The Roman expansion impacted trade patterns because they owned more land and the more land that belongs to the Romans, the more control they have over trade routes. It helped Rome's military because it helped the soldiers get around easier.
Because a science-based understanding of our universe is, more than other (myth-based or religious-base) understandings, capable of delivering (1) measuring instruments by means of which we can test our hypotheses regarding the structure of the universe and (2) a scientific language that is as much as possible free from ambiguity and vagueness.
