The Genius next presented to him a scene of varied business and imagery. He saw a man who bore in his hands the same instruments as our modern smiths, presenting a vase, which appeared to be made of iron, amidst the acclamations of an assembled multitude; and he saw in the same place men who carried rolls of papyrus in their hands, and wrote upon them with reeds containing ink, made from the soot of wood mixed with a solution of glue.--"See," the Genius said, "an immense change produced in the condition of society by the two arts of which you now see the origin; the one, that of rendering iron malleable, which is owing to a single individual, an obscure Greek; the other, that of making thought permanent in written characters,--an art which has gradually arisen from the hieroglyphics which you may observe on yonder pyramids. You will now see human life more replete with power and activity."
In the scenes that succeeded, he saw bronze instruments thrown away; malleable iron converted into hard steel, and applied to a thousand purposes of civilized life; bands of men traversing the sea, founding colonies, building cities, and, wherever they established themselves, carrying with them their peculiar arts. He saw the Roman world succeeded by cities filled with an idle and luxurious population, and the farms which had been cultivated by warriors, who left the plough to take the command of armies, now in the hands of slaves; and the militia of free men supplanted by bands of mercenaries, who sold the Empire to the highest bidder. He 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. He saw these savages every where plundering cities and destroying the monuments of arts and literature. Ruin, desolation, and darkness were before him, and he closed his eyes to avoid the melancholy scene. "See," said the Genius, "the 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."