In This Primitive And Abject State [of

[personal] Industry Must Be Faint And Languid, Which Is Not Excited By The Sense Of Personal Interest.

Among The Innumerable Monuments Of Architecture Constructed By The Romans, How Many Have Escaped The Notice Of History, How Few Have Resisted The Ravages Of Time And Barbarism! And Yet Even The Majestic Ruins That Are Still Scattered Over Italy And The Provinces, Would Be Sufficient To Prove That Those Countries Were Once The Seat Of A Polite And Powerful Empire.

Whatever Evils Either Reason Or Declamation Have Imputed To Extensive Empire, The Power Of Rome Was Attended With Some Beneficial Consequences To Mankind; And The Same Freedom Of Intercourse Which Extended The Vices, Diffused Likewise The Improvements Of Social Life.

It Has Been Sagaciously Conjectured, That The Artful Legislator Indulged The Stubborn Prejudices Of His Countrymen.

[all] The Manly Virtues Were Oppressed By The Servile And Pusillanimous Reign Of The Monks.