The Roman Empire to the Triumph of Christianity 275 Orient were in the same direction. Egypt was in no way con- influences of trolled by the Senate, but remained a private domain of the thf^Eai" Emperor. In this the oldest State on the Mediterranean the ^^^^^j^ Emperor was king, in the oriental sense. He collected its huge revenues and ruled there as the Pharaohs had done. His posi- tion as absolute monarch in Egypt influenced his position as Emperor and his methods of government everywhere. Indeed, the East as a whole could only understand the position of Fig. 114. Restoration of the Roman Fortified Wall on THE German Frontier This masonry wall, some three hundred miles long, protected the north- ern 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 strongholds and barracks (Fig. 125) for the shelter of garrisons of Augustus Augustus as that of a king, and this title they at once applied to him. This also had its influence in the West. The Empire which Rome now ruled consisted of the entire Peace policy Mediterranean world, or a fringe of states extending entirely around the Mediterranean and including all its shores.^ There was a natural boundary in the south, the Sahara, and also in the west, the Atlantic ; but on the north and east further conquests 1 On the extent of the Mediterranean, see p.
