Alone she mourn'd her once unrivall'd weal, Nor claim'd the pity she could never feel. To raise themselves, and plunder all mankind.' NUMA POMPILIUS. No objects Numa to the muse supplies, But temples, priests, and pious mysteries. 134 He check❜d Bellona's rage; and dove-ey'd peace Saw superstition rise, and slaughter cease. This is no morose character of the Romans considered as a people. Sallust says, "Mihi multa agitanti, constabat, paucorum civium egregiam virtutem cuncta patravisse." It is true of such men as Cincinnatus, Camillus, Fabricius, the Decii, the Scipios, and some others. The victories of Pompey too added territories and glory to Rome. Marius, Sylla, and Cæsar, conquered for themselves, and brought inexpressible miseries upon their country. Let the reader consult Montesquieu's admirable volume, particularly the sixth chapter: he will there see the Roman policy in its true colours; a system, profound, invariable, and completely iniquitous. For sacred ends, was sacred truth forgot, 139 To the meek king descends the inspiring maid: ↑ None, to believe or to obey, repine, When human wisdom speaks by aid divine. Credulity, an easy yielding soil, Brought up new plants of faith with slender toil; 149 Procession, pageants, pomp, and noise disguis'd; While sound and show the pleas'd attention kept, The senses only wak'd, and reason slept. 3-simulat sibi cum dea Egeria congressus nocturnos esse. Liv. 1.i. c. xix. + Omnium primum, rem ad multitudinem imperitam, et illis seculis rudem, efficacissimam, deorum metum injiciendum ratus est. Wisdom with joy the kind delusion saw, 155 As serv'd her cause she play'd the mummery o'er, Salian and Fecial Flamens thus began, And Vestals, sacred from the embrace of man; " 159 And unextinguish'd keep pale Vesta's fire. 170 5 -virginesque Vestæ legit;-virginitate aliisque ceremoniis venerabiles ac sanctas fecit. Liv. 1. i. c. xx. Inhuman + So Worship moulded by the Statesman's art A detail of all the barbarities practised by the present race of French every Inhuman law! where reason must confess The sanction, not the breach, was wickedness." To bless the sweetness of her infant's smile, 175 Or the fond clasps which matron cares beguile, The illicit rapture of her glowing heart, • That a state of celibacy should be acceptable to the abundant Giver of all things, seems to be one of the most unaccountable notions that ever proceeded from the visions of enthusiasm ; and the horrible penalties annexed to a violation of chastity in the persons of those unhappy females set apart for certain purposes of religion, shew very strongly both the absurdity and wickedness of the institution. A Vestal's being buried alive for a breach of her vows or a neglect of her duty, is frequently mentioned by Livy and other ancient writers, with the indifference of any ordinary ceremony. The bigotry of modern Rome, called Christian, adopted this Order from the heathen superstition of the ancients; and both must have been conscious (though perhaps frail Nuns are not literally buried alive) that such ordinances were directly repugnant to the most general and irresistible impulse of human nature, and in itself innocent, else they would not have attempted to counteract it by restraints fo unnatural. Grim ce. the view of objects which woud naturally remind men of the reverence due to morality and religion. Pretending first only to shake off the trammels of Superstition, they soon came to deny the superintending Providence of the Deity, then easy transition to question his existence Thus were the faculties given by the great Creator employed to degrade him beneath the supine and listless Jupiter of Epicurus. Inquities cumparalleled in other age of nation, the wildest ruin, and scenes of the most horrible devastation quickly followed in the reas of this frantic and impieg Philosophy; yet infe.er they glorified God by their misdeeds while they dared to profané his Attributes by their atheistical doctiines. wildestruin, Grim death, and priests more grim, with Stygian gloom 179 Plung❜d the warm breathing creature in the tomb. 190 Nature shall brave them all, and triumph still. Though no fierce combat on the ensanguin'd plain, Or added soil distinguish'd Numa's reign, A fairer palm his bloodless annals boast; 195 Rome gain'd in virtue what in fame she lost. Not viol tun'd, or melting song, so finds The magick way to fierce untutor❜d minds, Not |