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Excerpt from The Life of Alcuin
We may venture to assert that the time of Charle magne is more celebrated than known, and that the founder of the new Romish German empire has found more panegyrists than historians. A character like that of Charles is too dazzling to admit of our beholding, at the first glance, the surrounding Objects so as to distin guish them clearly. But after accustoming ourselves to gaze longer upon it, the inquiring eye will discover other forms beaming, not undeservedly, with a ray of glory re ¿ected from the principal figure. The more accurately we can judge of men by those who surround them, the more necessary and instructive becomes the contempla tion of their characters. A prince who is a mere warrior delights only in those hardy pursuits inseparable from a soldier's life, and seeks his friends and confidante in the army. A ruler who is a mere politician prefers the statesman to the soldier. When, however, a prince like Charlemagne, and others who have shared, or at least deserved to share, the same epithet, combines the ardour for conquest with the love of literature, the sword and the pen will be held in equal estimation; he will attach himself most intimately to those who have won his confidence by a similar direction of mind, and have mani fested the desire and the ability to promote the welfare of his subjects. One single man, even on a throne, can accomplish but little without the co-operation of kindred spirits. When, therefore, a sovereign possesses an intel lect sufficiently capacious to embrace noble designs, and an eye to discern, amid the multitude, those whose energy and talents best fit them for the execution of his plans.
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