Games and spectacles. of hot water was poured into the capacious basons, through so many wide mouths of bright and massy silver; and the meanest Roman could purchase, with a small copper coin, the daily enjoyment of a scene of pomp and luxury, which might excite the envy of the kings of Asia (59). From these stately palaces issued a swarm of dirty and ragged plebeians, without shoes and without a mantle; who loitered away whole days in the street or Forum, to hear news, and to hold disputes; who dissipated, in extravagant gaming, the miserable pittance of their wives and children; and spent the hours of the night in obscure taverns, and brothels, in the indulgence of gross and vulgar sensuality (60). But the most lively and splendid amusement of the idle multitude, depended on the frequent exhibition of public games and spectacles. The piety of Christian princes had suppressed the inhuman combats of gladiators; but the Roman people still considered the Circus as their home, their temple, and the seat of the republic. The impatient crowd rushed at the dawn of day to secure their places, and there were many who passed a sleepless and anxious night in the adjacent porticos. From the morning to the evening, careless of the sun, or of the rain, the spectators, who sometimes amounted to the number of four hundred thousand, remained in eager attention; their eyes fixed on the horses and charioteers, their minds agitated with hope and fear, for the success of the colours which they espoused: and the happiness of Rome appeared to hang on the event of a race (61). The same immoderate ardour inspired their clamours, and their applause, as often as they were entertained with the hunting of wild beasts, and the various modes of theatrical representation. These representations in modern capitals may deserve to be considered as a pure and elegant school of taste, and perhaps of virtue. But the Tragic and Comic Muse of the Romans, who seldom aspired beyond the imitation of Attic genius (62), had been almost totally silent since the fall of the republic (63); and (59) Seneca (epistol. Ixxxvi.) compares the baths of Scipio Africanus, at his villa of Liternum, with the magnificence (which was continually increasing) of the public baths of Rome, long before the stately Thermae of Antoninus and Diocletian were erected. The quadrans paid for admission was the quarter of the as, about one eighth of an English penny. (60) Ammianus (1. xiv. c. 6. and 1. xxviii. c. 4.), after describing the luxury and pride of the nobles of Rome, exposes, with equal indignation, the vices and follies of the common people. (61) Juvenal. Satir. xi. 191, &c. The expressions of the historian Ammianus are not less strong and animated than those of the satirist; and both the one and the other painted from the life. The numbers which the great Circus was capable of receiving are taken from the original Notitiæ of the city. The differences between them prove that they did not transcribe each other; but the sum may appear incredible, though the country on these occasions flocked to the city. (62) Sometimes indeed they composed original pieces. - Vestigia Græca Ansi deserere et celebrare domestica facta. Horat. Epistol. ad Pisones, 285. and the learned, though perplexed, note of Dacier, who might have allowed the name of tragedies to the Brutus and the Decius of Pacuvius, or to the Cato of Maternus. The Octavia, ascribed to one of the Senecas, still remains a very unfavourable specimen of Roman tragedy. (63) In the time of Quintilian and Pliny, a tragic poet was reduced to the imperfect method of their place was unworthily occupied by licentious farce, effeminate music, and splendid pageantry. The pantomimes (64), who maintained their reputation from the age of Augustus to the sixth centúry, expressed, without the use of words, the various fables of the gods and heroes of antiquity; and the perfection of their art, which sometimes disarmed the gravity of the philosopher, always excited the applause and wonder of the people. The vast and magnificent theatres of Rome were filled by three thousand female dancers, and by three thousand singers, with the masters of the respective choruses. Such was the popular favour which they enjoyed, that, in a time of scarcity, when all strangers were banished from the city, the merit of contributing to the public pleasures exempted them from a law, which was strictly executed against the professors of the liberal arts (65). 3 It is said, that the foolish curiosity of Elagabalus attempted to populousness discover, from the quantity of spiders' webs, the number of the in- of Rome. habitants of Rome. A more rational method of enquiry might not have been undeserving of the attention of the wisest princes, who could easily have resolyed a question so important for the Roman government, and so interesting to succeeding ages. The births and deaths of the citizens were duly registered; and if any writer of antiquity had condescended to mention the annual amount, or the common average, we might now produce some satisfactory calculation, which would destroy the extravagant assertions of critics, and perhaps confirm the modest and probable conjectures of philosophers (66). The most diligent researches have collected only the following circumstances; which, slight and imperfect as they are, may tend, in some degree, to illustrate the question of the populousness of ancient Rome. I. When the capital of the empire was besieged by the Goths, the circuit of the walls was accurately measured, by Ammonius, the mathematician, who found it equal to twenty-one miles (67). It should not be forgotten that the form of the city was almost that of a circle; the geometrical figure which is known to contain the largest space within any given circumference. II. The architect Vitruvius, who flourished in the Augustan age, and hiring a great room, and reading his play to the company, whom he invited for that purpose. (See Dialog. de Oratoribus, c. 9. 