Weekly American. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1858-1858, 1858-05-01
THE CAUSE OF ROMAN GREATNESS;
THE REASON OF ITS DECLINE; A
LESSON FOR US.

GAS the soul of Grecian worship" says
writer in the last North American Reoieu,
"was beauty, that of the Roman was order,
law, obedience. Roligio that which binds,
was Roman word and idea. Tho correspond
ing Greek word means merely ceremony. The
chief Roman dvinities were masculine. Fore
most among them were Mars, whose fatherhood
of Romulus and Remus typifed not alone the
warlke temper of the infant State, but its per-
yading spirit of stern control and strict subor-
dination; and Jupiter whose majestic form,
cnthroned on Capitohne Hill, represented the
sovereign sway Of relentless justice over the
fortunes Of men. Rome's most reyered god
dess was Vesta, the protectress of the home and
hearth, the patroness Of chastity and purify
worshipped by perpetual fire served by vir-
gin priestesses. For the wanton Aphrodite
of the Greeks, she had her Venus Verticordia,
who presided over the sanctity OF domestic NOR
ais, and whose statue the most virtuous woman
in the city was chosen to dedicate Among
her temples were those consecrated TO Concord,
Faith, Modesty, Consistency, and Hope. The
myth of the nymph Egcria debating the sta
tutes Of her earliest legislator prefgured the
reference paid tolaw, as less human than divine,
throughout the better days Of the Common
wealth. Religious rites proceeded every assem-
announced favoring auspices from the gods
The induction Of consuls and of generals was
attended by solemn rites. Sacrifices followed
the march of armies; sacred oaths bound them
to their always consecrated standards and the
very name for the most honorable reception
that could await their victorious return, sup
Plicatio, indissolubly, connects thanksgiving
and religious ceremony with military triumph
"Under this severe religion were nurturcd
uncoTupt magistrates, selfgoyerned leaders in
war, soldiers whose loyalty and temperance
were invincible as their valor-noble women,
too, who held virtue dearer than life, whose
glory was chaste and pure home, whose jew
els were their children. IL was this moral
superiority, in contrast with the base discipline
and dssolute manners Of surrounding States
that made Rome first the mistress of Italy, and
then the sovereign Of the civilized world. Her
self conquest heralded her career as conqueror.
Her early history swarms with instances of
patriotic self.devotion and martyrdom, which
have no parallel in human records except in
the blood written annals of Christian heroism.
1t is har1 TO over estimate the sum Of public
virtue, of severe simplicity and integrity, of
domestic purity, Of fidelity in all the relations
of home and society," which constituted the
glory Of republican Rome; which made her a
nation, as the Gauls deemed her Senate, body
Of kings; and which laid deep in solid founda-
tons Of personal excellence the basis Of her
national greatness.
"But her conquests were the precursors Of
her decline. With the spois, she took home the
luxuries aud the vices Of subjugated nations.
With their plundered wealth came in corrup-
ton and bribery. The government of the
numerous provinces, with its opportunities for
pcculation and extortion, was lure too strong
for the integrity Of retiring consuls and sue
cessful commanders. The armies, in their
winter quarters in the luxurious cities of the
effeminate East, lost their hardihood and their
manlincss, their love Of country, and their
sense of honor and the soldiers became mere
mercenaries, kept under their banners only by
the prospect Of booty or largcss, and as ready
to battle their swords in the blood of civil
strife, as to WELD them against the enemies Of
| the state.
Coincident with this decay Of manners
and morals, and no doubt one Of the most ef-
ficient among its producing causes, was grow.
ing religious skepticism. The mythology, such
as 1t was, had been in Romes early days a
faith, religion, and therefore force AT the
christian era it had degenerated into State
Journalism. Augur could no longer look augur
in the face without laughing. The Senate
created gods by vote; admitted into the crowd
cd pantheon, without so much as the pre-
| tence of believing in them, the diyinitics Of