ONE HUNDRED QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON “HISTORY OF
GREECE,” VOLUME II, PARTS 10 AND 11—“THE ROMAN
SUPREMACY, AND BYZANTINE HELLENISM.”
By A. M. MARTIN, GENERAL SECRETARY C. L. S. C.
1. Q. When is it generally said by historians that Hellas fell under
the Roman rule? A. In 145 B. C., when Mummius captured Corinth.
2. Q. Strictly speaking, when did Hellas become a Roman province? A.
During the reign of Augustus.
3. Q. Where was the principal theater of the Mithridatic war? A.
Hellas, transplanted thither by the daring king of Pontus.
4. Q. Whom did the Romans finally find it necessary to send against
him? A. Sulla.
5. Q. During this war what Hellenic city did Sulla capture after a long
siege? A. Athens.
6. Q. What is the assertion of several modern historians in regard
to the devastation of the land and the slaughter of the inhabitants
during this war, which ended in 84 B. C.? A. They did their work so
effectually that Asia never thereafter recovered from the Roman wounds.
7. Q. By what was the moral decay of the nation which began long before
now followed? A. By a corresponding material ruin.
8. Q. By what was the Ægean Sea from the earliest times infested? A. By
pirates, who boldly attacked the coasts, islands and harbors, seizing
vessels and plundering property.
9. Q. In the year 78 B. C., what action did the Romans take against
these pirates? A. They declared war against them, and entrusted the
conduct of hostilities to Pompey.
10. Q. What was the result of Pompey’s expedition against them? A. Ten
thousand of them were put to death, twenty thousand captured, and one
hundred and twenty of their harbors and fortifications were destroyed.
11. Q. In the great struggle between Pompey and Cæsar for the supremacy
of the world, whom did Hellas furnish with every possible assistance?
A. Pompey.
12. Q. In the year 44 B. C., what Hellenic city did Cæsar rebuild that
had been destroyed a hundred years before by Mummius? A. Corinth.
13. Q. In the Roman civil wars which followed the death of Cæsar, with
whom did Athens ally herself? A. With Brutus and Cassius.
14. Q. After the defeat of Brutus and Cassius by Octavius and Anthony,
followed by hostilities between the latter two, for whom did the
greater part of Hellas declare? A. For Anthony.
15. Q. Shortly after Octavius assumed the name of Augustus to what did
he reduce Hellas? A. To a Roman province.
16. Q. What is said of the jurisdiction of the Roman proconsul
thereafter sent annually to rule Hellas? A. Many cities and countries
continued still to be regarded as “freed and allied.” The subject
territory was designated by the name of Achaia as if it did not remain
an integral part of “free Hellas.”
17. Q. During the reign of Tiberias what did both Achaia and Macedonia
become by reason of the harsh treatment received from the proconsuls?
A. Cæsarean instead of public provinces.
18. Q. What was the course of Nero toward Hellas? A. In the year 66 he
declared the country autonomous, and at the same time plundered Hellas,
inflicting far greater misfortunes on it than those sustained through
the invasion of Xerxes.
19. Q. When Vespasian ascended the throne what political change did he
make? A. He reduced the country again to a Roman province.
20. Q. During the reign of Vespasian what action was taken in regard
to the Greek philosophers? A. Nearly all the Greek philosophers were
banished from Rome.
21. Q. How did Trajan prove to be one of the greatest benefactors of
the Hellenic nation? A. He sent Maximus to Hellas as plenipotentiary
and reorganizer of the free Hellenic cities, with instructions to
honor the gods and ancient renown of the nation, and revere the sacred
antiquity of the cities.
22. Q. What was Hadrian’s treatment of Hellas? A. He visited Athens
five times; sought to ameliorate the condition of the people, and
adorned Athens and other cities with temples and buildings.
23. Q. What political rights did he give the Hellenes? A. The rights of
Roman citizenship.
24. Q. During the reigns of what two Roman emperors did Hellas
pre-eminently flourish? A. The Emperors Antoninus Pius and Marcus
Aurelius.
25. Q. Notwithstanding the benefits received from the Roman emperors
what did Hellas continue to do? A. To wither and decline.
26. Q. During the latter part of the third century what destructive
invasion of Hellas took place? A. The invasion of the Goths and
other northern barbarians, who overran the country like a deluge,
depopulating cities and destroying everything in their path.
27. Q. What relation does our author give Hellenism to Christianity? A.
He makes it the first herald of Christianity.
28. Q. Who was the first Roman emperor that issued a decree in favor of
Christianity? A. Constantine the Great.
29. Q. What discussions led Constantine to the convocation of the first
General Council of the Christian Church, which assembled at Nice in
A. D. 325? A. The discussions of Arianism, or opinions concerning the
nature of the second person of the Trinity.