The ancient city of Rome was at once the type, and the centre of the civilisation of the old world. Her image was reflected in the great cities which adorned the shores of the Mediterranean, and she spread her manners, arts, and luxury, over the far distant nations which she subdued. But her power being thoroughly despotic, and her civilisation corrupt at the core, the laws of Divine Providence rendered her overthrow inevitable; and in her fall were involved the dissolution of the forms, and the extinction of the spirit of ancient civilisation. It is probable that had Rome pursued a different course, the night of the middle ages would not have brooded over Europe; and that to her despotism and vices may be traced the origin, or the occasion, of those social evils which followed for so long a period. But that Divine and gracious Being, who maketh the wrath of man to praise him, and who turneth the shadow of death into the morning, has so controlled events, as to make those temporary evils subservient to lasting good. The Gothic invasion, as it were, melted down the forms of ancient society, and infused into the mass new elements of power, thus furnishing the materials for the civil and social polity of modern times. The progress of the change was gradual--the beneficial result could not spring forth at once in a finished and perfect state; it was developed, after the lapse of ages, like useful vegetation, clothing some rich and fruitful soil, which has been formed by gradual deposits in the bed of some ancient lake, or river, and left to yield its treasures when the waters have retired. [1] See extracts from Salvian in "Ancient Christianity." vol. ii. 71. CHAPTER II. THE CHURCH. This was the leading element of civilisation, the most active power at work in society upon the dissolution of the Roman empire; and, indeed, throughout the whole of the dark ages, it exerted a pre-eminent share of influence on the social condition of Europe. The character of that influence will be unfolded in the present chapter. SECTION I. POLITICAL RELATIONS.