peasant class--The city plebs--Electoral corruption--Corruption of
the Senate--Corruption of the army.

THE REVOLUTION. Necessity of the revolution--Civil wars--The Gracchi--
Marius and Sulla--Pompey and Cæsar--End of the Republic--Need of
peace--Power of the individual.


CHAPTER XXIV

THE EMPIRE AT ITS HEIGHT. The twelve Cæsars--The emperor--Apotheosis--
Senate and people--The prætorians--Freedmen of the emperors--
Despotism and disorder.

THE CENTURY OF THE ANTONINES. Marcus Aurelius--Conquests of the
Antonines.

IMPERIAL INSTITUTIONS. Extent of the empire in the second century--
Permanent army--Deputies and agents of the emperor--Municipal
life--Imperial regime.

SOCIAL LIFE UNDER THE EMPIRE. The continued decadence at Rome--The
shows--Theatre--Circus--Amphitheatre--Gladiators--The Roman
peace--Fusion of the peoples--Superstitions.


CHAPTER XXV

ARTS AND SCIENCES IN ROME. Letters--Imitation of the Greeks--The
Augustan Age--Orators and rhetoricians--Importance of the Latin