The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1899-01-15

Roman society. He sees municipal liberty ant
self-Rovernment dying out: the upper clasi
cut of from the masses by sharp distinctions o
wealth and privilege. yet forbidden to beal
arms. and deprived OF all practical interest In
public affairs. He fnds that not only has ar
Oriental monarchy taken the place OF the prin'
cipate OF Augustus but that nm almost 0rienta
system OF caste has made every social grade
and every occupation practically hereditary
from that OF tho Senator to that OF the
waterman on the Tiber or Of the sentinel
ut the frontier post, and that human
nature is having its revenge in wholesale flight
! from n cruel servitude and the chaos OF adj
ministration. He sees that in a society. in
which poverty Is almost branded with infamy.
poverty is steadily increasing and wealth be-
coming more ~insolent and aggressive: that the
dislnherited In the face OF an omnipotent gov
eminent are carrying brigandage even up to
tho gates OF Rome; that parents are selling
their children into slavery; that public build
inGs are falling into decay; that tho service on
the great post roads is becoming dlsorRanized.
Al a time when every frontier was threatened
one finds that the frontier posts are being
abandoned, and that there is sweeping deser-
ton from the ranks OF the army; while. In the
failure to secure recruits among freemen. the
slaves have to be called to arms.
1t is, however. the unscientinc and inef1cient
fiscal system which chiefly attracts the notice
OF the historical inquirer. The collection OF
imposts in kind instead OF in money opened the
door to every corruption. Still more fatal
to pure administration was the system which
left to the municipal class the assessment and
collection OF the revenue In their districts.
That doomed order OF citizens are at once
branded as the worst oppressors and invested
with the melancholy glory OF being the martyrs
OF n ruinous system OF finance. Their linger-
ing fate, recorded in 1872 edicts. a tragedy pro-
longed through moro than five generations. is
one OF the most curious examples OF obstinate
and purblind legislation. contending hope
lessly with inexorable laws OF society
and human nature. In that contest the
middle or bourgeois class was almost an
initiated. Roman financial administration
was paralyZed. and. at It's close. the real
victors and survivors were the great landhold-
ers. surrounded by their serfs and dependents.
A volume might be written on the corruption
and cruel oppression exhibited by the officials
OF the Treasury. servile to the great. tyran-
meal to the poor and calmly defying all the
menaces of the Emperor in their unchecked
career OF rapacity. The last and deepest I'M
preston which the inquirer will carry with
him as he rises from his studies Of the The
odosian code il that fraud and greed are every
where triumphant. that the rich are growing
richer and more powerful. while the poor
are becoming poorer and more helpless.
and that the imperial Government. al
though inspired with the best inten-
lions. has lost all control Of the vast
machine. The system of bureaucratic despot-
ism elaborated finally by Diocletian and Con-
~stantine produced a catastrophe such as his
tory has seldom exhibited: in which. by an in
exorable fate. the claims of fancied omnipo-
tence ended in a humiliating paralysis OF adj
ministration: in which determined efforts to
remedy social evils only aggravated them till
they became uncomfortable and In which the
best purposes OF the central power were. gen.
after generation. Knocked and defeated
by irresistible laws Of human nature and
by hopeless perldy and corruption on the part
Of the servants of the Government.