fragments still
remain; most precious of all, the glorious Silver Manuscript of the
Gospels _(Codex Argenteus),_ which is supposed to have been written in
the sixth century, and which, after many wanderings and an eventful
history, rests now in a Scandinavian land, in the Library of the
University of Upsala, It is well worth while to make a pilgrimage to
that friendly and hospitable Swedish city, if for no other purpose than
to see the letters (traced in silver on parchment of rich purple dye)
in which the skilful amanuensis laboriously transcribed the sayings of
Christ rendered by Bishop Ulfilas into the language of Alaric. For that
_Codex Argenteus_ is oldest of all extant monuments of Teutonic speech,
the first fruit of that mighty tree which now spreads its branches over
half the civilised world.

With the theological bearings of the Arian controversy we have no
present concern; but it is impossible not to notice the unfortunate
political results of the difference of creed between the German invaders
and the great majority of the inhabitants of the Empire. The cultivators
of the soil and the dwellers in the cities had suffered much from the
misgovernment of their rulers during the last two centuries of Imperial
sway; they could, to some extent, appreciate the nobler moral qualities
of the barbarian settlers--their manliness, their truthfulness, their
higher standard of chastity; nor is it idle to suppose that if there had
been perfect harmony of religious faith between the new-comers and the
old inhabitants they might soon have settled down into vigorous and
well-ordered communities, such as Theodoric and Cassiodorus longed to
behold, combining the Teutonic strength with the Roman reverence for
law. Religious discord made it impossible to realise this ideal The
orthodox clergy loathed and dreaded the invaders "infected", as they
said, "with the Arian pravity". The barbarian kings, unaccustomed to
have their will opposed by men who never wielded a broadsword, were
masterful and high-handed in their demand for absolute obedience, even
when their commands related to the things of God rather than to the
things of Caesar; and the Arian bishops and priests who stood beside
their thrones, and who had sometimes long arrears of vengeance for past
insult or oppression to exact, often wrought up the monarch's mind to a
perfect frenzy of fanatical rage, and goaded him to cruel deeds which
made reconciliation between the warrin