Quite
different from a Greek colony which emancipated itself even to the
point of making war on its mother city, the Roman colony remained a
docile daughter. It was only a Roman garrison posted in the midst of
the enemy. Almost all these military posts were in Italy, but there
were others besides; Narbonne and Lyons were once Roman colonies.
To hold these places and to send their armies to a distance the Romans
built military roads. These were causeways constructed in a straight
line, of limestone, stone, and sand. The Romans covered their empire
with them. In a land like France there is no part where one does not
find traces of the Roman roads.
CHARACTER OF THE CONQUEST
=War.=--There was at Rome a temple consecrated to the god Janus whose
gates remained open while the Roman people continued at war. For the
five hundred years of the republic this temple was closed but once
and that for only a few years. Rome, then, lived in a state of war. As
it had the strongest army of the time, it finished by conquering all
the other peoples and by overcoming the ancient world.
=Conquest of Italy.
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