Page:The age of Justinian and Theodora (Volume 2).djvu/208

 in some localities were great and conspicuous objects. Below the Coelian hill the Lateran gardens were occupied by the Constantinean Cathedral of the Saviour; and the original basilica of St. Peter had taken possession of the Vatican mount. Without the walls, on the south, the great church of St. Paul had been built to supply the religious needs of the teeming population of the suburbs.

An observant historian, resident in the West during the latter part of the fourth century, has left us a striking picture of Roman society in his time, which, with essential modifications, may be applied to illustrate the manners of the Italian capital under the rule of Theodoric. The national aspirations and energies of the Roman people, having been nurtured and gratified progressively by success during several centuries, arrived at the stage of inflorescence in the pre-Augustan age. The long-continued training and encouragement of intellectual activity was then producing those fruits which are characteristic of the highest degree of material prosperity; men experienced in war, habitual conquerors ambitious to rule; accumulations of wealth in the hands of numerous private persons; and a lively interest in literature and art. Hence sprang civil wars ending in despotism, boundless luxury, and new creations in the realm of poetry, history, painting, and sculpture. But the outcome of the autocracy was a cessation of mental activity, emulation became extinct, and a period of stagnation set in, tending gradually towards settled apathy and indifference to all purposive effort. About two centuries after the foundation of