From 342-340 B.C. war with the Samnites. From 340-337 B.C. war with the Latins. From 325-290 B.C. the second and third Latin war. From 288-264 B.C. war with Carthage and Syrakuse. From 264-241 B.C. the first Punic war. Peace was made, and to fill up the leisure hours, there was a Gallic war. From 218-201 B.C. the second Punic war. Peace was again concluded, and during the interval (183 B.C.) Greece and the Makedonian empire were subjugated. From 149-146 B.C. the third Punic war. The world was conquered, and the boundaries of the vast empire extended in all directions; but the warlike spirit of the Romans had not learnt to rest and to enjoy these conquests in peace; industry, arts, and sciences, had no charm for these wild and indomitable conquerors, and wanting a foreign enemy, they quarrelled amongst themselves. The internal dissensions began. There were the Numantian troubles, the tumults of the Gracchi, and the feud between Marius and Sulla. A foreign war happily put an end to these internal struggles. From 112-106 B.C. war with Jugurtha. From 88-80 B.C. war with Mithridates. From 72-71 B.C. the slaves rebelled and called for bread and for revenge. This was the first civil war--individual egotism conspired against the supreme power, faction fought against faction; a dissolution of all law and order threatened the State. From 54-51 B.C. the Gallic war amused the Roman spectators and war-comedians. From 49-48 B.C. there was a second civil war; from 43-30 B.C. a third; and the republic was at last absorbed by a Cæsarian theocracy. That arts and sciences did not flourish in a state of continual warfare is quite natural. The houses were mean and low, here and there adorned with clumsy Etruskan pillars; the temples had some Greek forms; sculpture was not cultivated, and Greeks had to chisel or to carve the scanty embellishments. On the other hand, high roads of great excellence, and bold bridges with magnificent arches, were constructed, for everywhere the spirit of practical realism was served; in every stone, every column, every pillar, every statue, the spirit of theocratic despotism predominated. The charming gods of the Greeks were turned into haughty military commanders, not inviting love through beauty, but demanding blind obedience with a thundering ‘_sic volo, sic jubeo_’ (‘as I will it, so I command it’).