attributed to certain

phases of

or literary development, in

artistic

which an overwrought technique, straining to express sentiments too subtle or too morbid, is

deemed

have supplanted the

to

an

direct in-

and a simpler age.

spiration

of

Whether

these autumnal glories, these splen-

earlier

dours touched with death, are recurring phe-

nomena be,

in the literary cycle

they

connected

are

of decadence,

may be

The decadence put questions political

and

is

I

which attacks, or

is

if

they

other

forms

well

worth

But they are not the

am

at present concerned.

which

wish

I

literary or artistic,

national.

communities and

with

respecting

not

whether,

questions

asking and answering. questions with which

:

It

is

the

it

to is

decadence

alleged to attack, great

historic

civilisations

:

which

DECADENCE is

to societies of

and

is

men what

like

often,

senility,

7

senility is to

man,

the precursor and

the cause of final dissolution. It

how

curious

is

imbedded

deeply

in

ordinary discourse are traces of the conviction

that

childhood,

are stages

corporate, as

the

in

and old age,

maturity,

"

they are in

A

young and vigorous nation," "a decrepit and moribund civilisa" tion phrases like these, and scores of others the individual,

life.

containing the same implication, pingly from the tongue as

no

difficulty

To

Macaulay (unless

metaphor too

and

far)

called

it

I

am

if

for

come

as trip-

they suggested

no explanation.

pressing his famous

seemed natural that ages

hence a young country

like

New

Zealand should

be flourishing, but not less natural that an old country like

England should have

Berkeley, in a well-known stanza,

drama of

civilisation

tells

decayed.

how

the

has slowly travelled west-

DECADENCE

8

ward

to find

its final

every

its

loftiest

development, but also

catastrophe, in the

man who

illusioned

talks

is

as

New World.

weary, if

he

While or

hopeless,

dis-

had caught these

various diseases from the decadent epoch in

which he was born.

But why should

and great communities decay dence

is

?

and what

there that in fact they

questions, though

conclusive

I

do?

These

interest.

much more than For

if

current

modes of speech take decadence more or granted, with

for

they speak of

evi-

cannot give to them any

answers, are of

a merely theoretic

wear out

civilisations thus

still

less

greater confidence

Progress as assured.

Yet

do if

both are real they can hardly be studied apart, they

must evidently

limit

and qualify each

other in actual experience, and

be isolated

Though

they cannot

in speculation.

antiquity,

Pagan and

Christian,

DECADENCE took a different view,

it

seems

easier,

a priori,

Even

to understand Progress than Decadence. if

the former be limited, as presumably

by the

limitation of

human

it

is,

we should

faculty,

expect the ultimate boundary to be capable of

indefinite

approach,

and we

should

not

expect that any part of the road towards

once traversed,

Even

though they

call for scientific

the higher organisms old

be,

are

retraced.

phenomena

how

it

grow

that

And Weismann

explanation.

has definitely asked

that

be

to

the organic world, decay and death,

in

familiar

would have

it,

comes about and

old

die,

that

seeing

age and death are not inseparable

characteristics of living protoplasm,

and that

the simplest organisms suffer no natural decay, perishing,

when they do

perish,

by

accident,

starvation, or specific disease.

The answer he

gives to his

own

that the death of the individual

is

question

is

so useful to

DECADENCE

io

the race, that Natural Selection has, in

but

all

the very lowest species, exterminated the potentially

immortal.

One

is

tempted to enquire, whether

this in-

genious explanation could be so modified as to apply not merely to individuals but to communities.

Is

it

needful for the cause of civilisation

as a whole, that the organised

each particular

development

is

civilisation, if

embodiment of

and when

arrested, should

make room

younger and more vigorous competitors if

we

can

so

find

Natural

in

mechanism by which the and dissolution

shall

free

its

And

?

Selection

principle

for

the

of decay

be so implanted

in

the

very nature of human associations that a due succession

tained

I

among them

shall

always be main-

?

To

this

think,

be

second question the answer must, in the negative.

The

struggle for

existence between different races and different

DECADENCE

\ i

societies has admittedly played a great part in social

But to extend Weismann's

development.

idea from the organic to the social world, would

imply a prolonged competition between groups of communities in which decadence was the rule,

and groups

in

which

survival of the

second.

first,

it

ending

;

The groups whose members

fittest to

survive

in the

and the destruction of the suffered

and dissolution would be

periodical decadence

the

was not

:

just as,

on Weismann's

theory, those species gain in competitive

effici-

whom death has .unburdened of the old. Few will say that in the petty fragment

ency

human

history which alone

spection, there

is

open

to our in-

satisfactory evidence of

such long drawn process. disposed to

is

ask whether

of

any

Some may even be there

is

adequate

evidence of such a phenomenon as decadence at

all.

And

affirmative

it

must be acknowledged that the

answer should be given with caution.

DECADENCE

12

Evidently

we must

not consider a diminution of

national power, whether relative or

as

decadence.

itself

by

constituting

Holland

is

absolute,

a proof of national

not decadent because

her place in the hierarchy of European Powers is

less exalted

years ago. at the

than

it

was two hundred and

fifty

Spain was not necessarily decadent

end of the seventeenth century because

she had exhausted herself in a contest far beyond

her resources either in would,

I

think, be rash

was decadent

at

money

or in men.

It

even to say that Venice

the end of the eighteenth

century, though the growth of other Powers,

and the diversion of the great trade

routes,

had

shorn her of wealth and international influence.

These are misfortunes which

in the

sphere of

sociology correspond to accident or disease in

the sphere of biology.

cerned to

know

sociology there

is is

And what we

whether

in

are con-

the sphere of

also anything corresponding

DECADENCE

13

a decay which

to the decay of old age

may be

hastened by accident or disease, which must be

ended by accident or

disease, but

is

certainly to

be distinguished from both.

However the cases

I

have cited are

where the chief

It is

if

it

be a

enquiry

reality,

never acts

more obvious

causes.

always therefore possible to argue that

It

is

to

these causes, and not to the

and elusive influences 4

decadence,'

communities

the is

more

subtle

collectively described as

decline

and

of

fall

great

really due.

