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amples are recorded in the age of Honorius, of vain and popular nobles, who celebrated the year of their prætorship by a festival, which lasted seven days, and cost above one hundred thousand pounds sterling. The estates of the Roman senators, which so far exceeded the proportion of modern wealth, were not confined to the limits of Italy. Their possessions extended far beyond the Ionian and Egean seas, to the most distant provinces; the city of Nicopolis, which Augustus had founded as an eternal monument of the Actian victory, was the property of the devout Paula; and it is observed by Seneca, that the rivers which had divided hostile nations, now flowed through the lands of private citizens. According to their temper and circumstances, the estates of the Romans were either cultivated by the labour of their slaves, or granted, for a certain and stipulated rent, to the industrious farmer. The economical writers of antiquity strenuously recommend the former method, wherever it may be practicable; but if the object should be removed by its distance or magnitude, from the immediate eye of the master, they prefer the active care of an old hereditary tenant, attached to the

The sons of Alypius, of Symmachus, and of Maximus, spent, during their respective prætorships, twelve, or twenty, or forty centenaries (or hundred weight o gold). See Olympiodor. ap. Phot. p. 197. This popular estimation allows some latitude; but it is difficult to explain a law in the Theodosian code, (lib. 6. leg. 5.) which fixes the expense of the first prætor at twenty-five thousand, of the second at twenty thousand, and of the third at fifteen thousand folles. The name of follis (see Mem. de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. 27. p. 727.) was equally applied to a purse of one hundred and twenty-five pieces of silver, and to a small copper coin of the value of part of that purse. In the former sense, the twenty-five thousand folles would be equal to 150,000l. in the latter to five or six pounds sterling. The one appears extravagant, the other is ridiculous. There must have existed some third, and middle value, which is here understood; but ambiguity is an excusable fault in the language of laws.

est.

e Nicopolis...in Actiaco littore sita possessionis vestræ nunc pars vel maxima Jerom. in præfat. Comment. ad Epistol. ad Titum, tom. 9. p. 243. M. de Tillemont supposes, strangely enough, that it was part of Agamemnon's inheritance. Mem. Eccles. tom. 12. p. 85.

Seneca, epist. 89. His language is of the declamatory kind: but declamation could scarcely exaggerate the avarice and luxury of the Romans. The philosopher himself deserved some share of the reproach; if it be true that his rigorous exaction of Quadringenties, above three hundred thousand pounds, which he had lent at high interest, provoked a rebellion in Britain. (Dion Cassius, lib 62. p. 1003.) According to the conjecture of Gale (Antoninus's Itinerary in Britain, p. 92.) the same Faustinus possessed an estate near Bury, in Suffolk, and another in the kingdom of Naples.

soil, and interested in the produce, to the mercenary administration of a negligent, perhaps an unfaithful steward. g

Their

The opulentnobles of an immense capital, who manners. were never excited by the pursuit of military glory, and seldom engaged in the occupations of civil government, naturally resigned their leisure to the business and amusements of private life. At Rome, commerce was always held in contempt; but the senators, from the first age of the republic, increased their patrimony, and multiplied their clients, by the lucrative practice of usury; and the obsolete laws were eluded, or violated, by the mutual inclinations and interest of both parties." A considerable mass of treasure must always have existed at Rome, either in the current coin of the empire, or in the form of gold and silver plate; and there were many sideboards in the time of Pliny, which contained more solid silver, than had been transported by Scipio from vanquished Carthage. The greater part of the nobles, who dissipated their fortunes in profuse luxury, found themselves poor in the midst of wealth; and idle in a constant round of dissipation. Their desires were continually gratified by the labour of a thousand hands; of the numerous train of their domestic slaves, who were actuated by the fear of punishment; and of the various professions of artificers and merchants, who were more powerfully impelled by the hopes of gain. The ancients were destitute of many of the conveniencies of life, which have been invented or im

i

* Volusius, a wealthy senator, (Tacit. Annal. 3. 30.) always preferred tenants born on the estate. Columella, who received this maxim from him, argues very judiciously on the subject. De Re Rusticâ, lib. 1. c. 7. p. 408. edit. Gesner, Leipsig, 1735.

h Valesius (ad Ammian. 14. 6.) has proved, from Chrysostom and Augustin, that the senators were not allowed to lend money at usury. Yet it appears from the Theodosian Code, (see Godefroy ad lib. 2. tit. 33. tom. 1. p. 230-289.) that they were permitted to take six per cent. or one half of the legal interest; and, what is more singular, this permission was granted to the young senators.

i Plin. Hist. Natur. 33. 50. He states the silver at only four thousand three hundred and eighty pounds, which is increased by Livy (30. 45.) to one hundred thousand and twenty-three: the former seems too little for an opulent city, the latter too much for any private sideboard.

proved by the progress of industry; and the plenty of glass and linen has diffused more real comforts among the modern nations of Europe, than the senators of Rome could derive from all the refinements of pompous or sensual luxury. Their luxury, and their manners, have been the subject of minute and laborious disquisition; but as such inquiries would divert me too long from the design of the present work, I shall produce an authentic state of Rome and its inhabitants, which is more peculiarly applicable to the period of the Gothic invasion. Ammianus Marcellinus, who prudently chose the capital of the empire, as the residence the best adapted to the historian of his own times, has mixed with the narrative of public events, a lively representation of the scenes with which he was familiarly conversant. The judicious reader will not always approve the asperity of censure, the choice of circumstances, or the style of expression: he will perhaps detect the latent prejudices, and personal resentments, which soured the temper of Ammianus himself; but he will surely observe, with philosophic curiosity, the interesting and original picture of the manners of Rome.'

