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CAUSES OF GRECIAN DECAY ROME. 35 



piness. Those, therefore, 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. &quot;The most nec 

 essary and useful things,&quot; he said, &quot;are undertaken for the sake 

 of leading toward the most beautiful.&quot; 



The military arm was only valuable in preserving peace. 

 Labor was valuable in securing leisure for the highest enjoy 

 ments. 



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 

 one-sided, and ended in speculations upon philosophical sub 

 jects, 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 

 subordinated to trade and commerce. The mines were all 

 worked by slaves. The ratio of the free to the slave popula 

 tion brought from the shores of Asia, became as one to three; 

 and as almost every eminent citizen was owner of from fifty 

 to one thousand slaves, we can understand the rapidity 

 with which the thousand years of Grecian civilization drew 

 to its close. 



Having shown that in the free States of Greece we find 

 the elements of all that is best in society, and a philosophical 

 recognition of the true relations of man and land, we will turn 

 to Rome, where civilization presents the same phenomena of 

 progress and decay. As in Greece, we here find the supreme 

 power of the State derived from laws made by common consent 

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

 to families, reserving a portion for common use. The early Ro 

 mans had only two arts war and agriculture. Every husband 

 man 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 policy of Roman 

 war and conquest rested on the desire to extend their territory, 

 and with it the freehold system, of such vital consequence to 

 the State. The Roman government never lost a foot of land; 



