A STATE WITHIN A STATE. There was thus developed in the West, as it were a State within a State. That is, within the Roman Empire, with its Emperor, provincial governors, and municipal officials, governing the people and drawing their power from the Roman Senate and imperial authority, there was also gradually developed another State, consisting of those who had accepted the Christian faith, and who rendered their chief allegiance, through priest, bishop, and archbishop, to a central head of the Church who owed allegiance to no earthly ruler. That Christianity, viewed from the governmental point of view, was a serious element of weakness in the Roman State and helped its downfall, there can be no question. In the eastern part of the Empire the Church was always much more closely identified with the State. Fortunately for civilization, before the Roman Empire had fallen and the impending barbarian deluge had descended, the Christian Church had succeeded in formulating a unifying belief and a form of government capable of commanding respect and of enforcing authority, and was fast taking over the power of the State itself. THE CATHEDRAL OR EPISCOPAL SCHOOLS. The first churches throughout the Empire were in the cities, and made their early converts there. [23] Gradually these important cities evolved into the residences of a supervising priest or bishop, the territory became known as a _bishopric_, and the church as a _cathedral church_. In time, also, some of the outlying territory was organized into parishes, and churches were established in these. These were made tributary to and placed under the direction of the bishop of the large central city. To supply clergy for these outlying parishes came to be one of the functions of the bishop, and, to insure properly trained clergy and to provide for promotions in the clerical ranks, schools of a rudimentary type were established in connection with the cathedral churches. These came to be known as _cathedral_, or _episcopal schools_. At first they were probably under the immediate charge of the bishop, but later, as his functions increased, the school was placed under a special teacher, known as a _Scholasticus_, or _Magister Scholarum_, who directed the cathedral school, assisted the bishop, and trained the future clergy. As the pagan secondary schools died out, these cathedral schools, together with the monastic schools which were later founded, gradually replaced the pagan schools as the important educational institutions of the western world. In these two types of schools the religious leaders of the early Middle Ages were trained.