Just as the conquests of Alexander, by uniting the Orient to Greece, produced a Graeco-Oriental civilization, so now the expansion of Rome over the Mediterranean formed another world-wide culture, in which both Greek and Roman elements met and mingled. A new sense of cosmopolitanism arose in place of the old civic or national patriotism. Roman elements met and mingled. A new sense of cosmopolitanism arose in place of the old civic or national patriotism.
[Illustration: A ROMAN TEMPLE The best preserved of Roman temples. Located at Nîmes in southern France, where it is known as La Maison Carrée ("the square house"). The structure is now used as a museum of antiquities.]
UNIFYING AND CIVILIZING FORCES This cosmopolitan feeling was the outcome of those unifying and civilizing forces which the imperial system set at work. The extension of Roman citizenship broke down the old distinction between the citizens and the subjects of Rome. The development of Roman law carried its principles of justice and equity to the remotest regions. The spread of the Latin language provided the western half of the empire with a speech as universal there as Greek was in the East. Trade and travel united the provinces with one another and with Rome. The worship of the Caesars dimmed the luster of all local worships and kept constantly before men's minds the idea of Rome and of her mighty emperors. Last, but not least important, was the fusion of alien peoples through intermarriage with Roman soldiers and colonists. "How many settlements," exclaims the philosopher Seneca, "have been planted in every province! Wherever the Roman conquers, there he dwells." [30]
[Illustration: THE AMPHITHEATER AT ARLES The amphitheater at Arles in southern France was used during the Middle Ages as a fortress then as a prison and finally became the resort of criminals and paupers. The illustration shows it before the removal of the buildings about 1830 A.D. Bullfights still continue in the arena, where, in Roman times, animal baitings and gladiatorial games took place.]
MONUMENTS OF ROMAN RULE
The best evidence of Rome's imperial rule is found in the monuments she raised in every quarter of the ancient world. Some of the grandest ruins of antiquity are not in the capital city itself, or even in Italy, but in Spain, France, England, Greece, Switzerland, Asia Minor, Syria, and North Africa. Among these are Hadrian's Wall in Britain, the splendid aqueduct known as the Pont du Gard near Nîmes in southern France, the beautiful temple called La Maison Carrée in the same city, the Olympieum at Athens, and the temple of the Sun at Baalbec in Syria Thus the lonely hilltops, the desolate desert sands, the mountain fastnesses of three continents bear witness even now to the widespreading sway of Rome.
[Illustration: A MEGALITH AT BAALBEC A block of stone 68 feet long 10 feet high and weighing about 1500 tons. It is still attached to its bed in the quarry not far from the ruins of Baalbec in Syria. The temples of Baalbec seen in the distance were built by the Romans in the third century A.D. The majestic temple of the Sun contains three megaliths almost as huge as the one represented in the illustration. They are the largest blocks known to have been used in any structure. For a long time they were supposed to be relics of giant builders.]
ROMANIZATION OF EAST AND WEST
The civilized world took on the stamp and impress of Rome. The East, indeed, remained Greek in language and feeling, but even there Roman law and government prevailed, Roman roads traced their unerring course, and Roman architects erected majestic monuments. The West became completely Roman. North Africa, Spain, Gaul, distant Dacia, and Britain were the seats of populous cities, where the Latin language was spoken and Roman customs were followed. From them came the emperors. They furnished some of the most eminent men of letters. Their schools of grammar and rhetoric attracted students from Rome itself. Thus unconsciously, but none the less surely, local habits and manners, national religions and tongues, provincial institutions and ways of thinking disappeared from the ancient world.