Roman
civilization. Now we are standing at its grave. The equalizing plane of
Roman world power had been gliding for centuries over all the
Mediterranean countries. Where the Greek language did not offer any
resistance, all national idioms had been crushed by a corrupted Latin.
There were no longer any distinctions of nationality, no more Gauls,
Iberians, Ligurians, Noricans; they had all become Romans. Roman
administration and Roman law had everywhere dissolved the old gentile
bodies and thus crushed the last remnant of local and national
independence. The new type of Romans offered no compensation for this
loss, for it did not express any nationality, but only the lack of a
nationality. The elements for the formation of new nations were present
everywhere. The Latin dialects of the different provinces differentiated
more and more. But the natural boundaries that had once made Italy,
Gaul, Spain, Africa independent territories, were still present and made
themselves felt. Yet there was no strength anywhere for combining these
elements into new nations. Nowhere was there the least trace of any
capacity for development, nor any power of resistance, much less any
creative power. The immense human throng of that enormous territory was
held together by one bond alone: the Roman state. But this state had in
time become the worst enemy and oppressor of its subjects. The provinces
had ruined Rome. It had become a provincial town like all others,
privileged, but no longer ruling, no longer the center of the world
empire, no longer even the seat of the emperors and subregents who lived
in Constantinople, Treves and Milan. The Roman state had become an
immense complicated machine, designed exclusively for the exploitation
of its subjects. Taxes, state imposts and tithes of all sorts drove the
mass of the people deeper and deeper into poverty. By the blackmailing
practices of the regents, tax collectors and soldiers, the pressure was
increased to such a point that it became insupportable. This was the
outcome of Rome's world power. The right of the state to existence was
founded on the preservation of order in the interior and the protection
against the barbarians outside. But this order was worse than the most
disgusting disorder, and the barbarians against whom the state pretended
to protect its citizens, were hailed by them as saviors.

The condition of society was no less desperate. During the last years of
the republic, the R