details, and art is buried in learning.




CHAPTER I.

THE CONQUESTS OF THE ROMANS.


One of the features of Roman greatness, which preeminently arrests
attention, is military genius and strength. The Romans surpassed all the
nations of antiquity in the brilliancy and solidity of their conquests.
They conquered the world, and held it in subjection. For many centuries
they stamped their iron heel on the necks of prostrate and suppliant
kings, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Caspian Sea. Nothing could impede,
except for a time, their irresistible progress from conquering to
conquer. They were warriors from the earliest period of their history,
and all their energies were concentrated upon conquest. Their aggressive
policy never changed so long as there was a field for its development.
They commenced as a band of robbers; they ended by becoming masters of
all the countries and kingdoms which tempted their cupidity or aroused
their ambition. Their empire was universal,--the only universal empire
which ever existed on this earth,--and it was won with the sword. It
was not a rapid conquest, but it was systematic and irresistible,
evincing great genius, perseverance, and fortitude.

[Sidenote: The Romans fight from a fixed purpose.]

The successive and fortunate conquests of the Romans were the