11. and Plin. Epistol. vii. 17.) (64) See the Dialogue of Lucian, entitled de Saltatione, tom. ii. p. 265-317. edit. Reitz. The pantomimes obtained the honourable name of et postpot; and it was required, that they should be conversant with almost every art and science. Burette (in the Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, tom. i. p. 127, &c.) has given a short history of the art of pantomimes. (65) Ammianus, 1. xiv. c. 6. He complains, with decent indignation, that the streets of Rome were filled with crowds of females, who might have given children to the state, but whose only occupation was to curl and dress their hair, and jactari volubilibus gyris, dum exprimunt innumera simulacra, quæ finxere fabulæ theatrales. (66) Lipsius (tom. iii. p. 423. de Magnitud. Romana, 1. iii. c. 3.) and Isaac Vossius (Observat. Var. p. 26-34.) have indulged strange dreams of four, or eight, or fourteen millions in Rome. Mr. Hume (Essays, vol. i. p. 450-457.), with admirable good sense and scepticism, betrays some secret disposition to extenuate the populousness of ancient times. (67) Olympiodor. ap. Phot. p. 197. See Fabricius, Bibl. Graec. tom. ix. p. 400. whose evidence, on this occasion, has peculiar weight and authority, observes, that the innumerable habitations of the Roman people would have spread themselves far beyond the narrow limits of the city; and that the want of ground, which was probably contracted on every side by gardens and villas, suggested the common, though inconvenient, practice of raising the houses to a considerable height in the air (68). But the loftiness of these buildings, which often consisted of hasty work and insufficient materials, was the cause of frequent and fatal accidents; and it was repeatedly enacted by Augustus, as well as by Nero, that the height of private edifices within the walls of Rome, should not exceed the measure of seventy feet from the ground (69). III. Juvenal (70) laments, as it should seem from his own experience, the hardships of the poorer citizens, to whom he addresses the salutary advice of emigrating, without delay, from the smoke of Rome, since they might purchase, in the little towns of Italy, a cheerful commodious dwelling, at the same price, which they annually paid for a dark and miserable lodging. House-rent was therefore immoderately dear : the rich acquired, at an enormous expense, the ground, which they covered with palaces, and gardens; but the body of the Roman people was crowded into a narrow space; and the different floors, and apartments, of the same house, were divided, as it is still the custom of Paris, and other cities, among several families of plebeians. IV. The total number of houses in the fourteen regions of the city, is accurately stated in the description of Rome, composed under the reign of Theodosius, and they amount to forty-eight thousand three hundred and eighty-two (71). The two classes of domus and of insule, into which they are divided, include all the habitations of the capital, of every rank and condition, from the marble palace of the Anicii, with a numerous establishment of freedmen and slaves, to the lofty and narrow lodging-house, where the poet Codrus, and his wife, were (68) In ea autem majestate urbis, et civium infinita frequentia innumerabiles habitationes opus fuit explicare. Ergo cum recipere non posset area plana tantam multitudinem in urbe, ad auxilium altitudinis ædificiorum res ipsa coëgit devenire. Vitruv. ii. 8. This passage, which I owe to Vcssius, is clear, strong, and comprehensive. (69) The successive testimonies of Pliny, Aristides, Claudian, Rutilius, &c. prove the insufficiency of these restrictive edicts. See Lipsius, de Magnitud. Romanâ, 1. iii. c. 4. (70) Read the whole third satire, but particularly 166. 223. &c. The description of a crowded insula, or lodging-house, in Petronius (c. 95. 97.), perfectly tallies with the complaints of Juvenal; and we learn from legal authority, that, in the time of Augustus (Heineccius, Hist. Juris. Roman. c. iv. p. 181.), the ordinary rent of the several conacula, or apartments of an insula, annually produced forty thousand sesterces, between three and four hundred pounds sterling (Pandect. 1. xix. tit. ii. No. 30.), a sum which proves at once the large extent, and high value, of those common buildings. (71) This sum total is composed of 1780 domus, or great houses, of 46,602 insulæ, or plebeian habitations (see Nardini, Roma Antica, 1. iii. p. 88.); and these numbers are ascertained by the agreement of the texts of the different Notitie. Nardini, 1. viii. p. 498. 