ROMANOFF 



5055 



ROMANTICISM 



separate thousand; then five hundred is taken 

 and D is written for it ; next, as many hundreds 

 are taken as possible, and a C is written for 

 each ; fifty is then taken and L is written for it ; 

 as many tens as possible are next taken and X 

 is written for each ; five is then taken and V is 

 written for it; and finally / is put down as 

 many times as there are unite left over. The 

 number 2,500 is written MMD (one thousand 

 plus one thousand plus five hundred) ; 3,550 is 

 written MMMDL. 



These numbers are not particularly long or 

 tedious to write, but in order to express 3,768, 

 which in the Arabic notation is just as brief as 

 3,550, this formidable row of letters must be 

 put down: MMMDCCLXV11I. Quite recently 

 subtraction by changing the position of the 

 symbols has come into use. Instead of writing 

 ////, the / is placed before V, and we have IV, 

 which expresses one subtracted from five. Nine 

 is written IX instead of VI III; forty is written 

 XL (fifty minus ten). The year nineteen hun- 

 dred used to be written MDCCCC, but it is 

 now written simply MCM. A.C. 



ROMANOFF, ro'manawj, more properly Ro- 

 MANOFF-HoLSTEiN, the name of the family that 

 ruled Russia from 1613 to 1917. At the begin- 

 ning of 1613 the country, more than half bar- 

 barous, was leaderless; the nobles chose Mi- 

 chael Feodorovitch Romanoff, of the royal 

 house of Rurik, to rule them, and called him 

 czar. Nineteen Romanoffs in succession con- 

 trolled the destinies of the country; in reality 

 a twentieth was ruler for a few hours, but his 

 tenure cannot well be included. Two great 

 names are in the list, but most of the line were 

 merciless autocrats. Because of their severity 

 the term czar has become a word of reproach. 



Peter the Great was the mightiest of the 

 Romanoffs ; he found Russia floundering and al- 

 most wholly unorganized, and he left it a strong 

 nation. Catharine the Great, profane, immoral, 

 witty, but a great constructive leader, made her 

 country respected in the courts of the world. 

 For the most part the other rulers kept the 

 liult out of Russia; they filled the country 

 with subordinate officials who worked tin n 

 masters' will; they hunted down all independ- 

 ent men with their remorseless secret service; 

 they governed the land with hordes of wild, 

 savage Cossacks; they brandished the knout 

 instead of offering the ballot. They rode ahead, 

 defying liberty and progress, and in themselves 

 embodied the executive, legislative and judicial 

 functions of government. Not until the twen- 

 ti'-th century was a legislative body tolerated; 



Alexander 

 Catharine 

 Czar 



at first it was not permitted to exercise power, 

 but gradually it forced its due privileges from 

 an unwilling monarch, and eventually over- 

 threw that autocrat and itself became the tem- 

 porary Russian government. 



Nicholas II, fairly well meaning but weak, 

 was the last representative of his line. When 

 his abdication was forced March 15, 1917, he 

 named his brother Michael his successor. The 

 latter declared that unless it was Russia's will 

 he would not ascend the throne. His abdica- 

 tion followed. 



The first Romanoff was Michael, and he ruled 

 thirty-two years; the last was Michael, czar for 

 eighteen hours. E.D.F. 



Consult Edwards' The Romanoffs: Czars of 

 Moscow and Emperors of Russia. 



Related Subjects. The following articles in 

 these volumes should be read in connection with 

 this subject: 



Nicholas 

 Peter the Great 

 Russia (History) 



ROMANS, ro'manz, EPISTLE TO THE, the 

 most important of all the letters written by 

 Paul the Apostle. In this he states fully his 

 doctrinal beliefs. The epistle was written from 

 Corinth in the winter of 57, while he was on 

 his third missionary journey. The theme of 

 the whole letter, which forms a book in the 

 New Testament, is found in this verse: "The 

 gospel is the power of God unto salvation to 

 every one that believeth" (Romans 1, 16) . Thus 

 he sets forth the doctrine of justification by 

 faith, which Luther adopted as the basis of his 

 system (see LUTHER, MARTIN; REFORMATION, 

 THE). 



ROMANTICISM, roman'tisiz'm, the name 

 given in literature to the movement which 

 marked a change from a rigid adherence to 

 classic standards to an appreciation of imagina- 

 tion, sentiment and the beauties of nature. No 

 sharp line can be drawn between the romantic 

 period and the classic which preceded it; no 

 one country or poet can be given as the origi- 

 nator of the movement, but the change, though 

 gradual, was very pronounced. No period in 

 English history was ever more completely domi- 

 nated by classic ideals than the so-called Au- 

 gustan Age of Queen Anne. In poetry, particu- 

 larly, form was placed before matter, and Pope 

 was held my many to be the greatest of Eng- 

 lish poets because of the uniform correctness 

 of his verse. Didactic and argumentative top- 

 ics, which many present-day critics declare have 

 no part at all in real poetry, were almost the 

 only themes. See CLASSICS. 



