CHAPTER V 
THE FALL OF ROME 
I N Greece and Rome, war had been a necessity 
for so long a time that it came to be regarded as 
something almost sacred. It was considered the only 
honorable occupation; and valor became the national 
ideal. The military profession, therefore, afforded 
the only means of illustrating the popular ideal. 
In Rome, as in Greece, industry was considered de 
grading; because it was thought that it had a tend 
ency to tame the spirit, and make a man common 
place and unheroic. The farming class, which was 
held in contempt as being beneath the standard of re 
spectability, was oppressed with unreasonable taxa 
tion for the support of the military establishment, 
until farming became impossible, and the plains of 
Italy were abandoned to nature, which reduced them 
again to a state of wilderness; and the rural popula 
tion crowded into the city, where they had to be 
fed with grain taken from the conquered provinces, 
either at public expense or by private charity. Un 
der these circumstances the government became en 
feebled, so that it was unable to carry on further 
wars of conquest, or even to guard its long frontier 
from the barbarians of central Europe. 
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