truction of the young, learned teachers from
Greece secured, and books of Christian biography translated into the
Russian tongue.

Vlademer had then ten sons. Three others were afterwards born to him.
He divided his kingdom into ten provinces or states, over each of
which he placed one of these sons as governor. On the frontiers of the
empire he caused cities, strongly fortified, to be erected as
safeguards against the invasion of remote barbarians. For several
years Russia enjoyed peace with but trivial interruptions. The
character of Vlademer every year wonderfully improved. Under his
Christian teachers he acquired more and more of the Christian spirit,
and that spirit was infused into all his public acts. He became the
father of his people, and especially the friend and helper of the
poor. The king was deeply impressed with the words of our Saviour,
"Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy," and with the
declaration of Solomon, "He who giveth to the poor lendeth to the
Lord."

In the excess of his zeal of benevolence he was disposed to forgive
all criminals. Thus crime was greatly multiplied, and the very
existence of the state became endangered. The clergy, in a body,
remonstrated with him, assuring him that God had placed him upon the
throne expressly that he might punish the wicked and thus protect the
good. He felt the force of this reasoning, and instituted, though with
much reluctance, a more rigorous government. War had been his passion.
In this respect also his whole nature seemed to be changed, and
nothing but the most dire necessity could lead him to an appeal to
arms. The princess Anne appears to have been a sincere Christian, and
to have exerted the most salutary influence upon the mind of her
husband. In the midst of these great measures of reform, sudden
sickness seized Vlademer in his palace, and he died, in the year 1015,
so unexpectedly that he appointed no successor. His death caused
universal lamentations, and thousands crowded to the church of Notre
Dame, to take a last look of their beloved sovereign, whose body
reposed there for a time in state, in a marble coffin. The remains
were then deposited by the side of his last wife, the Christian
princess Anne, who had died a few years before. The Russian historian,
Karamsin, says:

"This prince, whom the church has recognized as equal to the apostles,
merits from history the title of Great. It is God alone who can know
whether Vlade