tion in Carthage, Antioch, and Alexandria, from the love of
pleasure, and the superfluity of wealth. In the two capitals of
the empire the annual games of the theatre, the circus, and the
amphitheatre, cost four thousand pounds of gold, (about) one hundred and
sixty thousand pounds sterling: and if so heavy an expense surpassed the
faculties or the inclinations of the magistrates themselves, the sum
was supplied from the Imperial treasury. As soon as the consuls had
discharged these customary duties, they were at liberty to retire into
the shade of private life, and to enjoy, during the remainder of the
year, the undisturbed contemplation of their own greatness. They no
longer presided in the national councils; they no longer executed the
resolutions of peace or war. Their abilities (unless they were employed
in more effective offices) were of little moment; and their names served
only as the legal date of the year in which they had filled the chair
of Marius and of Cicero. Yet it was still felt and acknowledged, in the
last period of Roman servitude, that this empty name might be compared,
and even preferred, to the possession of substantial power. The title
of consul was still the most splendid object of ambition, the noblest
reward of virtue and loyalty. The emperors themselves, who disdained
the faint shadow of the republic, were conscious that they acquired
an additional splendor and majesty as often as they assumed the annual
honors of the consular dignity.

The proudest and most perfect separation which can be found in any age
or country, between the nobles and the people, is perhaps that of the
Patricians and the Plebeians, as it was established in the first age of
the Roman republic. Wealth and honors, the offices of the state, and the
ceremonies of religion, were almost exclusively possessed by the former
who, preserving the purity of their blood with the most insulting
jealousy, held their clients in a condition of specious vassalage. But
these distinctions, so incompatible with the spirit of a free people,
were removed, after a long struggle, by the persevering efforts of the
Tribunes. The most active and successful of the Plebeians accumulated
wealth, aspired to honors, deserved triumphs, contracted alliances,
and, after some generations, assumed the pride of ancient nobility. The
Patrician families, on the other hand, whose original number was
never recruited till the end of the commonwealth, either failed