148 Spartian. _Sept. Severus_. 149 Suet. _August._ 41; Dion Cassius, li, 1. 150 “Afflictos civitatis relevavit; puellas puerosque natos parentibus egestosis sumptu publico per Italiæ oppida ali jussit.”—Sext. Aurelius Victor, _Epitome_, “Nerva.” This measure of Nerva, though not mentioned by any other writer, is confirmed by the evidence of medals. (Naudet, p. 75.) 151 Plin. _Panegyr._ xxvi. xxviii. 152 We know of this charity from an extant bronze tablet. See Schmidt, _Essai historique sur la Société romaine_, p. 428. 153 Plin. _Ep._ i. 8; iv. 13. 154 Schmidt, p. 428. 155 Spartianus, _Hadrian_. 156 Capitolinus, _Antoninus_. 157 Capitolinus, _Anton._, _Marc. Aurel._ 158 Lampridius, _A. Severus_. 159 See Friedlænder, _Hist. des Mœurs romaines_, iii. p. 157. 160 Seneca (_De Ira_, lib. i. cap. 16) speaks of institutions called valetudinaria, which most writers think were private infirmaries in rich men’s houses. The opinion that the Romans had public hospitals is maintained in a very learned and valuable, but little-known work, called _Collections relative to the Systematic Relief of the Poor_. (London, 1815.) 161 See Tacit. _Annal._ xii. 58; Pliny, v. 7; x. 79. 162 Cornelius Nepos, _Epaminondas_, cap. iii. 163 Plutarch, _Cimon_. 164 Diog. Laërt. _Bias_. 165 Tac. _Annal._ iv. 63. 166 See Pliny, _Ep._ x. 94, and the remarks of Naudet, pp. 38, 39. _ 167 De Offic._ i. 14, 15. 168 Lucian describes this in his famous picture of Peregrinus; and Julian, much later, accused the Christians of drawing men into the Church by their charities. Socrates (_Hist. Eccl._ vii. 17) tells a story of a Jew who, pretending to be a convert to Christianity, had been often baptised in different sects, and had amassed a considerable fortune by the gifts he received on those occasions. He was at last miraculously detected by the Novatian bishop Paul. There are several instances in the _Lives of the Saints_ of judgments falling on those who duped benevolent Christians. 169 See on this subject Chastel, _Études historiques sur la Charité_ (Paris, 1853); Martin Doisy, _Hist. de la Charité pendant les quatre premiers Siècles_ (Paris, 1848); Champagny, _Charité chrétienne_; Tollemer, _Origines de la Charité catholique_ (Paris, 1863); Ryan, _History of the Effects of Religion upon Mankind_ (Dublin, 1820); and the works of Bingham and of Cave. I am also indebted, in this part of my subject, to Dean Milman’s histories, Neander’s _Ecclesiastical History_, and _Private Life of the Early Christians_, and to Migne’s _Encyclopédie_.