CHAPTER IV.

THE VISIGOTHIC MONARCHY

Origin and Character of the Goths--Their Invasion of the Peninsula--Power of the Clergy--Ecclesiastical Councils--The Jews--The Visigothic Code--Profound Wisdom of Its Enactments--Provisions against Fraud and Injustice--Severe Penalties--Its Definition of the Law--Condition of the Mechanical Arts--Architecture--Byzantine Influence--Manufactures--Votive Crowns--Agriculture--Literature--Medicine--Slave Labor--Imitation of Roman Customs--Parallel between the Goths and the Arabs--Coincidence of Sentiments and Habits--Causes of National Decline--Permanent Influence of the Gothic Polity 165