It is to such facts as these that we must look in passing a final judgment on the imperial Government, which is admittedly seen in its best and most perfect form in the Antonine period. In our review of the conditions which brought about the fall of the Roman republic, we saw that the collapse of the city-state made Caesarism inevitable, since the extension of federal and representa tive institutions to a heterogeneous world-empire was out of the question. The benefits which Caesarism conferred upon mankind are plain. In the first place, the Roman world, which had hitherto not been governed in the true sense of the word, but exploited in the interests of a dominant clique, now received an orderly and efficient government, under which the frightful ravages of misrule and civil strife were repaired. The financial resources of the empire were husbanded by skilled and, above all trained adminis trators, to whom the imperial service offered a carriere ouverte aux talents; many of these were Greeks, or half-Greek Orientals, whose business capacity formed an invaluable asset hitherto neglected. Augustus caused an official survey of the empire to be made, and a scientific census of its resources was gradually carried out and from time to time revised; thus the balance of revenue and expenditure could be accurately estimated and ad justed, and financial stability was established. The system of tax farming was gradually abolished and direct collection substituted; commerce was freed from vexatious restrictions, and large cus toms-districts were formed, on whose borders duties were levied for revenue only. The Government took even more direct meas ures for the encouragement of industry and especially of agricul ture. The most remarkable of these were the "alimentary" institutions, originally due to Nerva and developed by succeeding emperors. Capital was advanced at moderate rates of interest to Italian landowners on the security of their estates, and the profits of this system of land banks were devoted to the main tenance and education of poor children. The foundation of colonies for time-expired soldiers, who received grants of land on their discharge, contributed something to the formation of a well-to-do agricultural class ; and although the system was not successful in lower Italy, where economic decline could not be arrested, there can be no doubt that central and northern Italy, where the vine and olive were largely cultivated, and manufac turing industries sprang up, enjoyed a considerable measure of prosperity. The extension of the Roman municipal system to the provinces, and the watchful care exercised by the imperial Government over the communities, together with the profuse liberality of the emperors, which was imitated by the wealthier citizens of the towns, led to the creation of a flourishing municipal life still evidenced by the remains which in districts such as Asia Minor or Tunis stand in significant- contrast with the desolation which was brought about by centuries of barbaric rule. Mommseni has, indeed, expressed the opinion that "if an angel of the Lord were to strike the balance whether the domain ruled by An toninus were governed with the greater intelligence and the greater humanity at that time or in the present day, whether civilization and national prosperity generally had since that time advanced or retrograded, it is very doubtful whether the decision would prove in favour of the present." But there is another side to the picture. During the last two centuries of the republic Rome, by introducing slaves and cap tives to perform the hard labour of Italy while the free popula tion' spent itself in war or lost itself in the provinces, had thoroughly changed the Italian stock. Had the change come gradually and had Rome received the newcomers into schools that might have trained them into a consistent tradition this introduction of a varied stock might perhaps have enriched the spirit of Rome. But this was not to be. Such an amalgam re quires time to eliminate the products of incongruous physical mixture,' to unify the peoples of a dozen languages until they can comprehend each other and effectually shape common ideals, to distil and throw off the hatred, servility and unsocial hostility to the community bred by years of suffering in slavery, and in a word to create a new people homogeneous enough to act together. The invasion was so rapid and the time so short that such a proc ess of unification never completed itself at Rome. And when Rome, which was the heart of the empire, lost its rhythm and balance, when Rome no longer had a definite culture, a certain inspiration to impart to the provinces, when Rome's religion suc i. p. 5.
cumbed to the several mystical cults brought in by her slaves, when her moral standards yielded before a dozen incongruous traditions, and her literature lost itself in blind gropings after a bygone tradition of a freer day, the provincials in despair abandoned her guidance.
Furthermore, the empire brought into being in the provinces a new nationality, due to the partial fusion of Roman ideas with Hellenic culture, beside which other elements, saving only, as we shall see, those contributed by the Oriental religions, were in significant. This new nationality grew in definition through the gradual disappearance of distinctions of language and manners, the assimilating influence of commercial and social intercourse, and the extinction of national jealousies and aspirations. But the cosmopolitan society thus formed was compacted of so many disparate elements that a common patriotism was hard to foster, and doubly hard when the autocratic system of government pre vented men from aspiring to that true political distinction which is attainable only in a self-governing community. It is true that
there was much good work to be done, and that much good work was done, in the service of the emperors ; true, also, that the carriere ouverte aux talents was in large measure realized. Dis tinctions of race were slowly but steadily effaced by the grant of citizen rights to provincials and by the manumission of slaves; and the career open to the romanized provincial or the liberated slave might culminate in the highest distinctions which the emperor could bestow. In the hierarchy of social orders—senate, equites and plebs—ascent was easy and regular from the lower grade to the higher; and the more enlightened of the emperors— especially Hadrian—made a genuine endeavour to give a due share in the work of government to the various subject races. But nothing could compensate for the lack of self-determination, and although during the first century and a half of imperial rule a flourishing local patriotism in some degree filled the place of the wider sentiment, this gradually sank into decay and became a pretext under cover of which the lower classes in the several communities took toll of their wealthier fellow-citizens in the shape of public works, largesses, amusements, etc., until the resources at the disposal of the rich ran dry, the communities themselves in many cases became insolvent, and the inexorable claims of the central Government were satisfied only by the sur render of financial control to an imperial commissioner. Then the organs of civic life became atrophied, political interest died out and the whole burden of administration, as well as that of defence, fell upon the shoulders of the bureaucracy, which proved unequal to the task.