usehold gods; and from the deserts of Arabia to the mountains of
Caledonia there appeared but one people, having the same arts, language,
and letters--all of Grecian origin. I looked again, and saw an entire
change in the brilliant aspect of this Roman world--the people of
conquerors and heroes was no longer visible; the cities were filled with
an idle and luxurious population; those farms which had been cultivated
by warriors, who left the plough to take the command of armies, were now
in the hands of slaves; and the militia of freemen were supplanted by
bands of mercenaries, who sold the empire to the highest bidder. I saw
immense masses of warriors collecting in the north and east, carrying
with them no other proofs of cultivation but their horses and steel arms;
I saw these savages everywhere attacking this mighty empire, plundering
cities, destroying the monuments of arts and literature, and, like wild
beasts devouring a noble animal, tearing into pieces and destroying the
Roman power. Ruin, desolation, and darkness were before me, and I closed
my eyes to avoid the melancholy scene. "See," said the Genius, "the
melancholy termination of a power believed by its founders invincible,
and intended to be eternal. But you will find, though the glory and
greatness belonging to its military genius have passed away, yet those
belonging to the arts and institutions, by which it adorned and dignified
life, will again arise in another state of society." I opened my eyes
again, and I saw Italy recovering from her desolation--towns arising with
governments almost upon the model of ancient Athens and Rome, and these
different small states rivals in arts and arms; I saw the remains of
libraries, which had been preserved in monasteries and churches by a holy
influence which even the Goth and Vandal respected, again opened to the
people; I saw Rome rising from her ashes, the fragments of statues found
amidst the ruins of her palaces and imperial villas becoming the models
for the regeneration of art; I saw magnificent temples raised in this
city become the metropolis of a new and Christian world, and ornamented
with the most brilliant masterpieces of the arts of design; I saw a
Tuscan city, as it were, contending with Rome for pre-eminence in the
productions of genius, and the spirit awakened in Italy spreading its
influence from the South to the North. "Now," the Genius said, "society
has taken its modern and permanent aspect.