sudden end, had the same effect as the Greek theories of the nature
of change and of recurring cycles of the world. Or rather, they had
a more powerful effect, because they were not reasoned conclusions,
but dogmas guaranteed by divine authority. And medieval pessimism as
to man's mundane condition was darker and sterner than the pessimism
of the Greeks. There was the prospect of happiness in another sphere
to compensate, but this, engrossing the imagination, only rendered
it less likely that any one should think of speculating about man's
destinies on earth.

III

1.

The civilised countries of Europe spent about three hundred years in
passing from the mental atmosphere of the Middle Ages into the
mental atmosphere of the modern world. These centuries were one of
the conspicuously progressive periods in history, but the conditions
were not favourable to the appearance of an idea of Progress, though
the intellectual milieu was being prepared in which that idea could
be born. This progressive period, which is conveniently called the
Renaissance, lasted from the fourteenth into the seventeenth
century. The great results, significant for our present purpose,
which the human mind achieved at this stage of its development were
two. Self-confidence was restored to human reason, and life on this
planet was recognised as possessing a value independent of any hopes
or fears connected with a life beyond the grave.

But in discarding medieval naivete and superstition, in assuming a
freer attitude towards theological authority, and in developing a