ROME 



ROME 



mand of this war which had so inflamed tin- 

 jealousy of Murius, but it was Pompey who 

 brought the struggle to a successful conclusion. 

 But the most important of all in their after ef- 

 fects were the campaigns of Caesar in Gaul, 

 which made him so popular and so powerful 

 that Rome lay at \ii> 



The name of Pompey suggests a list of names 

 of men who for a period held the fate of Rome 

 in their hands; for the Senate, so long almost 

 absolute, h:id lo0J ta power, and the 



day of the individual had come in Roman his- 

 toryof the individual who was strong enough 

 and unscrupulous enough to seize the power 

 and wield it for his own good. Pompey, Caesar, 

 4 Cicero, Lepidus, Mark Antony, Augus- 

 ts the lives of these men made up the history 

 of Rome in this concluding period of the re- 



it lawful for you to scourge a man that 

 is a Roman, and uncondemned?" 



And when the centurion heard it he went to 

 the chief captain and told him, saying, "What 

 art thou about to do? For this man is a 

 Roman." And the chief captain came and said 

 unto him, "Tell me, art thou a Roman?" And 

 he said "Yea." And the chief captain answrivd. 

 "With a great sum obtained I this citizenship." 

 And Paul said, "But I am a Roman born." 



They then that were about to examine him 

 straightway departed from him; and the chief 

 captain also was afraid when he knew that he 

 was a Roman, and because he had bound him. 



Occasionally during the first two centuries a 

 tyrant arose, as Tiberius or Nero, who set aside 

 the forms of constitutional government and was 

 frankty despotic. In the main it was only the 

 city of Rome which suffered at the hands of 

 such men, the provinces being efficiently gov- 



THE ANCIENT AND THE MODERN CITY 



At the left the location of the seven hills is shown; they are (1) Quirinal, (2) Capitoline, (3) 

 Viminal. t ! Ksquiline, (5) Palatine, (6) Aventine, (1) Caelian. The second and third maps compare 

 the areas of the ancient city and present-day Rome. 



public. Civil war followed the death of Caesar, 

 and from it one man, Octavius, emerged su- 

 preme. 



The Growing Empire. Having rid himself of 

 all rivals and accepted from the hands of a 

 compliant Senate all the highest offices, Octa- 

 vius, or Augustus, as he was henceforward 

 'ailed, established what was in effect an empire, 

 though the name and some of the forms of the 

 republic were still preserved. During his time 

 the glory of Rome was at its height, and though 

 none of his successors equaled him in ability, 

 the power was so firmly grounded that it en- 

 dured and even apparently increased for almost 

 two centuries. To be a Roman citizen was one 

 of the greatest honors the world afforded, for 

 back of every citizen stood the vast power of 

 the Empire. The book of Acts, in describing 

 the persecution of Paul in Jerusalem, has the 

 following significant passage: 



And when they hacl tied him up with the 

 thongs, Paul said unto the centurion that stood 



erned; but in the later years even the forms of 

 constitutionality were ignored. 



Tiberius, the successor of Augustus, was able 

 but unscrupulous, and it was he who instituted 

 the system of spying which so many of the 

 later emperors employed. During his reign oc- 

 curred the Crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. 

 His successors were the mad Caligula (37-41), 

 \vith his insane follies; Claudius (41-54), dur- 

 ing whose reign Southern Britain was subdued; 

 and Nero (54-68), whose name is a synonym 

 for cruelty and viciousness. During his reign 

 the burning of Rome took place, and the perse- 

 cution of the Christians, who were accused of 

 having set fire to the city. 



A listing of the emperors is not necessary. 

 Many of them were mediocre men, who ob- 

 tained their power by bribing the army; but 

 now and then one stands out by reason of espe- 

 cial ability or goodness. Thus there were Ves- 

 pasian and Titus, father and son, whose reigns 

 were noteworthy for their freedom from tyr- 



