text:  Asiatic luxury took the place of northern barbarity; the worship of the national gods was abandoned and the idols of the stranger were substituted in their room; the coarse garments of ancient days gave place to vestments of purple and gold: yet a little while and the loss of national manners was followed by the loss of political privileges; the magistracies formerly elective now became hereditary; the families who usurped this privilege formed in course of time a bright and all-powerful aristocracy