Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire vol 3 (1897).djvu/374

 354 THE DECLINE AND FALL privileges and importance. ^^^ Each of these cities, as in all the other provinces of the empire, formed a legal corporation, for the pm'pose of regulating their domestic policy ; and the powers of municipal government were distributed among annual magis- trates, a select senate, and the assembly of the people, accord- ing to the original model of the Roman constitution. ^^^ The management of a common revenue, the exercise of civil and criminal jurisdiction, and the habits of public counsel and com- mand were inherent to these petty republics ; and, when they asserted their independence, the youth of the city and of the adjacent districts would naturally range themselves under the standard of the magistrate. But the desire of obtaining the advantages, and of escaping the burdens, of political society is a perpetual and inexhaustible source of discord ; nor can it reasonably be presumed that the restoration of British freedom was exempt from tumult and faction. The pre-eminence of bii-th and fortune must have been frequently violated by bold and popular citizens ; and the haughty nobles, who complained that they were become the subjects of their oAvn servants,^^^ would sometimes regret the reign of an arbitraiy monarch. II. The jurisdiction of each city over the adjacent country was sup- ported by the patrimonial influence of the principal senators ; and the smaller towTis, the villages, and the proprietor of land con- sulted their o^vn safety by adhering to the shelter of these rising republics. The sphere of their attraction was proportioned to the respective degrees of their w-ealth and populousness ; but the hereditary lords of ample possessions, who Avere not oppressed by the neighbourhood of aiiy powerful city, aspired to the rank of independent princes, and boldly exex-cised the rights of peace and war. The gardens and villas, which exhibited some faint imitation of Italian elegance, would soon be converted into strong castles, the refuge, in time of dangei', of the adjacent countiy ; ^^'^ the produce of the land was applied to purchase isB Tv/o cities of Britain were mttnicipia, nine colonies, ten Latii jura don aiae, twelve stipendiaries of eminent note. This detail is taken from Richard of Ciren- cester, de Situ Britannia?, p. 36 ; and, though it may not seem probable that he wrote from the Mss. of a Roman general, he shews a genuine knowledge of antiquity, very extraordinary for a monk of the fourteenth century. [The treatise is a forgery of the iSth century, by one Bertram ; cp. vol. L Appendix 2.] i*' See Maffei, Verona Illustrata, part i. L v. p. 83-106. 1^ Leges restituit, libertatemque reducit, Et servos famulis non sinit esse suis. Itinerar. RutiL L L 215. 1S9 An inscription (apud Sirmond., Not. ad Sidon. Apollinar. p. 59) describes a castle, cum muris et portis, tuitioni omnium, erected by Dardanus"[Praet. Praef.