garlands were cast upon him. The
pressure upon him was so great that he was nearly suffocated.

The Romans seeing themselves in control soon wished to command. The
rich freely recognized their sovereignty; Rome served them by
shattering the party of the poor. This endured for forty years. At
last in 147, Rome being engaged with Carthage, the democratic party
gained the mastery in Greece and declared war on the Romans. A part of
the Greeks were panic-stricken; many came before the Roman soldiers
denouncing their compatriots and themselves; others betook themselves
to a safe distance from the cities; some hurled themselves into wells
or over precipices. The leaders of the opposition confiscated the
property of the rich, abolished debts, and gave arms to the slaves. It
was a desperate contest. Once overcome, the Achaeans reassembled an
army and marched to the combat with their wives and children. The
general Dioeus shut himself in his house with his whole family and set
fire to the building. Corinth had been the centre of the resistance;
the Romans entered it, massacred the men, and sold the women and
children as slaves. The city full of masterpieces of art was pillaged
and burnt; pictures of the great painters were thrown into the dust,
Roman soldiers lying on them and playing at dice.

THE HELLENES IN THE OCCIDENT

=Influence of Greece on Rome.=--The Romans at the time of their
conquest of the Greeks were still only soldiers, peasants, and
merchants; they had no statues, monuments, literature, science, or
philosophy. All this was found among the Greeks. Rome sought to
imitate these, as the Assyrian conquerors imitated the Chaldeans, as
the Persians did the Assyrians. The Romans kept their costume, tongue,
and religion, and never confused these with those of the Greeks. But
thousands of Greek scholars and artists came to establish themselves
in Rome and to open schools of literature and of eloquence. Later it
was the fashion for the youth of the great Roman families to go as
students to the schools of Athens and Alexandria. Thus the arts and
science of the Greeks were gradually introduced into Rome. "Vanquished
Greece overcame her savage conqueror," says Horace, the Roman poet;
"she brought the arts to uncultured Latium."

=Architecture.=--The Romans had a national architecture. But they
borrowed the column from the Greeks and often imitated their
buildings. Many Roman temples resemble a Greek temple.

A wealthy