He even sent to Greece for singers, that the church choirs might be instructed in the richest utterances of music.

He drew up a code of laws, called Russian Justice, which, for that dark age, is a marvelous monument of sagacity, comprehensive views and equity.
The death of Yaroslaf proved an irreparable calamity; for his successor was incapable of leading on in the march of civilization, and the realm was soon distracted by civil war.

It is a gloomy period, of three hundred years, upon which we now must enter, while violence, crime, and consequently misery, desolated the land.

It is worthy of record that Nestor attributes the woes which ensued, to the general forgetfulness of God, and the impiety which commenced the reign immediately after the death of Yaroslaf.
"God is just," writes the historian.

"He punishes the Russians for their sins.