started. The voice, hitherto mute, sounded so loud and
powerful. Glancing up timidly, he shrugged his shoulders: "Whether I
like it or not, I can no longer dissolve it."

"No, you cannot," said Hariowald very calmly, stroking his long beard;
but his gray eye darted a glance which boded evil.

"You don't like the _name_ of Alemanni either?" asked Adalo
indignantly.

"No, Adeling. 'All men together!' Ha, our forefathers prided themselves
on standing alone, province by province; nay, in the old days family by
family, not leaning on others, and also not bound by them, not subject
to the will of the majority."

"Yes, that's it!" said the old Duke with a fierce smile. "You were in
the citadel of Rome--so was I. But I perceived with my one eye what you
have not seen. You noticed the glittering lustre of their magnificence;
it dazzled you: I saw through the glitter to the decay, the decline
beneath. And one thing more," he added mysteriously, lowering his
voice--"for several generations they have had no more luck with their
own gods--with the new ones, I mean. Ay, the old one whom they formerly
had--" he now spoke with a certain timidity, even reverence--"I mean
the one with the thunderbolts and the eagle--he was a god of battles,
almost like our own. Often his eagle on their shields seemed to me to
flap its wings, and the lightning to glow redly. Often and often have I
seen them conquer under that handsome bearded god and his sons. Mars
and Hercules. But now they have chosen for their god a youth, gentle
and nobly wise, but no warrior. His own priests say he never held a
sword in his hand. He did not descend from a line of gods; he was the
son of a laborer. And this man--a carpenter--belonged to a race long in
bondage to Rome, a people many of whom have wandered to us with packs
on their bent backs, mere traders in spices. Not many of them are seen
in the ranks of the legions. Since the Romans chose for their god that
gentle teacher who would not even defend his own life, victory has
deserted their standards. But what (besides their Jupiter in the
clouds) formerly secured to them for centuries conquest on earth I also
learned; the god whom I most honor showed it to me: one will controlled
them all. They were already united men--all for one, and one for all,
through many hundred winters; while we, according to the wish of your
heart, fought province by province, each for himself, and--succumbed.
This is your freedom--the fr