The Historians'' History of the World Vol. 6 of 25: A Comprehensive Narrative of the Rise and Development of Nations as Recorded by Over Two Thousand of the Great Writers of All Ages; The Early Roman Empire (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Historians'' History of the World Vol. 6 of 25: A Comprehensive Narrative of the Rise and Development of Nations as Recorded by Over Two Thousand of the Great Writers of All Ages; The Early Roman Empire<br><br>What is the secret of the vivid interest which the Roman Empire awakens even in the minds of those who feel little drawn towards the study of antiq uity? It is in the first place undoubtedly because this period is in many respects more modern in character than any other of ancient times; far more so than the Byzantine Empire or the Middle Ages. It is a period of transition in which vast revolutions came about in politics and religion and the seed of a new civilisation was sown. Its true significance is not to be found in the creation of a world-wide empire. Republican Rome had already subdued the East in her inexorable advance; Macedonia and Greece Syria Asia Africa and finally Egypt had fallen into her hands before the setting up of the imperial throne.<br><br>In the West again Spain and the south of Gaul had long been Roman when Julius Caesar started on the campaign which decided the future of Europe and pushed the Roman frontier forward from the Rhone to the Rhine. The sway of Rome already extended over all the coasts of the Medi terranean and the accessions made to her dominions during the period of imperial rule were comparatively insignificant. The Danubian and Alpine provinces were won for the Roman Empire by Augustus Britain was con quered by Claudius Dacia and Arabia by Trajan beside the conquests which his successor immediately relinquished. Germania and the kingdom of Parthia. Permanently withstood the Roman onset and the construction of the Upper Germanic and Raetian I/lmes by Domitian was an Official recognition of the invincibility of the Germanic barbarians. The counsel of resignation given by Augustus to his successors out of the fulness of his own bitter experience warning them to keep the empire within its natural frontiers i.e. the Rhine Danube and Euphrates was practically followed by them and Hadrian did unquestionably right in breaking altogether with his predecessor''s policy of expansion and refusing to expose the waning might of the empire to a con tinuous struggle to which it was no longer equal.<br><br>About the Publisher<br><br>Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com<br><br>This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases an imperfection in the original such as a blemish or missing page may be replicated in our edition. We do however repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.