New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-04-05
ROMA
Mr.. Stobart' Companion Vol
ume to His Greece.

THE GRANDEUR THAT WAS ROME.
| 4 SurVcv OF Roman Culture ana 'lHll-
| zation. BY j. q. Stobart. u. ". late
| Lecturer IN History. Trinity Collese'
/ Cambridge. Super-royal Svo PIP. NNNln,
o. Philadelphia: J. Il. lippncott 20
Mr.. stobarts GLORY That Was
Greece" published last year, demon
strated what popular history should
/ be and can be at its best. lie now
completes. with his book on Rome, the
programme announced at the time,
which was to present to the general
reader fully illustrated survey OF the
two great civilizations Of antiquity
| from which all the culture OF modern
Europe not only traces its historical de-
scent but still to large degree draws
! its inspiration. Thus Greek culture and
Roman civilization were 10 be shown 10
us as chapters in human history not
| closed and done with. but as still living
| Influences. The readers To whose SER
vice these volumes were TO be partcu-
! larry dedicated were not classical
scholars or antiquarans, but that cult
urcd public which, having little Latln
and less Greek-thc overwhelming ma
/ jority of us nowadays-yet would be
, informed those main streams, Of
classical social customs. religion ana
the arts that through the ages have
fortified the soil of the societies of the
modern world.
THE Glory That Was Greece" lent
itself magnificcntly TO interpreiative
| Illustration. The author has been no
less successful in making Roman art
serve this pur. osc by dwelling. in his
many pi lures. upon its architecture:
They are chosen so that the readers
! eve may be able To gather its own i'm
preston Of the Roman genius. When the
| Roman took pen IN hand ne "a- usuailf
1 more than half Greek, but sometimes. ~
! his handling of brick and mortar. D." re-
| vcaled himself For this reason there IS
| an attempt 10 make the illustrations CON
vey an impression of grand building, vast
and utilitarian Standing IN the
! Colosseum. or before the solid masonry ol
/ the Porta Nigra at Tfior. one has seemed
| to come far closer TO the heart OF tho c~-
| sential Roman than ever IN reading tOf-
ace or Virgil.
/ 1t is Only natural. and il is instruc-
tive, that no. Englishman can approach
the history of the Roman Empire with
dominion. II is only natural. also. that
ne should draw comparisons, and read
moral-many morals. Gibbon is I'm
thi; the typical British historian Of
Rome. the incarnation Of the spirit Of
his race, preoccupied with moral
causes OF material decline and fall. Mr.
Stobart. while deprecating this atti-
tude. and its accompanying exaltation
of the Roman republic at the cost Of
the empire, yet adopts it, but In a con-
trary sense. for to him the empire is
greater than the republic, and far more
| significant in it's mission 10 posterity.
/ Applying the evolutionary theory. he
sees i'm the history Of an empire that
, lasted five centuries. not decline and
| fall but the fulfiment Of a destiny.
that of the making Of Europe. The
republic. he points out sucked the blood
Of lis provinces. to the Indignation Of
all right-thinking men. The empire
cleared out the canals in Egypt, planted
I flax and encouraged pottery in Gaul.
to the Moorish nomads. II set the wild
Iberians to mining and weaving, built
! aqueducts and roads everywhere, estab-
! lished a postal system. and policed land
and sea so effectively that man might
| fare from York 10 Palmyra or from
Trier to Morocco with his bosom full
! Of gold" Who can fail to see the
| British Empire here behind the picture
of Roman efficiency. of Roman organi-
cation and administration? Again. the
analogy between the Romans and the
! Embellishments attitude toward art is UNI
mistakable. And by the help OF that
blessed word Evolution we have learnt
not 10 put our Golden Ages in the past,
but i'm the future"
| It is an instructive point Of view, as
has already been said, and a suggestive
one as well, 10 us here with an empire
Of our own in the building. its Golden
Age still TO come, its moralsts already
! busy pointing to better past. The
book is still more instructive in the
narrower historical sense, in the sharp
ness of the contrasts il draws between
Greece and Rome. and. Ultimately, be-
tween East and West, for the Roman
Empire created what Alexander vainly
undertook TO achieve. The Grandeur
That Was Rome" is worthy Of its pre-
destined place beside THE Glory That
| Was Greece"