"I wish that you had read Augustine's 'City,'" he repeated. "It would make plain to you the course of my statecraft. But it seems that I must light the way myself. First, I would have you look at the world through my eyes. If yours then see a difference, I ask you to tell me. Now let us gaze out upon the wide world, Olvir. What do we see in the East?--that vast giant of the past, the Empire of the East Romans, within a hundred years shorn of Egypt and Africa, of Armenia and Syria, by the fiery Saracens, before whose attacks the Christian Marks still crumble and wane. Look to the South,--that same pagan horde, winners and still fast holders of nine parts of the Christian Goth realm. Look to the Northeast,--hordes of savage Wends and Avars, waiting only a new Attila to sweep Europe with a second Hunnic harrying. Does my Dane hawk see?"
"I see, lord king."
"Then look beyond Rhine Stream, into the forests whence came Burgundians and Lombards, Allemanni and Bavarians, and my own folk, the tribes of the Franks. I have heard told the great story of the past,--how, one and then another, the wild hordes of the North came swarming from their forests, to crush and trample the Western Empire. They slew the priests of Holy Church, and trampled under foot all learning and goodness and art, until God, in His grace, bent Clovis the Merwing to His will."
"A word, lord king. I, too, have heard how the free forest-folk broke the sway of the subtle Romans. Who looks for praise on the lips of his foe? Bear in mind, sire, those who wrote the tale. Were not the scribes Romans? And what destruction of good could there be, when their own scribes who went before told how the realm was tainted throughout with utter foulness? The heathen warriors of the forest at least honored women and truth, and were free men. If, through contact with the Christian Romans, they forgot those traits--"
"Stay a little, lad. Is the Frank more false, more impure than the Saxon?"
"If Otkar spoke truth, lord king, the Saxons are purer than the Franks, and they are free; while in Frank Land I see a race of free men fast sinking into thraldom. As to the falseness of the Saxon, has not the forest-dweller learned the use of lies from across Rhine Stream?"
"My faith, you strike hard! But whether or no I give assent to that, it matters little. At the least, the heathen hosts of old-time shattered the peace and order of Rome. Where was peace, came war; where was safety, came peril. Order was swept away, and confusion reigned; and still it reigns throughout the Western World. But--listen, Olvir--I have set for myself the task of bringing again the old-time peace and order. Within my kingdom and upon my borders, where men are now given over to brute lust and murder, they shall learn to bend to just laws. Count and bishop, abbot and judge, free man and slave,--all hearts shall enshrine the image of our Lord Christ!"
Flushed with self-aroused ardor, Karl looked inquiringly at his stern-faced listener.
Olvir was staring straight before him, intent on the words of the royal speaker. It was evident that his doubts were not yet satisfied, and so, after a moment's pause, Karl spoke on: "What more need I say, Olvir? You have seen how the heathen hedge in my kingdom on three sides,--how within my borders the mass of my own folk drag upon my skirts with the weight of their ignorance and sinful living. Even I must at times bend and smile,--must swallow the gibe, and stoop to some landed lordling whose benefice was bestowed upon his father by my father, yet which he now makes pretence of holding by the new and unlawful claim of heritage. Does the son of Thorbiorn believe that I am one to eat with pleasure a dish so seasoned? Yet I smile and bide my time. My thought is other than of kingly dignity. Before all else I have set my task to bring about peace and order and enlightenment; and there, by God's grace, shall it stand, until my realm has passed out of the night of ignorance into the full day of bright learning,--until justice reigns throughout my kingdom, as for these four years past it has reigned in Vascon Land."
"By Thor!" cried Olvir, "now do I see! You, sire, are even such a king as was sought by Socrates the Greek,--a golden king, a king who loves wisdom."