Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/230

i6o General History of Europe developed a system of government departments, headed by experi- enced ministers, such as we have in modern states. It was the wise and efficient Hadrian who accomplished the most in perfect- ing this organization of the government business. Among many changes, one of the most important was the abolition of the system of "farming" taxes, that is, allowing them to be collected by private individuals for profit, a system RESTORATION OF THE ROMAN FORTIFIED WALL ON THE GERMAN FRONTIER This masonry wall, some three hundred miles long, protected the northern boundary of the Roman Empire between the upper Rhine and the upper Danube, where it was most exposed to German attack. At short intervals there were blockhouses along the wall, and at points of great danger strong- holds and barracks for the shelter of garrisons which had caused both the Greeks and the Romans much trouble. Government collectors now everywhere gathered in the taxes of the great Mediterranean world. 254. Rise of a System of Law for the Whole Empire. Not only did the subjects of this vast State pay their taxes into the same treasury but they were controlled by the same laws. The lawyers of Rome under the emperors we are now discussing were the most gifted legal minds the world had ever seen. They altered the narrow city-law of Rome so that it might meet the needs of the whole empire. In spirit these laws were fair, just,