, the present metropolis, maintained the popular freedom, under
the shadow of the Byzantine empire. Among the new acquisitions of
Guiscard, the science of Salerno, and the trade of Amalphi, may detain
for a moment the curiosity of the reader. I. Of the learned faculties,
jurisprudence implies the previous establishment of laws and property;
and theology may perhaps be superseded by the full light of religion and
reason. But the savage and the sage must alike implore the assistance
of physic; and, if our diseases are inflamed by luxury, the mischiefs
of blows and wounds would be more frequent in the ruder ages of society.
The treasures of Grecian medicine had been communicated to the Arabian
colonies of Africa, Spain, and Sicily; and in the intercourse of peace
and war, a spark of knowledge had been kindled and cherished at
Salerno, an illustrious city, in which the men were honest and the women
beautiful. A school, the first that arose in the darkness of Europe, was
consecrated to the healing art: the conscience of monks and bishops was
reconciled to that salutary and lucrative profession; and a crowd of
patients, of the most eminent rank, and most distant climates, invited
or visited the physicians of Salerno. They were protected by the Norman
conquerors; and Guiscard, though bred in arms, could discern the merit
and value of a philosopher. After a pilgrimage of thirty-nine years,
Constantine, an African Christian, returned from Bagdad, a master of the
language and learning of the Arabians; and Salerno was enriched by the
practice, the lessons, and the writings of the pupil of Avicenna. The
school of medicine has long slept in the name of a university; but her
precepts are abridged in a string of aphorisms, bound together in the
Leonine verses, or Latin rhymes, of the twelfth century. II. Seven miles
to the west of Salerno, and thirty to the south of Naples, the obscure
town of Amalphi displayed the power and rewards of industry. The land,
however fertile, was of narrow extent; but the sea was accessible and
open: the inhabitants first assumed the office of supplying the western
world with the manufactures and productions of the East; and this useful
traffic was the source of their opulence and freedom. The government
was popular, under the administration of a duke and the supremacy of
the Greek emperor. Fifty thousand citizens were numbered in the walls
of Amalphi; nor was any city more abundantly provided with gold, sil