The traditions of these peoples were far too foreign to
Christianity to allow Christian germs to flourish in their soil. And the
new nations, accepting what Rome offered to them, were completely
unproductive in their adolescence. The achievement of this fatal first
millenary might be formulated as follows: "The civilised world of
Western Europe was united under the government of the Church of Rome; on
all nations it had been impressed in the same combination of words and
similes that they were living in a sinful world; they knew when this
world had been created and when its Saviour had appeared; they knew that
its end would come together with the bodily resurrection of the dead and
the terrible day of the Last Judgment; they knew that demons were
lurking everywhere, seeking to destroy man's soul, and that the Church
alone could save him. All these facts were as unalterable as the return
of the seasons."
The fundamental sources of antiquity had been sensuality and asceticism,
the elements of the Middle Ages abstract thought and historical faith;
now emotion was to become the principal factor.
Pages:
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93