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GREAT MEN'S BODIES
fold founder;—of a nation; of an empire; of a religion. Illiterate himself; scarcely able to read or write; he was yet the author of a book which is a poem; a code of laws; a Book of Common Prayer; and a Bible in one; and is reverenced to this day by a sixth of the whole human race as a miracle of purity of style; of wisdom; and of truth."
And he whose followers to-day thus number two hundred millions was no weakling in body.
"Mohammed was of middle height, and of a strongly built frame; his head was large; his eyes were coal-black and piercing in their brightness; his hair curled slightly, and a long beard added to the general impression of his appearance. His step was quick and firm, like that of one descending a hill.[1] He was of middle height, rather lean, but broad shouldered and altogether of strong build."[2]
CHARLEMAGNE (748–814)
"And, even as he spake, in the northwest,
Lo! there uprose a cloud, a black and threatening cloud,
Out of whose bosom flashed the light of arms;
Upon the people pent up in the city,
A light more terrible than any darkness;
And Charlemagne appeared;—a Man of Iron!"
Lo! there uprose a cloud, a black and threatening cloud,
Out of whose bosom flashed the light of arms;
Upon the people pent up in the city,
A light more terrible than any darkness;
And Charlemagne appeared;—a Man of Iron!"
—Longfellow.
"The Reorganizer of Germany; the Founder of the German Empire"; scarcely crowned King of the Franks, he crossed the Alps with two armies; overthrew the Lombards; made an Italian campaign; supported Pope Leo III. so well against rebel Romans that on Christmas Day, while praying on the steps of St. Peter's, the Pope came out; set the iron crown of the Western Empire upon his head; and saluted him, "Carolus Augustus, Emperor of the Romans!" Pushing his conquests into many parts of Germany, and far out into Spain; striving to make the Saxons re-
- ↑ Smith's Mohammed and Mohammedanism, p. 107.
- ↑ People's Cyclopædia.
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