1878. Other volumes in this set include ISBN number(s): 0766155021. Volume 1 of 2. From the earliest time to the Age of Spinoza. The following brief sketch does not aspire to the dignity of a history; it is merely an outline or epitome of a history. In its details there is but little novelty, being chiefly a compilation, taken more frequently from translations and abridgments of originals, than from the originals themselves. Old well-authenticated facts have been treated under a new aspect; but there is no pretension to the discovery of a single new fact.