476 ROME. 



will some day transform us into new beings. The 

 mathematical studies of the Alexandrines were also 

 serviceable to mankind, and the work of one of their 

 professors is a text-book in this country ; they dis- 

 covered the Precession of the Equinoxes ; and the 

 work which they did in Conic Sections enabled Kepler 

 to discover the true laws of the planetary motions. 

 But Alexandria did not possess that liberty which is 

 the true source of continued progress. With slaves 

 below and with despots above, the mind was starved 

 in its roots, and stifled in its bud, dried and ticketed 

 in a museum. The land itself had begun to languish 

 and decay, when a new power arose in the west. The 

 foot of Italy was lined with Greek towns, and these 

 had spread culture through the peninsula, among a 

 people of a kindred race. They dwelt in cities, with 

 municipal governments, public buildings, and national 

 schools. One Italian city, founded by desperadoes, 

 adopted a career of war ; but the brigands were also 

 industrious farmers and wise politicians ; they con- 

 ciliated the cities whom they conquered. Rome be- 

 came a supreme republic, ruling a number of minor 

 republics, whose municipal prerogatives were left undis- 

 turbed, who paid no tribute save military service. The 

 wild Gauls of Lombardy were subdued. The Greeks 

 on the coast were the only foreigners who retained 

 their freedom in the land. They called over 

 Pyrrhus to protect them from the Romans ; but the 

 legion conquered the phalanx, the broadsword van- 

 quished the Macedonian spear. The Asiatic Car- 

 thaginians were masters of the sea ; half Sicily 

 belonged to them ; they were, therefore, neighbours 

 of the Romans. They had already menaced tho 

 cities of the southern coast ; the Romans were 



