Barbarians.—Part II.
“The marbles of the Anician palace,” were used as a proverbial
expression of opulence and splendor; 23 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. 24 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. 25 The historian Olympiodorus, who represents the state
of Rome when it was besieged by the Goths, 26 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 praetorship by a
festival, which lasted seven days, and cost above one hundred
thousand pounds sterling. 27 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 Aegean 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; 28 and it is observed by Seneca, that the rivers, which
had divided hostile nations, now flowed through the lands of
private citizens. 29 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. 30
23 (return) [ Secundinus, the Manichaean, ap. Baron. Annal.
Eccles. A.D. 390, No. 34.]
24 (return) [ See Nardini, Roma Antica, p. 89, 498, 500.]
25 (return) [
Quid loquar inclusas inter laquearia sylvas; Vernula queis vario
carmine ludit avis.
Claud. Rutil. Numatian. Itinerar. ver. 111. The poet lived at the
time of the Gothic invasion. A moderate palace would have covered
Cincinnatus’s farm of four acres (Val. Max. iv. 4.) In laxitatem
ruris excurrunt, says Seneca, Epist. 114. See a judicious note of
Mr. Hume, Essays, vol. i. p. 562, last 8vo edition.]
26 (return) [ This curious account of Rome, in the reign of
Honorius, is found in a fragment of the historian Olympiodorus,
ap. Photium, p. 197.]
27 (return) [ The sons of Alypius, of Symmachus, and of Maximus,
spent, during their respective praetorships, twelve, or twenty,
or forty, centenaries, (or hundred weight of 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, (l. vi. leg. 5,) which fixes the expense of the first
praetor at 25,000, of the second at 20,000, and of the third at
15,000 folles. The name of follis (see Mem. de l’Academie des
Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 727) was equally applied to a purse
of 125 pieces of silver, and to a small copper coin of the value
of 1/2625 part of that purse. In the former sense, the 25,000
folles would be equal to 150,000 L.; in the latter, to five or
six ponuds 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.]
28 (return) [ Nicopolis...... in Actiaco littore sita
possessioris vestra nunc pars vel maxima est. Jerom. in Praefat.
Comment. ad Epistol. ad Titum, tom. ix. p. 243. M. D. Tillemont
supposes, strangely enough, that it was part of Agamemnon’s
inheritance. Mem. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 85.]
29 (return) [ Seneca, Epist. lxxxix. 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, l. lxii. 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.]
30 (return) [ Volusius, a wealthy senator, (Tacit. Annal. iii.
30,) always preferred tenants born on the estate. Columella, who
received this maxim from him, argues very judiciously on the
subject. De Re Rustica, l. i. c. 7, p. 408, edit. Gesner.
Leipsig, 1735.]
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 obselete
laws were eluded, or violated, by the mutual inclinations and
interest of both parties. 31 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. 32 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. 33 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. 34
31 (return) [ Valesius (ad Ammian. xiv. 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 l. ii. tit. xxxiii. tom. i. p. 230-289,) that
they were permitted to take six percent., or one half of the
legal interest; and, what is more singular, this permission was
granted to the young senators.]
32 (return) [ Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 50. He states the silver
at only 4380 pounds, which is increased by Livy (xxx. 45) to
100,023: the former seems too little for an opulent city, the
latter too much for any private sideboard.]
33 (return) [ The learned Arbuthnot (Tables of Ancient Coins, &c.
p. 153) has observed with humor, 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. * Note: The discovery of glass in such
common use at Pompeii, spoils the argument of Arbuthnot. See Sir
W. Gell. Pompeiana, 2d ser. p. 98.—M.]
34 (return) [ 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
connection to the confused mass of materials. 3. I have softened
some extravagant hyperbeles, 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.]
“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 Caesars, her favorite
sons, the care of governing her ample patrimony. 35 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, 36
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, 37 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. 38 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. 39 If at any time, but more especially on a hot day, they
have courage to sail, in their painted galleys, from the Lucrine
Lake 40 to their elegant villas on the seacoast of Puteoli and
Cayeta, 41 they compare their own expeditions to the marches of
Caesar 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,
42 the regions of eternal darkness. In these journeys into the
country, 43 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; 44 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, 45 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) 46 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 praetorship 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. 47 The
libraries, which they have inherited from their fathers, are
secluded, like dreary sepulchres, from the light of day. 48 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. 49 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.”
35 (return) [ Claudian, who seems to have read the history of
Ammianus, speaks of this great revolution in a much less courtly
style:—
Postquam jura ferox in se communia Caesar Transtulit; et lapsi
mores; desuetaque priscis Artibus, in gremium pacis servile
recessi. —De Be. Gildonico, p. 49.]
36 (return) [ 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 Maecius Maemmius Furius Balburius
Caecilianus Placidus. See Noris Cenotaph Piran Dissert. iv. p.
438.]
37 (return) [ The 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. lxxxvii. Plin.
Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 49. Paulin. Nolan. apud Baron. Annal.
Eccles. A.D. 397, No. 5.) Yet pomp is well exchange 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.]
38 (return) [ In a homily of Asterius, bishop of Amasia, M. de
Valois has discovered (ad Ammian. xiv. 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
favorite saint.]
