Barbarians.—Part II.
"The marbles of the Anician palace," were used as a proverbial
expression of opulence and splendor; but the nobles and senators of
Rome aspired, in due gradation, to imitate that illustrious family. The
accurate description of the city, which was composed in the Theodosian
age, enumerates one thousand seven hundred and eighty houses, the
residence of wealthy and honorable citizens. Many of these stately
mansions might almost excuse the exaggeration of the poet; that Rome
contained a multitude of palaces, and that each palace was equal to a
city: since it included within its own precincts every thing which could
be subservient either to use or luxury; markets, hippodromes, temples,
fountains, baths, porticos, shady groves, and artificial aviaries. The
historian Olympiodorus, who represents the state of Rome when it was
besieged by the Goths, continues to observe, that several of the richest
senators received from their estates an annual income of four thousand
pounds of gold, above one hundred and sixty thousand pounds sterling;
without computing the stated provision of corn and wine, which, had they
been sold, might have equalled in value one third of the money. Compared
to this immoderate wealth, an ordinary revenue of a thousand or fifteen
hundred pounds of gold might be considered as no more than adequate to
the dignity of the senatorian rank, which required many expenses of a
public and ostentatious kind. Several examples 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 Ægean 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 labor 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 soil, and interested in the produce,
to the mercenary administration of a negligent, perhaps an unfaithful,
steward.
The opulent nobles of an immense capital, who 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 labor 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 conveniences of life, which have been
invented or improved 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 disposition:
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 of 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.
"The greatness of Rome"—such is the language of the historian—"was
founded on the rare, and almost incredible, alliance of virtue and of
fortune. The long period of her infancy was employed in a laborious
struggle against the tribes of Italy, the neighbors and enemies of
the rising city. In the strength and ardor of youth, she sustained
the storms of war; carried her victorious arms beyond the seas and the
mountains; and brought home triumphal 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 favorite 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 splendor," 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
license 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
Tarasius, 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
honorable distinction, first granted 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
splendor 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 any of the infamous
ministers of their pleasures, they express their affection by a
tender embrace; while they proudly decline the salutations of their
fellow-citizens, who are not permitted to aspire above the honor of
kissing their hands, or their knees. As soon as they have indulged
themselves in the refreshment of the bath, they resume their rings, and
the other ensigns of their dignity, select from their private wardrobe
of the finest linen, such as might suffice for a dozen persons, the
garments the most agreeable to their fancy, and maintain till their
departure the same haughty demeanor; which perhaps might have been
excused in the great Marcellus, after the conquest of Syracuse.
Sometimes, indeed, these heroes undertake more arduous achievements;
they visit their estates in Italy, and procure themselves, by the toil
of servile hands, the amusements of the chase. If at any time, but more
especially on a hot day, they have courage to sail, in their painted
galleys, from the Lucrine Lake to their elegant villas on the seacoast
of Puteoli and Cayeta, they compare their own expeditions to the marches
of Cæsar and Alexander. Yet should a fly presume to settle on the
silken folds of their gilded umbrellas; should a sunbeam penetrate
through some unguarded and imperceptible chink, they deplore their
intolerable hardships, and lament, in affected language, that they were
not born in the land of the Cimmerians, the regions of eternal darkness.
In these journeys into the country, the whole body of the household
marches with their master. In the same manner as the cavalry and
infantry, the heavy and the light armed troops, the advanced guard and
the rear, are marshalled by the skill of their military leaders; so the
domestic officers, who bear a rod, as an ensign of authority, distribute
and arrange the numerous train of slaves and attendants. The baggage and
wardrobe move in the front; and are immediately followed by a multitude
of cooks, and inferior ministers, employed in the service of the
kitchens, and of the table. The main body is composed of a promiscuous
crowd of slaves, increased by the accidental concourse of idle or
dependent plebeians. The rear is closed by the favorite band of eunuchs,
distributed from age to youth, according to the order of seniority.
Their numbers and their deformity excite the horror of the indignant
spectators, who are ready to execrate the memory of Semiramis, for the
cruel art which she invented, of frustrating the purposes of nature, and
of blasting in the bud the hopes of future generations. In the exercise
of domestic jurisdiction, the nobles of Rome express an exquisite
sensibility for any personal injury, and a contemptuous indifference for
the rest of the human species. When they have called for warm water, if
a slave has been tardy in his obedience, he is instantly chastised with
three hundred lashes: but should the same slave commit a wilful murder,
the master will mildly observe, that he is a worthless fellow; but that,
if he repeats the offence, he shall not escape punishment. Hospitality
was formerly the virtue of the Romans; and every stranger, who could
plead either merit or misfortune, was relieved, or rewarded by their
generosity. At present, if a foreigner, perhaps of no contemptible rank,
is introduced to one of the proud and wealthy senators, he is welcomed
indeed in the first audience, with such warm professions, and such
kind inquiries, that he retires, enchanted with the affability of his
illustrious friend, and full of regret that he had so long delayed
his journey to Rome, the active seat of manners, as well as of empire.
