ROMAN HISTORY.

Rome, a city of Italy, formerly the capital of the greatest empire in the world, and still remarkable as the chief seat of the papal power, is situated on the river Tiber, in east long. 13°, and north lat. 41° 45'.

To trace, even briefly, the rise and progress of this mighty city towards universal empire, would demand a voluminous history, especially were we to enter into disquisitions respecting the views which have been adopted in this article; but as our limits forbid such an attempt, we must content ourselves in a great measure with the statement of general results, with such occasional references as may enable our readers to investigate the subject at greater length; and we think it fortunate, that many of the views which were held as mere paradoxes when first proposed by Niebuhr, may now be regarded as firmly established, and without hesitation followed as essentially correct.

For the history of the various tribes, which, when united under the Roman name, formed one mighty nation, we must refer to the different heads under which, in other parts of this work, they are mentioned. The chief of these were the Oscan, probably the most ancient race that inhabited Italy; the Pelasgian, under which designation may also be comprised the Tyrrhenian, ^[1. See Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 38, et seq. ] with its numerous branches; and the Etrurian, which was marked by various features distinguishing it from both the other races, being also probably less ancient than either. From all that appears in history or tradition, the Oscan, Opican, Auruncan, and Ausonian, were the same race of people, and the earliest inhabitants of that part of Italy contained between Oenotria and Tyrrhenia, or the country of the Etruscans; ^[2. Id. vol. i. p. 64, et seq. ] in a word, they were the original stock whence sprung several of the most powerful nations of Italy, as the Sabines or Sabellians, the Samnites, and others. The Pelasgi ^[3. Id. vol. i. p, 29. ] appear to have been a branch of that once mighty race of whom traces may be discovered from the river Strymon, along the coast of Ionia, throughout Greece and its islands, and along the maritime shores of Italy. It was from their Pelasgic ancestors that the Romans derived the radical affinities which are found to connect the Italian language with that of Greece, both having had, at some remote period, a common origin. The Pelasgi seem to have driven the Oscan nations from the seacoast, back to the mountains, and in their turn to have been overpowered in part of their acquired territory by the Etruscans. The origin of this latter people is involved in obscurity hitherto impenetrable. ^[4. Id. vol. i. p. 109, et seq. ] They display many traces of an oriental, or, as some think, of an Egyptian origin. We incline, for many reasons, to believe them of Phoenician extraction; not merely the peculiarities of their alphabet, but those also of their religious rites, bearing a very close resemblance to the most ancient forms of the Phoenician language and religion. Itis probable that a careful investigation into the customs, laws, and religion of the ancient Etrusci, or rather

Raseni, to use their own name, will ultimately prove them to have belonged to a race more ancient still than even the Phoenicians, that is, to the ancient oriental race whence the Phoenicians themselves derived their origin, their language, and religion.

Respecting the institutions of these primitive races, very little is known; yet from that little, important conclusions may fairly be drawn. Both the Osci and the Pelasgi seem to have lived under the patriarchal form of government; the origin of which is to be traced to the paternal sway which a father naturally exercises over his household, and the head of a tribe, or number of households, over the whole collectively. The Etrusci, on tile other hand, appear to have adopted the system of castes, and especially to have been very much under the influence of a sacerdotal caste, which was of course hereditary, and which possessed almost unbounded influence over the rest of the nation. The effect of the combination of these nations, and their peculiar institutions, in forming the character of the Roman people, will soon appear.

Rome itself is said to have been founded in the year 753b .c. This date, therefore, we shall assume as the most probable, if not absolutely authentic, and shall make it the basis of all subsequent chronological statements. ^[5. Id. vol. i. p. 262, et seq. ] According to the fabulous accounts preserved by Livy, the founders and earliest inhabitants of Rome were of Trojan descent. Aeneas is said to have led a colony of Trojans, after the destruction of Troy, through a series of perilous voyages and adventures, to the shores of Italy, near the mouth of the Tiber. Here he formed an alliance with Latinus, king of the adjoining country, received his daughter Lavinia in marriage, and built a town, called, from her name, Lavinium. A war, which soon afterwards arose between the new settlers and the Rutulians, terminated in the death of their king, Turnus, who was slain in battle by Aeneas. Another war ensued between the Trojans and Mezentius, king of the Etruscans of Caere. In this war Aeneas himself perished, having been drowned in the Numicius, into which he was forced in a disastrous battle, and was succeeded by his son Ascanius, or lulus. On the banks of the river where he disappeared, an altar was built in honour of him, and he was worshipped under the name of Jupiter Indiges. Mezentius soou afterwards fell by the hand of Ascanius, who thus obtained undisputed possession of the territory formerly held by Latinus. The Trojan settlers became completely incorporated with the people of the land, and from king Latinus they derived the common name of Latins. The thirty years had now elapsed dining which it had been predicted that the Trojan race were to inhabit their first town, Lavinium. They removed to a more propitious situation, and built a new town on a lofty ridge farther inland, which overlooks all the land around it, and to their new abode they gave the name of Alba Longa. Of the Latian confederacy, this became the chief city; and hither the thirty confederate cities of Latium resorted to offer common sacrifices to the gods of the Pelasgic nation.

The traditionary legends proceed to state, that Lavinia, fearing some injustice from Ascanius, had sought shelter in the woods, where she gave birth to a son, named from that circumstance, and from his lather, Aeneas Sylvius. Ascanius, however, took no unfair advantage of his position, and was succeeded by Sylvius. For an uncertain period, the sceptre was swayed by successive monarchs of the Sylvian race and name, till the death of Procas. This king left two sons, Numitor and Amulius, but by birthright the throne belonged to Numitor. Amulius, however, seizing the government in defiance of his brother’s right, caused Numitor’s only son to be put to death, and made his daugh[7:19:361]ter Silvia a vestal virgin, by which she became bound to perpetual celibacy. According to the legend, this scheme proved abortive; for Silvia became pregnant by the god Mars, and was delivered of twin sons. Amulius ordered the infants to be thrown into the river, and their mother to be buried alive; the doom of a vestal virgin who should violate her vow of chastity. The river happened at that time to have overflowed its banks, so that the two infants were not carried into the middle of the stream, but drifted along the margin, till the basket which contained them became entangled in the roots of a wild vine, at the foot of the Palatine hill. At this time a she-wolf coming down to the river to drink, suckled the infants, and carried them to her den among the thickets hard by. Here they were found by Faustulus, the king’s herdsman, who took them home to his wife Laurentia, by whom they were carefully nursed, and named Romulus and Remus.

The two youths grew up, employed in the labours, the sports, and the perils of the pastoral occupation of their foster-father. But, like the two sons of Cymbeline, their royal blood could not be quite concealed. Their superior mein, courage, and abilities, soon acquired for them a decided superiority over their young compeers,and they became leaders of the youthful herdsman in their contests with robbers, or with rivals. Having quarrelled with the herdsmen of Numitor, whose flocks were accustomed to graze on the neighbouring hill Aventinus, Remus fell into an ambush, and was dragged before Numitor to be punished. While Numitor, struck with the noble bearing of the youth, and influenced by the secret stirrings of nature within him, was hesitating what punishment to inflict, Romulus, accompanied by Faustulus, hastened to the rescue of Remus. On their arrival at Alba, the secret of their origin was discovered, and a plan was speedily organized for the expulsion of Amulius, and the restoration of their grandfather Numitor to his throne. This was soon accomplished; but the twin brothers felt little disposition to remain in a subordinate position in Alba, after the enjoyment of the rude liberty and power to which they had been accustomed among their native hills. They therefore requested from their grandfather permission to build a city on the banks of the Tiber, where their lives had been so miraculously preserved. Scarcely had this permission been granted when a contest .arose between the two brothers respecting the site, the name, and the sovereignty of the city which they were about to found. Romulus wished it to be built on the Palatine hill, and to be called by his name; Remus preferred the Aventine, and his own name. To terminate their dispute amicably, they agreed to refer it to the decision of the gods by augury. Romulus took his station on the Palatine hill, Remus on the Aventine. At sun-rise Remus saw six vul∙ tures, and immediately afterwards Romulus saw twelve. The superiority was adjudged to Romulus, because he had seen the greater number, against which decision Remus remonstrated indignantly,on the ground that he had first received an omen. ^[6. According to the interpretation of the Etruscan augurs, the twelve vultures seen by Romulus portended that the duration of the city would extend to twelve centuries; and it may strike even an incredulous reader us remarkable, that the actual duration of Rome as a frer and imperial city coincided very nearly with the time assigned by this augury. It ended in the 1229th year of thecity, by the dethronemen , of the last emperor Romulus Augustulus. ]

Romulus then proceeded to mark out the boundaries for the wall of the intended city. This was done by a plough with a brazen plough-share, drawn by a bull and a heifer, and so directed that the furrow should fall inward. The plough was lifted and carried over the spaces intended to be left for the gates; and in this manner a square space was marked oβt, including the Palatine hill, and a small portion of the land at its base, termed Roma quadrata. This took place on the 21st of April, on the day of the festival of Pales, the goddess of shepherds. While the wall was beginning to rise above the surface, Remus, whose mind was still rankling with his discomfiture, leaped over it scornfully, saying, “Shall such a wall as that keep your city!” Immediately Romulus, or, as others say, Celer, who had charge of erecting that part of the wall, struck him dead to the ground with the implement in his hand, exclaiming, “So perish whosoever shall hereafter overleap these walls.” By this event Romulus was left the sole sovereign of the city; yet he felt deep remorse at his brother’s fate, buried him honourably, and when he sat to administer justice, placed an empty throne by his side, with a sceptre and crown, as if acknowledging the right of his brother to the possession of equal power.

To augment as speedily as possible the number of his subjects, Romulus set apart in his new city a place of refuge, to which any man might flee, and be protected from bis pursuers. By this device the population increased rapidly in males; but there was a great deficiency of females; for the adjoining states, regarding the followers of Romulus as little better than a horde of brigands, refused to sanction intermarriages. But the schemes of Romulus were not to be so frustrated. In honour of the god Consus, he proclaimed games, to which he invited the neighbouring states. Great numbers came, accompanied by their families; and at an appointed signal, the Roman youth, rushing suddenly into the midst of the spectators, snatched up the unmarried women in their arms, and bore them off by force. This outrage was immediately resented, and Romulus found himself involved in a war with all the surrounding states. Fortunately for Rome, though these states had sustained a common injury, they did not unite their forces in the common cause. They fought singly, and were each in turn defeated; Caenina, Antemnae, and Crustumerium, fell successively before the Roman arms. Romulus slew with his own hand, Aeron, king of Caenina, and bore off his spoils, dedicating them as spoila opima, to Jupiter Feretrius. The third part of the lands of the conquered towns was seized by the conquerors; and such of the people of these towns as were willing to remove to Rome, were received as free citizens.

In the mean time, the Sabines, to avenge the insult which they had sustained, had collected together their forces under tile command of Titus Tatius, king of the Quirites, or people of the Sabine town of Cures. The Romans were unable to meet so strong an army in the field, and withdrew within their walls. They had previously placed their flocks in what they thought a place of safety, on the Capitoline hill, which, strong as it was by nature, they had still further secured by additional fortifications. Tarpeia, the daughter of the commander of that fortress, having fallen into the hands of the Sabines, agreed to betray the access to the hill, for the ornaments they wore upon their arms. At their approach she opened the gate, and as they entered, they crushed her to death beneath their shields. From her the clift of the Capitoline hill was called the Tarpeian rock. The attempt of the Romans to regain this place of strength brought on a general engagement. The combat was long and doubtful. At one time the Romans were almost driven into the city, which the Sabines were on the point of entering along with them, when fresh courage was infused into the fugitives, in consequence of Romulus vowing a temple to Jupiter Stator, and by a stream of water which rushed out of the temple of Janus, and swept away the Sabines from the gate. The bloody struggle was renewed during several successive days, with various fortune and great mutual

See Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 224. See also Gibbon, vol. vi. p. 136, Milmau , ι edition.
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slaughter. At length the Sabine women who had been carried away, and who were now reconciled to their fate, rushed with loud outcries, outspread hands, and dishevelled locks, between the combatants, imploring their husbands and their fathers to spare on each side those who were now to them equally dear. Both parties paused; a conference began, a peace was concluded, and a treaty framed, by which the two nations were united into one. The Sabines built a new city on the Quirinal and Capitoline hills, on the north and north-west of the Roman hill, the Palatine; and Romulus and Tatius became the joint sovereigns of the combined people. But though united, each nation continued to be governed by its own king and senate; and in all that respected their common interest they met in the valley between the Palatine and Capitoline hills, in a place from that circumstance called the Comitium.

During the double sway of Romulus and Tatius, a war was undertaken against the Latin town of Cameria, which was taken and made a Roman colony, and its people admitted into the Roman state, as had been done with those whom Romulus previously subdued. Tatius was s∞n afterwards slain by the people of Laurentum, because he had refused to do them justice against his kinsmen, who had violated the laws of nations by insulting their ambassadors. The death of Tatius left Romulus sole monarch of Rome. He was soon again engaged in a war with Fidenae, a Tuscan settlement on the banks of the Tiber. This people he likewise overcame, and placed in the city a Roman colony. This war extending the Roman frontier, led to a hostile collision with Veii, in which he was also successful, and deprived Veii, at that time one of the most powerful cities in Etruria, of a large portion of its territories, though he found the city itself was too strong to be taken.

The reign of Romulus now drew near its close. One day, while holding a military muster or review of his army on a plain near the lake Capra, the sky was suddenly overcast with thick darkness, the light of the sun was quenched, and a dreadful tempest of thunder and lightning arose. The people fled in dismay; and when the storm abated, Romulus, over whose head it had raged most fiercely, was no where to be seen. A rumour was circulated that during the tempest he had been carried to heaven by his father, the god Mars. This opinion was speedily confirmed by the report of Proculus Julius, who declared, that as he was returning by night from Alba to Rome, Romulus appeared to him in a form of more than mortal majesty, and bade him go and tell the Romans, that Rome was destined by the gods to be the chief city of the earth, that human power should never be able to withstand them, and that he would himself be their guardian god Quirinus.

So terminates what may be termed the legend of Romulus, the founder and first king of Rome. That no person, bearing any resemblance in name and actions, to what is recorded of him, ever existed, it would be perhaps too hazardous to affirm; while it is perfectly evident that the greater part of the narrative is entirely fabulous. The story of Aeneas and his Trojans rests upon no better foundation, and has no better claim to be believed. Indeed the various accounts respecting the Trojan leader and colony, are so contradictory as completely to destroy the pretensions of any of them to credibility. All the accounts of the reigns of Ascanius and his successors at Alba Longa, are equally fabulous. The divine paternity, miraculous preservation, and early exploits of Romulus and Remus, are evident fables, of a daringly poetic cast. But that a small strength, a ρώμη, may have been constructed on the Palatine hill, by some bold and skilful leader of a band of freebooters, about the period assumed for the foundation of Rome, is by no means improbable. A city so founded, by a band so formed, not only might, but evidently must, have passed through a series of contests with the neighbouring cities, similar to those related of Romulus and his people. There may, therefore, be perfect poetical truth, so to speak, in the narrative, though it should be in a great measure devoid of real historical truth. Discarding its miraculous passages, it is sufficiently natural and self-consistent to be received as a traditional account of the adventures, perils, and fluctuating fortunes of the early founders of Rome, of whatsoever race descended, and by whomsoever led.

Upon the death of Romulus an interregnum took place; during which the senate is reported to have divided itself into ten Decuriae, each of which governed the state by turns, during periods of five days. At length it was agreed that a king should be chosen out of the Sabine part of the united people, but that the choice should be left to the Romans. Their choice fell upon Numa Pompilius, who is said to have been a citizen of Cures, of noble birth, and greatly distinguished for his wisdom and piety. Upon his election to the sovereignty, he refused to accept it till he had inquired by augury whether it were the will of the gods that he should be king. The omens being favourable, he next laid before the comitia curiata the proposal of an enactment by which he should be acknowledged as king, and intrusted especially with full military command. Having received this public and formal recognition of his sovereign power, he then applied himself to the consolidation of the new kingdom and people, by the enactment of laws, and the appointment of whatever pertained to religious worship. To him is ascribed the apportion ing of the public territory which had been gained by conquest, to the new people who had become freemen of the Roman state. He determined the extent of the lands to be held by private citizens, marked their boundaries, and fixed them by landmarks consecrated to the god Terminus. Instead of endeavouring to extend the territory of the state, he assigned it also a fixed boundary, restrained the aggressive spirit of the warlike Romans, and strove to mollify them by the cultivation of the arts of peace, and especially by the exact and constant observance of religious rites. He instituted the orders of the priesthood, and determined their respective offices. To the Pontifex Maximus he gave the supreme authority in matters of religion. He appointed the flaraens, or priests of the three great gods of the nation, Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. To the service of the goddess Vesta he consecrated four virgin priestesses, whose duty it was to tend the ever-burning tire in her temple. By him was formed the institution of the Salii, who honoured Mars Gradivus by solemn songs and dances on appointed festal days, and who were intrusted with the custody of the sacred shield Ancile, which fell down from heaven. To him is also ascribed the institution of the college of augurs, whom he himself instructed in the observation of the greater auspices, which were drawn from lightning, and other signs in the heavens.

But in the formation of these sacred institutions, Numa did not solely trust to his own wisdom. He was instructed, says the legend, by the nymph Egeria, who met him in a sacred grotto, and taught him the will of the gods. So highly did she honour, and so dearly did she love him, that she took him to be her husband. To confirm the authority of Numa, and to ratify the laws which he made, and the sacred rites which he taught, Egeria gave to the Romans a token and proof of their divine origin. While Numa was entertaining a party of distinguished citizens, with a meal of homely fare, and served on earthen vessels, Egeria, at his word, changed it into a feast of the most delicious viands in vessels of gold. But though a favourite of the gods, Numa was still mortal. He died full of age and honours, beloved and lamented by all his people, and mourned with ever-flowing sorrow by the nymph Egeria.

Such is the peaceful and lovely legend of Numa Pompilius, said to have been the second king of Rome, and to bave reigned forty years. It is, however, so manifestly poeti [7:19:363]cal, or perhaps mythical, that it is utterly in vain to attempt to extract from it any thing like real history. It may have been merely meant to represent the period of the establishment of forms of laws and religion, which naturally follows that of founding a city and collecting a people. And as all ancient lawgivers assumed divine authority for the sanction of their institutions, so the Roman lawgiver is said to have obtained the instructions of Egeria. The legend is too beautiful to be lost, though too imaginative to be believed; and we turn reluctantly from its evanescent loveliness, to the consideration of matter of a harsher mould.

An interregnum again followed the death of Numa. At length Tullus Hostilius, a man of Latin or Romish extraction, was chosen by the curiae; and his election having been sanctioned by the auspices, he, like his predecessor, submitted to the comitia curiata the laws which conferred upon him full regal power. The new king was more desirous of military renown, than of the less dazzling fame which may be gained by cultivating the arts of peace. An opportunity was soon offered for indulging his warlike disposition. Plundering incursions had been made into each others’ territories by the borderers of the two states of Rome and Alba. Both nations sent ambassadors at the same time to demand redress. The Roman ambassadors had private orders from Tullus to be peremptory in their demands, and to limit their stay within the stated period of thirty days. They did so, and receiving no immediate satisfaction, returned to Rome. In the mean time, Tullus amused the Alban embassy by shews and banquets, till, when they opened their commission, he had it in his power to answer, that he had already in vain sought redress from Alba, and that now they must prepare for the events of a war, the blame of originating which was chargeable upon them. By this device Tullus thought to avoid the guilt of being the aggressor, and to secure the favour of the gods by the justice of his cause.

Under the command of Cluilius, the Albans sent a powerful army against Rome, and encamped about five miles from the city. There Cluilius died; and the Albans elected Mettius Fufetius in his stead. Tullus Hostilius, at the head of the Roman army, now drew near the Albans. But when the two armies were ready for a general engagement, Mettius, the Alban general, proposed to save the effusion of blood, by committing the fortune of the war to the valour of certain champions selected from either side. To this proposal Tullus agreed. It so happened that there were in each army three brothers, each three the children of one birth, whose mothers also were sisters, though their fathers belonged to different nations. The three Romans were named Horatii, the three Albans Curiatii. These youthful warriors were chosen to be the champions of their respective nations, and immediately prepared for the combat. It was agreed, that by the issue of this contest should be determined the dominion or subjection of each people. The two armies were drawn up in battle array, each on their own side of the boundary line that divided their territories. The young combatants advanced, and met on the very line. The combat began, and was sustained for some time with equal skill, courage, and ardour, while the two armies gazed on the eventful struggle with the suspended breath of intense anxiety. At length two of the Horatii fell at the feet of their antagonists; a sight which called forth loud shouts of joy from the Albans, while the Romans remained quivering with suspense for the fate of their remaining champion, and the freedom of their country. Horatius was still unhurt, whilst the three Curiatii were all severely wounded. Believing himself more than a match for each singly, he feigned a flight to divide them. They pursued with unequal strength and speed, and were separated to considerable distances from each other. On a sudden he turned, rushed on the enemy nearest him, and slew him at a blow. With equal impetuosity he assailed and killed the second, while the third was hastening to render his brother aid. There was now but one combatant on either side, yet it could no longer be called a battle. Faint, exhausted, and dispirited, the third of the Curiatii sunk beneath the vigorous arm of the victorious Roman, who thus at once avenged his brothers, and won for his country the sovereign sway.

As the Romans were returning in triumph to the city, Horatius bearing the triple spoils, they were met at the Ca-penian gate by his sister, who had been betrothed to one of the Curiatii. When she beheld the bloody mantle of her lover, which she had wrought with her own hands, borne aloft by her brother, she burst into loud lamentations, flinging loose her scattered locks. Horatius, enraged at her untimely grief and outcry, drew his sword and pierced her to the heart, exclaiming, “So perish the Roman woman that shall bewail a foe.” For this tierce deed, Horatius was by the judges condemned to death. But he appealed to the people, and his father defended him, saying, that if his daughter had not deserved to die, he would himself have punished his son, in virtue of his own authority as a father. The people refused to stain the victory which Horatius had achieved for his country by shedding the blood of the conqueror, and therefore spared his life, but caused him to undergo the semblance of capital punishment, and perform certain expiating sacrifices and rites, which thenceforth became hereditary in the Horatian family.

Notwithstanding the agreement which had been entered into between the Romans and the Albans, the latter were unwilling to forfeit their national independence without an additional struggle. This, however, they were desirous to avoid provoking single-handed. They accordingly encouraged the people of Fidenae to revolt, by giving them secret promises of assistance. Tullus Hostilius immediately levied a Roman army, and summoned the Albans to his aid. The two armies met, the Veientes being drawn up opposite to the Romans, and the Fidenates confronting the Albans. When the battle began, Mettius Fufetius, the Alban leader, wanted courage and decision to fulfil his own treacherous pledge; he neither joined the Romans nor the Fidenates, but drawing his men off from the conflict, stood aloof, to watch the event and act accordingly. His defection struck a temporary panic into the Romans, which was speedily allayed by the bravery and skill of Tullus; and his remaining aloof caused distrust in the Fidenates, who finally fled before the vigorous onset of their antagonists. Tullus gained a complete victory; and concealing his knowledge of the treachery of Mettius, next day called an assembly of his whole army. The Albans came unarmed, and arrived first. The Romanscame next, wearing, as they had been directed, their swords hid beneath their mantles, and at a signal surrounded the Albans. Tullus then denounced the treachery of Mettius, and commanded him to be torn asunder by two chariots of four horses, as his mind had been divided between the Romans and the Fidenates in the battle. It was then decreed that Alba should be razed to the ground, and the whole Alban people removed to Rome, to prevent the possibility of future strife. Not only the walls of Alba, but every human habitation, was totally demolished, and the temples of the gods alone left standing in solitary majesty amid the ruins.

But though Tullus had thus put an end to the separate existence of Alba, he did not reduce its inhabitants to slavery. He assigned them habitations on the Caelian hill, which had formerly been possessed by the followers of the Etruscan Lucumo, Caeles Vibenna. Those who had been of patrician rank at Alba were allowed to retain the same rank at Rome, and a new tribe was formed, called the Luceres. The construction and numbers of this tribe were the same as those of the other two; so that the entire senate, composed of the beads of houses of the three tribes,
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amounted now to 300, which continued to be its stated number.

Soon after these events, Tullus made war upon the Sabines, and in a bloody, and for some time doubtful encounter, again obtained the victory. Another war arose with the confederate towns of Latium, who began to dread the growing polver of Rome after the destruction of Alba. The Latian war terminated without any decided reverses sustained by either party; and an alliance was formed between the Romans and the Latins. Tullus had now leisure to direct his attention to the arts of peace, in which, however, he did not equally excel. The only public works ascribed to him were the enclosing of a space for the Comitium, or assembly of the people; and the building of a Curia, or senate-house. Towards the end of his reign his mind was disturbed by prodigies, indicating the wrath of the gods, for religion neglected, and temples left desolate. A shower of stones fell from heaven on the Alban mount; and the awful accents of a supernatural voice were heard to issue from the consecrated summit of the hill. A plague swept away numbers of the Roman people. The king himself sickened; and from having been neglectful of religion, became the slave of superstitious terrors. In vain did he supplicate the gods. He had disregarded them in his days of prosperity, and in his adversity no deity regarded his prayers, or sent relief. In his despair he presumed to use the divinations of Numa, by the rites of Jupiter Elicius; but the only answer returned tvas the lightning of the offended gods, by which Tullus himself and his whole household were smitten and consumed. Such is the legend of Tullus Hostilius, said to have been the third king of Rome.

After the death of Tullus Hostilius there followed another interregnum, during which the senate, as usual, exercised the functions of sovereignty. An assembly was then held, in which Ancus Marcius, a son of the daughter of Numa, and a Sabine by race, was chosen king. He assumed the sovereignty with the usual formalities, receiving the sanction of the comitia curiata. Ancus seems to have taken the conduct and character of Numa for his model rather than those of his more warlike predecessors. His first object was to restore those religious rites which had been neglected by Tullus; and for this purpose he caused the institutions of Numa to be inscribed on tables, and suspended in public places, that all might read, know, and observe them.

While he was thus busied in restoring religious worship, the Latins imagined they might recover that power which had been wrested from them by Tullus. They soon found that Ancus, though peacefully inclined, was by no means incapable of resenting injuries. He raised an army, encountered the insurgent Latins, and after a severe struggle, not only defeated them in the field wherever he met them, but also took from them several cities, whose inhabitants he removed to Rome, and settled on the Aventine hill, on the south of the Palatine. On the left bank of the Tiber he prosecuted his conquests till he reached the sea, where he built Ostia, and settled a colony in it to secure it as a permanent conquest, and that it might be a sea-port for Rome. He obtained also some advantages over the Sabines and Veientines; and to render his intercourse with the right bank of the river both more easy and more secure, he formed a wooden bridge across the Tiber, and fortified the hill Janiculum. The oldest remaining monument of Rome, the prison, formed out of a stone quarry on the Capitoline hill, is also said to have been the work of Ancus. He died in peace, respected and beloved, and was known in tradition by the designation of “the good Ancus.”

That part of Roman history at which we have now arrived, is at once characterized by great interest and by great obscurity. It has the appearance of a great poem, containing just enough of fact to give it credibility in the ears of willing listeners, and enough of fiction and embellishment to destroy all its pretensions to the severely simple character of history. In our opinion this is its real character; and we are by no means disposed to discard more of it than seems of itself to assume no claim upon our belief. No reader can possibly mistake poetic ornament for fact; but there is one aspect of the narrative in which the common reader may be mistaken. It is not enough that an event be strange, or even almost marvellous, in order to be discredited. Many things are abundantly strange in our eyes which nevertheless did actually occur. The wild, strange, and daring exploits recorded of the early founders of nations are liable to be disbelieved by posterity, in the exercise of its cool philosophic criticism. But the founders of a nation are generally men of daring and enthusiastic character, whose actual deeds are constantly hovering on the brink of the incredible. Nations, like individuals, have a period of youth, in which their history is naturally full of deeds of lofty daring, strange adventure, and all but miraculous exploit. The most truthful narrative of a nation’s youth must contain accounts of those deeds of scarcely imaginable hardihood; and such a narrative will seem utterly unworthy of belief to the cool philosopher of a calmer and more thoughtful age. Hitherto we have been attempting to obtain a glimpse of the very infancy of Rome; now we are to view the exploits of its fiery and impetuous youth. We are not lightly to credit every miraculous statement that claims our attention; but neither are we to demand a succession of events regulated by a cool deliberate prudence, such as our own habits of thought and action could alone approve.

In the days of Ancus Marcius a noble and wealthy Tuscan sought a residence in Rome. He was the son of a citizen of Corinth of some distinction, who had left his native country to avoid the tyranny of an usurper. Having settled at Tarquinii, a city on the coast of Etruria, he married an Etruscan lady of the highest rank. His son, in virtue of his mother’s rank, belonged to the ruling caste of Etruria, the Lucumones; but the pride of that caste would not permit them to suffer a person of mixed descent to participate in their hereditary honours. He married an Etruscan lady of the noblest birth, Tanaquil by name, who could not brook that her husband should be disparaged by her haughty kindred. They left Tarquinii, and journeyed to Rome, in the hope of being received by Ancus in a manner more suited to their dignity. They had reached the brow of the Janiculum, and were in sight of Rome, when an eagle hovering over them, stooped, snatched his cap, and after soaring aloft with it to a great height, again descended and placed it on his head. Tanaquil, versed in the lore of Tuscan augury, understood the omen, and embracing her husband, bade him proceed joyfully, for the loftiest fortunes awaited him. He was received as a Roman citizen, and assumed the name of Lucius Tarquinius. His courage, his wisdom, and his wealth, soon recommended him to the favourable notice of the king, and made him greatly esteemed also by the people generally. On the death of Ancus he was chosen king, and received from the assembly the customary sanction to his assumption of sovereignty.

Scarcely was Tarquin seated on the throne when the Latin states broke the treaty which they had made with Ancus, and began to make inroads upon the Roman territor)·. Tarquinius marched against them, defeated them in battle, and took and plundered Apiolae, where he obtained an immense booty. Prosecuting his victorious career, he made himself master of Cameria, Crustumerium, Medullia, Ameriola, Ficulnea, Corniculum, and Nomentum. The Aequi also felt the power of his arms, and were obliged to humble themselves before him. While he was engaged with the Latins, the Sabines availed themselves of his absence, mustered their forces, crossed the Anio, and ravaged the country up to the very walls of Rome. Tarquinius returning from his Latin wars, encountered the Sabines, and after a [7:19:365]desperate conflict, drove them from the Roman territories. Next year they again passed the Anio by a bridge of boats, and advanced towards Rome. Tarquinius met them in battle, and by the superiority of his cavalry gained a complete victory. During the battle a party of Romans, sent for that purpose, burned the bridge of boats, so that the routed Sabines were cut off from their retreat, and driven into the river, where great numbers of them perished. Their bodies and arms, floating down the Tiber, brought the first intelligence of the victory to Rome. He then crossed the river, inflicted upon them a second defeat, and compelled them to surrender the town and lands of Collatia, which they had previously taken from the Latins. Tarquinius placed a strong garrison in the town, and assigned the capture to his brother’s son, who thence took the name of Collatinus. In this war the king’s son, a youth of fourteen, slew a foe with his own hand, and received as a reward of honour a robe bordered with purple, and a hollow ball of gold to be suspended round his neck; and these continued to be the distinctive dress and ornament of the Roman youth of patrician rank, till they assumed the toga virilis, or manly gown.

Tarquinius is likewise said to have engaged in war with the Etruscan nations, to have taken several of their cities, and to have overthrown them, notwithstanding a confederacy of all their twelve states against him. In token of their submission to his power, the Etruscans at length sent him a golden crown, an ivory throne and sceptre, a purple tunic and robe figured with gold, and twelve axes bound up in bundles of rods to be borne before him, such as they used when their twelve cities chose a common leader in war. These, by the permission of the people, Tarquinius adopted as the insignia of kingly power; and, with the exception of the crown, and of the embroidered robe, they remained as such both to his successors on the throne, and to the consuls, unless on the days when they went in public triumph to the Capitol.

Such were the military exploits ascribed to Tarquinius; and there is nothing so improbable in them as to startle our belief. It is indeed manifest from other indications, that about the period assumed as the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, as he is called for the sake of distinction, the dominions of Rome must have comprised nearly all the territory which he is said to have conquered, and also that the city must have risen to great wealth and power. The latter point is proved by the great public works, which all accounts agree in ascribing to him. He built the cloaca maxima, or great sewers, to drain off the water from between the Capitoline and Palatine, and the Palatine and Aventine hills. This vast drain was constructed of huge blocks of hewn stone, triply arched, and of such dimensions, that a barge could float along in it beneath the very streets of the city. Earthquakes have shaken the city and the adjacent hills; but the cloaca maxima remains to this day unimpaired, an enduring monument of the power and skill of the king and the people by whom it was constructed. The Circus Maximus, or great race-course, was also a work of this monarch, intended for the display of what were called the great, or Roman games, “ludi magni Romani.” The forum, with its rows of shops, was also the work of Tarquinius; and he began to surround the city with a wall of massy hewn stones. He likewise made preparation to fulfil a vow to build a great temple on the Capitoline hill to the chief deities of Rome. ^[7. This mention of the building of temples on the Capitoline hill to the chief deities of Rome by Tarquinius Priscus, refers in all probability to the introduction to Rome of the refined and poetical idolatry of Greece, and receives some colouring of credibility from the account of his descent from a native of Corinth. Beaufort proves, that for the first 170 years of its existence at least, there were no images at Rome, unless the rude block of stone called the god Terminus might be considered an image. See La République Romaine, par M. de Beaufort. ]

To conclude the legendary history of Tarquinius, he is said to have been murdered by the treachery of the sons of his predecessor Ancus Marcius. They, perceiving the favour with which the king regarded Servius Tullius, and fearing an attempt to make him king, to the exclusion of their own pretensions and hopes, hired two countrymen to pretend a quarrel, and to appear before the king seeking redress. While he was listening to the complaint of one, the other struck him on the head with an axe, and then they both made their escape. The conspirators did not, however, obtain the fruit of their treachery. Tanaquil gave out that the king was not dead, but only stunned by the blow, and had appointed Servius Tullius to rule in his name till he should recover. Servius immediately assumed the ensigns and exercised the power of royalty. The murderers were seized and punished, and the Marcii fled disappointed from the city. When the death of Tarquinius could no longer be concealed, the power of Servius was so well established, that the people were perfectly ready to grant him the usual confirmation in the powers of the sovereignty.

The accounts respecting the origin of Servius Tullius are as obscure as those of any of his predecessors. The most ancient and poetical legend represents him as the son of Ocrisia, a captive and slave of Tanaquil the queen, by the Lar, or household god. Later legends made him a son of one of the king’s clients, and for sometime a slave; or the son of a man of rank and power in one of the conquered Latin cities, who being slain in the war, his widow was carried to Rome in her pregnancy, and she and her infant son were protected by Tanaquil. ^[8. Another account of the origin of Servius has been preserved by a speech of the emperor Claudius, as given in the Etruscan Annals. Claudius begins to recount how often the form of government had been changed, and even the royal dignity bestowed on foreigners. Then, be says of Servius Tullius, “According to our Annals, he was the son of the captive Ocrisia; but if we follow the Tuscans, he was the faithful follower of Caeles Vibenna, and shared all his fortunes. At last, driven by various fortunes, he quitted Etruria with the remains of the army which had served under Caeles, went to Rome, and occupied the Caelian hill, giving it that name after his former commander. He exchanged his Tuscan name, Mastarna, for a Roman one, obtained the kingly power, and employed it to the great advantage of the state.” See Niebuhr, vol. t. p. 381. ] All accounts represent him as enjoying the favour of Tarquinius and his queen, and obtaining the throne in a great measure by the judicious management of the latter. It would seem as if Servius had in the very beginning of his reign encountered the opposition of the patricians. He is said not to have allowed any interregnum, or to have permitted the senate to take the lead in his election to the sovereignty; but as he had already acted as king before the death of Tarquinius was publicly known, so to have made a direct application, without any other preliminary process, to the comitia curiata, and to have been by them invested with the powers of former kings. The only historical conclusion which can be deduced from these incidental notices is, that a contest had begun between the kings and the patrician body, in which the kings deemed it their soundest policy to diminish the power of the patricians, in order to maintain their own. But as no direct diminution of their power could have been attempted without exciting an immediate insurrection, it was deemed expedient by these kings to raise a counterbalancing power in the state, which, having received its existence from them, might be expected to lend them aid in repressing the exorbitant power of the patrician body, combined with their hereditary privileges.

This view, it will be observed, both coincides completely with the tradition that Tarquinius first elevated the tribe of the Luceres to the possession of full senatorial power; and [7:19:366]with the tradition that his very coming to Rome was caused by the pride of the privileged and hereditary order of Lucumones, who had excluded him from participating in the honours to which he thought himself entitled both by birth and merit. Finding at Rome also a patrician class, in the possession of hereditary powers and privileges, he not unnaturally regarded them with jealousy, and endeavoured to call into being a counterbalancing power, by which his influence might not only be maintained, but rendered predominant. The policy pursued by all the kings of the Etruscan line entirely accords with this view, so as to give it at least an air of great probability.

The twelve Etruscan cities which had acknowledged the dominion of Tarquinius, revolted on hearing of his death. They were speedily reduced to subjection by Servius, for which military success he was decreed a triumph by the people. But his triumphs in war were not to be compared with his triumphs in peace. Finding the population of Rome increasing rapidly, he enlarged the pomoerium, or sacred boundary of the city. When first formed by Romulus, the pomoerium included merely the Palatine hill and a portion of the plain at its base. It was extended by Numa so as to include the Capitoline and Quirinal hills, in consequence of which the Sabine town became completely incorporated with the Roman. Servius again enlarged it, so as to bring within its compass the Viminal and Esquiline hills, in addition to those which were the appropriate seats of the great tribes. He finished the work begun by Tarquinius, by building the walls of the city of hewn stone; and where the hills which he had included in the new addition to the city sloped gently down towards the plain, he fenced them by a large mound of earth, and a moat from which the earth of the mound was dug. For the purpose of consolidating more firmly the union of the races of which the nation was composed, he built the temple of Diana on the Aventine hill, which was to be the chief abode of the Latin population recently brought to Rome. This temple constituted a monument of the league between the Roman people and the thirty confederate Latin towns; and, although Romans, Sabines, and Latins sacrificed there in common, yet, as Rome was now recognised as the head of the confederation, the Romans were allowed to have the precedency.

But the most important achievements of Servius Tullius, were his alterations of, and additions to, the constitutional principles of the state. Incidental notices have already been given respecting the origin and development of the Roman constitution, so far as the obscurity of the traditional narratives and poetic legends have furnished scope for the treatment of such topics. To these we shall subsequently advert; but we must now prosecute the historical narrative, so far as it can be called historical; for there is no part of ancient Rome that more evidently abounds with poetic legends than the conclusion of the kings, and the first years of the commonwealth. Fortunately there is no absolute necessity to discard the poetic legends; for however destitute they may be of what is termed historical truth, there can be no question but that they present a very accurate and lively picture of the times and events in which they are said to have taken place.

Servius Tullius had given his two daughters in marriage to the two sons of Tarquinius Priscus. These daughters were of tempers very unlike, as were also their husbands. The elder, Tullia, was of a gentle disposition, her younger sister fierce, imperious, and ambitious. Aruns Tarquinius was of a mild and quiet character, his brother Lucius proud, restless, and domineering. To counteract these tempers, Servius had given the gentle princess to the ambitious prince, and made the haughty damsel wife to the mild husband. But this dissimilarity of temper did not produce the effect which he had expected. The fiery tempered of each couple became dissatisfied with the one of gentler nature; the milder wife and husband perished by the crimes of their aspiring mates, who were speedily united in a second shameless marriage. Then did the aspiring temper of the one urge on the haughty and ambitious heart of the other, till they resolved to make way to the throne by the murder of the good old man, their king and father. To this attempt Lucius was encouraged by the unconcealed dissatisfaction of the patricians with the influence obtained by the plebeians in the new constitution. Their dissatisfaction was increased by a rumour that Servius intended to abolis!)The monarchical form altogether, and divide the sway between two consuls, one to be chosen from the patrician,and onefrom the plebeian body. Having formed a strong faction among the patricians, Tarquinius went to the senate-house, seated himself in the royal chair, and summoned the senators to meet king Tarquinius. Servius having heard the rumour, hastened to the senate-house, accused Tarquinius of treason, and laid hold of him to remove him from the royal chair. The usurper instantly seized the old man, dragged him to the door, and threw him with great force down the steps. There he lay for a few moments stunned and bleeding with the fall; then rising slowly staggered away towards his palace. Some ruffians employed by Tarquinius, pursued, overtook, and killed him, leaving the body lying bleeding in the street. Meantime, tidings of what was going on had reached Tullia, who immediately mounted her chariot, drove to the senate-house, and saluted Tarquinius as king. He bade her withdraw from such a tumult; and she, on her return, passed along the same street where lay the bleeding body of her newly murdered father. The mules shrunk, the charioteer stopped short, and pointed out the appalling spectacle. In a loud and imperious tone of voice she commanded him to drive on; the chariot wheels rolled over the yet warm form, crushing and mangling it as they proceeded, till the spurting blood stained the robes of the more than parricide. From that hour, in remembrance of that hideous scene, the street was called the Vicus Sceleratus, or Wicked Street.

Tarquinius having thus obtained forcible possession of the throne, declined to submit to the form of an election, or to make the customary appeals to the comitia curiata for the ratification of his kingly power. He seized the crown as if it were hereditary; and seemed resolved to rule without the concurrence of any of the great assemblies. But as he had been raised to the throne by the aid of the patricians, his first act was to gratify them by repealing the privileges which Servius had granted to the plebeians. He suppressed the institution of the comitia centuriata, and even prohibited the meetings of the country tribes at the paganalia. But this was only the beginning of his tyranny. He depressed the commons or plebeians; but he had no intention to permit the power of the patricians to become too strong, especially as he was himself but too well aware of their treachery to the former king. He therefore surrounded himself with a bodyguard, the ready instruments of his oppression; and, under colour of justice, banished or put to death, on false accusations, all who were either too powerful or too wealthy to be trusted, or whom he suspected of disaffection to himself. In this manner he reduced the patricians into a state of subjection almost as deep as that into which they had assisted him to reduce the plebeians.

Being now possessed of nearly despotic powet, he turned his attention to the enlargement of his kingdom. He gave his daughter in marriage to Octavius Mamilius of Tusculum, the most powerful of the Latin chiefs; and partly by intrigues, partly by force, he procured Rome to be acknowledged the head of the Latin confederacy. Herdonius, the only man who dared to oppose his proud demeanour, he caused to be put to death by false accusations, and completely incorporated the Latin troops with those of Rome. The Hernici were also included in this confederacy. One [7:19:367]Latin city, Gabii, refused to join this league, and was assailed by Tarquinius. The struggle was long and severe; but at length Tarquinius is said to have obtained possession of it by means of a stratagem, conducted by his son Sextus, similar to that by which Zopyrus gained possession of Babylon for Darius Hystaspis. He turned his arms next against the Volsci, and took Suessa Pometia, where he obtained a very great booty, and retained the tithe of it for his own share.

Thus powerful and enriched, he next proceeded to finish the great works left incomplete by his predecessors. He finished the cloaca maxima, and prepared to build the temple which his father, during the Sabine war, had vowed to the three great deities, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva. For this purpose he levelled the brow of the hill, originally called by the Sabines Saturnius, but better known by its subsequent name, the Capitoline hill. In clearing away the ground for the foundation of this temple, a fresh human skull was found; whence the augurs predicted that Rome should be the capital, or chief city of the world; whence also the name by which that hill was always subsequently known. The hill had formerly been almost covered with altars and shrines consecrated by the Sabines. Tarquinius inquired by augury whether the deities, to whom these were sacred, would yield their places toJupiter, Juno, and Minerva. Theauguries allowed the removal of all except the shrines ofTerminus and Youth. This was interpreted as itself an omen, that the boundaries of the Roman empire should never recede, and that the state should be for ever young.

The chief builders of the capitol were Etruscan workmen, whose skill was superior to that of the Romans; but Tarquinius compelled the Roman commons to work also as labourers, giving them merely a certain supply of provisions daily, as if they were mere slaves. They groaned wearily underneath his heavy yoke, but he ruled them with a high hand, and sent colonies of the most refractory of them to the frontiers of his conquests in the Volscian lands. Under the strong and imperious sway of this haughty, yet able tyrant, Rome reached an extent of territory and a pitch of power greatly beyond what it had ever before attained. There may, however, be the aspect of external greatness, and the reality of internal wretchedness; but such a state of affairs cannot be permanent.

Hitherto, the narrative diverges little from the plain course of what was, or might have been, historical truth; and it is not undeserving of remark, that the conduct of Tarquinius Superbus is very natural for a prince who retained much of the Etruscan notions respecting hereditary rights, and scorn of the lower classes. The plan of employing the plebs in task-work, without any other support than a scanty allowance of food, might have been brought from the Nile, as easily as from Etruria; and is some corroboration of the theory which would bring the hereditary half priest half noble caste of Lucumones from Egypt.

About this time the strange story of the Sibyl is told. An unknown woman, of foreign aspect and manners, came to the king and offered him nine books of prophecies, for which she demanded a large sum. The king refused. The woman departed, burnt three of the books, and then returned and demanded the same sum for the remaining six. The king still refused; and again the woman went away, burnt three, and returning, demanded the same price as at the first. Struck by this strange conduct, Tarquinius consulted the augurs, who told him that it was essential to the safety of Rome to procure the books. Accordingly he purchased them, and the woman departed, and was seen no more. These Sibylline books were then deposited in a chest of stone, and entrusted to the charge of two men of the highest rank, who kept them under ground in the Capitol. Their contents were never divulged; nor were they ever consulted, except by a decree of the senate, and in times of the greatest public danger and distress.

But the tyranny of Tarquinius had now nearly reached its limits. Various portents foreshewed its approaching overthrow. According to the legend, the first indications of the coming doom were seen in an unnatural violation of the sacred rites. A huge snake crawled out from an altar in the court of the palace, in the time of sacrifice; the fire suddenly died out, and the snake devoured the victim. To ascertain what this prodigy portended, the king sent two of his sons to consult the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. They took with them their cousin, Lucius Junius Brutus, who had been brought up along with them in the palace, disregarded on account of his apparent apathy of manner, and laughed at as almost half an idiot. He was the younger son of a sister of Tarquinius by Marcus Junius; and his elder brother had been put to death by his uncle for his wealth. To escape a similar fate he had feigned idiocy, and was consequently spared and despised. So runs the legend, to account for the name Brutus; which, however, in old Latin is nearly synonymous with Severus, and may have been given him merely on account of his reserved gravity of manner. The answer of the Delphic oracle was, that the king should fall when a dog should speak with a human voice. This response was of course intended secretly to apply to Brutus, and his unexpected display of mental ability. The young princes also asked which of the king’s sons should succeed him; and were answered in general terms, that the regal power should be enjoyed by the person who should first salute his mother. Brutus, as they were departing, stumbled, fell, and kissed the earth, thus fulfilling the meaning of the oracle.

Soon after this event, Tarquinius waged war against Ardea of the Rutuli, a people on the coast of Latium. The city was very strong both by nature and art, and made a protracted resistance. The army lay encamped around the walls, in order to reduce it by hunger, since they could not by direct force. While lying half idle at Ardea, the princes and their kinsmen, Brutus and Collatinus, happening to feast together, began in their gaiety to boast each of the beauty and virtue of his wife. Collatinus extolled his wife Lucretia as beyond all rivalry. On a sudden they resolved to ride to Rome and decide the dispute by ascertaining which of the respective ladies was spending her time in the most becoming and laudable manner. They found the wives of the king’s sons entertaining other noble ladies with a costly banquet. They then rode on to Collatia; and though it was near midnight, they found Lucretia with her handmaids around her working at the loom. It was admitted that Lucretia was the most worthy lady; and they returned again to the camp at Ardea.

But the beauty and virtue of Lucretia had excited in the base heart of Sextus Tarquinius the fire of lawless passion. After a few days he returned to Collatia, where he was hospitably entertained by Lucretia as a kinsman of her husband. At midnight be secretly entered her chamber; end when persuasions were ineffectual, he threatened to kill her and one of her male slaves, and laying the body by her side, to declare to Collatinus that he had slain her in the act of adultery. The dread of a disgrace to her memory, from which there should be no possible mode of wiping away the stain, produced an effect which the fear of death could not have done; an effect not unnatural in a heathen, who might dread the disgrace of a crime more than its commission, but which shews the conventional morality and virtue of the time, how ill-founded, and almost weakly sentimental, in even that boasted instance of female virtue. Having accomplished his wicked purpose, Sextus again returned to the camp.

