the interest of 72,000 sesterces, or 3750 dollars, were to be employed in maintaining eighteen legitimate male children, and one legitimate female child, at the rate before mentioned. Pliny even, the panegyrist of Trajan, founded from his own property pensions for the free-born children of poor parents; a circumstance which he does not forget to mention in his letters, and the same thing is confirmed by an inscription still extant1. Antoninus Pius made a similar establishment for poor girls, which after his consort were called puellæ Faustiniana2. The emperor Antoninus Philosophus did the same thing; and from the name of the empress the girls were called Faustiniana, but by way of distinction nova puellæ Faustinianæ3. Alexander Severus formed an institution for the education of boys and girls, whom he caused to be named from his mother mammaani and mammæanæ1. In regard to the manner in which these establishments were managed we are entirely ignorant. It is known only, that in each of the provinces into which Italy was divided, there was a public functionary of some rank, with the title procurator ad alimenta, to whom, in all probability, the inspection of them was entrusted. This is known to have been an honourable office. It was held by the emperor Pertinax when a young man, in the towns and villages on the Via Ancilia, and in his old age at Rome itself. It was held also by Didius Julianus before he became emperor, after he had been prætor and consul, that is, enjoyed the highest offices next to the imperial dignity, and after he had been governor of Germany. On ancient monuments erected to the memory of persons of distinction, by their children, relations or friends, it is mentioned, that, besides filling other places of honour, they had been procuratores ad alimenta in certain districts there named. These are the oldest instances, with which I am at present acquainted, of institutions for the benefit of poor children and orphans. Orphan-houses, properly so called, in which the children were educated together, I find mentioned for the first time, under the name of orphanotrophium, in the laws of 1 Plin. Epist. i. 8, 10, and vii. 18. Gruteri Inscript. p. мXXVIII. n. 5. 5 Elian. Spartian. cap. 1. p. 574. the emperor Justinian. At later periods they occur frequently in the decrees of the different councils, such as that of Chalcedon in the fifth century. At the court of Byzantium the office of inspector of orphans, orphanotrophi, was so honourable and important, that it was filled by a brother of the emperor Michael IV. (Paphlago), in the beginning of the eleventh century'. But under the latter emperors this place was entirely suppressed. At present, orphan-houses have been abolished, since it has been shown, by many years' experience, that the children cannot be educated in them healthy and at a sufficiently cheap rate. The children are placed out to be boarded and educated by individuals, under the inspection of those who manage everything relating to the poor. INFIRMARIES. HOSPITALS FOR INVALIDS. FIELD LAZARETTOS. By the preceding article I am induced to give some information in regard to the history of infirmaries. To offer anything complete on this subject, it would be necessary to enter also into the history of inns established for the use of pilgrims and strangers, which in general were combined with them, and likewise into that of the different orders instituted for the like purpose, and of taverns which arose at a later period. It is certain that ancient Rome, though a magnificent city, had no houses into which sick persons were admitted in order to be taken care of and cured. Diseased people, however, were carried to the temple of Esculapius, but for a very different purpose. They waited there for a cure, as some Christian believers still do in churches which contain wonderworking images; but no preparations were made there for their accommodation. Those numerous benevolent institutions for the accommodation of travellers, the indigent, and 'Zonaras in the Life of that Emperor. Hist. August. the sick, which do so much honour to modern times, were first introduced by Christianity. Bodin', who could not deny this service, endeavoured to lessen it, by asserting that, on the introduction of Christianity, freedom was given to many slaves, who possessed nothing else; and who, having learned no trade or handicraft by which they could gain a living, became so burdensome to the state, that the clergy were obliged to devise some means to remove them from the public view, and to provide with the necessary support these unfortunate beings, abandoned by all mankind, whose increasing number was asserted by unbelievers to be an effect of the Christian religion. In this representation however there is some truth. It indeed cannot be denied that our religion, as it requires humanity and compassion, though the intolerance it occasions converts the severest cruelties into good works, procures to beggars more indulgence and respect than they in general deserve, and thereby causes a continual increase of their number. But it is to be observed that Bodin, notwithstanding his acuteness and great learning, often suffers himself to be led away by the effects of his innate Jewish hatred to the Christians; and he readily embraces every opportunity of exalting his paternal religion, the Jewish, and depreciating the Christian, by which he obtained riches and honour. The enemies of Christianity, however, during the first years of our æra, could not but observe