II. CHAP. was irrecoverably given away to foreign and hof tile nations 106. The annual lofs is computed, by a writer of an inquifitive but cenforious temper, at upwards of eight hundred thousand pounds fterling 107. Such was the ftyle of dif content, brooding over the dark profpect of approaching poverty. And yet if we compare the proportion between gold and filver as it flood in the time of Pliny, and as it was fixed in the reign of Constantine, we fhall difcover within that period a very confiderable increafe 8. There is not the leaft reason to fuppofe that gold was become more fcarce; it is therefore evident that filver was grown more common; that whatever might be the amount of the Indian and Arabian exports, they were far from exhaufting the wealth of the Roman world; and that the produce of the mines abundantly fupplied the demands of General felicity. commerce. Notwithstanding the propenfity of mankind to exalt the past, and to depreciate the prefent, the tranquil and profperous ftate of the empire was warmly felt, and honeftly confeffed, by the provincials as well as Romans. "They acknow"ledged that the true principles of focial life, laws, agriculture, and fcience, which had been "firft invented by the wisdom of Athens, were "now firmly established by the power of Rome, 106 Tacit. Annal. iii. 52. In a speech of Tiberius. 107 Plin. Hift. Natur. xii. 18. In another place he computes half that fum; Quingenties H. S. for India exclufive of Arabia. 108 The proportion which was I to 10, and 121, rose to 143, the legal regulation of Conftantine. See Arbuthnot's Tables of ancient Coins, c. 5. "under II. "under whofe aufpicious influence the fierceft CHA P. " barbarians were united by an equal govern"ment and common language. They affirm, "that with the improvement of arts, the human 66 fpecies was vifibly multiplied. They cele"brate the increafing fplendour of the cities, "the beautiful face of the country, cultivated "and adorned like an immenfe garden; and "the long festival of peace, which was enjoyed. "by fo many nations, forgetful of their ancient "animofities, and delivered from the apprehen"fion of future danger 109" Whatever fufpicions may be fuggefted by the air of rhetoric and declamation, which feems to prevail in these paffages, the fubftance of them is perfectly agreeable to hiftoric truth. courage; It was fcarcely poffible that the eyes of contem- Decline of poraries fhould discover in the public felicity the latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a flow and fecret poifon into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the fame level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated. The natives of Europe were brave and robuft. Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Illyricum, fupplied the legions with excellent foldiers, and conftituted the real ftrength of the monarchy. Their perfonal valour remained, but they no longer poffeffed that public courage which is nourished by the love of independ 109 Among many other paffages, fee Pliny (Hift. Natur. iii. 5.), Ariftides (de Urbe Româ), and Tertullian (de Animâ, c. 30.). ence, CHAP. ence, the fenfe of national honour, the prefence II. of genius. of danger, and the habit of command. They received laws and governors from the will of their fovereign, and trufted for their defence to a mercenary army. The pofterity of their boldeft leaders was contented with the rank of citizens and fubjects. The moft afpiring fpirits reforted to the court or ftandard of the emperors; and the deferted provinces, deprived of political ftrength or union, infenfibly funk into the languid indifference of private life. The love of letters, almost infeparable from peace and refinement, was fashionable among the fubjects of Hadrian and the Antonines, who were themselves men of learning and curiofity. It was diffused over the whole extent of their empire; the most northern tribes of Britons had acquired a tafte for rhetoric; Homer as well as Virgil were tranfcribed and studied on the banks of the Rhine and Danube; and the most liberal rewards fought out the fainteft glimmerings of literary merit. The fciences of phyfic and aftronomy 110 Herodes Atticus gave the fophift Polemo above eight thousand O Juvenes, circumfpicit et agitat vos, Satir. vii. 20. were were fuccefsfully cultivated by the Greeks; the obfervations of Ptolemy and the writings of Galen are ftudied by thofe who have improved their discoveries and corrected their errors; but if we except the inimitable Lucian, this age of indolence paffed away without having produced a fingle writer of original genius, or who excelled in the arts of elegant compofition. The authority of Plato and Aristotle, of Zeno and Epicurus, ftill reigned in the schools; and their fyftems, transmitted with blind deference from one generation of difciples to another, precluded every generous attempt to exercife the powers, or enlarge the limits, of the human mind. The beauties of the poets and orators, inftead of kindling a fire like their own, infpired only cold and fervile imitations: or if any ventured to deviate from thofe models, they deviated at the fame time from good fenfe and propriety. On the revival of letters, the youthful vigour of the imagination, after a long repofe, national emulation, a new religion, new languages, and a new world, called forth the genius of Europe. But the provincials of Rome, trained by an uniform artificial foreign education, were engaged in a very unequal competition with those bold ancients, who, by expreffing their genuine feelings in their native tongue, had already occupied every place of honour. The name of Poet was almost forgotten; that of Orator was ufurped by the fophifts. A cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators, darkened the face of learning, and С НА Р. II. CHA P. and the decline of genius was foon followed by II. Degeneracy. the corruption of taste. The fublime Longinus, who in fomewhat a later period, and in the court of a Syrian Queen, preferved the spirit of ancient Athens, obferves and laments this degeneracy of his contemporaries, which debafed their fentiments, enervated their courage, and depreffed their talents. "In the fame manner," fays he, " as fome "children always remain pigmies, whofe infant "limbs have been too clofely confined; thus our tender minds, fettered by the prejudices " and habits of a juft fervitude, are unable to "expand themselves, or to attain that well"proportioned greatnefs which we admire in "the ancients; who, living under a popular 66 government, wrote with the fame freedom as "they acted" This diminutive ftature of mankind, if we purfue the metaphor, was daily finking below the old standard, and the Roman world was indeed peopled by a race of pigmies; when the fierce giants of the north broke in, and mended the puny breed. They restored a manly fpirit of freedom; and after the revolution of ten centuries, freedom became the happy parent of taste and science. In Longin. de Sublim. c. 43. p. 229. edit. Toll. Here too we may fay of Longinus, "his own example strengthens all his laws." ftead of propofing his fentiments with a manly boldness, he infinuates them with the most guarded caution; puts them into the mouth of a friend, and as far as we can collect from a corrupted text, makes a thew of refuting them himself. |