Yet there are

to

lies.

always complicated with, and

often acts through, other

it

shew

sufficient to

difficulty of the

Decadence, even in isolation.

should be answered

this question

historic tragedies

which

(as

seems to me) do most obstinately refuse be thus simply explained.

It

is

in

vain

that historians enumerate the public calamities

which preceded, and no doubt contributed

to,

I

DECADENCE

4

the

final

Civil dissensions, mili-

catastrophe.

tary disasters, pestilences, famines, tyrants, tax-

growing burdens, and waning wealth

gatherers,

the gloomy catalogue eyes, yet

somehow

satisfy us

:

we

it

unrolled before our

is

does not

feel that

in all cases

some of these

are of a kind which a vigorous

wholly

diseases

body

politic

should easily be able to survive, that others are

secondary symptoms of some obscurer malady,

and that the

full

do they supply us with

in neither case

explanations of which

we

are in search.

Consider for instance the long agony and final

destruction of

Roman

Imperialism in the

West, the most momentous catastrophe of which

we have

historic record.

It

imagination of mankind, of great historians,

by

political

it

has deeply stirred the

it

has been the theme

has been

philosophers,

yet

much explained who feels that

either historians or philosophers

the inner workings of the

drama

have ?

laid

Rome

bare fell,

DECADENCE and great was the what secret mines

and what made

its

fall

its

of

15

But why

it.

it fell,

by

defences were breached,

garrison so faint-hearted and

this is not so clear.

ineffectual

In order to measure adequately the difficulty of the problem historical details

let

us abstract our minds from

and compare the position of the

Empire about the middle of the second with

its

century,

position in the middle of the third, or

again at the end of the fourth, and ask of what forces history gives us an account, sufficient in

these periods to effect so mighty a transformation.

Or,

still

better,

imagine

an

equipped with our current stock of

Rome

observer political

in the reign

of

Antoninus Pius or Marcus Aurelius, and

in

wisdom, transported to

ignorance of the event, writing letters to the

newspapers on the future destinies of the Empire.

What would

We

his forecast

be

?

might suppose him to examine,

in

the

1

DECADENCE

6

first

place, the military position of the State, its

probable enemies,

its

would note that only on

was there an organised of meeting

and

Rome

He

capacities for defence. its

eastern boundary

Power capable

military

on anything

like equal terms,

only in the regions adjacent to their

this

common

For the

frontier.

he would

rest

dis-

cover no civilised enemy along the southern to the Atlantic or along

boundary

boundary from the Black Sea Warlike

Ocean. in plenty

tribes indeed

difficult to

:

their native forests

may be

in a raid,

;

dangerous. legions,

to the

northern

German

he would find

crush within the limits of

and morasses, formidable

it

but without political cohesion,

military unity, or the

centration

its

means of

military con-

embarrassing therefore rather than If

reminded of Varus and

his lost

he would ask of what importance,

in

the story of a world-power could be the loss of a few thousand

men

surprised at a distance

DECADENCE from a

their

17

amid the entanglements of

base

and unknown country.

difficult

Never,

would seem, was Empire more fortunately cumstanced

But

(it

purposes of

for

home

it

cir-

defence.

might be thought) the burden of

securing frontiers of such length, even against

merely

tribal

strictly

military

too

heavy

military

assaults,

point

be

to

though of view,

long

scattered

forces

easy from

might prove

Yet

endured.

through the

Empire, though apparently adequate days

of

modern

her greatness ideas,

would,

seem hardly

poses of police,

let

corps or less was

way

of

in

the to

sufficient for pur-

alone defence.

deemed enough

disorder and external aggression.

the

the

Roman

according

An army to preserve

what are now mighty kingdoms, from

compare with

a

internal

And

if

we

this the contributions, either in

money

or of men, exacted from the

territories subject to

Rome

before the

Empire

DECADENCE

8

1

came

into being, or at

history since

it

must surely be

any period of the world's

dissolved away, the comparison entirely in favour of the

But burdens which seem

by

light, if

Empire.

measured

may be heavy if measured by ability Yet when has ability to pay been

area,

to pay.

greater in the regions bordering the Southern

and Eastern Mediterranean

Roman Empire? nation,

Travel round

eastward from

Morocco

till

than under the it

the Atlantic

a

still

region,

wealth, once

filled

of

coast

with great

will

immense cities,

farms, better governed during the it

imagi-

of

returning westward you reach the

head of the Adriatic Gulf, and you skirted

in

has ever been governed since

have

natural

and

fertile

Empire than (at least

till

Algeria became French and Egypt British) including

among

states before the

its

;

provinces what were great

Roman

rule,

and have been

that rule decayed, divided by great states since

DECADENCE

19

.

no international jealousies, oppressed by no fear

Remember

of conquest, enterprising, cultured. that to estimate

its

area of taxation and recruit-

ing you must add to these regions Bulgaria, Servia,

much

of Austria and Bavaria, Switzer-

land, Belgium,

France, Spain, and most

Italy,

of Britain, and you have conditions favourable to

and economic prosperity

military strength

rarely equalled in the

modern world and never

in the ancient.

Our observer however feel

that a far-spreadirtg

might, very rightly,

Empire

like

Rome, including regions profoundly in race, history

and

religion,

would be

that of differing liable to

other dangers than those which arise from mere external aggression. therefore, is

One

of the

first

questions,

which he would be disposed to ask,

whether so heterogeneous a state was not

in perpetual

danger of dissolution through the

disintegrating influence of national sentiments. 2

2

DECADENCE

20

He

would learn probably, with a strong feeling

of surprise, that with the single exception of the Jews, the constituent nations, once

con-

quered, were not merely content to belong to

the Empire, but could scarcely imagine themselves doing anything else

:

that the Imperial

system appealed, not merely to the material needs of the component populations, but also to their imagination

and

their loyalty

that Gaul,

;

Spain, and Britain, though but recently forced

within the pale of civilisation, were as faithful to the Imperial ideal as the

the

Greek

of

Hellenised Orientals of Syria

;

Athens or and that

neither historic memories, nor local patriotism,

neither disputed succession, nor public calamities,

nor administrative divisions, ever really

shook the sentiment

in favour of Imperial Unity.

