DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.5625#0370
Civilizatio7i of the Early Roman Empire 335
ever seen. They altered the narrow «Yy-law of Rome that it
^'ght meet the needs of the whole Mediterranean world. In
sPirit, these laws of the Empire were most fair, just, and
humane. Antoninus Pius, the kindly emperor who followed
Hadrian, maintained that an accused person must be held inno-
cent until proved guilty by the evidence, a principle of law
which has descended to us and is still part of our own law.
^hese laws did much to unify the peoples of the Mediterranean
w°rld into a single nation; for they were now regarded by the
not as different nations but as subjects of the same great
State, which extended to them all the same protection of jus-
hce, law, and order.
Able and conscientious governors were now controlling affairs 677. Close
all ,„.„„, . „ . , j- attention to
au over the Empire. The letters written to Trajan by one of the provinces
"'s governors reveal to us the enormous amount of provincial J^^^Jrf
bu
perors, and
siness which received the emperor's personal attention. Such decline of
the people's
Attention by emperors like Trajan and Hadrian relieved the interest
communities of much responsibility for their own affairs.
Hadrian traveled for years among the provinces and became
Very familiar with their needs. Hence the local communities
^clined more and more to depend upon the emperor, and their
interest in public affairs declined. This was eventually a serious
Cause of general decay, as we shall see.
Section 69. The Civilization of the Early Roman
Empire : the Provinces
Here was a world of sixty-five to a hundred million souls 678. The
^circling the entire Mediterranean. We might have stood at fhe°^ornan
tne Strait of Gibraltar and, if human vision had been able to Empire
Penetrate so far, we might have followed these peoples as our
eyes swept along the Mediterranean coasts out through Africa
and back through Asia and Europe to the Strait again. On
°Ur right in Africa would have been Moors, North Africans,
and Egyptians; in the eastern background, Arabs, Jews,
ever seen. They altered the narrow «Yy-law of Rome that it
^'ght meet the needs of the whole Mediterranean world. In
sPirit, these laws of the Empire were most fair, just, and
humane. Antoninus Pius, the kindly emperor who followed
Hadrian, maintained that an accused person must be held inno-
cent until proved guilty by the evidence, a principle of law
which has descended to us and is still part of our own law.
^hese laws did much to unify the peoples of the Mediterranean
w°rld into a single nation; for they were now regarded by the
not as different nations but as subjects of the same great
State, which extended to them all the same protection of jus-
hce, law, and order.
Able and conscientious governors were now controlling affairs 677. Close
all ,„.„„, . „ . , j- attention to
au over the Empire. The letters written to Trajan by one of the provinces
"'s governors reveal to us the enormous amount of provincial J^^^Jrf
bu
perors, and
siness which received the emperor's personal attention. Such decline of
the people's
Attention by emperors like Trajan and Hadrian relieved the interest
communities of much responsibility for their own affairs.
Hadrian traveled for years among the provinces and became
Very familiar with their needs. Hence the local communities
^clined more and more to depend upon the emperor, and their
interest in public affairs declined. This was eventually a serious
Cause of general decay, as we shall see.
Section 69. The Civilization of the Early Roman
Empire : the Provinces
Here was a world of sixty-five to a hundred million souls 678. The
^circling the entire Mediterranean. We might have stood at fhe°^ornan
tne Strait of Gibraltar and, if human vision had been able to Empire
Penetrate so far, we might have followed these peoples as our
eyes swept along the Mediterranean coasts out through Africa
and back through Asia and Europe to the Strait again. On
°Ur right in Africa would have been Moors, North Africans,
and Egyptians; in the eastern background, Arabs, Jews,