Gibbon has described the limits of the Roman Empire; which
"comprised the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilised portion
of mankind." Its boundaries were "the Rhine and Danube, on the north; the
Euphrates, on the east; towards the south, the sandy deserts of Arabia and
Africa;" and upon the west, the Atlantic ocean. It was over this extensive
monarchy, that Caesar reigned; by the providence of Caesar, was the whole
defended and administered.
_Quis Parthum paveat? Quis gelidum Scythen
Quis, Germania quos horrida parturit
Fetus, incolumi Caesare?_
The frontiers of the Empire, and its richest provinces, had been obtained
for the most part in the long wars of the Republic. The conquest of Gaul,
and the establishment of the Empire, was achieved by Julius Caesar; and to
him, the civilised world is indebted for that majestic "Roman Peace,"
under which it lived and prospered for nearly nineteen centuries: the
Eastern Empire was maintained in Constantinople, until 1453; and the
Empire of the West continued, though in waning splendour, until the last
Caesar abdicated his throne at the order of Napoleon.
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