filled by members of the same family, any one of whom might become
Grand Prince if enough of the intervening members could--by natural or
other means--be disposed of. This was a standing invitation for
assassination and anarchy, and one which was not neglected.

Immediately upon the death of Vladimir there commenced a carnival of
fraternal murders, which ended by leaving Yaroslaf to whom had been
assigned the Principality of Novgorod, upon the throne at Kief.

The "Mother of Russian Cities" began to show the effect of Greek
influences. The Greek clergy had brought something besides Oriental
Christianity into the land of barbarians. They brought a desire for
better living. Learning began to be prized; schools were created.
Music and architecture, hitherto absolutely unknown, were introduced.
Kief grew splendid, and with its four hundred churches and its gilded
cupolas lighted by the sun, was striving to be like Constantinople.
Not alone the Sacred Books of Byzantine literature, but works upon
philosophy and science, and even romance, were translated into the
Slavonic language. Russia was no longer the simple, untutored
barbarian, guided by unbridled impulses. She was taking her first
lesson in civilization. She was beginning to be wise; learning new
accomplishments, and, alas!--to be systematically and judicially cruel!

Nothing could have been more repugnant or foreign to the free Slav
barbarian than the penal code which was modeled by Yaroslaf upon the
one at Byzantium. Corporal punishment was unknown to the Slav, and was
abhorrent to his instincts. This seems a strange statement to make
regarding the land of the _knout_! But it is true. And imprisonment,
convict labor, flogging, torture, mutilation, and even the death
penalty, came into this land by the way of Constantinople.