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486 THE DECLINE AND FALL [Chap, xliv Scaevola was illustrated by three sages of the law; but the perfection of the science was ascribed to Servius Sulpicius their disciple, and the friend of Tully ; and the long succession, which shone with equal lustre under the republic and under the Caesars, is finally closed by the respectable characters of Papinian, of Paul, and of Ulpian. Their names, and the various titles of their productions, have been minutely preserved, and the ex- ample of Labeo may suggest some idea of their diligence and fecundity. That eminent lawyer of the Augustan age, divided the year between the city and country, between business and composition; and four hundred books are enumerated as the fruit of his retirement. Of the collections of his rival Capito, the two hundred and fifty-ninth book is expressly quoted ; and few teachers could deliver their opinions in less than a century Third of volumes. In the third period, between the reigns of Alexander a.u.c. 988- and Justinian, the oracles of jurisprudence were almost mute. The measure of curiosity had been filled ; the throne was occupied by tyrants and Barbarians; the active spirits were diverted by religious disputes ; and the professors of Borne, Constantinople, and Berytus, were humbly content to repeat the lessons of their more enlightened predecessors. From the slow advances and rapid decay of these legal studies, it may be inferred that they require a state of peace and refinement. From the multitude of voluminous civilians who fill the inter- mediate space, it is evident that such studies may be pursued, and such works may be performed, with a common share of judgment, experience, and industry. The genius of Cicero and Virgil was more sensibly felt, as each revolving age had been found incapable of producing a similar or a second; but the most eminent teachers of the law were assured of leaving dis- ciples equal or superior to themselves in merit and reputation. Their The jurisprudence which had been grossly adapted to the wants of the first Bomans was polished and improved in the seventh century of the city by the alliance of Grecian philo- sophy. The Scaevolas had been taught by use and experience; but Servius Sulpicius was the first civilian who established his art on a certain and general theory. 55 For the discernment of 55 Crassus, or rather Cicero himself, propoBes (de Oratore, i. 41, 42) an idea of the art or soience of jurisprudence, whioh the eloquent but illiterate Anlonius (i. 58) affects to deride. It was partly exeouted by Servius Sulpicius (in Bruto, c. 41),