memorials of their popular forces, and the trophies of many ages. The old
people of Rome were gone; their characteristic dress even was gone; for
already in the time of Augustus they had laid aside the _toga_, and
assumed the cheaper and scantier _paenula_, so that the eye sought in vain
for Virgil's

"Romanes rerum dominos gentemque _togatam_."

Why, then, after all the constituents of Roman grandeur had passed away,
should their historical trophies survive, recalling to them the scenes of
departed heroism, in which they had no personal property, and suggesting
to them vain hopes, which for them were never to be other than chimeras?
Even in that sense, therefore, and as a great depository of heart-stirring
historical remembrances, Rome was profitably destroyed; and in any other
sense, whether for health or for the conveniences of polished life, or for
architectural magnificence, there never was a doubt that the Roman people
gained infinitely by this conflagration. For, like London, it arose from
its ashes with a splendor proportioned to its vast expansion of wealth and
population; and marble took the place of wood. For the moment, however,
this event must have been felt by the people as an overwhelming calamity.
And it serves to illustrate the passive endurance and timidity of the
popular temper, and to what extent it might be provoked with impunity,
that in this state of general irritation and effervescence, Nero
absolutely forbade them to meddle with the ruins of their own dwellings--
taking that charge upon himself, with a view to the vast wealth which he
anticipated from sifting the rubbish. And, as if that mode of plunder were
not sufficient, he exacted compulsory contributions to the rebuilding of
the city so indiscriminately, as to press heavily upon all men's finances;
and thus, in the public account which universally imputed the fire to him,
he was viewed as a twofold robber, who sought to heal one calamity by the