I would be false to the first sense of justice did I not here acknowledge the aid I have obtained from Professor Albert H. Putney, dean of the Webster College of Law, Chicago, and a lawyer of the state of Illinois at the city of Chicago (my home), who has been the principal contributor from whom I have received assistance, and much that can be found in this book in the nature of real historical data, and of the philosophy of reasoning from this data, is due to him, and I desire to acknowledge my indebtedness and to give full credit for the value of this work. JAMES HAMILTON LEWIS _United States Senate Chamber, Washington, D. C. September 1913._ CONTENTS PAGE _Preface_ 5 CHAP. I. THE TWO REPUBLICS 9 II. ROMAN LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLIES 15 III. THE FIRST GREAT MELTING POT 28 IV. THE EARLY REPUBLIC 35 V. THE PERIOD OF FOREIGN CONQUEST 71 VI. THE TRIBES, THE COLONIES, AND THE PROVINCES 89 VII. THE CRISIS--THE ATTEMPTED REFORMS OF THE GRACCHI 100 VIII. MARIUS AND SULLA 168 IX. POMPEY 218 X. CICERO AND CATILINE 228 XI. JULIUS CÆSAR 238 XII. POST-MORTEM 271 XIII. THE COMPARISON 286 THE TWO GREAT REPUBLICS ROME AND THE UNITED STATES CHAPTER I THE TWO REPUBLICS "How like, how unlike, as we view them together."--_Holmes._ It is now nearly two thousand years since the curtain fell upon the last act in the history of the Roman republic. During these twenty centuries many other republics have flourished and passed away, while, in turn, new republics have arisen to take the place of the earlier ones; but no other fallen republic in the whole course of history has attained to the same degree of importance, has possessed the same degree of interest, or has exerted the same influence on the history of the world, as did that of Rome. The five centuries of republican institutions on the banks of the Tiber still remain the richest quarry to which the student or historian of republican governments is able to resort for his material.