The luster of the Roman power and glory of the Roman name were now at
their height. The eyes of all the world were now on Italy, the young
republic of the West. Into Rome all talents, all riches, flowed. What a
grand thing in those days to be a Roman citizen; so that, wherever one
walked,--in Spain, in Africa, even in once proud Athens, he was
followed, feasted, flattered! What a career was opened to those who
wished for wealth or aspired to fame! But in the very sunburst of Rome’s
glory, the germs of decay were ripening.
On the Romans themselves the effect of their foreign conquests were both
good and bad; but perhaps the evil outweighed the good.