GEOGRAPHY FOR THE CITIZEN

New Zealand Listener, Volume 10, Issue 248, 24 March 1944, Page 3

GEOGRAPHY FOR THE CITIZEN

Sir,-The Ancients were a credulous lot, they believed everything that Dr. Herodotus told them and Dr. Herodotus believed everything he was told or that he had seen in a book somewhere. We are much more enlightened to-day, we know where Novorossisk is, and -much good may it do us. The Romans conceived of the world as consisting of men, of communities, and of nations. It was in this world that Marcus Aurelius counselled an understanding of our place and relationship. The Romans understood far better than we’ do the essentials of government, of law, and even of world order, and they achieved the last-named to a remarkable extent: the Pax Romana endured for 150 years. As long as a nation under Roman rule kept the peace it. was free to follow its own customs, to develop its

own culture and religion and even, in many cases, to retain its own form of government. The Romans were, however, too sane to believe that government was possible unless it was invested with power to enforce its requirements. As for education, the schools of Athens were crowded with Roman youth, educational endowments were common and J. C. Stobart (who is an authority on the subject) states that in the late Empire, education was more universal and easier to attain than at any subsequent time until the middle of the 19th century. The Roman civilisation was swamped by surrounding barbarisms and Europe has had to rebuild on the fragments that that survived. Of course it was not a Utopia, but it was Utopian compared with many centuries that succeeded it and in some respects with the present age.

JAS

FITZGERALD

(Christchurcn)