"The already Roman republic, losing the simplicity and virtues that made its greatness, fell weakened under the empire, and despotism and corruption reached their peak. The cruelty of the patricians towards the slaves and of the creditors towards their debtors; the right of the patrician to the life of the slave, and of the creditor to sell his debtor, the inhumanity of usury; the scandalous amphitheaters into which men threw themselves to fight with wild beasts and be devoured by them; these were all reasons why the frightened people were waiting for a liberator. Added to this were the baths in human blood that patrician women allowed themselves, believing they would thus keep their health in better condition, or to beautify their skin; the spectacle of seeing philosophers, mathematicians, rhetoricians, poets, artists, scientific men sold and bought as slaves, to form, with their schools, high schools, in which bought children of both sexes were educated, to then be able to sell them with great price as architects, professors, actors, courtiers, prostitutes; the right of the stronger over the weaker; the sovereign right of the emperor over every subject, whether slave, plebeian, citizen or patrician. In all the subjugated nations, from the palace to the hut, and to the limits of the empire, terrorism and horror reigned. (pp. 21-22)"