There might be more than one Emperor but Howsoever there could only be one Empire. :

our observer might disapprove of the Imperial

DECADENCE

21

system he would therefore have to admit that the Empire, with its

successfully

than

sentiments of East and

which

respected

local

government

couraged

the

Iberian,

Asiatic,

the

were

at

all

abso-

its

any government, before or

the

equally satisfied

the

shortcomings,

problem of devising a scheme which

since, the

;

its

bureaucracy, had solved more

lutism and

West

all

feelings,

en-

which the

Celt,

local ;

in

Berber, the

Greek,

the

Egyptian, the the

Illyrian,

Italian

home, and which, though based on

conquest, was accepted by the conquered as the natural organisation of the civilised world.

Rome had What sources be

likely

terior

?

thus unique sources of strength.

of weakness would our observer detect behind

to

The

one which has historians

:

her imposing ex-

diminution of population (rightly

and

it

is

evidence, either of the

I

is

the

think) most impressed difficult

fact,

or of

to its

resist

the

disastrous

22

DECADENCE

consequences.

I

indeed

hesitate

to

accept

without qualification the accounts given us of progressive decay of

the

the

native

Italian

stock from the days of the Gracchi to the disintegration of the

when we read how

made good

the dearth

(in so far as

it

West

in the

Empire

of

and

;

men was

was made, good) by

the increasing inflow of slaves and adventurers

from every corner of the known world, one

wonders whose sons they were who,

for three

centuries and more, so brilliantly led the van

of modern

European

as

culture,

it

emerged

from the darkness of the early Middle Ages. Passing

and

such

by

admitting

both

real

whether

it

collateral

depopulation

and

serious,

was not the

cadence rather than of

some deep-seated

origin.

We

are

not

have

to

we may result of

its

however,

issues,

cause,

social

well

Roman

the

ask de-

symptom

malady,

concerned

been

not

here

its

with

DECADENCE the aristocracy of

of

people

Rome, nor even with

We

Italy.

We

the Empire.

23

are

concerned

the

with

are not concerned with a

passing phase or fashion, but with a process

which seems to have gone on with increasing rapidity, till

through good times as well as bad,

A

the final cataclysm.

have a

local disease

we

one might

local explanation, a transient

be due to a chance coincidence.

might

But what can

say of a disease which was apparently co-

extensive

with

area,

hard to believe that either a

selfish

and which exceeded I

find

it

civilisation

in

Imperial i't

in duration ?

aversion to matrimony or a mystical admiration for celibacy,

was common tian circles,

though at certain periods the one in

Pagan and the other

were more than elements

complex of causes by which the brought about. vastated

in Chris-

Europe

in

result

the

was

Like the plagues which dein

the

second

and

third

DECADENCE

24

must have greatly aggravated

centuries, they

the

evil,

but

account for

it.

planation of

it

are

they

Nor in the

sufficient

hardly

we

yet can

to

find an ex-

discouragement, the sense

by which men's

of impending doom,

spirits

were oppressed long before the Imperial power

began things

visibly to wane, for this

which,

if

historically

is

true,

one of the does

itself

most urgently require explanation. It

may be however

politician

would

be

that

too

well

our wandering

grounded

in

Malthusian economics to regard a diminution of population

as

in

itself

calamity.

And

scribe the

weak spots

if

an overwhelming

were pressed

he

in

the

to

de-

Empire of the

Antonines he would be disposed,

I

think, to

look for them on the ethical rather than on the military, the economic, or the strictly political

He

sides of social

life.

say, as in effect

Mr Lecky

would be inclined to does say, that

in the

DECADENCE

25

in the brutalities of the

institution of slavery,

gladiatorial shows, in the gratuitous distribution

of bread to the urban mobs, are to be found the

corrupting influences which

first

weakened and

then destroyed the vigour of the State. confess that

I

cannot easily accept this

I

As

analysis of the facts. torial

regards the gladia-

even had they been universal

shows,

throughout the Empire, and had they flourished

more rankly

as

its

power

declined,

I

should

still

have questioned the propriety of attributing too far-reaching

effects

Romans were

to

brutal

quering the world

:

its

such while

tastes

ill

;

they

but

by the depth of our own

fitting

The

were con-

we must

not

consequences of their barbaric

assume the Gothic invasions

and

cause.

conquest enabled them

to be brutal with ostentation

measure the

a

disgusts,

nor

to be the natural

Nemesis of so much spectacular

shedding of innocent blood.

DECADENCE

26

As

one

for the public distributions of corn,

would wish to have more evidence as to But even without

social effects.

the theory of the latest believes that,

no very large

in Antiquity, if the

supply of

to private enterprise,

historian,

it

food were

its

we cannot

strange as

for the sake of

mob

of

Rome was of

Rome

who

city could exist

seems

argument that

Rome,

it

left

seriously regard to us, as

important element in the problem.

the

accepting

under the then prevailing con-

ditions of transport,

this practice,

Roman

fully

its

it

an

Granting

demoralised

must be remembered that

not the Empire, nor did the

govern the Empire, as once

it

mob had

governed the Republic. Slavery

is

a far more important matter.

The magnitude societies,

can

of

difficult

its

effects

can

ancient

as these are to disentangle,

hardly be exaggerated.

plausibility

on

we

find

in

But with what it

the

cause of

DECADENCE Rome's comitant

which

have

seeing that

decline,

of

also

this exceptional

one?

It

impossible

would not

can

to every state,

;

but surely in

becomes

it

mind the enormous

effected under the

Empire both

law and the practice of slavery.

in the

were

its evils,

less ruinous as

that

any case be easy to

in

when we bear

improvement

was the con-

and malign influence upon

accept such a theory

as

common

Antiquity was

in

it

How

rise ?

its

27

Great

they were diminishing evils

time went on to the character

of the master, less painful and degrading to the

Who

slave.

custom could, tion,

can believe that this immemorial in its decline,

which, in

create

Of

its

vigour,

destroy a civilisait

had helped to

?

course our observer would see

much

in

the social system he was examining which he

would rightly regard as morally detestable and politically

pernicious.

