The genius of Frederick II. was five centuries in advance of his time. His most intelligent contemporaries were incapable of understanding his motives or of appreciating his efforts for the regeneration of humanity. No individual of that age accomplished so much for civilization. He improved the condition of every class of society in his dominions. He diffused the learning of the Arabs throughout Europe. He imparted a new impulse to the cause of education in distant countries not subject to his sway; an impulse which, while it was often impeded, was never wholly suppressed. His liberal ideas excited the abhorrence of the devout. His superstitions evoked the anathemas of the clergy. In his expedition for the recovery of the Holy Sepulchre, his guards and councillors were Mohammedans. He attended service in the mosques. He knighted the Emir Fakr-al-Din at Acre. He feasted the envoy of the Sheik of the Assassins at Amalfi. At his court the astrologer was a more important personage than the logothete. Under the administration of this great prince personal merit was the best title to official promotion. His most eminent ministers were of plebeian origin. From them he exacted unremitting attention to their duties. His suggestions to his ambassadors recall the maxims of Machiavelli. As a negotiator, he had no rivals in an age of shrewd and crafty politicians. His erudition was vast, varied, and profound. To aid the study of natural history he collected extensive menageries. He read medical works and prescribed rules of hygiene for his family and household. With his own hands he drew the plans for his palace at Capua. Magnificent hospitals, aqueducts, bridges, castles, arsenals, arose in the imperial domains of Sicily and Italy. With all his accomplishments, Frederick was singularly deficient in military ability and generalship. He cared more for the pomp than for the victories of war. His crusade was a campaign of diplomacy. The defeat he sustained at the hands of the Parmesans, and which shook the foundations of his throne, was effected by a rabble of peasants and women who attacked his camp while he was absent on a hunting excursion.