104 Checks to Population among the ancient Bk. i. 



" climate, often increase to such a degree, that 

 " vast numbers of them are forced to leave their 

 " native country and go in search of new habi- 

 " tations. When any of those provinces begins 

 " to grow too populous and wants to disburden 

 " itself, the following method is observed. In 

 " the first place, it is divided into three parts, 

 " in each of which there is an equal portion of the 

 " nobility and commonalty, the rich and the 

 " poor. After this they cast lots ; and that 

 " division on which the lot falls, quits the coun- 

 " try and goes to seek its fortune, leaving the 

 " other two more room and liberty to enjoy their 

 " possessions at home. These emigrations proved 

 " the destruction of the Roman Empire.'* Gibbon 

 is of opinion that Machiavel has represented these 

 emigrations too much as regular and concerted 

 measures;! Dut I think it highly probable that 



* Istorie Florentine Machiavelli, I. i. p. 1, 2. 



t Gibbon, vol. i. c. ix. p 360. note. Paul Diaconus, from 

 whom it is supposed tbat Macbiavel has taken this description, 

 writes thus: — Septentrionalis plaga quanto magis ab aestu solis 

 remota est et nivali frigore gelida, tauto salubrior corporibus 

 hominum et propagandis gentibus magis coaptata. Sicut e con- 

 trario, omnis meridiana regio, quo solis est fefvori vicinior, eo 

 morbis est abundantior, et educandis minus apta mortalibus. *** 

 *** Multaeque quoque ex ea, eo quod tantas mortalium turmas 

 germinat, quantas alere vix sufficit, saepe gentes egressae sunt, quae 

 non solum partes Asiae, sed etiam maxime sibi contiguam Emopam 

 afflixere. (De Gestis Longobardorum, 1. i. c. i.) 



Intra banc ergo constituti populi, dum in tantam multitudinem 

 pullulassent, ut jam simul habitare non valerent, in ties (ut fertur) 

 partes omnem catervam dividentes, quaenam ex illis patriam esset 



