sword. Those who went before the monarch, those who marched at his
side, and those who followed him, all had similar arms. Iron
covered the fields and the roads; iron points reflected the rays
of the sun. This iron, so hard, was borne by a people whose hearts
were harder still. The blaze of the weapons flashed terror into
the streets of the city."

This picture of Charlemagne in his military aspect would be
incomplete without a corresponding one of his "mood of peace." One
of the greatest of modern historians, M. Guizot, has compared the
glory of Charlemagne to a brilliant meteor, rising suddenly out of
the darkness of barbarism to disappear no less suddenly in the
darkness of feudalism. But the light of this meteor was not
extinguished, and reviving civilization owed much that was
permanently beneficial to the great Emperor of the Franks. His
ruling hand is seen in the legislation of his time, as well as in
the administration of the laws. He encouraged learning; he upheld
the clergy, who were the only peaceful and intellectual class,
against the encroaching and turbulent barons; he was an
affectionate father, and watched carefully over the education of
his children, both sons and daughters. Of his encouragement of
learning we will give some particulars.

He caused learned men to be brought from Italy and from other
foreign countries to revive the public schools of France, which
had been prostrated by the disorders of preceding times. He
recompensed these learned men liberally, and kept some of them
near himself, honoring them with his friendship. Of these the most
celebrated is Alcuin, an Englishman, whose writings still remain,
and prove him to have been both a learned and a wise man. With the