While it is common to talk of the fall of the Roman Empire, Rome is greater to-day in the perpetuity of her institutions than during the glorious days of the republic or of the magnificent rule of the Caesars. Rome also left a questionable inheritance to the posterity of nations. The idea of imperialism revived in the empire of Charlemagne, and later in the Holy Roman Empire, and, cropping out again and again in the monarchies of new nations, has not become extinct to this day. The recent World War gave a great shock to the idea of czarism. The imperial crowns of the Hohenzollerns, the Hapsburgs, the Romanoffs, and the royal crowns of minor nations fell from the heads of great rulers, because the Emperor of Germany overworked the idea of czarism after the type of imperial Rome. But the idea is not dead. In shattered Europe, the authority and infallibility of the state divorced from the participation of the people, though put in question, is yet a smouldering power to be reckoned with. It is difficult to erase Rome's impress upon the world. SUBJECTS FOR FURTHER STUDY 1. How were the Greeks and Romans related racially? 2. Difference between the Greek and the Roman attitude toward life. 3. What were the land reforms of the Gracchi? 4. What advancement did the Romans make in architecture? 5. What were the internal causes of the decline of Rome? 6. Why did the Celts and the Germans invade Rome? 7. Enumerate the permanent contributions of Rome to subsequent civilization. [1] Hadley, _Introduction to Roman Law_. {268} CHAPTER XVI THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION