P. V. N. Myers

“ As the Middle Ages draw to a close, the remote nations of Eastern Asia will gradually come within our circle of vision; and, as the Modern Age dawns, we shall catch a glimpse of new continents and strange races of men beyond the Atlantic. ”

“ Chief Characteristics of the Four Periods.—The so-called Dark Ages embrace the years intervening between the fall of Rome and the opening of the eleventh century. The period was one of origins,—of the beginnings of peoples and languages and institutions. During this time arose the Papacy and Feudalism, the two great institutions of the Mediæval Ages.
The Age of Revival begins with the opening of the eleventh century, and ends with the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492. During all this time civilization was making slow but sure advances. ”

“ Modern civilization is the result of the blending of three historic elements,—the Classical, the Hebrew, and the Teutonic.
By the classical element in civilization is meant that whole body of arts, sciences, literatures, laws, manners, ideas, and social arrangements,—everything, in a word, save Christianity, that Greece and Rome gave to mediaeval and modern Europe. Taken together, these things constituted a valuable gift to the new northern race that was henceforth to represent civilization. ”