Page:Outlines of European History.djvu/342

 284 0?ttlmes of E7 trope an History a story told in marble treasuries and in votive monuments (Fig. 82) donated to Apollo by all the Greek states in thanks- giving for the triumphs he has granted. As he stands amid these thickly clustered monuments, the Roman notices many an empty pedestal, and he recalls how the villas of his friends at home, across the hills from his own estates, are adorned in court and porch and garden vista with the bronze and marble statues which once occupied these empty pedestals, but have now been carried to Italy by Roman power. It is a vivid illus- tration of how the best things in Greek civilization have been appropriated by the Romans. The Greek cities which brought forth these things are all now politically helpless under the sovereignty of Rome, and the Romans have become the heirs of the great past of Greece. The East As the Roman traveler passes through the cities of Asia Minor (Fig. loi) and Syria, his national pride is quickened to see what Roman rule is doing for these undeveloped lands to the very borders of the Arabian desert. Fine military roads paved with smooth stone blocks link city to city and furnish what is for the ancient world rapid transit for the speedy movement of government messengers or the urgent transfer of the never- failing legions. Long aqueducts conduct the waters from the mountain heights down into the city fountains for public use. Imposing public buildings and monuments are rising on every hand (Fig. 117). Where once the barracks sheltered the merce- naries of the local tyrant of former days, there now stands a schoolhouse. Men are everywhere rejoicing in the universal peace and realize fully that it is the gift of Rome. The ad- vantages of Roman citizenship are constantly before their eyes in the ever-increasing number of Roman citizens in the eastern cities, where they are settled as merchants even on the banks of the Euphrates. Tranquillity and safe transport, guaranteed by the Roman legions, have filled the highways with merchants and travelers. As the Roman looks out over the eastern harbors (Fig. 102) he sees the distant horizon whitened with the sails of