(_Cis_, on this side, _alpina_, alpine.)
Not only had Rome thus gained power and prestige at home, but she had
begun to come in contact with more distant peoples. Carthage had
offered to assist her after the battle of Asculum, sending a large
fleet of ships to Ostia in earnest of her good faith. Now, when the
news of the permanent repulse of the proud king of Epirus was spread
abroad, great Ptolemy Philadelphus, the Egyptian patron of art,
literature, and science, sent an embassy empowered to conclude a treaty
of amity with the republic. The proposition was accepted with
earnestness, and ambassadors of the highest rank were sent to
Alexandria, where they were treated with extraordinary consideration,
and allowed to see all the splendor of the Egyptian capital.
Rome had now reached a position of wealth and physical prosperity; the
rich had gained much land, and the poor had been permitted to share the
general progress; commerce, agriculture, and, to some extent,
manufactures had advanced. Rome kept a firm hold upon all of the
territory she had won, connecting them with the capital by good roads,
but making no arrangements for free communication between the chief
cities of the conquered regions. The celebrated military roads, of
which we now can see the wonderful remains, date from a later period,
with the exception of the Appian Way, which was begun in 312, and,
after the conquest of Italy was completed to Brundusium, through Capua,
Tres Taberna, and Beneventum.
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