and Egypt held a still superior rank in the empire: Antioch and Alexandria looked down with disdain on a crowd of dependent cities,* and yielded, with reluctance, to the Majesty of Rome itself.

All these cities were connected with each other, and with the capital, by the public highways, which, issuing from the forum of Rome, traversed Italy, pervaded the provinces, and were terminated only by the frontiers of the empire. If we carefully trace the distance from the wall of Antoninus to Rome, and from thence to Jerusalem, it will be found that the great chain of communication from the north-west to the south-east point of the empire, was drawn out to the length of four thousand and eighty Roman miles. The public roads were accurately divided by milestones, and ran in a direct line from one city to another, with very little respect for the obstacles either of nature or private property. Mountains were perforated, and bold arches thrown over the broadest and most rapid streams. The middle part of the road was raised into a terrace, which commanded the adjacent country, consisted of several strata of sand, gravel, and cement, and was paved with large stones, or, in some places near the capital, with granite.§ Such was the solid construction of the Roman highways, whose firmness has not entirely yielded to the effort of fifteen centuries. They united the subjects of the most distant provinces by an Aristides pronounced an oration, which is still extant, to recommend concord to the rival cities. *The inhabitants of Egypt, exclusive of Alexandria, amounted to seven millions and a half. (Joseph. de Bell. Jud. 2, 16.) Under the military government of the Mamelukes, Syria was supposed to contain sixty thousand villages. (Histoire de Timur Bec, 1. 5, c. 20.) The following itinerary may serve to convey some idea of the direction of the road, and of the distance between the principal towns. 1. From the wall of Antoninus to York, 222 Roman miles. 2. London, 227. 3. Rhutupia or Sandwich, 67. 4. The navigation to Boulogne, 45. 5. Rheims, 174. 6. Lyons, 330. 7. Milan, 324. 8. Rome, 426. 9. Brundusium, 360. 10. The navigation to Dyrrachium, 40. 11. Byzantium, 711. 12. Ancyra, 283. 13. Tarsus, 301. 14. Antioch, 141. 15. Tyre, 252. 16. Jerusalem, 168. In all, four thousand and eighty Roman, or three thousand seven hundred and forty English miles. See the itineraries published by Wesseling, his annotations; Gale and Stukely for Britain, and M. d'Anville for Gaul and Italy. Montfaucon, l'Antiquité Expliquée (tom. 4, p. 2, 1. 1, c. 5), has described the bridges of Narni, Alcantara, Nismes, &c. Bomain, L. 2, c. 1, 28. $ Bergier, Histoire des grands Chemins de l'Empire

68

were

IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

[сн. п easy and familiar intercourse; but their primary object had been to facilitate the marches of the legions; nor was any country considered as completely subdued, till it had been rendered, in all its parts, pervious to the arms and authority of the conqueror. The advantage of receiving the earliest intelligence, and of conveying their orders with celerity, induced the emperors to establish, throughout their extensive dominions, the regular institution of posts.* Houses everywhere erected at the distance of only five or six miles; each of them was constantly provided with forty horses, and, by the help of these relays, it was easy to travel a hundred miles in a day along the Roman roads. The use of the posts was allowed to those who claimed it by an imperial mandate; but though originally intended for the public service, it was sometimes indulged to the business or convenience of private citizens. Nor was the communication of the Roman empire less free and open by sea than it was by land. The provinces surrounded and enclosed the Mediterranean; and Italy, in the shape of an immense promontory, advanced into the midst of that great lake. The coasts of Italy are, in general, destitute of safe harbours; but human industry had corrected the deficiencies of nature; and the artificial port of Ostia, in particular, situate at the mouth of the Tiber, and formed by the Emperor Claudius, was a useful monument of Roman greatness.§ From this port, which was only sixteen miles from the capital, a favourable breeze frequently carried vessels in seven days to the columns of Hercules, and, in nine or ten, to Alexandria, in Egypt.T

Whatever evils either reason or declamation have imputed to extensive empire, the power of Rome was attended with *Procopius in Hist. Arcanâ, c. 30. Bergier, Hist. des grands Chemins, 1. 4. Codex Theodosian. 1. 8, tit. 5, vol. 2, p. 506-563, with Godefroy's learned commentary. In the time of Theodosius, Cæsarius, a magistrate of high rank, went post from Antioch to Constantinople. He began his journey at night, was in Cappadocia (one hundred and sixty-five miles from Antioch) the ensuing evening, and arrived at Constantinople the sixth day about noon. distance was seven hundred and twenty-five Roman, or six hundred and sixty-five English miles. See Libanius Orat. 22, and the Itineraria, p. 572-581. Pliny, though a favourite and a minister, made an apology for granting post-horses to his wife on the most urgent business. Epist. 10, 121, 122. § Bergier, Hist. des grands Chemins, L 4, c. 49.

Plin. Hist. Natur. 19, 1.

The whole

some beneficial consequences to mankind; and the same freedom of intercourse which extended the vices, diffused likewise the improvements, of social life. In the more remote ages of antiquity, the world was unequally divided. The east was in the immemorial possession of arts and luxury; whilst the west was inhabited by rude and warlike barbarians, who either disdained agriculture, or to whom it was totally unknown. Under the protection of an established government, the productions of happier climates, and the industry of more civilized nations, were gradually introduced into the western countries of Europe; and the natives were encouraged, by an open and profitable commerce, to multiply the former, as well as to improve the latter. It would be almost impossible to enumerate all the articles, either of the animal or the vegetable reign, which were successively imported into Europe, from Asia and Egypt; but it will not be unworthy of the dignity, and much less of the utility, of an historical work, slightly to touch on a few of the principal heads. 1. Almost all the flowers, the herbs, and the fruits, that grow in our European gardens, are of foreign extraction, which, in many cases, is betrayed even by their names; the apple was a native of Italy, and when the Romans had tasted the richer flavour of the apricot, the peach, the pomegranate, the citron, and the orange, they contented themselves with applying to all these new fruits the common denomination of apple, discriminating them from each other by the additional epithet of their country. 2. In the time of Homer, the vine grew wild in the island of Sicily, and most probably in the adjacent continent; but it was not improved by the skill, nor did it afford a liquor grateful to the taste of the savage inhabitants.t A thousand years afterward, Italy could boast, that of the fourscore most generous and celebrated wines, more than two-thirds were produced from her soil. The blessing was soon communicated to the Narbonnese province of Gaul; but so intense was the cold to the north of the Cevennes, that, in the time of Strabo, it was thought impossible to ripen the grapes in those parts of Gaul. This difficulty,

