GERMANIC kings were rulingver piecesf the Western Empire， but in Cnstantinple a Rman was still rulingver the Eastern Empire. This Rman was named Justinian. Nw， up t this time there had been a great many rulesr laws by which the peple were gverned. There were s manyf these rules and they were s mixed up thatne law wuld tell yu yu culd dne thing and anther wuld tell yu yu culdn"t. It was as if yur mther said yu culd stay up till nine"clck tnight and yur father said yu must g t bed at eight. It was hard fr peple t tell， therefre， whatne must d and whatne must nt d.
Inrder t untangle this snarl， Justinian had a setf laws made fr the gvernmentf his peple， and manyf these were s gd and s just that they are still the law tday. If yu ntice that Justinian begins with Just， this will help yu t remember that he was thene wh made just laws.
Anther thing Justinian did that has lasted t the present time was t build in Cnstantinple a very beautiful church called Santa Sphia. Thugh it is n lnger a church， it is still standing after all these years and is a beautiful sight t see. Still anther thing he did that yu culd never guess. It had nthing t d with warr lawr buildings.
Travelers frm the Far East， where China nw is， had brught back talesf a wnderful caterpillar that wund itself up with a fine， thin threadver a mile lng， and they tld striesf hw the Chinese unwund this thread and wve it int clthf the finest and smthest kind. This thread， as yu might guess， was called silk， and the caterpillar that made it was called the silkwrm. Peple in Eurpe had seen this beautiful silk clth， but hw it was made had been a mystery-a secret. They thught it s wnderfully beautiful that it was suppsed t have been made by fairiesr elvesr even sent dwn frm heaven. Justinian fundut abut these caterpillars and had men bring these silkwrms int Eurpe s that his peple als might make silk clth and have silk ribbns and fine silk garments， and therefre we give him the hnrf starting the manufacturingf silk in Eurpe.
Abut the same time that Justinian lived， there was a king in France namedClvis. Clvis belnged t the Germanic tribe called the Franks， which gave the name France t that cuntry. Clvis believed in Thr and Wden as allf his peple did. Clvis had a wife named Cltilda， whm he lved very dearly. Cltilda thught all the fighting and cruelty， which her peple seemed t like， was wrng. She had heard abut the religinf Christ， which did nt believe in quarreling and fighting， and she thught she wuld like t be a Christian. S she was baptized. She then tried t persuade her husband， Clvis， t becme a Christian， als.
Clvis was just then ging t war-the very thing the Christians preached against. Hwever， just t please his wife， he prmised her， if he wn the battle， he wuld becme a Christian. He did win， and he kept his wrd and was baptized and had his sldiers baptized als. Clvis made Paris his capital， and Paris is still the capitalf France.
It was abut this same time， als， that a king named Arthur was ruling in England. Many stries and pems have been written abut him， mstf which are mythical. Althugh we knw these stries are nt histrically true， they are， nevertheless， imprtant and interesting-like thse tales that are tld abut the heresf the Trjan War.
It was said that there was a swrd called Excalibur stuck s fast in a stne that nne culd draw itut except the man wh shuld be kingf England. All the nbles had tried withut success t draw the swrd， whenne day a yung by named Arthur pulled itut with the greatest ease， and he was accrdingly prclaimed king.
King Arthur chse a cmpanyf the nbles t rule with him， and as they sat with him at a rund table they were knwn as the Knightsf the Rund Table. Tennysn， a great English pet， has written in verse an accuntf the dingsf King Arthur and his knights in a lng pem called The Idyllsf the King， which yu will have t read yurself， fr we must gn t the next stry.
