Now rolling all its wheels but at the nod Of one great Magus, with the imperial rod.' And specious veils, his o'er-grown power to hide; impedirent, the spirit of revenge arising from a sense of the indignities to which they had been accustomed; always engendering cruelty, and the desire of retaliation. The first cause of dissensions and tumults among the Romans was not so much the existence of distinctions between Patricians and Plebeians, as that such distinctions were made too apparent, by the appropriation of honours and offices in one order, and exclusion in the other. To encroach upon this line of separation was the continual endeavour of the Plebeians, while the Patricians laboured as strenuously to prevent the encroachment. Till these distinctions were removed, Rome was a perpetual theatre of secessions, feuds, and insurrection. It is remarkable, that, when the Plebeians were first allowed to be eligible and to elect to the great offices of the state, they did not choose a single magistrate from their own order; no doubt from consciousness of their deficiency. In time they turned their attention to the science of government, and became masters of it. The way to honours and emoluments is open to all ranks of men in Great Britain. In note (E) at the end of this volume, will be found some additional remarks on the Democracy of Athens. 1 η βουλη - πασης αυτού της των νομών αναγκης απήλλαξαν, αν, ωσπερ ειρήθαι μοι, και αυτοτελης οπως και αυτοκρατωρ και εαυτου και των νομων». πανία τε οσα βουλοιτο ποιοίη, πανθ' αν μη βουλοιτο, μη πρατη DION. CASS. 1. liii. c. 28. Not content with absolving him from existing laws, the Senate, enabled him to make new laws at his pleasure: νομοθετείν οσα βουλοι, MELOUR. Ibid. 1. liv. c. 10. Bb 2 Con Conspicuous alone in publick care, 2346 Plain was his habit, frugal was his fare ;* 2355 Form'd to enjoy what bolder Julius won, Serene, and clear, went down his evening sun: * Instrumenti ejus et supellectilis parsimonia apparet etiam nunc, residuis lectis atque mensis, quorum pleraque vix privatæ elegantiæ sunt. Veste non temere aliâ quam domesticâ usus est, ab uxore, et sorore, et filiâ, neptibusque confectâ. Cænam trinis ferculis, aut, cum abundantissime senis, præbebat. SUET. in Aug. 73, 74. 3 Caritate et benevolentia civium septum oportet esse, non armis. Cic. Phil. ii. While its meridian lustre chas'd away 2360 The clouds of blood that dimm'd its rising ray.* Never was power by baser means obtain❜d, Never was power more nobly us'd, when gain'd. Time and his genius wore out every fault; Octavius in Augustus was forgot; 2365 And with himself compar'd, the people cried, * Who that is acquainted with the life and actions of the second Cæsar, would expect to find Bacon, the learned, the discriminating Bacon, "the wisest, greatest of mankind," pronouncing the following deliberate judgment upon this blood-bolter'd emperor? "Augusto Cæsari, si cui mortalium, magnitudo animi inerat inturbida, serena, et ordinata.” To every term of this encomium exists a huge. contradiction in his unmanly and outrageous affliction for the loss of the legions under Q. Varo in Germany: "Adeo namque consternatum ferunt, (says his biographer, Suetonius,) ut per continuos menses barba capilloque summisso, caput interdum foribus illideret, vociferans, Quinctili Vare, legiones redde!" There is not much of the undisturbed and serene greatness of soul in this dejection and vociferation, even after he had assumed the name of Auguftus. We may excuse his hurting himself, but we discover still less of the well regulated temper, when for a mere cowardly suspicion he tore out with his own hands the eyes of a Roman Prætor. A monster A monster next exalted to the throne," 6 His sapient sway with double lustre shone. By lawful names to sanction lawless power." 2370 And 5 Tiberius, of all the execrable Cæsars the most execrable.-The olidus senex is thus described in Paradise Regained: "This emperor hath no son, and now is old, "On the Campanian fhore; with purpose there "Committing to a wicked favourite "All publick care, and yet of him suspicious,— Dictaturam magna vi offerente populo, genu nixus dejecta ab humeris toga, nudo pectore deprecatus est. SUET. in Aug. 7 Every increase of his new authority, every surrender to him of a publick right, every encroachment upon the old constitution, Augustus was careful to have legalized, and formally confirmed by a decree of the senate. While he governed wisely and equitably, nothing seemed to be lost; but the same power passing into the hands of a series of dæmons rather than men, made the wretched riveters of their own chains groan over them afterwards in despicable and unpitied anguish. And could felicity at Rome be known, Freedom's bright ray for ever sunk and gone, 2375 8 His endless Tribuneship, and name ador’d; A nation for spectators at a show," 8 2380 • Tribunitiam potestatem perpetuam recepit. SUET. in Aug. 27. ad tuendam plebem, tribunitio jure contentus. TACIT. Annal. 1. i. The personal inviolability annexed to the office of Tribune, induced Augustus to invest himself with it in perpetuity. A singular perversion! which strongly shews the efficacy of names, the emperor sheltering himself under the title of the most popular Roman magistrate, in order more securely to deprive the people entirely of their influence and liberty. It may remind us of Choræbus in the second book of Virgil, wearing a Grecian helmet and shield, and killing the Greeks with their own weapons, of which he had despoiled them: Sic fatus, deinde comantem Androgei galeam, clypeique insigne decorum Induitur: laterique Argivum accommodat ensem. 9 Spectaculorum et assiduitate et varietate atque magnificentiâ omnes antecessit. SUET. in Aug. 43. Where |
