WORKERS IN THE FIELDS OF ROUMANIA 



''The fertile soil of Roumania has been the source of its great prosperity, and at the 

 same time the cause of most of its troubles. The Roman invader distributed large tracts to 

 favorite veterans, and many estates to this day. in their designation, bear testimony to the 

 fact that thev at one time were the rewards of service to the Roman soldiers" (see text, pase 

 365). 



right bank of the Danube as far as a 

 point opposite Orsova. In some places 

 the road was hewn through solid rock, 

 and in others, where the steepness made 

 it impossible to cut a step-like way. a 

 swinging shelf of planks formed the 

 roadway. 



The exploits of the Romans in con- 

 quering Dacia have been handed down to 

 us by the vain Trajan, who had erected 

 in the Italian capital the column that still 

 bears his name. Apollodorus. the archi- 

 tect, has epitomized his master's con- 

 quests in the groupings of the 2.500 hu- 

 man figures that decorate this monu- 

 ment. His body is supposed to lie 

 beneath : his statue once crowned its sum- 

 mit : but years ago the piety of the popes 

 replaced it by one of St. Peter. 



GOTFI AXD HUN INVADERS 



The prosperity of this thriving Roman 

 colonv was destined to awaken covetous 



feelings, and, with the hrst signs of 

 Rome's weakening, her outlying posses- 

 sions became subject to attack: and the 

 Dacian province could not hope to escape. 

 By the middle of the third century, the 

 Goths had invaded the Danube territory, 

 and close upon them were the Huns, who, 

 under Attila, were the masters of central 

 Europe from the Rhine to the Volga. 



These were the beginnings of the Ger- 

 manic invasion, which, with the Mon- 

 golian incursions that followed, surged 

 back and forth for ten successive cen- 

 turies, uprooting from their very foun- 

 dations Roman institutions and Roman 

 civilization, and driving all who resisted 

 into the fastnesses of the Carpathians. 

 where, for a thousand years, the ances- 

 tors of the present Roumanians led a 

 wandering pastoral life, handing down to 

 the succeeding generation the tradition of 

 their glorious past. 



It is claimed that a people who have 



361 



