branches, to whom it was communicated, united, by marriage or
inheritance, the wealth and titles of the Annian, the Petronian, and the
Olybrian houses; and in each generation the number of consulships was
multiplied by an hereditary claim. The Anician family excelled in faith
and in riches: they were the first of the Roman senate who embraced
Christianity; and it is probable that Anicius Julian, who was afterwards
consul and praefect of the city, atoned for his attachment to the party
of Maxentius, by the readiness with which he accepted the religion of
Constantine. Their ample patrimony was increased by the industry of
Probus, the chief of the Anician family; who shared with Gratian the
honors of the consulship, and exercised, four times, the high office
of Praetorian praefect. His immense estates were scattered over the
wide extent of the Roman world; and though the public might suspect or
disapprove the methods by which they had been acquired, the generosity
and magnificence of that fortunate statesman deserved the gratitude
of his clients, and the admiration of strangers. Such was the respect
entertained for his memory, that the two sons of Probus, in their
earliest youth, and at the request of the senate, were associated in
the consular dignity; a memorable distinction, without example, in the
annals of Rome.

Chapter XXXI: Invasion Of Italy, Occupation Of Territories By Barbarians.--Part II.

"The marbles of the Anician palace," were used as a proverbial
expression of opulence and splendor; but the nobles and senators of
Rome aspired, in due gradation, to imitate that illustrious family. The
accurate description of the city, which was composed in the Theodosian
age, enumerates one thousand seven hundred and eighty _houses_, the
residence of wealthy and honorable citizens. Many of these stately
mansions might almost excuse the exaggeration of the poet; that Rome
contained a multitude of palaces, and that each palace was equal to a
city: since it included within its own precincts every thing which could
be subservient either to use or luxury; markets, hippodromes, temples,
fountains, baths, porticos, shady groves, and artificial aviaries. The
historian Olympiodorus, who represents the state of Rome when it was
besieged by the Goths, continues to observe, that several of the richest
senators received from their estates an annual income of four thousand
pounds of gold, above one hundred and sixty thousand pounds