Wealth brings strength, strength confidence.
In the tenth century the old Batavian and later Roman forms have faded away.
The ferocious inroads of the Normans scared many weak and timid persons into servitude.
For a century longer, Rome still retains its outward form, but the swarming nations are now in full career.
A new civilization was not to be improvised by a single mind.
A third force, developing itself more slowly, becomes even more potent than the rest: the power of gold.