What is roman?

Famous quotes containing the word roman:

    “Good gentlemen, look fresh and merrily.
    Let not our looks put on our purposes,
    But bear it as our Roman actors do,
    With untired spirits and formal constancy.”
    —William Shakespeare (1564–1616)

    “How can I, that girl standing there,
    My attention fix
    On Roman or on Russian
    Or on Spanish politics?”
    —William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)

    “The Roman Road runs straight and bare
    As the pale parting-line in hair
    Across the heath.”
    —Thomas Hardy (1840–1928)