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342
Hereditary Genius
classes F (1 in 4, 300) and above, of the Athenian race. Again, as G
is one-sixteenth or one-seventeenth as numerous as F, it would be
reasonable to expect to find one of class G among the fourteen; we
might, however, by accident, meet with two, three, or even four of
that class— say Pericles, Socrates, Plato, and Phidias.
Now let us attempt to compare the Athenian standard of ability with
that of our own race and time. We have no men to put by the side of
Socrates and Phidias, because the millions of all Europe, breeding as
they have done for the subsequent 2, 000 years, have never produced
their equals. They are, therefore, two or three grades above our G—
they might rank as I or J. But, supposing we do not count them at all,
saying that some freak of nature acting at that time, may have
produced them, what must we say about the rest? Pericles and Plato
would rank, I suppose, the one among the greatest of philosophical
statesmen, and the other as at least the equal of Lord Bacon. They
would, therefore, stand somewhere among our unclassed X, one or
two grades above G—let us call them between H and I. All the
remainder—the F of the Athenian race— would rank above our G,
and equal to or close upon our H. It follows from all this, that the
average ability of the Athenian race is, on the lowest possible
estimate, very nearly two grades higher than our own—that is, about
as much as our race is above that of the African negro. This
estimate, which may seem prodigious to some, is confirmed by the
quick intelligence and high culture of the Athenian commonalty,
before whom literary works were recited, and works of art exhibited,
of a far more severe character than could possibly be appreciated by
the average of our race, the calibre of whose intellect is easily
gauged by a glance at the contents of a railway book-stall.
We know, and may guess something more, of the reason why this
marvellously-gifted race declined. Social
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