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tHE BYZANTINES. IO3 States. They had to make the Church strong. The Church was the very foundation upon which rested the prosperity and even the preservation of the state. "The Greeks," says Montreuil " felt toward their religion an attachment which amounted to fanaticism ; their religious beliefs were the centre around which all other ideas were grouped; and the bond of religion was more powerful than any other in inspiring the Hellenic nationality with a lively, enduring unity." The main feature which checked the power of the emperors was the Anatolic Church. Public opinion was controlled by the Church, and with this even emperors had to reckon. It is true that the Church was not able to suppress vice and passion to such an extent as to prevent the horrible manifestations of savagery, the cruelty of judicial proceedings, which often formed a direct contradiction to the otherwise brilliant civilization of the Byzantines; but Christian morality and Christian views had developed far enough, at least, to prevent entirely or tem- porarily such outrageous conduct as had been shown by not a few of the Roman emperors. It is easy to understand why the intellectual life of the capital and also that of the provincial