The Portland daily press., 1865-04-27
Recent Valuable Publications.

Recent Valuable Publications.
History Of the Romans Under the Empire. By
Charles Merivale, B. D., Late Fellow Of ST.
Johns College, Cambridge. From the Fourth
London Edition With copious Analytical
Index. Seven Volumes, octave New York:
D. Appleton and Company.
The seventh and final volume of this admira-
bic work is received from the publishers. The
preceding numbers have already received ex-
tended notice In our columns, nevertheless we
cannot refrain from a few words OF comment
upon the now completed work. II would seem
that the present time noticeable FOR the especial
interest manifested in literary circles subjects
connected with Roman history. The Emperor
of the French has given us the picture Of the
great Caesar as it looks when viewed in the light
Of the He'es .Napoleonisnnes M.de Lamartine,
writing ON the same subject, exhibits the French
Republican view Of it; across the channel, an
English lady. Mrs H. Grey, has published His
tory of Rome which unites many of the requi-
sitee of popular work. But in the exhibition
of thorough and conscientious research, Of q
profoundly philosophic spirit, of firm mental
grasp, of vigor and strength rather than brill
fancy Of narrative, and in candor and freedom
from prejudice. none Of these writer's can bear
any comparison to the historian Of the Empire.
Not since dibbon laid down the pen has any
writer brought to the illustration Of this subject
equal qualifications Indeed, if he must be al.
lowed to be inferior to Gibbon in. brilliancy Of
generalization, in subtlety Of thought, and in
certain dramatic power, he is immeasurably SUI
periorto the great historian of the Decline and
Fall in true largeness of vision, in freedom from
ignoble prejudices and in moral elevation. He
is no mere recorder of fragmentary and un-
meaning facts. he recognizes the essential uni
ty Of ell history, the existence of one universal
law of progress which underlies its various pc
successive steps of one vast procession moving
always in accordance with that law, In define
ating for us the distinctive features of that
mighty power which fills antiquity with its
shadow, he brings out in bold relief the cruelty,
aggression and degrading sensuality which char
acterized the Roman civilization. 1t was pow
er founded on injustice, tyranny and brute
force. No lofty principle gave cohesion to the
huge bulk, and SO it fell asunder. Conquest,
not development, was the great idea even Of re-
publican Rome in its best days. The thing call
ed Roman liberty meant only the pre-eminence
of the oligarchy, and was maintained by the
subjugation Of the foreigner and the overthrow
Of liberty abroad. Thus the oligarchy fell by the
vices inherent in its own political constitution 1t
had no vitality save in the splendid personal
qualities of its founders and early supporters,
in the talents and virtues Of the Scipios and the
Gracchi. So, too, the empire carried always
the seeds of decay in its own breast. 1t was not
done to death by blows from without, but poi
soned by the spreading gangrene of its own
corruption. The following extract may perhaps
serve to illustrate our authors ideas upon this
subject: ss69 sM
''The ancient world had no versatility, no
power of adaptation to meet the varying wants
of its outward condition. Its ideas were not
equal to the extension OF its material dominion.
little soul was lodged in q vast body. The
Egyptian civilization, the Hindoo, the Chinese,
rs well as the Greek and Roman, have all had
their natural limits, at which their vitality was
are subject to the same law. though some may
have wider scope and more enduring force
than others; or possibly there may be q real
salt Of society in the principle OF intelligent
freedom. which has first learned to controlit-
self, that it may deserve to escape from the con-
troll of external forces. But Roman society, at
least, was animated by no such principle. The
causes of its decline seem to have little connec-
ton with the form of government. They were
in full operation before the fall of the Republic,
though their baneful effects were disguised or
retarded by extended conquests, and increasing
supplies of tribute or plumber.
Whatever evil we ascribe to the despotism of the
(,naara- wa unfra arb hat mau Slou
that rendered political freedom and constitu-
tlonal government impossible. Slavery fostered
in Rome, as previously IN .dthens, the SPIRIT of
seltfshness and seasuality, of Iawlessness and
snsoteace, Which can not consist Nth political
equatitu, acith political justice, ioih political
Hl0deTdtton. The tyranny at the emperors was
only the tyranny of every noble extended and
intensified. The empirebecame no more tnan an
ergastulum, or barraeoon on vast scale, CON-
mensurate with the dominions of the greatest of
Roman shareholders. It is vain to imagine that
people can be tyrants in private life, and long
escape subsection to q common tyrant in pub
lic."
These are pregnant words, the force and wig
dom Of whichw we, at least, shonld be prepared to
appreciate to-day.
We have before spoken of the clear, sharp
lines in which are sketched the characters and
portraits of the personages who figure in these
pages The figures of Pompeiss and of Cicero,
of the high-souled hut perverse and impractica-
BILE Cato, of Cleopatra, OF Vespasian, the pie
beian emperor, and of his knightly son, of Ira
Jan. the well beloved, and of Aarelius, grandest
Of Romans, stand cut before us distinct and real
as the men of to-day. In this respect, and in
his power of introducing US to the visible daily
life Of those he describes, the writer often ap-
proaches, and sometimes fully equals the success
of Macauley.
The present volume comprises the history
from the fall of Jerusalem A. D. 10, to the death
of the younger Antonine A. D. 1870, period
unsurpassed for deep and tragic interest, and
fer the rapid succession of important events
+ . Having thus led the narrative down to the
point where that Of Gibbon commences, the
writer announces the completion of the task
which he had originally assigned to himself
Notwithstanding that modesty which forbids
him to anticipate that it should be permanent
ly accepted as the English History Of the Upper
Empire" we are sure that it will stand side
BY side with the great work Of Gibben, and
prove an enduring monument to the genius, the
learning, the philosophic insight and the COM
prehensiye views Of its authpr.7ao8 81 isauQ
shHThis work is for sale by Bailey and Noyes.
Letter from the State Capital. s5 = z
qaerqr AUGUSTA, April 20, 1855. al
IT. the Edstor Of the Press:
a IN. 4...a4oaa cs.,lf<.=a