IV. Reading ComprehensionQuestions 41-50: Choose the BEST answer to each question below according to what is stated and
implied in the following passages.
There is a quality of cohesiveness about the Roman world that applied neither to Greece nor
perhaps to any other civilization, ancient or modern. Like the stones of a Roman wall, which were
held together both by the regularity of the design and by that peculiarly powerful Roman cement, so
the various parts of the Roman realm were bonded into a massive, monolithic entity by physical,
organizational, and psychological controls. The physical bonds included the network of military
garrisons, which were stationed in every province, and the network of stone-built roads that linked
the provinces with Rome. The organizational bonds were based on the common principles of law and
administration and on the universal army of officials who enforced common standards of conduct.
The psychological controls were built on fear and punishment—on the absolute certainty that anyone
or anything that threatened the authority of Rome would be utterly destroyed.
The source of Roman obsession with unity and cohesion may well have been the pattern of Rome’s
early development. Whereas Greece had grown from scores of scattered cities, Rome grew from one
single organism. While the Greek world had expanded along the Mediterranean sea lanes, the Roman
world was assembled by territorial conquest. Of course, the contrast is not quite so stark: in Alexander
the Great, the Greeks had found the greatest territorial conqueror of all time, and the Romans, once
they moved outside Italy, did not fail to learn the lessons of sea power. Yet the essential difference is undeniable. The key to the Greek world lay in its high-powered ships； the key to Roman power lay
in its marching legions. The Greeks were wedded to the sea； the Romans, to the land. The Greek was
a sailor at heart； the Roman, a landsman.
Certainly, in trying to explain the Roman phenomenon, one would have to place great emphasis on
this almost animal instinct for the territorial imperative. Roman priorities lay in the organization,
exploitation, and defense of their territory. In all probability, it was the fertile plain of Latium, where
the Latins who founded Rome originated, that created the habits and skills of landed settlement,
landed property, landed economy, landed administration, and a land-based society. From this arose
the Roman genius for military organization and orderly government. In turn, a deep attachment to the
land and to the stability of rural life fostered the Roman virtues: gravitas, a sense of responsibility；
pietas, a sense of devotion to family and country； and justitia, a sense of the natural order.
Modern attitudes to Roman civilization range from the infinitely impressed to the thoroughly
disgusted. As always, there are the power worshippers, especially among historians, who are
predisposed to admire whatever is strong and who feel more attracted to the might of Rome than to
the subtlety of Greece. At the same time, there is a solid body of opinion that dislikes Rome. For
many, Rome is, at best, the imitator and the continuator of Greece on a larger scale. Greek civilization
had quality； Rome, mere quantity. Greece was original； Rome, derivative. Greece had style； Rome
had money. Greece was the inventor； Rome, the research and development division. Such indeed was
the opinion of some of the more intellectual Romans. “Had the Greeks held novelty in such disdain
as we,” asked Horace in his Epistles, “what work of ancient date would now exist?”
Rome’s debt to Greece was enormous. The Romans adopted Greek religion and moral philosophy.
In literature, Greek writers were consciously used as models by their Latin successors. It was
absolutely accepted that an educated Roman should be fluent in Greek. In speculative philosophy and
the sciences, the Romans made virtually no advance on early achievements.
Yet it would be wrong to suggest that Rome was somehow a junior partner in Greco-Roman
civilization. The Roman genius was projected into new spheres—especially into those of law, military
organization, administration, and engineering. Moreover, the tensions that arose within the Roman
state produced literary and artistic sensibilities of the highest order. It was no accident that many
leading Roman soldiers and statesmen were writers of high caliber.
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