Immediately after his departure, Lucretia sent for her husband and father. Collatinus came from the camp accompanied by Brutus; and her father, Lucretius, from the city, along with Publius Valerius. They found Lucretia sitting on her bed, weeping and inconsolable. In brief terms [7:19:368]she told what had befallen her, required of them the pledge of their right hands that they would avenge her injuries, then drawing a knife from under her robe, stabbed herself to the heart and died. Her husband and father burst into a loud cry of agony; but Brutus snatching the weapon from the wound, held it up, and swore by the chaste and noble blood which stained it, that he would pursue to the uttermost Tarquinius and all his accursed race, and thenceforward suffer no man to be king in Rome. He then gave the bloody knife to her husband, her father, and Valerius, and called on them to take the same oath. Brutus thus became at once the leader of the enterprise. They bore the body of Lucretia to the market place. There Brutus addressed the people, and moved them to vengeance. The youth immediately enrolled themselves into an army. Part remained to guard the city, and part proceeded with Brutus to Rome. Their coming raised a tumult, and drew together great numbers of the citizens. Brutus, availing himself of his rank and authority, as tribune of the celeres, or captain of the knights, summoned the people to the forum, and proceeded to relate the bloody deed which the villany of Sextus Tarquinius had caused. Nor did he content himself with that, but set before them in the most animated manner the cruelty, tyranny, and oppression of Tarquinius himself; the guilty manner in which he obtained the kingdom, the violent means he had used to retain it, and the unjust repeal of all the laws of Servius Tullius, by which he had robbed them of their liberties. By this means he so effectually roused the people, that they passed a decree abolishing the kingly power itself, and banishing for ever Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, and his wife and children. In the midst of the tumult the wicked Tullia fled from her house and the city, pursued by the curses of the whole population wherever she passed, imprecating upon her head the vengeance of the furies, for the murder of her sister, husband, and father.

Intelligence of the tumult had in the mean time reached the camp at Ardea. Tarquinius hastened to the city, if possible to suppress it; and Brutus, assigning the command of the city to Lucretius, set out himself for the camp, taking a different road, so as to avoid meeting the dethroned usurper. When he reached the camp he soon roused in the army the same indignation against the tyrant, which had blazed so strongly at Rome. The commanders of the troops joined him; the army adhering to the observances of the comitia centuriata, confirmed in legal form the decree of the citizens, banishing the Tarquin family, and abolishing the regal name and power tbr ever. They then made a truce with the Ardeans for fifteen years, and marched towards Rome. Tarquinius, finding the gates shut against him, and learning the defection of the army, fled with his sons to Caere in Etruria. Thus ended the reign of Tarquinius Superbus; and with it the existence of the monarchical form of government at Rome.

The monarchical form of government being thus abolished, the next step was to constitute another in its stead. Lucretius was appointed inter-rex, and the comitia centuriata were held by his authority in the Campus Martius, when Brutus and Collatinus were chosen to be supreme magistrates, at first with the name of praetors, which was afterwards changed to that of consuls, by which title, as the better known, we shall continue to designate these colleagues in the chief power. They retained all the power of the kings, and all the insignia of royalty, except the diadem; but the rods and axes, the emblems of the power of life and death, were carried before each alternately for a month. In order that the sacred rites might be duly performed, they appointed a priest with the title of king of the sacrifices, but without political power. They then proceeded to fill up the due number of three hundred in the senate, which had been diminished partly by the tyranny of the last king, and partly by the flight of his adherents, who were implicated in his crimes. They restored those laws of Servius Tullius which were favourable to the commonalty; and re-appointed the meetings and common sacrifices of the tribes.

Rome seemed now to have regained its liberties, but it had not obtained the sense of security. It was thought necessary to banish Collatinus, who was the nephew of Tarquinius, that there might remain none of that hated race in the city. Collatinus yielding without a struggle, withdrew to Lavinium, and there died in old age. Publius Valerius was elected consul in his stead, by the comitia centuriata.

It was not to be expected that the banished king would submit without a contest. He first attempted to induce the Latin states to espouse his quarrel; and finding them unwilling, he applied to the Etruscans. Ambassadors were sent from Etruria to demand the restitution of his private property. This demand gave rise to warm discussions, whether they should obey justice by giving up the private property ofTarquinius, or prudence, by refiising to put money into the hands of an enemy, which they foresaw would soon be used against themselves. The plea of justice prevailed, and the property was ordered to be restored. But during the discussion, and the period required for collecting the property, the Etruscan ambassadors were intriguing with the younger patricians in the formation of a plot to restore the king. Considerable numbers of the more haughty of them, offended with the favour shewn to the commons, joined in the conspiracy, among whom were the two sons of Brutus himself. The conspiracy was discovered by the information of a slave, who had overheard them while concocting this plot in secret. The two consuls called the people to the comitium, and commanded the conspirators to be brought bound before them. The whole plot was detected; the Etruscan ambassadors permitted to depart uninjured, out of respect to the laws of nations; and the convicted traitors thrown into prison to await their trial. Next day the trial was conducted in public, and sentence of condemnation passed. Brutus commanded the sentence to be put in execution upon his own sons. They were stripped, beaten with rods, and then beheaded. Nor till this fearful example of stern retributive justice had been completed did Brutus leave the assembly; and when he departed, the people could do no less than inflict an equal doom on the remaining conspirators.

The private danger was thus turned aside, but a public tempest was at hand. The Etruscan cities of Tarquinii and Veii took up arms in the cause of the banished king, and advanced against Rome. The Romans crossed the Tiber to encounter the foe; and the two armies met near the grove of Arsia. Before the battle began, Brutus, who was riding at the head of the Roman cavalry, was descried by Aruns Tarquinius, who led those of Etruria. The banished prince, burning with personal hatred, spurred his steed furiously against the consul. Brutus, with equal animosity, met him in mid career; and in the shock each pierced the body of his antagonist with his spear, and they fell wounded and dying together to the ground. The cavalry on each side hastened to avenge their leaders; the battle became general; each right wing was victorious over its opponent; and after a long and bloody struggle, night put an end to the undecided contest. Both parties kept the field; but in the dead of night a voice was heard from the adjacent grove, declaring that the Etruscans had lost one man more than the Romans, who were, and would be victorious. A panic seized the enemy, they deserted their camp and fled; and at dawn the Romans found nothing to do but to carry off the booty. Valerius returned to the city in triumph, and in the forum pronounced a funeral oration over the body of Brutus. The matrons mourned for him a whole year, and his statue was placed in the Capitol, among the kings, with a sword in his hand.
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After the death of Brutus, Valerius for a time retained the consular power alone; not from ambition, but probably that he might, unobstructed, pass those laws which he deemed necessary for the public welfare. He enacted a law, by which every person who should seek kingly power was pronounced accursed, so that any man might kill him without fear of punishment. In the presence of the assembly of the people, (the populus, ί. e. the comitia curiata,) he caused the ensigns of consular power to be lowered; thus acknowledging the supreme authority of that assembly. But his best act was the passing of that law, flex de provocatione,) which gave to all Roman citizens the right of appeal to the assembly of the people from the sentence of any magistrate. This was the first law enacted by the comitia centuriata; and as soon as it was passed Valerius took away the axes from the bundles of rods which were borne before the consuls. This right of appeal existed only in the city itself, and within a mile of it. Beyond that distance the military power of the consuls remained unlimited, and the axes were borne and used as formerly. The enactment of these laws obtained for Valerius the surname of Poplicola.

As soon as they were passed, he held the comitia for the election of a consul in the room of Brutus. Spurius Lucretius was chosen; and he dying within a few days, Marcus Horatius Pulvillus was elected to complete his year. About this time occurred that famous treaty between Rome and Carthage, mentioned by Polybius, and which is perhaps the best proof of the power of Rome under her latter kings. Ardea, Antium, Aricia, Circeii, and Terracina, are mentioned in such terms as to cause them to be regarded as subject cities, and Rome stipulates for them as well as for herself. The treaty was signed by Brutus and Horatius; whence a difficulty has arisen, as these two were not at any time colleagues in the consular office. But Gibbon ^[9. See Essai sur L’Etude de La Littérature. ] has shewn that such treaties were signed by the feciales more properly than by the consuls; and there is no reason for doubting that Brutus and Horatius may have been conjoined in that office.

In the mean while Tarquinius, finding the inability of the Veientians and Tarquinians to replace him on the throne, applied to Lars Porsenna, king of Clusium, at that time the most powerful of all the Etruscan monarchs. Porsenna raised a great army, and marched towards Rome. He was met by the Romans near the fortress on the Janiculum; but almost at the first encounter they took to flight, and the Etrurians pursued them impetuously as they sought safety by crossing the bridge. Horatius Cocles, seeing the danger that the city might be taken at once if the enemy should enter it along with the flying Romans, posted himself on the bridge, made head against the pursuers, and called on his countrymen to cut down the bridge between him and the city. Spurius Larcius, and Titus Herminius lent their aid in the heroic deed. When the bridge was nearly cut through, Codes sent back his two companions, and singly maintained his post. At length the crash of the falling beams, and the shouts of his countrymen gave him to know that the deed was done; when calling on the god of the Tiber to receive him, he plunged into the stream, and, accoutered as he was, swam in safety to the shore, through the missile weapons of the enemy, which showered fast and thick around him.

Thus was the city saved from that sudden danger; but all its peril was not over. Porsenna not only retained possession of the Janiculum, but sending his army across the river in boats, pillaged the country, cut off all supplies, and reduced Rome to the utmost distress by famine. In this emergency, a noble youth, Caius Mucius, undertook to rid his country of this dangerous enemy. He made his way into the camp of Porsenna, and entered into the very prae torium, where he saw a person royally attired, and seated on a chair of state. Supposing this to be the king, Mucius sprung upon him, and stabbed him to the heart. He was immediately siezed, and led before Porsenna, whose secretary he had thus killed. There he acknowledged his deed, and told the king that his danger was by no means over. Porsenna threatened him with death by torture, unless he would divulge the plots by which his life was threatened. Mucius immediately stretched forth his right hand and thrust it into the fire of an altar which was burning before the king, saying, “Behold how much I regard your threats of torture.” He held it in the flames till it was consumed, without a feature of his stern countenance indicating that he felt the pain. Porsenna, struck with his noble daring and contempt of suffering, commanded him to be set at liberty. Mucius then told him, in requital of his generosity, that he was only one of three hundred patrician youths who had vowed to kill Porsenna; and that he must prepare for their attempts, which would be not less daring than his own. From that time Mucius was called Scaevola, or the left-handed, because he had thus lost the use of his right hand.

Alarmed by the dangers which threatened him from foes so determined, Porsenna offered terms of peace to the Romans. A treaty was at length concluded, according to which Porsenna ceased to maintain the cause of the Tar-quinian family; but demanded the restitution of all the lands which the Romans had at any time taken from the states of Etruria, and that twenty hostages, ten youths and ten maidens of the first houses, should be given up to him for security that the treaty would be faithfully observed. The legend relates that Cloelia, one of the hostages, escaping from the Etrurian camp, swam across the Tiber on horseback, amidst showers of darts from her baffled pursuers; but that the Romans, jealous of their reputation for good faith, sent her back to the camp of Porsenna. Not to be outdone in generosity, he gave to her and her female companions their freedom, and permitted her to take with her half of the youths; while she, with the delicacy of a Roman maiden, selected those only who were of tender years. The Romans then, at the final settlement of the treaty, sent as a present to Porsenna, an ivory throne and sceptre, a golden crown, and a triumphal robe, the offerings by which the Etruscan cities had once acknowledged the sovereignty of Tarquinius.

When Porsenna quitted Rome, he entered the Latian territories, and attacked Aricia, the chief town of Latium. The Aricians being aided by the other Latian cities, and also by the Cumans, under the command of Aristodemus, defeated the Etruscans in a great battle, and put a stop to their aggressions. the Romans received the fugitives from Porsenna’s army, and treated them with great kindness; in requital for which Porsenna restored to them thelands which he had conquered beyond the Tiber.

Such is an outline of the poetical legends respecting the great war against Porsenna. It is, however, clear from other accounts and indications, ^[10. See Tacitus, Hist iii. 72. and Pliny, xxxiv. 14. ] that Porsenna took the city, deprived it of one-third of its land, as was customary, imposed a tribute upon it, received the usual recognitions of sovereign authority, and even deprived the Romans of the use of metal in any other form than those employed in the purposes of agriculture, that they might not have it in their power to revolt. In this latter statement, we have again an incidental hint of the eastern origin and customs of the Etruscans; in proof of which, reference may be made to the way in which the Philistines tyrannized over the Israelites during one of their periods of conquest. (See Arnold’s History of Rome.)

Tarquinius, as his last resource, now applied to the Latins, through the influence of his son-in-law Mamilius Oc[7:19:370]tavius. He was the more encouraged to hope for success in consequence of a fierce war in which the Romans had been engaged with the Sabines, and by which they had been considerably weakened. For a time the Latins hesitated to provoke an encounter with Rome; and in the mean while the Sabine war continued to harass the republic. Valerius gained repeated victories over them, and some of the Sabines, wearied with fruitless hostilities, were anxious for peace. Attus Clausus, a Sabine chief of great power, came over to the Romans, became a Roman citizen, and took the name of Appius Claudius, on being admitted into the Patrician order. At length Valerius, after gaining another triumph, died, was buried at the public cost, and mourned by the matrons for a year.

The entreaties of Tarquinius, and the influence of Mamilius, had by this time prevailed among the Latins, and they prepared for a contest with Rome. Nor were the Romans unaware of the approaching struggle; and that it might be full and final, an opportunity was given on both sides for the dissolution of intermarriages, and such other ties as had been mutually contracted by the two nations. The Romans were determined to meet the decisive struggle as it ought to be met. They created a new magistrate, called a Dictator, to whom was entrusted for a period uncontrolled dominion. He was Master of the people; and he chose to be his second in command another officer, whom he named Master of the knights. The dictator was Aulus Postumius; the master of the horse Titus Aebutius. With these were joined in command the most distinguished Romans who had already signalized themselves in war. On the side of the Latins were Mamilius, and the whole of the exiled Tarquinian family, resolved to regain their sway, or perish in tile attempt. The two armies met at the lake Regillus. The dictator and the banished king encountered hand to hand, but were parted by their followers. Mamilius and Aebutius were likewise separated, after the infliction of mutual wounds. Marcus Valerius fell while rushing into the throng of the fight against Sextus Tarquinius. The exiled princes bore down or put to flight all opposed to them, till the dictator himself, assailing indiscriminately the pursuers and the pursued, turned the tide of battle, and forced his way even into the enemy’s camp. In this battle fell the two sons of Tarquinius, Mamilius, and the chief of the Roman warriors who had been the means of gaining their country’s liberty; but the victory was complete. Tarquinius retired to Cumae, where he died, and the Romans were left to enjoy the victory, so gloriously yet dearly purchased.

Thus terminate the poetic legends respecting the wars waged between the Romans and the banished Tarquinii; and while it must be evident that a great deal of imaginative embellishments have been added to and intermingled with the course of the actual events, still there is enough of verisimilitude in them to give them currency, as at least a very spirit-stirring representation of what might have occurred. Besides, the effect produced on the Roman character by these poetic lays can scarcely be over-estimated, in stirring them up to that stern, unyielding courage, that unswerving energy of will, and that boundless ambition and confidence in the fortunes of Rome, which gained for them the empire of the world. While, therefore, we admit that it is impossible to state how much of fiction has been introduced into the narrative of these events, we see no reason to discredit the general truth of the history. The pride of the Roman historians concurred with the imagination of the poets, in maintaining to the utmost the glory of Rome; yet even from what they have agreed to record, we may arrive at conclusions somewhat different from those which they were anxious to establish. Rome was undoubtedly taken by

Porsenna; and within twelve years after the expulsion of the last king, the Romans had lost all their territory on tile Etruscan side of the Tiber, and all their dominion over Latium.

The principles of political liberty had also been severely shaken. It is plain that the Tarquinian family attempted to render the crown hereditary; and availed themselves of the jealousy between the patrician populus and the plebeian commonalty, to deprive each of their rights, and tyrannize over both. A junction enabled the nation to expel its tyrant; but tile contest cost Rome her independence for a few years, and the loss of all her previous acquisitions. The defeat of the Etruscan army at Aricia enabled the Romans to recover their independence, but left them reduced almost within their original limits immediately around the city. The liberties of the commonalty were in danger in another manner, and from a different foe. Instead of a period of peace in the enjoyment of their recovered freedom after tile decisive battle of Regillus, we find dissensions of the most serious kind arising almost immediately between the patricians and the plebeians. As these contests form a very important part of Roman history, especially in a constitutional point of view, and have been much misunderstood, it is necessary to offer a few remarks on their origin and nature.

It was the policy of Tarquinius to depress the growing power of the commons (plebs) as much as possible, that he might the better succeed in his ambitious designs. In this the patricians (populus) injudiciously joined him; and all the wise laws of Servius were repealed, or allowed to fall into desuetude. Additional enactments against debtors were flamed, and every step was taken to reduce tile plebeians to a condition little better than slavery. The wars arising out of the expulsion of the Tarquinian family blended for a time the interests of both classes, by the pressure of a common danger; but no sooner was this pressure removed, than the patricians resumed the oppression to which they had been too much accustomed, and were too prone. Again were the comitia centuriata allowed to fall into neglect, while in the senate, and in the comitia curiata, where they possessed exclusive power, the patricians enacted new laws against debtors, by which the plebeians were grievously oppressed.

The plebeians being composed generally of the population sprung from conquered cities, and admitted to settle at Rome in the enjoyment of personal freedom, were chiefly occupied in the culture of the public lands, or the lands held by patrician families. The loss of territory sustained by Rome in the Etruscan wars, deprived great numbers of the plebeians of their property and employment. Being reduced to poverty, they were compelled to borrow money from the patricians, whose lands lay chiefly within the Ager Romanus, and were not lost, and who also were alone permitted to enjoy the profits of commerce. ^[11. See Niebuhr, vol. i. pp. 571, et seq . ] By tile Roman law of debtor and creditor, when a man borrowed money, and his poverty continued, so that he became insolvent, there were but two resources to which he could betake himself. He might sell himself to his creditor, on the condition, that at the expiration of a stated term, if he did not discharge the debt, he should become the slave of his creditor. This was called the entering into a nexum, and the person entering into this conditional sale of himself was called a nexus. When the day came, the creditor claimed possession, the magistrates awarded it; and the debtor, his family, and all that belonged to him, passed into the power of the creditor as slaves, and were termed addicti. If, on the other hand, a man were unwilling thus to sell himself and family, and resolved to meet in his own person the consequences of his debt, the danger thus incurred was much greater. If he [7:19:371]failed to pay, and could neither himself give security, nor obtain any person to give it for him, he might be thrown into a dungeon, loaded with chains, and half starved for sixty days. If during that time he refused to come to any terms with his creditor, he might be again brought to the market place, and the amount of his debt stated, to see whether any person would yet become security for him. On the third day, if no friend appeared, he might be put to death, or sold for a slave beyond the Tiber; nay, if there were more creditors than one, they might actually hew his body in pieces, and divide it among them; and whether a creditor cut off a greater or smaller piece than in due proportion to the debt, he incurred no penalty.

In this manner vast numbers of the commonalty were reduced to the utmost wretchedness; and instead of the influence which they had been promised by the Servian constitution, they were in a worse condition than the veriest slaves. The old Roman populus, the patricians and their clients, had engrossed all the wealth and power of the community, and formed the government into an exclusive aristocracy. Great numbers of the plebeians were next, though not yet addicti; and in this condition felt themselves trembling on the brink of utter ruin. Driven to despair by their distress, the commonsresolved that they would no longer endure their misery and degradation. Such of them as were in the city seized upon and began to fortify the Aventine hill, their own quarter; those who were at the time in the field, deserted their generals, marched to a hill on the north bank of the Anio, beyond the limits of the Ager Romanus, and within that of the Crustuminian tribe. There they established themselves, and proposed to found a new city. The patricians, perceiving the ruin that must fall upon Rome if thus deserted by the great body of the commons, entered into negociations with them for a return. Their demands were not extravagant. They required a general cancelling of the obligations of insolvent debtors, (nexi), and the release of those who in default of payment had been assigned to the power of their creditors, (addicti). They further stipulated, that two of their own body should be acknowledged as their public protectors, and that the persons of these two should be held sacred and inviolable. To these terms the patricians agreed; a solemn treaty was concluded; the two protectors of the commons were chosen, and called Tribunes, and the commons returned to Rome. The spot where this treaty had been concluded was enclosed, and consecrated to Jupiter, and received the name of the Sacred Hill.

This event was almost of equal importance with the expulsion of the kings and the abolition of the monarchical power. It laid the foundation of the liberties which the body of Roman citizens subsequently enjoyed; and by giving them legal rights and legal protectors, converted into legal contests what might otherwise have rent the state asunder. But at the same time it gave to the tribunate, in the inviolability of the persons of those who held it, the means of acquiring an unlimited power in the state, such as might and did lead to ultimate despotism.

The termination in an amicable manner of these feuds was greatly promoted by the fact, that the state was then at war with the Aequi and Volsci, two nations of Oscan race, whose lands lay south from Rome. It was no time for protracted civil broils when the country was ravaged, and the city itself threatened by such dangerous neighbours. To the same necessity may be traced the alliance with the Latin states, formed in the consulship of Spurius Cassius, on terms of perfect equality; and seven years afterwards by the same Spurius Cassius, with the Hernicians, on similar terms. These leagues were of the utmost importance to Rome, both as restoring to her the power which she had lost after the expulsion of the kings, and that too on a more equitable and therefore more permanent basis, and in commencing that thoroughly incorporating and blending system which afterwards converted all the inhabitants of Italy into Roman citizens, and thus consolidating her growth, confirmed her power.

A measure of equal justice, and not less importance, was also attempted by Spurius Cassius, the passing of which would have established the frame of Roman liberties on a secure foundation. This was an Agrarian law. The nature of the Agrarian laws, proposed from time to time at Rome, and always the cause of bitter contests between the patricians and plebeians, was never accurately known till it was explained by Niebuhr. ^[12. Niebuhr, vol. ii. pp. 129, et seq. Arnold, vol. i. pp∙ 156, et seq. ] From him we learn, that when a new territory was gained in war, by the third being taken from the conquered people, part of it was left unenclosed for pasture, and the cultivated parts were either divided among the new citizens who had not previously received any allotment, or left to be occupied by certain individuals, who were required to pay a tithe of the produce to the state. The persons thus allowed to occupy these new acquisitions were generally members of powerful patrician families; and, although tenants at will of the state, they were actual proprietors with respect to the other citizens. When a number of new citizens had been added to the state, it was consistent with the whole polity of Rome to allot them lands: but in order to do so it would be necessary for the state to resume its property from its tenants at will, and divide it among the new citizens; for it was equally a matter of strict justice and sound policy to unite by permanent ties to the state those menby whose blood its victories were gained, and could alone be preserved. To this the occupiers would by no means consent; and thus the public land was wholly unprofitable to the commons, though they had been largely instrumental in conquering it for Rome.

The Agrarian law proposed by Spurius Cassius had for its object the division of a certain proportion of the public land; while from the occupiers of the remainder he intended to demand the regular payment of the tithe, which had been greatly neglected. His colleague, Proculus Virginius, headed the more aristocratical party of the patrician body in opposing the passing of this law, kept it in abeyance, if not uncarried, till the termination of his consulship, and then accused him before the comitia curiata of having treasonably conspired to make himself king, and for that purpose seeking to ingratiate himself with the commons. He was sentenced to die as a traitor, and was scourged and beheaded, and his house razed to the ground. Such was the fate of the first proposer of an Agrarian law; a topic equally detested by the Roman aristocracy, misinterpreted by the historians, and misunderstood by the moderns, yet a measure of strict justice and sound policy, and sufficiently intelligible when fairly stated.

The contests between the patricians and the plebeians still continued; but the plebeians had now obtained the means of insuring ultimate success, though for a time defeated and overborne. They refused to serve as soldiers in the wars with which the state was still harassed, and their tribunes protected them in this refusal, till the consuls held their enrolment without the city, where their power was unlimited. At length the patricians consented that one of the consuls should be chosen by the plebeians in their centuries, the other by themselves, as usual, in their curiae. This was a considerable advantage obtained by the plebeians; and they requited it by gaining a victory over the enemy.

For seven successive consulships the family of the Fabii had been elected, and had headed the patrician party. At length they resolved to conciliate the commons, and thereby incurred the hatred of their own order. Feeling them[7:19:372]selves thus distrusted, and incapable of serving their country in council, they resolved to emigrate in a body, and establish themselves on one of the outposts of the Roman territory, to be a defence against aggression from that quarter. They settled on the Cremera, in Etruria; but about two years afterwards the Veientians surprised them, put them all to the sword, and destroyed their settlement. Three hundred of the Fabianhouse are saidto have perishedby this disastrous event.

In a short time afterwards new contests arose; the plebeians seized the Capitol; and the patricians were obliged to yield to the passing of the Publilian law, by which it was enacted, that the tribunes should thenceforth be chosen by the votes of the commons in their tribes, and not by those of the whole people in their centuries. They could now elect their tribunes freely; and they had formerly obtained the right of discussing all national questions in their own assembly. Had it been possible, when this great step was gained, for the two parties to have laid aside their contention, and regarded each other as truly brethren and fellow-citizens, instead of rivals, those rankling animosities might have been altogether allayed, which terminated only in the destruction of the republic, and the establishment of an imperial dominion, which was in fact a military despotism, so frequently the consummation of civil dissensions and revolutionary contests.

The wars between the Romans and the Aequians and Vol-scians still continued without any marked success on either side, internal feuds preventing Rome from exerting her whole strength; nay, at times inducing the army to sufferitself to be beaten, out of dislike to its patrician general. During these wars, some eventsof a striking character are said tohave occurred, which seem to have formed the subject of popular poems, and have in that form been admitted into regular history. The story of Caius Marcius Coriolanus is the most brilliant of these warlike legends. He is said to have contributed mainly by his great personal valour to the capture of Corioli, and the defeat of a Volscian army assembled for its aid, on the same day. For this gallant exploit he received the name of Coriolanus. Soon afterwards, during a scarcity at Rome, he opposed the distribution of a supply of provisions sent by the king of Sicily, unless the plebeians would consent to forego the privileges they had so hardly won. For this he was tried in the comitia tributa and banished. He immediately joined the Volscians, and by his military skill and renown, at once defeated and appalled the Romans, till having taken almost all their subject cities, he advanced at the head of the Volscian army against Rome itself. In vain did embassies of his former friends entreat him to spare his country; he remained inexorable. Atlength a band of Roman ladies, headed by the mother and wife of Coriolanus, proceeded to his tent, where the lofty remonstrances of his mother were more powerful than all the arms of Rome. Coriolanus granted her request, at the same time exclaiming, “O mother, thou hast saved Rome, but lost thy son.” Some accounts state, that he was soon afterwards killed by the Volscians in a tumult; others, that he lived to an advanced age among that people, often towards the close of his life exclaiming, “How miserable is the state of an old man in banishment!”

Another well-known and spirit-stirring legend of the Volscians is that of the dictator Cincinnatus. His son, Caeso Quinctius, had been banished on account of his violent abuse of the tribunes during some of the numerous contests between the patricians and the plebeians; and he had retired to his own patrimony, aloof from popular tumults. The successes of the Aequi and Volsci atlength rendered the appointment of a dictator necessary, especially for the rescue of the consul and his army, who were surrounded by the enemy and blockaded in their camp. The dictator laid aside his rural habiliments, assumed the ensigns of absolute power, levied a new army, marched all night to bring to the consul

Minucius the necessary succour, and before morning had surrounded the enemy’s army, and reduced it to a condition exactly similar to that in which the Romans had been. The baffled Aequi were glad to submit to the victor’s terms; and returning in triumph to Rome, he laid down his dictatorial power, after having held it only fourteen days.

About the same time, Rome was engaged in a war which ultimately led to consequences of the utmost importance. This was the war with Veii, at that time the most powerful city of Etruria, and distant only about ten miles from Rome. There had been peace between Rome and Etruria from the days of Porsenna; and the Etruscans had even supplied Rome with grain in a time of great scarcity, and when no other neighbouring state would grant any relief. A contest at length arose, which led to a war of nine years’ duration, and a peace of forty years. This peace was concluded in the year of Rome 280.

The intestine feuds between the patricians and the plebeians still continued with unabated animosity. Occasionally one of the consuls favoured the plebeians, and proposed some mitigation of their suffering, or increase of their privileges, but generally with little success. The Agrarian law, proposed by Spurius Cassius, continued to be the main demand of the commons and their supporters; but its passing was constantly either directly prevented or evaded. But at last the commons became convinced that they need hope for no complete redress of their grievances, until they should have previously secured the establishment of some constitutional principle, from which equal justice would of necessity, and from its very nature, flow. Accordingly Caius Terentilius Harsa, one of the tribunes, proposed a law for a complete reform of the existing state of things. Its purport was, that ten commissioners should be chosen, five by the patricians, and five by the commons, to draw up a constitution, which should define all points of constitutional, civil,and criminal law; and should thus determine, on just and fixed principles, all the political, social, and civil relations of all orders of the Roman people. The question of passing the Terentilian law, was now the subject of contention in Rome; and the patricians seem to have endeavoured to prevent it chiefly by interruptions to the proceedings of the popular assemblies, caused by the violence of the young patricians. In consequence of these interruptions, the commons carried the Icilian law, by which a tribune was empowered to impeach before the commons in their own assembly (the comitia tributa), any patrician who should interrupt him when discussing public measures, and might require him to give security for his appearance, on the penalty of death and confiscation of his goods, if he should refuse to give such security. This law gave to the plebeian assembly jurisdiction over a patrician, and thus placed in their hands, not only the means of defence, but of retribution or revenge. The banishment of Caeso Quinctius, and perhaps also of Coriolanus, were the consequences of the Terentilian law; but no dependence can be placed upon the dates given to these perhaps legendary lays.

Three commissioners were at length sent to Greece, to collect from the Greek states, such notices of their laws and constitutions as might be serviceable to the Romans. After the absence of a year they returned; andthecommons finding it in vain to insist upon five of their own body forming part of the revisers of the law, yielded the point, and ten of the most distinguished of the patrician and senatorial body were chosen to form an entirely new and complete code of laws, by which the state should be governed. They were named decemviri, and during their office they were to supersede every other magistrate; and each in his turn was to administer the government for a day, till they should complete their legislative labours.

After the careful deliberations of a few months, the result was laid before the people, in the form of ten tables, fully [7:19:373]written out, and exhibited in a conspicuous place where all might read them. Various amendments were proposed, and the ten tables again laid before the senate, the curiae, and the centuries, and having received the sanction of both orders of the state, were received and recognized as the very fountain of all laws, public and private, to use the expression of Livy. Nothing but fragments of these laws, afterwards known by the name of the Laws of the Twelve Tables, have been preserved to us; and even of these fragments, we cannot refer to more than those which relate to constitutional law, the origin and course of which we have been attempting to state and trace. ^[13. For an admirable view of these laws, see Arnold, vol. i. p. 253, ]

Of these the most important which remain are the following. 1. That there should be an appeal to the people from the sentence of every magistrate. 2. That all capital trials should be conducted before the comitia centuriata. 3. That privilegia, or acts of pains and penalties against an individual, should be unlawful. 4. That the last decision of the people should supersede all former decisions on the same subject. 5. That the debtor whose person and property were pledged to his creditor, nexus, and he who remained the free master of both, solutus, should be equal in the sight of the law. 6. A sixth enactment, which unfortunately left matter for a grievance, and for future contentions, ordained, that there should be no legal marriages between the patricians and the plebeians; and that, if a patrician married the daughter of a plebeian, his children should follow the condition of their mother, should not be subject to the paternal law like his legitimate children, and should not inherit his property if he died intestate.

By these laws the privileges and rights of the commons had, in certain points, been greatly promoted, and in many others secured on the firm basis of national laws. But not only were subjects of great importance left unsettled on any equal foundation; these very laws, and the liberties of the entire community, were destined to encounter another peril of a formidable nature. The decemvirs had conducted matters so much to the satisfaction of the community, that when, at the expiration of their year, they requested a renewal of their office, on the ground that they had still two more tables to form, in order to complete their task, they were permitted to resume their powers without opposition. Appius Claudius, an old enemy of the commons, was one of the decemvirs, and was retained among them on their re-appointment. The possession of uncontrolled, irresponsible power, now began to display its usual consequences. The decemviri seemed resolved to change the government of Rome into a complete oligarchy, consisting of a council of ten, whose power should be absolutely supreme in every thing. They arrogated the right of superseding all other magistracies; and at the conclusion of their second year they shewed no intention of resigning their offices, or of appointing their successors. Popular liberty seemed on the point of being finally overthrown, just when its establishment on a secure basis had been fondly anticipated.

Matters had nearly arrived at a crisis when a war arose, the Sabines and Aequi having united their forces, and being desirous to avail themselves of the contentions by which Rome was weakened. The combined forces ravaged the left bank of the Tiber, and the Aequi encamped on Algidus and pillaged the country around Tusculum. The decemvirs assembled the senate, obtained their authority to raise an army, at the head of which they placed three of their number, and sent it against the Sabines. Another was raised and sent against the Aequi, while Appius Claudius remained at Rome to provide for the safety of the city, and for the maintenance of the power of the decemvirs. Both armies suffered themselves to be defeated, and retired nearer to the city, dissatisfied rather than discomfited.

Meanwhile Appius chanced to see a beautiful maiden named Virginia, daughter of Lucius Virginius, a centurion in the army sent against the Aequi. The maiden had been betrothed to L. Icilius, one of the tribunes, and the author of the law known by his name. Her beauty inflamed the passions of the licentious Appius, and he caused one of his clients, M. Claudius, to seize her as his slave, intending, in this manner, to get the person of the damsel within his power. Intelligence was immediately sent to the camp to Virginius, who, obtaining leave of absence, hastened to Rome to protect his daughter. But in vain did he claim his daughter, in vain appeal to the sympathy of the people, in vain address himself to the better mind of Appius. The decemvir, blind to every thing but the beauty of Virginia, and deaf to all but the impulse of his own passion, passed sentence assigning the maiden to Claudius. Upon this Virginius, snatching up a butcher’s knife, exclaimed, “This is the only way left, my child, to keep thee free and unstained !” and plunged it to her heart; then turning to Appius, he cried, “On thee, and on thy head, be the curse of this innocent blood !” Appius ordered him to be seized, but in vain. Waving aloft the bloody knife, he burst through the multitude, flew to the gates, mounted a horse, and spurred headlong to the camp near Tusculum.

The wild and frantic aspect of Virginius, his attire stained with blood, and the bloody knife still held convulsively in his grasp, instantly drew a crowd of the soldiery around him. In brief but burning terms he told his tale, and called aloud for vengeance. One thrilling sentiment of sympathetic indignation filled every bosom; they called to arms, plucked up their standards, and marching to Rome, seized on the Aventine. The army near Fidenae caught a similar spirit, having received information of the bloody tragedy from Icilius. They likewise threw off the authority of their commanders, chose military tribunes to lead them, and hastening to Rome, joined their brethren on the Aventine Hill.

In the city all was tumult and terror. The decemvirs were unable to make head against the excited multitude, and the senate itself felt its power ineffectual to allay the tempest. They began to treat with the people and the army, yet with dilatoriness, hoping the ferment would abate, and they might still retain their power. But the people were in earnest. Leaving a strong body to defend the Aventine for the present, they marched in military array through the city, and once more posted themselves on the sacred mount (Morts Sewer,) followed by vast numbers of the plebeian party, men, women, and children. Then were the patricians compelled to yield, and the decemvirs resigned. The plebeians obtained also the restoration of the tribuneship and of the right of appeal, with a full indemnity for the authors of the sécession. The commons then returned to Rome, and re-occupied the Aventine; but along with it the Capitol also, as security that the terms of peace would be duly kept. The decemvirate was finally abolished, and the consulship restored; with this additional provision, that whereas formerly one had been appointed by the patrician curiae, both were now chosen in the centuries.

The new consuls were L. Valerius and M. Horatius, men who had shewn themselves to be favourable to the people. They wisely endeavoured to unite the two orders of the state on terms of perfect equality. A law proposed and passed by Valerius, formally acknowledged the commons of Rome to be the Roman people; a plebiscitum, or decree of the commons, was to be binding on the whole people; quod tri-butim pleDesjussisset,populum teneret. ^[14. Livy, iii. 55. ] Such a popular decree, however, would not have passed into effect without the sanction of the senate, and of the curiae; but it was a mighty stride in advance towards the obtaining of a recognized and legal equality between the two great orders of the state.
[7:19:374]

Laws were also passed, rendering every magistracy open to individuals of either order, the patricians to the tribunate as well as the commons to the consulship; and there seemed to be now a complete union of all parties in the state, with the exception of one point, the law prohibiting intermarriages between the patricians and the commons.

A re-action, however, took place, and the patricians had sufficient influence to prevent the new constitution from coming into operation. No plebeian consul was elected; and all the military tribunes, six in number, were chosen from patrician houses. Another struggle took place; the tribune Canuleius proposed a law to repeal the prohibition of intermarriages between the two orders; and after a temporary secession to the Janiculum, this law was carried. Still the plebeians were not content without the consulship being rendered accessible to them; but this they were not yet able to obtain.

A new patrician magistracy was next appointed, which acquired powers not probably expected, or at first intended. This was the Censorship, the main duty of which had at first been limited to taking the census of the people; but which, from the office of superintending the public morals with which it was entrusted, derived the power of reducing any dangerous citizen to insignificance, by degrading him from his rank and order. The commons bad now acquired full security for their persons and their property; and while ambitious individuals would continue to be desirous of additional powers and privileges, the great body of the community felt little interest in their personal intrigues, and the state began to enjoy a period of comparative internal repose. The people had now learned the secret of their own strength, and how to make it available. For not long afterwards we find them aiding the senate when the consuis appeared inclined to disobey its authority, thus asserting their supreme power, and also refusing to permit the enrolment of soldiers for the Veientine war, unless the question of war were first submitted to the comitia centuriata.

The war with the Aequi and Volsci was again renewed, but was now waged by the united force of the republic, and with corresponding success. Several victories were gained and towns taken. Treaties were formed on favourable terms with the Latins and the Hernici, and Rome again began to extend her boundaries as she had done in the days of her kings. Her attention was now turned to the right bank of the Tiber, the peace with Veii being near its termination.

Between Rome and Veii a keen rivalship had long existed; and as the truce approached its close, both nations prepared for a strife which both intended to be final. The taking of Anxur from the Volsci, enabled the Romans to send the greater part of their army against Veii. Several battles were fought, in which the Romans were generally successful, and Veii itself was invested. For some time it was rather a blockade than a siege; and when the Romans attempted a complete circumvallation, the Veientians, aided by some of the neighbouring states, stormed one of the Roman camps, and broke up the siege. Again was the city invested by the Roman armies, and again were those armies so severely worsted by the assistance of the Faliscans and Capenatians, that it was deemed necessary to appoint thecelebrated Marcus Furius Camillus to the dictatorship.

Immediately upon his taking the command, the war began to assume a different aspect. A close siege was formed, and pressed with vigour; all attempts from without to raise it were defeated; all sallies from within repelled with great loss. The poetical legends connected with the fall of Veii, mention several prodigies that portended the approaching doom of the one or the other of the belligerent nations. The supernatural swell of the Alban lake, and the formation of a tunnel, by which its waters were drained off, and directed into the fields of the circumjacent country, was one romantic episode of this poetic lay. The stratagem by which the city was taken, a mine carried underneath the walls, and opening into the precincts of the temple of Juno, by which the Roman soldiers were enabled to burst from the earth in the very heart of the city, rush to the gates, and open them for the admission of their countrymen, while the genera) himself, issuing from the same subterranean passage, finished a sacrifice to Juno, which the priest had declared to be the omen ofvictory, certainly bears more the appearance ofpoetic fiction than of historic reality. Veii, the rival of Rome, was taken, and the greater part of the districts, formerly subject to the Veientians, added to the Roman dominions. Capena and Falerii followed its fate, and the whole valley of the Tiber, on both banks, formed now the natural extent of the territories acknowledging the sway of the seven-hilled city.

More important to the future glory of Rome, than the territory gained by the conquest of Veii, was the new principle in the organization of her armies to which the siege of that city gave rise. In order to insure the destruction of Veii, it was determined to surround it completely, and prevent it from receiving any supplies of men or provisions, either by summer or winter. This rendered it necessary that the beseiging army should continue its operations during winter, which was a measure never previously adopted. But as the soldiers were, in general, cultivators of land, and supported themselves by the produce of their own industry, without pay from the state, it was necessary to give them pay if their services were to be required permanently in the field. ^[15. Livy, iv. 59, CO. ] This could be done only by the patrician holders of public land paying fairly their tithe into the public funds, besides bearing their due share of the public taxes. To this they consented, in order to secure the overthrow of their rival. Still the heaviest burden, and the greatest share of the danger fell on the commons; and in order to procure their consent, the election of military tribunes out of their order was at length sanctioned by law. Rome had now nearly acquired that formidable character in which she soon afterwards appeared to terrify and subdue the world; a military republic, where every citizen was, or might bc, a soldier, and with a standing army inured to war and conquest.

Camillus, the conqueror of Veii, and the most distinguished man of his time, was accused of having secretly appropriated to his own use a portion of the plunder of that city. Whether he had been really guilty of so mean an action, or whether the accusation was prompted by envy of his glory, dislike of his haughtiness, or dread of his power, cannot be determined; but seeing the probability that he would not be acquitted, he went into voluntary exile to Ardea; and as he passed through the gates he is said to have turned, and invoked the gods, that if he were driven unjustly into exile, some grievous calamity might fall upon his ungrateful countrymen, and force them to feel his want, and to be glad to recall him to their rescue. Such a calamity was at hand, and ready to burst on the devoted city.

The Gauls had some time previously crossed the Alps, gained possession of the plains of the Po, penetrated the passes of the Apennines, and were advancing into central Italy. It is probable that the report of their approach was what prevented a union of the Etruscan cities when Veii was besieged by Rome. The Romans having accomplished their object, became also alarmed at the rumour of the advance of this terrible foe, and sent some of their citizens into Etruria to observe their movements, or at least obtain accurate intelligence. They arrived at Clusium just as it was beset by the Gauls. The Roman deputies joined the citizens in a sally, and one of them slew a Gaulish chief, and was recognized as a Roman while he was stripping off the spoil. The Gauls sent to Rome to demand the aggressors [7:19:375]to be given up to them, as there had been no war declared between the Romans and the Gauls. The Romans refused to yield up their brave countrymen to torture and death; and the Gauls, finding their demands rejected, broke up in haste from Clusium, and marched away, shouting “to Rome, to Rome.”

The Roman army had marched towards the Etrurian frontier, expecting to meet the enemy at some distance from the city; but the Gauls had crossed the Tiber considerably higher up, and were proceeding along its left bank towards Rome. Upon receiving this intelligence, the consuls hastened back to the city, crossed the river, and marched rapidly against the enemy. The Romans had scarcely time to assume a hasty position on the banks of the Alia, where, through a deep bed, that slight stream joins the Tiber. The Gauls at the very beginning of the battle, turned the right flank of the enemy, drove it back in confusion on the main body, and rushing impetuously in their victorious career, hurled the broken mass headlong into the river. The rout was total, the slaughter great. Many were drowned, and many more slain by the Gaulish javelins, while attempting to swim across the river; those who succeeded fled to Veii, and there sought an ignoble safety. Others fled to Rome, carrying the tidings of their utter discomfiture; and thence continued their flight to Veii, despairing of being able to save Rome. The Capitol alone was garrisoned by a devoted few, who were resolved to defend this last bulwark of their country, or perish in its ruins.

The city was left open and undefended, but it was on the third day after the battle that the Gauls entered it. In the interval, the great body of the Roman citizens had abandoned their homes, and fled for refuge to the neighbouring cities, carrying the most sacred of their images and relics to Caere, and leaving those which they could not remove deeply buried in a secret retreat. But some of the priests, and the aged patricians of the highest rank and dignity, could not endure the thought of quitting their native city, and dragging out the remainder of their feeble days in a foreign land. They solemnly devoted themselves and the Gauls to the infernal deities, and then seated themselves in the forum to wait their death, by which they hoped to draw down on the Gauls the vengeance of the gods. When the Gauls entered, all was silence in the forsaken city, nor did they see a human being till they reached the forum. There they beheld the majestic fathers of Rome, seated each on his ivory chair of office, and clad in his senatorial robes, unmoving, silent, awful impersonations of sublime despair. The Gauls gazed on them with reverential respect, regarding them as more than mortal. At length one of the Gauls drew near to M. Papirius, and began to stroke gently his long white beard. Papirius, a priest of the highest rank and sanctity, indignant at the profane touch of the barbarian, struck him on the head with his ivory sceptre. The Gaul cut down the venerable man with his sword. The spell was broken; barbarian fury kindling at the sight of blood, rushed on its defenceless prey, and in an instant the vows of the aged senators were ratified in their blood.

After pillaging the forsaken city, the Gauls turned their attention to the Capitol; but being unable to scale the rock, were repulsed from the only access with considerable loss. They now changed their plan, made the city their head-quarters, continued the blockade of the Capitol, and spread devastation into the surrounding country. Meanwhile the Romans who had taken shelter at Veii, began to recover courage, and to seek to open a communication with the brave garrison in the Capitol. This was accomplished by a daring youth named Pontius Cominius, who swam across the Tiber and scaled the cliff during the night, and having explained to the garrison the state of affairs at Veii, returned as he came, undiscovered by the Gauls. But in the morning some traces of his exploit were seen by the besiegers, who concluded that if the cliff had been scaled by one, it might by more. They made the attempt, and the spot being thought inaccessible, and therefore left unguarded by the garrison, they had nearly reached the summit, when the sacred geese kept in the temple of Juno, hearing the unwonted sound at such an hour, made so much noise as to awaken M. Manlius, a young patrician, whose house was hard by the temple. He sprang up, seized his arms, called on his sleeping comrades, and ran to the edge of the cliff just as the head of a Gaul was appearing above it. Manlius rushed upon him, dashed the boss of his shield into his face, and tumbled him down the precipice. the falling Gaul bore down many of his countrymen along with him, and the rest, perceiving themselves discovered, and struck with terror, leapt, fell, or scrambled down the crags, and abandoned the attempt.

But though the Capitol was thus secured against direct force or surprise, it might be reduced by famine, and therefore the Gauls continued the siege. The brave garrison were reduced to the utmost extremities, but still continued the defence of their impregnable citadel, till the Gauls began to suffer scarcely inferior calamities, arising likewise from the want of food, aggravated by the unhealthiness of a Roman autumn. Great numbers daily perished; and the place where their bodies were burned was long afterwards known by the name of Gallica busta, or Gallic funeral piles. These calamities induced the Gauls to offer more reasonable terms, which the exhausted garrison was willing to accept. The demand was one thousand pounds of gold, on payment of which the Gauls agreed to depart from the Roman city and territories. It is also related that the Gauls had received intelligence of their own country being inva<led by the Venetians, which increased their willingness to come to terms with Rome.

A truce was concluded; both parties met in the forum; and the military tribune, Q. Sulpicius, proceeded to weigh the stipulated sum. The Gauls fraudulently attempted to falsify the weights; and when Sulpicius complained, Brennus, the king of the Gauls, cast his heavy broadsword into the scale which contained the weights. The tribune asked what was meant by this action; and the haughty barbarian insultingly replied, “It means, woe to the vanquished.” Having received this large ransom, the Gauls appear to have departed from central Italy, and returned to their own.settle-ments on the regions in the valley of the Po, leaving the Romans to set about repairing, as they might, their sacked and desolated city.

The accounts which represent Camillus to have entered the forum at the moment when Brennus had uttered his insulting Vae victis, and to have ordered the gold to be taken away, saying, it was the custom of Romans to ransom their country with steel, not gold; to have driven the Gauls out of the city, and next day to have defeated them so totally that not a man was left alive to carry the tidings of their defeat to their countrymen; these accounts are manifestly parts of some poetical lays in honour of Camillus, the hero of his age and country. But they are too inconsistent with the more plain statements of other historians, and with the well known facts of the case in other respects, to receive any other than a poetic credence best suited to their poetic character. ^[16. See Niebuhr, vol. ii. p. 517, et seq∙ ]

But when the first feelings of exulting triumph abated, and the Romans began to gaze around them on the scene of ruin and desolation, their hearts sunk within them, and they were on the point of yielding to the wretched dictates of cowardly despair. It had been previously proposed by the popular party, that a large body of the Roman citizens [7:19:376]should at once migrate to Veii, and raise it to an equality with Rome in power and privileges. This destructive proposal was at the time successfully resisted by the more clear-sighted patricians; but now, when Rome was in ruins, the people few and dispirited, and Veii in a flourishing condition, its buildings better than even those of Rome had been, the proposal to quit the scene of devastation, and remove to one of comfort, was renewed and listened to with eagerness. It required all the authority of Camillus, enforced by that of the senate, and strengthened by every kind of assistance and encouragement that could be devised, to induce the Romans to remain, and undertake the heavy and almost hopeless task of rebuilding the ruined city of their fathers.

