Byzantium was not always Byzantine.
Nor was the seat of that power always in the city of Constantine,
which was primarily a mere outpost of the city of Caesar.
We must remember Rome as well as Byzantium; as indeed
nobody would remember Byzantium if it were not for Rome.
The more I saw of a hundred little things the more my mind revolved
round that original idea which may be called the Mediterranean;
and the fact that it became two empires, but remained one civilisation,
just as it has become two churches, but remained one religion.
In this little world there is a story attached to every word;
and never more than when it is the wrong word. For instance,
we may say that in certain cases the word Roman actually means Greek.
The Greek Patriarch is sometimes called the Roman Patriarch;
while the real Roman Patriarch, who actually comes from Rome, is only
called the Latin Patriarch, as if he came from any little town in Latium.
The truth behind this confusion is the truth about five hundred
very vital years, which are concealed even from cultivated Englishmen
by two vague falsehoods; the notion that the Roman Empire was merely
decadent and the notion that the Middle Ages were merely dark.
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