Page [71]

THE ROMAN ORNAMENT. 
ith their art the Greeks conquered the world, the Romans with their 
politics and their legions. The whole civilized world at the present day
is striving to emulate the works of art of the former, the laws of the latter
are considered throughout the world as the foundation upon which all laws
must be established. In these facts lie the 
difference in character between the two peoples. Those Romans who lived at
the beginning of Roman history were unable to develop an independent art
of their own, for all their endeavours were directed to amassing wealth,
and increasing their lands. They were obliged therefore to take the motifs
for their art from Etruria and continued to do so until Grecian art became
predominant. Becoming more accustomed to luxury from the conquests which
they made, the Romans began gradually to form a national art of their own
under the guidance of Greek teachers. The practical spirit of the Rornans
and their taste for monumental work are naturally to be seen best exemplified
in their architecture, a science in which they have performed most magnificent
work especially in connection with the monumental development of profane
buildings, basiicas, Thermes, etc. The Romans furthermore took up and accomplished
the task of combining numerous ruins to a homogenous whole, and of developing
them further by using, together with the doublesystem of construction, the
Grecian columns, the flat-ceiling construction at the vault, and the restoration
of remains of old walls. In this latter art they became the teachers of future
generations. The Romans adopted the three-column order of the Greeks keeping
with it however at the same time the Etruscan column. To these four orders
they added the Composite order.