A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca
A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca A source-book of ancient history - The Search For Mecca
— 542 Some Aspects of the Decline VI. An Example of the Moral Condition of the Empire Salvianus, Providence oj God, vii. 1 6. Carthage will serve as an illustration. Immoralities. The statement is doubtless excessive. I will content myself with speaking of this city, the queen and mother, as it were, of all the cities of Africa, this city, the eternal rival of Rome, at first in arms, then in courage, and finally in splendor and dignity! Carthage, I say, the most formidable adversary of Rome, the Rome as it were of Africa, which will suffice as an example and as evidence, because she contains within herself everything by which a state is constituted and administered. There are all the means which prepare for the civil professions, there are the academies of liberal arts, there the schools of the philosophers, there the gymnasia of languages and manners. There too are military forces and the commanders of the soldiery, there the proconsular office, there a judge and permanent governor who rules with the title of proconsul but with the power of a consul. There are also all the official dignitaries who differ from one another in name and rank, for every ward, for every street, I may say,— procurators who govern every part and division of so great a people. I am content with this city as an example for judging the rest; and we may readily understand the character of the others, lacking as they do careful police regulations, whereas the governors of Carthage possess the utmost authority. And here I almost repent of the promise I have just made, to pass by all other excesses of the Africans and to speak chiefly of their impurities and blasphemies. I see a city overflowing with vices, I see a city seething with every kind of wickedness, thronging with people, thronging still more with iniquities, full of riches, but fuller of sins, where men surpass one another in the vileness of
Moral Depravity 543 their evil passions, strong among themselves for supremacy in greed and impurity, others enfeebled with wine or distended with gluttony, others crowned with flowers or reeking with perfumes, all weakened by degrading forms of liLxury, nearly all sunken in deadly errors, not all dizzy with wine, it is true, but everyone drunken in sin. You would say that the people had lost their sound condition, their senses, their mental sanity, and were moving along in crowds, not with certain step but in the manner of intoxicated Bacchantes. ... I mention the proscription of orphans, the oppression of widows, the crosses of the poor who daily groan before God, praying for an end to their afflictions, and worst of all, forced by the unendurable bitterness of their lot, calling in the enemy, till finally God has granted them to endure along with the rest the affliction at the hands of the barbarians which formerly they alone had endured at the hands of the Romans. STUDIES 1. Eniunerate all the causes of decline mentioned in this selection. Does the writer seem to treat the case fairly? 2. In what particular ways, according to Salvianus, were the many pillaged by the few? Who especially were oppressed? 3. What was the condition of the part of Euboea described in this selection? What is the value of the selection in the study of this period? What probably caused the depopulation? 4. How did Pertinax try to remedy the evil? 5. How did the rural laborers seek to avoid their taxes, and how did the government try to hold them to their duty? 6. Describe the prosperity of Carthage. What does Salvianus say of its immoralities? Was this condition a cause of decline?
