CHAPTER I
COMMERCIAL RELATIONS OF INDIA IN THE MIDDLE EAST
†The imperial Romans flashed their sword both in the East and the West with different results. In the East “they conquered the world only to give it to” [1] *(............) in the West however “they either Romanized the races who were at first their subjects *(..........) masters, or left those races to be the willing agents of their own Romanization.” [2] . As a result of this Romanization the West is proud of her heritage from the Romans. How this rich heritage was accumulated none has taken pains to inquire into.
Justly may we look to the Romans for their military organization, the elaboration of law and the wonderful discipline of hordes levied before war and discharged after victory. Hemmed in from all sides—the Etruscans pressing in from the north, the Lygurians from the West, the Sabians from the East and the Greeks from the South, the Latins summoned the energy by dispair. Excepting perhaps the women and youngsters of both sexes the entire population was one huge militia ever ready to rally round the red flag at the call of a trumpet. But Rome gathered in energy too voluminous for the space she had and illustrated the principle that concentration causes explosion and expansion. Goaded by the greed of territory or pressed on by the mania of foreign persecution she started first by consuming the entire Italian peninsula. But imperialism conscious or unconscious knows no stop. Rome by sheer prowess of her arms went on in her career of conquest and made war her only noble profession. She knew not that war like competition destroys itself. In one great sweep, she brought an immense territory
†First page of the MS. is missing. The MS. starts from the 2nd page—ed.
- Portion eaten by moth or white-ants is shown by asterisk in brackets—ed.
1 Quoted by Earl of Cromer “Ancient and modern Imperialism”, p. 72.
*Ibid., p.73.