"You will see a town that resembles the fields in time of pestilence."
In tracing this savage caricature, Petronius had in mind not Crotona alone; he refers to conditions in the capital of the empire. The descriptions which other authors have set down are equally remarkable for their powerful coloring, and they leave us with an idea of Rome which is positively astounding in its unbridled luxury. 'We will rest content with offering to our readers the following portrayal, quoted from Ammianus Marcellinus, lib. xiv, chap. 6, and lib. xxviii, chap. 4. will not presume to attempt any translation after having read Gibbon's version of the combination of these two chapters.
"The greatness of Rome 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. 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 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 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 honorable distinction, first granted
to Achilius 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 galleys from the Lucrine lake to
their elegant villas on the seacoast of Puteoli and the Caieta, 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, the regions of eternal darkness. In these journeys into the
country the whole body of the household marches with their master. In
the same order 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 offense, 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 native 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 dependents, 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 practice 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
dormice, 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 marvellous 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 is a sure road to wealth and
reputation. A master of that sublime science who in a supper or an
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 the 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 dispatched 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 for 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."
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