Livy informs us, that while the senate were sitting in grave and final deliberation respecting the removal to Veii, or the rebuilding of Rome, the people at the same time standing in clusters about the forum eagerly debating the same subject, some cohorts, returning from relieving guards, chanced to pass through the forum, when a centurion in the comitium called aloud, “standard-bearer, plant your standard; here we shall best remain.” The well-omened expression was seized upon by the senate, they rushed out, exclaiming with one voice, that “they accepted the omen ;” the surrounding commons applauded and re-echoed the cry; and all, with one voice and one mind, agreed to abide by the will of the gods thus indicated, to raise from prostrate ruin, and maintain the destinies of their everlasting city. There is little doubt that Camillus planned this fortunate omen, and by his well-directed efforts in this point, not less than in war, gained the glorious designation of a new Romulus, father of his country, and second founder of Rome. Hitherto we have been led to trace the growth of Rome from the building of the thousand Romulean huts on the Palatine, till under the Etruscan dynasty of its kings it had extended its power in all directions, entered into treaties with transmarine nations, and raised at home structures of great magnitude and imperishable durability. We have seen it sink into comparative feebleness during the intestine wars by which it was tom immediately after the expulsion of its tyrant monarch; yet even then have we also seen noble proofs of that love of liberty, that strength of stern indomitable will, that irrepressible perseverance, and that lofty confidence in their own destinies, which conspired to render the proud citizens of Rome the conquerors of the world. Of even more importance is it to trace the growth of constitutional law, as it arose out of the struggles of one party which wished to engross and retain all civic rights and privileges, and the growing wealth, intelligence, and power of another, which gradually became more and more sensible of its rights, and more and more determined to obtain them. Even the most careless observer of these contests, and their fluctuations of success and disappointment, must have marked, that whatever either party gained by unconstitutional violence, was never to either a permanent gain; that any premature advance of popular liberty was almost instantly followed by a recoil, proving, that not the soundness of a principle, nor the truth and accuracy of a theory, but the substantial, the felt, the practical necessity of the measure, is the only sure foundation of any addition to, or change in, the institutions of a country; and that the natural and spontaneous adjustment of existing rights and institutions, which takes place wherever they are pervaded by the genial influence of a healthful vitality, is productive of a far greater and more lasting amount of true liberty, public and private, and of all that can promote real national welfare, than could ever be obtained or secured by those impetuously philanthropic legislators, who dream of creating a commonwealth in a day, as a magician would produce a palace by the utterance of some all-powerful spell.

To trace the growth of constitutional law as accurately as possible, we must revert to the earliest period of Rome, and endeavour to extricate from their fabulous en-velopements the historical truths contained in what are now admitted to be poetic legends. By this process we may hope to obtain as rational and intelligible a view of the city, the people, and the constitution of Rome, as the preceding narrative is capable of affording. It has already been stated, that the various inhabitants of that district of Italy, in which Rome was built, were the Oscan, Pelasgian, and Etruscan. The Pelasgi appear to have settled chiefly along the coast of Italy, from which they drove back the original inhabitants, who were probably Oscans. In process of time the Oscans descended again in great force from the mountains, overpowered the Pelasgians, and reduced them to a species of servitude, allowing them however to remain as tillers of the land, and artificers. From this intermixture arose the people subsequently known by the name of Latins; combining the hardy and warlike habits of the Oscan mountaineers with the superior skill and civilization of the Pelasgi. This view may be regarded as confirmed by the fact, first pointed out by Niebuhr, that the words which relate to agriculture and the comparatively refined arts of life, in the Latin language, are closely allied to the same words in Greek, indicating the Pelasgian origin of both; while the Latin words pertaining to war and the chase are entirely alien from the Greek, and are in short of Oscan origin. ^[17. Niebuhr, vol. i. p, 83. ] From this it may be inferred, that during the formation of the Latin language, the nation was composed of two races, the Oscan and the Pelasgian, of whom the Oscan held the chief sway. The two races being both accustomed to the simple patriarchal, or family form of rule, would have a natural tendency to blend together so as speedily to become one people. This seems to have been the condition in which they were, during the period when Rome is said to have been built.

Whether the traditionary founder of Rome was of Oscan or Pelasgian race, cannot be ascertained. The greater part of his followers appear to have been Pelasgian; and from them the settlement may have obtained its name, which was afterwards given to the legendary hero himself. One of the traditionary accounts of Romulus, represents him as having been sent in his youth to an Etruscan city, for the purpose of receiving instruction superior to what could be obtained in Latium. Were we receiving the narrative as that respecting a real person, we should ascribe to his Etrurian education the attention paid by Romulus to augury, and the other arts of divination, in which the Etruscans are known to have excelled. The tradition may however refer to some influential Etruscan leader, who may have joined the early founders of Rome, and contributed greatly to mould their religious institutions. This view is supported by the statement of some authors, that an Etruscan chief, named Lucumo, was an early ally of Romulus, and aided him in the Sabine war, in which he was killed. The term Lucumo, we know, was not a personal name, but one of rank and office common to the Etruscan chiefs, who were all Lucumones. This Lucumo may have been the Tuscan chief Caeles Vibenna, who is said to have settled on the Caelian hill, to which he gave his name. ^[18. Ibid. pp. 382, 383. ] If this be admitted, and we suppose the followers of this Etruscan Lucumo removed to Rome by the Roman founder, after the fall of their own chief, we have a very probable account of the origin of the third tribe of the Roman people, the Luceres, who, though admitted as an original tribe, were in some respects subordinate to the other two, the Ramnenses and Titienses, or Romans and Sabines. The Luceres may have been 01 a more mixed race than the other two tribes, and on that account somewhat less esteemed. It is indeed by no means improbable that the first inhabitants of Rome were compos [7:19:377]ed of some of all the adjoining states, although the Oscans and Pelasgians were the most numerous.

With regard to the Etruscans, we are of opinion that for a very peculiar reason, they could not have formed any considerable proportion of the inhabitants of Rome. We are inclined to hazard the conjecture, that the name Etruscan, as commonly used, is extremely deceptive, and leads almost invariably to error. The true name of the peculiar people generally called Etrusci, was, according to themselves, Rasena. It is constantly asserted that their language is totally unknown; and yet they are said to have occupied a very large portion of Italy, and to have been in constant and intimate intercourse with the nations inhabiting its other divisions. It is scarcely credible that not one word of confessedly a highly civilized people should have entered into the language of those nations with whom they held intercourse. But, if the body of the people called Etrusci were of Oscan, Umbrian, or even of Celtic origin, while the Ra-sena were merely a race of skilful and intelligent foreigners, who had, by force or policy, acquired the station of a ruling and a sacerdotal caste, their peculiar language might never be communicated to the body of the people whom they ruled, and so might perish when their power was broken and their caste destroyed. ^[19. Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 122. ] The possibility that the Rasena were indeed a sacerdotal caste, similar to those of Egypt, India, and other oriental nations, perhaps also of the Celtic race, will scarcely be questioned by those who are acquainted with the history of the Brahmins and the Druids. ^[20. If this view could be substantiated, it would explain many of the most difficult questions that arise respecting the Etruscans. It would at once account for the want of a community of interest between the Etruscan chiefs and the body of the people, which prevented the growth of any regularly consolidated power among them, caused those sudden transitions from strength to weakness, and led ultimately to the disappearing of the ruling caste, and the complete blending of the real people with the other Italian nations. For when the Rasena ceased to rule, having little, if any thing, in common with the body of their subjects, not even their language, they speedily ceased to have a separate existence; and the people, who were correctly designated Tyrrbeni, or Tursceni, and were of Pelasgic origin, very soon blended with their more kindred races, as, indeed, the Luceres had done with the primitive Romans at an earlier period. ]

Reverting to what has already been stated respecting the patriarchal form of rule common to the Oscan and Pelasgian races, we are furnished with an explanation of the central principle of all the Roman institutions. The form of government resulting from such a principle was necessarily monarchical, but could not be despotic. For, while the king ruled supremely over the nation at large, every head of a family ruled over his own household with uncontrolled sway, at once as its king and its priest. ^[21. See Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 306, tt seq.; and Arnold’s History of Rome, vol. i. p. 25, ei ιeq. ] But, in order to obtain the advantages of union, the families, houses, or gentes, formed themselves into bodies of ten each, called curiae. Over each curia, one head of a House, or gens, held a sort of presidency, and received the name of curio. The union often curiae formed a tribe. The union of the three tribes, the Ramnenses, or Romans strictly speaking and with reference to the inhabitants of the Palatine hill, the Titienses, or subjects of Titius, who were Sabines, and inhabited the Quirinal and Capitoline hills, and the Luceres, who were probably the original followers of the Etruscan Lucumo who aided Romulus, and settled at first on the Caelian hill, augmented by adventurers from neighbouring states, formed the Populus Romanus in the strict sense of that term. Thus the patriarchal principle pervaded the entire body politic, and gave to it all that was peculiar in its aspect and institutions.

We must not, however, omit to mention, that within this external and public form of the body politic there was included another of a more private and personal character. As a state, tribes, curiae, and houses were alone visible; but in each house there were necessarily members and dependents. The members connected by blood with the head of the house, or gens, were Gentiles, or as we might term them, kinsmen, and formed the free citizens of Rome: the dependants, who were not all, nor necessarily, blood relations, were called clientes, and might, with some modifications, be designated clansmen, belonging to the clan, but beneath the rank of the duinne-wassal, or gentlemen directly related to the chief. From this arose that more private οι domestic division of the people into patroni and clientes. The patrons alone were recognised as citizens by the state, in their various aspects, as heads of houses, members of the curiae, and of the tribes; and by them, and for them, were all laws made, with all which the clients had no connexion. The relationship in which the clients could alone be viewed was entirely of a private nature, subsisting exclusively between them and their patrons. The power of the patrons over the clients, on the other hand, would have been altogether despotic, but for the patriarchal element from which it sprung, and by which it was tempered. The client was regarded by the patron as to a certain extent a member of his family, owing to him indeed the most implicit obedience, but having the strongest claims upon him for protection, and even for some measure of paternal regard. The patron was bound to relieve the distress of his clients, to appear for them in court, to expound to them the law, civil and pontifical, and to allot them portions of land to cultivate and build upon, which, however, they held only as tenants at will. The clients on their part were bound to be obedient to their patron, to promote his honour, to pay whatsoever public fines might be imposed on him, to aid him jointly with the real members of his house, in bearing the public burdens of taxes, to contribute to the portioning of his daughters, and to ransom him or any member of his family who might fall into the hands of an enemy. If the client died without heirs, the patron succeeded to his property; and if the patron failed in discharging his duty to his clients, he was accounted infamous and accursed.

But the union of the three Tribes belongs to a subsequent period of the history. Although it seems sufficiently probable that the rudiments of the tribe called the Luceres, existed in the time of the founder of Rome, yet that tribe was not raised to a full equality with the other two till a later period. During the reigns of the first two kings of Rome, the nation presents a strictly twofold aspect, consisting of the two chief tribes, the Ramnenses and the Titienses. In each tribe the arrangements were precisely similar, ten houses constituting a curia, and ten curiae a tribe, of which the heads of houses formed the senate, and the heads of the curiae formed the chief senators. The great national council consisted thus of 200 senators, half Romans and half Sabines, or, laying aside the national designations, and retaining those of the tribes alone, half Ramnenses and half Titienses. The senate thus being wholly composed ofheadsofhouses, its members were rightly named patres, and their order the patrician; but this patrician order comprehended at first the entire people, in consequence of the family-relationship, which, in fact or semblance, pervaded the whole community. Every head of a house was the judge and ruler of his house, both members and clients; the curia of ten houses governed the affairs of their collective body; and the senate of ten curiae deliberated upon the affairs of the nation. In those early days, the assemblies of the people were merely assemblies of the patrician houses, who alone possessed the rights of full citizenship; and these assemblies were held in the valley between the Palatine and Capitoline bills, termed the Forum [7:19:378]Romanum, and said to have been the place where the comitia curiata were held from the time of Romulus.

At this time the body, afterwards known by the name of the plebs, or plebeians, had no existence, the entire population being composed of patrician houses, with their members and dependents, in other words, of patrons and clients, the patrons alone being full citizens, and known as the people. In a very short time a population of a different character began to appear, composed of strangers who came to settle in the country, and the inhabitants of conquered states brought forcibly to Rome, and obliged to unite to a certain extent with their conquerors. This population had, of course, no connexion with the houses, but only with the state politically. They could not become members of the houses; they were not dependents on them; and thus they came to form a body of an entirely new character, springing up in the midst of the privileged citizens. They were not permitted to intermarry with the houses, who were very tenacious of purity of blood; and thus they belonged to no house, no curia, and no tribe, consequently they had no share in the public government nor in the public property. Their own property in their native country might have been diminished, or altogether lost in that war by which they had been subdued, in consequence of the law by which a third part of a conquered nation’s lands was seized by the conquerors; yet what the state might subsequently seize in war, even by their aid, did not become theirs, because they formed no integral part of the state as such, being in the state, but not q∕ , it∙ Such an inferior population, of a character, and occupying a position so anomalous, not slaves, yet not citizens, was the element from which arose the original plebs or commons of Rome. ^[22. It may be added, though here we are anticipating the regular course of events, that the great proportion of the Roman commons were conquered Latins. Besides receiving grants of a portion of their former lands, to be held by them as tenants at the will of the state, they had also the Aventine hill assigned to such of them as removed to Rome. The Aventine was not included within the walls of the original city, so that these half-citizens became the suburban neighbours of Rome rather than its inhabitants, enjoying its protection, sharing heavily in its burdens, exposed to a full proportion of all its dangers, but excluded from all its political rights and privileges. From such a condition no wonder that future contentions arose. ]

The only events recorded in the legend of Tullus Hostilius, to which any degree of credit can be attached, are those which refer to the Alban war and its consequences. It seems to be a fact, that at some indefinitely early period in the history of Rome, the honour of being head of the great confederacy of the thirty towns of Latium, which had Belonged to Alba, was transferred to the former city. This has been ascribed to the reign of Tullus; and as no period to which it may with greater certainty be referred, can be pointed out, it may be regarded as an historical truth, accounted for in no unnatural manner by a national legend. The combat of the Horatii and the Curiatii appears to be chiefly a poetical episode, and one of a very high and spirit-stirring character, but may have had some foundation in fact. The death of Tullus is also legendary and imaginative. It seems to have been partly at least an Alban lay, from its indications of divine wrath falling upon Tullus on account of the desolate temples and deserted gods of the Alban mount. But the most important part of the narrative is that which records the reception into the state of the third tribe, the Luceres. In the legend, this is said to have taken place in consequence of the union of the Albans with the Roman people. There may be a considerable portion of truth in this statement, and it is perfectly consistent with the known facts of the case, as far as they bear upon the subject. The Luceres were held to be to a certain degree inferior to the other tribes, as was not unlikely to be the case with the descendants of a conquered people. All the patrician houses that traced their genealogy to the Albans belonged to the Luceres, such as the Julii, Quinctii, Servilii, Caelii, and several others of the most distinguished Roman houses. The explanation of the name

Luceres cannot be clearly given. Some derive it from the Lucumo who is said to have settled on the Caelian hill, and to have given it his name. If he founded a small city for his followers, and give it his official name, as he gave the hill his personal, the name of the town might be Lucerum; and when the Albans were located on that hill, and in that town, and raised to the condition of a tribe, they might be called Luceres from their new abode, and in order to sink the remembrance of Alba.

The most important event recorded in the period assigned to the reign of Ancus was the removal of roe conquered Latins to Rome, and the apportioning to them of a settled residence on the Aventine hill. ^[23. See Niebuhr, vol. i p. 355. ] This may be regarded as the origin of the Roman plebs, or commons, as distinguished from the patrician body, who were the true and original Populus Romanus. It cannot be too distinctly stated, nor too clearly and strongly remembered, that among the early Romans, the populus and the plebs were wholly and in every respect different. The populus was originally the whole body of the early inhabitants of Rome, both those of Romulian and those of Sabine origin. This body, consisting of senators or patres, curiae, and houses, with their members and dependants, was completely aristocratic in its aspect, and tolerated no degrading intermixtures. The plebs were originally the conquered Latins, who were in a measure incorporated into the mass of the nation, by being removed to the Roman territories, placed on the Aventine hill, and permitted to farm the land of the state, which latter arrangement is said to have been made by Ancus. They retained their personal freedom, but could neither become members of houses, nor in general would submit to be dependants. They grew up, therefore, along with the populus, a free, but unprivileged, and too often an oppressed population; and though both despised, feared, and hated by the exclusive patrician populus, rapidly growing what they ultimately became, the real strength of Rome. Had it not been for the patriarchal principle pervading Rome, which caused the ties of kindred to be the only legitimate method of obtaining the full privileges of a citizen, these near residents might have been admitted at once, and all the subsequent fierce domestic broils might not have taken place; but without these contests the nation might never have been knit into such compact strength, nor have been led to the formation of such a body of wise and well-digested laws.

In the constitution of the Roman state, Tarquinius made at least one alteration concerning the true nature of which, authors are by no means agreed. Some say that he added an hundred members to the ancient senate, which till then had amounted to no more than two hundred. These new senators were called fathers of the lesser houses, (patres minorum gentium;) and the old senators fathers of the greater houses, (patres mnjorum gentium.) If this account were entitled to implicit credit, we should regard it as referring to the admission of the Luceres into the full enjoyment of the rights and honours of citizenship. Yet this seems to have taken place during the reign of Hostilius, when he brought the conquered Albans to Rome. Perhaps a portion of each statement may be true. The Albans and Latins may have been settled on the Caelian hill, and formed into a tribe by Tullus; but not raised to the senate till the accession of Tarquinius, who may have thought such a step necessary in order to secure the support of a large body of the state, his claims to the throne being so very question[7:19:379]able. It is true Niebuhr ^[24. Niebuhr, vol. i. pp. 376, 377. ] hazards another very ingenious conjecture. He thinks that Tarquinius may have been himself one of the tribe of the Luceres, that Priscus may have been a name belonging to him, as one of a Priscan gens, or house, ana that the legend of his Etruscan conquests and acknowledged sovereignity may have some connexion with the much more ancient tradition of the fabulous Tuscan hero, Tarchon, to which the name Tarquinius itself may allude. It is sufficiently evident, that there did exist at some remote period, an intimate intercourse between Rome and the Etrusci; and there appears to have been some connexion between this Etruscan influence and the tribe of the Luceres. What the exact nature and extent of this Etruscan intercourse and influence were, it seems a hopeless task to inquire, and it would be fruitless to indulge in framing conjectures.

It is stated, that Tarquinius wished to add to the centuries of the Equites, established by Romulus, three new centuries, and to call them by his own name, and the names of his friends. In this intention he was opposed by the augur Attus Navius, who affirmed that what had been instituted with augury, could not be changed without it, and that the omens forbade any change. The king, in order to cast discredit on the art of the augur, asked him to divine whether what he was then thinking of could be done. The augur observed the omens, and answered that it could. “I was thinking,” said the king, “whether you could cut this whetstone in two with a knife.” Navius instantly took the whetstone, and cut it sheer asunder, to the amazement of the king. This proof of the augur’s skill caused Tarquinius to desist from his intention to its full extent; and he .merely added to each of the former centuries a second or latter century under the same name. In this legend may be contained an account of the opposition which Tarquinius experienced from the patrician body, when he purposed to raise a number of the most distinguished of the free citizens to the equestrian rank,—an opposition to which he was so far obliged to yield. ^[25. See Niebuhr, vol. i. pp. 360, 361. ]

It has been already stated, that the constitution of Rome ^[26. For a full view of the Servian constitution of Rome, see Niebuhr, vol. i. pp. 405-487. Arnold, vol. 1. pp. 64-82. ] was founded on the patriarchal principle, as to its essential characteristic, while the numerical divisions of the government by tens were arbitrary, so far as can be traced. Every head of a house was an integral member of the state, as a free citizen; but there is no very manifest reason why houses should have been aggregated into tens, or curiae, these into other tens forming the senate, or patres, of one hundred. But this division or rather aggregation having been adopted, it influenced all the arrangements of the body politic, both in peace and war. While there was but one people, the followers of Romulus, there was but one tribe, the Ramnenses, or, as some term it, the Ramnes, and the senate amounted to one hundred. Upon the junction of the Sabines, there were two tribes, the Titienses or Tities being added, and consequently the senate then numbered two hundred. The elevation of the third tribe, the Luceres, completed the number of curiae, decuriae, tribes, and senators, till thirty and three hundred became the ruling numbers in this division.

It is worth remarking, that, according to the statement of ancient authors, when Romulus formed the Pomoerium, including all that composed ancient Rome, his city merely contained one thousand wretched huts, clustered together on the Palatine hill. Now, if it could be shewn that the union of ten families formed a house, ten houses a curia, and ten curiae the entire tribe, we should have the exact number of the first huts erected on the Palatine, and of the primitive mansions of the Roman fathers.

The army followed in its construction the numerical arrangement of the people. The earliest Roman legion could contain no more than the male inhabitants of Rome, which would be at that time only a thousand capable of bearing arms. As the senate was formed from the hundred chief men of the curiae, so there were an hundred of the braves selected from the curiae to fight on horseback. Thus the equites, or knights, were at first equal in number with tin senate, and equal in rank, as members of the curiae, though not senators, because not the heads of the curiae. Whel the senate was increased to three hundred, by the addition of the other two tribes, there were also three centuriesorhundreds of knights, retaining the proportion. The legion would then consist of 3000 infantry, and 300 cavalry; and though in later periods the numbers of the infantry were increased, 300 continued to be the legitimate number of cavalry in a legion. Although the name remained, the numbers fluctuated according to the dictates of policy or necessity, so that when we read of a century, we are not to assume that an hundred is meant, and neither more nor less.

Adopting recognised terms and divisions, Servius, in his endeavours to improve the constitution of Rome, divided the large body of unprivileged yet free citizens, the plebs, or true commons, into thirty tribes, according to the thirty curiae of the senatorial patricians. Of these thirty tribes four were contained in the city itself, and the remaining twenty-six in the lands that had been added to the dominions of Rome by conquest. Each tribe was under the dominion of a magistrate of their own body, called a Tribunus. There were also judges appointed, three for each tribe, to determine private causes among the plebeian citizens. For the appointment of these official persons, and other matters connected with their own interests, the plebeians were empowered to hold their own meetings, called the comitia tributa. These were held on the nundinoe, or market days, when the country people came to Rome, and in the forum or market-place adjacent to the comitium, or meeting place of the patricians, but quite distinct from it. These comitia tributa were entirely plebeian, and at first referred only to the decision of disputes respecting private rights among the plebeians themselves. They were not convoked by the patricians, nor held under patrician auspices. They had nothing to do with national affairs as such, but were confined entirely to the private business of tile plebeian order. Neither had the patricians at first any thing to do with this plebeian assembly: they formed no part of it, and had no authority over it. Yet, though thus distinct from the state in its original formation, it gave an organized form to the plebeian body, which soon proved its importance, as the very thews and sinews of the body politic, and therefore essential to its growth and strength.

The institution of the comitia tributa, though at first of an entirely private character with reference to the state, tended to the formation of a new assembly, in which all the orders of the people were included, and arranged for the discussion of public affairs. It was not possible that the plebeian body could be so far organized as to have its own, magistracy, elected by itself in an assembly of its own, without producing an early necessity for its admission into the state; for organization both gives power, and the consciousness of power, in the body politic. The most natural occasion and mode of its admission, had a military origin and character, like most of the other Roman institutions. Though the patricians and plebeians remained completely distinct in their civic character, and in the time of peace, yet in the time of war they acted together in one great body, the army. The arrangements of the army were therefore those which led to their junction in another aspect, and were in [7:19:380]that new aspect retained as much as possible. As the earliest principle of the structure of the Roman army was its division into centuries, so the same principle gave rise to an assembly of a new character, called the comitia centuriata, where the military principle predominated, and in which the whole population met. So much of a military character did this assembly at its origin bear, that it was not permitted to meet within the city, but in the Campus Martius, and it even bore the name of exercitus urbanus.

Tarquinius is stated to have added, not three new centuries bearing new names, to the equestrians, for that was prevented by the augur Navius, but three new centuries, forming a second series, and retaining the designation of the first three. These three double centuries of the Ramnenses, Titienses, and Luceres, were now recognised as distinctly six privileged bodies of voters, sex suffragia, of the new assembly. To these, which contained all the members of the houses, there were added by Servius twelve new centuries of knights,formed from the richest members of the plebeian community, and continuing, like the centuries below them, to belong to the thirty tribes of the commons. There were thus eighteen centuries of the most noble and wealthy persons in the state, who enjoyed the privilege of serving in the army on horseback; known in their military character as the equites, and in their civil character as the equestrians, or, as we term them, the knights. Their distinction as an order was however posterior to their formation as the eighteen equestrian centuries in the comitia centuriata.

Proceeding on the military principle, the next point was to organise the foot soldiers of the state. This was done chiefly with reference to the value of the armour which individuals could afford to procure and wear in battle, because in the earliest ages of all nations, men armed themselves as they best could, at their own expense, not that of the state, and consequently the richest were the best armed. As brass was the metal of which weapons of war, either offensive or defensive, were first formed, brass or copper, so many pounds weight, according to an estimate of the weight and value of the armour, formed the principle by which the successive classes were divided and arranged. Of these the first class contained all whose property amounted to, or exceeded, one hundred thousand pounds weight of copper. The soldiers of this class were required to be completely armed with greaves, coat of mail, helmet and shield of brass, besides the sword and the long pike. And as these were necessarily to advance in the front, and bear the shock of battle, and formed the flower of the troops, so their influence in the great military assembly was proportionate. They formed eighty centuries; forty between the ages of fifteen and forty-five, to serve in the field; and forty between forty-five and sixty, for the defence of the city. To this, the first class, the eighteen centuries of knights were added, so that it amounted in all to ninety-eight centuries. The second class contained those whose property fell beneath 100,000 asses, or pounds of copper, and above 75,000. These formed twenty centuries, and were less completely and expensively armed. The third class contained also twenty centuries, and its qualification was properly between 75,000 and 50,000 asses, or pounds of copper. Its armour was inferior to that of the preceding class. The fourth class contained those whose property was not beneath 25,000 asses; it amounted to twenty centuries, and its soldiers were not required to provide more than a pike and a javelin. These four classes composed the main body or phalanx of the army, when it was drawn up in that order of battle previous to the formation of the legion. The fifth class consisted of those whose property was between 25,000 asses, and 12,500; it formed the slingers and archers, or light infantry of the army, and was divided into thirty centuries.

The poorest citizens, whose property fell short of 12,500 asses, were regarded as supernumeraries in this division. Those who had above 1500 asses were still regarded as taxpayers, assidui, and were formed into two centuries, called the accensi and velati. They merely followed the army, and were only required to supply the places of those who fell. Below these came one century of the proletarii, whose property was between 1500 and 375 asses. These paid no taxes, had no military duty, and were only liable to be called on in great emergencies, as extraordinary levies, when arms were furnished to them at the public expense. One century more included all whose property, being less than 375 asses, was not worthy of being estimated, and who were called capite censi, and not liable to military service.

Three centuries of a different character completed the division, but these were not rated by their property, but by their occupation. These were,—one century of carpenters and smiths attached to the first class, and two of homblow-ers, (cornicines), and trumpeters, (tubicines), attached to the fourth class.

From this brief outline of the comitia centuriata, the new national constitution given to Rome by Servius Tullius, it will be seen that it was a proof of very remarkable political wisdom in that legislator. The new citizens of Rome had been rapidly increasing in numbers and importance. A new tribe, the Luceres, had recently been raised to the possession of full political power. Three new equestrian centuries had been called into existence, though still in a subordinate position; and the body of the commons, the plebeian body, augmented by the arrival of free citizens from recently conquered Latin states, was gradually rising in importance, so as to point to the necessity of its obtaining a recognised position in the state; and at the same time to give to the hereditary patrician body no slight cause of alarm, lest it should soon become the most powerful body at Rome. By the Servian constitution, if we may so term it, the danger of any such revolution was averted by the admission of the plebs into a national council, without disturbing the proportions of influence due to the different bodies of which such a council was to be formed. The wealthiest men of the plebs would naturally be desirous of obtaining some share of that patrician dignity which they had enjoyed as Latins, before the annexation of their native states to Rome; and this desire was met by the creation of twelve centuries of knights, added to the equestrian order from amongst the plebeian tribes. These twelve centuries constituted a nobility, but yet were so connected with the eighty centuries which formed the great body of the first class, that they could not degenerate into an oligarchy. The first class, again, being formed of the wealthiest persons in the state, though far the least numerous, prevented the government from becoming a democracy of that ultra kind, in which numbers form the ruling element. In truth, property formed the mling element in the Servian constitution; for the first class, containing ninety-eight centuries, even, without the addition of the fahri, formed the majority of the comitia centuriata, so that if all the centuries of that class were agreed on any point, it was carried without the votes of the other classes. The mere numbers of the lower classes very greatly exceeded those of the first class; but as property was assumed as the principle by which a century was to be formed, it required a great number of individuals to form a century of the requisite wealth. The proportion seems to have been regulated thus: the votes allotted to each class bore the same proportion to the collective sum of votes, as the taxable property of its members bore to the total taxable property of all the five classes; while the number of the citizens contained in each, stood in an inverse ratio to the numbers which designated their property. Although, therefore, the plebeians were now admitted into the full rights of citizenship, and to a voice in the government, still the power of deciding was vested in those who possessed the chief rank, wealth, and that natu[7:19:381]ral influence which those who occupy a superior station always enjoy.

Perhaps the only fault of this new constitution was its premature establishment. It was in advance of the period to which it is always referred. The necessity of conferring the franchise upon the plebeians had not been sufficiently felt, consequently the patrician order, the ancient Roman populus, could not endure the admission of a new and recently conquered people to any thing even approaching an equality. Hence their enmity against Servius, and their concurrence in the ambition of Tarquinius, afterwards surnamed Super-bus. On their part, it was a plot to overturn the new constitution, and deprive the plebeians of the rights and privileges conferred upon them by that wise and patriotic monarch. The introduction of the plebeians may perhaps have been too early even for their own good, as they had been too recently united to Rome to have thoroughly acquired the true Roman spirit; and they needed to purchase their privileges more dearly, by a lengthened and fluctuating struggle, in order that they might sufficiently prize them. For men always value most what they have with the greatest difficulty acquired. And, besides, the arrangement was too completely military to be perfectly adapted to the more peaceful spirit and structure of a purely civil economy. It was also of too sudden formation, not only that the people were not ripe for it, but that it did not, by its deliberate growth, tend to ripen them. In its gradual formation afterwards, every sucessive stage was sharply contested, and hardly won. The principles of law and justice, municipal and natural, on which they rested, were all made manifest in the course of the contest; so that not only a sound civil polity was at length established, but, at the same time, there was formed a code of laws based on principles so profound and true, as to entitle them to be retained as the foundation of all laws, to all civilized nations, from that period to the present, and probably to the end of time.

SECTION π.

Scarcely hail the Romans succeeded in raising a portion of the city out of its ashes, when they were again involved in war. The various states and nations who had been reduced to subjection in previous wars, seemed to regard the humbled state of Rome as affording a propitious opportunity, not only of recovering their freedom, but of crushing a dangerous neighbour. The next year after the burning of Rome by the Gauls, the Latins and Hernicans revolted; while the Volscians declared open war, and invaded the lands of their weakened antagonist. But Camillus was at the head of the state, and his military genius enabled him to lead the feeble remains of the Roman armies to victory over their ungenerous foes. The Aequians had themselves suffered from the march of a part of the Gauls through their country into Apulia; yet they also took up arms against Rome, and were defeated. Meanwhile the Etrurians assailed the Romans in another quarter; and Camillus was compelled to march against them, when again victory crowned bis exertions.

In a short time afterwards, the Latins and Hernicans having united their forces, struck such apprehension into the Romans, that as Camillus could not be spared from Rome, on account of the dissensions by which the state was agitated, Cossus was appointed dictator, and sent against them. He not only gained a complete victory over them, but also established a colony at Satricum. The Praenestines sustained a severe defeat; and on all sides the Romans repelled their assailants, and even began to extend the boundaries of the republic.

But while victory attended the Roman arms in these contests, the dangers arising from intestine broils became more and more urgent The state of confusion in public matters, caused by the destruction of all public records, rendered it possible for the ruling orders to levy taxes and contributions from the plebeian order beyond their due proportion. That they did so may be fairly conjectured from the fact, that no accurate census was taken during fifteen years after the burning of the city, while taxes were levied by rates merely conjectural, and, we need scarcely add, with partiality and oppression. The building of the houses being, in a great measure, a public work, was done at the public expense, and the commons were, in many instances, enjoined to bear their proportion of the pecuniary burden, even after their whole property had been assigned to the patricians to whom they had been indebted. This necessarily plunged them deeper and deeper into debt; until the dungeons in the houses of the patricians became filled with their ruined countrymen in the sad condition of nexi, or persons assigned to slavery for life, for the payment of their debts. Censors had indeed been appointed, but no census was taken, so that the oppressive effects of continuing to exact a heavy tax from people whose property had already been alienated by debt, as if that property were still their own, continued unabated.

Manlius, the brave defender of the Capitol, took upon himself the dangerous task of defending the oppressed people. His seeming patriotism was, in all probability, increased by disappointed ambition, the influence of Camillus being too powerful for him. He publicly sold an estate, and with the produce paid the debts of a number of the oppressed plebeians. He next proposed the sale of public lands for the same object; and also accused the government ofhaving concealed the money said to have been recovered from the Gauls, for the purpose of appropriating it to themselves. For this and similar conduct, he was accused of sedition and cast into prison; but so formidable was the appearance of his friends, that the senate restored him to liberty. This only encouraged Manlius to persevere in his violent course; and at last availing himself of his house in the Capitol he seized on that citadel, and was immediately accused of aiming at kingly power. On this accusation he was condemned to be thrown from the Tarpeian rock; his house in the Capitol was razed to the ground, and it was decreed that no member of the Manlian house should ever afterwards bear the name of Marcus. Such is the most common account given of this transaction; though there are others which differ considerably, both representing the conduct of Manlius in a much more favourable light, and relating his death differently. His death, however, unquestionably occasioned an accession of strength to the patricians, and in a corresponding degree weakened and dispirited the plebeians. Additional taxes were levied for the rebuilding of the walls; and by a sad consequence, additional debts were incurred by the oppressed commons, and greater numbers thrown into prison, or reduced to a state of servile dependence. All the privileges and rights for which the commons had so long and perseveringly striven, were wrested from them one by one, and the city seemed to be on the point of sinking into the wretched and powerless condition of being the abode of tyrannous patrician citizens, and degraded plebeian slaves.

But two men, equal to the emergency, were raised up to rescue the Roman state from its danger. These were two of the tribunes of the people, Caius Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius. In their patriotic endeavours they were aided by the influence of Marcus Fabius Ambustus, whose daughter had been given in marriage to Licinius. By their energetic and persevering efforts these tribunes so ingratiated themselves with the commons, that year after year they were re-elected tribunes, gained over their colleagues, concentrated public opinion, met and counterbalanced the influence of the patricians, and after a struggle of five years, carried three new laws, which may be said to have completed the fabric of Roman liberty. One of these was an agrarian law, prohibiting [7:19:382]any Roman citizen from holding more than five hundred acres of national lands; and also fixing the rent of public lands at the tenth of grain, and the fifth of the vintage and other fruit-produce. Another law ordained that one of the consuls should be chosen from the body of the commons. The third provided, that in cases of outstanding debts, all the interest which had been paid should be deducted from the capital, and that the remainder should be paid by equal instalments in three years. For the public influence thus obtained by the commons, the patricians endeavoured to compensate by the appointment of a praetor from their own body, and of curule aediles; but the plebeians having obtained so much, could not any longer be prevented from attaining a perfect equality in point of eligibility to all public offices. In a short time afterwards, their participation in the other magisterial offices followed as a matter of course; the dictatorship, b. c. 353, the censorship, 348, the praetorship, 334, and even the priesthood, 300.

Thus at last the object of political equality between the patricians and plebeians was attained; and though the difference between patrician and plebeian families still subsisted, they gradually ceased to form political parties distinguished by origin and descent, yet there still remained the elements of strife between the wealthy and the poor, in which character all subsequent civil contentions at Rome ought to be considered. This we here deem it expedient to state distinctly, in order to guard the reader from the error of viewing the popular contests in which the Roman people were frequently engaged, after the passing of the Licinian laws, as merely a revival of the old feuds between the privileged patrician populus, or exclusive citizen-nobility of Rome, and the unprivileged, yet personally free commons, the growth of conquest, and forming the real strength of Rome. The early feuds were caused by the endeavours of the patrician populus to engross and retain all political power and privilege, and of the plebeian commons to secure personal liberty, and acquire civic and political equality. This was accomplished directly by, or soon in consequence of, the Licinian laws. But no public law can produce equality of wealth and influence: oppression may be prevented, sufferings may be mitigated, the growth of exorbitant wealth and power may be checked by wise enactments; but moral laws alone can prevent those inequalities of wealth and influence which must always exist, from becoming injurious, and finally destructive to any state, whatever be the excellence of its civil and political code.

Immediately after the conclusion of these civic struggles, the Romans were again engaged in hostilities against the Gauls and the Etrurians. Over both they were victorious; and in one of the battles with the Gauls, Titus Manlius, son of the consul, distinguished himself by slaying, in single combat, a Gaul of huge stature, despoiling him, in sight of both armies, of a gold chain, which the barbarian wore as an ornament, and throwing the bloody trophy around his own neck. For this exploit he received the name of Torquatus. Another Roman champion, Marcus Valerius, in another battle also slew' a huge Gaul in single combat; in which, as tradition relates, he was assisted by a crow, and thence was named Corvus, or Corvinus.

But while Rome was extending her dominions, and raising her military reputation in these conflicts, she was maturing her strength for struggles more formidable than any in which she had previously engaged. The Samnites, a people of Sabellian race, inhabiting chiefly a mountainous country·, and celebrated for their courage and hardihood, made war upon the Sidicinians. They applied to the Campanians for aid against the Samnites; but both united proving too feeble, the Campanians applied to Rome; and the people of Capua declared themselves subject to Rome, that they might secure its protection. The Samnites refused to submit to the dictation of Rome, and prosecuted their hostilities against the Campanians. This produced a war between the Romans and the Samnites, by which the utmost strength of Rome was sternly tried. Several battles were fought, without producing any decisive results, though in general victory inclined to the Romans. On one occasion, the Roman army was in the utmost danger of being drawn into a disadvantageous situation in a narrow pass, and there surrounded, when it was rescued by the skill and courage of Decius, a military tribune, and a victory was gained over the Samnites. At length a truce was concluded for a period, both nations having suffered considerable losses

During the truce, the Latins continued to harass the Samnites; and when tile Romans prohibited them, they declared war against Rome herself. This led to an unnatural war between nations that had for some time been almost completely blended. Manlius and Decius were sent against the Latins, and, in order to prevent the confusion that might arise between nations similar in language, arms, and discipline, the consul Manlius prohibited any Roman soldier from leaving the ranks on pain of death. But a daring Latin chief having challenged any Roman to single combat, the consul’s own son could not brook that the haughty defiance should remain unanswered, quitted the ranks, slew his antagonist, and returning, laid the spoils at the feet of his father. The stern consul, though he had obtained his own name, Torquatus, from a similar gallant deed, immediately commanded the youthful champion to be beheaded on the spot, for breach of orders; disregarding the cries and entreaties of the soldiers, when they saw their young hero bound, and in a few seconds extended a headless trunk before them.

A desperate engagement almost instantly took place, both armies striving at once for victory and for empire. The wing commanded by the consul Decius being on the point of giving way, he threw aside his armour, assumed a flowing robe of white, devoted himself with due rites to the infernal deities, for the safety of Rome, then mounting his horse plunged into the heart of the conflict, while his white robe streamed loose around his unarmed body. He soon fell, pierced by innumerable wounds; but the Romans believed that such a sacrifice necessarily secured the victory, while the Latins regarded it as equally ominous to them of defeat. The event was not long doubtful. The Romans were victorious in every quarter, and the Latins sustained a complete defeat. This battle is remarkable as being that in which the peculiar tactics of the Roman legion are first described by Livy; but whether the arrangement was the invention of Manlius, is not stated. The author of such a decided improvement in the art of war ought to have been made known; as there can be no doubt that the peculiar qualities of the Roman legion were greatly instrumental in achieving the empire of the world. See article Akmy.

The Romans prosecuted their success with such vigour, that in the three ensuing campaigns Latium and Campania were subdued, and annexed as provinces to the territories of the republic. But the conclusion of one war was to Rome the beginning of another. The Samnites again took up arms, and were joined by theEucanians. To resist his dangerous confederacy, the Romans mustered all their power, and placed Papirius Cursor at their head as dictator. Papirius reduced the enemy so much that they were glad to sue for a truce. But this was of no long continuance; and the Samnite general, Pontius, succeeded in drawing the Roman army into such a position that it could neither fight nor flee, being completely surrounded in a narrow defile called the Caudine Forks. The Roman soldiers were compelled to surrender at discretion, and were disarmed, obliged to pass under the yoke, and then dismissed with disgrace. This dishonour served only to rouse the indignation and the pride of Rome. Papirius was again chosen dictator, and again led the Romans to victory and revenge. The hum [7:19:383]bled Samnites once more sought a peace, which was soon afterwards broken.

In the renewed war, the Samnites were aided by the Etrurians, the Umbrians, and the Gauls. Against these confederate nations the Romans were led by consuls of unusual ability; among whom the skill of Fabius Maximus, and the self-devoting patriotism of Decius, rendered them conspicuous. After many gallant exploits, Decius, imitating the heroic deed of his father, devoted himselfto the deities of death for his country’s sake, and purchased victory at the expense of a consul’s life. After numerous vicissitudes of fortune, which we cannot afford space to specify, victory declared for Rome. The Samnites lost their skilful general Pontius, and the Romans, under the command of Curius Dentatus, were enabled to dictate terms to their subdued antagonists.

The Tarentines, and other states in southern Italy, had aided the Samnites, and were now afraid that Rome would take vengeance on them for their interference. They procured the assistance of the Gauls, in order to avert the war from their own territories. This expedient was crowned wlth but partial and temporary success. The Gauls were finally vanquished by Dentatus and Fabricius; and preparations were made for waging war against the Tarentines. Alarmed at the near approach of that vengeance which they had thus doubly provoked, the Tarentines applied for aid to the famous Pyrrhus king of Epirus. This brave and skilful, but rash and impolitic warrior, being desirous of emulating Alexander the Great, listened readily to the invitation of the Tarentines, cherishing a secret hope of conquering all Italy, and founding a western empire. He at first sent his favourite and political adviser Cineas to Tarentum, and soon afterwards followed in person, at the head of a large army, bringing with him also several elephants trained to war, the first time that such animals had been seen in Europe.

The first care of Pyrrhus was to increase his army, by the aid of as many auxiliary forces as he could procure, and to train them to the same discipline as his own. The Tarentines had expected him to bear all the toils and perils of the war, and to allow them to enjoy the pleasures of peaceful and luxurious indulgence. They soon found, however, greatly to their dissatisfaction, that their protector was resolved to be also their master; but their murmurs he suppressed without the slightest compunction. In the mean time P. Valerius Laevinus, the consul, at the head of a strong army, began to ravage the country of the Lucanians, who were in alliance with the Tarentines. This induced Pyrrhus to march against him, although his Italian allies had not joined him. A battle was fought on the banks of the Siris; and after an obstinate and bloody struggle, Pyrrhus obtained the victory, chiefly by means of his personal daring, his Thessalian cavalry, and his elephants, the Roman cavalry not being able to withstand the sight of these huge animals. But so desperate was the conflict, and so many of his best troops did Pyrrhus lose, that when his officers congratulated him on the victory, he exclaimed, “Another sucb victory, and I am undone !”

Soon after this encounter, Pyrrhus devastated the territories of the countries in alliance with Rome. He laid siege to Capua, surprised Fregellae, and invested Praeneste, having advanced even within sight of Rome. Finding however that his march was producing no impression, he avoided an engagement offered him by Laevinus, and returned to Tarentum. What he had now learned of the Romans, convinced him that there was little prospect of an easy conquest over them; and he was very willing to enter into negotiations for a peace upon equal and honourable terms, his only stipulation being for an amnesty to the Tarentines, the Greek cities in Italy, and those states which had entered into an alliance with him. The senate seemed at first inclined to accept of these conditions; but they were dissuaded by Appius Claudius, who caused himself to be carried to the senate-house, blind as he was, that he might do his utmost to prevent a peace on any terms, except the immediate and unconditional departure of Pyrrhus from Italy. With this answer Cineas was obliged to depart from Rome, and both parties prepared for the renewal of hostilities. The consuls, P. Sulpicius and P. Decius, marched into Apulia, and were met by Pyrrhus near a little town called Asculum. There another battle was fought, which terminated in favour of the Romans, Pyrrhus finding it expedient to retire to Tarentum, and the Romans being in no condition to pursue, so obstinate had been the struggle, and so exhausted were both armies.

Pyrrhus, tired of a contest with such invincible foes, readily accepted an invitation from the Syracusans to assist them against the Carthaginians; and he passed over with a great part of his troops to Sicily. In that island he was at first successful; but fortune again began to frown upon him, and he was induced to relinquish his hopeless enterprise, and return to the aid of the Tarentines, who were nearly overpowered by the Romans. On his arrival, he recruited his army to the utmost of his power among the Samnites, Lucanians, and Bruttians, and prepared for a decisive effort. Nor were the Romans slack in their preparations: they sent the two consuls, Curius Dentatus and Cornelius Lentulus, at the head of two consular armies, the one into Lucania, the other into Samnium. Pyrrhus hastened to encounter Dentatus when separated from his colleague; and another desperate engagement took place near Beneventum. Pyrrhus bad advanced incautiously in the hope of surprising the consul; and failing in this attempt, was obliged to risk a battle in a disadvantageous position, and where his phalanx had not proper room for its ponderous evolutions. The superiority of the legion over the phalanx, and of the soldier who fights for his country over the mercenary, were soon apparent. The elephants were scared by torches and driven back on the army of Pyrrhus; the phalanx was forced into a crowded confusion where it could not act, and from which it could not extricate itself; and in' spite of the utmost skill and fierce valour of Pyrrhus himself, he sustained a complete rout, and fled with the wreck of his army to Tarentum. Thence he soon afterwards departed for Greece, leaving under the command of Milo, a small garrison in Tarentum, which shortly surrendered to the Romans. The Samnites were defeated with great slaughter, soon after the departure of Pyrrhus; and the Lucanians and Bruttians were also compelled to yield to the Roman arms. At the conclusion of this great war, Rome had established her supremacy over all the countries in Italy, from the northern frontiers of Etruria to the Sicilian straits, and from the Tyrrhenian sea to the Adriatic.

It cannot be doubted that the Roman arms triumphed in the Samnite, Latin, Etrurian, and Tarentine wars, very greatly in consequence of that cessation of civil dissensions which the Licinian laws had produced, and the corresponding accession of strength thereby gained. Yet even during these wars, there remained one grievance to be removed, and which was removed. The cruelty of a usurer towards one of his debtors, a youth of great personal elegance, excited the indignation of the people to such a degree, that the senate found it necessary to repeal the laws which gave creditors power over the persons of their debtors; and to enact, that thenceforth no person should be fettered and confined, except after conviction of a crime, and in order to punishment; and that for money due, the goods of a debtor should alone be answerable, and not his person. This enactment completed the charter of personal liberty to the Roman commons; but, as will afterwards be seen, it ultimately gave rise to consequences perhaps more fatal to public liberty.
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The extensive conquests which arose out of these wars, gave occasion to the full development of the leading views of Rome, respecting the political relations in which it was her pleasure to place the conquered with regard to herself. The chief means to which, even from the earliest times, the Romans had recourse for the foundation of their dominion over the conquered, and at the same time for the prevention of the too great increase of the needy classes at Rome, was the establishment of colonies of their own citizens, which served also as garrisons in the captured cities in which they were settled. Each colony had its own internal constitution, formed generally on the model of that of the mother-city; hence it naturally became an object of Roman policy to keep the colonies in perfect dependence. This colonial system of the Romans, which necessarily arose out of the custom of depriving the conquered of their lands and liberty, assumed its main features in the Samnite war, and gradually embraced the whole of Italy. But the relations subsisting between Rome and the Italian nations were extremely various in kind.

A few cities and nations enjoyed the full privileges of Roman citizenship; in some instances, however, even these were precluded from the right of voting in the comitia. These were the municipal states. The privileges of the colonies were of a more restricted nature: they were indeed in possession of their own civic government, but had no share whatever either in the comitia or the magistracies of Rome. The other inhabitants of Italy were either federates (socii, foedere juncti), or subjects (dedititii). The federates preserved their own internal form of government, but were obliged to furnish tribute and auxiliary troops. Their further relation with Rome depended upon the specific terms of their league. The most advantageous of these terms were in favour of the Latins, though each of the Latin cities had its own separate league; as the rest of the Italian nations had their separate treaty, (jus Ralieum). The subjects, on the other band (dedititii), were deprived of their internal constitutions, and were governed by Roman magistrates, annually renewed.

