Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/489

 OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, 465 chanical rules. But sculpture, and above all, painting, C HAP. propose to themselves the imitation, not only of the forms of nature, but of the characters and passions of the human soul. In those sublime arts, the dexterity of the hand is of little avail, unless it is animated by fancy, and guided by the most correct taste and ob- servation. It is almost unnecessary to remark, that the civil dis- Of letters. tractions of the empire, the licence of the soldiers, the inroads of the barbarians, and the progress of despot- ism, had proved very unfavourable to genius, and even to learning. The succession of Illyrian princes restored the empire, without restoring the sciences. Their mili- tary education was not calculated to inspire them with the love of letters ; and even the mind of Diocletian, however active and capacious in business, was totally uninformed by study or speculation. The professions of law and physic are of such common use and certain profit, that they will always secure a sufficient number of practitioners, endowed with a reasonable degree of abilities and knowledge ; but it does not appear that the students in those two faculties appeal to any cele- brated masters who flourished within that period. The voice of poetry was silent. History was reduced to dry and confused abridgements, alike destitute of amuse- ment and instruction. A languid and affected elo- quence was still retained in the pay and service of the emperors, who encouraged not any arts except those which contributed to the gratification of their pride, or the defence of their power ^. The declining age of learning and of mankind is The new marked, however, by the rise and rapid progress of the I'^^^o^'^^^^- new Platonists. The school of Alexandria silenced those of Athens : and the ancient sects enrolled them- ^ The orator Eumenius was secretary to the emperors Maximian and Constantius, and professor of rhetoric in the college of Autun. His salary was six hundred thousand sesterces, which, according to the lowest com- putation of that age, must have exceeded three thousand pounds a year. He generously requested the permission of employing it in rebuiUiing the college. See his Oration De Restaurandis Scholis ; which, though not exempt from vanity, may atone for his panegyiics. VOL. I. H ll