




                                History of

                             European Morals

                       From Augustus to Charlemagne

                                    By

                   William Edward Hartpole Lecky, M.A.

                              Ninth Edition

                              In Two Volumes

                                 Vol. 2.

                                  London

                         Longmans, Green, And Co.

                                   1890





CONTENTS


Chapter IV. From Constantine To Charlemagne.
Chapter V. The Position Of Women.
Index.
Footnotes






CHAPTER IV. FROM CONSTANTINE TO CHARLEMAGNE.


Having in the last chapter given a brief, but I trust not altogether
indistinct, account of the causes that ensured the triumph of Christianity
in Rome, and of the character of the opposition it overcame, I proceed to
examine the nature of the moral ideal the new religion introduced, and
also the methods by which it attempted to realise it. And at the very
outset of this enquiry it is necessary to guard against a serious error.
It is common with many persons to establish a comparison between
Christianity and Paganism, by placing the teaching of the Christians in
juxtaposition with corresponding passages from the writings of Marcus
Aurelius or Seneca, and to regard the superiority of the Christian over
the philosophical teaching as a complete measure of the moral advance that
was effected by Christianity. But a moment's reflection is sufficient to
display the injustice of such a conclusion. The ethics of Paganism were
part of a philosophy. The ethics of Christianity were part of a religion.
The first were the speculations of a few highly cultivated individuals and
neither had nor could have had any direct influence upon the masses of
mankind. The second were indissolubly connected with the worship, hopes,
and fears of a vast religious system, that acts at least as powerfully on
the most ignorant as on the most educated. The chief objects of Pagan
relig