an world were all
considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher, as equally
false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful. And thus toleration
produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord"
(Gibbon).

The systems of philosophy in vogue were those of the Stoics, the
Platonists, the Academics, and the Epicureans, and of these only the
Platonists had any belief in God, who was to them an idea rather than a
Supreme Being. The great aim of both the wise and the foolish was to
glorify their nationality, and their beliefs, their rites, and their
superstitions, were all for the glory of mighty Rome.

Educated Romans were able to speak and write both Latin and Greek, and
the latter language was the vehicle used by men of science and of
letters.

The population of the city of Rome at the beginning of the Augustan age
was not less than half a million of people, and probably exceeded this
number. There was no middle class, a comparatively small number of
gentry, a very numerous _plebs_ or populace, and many slaves. The
Emperor Augustus boasted that after the war with Sextus Pompeius he
handed over 30,000 slaves, who had been serving with the enemy, to their
masters to be punished. The slaves were looked upon by their masters as
chattels. The plebs had the spirit of paupers and, to keep them
contented and pacific, were fed and shown brutalizing spectacles in the
arenas. Augustus wrote that he gave the people wild-beast hunts in the
circus and amphitheatres twenty-six times, in which about 3,500 animals
were killed. It was his custom to watch the Circensian games from his
palace in view of a multitude of spectators.

Throughout the country generally agriculture prospered, and the supply
of various grasses for feeding cattle in the winter increased the
multitude of the flocks and herds; great attention was given also to
mines and fisheries and all forms of industry. Virgil praised his
beautiful and fertile country:--

"But no, not Medeland with its wealth of woods,
Fair Ganges, Hermus thick with golden silt,
Can match the praise of Italy....
Here blooms perpetual spring, and summer here
In months that are not summer's; twice teem the flocks:
Twice does the tree yield service of her fruit.
Mark too, her cities, so many and so proud,
Of mighty toil the achievement, town on town
Up rugged precipices heaved and reared,
And rivers gliding under ancient wall