【中文阅读】
由日耳曼人充当的国王们割据了西罗马帝国的土地，但是在君士坦丁堡，一个 罗马人仍然在统治着东罗马帝国。这个罗马人名叫查士丁尼。直到此时，有一大堆 法律或规则管理着罗马人。这些规则如此繁多又混淆不清，以至于一条法律说你可 以这样做，而另一条却说你不能这样做。这好像你妈妈说你今天晚上可以到 9 点再睡觉，而你爸爸却说必须在 8 点钟就上床睡觉。因此，人们很难分清什么是必须做的，什么是不该做的。
206 美国学生世界历史 · A Child"s Histryf the wrld为了清理这种混乱情况，查士丁尼让人制定了一套管理人民的法典。其中有很 多法律非常完善合理、公正，甚至还成为今天的法律。如果你注意到了查士丁尼这 个名字以"公正"1 开头，会有助于你记住正是他制定了公正的法律。
查士丁尼做的另一件延续至今的事就是在君士坦丁堡建了一座非常漂亮的教堂， 叫圣索菲亚教堂。尽管它现在不再是教堂了，但经过这么悠长的岁月，它仍然屹立 在那里，成了一处美丽的游览胜地。查士丁尼还做了一件你怎么也猜不到的事情， 这件事和战争、法律或建筑都没有关系。
有些从远东，也就是从今天中国所在地方来的旅行者，讲述了他们听说的一种 神奇的毛毛虫的故事，据说这种毛毛虫会用一根精致的、超过 1 英里长的细线把自 己缠绕起来。他们还说到有关中国人如何能把这根长线解开，把它织成最精美、最 光滑的布料的各种趣事。这根线可能你已经猜到了，就是蚕丝，而产生这根丝的毛 毛虫叫蚕。欧洲人见过这种美丽的丝绸，但是它是怎样织成的却一直是个谜--是 个秘密。他们觉得这种布实在是精美绝伦，猜想它可能是仙女或精灵织成的，甚至 可能来自天堂。查士丁尼查明了有关这些毛毛虫的事情，就派人把蚕带到了欧洲， 这样，自己国家的人也能织出丝绸，也有丝缎带和精美的丝绸衣服了。所以，我们 把他看作欧洲丝绸制造业的开创者。
大约和查士丁尼同一时期，法国有个国王叫克洛维。克洛维属于一支叫做"法 兰克人"的日耳曼部落，就是这支部落把这个国家命名为"法兰西"。克洛维和他的 民族都信奉托尔神和沃登神。克洛维的妻子叫克洛蒂尔德，他非常宠爱她。克洛蒂 尔德认为，所有的战争和残酷行为都是不义的，而她的人民似乎就喜欢打打杀杀。 她听说基督教不赞成冲突和战争，就觉得自己想要成为一名基督徒。于是，她受了 洗。然后，她又设法劝说自己的丈夫克洛维也成为一名基督徒。
这个时候，克洛维正准备打仗--而这正是基督徒反对的事情。不过，为了让 妻子高兴，他向她保证，如果打了胜仗，他就做基督徒。结果，他真的打了胜仗， 于是他遵守诺言，接受了洗礼，而且还让他的士兵们也一起受洗。克洛维让巴黎成 为都城，现在巴黎仍然是法国的首都。
也是在这同一时期，统治英格兰的国王叫亚瑟。有很多描述亚瑟王事迹的故事 和诗歌，其中大部分都像神话传奇。虽然我们知道这些故事都不是历史上的真事， 但是这些故事具有非常重要的意义而且非常有趣--就像那些讲述特洛伊战争英雄 的故事一样。
据说，有一把叫"艾克斯卡利伯"的剑，牢牢地插在一块石头里，除了将成为 英格兰国王的那个人，谁也没法把它拔出来。所有的贵族都试图拔出这把剑，但是 都失败了。有一天，一个叫亚瑟的小男孩轻而易举就把剑拔了出来。于是，他就被 宣告为英格兰国王。
亚瑟王选了一批贵族和他一起管理国家，由于他们和他经常围圆桌而坐，这些 贵族就被称为"圆桌骑士"。一位著名的英国诗人丁尼生写了一首押韵的长诗来描述1 查士丁尼的名字是"Justinian"，英语中"公正"一词是"just"--译者注。
亚瑟王和他的圆桌骑士的事迹，这首长诗叫《国王叙事诗》。这首诗你得以后自己去 读了，因为我们要接着讲下一个故事了。
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