But the

real

question

DECADENCE

28

before him would not be

'

are these things

good

or bad?' but 'are these things getting better or getting worse

'

?

And

surely in most cases

he would be obliged to answer 'getting

Many

things moreover would

notice fitted to less qualified

move

manner.

better.'

come under

his admiration in a

his

much

Few governments have

been more anxious to foster an alien and higher culture, than

foster

Greek

inherited

was the Roman Government civilisation.

In so far as

what Alexander conquered,

it

to

Rome carried

out the ideal which Alexander had conceived.

In few periods have the rich been readier to

spend of their private fortunes on public

There never was a community ciations

for

every

purpose

in

of

objects.

which assomutual

aid

or enjoyment sprang more readily into existence. less

There never was a

given to wars of aggression.

was an age

in

monarchy There never

military

which there was a more rapid

DECADENCE advance

humanitarian

in

29

ideals,

or a

anxious seeking after spiritual truth.

was much politics,

but

little

forgotten.

What more to

it

is

our

Law

Research was not could

be reasonably

ordinary

not easy to say what

be reasonably expected.

time of which

methods

of

more could

But plainly much more

In a few generations from the

was required.

its

for.

?

According analysis

from

professors held in high

its

scientific.

becoming

There

Education was

Physical culture was cared

esteem.

expected

was, apart

intolerance.

and

well endowed,

was

there

discussion,

more

I

am

speaking the Empire

lost

extraordinary power of assimilating alien and

barbaric elements.

It

to absorb or to expel

who

in

became too

them

happier times

:

feeble either

and the immigrants

might have bestowed

renewed vigour on the commonwealth, became, in

the hour of

its

decline,

a weakness and a

DECADENCE

30

Poverty grew

peril.

Municipal

came

population shrank.

as

once so eagerly desired, be-

office,

the most cruel of burdens.

Associations

connected with industry or commerce, which

began by

freely

exchanging public service

public privilege, found their

for

members subjected due per-

to ever increasing obligations, for the

formance of which they and their children were liable in

person and

Christianity,

in property.

and the other

Thus while

forces that

made

for

mercy, were diminishing the slavery of the slave, the needs of the Bureaucracy compelled

to

it

trench ever more and more upon the freedom of the free.

was each man's duty

It

the argument) to serve the

(so ran

commonwealth

he

:

could best serve the commonwealth by devoting himself to his calling necessity

:

this

if it

were one of public

duty he should be

required

under penalties to perform, and to devote necessary to

its

performance,

labour

to

if

the

DECADENCE

31

limits of endurance, fortune to the last shilling,

and family

to the remotest generation.

crude experiment

this

Through

in socialism, the civilised

world seemed to be rapidly moving towards a

system of universal

caste,

imposed by no im-

memorial custom, supported by no religious scruple, but forced

on an unwilling people by

the Emperor's edict and the executioner's lash.

These things have

severally

and

been regarded as the causes why

collectively

West

in the

the Imperial system so quickly crumbled into chaos.

And

But they

so no doubt they were.

obviously require themselves to be explained

by causes more general and more remote

what were these

ask

how

the

unknown merely by that

if

social

I

answer as

Decadence

posed to answer perly

If

?

I

and

feel diswill

pro-

unknown becomes

less

you

receiving a name.

there be indeed subtle changes tissues of old

;

I

reply

in

the

communities which make

DECADENCE

32

them, as time goes on, less resistant to the external attacks and the internal disturbances

by which

all

communities are threatened, overt

recognition of the fact

is

a step in advance.

We

have not an idea of what

but

if

'

on that account we were

using the term,

we should

'

life

consists

in,

from

to abstain

not be better but

worse equipped for dealing with the problems of physiology

;

could translate

while on the other hand

into terms of matter

life

motion to-morrow, we should use the

word

in

still

and

be obliged to

order to distinguish the material

movements which

constitute

from those which do

not.

life

or exhibit

In like

changes which produce senescence.

it,

manner we

are ignorant of the inner character of the

we be

we

if

cell

But should

better fitted to form a correct conception

of the life-history of complex organisms

if

we

refused to recognise any cause of death but accident or disease

?

I

admit, of course, that

DECADENCE the term

'

decadence

'

age

:

as sociology

less definite

'

is

less precise

than

'

old

deals with organisms far

than biology.

I

admit also that

If its use is to

explains nothing. all,

33

be

it

justified at

the justification must depend not on the

fact that

supplies an explanation, but on the

it

fact that

rules out

it

explanations which are

And

obvious but inadequate. service of

some importance.

this

The

may be a facile

gene-

which we so often season the

ralisations with

study of dry historic fact discussion which

;

the habits of political

induce us to catalogue for

purposes of debate the outward signs that distinguish (as

from the

more

we

are prone to think) the standing

falling state,

hide the obscurer, but

potent, forces which silently prepare the

fate of empires.

and elusive

;

National character

is

subtle

not to be expressed in statistics

nor measured

by the rough methods which

suffice the practical moralist or statesman.

And 3

DECADENCE

34

when through an

and

ancient

state there spreads a

mood

still

powerful

of deep discourage-

ment, when the reaction against recurring

grows

feebler,

and the ship

to each succeeding wave,

rises less

when

guishes, enterprise slackens,

away, then, as

think, there

I

ills

buoyantly

learning lan-

and vigour ebbs is

present

process of social degeneration, which

some

we must

perforce recognise, and which, pending a satisfactory

analysis,

tinguished by the I

am

may conveniently be name of 'decadence.'

well aware that

have just devoted

though the space

the illustration

to

dis-

theme provided by Roman history

is

of

out of

I

my all

proportion to the general plan of this address, yet the treatment of

unconvincing.

it is

inadequate and perhaps

But those who are most

luctant to admit that decay,

from misfortune,

may

as

re-

distinguished

lower the general level

of civilisation, can hardly deny that in

many

DECADENCE cases that level

no tendency not

is

to rise.

progress

changing it

may

35

for indefinite periods If

decadence be unknown, Consider

?

exceptional

politics of the

shew

1 unchanging East

the .

