CHAP. IX GOLD AND SILVER. 199 



During the period between the years twenty- 

 five and four hundred and seventy-six from our 

 era, whilst the declension of the mines was pro- 

 ceeding, and the produce from them annually 

 diminishing, till it became quite extinct, it is 

 highly probable that some addition to the coined 

 gold and silver was made from that portion of 

 those metals which had been appropriated to 

 pomp, magnificence, or convenience. 



There seems no reason for estimating the gold 

 and silver in the possession of private indivi- 

 duals, in the form of utensils and ornaments, to 

 have been large, or at least to have borne nearly 

 the same proportion to that which was stamped 

 into money, as exists in modern times in Europe 

 between the two kinds of metallic wealth. The 

 Romans seem to have lived much in public, and 

 to have had very imperfect notions of the en- 

 joyments of domestic life. The object of those 

 who enjoyed great wealth was to attain celebrity 

 and power by means of the populace : the display 

 of magnificence in their dwellings and furniture 

 would not have been effective for their chief 

 pursuit. Hence, whilst profuse in that expen- 

 diture which could be seen by the public, they 

 were parsimonious in all their private, personal, 

 and domestic arrangements. At an early period 

 their houses were of wood, and even in the time 

 of Augustus covered with shingles. They had 

 neither chimneys to convey away the smoke, nor 



