Heroes of Modern Europe

								

(A. Menzel)  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
THE MEETING OF VICTOR EMMANUEL AND GARIBALDI (Pietro Aldi)   204

{9}
Heroes of Modern Europe

Chapter I
The Two Swords
In the fourth century after Christ began that decay of the Roman Empire
which had been the pride of the then civilized world.  Warriors of
Teutonic race invaded its splendid cities, destroyed without remorse
the costliest and most beautiful of its antique treasures.  Temples and
images of the gods fell before barbarians whose only fear was lest they
should die "upon the straw," while marble fountains and luxurious
bath-houses were despoiled as signs of a most inglorious state of
civilization.  Theatres perished and, with them, the plays of Greek
dramatists, who have found no true successors.  Pictures and statues
and buildings were defaced where they were not utterly destroyed.  The
Latin race survived, forlornly conscious of its vanished culture.
The Teutons had hardly begun to impose upon the Empire the rude customs
of their own race when Saracens, bent upon spreading the religion of
Mahomet, bore down upon Italy, where resistance from watchtowers and
castles was powerless to check their cruel depredations.  Norman
pirates plundered the shores of the Mediterranean and sailed up the
River Seine, {10} always winning easy victories.  Magyars, a strange,
wandering race, came from the East and wrought much evil among the
newly-settled Germans.
From the third to the tenth century there were incredible changes among
the European nations.  Gone were the gleaming cities of the South and
the worship of art and science and the exquisite refinements of the
life of scholarly leisure.  Gone were the flourishing manufactures
since the warrior had no time to devote to trading.  Gone was the love
of letters and the philosopher's prestige now that men looked to the
battle-field alone to give them the awards of glory.
Outwardly, Europe of the Middle Ages presented a sad contrast to the
magnificence of an Empire which was fading to remoteness year by year.
The ugly towns did not attempt to hide their squalor, when dirt was
such a natural condition of life that a knight would dwell boastfully
upon his contempt for cleanliness, and a beauty display hands innocent
of all proper tending.  The dress of the people was ill-made and
scanty, lacking the severe grace of the Roman toga.  Furniture was
rudely hewn from wood and placed on floors which were generally uneven
and covered with straw instead of being paved with tessellated marble.
Yet the inward life of Europe was purer since it sought to follow the
teaching of Christ, and preached universal love and a toleration that
placed on the same level a mighty ruler and the lowest in his realm.
Fierce spirits, unfortunately, sometimes forgot the truth and gave
themselves up to a cruel lust for persecution which was at variance
with their creed, but the holiest now condemned warfare and praised the