The Mediterranean

A SERIES of projected volumes, dealing with the various oceans of the world, is responsible for this sumptuous new book by Emil Ludwig on “The Mediterranean.” Captain Felix Riesenberg finished the volume on “The Pacifie” shortly before his death.

By this time Mr. Ludwig’s historical methods are well known. This book stems somewhat from his work on “The Nile.” But he suggests in his preface that while a river is masculine, the sea is feminine, “like Helen of old, which everyone would possess, so that it passes from one master to another.”

To call this sort of writing history would be misleading. It is a species of loose poetic drama with patches of purple legends and episodes. Mr. Ludwig has a tendency towards anthropomorphism which occasionally gets out of hand — as when he says that “the fact that the oldest olive trees should keep their youthful vigor through tens of centuries is probably no less than the common courtesy they owe to the legends about them.” Tens of centuries!

He is, indeed, no exact occanographer. He scuttles ashore on almost every page. His conception of history is to allude lightly to the Emperor Vespasian as “ the Stalin of his day.” The ambushing of the legions of Varus in Germany he attributes to the existence of “an ancient Fifth Column.”

There are, of course, few dates. Mr. Ludwig’s style renders them superfluous. The book is a nice blend of fable and fact, with a liberal garnish of Mr. Ludwig’s own special brand of overcharged metaphor. Many will regard the result as literature. But there is little illumination of the theme. Never does he reflect upon the reason for the decline of the Mediterranean nations and the shift of power to other regions. W. M. F.