412 : ROMAN ROAD IN THE 
We all know very well how the eagle of that 
empire, perching upon the palaces and temples 
of the eternal city, spread out its wings over 
Europe into Asia, from the western shores of 
our own Britain even to the Indus and central 
Asia ; and that for four hundred years its emblem 
on the banners of its legions was borne victo- 
rious from east to west, from south to north, over 
the major part of this island; and we likewise 
know, wherever Romans trod they left not their 
footsteps in the perishable sand, but in their 
march, reared up monuments of labour almost as 
imperishable as their glory ; and though the great- 
ness of Roman power has vanished, like all former 
greatness, yet its evident remains are still scat- 
tered over the lands which formerly beheld it, and 
added to its triumphs. And as the language of 
these masters of mankind—with which they dic- 
tated to the nations as to their slaves, and which 
far as possible, and almost beyond what is pro- 
bable, they imposed everywhere—is that lan- 
guage which either formed the foundation or the 
corner stone of all our education in youth, and 
forms also the basis of many a language which we 
may have added as accomplishments since, as well 
as constitutes no inconsiderable portion of the 
polished and flexible part of our own, we cannot 
