nobility at that time, from which it appears that luxury of every kind was carried to the greatest excess. They adorned their houses with magnificent statues of themselves. Their robes were of the most costly description, and became a burden to the wearer from the immoderate weight of their rich embroidery. When they travelled to any distance, so large was the retinue that it was like the march of an army, and even when they rode in their splendid chariots through the streets of the city, they were followed by a train of fifty servants, and tore up the very pavement by their furious driving. Sometimes they sailed in their painted yachts from the Lucrine lake, on the coast of Puteoli, and thought when they had done it, that they had performed an exploit which might rival the expeditions of either Alexander or Cæsar. Their tables were covered with the rarest delicacies, and the pleasures of the feast occupied no small share of their time and conversation. Musical concerts and visiting the baths, the theatres, and other places of amusement, absorbed nearly all the rest. Great was the change since the days of Cincinnatus. Roman simplicity had been succeeded by oriental magnificence. Cloaks of Laconian wool and purple, tables of thurga-root, with claws of silver and ivory, services of plate, set with precious stones, furniture of the costliest materials, and most elegant workmanship, banqueting-halls of florid architecture, baths of marble, and villas surrounded by enchanting gardens, were now the signs of greatness, instead of wisdom in the cabinet, or valour in the field. The second class of Roman society consisted of the plebeian citizens, numbers of whom, neglecting all industrious employments, lived upon the public distribution of bread, bacon, oil, and wine, which, from the time of Augustus, had been made for the relief of the indigent among the people. These idlers spent their time chiefly in baths and taverns, and in witnessing those public amusements in the circus and the theatre, which their corrupt magistrates and great men, from the emperors downwards, were accustomed to provide as a means of securing and maintaining popularity. "Some," says Ammianus, "passed the night in taverns, and others under the awnings of the theatres: they occupied their time in playing at dice, or, which was a more favourite employment, in sitting from morning till evening in the sun or the rain, enjoying the amusements of the circus, and discussing the excellences, or the defects of the horses and the charioteers. It was truly surprising to see an innumerable concourse of people, with the most ardent minds, watching the event of a chariot face."[6]