I
INTRODUCTORY
21
I shall attempt, then, on these grounds, educational and other, to give some account, however meagre, of each phase of the history of this form of State, from its first appearance to its absorption in the Roman Empire, passing in view the several forms it assumed, pointing out the chief causes of its disintegration, and finally touching on the vast new political system which was built not only on its ruins, but out of them, and was thus the agent in preserving for modern civilisation a great part, at least, of the fruits of ancient experience.