The internal constitution of Rome itself, now completed, bore the aspect of a democracy, inasmuch as equality of rights existed both for nobles and commons. Yet this democracy was modified by expedients so various and intricate; the rights of the people, the senate, and the magistrates, fitted so accurately into each other, and were so firmly supported by the national religion, connecting every thing with determinate forms, that there seemed to be no immediate reason to fear the evils of anarchy, or of military despotism; though the democratic character threatened the one, and the warlike temper of the nation the other, of these dangers. To obtain a right view of the constitution of Rome, thus modified, a few sentences stating the main outline may be given.

This constitution was not, as must already have been seen, the work of one great master-mind, but was the result of long contentions, innumerable temporary expedients, yielding successively as better were devised, aggressions mutually made by the opposing parties in their hour of strength, and concessions in that of weakness; and that steady equipoise obtained by the well-balanced action of opposing principles, knit together into the firmest and closest union by repeated heavings, subsidings, and conjunctions. The rights of the people consisted in the legislative power, so far as fundamental national principles were concerned, and in the election of the magistrates. The distinction between the comitia tributa, as independent of the senate, and the comitia centuriata, as dependent on the senate, still existed as to form, but had lost all its importance, the difference between patricians and plebeians being now merely nominal, and the establishment of the city tribes excluding the too great influence of the mere populace upon the comitia tributa. The rights of the senate consisted in administering and debating all ordinary national affairs, whether foreign relations, (war and peace only excepted, in which the consent of the people was necessary), financial concerns, or matters regarding domestic peace and security. But the manner in which the senate was supplied and maintained must have made it by far the most skilful political body at that time in the world. For a considerable period magisterial power had been the exclusive privilege of the patrician and senatorial order; but after the plebeians obtained equal access to these offices, the highest rank and power in the state offered a stimulus for exertion to the ambitious career of mental ability from every class and order, thus concentrating the collected mind of the nation, and from it forming a ruling body of unequalled wisdom, genius, and enterprise. The rights and rank of magistrates were founded on their right to the greater or lesser auspices, no public affair being undertaken without the auspices. He only, therefore, who was in possession of the rights of the greater auspices, could hold the highest civil and military power as dictator, consul, or praetor; such was not the case with those who held only the lesser auspices. The union of the highest civil and military power in the person of the same individual was not without inconvenience and danger; but military despotism was in some measure guarded against by the prohibition of any magistrate from possessing military command within Rome itself. But perhaps the most important of all the principles combined in the constitution of Rome, was the existence and recognised authority of its code of laws. To the sacred voice of public national law could appeal be made at all times, and on every occasion; and every civic struggle terminated by the addition of some new enactment, which defined the rights and privileges of the contending parties, and left a rule of conduct and a principle of appeal to succeeding ages. This ideal impersonation of law formed, on the one hand, a safeguard against the encroachments of the ruling power, or the deliberative body; while, on the other, the intemperate fervour of popular will was equally within its controlling influence. Religion and law were the ruling elements of the Roman constitution; and upon their inherent truth, purity, and power, or the reverse, depended the duration, or the ruin, of Roman virtue and Roman dominion.

Rome having now obtained the sovereignty of all Italy, was not long in finding employment for her victorious arms in another country. Sicily was the new field on which the strength of Rome was tried, and the Carthaginians were her new antagonists. It appears that a body of Samnite, or Sabellian youth, quitting their homes under the vow of a sacred spring, ^[27. For an account of the ver sacrum, see Niebuhr, vol. i. p. 92. ] had become mercenaries to Agathocles. After his death they seized upon the city Messina, in Sicily, and committed the grossest outrages upon the inhabitants. Having thus made the citizens, and indeed all the inhabitants of Sicily their enemies, these mercenaries (known by the name Mamertines, from the god Mamers, or Mars) sought the protection of the Romans. Some of them had previously applied to the Carthaginians; and while the Romans were hesitating about lending assistance to such disgraceful allies, the Carthaginians, somewhat less scrupulous, sent a body of troops, and took possession of the citadel of Messina. There had already been such intercourse between Rome and Carthage, as to make each city in some measure aware of the power and ambition of the other. The Roman senate speedily perceived, that if the Carthaginians obtained possession of Sicily, their own prospects of aggrandise[7:19:385]ment in that quarter would be at an end, and their formidable rival at the same time would have become their immediate neighbour.

An army under the command of the consul Appius Claudius was sent to the assistance of the Mamertines; and notwithstanding the superior power of the Carthaginians at sea, the consul found means to elude their fleet, and to take possession of Messina. Several victories were soon afterwards gained by the Romans; and Hiero, king of Syracuse, abandoned the Carthaginians, and formed an alliance with Rome. Agrigentum fell into the hands of the Romans after the defeat of a Carthaginian army, which had come to raise the siege, and the greater part of the interior of the island yielded to the power of Rome, while the fleets of Carthage kept possession of the sea-port towns, and thus maintained an equality. It was now evident to the Romans that the contest could come to no conclusion so long as their antagonists retained the supremacy of the sea; and they directed their most strenuous endeavours towards the construction of a fleet.

Being aware of their inferiority in naval affairs, the Romans first availed themselves of a large Carthaginian vessel driven ashore in a storm, as a model; and to counterbalance their deficiency in skill as mariners, they invented a machine called a corvus, which served both as a grappling-iron and a draw-bridge, the object of which was to enable them to come to close quarters, and encounter the Carthaginians man to man. Trusting to this new invention, the consul Duilius hazarded an engagement with the fleet of the enemy, rushed alongside their ships, locked them fast in the grapples of the corvus, and captured at the first onset, by boarding, no fewer than fifty gallies. The Carthaginian commander saved the remainder of his fleet by instant flight. To commemorate this their first naval victory, the Romans erected in the forum a column adorned with rostra, or beaks of ships. In a second naval action, fought near the island of Lipara, the Carthaginians lost eighteen vessels, of which eight were sunk and ten taken.

After the war had lasted about eight years, the Romans determined to invade Africa, being aware that the tyranny of Carthage had alienated many of the African nations. A fleet of three hundred and thirty ships was equipped for this daring attempt, and given to the consuls Regulus and Manlius. The Carthaginians were again defeated with great loss, sixty-four galleys being taken, and thirty destroyed. The victorious fleet was soon refitted, pursued its course, and landed the army near Clypea. A rapid succession of victories led the Romans to the very gates of Carthage. Tunis was taken, and the humbled enemy sought terms of peace. Regulus imposed demands so harsh, that they resolved to continue the war; to which they were the more encouraged, by the opportune arrival of a band of Greek mercenaries under the command of Xanthippus, a Spartan of high military talents. The army being entrusted to his command, he completely changed its tactics, formed it on the Lacedemonian plan, and sought an engagement with the Romans. A great battle was fought, the Romans were completely routed, and Regulus himself taken prisoner. A Roman fleet sent to succour the army defeated the Carthaginian fleet in its course; and the army, though reduced, routed the Carthaginians, no longer led by the brave Spartan. Being too weak, however, to remain in Africa, and distressed for want of provisions, the army embarked for Italy; but a violent storm wrecked on the coast of Sicily not less than two hundred and ninety ships, with all on board. A second fleet was also destroyed in a storm; and the Romans for a time abandoned the sea.

In Sicily Metellus defeated the Carthaginians with great slaughter; and the Romans gaining the ascendency in that island, laid siege to Lilybaeum. The Carthaginians, weakened and dispirited with their numerous losses, sent Regulus to Rome along with their ambassadors, expecting that he would persuade the senate to grant a peace. Instead of this, he dissuaded the senate, and recommended war, though aware of the sufferings he would have to endure on his return to Carthage. Some historians relate, that on his return he was tortured to death in the most cruel manner; others say that he was merely retained in close confinement, and died a natural death before the conclusion of the war. Again was the contest renewed, and at first not to the advantage of Rome. One fleet was worsted in battle, and another entirely destroyed off the coast of Sicily. The command of the Carthaginian forces in Sicily was given to Hamilcar Barcas, father of the celebrated Hannibal. By his skill and conduct the sinking cause of his country was vigorously sustained, till it seemed as if Carthage might yet be victorious. The Carthaginians made a last desperate effort to supply him with forces, and fitted out a large fleet for that purpose. The Romans had also redoubled their exertions for the same reason. The two fleets met near the islands Aegates, and the fortunes of Rome prevailed. A decisive battle was fought; fifty of the Carthaginian ships were sunk, and seventy taken, the power of Carthage was laid prostrate, and the empire of the seas transferred to Rome. Carthage was now obliged to accept whatever terms of peace Rome thought proper to propose: these were, that they should evacuate all the islands in the Mediterranean, restore the Roman prisoners without ransom, and pay for the defraying of the expenses of the war a thousand talents of silver immediately, and two thousand two hundred in the space of ten years, in equal payments.

Thus ended the first Punic war, after a contest of nearly twenty-four years’ duration. Its vicissitudes had severely tried the strength and the resources of Rome; but it extended her reputation and her political connexions very widely, preparing her for a career of foreign conquest. It awoke also in both republics, Rome and Carthage, an inextinguishable hatred of each other, such as could never be appeased but by the ruin of the one; and it inspired Rome with a desire of foreign conquest and dominion, and of the wealth to be thus gained, which speedily introduced corruption into the state, along with that accumulation of power in the hands of a few families, which in every country long wars inevitably confer on able warriors. In this manner the seeds of Roman greatness and Roman decay were sown at once, and began to grow up side by side. Their further progress we shall afterwards have occasion to notice and explain.

The peace which Rome enjoyed at the termination of the first Punic war was of no lengthened duration. The first hostilities in which she was engaged were directed against Teuta, queen of Illyricum. The Illyrians had been successful in a war against the Aetolians; and in the pride of their victory, they caused their fleets to scour the seas, and pillage those of every other nation without distinction, ln this piratical warfare some Roman ships were taken and plundered; and the Illyrians laid siege to Issa, a city which had put itself under the protection of Rome. When the Roman ambassadors demanded restitution, and required Teuta to restrain her subjects from such piracies, she both returned a haughty answer, and procured the murder of the ambassadors. Upon this the Romans declared war against the Illyrians. In the course of the war they gained the naval supremacy over the Adriatic, subdued the Illyrians, and entered into alliance with the various states of Greece which had suffered from the depredations of the Illyrian pirates. This alliance was of the utmost importance to Rome, not only in opening the way for her future interference in the affairs of Greece and of Asia, but also in enabling her to divide her enemies, and prevent the formation of dangerous confederacies against her, when not prepared to meet them.

The Illyrian war had scarcely terminated when one of a [7:19:386]more formidable character commenced with the Cisalpine Gauls. Tribes of that great people had repeatedly served as mercenaries against Rome during the Etruscan and Samnite wars. After the conclusion of these wars, the Romans subdued the Livonian Gauls, and planted a colony in their country near Lena. A new influx of the Transalpine Gauls gave courage to their countrymen to renew the war, and a furious contest soon began. The Gauls were at length defeated with great slaughter near Clusium; and the Romans following up their success, invaded the Gallic country around the Po. The Gauls were again defeated by Marcellus, and compelled to sue for peace, which the Romans granted, establishing at the same time colonies at Placentia and Cremona. It seems worthy of record, that the number of men capable of bearing arms throughout the Roman dominions in Italy, as ascertained by the levies of that dangerous juncture, amounted to 800,000.

Meanwhile the Carthaginians had been making great exertions to recruittheir strength for another struggle with their great rival. Being prohibited from extending their influence in Sicily, they had sought compensation by attempting the subjugation of Spain. The command of their armies in Spain had devolved upon Hannibal, the son of that Hamilcar who had distinguished himself towards the close of the former war in Sicily. The father of Hannibal had made him swear perpetual hostility to Rome; and from his boyhood his mind had been continually engaged in devising the ruin of that detested city. He had prosecuted his conquests in Spain with the view of obtaining a veteran army, and a source of auxiliary supply from the warlike nations in that country; and when his designs were matured, he laid siege to Saguntum, which was understood to be under the protection of Rome. Having treated with contempt the remonstrances of the Roman ambassadors, he took possession of this city. The senate of Carthage having approved of his conduct, war was declared, and both parties prepared for the impending conflict, well knowing that its progress must be sanguinary, and the result ruinous to the one or the other of the rival republics. (As this war is detailed at some length in the article Carthage, we must refer to it for a more particular account of the contest.)

Hannibal having completed his preparations, set out from Spain, for the invasion of Italy, at the head of a veteran army of 50,000 foot, and 9000 horse. He rapidly traversed Gaul, crossed the Rhone, and commenced the passage of the Alps, led by Insubrian guides. This almost impracticable attempt he achieved in fifteen days; and, on mustering his army in the plains of Insubria, found it reduced to 20,000 foot, and 6000 horse. His army was soon considerably increased by the Gallic nations; and, in a comparatively slight encounter near the Ticinus, he worsted the consul Scipio, and soon afterwards completely defeated Sempronius near the Trebia. The victorious Carthaginian then advanced towards Rome, devastating the country through which he was maiching, and making it his object to irritate the impetuous spirit of the consul Flaminius. In this he was completely successful, and having drawn him into an ambush at the lake Thrasymenus, entirely defeated him. The consul himself fell in the battle, with 15,000 of his bravest troops, and a great number were taken prisoners. Such was the fury of the encounter, that the combatants were insensible of the shock of an earthquake which happened during the engagement.

Rome was now in a state of great alarm, having suffered successive defeats in Italy itself, and seeing the victor pursuing his course unchecked through the land. Fabius Maximus was chosen dictator, and immediately adopted a totally different plan of opposing the enemy. He studiously avoided battle, kept his army on the hills, watched Hannibal, cut off his supplies, and did every thing calculated to wear out an invading army, which is necessarily remote from its supplies. By this skilful policy he both saved his own army, and greatly harassed that of his antagonist; and from it was surnamed Cunctator, the Delayer.

The Romans having recovered from their consternation, raised another levy of troops, augmenting their armies to 87,000 men, under the command of Terentius Varro and Aemilius Paullus, of whom the former was rash and headstrong, the latter a cautious imitator of Fabius. Availing himself of the impetuosity of Varro, Hannibal obtained his wish in a general engagement near Cannae in Apulia, where, by his superior skill, he inflicted on the Romans the most dreadful overthrow they had ever sustained since the battle of Alia. The consul Aemilius, and about 45,000 men, of the very flower and strength of his army, were left dead on the field, and about 10,000 were taken in the pursuit. Rome seemed now open to the conqueror; but his army had suffered too severely to venture on so hazardous an enterprise, and he turned aside to Campania, and wintered in Capua.

It was manifestly Hannibal’s object to encourage the states of Southern, or Lower Italy, to revolt against Rome, that he might recruit his forces from among them, and so be enabled to continue the war with renewed strength. To a considerable extent he was successful, especially among the Lucanians, Bruttians, Apulians, and even Campanians. He sent Mago to Carthage, to urge them to transmit supplies with all possible despatch, that he might follow up his blow, before Rome should have recovered from her consternation. But though the Barcine party predominated in the Carthaginian senate, such was the influence of the opposite faction, that he obtained only a very limited number of supplies; and these were to be sent to Spain, whence he might draft a corresponding number of the veteran troops stationed there. This, indeed, was part of Hannibal’s original plan, that he might have at least one resource beyond the caprice of faction, though greatly too remote from the scene of action to be immediately or securely available.

At Rome the greatest exertions were made to remedy the disastrous consequences of the terrible defeat of Cannae. All ranks and every age, from the boy of seventeen to the retired veteran, were enrolled; and nearly all the gold ornaments worn by persons of wealth and distinction, were voluntarily given up to meet the exigencies of the state. In a short time an army was raised, superior in numbers to that commanded by Hannibal; and the celebrated Marcellus was placed at its head. In vain had Hannibal waited at Capua for supplies from Africa; none were sent, and he was obliged to prepare to contend singly against Roman courage and Roman despair. He sustained a check at Nola; and not long afterwards Marcellus inflicted on him a partial defeat, by which the courage of the Romans was greatly restored. The tide of success began now to recede from Hannibal. He was unable to prevent the Romans from besieging and taking Capua, though he both attempted to storm their camp, and, failing in that, marched to Rome, to call away their armies for the defence of tile city. They disregarded his threatening demonstration, continued the siege, took the city, and inflicted severe punishment on the Capuans.

The fall of Capua was highly injurious to Hannibal, tending to discourage other Italian states from joining an ally who could not protect them against the fierce vengeance of' Rome. On this account he failed to obtain supplies to his waning army, while the Romans speedily replaced every loss with fresh recruits. These hopes being frustrated, Hannibal entered into an alliance with Philip king of Macedon; but here the fortunes and the policy of Rome likewise prevailed. The Illyrian war had caused the Romans to be regarded as protectors by the Grecian states, who, a [7:19:387]the same time, were jealous of the power of Philip. No sooner, therefore, did the Macedonian king manifest his disposition to form a confederacy with Hannibal against Rome, than the Roman ambassadors were able to excite against him such hostility among the neighbouring states of Greece, as to prevent the possibility of his making a descent on Italy to aid the terrible Carthaginian. This is a very striking instance of the deep policy of Rome; by means of which she was always able to keep a powerful enemy in check till she might have leisure to collect her strength for a decisive effort.

Notwithstanding these disappointments, Hannibal continued to maintain his ground, repulsing the most daring assailants, and out-manoeuvring the most skilful. Marcellus, who had conquered Sicily, and again returned to Italy, and who was the most gallant opponent ever Hannibal met, was at last drawn into an ambush and slain. But still, without supplies, the Carthaginian army must melt away; and Hannibal’s hopes of ultimate success now depended upon the army led by his brother Asdrubal reaching him safely from Spain. His hopes from Sicily, Macedonia, and Africa, had failed; though it was doubtless to secure them that he had made Lower Italy the basis of his operations; and he now waited eagerly the arrival of his brother. Asdrubal had in the mean time left Spain, crossed the Pyrenees, and the Alps, and entered Cisalpine Gaul, where he was joined by considerable numbers of the natives. A messenger, whom he sent to apprise Hannibal of his approach, was intercepted; the consul Nero hastened to join bis colleague Livius, and assailing Asdrubal on the banks of the Metaurus in a disadvantageous position, they completely routed his whole army. Asdrubal himself was slain, and 56,000 of his army fell with him on the fatal field. The first tidings which Hannibal received of his brother’s defeat and death, was by the head of that luckless brother being thrown into his camp. From that time forward the contest was without hope on the part of the Carthaginians. The Roman consuls were not indeed able to cope with even an enfeebled army commanded by Hannibal; but the youthful Scipio, having been sent to Spain, speedily overran it, and reduced the greater part of it to complete subjection, putting an end to Carthaginian power in that quarter. On bis return he obtained permission, against the opinion of Fabius, to transfer the war to Africa.

The invasion of Africa by Scipio, so alarmed the Cartha ginians, that they immediately recalled Hannibal from Italy for the defence of Cathage itself. To this command Hannibal most reluctantly submitted; and quitted Italy with expressions of the utmost mortification and regret. In the mean while, Scipio had approached to the near vicinity of Carthage. The two armies met at Zama, to decide the fate of Rome and Carthage, and, with them, of the world. The battle was obstinate and bloody, but the Roman army was decidedly superior in numbers, and still more so in that high hope which so often determines the day; so that, in spite of the utmost exertion of his unrivalled military skill, Hannibal saw his army completely overthrown. Carthage had now no resource but in peace; and she was compelled to submit to the terms dictated by Scipio. These terms were abundantly severe; that the Carthaginians should retain in Africa only the territory annexed to their government; that they should yield up all their elephants, and all their ships of war, except ten triremes; that they should pay at specified times ten thousand talents of silver; that they should commence no war without the consent of Rome; and that they should restore all Numidia to Massinissa, and give an hundred hostages for the performance of the treaty. Thus ended the second Punic war, after having shaken Rome to her centre, and threatened for a time to change the destinies of western Europe, and, with that, the destinies of mankind; yet the result was exactly correspondent to the character and resources of the two great rival republics.

Rome had now removed her mighty rival from the strife of nations, and saw the sceptre of universal dominion but little removed beyond her own grasp. The Roman senate had fully entered upon that course of far-sighted policy, which enabled them to gratify and amuse the nation with foreign conquest, the wealth and powers of which they almost wholly engrossed. Such was its aspect and aim at home; while with regard to foreign nations, the constant policy pursued was to grant assistance to the weaker states against the stronger, and by taking them under Roman protection, to have at all times the means of provoking a contest, whenever it seemed conducive to her interest. The character of Rome, as a great military republic, was now completely developed, as the overbearing friend or the jealous foe of overy other state.

The next field of Roman warfare was Macedon. Philip, the king of that country, ambitious of obtaining the sovereignty over Greece, made some aggressions on the Athenians. They complained to Rome, which soon led to a declaration of war against that monarch, and the sending of an army to carry hostilities into his dominions. The management of the war was entrusted to T. Quintus Flaminius, whose diplomatic skill was still more conspicuous than his military talents. After several inferior engagements, a great battle was fought at Cynoscephalae, in which the Macedonians were completely routed, and Philip compelled to submit to such terms as the conqueror pleased to dictate. The chief of these were the reduction of his fleet, and his abandonment of all pretensions to the sovereignty of Greece, the various states of which were taken under the protection of Rome. At the conclusion of this war, the politic Roman, or rather the wily Italian, caused the liberty of Greece to be publicly proclaimed at the Isthmian games; while the lavish expressions of gratitude uttered by the thoughtless crowds were the gilding of the chains by which they were securely fettered.

Rome still regarded Carthage with a jealous eye, and could not feel secure so long as the dreaded Hannibal influenced her councils, and might again lead her armies. Fearing that his dispirited countrymen would surrender him to his implacable enemies, that great man fled to the court of Antiochus, king of Syria. About the same time the Aetolians, being dissatisfied with the conduct of the Romans, besought the aid of Antiochus, who was already quite disposed to interfere in the affairs of Greece. He accordingly seized upon Euboea, and proceeded to take measures for additional aggressions on states which claimed the protection of Rome. War was immediately declared against him, and an army sent into Greece, under the command of the consul Glabrio, who defeated the Syrians at the pass of Ther-mopylae. Next year Lucius Scipio, brother to the conqueror of Carthage, Africanus, was sent against Antiochus, accompanied by his brother as legate. They reduced Greece to subjection, and crossing into Asia, defeated Antiochus in a great battle at Magnesia. Antiochus purchased peace, by resigning all his possessions in Europe, and those in Asia north of Mount Taurus, paying 15,000 Euboean talents, and promising to give up Hannibal. The latter vindictive article caused the flight of Hannibal to Prusias, king of Bithynia; but being still pursued by the remorseless hatred of Rome, he put an end to his mortal existence by swallowing poison, which for such an emergency he always carried with him.

The war with Antiochus fairly introduced Rome to the beginning of her oriental sovereignty; and the battle of Magnesia may be viewed as the event which terminated the Grecian or Macedonian sway as a universal empire. Little absolute territory was indeed gained by Rome in this preliminary war; but at its conclusion she saw both Macedon [7:19:388]and Syria reduced to a state of dependence on her imperious will, with the Grecian states in the condition of ready instruments in her hands of future aggrandisement, whenever she might be disposed to take or make an opportunity.

It is even painful to state, that after the conclusion of the Antiochian war, the two Scipios were accused of having received bribes from that monarch, and ofhaving embezzled the public money. Africanus went into voluntary exile at Liternum, where he died the same year that Hannibal fell a victim to the cruel and mean revenge of Rome. Asiaticus refused to pay the fine exacted, and all his property was confiscated.

A new Macedonian war soon arose, caused by the imperious authority assumed and exercised by the Roman ambassadors over the conduct of the king. Philip had endured their control with impatience; but his son Perseus was less able to suppress his dissatisfaction, and hostilities were soon commenced. The war for a time was favourable to the Macedonians, who gained one considerable victory, and were successful in several conflicts of smaller importance. At length the command was given to Paulus Aemilius, an old and skilful general, under whose care the aspect of affairs changed. A decisive battle was fought near the city Pydna, remarkable as the conclusion both of the Macedonian kingdom and the Macedonian phalanx. In the first shock of battle the phalanx was irresistible, and bore down all opposition; but the skilful Roman general, by causing his men to retire fighting, and lead the phalanx upon broken and uneven ground, obliged it to open its dense array of serried pikes, when the legionary soldiers immediately penetrating these openings like a wedge, rent asunder the unwieldy mass, and scattered it into hopeless and irretrievable confusion and rout, like the bursting of a cloud of vapour by a whirlwind. Perseus was captured soon after the battle, and reserved to grace the victor’s triumph. Macedonia, Epirus, and Illyricum, were reduced to the condition of provinces, and the foundation of a foreign territorial empire laid, was instead of one merely of influence and military power.

The utter destruction of Carthage was next resolved upon, partly through the vindictive remembrance of the terror which Rome had formerly felt from Carthaginian prowess, partly from the instigation of the stern, haughty, and implacable Cato the censor. A pretext for a war was not difficult to find, though the Carthaginians endeavoured to avert their fate by even the most abject submission. But when the Romans, after inducing them to yield up their weapons, informed them that they must abandon their city, witness its demolition, and remove to a new position remote from the sea, despair itself roused them to make the fiercest resistance. They sprung at once into an attitude of the most determined defiance, forged new weapons, framed new military engines, the women cutting off their hair to form ropes to work their machinery; and clad in glittering panoply, they manned their walls, and met the unappeasable hatred of Rome with hatred not less keen and mortal. The Roman armies sustained several reverses; but under the command of Scipio Aemilianus, son of Paulus Aemilius, and adopted son of Scipio Africanus, victory again began to crown their efforts. After a fierce and protracted struggle, the Romans forced their way into the city on the side next the port, and obtained possession of the city wall. But the conflict was not over though the city wall was seized. The Carthaginians fought from street to street, from house to house; and the Romans gained the city but by yards and inches, every house being contested from the ground floor to the roof, like a separate fortress. At length all was carried but the citadel and the temple of Aesculapius. These the Romans were prepared to storm, when the citadel surrendered, Asdrubal, who had the command, yielding to Scipio, on condition that his life should be spared. Those who had fled to the temnle, some of whom were deserters from the

Roman army, prepared to destroy it and themselves by fire, rather than fall into the hands of the Romans. Among these was the wife of Asdrubal, who had been placed in the temple before her husband yielded to Scipio. Seeing Asdrubal along with the Roman general, and detesting his cowardice, she arrayed herself in her richest attire, took her two children with her, and displaying herself on the top of the temple, upbraided her husband, stabbed her two children before his face, and threw them into the flames, which were now bursting furiously from the interior. She then sprung after them into the heart of the blazing ruin. Thus perished Carthage, leaving Rome to pursue unrivalled her guilty and self-destroying career.

While the third Punic war was still raging, hostilities again broke out in Macedonia, excited by an impostor named Andriscus, who, pretending to be the son of Philip, instigated the disaffected Macedonians to throw off the Roman yoke, and forming an alliance with the Thracians, strove to accomplish his purpose by force of arms. Metellus, after a short struggle, overpowered the insurgent Macedonians, and then attempted to procure the dissolution of the Achaean league. This led to the Achaean war, which terminated in the complete subjugation of Greece, and its reduction to the form of a Roman province. Mummius the consul, who conducted this war, sacked and burned Corinth; and after having pillaged the city of its most valuable effects, its rich paintings and beautiful sculptures, demolished its walls, temples, and public buildings, and reduced it to a heap of blackened ruins. The plundered ornaments of Corinth were sent by the consul to Rome; and it has been recorded, proving at once his care and his ignorance, that he stipulated with the masters of the vessels employed in transporting these matchless treasures of art, that “if they suffered any of them to be lost or injured, they should furnish others in their stead.”

Another enemy of still more stubborn mould continued to engage the attention of Rome, and to put to the severest test the courage of her armies and the skill of her generals. The wars and conquests of the Carthaginians in Spain had directed the attention of the Romans to that country; and a war for the
awowed
purpose of its subjugation was begun soon after the expulsion of the Carthaginians. Partly in consequence of the defensible nature of the country, abounding in mountain ridges and deep and rapid streams, and partly from the brave and determined character of the inhabitants, the war was protracted, obstinate, and bloody. Repeatedly did the arms of Rome sustain signal reverses; and still with invincible energy of will was the contest maintained. At length the Lusitanians obtained a leader under whom they seemed likely to secure their possession of liberty and independence. This was Viriatus, a shepherd, a hunter, a robber, and finally a military hero, almost unrivalled in fertility of resources under defeat, skill in the conduct of his forces, and courage in the hour of battle. Like the guerilla leaders of modern times, he knew how to avail himself of the wild chivalry of his countrymen, and the almost impenetrable fastnesses of his country; but, superior to them, he was equally able to guide a troop and to marshall an army. Six years did he maintain the contest; and at length the consul Caepio, unable to subdue him in the field, procured his assassination. The Lusitanians, deprived of their brave leader, were soon afterwards completely subdued.

Undismayed by the overthrow of their countrymen, the Numantines still maintained the unequal conflict against the collected might of Rome. Pompey was baffled; his successor Mancinus shared a similar disgrace; and at length the Romans raised Scipio Aemilianus, the conqueror of Carthage, to the consulship, and assigned him Spain as his province, and even prolonged his command, after the expiration of his year as proconsul. At the head of a large army he [7:19:389]closely invested the town, and began the siege. The Numantines made the most desperate defence; and after more than six months of almost incessant assault and repulse, the citizens destroyed their wives and children, set lire to the city, and by the flames or mutual slaughter perished to a man, leaving to Scipio to triumph, not over Numantia, but over the smouldering tomb of its unconquered children.

Amidst these triumphs of her arms, the policy of Rome obtained an acquisition more important in some respects, but also of darker omen. Attalus, king of Pergamus, at his death, bequeathed his dominions to the Roman republic; and the senate, disregarding the remonstrances of Aristonicus, the natural heir, immediately took possession of this valuable inheritance. By what means Attalus had been induced to make this strange bequest, has never been accurately stated; but thus, by some deep stroke of policy, Rome acquired possession of the largest and fairest portion of Asia Minor. The extensive provinces now held by Rome caused a very great and fatal alteration in part of her international policy. The inhabitants of these countries were entirely subject to Rome; and the administration of them was conducted by those who had enjoyed the office of consuls, and by praetors, subordinate to whom were the quaestors, or collectors of the revenue. Till about this time praetors were expressly appointed to each province; but it now began to grow customary for the praetors who had vacated office to succeed to the provinces, under the name of pro-praetors. The highest military and civil powers were united in these governors; and being thus prolonged in a species of self-appointed and irresponsible tenure of office, the consequence was equally injurious to the provinces, in the oppression and extortion inflicted on them, and to Rome, in the degeneracy thus fatally introduced. From this time forward Roman virtue was little but a name; while the armies and generals of the haughty and corrupt republic fought not so much for fame and dominion, as for the means of gratifying licentiousness and avarice.

The destructive consequences of Roman corruption and degeneracy soon became but too manifest in the seditions and civil broils which sprung up, and found no end but in the overthrow of the republic itself. It may be expedient to devote a few sentences to an explanation of the causes and the nature of the dissensions by which the very existence of the state was endangered; especially, as owing to the resemblance which they bear to the ancient contests between the patricians and the plebeians, they are liable to be misunderstood, as if they were merely a renewal of those ancient broils. ^[28. See Heeren’s History of the Revolution of the Gracchi. ] They were, however, essentially different. The contests between the patrician populus and the plebeian commons of Rome’s earlier days was for the possession of the rights and privileges of citizenship, which was at first enjoyed by the patrician order alone, and for an equal share in which the plebeians strove. These contests had terminated soon after the passing of the Licinian law, and the admission of all orders alike to an equality in rights, privileges, and eligibility to all offices in the state. From that period, though the designations of patricians and plebeians might still be retained, the essential distinctions between them had ceased to exist; and whatever contests arose, sprung from causes entirely different.

Although there had long ceased to be any legal distinction between the patricians and the plebeians, so that they could not accurately be regarded as different orders in the state, yet there continued to subsist the great difference between wealth and poverty, aggravated by the fact, that the senate wielded the entire power of the republic, and in general engrossed its emoluments. In consequence of this exclusive possession of power, the senators had gradually acquired the almost equally exclusive possession of that portion of the lands of conquered states which the laws of Rome devoted to the commonwealth. The Licinian law had been passed to prevent this unjust seizure of the public lands by the patricians, but was insufficient for that purpose, even its author being convicted of violating it soon after its enactment. While the attention of the state was almost incessantly occupied with the management of public wars, the senatorial body imperceptibly gained possession of the public lands, by grants, by pretended purchase, or in some instances by fair means, farming them from the state, in others by forcible seizure. In this manner the patricians, though no longer a peculiar order, possessing distinctive privileges in the state, became a wealthy and powerful aristocracy, engrossing nearly all public influence by means of their wealth, as their ancestors had done by means of their exclusive citizenship.

On the other hand, the great body of the citizens, deprived of their due share of the public lands, and not permitted by law to engage extensively in commerce, which was the privilege of the equestrian order, possessed the rights of freemen, and the privilege of voting, as citizens in all public matters in the comitia, notwithstanding their extreme poverty. Not obtaining their due share of the public lands, and not being permitted by the wealthy patricians to farm them, which they rather entrusted to their slaves, these poorer citizens were reduced to the necessity of resorting to Rome, and attaching
themelves
to one or other of the more powerful and wealthy of the patricians, by whom they were supported in return for their votes in the comitia. Thus the wealth of the one partly enabled them to purchase, and the poverty of the other obliged them to sell, those rights of voting on all public matters, which, instead of being the safeguards of freedom, became the very elements of tyranny and licentiousness. This consequence seems to have been foreseen, and partly guarded against, by the institution of the city tribes, for the purpose of preventing the undue influence of what was truly a city rabble, devoid of the means of subsistence, although voting in the public assemblies. But this preventive measure was not sufficient. The immense wealth which flowed into the public treasury from the tribute of conquered provinces, and into the coffers of the chief senators, from their public lands, the command of armies and of provinces, together with other public employments, enabled the state, as such, to maintain in idleness, by donations of money and provisions, great numbers of the people, whose votes they thus secured; and the wealthy families to maintain great numbers more, who might be either added to the supporters of the senate, or employed as the partizans of ambitious individuals. In this manner did it come to pass, that the main body of the citizens of Rome had sunk to the very lowest depth of poverty and venal degradation, and was ripe for any sedition or the perpetration of any crime. At the same time these idle and dependent citizens must have been often exposed to the real ills and sufferings of poverty; and must have been often impelled to view with bitter envy the excessive wealth of their more fortunate countrymen, whose equals nevertheless they knew themselves to be in the eye of the law. That feelings fiercely democratical should spring up in the breasts of those who were at one time supported, and at another time trampled on, by a proud and avaricious aristocracy, which the senate had become, was both natural and inevitable; and that some measure should be framed to check the increasing disparity between the wealthy and the poor, and to prevent the enormous accumulation of wealth in the hands of the senate as a body, or of a few families in that body, was absolutely indispensable to the permanent well-being of the republic. But such a measure would have required to be framed with the most consum∙*
[7:19:390]

mate judgment, and conducted with the utmost skill, caution, and prudence, as its failure could not but aggravate all the evils which it had been intended to cure.

In this crisis of affairs at Rome; when a conflict was on the eve of bursting forth, not between patricians and plebeians, as distinct orders in the state, but between the rich and the poor, on account of the unequal distribution of property, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus appeared on the scene, and assumed the advocacy of popular rights. He was a man of great natural abilities, which had received the utmost degree of cultivation, through the care of his mother, the celebrated Cornelia, and the example of his relatives, the Scipios. Circumstances had led him to mark the baneful practice of the wealthy families, in assigning to slaves the cultivation of their lands, and thus causing the removal to the city of that class of free and privileged men, who ought to have been the main proprietors and tenants of the soil, which the valour of their fathers and of themselves had won for Rome. The evil consequences of thus forming a population of agricultural slaves, and needy citizens prepared for every enormity, both by their degradation and their distress, arrested the attention of Gracchus; and he resolved to exert himself for the removal of that corruption which was already preying so deeply on the vitals of the commonwealth. His desire was to relieve the distress of the lower orders, and to prevent the danger of their relapse into an equally unfavourable condition. Having been elected tribune of the people, he availed himself of his official power, and proposed a better division of the public lands. At first he sought merely the re-enactment of the Licinian law in a modified form, somewhat better suited to the altered circumstances of the republic. In this he was strenuously opposed by the senate, and also by one of his colleagues in the tribunate; Octavius. The opposition, instead of inducing Gracchus to adopt more prudent methods of conciliation, roused his indignation, and from a patriot, anxious only to promote the public weal, converted him into a demagogue, determined to effect his purpose by whatever means and at whatever hazard to his country’s welfare. He brought forward a new law much more harsh in its provisions than the Licinian; and being still opposed by Octavius, he procured his ejection from the tribuneship, contrary to the principles of the constitution, which he thus himself set the example of violating. He then carried the new law, and got himself, his brother, and his father-in-law appointed as commissioners for surveying the public lands, and taking steps preparatory to a new division.

Had Gracchus contented himself with these enactments, and done his utmost to carry them into peaceful execution, he might after all have been regarded as a true patriot, and might have been the preserver of his country; but he now found himself in the position, into which, sooner or later, every demagogue finds himself driven. It had become necessary for him to retain popular support, even for his own personal safety, if he should remain at Rome after the expiration of his year of tribuneship. He therefore introduced other measures more calculated to maintain his popularity, than to promote the true interests of the community. He proposed a distribution of the treasures of Attalus among the people; a reduction of the period of military service; and the right of appeal from the sentence of the judges to the people. Measures so glaringly democratic incensed the senate to the very highest degree; and as his tribune-ship was now nearly expired, during which his person was inviolable, he endeavoured to procure his re-election as a tribune, both that he might retain the power of pressing forward his proposed enactments, and for the security of his personal safety. The aristocratic party in the senate were now resolved to have recourse to any method of removing such a dangerous foe. They mustered all their partizans, disturbed the proceedings of the comitia, and interrupted them both by intrigues and violence. At length, on the second day of the comitia, held for the election of tribunes, when both parties had mustered in full force, Tiberius wishing to inform the people that his life was in danger, and the tumult being too great for him to be heard, raised his hand to his head; this gesture the opposite party misinterpreted into a sign of his wish that the people should crown him; and Scipio Nasica rushed out of the senate-house at the head of the most determined of its members, loudly accusing Gracchus of a conspiracy to make himself king. A fierce conflict ensued, the friends of Gracchus dispersed and fled, and he was killed during the confusion of the tumult. About three hundred of the democratic party fell along with their leader, and their bodies were cast into the Tiber.

Thus terminated the attempt of the elder Gracchus to reform the abuses which were rapidly destroying the virtue of the Roman state and people; and like all unsuccessful attempts, it but served to consolidate more firmly what it had shaken, but not removed. The senate did not indeed venture directly to repeal the Sempronian law for the division of the public land, which had superseded that of Licinius, but left it to fall into desuetude like its predecessor. In the contest, however, both parties had been guilty of the most glaring violations of both law and justice; both parties contemned the fundamental principles of the constitution; and both manifested an utter disregard for the true welfare of the republic, in their eager endeavours to prosecute their self-interested views. How different from the early struggles between the patrician and plebeian bodies, in which no blood was shed by either party, and the utmost that even the oppressed plebeians threatened, was to forsake the city which denied them the rights of citizens! But the love of country had perished in the sordid pursuit of wealth; and there no longer remained enough of true patriotism to impel the contending parties to resort to mutual concessions for the general good. A contest so begun and so waged, could have no other termination than in the complete destruction of the one or the other of the contending bodies, or in the overthrow of both by some designing and powerful usurper, and thus in the total subversion of the constitution and the extinction of Roman liberty.

Within the course of a few years the contest was renewed, and with more determination and energy than before, under the conduct of Caius Gracchus, the younger brother of Tiberius. During the interval that elapsed between the death of Tiberius and the public appearance of Caius, the tribunes of the people had prosecuted their endeavours to increase their own power, especially in the renewal of their tenure of official dignity. The senate managed to impede their endeavours chiefly by bestowing on them such employments as required them to be absent from Rome; and Caius himself was detained as quaestor in Sicily, even beyond the legal term of that office. Immediately on his return he was chosen tribune of the people, and forthwith resumed with double energy the enterprise of his brother. His first object was to enforce the Agrarian law’s of his brother, which had hitherto been kept in abeyance, and to renew the commission appointed to survey the public lands. Being chosen a second time to the tribuneship, he procured the enactment of a law transferring the judicial power entirely from the senate to the equestrian order; and he even attempted to procure the addition of three hundred knights to the senate, for the purpose of overpowering their deliberations by the votes of his own partizans. Another of his laws provided that the soldiers should be clothed at the expense of the public, without diminution of their pay; another secured the regular distribution of corn to the poor [7:19:391]citizens; and another proposed the granting of the privileges of Roman citizenship to all the Italian allies, as also the formation of colonies, not only in Italy, but in the provinces, and in particular at Carthage. By these popular enactments he raised himself to such a height of power in the state, that the senate did not venture to oppose him by direct means, but first endeavoured secretly to diminish his influence with the people. Forthis purpose they encouraged Livius Drusus, another tribune, to rival Gracchus in the race of popularity, by producing measures of a still more democratic nature, which measures the senate readily consented to pass, thinking by this deep yet base policy to weaken the power of Gracchus before attempting any more direct attack upon him. Such was the fickleness and venality of the democratic party, that they soon began to applaud Drusus above their recent leader; and when Caius stood candidate a third time for the tribuneship, he was unsuccessful. The senate saw the hour of retribution at hand, Opimius, the most daring of the aristocratic party, was elected consul, and the two factions prepared for a final struggle.

An accidental quarrel, in which Antylias, one of the consul’s lictors, was killed by the friends of Gracchus, precipitated the strife. The senate conferred the dictatorial power on Opimius in the usual terms. Gracchus with his followers took possession of the Aventine hill, and attempted to open a negotiation with the consul. This was refused, and an unconditional surrender required, which not being yielded, the consul attacked the insurgents, gained the hill, and slew great numbers of them; and Gracchus himself, after a fruitless endeavour to save his life by flight, fell either by his own hand, or by that of a faithful slave who accompanied him, and from whom he exacted this bloody proof of fidelity. Not less than three thousand of the friends and followers of Gracchus fell in this ill-omened struggle; and their bodies were ignominiously cast into the Tiber, as those of traitors to the commonwealth, and conspirators against its laws and government.

These contests, known in history by the designation of “the seditions of the Gracchi,” shewed but too plainly that the ancient patriotic spirit of Rome had departed, never more to return. The attempt to check the growth of the already exorbitant wealth and power of the nobles had utterly failed; failed, although all legal and constitutional means had been exerted for its enforcement; failed even partly in consequence of the violent methods pursued with a view to compel its adoption; failed by being met with at least equally subtle, unconstitutional, and violent opposition; and the two antagonist powers, wealth and poverty, avarice and wretchedness, equally corrupt and unprincipled, sunk for a time into quiescence, though unreconciled, waiting but for another opportunity toburst into fiercer and more implacable hostility. The fires of the feud were not extinguished by the defeat and death of the Gracchi; they were but covered up with deceitful ashes, beneath which they smouldered scarcely observed, but acquiring tenfold strength, and preparing for an eruption which should devastate not Italy alone, but every region of the Roman world.

Within a few years after the death of Caius Gracchus, the senate not only found means to evade the Agrarian law, but also to procure its repeal; and even the land-tax which had been introduced as an intermediate step, the produce of which was to be distributed among the people, was annulled; and on the one hand, the extortion and rapacity of the nobles, and on the other, the degeneracy of the populace, proceeded with increased rapidity. Neither the authority of the censors, nor the enactment of sumptuary laws, could retard the luxuries of the wealthy; while the very means taken to support the poorer classes out of the surplus riches of the state and of great families, increased their venality, turbulence, and licentiousness.

This universal corruption of public morals was manifested in a very striking manner in the next great war into which Rome entered, which was that against Jugurtha. This crafty and far-sighted Numidian had served in the Roman armies, and made himself intimately acquainted with both the strength and the weakness of the Roman character. Having been left joint-heir to the kingdom of Numidia, along with his two cousins, the sons of Micipsa, he resolved to sieze the whole, and procured the murder of the one, while the other fled for safety and redress to Rome. But at Rome Jugurtha’s gold was more powerful than the appeals of the wronged Adherbal; and the senate decreed that the kingdom should be divided equally between the two. Scarcely had Adherbal returned to Numidia, when Jugurtha, stimulated to fresh crimes by his recently experienced impunity, declared war against his cousin, obtained possession of his person, and put him to death in violation of the terms of his surrender. The tribune Memmius constrained the senate to declare war against the usurper; which was frustrated by his purchasing a peace of the consul. He was then ordered to repair to Rome, under safe conduct, to answer for his guilt. Once more was the Numidian gold too powerful for the course of justice, and Jugurtha would have been acquitted, had he not again embrued his hands in the blood of another kinsman. He was now ordered to quit Rome, return to his dominions, and there prepare either to submit unconditionally, or to meet the utmost hostility of the offended and outraged republic. The war was conducted for a time with little success on the part of the Romans, till the command was entrusted to Metellus, a man of great military skill and incorruptible integrity. When this general had almost completed the conquest of Numidia, he was supplanted in the command by Caius Marius, a man of the lowest extraction, but of great abilities, courage, and force of character, and of at least equal perfidy, deceitfulness, and ferocity, who, by his popular talents, and his intriguing spirit, had got himself raised to the consulship. Marius speedily reduced Jugurtha to the necessity of taking refuge with Bocchus king of Mauritania, defeated the united armies of these two monarchs, and began to treat with Bocchus for the surrender, or rather betrayal of Jugurtha. This, however, was accomplished by Sylla, who was at that time quaestor in the army of Marius, and who so far succeeded in depriving Marius of the honour arising from the capture of Jugurtha, as Marius had done Metellus. This incident, in all probability, laid the foundation of that rancorous animosity between those two formidable rivals, which afterwards blazed out so fiercely, and spread such extensive devastation throughout the Roman dominions. Jugurtha was at length brought captive to Rome, and after being exhibited in the triumphant procession of Marius, was cast naked into a dungeon, and left to perish in the agonies of hunger.

The elevation of Marius to the consulship was an event of a very momentous character, both in itself and in its con -sequences. In his previous tribuneship he had shewn himself to be fully qualified to act the part of a demagogue in every respect. Being himself a person of the most obscure origin, all his habits and feelings were thoroughly adapted to those of the very lowest of the people; and yet the consciousness of great native powers of mind, gave him a certain haughtiness of bearing which could not brook control either from the senate which he braved, or the people whom he at once led and governed. Upon his appointment to the consulship, and previously to his departure for Numidia to supersede Metellus, the senate gave him little encouragement in the raising of those levies which were requisite for the vigorous prosecution of the war,being probably willing to see the popularity of the new demagogue abated, though at the expense of their country’s military reputation. But Marius was not a person to be easily baffled. Instead of [7:19:392]confining his levies to the wealthier citizens, as had always hitherto been the case, he raised it almost entirely from among the very lowest class in the state, the capite censi, the indigent, the desperate, and the mercenary. An army formed of such materials was a fitting instrument for accomplishing any design, inasmuch as it was utterly destitute of every moral virtue and every patriotic feeling, owing no allegiance except that enforced by military discipline, or purchased by occasional indulgence in military excesses. This most unpropitious innovation secured for the time the ascendency of Marius and the popular party; but it laid the foundation of that military despotism which ultimately destroyed the last lingering remains of Roman liberty ,∙ as indeed it must do sooner or later when the military spirit becomes purely mercenary, the love of country expires, and the citizen is lost in the soldier.

This dangerous innovation might not have been so completely confirmed, had it not been for a new, and most formidable foe with which the republic was at this juncture threatened. The Cimbri and Teutones, two of those northern nations which, occasionally bursting from their forests, overran contiguous countries, exterminated the native inhabitants, and became the origin of new races and nations, had penetrated into the Roman provinces, and come into contact with the armies of the republic. In Styria they defeated the consul Papirius Carbo; in Gaul, Junius Silanus had no better fortune; and, finally, the two consuls, Manlius and Caepio, were routed with immense slaughter, eighty thousand men perishing in the conflict. The tidings of this defeat caused the utmost consternation at Rome; and such was the military reputation of Marius, that both senate and people concurred in nominating him a second time to the consulship, even before the expiration of his first year of command. He immediately levied new forces; and in the extreme terror of the republic, no opposition was made to his enrolment of great numbers of the city populace, by which this innovation was confirmed, and the precedent established, of mustering troops from the very dregs of society, and whose character was altogether base and mercenary. For a time, however, the tide of the Cimbrian war rolled past, and spent its force on Gaul, though still continuing to threaten Italy. During this interval, Marius continued to increase his army, and to perfect the discipline of the new recruits, his tenure of the consulship being prolonged for four successive years, in consequence of the continuation of the same dread which had at first caused his illegal reinstatement in that office. In his fourth year, the Teutones having entered the Roman territories, were defeated by Marius, near Aix, with immense slaughter, more than two hundred thousand of the invaders having perished. Next year he was equally successful against the Cimbri, in a battle fought near the Po; in which, however, his colleague Catulus, and, what more annoyed him, Sylla, shared the honours of the victory.

