ied Caesars gradually fashioned the
Roman empire.

One cannot however deny Rome the glory of having elaborated a system of
private law that was logically deduced from clearly formulated principles
and was destined to become the fundamental law of all civilized
communities. But even in connection with this private law, where the
originality of Rome is uncontested and her preeminence absolute, recent
researches have shown with how much tenacity the Hellenized Orient
maintained its old legal codes, and how much resistance local customs, the
woof of the life of nations, offered to unification. In truth, unification
never was realized except in theory.[7] More than that, these researches
have proved that the fertile principles of that provincial law, which was
sometimes on a higher moral plane than the Roman law, reacted on the
progressive transformation of the old _ius civile_. And how could it be
otherwise? Were not a great number of famous jurists like Ulpian of Tyre
and Papinian of Hemesa natives of Syria? And did not the law-school of
Beirut constantly grow in importance after the third century, until during
the fifth century it became the most brilliant center of legal education?
Thus Levantines {6} cultivated even the patrimonial field cleared by
Scaevola and Labeo.[8]

In the austere temple of law the Orient held as yet only a minor position;
everywhere else its authority was predominant. The practical mind of the
Romans, which made them excellent lawyers, prevented them from becoming
great scholars. They esteemed pure science but little, having small talent
for it, and one notices that it ceased to be earnestly cultivated wherever
their direct domination was established. The great astronomers,
mathematicians, and physicians, like the originators or defenders of the
great metaphysical systems, were mostly Orientals. Ptolemy and Plotinus
were Egyptians, Porphyry and Iamblichus, Syrians, Dioscorides and Galen,
Asiatics. All branches of learning were affected by the spirit of the
Orient. The clearest minds accepted the chimeras of astrology and magic.
Philosophy claimed more and more to derive its inspiration from the
fabulous wisdom of Chaldea and Egypt. Tired of seeking truth, reason
abdicated and hoped to find it in a revelation preserved in the mysteries
of the barbarians. Greek logic strove to coordinate into an harmonious
whole the confused traditions of the Asiatic religions.

Letters, as well as science, were