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 ii 4 THE HISTORY OF MEDIEVAL EUROPE with religious matters. Augustine, for example, had little interest in or knowledge of natural science; he more often picked up some of its errors and superstitions than he appre- ciated its true merits and purpose. A work like his City oj God, however, digresses on many miscellaneous topics, such as marriage, the stature of the antediluvians, the age of Methuselah, Noah's ark, monstrous races of men, the an- tipodes, Hebrew the original language of the human race, Europe, Asia, and Africa, human transformations into animals, the Erythraean sibyl, whether Hebrew learning is older than Egyptian, early Christian persecutions, torture, society, international law, and what costume a Christian may wear. From such passages a reader could gather con- siderable information or misinformation without having to read classical authors. And on almost any page of The City of God could be found a quotation from Vergil, although Augustine at times had conscientious scruples about his fondness for the great Latin poet. In short, while Christianity turned its back upon much in classical civilization, it also retained a considerable amount The classical of ancient culture into the Middle Ages. This heritage residue has well been called "the classical heritage." We must keep in mind, however, that it was the last and most threadbare and decaying stage of classical culture that most influenced early medieval Christian so- ciety. But the Latin language was to be preserved in writ- ings by the clergy and some of the Latin literature was still read. Greek philosophy had greatly influenced Chris- tian theology already, and there were survivals from pagan mythology and festivals in the legends and ceremonies of the Church. The administrative divisions of the Roman Empire had been closely copied in the ecclesiastical organi- zation. When Valens divided Cappadocia into two provinces in 372, it meant that there would henceforth have to be two archbishops there instead of one; and in 451 the Council of Chalcedon definitely ruled that every town which the emperor raised to the rank of a city thereby acquired the right to a bishop. In France to-day the sees of bishops still