Excerpt from Montesquieu's Considerations on the Cause of the Grandeur and Declension of the Roman EmpireWE are not to form to ourselves an idea of the city of Rome, in its infancy, from the cities which exist at this time, except we have in view those of the Crim Tartars, built for the stowing and securing of plunder, cattle, fruits, and other produce of the country. The ancient names of the chief places in Rome are all relative to this use.The city was even without streets, unless we will give this name to the continuation of roads which centre in it. The houses were straggling, built after an irregular manner, and very small, for the inhabitants being always either at their work, or in the public square, were very seldom at home.But the greatness of Rome soon appeared in its public edifices. Works which have raised, and still raise, the greatest idea of its power, were formed under its kings. They began already to lay the foundation of the city which was to be eternal.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.