156 Epitome of the Progress of JVatural Science, 



melled by the chains of superstition, and thus became prepared, 

 not only to receive the seeds of useful knowledge, but to cherish 

 and exercise those Christian virtues, which are the true end of 

 all knowledge. Another important occurrence also took place 

 at this period. The house of Saxony became extinct in 1002, at 

 the death of Otho the third, who died in Italy. From this mo- 

 ment the Italians began their struggle for freedom. When the 

 general effort is to emancipate, and not to enslave mankind; 

 when our success is only crowned by being shared with others, 

 when the selfish principle is subdued as far as human weakness 

 permits, then the conflicts with tyranny are truly ennobled, and 

 the most generous sentiments give birth to the most heroic ac- 

 tions. This great moment, then, when the Italians began their 

 contest for freedom, w^as that also of the beginning of the eman- 

 cipation of the human mind in the western empire. 



Before this era, letters had begun somewhat to revive in the 

 east. During the eighth century, the sanguinary religious quar- 

 rels, between the image- worshippers and the Iconoclasts, had led 

 to the destruction of many monuments, both of art and science ; 

 but in the ninth, Leo the Sixth, called the philosopher, somewhat 

 revived the love of knowledge, by his example. He was suc- 

 ceeded in the tenth by Constantine Porphyrogenitus, a prince of 

 singular attainments. The revolution, so favourable to letters, 

 which had taken place amongst the Arabians, had in a great 

 measure contributed to the revival of letters in Constantinople. 

 These wild conquerors, fatigued with their own desolations, 

 which had laid waste the schools of Alexandria and others, now 

 entered, with the same zeal, upon the cultivation of the learning 

 of antiquity. The ardour with which they sought to acquire it, 

 taught the Greeks the value of their books, and from copying 

 them for the use of their new customers, they learnt at length 

 to admire them : schools were re-established, and letters and phi- 

 losophy, were again encouraged. This state of things was fur- 

 ther favoured by the schism of the Greek church, which brought 

 the Latins into a constant controversy with that acute nation of 

 sophists. The general tendency to an emancipation of opinions, was 

 also augmented, towards the end of the eleventh century, by 

 the first crusade, which led so many prominent men of the times 

 far from their homes, and by bringing them into contact with 

 such various nations and individuals, could not fail to rouse their 



