dance upon
the Cardinal du Bellay, and first published in 1558. The beautiful
_Songe sur Rome_ accompanied them. Two years later Du Bellay, then in
his thirty-fifth or thirty-sixth year, died. The preciousness of these
poems is enhanced rather than diminished if we imagine that the friend
of Ronsard endeavoured to wed the music of Villon's _Ballades_ to the
passing of empires and of Rome.

[9] In the generation succeeding that of St. Augustine, the fall of
Rome formed the subject of a work in six books by Zosimus, an official
of high rank at Constantinople. The fifth and sixth books deal with
the period between the death of Theodosius and the capture of the city
by Alaric (A.D. 395-410). Zosimus ascribes the disaster to the
revolution effected in the life and conduct of the Romans by the new
religion. The tone of the whole history is evidently inspired by the
brilliant but irregular works of the Syrian Eunapius whom hero-worship
and the regret for a lost cause blinded to all gave the imposing
designs of the Emperor Julian.

[10] Baber's own memoirs, _Memoirs of Zehir-ed-din Muhammed Baber,
emperor of Hindustan_, one of the priceless documents of history, show
the manner in which he conceived his mission. Here is his account of
the supreme incident in his spiritual life; "In January, 1527,
messengers came from Mehdi Khwajeh to announce that Sanka, the Rana of
Mewar, and Hassan Khan Mewati, were on their march from the west. On
February 11th I went forth to the Holy War. On the 25th I mounted to
survey my posts, and during the ride I was struck with the reflection
that I had always resolved to make an effectual repentance at some
period of my life. I now spoke with myself thus--'O my soul, how long
wilt thou continue to take pleasure in sin? Not bitter is repentance:
then taste it thou! Since the day wherein thou didst set forth on a
Holy War, thou hast seen Death before thine eyes for thy salvation.
And he who sacrificeth his life to save his soul shall attain that
exalted state thou wottest of.' Then I sent for the gold and the
silver goblets, and broke them, and drank wine no more, and purified my
heart. And having thus heard from the Voice that errs not, the tidings
of peace, and being now for the first time a Mussulman indeed, I
commanded that the Holy War shall begin with the grand war against the
evil in our hearts." Such was the mood in which, on the 24th of the
first Jemadi, A.H. 933, Baber proce