THE GREATNESS OF THE ROMANS. 



161 



upon large whitish or yellowish blossoms, we shall 

 see that their shades are generally dull and dusky, 

 varying from whity-brown to dingy-black. So, 

 too, the carrion-feeding flies are not marked by 

 any such beautiful hues as the honey-feeding but- 

 terflies. Indeed, a general glance through the 

 insect world will probably convince us that wher- 

 ever their colors are not due to protective or im- 

 itative devices they are traceable to sexual selec- 

 tion, acting by means of tastes, which take their 

 origin in the attractive hues of flowers. 



Similarly among vertebrates, the most ex- 

 quisitely colored are the birds, and, among the 

 birds, the palm of beauty must be given to the 

 humming'-birds, which are flower-feeders. Next 

 may rank the sun-birds of the Eastern Hemi- 

 sphere, which are also flower-feeders. And after 

 them come a whole mass of tropical species — the 

 birds-of-paradise, the toucans, the macaws, the 

 parrots, the cockatoos — all of which feed upon 

 bright-colored fruits. And in the case of the 

 bower-birds we know with certainty that a love 

 for color as color exists, because these queer little 

 creatures actually take possession of all the brill- 

 iant objects they can find to decorate their meet- 

 ing-places. All these instances lead one to sup- 



pose that the colors of birds are due to a liking 

 for pure tints, originally derived from the nature 

 of their food, and afterward extended to the 

 choice of mates. 



When we compare the birds of prey and the 

 carrion-feeding vultures with these bright creat- 

 ures, we get an instance exactly analogous to 

 that of the flies and the butterflies. So, in like 

 manner, the dingy, nocturnal owls are the obvi- 

 ous counterpart, among birds, of the whitish or 

 gray-coated moths. Indeed, there is a good phys- 

 iological reason for believing the owls to be des- 

 titute of the color-sense altogether, since a par- 

 ticular kind of nerve terminals in the eye (known 

 to anatomists as the cones, and supposed to be the 

 special organs of color-perception) are totally 

 wanting in these night-birds, which is only what 

 one might expect in the case of creatures who 

 sit at home all day, and only prowl about in the 

 gray twilight. 



Without pushing this speculation, then, to any 

 further length at present, we may recognize as 

 probable the theory that while insects have de- 

 veloped the colors of flowers, flowers have recip- 

 rocated the attention by becoming the raison 

 d'etre for the colors of insects. 



— Cornhill Magazine. 



THE GEEATNESS OF THE EOMAtfS. 



By PROF. GOLDWIN SMITH. 



ROME was great in arms, in government, in 

 law. This combination was the talisman 

 of her august fortunes. But the three things, 

 though blended in her, are distinct from each 

 other, and the political analyst is called upon 

 to give a separate account of each. By what 

 agency was this state, out of all the states of 

 Italy, out of all the states of the world, elected 

 to a triple preeminence, and to the imperial su- 

 premacy of which it was the foundation ? By 

 what agency was Rome chosen as the foundress 

 of an empire which we regard almost as a ne- 

 cessary step in human development, and which 

 formed the material and to no small extent the 

 political matrix of modern Europe, though the 

 spiritual life of our civilization is derived from 

 another source? We are not aware that this 

 question has ever been distinctly answered, or 

 even distinctly propounded. The writer once 

 83 



put it to a very eminent Roman antiquarian, and 

 the answer was a quotation from Virgil : 



"Hoc nemus, nunc, inquit, frondoso vertice clivum 

 Quis deus incertum est, habitat Deus; Arcades 



ipsum 

 Crednnt ee vidisse Jovem cum ssepe nigrantem 

 -.■Egida concuteret dextra nimbosque cieret." l 



This, perhaps, was the best answer that Ro- 

 man patriotism, ancient or modern, could give ; 

 and it certainly was given in the best form. The 

 political passages of VirgiL like some in Lucan 



1 ".<Eneid," viii., v. 356, sq. Translated by Dryden. 



"Some god, they knew— what god, they could not 



tell— 

 Did there amid the sacred horror dwell. 

 Th' Arcadians thought him Jove; and said they 



saw 

 The mighty thunderer with majestic awe, 

 Who shook his shield, and dealt his bolts around, 

 And scattered tempests on the teeming ground." 



