1 96 EVOL UTION AND NA TURAL THEOL G Y. 



was so debased before that time, that it is only 

 just to the much-maligned Turks to maintain 

 that she can never have been worse since, 

 although the "Christian" Greeks may well 

 have aided to demoralise the Turks, as the 

 " Christian " Eomans demoralised the Goths. 



Up to the latest period of Eoman history, the 

 conquered were almost invariably treated with 

 remorseless cruelty. Scipio wept over fallen 

 Carthage, and showed his sympathy by selling 

 60,000 men, women and children into slavery on 

 the spot. Xerxes wept at the thought of how 

 soon his vast army must perish, and then lashed 

 the sea because he could not lead them on fast 

 enough to destruction : and these were no un- 

 favourable specimens of great chiefs, among the 

 most civilised nations of the time. Among the 

 barbarous nations of the North, such was their 

 ferocity that it shows itself on any and every 

 occasion, no matter how needless or uncalled 

 for. In one of the ballads of the Edda, quoted 

 at the beginning of this chapter, a porter in- 

 forms his mistress of the arrival of her lover ; 

 and what are the first words that spring to her 

 lips spontaneously? "The ravens shall tear 

 your eyes out on the gallows if you lie ! " 



