Excerpt from The History of Rome, Vol. 2 Opposite to the far-spreading peninsulas and deep in dented shores of Europe and her numerous islands, stretches in a long and uniform line the stony coast of Africa, the most compact part of the Old as well as of the new world. NO more marked contrast can be found, in such immediate proximity, upon the surface of the globe, than the two continents which form the abodes of the black and white races of man. The solid mass of land in the sultry south, the primeval seat of unmitigated barbarism, has remained closed to the present day against the refinement of a higher civilisation, whilst Europe early received the seed of culture and unfolded the richest and most varied forms of intellectual, social, and political life. On the east of Africa the narrow valley formed by the Nile is indeed separated from the heart of the African continent, and on the north the cheerless wastes Of the interior bound a belt of land of varying breadth along the coast which is capable of much cultivation. These regions differ, how ever, essentially from the sea-girt islands and peninsulas of Europe, where a milder sun and a greater variety of climate have brought about gentler manners and richer forms of social and political life. 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.