Epicurean pleasures, practical atheism, bring forth their wretched
fruits. The vices and miseries of society cannot be arrested. Glory is
succeeded by shame; all strength is in mechanism, and that wears out;
vitality passes away; the empire is weak from internal decay, and falls
easily into the hands of the new races. "Violence was only a secondary
cause of the ruin; the vices of self-interest were the primary causes. A
world, as fair and glorious as our own, crumbles away." Our admiration
is changed to sadness and awe. The majesty of man is rebuked by the
majesty of God.

Such a history is suggestive. Why was such an empire permitted to rise
over the bleeding surface of the world, and what was its influence on
the general destiny of the race? How far has its civilization perished,
and how far has it entered into new combinations? Was its strength
material, or moral, or intellectual? How far did literature, art,
science, laws, philosophy, prove conservative forces? Why did
Christianity fail to arrest so total an eclipse of the glory of man? Why
did a magnificent civilization prove so feeble a barrier against
corruption and decay? Why was the world to be involved in such universal
gloom and wretchedness as followed the great catastrophe? Could nothing
arrest the stupendous downfall?

And when we pass from the great facts of Roman history to the questions
which it suggests to a contemplative mind in reference to the state of
society among ourselves, on which history ought to shed light, what
enigmas remain to be solved. Does moral worth necessarily keep pace with
aesthetic culture, or intellectual triumphs, or material strength? Do the
boasted triumphs of civilization create those holy certitudes on which
happiness is based? Can vitality in states be preserved by mechanical
inventions? Does society expand from inherent laws of development, or