[Dat]

Pre-Christian Europe was a patchwork of barbarian tribes, with perhaps the exception of Greece, and later on Rome. All subsequent development came from the integration of its Christian roots with its ideals, albeit in an undesirable way. For instance, pagans had no compassion whatsoever for weaklings and children who were born with any physical defects were killed at birth. War and oppression were not merely a means to an end, but were seen as the most glorious of human endevours.
Greece and Rome were not half as glorious as modern day armchair historians make them out to be.

[ffusco]

"pagans had no compassion whatsoever for weaklings and children who were born with any physical defects were killed at birth."

It was legal for a Father to kill a only a horribly deformed child in the witness of 5 neighbors. Infant mortality rates wre high and medicine was crude. A mercy killing was often the best solution.

War and oppression were not merely a means to an end, but were seen as the most glorious of human endevours.
The Romans didn' see it that way:
 
Vergil's Aeneid
"Roman, remember by your strength to rule
Earth's peoples - for your arts are to be these:
to pacify, to impose the rule of law,
to spare the conquered, battle down the proud."

They thought it was their mission to civilize the world-and they did, just as we did with Manifest Destiny and our latest foray into Iraq.

Greece and Rome were not half as glorious as modern day armchair historians make them out to be.
The water in some aquaeducts still flows as well as echoes of Cicero and Plato in our laws and customs.

[TheAngryClam]

I'm a bit more than an armchair historian.

And "with the exception of Rome" at it's height was essentially all of Europe except for Germany and the lands more east. It also included all of northern Africa and the Levant.

Christianity was a disaster for Europe. It was only through turning to the traditions of pagan Rome, such as the Roman Catholic Church and most of the early kingdoms (for example, the Goths that ended the Western Roman Empire were more "Roman" in their habits than the Eastern Empire soldiers that came to retake Italy), that civilization survived.

[RobbyS]

The Roman Empire was built on plunder and enslavement. Even its law, which is its greatest legacy, found its best expression in the code of Justinian.

[Unknowing]

Public Law of Rome, Table IV: Rights of fathers

1. A dreadfully deformed child shall be quickly killed.

Yikes.