the chief. Beyond this the idea of combination or unity did not
extend. Such was the primitive form of society which was common to all
the Slavonic branches. It was communistic, patriarchal, and just to
the individual. They had no conception of tribal unity, nor of a
sovereignty which should include the whole. If the Slav ever came
under the despotism of a strong personal government, the idea must come
from some external source; it must be imposed, not grow; for it was not
indigenous in the character of the people. It would be perfectly
natural for them to submit to it if it came, for they were a passive
people, but they were incapable of creating it.




CHAPTER III

RURIK AND HIS DESCENDANTS

The Russian Slavs were an agricultural, not a warlike, people. They
fought bravely, but naked to the waist, and with no idea of military
organization, so were of course no match for the Turks, well skilled in
the arts of war, nor for the armed bands of Scandinavian merchants, who
made their territory a highway by which to reach the Greek provinces.
All the Slav asked was to be permitted to gather his harvests, and
dwell in his wooden towns and villages in peace. But this he could not
do. Not only was he under tribute to the Khazarui (a powerful tribe of
mingled Finnish and Turkish blood), and harried by the Turks, in the
South; overrun by the Finns and Lithuanians in the North; but in his
imperfect political condition he was broken up into minute divisions,
canton incessantly at war with canton, and there could be no peace.