^t ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. Bosk IV. 



fyrians, Medes, Perfians, and Macedonians, was then in' its- greaf- 

 efl glory, with refpecl to extent of territory; for it comprehended 

 the greateft part of the earth then known. But the Romans h^d 

 not only depopulated a great part of the earth hy their conquerts, 

 but had dirniniihed their own numbers fo much by thefe conquefts,. 

 and more ftill by their vices and difeafes, tliat Italy was a defart 

 compared to what it had been at the time of the foundation of 

 Rome. Pliny relates, that in Latium, a fmall diftrid of Italy, there 

 were once ci cities, or little ftates, of which there was not a veftige 

 remaining in his time: And Horace tells us, that his fmall Sabine 

 farm, which was cultivated by no more than eight flaves, fent once to 

 Varia (a little ftate, of which his farm was a part) five Senators*. The 

 Volfci, the Equi,the Veii, and many other nations with whom the Ro- 

 mans fought fo many battles in the beginning of their ftate, and who 

 recruited their armies fo foon after the greateft lofles, had difappeared 

 in the days of Auguftus; and the eftates of the Roman nobility were, 

 at that time, cultivated by flaves from barbarous nations inftead of 

 free citizens, and that rufllcorum mafcula militum proles^ which enabled 

 the Romans to conquer the world. Auguftus, and the fucceeding 

 Emperors, endeavoured to preferve the race of citizens, by the rewards 

 they gave to encourage marriage and the rearing of children, and by 

 the punifhments they inflided on celebacy. In order to repeople 

 Italy, Auguftus brought into it 28 colonies from other nations t; and 

 Antoninus Philofophus, for the fame purpofe, mjiintos e:: gentibus 

 i7i Romano folo collocavit^ as Julius Capitolinus, the author of his 

 life, tells us J: — But all to no purpofe ; for Italy came at laft to be 

 peopled chiefly with flaves, or flaves manumitted and their children : 

 And even with them it would have been a defart if Conftantine had 

 not rcpeopled it with 300,000 Sarmatians. Nor was it better in 

 Sicily than in Italy; for, in a paflage, that I have quoted § from 



DiodoruSj, 



* Lib. I. Epif. 14. t Suetonius in vita Augufti, Cap. 0^6. X Cap. 24> 



S Page 257. 