Is

not true that there, while wars and revolutions,

dynastic and religious, have shattered ancient

and brought new ones into being, every

states

community, as soon as tribal

it

has risen above the

and nomad condition, adopts with the rarest

exceptions a form of government which, from

very generality in Eastern lands, call

an

tallise

'

oriental despotism

and

we

as

'

the

new

resemble the old ones.

1

habitually

may

crys-

is

a

terra

will

always

crystals,

indeed,

crystals

The

of different sizes,

The East' '

We

re-crystallise a soluble salt as often

please,

may be

?

we

its

their

most loosely used.

component It

does not here

include China and Japan and does include parts of Africa.

The

observations which follow have no reference either to the Jews or to the commercial aristocracies of Phoenician origin.

32

DECADENCE

36

molecules

may occupy

different positions within

the crystalline structure, but the structure itself will

So

be of one immutable pattern.

seems

it

to be, with these oriental states.

upon the

rise, in turn,

is,

or

They

ruins of their predecessors,

themselves predestined to perish by a like

But whatever their origin or

fate.

history, they are

always either autocracies or aggregations of autocracies

;

and no differences

creed, or of language

the violent

seem

monotony of

of

race,

sufficient to

of

vary

their internal history.

In the eighteenth century theorists were content to attribute the political servitude of the

Eastern world to the unscrupulous machinations

And

of tyrants and their tools.

such expla-

nations are good as far as they go. in truth, is

not very

far.

But

this,

Intrigue, assassina-

tion, ruthless repression, the

whole machinery

of despotism supply particular explanations of particular incidents.

They do

not supply the

DECADENCE

37

general explanation of the general phenomenon.

They

you how

tell

this ruler or that

obtained

They do not tell you why absolute. Nor can I furnish the

absolute power.

every ruler

is

The

answer.

fact

remains that over large and

relatively civilised portions of the is

government sense that

world popular

profoundly unpopular,

no natural or spontaneous

it is

the

in

social

growth.

Political absolutism not political free-

dom

the

is

familiar

weed of the

country.

Despots change but despotism remains if

and

:

through alien influences, like those exercised

by Greek India,

cities in Asia,

the

type

is

or by British rule in

modified,

it

may

well

be

doubted whether the modification could long survive the

moment when

its

sustaining cause

was withdrawn.

Now where

it

would almost seem as

this political

if

in

lands

type was normal a certain

level of culture (not of course the

same

in

each

DECADENCE

38

case) could not permanently be overpassed.

If

under the excitement of religion or conquest, or else through causes

more obscure, left

more complicated and

limit has

this

sometimes been

behind, reaction has always followed, and

decadence set

Many

in.

people indeed, as

have already observed, take of course.

It

thing in the

seems

to

this

I

as a matter

them the most natural

world that the

glories

of

the

Eastern Khalifate should decay, and that the

Moors

in

Morocco should

lose

even the memory

of the learning and the arts possessed but three centuries ago it

by the Moors

seems mysterious.

of comprehension or

does

not

it

flexion

?

But whether difficult, if

furnish

measure of

own

civilisation,

of no more, and

if

only

it

it

To me be easy be

true,

food for disquieting

If there are

capable on their

in Spain.

re-

whole groups of nations initiative of

a certain

but capable apparently

below them again there are

DECADENCE (as

I

suppose) other races

39

who seem

incapable

of either creating a civilisation of their own, or of preserving unaided a civilisation impressed

upon them from without, by what assume that no impassable of Western progress

yet be in sight.

does

a

not

somewhere approach It

limits bar the path

Those

limits

in

not

may

But

Surely they are not.

survey of history suggest

that

the dim future they await our

?

may be

on which arrested

?

do we

right

I

replied that the history of

dwelt a

progress,

moment

Rome,

ago, shews that

and even decadence, may

be but the prelude to a new period of vigorous growth.

So

that even those races or nations

which seem frozen into eternal immobility may base upon experience their hopes of an awakening spring. I

am

not sure, however, that this

true interpretation of the facts.

There

is is

the

no

DECADENCE

40

spectacle indeed in

all

history

more impressive

down over

than the thick darkness settling

Western Europe, blotting out all but a faint and distorted vision of Graeco-Roman culture, and then, as and I

rich

it

slowly

rises,

promise of the modern world.

do not think we should make

phenomenon support I

theory.

force,

civilisation

we have a

this

But

unique

weighty a load of

too

should not infer from

some wave of its

unveiling the variety

it

that

when

has apparently spent

right to regard

its

with-

drawing sweep as but the prelude to a new advance.

I

should rather conjecture that in

this particular case

we

should

subtle causes of decadence,

find,

among

other

some obscure

dis-

harmony between the Imperial system and the temperament of the West, undetected even by

who

That system, though accepted with contentment and even those

suffered

from

it.

with pride, though in the days of

its

greatness

DECADENCE it

in

brought its

civilisation,

train,

41

commerce, and security

must surely have lacked some

elements which are needed to foster Teutons,

and

Celts,

whatever these

progress depends. for the Occident,

oriental as time

be,

It

and

went

the

qualities,

on which

sustained

Iberians

may

among

was perhaps too it

certainly

became more

In the East

on.

comparatively speaking,

oriental

it

was,

If there

successful.

was no progress, decadence was slow and but for what Western Europe did, and what it ;

failed

to

militant

do,

Mahommedanism,

an Empire lation,

during the long struggle there might

still

in the East, largely Asiatic in

be

popu-

Christian in religion, Greek in culture

Roman by political descent. Had this been the course portions of

much

with

of events large

mankind would doubtless have been

better

governed than they

are.

not so clear that they would have been

It

is

more

DECADENCE

42

'

progressive.'

