Within the circuit of the Roman dominion there were what we may call
three civilizations: the Latin, the Greek, and the Oriental. Latin
civilization took in the countries from the Atlantic Ocean to the
Adriatic; Greek civilization, from the Adriatic to Mount Taurus;
Oriental civilization, the lands beyond to the Euphrates.
THE LATIN.--The area of Latin civilization embraced the peninsula of
Italy (its native seat) and all western Europe, where the Romans
appeared not only as a conquering but also as a civilizing people. Thus
in the three provinces of Spain (Hispania), in the four provinces of
Transalpine Gaul (corresponding nearly with the modern France), as well
as in the North African provinces, especially Carthage (which was
restored by Cæsar as a Roman colony), the Latin language took firm root,
and the manners and customs, and indeed the whole civilization, of those
lands became Roman.
THE GREEK.--Greek civilization was spread over Greece and all those
parts of Europe and Asia that had been Hellenized by Grecian colonists
or by the Macedonian conquerors. In manners, customs, language, and
culture these lands remained Greek, while politically they were Roman.
THE ORIENTAL.--Oriental civilization was diffused over the Eastern
provinces, especially Egypt and Syria. These countries had, under the
rule of Alexander’s successors, become to some degree Hellenized; but
this influence was on the whole superficial. The peoples of those
Oriental lands had never given up their own languages or religious ideas
or ways of thinking. Now these peoples, it should be said, did not
become Latinized either,--they did not adopt the language and
civilization of Rome.