Their successes were those of character, not of genius.

But their phlegmatic courage saved the civilized life of Europe till that life had grown strong and tenacious, and till even its assailants had recognized its worth.
It was this growth of internal civilization which formed the second and most lasting of the achievements of the Empire.

Its long and peaceable government--the longest and most orderly that has yet been granted to any large portion of the world--gave time for the expansion of Roman speech and manners, for the extension of the political franchise, the establishment of city life, the assimilation of the provincial populations in an orderly and coherent civilization.

As the importance of the city of Rome declined, as the world became Romeless, a large part of the world grew to be Roman.

It has been said that Greece taught men to be human and Rome made mankind civilized.