Items related to A history of Rome up to 500 A.D.
Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901 Excerpt: ...their best, but unable to meet the demands on their finances, and unable to re-populate the country. But, if all these evils were going on, how is it that the Empire stood so long 1 The answer is that the soldiers were still obedient to the good Emperors, that the lands were still fairly productive, and that the enemies outside had not yet reached their full strength. So far we have discussed the evils, but a few words must be added. 1. Many of these evils are to be seen in our own day, and at all times, if we only look for them, especially (see above) in large cities. 2. During the earlier Empire the Provinces were in good order, and some of the best Emperors carried out excellent reforms. 3. Of the Emperors themselves not a few set most admirable examples, as, for instance, Vespasian and Marcus Aurelius. 4. We are apt to be misled by the importance that is assigned to military success: we are apt to forget that there are more important things than this, even if the mass of people does not admire them more: things which we must admire more if we are to be true to our religion. The verdict of History is invariably for military successes, and against those milder successes which we recognise as part of the highest character. Christianity must reverse this verdict. 5. Christianity, and the universal brotherhood of man, and Stoicism as well, had a fine influence throughout the Empire. Christianity started from the lower classes, and Stoicism from the higher. It was no doubt Christianity that taught people to realise that a slave was something more than a chattel, to remit many of the harsh penal laws, to pay attention to the education of the young, to consider that charity was one of the virtues, to attend to orphan girls and poor children, as Hadrian, Trajan,...
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