and affociations, and to fhelter its inhabitants under the patronage of fome great patrician. The profufion and extravagance of the rich were difplayed in the celebration of the public games. The combats of gladiators, and the races of charioteers, were exhibited to the diffolute crowds, who, indulging only the impulfe of a childifh curiofity, spent whole days in the Circus. The fatirift Juvenal uses thofe ftrong expreffions, which are characteristic of the manners of these times, when he fays, that the Roman populace had no anxiety but for two objects-" bread and the public games!." The licentious productions of the stage, inflamed the paffions of youth, vitiated the general tafte, and encouraged diffipation and immorality of conduct in perfons of every clafs. II. From the deftruction of Carthage may be traced the gradual progrefs of Luxury. It began to be prevalent as foon as the precious metals were introduced in abundance from the conquered provinces. Voluptuoufness ufurped the place of temperance, indolence fucceeded to activity; felf-intereft, fenfuality, and avarice, totally extinguished that ardour, which in ancient times had glowed in every breaft for the public good. The ftreams of wealth, that flowed into Rome at the decline of the common qui dabat olim Imperium, fafces, legiones, omnia; nunc fe Continet, atque duas tantum res anxius optat, Sat. x. 78. wealth, wealth, were fuch as almoft exceed belief". Yet the expences of their luxurious feafts, their fpacious palaces, coftly furniture, drefs, and plate, and their pictures and ftatues, caufed the opulent Romans fometimes to exceed their great revenues. No lefs than eighteen elegant villas, fituated in the most delightful parts of Italy, were poffeffed by Cicero ; and as if the land was not fufficient to gratify the caprice of a Roman of fashion, the Lucrine lakes and the fhores of Baiæ were occupied by houfes which were extended into the water. Such was the complaint of Horace, when declaiming against the extravagant fashion of his time; and the ruins of many of thefe buildings now extant confirm the propriety, or rather the neceffity of his cenfures. Every nobleman in the reign of Tiberius had fuch numerous parties of flaves, that they were claffed according to their nations, and stationed in feparate divifions of his palaces. Seneca mentions fingle fuppers given with fuch profufion of coftly fare, as to confume the whole eftate of a Roman knight. Apicius, the epicure, committed fuicide, because his fortune, unequal to the enormous demands of his depraved appetite, did not exceed the fum of eighty thoufand pounds. Cookery was ftudied as a complete fcience; the number and expenfe of difhes at every great feaft were incredible; and thefe extravagant banquets fævior armis Luxuria incubuit, victumque ulcifcitur orbem. Juven. Sat. vi. See the excellent note of Brotier, de Luxu Romanorum. Taci tus, tom. i. p. 402. 4to. edit. were. were enlivened by male and female dancers, muficians, and pantomines. The republic, which had long withstood the fhocks of external violence, fell a prey to profperity. Her gallant chiefs had viewed with undaunted eyes the approach of Hannibal, and defied the armies of Pyrrhus: but their degenerate defcendants,-even the pofterity of Fabius and of Scipio, enriched with the spoils of Greece, and furfeited with the luxuries of Afia, leaving their battles to be fought by barbarian mercenaries, funk fupine on beds of floth, and heard the trumpet of battle with difmay. Such indeed was the change of manners, that the character of the people was altered in the space of a century, and a general depravity was visible in all orders of the ftate. The Confuls, after having obtained their rank by intrigues and bribery, undertook their campaigns either to enrich themfelves with the fpoils of conquered nations, or to plunder the provinces of the allies under the pretence of defending them. From fuch unjustifiable practices were derived the immenfe treasures of Craffus, Lucullus, and Cæfar. And as the means of corruption increased, fo likewife in equal proportion did the difpofition to be corrupted. The populace, obfequious, indigent, and idle, were ready to follow any candidate, who was rich enough to purchafe their votes. The laws were not enforced to correct these abufes, as the magiftrates themselves beheld with approbation, or with indifference, the venality venality of the people. The adminiftration of government under many of the emperors, influenced by the caprice of themfelves or their favourites, was fometimes rigid, and fometimes relaxed: the tide of degeneracy flowed with the greatest rapidity, and fwept away all ranks in its current, To increase this train of deftructive evils, the mode of Education was completely changed. In more ancient times the noble matrons had taught their children the pure leffons of morality, and kept a ftrict watch over all their words and actions. The minds of the noble youth were directed to the study of the liberal arts, and whatever profeffion they followed, whether of the army or the law, they devoted themselves to that fingle purfuit, with clofe application. But in the later times of which we are fpeaking, the children were entrusted to the care, or rather were abandoned to the arts of mean and ignorant domeftics. The perfons chiefly employed for this purpose were indigent Greeks, who reforted in great numbers to Rome: their verfatile talents, infinuating manners, and grofs flattery, gained them admiffion into the families of the great, where they foon raised themfelves to places of confidence and emolument. Corrupted by the examples, and encouraged by the indulgence of fuch teachers, the young men foon affumed the character of licentioufnefs and effrontery. The fports of the field, and the diverfions of the Circus and the Theatre, became the fole topics of their converfation, and the darling objects of their purfuit, and no time was given F f VOL. I. to to the cultivation of the liberal arts, or the ftudy of the Roman or Grecian hiftory". Now were their opinions upon the moft important fubje&s lefs vitiated in early years by the progrefs of a fpecious and deftructive philofophy. The principles of Epicurus had been for fome time fathionable in Rome; and his difciples boldly denied the providence of a Supreme Ruler of the univeric, and openly maintained, that death was the extinction of all exiftence. The great Fabricius, aware of the pernicious tendency of fuch opinions, when he heard that Cinias, the philofopher, had made them the fubject of converfation at the table of Pyrrhus, exclaimed, "may the enemies of Rome ecer entertain fuck principles!" Fabricius would have been fully convinced of their pernicious effects, had he lived at a later period, when the noble youths of Rome were taught to defpife the ceremonies, and deride the maxims of their national belief, a firm adherence to which had been the glory of their ancestors, and had not only operated powerfully upon their martial efforts, but was clofely connected with the civil conftitution of the republic. This philofophy of Epicurus had the recommendation of great and attracting examples to make it popular; for it was adorned with the poetical graces of Lucretius, and honoured by the praite of Virgil: it was embraced by the fagacious Cæfar, and the accomplished Atticus. Quintil. de Oratoribus, p. 45 Ed. Lips. Juvenal, Sat. 3. The |