THE EXAMPLE OF ROME 191 



rero's (he does not mention climate) — that even the patricians, 

 the most wealthy part of the population, "were peasants like their 

 fellows, and not above handling the pick and the plough." Similar 

 conditions, so far as we can gather, prevailed among the neighbor- 

 ing tribes. "The cause of [Rome's] success lay in the vigorous 

 discipline of her constitution, which was strong enough to control 

 that spirit of self-indulgence which is the most powerful solvent 

 of national life. It was this that maintained a pure and simple 

 morality among her rich and powerful class, which would have 

 been the first to succumb to the vanity and vice that too frequently 

 attend on the pride of conquest. The Romans were a primitive 

 people without the defects peculiar to a primitive people." 

 Theirs was "a stern and difficult discipline of the spirit." They 

 accustomed their boys "to reverence and purity, to labor and 

 sobriety, to the careful observance of laws and customs and of a 

 narrow but tenacious patriotism." They taught the girls to "be 

 gentle, obedient and chaste, attentive only to housework and 

 children." Everyone knows how democratic was. the form of 

 government among the early Romans. Officials were judged by 

 their deeds, and the slightest dereliction from duty was severely 

 punished. No officials were paid, but it was deemed sufficient 

 honor to be allowed to serve the State. Ancient Rome was in 

 many ways remarkably like the early Puritan colonies in New 

 England. 



Between 450 and 250 B. C. the Romans extended their power 

 over most of the peninsula of Italy. This brought them great 

 wealth. "But this increase of wealth did not at first tend to 

 weaken the ancient traditions nor was it immediately followed 

 either by a change in manners or by a political revolution. The 

 thrift and simplicity of the old times were still the proudest 

 virtues of every noble family. ... If by the end of the third 

 century B. C. Rome had become paramount in Italy, it was 

 because the most admired virtues of every class of her State were 

 those that are distinctive of a well-disciplined rural community. 



