according to PUBLIUS VICTOR, was only about forty-three miles. When an enemy invaded the country, the whole inhabitants retired within the walls of the antient cities, with their cattle and furniture, and inftruments of husbandry. And the great height to which the walls were raised, enabled a small number to defend them with facility. k SPARTA, fays XENOPHON, is one of the cities of GREECE that has the fewest inhabitants. Yet POLYBIUS fays, that it was forty-eight stadia in circumference, and was round. ALL the TOLIANS able to bear arms in ANTIPATER's time, deducting fome few garrifons, were but ten thousand men'. m POLYBIUS tells us, that the ACHAEAN league might, without any inconvenience, march 30 or 40,000 men: and this account feems very probable: for that league comprehended the greatest part of PELOPONNESUS. Yet PAUSANIAS", 1peaking of the fame period fays, that all the ACHAEANS able to bear arms, even when feveral manumitted flaves were joined to them, did not amount to fifteen thousand, THE THESSALIANS, till their final conqueft by the ROMANS, were, in all ages, turbulent, factious, feditious, diforderly. 'Tis not therefore natural to fuppofe, that that part of GREECE abounded much in people. WE are told by THUCYCIDES, that the part of PELOPONNESUS adjoining to PYLOS, was defart and uncultivated. HERODOTUS fays, that MACEDONIA WAS full of lions and wild bulls; animals which can only inhabit vaft unpeopled forefts. These were the two extremities of GREECE. THE whole inhabitants of EPIRUS, of all ages, fexes and conditions, who were fold by PAULUS EMILIUS, amounted only to 150,000. Yet EPIRUS might be double the extent of YORKSHIRE. JUSTIN tells us, that when PHILIP of MACEDON was declared head of the GREEK Confederacy, he called a congrefs of all the ftates, except the LACEDEMONIANS, who refused to concur; and he found the force of the whole, upon computation, to amount to 200,coo infantry, and 15,000 cavalry. This must be understood to be all the citizens capable of bearing arms. For as the GREEK republics maintained no mercenary forces, and had no militia distinct from the whole body of the citizens, it is not conceivable what other medium there could be of computation. That fuch an army could ever by GREECE be brought into the field, and be maintained there, is contrary to all hiftory. Upon this fuppofition, therefore, we may thus reafon. The free GREEKS of all ages and fexes were 860,000. The flaves, computing them by the number of ATHENIAN flaves as above, who feldom married or had families, were double the male citizens of full age, viz. 430,000. And the whole inhabitants of antient GREECE, excepting La De rep. LACED. This paffage is not easily reconciled with that of PLUTARCH above, who fays, that SPARTA had 9000 citizens, k POLYB. lib. 9. cap. 20. ! DIOD. SIC. lib. 18. m LEGAT. n In ACHAICIS. • TIT. LIV. lib. 34. cap. 51. PLATO in CRI TONE. P Lib. 7. 4 Lib. 7. TIT. LIV. lib. 45. cap. 34. • Lib. 9. cap. 5. CONIA, CONIA, were about one million two hundred and ninety thoufand: No mighty number, nor much exceeding what may be found at prefent in SCOTLAND, a country nearly of the fame extent, and very indifferently peopled. WE may now confider the numbers of people in ROME and ITALY, and collect all the lights afforded us by fcattered paffages in antient authors. We fhall find, upon the whole, a great difficulty in fixing any opinion on that head; and no reason to support thofe exaggerated calculations, fo much infifted on by modern writers. t DIONYSIUS HALLICARNASSUS fays, that the antient walls of ROME were nearly of the fame compafs with thofe of ATHENS, but that the fuburbs ran out to a great extent; and it was difficult to tell, where the town ended or the country begun. In fome places of ROME, it appears, from the fame author", from JUVENAL", and from other antient writers, that the houfes were high, and families lived in feparate ftoreys, one above another: But it is probable, these were only the poorer citizens, and only in fome few ftreets. If we may judge from the younger PLINY's' account of his house, and from BARTOLI's plans of antient buildings, the men of quality had very fpacious palaces; and their buildings were like the CHINESE houfes at this day, where each apartment is feparated from the rest, and rifes no higher than a single ftorey. To which if we add, that the RoMAN nobility much affected very extenfive porticoes, and even woods in town; we may perhaps allow Vossius (tho' there is no manner of reafon for it) to read the famous paffage of the elder PLINY his own way without admitting the extravagant confequences which he draws from it. • Lib. 4. Lib. 10. Satyr 3. 