The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1870-05-03

OF Uaul, Italy, or the East no Wlde-
spread revolution carried carnage and
desolation to the populous provinces Of
imperial Rome. 1t was a golden, au-
tumnal season of classic civilization, when
the ripened fruits of long years of mate
rial and mental progress were showered
upon mankind, and when the internal
decay of the mighty empire was hidden
in its exterior and splendid tranquility.
Compared with the later centuries the
first was singularly frugal of human life.
In the seventeenth century all Europe
was torn by fierce religious wars, and
men died by myriads to crafty the ia
natical malice of kings and priests. In
the eighteenth the obstinate vanity of a
Louis, a Frederick, or a George I'LL,
covered land and sea with slaughter. In
the dawn of the nineteenth, millions Of
the human race perished by the iron will
of Napoleon; and the young generation
of Europe and America have seldom
known any long repose from the dreadful
duties of the camp. But in the first
century no battle Of civilized men oc-
CURED equal in Importance to Sadewa ;
no siege, except that of Jerusalem. as
destructive as that of Sebastopol. Under
its imperial masters, whether madmen,
philosophers, or monsters, the Roman
world almost forgot the art of warfare
and, weighed down by general tyran-
ny, gave itself languidly to thepursuits Of
peace.
A magnificent form of civilization al
once grew up. Men everywhere clus-
tered together in cities, and surrounded
themselves with the countless appliances
of luxurious life. The theatre and
amphitheatre, the aqueduct and bath, the
graceful temples of yellow marble, the
groves and gardens, and lined with col.
onnades, we're repeated in all those cen.
tres Of artistic taste that sprung up,undei
the fostering care of successive emperor.
from the C@sarea of Palestine to the dis.
tapt wilds of Britain or Gaul. The Ro
man empire embraced within its limits q
chain of cities fairer than the proudest
capitals of modern Europe throng o
municipalities destined to become the fu-
ture centres of Christian thought. AT
the mouth of the venerable Nile stood
Alexandria. Its population was nearly
million. 1t controlled the commerce OF
the world, and its vast fleets often covered
the Mediterranean. 1t was the Paris oil
the East-gay, splendid, intellectual it,
university and its library, its philoso-
pliers and critics, filled the age with ac.
tive speculation. Antioch, on the Syrian
shore, still retained its prosperity and it.
luxurious charms In the midst of it.
apocalyptic sisters, Ephesus glittered will
artistic decorations, and maintained il
all their magnifcence the Temple and tn,
ritual of Diana. Greece boasted tn,
corrupt elegance Of Corinth, the higher
taste of Incompatible Athens. Far to
the west Carthage had risen from it
ruins to new Importance. Spain wa
adorned with the temples and the aque
ducts of Saragossa and Cordova tn,
banks of the Rhine and the wlds of Gau
were sown with magnificent cities anc
the camps of Britain swiftly grew into
populous capitals and peaceful homes. II
the midst of the series of provincial town
stood conquering Rome, the mistress o
them all, slowly gathering within he
bosom the wealth, the luxury. the cor
ruption of the world.
But Of all the imperial cities the mos
wonderful was still Jerusalem. In
mysterious antiquity none of them coul,
rival her. The towers Of Salem had beel
contemporary with that of Belus or Semi
ramis, of the glory of Thebes and tn
youth of Memnon. Jerusalem had seel
the splendors Of her conquerors of Baby
Ion and Egypt sink into decay. A thous
and years had passed since David found
ed the city of Mount Zion, and still il
the first century, with singular vitality
the holy site was covered with magnif
cent buildings, and new Temple ha,
risen on Mount Moriah, to surpass tn
glory of that of Solomon. When tn
seven hills of Rome had been a desolat
waste, and the Acropolis the retreat o
shepherds-whcn all Europe was vii
derness, and savage hunters roamcd owe
the site of its fairest cities. Jerusalem ha
shone over the Fast beacon of light, AN
observed, and, perhaps guided the pro
gress of Italy and Greece. She had bee
often conquered, but never subdued
More than once lcveled to the grounc
she had risen from her ashes. For
thousand years the Priests had chante
the Psalms of David from Mount Nc
riah, unless in captivity or exile, and sti
the Jerusalem of Herod and Nero was, i
her magnificent ritual and her sacre
pomr, the rival and the peer of Ather
and Rome.
In the minds of her contemporaries tn
Jewish capital seems to have excited q
intense dislike. The Jews were note
for their bigotry and their national prid
Even in their captivity they despised the
conquerors; they turned with contemI
from the polished Greeks and Roman
and refused to mingle with them as equa
or friends. TO the austerc Pharisee
Cicero or an Atticus was a parish and o
outcast, and the chosen people, as far f.,
possible, ,shrank from the unholy society
the gentle. But this exclusiveness seen
ed to their cultivated contemporaries ba
barous and rude; they repaid it by
shower of ridicule and sarcasm. Th
Roman writers, from Cicero to Tacitu
paint the Jews as the degraded victim
of a cruel superstition. Roman artis
accuse them of worshipping the empty a
or the passing cloud the people of Rom
Of adoring the vilest animal aud no At
thor Of that intellectual age had discover
ed that the lyrics of the Jewish kin
were more sublime rhah those of Pindar
that the conflicts and the trials of hr
man soul were nobler themes than tn
Olympic sports or the triumph of Hier,
No Roman writer had studied with car
the Jewish Scripture, or had contraste
E. .l..lI II