The northern part of that vast empire, however, was
long before inhabited by Slavic nations, who seem to have been divided
into small states under chiefs chosen by themselves; to have been
peaceable in their character, and most of them tributary to more
powerful neighbours. About the middle of the ninth century, civil
dissensions arose among the Slavi of Novogorod, at the election of a
new head or _posadnik_. Troubled at the same time from without, by the
conquering and enterprising spirit of the Varegians, a Scandinavian
tribe, they no longer felt able to make resistance against them; and
therefore, A.D. 862, they chose Rurik, the chief of the Varegians, for
their own head. These Scandinavians were by the Finns called _Ruotzi_,
an appellation which in their language signifies _strangers_. This
name, in a somewhat altered form, passed over to the inhabitants of
the acquired territory, with whom the conquerors soon amalgamated.
Rurik founded thus the first Slavo-Russian state; and his followers,
long accustomed to a warlike nomadic mode of life, settled down among
the Slavic inhabitants of the country. The nationality of the
_strangers_, comparatively few in number, was merged in that of the
natives; but still, in one respect, it exercised a strong influence
upon the latter, by infusing into them the warlike spirit of the
former.
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