Footnote 152: _Isaiah_, 42, 19. Footnote 153: For the ideas of this great prophet, see _the Cambridge Bible for Schools, Isaiah_, Vol. II, pp. XXII-XXXIX. Footnote 154: _Isaiah_, 42, 1-4. Footnote 155: _Isaiah_, 49, 1-6. Footnote 156: _Isaiah_, 50, 4-9. Footnote 157: _Isaiah_, 52, 13-53, 12. CHAPTER IV. VIRGIL’S NEW AGE OF JUSTICE AND PEACE. The slow but steady rise of an obscure inland Italian town, first to the rule of all Italy, and finally to imperial sway over the whole Mediterranean world, is as full of problems for the intellect as of fascination for the imagination. Whence the extraordinary vigour and practical genius of this city? What gave it so much capacity in comparison with any other Italian town? Does the secret lie in the Roman character, the Roman intellect, or in the constitution of the republican city itself? But other questions still more serious press for answers: How did the Roman government affect the subject provinces? How did it react upon the Roman character and upon the life of the capital? Could a single city furnish men of character and ability in sufficient numbers for such a prodigious task? The answer to these grave questions must be sought in the history of the last century of the existence of the republic. From about 145 B. C. to about 48 B. C. Rome was never at rest: violent political strife, faction, proscriptions and civil wars eclipse everything else in the internal history of the imperial city during these years. The old state machinery was getting worn out; the old families, corrupted by the immeasurable success of the Rome which was their making, were grinding the provinces by their cruelty and greed, and would not budge an inch from their privileges, nor indeed lift a finger, to save Rome and Italy from the moral and economic ruin with which they were threatened. The wrongs of the slave, the Italian and the provincial cried aloud for redress; scarcely less urgent was the need for the introduction of a great deal of fresh blood into the governing classes; but the latter were bitterly hostile to every change. Hence the violent struggles throughout the century between the Government and the other classes. The empire had proved too much for the old Roman character.[158] The only force that remained really efficient was the army. Who shall describe the ruin, bloodshed, misery, desolation, wrought by these years? The national character suffered a frightful fall also: corruption in public, immorality in private, became all but universal. The weariness and the hopelessness generated by the seemingly unending strife made men forget their old passion for freedom and sigh even for tyranny, if only it would bring peace.