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In 218 B.C., Romans ruled most of the world that they knew about. They felt protected by the Alps – high, snow-covered mountains to the east and north of them that enemies would find very difficult to cross. Then Hannibal came from Carthage, in what is now North Africa, with 9000 infantrymen – soldiers on foot – and something even more surprising: elephants. Hannibal had crossed the Alps with 37 elephants – creatures so terrifying that the Romans, who had never seen such animals, were thrown into a panic.
Based on what you know in this passage, what do you predict happened next?
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“Inventions have long since reached their limit.” This was said by Julius Sextus Frontinus in AD 10. The Romans had invented aqueducts that could carry water for miles from lakes and rivers to dry places. Their engineers built roads that were so well-made that some of them still exist today. Their bridges spanned large distances. Frontinus decided that they had invented everything that could possibly be invented.
The patent office reviews new inventions to make sure that inventors are protected from those who might steal or copy their designs. The same statement made by Frontinus was later made by Charles H. Duell, who worked in the U.S. patent office in 1899. Telegraphs, phonographs, and steam engines had been invented. Mr. Duell became famous when he said, “Everything that can be invented has already been invented.”
Why have the statements by Frontinus and Duell both become famous?
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