The Roman eagle seized
  The double prey, and proudly perch’d on high
  And here a thousand years he plumed his wing
  Till from his lofty eyry, tempest-tost,
  And impotent through age, headlong he plunged,
  While nations shuddered as they saw him fall.—­Anon.

1.  The ordinary boundaries of the Roman empire, over which, however, it sometimes passed, were, in Europe, the two great rivers of the Rhine and Danube; in Asia, the Euphrates and the Syrian deserts; in Africa, the tracts of arid sand which fence the interior of that continent.  It thus contained those fertile and rich countries which surround the Mediterranean sea, and constitute the fairest portion of the earth.

2.  Beginning at the west of Europe,[1] we find, first, Hispa’nia, Spain.  Its boundaries are, on the east, the chain of the Pyrenees; on every other side, the sea.  It was divided into three provinces:  1.  Lusita’nia, Portugal, bounded on the north by the Du’rius, Douro, and on the south by the Anas; Guadiana:  2.  Bo’etica, bounded on the north and west by the A’nas, and on the east by the mountains of Orospe’da, Sierra Moreno:  3.  Tarracone’nsis, which includes the remainder of the Spanish peninsula. 3.  Spain was annexed to the Roman empire after the conclusion of the second Punic war; Lusitania, after a desperate resistance, was added at a later period.

4.  Transalpine Gaul was the name given to the entire country between the Pyrenees and the Rhine; it consequently included France, Switzerland, and Belgium.

5.  Gaul was divided in four provinces:  1.  Narbonen’sis or Bracca’ta, bounded on the west by the Pyrenees; on the north by the Cevennian mountains, and on the east by the Va’rus, Var:  2.  Lugdunen’sis or Cel’tica, bounded on the south and west by the Li’ger, Loire; on the north by the Sequa’na, Seine, and on the east by the A’rar, Saone:  3.  Aquita’nica, bounded by the Pyrenees on the south, and the Li’ger on the north and east:  4.  Bel’gica, bounded on the north and east by the Rhe’nus, Rhine; on the west by the Arar, and on the south by the Rhoda’nus, Rhone, as far as the city Lugdu’num, Lyons.  Helve’tia, the modern Switzerland, was included in Belgic Gaul.  This extensive country was not totally subdued before the time of Julius Caesar.

6.  Italy has been already mentioned in the first chapter; we shall therefore pass it over and come to the islands in the Mediterranean.

Sici’lia or Trinac’ria, Sicily, was the first province that the Romans gained beyond the confines of Italy.  The cities on its coast were founded by Phoenician and Grecian colonies, but the native inhabitants retained possession of the interior; one tribe, named the Sic’uli, are said to have migrated from Italy, and to have given their name to the island.  The Greeks and Carthaginians long contended for supremacy in this island, but it was wrested from both by the Romans towards the close of the second Punic war.  Nearly at the same time, the islands of Corsica and Sardinia were annexed to the empire.