Page:Constantinople by Brodribb.djvu/46

 the more remarkable parts of the vast Roman empire, those especially in which he might find relics of the religions and civilizations of bygone days. After having fought for Rome in the swamps and forests of Germany, and avenged the slaughtered legions of Varus, he was able to obey an impulse he had long felt, and in the year 18 A.D., the fifth of the reign of Tiberius, he turned his steps eastward, and visited those famous cities, Perinthus and Byzantium. Thence he passed over the strait to the plains of Troy, to see, as Tacitus says, "the birthplace and cradle of the Roman people." It is to be noted that the historian speaks of these two cities as if they were almost included in the Roman province known as Asia, which embraced, of course, only a small portion of what we call Asia Minor. Both cities were under Rome's tutelage, and so, too, was Thrace, or the modern Roumelia. But the country was not as yet actually a province. It was ruled by native kings, the nominees of Rome, as the Herods of Judæa were. Occasionally the country, as might be expected from the turbulent character of the inhabitants, gave trouble; but it was not able to recover its independence. Twice during the reign of Tiberius the Thracian tribes became restive, and dared to defy the power of Rome. They had, it seems, to furnish levies for the Roman armies, and of this they became impatient. Tacitus does not dignify the affair with the name of a war; he calls it merely "a movement." In each case it was soon and easily crushed. The fighting was, it seems, confined to the inland regions,