IDEAL OF ROME

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 280, 29 November 1935, Page 6

IDEAL OF ROME

BEFORE MUSSOLINI VISIONS OF OLD GREATNESS | ITALIANS STIRRED Stirred by their modern Caesn.r and his soldiers marching into battle. Italians are once again dreaming of Empire. While Italian legions fiffht their way forward in the attempt to plant their banner over large portions of Ethiopia, visions of the grandeur that was Rome fascinate Italian minds, writes Shepherd Stone in the New York Times. Never before has the modern Italian turned the pages of ancient history with so much pi ide as he does to-day. To the Italian of .1935 the rise of Rome to dominance in the world of 1960 years ago is a challenge flung ■ town dramatically by Mussolini. A keen student of the psychology of hi* people, Il Duce is playing the tune of Roman grandeur with all the instruments at his command. In newspapers, magazines, and books, over the radio, in movie houses and at the theatre, Romans are being reminded of their former power. Throughout Italy maps of the Roman Empire have been sot up. so that Italians may be inspired by the glory of their heritage. What was the grandeur of Rome which Alussolini is trying to revive? At the time of its greatest geographical extent in the days of the Emperor Trajan (98-117 A.D.), the Roman Empire spread from the hills and moors of Scotland to the mountains of India; from Gibraltar to the Caucasus; from the Rhine and Danube to the sands of the Sahara. Rome was more than a great power in the Western world. It was the Western world. Nothing like the Roman Empire had ever been seen before its rise; nothing like it has been seen since its decline and fall. Black Sea, Alediterranean. Adriatic, Aegean. and the English Channel were all domestic waters. The territories which British, French, Spaniards, Belgians, Swiss. Austrians, Yugoslavs, Rumanians, Hungerians, Greeks, Bulgarians and many other people now rule were then Roman provinces. From Jerusalem to London and from Paris to Thebes the Western world bowed to Rome. Britons. Gauls, Latins, Libyans, Babylonians. Greeks they were all proud to call themselves Romans. It was an Empire populated by perhaps .100,000,600 people; rural and urban, warriors, administrators, traders, farmers, workers, and scholars. The seas provided a connecting link to the provinces separated from Rome by water. Military roads, built with the genius of the Roman engineers and soldiers, were the artereries of traffic overland. In ancient days these roads were trod by Roman legions. Al arching to hold together the far-flung territories of the Empire; thev. were also used by traders and administrators who travelled widely in the performance of their duties. Just as 11 Duce to-day is trying to extend his Empire by war!are the Roman Empire was conquered by armies. When Rome had consolidated its position in Italy, about the middle , of the third century 8.C., -t turned its eyes on the Alediterranean. Here Rome came into conflict with Carthage, the powerful city-Statc of Northern Africa. The long Punic wars settled the contest. Not even Hannibal with his cavalry and elephants, who marched through Spain and made his ■way across the Alps could overthrow -Rome. “Carthago delenda est!” ciied Cato in the Senate. Carthage was destroyed and the ground on which it had stood was turned bv the plough. Hcncefort Rome ruled the Alediterranean world, with its islands and the territories along the North African coast. Alacedonia and Syria also ielt the power of Roman arms and were conquered. Julias Caesar curried the Roman banner to Gaul and Britain. When the conspirators plunged their daggers into Caesar, Rome was already a world Empire. Roman law and customs became the standard of the ancient world. The seeds of Roman culture were planted hundreds of miles from the Forum. They grew and even to-day there arc manv fifferences between the lands where Rome .once ruled and those which never came under its influence. Of this Empire in the days of its glory, Alommsen, the great historian, wrote: “If an angel of the Lord were to strike a balance whether the domain ruled by Antoninus were governed with greater intelligence and greater humanity at that time or in the present day, whether civilisation and national prosperity generally had since that time advanced or retrograded, it is very doubtful whether tire decision would prove in favour of the present.”. But there wax another side to the picture. While the free population of Rome was wasted in wars, slavery crept in and weakened the fabric of the people. Conquest and corruption played their part; military and financial power finally crumbled; degeneracy weakened cultural and social life; the extent of the Empire made it difficult to control them from a central point; agriculture declined. Under repeated blows of the “barbarians” the Empire fell apart. Many of the nations which recently at Geneva cast their vote against Italy's modern dictator were united under his predecessor who ruled 1960 years ago. The Empire of Benito Alussolini today is not the Roman world of Julius Caesar or of Trajan. Great Britain and France, not Italy are the leadingn colonial Powers. Italy possesses only Libya, Eritrea, and Italian Somaliland, exclusive of what she may conquer in this present adventure. Italy herself is poor in natural resources. Her colonies have failed to attract large numbers of Italians are also mediocre. They ,cover in arer, approximated 946,734 square miles. They are inhabited by 2,200.660 people, mainly natives. In economic value they suffer by comparison with the other great colonial Eijuires. Libya, on the northern fringe of Africa, produces tropical fruits, lemons, almonds and figs. Eritrea, on the east, is unimportant economically, though it has strategic value, a-s II Duce has demonstrated during recent weeks. Italian Somaliland is somewhat more fertile. Here cattle and camel raising are the chief industries. Half of the world’s consumption of incense conies from this region. But of gold. rubber, cotton, diamonds, and other less precious

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