Progress

with the

is

West with :

And

if

some day

to

communities of the European type. their energy of development

is

be exhausted, who can believe that there

mains any external source from which be renewed

competent

Where

?

untried

are the

of

out

construct

to

it

the

re-

can

races

ruined

fragments of our civilisation a new and better

man

habitation for the spirit of exist

:

and

if

the world

under a barbaric

which

fertilised,

flood,

though

is it

it

They do not

?

again to be buried

will

not be like that destroyed, the

first

western provinces of Rome, but like that which in

Asia submerged for ever the

last traces

of

Hellenic culture.

We I

are thus brought back to the question

put a few moments since.

are there for supposing that fate to

What grounds

we can

escape the

which other races have had to submit

If for periods which,

measured on the

?

historic

DECADENCE scale, are of

43

great duration, communities which

have advanced to a certain point appear able to advance no further;

and races become

if

effete,

to progress indefinitely,

doom

of

To

man

to

civilisations

should

why why

I

is

the

?

have no very

factory answers to give, nor

out,

we expect

for us alone

be reversed

these questions

wear

do

I

satis-

believe that

our knowledge of national or social psychology is

sufficient

possible.

to

Some

make a

answer

satisfactory

purely tentative observations

on the point may, however, furnish a

fitting

conclusion to an address which has been tentative throughout,

and aims rather at suggesting

trains of thought, than at I

assume that the

completing them.

factors

which combine

make each generation what it moment of its entrance into adult to

the main twofold.

at

is life

The one produces

the

are in

the raw

material of society, the process of manufacture

DECADENCE

44

is

effected

by the

other.

logical inheritance, the

The

second

is

first

beliefs

,

all

surroundings in which I

partly of

life,

sentiments, customs, laws,

traditions,

and organisation

physio-

the inheritance

partly of external conditions of 1

is

that constitute the social

men grow up

to maturity.

hazard no conjecture as to the share borne

respectively

by these two kinds of cause

ducing their joint

result.

Nor

are

we

in pro-

likely to

obtain satisfactory evidence on the subject in the interests

different blood

to

exchange

of science, two communities of

and

different traditions consent

their children at birth

process of reciprocal adoption.

by a universal

But even

absence of so heroic an experiment, to say that the mobility which either

progress or decadence,

in the causes

it

in the

seems safe

makes resides

possible

rather

grouped under the second head

than in the physiological 1

till,

material

Beliefs include knowledge.

on which

DECADENCE

I

has

term,

biguous

sense of

widest

the

in

education,

45

work.

to

got

that

amas

If,

suppose, acquired qualities are not inherited,

the

which

causes

only

could

fundamentally

modify the physiological character of any par-

community are

ticular

alien

races through slavery, conquest,

migration the

intermixture

its

;

or else

relative

new

proportion

numbers.

cessful

If,

for

or im-

conditions which varied

which

in

different

contributed

sections of the population total

with

to

its

example, the more suc-

members of the community had smaller

families than the less successful; or

if

medical

administration succeeded in extinguishing maladies to which persons of a particular constitution

were specially

liable

mixed race had a in

;

or

if

one

strain

in

a

larger birth rate than another

these cases and in others like them, there

would doubtless be a change factor of national character.

in the physiological

But such changes

DECADENCE

46

are not likely,

suppose, to be considerable,

I

except,

perhaps, those due to the mixture of

races

and that only

;

new

in

whose

countries

economic opportunities tempt immigrants widely differing in culture,

and

in capacity for culture,

from those whose citizenship they propose

to

share.

The which

is

element

flexible

in

any

society, that

susceptible of progress or decadence,

must therefore be looked

for

rather

the

in

physical and psychical conditions affecting the life

of

its

component

constitution.

This

to variations than

vary

:

is

than

in their inherited

a limit

last rather supplies

an element which does

though from

portance

units,

this point of

capital.

I

at

least

view find

itself

its it

im-

quite

impossible to believe that any attempt to provide

widely different races with an identical

environment,

what you

political,

will,

religious,

can ever

educational,

make them

alike.

DECADENCE They have been history began

;

and unequal since

different

different

47

and unequal they are

destined to remain through future periods of

comparable duration.

But though the advance of each community is

thus limited by

its

inherited aptitudes,

do

I

not suppose that those limits have ever been

reached by

its

unaided

In the cases

efforts.

where a forward movement has died away, the pause must

ment in the

in part

be due to arrested develop-

in the variable,

not to a fixed resistance

unchanging factdr of national character.

Either external conditions are unfavourable the sentiments, customs and beliefs which

;

or

make

society possible have hardened into shapes which

make

its

further self-development impossible

or through mere weariness of

munity resigns

itself to

the com-

a contented, or perhaps

a discontented, stagnation in pursuit of

spirit

;

;

or

it

shatters itself

impossible ideals, or for other and

DECADENCE

48

obscurer reasons, flags in falls

endeavours, and

its

short of possible achievement.

Now

am

I

quite unable to offer any such

general analysis of the causes by which these

hindrances

moved But

it

as

to

would furnish a reply

may

to

my

question.

new

in

magnitude

if

not

which must favourably modify such

in kind,

hindrances as come under divisions

in

This

which force

I

but the

all

we must mainly

last

of the

have roughly arranged is

modern

the

between pure science and industry. this

re-

be worth noting that a social force

has come into being,

them.

produced or

are

progress

rely for the

alliance

That on

improvement

of the material conditions under which societies live is in

my

opinion obvious, although no one

would conjecture

it

political controversy.

are less obvious excellent

people

;

from a Its

historic

direct

moral

indeed there are

who would

survey of effects

many most

altogether

deny

DECADENCE

To

their existence.

to

regard

49

it

as a force fitted

rouse and sustain the energies of nations

would seem to them absurd be to rank

it

most deeply

for

:

this

with those other forces which have stirred the

emotions of great com-

them

munities,

have urged

exertions,

have released them most

from the benumbing

the greatest

to

fetters of

effectually

merely personal

with religion, patriotism, and

preoccupations, politics.

would

Industrial expansion

inspiration, so far

under

scientific

from deserving praise like '

this,

is

in

their

view,

at

source

of

prolific

parent of physical

forms,

machine

polluted

material

rivers,

best,

well-being,

made

at

the

worst

ugliness in

wares,

new

but a

smoky

many cities,

and desecrated landscapes,

appropriately associated with materialism and greed. I

believe this view to be utterly misleading,

confounding accident with essence, transient ac4

DECADENCE

So

companiments with inseparable

characteristics.

