Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/316

 296 THE DECLINE AND FALL to the tumults of a republic ; while Rome was still adored as the queen of the earth, and the subject nations still reverenced the name of the people and the majesty of the senate. But this native splendour" (continues Ammianus) " is degraded and sullied by the conduct of some nobles ; who, unmindful of their own dignity and of that of their coimtry, assume an unbounded licence of vice and folly. They contend with each other in the empty vanity of titles and surnames ; and curiously select or invent the most lofty and sonorous appellations, Reburrus, or Fabunius, Pagonius, or Tarrasius,^~ which may impress the ears of the vulgar with astonishment and respect. From a vain ambition of perpetuating their memory, they affect to multiply their likeness in statues of bronze and marble ; nor are they satisfied, unless those statues are covered with plates of gold : an honourable distinction, first granted to Acilius the consul, after he had subdued, by his arms and counsels, the power of king Antiochus. The ostentation of displaying, of magnifying perhaps, the rent- roll of the estates which they possess in all the provinces, from the rising to the setting sun, provokes the just resentment of every man who recollects that their poor and invincible ancestoi*s were not distinguished from the meanest of the soldiers by the delicacy of their food or the splendour of their apparel. But the modern nobles measure their rank and consequence according to the loftiness (jf their chariots ^^ and the weighty magnificence of their dress. Their long robes of silk and purple float in the wind ; and, as they are agitated, by art or accident, they occasion- ally discover the under garments, the rich tunics, embi'oidered '^ The minute diligence of antiquarians has not been able to verify these extra- ordinary names. I am of opinion that they were invented by the historian himself, who was afraid of any personal satire or application. [Xot so ; Paconius is not uncommon, cp., for example, C. I. L. xiv. 1444, xii. 5038; for Reburrus, cp. xiv. 413 ; Tarasius is familiar.] It is certain, however, that the simple denomina- tions of the Romans were gradually lengthened to the number of four, five, or even seven pompous surnames ; as, for instance, Marcus Maecius Memmius Furius Balburius Caecilianus Placidus. See Noris, Cenotaph. Pisan. Dissert, iv. p. 438. ^ The carruca, or coaches, of the Romans were often of solid silver, curiously carved and engraved ; and the trappings of the mules or horses were embossed with gold. This magnificence continued from the reign of Nero to that of Honorius ; and the Appian way was covered with the (splendid equipages of the nobles, who came out to meet St. Melania when she returned to Rome, six years before the Gothic siege (Seneca, epist. Ixxxvii. ; Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 49 ; Paulin. Nolan, apud Baron. Annal. Eccles. A.d. 397, No. 5). Yet pomp is well exchanged for convenience ; and a plain modern coach that is hung upon sprmgs is much prefer- able to the silver or gold carts of antiquity, which rolled on the axle-tree and were exposed, for the most part, to the inclemency of the weather.