•298 THE DECLINE AND FALL and Alexander. Yet should a fly presume to settle on the silken folds of their gilded umbrellas, should a sunbeam pene- trate through some unguarded and imperceptible chink, they deplore their intolerable hardships, and lament in affected language that they were not born in the land of the Cim- merians, '*3 the regions of eternal darkness. In these journeys into the country ^^ the whole body of the household marches with their master. In the same manner as the cavalry and infantry, the heavy and the light armed troops, the advanced guard and the rear, are marshalled by the skill of their military leaders ; so the domestic officers, who bear a rod as an ensign of authority, distribute and arrange the numerous train of slaves and attendants. The baggage and wardrobe move in the front; and are immediately followed by a multitude of cooks and inferior ministers employed in the service of the kitchens and of the table. The main body is composed of a promiscuous crowd of slaves, increased by the accidental concourse of idle or de- pendent plebeians. The rear is closed by the favourite band of eunuchs, distributed from age to youth, according to the order of seniority. Their numbers and their deformity excite the horror of the indignant spectators, who are ready to execrate the memory of Semiramis for the cruel art which she invented of frustrating the purposes of nature and of blasting in the bud the hopes of future generations. In the exercise of domestic jurisdiction the nobles of Rome express an exquisite sensibility for any personal injury, and a contemptuous indifference for the rest of the human species. When they have called for warm water, if a slave has been tardy in his obedience, he is instantly chastised with three hundred lashes : but should the same slave commit wilful murder, the master will mildly observe that he is a worthless fellow ; but that, if he repeats the offence, he shall not escape punishment. Hospitality was formerly the • The proverbial expression of Cimmerian darkness was originally borrowed from the description of Homer (in th» eleventh book of the Odyssey), which he applies to a remote and fabulous country on the shores of the ocean. See Erasmi Adagia, in his works, torn. ii. p. 593, tlie Leyden edition. •w We may learn from Seneca, epist. cxxiii., three curious circumstances relative to the journeys of the Romans, i. They were preceded by a troop of Nuniidian light horse, who announced, by a cloud of dust, the approach of a great man. 2 Their baggage mules transported not only the precious vases, but even the fragile vessels of crystal and miirra, which last is almost proved by the learned French translator of Seneca (torn. '■;. pp. 402-422) to mean the porcelain of China and Japan. 3. The beautiful faces of the young slaves were covered with a medicated crust or ointment, which secured them against the effects of the sun and frost.
