outlying provinces, by means of substantial
bridges and roads. One of the prime duties of the legions was to
construct them and keep them in repair. By this, her military authority
was assured. But the dominion of papal Rome, depending upon a different
principle, had no exigencies of that kind, and this duty accordingly
was left for the local powers to neglect. And so, in all directions,
the roads were almost impassable for a large part of the year. A common
means of transportation was in clumsy carts drawn by oxen, going at the
most but three or four miles an hour. Where boat-conveyance along
rivers could not be had, pack-horses and mules were resorted to for
the transportation of merchandise, an adequate means for the slender
commerce of the times. When large bodies of men had to be moved, the
difficulties became almost insuperable. Of this, perhaps, one of the
best illustrations may be found in the story of the march of the first
Crusaders. These restraints upon intercommunication tended powerfully to
promote the general benighted condition. Journeys by individuals could
not be undertaken without much risk, for there was scarcely a moor or a
forest that had not its highwaymen.

An illiterate condition everywhere prevailing, gave opportunity for the
development of superstition. Europe was full of disgraceful miracles. On
all the roads pilgrims were wending their way to the shrines of saints,
renowned for the cures they had wrought. It had always been the policy
of the Church to discourage the physician and his art; he interfered too
much with the gifts and profits of the shrines. Time has brought this
once lucrative imposture to its proper value. How many shrines are there
now in successful operation in Europe?

For patients too sick to move or be moved, there were no remedies except
those of a ghostly kind--the Pater-noster or the Ave. For the prevention
of diseases, prayers were put up in the churches, but no sanitary
measures were resorted to. From cities reeking with putrefying filth
it was thought that the plague might be stayed by the prayers of the
priests, by them rain and dry weather might be secured, and deliverance
obtained from the baleful influences of eclipses and comets. But when
Halley's comet came, in 1456, so tremendous was its apparition that
it was necessary for the pope himself to interfere. He exorcised and
expelled it from the skies. It slunk away into the abysses of space,
terror-stricken by t