limits of Italy, its constitution might have been preserved for many ages beyond the period of its actual duration. "Accustom your mind," said Phocion to Aristias, "to discern, in the fate of nations, that recompense which the great Author of nature has annexed to the practice of virtue; and in their adversity, the chastisement which he has thought proper to bestow on vice. No state ever ceased to be prosperous, but in consequence of having departed from those institutions to which she owed her prosperity." History indeed has shown, that all states and empires have had their period of duration; but history, instructing us in the causes which have produced their decline and downfal, inculcates also this salutary lesson, that they themselves are in general the masters of their destiny, and that all nations may, and most certainly ought to aspire at immortality. 7. It was a great desideratum in ancient politics, that a government should possess within itself the power of periodical reformation; a capacity of checking any overgrowth of authority in any of its branches, and of winding up the machine, or bringing back the constitution to its first principles, or enlarging it in accordance with the progress of society. To the want of such a power in the states of antiquity, which was ineffectually endeavoured to be supplied by such partial contrivances as the Ostracism and Petalism,* we may certainly ascribe in no small degree the decay of those states; for in their governments, when the balance was once destroyed, the evil grew worse from day to day, and admitted of no remedy but a revolution, or entire change of the system.-The British constitution possesses this inestimable advantage over all the governments of antiquity, that the administration of government is controlled by parliament, which includes a numerous body of the representatives of the people, who oppose themselves to the abuses that would otherwise arise. But of this we shall afterwards treat in its proper place. SECTION LII. ROME UNDER THE EMPERORS, 30 b. c.-54 A. c. 1. THE battle of Actium decided the fate of the commonwealth; and Octavius, now named Augustus by the senate, and invested with the title of Imperator, was master of the Roman empire.t He possessed completely the sagacity of discerning what character was best fitted for gaining the affections of the people he govern * Petalism at Syracuse answered to Ostracism at Athens. When it was proposed to banish any one suspected of aspiring to sovereign power, or considered dangerous to the state, the votes were given by writing the names of the party on a leaf at the former place, and at the latter on a shell: hence the above terms from the Greek name of the substance on which the votes were written. The empire was bounded on the west by the Atlantic Ocean, on the north by the Rhine and the Danube, on the east by the Euphrates and the sandy desert of ed, and the versatility of temper and genius to assume it. His virtues, though the result of policy, not of nature, were certainly favourable to the happiness, and even to the liberties, of his subjects. The fate of Cæsar warned him of the insecurity of an usurped dominion; and therefore, while he studiously imitated the engaging manners and clemency of his great predecessor, he affected a much higher degree of moderation and respect for the rights of the people. 2. The temple of Janus was shut (29 B.C.), which had been open for 188 years, since the beginning of the second Punic war; an event productive of universal joy. "The Romans," says Condillac, "now believed themselves a free people, since they had no longer to fight for their liberty." The sovereign kept up this delusion, by maintaining the ancient forms of the republican constitution, in the election of magistrates, &c., though they were nothing more than forms. He even pretended to consider his own function as merely a temporary administration for the public benefit. Invested with the consulate and censorship, he went through the regular forms of periodical election to those offices; and, at the end of the seventh year of his government, actually announced to the senate his resignation of all authority. The consequence was a general supplication of the senate and people, that he would not abandon the republic, which he had saved from destruction. "Since it must be so," said he, "I accept the empire for ten years, unless the public tranquillity should before that time permit me to enjoy that retirement I passionately long for." He repeated the same mockery five times in the course of his government, accepting the administration sometimes for ten, and sometimes only for five years. 