Marius had now enjoyed the consulship for the unprecedented term of five successive years, and might have retired with an unrivalled reputation; but the possession of power had only stimulated him with the eager desire of prolonging his enjoyment of it. Soon after his return to Rome he began to intrigue with the popular party, in order to obtain the consulship a sixth time, in opposition to his old rival Metellus; and having formed a strict confederacy with the tribune Saturnius, and the praetor Glaucias, two demagogues of the most unprincipled character, partly by their aid, and partly by means of the most extensive bribery, he procured bis re-election to that dignity. There was now no check to the designs of the democratic faction, the people being led on by a tribune of the most abandoned and reckless character, and the senate being headed by an ambitious demagogue. But at length the extreme measures of Saturnius alarmed and disgusted even Marius; and with his usual force of character, he resolved to oppose the factious tribune. A great commotion ensued. Saturnius and Glaucias seized the Capitol, but were closely besieged, their supplies of water cut off, and being forced to surrender, they were condemned and executed as traitors. Thus did the extreme licentiousness of the popular faction compel even their own most powerful leader to interpose, and to put forth his iron strength to crush them as disturbers of the public peace, and enemies of their country’.

This interposition in behalf of the republic cost Marius nothing less than a temporary loss of that power of which he was so ambitious. After the expiration of the sixth consulship, he found himself unable to retain his influence; his old antagonist Metellus was recalled from banishment; and he withdrew into Asia in a species of voluntary exile. A temporary cessation from the civil broils which had convulsed Rome, gave leisure for the reformation of the state from some of the abuses which had been forcibly introduced, or had insensibly sprung up. Some salutary laws were enacted against the systematic oppression under which the provinces groaned. Another measure, also of a reforming character, led to a less propitious result. This was an attempt to control the conduct of the equestrian order, which had become hurtful to the community, especially since C. Gracchus bestowed upon them the judicative authority. They had also obtained the farming of the leases, and consequently the collection of the revenue in the provinces, by which means they were enabled not only to oppose every reform that was attempted in the provincial administration, being judges in their own cause, but also to hold the senate itself in a state of dependence. The tribune Livius Drusus procured the enactment of a law, the effect of which was to restore to the senatorial body the half of the judicative power; but the means by which this law was passed, and by which it came into operation, involved an infringement of the constitution. Three hundred knights were added to the senate; and from the body thus raised to six hundred, the judges were selected. Unhappily this tended more and more to render the senate an aristocracy of wealth, and thus to increase the chasm, already but too wide, between the wealthy and the poor classes of the community, and to prevent the growth of a middle class, one of the most fatal wants by which the republic was afflicted; a want which clearly indicated, and speedily caused, the total disruption of the social fabric.

But the most immediately disastrous subject of contention, was that which proposed the admission of all the Italian states in alliance with Rome, to the privileges of citizenship. Great numbers of the citizens of these states had either flocked to Rome upon losing their own property when conquered, or had been allured thither during the seditions of the Gracchi, by those popular leaders, with the view of strengthening their adherents, under the prospect of obtaining portions of the re-divided lands, or at least an idle maintenance from the gratuitous distribution of grain. To gratify these, and to procure a new accession of strength, Drusus proposed to admit all the Italian allies to the full rights of citizenship. This project roused the pride and the jealousy of the whole body of the people, who thought they foresaw in it the overthrow of all their peculiar privileges and powers, and who, however democratic at Rome, wished to be the aristocracy of all the world beside. The proposal was rejected by the unanimous voice of the people; and Drusus himself was soon afterwards killed in a popular tuιmdt.

The Italian states, however, were not disposed to relinquish so easily the hopes which had been thus excited. They held private intercourse with each other, interchanged hostages, and prepared deliberately for a general revolt, unless their demands should be conceded. The chief states of this social alliance were the Marsi, the Pelagi, the Samnites, and the Lucanians. Having assumed arms, the allies sent to [7:19:393]Rome, to demand a participation in the privileges of Roman citizens; and upon receiving a peremptory refusal, war was immediately declared against Rome. The war thus commenced, commonly termed the Social war, raged for the space of three years, the allies being as well disciplined and led as the Romans themselves; and many very sanguinary battles were fought, in which Rome sustained several severe defeats, and was for a time exposed to great danger. In this war, Cato, Marius, and the elder Pompey, greatly distinguished themselves; but the chief glory was unquestionably reaped by Sylla, who proved himself to be possessed of abilities of the very first order, equally as a politician and a warrior. The bloody struggle was at length terminated, rather by Roman policy than Roman arms. The freedom of the city was first granted to those states which had aided Rome; it was then offered to those who should first discontinue hostilities; and finally, it was given to the whole of the Italian states; so that whosoever was a citizen of any free town in Italy, became a citizen of Rome, provided he lodged his claim within sixty days after; and in this manner even many foreigners were subsequently admitted to Roman citizenship.

To counterbalance the influence of these new citizens, and to preserve to those resident in Rome itself the preponderance of political power, the new citizens were formed into only eight tribes, completing the number of thirty-five, of which they formed but a small minority, even when joined by the six turbulent city tribes. It was, however, a complete revolution, and tended to infuse a more healthy vitality into the Roman constitution, which it might have prolonged, had it not already been corrupt at the very core.

Before the entire termination of the Social war, another arose in a different quarter of the world, by which the strength of Rome was severely tried. The bequest of Attalus king of Pergamus had given to the Romans extensive and wealthy dominions in Asia; and had at the same time stimulated their ambition and their avarice by the still more extensive regions which it placed almost within theirgrasp. The Grecian,or rather Macedonian empire had sunk before the growing power of Rome; and out of its ruins various monarchies arose, one of the most considerable of which was that of Pontus. For a time it remained tributary to its more powerful neighbours, till under Mithridates the Great, it became sufficiently strong not only to reduce the adjacent kingdoms, but even to wage an even-handed warfare against Rome itself for a number of years. Mithridates, seeing Rome weakened by the Social war, deemed it a convenient juncture to make himself master of her Asiatic dominions, and prosecuted his undertaking with such vigour and success, that he had subdued the whole of Asia Minor, and all the adjacent islands, with the exception of Rhodes, before the .Romans were sufficiently at leisure to attend to his movements, occupied as they were with civil broils and social wars. But tl>.e loss of their rich Asiatic territories was what the cupidity of neither senate nor people could brook; and upon the termination of the Social war, all parties were equally eager to commence hostilities against Mithridates, anticipating vast wea'th from the pillage of these opulent regions. Marius and Sylla warmly contended for the command of this important war; but the fame recently acquired by the latter in the war of the allies, enabled him to triumph over his rival. Scarcely had Sylla been nominated to the command, when fresh tumults arose in Rome, instigated by the envy of Marius, and the daring and lawless conduct of Sulpicius, tribune of the people. The object of these new tumults was to procure sufficient popular influence to remove Sylla from the command to which he had been appointed; and they were so far successful, that while he was yet in Campania with the army destined for Asia, a decree was passed in an assembly of the people, transferring the command to Marius. But Sylla’s army were too much devoted to their general to submit to this capricious change. They put to death the commissioners who came to deprive him of his office; and Sylla, confiding in their adherence to him, marched directly on Rome, obtained possession of it, and put to the sword without mercy all those who had rendered themselves conspicuous by their support of his rival. Sulpicius was slain, notwithstanding the law which declared the person of a tribune inviolable; and it was with the utmost difficulty, and after sustaining innumerable hardships, and experiencing almost incredible hair-breadth escapes, that Marius himself eluded the keen pursuit of his enemies.

Sylla having thus crushed the opposite faction, and proscribed Marius, his son, and his chief adherents, re-established the power of the senate, and appointed his friend Octavius, and his enemy Cinna, to the consulship, set out against Mithridates. The relief of Greece was the first object of Sylla; and this he accomplished after taking Athens by storm, and defeating the armies of Mithridates in two great battles. Weakened and dispirited by these reverses, the king of Pontus readily concluded a treaty with the Roman general, who, on his part, was equally desirous of a peace, that he might return to Rome, where the Marian taction had regained the ascendancy.

Sylla had probably expected to produce a comparative equilibrium at Rome, by the appointment to the consulship of one from each of the contending tactions. Here, however, his policy failed, probably from being too refined, or from his not taking into consideration the new element which had been introduced, by the admission of the Italian states to the citizenship. He had in a great measure exterminated the democratic party in Rome itself, and restored the power of the senate; but Cinna perceived the means of raising a powerful body of new adherents, by proposing to throw open all the tribes to the Italian states, which would have given them a preponderance in every popular assembly. This the other consul, Octavius, opposed; and Cinna was compelled to withdraw to the country, where he soon mustered a powerful army of the disaffected allies. Marius, who had fled to Africa, being informed of the turn which affairs had taken at Rome, conceived hopes of recovering his power, and immediately returned to Italy, joined Cinna, and at the head of an immense horde of robbers and semi-barbarians, the very dregs of the populace -of all Italy, who flocked to his standard from all quarters, advanced against the city. At his approach Rome was thrown into consternation; and there not being any forces sufficient to oppose him, the senate offered to capitulate, on condition that the lives of the opposite party should be spared. During the progress of these negotiations, Marius entered the city at the head of his armed and barbarous adherents, secured the gates that none might escape, and gave the signal for slaughter. On rushed his barbarians like wolves, sparing neither age nor sex, while Marius gazed on the horrid scene with grim and savage delight. During five days and five nights, the hideous massacre was continued with relentless ferocity, while the streets were deluged with blood, and the heads of the mur--dered victims were exhibited in the Forum, or laid before the monster himself for his peculiar gratification. Atlength Cinna grew sick of the protracted butchery; hut the barbarians of Marius could not be restrained till they were themselves surrounded and cut to pieces by Cinna’s soldiers.

Having gratified his revenge with this bloody butchery, Marius nominated himself consul for the seventh time, and chose Cinna to be his colleague, This he did without the formalities of a public assembly, as if to consummate his triumph over the liberties of his country, thus trampled upon by an act at once of violation and of insult. But a short time did he enjoy his triumph and revenge. In the seventeenth day of lus seventh consulate, and in the seventieth year of his age, be expired, leaving behind him the charac [7:19:394]ter of having been one of the most successful generals, and most pernicious citizens of Rome.

Sylla having concluded a treaty with Mithridates, returned at the head of his victorious army, prepared and determined to inflict the most signal and ample vengeance upon the Marian faction, whom he deemed equally foes to himself and to the republic. Before his arrival in Italy, Cinna had been killed in a mutiny of his own troops; and none of the other leaders possessed talent and influence enough to make head against him. After a short but severe struggle, Sylla prevailed, and immediately commenced his dreadful, deliberate, and systematic course of retribution. All who had either taken part directly with Marius, or who were suspected of attachment to the democratic party, were put to death without mercy, and, what was almost more terrible, apparently without wrath. Sylla even produced publicly a list of those whom he had doomed to death, and offered a reward for the heads of each. He thus set the example of proscription which was afterwards so fatally imitated in the various convulsions of the state. His next step was to depopulate entirely several of those Italian states which had joined the Marian faction, and to parcel out the lands among his own veteran troops, whom he thus at once rewarded and disbanded in the only manner likely to reconcile them to peaceful habits. Having thus satiated his revenge, his next care was to reform and re-construct the constitution and government of the state, shattered to pieces by long and fierce intestine convulsions. He caused himself to be appointed dictator for an unlimited time. He restrained the influence of the tribunes, by abolishing their legislative privileges, reformed and regulated the magistracy, limited the authority of governors of provinces, enacted police regulations for the maintenance of public tranquillity, deprived several of the Italian states of their right of citizenship, and having supplied the due number of the senate by additions from the equestrian order, he restored to it the possession of the judicative power.

Having at length completed his career as a political reformer, Sylla voluntarily resigned his dictatorship, which he had held for nearly three years, declared himself ready to answer any accusation that could be made against him during his administration, walked unmolested in the streets as a private person, and then withdrew to his villa near Cumae, where he amused himself with hunting and other rural recreations. Whether his retirement might have remained long undisturbed by the relatives of his numerous victims, cannot be known, as he died in the year after his abdication of power, leaving, by his own direction, the following characteristic inscription to be engraved on his tomb: “Here lies Sylla, who was never outdone in good offices by his friend, nor in acts of hostility by his enemy.”

The civil wars between Marius and Sylla may be considered even more worthy the careful study of the historian, than those between Pompey and Caesar, for a right understanding of the circumstances which led to the destruction of Roman liberty, as the latter but concluded what the former had begun. Indeed, the strife between Marius and Sylla was itself the natural sequel of that contest between the aristocratic and the democratic factions, if they ought not rather to be termed the factions of wealth and poverty, which gave rise to the sedition of the Gracchi, and which being conducted on both sides with no spirit of mutual concession, none of mutual regard for the public welfare, deepened into the most bitter and rancorous animosity, such as could end in nothing but mutual destruction. Ofthe worst spirit of democracy, we see in Marius what may be called a personification; fierce, turbulent, sanguinary, relentless; brave to excess, but savagely ferocious; full of wily stratagems, in order to gain his object, then dashing from him every hard-won advantage by his reckless brutality. On the other hand, the aristocratic spirit had its representa tive in Sylla; haughty, cautious, and determined, forming his schemes with deep forethought, prosecuting them with deliberate perseverance, and abandoning them with cold contempt when his object was accomplished. He held his dictatorial sway till he had satiated his revenge, and re-established, as he thought, the government on an aristocratical basis, then scornfully laid aside his power, and yielded himself to voluptuous indulgence. By these men it was madeclearly evident that Rome no longer possessed sufficient public or private virtue to maintain her republican institutions; that she was tottering on the very brink of a complete and final revolution, leading with fatal certainty to a military despotism; and the only question was, whether her despotic ruler should be a Marius or a Sylla; whether he should spring from among the democratic populace, or the aristocratic nobility; a question not long to be left in doubt.

Many of the laws enacted by Sylla were of a very wise and beneficial character, though their general aim was too manifestly the restoration of aristocratic power to the senate. What effect his personal influence, had his life been prolonged, might have had in consolidating his political reforms, cannot certainly be known, though it may very safely be conjectured that not even his power could long have prevented new convulsions. The malady lay too deep to be reached by any merely political measures of a remedial nature. It had its essence in the degeneracy and moral turpitude of the entire body of the republic, both nobles and people, which there was nothing in their external circumstances to prevent, or in their national religion to heal. Besides, as in the recent wars and revolutions, almost all property had experienced a change of possessors, there were vast numbers throughout all Italy eager for a counter revolution. Several young men also of abilities and ambition, were prepared to emulate the career of Marius or of Sylla, which could not be done without a renewal of that contest, the heavings of which had not yet wholly subsided. Of these, the chief were Lepidus, Crassus, Pompey, and Sertorius, and perhaps Lucullus.

Very soon after tile death of Sylla, the consul Lepidus, made an attempt to rescind the laws of Sylla. In this he was opposed both by his colleague Catulus, and by Pompey, who was now the head of the aristocratic party, to which he had attached himself before its final triumph over the Marian faction. Lepidus was declared a public enemy, defeated in battle, fled to Sardinia, and there died.

A more dangerous and protracted contest was waged in Spain, to which country Sertorius had withdrawn, and gathered around him the relics of the Marian party. For six years did this virtuous and heroic republican maintain a successful struggle against the whole power of Rome, defeated successive consular armies, and baffled even the experience of Metellus, with the skill and energy of Pompey. At length he was basely assassinated by Perpenna; and upon the loss of their leader, his forces were easily subdued by Pompey, and Spain was reduced to obedience.

Before the termination of the Spanish war, one still more dangerous commenced in the very heart of Italy. Spartacus, a celebrated gladiator, a Thracian by birth, escaped from the gladiatorial training school at Capua, along with some of his companions, and was soon followed by great numbers of other gladiators. Bands of desperate men, slaves, murderers, robbers, pirates, flocked to him from all quarters; and he soon found himself at the head of a force able to bid defiance to Rome. Four consular armies were successively defeated by this daring adventurer, and Rome itself was considered in imminent danger. But subordination could not be maintained in an army composed of such materials. Spartacus purposed to march into Gaul, invite Sertorius to join him, and then together march on Rome. Had this plan been carried into effect, Rome in all proba[7:19:395]bility must have fallen into the hands of the combined forces; but the tumultuous followers of Spartacus, longing for the pillage of the capital, compelled their leader to abandon his intention, and bend his course towards that devoted city. He was met and completely routed by the praetor Crassus, who thus acquired some renown in war, in addition to the influence which he possessed from his unequalled wealth. Pompey, on bis return from Spain, encountered and destroyed several scattered bodies of the gladiatorial army; and thus, with his usual good fortune, obta⅛ed a claim to divide the honour with Crassus. From this period, these two powerful individuals cherished sentiments of envious rivalry against each other, the effect of which proved ruinous to the commonwealth.

The enormous wealth of Crassus enabled him to purchase the support of the people, by bestowing upon them large donations of money and corn. To counterbalance his influence, Pompey, although attached to thearistocratic party, proposed the repeal of some of Sylla’s laws, and the enactment of others of a more popular character; in particular, the restoration of the powers and privileges of the tribunes. By these means he so ingratiated himself with the people, that, with powers never before entrusted to any general, he obtained the command of the armament prepared against the pirates by which the seas were so greatly infested. In this war he distinguished himself in a very remarkable manner, by his skill, courage, and activity, and raised himself to a height of power and of military fame, at that time beyond all rivalry.

During the progress of these events in Spain and Italy, Mithridates had renewed the war in Asia Minor. Lucullus, to whom the command in the Mithridatic war was now given, defeated the fleet of the Pontic king, relieved Cyzicus, and overthrew the combined forces of Mithridates and Tigranes in two great battles, bringing the struggle to the very brink of a successful conclusion. But the mutinous spirit of his own army, and the hostility which he aroused against himself, by his reform of the financial administration of the provinces, occasioned his recall. Pompey was next appointed to the command of the armies in Asia; and thus again was he favoured by fortune to obtain the crowning glory of a victory already all but won. Mithridates finding all his efforts ineffectual, and being in danger of immediate captivity from the defection of his son-in-law, Tigranes, and the treason of his own son, Phraates, killed himself, that he might not fall into the hands of the Romans. After the conclusion of the war, Pompey spent some time in Asia, settling its affairs, and arranging it into different provincial districts. By the fall of Mithridates, and this settlement of Asiatic affairs, the republic may be considered to have reached the highest pitch of her power; but when the summit has been gained, the next step is inevitably downward. The very existence of the republic, as such, now depended, partly upon the caprice or the moderation of Pompey himself, partly upon the judicious or the erroneous measures which Crassus might adopt, in his endeavours to counterbalance the power of his mighty rival.

Unfortunately for Rome, the two rivals saw no better method of maintaining each his own influence in opposition to that of his antagonist, than by separately or jointly courting popularity. Pompey had led the way in this injudicious procedure, by his partial restoration of the tribunitian power; and this restoration was completed by the joint influence of him and Crassus during their united consulship. It had been found by ambitious men, that they could not obtain their objects of pursuit, whether those objects were chiefly aristocratic or democratic, without becoming demagogues; and therefore unhappily it was considered by them necessary to re-establish in all its power an office, of which the very nature pointed it out for such a pernicious abuse.

But as extremes in all things meet, these very demagogues necessarily became an oligarchy; and while they pretended to promote the interests of the people, such men as Pompey and Crassus engrossed the whole powers and emoluments of the state.

Before this rivalry had reached its crisis, and during the absence of Pompey in Asia, Rome was threatened with a new convulsion, and new competitors for public favour began to appear on the scene. Lucius Sergius Catilina, a young man of noble birth, but of desperate fortunes, and of the most depraved character, formed a conspiracy to destroy the chief men of the state, seize on all public property, restore the Marian faction, and, placing himself at its nead, to invest himself with supreme power. Not only the profligate of the youthful nobility, and the indigent of the populace, joined in this conspiracy, but even Crassus and Julius Csesar were accused ofhaving been so far implicated in it. After several failures and postponements, the conspiracy was partly detected, and partly forced into a premature disclosure by the failure of Cataline in his attempt to obtain the consulship, and the prudent preventive measures of his successful rival, Cicero, who also at that time began to act a distinguished part in public affairs. Not all the daring, nor all the secret attempts of Cataline could overawe, or elude the energy and vigilance of Cicero; and at length the desperate and baffled conspirator fled from the city, and raised the standard of revolt in Etruria. His associates in Rome were seized and put to death, and he was himself defeated and slain in a desperate battle, after having performed deeds of the most determined valour. So highly had Cicero distinguished himself by his detection and suppression of this dangerous conspiracy, that the senate unanimously bestowed upon him the honourable title of Father of his Country.

During the progress, and in the suppression of this conspiracy, several very remarkable men had come prominently forward. These were Cicero, unmatched for eloquence, learning, and philosophical wisdom; Cato, a true republican of the ancient mould, simple, severely virtuous, and uncompromising; and Caesar, unrivalled in the versatility, extent, and power of a genius, equally fitted to attain preeminence in the pursuits of literature, philosophy, politics, and war. The two former adhered to the aristocratic party in the state, who were headed by Pompey; the latter made the democratic party the basis of his power, although he was himself descended from one of the most ancient and noble families of Rome. He had the address both to extricate himself from the conspiracy of Cataline, and to make himself at the same time the person to whom the survivors of that party looked for protection. From that period it was evident, that whatever might be the destinies of Rome, Caesar must exercise a potent influence over them, for evil or for good.

The return of Pompey from Asia caused a renewal of the contest for power between that general and the party which sought to maintain the independence of the senate. Of this party, Cato, Lucullus, and Metellus, were the chief adherents; but their efforts only caused Pompey to throw his influence more into the popular scale, and thus unconsciously to promote the ambitious views of Caesar. That sagacious man, perceiving the necessity of acquiring both the skill and the renown of a general, and having hitherto in a great measure abstained from military affairs, got himself appointed to the governorship of Lusitania, where he soon acquired a high reputation for warlike talents, and at the same time repaired his dilapidated fortunes.

During the absence of Caesar, the contest between Pompey and Crassus continued, each endeavouring to weaken the influence of theother; and the independent party in the senate, led by Cato, and occasionally aided by Cicero, availing themselves of this struggle to diminish the undue power [7:19:396]of both. But upon the return of Caesar, this contest was brought to a termination. The two rivals began to perceive that their power was in danger of being equalled, if not surpassed by a third; and Caesar, to lull their jealousy asleep, till his own designs should be matured, pointed out to them the risk they incurred of merely ruining each other, if they did not speedily compose their differences. He at first paid most court to Pompey, as his most formidable rival, and affected devotion to his cause, till by his aid, seconding his own rising fame, he procured the consulship. During his tenure of that office, he still more increased his popularity by the enactment of several salutary laws, and some of more ambiguous character. In particular, he carried an Agrarian law for the distribution of large tracts of land in Campania among the indigent people, and had the address, in spite of the opposition of the senate, to induce both Pompey and Crassus to aid him in passing it, and to act as commissioners in the distribution, thus sharing the odium of the measure, while the entire popularity remained his own.

The schemes of Caesar required a new element for their further development. He well knew that he could not gain the supreme power without an army to support his pretensions, or depend on an army without having previously made it completely his own. It was therefore necessary for him to obtain the command of a warlike province, and that, if possible, adjacent to Rome. Gaul was exactly suited to his purpose; and he now directed his efforts to the obtaining of that appointment. Neither Pompey nor Crassus seems to have penetrated his views; and a secret but strict alliance was formed between these three powerful and ambitious men, commonly known by the name of “the first triumvirate.” The province of Gaul was allotted to Caesar for a term of five years, while Pompey and Crassus remained at Rome; and the compact between Caesar and Pompey was confirmed by the latter marrying the daughter of the former.

To complete the triumph of the triumvirs over the independent party in the senate, Cato was appointed to the government of Cyprus, and Cicero was banished through the intrigues of the infamous Clodius, who had obtained permission to relinquish his patrician rank, that he might be eligible for the tribuneship; an example which was afterwards repeatedly followed by designing demagogues. After having accomplished this object, Clodius became so troublesome even to his own party, that to keep him in check, Pompey procured the recall of Cicero from exile, which he could not effect without the strenuous aid of the tribune Milo.

In the mean time, Caesar had arrested the migration of the Helvetians, expelled the Germans from Gaul, subdued the Belgae, the Aquitani, the Nervii, and other warlike Gaulish nations, and had also both penetrated into Germany itself, and crossed the sea to Britain, till then almost unknown to the Romans. By these exploits he raised his military reputation to an equality with that of Pompey himself, and formed a hardy and well-disciplined veteran army, entirely devoted to his will. Nor was he inattentive to the course of events at Rome. He found means to maintain his influence there to such a degree as to rouse the dormant jealousy of his rivals, and almost to precipitate the struggle. A reconciliation, however, took place; and he obtained a renewal of his command in Gaul for another term of five years, while Crassus chose Syria for his province, and Pompey Spain and Africa. Crassus appears to have chosen Syria for the purpose of gratifying his passion for the acquisition of wealth; and Pompey preferred those provinces which he could govern by his lieutenants, while he remained at Rome to rule the republic.

This new arrangement was not destined to a lengthened existence. On his arrival in Asia, Crassus found himself compelled to enter into hostilities with the Parthians, to whose vicinity the overthrow of Mithridates had extended the sway of the republic in that continent. Even to the best of the Roman generals, the Parthians would have proved a formidable foe; but Crassus was altogether destitute of the military talents necessary for the conduct of such a war. His army was entirely routed in Mesopotamia, and himself taken prisoner and put to death soon after the battle, by the Parthian general Surena.

About the same time died Caesar’s daughter, the wife of Pompey; and thus not only was the triumvirate dissolved by the death of Crassus, but the alliance between the two survivors was greatly weakened by the death of Julia, who had possessed considerable influence over both her father and her husband. The period for the termination of Caesar’s command in Gaul had nearly arrived; and all things seemed to indicate the approach of a mortal crisis.

Each party strove to throw on bis rival the odium of beginning the fatal contest; and its actual commencement was for a time retarded by their mutual machinations. At length it began by Caesar’s demanding permission to hold the consulship while absent. This was strenuously opposed by Pompey, and advocated by Caesar’s partizans, Curio, Marcus Antonius, and Quintus Cassius, tribunes of the people. Curio succeeded in placing Pompey in what is termed, “a false position,” by proposing that both he and Caesar should resign their offices and retire into private life, which he averred that Caesar was willing to do. Repeated but insincere offers were made by both parties for an accommodation; but the senate at length passed a decree, commanding Caesar to disband his army before a certain specified day, under the penalty of being declared a public enemy. The two tribunes, Antony and Cassius, interposed their veto; but their prerogative was violently set aside, and the decree passed by a large majority. Upon this Antony and Cassius fled from the city disguised as slaves, and sought refuge in the camp of Caesar, who shewed to his soldiers the tribunes thus insulted by his enemies at Rome.

The conduct of Caesar had hitherto appeared to be chiefly defensive, that of Pompey and his party aggressive. It had now become necessary for Caesar either to relinquish his long-cherished visions of ambition, or to become the assailant. He had completely foreseen and anticipated the crisis. At the head of but a small division of his army, not sufficient to create alarm, he had approached the banks of the Rubico, the boundary of Italy proper, on the side of Cisalpine Gaul, and which he could not cross in a hostile manner without avowing himself a traitor to his country. His schemes were ripe for execution, his enemies were thoroughly roused, concealment was no longer practicable, his troops had declared their readiness to support their general and avenge the wrongs of the tribunes, all things urged him to the crisis; but the dark destinies of file fateful hour hung heavy upon Caesar’s spirit. ^[29. See Suetonius in Vita Jul. Caes. ] He retired early from a supper where he had entertained some of his principal officers, and paced to and fro on the banks of the Rubico, in the deep silence of midnight, oppressed with thought. It probably was not the ruin to himself, should he now hesitate, still less the perils of the undertaking; it was the long, black, direful train of miseries that must sweep remorselessly over his country and the world, all summed up, concentrated, and rendered almost visibly present in the one simple and brief act of that most awful hour, this it was that shook and appalled the heart of even the mighty Caesar. He at length exclaimed, “the die is cast,” sprung furiously across the slender stream, and spread to the morning breeze the banner of civil war.
[7:19:397]

Before the close of that day Ariminum was seized by Caesar. With the speed of a torrent, and the gathering strength of an Alpine avalanche, he advanced on Rome. City after city opened its gates at his approach, their garrisons swelling the number of his troops. Pompey and his party were paralyzed by his boldness, and terror-struck by the celerity of his movements. They abandoned the city and fled to Capua, leaving the public treasure behind them. Thence they fled to Greece, without daring once to turn upon their swift pursuer. Corfinium alone seemed disposed to make a show of resistance; but the garrison declared for Caesar, and their commander, Domitius, surrendering at discretion, was treated with the kindness due to an honourable foe. Caesar then retraced his course to Rome, and entered it without opposition, having subdued all Italy in sixty days. He assembled such members of the senate as had remained in the city; declared himself driven to hostilities by the machinations of his enemies, yet still a friend to the republic; seized upon the funds in the public treasury, and after a short delay of six days, set out to attack Pompey’s lieutenants in Spain.

In his march through Gaul he was joined by his veteran troops, at whose head he had gained so much glory, and whom he had doubtless been training for that enterprise in which he was now engaged. On his arrival in Spain he began a series of manoeuvres surpassed by nothing in the history of war, for the purpose of compelling Afranius and Petreius, not to a battle, hut to a capitulation of their entire army, which he wished thus to preserve and make his ow n. This he at length accomplished; and on his return through Gaul reduced Massilia, which had till then held out against him. But these successes, where he commanded in person, were somewhat counter-balanced by some severe defeats sustained by his generals in Illyricum and Africa.

Returning victorious to Rome, he was named dictator, a title which he soon afterwards exchanged for that of consul; and after spending a short time in the arrangement of public affairs, he prepared to sail for Greece, in order to bring the struggle to a close, by encountering his great rival in person. Pompey had assembled an immense army, drawn from the various Asiatic states where Roman troops had been stationed; and his camp was dignified by the presence of great numbers of the fugitive senate. Caesar with much difficulty and danger transported his army from Brundusium to the vicinity of Dyracchium, where Pompey was encamped. For some time the contest between these two great generals was a war of tactics, each endeavour!ng toout-manoeuvre his antagonist, beforeputting the final issue to the hazard of a decisive battle. As Pom-pey’s fleets had the command of the sea, he was enabled to act on the defensive, without the danger of falling short of provisions, to which Caesar was much exposed. Caesar therefore used his utmost efforts to draw his adversary to a general engagement; in which he had almost succeeded, when he was himself surprised, one division of his army thrown into confusion, and the whole so greatly endangered, that nothing but the most desperate efforts made by himself in person, prevented a total rout.

Soon after this hazardous encounter Caesar withdrew from Dyracchium, and marched to Thessaly, where he had better access to both provisions and reinforcements. He was followed by Pompey, who still abstained from battle, hoping to exhaust his foe. But this wary policy of Pompey was disliked by the young nobility, who longed for the fight, especially since their partial success at Dyracchium. At length Pompey drew out his army on the plains of Pharsalia, and offered Caesar the opportunity which he had so long sought, of deciding the empire of the world. In this great battle the superior skill of Caesar was manifest. Being deficient in cavalry, in which the strength of Pompey’s army lay, he altered the usual form of drawing up the army in three lines, placing a fourth in reserve for the support of his cavalry, with particular directions how to act. When the signal was given, the troops of Caesar rushed on with their usual impetuosity; those of Pompey stood still to receive the shock. The cavalry of Pompey at first repulsed that of Caesar; but being unexpectedly assailed by the reserve, they were thrown into confusion, and fled, leaving the flank of the main body exposed, which was instantly assailed by Caesar’s victorious wing. This decided the fate of the day. Pompey’s legions were thrown into irretrievable confusion, driven to their camp, the entrenchments carried by storm, and the whole either scattered over the country, or compelled to surrender at discretion. Caesar finding the victory secure, hurried from place to place across the bloody field, calling aloud to spare the Roman citizens; and all who yielded were treated with the utmost clemency.

Pompey, as if bereft of his usual courage and presence of mind, made no effort to retrieve the fortunes of the day. He at first retired to his camp, and when its entrenchments were forced, he fled in disguise from the scene not more of ruin than of disgrace. He directed his course to the Aegean sea, purposing to renew the war in Syria; but finding the Asiatic states not inclined to support what they now deemed a falling cause, he altered his plan, and steered for Egypt, having taken on board his wife Cornelia. When he drew near the Egyptian shore, he found the young king besieging Pelusium, and sent intimation of his approach, and of his intention of joining his forces with those of Egypt. The perfidious Egyptians resolved to allure him on shore, and then put him to death, as the safest mode of escaping the danger of his own resentment, if they should refuse him succour, or that of his rival, if they should grant it. Achillas, the commander of the Egyptian forces, and Septimius, a Roman soldier who had formerly served under Pompey, proceeded in a boat to the galley to conduct him to land. He left his vessel with strong forebodings of what might follow; and as the boat drew near the shore, Septimius stabbed him in the back, and the others falling upon him, completed the treacherous and bloody deed. The galley in which he came had anchored so near the shore, that the murder of Pompey was distinctly visible to those on board. The wild shriek of anguish raised by Cornelia as she beheld her beloved husband fall, reached even to the shore; and on the instant, the Roman galley cutting her cable, and putting to sea, escaped the pursuit of the Egyptians. Thus perished Pompey the Great, a fugitive and alone on a barbarian shore, after having held for many years a scarcely divided sway at Rome, which he failed in making his exclusively and permanently, only because his rival and antagonist was Caesar.

Immediately after his victory at Pharsalia, Caesar commenced a close pursuit of Pompey, knowing that the war could only end with his death or captivity. Tracing the course of his defeated rival’s flight, he arrived at Alexandria, where he not only received the tidings of his death, but the Egyptian messengers laid before him the head and ring of Pompey. From these melancholy memorials of his mighty rival Caesar turned away with strong shudderings, and with bursting tears of pity; and gave orders that near Pompey’s tomb, a magnificent temple should be erected to Nemesis. He next employed himself in settling the disputed claims for the succession to the Egyptian throne, which he bestowed on the celebrated Cleopatra, influenced more by the beauty of her person than the superiority of her pretensions. While in Egypt, he was exposed to great danger, from an insurrection of the dethroned king’s partisans; but the opportune arrival of his forces enabled him completely to subdue it, and to establish the sovereignty of Cleopatra. From Egypt he marched into Asia, against Pharnaces, son of Mithridates the Great; and in the short space of thirty [7:19:398]days, completely annihilated his army, and subdued his dominions. It was in giving an account of this brief war, that he used the famous words, Veni, vidi, vici. “I came, saw, conquered.”

During Caesar’s delay in Egypt, and expedition into Pontus, great disturbances had broken out in Rome; to remedy which he repaired thither with his usual promptitude and speed. Upon his arrival, he was again nominated dictator, and strenuously applied himself to the reform of the abuses which had been committed in his absence by ill-judging and intemperate partisans. No proscriptions followed his arrival, no blood was shed, no injustice perpetrated; and this clemency, so different from the conduct of Sylla and Ma fus, induced numbers of the most distinguished men of what had been the independent party in the senate, to return to Rome, and there to renew the semblance of a regular form of government. He then turned his attention to Africa, where a strong body of his antagonists had been drawn together by Cato and the sons of Pompey. The struggle was severe, but not protracted. A decisive battle was fought at Thapsus, where the Pompeian party were completely overthrown. Despair filled the hearts of the routed leaders. Cato died by his own hand in Utica; Scipio, being intercepted in his flight, stabbed himself and fell into the sea, while Caesar’s men were boarding his galley; and Juba, king of Numidia, and his general Petreius, fell by each other’s bands in single combat. The two sons of Pompey escaped and fled to Spain, where they endeavoured once more to rekindle the embers of the expiring war.

Upon his return victorious from Africa, Caesar was received at Rome both by senate and people with great adulation, and he celebrated his triumph with uncommon pomp and splendour. He was again created dictator for ten years, and honours were heaped on him with lavish hand. Again did he renew his acts of clemency and generosity to all who had been opposed to him, thus confirming his popularity and consolidating his [lower.

But Pompey’s sons, Cneius and Sextus, having collected a considerable force in Spain, Caesar found himself once more obliged to quit Rome. The two armies met in the plains of Munda, and prepared for the final struggle with all the energy of hope on the one side, and on the other of despair. So furious was the conflict, that Caesar was compelled to put himself at the head of his favourite tenth legion, and to fight as a common soldier, not for victory merely, but for life. Victory at length declared for him; a vast number of his most eminent and determined enemies fell in the battle, or in the flight, and among the latter was the eldest son of Pompey. With this sanguinary conflict the war was at once terminated, and Caesar returned in full triumph to Rome.

Having now completed the subversion of the republic, Caesar assumed the undivided sway of Rome, although he tolerated the continuation of the forms of republican government. In his own person he concentrated those offices which were requisite for the conduct of public affairs, such as the dictatorship, the consulate, and the offices of tribune, censor, and pontifex maximus. Thus possessed of all authority and power, he commenced a number of reforms, improvements, and public works of utility, which did honour to his genius, his judgment, and his spirit of enterprise. He reformed the calendar, and undertook to drain the Pontine marshes, to deepen the channel of the Tiber, to form a capacious harbour at Ostia, to cut a canal through the isthmus of Corinth, and to revenge the defeat of Crassus, by an expedition against the Parthians. In the midst of these schemes and undertakings he gave offence to the senate by his haughtiness, and to the people by his too evident assumption of regal dignity, and almost of the regal title. They could better brook the loss of liberty in reality than in appearance; they retained their love of the form of the republic, when its spirit was gone; they could not endure the name of king, while they were willing to submit to real monarchy under the name of a perpetual dictatorship.

Influenced by these feelings, a large body of the senators began to regard Caesar as an usurper, and many even of the people, who had formerly supported him as their leader against the aristocratic party, became also disaffected. Mark Antony’s offer of a crown at the feast of the Lupercalia, put forth in all probability for the purpose of ascertaining the bias of the popular mind, was met by such decided disapprobation, as to cause Caesar himself to hesitate, and to wait for a more propitious juncture for the completion of his designs. Meanwhile, a conspiracy was formed for his destruction, and at the head of it were Brutus and Cassius, who had both experienced his clemency and additional marks of his favour. After having narrowly escaped detection, they resolved to strike the blow in the senate-house itself, on the ides of March. No sooner had he taken his seat than the conspirators crowded round him, preferring various requests, and one of them, apparently in extreme urgency, seized him by the robe. At this preconcerted signal, they all rushed upon him with their daggers, and Caesar, perceiving resistance fruitless, muffled up his head in his mantle, and fell at the base of Pompey’s statue, pierced by three-and-twenty wounds. At this moment, Brutus waved aloft his bloody dagger, hailed the senate, and in particular Cicero, and proclaimed aloud the recovered liberty of Rome.

But instead ofjoy and gratitude, a general terror pervaded the senate and the citizens. They had felt secure in the well-known clemency and the settled power of Caesar; they knew not what scenes of anarchy and bloodshed might follow his death, nor what might be the temper of his successor in the chief power. A dull dead calm brooded over the city for some days; till, on the day of Caesar’s funeral, Antony inflamed the smouldering passions of the populace to such a degree, that they burst into the senate house, tore up its benches, and raised an immense funeral pile for the body, sacked in their fury the houses of the conspirators, and wreaked their vengeance on al I of that party whom they could seize. Alarmed by these proceedings, the chief conspirators fled from the city, and prepared to vindicate their deed, and defend the republic by arms.

Previously to this tumult, Antony had concurred with Brutus and Cassius in passing an act of amnesty, granting forgiveness to all who had been implicated in any of the former proceedings. But having stirred up the populace, and being joined by Octavianus, or Octavms, the grand-nephew and heir of Caesar, he now entered boldly on his turbulent and ambitious career. Brutus and Cassius retired to Macedonia and Syria, to which provinces they had been appointed, leaving Italy in the power of Antony and Octvaius. A jealousy soon arose between these two leaders of the revolutionary party; and Octavius joining the senate, Antony retired into Gaul, raised an army, and came to an engagement with the two consuls near Mutina, where he was defeated, but both the consuls fell in battle. Antony fled to Spain, and joined Lepidus; but before renewing the war, he represented to Octavius that their hostilities would only secure the triumph of the senate and the conspirators. In consequence of this suggestion, Octavius, Antony, and Lepidus, came to an interview in a small island in the river Lavinus, not far from the modem city Bologna, and there formed a confederacy, called the “second triumvirate.” In the course of their proceedings, these three ruthless men drew up a list of those whom they wished to be put to death, each, without compunction, permitting relation or friend to be proscribed, if required by the others. This bloody proscription was followed by the murder of not less than 300 senators, and 2000 of the equestrian order. Among the former was the illustrious Cicero, whose death was occa[7:19:399]sioned by his invectives against the dissolute and infamous Clodius, and the unprincipled and tyrannical Antony.

Soon after the formation of this blood-cemented compact, Octavius and Antony prepared to wage war against Brutus and Cassius, who had combined their forces, and were in Macedonia. The rival armies met near Philippi; and two separate battles were fought before the victory was decided. In the first, the division commanded by Cassius was defeated; and he, thinking the battle lost, slew himself in despair. Brutus, however, had been victorious with his division; and the two antagonist armies, rallying each on its unbroken half, remained ready for another trial of strength. This took place within about twenty days after the first, and on nearly the same ground. The struggle was fierce, obstinate, and bloody; but at length the troops of Brutus gave way, fled, and were scattered in total rout and dismay. Brutus, disdaining to survive this, the last convulsive effort of the republic, fell on his own sword, and died. The conduct of Octavius and Antony, after their victory, bore a greater resemblance to that of Sylla and Marius, than of Caesar, whose memory they would have more honoured by imitating his clemency, than by a bloody revenge of his death.

The utter ruin of the republican party was followed by a period of disgraceful intrigues, jarrings, and contests, among the usurpers, and their corrupt friends and followers. Antony traversed Greece, and part of Asia, luxuriating in the pomp, the homage, the flatteries, and the voluptuousness of the East. At one time he meditated a war against the Parthians, to redeem the fame of Rome, which had been tarnished by the defeat of Crassus; but meeting with Cleopatra, he abandoned his dreams of glory, and resigned himself to the debasing delights of loose licentiousness, beneath the syren spell of this abandoned beauty.

Octavius, on the other hand, returned to Italy, and prosecuted his deep-laid schemes for securing the sole possession of despotic power. He was repeatedly disturbed by the intrigues and the violence of Lucius, the brother, and Fulvia, the wife, of Antony; but at last, the rupture having come to an open war, they were defeated; their chief strength, Perusia, was taken, and Octavius secured in the undisturbed command of Italy. The tidings of this contest drew Antony from Egypt, and a war between him and Octavius seemed on the point of breaking out. At this juncture Fulvia died; and instead of a war, a new alliance was formed between the jealous triumvirs, Antony receiving in marriage Octavia, the sister of Octavius. In this new division of the Roman dominions, Sextus Pompey was admitted to a participation.

But their hollow agreement was of no long duration. New jealousies arose between Octavius and Lepidus, and new wars with Pompey. Being defeated by Octavius, Sextus Pompey fled to Asia, and was there slain by one of Antony’s lieutenants. Lepidus was soon afterwards deprived of his share in the triumvirate; and Antony and Octavius divided the whole power between them. Little cordiality subsisted between these partners, or rather rivals; but a decided quarrel was delayed in consequence of their distance from each other, and the different regions in which they sought for an extension of fame and dominion. Antony was still desirous of triumphing over the Parthians, but he met with little success, except where his troops were led by Ventidius. Octavius 'found employment for his legions in Dalmatia and Pannonia, into which the arms of Rome had scarcely before penetrated. At length the conduct of Antony thoroughly disgusted all his friends at Rome. Octavia set out for the East, hoping to recall her husband to some sense of his duty to Rome, to her, and to himself; but the infatuated man, unable to break through the fascinations of Cleopatra, refused to see Octavia, ordered her to return home, and even sent her a divorce. This insult Octavius could not brook. Antony was deprived of his consulship by a decree of the senate, and both parties prepared for another war.

Mutual jealousy had long anticipated such a contest, and they were both in readiness at once to rush to the arbitration of arms. The forces of Antony were the more numerous; those of Octavius the better disciplined, and led by generals of great skill and judgment. Their armaments, both military and naval, came within sight of each other on the opposite sides of the entrance to the gulf of Ambrasia in Epirus. For some time they remained comparatively inactive, watching each other’s movements. At length the two hostile fleets met off the promontory of Actium, that of Octavius led by Agriopa, that of Antony by himself and Cleopatra. The battle began, in sight of the land forces on either side, and was continued with equal courage and fortune, till Cleopatra, terrified by the dreadful scene, turned her galley and fled, followed by sixty of the Egyptian vessels, and soon after by Antony himself. The deserted fleet of Antony maintained a brave resistance for some hours after his flight; but at length was completely overpowered and destroyed, three hundred ships being sunk or taken, and the whole strand covered with wrecks, and the bodies of the dead. For several days the army of Antony could not believe that he had deserted them; and remained in anxious expectation of his arrival, to renovate his fortunes on a more stable element. When at last assured of his flight, they entered into terms with the victor, who was now undisputed lord of both sea and land.

After this fatal battle, Antony continued his flight to Egypt, a prey at once to shame and to ungovernable rage. For some time he refused to see Cleopatra, whom he accused of having caused his overthrow. But having exhausted his wrath, he returned to the embrace of the ensnaring syren, and again gave himself up to the excesses of voluptuous enjoyment. Meanwhile, the cautious Octavius was drawing his toils closer around his victim. The defences of Egypt were taken or surrendered; and in a short time Antony was reduced to such straits, that he could neither fight nor fly. Hemmed in, deserted by bis own troops, suspicious of the Egyptians, distracted by jealousy and rage, he lost all self-control, bursting into tierce gusts of frantic passion, then sinking into the stupor of despair. Even Cleopatra became alarmed with these storms of the furious madman, and caused a report to be spread that she was dead. This report roused the Roman in the heart of Antony; and having nothing now on earth to love, and the path of ambition being closed, he threw himself on his own sword, but failed to inflict a wound immediately mortal. While struggling in the agonies of death, he was told that Cleopatra was still alive. Somewhat reviving at this intelligence, he caused himselfto be carried into the presence of Cleopatra, where, calling for a draught of wine, and fixing his eyes on the fascinating woman, for whose sake he had lost the world, he expired.

Octavius was now left without a rival, sole master of the Roman world. On seeing the body of Antony he betrayed some emotion; but gave orders that the utmost attention should be paid to Cleopatra, and especially that she should be prevented from dying by her own hand, as he was anxious that she should adorn his triumphat Rome. She seems to have cherished the hope of gaining the same influence over him that she had enjoyed over Caesar and Antony; but the cold and passionless temper of Octavius was proof against her blandishments. Disappointed in this expectation, and dreading the disgrace of being led in captivity to adorn the triumph of her conqueror, she eluded the vigilance of her Roman guards, and having imbibed poison, either from the bite of an asp, or from the point of an envenomed needle, death rescued her from that indignity.

Egypt was then reduced to the form of a Roman province; and its immense wealth was transported to Rome to replenish the exhausted treasury, and to pay the troops by whom the conquest was thus achieved. Soon after his return to Rome, Octavius received from the senate the ap[7:19:400]pellation of Augustus, by which name he is henceforward to be known in history; and by an unanimous vote, they committed to him the entire government of the state. With this vote ended the Roman republic; and from this period was dated the commencement of the Roman empire, under its first undisputed sovereign, Augustus Imperator.

section hi.

Augustus Caesar now found himself possessed of the undisputed sovereignty of Rome, every competitor having perished, and the servile senate being ready to bestow upon him all titles, honours, and privileges which he could desire. He had before him the contrasted fates of Sylla and of Caesar; the former of whom died in peace after relinquishing the perpetual dictatorship, the latter was slain when in its full enjoyment. For a time, it is said, he hesitated whether to retire, like Sylla, into private life, or to retain imperial power; but by the sage advice of the politic Maecenas, his chief favourite, he was persuaded to retain it, and merely to govern under republican forms, though possessing a real and absolute monarchy. In consequence of the same advice, he laid aside the dictatorship, as too manifestly despotic, was annually chosen consul, and finally received the consular power in perpetuity; and by being created perpetual tribune, his person was rendered sacred and inviolable, which gave a conventional security, at least to his life, and led to the enactment of the judicia majestatis, or accusations of high treason. As imperator he retained the command of all the forces; and by assuming the censorship and the pontificate, he became possessed of the right of raising or depressing in rank, and of regulating every thing that depended upon religious ceremonies.