- Page 507 and 508: • Provincial Administration 491 1
- Page 509 and 510: A Quickly Made Croesus 493 Serapa,
- Page 511 and 512: Social Life 495 is a difficult matt
- Page 513 and 514: .Correspondence 497 1 Herraocrates
- Page 515 and 516: The Unpleasantness of Rome 499 in t
- Page 517 and 518: Studies 501 3. From these letters a
- Page 519 and 520: " Provision against Fires 503 have
- Page 521 and 522: Endowment for Poor Children 505 com
- Page 523 and 524: Hadrian's Travels 507 and no empero
- Page 525 and 526: Hadrian's Laws 509 rejected, and no
- Page 527 and 528: — The Harmony of all Things 511 w
- Page 529 and 530: Death and Immortality 513 when they
- Page 531 and 532: ; God Sees and Protects 515 Him and
- Page 533 and 534: A Burial Society- Si? that whoever
- Page 535 and 536: Correspondence 519 Serenus the son
- Page 537 and 538: CHAPTER XLI EARLY HISTORY OF CHRIST
- Page 539 and 540: Beginning of Persecutions 523 thus
- Page 541 and 542: Harsher Persecutions 525 evident th
- Page 543 and 544: CHAPTER XLII THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY
- Page 545 and 546: Reorganization of the Empire 529 qu
- Page 547 and 548: 1 Edict of Prices 531 becomes impos
- Page 549 and 550: Constantine 533 institutions of the
- Page 551 and 552: Toleration; Uniformity 535 about th
- Page 553 and 554: CHAPTER XLIII SOME ASPECTS OF THE D
- Page 555 and 556: Oppression 539 Drietor; hence it se
- Page 557: Depopulation; Incipient Feudalism 5
- Page 561 and 562: Warfare; Government 545 which they
- Page 563 and 564: Justice; ''Companionship" 547 king,
- Page 565 and 566: Peace 549 the year's yield than to
- Page 567 and 568: Family and Kin 551 hair: they are o
- Page 569 and 570: Slavery 553 lances. Practice has pe
- Page 571 and 572: The Huns 555 wander about roaming o
- Page 573 and 574: Review 557 without any provocation,
- Page 575 and 576: The Sack of Rome 559 but scourged a
- Page 577 and 578: — Advice to a Monk 561 If on your
- Page 579 and 580: Rule of St. Benedict 563 such a way
- Page 581 and 582: Oft-Wedded 565 and have renounced t
- Page 583 and 584: Angels; Miracles 567 law: and from
- Page 585 and 586: Heresies; Education 569 be cancelle
- Page 587 and 588: Teaching 571 things earthly unto Th
- Page 589 and 590: Review 573 Q. What view of miracles
- Page 591 and 592: Future Life 575 a crowd of the form
- Page 593 and 594: Charles the Great 577 III. Charlema
- Page 595 and 596: His Activity; Personal Appearance 5
- Page 597 and 598: His Education 581 the Roman fashion
- Page 599 and 600: Crowned Emperor 583 the intention o
- Page 601 and 602: INDEX Achaean, league, 297-301; war
- Page 603 and 604: Index 587 Delos, 212; confederacy o
- Page 605 and 606: Index 589 Heraclea, battle of, 367
- Page 607 and 608: Index 591 Parilia, 334 Paterculus,
Moral Depravity 543<br />
their evil passions, strong among themselves for supremacy<br />
in greed and impurity, others enfeebled with wine or distended<br />
with gluttony, others crowned with flowers or<br />
reeking with perfumes, all weakened by degrading forms<br />
<strong>of</strong> liLxury, nearly all sunken in deadly errors, not all dizzy<br />
with wine, it is true, but everyone drunken in sin. You<br />
would say that the people had lost their sound condition,<br />
their senses, their mental sanity, and were moving along<br />
in crowds, not with certain step but in the manner <strong>of</strong> intoxicated<br />
Bacchantes. ... I mention the proscription<br />
<strong>of</strong> orphans, the oppression <strong>of</strong> widows, the crosses <strong>of</strong> the<br />
poor who daily groan before God, praying for an end to<br />
their afflictions, and worst <strong>of</strong> all, forced by the unendurable<br />
bitterness <strong>of</strong> their lot, calling in the enemy, till finally<br />
God has granted them to endure along with the rest the<br />
affliction at the hands <strong>of</strong> the barbarians which formerly<br />
they alone had endured at the hands <strong>of</strong> the Romans.<br />
STUDIES<br />
1. Eniunerate all the causes <strong>of</strong> decline mentioned in this selection.<br />
Does the writer seem to treat the case fairly?<br />
2. In what particular ways, according to Salvianus, were the many<br />
pillaged by the few? Who especially were oppressed?<br />
3. What was the condition <strong>of</strong> the part <strong>of</strong> Euboea described in this<br />
selection? What is the value <strong>of</strong> the selection in the study <strong>of</strong> this<br />
period? What probably caused the depopulation?<br />
4. How did Pertinax try to remedy the evil?<br />
5. How did the rural laborers seek to avoid their taxes, and how<br />
did the government try to hold them to their duty?<br />
6. Describe the prosperity <strong>of</strong> Carthage. What does Salvianus<br />
say <strong>of</strong> its immoralities? Was this condition a cause <strong>of</strong> decline?
Change language