The States which they founded were short-lived.

Even then men recognized how difficult it is for a lower civilization to hold its own against a higher.

The Germans were gradually merged in the subject nations.

The German element, however, instilled new life into these nations, and offered new opportunities for growth.

The stronger the admixture of German blood, the more vigorous and the more capable of civilization did the growing nations appear.
In the meantime powerful opponents sprung up in this newly-formed world.
The Latin race grew up by degrees out of the admixture of the Germans with the Roman world and the nations subdued by them, and separated itself from the Germans, who kept themselves pure on the north of the Alps and in the districts of Scandinavia.