This supreme dominion, which his own power would have enabled him to seize and perpetuate, he pretended to be unwilling to retain, and made an offer in the senate of laying it down. This they requested him not to do; and upon their urgent entreaties, he consented to retain it for a period of ten years; on the expiration of which, the same form was repeated, and a similar prolongation conferred. This example, followed by succeeding emperors, gave rise to the sacra decennalia, festivals celebrated at every renewal of the imperial authority. It is not necessary to imagine that this decree of the senate was entirely the result of slavish submission to absolute power. Many of the senators could still remember the horrors of those contentions for supremacy which had taken place in the times of Marius and Sylla, and of the two triumvirates, and might be really apprehensive of equal convulsions and bloodshed, should he abdicate his power, and thus re-open the sources of contention, anarchy, and bloodshed. The wiser of them might see, that there did not now survive enough of republican virtue to render a republic any longer possible, and as Augustus, after the fall of all his antagonists, had displayed a great degree of mildness and clemency, they might fairly conclude, that his government was the best of which Rome was then capable, and might therefore desire its perpetuity, as the best method of securing the welfare of the empire. On his own part, his character had begun to assume an aspect very different from what it bore at the beginning of his ambitious career. At that time, its chief element appeared to be cold, remorseless cruelty; now it became mild, placable, benignant, alike respectful to the senate, and benevolent to the people. The truest patriot might therefore be most earnest in desiring the continuance of his power, however it might have been acquired.

But while Augustus received equal manifestations of attachment from the senate and the people, he was sufficiently “ware, that to the army he owed his elevation, and that its favour must be secured. It could neither be disbanded nor retained in one place and body, with due regard to safety. Following the example of Sylla, he dispersed his veterans over Italy, settling them in thirty-two colonies, to make room for which, the former proprietors were in many instances dispossessed of their property. The settlement of one of these colonies near Mantua, was the cause of Virgil’s removal to Rome. Eight entire legions were posted on the Rhine, four on the Danube, three in Spain, and one in Dalmatia. Eight more were stationed in Asia and Africa. The whole standing army of the empire amounted to upwards of one hundred and seventy thousand men. There were also quartered in Rome and its vicinity twelve cohorts, amounting to about ten thousand men; nine of these, called the praetorian bands, were intended as the imperial body-guard, the rest for the garrison of the city. These praetorian cohorts afterwards became not the guards merely, but also the dispensers of imperial power. Two powerful fleets were also maintained, the one in the Adriatic sea, the other for the protection of the western Mediterranean. As Augustus still allowed the senate a nominal share in the government, the appointment of lieutenants for the administration of affairs in some of the provinces was left to them, the others he himself retained; but as the imperial provinces were those on the frontiers of the empire, where the troops were stationed, the armies constituting the real power were still under his command. The financial affairs of Rome he also arranged anew, taking care to cause the treasures of the empire to flow chiefly into his own private and military coffers. At this period, the state revenue of Rome is computed to have amounted to upwards of forty millions of our money. These revenues were drawn chiefly from tithes charged on conquered lands, tribute and customs from provinces, crown lands, taxations amounting to a twentieth upon inheritances, and fines of different kinds imposed by different laws. Of these the tributes and customs from the provinces, and the rental of the crown lands, were by far the most productive, directing the main stream of wealth into the imperial treasury.

The internal administration of affairs being thus arranged, Augustus had leisure to attend to its enlargement, by conquests on the frontier. Nor were these inconsiderable. Western Gaul, and the mountainous districts in the north of Spain, were completely subdued. An expedition into Armenia, if of little consequence in itself, was nevertheless very gratifying to Roman pride, by being the means of recovering from the Parthians the standards that had been lost in the unfortunate campaign of Crassus. In Africa, the boundaries of the empire were extended into very remote regions, productive however of little else but empty fame. But the most important of these conquests was that of the regions south of the Danube, Rhaetia, the country of the Vindelici, and Noricum, as well as Pannonia, and afterwards Moesia. The arms of Augustus could not, however, penetrate far into Germany, defended as it was both by the determined valour of its inhabitants, and by its extensive forests and marshes. The chief successes in Germany were ρb-tained by the valour and skill of Tiberius and Drusus Nero, especially the latter, sons of the empress Livia by her former husband. A peace being at length concluded with the Germans, and Augustus not being desirous of extending his dominions beyond the territories over which he had obtained complete possession, and which were comprised within well-defined boundaries, the world obtained repose, and with great rejoicing, the temple of Janus was formally closed, to intimate the existence of universal peace.

During this period of general tranquillity, when the world was at rest, and a deep calm was brooding over the nations, in this “fulness of the times,” there was born at Bethlehem in Judaea, of the lineage of David, the Prince of Peace, the Saviour of the World, whose coming thus brought with it [7:19:401]both a foretaste and earnest of what it was destined to secure, “on earth peace, and good-will towards men.”

But this universal calm was of brief duration. The Roman forces in Germany had been entrusted to the command of Quintilius Varus, who exercised his power in a harsh and oppressive manner. This the high-spirited Germans could not brook, and a revolt was planned and executed under the management of Arminius (Herman), who succeeded in drawing the Roman army into a position in which they could neither fight nor fly. Varus himself, with three legions and six cohorts, perished on the field, or in an ineffectual attempt to secure a retreat. The destruction of this army preyed deeply on the spirits of Augustus, who nevertheless exerted himself to remedy the disaster, by sending first Tiberius, and then Germanicus, the son of Drusus, into Germany, at the head of a more numerous force. These German wars were continued with more or less vigour throughout the remainder of the reign of Augustus, and with more or less success, generally under the brave and skilful command of Germanicus, who acquired for himself a very brilliant renown, and the esteem of the whole empire.

In addition to these public troubles, Augustus suffered great affliction from the misconduct and the calamities of his family. Not having a son to succeed him in the empire, his wife Livia engaged in the most restless intrigues to secure the succession to her own children by her former husband. Augustus, on the other hand, destined the empire to Marcellus, his nephew and son-in-law, to whom he had given in marriage his only daughter Julia. Upon the early death of Marcellus, a youth of high promise in every respect, Augustus manifested his intention of leaving the empire to his grandsons, the sons of Julia by Agrippa, to whom she had been married after the death of Marcellus. He gave them the title of “princes of the youth ;” and this undisguised favour so much offended Tiherius, that he withdrew from the court. The premature death of the two young princes, not without suspicion of having been poisoned by the empress Livia, to make way for her own son, cat∙ed the recall of Tiberius. Augustus bestowed upon him his daughter Julia, the widow of Marcellus and Agrippa, requiring him at the same time to adopt Drusus Germanicus, the son of his brother Drusus. The infamously licentious conduct of Julia at length so much disgusted her father, that he banished her to the island of Pandataria. Thus harassed by domestic troubles, the master of the world found that imperial power could not secure happiness, or lessen one of the pangs that waste the weary heart. He was seized with a dangerous illness while at Naples, and becoming worse while on his return, was unable to reach Rome, but expired at Nola, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, after having swayed the sceptre of imperial power during forty-four years.

The vacant throne was now ascended by Tiberius Claudius Nero, son of Livia, and latterly adopted son of Augustus. Almost the first act of Tiberius was to secure the empire by causing the murder of Agrippa Posthumus, the third son of Agrippa by Julia, thus completing the bloody policy by which his mother had opened his way to the sovereignty. He was in his fifty-sixth year when he succeeded to the empire; and though he had given evidence of the possession of by no means contemptible talents in his younger days, especially in his German wars, he had so long practised the arts of dissimulation and guile, that all his better mind seemed to have perished, and his baser qualities alone remained, or rather to have been stimulated into unnatural strength. Though now possessed of absolute power, he still continued to practise the subtle wiles of a. dark and crooked policy, and to seek to accomplish by deceit what he could easily have done by strength. The murder of young Agrippa removed the most formidable rival; but the high renown of his nephew Germanicus, then waging suc cessful war in the country whence he acquired his name, excited at once his envy, his hatred, and his fear; and he recalled him, on pretence of giving him the honours of a triumph. The residence of Germanicus at Rome could not long be endured by Tiberius; he was therefore sent into Syria, to quell the disorders of the east. Along with him were sent Piso and his wife, whose secret directions may be conjectured from their actual conduct, which was to harass him by every means in their power; and when he died, there were not wanting pregnant causes of suspicion that his death had been hastened by poison. The death of Germanicus was deplored by the whole Roman people, as a great public calamity, which none seemed more to deplore than Tiberius, while he inwardly rejoiced in the success of his atrocious villany.

In public life Tiberius was equally deceitful and cruel as he had been in private, and to his own relatives. Towards the senate he professed great respect, at the very time when he was depriving them of even the slender power which Augustus had left. Any remains of public virtue, wdfich the senate had hitherto possessed, died rapidly away; and ceasing to exercise an independent authority in a free state, it became the passive instrument of the most brutal tyranny. Every deceitful person is necessarily at the same time suspicious. Full of guile himself, the dark-hearted emperor suspected every other man to be equally guileful. Hence his encouragement of innumerable spies and informers, who were ready fabricators of accusations, when they could detect no real criminality. The constant terrors of the suspicious tyrant increased his natural cruelty, till he ripened into a perfect monster of barbarity, delighting to glut his eyes with the agonies of his tortured victims.

But the most suspicious of tyrants must trust some person, were it but to have an instrument to execute their crimes; and as none but abandoned persons can be their instruments, they never trust without being betrayed. Tiberius reposed his chief confidence on Sejanus, praefect of the praetorian guard, a man whose crimes, if possible, surpassed those of the emperor himself. For eight successive years did Sejanus retain an undivided influence over the mind of Tiberius; and during that period he contrived to procure the death or banishment of almost every person who might have checked his progress to the possession of imperial power, which was the object of his treacherous ambition. The death of Drusus, the emperor’s son, is attributed to Sejanus, as also the death of the two eldest sons of Germanicus, and the banishment of their mother Agrippina. The youngest son probably escaped in consequence of his almost constant residence with' the army. But the master-stroke of policy by which Sejanus strove to secure his object, was his persuading the emperor to remove from the cares and dangers of Rome, and to indulge his passions in a retirement where he would have none around him but his depraved ministers of vice. Tiberius retired to Capreae, where he abandoned himself to the perpetration of the most disgusting and unnatural vices, leaving Sejanus at Rome, in the possession of all but the name of imperial power. To this base and bloody favourite the senate displayed the utmost servility; the people gave him honours second only to those of the emperor; and the sceptre itself seemed on the point of passing into his grasp, when he was accused to Tiberius of plotting his death. The imperial dissembler conferred the consulship on Sejanus; and by the messenger who conveyed this honour, sent a letter to the senate, accusing him of treason. When Sejanus came to the senate to receive his official dignity, he met his accusation, was instantly condemned, dragged through the streets, and put to death with the utmost ignominy by those who a few hours before followed him with acclamations.

The fall of Sejanus seemed only to increase the suspicions and the barbarous cruelty of the debauched and monstrous [7:19:402]tyrant. He felt he had no friend; he knew he could not be loved; he was content to be hated, provided he were feared. At length, feeling the approach of death, he named as his successor Caius Caligula, the only surviving son of his murdered nephew Germanicus. Still, though consciously dying, the consummate dissembler strove to deceive not only his courtiers, but even his physicians. Pretending to feel a restoration of health and strength, he made a sumptuous feast, and continued at table, as if in the height of enjoyment, till he was seized with a fainting fit which threatened to be mortal. His courtiers forsook him in haste to flock to Caligula; but Tiberius reviving, they became alarmed lest he should recover, and Macro, the captain of the guard, smothered the helpless wretch, whose fate was thus hastened by the recoil of his own deceit and cruelty.

Caius Caesar Caligula (so surnamed from the common military buskins, caligoe, which he was accustomed to wear), was joyously welcomed to the throne by both the senate and the people, on account of the deep love and regard still cherished for the memory of his father Germanicus. His first acts served to confirm the hopes which had been entertained of him. He liberated all the state prisoners, and drove from the court and senate all the spies and informers whom Tiberius had employed. His voyage to the islands of Pandataria and Pontia in the midst of tempestuous weather, to remove the ashes of his mother and brothers, seemed also an amiable proof of a sincere filial and fraternal piety. He restored some of the most equitable of the decrees of Augustus, which Tiberius had repealed, and gave other proofs of his intention to act in all respects for the promotion of the public welfare. But these hopeful symptoms were doomed to suffer an early and a fatal blight. He had been only about eight months on the throne when he was seized with a severe and dangerous illness, from which he recovered, so far as bodily health was concerned; but his mental sanity appears to have sustained an irremediable shock.

From that time forward, animal passions of the fiercest kind domineered over him uncontrolled, or, if not animal passions merely, with no more of intellect than was enough to render them fearfully malevolent. To enumerate his crimes would be too hideously revolting, so utterly and excessively unnatural were· the murders, the incests, and the brutalities in which this insane, or demon-possessed monster revelled. Murder was his daily amusement; and he took a fiendish delight in witnessing the dying pangs of his victims, whose sufferings he strove to protract, that they might, as he said, “feel themselves dying.” He assumed divine honours, erected a temple to himself, and instituted a college of priests, to superintend the worship of the new god. He likewise deified one of his sisters; and on her death, it was equally dangerous to rejoice in her divinity, and to mourn for her death. It was customary for him to invite his favourite horse to sup with him; and he was only prevented by death from raising the animal to the dignity of consul. His prodigality was equally extravagant with his other crimes. In one year he expended the almost boundless wealth which had been accumulated by Tiberius, in shows of the most lavish and wasteful kind. One of these was a vast bridge of vessels at Puteoli, across an arm of the sea, three miles and a half broad, and so formed as to resemble a street at Rome. A feverish dream of military glory next seized his distempered brain; and he made great preparations for an expedition against the Germans. Like all his undertakings, it ended in consummate folly. Instead of conquering Germany, he led his army to the sea-shore at Boulogne in France, drew out his troops in order of battle, then causing them to fill their helmets with shells, which he termed the spoils of the ocean, he returned to Rome, and demanded from the senate the honours of a triumph for his warlike exploits.

Rome at length grew sick of enduring the frantic guilt and reckless tyranny of Caligula. A conspiracy was formed against him, and he was assassinated by Cassius Chaerea and Cornelius Sabinus, two officers of the praetorian guards. His body was allowed to lie for some time exposed to public contumely, but was finally thrown into a grave, without any marks of honour or respect. His wife and infant child were also slain by the conspirators, who thought thus to secure themselves against the danger of future punishment.'

Upon the death of Caligula, the senate began to cherish hopes of altogether abolishing the imperial power, and restoring, if not a republican, at least an aristocratic form of government. But the populace had too long enjoyed the donations of grain, and the amusements of the amphitheatre, supplied to them by dictators and emperors, to be disposed to favour a restoration of power to the senate. And the praetorian cohorts, stationed on the Quirinal hill, were too well aware that the continuation of their power depended upon the continuation of a monarchy, to be willing to tolerate any such revolution. Numbers of the conspirators, or those who were suspected to be such, were slain by the excited populace and the soldiers; and when the soldiers accidentally discovered Tiberius Claudius, brother of Germanicus, and uncle of the late emperor, they dragged him from his hiding place, and resolved to raise him to the vacant throne. The senate found it impossible to resist; and thus a person who had hitherto passed his life in unregarded obscurity, despised on account of his mental imbecility, was placed at the head of the empire. Thus raised to the throne by the power of the praetorian guards, Claudius set the pernicious custom of rewarding their deed by granting them a donative. This weak man was governed, as usually happens, by worthless favourites, and abandoned women. The infamous conduct of the empress Messalina has rendered her name proverbial; and her cruelty and rapacity were as unbounded as her licentiousness. At her instigation, it was but too common for the emperor to put to death some of the most wealthy of the nobles, and to confiscate their estates, with the money arising from which she pampered her numerous paramours. To such a pitch of unblushing effrontery did this abandoned woman proceed, that she at length openly married Silius, a noble youth, one of the partners of her crimes, purposing to complete her guilt by the murder of the emperor; but Claudius having received private information, gave orders for her death, and she was slain in the gardens which she had so long polluted by her unequalled criminality.

Messalina had accompanied Claudius in an expedition to Britain, and given birth to a son named Britannicus, whom he exhibited to the army as his destined successor in the empire. This expedition was occasioned by the previous success of one led by the praetor Aulus Plautius, and by Vespasian, who, after a succession of severe battles, subdued all the country south of the Thames. After the emperor’s return to Rome, Ostorius Scapula continued to conduct the war in Britain with great vigour and success, extended the province to the banks of the Severn, and finally succeeded in taking prisoner the celebrated Caractacus, or Ca-radoc, who had so long withstood the power of Rome. The native grandeur of soul displayed by this comparatively rude hero, excited in the mind of Claudius so much admiration, that he ordered his fetters to be struck off, and treated him with the most marked distinction.

The fall of Messalina was brought about in a great measure through the intervention of Narcissus, the emperor’s freedman, who, alongwith Pallas, another manumitted slave, engrossed the chief favour of the weak-minded sovereign of Rome. The power wielded by this race of men, was a new feature in the degeneracy of the imperial court, but [7:19:403]one which thenceforward was but too common, and as baneful as it was disgraceful. In men of this denomination, there was almost of necessity the most complete blending of abject sycophancy to the emperor, with despotic tyranny and insolence to all his subjects.

Not long after the death of Messalina, Claudius married his own niece, Agrippina, daughter of Germanicus, a woman of strong natural abilities, but of insatiable avarice, extreme ambition, and remorseless cruelty. Her influence over the feeble emperor was boundless, and was displayed in the most glaringly ostentatious manner. She prevailed on him at last to set aside his own son Britannicus, and to adopt her son, Domitius Ahenobarbus, by her former husband, giving him the name by which he is best known, Nero, and constituting him heir to the imperial throne. To secure the succession in this channel, she gained over Burrhus, praefect of the praetorian bands, to whom she entrusted the charge of the youthful aspirant, thus giving him a reason to maintain his fidelity to one over whom he was sure to obtain influence. But Claudius having shewn some disposition to change the succession, and to restore it to Britannicus, Agrippina caused him to be poisoned by one of his own slavish favourites. His death was concealed by the empress till she had completed all her machinations for securing the throne to her son, who was then produced to receive the congratulations of his subjects.

Nero Claudius Caesar, through the devices of his mother, and by the support of the praetorian guard, ascended the vacant throne at the early age of seventeen. During the first four or five years of his reign, he acted generally under the advice of his tutor, Seneca the philosopher, and Burrhus, praefect of the praetorian guard, and for that period he maintained a comparatively favourable character. The turbulent and ambitious conduct of his mother gave him great annoyance; and the opposition which she experienced from Seneca and Burrhus, together with the mortification of perceiving the rapid decline of her influence over her son, served only to stimulate her to more dangerous and wicked conduct. She threatened to excite a revolution in behalf of Britannicus, son of the late emperor; and this was the signal for the murder of the unfortunate youth, by the orders of Nero. The depravity of Nero was now beginning to shew itself. Poppaea Sabina, a woman of infamous character but of great beauty, had acquired greater influence over him than was possessed by either his mother or his sage counsellors, Seneca and Burrhus. A hideous rivalry began between this aspiring woman and Agrippina. To secure her influence, Poppaea instigated Nero to the murder of his mother; and to recover her power, Agrippina began to amass wealth, bribe the troops, and prepare measures for a conspiracy against the life of her own son. At length Poppaea prevailed, and Nero gave orders that his mother should be put to death, which was perpetrated while she lay asleep. After her murder, the monster himself gazed on the dead body, and expressed his admiration of her beauty.

He soon afterwards divorced his wife Octavia, daughter of Claudius, and married the infamous Poppaea. The death of Burrhus, which happened about the same time, gave him an opportunity of raising to the command of the praetorian guards a man whose disposition was more congenial to his own, Tigellinus, the corrupt and bloody tool of a depraved, licentious, and cruel tyrant. In his early youth Nero had paid some attention to the study of music, and even of poetry; and his excessive vanity led him to be covetous of public applause as a musician. He first exhibited publicly on the stage at Naples; and being extremely gratified with the vehement applause that followed his performance, he frequently afterwards appeared in the theatres, and played on his lute, in the guise of a common musician. In a tour through Greece he received such unbounded applause, conveyed in such flattering terms by the polished natives, that he declared none but Greeks were worthy to hear him play and sing. Yet from these skilful flatterers he exacted the most oppressive contributions, for the supply of his lavish prodigalities.

During his reign the war in Britain was renewed, under the command of the brave and skilful Suetonius Paulinus. This politic commander, perceiving the influence which the Druids exercised over their countrymen, determined to put to death the whole druidical order, and to extirpate their religion. For this purpose he seized upon and devastated the isle of Mona, or Anglesey, their chief seat, cut down the sacred groves, and burned numbers of the Druids on their own blood-stained altars, and with their own homicidal fires. While he was thus engaged, a general insurrection of the conquered province broke out in consequence of the barbarous outrages inflicted on Boadicea, queen of the Iceni. Instigated by her wrongs, the natives everywhere flew to arms, destroyed several Roman stations, and among others the considerable colony of Verulamium (St. Alban’s). Not less than 70,00( persons are said to have fallen victims to their vengeance Suetonius hastened back to the support of his countrymen, and defeated the insurgent Britons with terrible slaughter. He was soon afterwards recalled by Nero, and the war in Britain was for a time suffered to languish.

In the tenth or eleventh year of Nero’s reign, Rome was: visited by a vast and dreadful conflagration, which continued for six successive days, and laid waste the greater part of the city. Nero himself gazed on the progress of the devouring element with a strange and wild delight, reciting aloud in a theatrical manner some verses descriptive of the destruction of Troy. Great numbers of the people, and immense treasures perished in this conflagration, which, partly from his conduct at the time, and partly from some expressions which fell from him a short time before, Nero himself was suspected of having caused. To remove the odium of this dreadful suspicion, Nero not only began to rebuild the city in greater splendour than before, maintaining meanwhile the homeless inhabitants at his own expense, but also caused the Christians, who were now become numerous, to be accused of having set the city on fire. This false accusation caused the first persecution of the Christians, in which great numbers were put to death with tortures of unprecedented cruelty. The details of this bloody persecution come, however, more properly within the province of the ecclesiastical historian. Availing himself of the space left unoccupied by the devastations of the flames, Nero indulged his extravagant disposition in the erection of his celebrated golden palace, of which the dimensions were prodigious, and the materials so costly as to drain the wealth of an empire. To replenish his treasury, he exacted the most oppressive tribute from the provinces, and thus excited a spirit of strong disaffection, which at no distant period threatened almost the dissolution of the empire.

In the mean time a conspiracy at Rome, headed by Piso, was detected before it was ripe for execution. This gave occasion to Nero to display the worst qualities of his ferocious mind. Not only all who were really implicated in the conspiracy were put to death without mercy, and their effects confiscated to the use of the emperor, but great numbers were doomed to similar destruction for no other apparent cause than because they were wealthy, or in some manner had incurred the dislike of the tyrant. In this wholesale butchery perished the philosopher Seneca, and the poet Lucan, with many others of the best and noblest men of Rome.

Notwithstanding these horrible barbarities, Nero was almost a favourite with the corrupt and mercenary populace. A very large proportion of the inhabitants of Rome had been accustomed, even from the turbulent days of the Gracchi, to be supported almost solely by the donations and [7:19:404]distributions of corn, bestowed upon them by designing demagogues. Marius set the example of composing armies out of this degenerate city rabble; and even when this example was not followed, it was still found necessary to continue the distributions of corn, together with the public shows of gladiators and wild beasts in the amphitheatre. To these Nero had added supplies of wine and animal food (congiaria et viscerationes); so that the populace was both amused and fed at the public expense, while the weight of the tyranny was chiefly borne by the most distinguished class of citizens, the senate, and the nobility; and heaviest by the most illustrious. To such a state of affairs the degenerate populace had little to object; but men of rank and merit groaned beneath an oppression no longer to be endured.

The provinces, however, were the first to make an attempt to throw off the intolerable yoke. Julius Vindex raised the standard of revolt in western Gaul. The army in Spain proclaimed their general, Galba, emperor; and they were joined by the troops in Lusitania, commanded by Otho. The intelligence of these revolts filled Nero with consternation; from which he was somewhat relieved by the tidings of the defeat of Vindex by Virginius, who had maintained his allegiance. This joy was of short duration; for Nym-phidius, colleague of Tigellinus in the command of the praetorian guards, found means to persuade these troops to declare for Galba. The ruin of the emperor was now inevitable. Bereft of friends, of courage, and of presence of mind, he fled in trepidation disguised from the city, found a temporary refuge in the house of his freedman, Phaon, and hearing the trampling of horsemen who had been sent in pursuit of him, stabbed himself in the throat with a dagger, and miserably ended his miserable life.

Servius Sulpitius Galba was universally received as emperor after the death of Nero; although Nymphidius attempted to take advantage of his slow progress towards Rome from Spain, and to get himself raised to the throne by the praetorian guards. Virginius Rufus, who had defeated Vindex, voluntarily submitted to Galba, as did also the armies in other parts of the empire. Strengthened by this ready reception, Galba endeavoured to abridge the dangerous power of the praetorian guards. Habituated to the rigid discipline of the camp, he exerted himself to restore somewhat of the ancient and hardy virtues of the republic, discountenanced sloth, idleness, and luxury, and even exhibited a penurious meanness of temper, unbecoming his exalted station, giving colour to the accusations of avarice which were made against him. The legions stationed in upper Germany, who had been somewhat tardy in acknowledging his elevation to the throne, began to be more disaffected, and to threaten to raise their own general, Vitellius, to the possession of imperial power. With a view to strengthen his tenure of empire, Galba appointed Licinius Piso, a youth of high promise, to be his successor. To this Otho had aspired, and immediately plotted the death of Galba. He readily secured the favour of the praetorian guards, who equally feared and hated the rigid discipline of the emperor. A revolt speedily ensued; Galba prepared to defend his power; and a contest taking place in the forum, the aged emperor was thrown down and trampled to death, after a reign of only seven months.

Scarcely had Otho seized upon the sceptre, when he found himself engaged in a contest with Vitellius, who had been proclaimed emperor by his soldiers. The new competitor for imperial sway was joined by Valens and Caecina, and began his march towards Italy at the head of a power-ful army. Otho marched to oppose him. The antagonists met at a little village called Bedriacum, near the banks of the Po, and a severe and bloody engagement took place. Victory was for some time doubtful; but the superior discipline of Vitellius’s army prevailed, and Otho was defeat ed with great slaughter. Seeing his prospects desperate, Otho gave up the contest, thanked his troops for their fidelity, and put an end to his own life, after a brief reign of about three months.

Vitellius began his reign by endeavouring to conciliate the favour of the populace and the troops by large donations and expensive amusements. He then gave a loose rein to his own debasing appetites, of which the chief was absolute gluttony of the very grossest kind. It is almost incredible, though stated by historians, that in less than four months he expended on the mere luxuries of the table a sum equal to about seven millions sterling. This bloated and pampered ruler was soon regarded by all his subjects with contempt and disgust. The unrestrained licentiousness of the soldiery tended equally to make his reign hated and feared by all w ho were exposed to the insults and outrages in which they indulged. To supply the funds necessary for the maintenance of his excessive luxury, he resorted to the too prevalent custom of listening to the accusations of spies, and putting to death all such accused persons, that he might seize upon their property.

While thus wallowing in the indulgence of the most debasing appetites, Vitellius was startled by tidings of a very alarming nature. During the reign of Nero an insurrection had broken out in Judea, and Vespasian had been sent to take the command of the army in Syria. The Jews made a desperate resistance, disputing, with almost invincible hardihood and indomitable bravery, every inch of their sacred territory. But this resistance, while it detained Vespasian in that country at the head of a powerful army, served only to mature their own fate. He had sent his own son, Titus, to offer his allegiance to Galba; but before his arrival ∙Galba was dead, and Otho and Vitellius were contending for the empire. Titus returned to his father for instructions; and though Vespasian appeared ready to acknowledge Vitellius, his own troops were eager to raise him to the sovereignty. Mucianus, governor of Syria, and all the tributary eastern monarchs, urged him to comply with the wishes of his army, and his reluctance, real or feigned, yielded to their joint remonstrances. No sooner had he commenced his march towards Europe, than the Illyrian and Pannonian armies declared in his favour; and that of Illyricum, under the command of Antonius Primus, crossed the Alps and marched towards Rome to dethrone Vitellius. The Vitellian army, commanded by Caecina, encountered that of Antonins near Cremona, byt was defeated with great loss, and the city was taken. Antonius continued to advance on Rome, and crossed the passes of theAppen-nines while the emperor was hastening to secure them. Vitellius fled to Rome, which was soon invested by the victorious army of Antonius. An insurrectionary tumult arose in the city itself, during which the Capitol was burned to the ground, and Sabinus, the brother of Vespasian, was killed. The troops of Antonius at length forced an entrance into the city, stormed the quarters of the praetorian guards, and put those turbulent bands to the sword. Vitellius endeavoured to conceal himself, but was discovered, dragged through the streets to the place of punishment for common malefactors, put to death in the most ignominious manner, and his mangled carcass cast into the Tiber amidst the execrations of the multitude. Eight months and five days had this despicable wretch seemed to sway the sceptre of supreme dominion, when thus ovet taken by the due reward of his debauchery and crimes.

Flavius Vespasian obtained possession of the throne in his fifty-ninth year, and became the founder of a dynasty which gave three emperors to Rome. He was a man of rare and excellent virtues, thoroughly matured by a life spent in the exercise of public duties, and with no object superior to that of promoting the public welfare. Being well aware of the glaring abuses which had long been per[7:19:405]petrated with impunity in all branches of the administration, he set himself vigorously to the dangerous task of effecting a thorough reform. He restored the privileges of the senate, and gave it once more an actual power in the government. The courts of law were also subjected to a most salutary reform, and rendered again, what they had long ceased to be, courts of justice. The insubordination of the army, which had been the main cause of so many bloody revolutions, he repressed with a firm and steady hand; and restored in a great measure the discipline which had made it so powerful in its better days. He directed his attention also to the treasury, which had been quite exhausted by the corrupt and prodigal expenditure of his predecessors; and in order to replenish its coffers, he regulated anew the tribute and custom-dues of the provinces, and imposed a number of taxes; by which means, though he was accused of avarice, he placed once more the revenues of the empire on a stable basis, and restored them to a flourishing condition. The large sums thus raised Vespasian did not expend in revelry, neither did he hoard up in useless masses. He rebuilt the temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, which had been destroyed during the tumults that accompanied the fall of Vitellius; and adorned the city with many other public buildings of great elegance and splendour, thus evincing, that though rigorous and exact in his methods of amassing treasure, he knew, on proper occasions, how to use it with no parsimonious hand. Under him the empire began to breathe with fresh life, and to exhibit signs of prosperity and happiness, such as it had not known since the reign of Augustus. His son Titus being raised to the dignity of Caesar, by which name the successor to the throne was designated, the peace and welfare of the empire seemed secured on a stable basis.

During the reign of Vespasian the arms of Rome were prosperous in various parts of the world. Several states bordering-on the Roman dominions were reduced by his generals to the condition of provinces. But the most celebrated, though not the most formidable war which distinguished his reign, was that in which he was engaged when he was called to the throne, the war against the Jews. This was conducted by his son Titus, after his departure to Rome to enter on the possession of imperial power. The events of this memorable war are so well known that they need not here be detailed. Suffice it to state, that after Jerusalem had been closely invested, the Jews refused all terms of capitulation, blindly trusted in some terrible interposition of divine power to save them and consume their enemies, butchered each other with inconceivable barbarity during every temporary cessation of warfare, endured the wildest extremes of famine, and after suffering every form and kind of misery, to a degree unparalleled in the world’s history, their city was taken, and together with their celebrated temple, was reduced to heaps of shapeless ruins; and such of them as survived these awful calamities were scattered over the face of the earth, and rendered a mockery, a proverb, and a reproach among nations. In consequence of this victory over the Jews, Titus and the emperor enjoyed together the honours of a splendid triumph, while the rich vessels of the temple of Jerusalem were in gorgeous procession borne in the train of the conquerors.

Soon after this triumph the Batavian war broke out, caused by the civil wars for the empire, and threatening Rome with the loss of a province. It was at length brought to a propitious conclusion by Cerealis, after several sharp encounters, and by a treaty rather than a conquest. The Roman arms were more successful in Britain, during the reign of Vespasian and his immediate successors, than they had previously been. In his younger days, the emperor had himself been engaged in British wars; and being desirous of reducing the island completely under the Roman yoke, he gave the command to Cneius Julius Agricoa, a man of extraordinary merit, a general and a statesman worthy of the best days of Rome. Not only the southern division of the island was subdued by this distinguished commander, but even the more remote regions of Caledonia, hitherto impervious to the Roman legions, were laid open. The gallant resistance of the brave Caledonians, under their leader Galgacus, was ineffectual; their untaught valour could not withstand the steady discipline of the Roman army, and they sustained a severe overthrow at the base of the Grampians. The Roman fleet coasting along the shore, ascertained the insular character of Britain; but so formidable were the mountain fastnesses of Caledonia, that Agricoa did not attempt to penetrate farther into the country, contenting himself with constructing a chain of forts between the Friths of Clyde and Forth, to defend the southern districts, and to restrain the recoil and assaults of the unconquered Caledonians.

Thus glorious abroad, and beloved at home, Vespasian’s life began to draw near its termination. Feeling the effects of age and weakness, he retired to Campania, to enjoy the benefits of a purer air than that of Rome, together with some relaxation from the cares of state. There he was seized with a malady which his own sensations told him would speedily prove mortal. His anticipations proved true; and he expired in the arms of his attendants, in the seventieth year of his age, and the tenth of his reign. It is worthy of remark, that Vespasian was the second of the Roman emperors that died a natural death, and the first that was succeeded by his son.

Titus Flavius Vespasian, the conqueror of Jerusalem, ascended in peace the peaceful throne of his father. The very first acts of his reign gave promise of a period of unexam-pledfelicity. Previously to that time he had indulged slightly in pleasures of a somewhat licentious character. From that hour he discarded all the ministers of his looser days, and being resolved to reform the state of public morals, began by reforming himself. Although strongly attached to the beautiful Berenice, daughter of Agrippa, the last king of Judea, he relinquished her society entirely, because he knew that such a connexion was disagreeable to the Roman senate and people. He abolished also the law of treason, under the sanction of which so many acts of tyranny had been committed; and he not only discountenanced, but severely punished, all spies and informers. His whole time was devoted to the duties of his high station; his chief pleasure consisted in rendering services and kindnesses to his friends and to his people. His courtesy and benevolence would doubtless find ample scope; yet it is recorded of him, that one evening recalling to mind the events of the day, and not finding that he had done any thing during its course beneficial to mankind, he exclaimed in accents of regret, “My friends, I have lost a day !” This well-known exclamation, and the course of benevolent deeds by which it was accredited, procured for him the truly glorious title of The delight of mankind.

Yet the reign of that gentle-hearted and benignant emperor was signalised by some remarkable public calamities. In its first year Campania was laid waste by the most dreadful eruption of Vesuvius ever recorded. It devastated the surrounding country for many miles, overwhelming several cities, of which Herculaneum and Pompeii were the chief. The remains of these cities, excavated in modern times, have supplied inestimable stores to the antiquarian, and thrown great light upon the habits and customs of the Romans in domestic life/ Pliny, the celebrated naturalist and philosopher, lost his life in this eruption, being suffocated in consequence of allowing his curiosity to attract him too near the fearful and dangerous scene. This calamitous convulsion of nature was followed by a destructive conflagration at Rome, which raged for three days, and destroyed a great number of edifices, both public and private. Titus exerted [7:19:406]himself to the utmost to alleviate these visitations of suffering; and while so engaged, his sympathies were called forth afresh by a dreadful plague which carried away vast multitudes at Rome. These disastrous events deeply grieved the benignant heart of Titus, and he strove incessantly to lighten the weighty calamities which pressed so heavily upon the empire. In the midst of these exertions and anxieties, he was seized with fever, against the fatal effects of which neither the skill of physicians nor the strength of his constitution could avail. After a short reign of two years ten months and a few days, he died in the forty-second year of his age, leaving behind him the reputation of being, if not the happiest, at least the best of monarchs.

Flavius Domitian, the younger brother of Titus, now ascended the vacant throne without opposition. On his first accession to imperial power, he seemed desirous of emulating the conduct of his brother. He paid the strictest attention to justice, bestowing a large portion of his time in hearing causes that had been appealed, and shewing himself ready to reverse every inequitable sentence. Pretending great disregard for wealth, he refused to accept the property bequeathed to him, distributing it among the natural heirs. To prevent his chief officers of state from receiving bribes, he bestowed upon them large sums, that they might be raised above the reach of temptation. He was, at the same time, remarkably liberal in granting donations, and providing the most expensive shows and amusements to the people. He confirmed all the grants made by his predecessors to the soldiers, and increased their pay, thus securing their favour and support. All the public buildings which Titus had begun he caused to be finished, sparing no expenditure to have them completed in the most splendid manner.

Having by these popular displays and manifestations secured the favour of the army and the populace, Domitian began to throw aside the mask which he had for a short time uneasily worn. Vanity and timidity seemed to be the leading elements of his character. The first led him to be inordinately desirous of obtaining popular applause, or even private flattery, however gross; the second rendered him incapable of performing any noble exploit, constantly afraid of public danger or private conspiracies, and consequently cruel to excess, when his victims were completely in his power. For it is an obvious truth, that cowardice and cruelty are inseparably allied; and the opposite is equally true, that the bravest man is also the most merciful. The vanity of Domitian made him desirous of a military triumph; and in order to obtain it he made an expedition into Gaul, against the Catti, a warlike German tribe which had invaded the province. Without having even seen the enemy, he demanded a triumph; and the servile senate granted the request of their weak and inglorious sovereign.

The intelligence of the really glorious exploits of Agricoa in Britain, excited the envy of Domitian; and he recalled that celebrated general, under a pretence of appointing him to the government of Syria. Agricoa was too prudent to require a triumph, and retired into private life, which, however, he did not long enjoy, his death being hastened, as some suspect, by the guile of the emperor. He was soon afterwards involved in a more formidable war, in consequence of an irruption of the Daci and Getae, who, under the command of their brave king Decebalus, crossed the Roman frontiers, and defeated the armies sent to oppose them. Domitian had now an opportunity of acquiring the renown of a warrior, but he wanted a warrior’s heart. He did indeed march against the invader in person, taking care to turn his course so as to encounter the less-dreaded Marcomanni, by whom he was nevertheless defeated. Not daring to come to an engagement with the Daci, he actually purchased a peace, agreeing to pay Decebalus an annual sum of money, provided he would withdraw from the Roman dominions. This war is memorable, as being the first in which the northern barbarians attacked the empire not only with impunity, but with success; the pernicious precedent being thus established of purchasing peace, not with steel, but gold, in direct contrast to the old Roman usage.

In proportion as Domitian became truly despicable, did be increase in the most absurd and proposterous vanity. He now deified himself, and commanded his own statue to be worshipped as a god, at the very time that his mind was agitated with constant dread of plots against his life. Surrounded with spies and informers, he became more and more cruel, reviving the law of treason, and putting into terrific force al 1 its bloody provisions. An unsuccessful revolt of the army in Upper Germany gave an opportunity to the timid yet sanguinary tyrant to indulge his ferocity, by putting to death all whom he suspected of disaffection. About the same time, a persecution was commenced against the Christians, partly because they refused to worship the statue of the emperor, and partly because his ignorant and superstitious mind had formed some vague notion of their connexion with the Jews, coupled with the dread, not yet either extinct or understood, of the appearance of a person born in Judea, who was to obtain the empire of the world. In this persecution several persons of illustrious birth and station perished, among whom was Flavius Clemens, a relation of the emperor; which shews that Christianity was beginning to make progress among the higher ranks of society.

But the end of this weak, vain, and cruel tyrant drew near. In order to secure the support of the army, he had augmented the pay of the troops one-fourth; and in order to meet the increased expense, he increased the number of those judicial murders, by the law of treason, which caused the property of the victims to be confiscated and become his own. He was in the habit of inscribing on a roll the names of those persons whom he designed to put to death, and kept it carefully in his own possession, treating them, in the meanwhile, with the most flattering attention. This fatal roll was one day taken from under the cushion on which he was reclining asleep, by a child who was playing about the apartment, and who carried it to the empress. She was struck with astonishment and alarm at finding her own name on the dark record, together with the names of others apparently highest in his favour. To them she communicated the knowledge of their danger; and they immediately resolved to preserve their own lives by destroying that of Domitian. This was accordingly done, notwithstanding all the precautions which cowardice and cunning could suggest; and, with the connivance of the praetorian prefect, Domitian perished by the daggers of Stephanus and Parthenius, officers of his own household.

He was the last of the emperors commonly described as “the twelve Caesars;” although, in reality, the Caesarean family terminated with Nero, and even previously its continuation had been only in the female line. Marcus Cocceius Nerva was chosen by an unanimous vote of the senate, on the very day of Domitian’s death, that they might anticipate any attempt of the praetorian guard to make an emperor. He was of foreign extraction, though a naturalized citizen and senator of Rome, and owed his elevation to the throne solely to his stainless reputation. He commenced his reign by punishing informers, redressing grievances, repealing iniquitous statutes, enacting good laws, and dispensing favours with boundless liberality. He had made a resolution that no senator should be put to death by his command; but this, together with proofs of equal unwillingness to inflict punishment, encouraged the turbulent to indulge in their evil practices. An insurrection broke out in the praetorian guard, and to appease it Nerva was obliged to yield up the murderers of Domitian to their vengeance. Feeling his inability to control these seditious troops, he resolved to adopt as his colleague and successor in the empire Marcus Ulpius Trajan, by whose firmness and decision they might [7:19:407]be kept in awe. The effect proved the wisdom of Nerva’s choice. So high was the character of Trajan, that no person could be named equally worthy of the empire; and even the seditious praetorian bands submitted without a murmur. This, as it was the best, was almost the last act of Nerva’s short reign. He was soon after seized with a fever,of which he died, having reigned only one year four months and nine days.

The peaceful and virtuous reign of Nerva was the harbinger of happy days to the Roman empire. The selection of Trajan prevented any contests for imperial power at the death of Nerva; so that the new emperor entered without the necessity of bloodshed upon the discharge of his high functions. He was by birth a Spaniard, though of Italian extraction; and had been early inured to the discipline of the army under his father, a commander of considerable reputation. When he himself became a general, he continued to practise the simple habits of a soldier, excelling his troops not in personal indulgences, but in courage and virtue. On the throne he continued to exhibit the same excellencies, only enhanced by the acquisition of a wider scope for their full development. Being superior to fear, it was natural that he should also be above harbouring suspicion. He therefore abolished the law of treason, (judicia majestatis,) and prepared to restore as much of the free Roman constitution as was compatible with the existence of a monarchy. He restored the elective power to the comitia, complete liberty of speech to the senate, and to the magistrates their former authority; and yet he ruled the empire with unrivalled firmness, holding the reins of power with a strong and steady hand. Of him it has been said, not in the language of panegyric, but of simple sincerity, that he was equally great as a ruler, a general, and a man: and only such a man could with safety, as emperor, have used the remarkable words, when giving a sword to the prefect of the praetorian guards, “Take this sword, and use it, if I have merit, for me; if otherwise, against me.”

Soon after the accession of Trajan, the Dacian monarch, Decebalus, sent to demand the tribute with which Domitian had purchased a disgraceful peace. This Trajan indignantly refused; and levying an army, marched against the Dacians, who had already resumed their predatory incursions. The hostile armies soon came to an engagement, for both were equally eager; and after a desperate struggle the Dacians were routed with dreadful carnage. But so great was the loss of the Romans, that for some time they were not able to follow up their victory. It was however decisive; and the Dacians were compelled not only to forego their demands, but even to become tributaries to Rome. But unaccustomed to servitude, and led by their gallant king Decebalus, they mustered fresh forces as soon as they had somewhat recovered from their overthrow, and prepared for another contest. The warlike emperor was equally ready for the shock of arms. Not satisfied with expelling the invaders, he now determined to carry the war into the country of the enemy. For this purpose he erected a stupendous bridge over the Danube, with a strong fortification at each end, defeated the Dacians in every battle, marched into the heart of their country, and made himself master of the capital. Decebalus, despairing of success, killed himself, and Dacia was reduced to a Roman province, and secured in subjection by several colonies and standing camps. On his return from the Dacian war, the emperor was honoured with a triumph which lasted for the unprecedented period of 120 days.

The deepest stain which rests on the memory of Trajan is the sanction which he gave to the persecution of the Christians. This persecution raged chiefly in the Asiati cprovinces, where Christianity was most prevalent; and when Pliny the younger, at that time proconsul of Bithynia, wrote to Trajan for instructions respecting a matter which was causing the death of so many men who could not be convicted of any public crimes, the emperor returned an ambiguous answer, the purport of which was, “that the Christians should not be sought for, nor indicted on anonymous information, but that on conviction they ought to be punished.” Such an answer was contrary to every principle of justice; for if criminal, they ought to be sought for, if not criminal, they ought not to be punished. The persecution being somewhat discouraged, was gradually suffered to abate.

Trajan’s passion for military fame had been but excited, not satiated, by his Dacian conquests. He next directed his attention to the East, and resolved to wrest from the Parthians, the most dreaded foes of Rome, the empire of central Asia. The first scene of his glory was Armenia, which he speedily reduced to a Roman province. Hence he advanced into Mesopotamia, throwing across the rapid Tigris a bridge not less remarkable than that which spanned the Danube. The greater part of what had been the Assyrian empire was overrun by his conquering arms. Selucia yielded to his might; Ctesiphon, the capital of the Parthian kingdom, could not resist his prowess; all opposition appeared fruitless, and victory seemed the companion of his march. Following the course of the Tigris, he arrived at the head of the Persian gulf, where he fitted out a fleet, and sailed to the entrance of the Indian ocean. Having thus traced the steps of Alexander the Great, emulating his conquering career, and with almost equal celerity, he began to retrace his course, returned to Ctesiphon, and placed a new sovereign on the throne of Parthia.

Age had now' somewhat tamed his ambitious spirit, and seriously diminished the vigour of his hardy but overworn frame. He began to make preparations for his return to Rome, which he intended to be celebrated in a manner that should far outshine the most glorious triumphs of any of his imperial predecessors. But this triumph he was not destined to see. He had only reached Cilicia when he was seized with an illness which proved fatal, after a few days of paralytic stupor. During this period of comparative insensibility, the empress Plotina, who had accompanied him, contrived to procure Trajan’s signature to a will nominating as his successor in the empire P. Aelius Adrian, his cousin, who was at that time with the army.

Adrian having been declared emperor by the soldiers, immediately communicated to the senate the intelligence of Trajan’s death, and of his own accession, excusing his not having waited till their sentiments should be made known, by pleading the impatient impetuosity of his troops. The senate were but too happy that the army had made no worse choice, and gave their ready concurrence. Adrian not having either the ambition or the military talents of Trajan, was more desirous of securing peace than of extending the empire: he therefore abandoned all the conquests of his predecessor, broke down the bridge across the Tigris, and reduced the empire within the boundaries marked out by Augustus, with the exception of Dacia. On his return to Rome the senate offered him a triumph, which he declined on his own account; but as great preparations had already been made, the triumph was celebrated, the statue of Trajan occupying the most conspicuous position. The ashes of that imperial warrior were afterwards placed in a golden urn on the summit of a magnificent column, 140 feet high, erected in the Forum Trajani to commemorate his victories, and still known by the name of Trajan’s pillar.

But though Adrian was of a pacific disposition, he well knew what was required for the protection of the empire. He therefore restored the discipline of the army, and kept it in complete subordination. He also effected a general and vigorous reform in the internal administration of affairs, and displayed great personal aptitude for the study of comprehensive politics. To him the jurisprudence of Rome was [7:19:408]deeply indebted, for the systematic order to which he reduced it. Being aware that little reliance could be placed on the accounts received from the distant provinces, and stimulated by the curiosity of an active temperament, he resolved to visit every province in the empire. In his visit to Britain, he followed the same policy which he had shewn with regard to the East; and instead of attempting a further reduction of Caledonia, relinquished a portion of Agricoa’s conquests, and erected a new wall, as a boundary-line of defence, from the Solway Firth to the Tyne, near Newcastle. He traversed Gaul and Germany, and revisited Asia, where he allayed some commotions that had arisen during his absence. Africa was also honoured by his presence. He spent a winter at Athens, again traversed the eastern provinces and Egypt, and then gratified his learning and his taste by another temporary residence in Greece. He was passionately fond of literature and the fine arts, and possessed of no inconsiderable attainments; and by his patronage of the productions of genius, he called forth another Augustan age, though not of equal brilliancy.

During his reign, the persecutions of the Christians were renewed with great barbarity; and the emperor scarcely seemed to think it worth his ½dfile to protect that most unoffending class of his subjects. To the Jews he shewed nothing but insulting cruelty. He gave orders that a Roman colony should be established at Jerusalem, and changed its name to Aelia Capitolina. These indignities led to a fierce insurrection of the Jews, headed by an impostor who pretended to be the Messiah, and assumed the name of Barco-hab, (the son of a star). A furious and sanguinary war, of nearly three years duration, almost entirely destroyed the very name and nation of the Jews, and it was decreed a capital crime if any Jew should again come within Judea.

After his return to Rome, he adopted Commodus Verus as his successor, and on his death, Titus Antoninus. He was soon afterwards seized with dropsy, and the sufferings he endured made him almost frantic. Neither the attention of his physicians, nor the company of philosophers and poets could sooth him. Death at length terminated his sufferings at Baiae, in the sixty-third year of his age, and after a reign of twenty-one years.

