Page:Destruction of the Greek Empire.djvu/230

196 DESTKUCTION OF THE GEEEK EMPIRE appear to Western readers; strange as it would have sounded to a Turkish subject at any time since the capture of Constantinople — that people believed that the decisions of the law courts were fairly given, interest in mnaD itants °f * ne capital retained until the last days religious of its history as a Christian city their intense interest in religious questions. It is of less importance to qualify such interest as superstitious or fanatical than to try to under- stand it. That theological questions possessed a dominating influence over the people of Constantinople is one of the facts of history, and represents an important element in the education of the modern Western world. An able modern writer says with justice that ' religious sentiment was down to the fall of the empire as deep as it was powerful. It took the place of everything else.' 1 Probably the exclusion of the great bulk of the inhabitants from all participation in government and the consequent want of general interest in political questions or those regarding social legislation helped to concentrate attention upon those relating to religion. The Greek intellect — and, though there were large sections of the popula- tion which were not Greek, the Greek element as well as the Greek language gave its tone to all the rest — was essentially active and philosophical. The investigation of theological questions was not conducted lightly. The same spirit which made scholars of Constantinople espouse the study of Plato as they had done for two centuries before 1453 — a study which caused Pletho, on his visit with John at the Council of Florence, to be regarded as an authority to be eagerly sought after by those awakening to the new learning in Italy — had been applied to many questions of philosophy and theology. The examination of such questions was more speculative, thorough, and scientific than in the West. 2 1 Bikelas, La Gr&ce Byzantine et Moderne, p. 153. His essays express this opinion in many other places. 2 ' Les schismes sont chez eux [the Greeks] la consequence du m3me esprit de tous les temps ; c'est la theologie soumise au controle de l'intelligence pure, le dogme eprouvS par le mecanisme de leur logique brillante et rapide. Ces