PROBLEMS IN ROMAN HISTORY 



BY ETTORE PAIS 



[Ettore Pais, Professor of Ancient History, University of Naples, Italy, b. Borgo 

 S. Dalmazzo, Piedmont, Italy, July 27, 1856. Ph.D. Florence, 1878 ; Post- 

 graduate, Berlin, 1881-83 ; LL.D. Chicago ; Chevalier, Le'gion d'Honneur de 

 France; Commander of the Prussian Crown; Director of Royal Museum, 

 Sassari, 1879-81; Cagliari, 1883-86; Naples, 1901-04; Professor of Ancient 

 History, University of Palermo, 1886-88; Pisa, 1888-99; Naples, 1900; Madi- 

 son, Wis., 1905. Member Academy of Lincei, Rome; Academy of Sciences, 

 Munich; Imperial German Archaeology Institute, Berlin; Societe d'histoire 

 diplomatique, Paris; Royal Historical Society, Piedmont; ibid. Romagna; ibid. 

 Marche Venice, etc. Author of History of Sicily and Great Greece ; History of 

 Sardinia; History of Rome; and other noted works in history.] 



ANY one who will follow the development of the ancient political 

 history of Greece and Rome, and closely observe what were our con- 

 ditions from the Renaissance to the close of the eighteenth century, 

 will easily recognize that the nineteenth century, so glorious in the 

 renewing of philosophical, natural, and social studies, has not been 

 less great in this conspicuous branch of human knowledge. Thanks 

 to the methodic study of the literary texts, of the genesis of sources, 

 and to the laborious collection of infinite series of monuments; 

 thanks to the works of Boechk, Grote, Niebuhr, Droysen, Momm- 

 sen, and of the great number of their followers, the political knowledge 

 of the ancient classical world has advanced so far as to give us an 

 almost complete view of that civilization. We have precise narratives, 

 which ought to be of the greatest utility, not only to the professional 

 scholar but also to any cultured man. And close to these narratives, 

 inspired, as in the case of Mommsen, even by the cult of form, we 

 have a long succession of deep works on all the branches pertaining 

 to kindred sciences; from chronology to numismatics, from public 

 law to the history of art and of philosophical opinions. Any one, in 

 fact, who with optimistic views will examine the enormous scientific 

 publications made in Germany, France, England, and America, may 

 almost be drawn to conclude, at first impression, that little is left to 

 be done, and that man's mind, always seeking new problems, may 

 find little to reap in a field so completely cleared. This impression 

 is perhaps less strongly received from the study of Greek political 

 history than from the study of the Roman, where the wonderful 

 energy of a single man appears to have left almost nothing for his 

 fellow workers and future generations to gather. You will under- 

 stand my allusion to Theodor Mommsen, the man who for half a 

 century has held undisputed the sceptre among all cultivators of 

 history and classical law, the man who has not passed over in silence 

 any of the arguments regarding the life of the Roman people. 



