Page:Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1827) Vol 1.djvu/87

CHAP. II.
_____world, followed the progress of peace, of which it was considered as the symbol. Two centuries after the foundation of Rome, both Italy and Africa were strangers to that useful plant: it was naturalized in those ^countries ; and at length carried into the heart of Spain and Gaul. The timid errors of the ancients, that it required a certain degree of heat, and could only flourish in the neighbourhood of the sea, were insensibly exploded by industry and experience^[1]. 4. Flax.The cultivation of flax was transported from Egypt to Gaul, and enriched the whole country, however it might impoverish the particular lands on which it was sown^[2]. 5. The use of artificial grasses became fa-Artificial grass.miliar to the farmers both of Italy and the provinces, particularly the lucerne, which derived its name and origin from Media^[3]. The assured supply of wholesome and plentiful food for the cattle during winter, multiplied the number of the flocks and herds, which in their turn contributed to the fertility of the soil. To all these improvements may be added an assiduous attention to mines and fisheries, which, by employing a multitude of laborious hands, serve to increase the pleasures of the rich, and the subsistence of the poor. The elegant treatise of Columella describes the ad-General plenty.vanced state of the Spanish husbandry under the reign of Tiberius ; and it may be observed, that those famines which so frequently afflicted the infant republic, were seldom or never experienced by the extensive empire of Rome. The accidental scarcity in any single province, was immediately relieved by the plenty of its more fortunate neighbours.

Arts of luxury.Agriculture is the foundation of manufactures ; since the productions of nature are the materials of art. Under the Roman empire, the labour of an industrious and ingenious people was variously but incessantly employed in the service of the rich. In their dress, their

1. Plio. Hist. Natur. 1. xv.
2. Ibid. 1. xix.
3. See the agreeable essays on agriculture by Mr. Harte, in which he has collected all that the ancients and moderns have said of lucerne.