Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/312

 292 THE DECLINE AND FALL torian prefect. '^^ His immense estates were scattered over the wide extent of the Roman world ; and, though the public might suspect or disapprove the methods by which they had been acquired, the generosity and magnificence of that fortunate statesman deserved the gratitude of his clients and the admira- tion of strangers.'-- Such was the respect entertained for his memory that the two sons of Probus in their earliest youth, and at the request of the senate, were associated in the consular dignity : a memorable distinction without example in the annals of Rome.23 Wealth of " The marblcs of the Anician palace " was used as a pro- nobies vcrbial expression of opulence and splendour ; -* but the nobles and senators of Rome aspired in due gradation to imitate that illustrious family. The accurate description of the city, which was composed in the Theodosian age, enumerates one thousand [1790] seven hundred and eighty hoaxes; the residence of wealthy and honourable citizens.-^ Many of these stately mansions might almost excuse the exaggeration of the poet : that Rome con- tained a multitude of palaces, and that each palace was equal to a city ; since it included within its own precincts everything which could be subservient either to use or luxury : markets, hippodromes, temples, fountains, baths, porticos, shady groves, and artificial aviaries.-*^ The historian Olympiodorus, who represents the state of Rome when it was besieged by the Goths,'-' continues to observe that several of the richest senators received 21 Probus. . . claritudine generis et potentia et opum magnitudine cognitus Orbi Romano, per quern universum pcEne patrimonia sparsa possedit, juste an secus non judicioli est nostri. Ammian. Marcellin. xxvii. ii. His children and widow erected for him a magnificent tomb in the Vatican, which was demolished in the [time of Pope Nicholas V. to make room for the new church of St. Peter. Baronius, who laments the ruin of this Christian monument, has diligently pre- served the inscriptions and basso-relievos. See Annal. Eccles. A.D. 395, No. 5-17- 22 Two Persian Satraps travelled to Milan and Rome to hear St. Ambrose and to see Probus (Paulin. in Vit. Ambros.). Claudian (in Cons. Probin. et Olybr. 30-60) seems at a loss how to e.xpress the glory of Probus. 23 See the poem which Claudian addressed to the two noble youths. -^ Secundinus, the Manichasan, ap. Baron. Annal. Eccles. A.D. 390, No. 34. -5 See Nardini, Roma .A.ntica, p. 89, 498, 500. -fi Quid loquar inclusas inter laquearia sylvas ; Vernula quae vario carmine ludit avis. Claud. Rutil. Numatian Itinerar. ver.liii. The poet lived at the time of the Gothic invasion. A moderate palace would have covered Cincinnatus's farm of four acres (Val. Max. iv. 4). In laxitatem ruris excurrunt, says -Seneca, Epist. 114. See a judicious note of Mr. Hume, Essays, vol. i. p. 562, last 8vo edition. ^ This curious account of Rome in the reign of Honorius is found in a fragment of the historian Olympiodorus, ap Photium, p. 197 [fr. 43, 44, F. H. G. iv. p. 67].