* Note: This custom is of still earlier date, the Romans had borrowed it from Greece.

Who is not acquainted with the famous oration of Demosthenes for the golden crown, which his citizens wished to bestow, and Aeschines to deprive him of ?--G.] [Footnote 192: Cod.Theod.l.xii.tit.

xiii.

The senators were supposed to be exempt from the Aurum Coronarium; but the Auri Oblatio, which was required at their hands, was precisely of the same nature.] A people elated by pride, or soured by discontent, are seldom qualified to form a just estimate of their actual situation.

The subjects of Constantine were incapable of discerning the decline of genius and manly virtue, which so far degraded them below the dignity of their ancestors; but they could feel and lament the rage of tyranny, the relaxation of discipline, and the increase of taxes.