History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v3.c33.s6.22

v3.c33.s6.22

"The introduction or at least the abuse of Christianity had some influence on the fall of the Roman Empire. The clergy successfully preached the doctrines of patience and pusillanimity and the active virtues of society were discouraged; the last remnants of the military spirit were buried in the cloister; a large portion of public and private wealth was consecrated to the specious demands of charity and devotion; the soldiers' pay was lavished on the useless multitudes of both sexes who could only plead the merit of abstinence and chastity. The Church and even the State were distracted by religious factions, the attention of emperors was diverted from camps to synods. The Roman world was oppressed by a new species of tyranny and the persecuted sects became the secret enemies of the country." (Gibbon by Bury IV p. 172-5). This extract is rather long but these observations and some others in this chapter are of everlasting interest and validity; and although the causes of the fall of the Panjab with which we are immediately concerned are entirely different from the causes which led to the fall of the Western Roman Empire, they afford indications which are valuable not only in the inquiry before us but in the more important question of the causes of the fall of India in the days of Prithviraj with which we shall have to deal at the end of this volume.