The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE

upholders of the right of each nation to govern itself, and the liberators of their own kinsmen from an alien domination. The peaceful sentiments and lofty ideals of the Serbo-Croat nation have been finely expressed in one of the many beautiful epic songs of the Serbian people. This song refers to Stephen Nemanja, the founder of the dynasty of Nemanja, who is known in Serbian history as the ruler who in the twelfth century succeeded in uniting many different Serbian provinces under his sway; but this union was not accomplished without a series of campaigns against minor feudatory princes or against the Byzantine Empire. In his old age according to the prevailing custom of that time of intense religious feeling, he abdicated and retired to a monastery under the spiritual guidance of his son St. Sava, subsequently the first Archbishop of the Serbian National Church. What the ideals of the Serbian people are can fairly be judged from the above-mentioned ballad, which the writer has translated as follows—

“Counsel held the mighty Christian Princes, Near the white-walled church of Graéanica, Spake they thus, the mighty Christian Princes : God, what strange event! What wondrous marvel! Where have vanished all the vast possessions, Towers seven filled with gold and silver, Of the great and wealthy Tsar Nemanja? By chance, Nemanjié Sava stood there with them, Spake thus to the right Christian Princes :

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