Between Heathenism and Christianity - College of Stoic Philosophers

Plutarch and the Greece of His Age
profitable channels. Rarely has a man. distinguished
for eloquence alone, profoundly influenced the course
of human events.
Contemporaries are unanimous in
ascribing to Julius Caesar oratorical gifts
of the
highest order; but he preferred to make his mark as
a doer of deeds rather than as a maker of phrases.
In Rome the economic conditions were somewhat
different from those prevailing in Greece and the
East, yet Rome was not a commercial state. It was
founded on military power, extended by valor and
endurance in war, and when there were no more
worlds to conquer,
against external enemies began to
herself.
the forces that had been turned
be turned against
Rome was rich while she had other countries
to plunder; when this was no longer possible her
decay began. And these countries, by
which we
mean all the provinces outside of the city, were rich
so long as the fertility of their soil continued and
their mines were productive. That Rome s moral
decline antedated her economic retrogression by
centuries is familiar to every reader of ancient history,
but it is only the latter that we are concerned with here.
Money was not used for purposes of production,
but for the purchase of articles of luxury and display.
Much of what had been accumulated in the capital
flowed eastward and disappeared. Italy gradually
passed into the hands of a small number of largelanded
proprietors, whose vast estates were cultivated by
persons who had no interest in maintaining their
fertility. Great numbers of free citizens flocked to
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