It is not improbable that the Greeks and Phoenicians introduced some new arts and productions into the neighbourhood of Mar+ See Homer Odyss. 1. 9, v. 358. + Plin. § Strab. Geograph. L 4, p. 269. The

seilles and Gades.

Hist. Natur. 1 14.

70

ARTIFICIAL GRASS.

[CH. IL however, was gradually vanquished, and there is some reason to believe that the vineyards of Burgundy are as old as the age of the Antonines.* 3. The olive, in the western world, followed the progress of peace, of which it was considered as the symbol. Two centuries after the foundation of Rome, both Italy and Africa were strangers to that useful plant; was naturalized in those countries; and at length carried into the heart of Spain and Gaul. The timid errors of the ancients, that it required a certain degree of heat, and could only flourish in the neighbourhood of the sea, were insensibly exploded by industry and experience.† 4. The cul tivation of flax was transported from Egypt to Gaul, and enriched the whole country, however it might impoverish the particular lands on which it was sown. 5. The use of artificial grasses became familiar to the farmers both of Italy and the provinces, particularly the Lucerne, which derived intense cold of a Gallic winter was almost proverbial among the ancients. [Strabo says no more than that grapes did not there ripen readily (ἡ ἄμπελος οὐ ῥᾳδίως τελεσφορεί). Attempts had been made in the time of Augustus to introduce vines into northern Gaul, but the climate was found too severe. Diodorus Siculus (ed. Rhodoman. p. 304,) who was Strabo's contemporary, says that Gaul was a very cold country. The cutting down of forests, draining of fens, improvement of the soil by warm manures, and other useful undertakings, have created for Gaul as well as Germany a milder climate, more favourable for bringing fruits to maturity. The same causes are even now producing the same effects in America, wherever lands are brought into cultivation. The later Romans began to be aware of the change that was in progress, but ascribed it to an altered position of the earth, predicted by the astronomer Hipparchus. (Columella, lib. i. c. 1.-WENCK.] In the beginning of the fourth century, the orator Eumenius (Panegyric. Veter. 8, 6, edit. Delphin.) speaks of the vines in the territory of Autun, which were decayed through age, and the first plantation of which was totally unknown. The Pagus Arebrignus is supposed by M. d'Anville to be the district of Beaune, celebrated, even at present, for one of the first growths of Burgundy. [At a much earlier period, in the seventy-seventh year of our era, Pliny the Elder (Hist. Nat. 1. 14, c. 3) mentioned a vine (vitis picata, vinum picatum, now called raisin de lirre, vin de violette) which was the natural produce of the district of Vienne, and had been recently transplanted into the country of the Arverni (Auvergne). of the Helvii (le Vivarais, in Languedoc), and of the Sequani. As Pliny said this of a scarce vine which he was then describing, we may infer the same of more common sorts. The land of the Sequani was the present county of Burgundy, and bordered on the duchy of the same name. In the twelfth chapter more will be said on the progress of the vine cultivation

France.-WENCK.] + Plin. Hist. Natur. L 15.

Ibid. 1. 19

The assured supply of

its name and origin from Media.* wholesome and plentiful food for the cattle during winter, multiplied the number of the flocks and herds, which, in their turn, contributed to the fertility of the soil. To all these improvements may be added, an assiduous attention to mines and fisheries, which, by employing a multitude of laborious hands, serve to increase the pleasures of the rich, and the subsistence of the poor. The elegant treatise of Columella describes the advanced state of the Spanish husbandry, under the reign of Tiberius; and it may be observed, that those famines, which so frequently afflicted the infant republic, were seldom or never experienced by the extensive empire of Rome. The accidental scarcity, in any single province, was immediately relieved by the plenty of its more fortunate neighbours.

Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures, since the productions of nature are the materials of art. Under the Roman empire, the labour of an industrious and ingenious people was variously but incessantly employed in the service of the rich. In their dress, their table, their houses, and their furniture, the favourites of fortune united every refinement of conveniency, of elegance, and of splendour, whatever could soothe their pride, or gratify their sensuality. Such refinements, under the odious name of luxury, have been severely arraigned by the moralists of every age; and it might, perhaps, be more conducive to the virtue, as well as happiness, of mankind, if all possessed the necessaries, and none the superfluities of life. But in the present imperfect condition of society, luxury, though it may proceed from vice or folly, seems to be the only means that can correct the unequal distribution of property. The diligent mechanic, and the skilful artist, who have obtained no share in the division of the earth, receive a voluntary tax from the possessors of land; and the latter are prompted, by a sense of interest, to improve those estates, with whose produce they may purchase additional pleasures. This operation,

66 mate

See the agreeable Essays on Agriculture, by Mr. Harte, in which he has collected all that the ancients and moderns have said of Lucerne + Metals and stones, though "productions of nature," are rials of art," not furnished by agriculture. But in Gibbon's time, they, did not enter so largely tures."-ED.] as at present into the foundation of manufac