Travels in Southeastern Europe

The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.

i8 THE BURDEN OF THE BALKANS. History in the Balkan Peninsula repeats itself with surprising regularity. Its peoples have never yet fought their differences to an end, but have always been overpowered by a common foe. Rome swept down on the struggling mass of Thracians, Illyrians, Greeks, and Macedonians. They parcelled out the peninsula into Roman provinces, and its fierce peoples, whose delight was in war, soon formed the flower of the Roman army. Later-for they possessed not only physical, but mental, energy-they rose even to the purple. Diocletian and Constantine the Great, to mention only the most celebrated, were of Illyrian blood. There is nothing new under the sun. In our own time Illyrian blood has again swayed the fortunes of Rome; Crispi, Prime Minister of Italy, was of Albanian origin, and Italy once more looks covetously at the Illyrian coast. Tacitus gives us a vivid snapshot of the 'savage genius ' of the Thracians of his day, who' lived wildly upon the mountains, whence they acted with the greater outrage and contumacy,' and ' were not even accustomed to obey their native Kings further than their own humour.' The Roman has gone, and has left scant trace behind him save the bastard Latin dialect of the Vlahs. The 'savage genius' of the aborigines is still unquenched. Into this land of fierce tribesmen, dotted with Roman colonies and joined by Roman roads, came other wild peoples, who poured in from the strange
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Title
The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham.
Author
Durham, Mary Edith, 1863-1944.
Canvas
Page 18
Publication
London :: Nelson,
[1905]
Subject terms
Eastern question (Balkan)
Balkan Peninsula -- Description and travel.

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"The burden of the Balkans / by M. Edith Durham." In the digital collection Travels in Southeastern Europe. https://name.umdl.umich.edu/ans3900.0001.001. University of Michigan Library Digital Collections. Accessed April 30, 2025.
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