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               ALEXANDRIA AND HER SCHOOLS 



 ALEXANDRIA AND 

    HER SCHOOLS 



                  By Charles Kingsley 



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                           ALEXANDRIA AND HER SCHOOLS 



                                   PREFACE 



     I should not have presumed to choose for any lectures of mine such a 

subject as that which I have tried to treat in this book。              The subject was 

chosen   by   the   Institution   where   the   lectures   were   delivered。    Still   less 

should   I   have   presumed   to   print   them  of   my  own   accord;   knowing   how 

fragmentary and crude they are。           They were printed at the special request 

of   my   audience。     Least    of   all;   perhaps;   ought  I   to   have   presumed  to 

publish   them;   as   I   have   done;   at   Cambridge;   where   any   inaccuracy   or 

sciolism   (and   that   such   defects   exist   in   these   pages;   I   cannot   but   fear) 

would be instantly detected; and severely censured:                but nevertheless; it 

seemed to me that Cambridge was the fittest place in which they could see 

the light; because to Cambridge I mainly owe what little right method or 

sound thought may be found in them; or indeed; in anything which I have 

ever written。      In   the   heyday  of   youthful   greediness   and   ambition;  when 

the mind; dazzled by the vastness and variety of the universe; must needs 

know everything; or rather know about everything; at once and on the spot; 

too many are apt; as I have been in past years; to complain of Cambridge 

studies as too dry and narrow:           but as time teaches the student; year by 

year;   what   is   really   required   for   an   understanding   of   the   objects   with 

which he meets; he begins to find that his University; in as far as he has 

really received her teaching into himself; has given him; in her criticism; 

her   mathematics;   above   all;   in   Plato;   something   which   all   the   popular 

knowledge; the lectures and institutions of the day; and even good books 

themselves; cannot give; a boon more precious than learning; namely; the 

art of learning。      That instead of casting into his lazy lap treasures which 

he would not have known how to use; she has taught him to mine for them 

himself; and has by her wise refusal to gratify his intellectual greediness; 

excited his hunger; only that he may be the stronger to hunt and till for his 

own subsistence; and thus; the deeper he drinks; in after years; at fountains 

wisely forbidden to him while he was a Cambridge student; and sees his 

old    companions       growing      up   into   sound…headed       and    sound…hearted 

practical men; liberal and expansive; and yet with a firm standing… ground 



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                            ALEXANDRIA AND HER SCHOOLS 



for thought and action; he learns to complain less and less of Cambridge 

studies; and more and more of that   conceit and haste of his own;  which 

kept him from reaping the full advantage of her training。 

     These Lectures; as I have said; are altogether crude and fragmentary 

how; indeed; could they be otherwise; dealing with so vast a subject; and 

so   long   a   period   of  time?    They   are   meant      neither   as   Essays   nor   as 

Orations;   but   simply   as   a   collection   of   hints   to   those   who   may   wish   to 

work out the subject for themselves; and; I trust; as giving some glimpses 

of a central idea; in the light of which the spiritual history of Alexandria; 

and    perhaps     of  other   countries    also;  may   be    seen   to  have    in  itself  a 

coherence and organic method。 

     I   was   of   course   compelled;   by   the   circumstances   under   which   these 

Lectures were delivered; to keep clear of all points which are commonly 

called 〃controversial。〃        I cannot but feel that this was a gain; rather than a 

loss; because it forced me; if I wished to give any interpretation at all of 

Alexandrian thought; any Theodicy at all of her fate; to refer to laws which 

I cannot but believe to be deeper; wider; more truly eternal than the points 

which     cause    most    of  our   modern     controversies;      either   theological    or 

political; laws which will; I cannot but believe also; reassert themselves; 

and   have   to   be   reasserted   by  all   wise   teachers;  very  soon   indeed;   and   it 

may be under most novel embodiments; but without any change in their 

eternal spirit。 

     For I may say; I hope; now (what if said ten years ago would have only 

excited laughter); that I cannot but subscribe to the opinion of the many 

wise men who believe that Europe; and England as an integral part thereof; 

is on the eve of a revolution; spiritual and political; as vast and awful as 

that   which   took   place   at   the   Reformation;   and   that;   beneficial   as   that 

revolution   will   doubtless   be   to   the   destinies   of   mankind   in   general;   it 

depends      upon    the   wisdom      and   courage     of   each   nation    individually; 

whether that   great   deluge   shall   issue;   as   the   Reformation   did;   in   a   fresh 

outgrowth of   European nobleness and strength   or usher   in; after   pitiable 

confusions       and    sorrows;      a   second     Byzantine      age    of   stereotyped 

effeminacy and imbecility。           For I have as little sympathy with those who 

prate so loudly of the progress of the species; and the advent of I know… 



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                             ALEXANDRIA AND HER SCHOOLS 



not…what   Cockaigne   of   universal   peace   and   plenty;   as   I   have   with   those 

who   believe   on   the   strength   of   〃unfulfilled   prophecy;〃   the   downfall   of 

