British Quarterly Review, American Edition, Vol. LIV / July and October, 1871

Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have been preserved. Obvious errors have been corrected.
Page 7: Treves possibly should be Trèves Page 22: First Clause possibly should be First Cause Page 95: tôi eterôi tanantia possibly should be tôi heterôi tanantia
AMERICAN EDITION.
NEW YORK: PUBLISHED BY THE LEONARD SCOTT PUBLISHING COMPANY. 140 FULTON STREET, BETWEEN BROADWAY AND NASSAU STREET.
1871.
S. W. GREEN. PRINTER, STEREOTYPER, AND BINDER, 16 and 18 Jacob St., N.Y.
Art. I.— The Roman Empire.
(1.) Les Césars, par Franz de Champagny. 3 vols. Paris: Bray.
(2.) Les Antonines, par le Comte de Champagny. 3 vols. Paris: Bray.
The history of the Roman Empire must ever have an interest peculiar to itself. It stands alone. Nothing in the past has been, nothing in the future can be, like it. It was the whole civilized world. It gathered into itself the traditions of all that had ever been great and illustrious in the human race, Assyrian, Egyptian, Persian, Hebrew, Phœnician, Greek, Etruscan, as well as those of the multitudinous western tribes—Italian, Gallic, Iberian or Teutonic, which had only made themselves known as warriors. The civilization, the arts and sciences, the laws and institutions, the poetry and philosophy, the whole accumulated literary treasures of all past generations were risked on a single venture. Rome had no rival on earth, and could have no successor. She was the ark in which were preserved all the riches of the past, all the hopes of the future. For many centuries the most gifted races of men had been toiling and suffering, and there was no reason to suppose that man was capable of doing more than had been effected by their united efforts. If that was lost, all was lost. It was no idle boast, then, when men said, 'When Rome shall fall, the world will fall with her.' In those ages no man looked forward to anything greater or better. The idea that 'progress' is the natural law and condition of the world, is one quite characteristic of modern times. The ancient notion was that its law was that of decay and corruption. The utmost that anyone dared to hope was that things might not change for the worse.