THli . STATE be attacked widtout warning to the inhabitants. No-one would have' dared to kill on a path trodden by women going to the well. And, to come to terms, the balance of the men killed on both sides had to be paid. . However, from that time forward, a general law overruled all others. "Your people have killed or wounded one of ours, therefore we have the right to kill one of yours, or to inflict an absolutelysimilat wound on one of yours"-never mind which, as it is always the tribe that is responsible for every act of its members. The well-known biblical verses, "An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth," (but no more !) thence derive their origin. It was their conception of justice, and, we have no reason to boast, for the principle of "a life for a life'' which prevails in our codes is but one of its numerous survivals. . As you see, a whole series of institutions and a whole code of tribal morals was already elaborated during this primitive stage. To maintain this kernel of social customs, habit and tradition sufficed. There \\'.asno.authority to im.poseit. . Primitive individuals had, no doubt, temporary leaders. The sorcerer, the rain-maker-the scientist of that epoch-sought to profit by what they knew (or thought they knew) about nature, in order td rule over their fell1>wmen. Likewise, he who could·best remember proverbs and songs, in which tradition was embodied, became power" ful. Later, these "educated" men endeavoured to secure their ruler" ship by transmitting their knowledge only to the elect. AUreligions, . and even all arts and crafts began in "mysteries." Also the brave, bold, and cunning man became the temporary leader during conflicts with other tribes, or during migrations. But an alliance between the "law" bearer, the military chief and the witch-doctor did not exist, and there can be no more question of a State with these tribes thap, there is in a society of bees or ants, ot among our contemporariestlie Patagoni~ or Esquima9x,. This stage, however, la~ed thousands of years, and the· barbarians who invaded the Roman empire had hardly emerged from it. In the first centuries of our era, immense migrations took place among the tribes and confederations of tribes that inhabited Centr:tl and Northern Asia. ~ A;stream of peoples, driven by more or less civilised tribes, came down from the table-lands of Asia (probably driven away by the rapid drying-up of those plateaux) and inundated Europe, impelling one another .onward, mingling with one another irt their overflowtowards the West. . . During, these migrations, when so many tribes of diverse origirt were intermixed;·tlie ·prfuiitive·Jtiil:ie·w, hich,still existed among them and the primitive inhabitants of Europe, necessarilybecame disaggregated. The tribe was based on its common origin, on the worship of common ancestors; but what common origin could be invoked by the agglomerations that emerged from the hurly-burly of migrations, 13 Biblioteca Gino Bianco
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