[53] Finlay, 105. [54] Ibid. 137. [55] Tacitus, _Annal._ xii. 43. [56] Michelet, _Histoire de France_, i. 277. [57] _Edinburgh Review._ April 1846. No. 168. Page 370-371. [58] Sismondi, _Chute de l'Empire Romaine_, i. 233. [59] Finlay, 389. [60] Ibid. 392. [61] Gibbon, chap. ii. vol. i. p. 90. [62] Jacob's _Historical Inquiry into the Production and Consumption of the Precious Metals_, i. 35, 42. [63] Finlay, 88. [64] _Ibid._ 90. [65] Finlay, 89. [66] Gibbon, v. 329. [67] _Arbuthnott on Ancient Coins_, c. 5. Gibbon, i. 90, c. ii. [68] _Greaves on Ancient Coins_, i. 229, 331. [69] Gibbon, c. 36, vol. vi. 173. [70] See _Edinburgh Review_. No. 168. April 1846. [71] There are now 20,000,000 inhabitants in Italy, and it was certainly as populous in the time of Augustus, when Rome alone, which now has 180,000, contained 2,386,000 souls. [72] _Le Peuple._ Par J. MICHELET. [73] _Du Feu Greçois, des Feux de Guerre, et des Origines de la Poudre-à-Canon._ Par MM. REINAUD et FAVÉ. [74] --------"Conductâ Paulus agebat Sardonyche."--JUV. _Sat._ vii. [75] Poor Seneca, for a _moral_ philosopher, seems to have been somewhat harshly handled: here patronised by cheats and gamblers, and here censured by philosophy and dissent! Now invoked by Rusca to assist him in his ingannations; now lugged on the stage to be commented on by the valet of a gambler,[*] as he _debits_ him, for his master's consolation, under his losses; here glanced at by Coleridge for his splendid "inconsistencies;" and here by the sour _Dissenter_, who accuses our Church's ministers of borrowing their sermons from his precepts. "Preaching the trash they purchase at the stalls, And more like _Seneca's_, than _HIS_!! or _Paul's_!" And, as he could make no higher appeal for human virtue than the authority of human wisdom for the plea of expediency, it was not to be wondered at if he should have met with no better fate than to be praised of fools, and neglected of the wise, who wisely deemed him an insufficient, and therefore a dangerous guide. [*] Le Joueur. [76] The name of "_half honest_" exactly suits this class of men, who, adopting one _half_ of what our admirable Taylor lays down in his golden "rules and measures of justice in bargaining," neglect the other half. "In prices of bargaining concerning _uncertain_ merchandises, you may buy as cheap, ordinarily, as you can, and sell as dear as you can;" so far they and Taylor are of a mind. "Provided," continues he, "that you contract on _equal terms_ with persons in _all senses_ (as to the matter and skill of bargaining) _equal to yourself_; that is, merchants with merchants, _wise men with wise men_, rich with rich"--and _here_ the _mezzo galant'uomo_ gives up Taylor, to keep true to his name and calling.