The theory of Herodotus that the course of history is marked by alternate movements east and west has been strikingly confirmed by {449} subsequent events.
In a secular grapple the two continents have heaved back and forth, neither being able to conquer the other completely.

If the empires of Macedon and Rome carried the line of victory far to the orient, they were avenged by the successive inroads of the Huns, the Saracens, the Mongols and the Turks.

If for the last four centuries the line has again been pushed steadily back, until Europe dominates Asia, it is far from certain that this condition will be permanent.
In spiritual matters Europe owes a balance of indebtedness to Asia, and by far the greater part of it to the Semites.

The Phoenician alphabet and Arabian numerals are capital borrowed and yielding how enormous a usufruct! Above all, Asiatic religions--albeit the greatest of them was the child of Hellas as well as of Judaea--have conquered the whole world save a few savage tribes.

Ever since the cry of "There is no God but Allah and Mahomet is his prophet" had aroused the Arabian nomads from their age-long slumber, it was as a religious warfare that the contest of the continents revealed itself.