The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-08-27

his ancestors" The fact Ia also recale
that VesIasian was consoled after his wife
death by his mistress Cenis. a freedwoman
who. without any attractions of youth o
beauty. suited we'll the taste OF the hour
geois princeps. We arc told that II was I
rather soroid and prosGio union. Gems
Is said 10 have accumulated a fortune anc
to have besmirched the honest Emperor
name by Wholesale trafflc In state secrets
and appointments.
In the age Of the Antonines very dit.
ferent figure has been glorifed by the art Of
Lucian. Panthea. the Mistress Of l.. Verus
completely fascinated the imagination
Of the author Of the "Imagines" when
he saw her at Smyrna during the visit OF
her lover to the East. "Lucan pictures
her delcately chiseled beauty and grace
OF form by recalling the finest traits In
the great masterpieces OF Phidias and
Praxiteles and Calamis. Of Euphranor and
Polygnotus and Apelles; Panthea. he
says, combines them all. She had voice
OF marvellous and mellow dulcitude which
fingered In the ear with haunting memory.
The soul was worthy Of so fair dwelling
place. In her love OF music and poetry.
combined with a masculine strength OF
intellect capable OF handling the highest
problems In politics or dialeotics, she was .
worthy successor Of those elder daughters
Of Ionia whose charm and strength drew
a Socrates or Pericles to their feet. Sur
rounded by luxury and the pomp OF i'm
perial rank. and linked TO q very unworthy
lover, Panthea never lost her natural mod
esty and simple sweetness.
III.
Although Horace sings OF his Sabine farm;
and although Pliny the Younger has left
delightful picture Of the rural aristocracy
In the calm refinement Of their country
seats, very little can be Cleaned from Latin
literature about the ordinary life Of country
towns. This is the moro surprising because,
in the long line OF great Latin authors,
from Ennius to Juvenal, there is hardly one
whose native place was Rome. The men
who are the glory Of Roman letters In epic
and lyric poetry. in oratory and history, In
comedy and satire, were born In quiet
country towns in Italy. or In tho remoter
provinces Outside. however, Of the rural
scenery which dwells In their memory, the
"reminiscences Of the scenes Of their infancy
are generally faint and rare. For tho mu-
nicipal system and life, the relations OF
it's various social grades. the humdrum
routine OF the shops and forums. the rustic
rites and deities. the lingering echoes OF
that dim. civic existence, with its vices
and honest tenderness. It's petty ambitions
or hopeless griefs. We must generally 60
to the records In ssone and the remains OF
buried cities which tho spade has given
back to the light.
No attempt Is here made to trace provin-
cial towns through all their various grades
and all the stages Of their evolution In the
hands OF Roman statesm anship from the
time Of Augustus. What Mr.. Dill Is chiefly
concerned with Is the spirit and the rapid
development Of that brilliant civic life,
which not only covered the worlds. both OF
East and West, with material monuments
OF Roman energy. hut profoundly influenced
for good, or sometimes for evil. the popular
character. The magical transformation
wrought by Roman rule In a century and q
half seized the imagination Of contemporary
observers. They recorded that regions
once desert solitudes had become dotted
with hourishing towns; that the empire.
in q word, was q realm OF cities. Our
author does not accept literally the statistics
offered by ELAN and Josephus. He
declines to accept the statement that Italy
had once l,ls7 cities. or thst 0aul possessed
ZOO, and holds that in these estimates.
II they have any solid foundation. the term
city, must be taken in . very elastic sense
He comedies, however, that gradually, but
rapidly, provincial rural life became urban.
Thus. while In the northeastern province
OF Spain In the reign Of Vespasian out Of
2ss communities noted by the elder Plny
ITO we're already in some sense urban. but
ia were still purely rustic; seventy-ave
years later, in the reign Of Antonius Plus.
only twenty-seven Of these rural districts
remained without an organized civic center.
In Gaul Julius Caesar had impressed the
stamp OF Rome on the province OF Mar
bonensis, by founding cities Of the Roman
type, and his policy was continued by
Augustus. On the other hand, the loose can
tonal system fingered long in the northern
regions Of Gaul, but Mr.. Dill points out that
even in tho north, on the borders Of Ger
many Cologne, from the reign Of Claudius.
became the envy Of the barbarians across
the Rhine, and Treves from the days Of
Augustus, already anticipated the glory
that would accrue to it from being
seat Of empire from Diocletian to Gratian
and valentinian. In the Agri Decumates
Fields Of the Tithel between the Rhine
and Neckar the remains Of baths and
aq,leducts. the mosaics and bronzes
and pottery which antiquarian industry
has collected and explored attest the ex-
istence Of al least i61 nourishing and civil
lied communities. Baden was already
crowded resort for its healing waters in
A. D. co." So. too the Danube was lined
with prosperous communities OF Roman
origin In the ITO years during which
Dacia was included in the Roman Empire
more than 40 towns were organized by the
conquering race. Our author recalls that
Greek cities, like Toni. on the Euxine.
record their gratitude to their patrons In
the same formal terms a. Pompeii or ven-
usia. II We may believe Philostratus
Ia contemporary OF Septimius Severusl,
there are five hundred hourishing cities
in the province OF Asia representing only
a fraction Of the modern Anatolia. which |
more than rivaled the splsndor Of Ionia |
before the Lydian and Persian oonqueets.
Many Of these were Of ancient origin, but
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