Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 6 (1897).djvu/129

 OF THE KOMAN EMPIRE 109 ligion, and manners, which renders them the spectators and judges of each other's merit ; ^-i the independence of govern- ment and interest, which asserts their separate freedom, and excites them to strive for pre-eminence in the career of glory. The situation of the Romans was less favourable ; yet in the early ages of the republic, which fixed the national character, a similar emulation was kindled among the states of Latium and Italy ; and, in the arts and sciences, they aspired to equal or surpass their Grecian masters. The empire of the Ctesars un- doubtedly checked the activity and progress of the human mind ; its magnitude might, indeed, allow some scope for do- mestic competition ; but, when it was gradually reduced, at first to the East, and at last to Greece and Constantinople, the Byzan- tine subjects were degraded to an abject and languid temper, the natural effect of their solitary and insulated state. From the North they were oppressed by nameless tribes of barbarians, to whom they scarcely imparted the appellation of men. The language and religion of the more polished Arabs were an unsur- mountable bar to all social intercourse. The conquerors of Europe were their brethren in the Christian faith ; but the speech of the Franks or Latins was unknown, their manners were rude, and they were rarely connected, in peace or war, with the successors of Heraclius. Alone in the universe, the self-satisfied pride of the Greeks was not disturbed by the com- parison of foreign merit ; and it is no wonder if they fainted in the race, since they had neither competitors to urge their speed nor judges to crown their victory. The nations of Europe and Asia were mingled by the expeditions to the Holy Land ; and it is under the Conmenian dynasty that a faint emulation of knowledge and military virtue was rekindled in the Byzantine empire. ^^^ Hume's Essays, vol. i. p. 125.