e city, which had trampled on the necks of
the fiercest nations, and established a system of laws, the perpetual
guardians of justice and freedom, was content, like a wise and wealthy
parent, to devolve on the Caesars, her favorite sons, the care of
governing her ample patrimony. A secure and profound peace, such as had
been once enjoyed in the reign of Numa, succeeded to the tumults of a
republic; while Rome was still adored as the queen of the earth; and the
subject nations still reverenced the name of the people, and the majesty
of the senate. But this native splendor," continues Ammianus, "is
degraded, and sullied, by the conduct of some nobles, who, unmindful
of their own dignity, and of that of their country, assume an unbounded
license of vice and folly. They contend with each other in the empty
vanity of titles and surnames; and curiously select, or invent, the most
lofty and sonorous appellations, Reburrus, or Fabunius, Pagonius, or
Tarasius, which may impress the ears of the vulgar with astonishment and
respect. From a vain ambition of perpetuating their memory, they affect
to multiply their likeness, in statues of bronze and marble; nor are
they satisfied, unless those statues are covered with plates of gold; an
honorable distinction, first granted to Acilius the consul, after he
had subdued, by his arms and counsels, the power of King Antiochus. The
ostentation of displaying, of magnifying, perhaps, the rent-roll of the
estates which they possess in all the provinces, from the rising to the
setting sun, provokes the just resentment of every man, who recollects,
that their poor and invincible ancestors were not distinguished from the
meanest of the soldiers, by the delicacy of their food, or the
splendor of their apparel. But the modern nobles measure their rank
and consequence according to the loftiness of their chariots, and the
weighty magnificence of their dress. Their long robes of silk and purple
float in the wind; and as they are agitated, by art or accident, they
occasionally discover the under garments, the rich tunics, embroidered
with the figures of various animals. Followed by a train of fifty
servants, and tearing up the pavement, they move along the streets with
the same impetuous speed as if they travelled with post-horses; and the
example of the senators is boldly imitated by the matrons and ladies,
whose covered carriages are continually driving round the immense space
of the city and suburbs.