END OF THE REPUBLIC

The subsequent oversea conquests of Rome, though effected with the united resources of Italy, do not directly concern its territorial history. By 49 B.C. Italy ruled directly or indirectly the whole Mediterranean world, but the constant drain on fighting men depleted Italian communities; foreign corn-supplies, especially from the provinces of northern Africa and from Egypt, did much to ruin Italian agriculture; the lure of city-life depleted rural communities; and immense wealth, easily won by Romans abroad, erected a barrier between the ruling class and the masses. Long discontent, exploited for party ends in Rome, led to a violent civil war between the more and the less privileged elements of the Confederation (90-89 B.C.) and to the eventual grant of full Roman citizenship to all Italians in Italy proper and Cisalpine Gaul as far north as the Alps. Economic and social gievances were, however, still neglected, and municipal government fell into disorder. These disaffections led to violent uprisings against the 'Republican' government (civil wars of 88-80 and 49-30 B.C.) which ended with the establishment by Julius Caesar (49-44 B.C.) and Augustus (27 B.C.-14 A.D.) of a thinly disguised monarchy.

Rome's conquest of Sicily (242 B.C.) and intervention in the politics of Greece, Macedon, and the new Greek kingdoms of Syria and Egypt (198-30 B.C.) had brought sudden and overwhelming contact with later Greek (Hellenistic) civilization, which stifled the development of indigenous Italian cultures. Yet Roman and Italian imitations of Greek architecture, sculpture, and other material arts have their distinctive qualities, and in Latin literature the influence of Greek conventions and technique is superficial. The Latin language matured under Greek scholarship, but remained a living and most eloquent tongue, the direct ancestor of medieval and modern Italian.