1. 269. 270. * STRABO, lib. 5. fays, that the emperor AuGUSTUS prohibited the raifing houfes higher than feventy foot. In another paffage, lib. 16. he speaks of the houfes of ROME as remarkably high. See alfo to the fame purpose VITRUVIUS, lib. 2. cap. 8. ARISTIDES the fophift, in his oration as Pan, fays, that ROME confifted of cities on the top of citics; and that if one were to spread it out, and unfold it, it would cover the whole furface of ITALY. Where an author indulges himself in fuch extravagant declamations, and gives fo much into the hyperbolical ftyle, one knows not how far he must be reduced. But this reasoning feems natural: If ROME was built in fo fcattered a manner as DIONYSIUS fays, and ran so much into the country, there must have been very few ftreets where the houfes were raised fo high. "Tis only for want of ground, that any body builds in that inconvenient manner. y Lib. 2. epift. 16. lib. 5. epift. 6. "Tis true, PLINY there describes a country-houfe: But fince that was the idea which the antients formed of a magnificent and convenient building, the great men would certainly build the fame way in town. "In laxi"tatem ruris excurrunt," fays SENECA of the rich THE a "Moenia ejus (ROMAE) collegere ambitu im"peratoribus, cenforibufque VESPASIANIS, A. "U. C. 828. paff. xii. MCC. complexa montes "feptem, ipfa dividitur in regiones quatuorde "cim, compita earum 265. Ejufdem fpatii men"fura, currente a Milliario in capite Rom. Fori "ftatuto, ad fingulas portas, quae funt hodie numero 37, ita ut duodecim portae: femel numerentur, praetereanturque ex veteribus feptem, quae effe defierunt, efficit paffuum per directum 30,775. Ad extrema vero tectorum cum caftris "practoriis ab eodem Milliario, per vicos omnium viarum, menfura collegit paulo amplius "feptuaginta millia paffuum. Quo fi quis alti"tudinem tectorum addat, dignam profecto aesti 66 46 mationem concipiat, fateaturque nullius urbis magnitudinem in toto orbe potuiffe ei compara"ri." PLIN. lib. 3. cap. 5. 86 All the best manufcripts of PLINY read the paffage THE number of citizens who received corn by the public distribution in AugusTus's time, were two hundred thoufand". This one would esteem a pretty certain ground of calculation: Yet it is attended with such circumstances as throw us back into doubt and uncertainty. fage as here cited, and fix the compafs of the walls of Rome to be thirteen miles. The only queftion is, What PLINY means by 30,775 paces, and how that number was formed? The manner in which I conceive it, is this. ROME was a femicircular area of thirteen miles circumference. The Forum, and confequently the Milliarium, we know, was fituated on the banks of the TvBER, and near the center of the circle, or upon the diameter of the femicircular area. Tho' there were thirty-feven gates to ROME, yet only twelve of them had straight streets, leading from them to the Milliarium. PLINY, therefore, having affigned the circumference of RoмF, and knowing that that alone was not fufficient to give us a just notion of its furface, uses this farther method. He supposes all the streets, leading from the Milliarium to the twelve gates, to be laid together into one ftraight line, and fuppofes we run along that line, fo as to count each gate once: In which cafe, he fays, that the whole line is 30,775 paces: Or, in other words, that each street or radius of the femicircular area is upon an average two miles and a half; and the whole length of ROME is five miles, and its breadth about half as much, befides the scattered fuburbs. the TYBER formed the diameter, there were no walls built on that fide But (1.) this reading is allowed contrary to almost all the manufcripts. (2.) Why fhould PLINY, a concife writer, repeat the compafs of the walls of ROME in two fucceflive fentences? (3.) Why repeat it with so sensible a variation? (4.) What is the meaning of PLINY's mentioning twice the MILLIARIUM, if a line was meafured that had no dependence on the MILLIARIUM? (5.) AURELIAN's wall is faid by VOPISCUS to have been drawn axiore ambitu, and to have comprehended all the buildings and fuburbs on the north fide of the TYBER; yet its compafs was only fifty miles; and even here critics fufpect some mistake or corruption in the text. It is not probable, that ROME would diminish from AUGUSTUS to AURELIAN. It remained fill the capital of the fame empire; and none of the civil wars, in that long period, except the tumults on the death of MAXIMUS