The sun., 1905-09-03


had 70 depend on his officials, both to ad-
wise his deoisions and to carry them out:
Now, almost invariably. 'he was assisted
by a council Of experienced men Of high
offlciai rank. some Of whom had probably
governed great provinces and who sne"
the Roman wcr.d II any men did, More
over, II IL plain from tho very wording
OF many Of the rescripts that they wore
suggested by the prefeot or governor 70
whom they are addressed; and one can
hardly be wrong In believing that In many
OF these last efforts Of Roman statesmah-
ship, 80 strangely rhetorical, yet 80 sym
pathetic and 30 full at times Of honest
indignation We may have the report OF
q conscientious governor returned to him
In the imperative form Of An edict The
minute and droumstantial description, OF
oppression and wrong could hardly have
como from any one who had not heard
the tale from the sufferers themselves.
Occasionally, though too. seldom. Il Is to
be feared, such complaints canae directly
to the ears of the Emperor When they
did. they were almost certain to be hooded.
no matter what might be the Weakness OF
the rulers personal character. Tho Roman
world had for ages regarded the Emperor
as an earthly Providence, and to the end
such was the conception Of their ONCE
which was entertained even BY the feeblest
sovereign. Thus valentinian III. pro-
claims that II Is his business to provide
for the peace and tranquility Of the prov
inoee'; Anthemius says that be II called
"to face the storms Of overwhelming ca
lamity." 1T Is our care" says the EN-
peror Martian. -to provide for the welfare
of the human race" Our author recalls
how the Emperor Majorian In one law
describes with great vividness and pas
sionate force. es II for postenty, the crush-
ing weight Of taxation and the hopeless
position Of the farmer. MANY OF these
ediots. as has been said. betray the style
Of tho school rhetorioian, yet there IL In
many OF them the ring Of genuine oom-
passion for misery. which the imperial
author more than half oonfesses that he
Is impotent to relieve" In q word, Prof.
Dill has found 1t impossible to read some
"the agitation and anxieties Of his serene
mind" without q feeling that he is probably
the man most to be pitied In tho empire.
After citing from the Theodosian Code
examples Of the efforts OF government
to alleviate the mass Of sufering and social
injustice which 1t was impotent to c,lre.
our author brings the painful record to
close by recalling that .the authors Of these
laws have been generally loaded With the
double opprobrium Of weakness and cor
ruption. Les malheuyeur ont tou>ours tort.
The system Of bureaucratic despotism.
elaborated finally by Diocletian and Con-
stantine. produced tragedy in tho truest
sense such as history has seldom ex-
hibited; in which by an inexorable fate
the claims Of fancied omnipotenoe ended
in humiliating paralysis Of administra-
ton: In which determined efforts to rem
edy social evil. only aggravated them. till
they became uncomfortable; in which the best
intentions OF the central power were, gen.
GRAFTON after generation, Knocked and de-
feated alike by irresistible laws Of human
nature. and by hopeless perHdy and COR
ruption in the servants Of government
It used to be taken for granted that, In
the latter part Of the fourth and the fifth
centuries Of the Roman Empire in the West
the period Of its political and economical
disintegration-the morals Of Roman So
ciety were even more generally and hope
lesely corrupt than they had been in the
Empires first and second centuries. That is
by no means the conclusion to which ex-
teneive and careful research has brought
|, the author Of this volume. He does not
accept literally the sweeping charges made
by Christian saints and satirists. He Is
convinced that We ought never to trust
sweeping oensures Of the morals Of whole
age or people. -What picture of our own
time might be drawn" he asks. .by some
aorid or enthusiastic mora list OF the thirtieth
century who should dress up all the scandals
Of fashionable life hinted at In society jour
nails. all the talee OF ruin in the turf, all the
revelations Of police courts and divorce
courts, and present them to his readers
as fair sample Of the way in which the
English people were living in the reign Of
King Edward vII.2'
Prof. Dill points out that IL society at
large had been half as corrupt in the second
century Of the Roman Empire as II Ia repre-
sented by Juvenal, 1t must have speedily
perishsd Of mere rottenness. Yet it was to
live some four hundred years. The modern
inquirer needs even greater caution in
accepting contemporaneous judgments Of
the character OF Roman society in the fourth
and fifth centuries OF the Empire. than
In accepting those which deal with the same
society in the first or second centuries.
In the former case an age Of splendid public
virtue, great material advancement and
higher moral Ideals. the age Of the Anton
ines, succeeded q period which, We are
asked to belisve. was one OF unbridled
selfshness, frivolous extravaganza and
frantic debauchery. It Is natural therefore,
to believe that Juvenal overloaded his
canvass. On the other hand. the fifth
century closed the career Of Rome in the
West, and, therefore, men are moro Wiling
to believe the charges levelled' at con-
temporary high society by st. Jerome and
salvianus. We ought to bear In mind,
however. that the most spotless virtue and
the most heroic energy would have availed
nothing against the economical forces
which had undermined the civilization of
twelve hundred years. In Prof. Dil's
mind there is but little doubt that there
were In the last pagan generation, mon who
held more spiritual oreed and had aspira-
tions for a higher moral life than any
possessed by their ancestors, who con-
quered Carthage and Macedonia. But
they represent failing cause; they are