262 Transactions of the 



few, nor to favor the poor at the expense of the rich, nor to encourage 

 mere equality, nor to promote trade and commerce only, but to make 

 good and virtuous citizens, and to promote happiness. Those, there- 

 fore, who can contribute most to these results have the best title to a 

 share in the government. 



He proceeds to show that the middle, i. e., the producing classes, who 

 are exempt alike from the temptations of poverty and riches, are most 

 likely to be governed by reason. 



Nor was this great practical philosopher a mere utilitarian. "The 

 most necessary and useful things," he said, " are undertaken for the 

 sake of leading towards the most beautiful." 



The military arm was only valuable in preserving peace. Labor was 

 valuable in securing leisure for the highest enjoyments. 



The decay of Greece began in the degradation of labor, through the 

 introduction of slavery, and the growth of luxury. Education, at first 

 exceedingly practical, aiming at bodily and moral, as well as intellectual, 

 perfection, grew more and more onesided, and ended in speculations 

 upon philosophical subjects, mental gymnastics, as profitless in their 

 relations to popular welfare as the theological dogmas have been which 

 have divided the world. Agriculture became more and more subordi- 

 nated to trade and commerce. The mines were all worked by slaves. 

 The ratio of the free population to the slaves, who were brought from 

 the shores of Asia, became as one to three, and as almost every eminent 

 citizen was an owner of from fifty to one thousand, we can imagine 

 the rapidity with which the thousand years of Grecian civilization 

 drew to its close. 



ROME. 



Having shown that in the free States of Greece wc find the elements 

 of all that is best in society, and a recognition of the true relations of 

 man and land, we will turn to Eorae, where civilization presented the 

 same phenomena of progress and decay. As in Greece, we find the 

 supreme power of the Sta'te derived from laws made by common con- 

 sent of the people, and that the division of land was made according to 

 families, reserving a portion for common use. The early Iiomans had 

 only two arts — War and Agriculture. Every husbandman was also a 

 soldier, and as the laws forbade him to sell, or alienate his land, the 

 growth of population naturally led to the establishment of a patrician 

 class. The whole polic} 7- of iioman war and conquest rested on the 

 desire to extend their territory, and with it the freehold sj'stem, of such 

 vital consequence to the State. The Iioman Government never lost a 

 foot of land; every vanquished nation was compelled to merge itself 

 into the yeomanry of Eome, or to cede a third part of its domain, which 

 was thereupon converted into Eoman farms. It has been well said, that 

 many nations have gained victories and conquests as the Romans did; 

 but none have equaled them in securing to the plowshare what was 

 won by the sword. 



The extent of a middle sized Eoman farm was about twelve and a 

 half acres, the chief crops, wheat and spelt, which is even better adapted 

 than wheat to primitive cultivation. Peas, beans, and a great variety of 

 vegetables, were diligently cultivated. The rearing of cattle for milk or 

 meat does not appear to have been practiced until later times. From 

 the Greeks they borrowed the culture of the olive, fig, and vine. The 

 farmer and his sons guided the plow, which was drawn 'by the ox or 