Christianity; and the end of the human race to be at hand。                     Nevertheless; 

one may well believe that prophecy will be fulfilled in this great crisis; as 

it   is   in   every   great   crisis;   although   one   be   unable   to   conceive   by   what 

method   of   symbolism   the   drying   up   of   the   Euphrates   can   be   twisted   to 

signify the fall of Constantinople:             and one can well believe that a day of 

judgment is at hand; in which for every nation and institution; the wheat 

will   be   sifted   out   and   gathered   into   God's   garner;   for   the   use   of   future 

generations; and the chaff burnt up with that fire unquenchable which will 

try every man's work; without being of opinion that after a few more years 

are    over;    the   great   majority     of   the   human      race    will   be   consigned 

hopelessly to never…ending torments。 

     If prophecy be indeed a divine message to man; if it be anything but a 

cabbala;   useless   either   to   the   simple…minded   or   to   the   logical;   intended 

only     for  the   plaything     of   a  few    devout    fancies;    it  must    declare    the 

unchangeable laws by which the unchangeable God is governing; and has 

always   governed;   the   human   race;   and   therefore   only   by   understanding 

what      has   happened;      can   we    understand      what     will   happen;     only    by 

understanding   history;  can   we  understand   prophecy;   and   that not   merely 

by picking outtoo often arbitrarily and unfairlya few names and dates 

from the records of all the ages; but by trying to discover its organic laws; 

and the causes which produce in nations; creeds; and systems; health and 

disease; growth; change; decay and death。                 If; in one small corner of this 

vast field; I shall have thrown a single ray of light upon these subjectsif I 

shall have done anything in these pages towards illustrating the pathology 

of   a   single   people;   I   shall   believe   that   I   have   done   better   service   to   the 

Catholic Faith and the Scriptures; than if I did really 〃know the times and 

the   seasons;   which   the   Father   has   kept   in   His   own   hand。〃      For   by   the 

former act I may have helped to make some one man more prudent and 

brave to see and to do what God requires of him; by the latter I could only 

add     to  that   paralysis    of   superstitious     fear;   which    is  already     but   too 

common among us; and but too likely to hinder us from doing our duty 

manfully against our real foes; whether it be pestilence at home or tyranny 



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                             ALEXANDRIA AND HER SCHOOLS 



abroad。 

     These last words lead me to another subject; on which I am bound to 

say    a  few    words。     I  have;    at  the  end    of  these   Lectures;     made    some 

allusion     to   the   present    war。    To    have    entered     further   into   political 

questions   would   have   been   improper   in   the   place   where   those   Lectures 

were delivered:        but I cannot refrain from saying here something more on 

this   matter;   and that;   first;   because   all   political   questions   have   their   real 

root in moral and spiritual ones; and not (as too many fancy) in questions 

merely relating to the balance of power or commercial economy; and are 

(the   world   being   under   the   guidance   of   a   spiritual;   and   not   a   physical 

Being) finally decided on those spiritual grounds; and according to the just 

laws of the kingdom of God; and; therefore; the future political horoscope 

of the East depends entirely on the present spiritual state of its inhabitants; 

and of us who have (and rightly) taken up their cause; in short; on many of 

those   questions   on   which   I   have   touched   in   these   Lectures:        and   next; 

because   I   feel   bound;   in   justice   to   myself;   to   guard   against   any   mistake 

about   my   meaning   or   supposition   that   I   consider   the   Turkish   empire   a 

righteous thing; or one likely to stand much longer on the face of God's 

earth。 

     The     Turkish    empire;    as   it  now   exists;   seems     to  me   an   altogether 

unrighteous and worthless thing。              It stands no longer upon the assertion 

of the great truth of Islam; but on the merest brute force and oppression。 

It has long since lost the only excuse which one race can have for holding 

another   in   subjection;   that   which   we   have   for   taking   on   ourselves   the 

tutelage   of    the   Hindoos;   and     which    Rome   had      for  its   tutelage   of  the 

Syrians and Egyptians; namely; the governing with tolerable justice those 

who      cannot    govern     themselves;      and    making      them    better    and   more 

prospero

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