A STEP BACKWARD IN ROME 



struggling for the control of the Italian peninsula. 

 And now, when Ptolemy Philadelphus continued 

 to build upon the foundations of literature, sci- 

 ence, and art, laid by his talented predecessor in 

 Egypt, Rome began its wars of expansion by a 

 first onslaught upon Carthage. Always engaged 

 in internal and external struggles, the rulers of 

 Rome had been compelled to give more attention 

 to the practical side of life than to the speculative. 

 In the further development of the Roman world, 

 internal class struggles and external wars of con- 

 quest continued to tax the resources of the Ro- 

 mans for the maintenance of the military power, 

 and it was not until a much later time that a class 

 of such wealth as that of classic Greece gave 

 breathing space to literature and art. 



At the time when Grecian philosophy found its 

 patrons among the Ptolemies, the mental life of 

 the Romans had not yet risen above the level of 

 the Homeric stage of early Greece. And when 

 Rome finally arrived at that period of its career 

 where philosophy could become acclimatized in a 

 Roman atmosphere, that is to say, about the mid- 

 dle of the century preceding the dawn of Chris- 

 tianity, Grecian philosophy completely dominated 

 the ideas of all advanced thinkers. Moreover, 

 this philosophy corresponded so fully to the re- 



