But in a far truer sense Rome continued to rule the world as before. Her two great legacies, the Roman Law and the Roman Church, ruled it as completely as ever the legions had done. Even in politics, the grand conception of the Christian Republic, Church and State in one, with the Pope as the successor of St. Peter bearing the keys of Heaven and Hell, while the emperor as the successor of Augustus wielded its sword, continued for another thousand years to dominate Europe. It was under the ægis of this great idea that the young nations grew up and came into their own. Thus the true history of Rome from this point is the history of the Church, and this is no place to relate it. But it may be contended here that the visible Church was as truly a creation of the Roman spirit as was the Empire itself. Rome had seized upon the teaching of One who lived in poverty and obscurity among slaves and outcasts, who preached against worldliness, formality, and ambition, who sent out His disciples to beg their way, and out of this, with her wonderful genius for government, she had created a powerful monarchy which could humble kings, and an organised ecclesiastical state which spread like a network over the earth and tamed the fury of the barbarians. In the same way the culture of these latter days is to be found in Church History. Augustine, St. John Chrysostom, and Tertullian are its representative writers and thinkers more truly than Ausonius or Claudian. Except for the Arch of Constantine,[94] which was mainly compiled out of earlier remains, its Art is to be found in the sacred mosaics of Constantinople or Torcello, or in the Byzantine ivories such as the famous Barberini panel, showing Constantine as the establisher of the Christian Faith.[95] Architecture continues to show remarkable developments, and in the wonderful palace which Diocletian constructed for his retirement at Spalato on the Dalmatian coast there are new combinations of the Roman arch with the Greek columns which are full of promise for the birth of Gothic art.[96] The earliest Christian churches designed on the plan of a Greek cross, with a dome covering the intersection of nave and transepts, is derived from Asia Minor and bears traces of the oriental influence which is so powerful in Byzantine Art. CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY YEAR DOMESTIC EVENTS EXTERNAL EVENTS B.C. 753 Legendary date of the foundation of Rome 510 Legendary date of the expulsion of Tarquin, and establishment of the Republic 508 Legendary date of the Etruscan invasion under Lars Porsena 494 Legendary date of the First Secession of the Plebeians 480 Possibly authentic date of first treaty between Rome and the Latins, drawn up by Sp. Cassius