ndation of manufactures; since the productions of
nature are the materials of art. Under the Roman empire, the labor of
an industrious and ingenious people was variously, but incessantly,
employed in the service of the rich. In their dress, their table, their
houses, and their furniture, the favorites of fortune united every
refinement of conveniency, of elegance, and of splendor, whatever could
soothe their pride or gratify their sensuality. Such refinements, under
the odious name of luxury, have been severely arraigned by the moralists
of every age; and it might perhaps be more conducive to the virtue, as
well as happiness, of mankind, if all possessed the necessaries, and
none the superfluities, of life. But in the present imperfect condition
of society, luxury, though it may proceed from vice or folly, seems to
be the only means that can correct the unequal distribution of property.
The diligent mechanic, and the skilful artist, who have obtained no
share in the division of the earth, receive a voluntary tax from the
possessors of land; and the latter are prompted, by a sense of
interest, to improve those estates, with whose produce they may purchase
additional pleasures. This operation, the particular effects of which
are felt in every society, acted with much more diffusive energy in
the Roman world. The provinces would soon have been exhausted of their
wealth, if the manufactures and commerce of luxury had not insensibly
restored to the industrious subjects the sums which were exacted from
them by the arms and authority of Rome. As long as the circulation was
confined within the bounds of the empire, it impressed the political
machine with a new degree of activity, and its consequences, sometimes
beneficial, could never become pernicious.

But it is no easy task to confine luxury within the limits of an empire.
The most remote countries of the ancient world were ransacked to supply
the pomp and delicacy of Rome. The forests of Scythia afforded some
valuable furs. Amber was brought over land from the shores of the Baltic
to the Danube; and the barbarians were astonished at the price which
they received in exchange for so useless a commodity. There was a
considerable demand for Babylonian carpets, and other manufactures of
the East; but the most important and unpopular branch of foreign trade
was carried on with Arabia and India. Every year, about the time of the
summer solstice, a fleet of a hundred and twenty vess