litical economy, which have been wholly overlooked.

With the lark it was that the Roman rose. Not that the earliest lark rises
so early in Latium as the earliest lark in England; that is, during summer:
but then, on the other hand, neither does it ever rise so late. The Roman
citizen was stirring with the dawn--which, allowing for the shorter
longest-day and longer shortest-day of Rome, you may call about four in
summer--about seven in winter. Why did he do this? Because he went to bed
at a very early hour. But why did he do that? By backing in this way, we
shall surely back into the very well of truth: always, if it is possible,
let us have the _pourquoi_ of the _pourquoi_. The Roman went to bed early
for two special reasons. 1st, Because in Rome, which had been built for a
martial destiny, every habit of life had reference to the usages of war.
Every citizen, if he were not a mere proletarian animal kept at the public
cost, held himself a sort of soldier-elect: the more noble he was, the
more was his liability to military service: in short, all Rome, and at all
times, was consciously "in procinct."[1] Now it was a principle of ancient
warfare, that every hour of daylight had a triple worth, if valued
against hours of darkness. That was one reason--a reason suggested by the
understanding. But there was a second reason, far more remarkable; and this
was a reason dictated by a blind necessity. It is an important fact, that
this planet on which we live, this little industrious earth of ours, has
developed her wealth by slow stages of increase. She was far from being the
rich little globe in Caesar's days that she is at present. The earth in our
days is incalculably richer, as a whole, than in the time of Charlemagne:
at that time she was richer, by many a million of acres, than in the era
of Augustus. In that Augustan era we descry a clear belt of cultivation,
averaging about six hundred miles in depth, running in a ring-fence about
the Mediterranean. This belt, _and no more_, was in decent cultivation.
Beyond that belt, there was only a wild Indian cultivation. At present
what a difference! We have that very belt, but much richer, all things
considered _aequatis aequandis_, than in the Roman era. The reader must not
look to single cases, as that of Egypt or other parts of Africa, but take
the whole collectively. On that scheme of valuation, we have the old Roman
belt, the Mediterranean riband not much tarnished, and we hav