In the tenth century the old Batavian and later Roman forms have faded away.

Thus the whole country was broken into many shreds and patches of sovereignty.

In Gaul were two orders, the nobility and the priesthood, while the people, says Caesar, were all slaves.

The history of the Franks becomes, therefore, the history of the Netherlands.

A new civilization was not to be improvised by a single mind.

Wealth brings strength, strength confidence.

For a century longer, Rome still retains its outward form, but the swarming nations are now in full career.