gods; and from the deserts of Arabia to the mountains of Caledonia there appeared but one people, having the same arts, language, and letters—­all of Grecian origin.  I looked again, and saw an entire change in the brilliant aspect of this Roman world—­the people of conquerors and heroes was no longer visible; the cities were filled with an idle and luxurious population; those farms which had been cultivated by warriors, who left the plough to take the command of armies, were now in the hands of slaves; and the militia of freemen were supplanted by bands of mercenaries, who sold the empire to the highest bidder.  I saw immense masses of warriors collecting in the north and east, carrying with them no other proofs of cultivation but their horses and steel arms; I saw these savages everywhere attacking this mighty empire, plundering cities, destroying the monuments of arts and literature, and, like wild beasts devouring a noble animal, tearing into pieces and destroying the Roman power.  Ruin, desolation, and darkness were before me, and I closed my eyes to avoid the melancholy scene.  “See,” said the Genius, “the melancholy termination of a power believed by its founders invincible, and intended to be eternal.  But you will find, though the glory and greatness belonging to its military genius have passed away, yet those belonging to the arts and institutions, by which it adorned and dignified life, will again arise in another state of society.”  I opened my eyes again, and I saw Italy recovering from her desolation—­towns arising with governments almost upon the model of ancient Athens and Rome, and these different small states rivals in arts and arms; I saw the remains of libraries, which had been preserved in monasteries and churches by a holy influence which even the Goth and Vandal respected, again opened to the people; I saw Rome rising from her ashes, the fragments of statues found amidst the ruins of her palaces and imperial villas becoming the models for the regeneration of art; I saw magnificent temples raised in this city become the metropolis of a new and Christian world, and ornamented with the most brilliant masterpieces of the arts of design; I saw a Tuscan city, as it were, contending with Rome for pre-eminence in the productions of genius, and the spirit awakened in Italy spreading its influence from the South to the North.  “Now,” the Genius said, “society has taken its modern and permanent aspect.  Consider for a moment its relations to letters and to arms as contrasted with those of the ancient world.”  I looked, and saw, that in the place of the rolls of papyrus, libraries were now filled with books.  “Behold,” the Genius said, “the printing-press; by the invention of Faust the productions of genius are, as it were, made imperishable, capable of indefinite multiplication, and rendered an unalienable heritage of the human mind.  By this art, apparently so humble, the progress of society is secured, and man is spared the humiliation of witnessing again scenes