Secure of a favorable reception, he repeats his visit the ensuing day,
and is mortified by the discovery, that his person, his name, and his
country, are already forgotten. If he still has resolution to persevere,
he is gradually numbered in the train of dependants, and obtains the
permission to pay his assiduous and unprofitable court to a haughty
patron, incapable of gratitude or friendship; who scarcely deigns to
remark his presence, his departure, or his return. Whenever the rich
prepare a solemn and popular entertainment; whenever they celebrate,
with profuse and pernicious luxury, their private banquets; the choice
of the guests is the subject of anxious deliberation. The modest, the
sober, and the learned, are seldom preferred; and the nomenclators, who
are commonly swayed by interested motives, have the address to insert,
in the list of invitations, the obscure names of the most worthless
of mankind. But the frequent and familiar companions of the great, are
those parasites, who practise the most useful of all arts, the art of
flattery; who eagerly applaud each word, and every action, of their
immortal patron; gaze with rapture on his marble columns and variegated
pavements; and strenuously praise the pomp and elegance which he is
taught to consider as a part of his personal merit. At the Roman tables,
the birds, the squirrels or the fish, which appear of an uncommon size,
are contemplated with curious attention; a pair of scales is accurately
applied, to ascertain their real weight; and, while the more rational
guests are disgusted by the vain and tedious repetition, notaries
are summoned to attest, by an authentic record, the truth of such a
marvelous event. Another method of introduction into the houses and
society of the great, is derived from the profession of gaming, or, as
it is more politely styled, of play. The confederates are united by a
strict and indissoluble bond of friendship, or rather of conspiracy;
a superior degree of skill in the Tesserarian art (which may be
interpreted the game of dice and tables) is a sure road to wealth
and reputation. A master of that sublime science, who in a supper, or
assembly, is placed below a magistrate, displays in his countenance the
surprise and indignation which Cato might be supposed to feel, when he
was refused the prætorship by the votes of a capricious people. The
acquisition of knowledge seldom engages the curiosity of nobles, who
abhor the fatigue, and disdain the advantages, of study; and the only
books which they peruse are the Satires of Juvenal, and the verbose and
fabulous histories of Marius Maximus. The libraries, which they have
inherited from their fathers, are secluded, like dreary sepulchres, from
the light of day. But the costly instruments of the theatre, flutes, and
enormous lyres, and hydraulic organs, are constructed for their use; and
the harmony of vocal and instrumental music is incessantly repeated in
the palaces of Rome. In those palaces, sound is preferred to sense, and
the care of the body to that of the mind. It is allowed as a salutary
maxim, that the light and frivolous suspicion of a contagious malady, is
of sufficient weight to excuse the visits of the most intimate friends;
and even the servants, who are despatched to make the decent inquiries,
are not suffered to return home, till they have undergone the
ceremony of a previous ablution. Yet this selfish and unmanly delicacy
occasionally yields to the more imperious passion of avarice. The
prospect of gain will urge a rich and gouty senator as far as Spoleto;
every sentiment of arrogance and dignity is subdued by the hopes of an
inheritance, or even of a legacy; and a wealthy childless citizen is
the most powerful of the Romans. The art of obtaining the signature of
a favorable testament, and sometimes of hastening the moment of its
execution, is perfectly understood; and it has happened, that in the
same house, though in different apartments, a husband and a wife, with
the laudable design of overreaching each other, have summoned their
respective lawyers, to declare, at the same time, their mutual, but
contradictory, intentions. The distress which follows and chastises
extravagant luxury, often reduces the great to the use of the most
humiliating expedients. When they desire to borrow, they employ the base
and supplicating style of the slave in the comedy; but when they are
called upon to pay, they assume the royal and tragic declamation of the
grandsons of Hercules. If the demand is repeated, they readily procure
some trusty sycophant, instructed to maintain a charge of poison,
or magic, against the insolent creditor; who is seldom released from
prison, till he has signed a discharge of the whole debt. These vices,
which degrade the moral character of the Romans, are mixed with a
puerile superstition, that disgraces their understanding. They listen
with confidence to the predictions of haruspices, who pretend to
read, in the entrails of victims, the signs of future greatness and
prosperity; and there are many who do not presume either to bathe, or
to dine, or to appear in public, till they have diligently consulted,
according to the rules of astrology, the situation of Mercury, and the
aspect of the moon. It is singular enough, that this vain credulity may
often be discovered among the profane sceptics, who impiously doubt, or
deny, the existence of a celestial power."