chful
of the soldiers of the cross; Paradise receives the souls of the
faithful. As for earth, there is no land so gay or so dear as _la
douce France_. The Emperor is above all the servant and protector
of the Church. As the influence of the great feudal lords increased,
they are magnified often at the expense of the monarchy; yet even
when in high rebellion, they secretly feel the duty of loyalty. The
recurring poetic epithet and phrase of formula found in the _chansons
de geste_ often indicate rather than veil a defect of imagination.
Episodes and adventures are endlessly repeated from poem to poem with
varying circumstances--the siege, the assault, the capture, the duel
of Christian hero and Saracen giant, the Paynim princess amorous of
a fair French prisoner, the marriage, the massacre, and a score of
other favourite incidents.

The popularity of the French epopee extended beyond France. Every
country of Europe translated or imitated the _chansons de geste_.
Germany made the fortunate choice of _Roland_ and _Aliscans_. In
England two of the worst examples, _Fierabras_ and _Otinel_, were
special favourites. In Norway the chansons were applied to the purpose
of religious propaganda. Italy made the tales of Roland, Ogier, Renaud,
her own. Meanwhile the national epopee declined in France; a breath
of scepticism touched and withered the leafage and blossom of
imagination; it even became possible to parody--as in _Audigier_--the
heroic manner. The employment of rhyme in place of assonance, and of
the alexandrine in place of the decasyllabic line, encouraged what may
be called poetical padding. The influence of the Breton romances
diverted the _chansons de geste_ into ways of fantasy; "We shall never
know," writes M. Leon Gautier, "the harm which the Round Table has
done us." Finally, verse became a weariness, and was replaced by
prose. The decline had progressed to a fall.

III
THE EPIC OF ANTIQUITY

Later to develop than the national epopee was that which formed the
cycle of antiquity. Their romantic matter made the works of the
Greco-Roman decadence even more attractive than the writings of the
great classical authors to poets who would enter into rivalry with
the singers of the _chansons de geste_. These poems, which
mediaevalise ancient literature--poems often of portentous
length--have been classified in three groups--epic romances,
historical or pseudo-historical romances, and mythological tales,
including t