and BALBINUS ever affected the city. CARACALLA is faid by AURELIUS VICTOR to have increased ROME. (6.) There are no remains of antient buildings, which mark any fuch greatnefs of ROME. VOSSIUS's reply to this objection feems abfurd, That the rubbish would fink fixty or feventy foot below ground. PERE HARDOUIN understands this paffage in It appears from SPARTIAN (in vita Severi) that the fame manner; with regard to the laying toge- the five mile-ftone in via Lavicana was out of the ther the several streets of Rome into one line, in city. (7.) OLYMPIODORUS and PUBLIUS VICorder to compose 30,775 paces: But then he fup- TOR fix the number of houses in ROME to be bepofes, that streets led from the Milliarium to twixt forty and fifty thousand. (8.) The very exevery gate, and that no street exceeded 800 paces travagance of the confequences drawn by this criin length. But (1.) a semicircular area, whose ra- tic, as well as LIPSIUS, if they be neceffary, dedius was only 800 paces, could never have a cir- ftroys the foundation on which they are grounded; cumference near thirteen miles, the compafs of That ROME contained fourteen millions of inhabiROME as affigned by PLINY. A radius of two tants; while the whole kingdom of FRANCE CONmiles and a half forms very nearly that circumfe- tains only five, according to his computation, &c. rence. (2.) There is an abfurdity in fuppofing a city fo built as to have streets running to its center from every gate in its circumference. These ftreets muft interfere as they approach. (3.) This diminishes too much from the greatnefs of antient ROME, and reduces that city below even BRISTOL or ROTTERDAM. The fenfe which Vossius in his Obfervationes variae puts on this paffage of PLINY, errs widely in the other extreme. One manufcript, of no authority, inftead of thirteen miles, has affigned thirty miles for the compafs of the walls of ROME. And Vossius understands this only of the curvilinear part of the circumference; fuppofing, that as The only objection to the fenfe which we have affixed above to the paffage of PLINY, feems to lie in this, That PLINY, after mentioning the thirty-feven gates of ROME, affigns only a reafon for fuppreffing the feven old ones, and fays nothing of the eighteen gates, the streets leading from which terminated, according to my opinion, before they reached the Forum. But as PLINY was writing to the ROMANS, who perfectly knew the difpofition of the streets, it is not strange he fhould take a circumftance for granted, which was fo familiar to every body. Perhaps, too, many of thefe gates led to wharfs upon the river. • Ex monument. Ancyr, DID the poorer citizens only receive the distribution? It was calculated, to be fure, chiefly for their benefit. But it appears from a paffage of CICERO, that the rich might also take their portion, and that it was esteemed no reproach in them to apply for it. To whom was the corn given; whether only to heads of families, or to every man, woman, and child? The portion every month was five modii to each, (about of a bufhel.) This was too little for a family, and too much for an individual. A very accurate antiquarian, therefore, infers, that it was given to every man of full years: But he allows the matter to be uncertain. Was it ftrictly inquired, whether the claimant lived within the precinas of ROME, or was it fufficient that he prefented himself at the monthly distribution? This laft feems more probable '. WERE there no falfe claimants? We are told, that CAESAR ftruck off at once 170,000, who had crept in without a just title; and it is very little probable, that he remedied all abufes.. BUT, laftly, what proportion of flaves must we affign to thefe citizens? This is the most material question; and the most uncertain. 'Tis very doubtful, whether ATHENS can be established as a rule for ROME. Perhaps the ATHENIANS had more flaves, because they employed them in manufactures, for which a capital city like ROME, feems not fo proper. Perhaps, on the other hand, the ROMANS had more flaves, on account of their fuperior luxury and riches. THERE were exact bills of mortality kept in ROME; but no antient author has given us the number of burials, except SUETONIUS", who tells us, that in one season there were 30,000 names carried to the temple of LIBITINA: But this was during a plague; which can afford no certain foundation for any inference. THE public corn, tho' diftributed only to 200,000 citizens, affected very confiderably the whole agriculture of ITALY: A fact no way reconcilable to fome modern exaggerations with