The History of Greece - From Its Conquest by the Crusaders to Its Conquest by the Turks and of the Empire of Trebizond, 1204 1461 #260276

The gospel and the laws Of Justinian blended all classes Of citizens into one mass, and facilitated the acquisition Of the boon Of freedom by every Christian slave. The pride of the Hellenic race was stifled, and the Greeks became proud of the name Of Romans, and eager to be ranked with the freedmen and manumitted slaves of the masters of the world. But a Christian church which was neither Greek nor Roman, arose and created to itself a separate power under the name of Orthodox, and forming a partnership with the imperial authority, acquired a power greater than any nationality could have conferred. A social organization at variance with all the prejudices of ancient, private, and political life was framed, and the consequence was that this change created a new people. Such seems to be the origin of the modern Greeks, a people which displays homogeneity in character, though dispersed over an immense extent Of country, and living in various insulated districts, from Corfu to Trebizond, and from Philippopolis to Cyprus.