Should we dream of thus judging the other great social forces of which

Are we

to ignore

world because

it

what

I

have spoken

religion has

has been the

done

fruitful

?

for the

excuse for

the narrowest bigotries and the most cruel persecutions

Are we

?

because

politics,

worth of

to underrate the

may mean no more

politics

than

the mindless clash of factions, or the barren

exchange of one another? its

set of tyrants or jobbers for

Is patriotism to

be despised because

manifestations have been sometimes vulgar,

sometimes criminal

worse

?

selfish,

sometimes

brutal,

sometimes

Estimates like these seem to

than useless.

All

great

social

me

forces

are not merely capable of perversion, they are

constantly perverted.

from our

Yet were they eliminated

social system,

were each man, acting

on the advice, which Voltaire gave but never followed, to disinterest himself of

all

that goes

DECADENCE on beyond the

limits of his

decadence

take

I

it,

51

own cabbage

garden,

would have already

far

advanced.

But

if

the proposition

be wrongly

criticised,

am

I

is

it

more

still

To some

be wrongly praised.

may

defending

it

likely to

commend

will

itself as

a eulogy on an industrial as distin-

guished

from

a

civilisation

military

:

as

a

suggestion that in the peaceful pursuit of wealth there

is

that

which of

valuable social tonic. it

not

is

alliance

phasis

is

my

may

constitute a

This may be

at least as

word

much on

with the proportion

my em-

the word science

am

I

industry.

but

talking of the

In

contention.

true,

between industry and science

as on the

now

itself

of

not concerned

the

population

devoted to productive labour, or the esteem in

which they are held.

which in

yet

I

It

is

on the

effects

believe are following, and are going larger

measure

to

follow,

from the

42

DECADENCE

52

intimate relation

and

industrial

between

scientific

that

efficiency,

I

discovery

most desire

to insist.

Do

you then,

it

be asked, so highly rate

will

the utilitarian aspect of research as to regard

it

as a source, not merely of material convenience,

but of spiritual elevation

Is

?

it

seriously to

be ranked with religion and patriotism as an important force for raising men's lives above

what it

is

small, personal,

and self-centred

?

not rather pervert pure knowledge

new

Does into a

contrivance for making money, and give a

fresh triumph to the

the age I

either

'growing materialism of

'

?

do not myself believe that less

spiritual

predecessors. reverse.

plain that

I

or

age

more sordid than

is

its

believe, indeed, precisely the

But however if

this

a society

this is

to

may be, is it be moved by

remote speculations of isolated thinkers

it

not the

can

DECADENCE

53

only be on condition that their isolation

complete

Some

?

their influence

to

is

which they

in

not

if

at least a large

religion. plete,

it

the

measure of

mass

of

a region where

practical

agreement

men

except

through

parallel is not

com-

safe to say that science will never

touch them unaided by Its

in

Philosophy has never

And, though the is

and

mutual comprehension,

full

and willing co-operation. touched

live,

be based on widespread

sympathy, the contact must be there can be,

not

point of contact they must

have with the world if

is

its

practical applications.

wonders may be catalogued

education, they

may be

for

purposes of

illustrated

by arresting experiments, by numbers and magnitudes which startle or fatigue the

imagination

form no familiar portion of the ture of ordinary

men

;

but they will

intellectual furni-

unless they be connected,

however remotely, with the conduct of ordinary Critics have made merry over the naive life.

DECADENCE

54

self-importance which represented

centre and

cause

final

of the

man

as the

and

universe,

conceived the stupendous mechanism of nature as primarily designed to satisfy his wants and

minister to

his

But there

entertainment.

is

another, and an opposite, danger into which is

possible to

soever

The

fall.

material world, how-

may have gained

it

under the touch of science,

in

lost (so to

immediate needs of organic

those

few

it

who

will

will

rouse

no

chilled

by

affects the

it

may seem

men

that in the

while

curiosity,

are fascinated by

be

speak) in

it

life,

so remote from the concerns of

majority

sublimity, has,

Except where

domestic charm.

it

its

its

of

marvels, not a

impersonal

and

indifferent immensity.

For

this

latter

mood

only religion or re-

ligious philosophy can supply

the

former,

perpetual

the appropriate

stimulus

which

a cure.

remedy

the

But is

influence

for

the

of

DECADENCE mankind

science on the business of their

sluggish

believe in

offers

to

And even now

curiosity.

influence

this

55

to

be underrated.

I

If

the last hundred years the whole material

setting of civilised

we owe

has altered,

life

it

neither to politicians nor to political institutions.

We

owe

it

to the

combined

who have advanced have applied

efforts

of those

and those who

science

our outlook

upon the

Universe has suffered modifications

in detail so

If

it.

great and so numerous that they amount collectively to a revolution,

we owe

Dn

it,

to

men

of science

not to theologians or philosophers.

new and weighty

these indeed

bilities

it is

are being cast.

They have

to

responsi-

harmonise

and to coordinate, to prevent the new from being one-sided, to preserve the valuable essence of what

is

old.

But science

strument of social change, cause

its

object

is

all

is

the great in-

the greater be-

not change but knowledge

;

DECADENCE

$6

and

silent appropriation

its

function, is

strife,

amid the din of the most vital

of this dominant

political

of

all

and

religious

the revolutions

which have marked the development of modern civilisation. It

may seem

aspect

of this

fanciful to find in a single recent

an influence which

revolution

resembles religion or patriotism to

the

higher side of

especially since

we

in its

appeals

ordinary characters

are accustomed to regard

the appropriation by industry of scientific dis-

means of multiplying the

coveries merely as a material

conveniences of

remembered

life.

