accurate, concerning the light in which the Greeks were regarded at Rome, and as a not incorrect portraiture of the Greek population of the capital. The expressions of the Romans, when speaking of the Greeks, often display nothing more than the manner in which the proud aristocracy of the empire regarded all foreigners, those even whom they admitted to their personal intimacy. The Greeks were confounded with the great body of strangers from the Eastern nations, in one general sentence of condemnation; and not unnaturally, for the Greek language served as the ordinary means of communication with all foreigners from the East. The magicians, conjurers, and astrologers of Syria, Egypt, and Chaldæa, were naturally mixed up, both in society and public opinion, with the adventurers of Greece, and contributed to form the despicable type which was unjustly enough transferred from the fortune-hunters at Rome, to the whole Greek nation. It is hardly necessary to observe, that Greek literature, as cultivated at Rome during this period, had no connection with the national feelings of the Greek people. As far as the Greeks themselves were concerned, learning was an honourable and lucrative occupation to its successful professors; but, in the estimation of the higher classes at Rome, Greek literature was merely an ornamental exercise of the mind,—a fashion of the wealthy.* This ignorance of Greece and the Greeks, induced Juvenal to draw his conclusive proof of the utter falsity of the Greek character, and of the fabulous nature of all * Claudius dismissed a Greek magistrate from his employment, because he was ignorant of Latin. SUETONIUS, Claud. 16. Greek history, from his own doubts concerning a fact. which is avouched by the testimony of Herodotus and Thucydides; but as a retort to the Græcia mendax of the Roman satirist, the apter observation of Lucian may be cited-that the Romans spoke truth only once in their lives, and that was when they made their wills. * The Romans were never very deeply imbued with a passionate admiration for Grecian art, and the painting and sculpture which they could procure as articles of commercial industry, was sufficient to gratify their taste. This was peculiarly fortunate for Greece, since there can be no doubt that the republic and the emperors would not have hesitated in regarding all the works of art, which were the public property of the Grecian states, as belonging to the Roman commonwealth by the right of conquest, if the avarice of the people would have received any gratification from the seizure. The great dissimilarity of manners between the two nations, appears in the aversion, with which many distinguished senators viewed the introduction of the works of Grecian art, by Marcellus and Mummius, after the conquests of Syracuse and Corinth. This aversion unquestionably contributed much to save Greece from the general confiscation of her treasures of art, to which the people clung with the most passionate attachment. Cicero says, that no Greek city of Europe or Asia would consent to sell a painting, or *Creditur olim Velificatus Athos, et quicquid Græcia mendax Audet in historia.-Juv. Sat. x. 173. HEROD. vii. 21. THUCYD. LEAKE'S Travels in Northern Greece. a statue, or a work of art, but that, on the contrary, all were ready to become purchasers.* The feeling of art, in the two people, is not inaptly illustrated, by comparing the conduct of the Rhodian republic with that of the Emperor Augustus. When the Rhodians were besieged by Demetrius Poliorcetes, they refused to destroy his statues, and those of his father, which had been erected in their agora. But when Augustus conquered Egypt, he ordered all the statues of Antony to be destroyed, and, with a meanness somewhat at variance with patrician dignity, he accepted a bribe of one thousand talents from the Alexandrines, to spare the statues of Cleopatra. The Greeks honoured art even more than the Romans loved vengeance. Works of art were, at times, carried away by those Roman governors who spared nothing they could pillage in their provinces; but these spoliations were always regarded in the light of direct robberies; and Fulvius Nobilior, Verres, and Piso, who had distinguished themselves in this species of violence, were considered as the most infamous of the Roman magistrates. It is true, that Sylla carried off the ivory statue of Minerva from the temple of Alalcomenæ, and that Augustus removed that of the great temple of Tegea, as a punishment to that city for espousing the party of Antony. But these very exceptions prove, how sparingly the Romans availed themselves of their rights of conquest; or history would have recorded the remarkable statues which they had allowed to remain in Greece, rather than signalized, * VERR. in sig. 59. +PAUS. Borot. xxxiii. 4. ARCAD. xlvi. 1. F at times, the few which they transported to Rome. When Caligula and Nero were permitted to govern the world according to the impulses of insanity, they ordered many celebrated works of art to be conveyed to Rome-among these, the celebrated Cupid of Praxiteles was twice removed. It was restored to Thespia by Claudius; but, on being again taken away by Nero, it perished in a conflagration.* Very little is subsequently recorded concerning this species of plunder, which Hadrian and his two successors would hardly have permitted. From the great number of the most celebrated works of ancient art which Pausanius enumerates in his tour through Greece, it is evident, that no extensive injury had then occurred, even to the oldest buildings. After the reign of Commodus, the Roman emperors paid but little attention to art; and unless the value of the materials caused the destruction of ancient works, they were allowed to stand undisturbed until the buildings around them crumbled into dust. During the period of nearly a century, which elapsed from the time of Pausanius, until the first irruption of the Goths into Greece, it is certain, that the temples and public buildings of the inhabited cities were very little changed in their general aspect, from the appearance which they had presented, when the Roman legions first entered Hellas. * PAUS. Boot. xxvii. 3. SECTION XI. - STATE OF SOCIETY AMONG THE GREEKS. In order to give a complete account of the state of society among the Greeks under the Roman empire, it would be necessary to enter into several dissertations connected with the political history of the Romans. To avoid so extensive a field, it will be necessary to give only a cursory sketch of those divisions of the Greek nation whose influence, though apparent in the annals of the Roman empire, did not permanently affect the progress of the national history. The state of civilization, the popular objects of pursuit, even the views of national advancement, continued, under the imperial government, to be very different, and often opposite, in the different divisions of the Greek nation. The inhabitants of Hellas had sunk into a quiet and secluded population. The schools of Athens were still famous, and Greece was visited by numbers of fashionable and learned travellers from other countries, as Italy now is; but the citizens dwelt in their own little world, clinging to antiquated forms and usages, and to old superstitions, holding little intercourse, and having little community of feeling, either with the rest of the empire, or with the other divisions of the Hellenic race. - The maritime cities of Europe, Asia Minor, and the Archipelago, embraced a considerable population, chiefly occupied in commerce and manufactures, and taking little interest in the politics of Rome, or in the literature of Greece. All commerce was |
