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THE BYZANTINES. 8 1 the German nation, each with a history of a thousand years ; when we see what influence the Empire of the East had on the Empire of the West, and which influence culminated at the period of the Renaissance, we will no longer treat the history of the Byzantines with contempt. The history of the Byzantines is one of un-l ceasing and unwearied activity. Christian Con- stantinople, from the hour of her foundation to that in which her sun finally set in blood, was engaged in constant struggles against successive hordes of barbarians and foreign adventurers. The facts that the old monarchy of Constan- tine and of Theodosius, although much divided and diminished, resisted the repeated attacks of masses of Persians, Bulgarians, Slavs, Arabians, Turks ; that it rose after every deep humiliation ; that it withstood the severest catastrophe — namely, the destruction of the empire by the knights of the fourth crusade, the loss of the capital at the Golden Horn, before it sank under the Osmans — these remarkable facts should in- cite us to familiarize ourselves with the true his- tory of an empire of such wonderful, of such exceptional vitality. During several centuries the Byzantine Em- pire could more than once be compared to an