Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 5 (1897).djvu/194

172 THE DECLINE AND FALL to the revolutions of the throne, the successions of families, the personal characters of the Greek princes, the mode of their life and death, the maxims and influence of their domestic government, and the tendency of their reign to accelerate or suspend the downfall of the Eastern empire. Such a chrono- logical review will serve to illustrate the various argument of the subsequent chapters ; and each circumstance of the event- ful story of the barbarians will adapt itself in a proper place to the Byzantine annals. The internal state of the empire, and the dangerous heresy of the Paulicians, which shook the East and enlightened the West, will be the subject of two separate chapters ; but these inquiries must be postponed till our further progress shall have opened the view of the world in the ninth and tenth centuries of the Christian sera. After this foundation of Byzantine history, the following nations will pass before our eyes, and each will occupy the space to which it may be entitled by greatness or merit, or the degree of connexion with the Roman world and the present age. I. The Franks : a general appellation which includes all the bar- barians of France, Italy, and Germany, who were united by the sword and sceptre of Charlemagne. The persecution of images and their votaries separated Rome and Italy from the Byzan- tine throne, and prepared the restoration of the Roman empire in the West. II. The Arabs or Saracens. Three ample chapters will be devoted to this curious and interesting object. In the first, after a picture of the country and its inhabitants, I shall investigate the character of Mahomet ; the character, religion, and success of the prophet. In the second, I shall lead the Arabs to the conquest of Syria, Egypt, and Africa, the provinces of the Roman empire ; nor can I check their victorious career till they have overthrown the monarchies of Persia and Spain. In the third, I shall inquire how Constanti- nople and Europe were saved by the luxury and arts, the division and decay of the empire of the caliphs. A single chapter will include. III. The Bulgarians, IV, Hungarians, and V. Russians, who assaulted by sea or by land the provinces and the capital ; but the last of these, so important in their present greatness, will excite some curiosity in their origin and infancy. VI. The Normans ; or rather the private adventurers of that warlike people, who founded a powerful kingdom in Apulia and Sicily, shook the throne of Constantinople, dis- played the trophies of chivalry, and almost realised the wonders of romance. VII. The Latins ; the subjects of the