It
II
1
While fome authors deny the fmalleft portion o f litera-
/ture to the Ruffians, and even hold them to be incapable of
any confiderable progrefs in fcience; others, on the contrary,
affert, that they began to be enlightened even at fo early a
period as during the reigns o f Oleg and Igor *i But their arguments
in favour o f this hypothefis, prove little more than
that the art o f writing was probably not abfolutely unknown
to the R uffians in thofe times; that they concluded treaties
of alliance and commerce ; fealed commiffioiis and pafs-
ports ; that they were not entirely without laws; and that
they had compofed, or could repeat, a few antient fongs,
which celebrated the military exploits o f their princes and
leaders. But undoubtedly the whole nation was plunged in
the grofTeft ignorance, and in a fituation not fuperior to that
o f the moil wandering hordes who now inhabit Independent
Tartary. It is faid o f Svatoilaf, the fon o f Igor +, “ Upon his
“ march he carried with him no baggage-waggon, no
“ kitchen furniture ; his food was the fleih of horfes and
“ other animals, juft warmed over the fire ; he had no tent;
<! his houfings ferved him for a bed, and his faddle for a
“ pillow ; and his whole army followed his example.” A
defcription which characterizes the chief o f an unlettered
* i . R u r ic , entered R iiflia about 1862 j died. 879, aI g o r , died 945 ; .married O lg a ,
4 . S v a to ila f, died 9 73.
a, A______
2. O le g , p r o b a b ly . th e nephew
o f R u r ic , grea t-duk e
,o r r e g en t,d u r in g the mino*
.r ity o f Ig o r .
im
5, Y a ro p o lk , died 980. 6. V la d im ir th e G re a t reigned 980 j died 1014.
' ' I
7 . Y a ro ila f, I053»
f Jou rn . S t , P e t . fo r 178 1 , P a r t I . p . i p .
Scythian
Scythian- tribe, and not the fovereign o f a people in whom
the fmalleft traces o f the arts were to be found. And al- '— ,— <
though perhaps the knowledge o f the Sclavonian alphabet
might have been brought into Ruffia by a few Chriftians,
who were drawn to the court by Olga, the wife o f Igor, yet
the firft introduction o f literature mull he afcribed to Vladik
mir the Great, upon his converfion to Chriftianity in 98 8 :
that fovereign even inftituted fchools, and pafled a decree *
to regulate the mode-of inftrufting youth in his dominions.
His fon-Yaroilaf, who-afcended-the throne in 1018 , invited
many learned, priefts from Conftantinople, .caufed various
Greek books to be tranilated into the Ruffian. tongue,, hymns
and .other poetical veriioris of. the pfalms to be fung in the
churches-: he eftabliffied a feminary at Novo.go.rad for 3po
fludents ; and gave to thaLrepublick the iirflcode o f written
laws. This.-, dawn of'letters, -which fhone. upon Ruffia atfo
early a period, was however, obfcured by the fubfequent ca=-
lamities; and was fucceeded by a long darknefs o f three centuries,
during yvhich time thè nation was fubjeèt to the Tar-
tar yoke.
The Chriffian religion, however,-tended in this, as well as
in molT other countries o f Europe, to preferve fome finali
remains of literature in th'e fchools ' and - feminaries.-'of the
feveral monafteries. Thus each o f thefe maniions: o f bigotry .
and fuperftìtion thèn fortunately" became an afylum for the
prefervation, though not fof the diffufion o f knowledge ;
and in this period o f hàrbarìfm and ignorance many monks' -
were diffingffifhed lor their erudition....
Upon the final expulfion o f the Tartars by Ivàn Vaffilie- -
vitch I. in the middle o f the 15th century, Ruffia gràdu-.
T h is curious decree -itili exifts in the.' F ren ch b y Ba chme ifter, in h i s 'E f la i 'fu r la
luiuian ton gu e, and is -tranilated into- B ib . See. p . 9*
alLy...