=289. Romans Were Great Builders.= The buildings of Greece were beautiful but those of Rome were large and strong. The Colosseum, built as a place of entertainment for the people, was a gigantic affair seating 87,000 people. In this were held fights between gladiators, men trained to kill each other, and between men and wild beasts. The effect was to make the Romans lovers of such cruel sports. Other famous buildings put up by the Romans were the Forum and the Pantheon. You may see remains of these now in Rome. They are visited by hundreds of Americans every year. [Sidenote: =Roman roads=] The Romans also built wonderful roads in all parts of the empire for the use of armies and for travel and trade. Some of these roads are still used. They built strong bridges over the rivers and erected aqueducts in different parts of the empire. These Roman aqueducts brought good, pure water from the hills to supply the needs of the townspeople. [Illustration: ROMAN BRIDGE AND AQUEDUCT NEAR NIMES, FRANCE] =290. The Romans Gave a Literature to the World.= Not all Romans were educated. All boys and girls did not then go to school, as they do in America. Only the sons of the well-to-do could become educated. [Sidenote: =Classic Roman writers=] Rome became famous for her great writers. Even Julius Caesar found time to write the story of his war against the Gauls. High school boys and girls read Caesar's _Commentaries_. There was Vergil, a great poet, who told the story of how the Greeks beat the Trojans. Vergil made these Greek heroes the ancestors of the Romans. Horace was another of Rome's great poets. He amused the Romans "by his genial and quiet humor." But Cicero was the great orator of Rome. His voice went ringing down the senate halls as he challenged Catiline, who had plotted to overthrow the republic. =291. Rome Prepared the Way for the Spread of Christianity.= When Rome seemed sunk in wickedness there came out of Palestine the story of Jesus. His disciples were carrying the glad news everywhere over the empire. Paul, the most learned of these followers of Christ, carried the story to Greece and to Rome. [Sidenote: =Early Christian martyrs=] The emperors tried to stamp out the new religion, but the more they opposed the more it grew. Hundreds of Christians perished holding firm to the faith. Many were destroyed by wild beasts in the Colosseum before the eyes of thousands of Romans. But the new religion appealed to many, and especially to the poorer classes. The Emperor Constantine (305 A. D.) soon accepted the new religion and gave it protection. It then spread rapidly. Priests were sent into the villages to preach and to set up churches. Above the priest was a bishop in charge of all the churches in a district or province.