Charlemagne labored incessantly for the highest interests of Church and State. He held two annual assemblies, one military and the other of a deliberative nature, in which these interests were discussed. It is surprising to find that he held forty-two synods for that part of the Empire alone, in which church matters were regulated and educational questions settled. He issued four hundred and seventy-seven edicts appertaining to the subjects contained in the famous “Capitularies,” besides six hundred and seventy-four of a political character. Although many of these are not applicable to modern conditions, it must be remembered that one time is not all time; that the wisdom of the lawgiver must be measured by the conditions of those for whom laws are made; and that results must be decided upon their merits or demerits. All his contemporaries are agreed that his laws resulted in great benefit for the Empire. It often happened in these assemblies that when the decisions of famous men in the olden times were considered, a feeling of doubt would seize upon Charlemagne. Upon one such occasion he declared: “Oh that I had twelve such learned advisers as Hieronymus and Augustine were!” To which Alcuin replied: “The ruler of heaven and earth did not have any, and you are longing for twelve of them.” Charlemagne retired to rest burdened with care, but awoke with fresh hope and new desire for action. His predecessors had made their first residence in Paris; he, German in body and soul, much as he enjoyed the healthiness of Roman life, left for the banks of the Rhine, and, as has been related, selected Aix-la-Chapelle as his residence in his latter days. There was not a detail of public administration which escaped his attention or upon which he did not expend his extraordinary creative ability. When it was necessary he sat in majesty upon his throne. In the academy he devoted himself with no less assiduity to the promotion of great truths. Indeed, it is difficult to say in what capacity he most excelled—as a war hero, lawgiver, judge, or teacher. Those who saw him in plain attire upon one or other of the royal estates, directing and disposing, might well imagine that the great Charlemagne perfectly filled the role of farmer.