250 B.C. By this date the distinctions between the two orders had disappeared; patricians and plebeians intermarried and formed one compact body of citizens in the Roman State.
[2] "The scholar who compares carefully the Greek constitutions with the Roman will undoubtedly consider the former to be finer and more finished specimens of political work. The imperfect and incomplete character which the Roman constitution presents, at almost any point of its history, the number of institutions it exhibits which appear to be temporary expedients merely, are necessary results of its method of growth to meet demands as they rose from time to time; they are evidence, indeed, of its highly practical character." (Adams, G. B., Civilization during the Middle Ages, 2d ed., p. 20.)
[3] The same opportunity came to Athens after the Persian Wars and to Sparta after the Peloponnesian War, but neither possessed the creative power along political and governmental lines, or the tolerance for the ideas and feelings of subject peoples, to accomplish anything permanent. Rome succeeded where previous States had failed because of her larger insight, tolerance, patience, and constructive to create a great world empire.
[4] Caesar extended Roman citizenship to certain communities in Gaul and in Sicily, and began the further extension of the process of assimilation by taking the conquered provincial into citizenship in the Empire. This was carried on and extended by succeeding Emperors until finally, in 212 A.D., Roman citizenship was extended to all free-born inhabitants in all the provinces.
[5] For example, Balbus, a Spaniard, was Consul in Rome forty years before the Christian era, and another Spaniard, Nerva, had become Emperor before the close of the first century A.D. Many commanders in the army and governors in the provinces were provincials by birth.
[6] Roman citizenship was much more than a mere name. A Roman citizen could not be maltreated or punished without a legal trial before a Roman court. If accused in a capital case he could always protect himself from what he considered an unjust decision by an "appeal to Caesar"; that is, to the Emperor at Rome. The protection of law was always extended to his property and himself, wherever in the Roman Empire he might live or travel.
[7] Both literature and inscriptions testify abundantly to the affectionate regard in which Roman rule was held. The rule may have been far from perfect, judged from a modern point of view, but it was so much better and so much more orderly than anything that had gone before that it was accepted in all quarters.
[8] Every house was protected from the evil spirits of the outside world by Janus, and had its sacred fire presided over by Vesta. Every house had its protecting Lares. The cupboard where the food was stored was blest by and under the charge of the Penates. The daily worship of these household deities took place at the family meal, the father offering a little food and a little wine at the sacred hearth. Every house father, too, had his guardian Genius, whose festival was celebrated on the master's birthday. In a similar fashion the State had its temples, its sacred fire and votive offerings, and various divinities ruled the elements and sent or withheld success.
Almost every activity in life was presided over by some deity, whom it was necessary to propitiate before engaging in it. Davidson says, with reference to the practical nature of their religion, that "While the Athenians rejoiced before their gods, the Romans kept a debtor and creditor account with theirs, and were very anxious that the balance should be on the right side."
[9] "Among our ancestors," says Pliny, "one learned not only through the ears, but through the eyes. The young, in observing the elders, learned what they would soon have to do themselves, and what they would one day teach to their successor."