HISTORY

OF

EUROPEAN MORALS

FROM

AUGUSTUS TO CHARLEMAGNE.

BY

WILLIAM EDWARD HARTPOLE LECKY, M.A.

IN TWO VOLUMES.

VOL. IL

NEW YORK:

D. APPLETON AND COMPANY,

549 & 551 BROADWAY.

1873.

CONTENTS

OF

THE SECOND VOLUME.

CHAPTER IV.

FROM CONSTANTINE TO CHARLEMAGNE.

Difference between the moral teaching of a philosophy and that

of a religion

Moral efficacy of the Christian sense of sin

Dark views of human nature not common in the early Church

The penitential system.

Admirable efficacy of Christianity in eliciting disinterested

enthusiasm

Great purity of the early Christians

12

The promise of the Church for many centuries falsified

General sketch of the moral condition of the Byzantine and

Western Empires

13

13

The question to be examined in this chapter is, the cause of

this comparative failure.

18

First Consequence of Christianity, a new Sense of the Sanctity of

Human Life

Care of exposed children.-History of foundling hospitals

34

Suppression of the gladiatorial shows

37

Aversion to capital punishments.

41

Its effect upon persecutions

43

Penal code not lightened by Christianity

Suicide

44

46-65

Second Consequence of Christianity, to teach Universal Brother-
hood

Laws concerning slavery

66

The Church discipline and services brought master and slave

together.

Consecration of the servile virtues

Impulse given to manumission.

Serfdom

Ransom of captives

Charity.-Measures of the Pagans for the relief of the poor

Noble enthusiasm of the Christians in the cause of charity

Their exertions when the Empire was subverted

Inadequate place given to this movement in history

Two Qualifications to our Admiration of the Charity of the

Church

Theological notions concerning insanity .

History of lunatic asylums

History of the modifications of the old views about charity

Indiscriminate almsgiving.—The political economy of charity

Injudicious charity often beneficial to the donor

Beneficial effect of the Church in supplying pure images to the

imagination

Summary of the philanthropic achievements of Christianity

The Growth of Asceticism

105

107

Causes of the ascetic movement

Its rapid extension

The Saints of the Desert

General characteristics of their legends .

Astounding penances attributed to the saints

108

112

114

114

Miseries and joys of the hermit life.-Dislike to knowledge. 121

Hallucinations

The relations of female devotees with the anchorites

124

127

Celibacy was made the primal virtue.-Effects of this upon

Destruction of the domestic virtues.-Inhumanity of saints to

their relations

History of the relations of Christianity to patriotism

Influence of the former in hastening the fall of the Empire

Permanent difference between ancient and modern societies in

the matter of patriotism

149

151

153

Influence of this change on moral philosophy.

Historians exaggerate the importance of civic virtues

General Moral Condition of the Byzantine Empire

Stress laid by moralists on trivial matters

Corruption of the clergy

Childishness and vice of the populace

The better aspects of the Empire .

PAGE

155

156

157

159

162

163

Distinctive Excellencies of the Ascetic Period

Asceticism the great school of self-sacrifice

164

Moral beauty of some of the legends

166

Legends of the connection between men and animals produced

humanity to the latter.

The first influence of Christianity not favourable to it

Legends in the lives of the saints connected with animals

Progress in modern times of humanity to animals

The ascetic movement in the West took practical forms

Attitude of the Church to the barbarians.-Conversion of the

latter

177

178

184

188

190

Christianity adulterated by the barbarians.-Legends of the

conflict between the old gods and the new faith .

New value placed on obedience and humility.-Results of this

change

The notion of the guilt of error, considered abstractedly,

absurd

202

The Church always recognised the tendency of character to

govern opinion

Some error, however, due to indolence or voluntary partiality

And some to the unconscious bias of a corrupt nature

The influence of scepticism on intellectual progress

Preservation of classical literature.-Manner in which it was