its stress on reason and equality, and itself largely the product of
expansion, on the other. The recognition of man's imperfec-
tion and the resultant need for equality, and the conviction of
potential goodness by the use of reason were alike present.
Christianity's coming strengthened the desire for universality
and the search for social justice and offered a new rationale to the
idea of the ambivalence of man's nature. Its emphasis on faith
as above reason might, indeed, halt temporarily the use of the
latter as a social solvent, but in itself it gave a more profound
drive to the ideal of moral goodness and universal benevolence.

For background material F. F. Abbott Roman Political Institu-
tions should prove useful to the student who lacks knowledge of
Roman government. In The Legacy of Rome are two articles that
can be thoroughly recommended, the one by Ernest Barker on The
Conception of Empire, the other by F. de Zulueta on The Science
of Law. For an understanding of the development and social sig-
nificance of Roman law, H. S. Maine Ancient Law is still valuable
and is easy reading. His central thesis, however, has been modi-
fied, if not totally destroyed, by more recent scholars.

For political thought proper, Volume I of R. W. and A. J. Carlyle's
A History of Medieval Political Theory in the West is still
the best single book available. It is at once clear, interesting, and
scholarly. The first two chapters, treating of Cicero and Seneca
respectively, are particularly useful for undergraduates. Later chap-
ters on the political theory of the Roman lawyers are good, but may
prove confusing to one who lacks some background of Roman law.
G. H. Sabine and S. B. Smith have done a translation of Cicero
De Republica, with On the Commonwealth as its title. It includes
an introduction that analyzes Cicero's political ideas and sets them
in their background. The essential principles of Stoicism are care-
fully stated and critically examined in R. M. Wenley Stoicism and
Its Influence. Reinhold Niebuhr An Interpretation of Christian
Ethics, while not primarily historical, is illuminating on Jesus'
social philosophy and its implications.

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