328 GREECE AND ROME, 



much on the intrinsic merit of the works, as on the external refine* 

 ment of the composition : the barbarians must have made considera- 

 ble progress in improvement before they could either enjoy the 

 Grecian writings or receive benefit from them ; and we are not to 

 conclude that Greece was more civilized than Rome, because she 

 was more prolific in authors of original genius. We must of course 

 concede to Greece the priority in point of time in all those arts and 

 refinements which constitute civilization ; we must concede to her 

 the first considerable improvements in social policy, and we must 

 allow her the merit of having created literature from the rude chaos 

 of the cumbrous and mystic learning of Egypt and Phoenicia ; but it 

 is important to observe that until the universal dominion of Rome 

 diffused these advantages over the world, they were neither seen nor 

 felt out of the immediate pale of Greece and her colonies, with the 

 single exception of the palaces of the Macedonian dynasties. But 

 the influence of arts and refinement in promoting civilization, must 

 always be secondary to that of laws and government ; and though 

 we cannot be insensible of the benefits conferred by Rome on man- 

 kind by the diffusion of the former, it is on the latter that her advo- 

 cate must rest her claim of superiority over Greece. The first point 

 then in ihe consideration will be a comparison of the circumstances 

 under which Rome and Greece came in contact with the barbarous 

 nations. The Romans, in the progress of their victories, reduced the 

 inhabitants of the conquered countries to the condition of their sub- 

 jects, and from motives of gratitude or conciliation gradually ad- 

 mitted many of them, in different degrees, to the privileges of Roman 

 citizenship ; the provinces were administered by Roman magistrates, 

 were to a certain extent under the influence of Roman laws, and 

 their tranquillity was protected and their allegiance secured by the 

 presence of Roman troops. As soon as the Romans began to 

 add the arts of commerce to those of war, many of them were in- 

 duced by interest or convenience to settle in the conquered provinces^ 

 and of course with the number of resident citizens the extent of the 

 application of Roman law was increased. It cannot be denied that 

 the administration of the pro-consuls was always arbitrary and often 

 oppressive, and that the operation of two co-ordinate systems of law 

 must have been productive of serious inconvenience ; but the occa- 

 sional rapacity of a few magistrates was amply compensated by the 

 introduction of quiet and subordination, and the laws of the pro- 

 vinces were gradually assimilated to the Roman jurisprudence. If, 

 on the other hand, we turn our attention to the intercourse of the 

 Greeks with the barbarians, we shall find that, with the exception of 

 the Macedonian conquest, they rarely stood to them in any other re- 

 lation than that of masters to domestic slaves. It is true that Grecian 

 colonies were settled in Italy and Sicily, on the shores of the Euxine, 

 and the coast of Africa, but they still remained emphatically Grecian 

 cities ; their intercourse with the neighbouring nations was confined 

 to commerce, and they never attempted to govern them as their 

 subjects. 



If again we look to the Macedonian provinces of Egypt and Asia, 

 we shall find that any civilization that they imparted was confined to 