500. permitted to hire a wretched garret immediately under the tiles. If we adopt the same average, which, under similar circumstances, has been found applicable to Paris (72), and indifferently allow about twenty-five persons for each house, of every degree, we may fairly estimate the inhabitants of Rome at twelve hundred thousand: a number which cannot be thought excessive for the capital of a mighty empire, though it exceeds the populousness of the greatest cities of modern Europe (73). Rome by the Such was the state of Rome under the reign of Honorius; at the First siege of time when the Gothic army formed the siege, or rather the blockade, of the city (74). By a skilful disposition of his numerous forces, who impatiently watched the moment of an assault, Alaric encompassed the walls, commanded the twelve principal gates, intercepted all communication with the adjacent country, and vigilantly guarded the navigation of the Tiber, from which the Romans derived the surest and most plentiful supply of provisions. The first emotions of the nobles, and of the people, were those of surprise and indignation, that a vile Barbarian should dare to insult the capital of the world: but their arrogance was soon humbled by misfortune; and their unmanly rage, instead of being directed against an enemy in arms, was meanly exercised on a defenceless and innocent victim. Perhaps in the person of Serena, the Romans might have respected the niece of Theodosius, the aunt, nay even the adoptive mother, of the reigning emperor: but they abhorred the widow of Stilicho; and they listened with credulous passion to the tale of calumny, which accused her of maintaining a secret and criminal correspondence with the Gothic invader. Actuated, or overawed, by the same popular frenzy, the senate, without requiring any evidence of her guilt, pronounced the sentence of her death. Serena was ignominiously strangled; and the infatuated multitude were astonished to find, that this cruel act of injustice did not immediately produce the retreat of the Barbarians, and the deliverance of the city. That unfortunate city gradually experienced the distress of scarcity, and at length the horrid calamities of famine. The daily allowance of three pounds of bread was reduced to one-half, to one-third, to nothing; and the price of corn still continued to rise in a rapid and extravagant proportion. The poorer citizens, who were unable to purchase the necessaries of life, solicited the precarious charity of Famine. (72) See that accurate writer M. de Messance, Recherches sur la Population, p. 175-187. From probable, or certain grounds, he assigns to Paris 23,565 houses, 71,114 families, and 576,630 inba bitants. (73) This computation is not very different from that which M. Brotier, the last editor of Tacitus (tom. ii. p. 380.), has assumed from similar principles; though he seems to aim at a degree of precision, which it is neither possible nor important to obtain. (74) For the events of the first siege of Rome, which are often confounded with those of the second and third, see Zosimus, 1. v. p. 350-354. Sozomen, l. ix. c. 6. Olympiodorus, ap. Phot. p. 180. Philostorgius, 1. xii. c. 3. and Godefroy, Dissertat. p. 467-475. the rich; and for a while the public misery was alleviated by the humanity of Læta, the widow of the emperor Gratian, who had fixed her residence at Rome, and consecrated, to the use of the indigent, the princely revenue, which she annually received from the grateful successors of her husband (75). But these private and temporary donatives were insufficient to appease the hunger of a numerous people; and the progress of famine invaded the marble palaces of the senators themselves. The persons of both sexes, who had been educated in the enjoyment of ease and luxury, discovered how little is requisite to supply the demands of nature; and lavished their unavailing treasures of gold and silver, to obtain the coarse and scanty sustenance which they would formerly have rejected with disdain. The food the most repugnant to sense or imagination, the aliments the most unwholesome or pernicious to the constitution, were eagerly devoured, and fiercely disputed, by the rage of hunger. A dark suspicion was entertained, that some desperate wretches fed on the bodies of their fellow-creatures, whom they had secretly murdered; and even mothers (such was the horrid conflict of the two most powerful instincts implanted by nature in the human breast), even mothers are said to have tasted the flesh of their slaughtered infants (76)! Many thousands of the inhabitants of Rome expired in their houses, or in the streets, for want of sustenance; and as the public sepulchres without the walls were in the power of the enemy, the stench, which arose from so many putrid and unburied carcasses, infected the air; and the miseries of famine were succeeded and aggravated by the contagion of a pestilential disease. The assurances of speedy and effectual relief, which were repeatedly transmitted from the court of Ravenna, supported, for some time, the fainting resolution of the Romans, till at length the despair of any human aid tempted them to accept the offers of a Superstition. præternatural deliverance. Pompeianus, præfect of the city, had been persuaded, by the art or fanaticism of some Tuscan diviners, that, by the mysterious force of spells and sacrifices, they could extract the lightning from the clouds, and point those celestial fires against the camp of the Barbarians (77). The important secret Plague. (75) The mother of Læta was named Pissumena, Her father, family, and country, are unknown. Ducange, Fam. Byzantin. p. 59. (76) Ad nefandos cibos erupit esurientium rabies, et sua invicem membra laniarunt, dum mater non parcit lactenti infantiæ; et recipit utero, quem paullo ante effuderat. Jerom ad Principiam, tom. i. p. 121. The same horrid circumstance is likewise told of the sieges of Jerusalem and Paris. For the latter, compare the tenth book of the Henriade, and the Journal de Henri IV. tom. i. p. 47 -83.; and observe, that a plain narrative of facts is much more pathetic than the most laboured descriptions of epic poetry. (77) Zosimus (1. v. p. 355, 356.) speaks of these ceremonies, like a Greek unacquainted with the national superstition of Rome and Tuscany. I suspect, that they consisted of two parts, the secret, and the public; the former were probably an imitation of the arts and spells, by which Numa had drawn down Jupiter and his thunder on Mount Aventine. · Quid agant laqueis, quæ carmina dicant, |