their
dominions. Their example was universally imitated by their principal
subjects, who were not afraid of declaring to the world that they had
spirit to conceive, and wealth to accomplish, the noblest undertakings.
Scarcely had the proud structure of the Coliseum been dedicated at Rome,
before the edifices, of a smaller scale indeed, but of the same design
and materials, were erected for the use, and at the expense, of the
cities of Capua and Verona. The inscription of the stupendous bridge of
Alcantara attests that it was thrown over the Tagus by the contribution
of a few Lusitanian communities. When Pliny was intrusted with the
government of Bithynia and Pontus, provinces by no means the richest
or most considerable of the empire, he found the cities within his
jurisdiction striving with each other in every useful and ornamental
work, that might deserve the curiosity of strangers, or the gratitude
of their citizens. It was the duty of the proconsul to supply their
deficiencies, to direct their taste, and sometimes to moderate their
emulation. The opulent senators of Rome and the provinces esteemed it an
honor, and almost an obligation, to adorn the splendor of their age and
country; and the influence of fashion very frequently supplied the want
of taste or generosity. Among a crowd of these private benefactors, we
may select Herodes Atticus, an Athenian citizen, who lived in the age
of the Antonines. Whatever might be the motive of his conduct, his
magnificence would have been worthy of the greatest kings.

[See Theatre Of Marcellus: Augustus built in Rome the theatre of
Marcellus.]

The family of Herod, at least after it had been favored by fortune, was
lineally descended from Cimon and Miltiades, Theseus and Cecrops, AEacus
and Jupiter. But the posterity of so many gods and heroes was fallen
into the most abject state. His grandfather had suffered by the hands
of justice, and Julius Atticus, his father, must have ended his life in
poverty and contempt, had he not discovered an immense treasure buried
under an old house, the last remains of his patrimony. According to the
rigor of the law, the emperor might have asserted his claim, and the
prudent Atticus prevented, by a frank confession, the officiousness of
informers. But the equitable Nerva, who then filled the throne, refused
to accept any part of it, and commanded him to use, without scruple,
the present of fortune. The cautious Athenian still insisted, that