CHAP. VIII.

IN ROME.

189

scattered over uncultivated fields, and ascribedby ignorance to the power of magic, scarcelyafford a shelter to the oppressed peasant or wan-dering Arab . Under the reign- of the Caesars,the proper Asia alone contained five hundredpopulous cities, enriched with all the gifts ofnature and adorned with all the refinements ofart. Eleven cities of Asia had once disputedthe honour of dedicating a temple to Tiberius ,and their respective merits were examined bythe senate. Four of them were immediatelyrejected as unequal to the burden ; and amongthese was Laodicea , whose splendour is stilldisplayed in its ruins. Laodicea collected avery considerable revenue from its flocks ofsheep, celebrated for the fineness of their wool,and had received, a little before the contest, alegacy of above four hundred thousand poundsby the testament of a generous citizen. If suchwas the poverty of Laodicea , what must havebeen the wealth of those cities, whose claimappeared preferable, and particularly of Perga -mus, of Smyrna, and of Ephesus , who so longdisputed with each other the titular primacy ofAsia ? The capitals of Syria and Egypt held astill superior rank in the empire: Antioch andAlexandria looked down with disdain on a crowdof dependent cities, and yielded with reluctanceto the majesty of Rome itself.”

In the time of Augustus , and in the three