The Whig standard. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1843-1844, 1843-12-30
THE LEADERS OF REPUBLICAN, ROME.

Who, when looking back upon the nations,
with the view of understanding what that spec
ci6c character of greatness may have been, which
in the highest power Of human achievement
rested in simple heroic magnanimity, most a6sc-
lutely upon itself, feels not his imagination
drawn irresstibly to the old warriors and states
men-real or fabulous he cares not-the more
fabulous the more real-of Republican Rome
WELDING, as they did, the only unmatched
power that was ever known upon earth, nursed
in arms and danger, sustaining each, in his per-
son, the celebrity of a great ancestral name, and
growing up alike to the highest charges OF civil
and military command-there could not well be
birth, morning, and noon OF life, in which
the spirit Of the human heart might rise more
gloriously and steadfastly in the consciousness
and the capacity Of great destination. They
knew nothing higher nor greater than the lot TO
which they were born, and they saw nothing
above themselves; they stood at the top Of
earthly pre-eminence. Serving their ambitious
country, they were called to enterprise without
bounds they must know no fear, nothing una
chievable. The renown and safety Of the repub-
lie rested on the single leader Of one days bat
tie. They must feel themselves to be invincible.
And these are indeed the characters which we
find in these heroic minds; no height of daring
was above their hope TO climb; no invasion OF
peril could appal them; and, whatever duty
might be laid upon them, they felt themselves
equal to the charge. What is extraordinary is,
that among such numbers of intrepid, ardent, and
unconquerable minds, engaged, too, in prosecu-
ting ambitious wars, so many should have been
found in whom it does not seem that ambition
had place. They served their counry's pas
sion for conquest and renown, and yet kept them
selves temperate, austere, and just. RE ss
We cannot but think we are to ascribe to the
virtuous and simple manners of the republic that
peculiar character Of these great men. their own
virtnous simplicity. We imagine nothing above
in those spirits which have made the earth blaze
with their course. These ancient fathers Of Rome
are their equals. Whence is it, then, that their
greatness did not break forth in ceaseless and
consuming fames2 Because the hand that
thrice triumphed returned to the plough; and the
dictator must leave his new-turned burrows TO
take upon him tho deliverance of Rome. II was
the simple virtue Of those stern but pure times
virtue never forgotten--that was able, like a
mighty spell, to control the grandeur Of those UNI
conquerable spirits and confine them within
themselves. And hence it is not possible for US
to read their history without feeling that there
rests upon them the august renown Of a moral
greatness. They were sages in the ca nj and
medtative quiet Of their little field, as they were
awful rulers while they held, in their might Of
princely counsel, the sway Of the state--as they
were dread leaders in the front of victorious fight.
We can find no other explanation of what Is
scarce elsewhere to be found, nowhere else in
such frequent example, the very height Of heroic
greatness with the simple plainness and contents
ed obscurity, If the expression could be used, of
these men, who, when they had discharged their
part tostheir country, were Indifferent further to
their own glo'y.-Protessor Wilson. WA S