T. Aurelius Antoninus, the adopted son and successor of Adrian, next ascended the throne. The first care of his reign was to prevent the senate from dishonouring the name of Adrian, by whose somewhat peevish and cruel conduct during his last illness, they had been offended. Not only did he succeed in this attempt, but the amiable anxiety which he displayed to protect the memory of his predecessor, earned for him the honourable designation of the pious; hence the name Antoninus Pius, by which he is best known in history. It had been arranged by Adrian, not only that Antoninus should succeed him, but also that Antoninus should adopt both Marcus Aurelius as his immediate successor, and Cesonius Commodus Verus, the son of that Verus whom he had first adopted. This arrangement Antoninus Pius immediately ratified, by giving his daughter Faustina in marriage to Aurelius, while he tolerated the profligate conduct of Verus, solely out of regard to the memory of Adrian.

The reign of Antoninus Pius furnishes few materials for the historian, passing away like a placid dream in the midst of universal tranquillity. It was undoubtedly the most peaceful and happy period that ever Rome knew, whether as a republic or an empire. It seemed to realise the ideal speculations of those philosophical politicians who looked for good government or rational happiness then, and then only, when philosophers should be kings, or kings philosophers. It is no mcan portion of his praise, that he put an end to the persecution of the Christians throughout the empire. Few and slight were the wars of this reign. Of these, perhaps the most memorable was that waged in

Britain by Lollius Urbicus, who not only repressed the incursions of the Caledonians, but recovered the district between the wall of Adrian, and the line of forts erected by Agricoa. By the directions of the emperor, the newly acquired territory was secured by a complete wall, consisting of ditch and rampart, along the line traced by Agricoa, and since known as the wall of Antoninus, or Graham’s dike.

But the character of Antoninus was a more powerful protection to the Roman dominions than armies and military ramparts: so highly were his virtues respected through the world, that contending princes referred their disagreements to his arbitration, rather than to the fierce decision of the sword. The administration of all public affairs was conducted with the same spirit as if under the eye of the emperor, because every instance of malversation was immediately checked by removal from office, every instance of fidelity and judgment rewarded by the perpetuation of official rank. While the financial department was managed with the utmost frugality, no expenditure was spared which was evidently beneficial to the welfare of the community, in the foundation or improvement of useful institutions, such as the erection of public schools, and the maintenance of teachers. A liberal and enlightened encouragement was also given to commerce, with the view of rendering Rome the mistress of arts, as well as of arms, the centre of an empire acquired by the sword, but consolidated by civilization.

. Thus peaceful, happy, and beloved, Antoninus Pius reigned for a period of about twenty-three years, and died of a fever at one of his villas, universally regretted, and leaving to his own family nothing but his private property, and the inestimable heritage of a name, against which not even calumny had dared to insinuate a charge.

Marcus Aurelius, called also Antoninus from having been adopted by his predecessor, and the Philosopher, from his proficiency in learning and his attachment to the opinions of the Stoics, succeeded to the throne, with the cordial approbation of both senate and people. According to the arrangement of Adrian, Aurelius associated with himself in the empire Lucius Verus, a person of a very dissimilar character, to whom he gave his daughter in marriage. This dissimilarity however rendering any thing like rivalry impossible was perhaps the cause of the cordial harmony which subsisted between the colleagues during the course of their common reign. Verus took the command of the army which was sent against the Parthians, over whom, by the skill and valour of his generals, he obtained several considerable victories, and captured several towns, while he was himself revelling in debaucheries at Antioch. At the conclusion of this war, Verus returned to enjoy the honours of a triumph which he had no share in obtaining. Unfortunately, the eastern army brought with it to Rome the infliction of a pestilential disease which was then raging in Asia, and which soon spread its ravages throughout almost the whole of the Roman empire. A dreadful inundation of the Tiber about the same time laid a large part of the city under water, and swept away immense quantities of graih from the fields and the public storehouses. This was followed by a famine which consumed great numbers, in spite of the utmost exertions of the emperor.

While thus weakened by pestilence and famine, the empire was assailed by a most formidable confederacy of the Germanic nations. The Marcomanni, and other tribes of similar origin, began to press forward with great force upon the Dacian province. The two emperors left Rome to take the field in person against these dangerous antagonists. Verus died, however, soon after the beginning of the war, leaving Aurelius to take the sole command, and to exchange his philosophic studies for the din of arras. He proved himself not unequal to the task, although the war was protracted and chequered by various vicissitudes, vic∙
[7:19:409]

tory not always inclining to the side of Rome. During this war there occurred an event which has engaged the pens of several controversial writers. The Roman army happening to be reduced to great straits, blocked up by the Quadi, and in want of water, were relieved, and their enemies entirely discomfitted by a sudden storm of rain, accompanied with thunder and lightning, which flashing fiercely in the faces of the barbarians, filled them with terror, and scattered them into headlong flight. This event was considered as miraculous, and it is said to have been immediately preceded by the prayers of the twelfth legion, which was composed of Christians, and which afterwards received the name of the thundering legion.

A peace, or rather a cessation of hostilities, followed the victory thus obtained, and the emperor having returned to Rome, triumphed along with his son Commodus. An insurrection which had broken out in Syria, probably hastened his return; but Aurelius was not required to march against the rebel Avidius Cassius, who was killed by his own soldiers. The emperor treated the insurgents with great clemency, and took the family of Cassius under his protection, forbidding the senate to doom to death any who were suspected of being implicated in the rebellion.

Notwithstanding the general mildness of the personal character and the administration of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, his memory is greatly disgraced by the systematic persecution against the Christians which he encouraged. It was not now merely the consequence of tumultuary violence, arising out of the intolerance of the idolatrous pagans, but was deliberately resolved upon, for reasons of state; the philosophic emperor, although despising all religion in his stoic pride, yet strictly prohibiting all change from the religions and customs of former times. Among the most illustrious victims of imperial intolerance was Justin Martyr, celebrated for his writings in defence of Christianity.

The war against the German nations was soon renewed, and assumed the most formidable aspect. Not merely the tribes on the frontiers of the empire took up arms, but throughout the interior of all the northern nations there was a general commotion, a wide upheaving and unsettling of whole races, and a pressing forward of a living tide, which threatened to overwhelm every thing in its progress. This was in fact the first symptom of the great migration of nations, then beginning, and which ceased not till it completely subverted the Roman empire, filling it with a new population, whose descendants constitute the kingdoms of modern Europe.

In order to stem, if possible, the progress of this barbarian innundation, Aurelius again left Rome, and marched to Germany. His first efforts were crowned with success; but before he could follow them up, he was seized with a dangerous ill-’ness, which terminated his life, in the fifty-ninth yearofhisage. With Aurelius, the glory and the happiness of the Roman empire may be said to have expired, and that not uncharacteristically, in the reign of an emperor who was distinguished by considerable acquirements in learning, taste, philosophy, and by external respect for all religions, but real regard for none.

The commencement of the reign of Commodus, son of the late emperor, was rendered disgraceful by a treaty which he formed wdth the Marcomanni, and which he obtained chiefly through the influence of money. Notwithstanding the care which M. A. Antoninus had bestowed upon his education, he was ignorant to an extreme degree, having neither abilities nor inclination for profiting by the imperial example and instruction. On his return to Rome he speedily shewed the bias of his natural disposition, giving himself up to the most unrestrained indulgence in the grossest vices. That he might do so without impediment, he entrusted all power to Perennis, praefect of the praetorian guard, a man of stern and cruel temper, who was at last slain by his sol diers for his severity. A conspiracy against the life of Corn-modus failed, and was followed by a long succession of judicial murders, to gratify the vengeance of the cowardly and vindictive tyrant. He was next threatened by a new danger of a very peculiar character. It had become customary for the licentious soldiery to desert in considerable numbers, especially in Gaul, and to roam about the country as bands of robbers and freebooters. A common soldier, named Maternus, put himself at the head of these banditti, and excited such terror, that he became an object of attention to considerable armies. Being surrounded, and in danger of ruin, Maternus formed the bold project of killing the emperor in the heart of his capital, and seizing the throne. Dispersing his adherents, they all hastened to Rome, individually or in small parties, and had nearly filled the city, when they were detected, and Maternus was put to death.

The cruelty and rapacity of Cleander, the freedman and new favourite of Commodus, excited a new insurrection, which nothing could allay, the praetorian cavalry being defeated in the streets by the populace, till the headof Cleander was, by the emperor’s command, thrown to the insurgents. In the mean time, Commodus was indulging his base tastes and appetites, not only by gross sensuality, but by endeavouring to rival the gladiators in their savage occupation. Being a very skilfid archer, and of great personal strength, he delighted in killing wild beasts in the amphitheatre, and thus pretending to rival Hercules, In the gladiatorial contests, he publicly engaged so often, that he was the conqueror in 735 combats. Within the palace itself, a conspiracy was at length formed by Marcia, one of the emperor’s concubines, his chamberlain, and the praefect of the praetorian guards. Poison was administered by Marcia, in a cup of wine; and while under the influence of the deadly draught, he was assailed and strangled by a common wrestler, who had been prepared for that purpose.

Immediately upon the death of Commodus being known to the senate, they elected Publius Helvius Pertinax to the vacant throne; a man of obscure birth, but of great personal merit, by which he had raised himself to a distinguished rank in the state, and in the estimation of all virtuous men. The undesired power thus offered to him, he reluctantly accepted; but prepared to use it for the general good of the empire. In order to accomplish this most desirable object, Pertinax was obliged to begin his reign by checking the lavish expenditure by which Commodus had sought to secure the support of the guards, and to introduce discipline and subordination into this turbulent band. This necessary reform was immediately followed by an insurrection, in which Pertinax was killed, after a brief reign of sixty-six days.

"During this scene of contest and blood, the citizens abstained as much as possible from all interference, though strongly attached to Pertinax; and after his death they remained quiet in their houses, waiting the new master whom the praetorian guards might nominate. These seditious troops having fortified their quarters, waited also to see what the senate would do; but finding themselves left in possession of imperial power, they issued a proclamation, offering the empire for sale to the highest bidder. Didius Julianus bccame the purchaser, and thus disgracefully acquired the throne. But the intelligence of these base and lawless transactions excited the indignation of the armies in the provinces, who considered themselves better entitled to appoint an emperor, than a factious band of only about ten thousand men. The army of Illyricum proclaimed their general, Septimius Severus; thatofSyria,Pescennius Niger; and that of Britain, Clodius Albinus. A bloody civil war was the inevitable consequence of so many competitors for the sovereignty. In the mean time, the wretched Didius was still the nominal emperor. But the rapid advance of Severus towards Rome alarmed the senate, who passed a [7:19:410]decree for his dethronement and death, which was almost instantly executed, thus depriving Didius of the enjoyment of his ill-purchased honours in the short space of two months.

Severus began his reign by accomplishing what Pertinax was murdered for attempting. He disarmed and disbanded the praetorian guards, and banished them to a distance of one hundred miles from Rome, death being the penalty of a nearer approach. The murderers of Pertinax were executed without mercy, and some degree of order and subordination restored. But Severus, accustomed to military sway, knew no other method of maintaining his authority except by force of arms. Though he punished the late praetorian guards, he replaced them with a chosen body of his own troops greatly more numerous; not reflecting that the enjoyment of similar leisure, and the possession of similar favour, would soon render them equally licentious and turbulent.

Having thus seized the sceptre, it was necessary to defend it against those rivals who were eager to wrench it from his grasp. As he was most apprehensive of danger from Pescennius Niger, he wrote deceptive letters to Clodius Albinus, styling him Caesar, and thus lulling him to inaction. He then marched against Niger, whom, after several contests, he finally defeated in a great battle near the Issus. Niger was soon afterwards slain; and Severus put to death, without remorse, all “horn he suspected of being favourable to the cause of his competitor. He next attempted to compass the death of Albinus by assassination; but the plot being detected, Albinus prepared to defend himself by dethroning his enemy. Severus hastened towards Britain, and Albinus crossed from thence to Gaul. The two rivals met near Lyons; and a very bloody battle was fought between two disciplined and numerous Roman armies, which ended in Severus gaining a complete victory. When he saw that his hopes were destroyed, Albinus fell by his own hand; and Severus, after insulting the dead body of his antagonist, again displayed the innate ferocity of his heart, by murdering in cold blood all his friends and adherents. A second Parthian war demanded the presence of Severus in the East, where he was again victorious, and where his exploits almost rivalled those of Trajan.

The avarice and insolence of Plautianus, commander of the praetorian guard, produced great oppression and suffering, till he was killed by Caracalla, the son of Severus, in the very presence of the emperor. Severus next turned his attention to Britain, where the Romans had been losing ground, partly in consequence of Albinus having withdrawn a great portion of the army in his attempt to elevate himself to the throne. The emperor being at the head of a very powerful army speedily drove back the independent natives of Caledonia, and regained the country south of the wall of Antoninus, but lost so many troops in the successive battles which he was obliged to fight, that he did not think proper to push his conquests beyond that boundary. Feeling at length his end approaching, he retired to Eboracum (York), where he appointed his two sons, Caracalla and Geta, to succeed him and reign conjointly, and soon afterwards expired, in the eighteenth year of his reign.

The two brothers, Caracalla and Geta, had scarcely begun their reign, when they also began their dissensions. After their return to Rome, the utter impossibility of any permanent reconciliation taking place between them, led to a proposal by mutual friends that they should divide the empire. To this neither would agree; and soon afterwards Geta was murdered in the arms of his mother by the hand of the furious and savage Caracalla.

Having now obtained the undivided possession of a throne stained with the blood of his brother, he prosecuted his murderous course, exhibiting the tiger-like propensities of his savage nature, by destroying almost indiscriminately men and women, young and old, wealthy and humble. He lavished presents, treasures, and amusements among the soldiery with an unsparing hand, trusting by their means to maintain his power, and setting at defiance the hatred of senate and people. He traversed the provinces along the Danube, partly in a hostile, partly in a friendly manner; thence passed into Asia, where, by treachery, he obtained some advantages over the Parthians; thence to Egypt, where, being enraged against the Alexandrians, who had ridiculed his pretensions to be regarded as another Alexander, he almost depopulated the city by a dreadful massacre. Vengeance at length overtook the sanguinary tyrant; and he was murdered by the orders of Macrinus commander of the praetorian guards.

Marcus Opelius Macrinus was next placed at the head of the empire, by the soldiers, who were not aware that he had been accessory to the death of Caracalla. The new emperor was soon engaged in a war against the Parthians, where he gained no laurels, being obliged to purchase peace on terms highly disadvantageous to Rome. Some attempts which he made to restrain the extreme licentiousness of the soldiery excited a spirit of disaffection, of which Maesa, maternal aunt of the late emperor, availed herself to procure the empire to her grandson, a youth of fourteen, said to be the son of Caracalla, and a priest in the temple of the Sun at Emesa in Syria. This youth, named Heliogabalus, was proclaimed emperor by the legionary forces, on account of their attachment to the memory of his reputed father, Caracalla. Macrinus was defeated in an attempt to crush this rebellion, and fell while endeavouring to escape by flight. His son, Diadumenus, whom he had associated in the empire, shared his fate.

Heliogabalus, thus raised to the throne, repaired to Rome, and began a course of licentiousness unparalleled in the annals of depravity. He was, in short, the most infamous wretch that ever disgraced a throne; his very existence seemed a stain upon human nature. To form some check to his shameless conduct, his grandmother caused him to assume his cousin, Alexander Severus, as his partner in the empire; but the abandoned and brutal boy attempted to procure his assassination, an attempt which soon proved fatal to himself. The praetorian guards, disgusted with the effeminate, licentious, and cruel tyrant, mutinied, and discovering him in a loathsome hiding place, a cloaca, dragged him through the streets, put him to death in the most ignominious manner, and threw his body into the river, loaded with weights, that it might not be found and buried.

The new emperor, Alexander Severus, was of a character diametrically opposite to that of his predecessor. Among the first acts of his sovereignty, he banished all the guilty and abandoned creatures of Heliogabalus, restored the authority of the senate, and chose his counsellors and ministers of state of the best members of that body, and revoked all the persecuting edicts that had been issued by his predecessor against the Christians. This just and merciful procedure is thought to have been adopted by the advice of his mother, Mammaea, who maintained an intercourse with some of the most distinguished Christians, among others the celebrated Origen, and who was perhaps herself a convert. She was unquestionably a woman of great virtue, wisdom, and amiability of character; and as Alexander paid the utmost deference to her opinions and wishes, to her may be ascribed much of what was meritorious in the conduct of this young and excellent monarch.

But however desirous of peace, that he might prosecute his schemes of reform, Alexander was soon called to encounter the perils and toils of war. A revolution in the east, which began in the fourth year of his reign, was productive of consequences deeply important to all Asia. Ar-deshir Babegan, or Artaxerxes, who pretended to be descended from the imperial race of ancient Persia, raised a [7:19:411]rebellion against the Parthian monarchs, the Arsacidae. The Parthian dynasty was overturned, and the ancient Persian restored; and with its restoration was renewed its claims to the sovereignty of all Asia, which it had formerly possessed. This claim gave rise to a war against the Romans, and Alexander led his troops to the East to maintain their imperial sway over the disputed territories. In the army he displayed the high qualities of a warrior, and gained a great victory over the Persians, but was prevented from following up his success in consequence of a pestilence breaking out among his troops. The Persians, however, were willing to renounce hostilities for a time, and the emperor returned to Rome in triumph.

Scarcely had Alexander tasted repose from his Persian war, when he received intelligence that the Germans had crossed the Rhine, and were invading Gaul. He at once set out to oppose this new enemy, but he encountered another still more formidable. The armies in Gaul had sunk into a great relaxation of the rigid discipline necessary for even their own preservation. Alexander began to restore the ancient military rules, to enforce discipline, and to reorganise such an army as might be able to keep the barbarians in check. The demoralised soldiery could not endure the change. A conspiracy was formed against him, and the youthful emperor was murdered in his tent, in his twenty-ninth year, after a short but glorious reign of thirteen years.

The sceptre was now seized by the chief instigator of the mutiny, Caius Julius Maximinus, by birth a Thracian peasant. He was a man of gigantic stature and strength, indefatigable hardihood, and great personal daring; but to the wily cunning added the savage ferocity ofan ignorant barbarian. He began his reign by murdering all the friends of the late emperor, and sent orders to the senate to ratify his bloody deeds. Having thus, as he thought, fixed himself firmly on the throne, he prosecuted the war against the Germans with great success, routed them in several battles, and devastated an immense extent of the country, selling the inhabitants for slaves. He next marched against the Sarmatians and the Dacians, over whom he gained several victories; and elated with success he was resolved to subdue their country, till he should reach the northern ocean. But an insurrection arose in Africa, caused by his insatiable avarice, and Gordian, proconsul of Africa, was proclaimed emperor. On receiving this intelligence, Maximinus quitted Sirmium and began his march towards Italy, resolved to glut his savage heart with vengeance. In the meantime, Gordian was defeated and slain by Maximinus’s lieutenant; but the senate, knowing it in vain to expect mercy, chose as emperors, Balbinus and Pupienus, who, to gratify the people, gave the title of Caesar to the youthful Gordian, a boy of twelve years old. Maximinus had by this time entered Italy, and laid siege to Aquileia. He met with a gallant resistance; and his own troops suffering excessively during the siege, mutinied, and slew him while he lay asleep in his tent.

The death of Maximinus left the throne in the possession of the youthful Gordian, and prevented the horrors of a civil war. But the empire continued to be assailed by the restless hordes of barbarians, the Carpi, who had crossed the Danube, ravaging the province of Moesia, while the Persians were invading the eastern dominions. In this emergency, Gordian was ably supported by his father-in-law, Misitheus, praefect of the praetorian guards, who possessed at once the qualities of a statesman and a general. Sapor, the second prince of the new Persian dynasty, the Sassanides, had made some daring and successful inroads upon the Roman dominions; but the emperor, aided by the skilful support of Misitheus, drove back the invaders, defeating them in every encounter, and penetrating to the very heart of their territories. These successes were dearly purchased by the death of the wise and brave Misitheus, to whom they are chiefly ascribed. Gordian appointed Philip the

Arabian to the station vacant by the death of Misitheus; and prosecuted the war with undaunted courage and undiminished success. But Philip found means to raise in the army such a mutiny as could not be subdued, without his elevation to an equality with Gordian in the empire. This success in guilt stimulated Philip to additional crimes for the promotion of his lawless ambition, and he rested not till he procured the murder of this young emperor, who was giving such proofs of ability, and such promise of future excellence.

Philip, to secure his tenure of power, concluded a peace with the Persians, and hastened to Rome, where he endeavoured to persuade the senate that the death of Gordian was caused by disease. He did not long enjoy his sovereignty undisturbed. Insurrections of a formidable character broke out in different parts of the empire, especially in Pannonia. Trajanus Decius, whom Philip had sent to suppress this insurrection, had scarcely reached his army when he was compelled to assume the imperial diadem. Philip marched against his unwilling antagonist, but was defeated and slain near Verona. In the reign of Philip the secular games were celebrated, in what was computed to be the one thousandth year from the foundation of the city.

The reign of Trajanus Decius is memorable on two accounts. Its annals are stained by one of the most sanguinary persecutions that ever tried the sincerity and zeal of the Christian church. Almost innumerable multitudes of Christians were banished, imprisoned, or tortured to death with the most relentless cruelty. The revolution in Persia, which established the dynasty of the Sassanides, restored the worship and the tenets inculcated by the followers of Zoroaster; and caused the retreat of the Asiatic Christians into the dominions of the Romans, at that time more tolerant. But these Asiatic Christians brought with them many of the notions peculiar to the East, and thus gave rise to dissensions among the Christians themselves. Decius, a man of stern and unaccommodating temper, determined to put an end to all such discussions, by completely suppressing Christianity itself; and he published a bloody edict, prohibiting all innovations in religion, and strictly enjoining compliance with the ancient idolatrous worship of Greece and Rome. The horrors occasioned by this cruel edict could not be enumerated, and it is not our province to make the attempt. But it ought to be mentioned that the ascetic and mystic notions prevalent in the East, when driven to excess by this persecution, induced numbers to betake themselves to wild and desert solitudes to seek for safety; and from this excessive development of the ascetic spirit at length arose the monastic, that fertile source of so many errors and abuses.

The other memorable event in the reign of Decius, is the first appearance of the Goths among the contending nations by whom the Roman empire now began to be regarded as a common enemy, or rather perhaps as a common prey. The origin of this mighty people is involved in deep obscurity, which the utmost researches of learned men have not been able entirely to remove. The most probable opinion, however, appears to be, that which regards them as a powerful branch of the great lndo-Teu-tonic race, by which both northern Asia and northern Europe were peopled, at some indefinitely remote period, before which the southern districts had already been inhabited, very probably by the Pelasgian race. After having been settled for ages in Scandinavia, they appear to have resolved on a southern migration, passed along the lower shore of the Baltic, followed the course of the Borysthenes, (Dnieper,) and the Tanais, (Don,) and took possession of the Ukraine. Thence they afterwards directed their course south-west, ravaged the province of Dacia, and crossing the Danube, appeared in great strength in Moesia. When information respecting these new and formidable invaders was carried to Rome, Decius immediately marched against [7:19:412]them. Hewasworsted in the first engagement, and the Goths succeeded in takingPhilippopolis; but Decius having recruited his forces, defeated them, and reduced them to the utmost distress. It was his aim to inflict upon them such an overthrow as should deter them from renewing their invasions of the empire. A battle was fought, in which the Goths, animated with the terrible energy and courage of despair, and being skilfully posted on the edge of a morass, resisted all the efforts of the Roman forces to break them; and young Decius having fallen, the emperor, eager to revenge the death of his son, plunged furiously into the morass, sunk struggling into its absorbing depth, and disappeared. The Roman army suffered an immense loss, but the Goths were in no condition to prosecute their victory.

Gallus was proclaimed emperor by the surviving army, andhaving immediately concluded adishonourable peace with the Goths, hastened to Rome to enjoy the gratifications of unrestrained indulgence. His son Voluscan he created Caesar, and contrived to get the son of Decius into his power, and put him to death. His conduct excited a general indignation against him; and at length Aemilianus, commander of the forces in Moesia, raised the standard of revolt against him. A battle was fought, in which Gallus was defeated and slain, his son sharing his fate. In three months, Aemilianus himself was deposed and killed, the army declaring in favour of Valerianus, general of the army stationed in Gaul.

Of Valerian, who had been distinguished by his virtues while in a private station, great expectations were formed. Having appointed his son Gallienus to be his associate in the empire, he left; him to defend it against the incursions of the Goths and Germans, and marched to the East to oppose the Persian king Sapor, or Shah Pur. Valerian was defeated and taken prisoner by the Persians, who treated him with great and contemptuous cruelty. His degenerate son Gallienus made no effort to obtain his release, being apparently more satisfied to reign alone.

The captivity of Valerian, and the accession of the feeble Gallienus, seemed to be the signal for a universal assault upon the defenceless empire. It was invaded on all sides by the hostile barbarians, who seemed to vie with each other in striving for the honour of being the destroyers of Rome. Several victories over the Germans were gained by the generals of Gallienus; but each army resolving to make its own general emperor, a period of hopeless and helpless anarchy ensued, which threatened the immediate disruption of the empire. The host of competitors which thus sprung up in all quarters, is known by the designation of “the thirty tyrants,” though not actually amounting to so many. The very number of these contending rivals impeded the success of any, no one being possessed of sufficient power to strike a decisive blow. At length Gallienus was killed while besieging Aureolus, one of the usurpers, in Milan.

He was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius Claudius, a man of great courage, skill, and virtue, capable of upholding the tottering state of the empire. He soon defeated Aureolus, then overcame the Germans, and next routed the Goths in a great battle at Nissa. His attention was next directed to the affairs of the East; but while making preparations for his march thither, he was seized by a pestilential disease, of which he died at Sirmium, after having reigned two years.

A feeble attempt to obtain the imperial power was made by the brother of Claudius, which terminated after the lapse of seventeen days, by the unfortunate victim of ambition becoming his own executioner. The army now made choice of Aurelian, a native of Sirmium, the son of a peasant of that country, and raised to high military rank and fame by his own surpassing merits. It was reserved for this distinguished man to show what could be accomplished by an imperial hero. The hopes of the Goths had revived on the death of

Claudius, and they had renewed their invasion. They were met by Aurelian, and a bloody battle was fought, to which night, not victory on either side, gave a temporary suspension. Wearied with mutual slaughter, both parties were averse from renewing the undecided combat, and a treaty was formed, by which Aurelian consented to relinquish that part of Dacia which lay beyond the Danube, and to make the river the boundary of his empire in that direction. The Goths furnished a body of cavalry as auxiliaries to the Romans, and engaged to abstain from future invasion. By this treaty, Aurelian strengthened the Roman empire in that quarter, obtaining a well-defined boundary, and leaving to the enemy a devastated region, no longer worth defending.

The Alemanni, in the mean time, had entered the Roman dominions, and laid waste the country along the Po. Aurelian marched rapidly against them, inflicted on them several sanguinary defeats, and freed Italy from the terrors of the barbarian invaders. The Vandals also sunk before his matchless valour and conduct; and having now secured the western part of the empire, he directed his arms against the east, to encounter a female antagonist.

This was the justly celebrated Zenobia (Zeinab) queen of Palmyra, widow of Odenathus, who had been one of the numerous claimants of imperial honours during the reign of Gallienus, and to whom that easy monarch had been willing to grant the title of his colleague. Palmyra, or Tad-mor, is stated in the Bible to have been built by Solomon. The situation of that beautiful spot, a green island in the midst of a sandy ocean, and almost equidistant between the Euphrates and the Phoenician coast, pointed it out to the wisest of kings as a suitable place for commercial enterprise, and admirably adapted to promote his great idea of changing the line of intercourse between the east and the west, from the Red Sea to the Euphrates, and rendering Palestine, not Egypt, the great emporium of nations. After the decline of the kingdom of Israel, this idea seems to have been relinquished; but still Palmyra continued to form an excellent intermediate station between the Euphrates and Asia Minor, for the caravans employed in the Indian and Arabian trade. It thus grew in wealth, if not in political power or importance, yielding ready obedience to the great dominant empires, each in its turn, and seeking nothing from them but protection. From the Parthians it seems to have suffered no injury; but the revolution which gave central Asia to the Sasanide dynasty, involved Palmyra in the general warfare. Odenathus, said by some to have been an Arab Emir, was one of the most considerable of the inhabitants of Palmyra. Irritated by the insults of the Persians, and instigated by his high-spirited wife, Zenobia, he headed his countrymen in their resistance to the plundering bands of the Persian king, successively defeated them, and acquired sufficient power not only to rescue Palmyra, but even to carry the war into the enemy’s country, and to advance to the gates of Ctesiphon. In a short time all Mesopotamia and Syria owned his sway, and he was acknowledged as colleague by Gallienus. Odenathus having been cut off by private treachery, the falling sceptre of Palmyra was immediately seized by Zenobia, who wielded it with no timid or feeble hand. For the space of six years did she maintain her sway, and even added Egypt to her dominions, justifying the proud title she had assumed, Queen of the East. Such was the woman against whom Aurelian thought it no disgrace to lead in person his Roman legions.

The result was what might have been anticipated. Zenobia was defeated in two successive and bravely-contested battles; Palmyra was besieged, and after a gallant resistance, its own resources being exhausted, it was compelled to capitulate, and Zenobia was taken prisoner while attempting to make her escape into Persia. Scarcely had [7:19:413]Aurelian withdrawn his forces, when the Palmyrenians again revolted; and the angry conqueror having again made himself master of this city of romance, reduced it to ruins, of which the extent, beauty, and magnificence still amaze the traveller. Among the victims of the emperor’s wrath was Longinus, the secretary of Zenobia, and the reputed author of an admirable treatise on the sublime. Having thus reduced and destroyed Palmyra, he suppressed an insurrection in Egypt, and returned to Rome, where he celebrated his victories and conquest by a triumph the most remarkable that the city had ever witnessed. Zenobia, who had been compelled to grace this triumph, by walking on foot in the train of her conqueror, received afterwards from him a small estate at Tibur, where she spent in tranquillity the remainder of her life as a Roman matron, leaving a family which was not extinct in the fifth century.

A violent sedition soon afterwards arose at Rome, in consequence of an attempt by Aurelian to debase the coinage. It was followed by so much bloodshed, and gave so much offence to the emperor, that his native sternness, and the pitiless decision of a warrior, degenerated into harshness and cruelty. Being again obliged to lead his army against the Persians, he left the city, and sought the more congenial pursuits of war; but was afterwards assassinated at the instigation of his private secretary Mnestheus. The murderers were torn to pieces by the enraged soldiery, who almost adored their warlike emperor.

Nothing can better prove the effect of the masculine government of Aurelian, and the regulated subordination which it had given to the troops, than the fact that the army actually allowed six months to pass in tranquillity, while they awaited the election of an emperor by the senate. That body at length elected Marcus Claudius Tacitus, an aged senator of high character, and a descendant of the celebrated historian of that name. He had scarcely begun to prove the wisdom of their choice, by the enactment of some salutary laws, when he was compelled to march against the Alani, a Scythian tribe, who were devastating Asia Minor. He was successful in the war; but the fatigues and anxieties of the campaign were too severe for a frame already enfeebled by age, and he died in Cappadocia.

The imperial diadem was immediately assumed by Flori-anus, brother of the late emperor; but the Syrian army chose Marcus Aurelius Probus, a general of great and varied merit, ro be the successor to the throne. Florian finding himself opposed by a man against whom he could not hope for success, put an end to his own life, and thus left the empire to his rival.

Closely resembling Aurelian in personal bravery, and, like him, also a native of Sirmium, Probus began a reign scarcely less warlike and glorious than that of his great countryman. He defeated the Germans in several battles, and drove them beyond the Rhine and Danube, which were now considered the natural limits of the empire. To complete the boundary-line in that quarter, he constructed a strong wall from the Danube to the Rhine. Passing along the northern frontier of the empire, he reduced the Goths to quiescence, entered Asia, and led his army against Varames (Bahram) king of Persia. That monarch not daring to encounter the hardy veterans of Probus, consented to a peace of which the terms were dictated by the emperor. Three competitors next fell before his power, and he now seemed at leisure to cultivate the arts of peace, for which he had a strong natural predilection. He accordingly employed his legions in draining pestilential fens, planting vineyards, and improving instead of devastating the face of the country. This restoration of the ancient and wise military discipline of earlier and more virtuous days, gave offence to the licentious soldiery; who mutinied and slew the brave and good emperor.

Reverting to the custom formerly so prevalent, the army proclaimed as emperor Carus, prefect of the praetorian guards, and the senate reluctantly ratified their choice. In the hope of promoting tranquillity, and securing the inheritance of the imperial dignity in his own family, Carus gave the title of Caesar to his two sons, Carinus and Nu-merianus, who were thus his appointed successors. He led his army against the Goths, who had renewed their predatory incursions, and defeated them; but was prevented from following up his victory in consequence of a new invasion of the Persians. Leaving Carinus to protect the western provinces, and taking Numerianus along with him, he marched into Asia, and gave the Persians a complete overthrow. Pursuing the defeated enemy, he entered their own country, advanced to Ctesiphon, and began the siege, when he was killed in his tent, some authors say by a flash of lightning, more probably by some secret conspiracy.

Numerianus was acknowledged by the army as his successor; but his gentle and pacific disposition exposed him to the ambition of Aper, praefect of the praetorian guards, by whom he was privately murdered, and his death was concealed till the traitor might have time to secure his own elevation. But the bloody deed being discovered, a tumult arose in the army, in the midst of which Diocletian slew Aper, and was proclaimed emperor in his stead. He did not, however, at once obtain undisputed possession; for Carinus, hearing of his brother’s death, assembled a powerful army, and began his march against the usurpers. On his way he encountered and defeated another rival, Julianus, and advancing into Moesia, was met and opposed by Diocletian. The troops of Diocletian, however, were unable to contend with the hardy veterans of Carinus, who gained the victory, but was slain in the moment of his success by a tribune, to avenge the violated honour of his wife; and thus, though defeated, Diocletian remained in possession of the diadem.

The reign of Diocletian is one of much historical importance. It was rendered conspicuous by the introduction of a new system of imperial government, and by the last and greatest persecution of the Christians. Very soon after his accession to the throne, Diocletian, feeling the weight of the imperial government greater than he was disposed to bear alone, chose as his colleague Maximianus, who had been his companion in arms, and to whom he was willing to delegate the chief part of the military cares. Maximian had soon an opportunity of using his power and displaying his courage, in consequence of an insurrection in Gaul. This insurrection he speedily suppressed, and obtained some victories over the German invaders of the province. In the mean time, Diocletian had been equally successful against the Sarmatians and the Persians. But scarcely had they obtained these victories, when new disturbances and new invasions broke out in every part of the wide empire, the wandering nations pressing inwards from all quarters, and threatening to crush the entire Roman power. To make head against so many invading armies seemed impossible, without a further division of power. For Diocletian seems to have entertained the opinion, that to entrust large armies to experienced commanders was only to put it in their power to become aspirants for the throne; and that the only way to secure their fidelity was to give them such a share in the imperial government as should engage their own interest in its preservation.

In pursuance of this scheme, he induced his colleague Maximian to name as his Caesar and successor Constantius Chlorus; while he himself chose Maximinus Galerius. In this choice Diocletian was apparently guided by the same [7:19:414]principle which had led to his selection of Maximian as his own colleague, the principle of dissimilitude. A man comparatively peaceful himself, he chose to be associated with Maximian, a rough warrior: to this rugged Augustus, or emperor, he assigned a peaceful and mild Caesar, Constantius, again choosing for his own Caesar the warlike and fierce Galerius. A new division of the empire followed. Diocletian took the eastern provinces; Galerius was appointed to Thrace and Illyricum; Maximian received Italy and Africa; and Gaul, Spain, and Britain, were entrusted to Constantius. Each of the Caesars, although they differed in their dispositions, was a man of courage and military experience; and for a time the arrangement seemed productive of the very best consequences, but it ultimately tended to hasten the dismemberment of the empire and its consequent overthrow.

Constantius, to whom Britain had been assigned, had to begin his tenure of power by a war for its possession. The usurper Carausius had several years before raised himself to the chief command in Britain, which he retained in spite of the efforts of the imperial generals. He was slain by Allectus, a new usurper, just as Constantius was preparing to cross from Gaul against him. Constantius speedily defeated Allectus, and gained the complete possession of his province, which he maintained with equal valour and moderation, governing with such justice as to make himself equally beloved by hie army and the native inhabitants. In the mean time, Galerius was equally successful on the Danube, where he defeated the invaders; Maximian in Africa, and Diocletian in Egypt; so that this division of power seemed to secure the defence of the empire, by enabling its rulers to oppose every new assailant. A war against the Persians threatened more disastrous consequences. Diocletian had sent for Galerius to conduct this war; but in the first battle the Persians gained the victory, and inflicted on the Romans a very severe defeat. Next year Galerius, at the head of a more powerful army again invaded Persia; but profiting by experience, he kept his forces on the hilly regions of Armenia, where the Persian cavalry could not act, and watching his time, rushed like a mountain torrent on the Persians, and gave them a terrible overthrow. The rout was complete and irrecoverable, and so greatly were the Persians dispirited, that they were glad to yield to the conditions of peace offered by the conqueror. The province of Mesopotamia was ceded to the Romans, and the Tigris again became the eastern boundary of the empire.

These successful wars might have been followed by a period of peace and prosperity; they ushered in scenes of unparalleled atrocity. Diocletian had made the city of Nicoedia the seat of his residence; and there he maintained a court of eastern splendour, to which he invited men of learningand philosophy. But the philosophers who frequented his court being all animated with extreme hatred against Christianity, exerted themselves in instigating the emperor to extirpate a religion too pure and lofty to suit their polluted minds. Galerius is said also to have stimulated Diocletian to undertake the destruction of a religion, the gentle and peaceful spirit of which he could neither understand nor appreciate. Three imperial edicts were successively published, requiring the books of the Christians to be everywhere sought for and burned, forbidding them to meet together for the purpose of religious worship on pain of death, inflicting punishments of every kind, imprisonment, slavery, infamy, and death upon all the dignitaries of the church, and sanctioning the employment of every possible method to produce, enforce, or compel apostacy, and a return to the established idolatry of the empire. The barbarities which followed upon the issuing of these edicts were utterly inconceivable. Malicious ingenuity was racked to the utmost to devise tortures for the persecuted followers of Jesus. For the space of ten years did this persecution rage with scarcely mitigated horrors; and such multitudes were massacred in all parts of the empire, that at last the imperial murderers ventured to erect a triumphal column, bearing the barbarously boastful, yet false inscription, that they had extinguished the Christian name and superstition, and restored the worship of the gods to its former purity and splendour.

The scheme of this great and bloody persecution was devised by the emperor Diocletian and his Caesar Galerius, during a winter residence in the palace of Nicoedia. Soon after the issuing of the persecuting edicts, Diocletian repaired to Rome, and there, along with his colleague Maximian, enjoyed the honours of a triumph for the various victories which had been gained in their joint sovereignty. This was remarkable as the last triumph that ever entered the proud gates of Rome. Diocletian had already set the example of a residence in the provinces; and other causes soon conspired to render this example both common and expedient, so that Rome ceased to be the capital of even the Roman world. Wearied with the cares of government, offended with the rude freedoms of the citizens of Rome, and feeling the effects of advancing age, Diocletian began to entertain serious intentions of abdicating the imperial power. These intentions were confirmed by a severe illness under which he laboured, after his return to Nicoedia; and at length he prevailed on his reluctant colleague Maximian to accompany him in his abdication, as he had in his assumption of the toils and the honours of sovereign dominion. Accordingly, the two emperors formally relinquished the imperial station, power, and titles; and were succeeded by Galerius and Constantius, who now from being Caesars, became each an Augustus. A new division of the empire necessarily followed, of which Galerius seized the lion’s share, without however provoking any hostile opposition from Constantius. Galerius retained all the eastern provinces, together with Italy and Africa; Constantius was satisfied with tile possession of Spain, Gaul, and Britain. Galerius appointed two Caesars, Severus, to whom he consigned Italy and Africa, and Maximin, to whom he entrusted the Asiatic provinces. Diocletian survived his abdication about nine years, which he spent in tranquillity, ease, and luxurious retirement at Salona (Spalatro), amusing himself in the erection of a magnificent palace, and the calm pleasures of rural and horticultural pursuits, resisting every attempt to induce him to return to the paths of ambition, and declaring that he had never known the true enjoyment of life till after his resignation of power.

Constantine, son of Constantius, was detained for some time by Galerius, who was apprehensive of danger from the talents of that young prince; but he contrived to escape, and by a rapid flight secured his safety, and joined his father in Britain, who was preparing to march against the Scots and Picts, as the inhabitants of the northern regions of that island now began to be called. While Constantius was on his march northwards, he was seized with a mortal illness, and died at York, having nominated as successor, his son Constantine, who was accordingly saluted Augustus by his army. Galerius refused to ratify this elevation to the imperial dignity of a prince whom he at once hated and feared; but sanctioned his being termed a Caesar, bestowing the now vacant rank of Augustus upon Severus, one of his own Caesars. This dignity had been expected by Maxentius, son of the abdicated emperor Maximian. Indignant at his disappointment, Maxentius caused himself to be proclaimed emperor by his army; and to colour this usurpation, he induced his father to leave his retreat, and resume the imperial title. A scene of contention followed, scarcely paralleled in the annals of Rome. Severus march [7:19:415]ed against the two usurpers; but was abandoned by his own troops, yielded, and was slain. Galerius levied a great army, and marched into Italy against Maximian and Maxentius; who, dreading his power, retired to Gaul, and endeavoured to procure the support of Constantine. This politic prince did not consider it expedient to provoke a war at that time, and for no better cause; and Galerius having withdrawn from Italy, and returned to the east, Maximian and Maxentius returned to Rome. To aid him in the struggle, Galerius conferred the title of emperor on his friend Licinius; and thus there were at once six pretenders to the sovereignty of the empire, namely, Galerius and Licinius, Maximian and his son Maxentius, Maximin, who had been nominated Caesar by Galerius, and Constantine, the son and successor of Constantius. Among these rivals, Constantine possessed a decided superiority in prudence and abilities, both military and political.

The harsh temper of Maximian soon led to a quarrel between him and his son Maxentius; and finding himself unable to obtain an ascendancy over one who was no less intractable than himself, he quitted Rome, and went to Gaul to Constantine. There also he found himself disappointed of that power which he so greatly longed to possess, and began to plot against the life of Constantine, his son-in-law. But being detected, he was condemned to death, the only favour shewn to his age and former dignity being permission to choose in what manner he should die. Thus perished one competitor for the throne. Nor did Galerius long survive him. A loathsome disease, contracted by excessive indulgence in habits of sensuality, brought his turbulent life to its termination, leaving his power to be divided between his Caesars, Maximin and Licinius. There were now four rivals contending for the empire, Constantine, Maxentius, Maximian, and Licinius. Maxentius speedily provoked open hostilities with Constantine, who marched at the head of a powerful army towards Rome.

It was while Constantine was proceeding on this momentous expedition, that he made an open and public declaration in favour of Christianity. Before that time, the persecuting edicts of Diocletian had been much mitigated by the forbearance and leniency of Constantius; and Constantine not only followed his father’s example, in being merciful to the persecuted Christians, but even shewed them some marks of positive favour. Very considerable numbers of them, in consequence, flocked to his standards, and swelled the ranks of his army. Their peaceful, orderly, and faithful conduct, contrasting most favourably with the turbulent and dissolute behaviour of those who formed the mass of common armies, won his entire confidence. To what extent this led Constantine to form a favourable opinion of Christianity, or inclined him to view with esteem and respect tenets which had produced such results, cannot be ascertained. How far his avowed reception of Christianity was influenced by the prudence of the politician, how far by the convictions of the convert, it is impossible to determine. The accounts of his dream, and his vision, which united to enforce his trust in Christianity, bear too much the aspect of fiction, or of having been the illusive consequences of mental anxiety, brooding intensely on the possible results of a great religious revolution, to be woven into the narrative of sober history. This, at least, is certain, Constantine caused the cross to be employed as the imperial standard, and advanced with it to promised victory. ^[30. It is not necessary to attempt nny explanation of the celebrated dream and vision of Constantine, which have so much engaged the attention of both ecclesiastical and infidel historians. The circumstances, according to the be3t authorities, were the following. While he was marching towards Rome against Maxentius, at the head of his army, on a sudden there appeared in the air, about noon-day, a luminous cross, bearing the following inscription: Έ, ∏irf risu, By this Conquer. During the ensuing night, he was directed in a dream, to frame a standard resembling the vision he had seen, and to inscribe on it, and on the shields of his soldiers, the labarum, or monogram of the sacred name of Christ. That such a standard was at that time used, and that Constantine conquered, are historical facts beyond dispute; for the reality of the dream and the vision, we must refer to the testimony of the emperor himself, and of contemporaneous historians. ]

After the armies of Maxentius, led by his generals, had sustained two successive defeats, he found it imperatively necessary to rouse himself from his sensual and inactive life at Rome, and to advance against his formidable assailant. He accordingly mustered a very numerous army, put himself at its head, marched out of Rome, and met the host of Constantine near the little river Cremera, about nine miles from the city. A dreadful encounter took place, both parties being stimulated by every motive that could animate men to erect the utmost energies of mind and body. It was not merely a battle of emperors; it seemed also a strife of religions. At length the troops of Maxentius gave way, wavered, broke, and fled in headlong and irretrievable confusion; Maxentius himself, endeavouring to enter the city by the Milvian bridge, amidst the crowd of fugitives, was precipitated into the Tiber, and perished, partly weighed down by his armour, and partly encumbered and overwhelmed among numbers of struggling wretches, whose dying gripes knew not to respect the purple.

Constantine entered Rome victorious, restored to the senate their authority, disbanded the praetorian guards, and destroyed their fortified camp, from which they had so long awed the city and given rulers to the empire. After a brief stay in Rome, he proceeded towards Illyricum to meet Licinius, with whom he had formed a secret alliance before marching against Maxentius. The two emperors met at Milan, where their alliance was ratified by the marriage of Licinius to Constantine’s daughter. During this calm interview, Constantine prevailed upon Licinius to consent to the repeal of the persecuting edicts of Diocletian, and to the issuing of a new edict, by which not only the sanguinary enactments of the former emperor were revoked, but Christianity was encouraged, its religious teachers were honoured, and its adherents advanced to places of trust and influence in the state.

This placid and beneficial intercourse between the emperors, was speedily interrupted by an irruption of the Franks into Gaul, to which they afterwards gave their name. Constantine hastened to oppose them. Anxious to take advantage of this opportunity to crush separately the two emperors, whom united he could not match, Maximin made a very rapid march against Licinius, and almost succeeded in overpowering him unawares. Licinius however, kept his enemy at bay till he had mu-lcred sufficient force, and then gave him a total overthrow near Adrianople. Maximin fled almost alone to Nicoedia, and there died, either of poison or of mortified rage and despair.

The peace, which had seemed to be established on so firm a foundation between Constantine and Licinius, was soon interrupted. A war, conducted with great skill and courage on both sides, arose for the sole supremacy of the empire. But the activity, talents, and enterprise of Constantine prevailed. Licinius was defeated in a bloody battle near Sirmium; but though defeated, he was not overpowered. He speedily rallied the remains of his beaten army, mustered fresh forces, and again met his rival in the field, again to sustain another and a more complete discomfiture. Through the intervention of Constantine’s daugh[7:19:416]ter, an agreement soon afterwards took place, by which the provinces south of the Danube were ceded to the conqueror, and the dominions of Licinius limited to the Asiatic regions. For about eight years a sort of uneasy peace continued between the two rival emperors, Licinius feeling, and hating to feel, the natural superiority of Constantine. Another open rupture was unavoidable; and both parties now made preparations for a contest, the issue of which should be final. Thetwo hostile armies met on thebanksof the Hebrus, near Adrianople. Licinius had taken up a strong and advantageous position, in which he waited the attack of his adversary. For some days the two armies lay and watched each other’s evolutions. At last Constantine with great skill drew his enemy from his position, and forced him to an encounter on equal terms. The battle was fierce, obstinate, and sanguinary; but the commanding genius, and heroic courage of Constantine secured him a complete victory. The spirit of Licinius was still unbroken. The siege of Byzantium detained Constantine, and allowed his antagonist to muster all his remaining strength, in order to strike one more blow for life and empire. Chrysopolis was the scene of the decisive conflict. But the raw levies of Licinius could not withstand the conquering veterans of Constantine; the struggle produced rather a carnage than a battle, and the utter annihilation of his last army left to Licinius no resource but unconditional submission. He was deprived of his imperia, honours, and permitted to retire to Thessalonica, there to pass the remainder of his days in obscurity and inglorious ease. But the life of a dethroned monarch is not usually long. He was accused of tampering with the barbarians, and conspiring with their aid to rekindle the flames of war. Such an accusation was of itself enough to cause sentence of death to be pronounced; it was immediately put in execution, and the empire was once more transmitted to the sway of a single emperor.

