subjugated in 254 A. D. by the Goths, and thrown back into a condition of barbarism. All that part of the Danube basin south of the river, including much of Bavaria and Austria, and all of Bosnia, Servia, and Bul'garia, had been added to the empire after 100 A. D., and most of it had come completely under the control of fortified towns, in which the Latin tongue and the arts of civilization were established.

The nationalities of the Basques, Spanish Celts, Gallic Celts, British Celts, West-Rhine Teutons, Moœsians (in Bulgaria), and Carthaginians, outside of Italy, as well as of the Samnites, Marsians, Campanians, Tarentines, Etruscans, Ligurians, and Po-Basin Celts in Italy, had been completely destroyed; and their places had been taken by cities, Roman in government and Latin in speech, ruling over dependent districts in which the remnants of the earlier tongue and barbarous modes of life, if such had existed at the time of the Roman conquest, were steadily disappearing, if they had not entirely disappeared.

Rhætia, Noricum, Pannonia, Illyria (between the upper Rhine and Moesia), and Numidia, had not suffered so much change in population as had the provinces previously mentioned, but they too had become predominantly Latin in the speech of their cities, and entirely Roman in their government. If they could have remained subject to the Roman empire for two centuries more, they would probably have been as well Romanized as were the valleys of the Rhone and Seine.

Of all the Latin portions of the empire Gaul was the most prosperous, though it had suffered from several Teutonic invasions, one of which had been strong enough to force its way through to Spain, and thence to Africa.

The only language of the cities and schools was Latin; and of the ignorant inhabitants in the rural districts, probably as many made use of the Basque as of the Celtic tongue. The people had no ambition to establish a new Gallic nationality. They were attached to Rome by fear of the Teutons, by their large admixture of Latin blood, and by their desire to preserve intimate commercial and intellectual relations with Greece, Asia, and Africa through Italy.

Lyons was the chief city of Gaul, and, with Cadiz, Padua, Carthage, and the Cappadocian Cæsarea, it belonged to the cities of the second class in population. Those in the front rank were Rome, Alexandria, and Antioch. When the Imperial City suffered by the great conflagration of 64 A. D., Lyons sent $200,000 to the sufferers; and when she in turn was devastated by fire in the following year, she received $300,000 in charity from Rome. Spain was as prosperous, and its cities were as thoroughly Latin in speech and feeling, as were those of Gaul. The province of Carthage was prosperous, and its capital, having been re-established about 120 B. C., had grown to be one of the leading cities of the empire, and had become the chief center of activity in Latin literature.

Asia Minor was more prosperous under the pagan empire than ever during any period of equal length, before or since. Neither the Persian, nor the Macedonian, nor the Byzantine, nor the Moslem ruled with so much wisdom and justice as did the Roman from Augustus to Diocletian. Besides having an active industry, Asia Minor made notable contributions to Greek literature. Its cities were Greek in their speech and institutions, and many of the country people had abandoned their barbarous languages. Greece and Macedon had been devas

tated by Goths and were poor in population, industry, and literature.

Syria had suffered from a brief and destructive Persian invasion; but had recovered from its losses and had gained confidence in the future. This province was the nearest to Persia, the only civilized nation that bordered on the Roman empire, and that was dangerous to it. Antioch, the capital of Syria, was the third city of the empire in wealth and population, and in some respects the most luxurious. It was the only one which lighted its streets at night, and had water pipes leading into all its houses. Its main street was wide, straight for a long distance, and on both sides was lined with magnificent buildings and shady colonnades. Berytus, a Syrian city, had a law school, which ranked with that of Rome.

The empire extended to the Caucasus and the Caspian, but Georgia and Armenia had never been brought under the control of Roman law, or of Greek or Latin municipal government and language; and, therefore, they were never Roman provinces in anything save name. Armenia was an allied principality, and so was Cappadocia, but the latter included Greek cities, which were strong centers of imperial influence.

The province of the Euphrates, including all the plain between the Euphrates and the Tigris, and some additional territory to the north and west, after having been added to the dominion of Rome by Pompey about 65 B. C., had been conquered by the Parthians, and again by the Persians; but was restored to the empire and was held by the aid of several Greek cities. Egypt was highly prosperous. Its great city, Alexandria, was Greek in tongue and government; and so were the minor cities of Ptolemais and Arsinoë,

After all the freemen had been admitted to Roman citizenship, there were still privileged classes of freemen in the empire. The first rank included the senators, and the high imperial and provincial officials. In the second grade were the high officials of the city governments; after them came the voters of the cities; and finally, the provincial freemen who had no votes in city affairs. When the soldiers could dispose of the throne, they, too, were a privileged class.

SEC. 485. End of Pagan Rome.-The empire had serious defects in compactness of territory as well as in uniformity of population. It was intersected and its provinces were separated by nine great natural barriers; by three of sea, three of mountain, and three of desert; by the Mediterranean, the North, and the Black Seas; by the ranges of the Pyrenees, the Alps, and the Balkans; by the deserts of Syria, of southern Palestine, and of western Egypt.

By this time the army was provincial rather than imperial; it was more Gothic than Roman. Most of the recruits were obtained in the basins of the Rhine and the Danube; and in both of those regions the people were predominantly Teutonic. Many of the soldiers were barbarians who left their native lands to learn the trade of war under Roman teaching. They were good fighters, but they had not been bred under the influences required to make them faithful to the traditions and interests of the empire. Their strongest military attachment was to their commanding general, and if he was a favorite with all the troops of the northern frontier, they were always ready to support any claim that he might make to the crown. In the last half of the IIIrd century A. D. the Danubian legions were preponderant in the army,

and they placed their countrymen-Claudius Gothicus, Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian, Maximian, Constantius, and Galerius-on the throne.

The cities were not allowed to have arms nor drillmasters of their own. Their garrisons, if any, must be under the command and pay of the emperor, and composed of soldiers, who, as a class, were not Italians or Greeks. The provinces were not permitted to organize troops for defense against threatened invasion, even when the imperial forces were elsewhere employed, as they sometimes were in the wars between rival claimants for the crown. The barbarians might devastate the frontiers, but citizens in arms might change their rulers. The emperors preferred their own security to that of their subjects.

Augustus requested the council of every city of Gaul to elect a delegate to a provincial council to be held annually at Lyons; but he did not give to this provincial assemblage enough authority to make it important; and, therefore, it never became a prominent feature of life under the pagan empire; nor was it introduced in most of the other provinces. Its main functions were ecclesiastical rather than political. No emperor of Rome attempted to establish an imperial council composed of representatives of all the provinces.

The customs of organizing the armies on the frontiers, of accepting aliens as recruits, of forbidding the common people to possess arms, and of allowing the armies to place their favorites on the throne, greatly weakened the empire and prepared it for dissolution. While it was declining, several enemies were rising in military power. On the north the Teutons were improving in culture; and many of them were learning the art of war in the