Excerpt from Ridpath's History of the World, Vol. 5 of 9 It is at this point of view that We now take our stand. I shall hope to continue the narrative in the same manner as that already' employed in the two preceding volumes. Albeit, the matter is now much changed from the character which it bore in the Classical Ages, and even more changed from the char acter which it bore in the Epochs of Darkness. In historical narrative every such change in subject-matter must needs be reflected to a cer tain extent in the style and treatment. The thought, when fixed intently on any event takes by sympathy much of the form, and some thing of the substance, of the thing considered. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.