ent world the Romans played the part that men
of our race have played in the history of the modern world. They knew,
as we claim to know, how to govern: how to govern themselves, and how to
govern other people. To this day much in our laws and in our system of
government bears a Roman stamp. They were great soldiers and could
conquer: they could also hold and keep their conquests and impress the
Roman stamp on all the peoples over whom they ruled. Their stamp is
still upon us. Much that belongs to our common life to-day comes to us
from them: in their day they lived a life not much unlike ours now. And
in many respects the Roman character was like the British. We can see
the faults of the Romans, if we cannot see our own; we can also see the
virtues. We can see, too--looking back at them over the distance of
time, judging them by their work and by what is left to us of their
writings--how the mixture of faults in their virtues explains the fall
as well as the rise of the great power of Rome.

[Illustration: LAR, or Household God]

The Romans were men of action, not dreamers. They were more interested
in doing things than in understanding them. They were men of strong will
and cool mind, who looked out upon the world as they saw it and, for the
most part, did not wonder much about how and why it came to be there. It
was there for them to rule. That was what interested them. Ideas they
mostly got from other people, especially from the Greeks. When they had
got them they could use them and turn them to something of their own.
But they were not distracted by puzzling over ideas. Their religion was
that of a practical people. In the later days of Rome few educated men
believed in the gods. But all the ceremonies and festivals were
dedicated to them; and magnificent temples in their honour were erected
in which their spirits were supposed to dwell. In the old days every
Roman household had its particular images--the Lares and Penates which
the head of the family tended and guarded. Connected with this office
was the sacred authority of the head of the family--the paterfamilias.
His word was law for the members of the household. And the City of Rome
stood to its citizens in the place of the paterfamilias. The first laws
of a Roman's life were his duty to his father and to the State. They had
an absolute claim on him for all that he could give. The Roman's code of
honour, like the Englishman's, rested on this sense of duty. A