248 THE HERETICS. 



men of the Shemitic race : the Jacobites were Egyp- 

 tians ; the Donatists were Berbers. Of such a nature 

 was the treatment which these people received, that 

 they were ready at any time to join the enemies of the 

 Empire, whoever they might be. Difference of nation- 

 ality occasioned difference in mode of thought. Differ- 

 ence in mode of thought occasioned difference in religious 

 creed. Difference in religious creed occasioned contro- 

 versy, riots and persecution. Persecution intensified 

 distinctions of nationality. Such, then, was the state 

 of religion in the Grecian world. In the West the 

 Church, overwhelmed by the barbarians, was display- 

 ing virtues in adversity, and was laying the founda- 

 tions of a majestic kingdom. But as for the East, 

 Christianity had lived in vain. In Constantinople and 

 in Greece it had done no good. In Asia, Barbary, and 

 Egypt it had done harm. Its peace was apathy : its 

 activity was war. Instead of healing the old wounds 

 of conquest, it opened them afresh. It was not enough 

 that the peasants of the ancient race, once masters of 

 the soil, should be crushed with taxes ; a new instru- 

 ment of torture was invented ; their priests were taken 

 from them ; their altars were overthrown. But the 

 day of vengeance was at hand. Soon they would en- 

 joy, under rulers of a different religion, but of the same 

 race, that freedom of the conscience which a Christian 

 government refused. 



The Byzantine Empire in the seventh century in- 

 cluded Greece and the islands, with a part of Italy. In 

 Asia and Africa its possessions were those of the Turkish 

 empire before the cession of Algiers. There was a Greek 

 viceroy of Egypt : there were Greek governors in Egypt 

 and Asia Minor, Carthage, and Cyrene. The capital 

 was fed with Egyptian corn, and enriched by silken 



