. European history : an outline of its development. t really belonged to Rome, except— her best gifts to the world — her language, law, and insti-tutions, and the idea of her universal and eternal empire,which Christian and German believed as implicitly as did thepagan Roman of Vergils day. The EmpireGermanizedbefore itsfall. 128 The Last Age of Rome [§ ii6 The origin ofserfdom. Arnold,Roman Pro-vincial Ad-ministration,161-164;Bury, LaterEmpire, I. 28-29; II. 418-421. 116. From Slavery to Serfdom.—The economic condi-tion of the Empire during the age of its dechne led tosome changes which had m
. European history : an outline of its development. t really belonged to Rome, except— her best gifts to the world — her language, law, and insti-tutions, and the idea of her universal and eternal empire,which Christian and German believed as implicitly as did thepagan Roman of Vergils day. The EmpireGermanizedbefore itsfall. 128 The Last Age of Rome [§ ii6 The origin ofserfdom. Arnold,Roman Pro-vincial Ad-ministration,161-164;Bury, LaterEmpire, I. 28-29; II. 418-421. 116. From Slavery to Serfdom.—The economic condi-tion of the Empire during the age of its dechne led tosome changes which had most permanent and beneficialconsequences. They made the beginning of the transform-ation of the class of manual laborers from slaves into changes were made under quite a variety of differentforms and for several different reasons, but we may say thatthe most prevailing reason was the growing scarcity of labor-ers and the difficulty of keeping the lands of the Empire incultivation. To secure this result the right of the master to. German Bodyguard, Column of M. Aurelius sell his slaves was in certain cases taken away, and the slaveswere fixed by law to little pieces of land which they wererequired to cultivate. The state did not do this in order toimprove the condition of the slave. Its only object was tokeep up the supply of food. But in doing so it gave to theslave, who had before had no rights at all, a certain verylimited number of rights which the master could not takeaway. Looked at from the side of slavery this was a greatstep in advance, and in the history of the laboring class serf-dom is the stage through which it passes in advancing fromslavery to freedom. § 7] The Attacks upon the Frontiers 129 117. The Attacks upon the Frontiers.—While politicaland economic disease within was thus steadily sapping thestrength of the Empire, attacks almost without a pause onevery frontier revealed the presence of dangers which itwould have required the resources
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