It was a very nice plan--for the Saracens! But they did _not_ get over the Pyrenees. Nor did they take Constantinople until six hundred years later. So they were content to establish themselves firmly in Spain and upon the African coast opposite, and bided their time. After the occupation of Northern Africa and Spain, they were no longer call Saracens, but Moors. They lingered in Spain until the discovery of America; and the final expulsion of the Moors from the Spanish peninsula, which was effected with great cruelty, took place during the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella. They made Spain beautiful, and they made it great. When the Goths flowed in a rough torrent over Southern Europe they effaced civilization. But this Saracen wave of conquest bore on its crest--but only on its crest--art, refinements, and culture of a type unknown to Europe. The twilight of the Middle Ages was illumined by a revival of Greek culture at Constantinople, and by Saracenic art and erudition in Spain. For seven hundred years they remained in Spain, which still bears traces of their beautiful architecture; and the Middle Ages would have been darker still but for the enriching stores of knowledge brought into Europe by the Asiatic people. So in the 8th century there were two great empires in Europe: the Roman and the Mahometan. The one had passed its meridian and was swiftly declining. The other, with irresistible energy, and with the vigor of a terrible youth, made men tremble for the fate of Christendom. This Saracen Empire now stretched from the heart of Asia to the outer confines of Europe. So, like the Roman, it was divided into its Eastern and Western parts with two Caliphs (or Emperors): one at Bagdad, in Asia and the other at Cordova in Spain. A part of their possessions in the East was the spot the most sacred in the world to Christians. Palestine, the land hallowed by the birth, life, and death of Christ, was held by these infidels, whose religion required them to insult and degrade the very name of Christ, and offered rich rewards for exterminating His followers. This led to the most heroic event in all history. The annals of the world record nothing more astonishing than the Crusades. When one man offers up fortune and life for a sentiment, he is regarded as one different from his fellows. If an entire nation does it, it is still more amazing. But that all the nations of a Continent, forgetting their own private ambitions and interests, laying aside enmities and jealousies among themselves, should unite, and for two centuries pour out life and treasure, and expend all their energies upon an object which could bring nothing but sacrifice--no material reward,--this is a spectacle the world has seen but once, will never see again, and will never cease to wonder at!