the numerous means for alleviating human misfortunes which were introduced by the new religion. It was galling to the emperor Julian to acknowledge this superiority; and in order to banish it, he caused his priests to provide for the poor, and to establish for them inns (Xenodochia), into which they could be received; and he assigned to them the funds necessary for that purpose. Into these were admitted not only persons of his own religion but of every other, in imitation of the Christians, who, besides supporting their own poor, maintained those of the pagans also. How much he interested himself to weaken this means, by which the impious Galilæans procured respect, love, and attachment, may be seen by an oration wherein he inculcated the Christian morality as his own. This imita1 J. Bodini De Republica libri vi., lib. 1. cap. 5. 2 The imperial order has been preserved by Sozomenus in his Ecclesi tion of the new religion, which contributed more perhaps to recommend it than to bring it into discredit, is ridiculed by Gregory Nazianzenus in his third oration. The care of providing the necessary assistance to those sick persons who can expect no help and attention from individuals, belongs to the police; and because this forms a part of government, rulers and sovereigns ought at all times to have made the establishments requisite for that purpose. But in the oldest periods, as appears, they had too much to do in administering justice, and securing the state against hostile attacks, to be able to attend to the necessary police establishments. On the other hand, the clergy, whose first duty was to maintain good order, discipline, and virtue, however much they might often in private offend against them themselves, endeavoured to supply this want; and, on that account, among the decrees of various councils, we find a great many regulations which have not yet been sufficiently employed to illustrate the history of police. The establishment of the first houses for the reception of the sick is among the services rendered by the clergy; and to mention all the places of this kind, either founded by them or at their instigation, would form a very long list. The first, or at least one of the first houses for the reception of indigent sick was that built at Rome by Fabiola, a Roman lady, the friend of St. Jerome, consequently in the fifth century 1. When pilgrimages to holy places, as they were called, and often from very distant countries, came to be considered as a part of religion, the number of these houses was much increased. Taverns, in which pilgrims could procure proper care and attention for payment, were not then to be found; and most people travelled without money, in the full confidence of meeting with gratuitous assistance. When the clergy wished to maintain and increase the number of pilgrims, which their own advantage induced them to do, it was necessary that they should afford them every facility of travelling, and consequently provide for the wants of indigent pilgrims; and it was impossible that among these there should astic History, v. 16, where more information on this subject, worthy of attention, has been collected. See Juliani Opera, edit. Spanhemii, Lips. 1696, fol. p. 430. 1 Hieron. ep. 39. not be some sick, especially as the inconvenience, fatigue, and dangers of the journey were much increased by many things injurious to the health. But as the principal and most dangerous pilgrimages were made to Palestine, which is situated beyond the boundaries of Europe, where no countrymen, and not even Christians, one of whose religious duties it is to be compassionate, could be expected, institutions for the reception of sound as well as of sick pilgrims were erected by the clergy at a very early period on the road thither, and also at the holy places. Thus Jerome built an hospital at Bethlem; and his friend Paula caused several to be erected on the road to that village, in order that the devout idlers, as she says, might fare better than the mother of God, who, on her necessary journey thither, could find no inn1. In the like manner, the Scots and Irish erected hospitals in France for the use of their countrymen, who, on their pilgrimage to Rome, might be desirous of passing through that kingdom2. But hospitals were most necessary in wild and desert parts, where human habitations were not to be expected; and particularly in woody mountainous districts, and on the banks of broad rivers, where travellers were stopped for the want of bridges, and collected together in great numbers. It is probable that many of these hospitals may have given rise to the villages which are still found in such situations. Pope Adrian I. recommended to the notice of Charlemagne3 the hospitals built in the Alps; and in the year 855, the emperor Louis II. caused those situated on mountains to be visited and repaired. The ruins of many of these edifices still exist. Towards the end of the eleventh century, brotherhoods, which undertook to provide for the wants of sick pilgrims, were formed in the Holy Land; and these became richer and more numerous as the crusades increased. It was not uncommon for opulent persons, when dying, to bequeathe their property to establishments in which they had found consolation and relief; and very often those who had experienced a 1 Hieron. Epitaph. Paulæ. 2 Baronii Annal. ad an. 845, xxxvi. ed. Mansii. Lucæ 1743, tom. xiv. p. 325. 3 Muratori Antiq. Ital. Med. Ævi, iii. p. 581. 4 Ib. et Antiquitat. Ital. Med. Ævi, iii. p. 581. |