New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1894-01-14
TRAINING OF THE TEUTON.
a NEW STUDY OF THE MIDDLE AGES.


The most obvious characteristic of Professor
Adams's book is its studied moderation in state
ment and its rejection Of extreme views. II
was not the authors object to go into historical
details He wished rather to present phio-
sophical view of the growth Of civilization. He
does take up the separate facts in great num-
bers however, and il Is possible that his method
has enhanced the difficulty of tracing the scheme
of historical continuity and evolution which he
has in mind For his doctrine in these matters
lies deeper than the mere structural formula OF
his work The latter falls naturally into three
divisions, in the first of which is considered
the political, religious. intellectual and physical
conditions under which Europe entered the med
iaeval period; in the second. the effect OF all
these conditions and forces as shown in the
actual history Of the Middle Ages; and in the
third the legacy bequeathed by the Middle Ages
to modern times As Professor Adams looks at
his theme he finds no break in it. He objects
emphaticaly to the phrase Fall of Rome as
one that does not describe the facts The Roman
Empire lost strength; but it might still have re-
covered If it had not been attacked by the
Germans The affair Of conquest,
which philosophically is a very different thing
from inward collapse. The ancient fabric did
not tumble Of its own weight; its disappearance
was not merely the destruction of the previous
civilization. on the contrary. 'it was the neces-
sary Reorganization and rearrangement pre-
paratory to a new and higher civilization.' If
one were to look for the key Of Professor
Adamss theory of medieval progress one would
find II in the single word "Teuton." lie so
dwells upon the thoughts evolved from that
race name that he would have been justified
in suggesting a appellation for the Middle
Ages. 1t would certainly be a good thing if
wit
phrases should invent better series of terms
for defining an era which stands to modern
European life in much the same relation that
the history Of Rome before the Runc wars
stands to the subsequent life of the Republic
and the Empire.
The German of Caesar and Tacitus and in
deed Of considerably later times, was in such
condition of primitivsm that Professor Adams is
led to compare him with the better specimens
Of the North American Indians. In actual
culture he was, perhaps. at the level which they
have reached; and it can be asserted only doubt
fully and cautiously that he was their superior
in the capacity to respond to the stimulus of
new ideas and experiences The doubt is so
patent that Professor Adams asserts the superb
GRITTY Of the sylvan German over the sylvan
American in his text, and then discredits it in
a footnote. 1T is. perhaps. hardly fair to the
should have made as much progress in
one hundred years the Franks did in
three hundred. and when one examines the
facts impartiay it is by means 50
clear that he Is not equalling the German
rate of advance. and greatly surprising it. as
indeed he ought -" 1t is possible that the adj
vantage Of the German lay really not in any
previous knowledge he had gained, nor in his
physical or mental equipment. but in his willing
ness to labor for others. Professor Adams points
out that long before the conquest of Rome. the
Germans, as individuals. were a valued factor in
the population of the Empire From the days
Of Marius on, in larger and smaller bodies the
influx had been constant until they were present
everywhere-in the towns as house slaves, in the
country as 'colonf bound to the soil" 1t is al
most impossible to imagine the Indian a farm
laborer and ludcrous to imagine him domestic
servant in a household. The inference is that
as a savage the German was tractabe. He
must have gained the good will of the more civil
lizei people among whom his lot cast. since
he practically taught them indifference to the
German occupation of the Western Empire
From without and within the Teuton
constant spectator of the things going on in
the civilized world which he only partially
understood. But he was certainly in a position
from very early times to learn by sight. by ex-
ample. by practice all that civilization could
teach him.
In order to understand what the Middle Ages
began with, ii is necessary to consider the ele-
ments of life that the most potent cdu-
Gators of the new race. Professor Adams emu
merates Greek art and literature. seen. however
only through a Latin medium; Roman aptness in
the affairs of practical life. and Christianity in
speaking of Greek science and philosophy. il
may be thought tina; the author has omitted one
of the most significant discoveries Of the Hellenic
mind. A historian should rightfuy magnify his
own occupation. When observe how frag- /
mentary is the history of all those great nations ,
which held the intellectual or physical supremacy
Of the world before the Greeks and consider how /
easy It Ia for race to work out its purpose
and pass away without leaving a trace in the .
memory Of those which come after IT, the dis 7
covery that history could be preserved as well .
as made seems one of the greatest events in the
career Of mankind Herodotus did most I'M
natural thing when he sat down to write as
correctly he could what had happened to
various races and nations The natural thing
would have been to do what all the world Greeks
to write myths. II is curious 10 think that il was
the shock Of the Persian invasion which awoke
Herodotus to the possibilities Of a novel form Of
literature. The troubles Of Greece itself led
Thucydides TO advance from mere historical mar
ratve to historical criticism. Fortunately for
the Middle Ages and fOI modern times the in
venton Of history was well adapted to the Roman
taste. For all practical purposes the authors Of
Italy the successful rivals OF their Hell
enic teachers. To the cultivation Of the historic
memory by Livy and all the rest Of the long list
Of Latin writer's the world has owed more, it
may be. than to the poets and philosophers. II
l.
mind Of the rich estate to which he had fallen
heir. His own past almost blank. But ,
here was a past which he might well be proud
10 claim share in. Surely it was such pride as {
S fostered by the historic memory that led
)dovacar, when he dcposed Romulus Augustulus