were! And how gambling recruited the ranks of the desperadoes
who gave them insurrectionary trouble! Catiline's `army of
scoundrels,' for instance. `Every man dishonoured by
dissipation,' says Sallust, `who by his follies or losses at the
gaming table had consumed the inheritance of his fathers, and all
those who were sufferers by such misery, were the friends of this
perverse man.' Horace, Juvenal, Persius, Cicero, and other
writers, attest the fact of Roman gambling most eloquently, most
indignantly.

The Romans had `lotteries,' or games of chance, and some of
their prizes were of great value, as a good estate and slaves, or
rich vases; others of little value, as vases of common earth, but
of this more in the sequel.

Among the Gothic kings who, in the fulness of time and
accomplishments, `succeeded' to that empire, we read of a
Theodoric, `a wise and valiant prince,' who was `great lover of
dice;' his solicitude in play was only for victory; and his
companions knew how to seize the moment of his success, as
consummate courtiers, to put forward their petitions and to make
their requests. `When I have a petition to prefer,' says one of
them, `I am easily beaten in the game that I may win my
cause.'[8] What a clever contrivance! But scarcely equal to
that of the _GREAT_ (in politeness) Lord Chesterfield, who, to
gain a vote for a parliamentary friend, actually submitted to be
_BLED!_ It appears that the voter was deemed very difficult, but
Chesterfield found out that the man was a doctor, who was a
perfect Sangrado, recommending bleeding for every ailment. He
went to him, as in consultation, agreed with the man's arguments,