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Ammianus

Character "The greatness of Rome (such is the lanof the Ro- guage of the historian) was founded on the rare, and almost incredible alliance of virtue Marcelli- and of fortune. The long period of her infancy was employed in a laborious struggle against the tribes of Italy, the neighbours and enemies of the rising city. In the strength and ardour of youth, she sustained the storms of war; carried her victorious

nus.

* The learned Arbuthnot (Tables of Ancient Coins, &c. p. 153.) has observed, with humour, and I believe with truth, that Augustus had neither glass to his windows, nor a shirt to his back. Under the lower empire, the use of linen and glass became somewhat more common.

It is incumbent on me to explain the liberties which I have taken with the text of Ammianus. 1. I have melted down into one piece the sixth chapter of the fourteenth, and the fourth of the twenty-eighth book. 2. I have given order and connexion to the confused mass of materials. 3. I have softened some extravagant hyperboles, and pared away some superfluities of the original. 4. I have developed some observations which were insinuated rather than expressed. With these allowances, my version will be found not literal indeed, but faithful and exact.

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arms beyond the seas and the mountains; and brought home triumphant laurels from every country of the globe. At length, verging towards old age, and sometimes conquering by the terror only of her name, she sought the blessings of ease and tranquillity. The VENERABLE CITY, which had trampled on the necks of the fiercest nations, and established a system of laws, the perpetual guardians of justice and freedom, was content, like a wise and wealthy parent, to devolve on the Cæsars, her favourite sons, the care of governing her ample patrimony." A secure and profound peace, such as had been once enjoyed in the reign of Numa, succeeded to the tumults of a republic; while Rome was still adored as the queen of the earth; and the subject nations still reverenced the name of the people, and the majesty of the senate. But this native splendour (continues Ammianus) is degraded, and sullied, by the conduct of some nobles; who, unmindful of their own dignity, and of that of their country, assume an unbounded licence of vice and folly. They contend with each other in the empty vanity of titles and surnames; and curiously select, or invent, the most lofty and sonorous appellations, Reburrus, or Fabunius, Pagonius, or Tarrasius," which may impress the ears of the vulgar with astonishment and respect. From a vain ambition of perpetuating their memory, they affect to multiply their likeness, in statues of bronze and marble; nor are they satisfied, unless those statues are covered with plates of gold: an honourable distinction, first granted

Claudian, who seems to have read the history of Ammianus, speaks of this great revolution in a much less courtly style :

Postquam jura ferox ad se communia Cæsar
Transtulit; et lapsi mores; desuetaque priscis
Artibus, in gremium pacis servile recessi.

De Bell. Gildonico, p. 49.

The minute diligence of antiquarians has not been able to verify these extraordinary names. I am of opinion that they were invented by the historian himself, who was afraid of any personal satire or application. It is certain, however, that the simple denominations of the Romans were gradually lengthened to the number of four, five, or even seven, pompous surnames; as for instance, Marcus Meciua Mæmmius Furius Balburius Cæcilianus Placidus. See Noris Cenotaph. Pisan. Dissert. 4. p. 438.

to Acilius the consul, after he had subdued, by his arms and counsels, the power of king Antiochus. The ostentation of displaying, of magnifying, perhaps, the rent-roll of the estates which they possess in all the provinces, from the rising to the setting sun, provokes the just resentment of every man, who recollects, that their poor and invincible ancestors were not distinguished from the meanest of the soldiers, by the delicacy of their food, or the splendour of their apparel. But the modern nobles measure their rank and consequence according to the loftiness of their chariots, and the weighty magnificence of their dress. Their long robes of silk and purple float in the wind; and as they are agitated, by art or accident, they occasionally discover the under garments, the rich tunics, embroidered with the figures of various animals." Followed by a train of fifty servants, and tearing up the pavement, they move along the streets with the same impetuous speed as if they travelled with post-horses; and the example of the senators is boldly imitated by the matrons and ladies, whose covered carriages are continually driving round the immense space of the city and suburbs. Whenever these persons of high distinction condescend to visit the public baths, they assume, on their entrance, a tone of loud and insolent command, and appropriate to their own use the conveniences which were designed for the Roman people. If, in these places of mixed and general resort, they meet

• The carruca, or coaches of the Romans, were often of solid silver, curiously carved and engraved; and the trappings of the mules, or horses, were embossed with gold. This magnificence continued from the reign of Nero to that of Honorius; and the Appian way was covered with the splendid equipages of the nobles, who came out to meet St. Melania, when she returned to Rome, six years before the Gothic siege. (Seneca, epist. 87. Plin. Hist. Natur. 33. 49. Paulin. Nolan. apud Baron. Annal. Eccles. A. D. 397. no. 5.) Yet pomp is well exchanged for convenience; and a plain modern coach that is hung upon springs, is much preferable to the silver or gold carts of antiquity, which rolled on the axle-tree, and were exposed, for the most part, to the inclemency of the weather.

P In a homily of Asterius, bishop of Amasia, M. de Valois has discovered, (ad Ammian. 14. 6.) that this was a new fashion; that bears, wolves, lions, and tigers, woods, hunting matches, &c. were represented in embroidery; and that the more pious coxcombs substituted the figure or legend of some favourite saint,

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