Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/206

 186 THE DECLINE AND FALL feeble and divided administration ; and every disgraceful moment of the unfortunate reigns of Arcadius and Honorius revived the memory of their irrei)arable loss. Corruption of In the faithful picture of the virtues of Theodosius, his imperfections have not been dissembled ; the act of cruelty, and the habits of indolence, which tarnished the glory of one of the greatest of the Roman princes. An historian, perpetually adverse to the fame of Theodosius, has exaggerated his vices and their pernicious effects ; he boldly asserts that every rank of subjects imitated the effeminate manners of their sovereign ; that every species of corruption polluted the course of public and private life ; and that the feeble restraints of order and decency were insufficient to resist the progress of that degener- ate spirit which sacrifices, without a blush, the consideration of duty and interest to the base indulgence of sloth and appetite.^^" The complaints of contemporary writers, who deplore the increase of luxury and depravation of manners, are commonly expressive of their peculiar temper and situation. There are few observers who possess a clear and com})rehensive view of the revolutions of society ; and who are capable of discovering the nice and secret springs of action which impel, in the same uniform direction, the blind and capricious passions of a multi- tude of individuals. If it can be affirmed, with any degree of truth, that the luxury of the Romans was more shameless and dissolute in the reign of Theodosius than in the age of Constan- tine, perhaps, or of Augustus, the alteration cannot be ascribed to any beneficial improvements, which had gradually increased the stock of national riches. A long period of calamity or decay must have checked the industry, and diminished the wealth, of the people ; and their profuse luxury must have been the result of that indolent despair which enjoys the present hour and declines the thoughts of futurity. The uncertain condition of their property discouraged the subjects of Theodosius from en- gaging in those useful and laborious undertakings which require an immediate expense and promise a slow and distant advant- age. The frequent examples of ruin and desolation tempted them not to spare the remains of a patrimony which might, every hour, become the prey of the rapacious Goth. And the mad prodigality which prevails in the confusion of a shipwreck or a siege may serve to explain the progress of luxury amidst the roisfortunes and terrors of a sinking nation. '27 2osimus, 1. iv. p. 244 [c. 33].