phant victory of
Phansalus shattered the Pompeian coalition. Pompeius hurried to Egypt,
but was assassinated while landing. The struggle, however, was not over
till after the battle of Thapsus nearly two years after Phansalus.

Caesar was now beyond question master of the whole Roman world. He had
made himself one of the mightiest of all masters of the art of war; but
he was even more emphatically unsurpassed as a statesman. In the brief
time that was left him he laid the foundation of the new monarchy which
replaced the ancient Republic of Rome.

* * * * *

Mediaeval History

EDWARD GIBBON

The Holy Roman Empire

The third of Gibbon's divisions of his great history was
devoted to that period which is comprised between the
establishment of the Holy Roman Empire in 800 and the final
extinction of the Eastern Empire with the conquest of
Constantinople by Mahomet II. in 1453. Although this was the
longest period, Gibbon devoted much less space to it than to
the preceding parts of his history. This fact was partly due
to the gradual diminution of Roman interests, for the
dominions of the empire became contracted to the limits of a
single city, and also to the fact that the material which the
most painstaking search placed at his disposal was distinctly
limited. But though the conquest of the Normans, to instance
one section, has been dealt with inadequately in the light of
modern research, the wonderful panorama that Gibbon's genius
was able to present never fails in its effect or general
accuracy. The Holy Roman Empire is, of course, properly
classified under Mediaeval History, which accounts for its
separation from the rest of Gibbon's work.

_I.--Birth and Sway of the Empire_

The Western Empire, or Holy Roman Empire, as it has been called, which
was re-established by Charlemagne (and lasted in shadow until the
abdication of Francis II. under the pressure of Napoleon in 1806), was
not unworthy of its title.

The personal and political importance of Charlemagne was magnified by
the distress and division of the rest of Europe. The Greek emperor was
addressed by him as brother instead of father; and as long as the
imperial dignity of the West was usurped by a hero, the Greeks
respectfully saluted the _august_ Charlemagne with the acclamations of
"Basileus" and "Emperor of the