Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/176

I2O General History of Europe 182. Expulsion of the Etruscan Kings of Rome (about 500 B.C.). The Etruscan kings introduced great improvements in Rome, but their cruelty and tyranny finally caused their Latin subjects to revolt against them and drive them out of the city. The two centuries and a half of Etruscan rule had left their mark on Rome, however, for the Etruscans had long traded with the Greeks and had become familiar with their industries, art, and architecture. Evidences of Etruscan influence are still to be found in Italy today (see cuts on pages 118 and 119 ; also Ancient Times, Fig. 232). II. THE EARLY ROMAN REPUBLIC: ITS GOVERNMENT 183. Greek Influence in Rome. The Latins were also directly influenced by the Greeks, because ships from the Greek cities of southern Italy were becoming more and more common in the Tiber. The Roman traders had gradually learned to scribble memoranda of their own, using the letters which they found in the bills they received from the Greek merchants. Greek letters were adopted as .the Roman alphabet, slightly changed to suit the Latin language. In this way the oriental alphabet was carried one step further in the long westward journey which finally made it (after some changes) the alphabet with which this book is printed (see table on page 58). As the trade of the Romans increased it seemed inconvenient to pay for goods with grain or oxen as formerly. At length, about a hundred and fifty years after the Etruscan kings had been driven out, the Romans began to issue copper coins. The rather coldly calculating mind of the Roman lacked the vivid imagination of the Greeks, which had created the beautiful Greek statues and dramas. The Romans were better fitted for great achievements in political and. legal organization than for new developments in religion, art, and literature, or discoveries in science. Let us now see how the practical sagacity of the Roman developed the Roman State. 184. Establishment of the Roman Republic ; Consuls and Tribunes. When the Etruscan kings were expelled from Rome,