17.4. 4. The Consequences resulting from this.
What we have now said is perfectly conformable to history. Asia has been subdued thirteen times;
eleven by the northern nations, and twice by those of the south. In the
early ages it was conquered three times by the Scythians; afterwards it
was subdued once by the Medes, and once by the Persians; again by the
Greeks, the Arabs, the Moguls, the Turks, the Tartars, the Persians, and
the Afghans. I mention only the Upper Asia, and say nothing of the
invasions made in the rest of the south of that part of the world which
has most frequently suffered prodigious revolutions.
In Europe, on the contrary, since the establishment of the Greek and
Phoenician colonies, we know but of four great changes; the first caused
by the conquest of the Romans; the second by the inundation of
barbarians, who destroyed those very Romans; the third by the victories
of Charlemagne; and the last by the invasions of the Normans. And if
this be rightly examined, we shall find, even in these changes, a
general strength diffused through all the parts of Europe. We know the
difficulty which the Romans met with in conquering Europe, and the ease
and facility with which they invaded Asia. We are sensible of the
difficulties the northern nations had to encounter in overturning the
Roman empire; of the wars and labours of Charlemagne; and of the several
enterprises of the Normans. The destroyers were incessantly destroyed.