39 (return) [ See Pliny’s Epistles, i. 6. Three large wild boars
were allured and taken in the toils without interrupting the
studies of the philosophic sportsman.]
40 (return) [ The change from the inauspicious word Avernus,
which stands in the text, is immaterial. The two lakes, Avernus
and Lucrinus, communicated with each other, and were fashioned by
the stupendous moles of Agrippa into the Julian port, which
opened, through a narrow entrance, into the Gulf of Puteoli.
Virgil, who resided on the spot, has described (Georgic ii. 161)
this work at the moment of its execution: and his commentators,
especially Catrou, have derived much light from Strabo,
Suetonius, and Dion. Earthquakes and volcanoes have changed the
face of the country, and turned the Lucrine Lake, since the year
1538, into the Monte Nuovo. See Camillo Pellegrino Discorsi della
Campania Felice, p. 239, 244, &c. Antonii Sanfelicii Campania, p.
13, 88—Note: Compare Lyell’s Geology, ii. 72.—M.]
41 (return) [ The regna Cumana et Puteolana; loca caetiroqui
valde expe tenda, interpellantium autem multitudine paene
fugienda. Cicero ad Attic. xvi. 17.]
42 (return) [ The proverbial expression of Cimmerian darkness was
originally borrowed from the description of Homer, (in the
eleventh book of the Odyssey,) which he applies to a remote and
fabulous country on the shores of the ocean. See Erasmi Adagia,
in his works, tom. ii. p. 593, the Leyden edition.]
43 (return) [ We may learn from Seneca (epist. cxxiii.) three
curious circumstances relative to the journeys of the Romans. 1.
They were preceded by a troop of Numidian light horse, who
announced, by a cloud of dust, the approach of a great man. 2.
Their baggage mules transported not only the precious vases, but
even the fragile vessels of crystal and murra, which last is
almost proved, by the learned French translator of Seneca, (tom.
iii. p. 402-422,) to mean the porcelain of China and Japan. 3.
The beautiful faces of the young slaves were covered with a
medicated crust, or ointment, which secured them against the
effects of the sun and frost.]
44 (return) [ Distributio solemnium sportularum. The sportuloe,
or sportelloe, were small baskets, supposed to contain a quantity
of hot provisions of the value of 100 quadrantes, or twelvepence
halfpenny, which were ranged in order in the hall, and
ostentatiously distributed to the hungry or servile crowd who
waited at the door. This indelicate custom is very frequently
mentioned in the epigrams of Martial, and the satires of Juvenal.
See likewise Suetonius, in Claud. c. 21, in Neron. c. 16, in
Domitian, c. 4, 7. These baskets of provisions were afterwards
converted into large pieces of gold and silver coin, or plate,
which were mutually given and accepted even by persons of the
highest rank, (see Symmach. epist. iv. 55, ix. 124, and Miscell.
p. 256,) on solemn occasions, of consulships, marriages, &c.]
45 (return) [ The want of an English name obliges me to refer to
the common genus of squirrels, the Latin glis, the French loir; a
little animal, who inhabits the woods, and remains torpid in cold
weather, (see Plin. Hist. Natur. viii. 82. Buffon, Hist.
Naturelle, tom. viii. 153. Pennant’s Synopsis of Quadrupeds, p.
289.) The art of rearing and fattening great numbers of glires
was practised in Roman villas as a profitable article of rural
economy, (Varro, de Re Rustica, iii. 15.) The excessive demand of
them for luxurious tables was increased by the foolish
prohibitions of the censors; and it is reported that they are
still esteemed in modern Rome, and are frequently sent as
presents by the Colonna princes, (see Brotier, the last editor of
Pliny tom. ii. p. 453. epud Barbou, 1779.)—Note: Is it not the
dormouse?—M.]
46 (return) [ This game, which might be translated by the more
familiar names of trictrac, or backgammon, was a favorite
amusement of the gravest Romans; and old Mucius Scaevola, the
lawyer, had the reputation of a very skilful player. It was
called ludus duodecim scriptorum, from the twelve scripta, or
lines, which equally divided the alvevolus or table. On these,
the two armies, the white and the black, each consisting of
fifteen men, or catculi, were regularly placed, and alternately
moved according to the laws of the game, and the chances of the
tesseroe, or dice. Dr. Hyde, who diligently traces the history
and varieties of the nerdiludium (a name of Persic etymology)
from Ireland to Japan, pours forth, on this trifling subject, a
copious torrent of classic and Oriental learning. See Syntagma
Dissertat. tom. ii. p. 217-405.]
47 (return) [ Marius Maximus, homo omnium verbosissimus, qui, et
mythistoricis se voluminibus implicavit. Vopiscus in Hist.
August. p. 242. He wrote the lives of the emperors, from Trajan
to Alexander Severus. See Gerard Vossius de Historicis Latin. l.
ii. c. 3, in his works, vol. iv. p. 47.]
48 (return) [ This satire is probably exaggerated. The Saturnalia
of Macrobius, and the epistles of Jerom, afford satisfactory
proofs, that Christian theology and classic literature were
studiously cultivated by several Romans, of both sexes, and of
the highest rank.]
49 (return) [ Macrobius, the friend of these Roman nobles,
considered the siara as the cause, or at least the signs, of
future events, (de Somn. Scipion l. i. c 19. p. 68.)]