general system, founded on the basis of the Roman jurisprudence;* and while ingrafting the law of the Romans on the stock of society in Greece, he did not seek to destroy the municipal institutions of the people. The policy of Hadrian, in raising the Greeks to an equality of civil rights with the Romans, gave an administrative sanction to whatever remained of the Macedonian institutions throughout the East; and as soon as the edict of Caracalla had conferred on all the subjects of the empire the rights of Roman citizenship, the Greeks became, in reality, the dominant people in the Eastern portion of the Roman empire, and Greek institutions ultimately obtained the supremacy. It is curious, that Antoninus, who adopted all the views of Hadrian with regard to the annihilation of the exclusive supremacy of the Roman citizens, should have thought it worth his attention to point out the supposed ancient connection between Rome and Arcadia. He was the first Roman who commemorated the relationship between Greece and Rome, by any public act. He conferred on Palantium, the Arcadian city from which Evander was supposed to have led a Greek colony to the banks of the Tiber, all the privileges ever granted to the most favoured municipalities. The habits and character of Marcus Aurelius, led him to regard the Greeks with the greatest favour; and had his reign been more peaceful, and left his time more at his own disposal, Greece would unquestionably have profited by his leisure. He rebuilt the temple of Eleusis, which had been burnt to the ground; he improved the schools of Athens, and increased the salaries of the professors, who then rendered that city the most celebrated university in the civilized world. Herodes Atticus, whose splendid public edifices in Greece rivalled the works of Hadrian, was, from his eminence in literature and taste, treated with distinction by Marcus Aurelius, until the emperor felt it was a duty to punish his oppressive and tyrannical conduct to the Athenians. When found guilty, the friendship of the emperor could not save him from banishment.* Little can be collected concerning the condition of Greece under the successors of Marcus Aurelius. The Roman government was occupied with wars, which seldom directly affected the provinces occupied by the Greeks. Literature and science were neglected by the soldiers of fortune who mounted the imperial throne; and Greece, forgotten and neglected, appears to have enjoyed a degree of tranquillity and repose, which enabled her to profit by the improvements in the imperial government, which Hadrian had introduced, and the decree of Caracalla had ratified.† The institutions of the Greeks, which were unconnected with the exercise of the supreme executive power in the country, were generally allowed to exist, even by the most jealous of the emperors. When these institutions disappeared, their destruction was effected by the progressive change, which time gradually introduced into Greek society, and * PHILOSTRATUS, Vita Soph. ii. 1. 4. + A. D. 212–217. not by any violence on the part of the Roman government. It is difficult, indeed, to trace the limits of the state and city administration in matters of taxation, or the exact extent of their control over their local funds. Some cities possessed independence, and others were free from tribute; and these privileges gave the Greek nation a political position in the empire, which prevented their being confounded with the other provincials in the East, until the reign of Justinian.* As the Greek cities in Thrace, Asia Minor, Syria, and Egypt, preserved these important privileges, it is not wonderful that, in Greece, the whole frame of the ancient social institutions was preserved.† Pausanius found the Amphictyonic council still holding its meetings, three centuries after the Roman conquest. The deputies of the Achæan, Boeotian, and Phocic commonwealths, continued to meet for the purpose of transacting the business of their confederacies.§ The Athenians were allowed to maintain an armed guard in the Island of Delos. || The Olympic, Pythic, and Isthmian games, were regularly celebrated. The Areopagus at Athens, and the Gerontia at Sparta, still exercised their functions.** The different cities and provinces retained their peculiar dialects, and the inhabitants of Αὐτονομία was the privilege of some cities, others were ἀτελῶς φορῶν. + The assemblies of the people in the Greek cities were, however, regarded by the Romans with great jealousy: Acts, xix. 40, "For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse." ** Phoc. viii. 2. Arcad. xxxiii. § Achaica, xvi. 7. Boot. xxxiv. 1. ¶ Eliac. Pr. vii. 4. Phoc. vii. 2. Lacon. xi. 2. Phoc. iv. 2. Corinth. ii. 2. Sparta continued to affect the Laconism of antiquity in their public despatches.* The mountaineers of Attica, in the time of Antoninus, spoke a purer language than the populace of the city of Athens, which still bore evidence of its heterogeneous origin after the massacre of Sylla. Had the financial burdens of the Roman government not weighed too heavily on the population, the rivalry of the Greeks, directed entirely to local improvements, to philosophy, literature, and the arts, must have proved useful and honourable to their country. But the moral supports of the old frame-work of society were destroyed before the edict of Caracalla had emancipated Greece; and when tranquillity arrived, they were only capable of enjoying the felicity of having been forgotten by their tyrants. SECTION X.-THE GREEKS AND ROMANS NEVER SHEWED ANY DISPOSITION TO UNITE AND FORM ONE PEOPLE. THE habits and tastes of the Greeks and Romans were so different, that they produced a feeling of antipathy in the two nations. The Roman writers, from prejudice and jealousy, of which they were themselves, perhaps, unconscious, have transmitted to us a very incorrect picture of the state of the Greeks, during the first centuries of the empire. They did not observe, with attention, the marked distinction between the Asiatic and Alexandrine * STRABO, viii. 1. vol. 2. 138. ed. TAUCH. PAUS. Messen. xxvii. 5. PHILOSTRATUS, Apoll. Tyan. ii. 62. + PHILOSTRATUS, v. Soph. Herod. Att. TACITUS, * Greeks, and the natives of Hellas. The European population, pursuing the quiet life of landed proprietors, or engaged in the pursuits of commerce and agriculture, was considered, by Roman prejudice, as unworthy of notice. Lucian, himself a Greek indeed, contrasts the tranquil and respectable manner of life at Athens, with the folly and luxury of Rome; but the Romans looked on provincials as little better than serfs, (coloni,) and merchants were, in their eyes, only tolerated cheats. The Greek character was estimated from the conduct of the adventurers, who thronged, from the wealthy and corrupted cities of the East, in order to seek their fortunes at Rome; and who, from motives of fashion and taste, were unduly favoured by the wealthy aristocracy. The most distinguished of these Greeks were literary men, professors of philosophy, rhetoric, grammar, mathematics, and music. Great numbers were engaged as private teachers; and this class was regarded with some respect by the Roman nobility, from its intimate connection with their families. The great mass of the Greeks residing at Rome were, however, employed in connection with the public and private amusements of the capital, and were found engaged in every profession, from the directors of the theatres and opera-houses, down to the swindlers who frequented the haunts of vice. The testimony of the Latin authors may be received as sufficiently * NIGRINUS. + Grammaticus, rhetor, geometres, pictor, aliptes, JUVENAL, Sat. iii. 76. |