250 THE DECLINE AND FALL C H A P. forms and ceremonies of ostentatious greatness '^. But ' when they lost even the semblance of those virtues which were derived from their ancient freedom, the simplicity of Roman manners was insensibly corrupted by the stately affectation of the courts of Asia. The distinctions of personal merit and influence, so con- sj)icuous in a republic, so feeble and obscure under a monarchy, were abolished by the despotism of the emperors; who substituted in their room a severe sub- ordination of rank and office, from the titled slaves who were seated on the steps of the throne, to the meanest instruments of arbitrai-y power. This multi- tude of abject dependents was interested in the support of the actual government, from the dread of a revolu- tion, vv:hich might at once confound their hopes, and intercept the reward of their services. In this divine hierarchy, (for such it is frequently styled,) every rank was marked with the most scrupulous exactness, and its dignity was displayed in a variety of trifling and solemn ceremonies, which it was a study to learn, and a sacrilege to neglect*. The purity of the Latin lan- guage was debased, by adopting, in the intercourse of pride and flattery, a profusion of epithets, which Tully would scarcely have understood, and which Augustus would have rejected with indignation. The principal officers of the empire were saluted, even by the sove- reign himself, with the deceitful titles of your ' sin- cerity,' your ' gravity,' your ' excellency,' your ' emi- nence,' your ' sublime and wonderful magnitude,' your ' illustrious and magnificent highness'.' The codicils or patents of their office were curiously emblazoned Scilicet externae superbiae sueto, non inerat notitia nostri (perhaps nostra;) apud quos vis imperii valet,- inania transmittuntur. Tacit. Annal. XV. 31. The gradation from the style of freedom and simplicity, to that of form and servitude, may be traced in the epistles of Cicero, of Pliny, and of Symmachus.
- 'I'he emperor Gratian, after confirming a law of precedency published
by Valentinian, the father of his divinitij, thus continues : Siquis igitur indebitum sibi locum usurpaverit nulla se ignoratione defendat ; sitque plane sacrilegii reus, qui divina prascepta neglexerit. Cod. Theod. 1. vi. tit. v. leg. 2. f Consult the Notitia Dignitatum at the end of the 'i'iieodosian Code, lom. vi. p. 316.
