I come now to the four ways in which the Roman Empire affected the history of culture.
I. The direct effect of Rome on Greek thought. This begins in the second century B.C., with
two men, the historian Polybius, and the Stoic philosopher Panaetius. The natural attitude of the
Greek to the Roman was one of contempt mingled with fear; the Greek felt himself more
civilized, but politically less powerful. If the Romans were more successful in politics, that only
showed that politics is an ignoble pursuit. The average Greek of the second century B.C. was
pleasure-loving, quick-witted, clever in business, and unscrupulous in all things. There were,
however, still men of philosophic capacity. Some of these--notably the sceptics, such as
Carneades-had allowed cleverness to destroy seriousness. Some, like the Epicureans and a section
of the Stoics, had withdrawn wholly into a quiet private life. But a few, with more insight than had
been shown by Aristotle in relation to Alexander, realized that the greatness of Rome was due to
certain merits which were lacking among the Greeks.
The historian Polybius, born in Arcadia about 200 B.C., was sent to Rome as a prisoner, and there
had the good fortune to become the friend of the younger Scipio, whom he accompanied on many
of his campaigns. It was uncommon for a Greek to know Latin, though most educated Romans
knew Greek; the circumstances of Polybius, however, led him to a thorough familiarity with Latin.
He wrote, for the benefit of the Greeks, the history of the Punic Wars, which had enabled Rome to
conquer the world. His admiration of the Roman constitution was becoming out of date while he
wrote, but until his time it had compared very favorably, in stability and efficiency, with the
continually changing constitutions of most Greek cities. The Romans naturally read his history
with pleasure; whether the Greeks did so is more doubtful.
Panaetius the Stoic has been already considered in the preceding chapter. He was a friend of
Polybius, and, like him, a protégé of the younger Scipio. While Scipio lived, he was
frequently in Rome, but after Scipio's death in 129 B.C. he stayed in Athens as head of the Stoic
school. Rome still had, what Greece had lost, the hopefulness connected with the opportunity for
political activity. Accordingly the doctrines of Panaetius were more political, and less akin to
those