The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-03-30
The Power and Grandeur Of Ancient Rome.


horologe of time peals through the univer
when thereis q change from era to era
So writes Mr.. Carlyle la one of his pows
ful essays and he is correct. As gradua
" and as silently as childhood passes IN
youth, and youth into manhood, and mai
b and tho world itself pass from one era I'M
p another. But if the signal of such a chang
is not heard so1nding through tho wori(
the moment of the transition is forek now
ana has been preerdained by Gsd, unde
whose eye all agents throughout the uni
verse are ever acting out their parts Me
are sometimes taken by sarprse, but Go
never. Men are often mistaken in thsi
calculations of the action Of Baaural forces
out 1t cannot be 30 with God. A revolu
ton brews like an angry storm, all in sill
ence' ana onrsts, and nation is shi we're,
nave made false reckoning; bns I'll,
storm has brewed under the eve Of God
and gathered its hidden fsrces, and burst
at the very moMent that Gsd allowed it.
ana The havoc has been done sp to the
Tune which he has marked out. This il
or history which it ia we'll, especially in
THIS age of goddess theories, to ke.s, con
| stantIy before our minds. We are about to
enoeavor to show how powerfully tbs truth
OF this great historical principal is brought
ouS IN That part Of history to which our
SSJSSo ASioso1 loF IL well 8A1u Dy CSSArS
Cantu in his Storia Unirersalc, of ever
history was manifested as visible order
OF Providence, it was in these times.n
AS We pass from the fourth into tho fifth
century, we come into a NV era of the his
tory OF the church. Tho fourth ago was
one OF the mental strife it was an age of
great minds. The enemy of the church in
the time of the prosecutions had been
0rute force now it was power of intellect
put GOD always has his champions ready.
IN the prosecutions, they were the MARTYRS;
IN the fourth age, they were the Athanas-
fuses aud the Ambroses. But in the fifth
age the men of Gods choice are of another
type. They are men ont of the dark ness,
savages OF the forest, wild dwellers amid
the ice -m"untains and the swamps, They
nave known no civilizing influences they
are natures children, and hardy as the
rock and granite. They have reason, it is
true but it does not guide them on their
strange, savage mission. They are all
driven on by an instinct that is irresistible.
AT the time when the Son of God came
down upon earth, the Roman Empire WAS
at the height of its eplendor and power. |
Never In the history OF the world had there |
Seen an empire in every way so wonderful.
mighty and all-embracing in its domin-
ion. All that had been great and brilliant
IN the civilization of the empires of old had
come down to Rome, and had undergone a
ooundless development there. THIS truth
g powerfully put forth in the words of the
1t the Catholic Univcrcity OF Ireland. We
will quote his words "The Empir of Au-
,ustus," he says, "inherited the whole
civilization of the ancient world. What
aver political and social knowledge, what
'ver moral or intellectual truth, whatever
lseful or elegant arts the enterprising race
If Japheth had acquired, preserved, and
accumulated in the long course of centuries
'ince the beginning of history, had des-
.ended without q break to Rome, with tive
dominion of all the countries washed by the
For. her the wisdom of
egypt and all the East had been stored up;
or her PythagOras and Thalee, Socrates.
'lato aud Aristotle, and all the schools {
,esldes of Grecian philosophy suggested by =
hese names, had thought for her Zoroas- !
er as well as Scion and Lycurgus, legis- Z
ated /; for her Alexander conquered, the r
aces which he subdued forming but a por- a
ion of her empire. Every city in the ears n
whose youth the Poems of Homer were r
Amiliar as household words, owned her
way. Her magistrates, from the Northern Y
ca to the confines of Arabia, issued their e
ecrees in the language of empire-ths n
attn tongue while, as men of letters, q
ley apoke aud wrote in Greek. For her n
arthage bad risen, founded colonies, dis. f
'vered distant coasts, set up a worldwide 7
ade, and then fallen, leaving her the en- n
ire of Africa and the West, with the les. b
'ss of lorg experience. Not only 30, 81
ut likewise Spain, Gaul, and all the 'front.' o
r provinces from the Alps to the mouth fe
the Danube spent in her service their a
reDgth aud skill supplied her armies Il
it'll their bravest youths gave to her cen "
o and her knights their choicest minds re
he vigor of new, and the culture of long ii
'iished, races were alike employed in the1 I"
lst fabric of her power. 1n fact, every d
fence and art, all human Thoughts, expert 81
ice, and discovery had poured tacir trea. st
re in one stream into the eu-",, IF that ii
ciety which, after forty -four years 81 nn- nj
sputed rule, Augustus had c"n-"lt,,nted OF
to a new system of government and DC it
to the charge of Tiberius"
This passage from Mr.. Allies is like eG
llliant flash of light thrown on Rone-e d,
eatness; but yet it only gives US glimpse. fe
would take us long to form TO ourselves III
adequate idea of this greatest of SIN piree. tn
Q should have to make long journeys vi
rough her extensive provinces, measure Oh
T vast cities, march along her grand tn
ads, and, after we had journeyed over all ov
Q civilized world of thUse days, we should sh
II be within the circuit of the mighty W,
=