in learning, in art, in literature, and a
polished civilization which was chiefly Greek and became less and less
Roman.

All this was very dazzling in a way. But the days of the great ascendency
of the Roman Empire were gone. A new star had arisen in the West.

Charlemagne, a German, was in the year 800 crowned Emperor of the Holy
Roman Empire at Rome, and had displaced the Caesars as the head of
Christendom.

Besides that, the "Bishop of Rome," as he was once called, had now become
the Pope, the Vicar of Christ on Earth; and as the power of the rival
emperors declined, the power of the Pope increased; so that Rome, as the
spiritual head of Christendom, was now superior to Constantinople.

While the Goths were breaking in pieces the Roman Empire, and while
Constantinople was growing in splendor, important events were happening in
far-off Asia.

* * * * *

In the year 569, there was born in Arabia a child who altered the whole
course of history. His name was Mahomet.

As the Mahometan religion has always been a scourge and a curse, you would
naturally suppose its founder was a bad man. But on the contrary he was a
very good man, and had a great desire to make his people better.

The Arabians had a corrupt form of idolatry which came from the Persians,
and worshipped not one, but a great many gods.

Mahomet sincerely believed that he was inspired by the one true and great
God to overthrow this old religion and to establish a pure and true one.

Under this inspiration he wrote the Koran, which is the Mahometan Bible.
This book told them of the sins they must not commit, and of the joys
which hereafter awaited those who should be faithful to the teachings of
the one God and his prophet Mahomet.

The fatal element in this religion was its cruelty. The Prophet had
declared that it should be enforced with the sword, that it should be: the
Koran--or death!

It spread with the fury of a conflagration. The Arabs, or Saracens, as
they were called, conquered Persia and Syria and Egypt. After that they
began to look enviously at Constantinople and to dream of universal empire
like the Romans. They were not a horde of ignorant barbarians like the
Goths. They came from an ancient seat of learning, and their leaders were
men of knowledge and attainments far beyond anything existing in Europe at
that time.

In the year 710, like a flock of vultures a great Mahometan host swooped
down upon C