3. It was much to the credit of Augustus, that in the government of the empire he reposed unlimited confidence in Mecænas, a most able minister, who had sincerely at heart the interest and happiness of the people. It was by his excellent counsels that all public affairs were conducted, and the most salutary laws enacted for the remedy of public grievances, and even the correction of the morals of the people. It was to his patronage that literature and the arts owed their encouragement and advancement. It was by his influence and wise instructions that Augustus assumed those virtues to which his heart was a stranger, and which, in their tendency to the happiness of his subjects, were equally effectual as if the genuine fruits of his nature. 4. On the death of Marcellus (23 B. C.), the nephew and sonin-law of Augustus, a prince of great hopes, the emperor bestowed his chief favour on Marcus Agrippa, giving him his daughter Julia, the widow of Marcellus, in marriage, (17 B.C.) Agrippa had considerable military talents, and was successful Syria, and on the south by Ethiopia and the deserts of Arabia. The population of the countries included within these bounds was estimated at 120 millions, half of these being slaves, 40 millions tributaries and freedmen, and only 20 millions who enjoyed the full rights of citizens. in accomplishing the reduction of Spain, and subduing the revolt ed provinces of Asia. Augustus associated him with himself in the office of censor, and would probably have given him a share of the empire; but the death of Agrippa occasioned a new arrangement. The daughter of Augustus now took for her third husband Tiberius, who became the son-in-law of the emperor by a double tie, for Augustus had previously married his mother, Livia. This artful woman, removing all of the imperial family who stood betwixt her and the object of her ambition, thus made room for the succession of her son Tiberius, who, on his part, bent all his attention to gain the favour and confidence of Augustus. On the return of Tiberius from a successful campaign against the Germans, the people were made to solicit the emperor to confer on him the government of the provinces, and the command of the armies. Augustus now gradually withdrew himself from the cares of empire. He died soon after at Nola in Campania, in the seventy-sixth year of his age, and forty-fourth of his imperial reign, (year of Rome 767, and 14 A.C.) 5. The long and, for Italy itself, peaceable reign of Augustus, has generally been considered a fortunate and brilliant period of Roman history, when compared with the times which preceded and followed it. Security of person and property were reestablished; the arts of peace flourished under the benign patronage of Augustus and his minister Mæcenas; and we may add that as the formal restoration of the republic would only have been the signal for new commotions, the government, of Augustus, if not the very best, was at least the best that Rome could bear. The alteration in the form of government and the heterogeneous nature of the empire acquired by war, led to the necessity of standing armies. The army consisted of 400,000 men; thirty legions of 12,500 men,-eleven on the Danube, five on the Rhine, three in Britain, one in Spain, eight on the Euphrates, one in Egypt, one in Africa, and 20,000 prætorian guards in Italy. The navy had 50,000 men. Two fleets were stationed at Ravenna and Naples, and there were naval stations at Frejus, in the Black Sea, in the British Channel, the Rhine, and Danube. Augustus reformed the financial administration, his chief aim being to place everything, as far as possible, upon a solid and lasting foundation. A considerable part of the lustre thrown on the reign of Augustus is owing to the splendid colouring bestowed on his character by the poets and other authors who adorned his court, and repaid his favours by their adulation. Assuredly other sovereigns of much higher merits have been less fortunate in obtaining the applause of posterity: -Illacrymabiles Urgentur, ignotique longa One great event distinguished the reign of Augustus, the birth of our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST, which, according to the best authorities, happened in the 754th year of Rome, and four years before the vulgar date of the Christian era.* 6. Augustus, by his testament, had named Tiberius his heir, together with his mother Livia, and substituted to them Drusus, the son of Tiberius, and Germanicus. Tiberius was vicious, debauched, and cruel; yet the very dread of his character operated in securing an easy succession to the empire. An embassy from the senate entreated him to accept the government, which he modestly affected to decline, but suffered himself to be won by their supplications. Notwithstanding this symptom of moderation, it soon appeared that the power enjoyed by his predecessor was too limited for the ambition of Tiberius. It was not enough that the substance of the republic was gone; the very appearance of it was now to be abolished. The people were no longer assembled, and the magistrates of the state were supplied by the imperial will. 7. Germanicus, the nephew of Tiberius, became the object of his jealousy, from the glory he had acquired by his military exploits in Germany, and the high favour in which he stood with the Roman people. He was recalled in the midst of his successes, and despatched to the oriental provinces, where he soon after died, as was generally believed, of poison, administered by the emperor's command, 19 A. C. 8. In the eighteenth year of Tiberius, our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST, the Divine Author of our religion, suffered death upon the cross, a sacrifice and propitiation for the sins of mankind. 