But

if

it

be

that this process brings vast sections

of every industrial community into admiring relation with the highest intellectual achievement,

and the most disinterested search that

those

who

common wants support on those

live

for truth

by ministering

to

;

the

of average humanity lean for

who

search

among

the deepest

DECADENCE mysteries of Nature

that their

;

rewarded by growing success gives

in

effort in

success

that

;

is

no wise to be measured by personal of gain

expectation

aroused

dependence

an incentive to individual

turn

its

57

may

that

;

the

affect

the

energies

whole

thus

character

of

the community, spreading the beneficent contagion of hope and high

endeavour through

channels scarcely known, to workers 1 in fields the most remote;

if all

may perhaps seem I

be

its

I

do not

worth, It

question.

mind

in

it

it.

offer this speculation,

as is

be borne

not unworthy of the place

have assigned to But

this

an answer to

my

whatever original

but an aid to optimism, not

a reply to pessimism.

Such a reply can only

be given by a sociology which has arrived at

scientific

conclusions on the life-history of

different types of society, 1

See note

at the

and has

risen

end of the paper.

above

DECADENCE

58

the empirical and merely interrogative point of

view which, in this

for

its

No

address.

seems

present, or

In

want of a better,

absence

I

have adopted

such sociology exists at

likely

soon to be created.

conclusions at

the

provisionally arrive are that

which

we cannot

regard

decadence and arrested development as

normal

in

human communities than

though the point is

exhausted

in

different

(if,

at

internal causes

and

sion,

field

and are not

political

it is

progress

;

reached) varies

civilisations

by which progress

hindered, or reversed,

beyond the

less

which the energy of advance

and when

races

I

to

lie

is

:

that

the

encouraged,

a great extent

of ordinary political discuseasily expressed in current

terminology

:

that the influence

which a

superior civilisation, whether acting by example or imposed by force,

may have

in

advancing

an inferior one, though often beneficent, likely to

be self supporting

;

its

is

not

withdrawal

will

DECADENCE

59

be followed by decadence, unless the character of the civilisation be in

harmony both with the acquired temperament and the innate capacities of those

who have been induced

to accept

that as regards those nations which in virtue of their

own

has brought also

:

advance

inherent energies, though

time has brought perhaps it

still

it

new causes

new grounds

of disquiet,

of hope

;

and

that whatever be the perils in front of us, there are, so far,

no symptoms either of pause or of

regression in the

onward movement which

for

more than a thousand years has been characterof Western civilisation.

istic

NOTE TO PAGE

57.

This remark arises out of a train of thought suggested by two questions which are very pertinent to the subject of the Address. (1)

Is a

due succession of men above the average

in original capacity necessary to maintain social progress ?

and (2)

such

If so, can

men

we discover any law according

are produced ?

to

which

DECADENCE

60

no doubt myself that the answer to the first be in the affirmative. Democracy is an exshould question I

entertain

cellent thing is

but,

;

though quite consistent with progress,

not progressive per se.

and

if it

meant

(as

Its

value

it

regulative not dynamic

is

;

never does) substantial uniformity,

it

instead of legal equality,

we should become

fossilised at once.

Movement may be controlled or checked by the many it If (for the is initiated and made effective by the few. mental sake of illustration) we suppose capacity in all its ;

many forms

to be

mensurable and commensurable, and

then imagine two societies possessing the same average capacity

but an average made up in one case of equal a majority slightly below the average

units, in the other of

and a minority much above it, few could doubt that the second, not the first, would show, the greatest aptitude for movement.

It

The second

might go wrong, but

how

question

it

would

this

is

go.

originality (in

its

higher manifestations called genius) effectively produced? is

not so simple. Excluding education in

its

narrowest sense

which few

would regard as having much to do with the matter only alternatives seem to be the following: Original capacity

may be no more than one

the

of the

A

community ordinary variations incidental to heredity. may breed a minority thus exceptionally gifted, as it breeds a minority of

men

over six feet

six.

There may be an

average decennial output of congenital geniuses as there is an average decennial output of congenital idiots though the

number

is

likely to

be smaller.

DECADENCE But

be

this

if

the

sole

61

cause of the phenomenon,

why does the same race apparently produce many of genius in one generation and few in another? are years of

of

men

Why

abundance so often followed by long periods

sterility ?

The most obvious

explanation of this would seem to

be that in some periods circumstances give many openings to genius, in

some periods

few.

The

genius

is

constantly

but it is only occasionally recognised. produced In this there must be some truth. A mob orator ;

in

Turkey, a religious reformer in seventeenth century Spain, a military leader in the Sandwich islands, would hardly get their chance.

Yet the theory of opportunity can scarcely

For it leaves unbe reckoned a complete explanation. which for the of has in some accounted variety genius countries

Athens

marked epochs of vigorous national development. and fourth centuries, Florence in the

in the fifth

fifteenth

sixteenth

and

early sixteenth centuries,

and seventeenth

Holland

in the later

centuries, are the typical examples.

In such periods the opportunities of statesmen, soldiers, orators, and diplomatists, may have been specially frequent.

But whence came the

poets, the sculptors, the painters,

the philosophers and the

men

of letters?

What

peculiar

opportunities had theyf

The

only explanation,

if

we

reject the idea of a

mere

coincidence, seems to be, that quite apart from opportunity,

the exceptional

stir

and fervour of national

life

evokes or

may evoke qualities which in ordinary times lie dormant, unknown even to their possessors. The potential Miltons

DECADENCE

62

are

'

mute

'

and

'

'

inglorious

not because they cannot find

a publisher, but because they have nothing they want to publish.

They

lack the kind of inspiration which,

on

this

view, flows from social surroundings where great things,

though of quite another kind, are being done and thought. If this theory be true (and it is not without its difficulties) one would like to know whether these un-

doubted outbursts of

originality in

the

higher and rarer

form of genius, are symptomatic of a general

number

rise in

the

of persons exhibiting original capacity of a more

ordinary type.

If so, then the conclusion

would seem to

be that some kind of widespread exhilaration or excitement is

required in order to enable any

community

to extract

the best results from the raw material transmitted to natural inheritance.

Cambridge: Printed at the University

Press.

it

by

HM 111 .82 1908 SMC Balfour, Arthur James Balfour, Earl of. Decadence.

AFF-0152 (sk)