Constantine, thus possessed of supreme power, immediately put in force some of those important purposes which had long engaged his thoughts. He issued several edicts for the suppression of idolatry; and at the same time restored to the Christians both the churches and the property of which they had been deprived during the last persecution. We have not sufficient information to enable us to judge accurately respecting the intentions of Constantine, or respecting the power of circumstances in obliging him to modify his own schemes, so as to adapt them to certain events which he could not altogether mould. But it is scarcely possible to ascribe too much to the deep policy of this emperor. He was well aware of the characters of the two conflicting religions, Christianity and Paganism. He had also marked with discriminating eye the deep degeneracy of Rome and its inhabitants. Neither had the consequences of the partition of the empire by Diocletian escaped his politic observation; and if the hope of preventing its final dissolution was to be cherished, he saw it to be indispensably necessary to attempt a reconstruction of the empire, upon an arrangement entirely new. The whole fabric of the ancient constitution of republican Rome had been pervaded by its religious worship and institutions. It was natural for him to determine that the new constitution of the renovated empire, should be pervaded by the worship and the institutions of Christianity. And as these had already attained a considerable degree of maturity, he adopted them as they were, partly perhaps because he durst not venture to offend the Christians by any attempted reformation, or reconstruction; partly because the state of his own religious knowledge, so far as we have any means of judging, was very inadequate and imperfect.

Being resolved to give a new constitution to the Roman empire, and to make Christianity its basis and ruling principle; being at the same time aware of the inveterate force of the associations connecting every thing in Rome with its ancient idolatrous worship, enhancing immensely the difficulty of making any immediate and thorough change there; and having before him the example of Diocletian, Constantine resolved to change the seat of empire, in order to facilitate his change of the imperial constitution. The most formidable enemies of the empire had for a considerable time been the Goths and the Persians; and the necessity of being nearer to the scene of danger, may have led to the idea of selecting an eastern situation for the new seat of government. The siege of Byzantium, which Constantine had formerly conducted in person, probably directed his attention to that city, as the most eligible situation; and it must be owned that it possesses advantages almost unequalled, as the seat of an empire both European and Asiatic. On it accordingly the emperor fixed his choice; and receiving from him immense additions and embellishments, together with a new name, it became Constantinople, the new imperial city.

Previously, however, to this great change in the seat of government, there had been held a general council of the Christian teachers at Nice, for the purpose of determining the Arian controversy, which the emperor attended in person; and where he obtained the opportunity of making such enactments respecting the civil constitution of the church, as he either deemed it expedient, or found himself enabled to make. But the controversies which at that time, and for a long period afterwards, divided the church, furnished unhappily the means, and set the precedent, of persecutions conducted by one body of Christians against another; and in which both were too ready to sacrifice their spiritual independence, for the purpose of obtaining the aid of the civil power in crushing their antagonists.

In the arrangements of his new imperial constitution, Constantine adopted much of the pomp and ceremony of an Asiatic court. A complete disjunction between civil and military authorities took place; and all the great officers of state were modelled anew, with new titles suited to tile new arrangements, as officers of the court, of the army, and of the civil department. The officers of the court and of state, were chiefly the lords or counts of the bed-chamber and the palace (comites cubiculi, et palatii), and the ministers of the interior, of the finances, of justice, of the crown-treasury, and of the household troops, or body guards. The officers of the army were the general-in-chief, and the generals of cavalry and of infantry; the next class were the counts and dukes (comites ct duces) of the army. The civil department was divided into four great prefectures, each had its diocese, and each diocese its province, administered by profecti proctorio, vicarii, and rectores provinciarum, which officers had no military authority, as the military and state officers had no civil power. A new system of taxation was also established, consisting chiefly of a land-tax, a tax upon trade, and the obligatory enforcement of what had formerly been a free gift to the emperor upon extraordinary occasions. Such is a very brief outline of the new constitution given by Constantine to the empire, obviously more Oriental than European or Roman in its character.

Notwithstanding the Asiatic aspect thus imparted to his government, Constantine retained hisability and readiness for war, when enemies dared to insult his dominions. Several defeats repressed the hostile invasions of the Sarmatians and Goths, who had renewed their attempts upon Thrace; and the Persian monarch did not venture to provoke the power of an emperor equally renowned for his military and for his civil virtues. Disease atlength assailed a frame that had been long and severely tried by the toils, cares, and indulgences of imperial state; and after being openly admitted by baptism into that church of which he had been so long an [7:19:417]avowed adherent, he expired in the thirtieth year of his reign.

The three sons of Constantine had been named Caesars by their father, and on his death they divided the empire among them. Constantine obtained Gaul, Spain, and Britain; Constantius, the Asiatic provinces, with the capital, Constantinople; and Constans, Italy and Africa. The late emperor had assigned provinces to his two nephews, Dalmatius and Hannibilianus; but the three new emperors, on the ground of a false accusation, barbarously murdered their uncles, cousins, and every member of the imperial house, except two cousins, Gallus and Julian, one suffering under a hopeless malady, the other a mere child. This bloody deed did not long secure to the brothers the quiet possession of their dominions. A dangerous war arose in the East, where Constantius was unable to resist the growing power of the Persians, but suffered several heavy defeats, and was in danger of losing the whole of Mesopotamia, when the Persians were obliged to offer a peace, in consequence of their own dominions being assailed by the nomad tribes beyond the Oxus.

In the mean time, ambition had kindled a war between the other two imperial brothers, Constantine and Constans. Not satisfied with his portion of the empire, Constantine first seized upon Africa, and then attempted to wrest Italy from Constans. He crossed the Alps, and began to ravage the country round Aquileia; when falling into an ambuscade he was slain, together with the greater part of his troops. Constans immediately took possession of his fallen brother’s dominions, and thus became the sovereign of two-thirds of the empire. Satisfied, apparently, with this great acquisition, he plunged into the most dissolute indulgences, refused to cede any portion to Constantius, and even allowed that prince to wage an unequal war against the Persians, refusing to lend him any assistance. At length his general, Magnentius, raised the standard of revolt. Constans fled towards Spain, but was overtaken and killed near the Pyrenees.

While Constantius was preparing to avenge the death of hisbrother,anew revolt broke out in ∏lyricum. The army of that province compelled their general, Vetranio, to assume the purple; and Constantina, sister of the emperor, encouraged him to the deed, and even urged him to form an alliance with the usurper Magnentius, who had so recently slam her brother Constans. Not deeming it prudent to engage in a war of such magnitude without providing for the administration of affairs during his absence, Constantius placed his cousin Gallus in the rank of Caesar, and advanced to Constantinople, which Vetranio had seized while the emperor was engaged in the Persian war. Pretending to be willing to admit Vetranio to an equal share of power with himself, he obtained permission to enter the imperial city; and immediately roused the feeling of the army and the people so far, that they declared him sole emperor. Vetranio quietly submitted, his life was spared, and he retired to Prusa, where he spent the remainder of his life in calm seclusion. Maxentius, fully determined to maintain his usurped power, marched at the head of a strong army into Pannonia to meet Constantius. The hostile forces came to an encounter on the plains of Mursa, and a furious combat ensued. It terminated in favour of Constantius, but the victory was purchased by the loss of his bravest troops; a loss which the exhausted state of the population could not adequately supply. Next summer Constantius gained possession of Italy; and Maxentius having fled to Gaul, sustained there another defeat, and seeing further resistance in vain, put an end to his own life.

Constantius was not long permitted to enjoy his triumph in tranquillity. His cousin Gallus, whom he had created Caesar, instigated by the ambitious Constantina, and being himself of a morose and haughty disposition, caused so much dissatisfaction in the provinces of the East, that Constantius was obliged first to recall him, and soon afterwards to put him to death. Of the race of Constantine the Great, there now remained only Julian, the cousin of the present emperor; and he escaped the fate of his brother Gallus, partly in consequence of the intercession of the empress Eusebia, partly because he had hitherto preferred a scholar’s life to the dangerous eminence of military fame. He was permitted to prosecute his studies among the philosophers of Athens, from whom he imbibed that love of the mythology of ancient Greece, which led to his subsequent apostacy from Christianity.

Having thus once more arranged the affairs of the empire, Constantine paid a visit to Rome, where he was received with demonstrations of the most flattering character. But he was again called away, in consequence of the Germanic tribes assailing the western, and the Persians the eastern provinces of the empire. He sent Julian to command the armies in Gaul, and to oppose the Germans, while he himself endeavoured to maintain the eastern provinces. In his campaigns he obtained but little success; and was even compelled to abandon the siege of Bezade, which the Persians had taken. Mean while, Julian was distinguishing himself in a very remarkable manner in Gaul. Instead of a mere scholar, ignorant of every thing but the jargon of the sophists, as Constantius had thought him, he appeared at once, when in command of the army, an intrepid soldier, and a consummate general. The Franks he completely overthrew in several engagements, gained by his personal courage and his skilful conduct, even though the generals had secret orders rather to thwart than second his efforts. Having repelled the Germanic tribes, he crossed the Rhine, plunged through the morasses, penetrated the forests, and traversed the plains of Germany, spreading havoc and dismay among these ancient enemies of the empire. Constantius, envious of his renown, and jealous of his rising power, demanded from him the best legions of his army, on the pretext that their services were required in the Persian war. The legions refused to obey, and proclaimed Julian emperor. Both parties prepared for a war, to decide their pretensions to the imperial diadem; but while Constantius was exerting himself to the utmost, and while his mind was filled with rage and apprehension, he was seized with a fatal illness, and left the throne to his rival without bloodshed.

The high reputation of Julian, which had preceded him, procured tor him a triumphant reception at Constantinople. Immediately on his arrival, he began a rigorous reform in the whole administration; banished the corrupt and servile ministers of his predecessor; dismissed those whose sole employment had been to gratify the sensual and luxurious habits of the court; appointed men of talent and activity to administer the affairs of the empire; and revived in Constantinople some of the forms of the ancient Roman constitution, particularly the senate and the consular title. But along with these reforms, he had planned a change of a much more extensive nature, nothing less than the subversion of Christianity, and the establishment of a somewhat reformed paganism in its stead. Trained as he was, in the philosophic lore of Greece, he imagined that he saw the deep mysteries of a true natural religion concealed beneath the fables of the heathen mythology; and though he did not imagine the popular mind capableof understanding the deeper meaning, he purposed to remove some of the grossest parts of the external mythic rites, give these, so reformed, to the people, and retain the secret mysteries for the learned. All this, he was well aware, could not be accomplished at once. But he adopted the most subtle methods to promote his ulterior designs. He revoked all the edicts against idolatry; discouraged Christianity, by removing Christians from all places of public honour and influence, and prohibiting them from teaching in the public schools, with the evident design [7:19:418]of preventing them from being taught, that they might sink into insignificance.

His attempt to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem was one of the most remarkable of his systematic endeavours to overthrow Christianity. He was sufficiently acquainted with the scriptures to know, that the final desolation of Jerusalem and dispersion of the Jews had been predicted, and was a standing miracle testifying to the truth of Christianity. This he endeavoured to refute, and turn against the cause, by rebuilding the temple in more than its original splendour, and restoring the Jews to their long-lost capital. But in this daring attempt he was signally defeated. If we may credit the testimony of contemporaneous historians, the workmen were driven from the attempt by thunders, whirlwinds, and flames bursting from the foundations which they were vainly endeavouring to lay, till terrified by these supernatural events, they were compelled to abandon the enter-prize.

From these fruitless endeavours for the subversion of Christianity, Julian was called to take the field against the Persians, who had renewed their aggressions. Though peculiarly desirous of literary and philosophic fame, Julian was by no means destitute of military ambition. He returned a very haughty answer to the Persian ambassadors who had come to treat with him; and set out at the head of a powerful army of skilful veterans, determined to humble the pride and the power of the Persian monarch. For some time his expedition was one continued series of brilliant achievements, till bearing down all opposition, he reached the walls of Ctesiphon. But there he found himself too far from his resources to be able to continue his operations in the siege of a place which promised no speedy conquest. To advance was impossible, to retreat highly dangerous, to remain destruction. Reluctantly he commenced a disastrous retreat, through sandy deserts, oppressed with intolerable heat, deficient in provisions for his troops, and surrounded by clouds of swift Arabian cavalry. Several sharp encounters took place, in which the Roman forces gained the advantage whenever the enemy came to close combat, but suffered dreadfully from the light skirmishing warfare which they generally waged. At length a Persian arrow pierced the unguarded breast of Julian, inflicting a wound of which he died in a few hours, after an active reign of about twenty months.

The distressed army could not be without a leader; and after a short consultation Jovian, the first of the domestics, a title which conferred senatorial dignity, and a rank equal to that of the military duces, was proclaimed emperor; and after some severe conflicts with the Persians, was obliged to conclude a treaty neither advantageous nor honourable to the empire, except that it was necessary for the preservation of the wreck of the army. Returning to his own dominions, he immediately revoked all the decrees issued by Julian against Christianity, and in favour of paganism, thus restoring the former to the supremacy which it had enjoyed since the time of Constantine. Before he reached Constantinople, to which he was directing his course, Jovian was found dead in his bed, having been suffocated, as was supposed, by charcoal.

After a period of ten days spent in consultation and debate, Valentinian was chosen by the imperial ministers and generals, and the army cordially ratified the choice. Soon after his elevation, Valentinian raised his brother Valens to the dignity of Augustus, and divided with him the empire, giving to Valens the eastern territories, and retaining to himself Illyricum, Italy, Gaul, Spain, Britain, and Africa. Thus were the Roman dominions once more divided into the eastern and western empires; and from the time of Valentinian, they were never again thoroughly united. Valentinian established his court, not at Rome, but at Milan, being nearer the centre of his dominions; and he was almost im mediately engaged in hostilities with the restless and warlike tribes of the Germanic race. He made the most energetic efforts to drive back these invaders, and to maintain the extent of the empire undiminished; a task every year more and more difficult, from the increasing torrent of invaders, and the sinking strength of the exhausted empire. Not only were the German tribes in motion, pressing into Gaul, but the tribes bordering on the Baltic were beginning those piratical depredations which made them so long the terror of the adjacent maritime countries. In Britain the Scots and Picts were overpowering the Roman province, so that in every quarter of the western empire, nothing was to be seen but the march and countermarch of contending armies. Theodosius, the Roman general in Britain, succeeded in defending that province from its assailants, and thus gained the friendship of the emperor. To give the appearance of greater stability to his throne, Valentinian raised his son Gratian to the rank of Caesar, and caused him to be received by the army as his successor.

In the mean time a dangerous war arose in Africa, where the avarice and cruelty of Count Romanus, the military governor, had excited general dissatisfaction. The complaints of the injured Africans having been guilefully misrepresented to Valentinian, he punished the complainers. Despairing of redress, the people revolted, and chose Firmus, the son of a man of great wealth and influence in the country, for their leader. Romanus was quite unable to suppress this rebellion; but Valentinian despatched the warlike Theodosius with a strong force, to reduce them to subjection. Immediately on his arrival, the aspect of affairs was changed. Firmus was defeated with great loss, and fled to a friendly tribe in the interior; but fearing to be betrayed, he committed suicide, to avoid falling into the hands of the conqueror. Valentinian himself had in the mean time been engaged in conducting an expedition against the Quadi, and other nations on the Danube, in. which he was successful; but died suddenly of apoplexy, near the modern city of Guntz in Hungary.

Gratian, the eldest son of Valentinian, succeeded his , father in the western empire, and immediately associated with himself his brother Valentinian II., at that time only a youth of five years old, assigning to him Italy and Illyricum. Among the first and the worst acts of his reign, was the sanctioning the execution of Theodosius, whose brave and skilful conduct had preserved Britain, and recovered Africa. To this he was instigated by the calumnious insinuations of envious courtiers, who both hated and feared the rising merit of that gallant warrior. The reign of Valentinian, though filled with wars, had been so prosperous that it had secured for his sons a period of comparative tranquillity, more suited to their youth and inexperience. But the eastern empire had neither enjoyed equal prosperity, nor was enjoying the prospect of equal tranquillity.

Almost at the very commencement of his reign, Valens, the eastern emperor, was compelled to make preparations for a new Persian war; and, in the midst of these preparations, was alarmed by a dangerous rebellion. This was raised by Procopius, a distant relation of Julian, whose pretensions to the throne were founded partly on his consanguinity to the former emperor, and partly on a rumour that Julian had himself secretly invested him with the purple. Procopius was at first successful; but his haughty and cruel temper disgusting his own supporters, he was deserted by them, taken by the emperor, and put to de3th. The Persian war proceeded favourably, Sapor receiving a severe defeat, which was soon followed by a peace. But a more important event occurred, formidable not only to Valens, but also to the whole of the western world. This was the appearance of a new moving nation of barbarians, called Huns. Respecting the origin of this people, there are va[7:19:419]rious opinions, of which the most commonly received is tl at which represents them as sprung from the great family of the Mongolian Tartars, and in some way connected with those tribes called by the Chinese, Hioung-Nou. But there was also among them a manifest mixture of various nomad tribes, of which the predominant were probably the Finnish. It would indeed be absurd to imagine that a mighty migration of nomad tribes, sweeping onwards from the wilds of Mongolia to the Tanais (Don) and the Palus Maeotis (Sea of Azov), could be other than a mingled mass of all the various tribes whom they had conquered and absorbed in their tide-like course. Crossing the Tanais, the Huns drove before them the nations north of the Danube; and these uprooted nations in their turn threw themselves headlong upon the Roman provinces, both impelled and supported by the countless hordes that continued to press resistlessly behind. The Goths, unable to repel these terrible barbarians, sought and obtained permission to settle in the waste lands of Thrace, which formed part of the Roman province of Moesia. Unfortunately for both themselves and the empire, the Goths had been taught Arianism, and as a very violent hatred subsisted between the Arians and the orthodox Christians, the Goths neither were well received by the Romans, nor entertained sentiments of much friendship towards them. And not less unfortunately, the officers whom Valens appointed to superintend the new settlements of the Goths were men of the most depraved and abandoned characters, and treated them with the utmost perfidy and cruelty. At length Lupicinus, the chief of these officers, attempted at a feast to murder Fritigern and the other Gothic leaders; but the plot being prematurely discovered, the Gothic chiefs escaped, and arming their followers, massacred the greater part of the Roman troops in the province. In the mean time, the Huns advancing on their devastating career, drove the Ostrogoths before them into the territories possessed by the Visigoths; and thus mightily swelled the strength of the infuriated Goths. Uniting themselves under Fritigern, the Goths laid waste Thrace, Macedon, and Thessaly, and approached to the very walls of Constantinople.

In this state of affairs, Valens, assailed by a strong and vengeful foe, applied to Gratian, the young emperor of the west, for aid. He had been engaged in warring successfully against the Germans, and was at that time in the field; but seeing the urgent necessity of saving the eastern empire, he immediately marched to the assistance of his uncle. Before his arrival, the Gothic chief, Fritigern, thinking it lawful to use deceit against a deceitful foe, found means to draw Valens into a situation in which he was almost compelled to fight, without waiting for the arrival of succour. A decisive battle was fought near Adrianople; Valens himself was killed on the field, and nearly two-thirds of the Roman army were cut to pieces. Not even on the dreadful field of Cannae had the Romans sustained a more fatal overthrow; and the stern unconquerable spirit of the republic being no more, the fate of the eastern empire seemed to be inevitable. But what direct force might not have been able to accomplish, was effected by a rare combination of wisdom, valour, and probity. In consequence of his wars with the invaders of his own dominions, Gratian was unable to undertake the conduct of the war against the Goths; but he called to his aid Theodosius, son of that Theodosius whom he had unjustly put to death, and whose death he had bitterly repented. Him he now raised to the dignity of emperor, and gave him at once the eastern empire, with the addition of the province of Illyricum. Theodosius thus raised to the purple, speedily showed himself worthy of the high trust committed to him, that of restoring the fortunes of a falling empire. The courage of the Romans had been so much shaken by their late defeat, that Theodosius did not think it prudent to hazard a general engagement with the Goths; but, like another Fabius, he saved his own forces, harassed the enemy, taught his men that the Goths were not invincible, and gradually restored to them their courage, perfected by improved discipline and temperate caution. At length Fritigern died; and the Goths having no longer a leader capable of controlling the haughty chiefs of their ill-compacted confederacy, became disunited, and one by one submitted to the superior skill, policy, and authority of Theodosius. Great numbers of them received the pay, and were incorporated into the armies of that empire which they had so recently been on the brink of destroying, and the remainder voluntarily engaged to defend the Danube against the Huns. Thus, in about four years, the eastern empire was rescued from the most formidable danger by which it had ever been assailed, and seemed once more in a state of security.

While Theodosius was thus employed, another calamity befel the western empire. The character and conduct of Gratian had defrauded the fair expectations formed of him on his accession, and exposed him to the contempt of the more warlike part of his subjects. Maximus, who held the chief command in Britain, revolted against him, passed into Gaul, and prepared to dethrone the feeble emperor. The army violated its allegiance, and Gratian having fled towards Italy, was overtaken and killed at Lyons. The death of this prince left his young brother Valentinian II. nominal emperor of the west, though the usurper Maximus assumed that title. Theodosius was obliged to conceal his resentment against the murderer of his benefactor, not being yet in a condition to quit his own dominions; and he even entered into a treaty with him, leaving him in the undisturbed possession of Gaul and Britain. But Maximus, encouraged by the success with which his rebellion had been followed, resolved to deprive Valentinian of even the nominal power which he enjoyed in Italy. Unable to defend his territories, he fled to Theodosius, and besought his aid. Theodosius having completed the pacification of his own dominions, immediately marched against the usurper, defeated him in two successive engagements, and his own troops having yielded him up, put him to death. Valentinian II. was thus restored to the throne of the western empire; a throne which his weak character did not enable him to fill and to defend.

Theodosius, after his triumph over Maximus, resolved to visit Rome, and aid his imperial pupil in reforming the abuses prevalent in that city. This visit is memorable on account of the decrees published by Theodosius for the complete suppression of idolatrous worship in Rome. All sacrifices were prohibited under heavy penalties, the idols were defaced, and the temples of the gods abandoned to ruin and contempt. These decrees met but a feeble resistance, and from that time may be dated the complete and final overthrow-of pagan idolatry in Rome. It would be an easy though an unpleasant task, to show how the ill-judging teachers of Christianity, in their zeal to make converts, in order to make the transition more easy to the pagan multitude, adopted many of the rites and festivals of the ancient idolatry, assigning merely to some saint what had been ascribed to some subordinate deity, and thus introduced much of the ill-disguised heathenism which forms so large a proportion of papal superstition: but this we leave to the pen of the ecclesiastical historian. Having thus completed the triumph of Christianity over paganism, Theodosius returned to the east, and employed himself in the kindred task of putting an end to the heresies of the church, establishing the predominancy of the orthodox over the Arian party.

Valentinian II. had but a short time recovered possession of the empire of the west, when he was murdered by Ar-bogastes, a Frank of a bold and warlike character, who had obtained a great ascendancy over him. Arbogastes did [7:19:420]not himself assume the purple, but gave it to Eugenius, deeming it more safe to possess the power than the name of emperor. Theodosius once more prepared to avenge the murder of an emperor. He raised a powerful army, forced the passes of the Alps, encountered the army of the usurper, and inflicted on him a decisive overthrow. Eugenius was killed by his own defeated troops, and Arbogastes, fearing the just resentment of the victor, died by his own hand.

The whole Roman empire might have been once more reunited under one imperial sovereign, had Theodosius been ambitious of that sole dominion. But being perfectly persuaded of the necessity of an emperor in each of the imperial cities, he assigned to his younger son Honorius the sceptre of the western empire, and associated Arcadius, the elder, with himself in that of the east. Scarcely had he completed this arrangement, when his constitution, which had always been feeble, overtasked with the exertions of this campaign and the cares of state, yielded to the shock, and he expired, to the universal regret of the empire, which beheld the splendour of the Roman name passing away with him its last great emperor.

The Roman world now presented the miserable spectacle of two emperors of such imbecility as to be incapable of conducting the administration of public affairs, in a time of such peril and alarm as would have required the prudence of an Augustus joined to the martial skill and talents of a Caesar. That Theodosius was not unaware of the feebleness of his two sons, may be conjectured from the fact of his assigning the care of at least the western empire to Stilicho, the master-general of the army. This able general seems to have been a Vandal by origin, but had by his courage and his great abilities raised himself to the highest military fame and station before the death of Theodosius; and to him that prudent emperor entrusted the guardianship of the empire. In the east, the crafty and avaricious Rufinus enjoyed similar influence over the feeble Arcadius, but without equal merit to sanction his possession of that power. Stilicho governed by the inherent right of commanding genius; Rufinus by the dark intrigues of a guileful and selfish nature. Stilicho seemed to regard himself as entitled to the supreme care of both empires; and Rufinus endeavoured to secure his authority in the east by persuading Arcadius to marry his daughter. He was however frustrated by the eunuch Eutropius, a person still more crafty than himself, who induced the young emperor to share his throne with the beautiful and accomplished Eudoxia. In a short time afterwards, Rufinus was killed by the leader of a body of Gothic troops in the confidence of Stilicho, who did not however obtain the ascendancy over Arcadius, being supplanted by the intrigues of Eutropius.

In the mean while, a dangerous war broke out in Africa, under the command of Gildo, brother of Firmus, who had been the leader of the last revolt. To suppress this insurrection, Stilicho sent Mascezel, the brother and deadly foe of Gildo. The Romans obtained the victory almost without bloodshed; and Gildo terminated his days by his own act, in a dungeon into which he had been cast. Mascezel did not long enjoy his victory, having been drowned either by accident, or, as some allege, by the contrivance of Stilicho.

But the fiercest storm that had ever assailed the empire was now ready to burst upon it in its hour of weakness. The Goths had yielded to the arms, and especially to the policy of Theodosius. After the death of Fritigern and of Athan-ric, they had been for some time without a leader able to to combine them into one body. A leader of equal craft and courage now appeared in the famous Alaric, who having succeeded in establishing his authority over his countrymen, only waited for a fair pretext, and a favourable opportunity to put in practice a scheme of greater magnitude and daring than had entered into the mind of any of Rome’s assailants since the time of Hannibal. The corrupt and avaricious ministers of Arcadius soon afforded him a pretext sufficiently plausible, by withholding the subsidy paid to the Goths since the agreement with Theodosius. Not deeming the lands of Thrace worth his while, Alaric led his forces into Greece, passed the straits of Thermopylas without opposition, devastated its fairest lands, and plundered Athens, Corinth, Argos, and Sparta. The unwarlike emperor of the east and his effeminate courtiers did not dare to meet the warlike barbarian; and Stilicho marched against them to rescue Greece from her rude plundererg. The great military genius of Stilicho was soon apparent in the advantage he obtained over the Goths, whom he at length succeeded in driving into a straitened position in Elis, whence it seemed impossible for them to escape. Taking advantage of the relaxation which' security had produced in his antagonists, Alaric forced the lines of circumvallation, crossed the narrow strait at the mouth of the gulph of Lepanto, and resumed his ravages in Epirus. Before Stilicho could again reach his enemy, he received information that the emperor of the east had concluded a peace with Alaric, and had even made him master-general of Illyricum.

Stilicho yielded to the unwise policy of Arcadius, and returned to Italy; but was very speedily recalled to march against his baffled but unvanquished foe. Resolved if possible to make himself master of the western empire, Alaric crossed the Julian Alps, and marched rapidly towards Milan, where Honorius held his court. Stilicho hastened to recruit his army and to defend the empire; but before his preparations were complete, the swift march of Alaric compelled Honorius to fly from Milan. In his flight he was almost surrounded by the Goths, and took refuge in Asta, where he was immediately besieged. Stilicho hastened to the rescue of the emperor; and gained a great, but not decisive victory over Alaric at Pollentia. Rallying the remains of his shattered army, Alaric quitted the scene of his defeat, and marched furiously to Rome, determined to wreak his vengeance on that proud city, or to perish at its gates. But Stilicho at the head of a chosen body of his army hastened with scarcely less swiftness to the relief of the threatened capital, and arrived in time to protect it from the rage of Alaric. He did not however deem it safe to force hi» antagonist to a battle, dreading perhaps the almost invincible energies of a brave enemy’s resolute despair; and thought it preferable to purchase his retreat, though at the expense of a very large sum of money.

Though frustrated in this attempt, Alaric did not relinquish his intention of making himself master of the western empire. He retreated towards Gaul, and attempted to seize Verona, intending to retain it as an open door by which to invade Italy when he should be supported by the strength of Gaul. Stilicho being apprised of his intention, followed, beset, and brought him to an engagement at Verona, and inflicted on him a second great overthrow, but could not prevent his escape, with a spirit undismayed, and a resolution only confirmed of implacable hostility to Rome. After this deliverance, Honorius went to Rome to enjoy the honours of a triumph; but this timid prince was not satisfied with a residence in any city which was exposed to the dangers of invasion. He therefore withdrew to Ravenna, a small fortified town on the banks of one of the mouths of the Po, deemed inpregnable from its situation; and here he determined to fix his imperial residence.

Another enemy now appeared to summon forth afresh the energies of the brave and indefatigable Stilicho. This was another combined host of roving nations, chiefly Vandals, Alani, Suevi, and Burgundians, under the command of Radagaisus. On their march a large body of this moving mass separated, and entered Gaul; while the rest under their chief entered Italy and laid siege to Florence.
[7:19:421]

Again did Stilicho by his superior tactics save his own army, and overthrow that of the enemy, enclosing them within such entrenched lines as they could not force, and reducing them to such distress that they were compelled to surrender at discretion. Radagaisus was put to death; and the greater part of his army sold as slaves. Of this fresh tide of migrating barbarians, the portion which turned towards Gaul was more successful. They devastated the whole of that country, crossed the Pyrenees, and formed a settlement in Andalusia.

Stilicho was now suspected of a secret intercourse with Alaric, whom he had several times defeated, but always suffered to escape. A correspondence certainly existed between them; and Stilicho even attempted to persuade Honorius to frame a treaty with Alaric, and to give him the province of Illyricum. In the midst of these political intrigues, Olympius found means to gain the confidence of Honorius, and procured the murder of the brave and able Stilicho, the deliverer of Italy. As if to prove the infatuation of guilt, Olympius next procured the murder of the wives and children of the barbarians throughout Italy, which, instead of weakening their power, strengthened it by the just resentment which so atrocious a deed awoke in their fierce, yet human bosoms. They immediately invited Alaric to head them in avenging the slaughter of their families; and thus about thirty thousand brave and disciplined men were by one bloody and treacherous deed converted from auxiliaries into the most implacable foes, while the death of Stilicho encouraged Alaric to invade a country no longer defended by that renowned warrior, before whom his own martial genius had stood rebuked.

Delighted to see his great scheme so nearly within his reach, Alaric once more entered Italy and marched directly against Rome. ^[31. The state of Rome at that eventful period cannot be better described than in the language of Gibbon. “It had attracted the vices of the universe, and the manners of the most opposite nations. The intemperance of the Gauls, the cunning and levity of the Greeks, the savage obstinacy of the Egyptians and Jews, the servile temper of the Asiatics, and the dissolute, effeminate prostitution of the Syrians, were mingled in the various multitude; which, under the proud and false denomination of Romans, presumed to despise their fellow-subjects, and even their sovereigns, who dwelt bevond the urecincts of the Eteknal City.” ] By a skilful arrangement of his forces, he cut off all supplies, and the devoted city was soon subjected to the aggravated horrors of war, famine, and pestilence. Safe in his retreat at Ravenna, the emperor made no effort to save his capital; and after suffering the most dreadful miseries, the senate purchased a cessation of hostilities and the retreat of the besieging army, by the payment of an enormous ransom. Alaric withdrew to Tuscany, and waited the ratification of this treaty by the emperor, being unwilling to come to extremities, under the hope of yet obtaining such an alliance with Honorius as should raise him to the command of the armies of the whole western empire, which he might govern in the name of the emperor, as Stilicho had done. Honorius refused to ratify the treaty; and Alaric once more invested Rome. In this second siege Alaric took measures to secure a more speedy triumph. He seized upon the harbour of Ostia, which contained the granaries for supplying the city; and the Romans were compelled at once to capitulate. Still the conqueror modified his triumph, contenting himself with raising Attalus, praefect of the city, to the empire. Notwithstanding this virtual dethronement of Honorius, Alaric continued to negotiate with that feeble monarch, whose name bore a higher dignity than that of Attalus. Having again failed to obtain his wishes, he deposed Attalus, and marched against Rome, resolved no longer to control the strong impulse which had long urged him to the sack of Rome. The barbarian army once more approached the walls. During the darkness of night the Gothic slaves within the city seized one of the gates, and threw it open to their countrymen, setting fire to some adjacent houses to light their entrance and to begin the work of devastation, spoil, and carnage. For six successive days of horror the Goths were allowed to glut their furious appetites in the sack of the prostrate queen of the world, restrained only by their own respect for the churches, where numbers of the trembling inhabitants found a sanctuary.

It was not the intention of Alaric to destroy Rome, but rather tomake himself itssovereign. After he had attempted this by policy and intrigue, he accomplished it by force. His ambition now expanded with his success; and he resolved to subjugate all Italy, pass into Sicily and add it to his conquest, thence into Africa, and annex it to his dominions, and thus to make himself the sovereign of the whole western empire. But while on his march through southern Italy for the accomplishment of these vast designs, he was suddenly smitten with a mortal malady, and died near Consentia. Before his death he gave orders that he should be interred in the channel of the small river Busentinus. The river was turned aside by the labour of captives, the royal sepulchre dug in the vacant bed, the body, richly adorned with the spoils and trophies of Rome, was deposited, the waters were restored to their channel, and the prisoners who had executed the work were murdered, that it might not be known where he lay, and that the hand of man might never insult the ashes, and the foot of man never tread upon the grave, of Alaric the Goth, the conqueror of Rome.

After the death of Alaric, the command of the Gothic army devolved upon his brother Adolph, who, though not destitute of talents, possessed neither the tierce passions nor the high ambition of Alaric. He concluded a peace with Honorius, consenting to quit Italy upon condition of the princess Flacidia being given to him in marriage. This being done, he acted as a Roman general, led his forces into Gaul, and reconquered that country for the emperor. Thence he passed into Spain, and began a fierce war against the other barbarian nations by whom that country had been invaded; but was murdered in the midst of his victorious career. His successor Wallia continued the war with equal vigour and success, till he subdued nearly all Spain, and founded the Gothic monarchy. Placidia was sent back to her brother Honorius, on the remonstrances of the emperor’s victorious general Constantius, at the head of a powerful army; and she «’as afterwards given in marriage to the brave leader by whom she was thus recovered.

Constantius did not long enjoy his dignity; and upon his death Placidia sought a retreat in the court of Theodosius, taking with her to Constantinople her two infant children Valentinian and Honoria. Within a few months after this event, which renewed the intercourse between the imperial families of the East and of the West, the emperor Honorius died of dropsy. The throne was immediately siezed by John, the Primicerius, or principal secretary of the late emperor. Thedosius II. who had succeeded his father Arcadius in the empire of the East, prepared to place his cousin on the throne of Rome. The eastern army took Aquileia, and obtaining possession of Ravenna, where the usurper then was, put him to death, and secured the Italian crown. After some little delay, the son of Honorius, an infant only six years old, was raised to the throne, by the name and title of Valentinian III., emperor of the West; the administration of affairs being conducted by his mother Placidia. It is worthy of remark, that both divisions of the Roman empire [7:19:422]were at this juncture governed by females; the East by Pulcheria, in the name of her brother Theodosius II., and the West by Placidia, in the name of her son Valentinian III.

While Rome was assailed on all sides by fierce barbarian nations, it was extremely necessary that either the sceptre should be swayed by a warlike monarch, or that men of military talents should occupy the chief places of trust and influence. The western empire was governed by a woman in the name of an infant; but there were two men at the head of its armies equal to the burden of its support and defence, had they not been rendered foes by jealousy and intrigue. These were Bonifacius in Africa, and Aetius in Italy, both men of great abilities, but the latter envious and designing. In order to ruin his less cunning rival, Aetius wrote to Bonifacius to inform him that the empress Placidia wished his death, and meant to recall him from Africa for that purpose; and at the same time he persuaded Placidia that Bonifacius meant to rebel, and advised her to recall him for the purpose of proving his obedience. When the order reached Bonifacius, it confirmed the fallacious statement of Aetius, and he refused to return; this refusal convinced Placidia of his traitorous design, and she caused him to be proclaimed a traitor, thus driving him into rebellion. Bonifacius was well aware that he could not hope to contend successfully against the veteran troops of Rome, led by Aetius; and he therefore had recourse to the aid of Genseric, king of the Vandals, at that time settled in Spain. This ambitious and daring barbarian immediately crossed the straits of Gibraltar, entered Africa, and commenced ε course of dreadful devastation. Bonifacius learned, when too late, how he had been deceived; and he then attempted, but in vain, to check the progress of the savage invaders. He was defeated, the cities that opposed the Vandals were taken, and Africa was wrested from the power of Rome, and completely overrun by the barbarians.

As the innocence of Bonifacius had been proved by the deceitful letters of Aetius, he was received on his return to Italy, with marks of favour by the empress. This roused the utmost wrath of Aetius, and a sort of civil war arose between the two rivals, in which Bonifacius was slain; but the empress, who was now thoroughly acquainted with the treachery of Aetius, proclaimed him a traitor, and he fled to the Huns, with whom he had maintained a secret alliance. In a short time afterwards he returned to Italy, requesting re-admission to the councils of the empire, and supported in his requests by an army of sixty thousand barbarians. Placidia was obliged to accept his proffered assistance, to raise him to the dignity of a patrician, and to the command of the imperial armies, and consequently to the government of the empire.

No sooner had Aetius secured this object of his ambition, than he resolved to recover the lost province of Africa; and for this purpose, availing himself of the indignation which .he cruel and barbarous treatment of his sister by Genseric had excited in the mind of Theodoric, king of the Visigoths, he endeavoured to frame such a treaty with that monarch as should induce him to aid the Romans against the common foe. This politic design was however discovered by the crafty barbarian, Genseric, who defeated it by inducing the terrible Attila, king of the Huns, to invade the empire. For some time this powerful barbarian had ruled with despotic sway over the whole nation of the Huns, and kept both the courts of Rome and Constantinople in terror, levying a tribute from each, as the price of his temporary forbearance. The death of Theodosius II., and the accession of Marcian, the nominal husband of Pulcheria, infused a more determined spirit into the councils of the eastern empire; and the fury of Attila might have been directed against it, rather than the west, had it not been for the intrigues of Genseric, who induced the fierce king of the

Huns to bend his course westward, and pour the torrent of his almost countless multitudes through Germany into Gaul. The haughty barbarian had also another pretext. The princess Honoria, daughter of Valentinian, is said to have offered him her hand; and Attila, availing himself of the proffer, demanded her in marriage, together with a portion of the empire as her dowry, and advanced at the head of an immense army to enforce his demands. All opposition was in vain, till he reached Orleans in Gaul, which sustained a siege for some time, in the hope of succour from the confiderate forces of Aetius and Theodoric. At length the allied army appeared, when the Huns were actually forcing their way into the town, and Attila called them back, and retired into the plains around Chalons, (in campis Cαtα∙ launicis,) to obtain space for the evolutions of his mighty army. After a battle, fierce, varied, obstinate, and bloody, in which the nations from the Wolga to the Atlantic were engaged, Attila was beaten back to his camp, and the field, covered with the dead bodies of 162,000 slain, remained in the possession of Aetius, Theodoric having fallen in the battle. Attila retreated into Germany, still too formidable to be more than harassed on his march.

During the following spring, he renewed his attempt, but now directed his course into Italy itself, and laid siege to Aquileia, which he took after a protracted and desperate resistance. Aetius could not induce the Visigoths to render him any assistance, and his own forces were unable to meet the vast armies of the Huns; yet he continued to keep the field, and to impede the progress of the dreadful invader. His march was now to be directed against Rome, when he was prevented, partly by the offers of an embassy sent to him from the timid Valentinian, and partly in consequence of a superstitious feeling of apprehension for his own life, both friends and foes reminding him that Alaric had not long survived the taking of Rome. He consented to accept a large ransom and the princess Honoria, threatening to return filled with implacable vengeance, should the stipulations of the treaty not be fulfilled. Soon after his return to his almost imperial village, he fell a victim to intemperance, and died by the bursting of a blood-vessel, on the night after a feast held in honour of his own nuptial engagement with the fair Ildico Thus perished the terrible Attila, a man of matchless energy of character, a barbarian surpassing all in the barbaric pride and cruelty in which he delighted; who directed his ambassadors to say to the two emperors of Constantinople and Rome, “Attila, my lord, and thy lord, commands thee to provide a palace for his immediate reception ;” who delighted in uttering the ferocious boast, that the grass never more grew on the spot once trodden by his horse; and who actually adopted the appellation given to him by a trembling enemy, Attila, the scourge of God

Upon the death of Attila, the kingdom of the Huns was tom to pieces among his followers; and Rome might have enjoyed safety, had not the jealousy and ingratitude of Valentinian led him to murder with his own hand the brave Aetius, the only person capable of protecting the empire. Not long afterwards, Valentinian himself was killed by the patrician Maximus, whose wife the weak and dissolute tyrant had violated, and who ascended the throne thus rendered vacant.

Soon after his assumption of the imperial dignity, the wife of Maximus died; and wishing to obtain a sanction for his elevation, he married Eudoxia, the widow of Valentinian, and sister of the eastern emperor. In some moment of strange imprudence, he told the empress that he had caused the murder of her first husband Valentinian; and to revenge the deed, she privately invited Genseric, the Vandal conqueror of Africa, to invade Italy, and dethrone the usurper. Genseric had built and equipped a powerful fleet, which rendered him master of the sea, and put it in his [7:19:423]power to devastate the maritime countries around the Mediterranean. His answer to Eudoxia was the speedy appearance of a Vandal fleet in the Tiber. The terror of the Roman citizens vented itself on Maximus, who was put to death in a tumult of popular indignation; but Genseric landed and took possession of the city, which immediately became a scene of horrors, surpassing those caused by the storm and pillage of Alaric and his Goths. For the space of fourteen days and nights did the savage Vandals indulge their rapacious appetite for plunder, by seizing upon all the public and private wealth which had escaped the Goths, or been accumulated since their departure. Eudoxia herself was despoiled of her jewels, and compelled, along with her two daughters, to embark on board the vessels of the barbarous plunderer. Great numbers of the Roman citizens were carried away to Africa as slaves, the only mitigation of their sufferings being w hat was purchased from the Vandals by Deogratias, bishop of Carthage.

Before the death of Maximus, he had appointed a noble Gaul, named Avitus, to the command of the troops in that country. When the death of Maximus left the empire without a sovereign, the army proclaimed Avitus; and the friendship of Theodoric, the king of the Visigoths, induced him the more readily to accept the dangerous honour. But he enjoyed his elevation a short time. Ricimer, commander of the barbarian mercenaries in the armies of the empire, descended of the royal race of the Visigoths by the mother’s side, and of the nation of the Suevi by the father’s, having defeated the Vandals in a naval action, and been hailed “deliverer of Italy,” found himself strong enough on his return, to depose Avitus, who was allowed to become bishop of Placentia, but he did not live to enjoy his ecclesiastical preferment.

For a short time Ricimer continued to govern the empire without the appointment of an imperial ruler; but at length he raised to that position Majorianus, a man of courage and merit, who had been trained under the care of Aetius, and was equally skilled in the arts of the field and the cabinet. His first attempt was to check the growing degeneracy of Rome, by amending the laws, making a new distribution and arrangement of the taxes, restoring and reforming the magistracies, preventing the destruction of public edifices, and especially by such a vigorous resumption of the ancient discipline of the armies, as should render them able to meet their enemies with their former certainty of victory. He levied troops, repelled an invasion of the Vandals, constructed a fleet, and prepared to carry the war into Africa, for the recovery of that province, which had long been the very granary of Rome. But it was not the policy of Ricimer to allow a truly able and heroic monarch to occupy the imperial throne, lest he might rouse the Romans from their deep degeneracy. He fomented a sedition in the army, in consequence of which Majorianus was compelled to abdi-, cate; and five days after his abdication he died, as was reported, of a dysentery, more probably of treachery. In him perished the hopes and the prospects of Rome, of ever again obtaining deliverance from the degradation of barba rian sway.

At the command of Ricimer, the senate named as emperor Libius Severus, an obsequious dependant of the imperious barbarian, who continued to hold the nominal dignity of emperor for a period of six years, during which the whole power was so completely retained by Ricimer, that the name of Severus is scarcely ever mentioned by the historians of the time. At length the growing power of the Vandals in Africa, and their incessant depredations on the coast of Italy, compelled Ricimer, who had no naval force to oppose them, to apply for aid to the emperor of the east, and to offer him the appointment of a western emperor as an inducement. The opportune death of Severus enabled Ricimer to make this offer freely, if indeed he had not caused that death; and Leo, the eastern sovereign, nominated Anthemius to that ill-omened station. A combined armament was prepared by the Constantinopoli-tan and Roman emperors, and sent against the Vandals; but the superior conduct of Genseric prevailed, and the confederate force was almost totally destroyed. Bereft of his eastern support, Anthemius was unable to maintain himself against the powerful and ambitious Ricimer, who first withdrew from Rome to Milan, and there held a separate and independent court, and then marched toward Rome in open rehellion against the emperor. For some months Anthemius defended the city; but at length it was carried by storm, and the unhappy emperor being dragged from concealment, was murdered by the command of Ricimer.

Anycius Olybrius, the son-in-law of Valentinian III. was next placed on the throne, by this daring and successful setter-up and puller-down of emperors. Within about a month after this exploit, Ricimer himself followed his imperial victims to the grave, being cut off by a painful disease; and before other two months had elapsed, Olybrius died a natural though an early death.

Even ambition could not rouse the sluggish court of the east to activity, although the death of Ricimer rendered it probable that the nomination of a new emperor would meet with little opposition. At length Leo named to that dignity Julius Nepos, who had married a relation of the empress, and had previously held the government of Dalmatia. In the meantime, Gundobald, the Burgundian prince, and nephew of Ricimer, had raised to the throne an obscure soldier named Glycerius; but upon the approach of Nepos, supported by the troops of Leo, Glycerius fled, the Burgundians not thinking proper to engage in a war for his defence, and he is said to have consulted his safety in the new character of bishop of Salona.

Nepos enjoyed the sovereignty but a very short time. The barbarian confederates, or auxiliary troops, broke out into a violent sedition, and marched, under the command of their general, Orestes, a native of Pannonia, of high descent, against Ravenna, where Nepos had his court. Instead of confiding in the strength of the fortress, and hazarding the contest, Nepos fled across the Adriatic to his former Dalmatian province, and lived in obscurity till he was murdered by the instigation of his former rival Glycerius.

Orestes did not himself think proper to assume the purple, but gave it to his son Romulus, or, as corrupted by the half-barbarian half-Greek pronunciation of Pannonia, Mo-myllus, to whom, as raised to the imperial dignity, was also given the name of Augustus, afterwards changed into Aug-ustulus; in whom thus met, by a strange combination, the names of the founders of the city, and of the empire. But Orestes soon found that it was easier to usurp than to retain supreme power. The barbarian mercenaries, headed by Odoacer, a bold and enterprizing chief of the Heruli, demanded a partition of the lands of Italy among them, to at least a third; and upon the refusal of Orestes, they flew to arms, mustering from all quarters, besieged and took Pavia into which Orestes had thrown himself, and put him to death. Odoacer next directed his march to Rome, and was met by Augustulus, who voluntarily abandoned the insignia of imperial sway, and appealed to the clemency of the conqueror. His life was spared, and he was allowed to retire to the villa which had belonged to Lucullus, where he was allowed a sum of money for his support. Odoacer retaining the entire sovereignty, contented himself with the title of king, and thus put an end to the Roman Empire of the West, in the 1229th year from the foundation of Rome.
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Though this was the actual termination of the Roman Empire, yet it ought to be added, that Odoacer never assumed the purple and diadem, or the title of king of Italy, being satisfied with the regal title alone, without any local application; and that after a comparatively peaceful, prosperous, and prudent reign of fourteen years, his fortunes sunk before the superior genius of Theodoric, the king of the Ostrogoths, a prince alike capable of founding or reconstructing a monarchy, under whose sway all vestiges of the imperial government were swept away, or remodelled, and Italy was formed into a kingdom.

There is no portion of profane history more pregnant with important instruction, than that which relates to the rise, the growth, the fluctuations, and the fall of Rome. It equally demands the studious attention of the scholar, the statesman, the philosopher, and the Christian. In its literature, the scholar will find treasures second only to those of Greece; in its political struggles and changes, the statesman will find much to guide him in his endeavours to mould the constitution of his own country; in its peculiar mental aspect and character, the philosopher will find a full development of one of the most vigorous and striking phases of mind that have ever been displayed in the history of humanity; and in its resistance to the pure and simple truths of the gospel, the Christian will be led humbly to ponder on the deep depravity of man, and the danger of rejecting that system of religion which can alone elevate the character of individuals, and promote the security and happiness of communities. To point out the full application of these views would require a dissertation far beyond our limits; and we must therefore leave the intelligent and inquisitive reader to trace them for himself, “ell assured that the labour will amply prove its own reward.

(B.O.)