government;
London was already enriched by commerce; and Bath was celebrated for the
salutary effects of its medicinal waters. Gaul could boast of her twelve
hundred cities; and though, in the northern parts, many of them, without
excepting Paris itself, were little more than the rude and imperfect
townships of a rising people, the southern provinces imitated the wealth
and elegance of Italy. Many were the cities of Gaul, Marseilles, Arles,
Nismes, Narbonne, Thoulouse, Bourdeaux, Autun, Vienna, Lyons, Langres,
and Treves, whose ancient condition might sustain an equal, and perhaps
advantageous comparison with their present state. With regard to Spain,
that country flourished as a province, and has declined as a kingdom.
Exhausted by the abuse of her strength, by America, and by superstition,
her pride might possibly be confounded, if we required such a list of
three hundred and sixty cities, as Pliny has exhibited under the reign
of Vespasian. III. Three hundred African cities had once acknowledged
the authority of Carthage, nor is it likely that their numbers
diminished under the administration of the emperors: Carthage itself
rose with new splendor from its ashes; and that capital, as well as
Capua and Corinth, soon recovered all the advantages which can be
separated from independent sovereignty. IV. The provinces of the East
present the contrast of Roman magnificence with Turkish barbarism. The
ruins of antiquity scattered over uncultivated fields, and ascribed,
by ignorance to the power of magic, scarcely afford a shelter to the
oppressed peasant or wandering Arab. Under the reign of the Caesars, the
proper Asia alone contained five hundred populous cities, enriched with
all the gifts of nature, and adorned with all the refinements of art.
Eleven cities of Asia had once disputed the honor of dedicating a temple
of Tiberius, and their respective merits were examined by the senate.
Four of them were immediately rejected as unequal to the burden; and
among these was Laodicea, whose splendor is still displayed in its
ruins. Laodicea collected a very considerable revenue from its flocks
of sheep, celebrated for the fineness of their wool, and had received,
a little before the contest, a legacy of above four hundred thousand
pounds by the testament of a generous citizen. If such was the poverty
of Laodicea, what must have been the wealth of those cities, whose claim
appeared preferable, and particularly of Pergamus, of Smy