Page:The Fall of Constantinople.djvu/22

 4 THE FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE. The impression left most deeply in the mind of the reader of the native historians of the Byzantine empire down to the middle of the twelfth century is one of strength, of success, and of a government with singularly few changes in its unin- terrupted prosperity. The organization of the government of the empire was built upon the solid foundations of Eoman administration and of Greek munici23al government. From the selection of Byzantium as his capital by Constantine down to 1057 the machine of government had worked steadily and well. There had been few violent changes. There had been general accumulation of wealth. There had been security for life and property, and a good administration of law under a system of jurisprudence biK)ught, indeed, from Rome, but de- -vj'eloped in Constan.tinople — a system the most complete w^hicli the human mind has ever formulated, a system which lias been directly copied or adapted by the whole of modern Europe, and which is the foundation of every body of juris- prudence now administered throughout the civilized world. While the ]N"ew Rome had thus given to the world a body of law which ^vas far in advance, not only of the civil law, but even of the law of the Prsetor Peregrinus of the Elder Rome, the same city had developed and formulated the re- ligion of Christendom. Christianity and law were the bonds which united the various parts of the empire together. But there was, in at least the European portion of the empire, a spirit which made the inhabitants of the cities and provinces self-reliant, and, to a great extent, independent of the central government. Once that the communities were protected from external enemies, they had hardly any need of other protection. They formed their own police. They wished only to be let alone, to be allowed to engage in commerce or cultivate their own lands without being harassed by govern- ment. On the whole, they succeeded in their wish. Under the influences of Orthodox Christianity, Roman law, and the Greek spirit of individualism as represented in municipal government, a steady progress had been made, which had met with but few interruptions. Ko other government has ever existed in Europe which has secured for so long a period the like advantnges to its people.