9. Elius Sejanus, prefect of the prætorian guards, the favourite counsellor of Tiberius, and the obsequious minister of his tyranny and crimes, conceived the daring project of a revolution, which should place himself on the throne, by the extermination of the whole imperial family. Drusus, the son of the emperor, was cut off by poison. Agrippina, the widow of Germanicus, with the elder of her sons, was banished, and the younger confined to prison. Tiberius himself was persuaded by Sejanus, under the pretence of the discovery of plots for his assassination, to retire from Rome to the Isle of Capreæ, and devolve the government upon his faithful minister. But while Sejanus, thus far successful, meditated the last step to the accomplishment of his wishes, by the murder of his sovereign, his treason was detected; and the emperor despatched his mandate to the senate, which was followed by his immediate sentence and execution, 31 A.C. The public indignation was not satisfied with his death: the populace tore his body to pieces, and flung it into the Tiber. In his fall, every one that could be considered as connected with him, became involved. * Vide Dr Playfair's System of Chronology, pp. 49, 50-a work of great research and accuracy, and by far the best on that subject. 10. Tiberius now became utterly negligent of the cares of government, and the imperial power was displayed only in public executions, confiscations, and scenes of cruelty and rapine. At length the tyrant, falling sick, was strangled in his bed by Macro, the new prefect, who had succeeded Sejanus in the command of the prætorian guards, in the seventy-eighth year of his age, and twenty-third of his reign, 37 A. c. 11. Tiberius, by his testament, had nominated for his heir Caligula, the son of Germanicus, his grandson by adoption, and joined with him Tiberius, the son of Drusus, his grandson by blood. The former enjoyed, on his father's account, the favour of the people; and the senate, to gratify them, set aside the right of his colleague, and conferred on him the empire undivided. The commencement of his reign was signalized by a few acts of clemency and even good policy. He restored the privileges of the comitia, and abolished arbitrary prosecutions for crimes of state. But, tyrannical and cruel by nature, he substituted military execution for legal punishment. The provinces were loaded with the most oppressive taxes, and daily confiscations filled the imperial coffers. The follies and absurdities of Caligula were equal to his vices, and it is hard to say whether he was most the object of hatred or of contempt to his subjects. He at length perished by assassination, in the fourth year of his reign, and twenty-ninth of his age, 41 a. C. 12. Claudius, the uncle of Caligula, was the first emperor named by the prætorian guards, who had been the murderers of his nephew. He was the son of Octavia, the sister of Augustus; a man of weak intellects, and of no education; yet his short reign was marked by an enterprise of importance. He undertook the reduction of Britain; and, after visiting the island in person, left his generals, Plautius and Vespasian, to prosecute a war which was carried on for several years with various success. The Silures, or inhabitants of South Wales, under their king, Caractacus (Caradoc), made a brave resistance, but were finally defeated, and Caractacus led captive to Rome, where the magnanimity of his demeanour procured him respect and admiration. 13. The civil administration of Claudius was weak and contemptible. He was the slave even of his domestics, and the dupe of his infamous wives, Messalina and Agrippina. The former, abandoned to the most shameful profligacy, was at length put to death, on suspicion of treasonable designs. The latter, who was the daughter of Germanicus, bent her utmost endeavours to secure the succession to the empire to her son Domitius Enobarbus, and employed every engine of vice and inhumanity to remove the obstacles to the accomplishment of her wishes. Having at length prevailed on Claudius to adopt her son, and confer on him the title of Cæsar, to the exclusion of his own son Britannicus, she now made room for the immediate elevation of Domitius, by poisoning her husband. Claudius |