Excerpt from Alexandria and Her Schools: Four Lectures Delivered at the Philosophical Institution, Edinburgh, With a Preface I was of Course compelled, by the circum stances under which these Lectures were deli vered, to keep clear of all points which are commonly called controversial. I cannot but feel that this was a gain, rather than a'loss; because it forced me, if I wished to give any interpretation at all of Alexandrian thought, any Theodicy at all of her fate, to refer to laws which I cannot but believe to be deeper, wider, more truly eternal than the points which cause most of our modern controversies, either theological or political; laws which will, I cannot but believe also, reassert themselves, and have to be reas serted by all wise teachers, very soon indeed, and it may be under most' novel embodiments, but without any change in their eternal spirit. 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.