condition as immigrants into a new territory. That they were in some
instances detrimental to the Roman institutions is true, but in others
they gave new life to the declining empire. The populace was a rude,
clamorous mass of people, seeking to satisfy their hunger in the
easiest possible way. These were fed by the politicians for the sake
of their influence. The soldiery of Rome had changed. Formerly made
up of patriots who marched out to defend their own country or to
conquer surrounding provinces in the name of the Eternal City, the
ranks were filled with mercenary soldiers taken from the barbarians,
who had little interest in the perpetuation of the Roman institutions.
They had finally obtained so much power that they set up an emperor, or
dethroned him, at their will.

And finally it may be said that of all these internal maladies and
external dangers, the decline in moral worth of the Roman nation is the
most appalling. Influenced by a broken-down philosophy, degenerated in
morals, corrupt in family and social life, the whole system decayed,
and could not withstand the shock of external influence.

_Summary of Roman Civilization_.--The Roman contribution, then, to
civilization is largely embraced in the development of a system of
government with forms and functions which have been perpetuated to this
day; the development of a system of law which has found its place in
all modern legal {267} codes; a beautiful and rich language and
literature; a few elements of art and architecture; the development of
agriculture on a systematic basis; the tendency to unify separate races
in one national life; the practice of the art of war on a humane basis,
and the development of the municipal system of government which has had
its influence on every town of modern life. These are among the chief
contributions of the Roman system to the progress of humanity.

While it is common to talk of the fall of the Roman Empire, Rome is
greater to-day in the perpetuity of her institutions than during the
glorious days of the republic or of the magnificent rule of the
Caesars. Rome also left a questionable inheritance to the posterity of
nations. The idea of imperialism revived in the empire of Charlemagne,
and later in the Holy Roman Empire, and, cropping out again and again
in the monarchies of new nations, has not become extinct to this day.
The recent World War gave a great shock to the idea of czarism. The
imperial crowns