regard to the inhabitants of that country. THE beft ground of conjecture I can find concerning the greatness of antient ROME, is this: We are told by HERODIAN, that ANTIOCH and ALEXANDRIA were very little inferior to ROME. It appears from DIODORUS SICULUS, that one straight street of ALEXANDRIA, reaching from port to port, was five miles long; and as ALEXANDRIA was much more extended in length than breadth, it feems to have been a city nearly of the bulk of PARIS'; and ROME might be about the fize of LONDON. Tufc. quaeft. lib. 3. cap. 48. Licinius apud Saluft. hist. frag. lib. 3. • Nicolaus Hortenfius de re frumentaria Roman. f Not to take the people too much from their business, AUGUSTUS ordained the distribution of corn to be made only thrice a year: But the people finding the monthly diflributions more convenient, (as preferving, fuppofe, a more regular occonomy in their family) defired to have them restored. SUETON. AUGUST. cap. 40. Had not fome of the people come from fome diftance for their corn, AUGUSTUS's precaution feems fuperfluous. THERE lived in ALEXANDRIA, in DIODORUS SICULUS's time", 300,000 free people, comprehending, I fuppofe, women and children". But what number of laves? Had we any juft ground to fix thefe at an equal number with the free inhabitants, it would favor the foregoing calculation. THERE is a paffage in HERODIAN, which is a little furprising. He fays pofitively, that the palace of the Emperor was as large as all the reft of the city". This was NERO's golden houfe, which is indeed reprefented by SUETONIUS P and PLINY as of an enormous extent; but no power of imagination can make us conceive it to bear any proportion to fuch a city as LONDON. We may obferve, had the hiftorian been relating NERO's extravagance, and had he made use of fuch an expreffion, it would have had much lefs weight; these rhetorical exaggerations being fo apt to creep into an author's ftyle, even when the most chafte and correct. But 'tis mentioned by HERODIAN only by the by, in relating the quarrels betwixt GETA and CARACALLA. IT It appears from the fame hiftorian *, that there was then much land uncultivated, and put to no manner of ufe; and he afcribes it as a great praise to PERTINAX, that he allowed every one to take fuch land, either in ITATY or elsewhere, and cultivate it as he pleased, without paying any taxes. Lands uncultivated, and put to no manner of ufe! This is not heard of in any part of CHRISTENDOM; except perhaps in fome remote parts of HUNGARY, as I have been informed. And it furely correfponds very ill with that idea of the extreme populousness of antiquity, fo much infifted on. fpeaking of its circuit as drawn by ALEXANDER, (which it never exceeded, as we learn from AмMIANUS MARCELLINUS, lib. 22. cap. 16.) fays it was μsyedes diapeporra, extremely great, ibid. The reafon which he affigns for its furpaffing all cities of the world, (for he excepts not ROME) is, that it contained 300,000 free inhabitants. He also mentions the revenues of the kings, viz. 6000 talents, as another circumftance to the fame purpofe: No fuch mighty fum in our eyes, even tho' we make allowances for the different value of money. What STRABO fays of the neighboring country, means only that it was well peopled, axsus xaλws. Might not one affirm, without any great hyperbole, that the whole banks of the river from GRAVESEND TO WINDSOR are one city? This is even more than STRABO fays of the banks of the lake MAREOTIS, and of the canal to CANOPUS. "Tis a vulgar faying in ITALY, that the king of SARDINIA has but one town in PIEDMONT; for it is all a town. AGRIPPA in JOSEPHUS de bello JuDAIC. lib. 2. cap. 16. to make his audience comprehend the exceffive greatness of ALEXANDRIA, which he endeavors to magnify, defcribes only the compafs of the city as drawn by ALEXANDER: A clear proof that the bulk of the inhabitants were lodged there, and that the neighboring country was no more than what might be expected tanta He fays, (in NERONE cap. 30.) that a portico or piazza of it was 3000 feet long; "laxitas ut porticus triplices milliarias haberet." He cannot mean three miles. For the whole extent of the house from the PALATINE to the EsQUILINE was not near fo great. So when VOPISC. in AURELIANO mentions a portico in SALLUST's gardens, which he calls porticus milliarenfis, it must be understood of a thousand feet. So alfo HORACE; "Nulla decempedis Porticus excipiebat Arcton." Lib. 2. ode 15. 9 PLINIUS, lib. 36. cap. 15. "Bis vidimus. " urbem totam cingi domibus principum, CA11 "ac NERONIS." * Lib. 2. cap. 15. WE |