What a great authority has said, "The condition of a slave is better under an arbitrary than under a free government," (Smith's Wealth of Nations, iv.

7,) is, I believe, supported by the history of all ages and nations.

The protecting edicts of Hadrian and the Antonines are historical facts, and can as little be attributed to the influence of Christianity, as the milder language of heathen writers, of Seneca, (particularly Ep.

47,) of Pliny, and of Plutarch.

The latter influence of Christianity is admitted by Gibbon himself.