lofty but unwieldy castles of his rival. Of these Li- ment. of Gaul, equally adapted to the progress of the le gions, to the course of the rivers, and to the principal national distinctions, which had comprehended above an hundred independent states. The sea-coast of the Mediterranean, Languedoc, Provence, and Dauphine, received their provincial appellation from the colony of Narbonne. The government of Aquitaine was extended from the Pyrenees to the Loire. The country between the Loire and the Seine was styled the Celtic Gaul, and soon borrowed a new denomination from the celebrated colony of Lugdunum, or Lyons. The Belgic lay beyond the Seine, and in more ancient times had been bounded only by the Rhine; but a little before the age of Cæsar, the Germans, abusing their superiority of valour, had occupied a considerable portion of the Belgic territory. The Roman con. querors very eagerly embraced so flattering a circumstance, and the Gallic frontier of the Rhine, from Basil to Leyden, received the pompous names of the Upper and the Lower Germany. Such, under the reign of the Antonines, were the six provinces of Gaul; the Narbonnese, Aquitaine, the Celtic, or Lyonnese, the Belgic, and the two Germanies. Britain. We have already had occasion to mention the conquest of Britain, and to fix the boundary of the Roman province in this island. It comprehended all England, Wales, and the lowlands of Scotland, as far as the friths of Dunbarton and Edinburgh. Before Britain lost her freedom, the country was irregularly divided between thirty tribes of barbarians, of whom the most considerable were the Belge in the West, the Brigantes in the North, the Spain, the western extremity of the Silures in South Wales, and the Iceni in Norfolk and Spain. empire, of Europe, and of the ancient Suffolk. As far as we can either trace or credit the world, has, in every age, invariably preserved the same resemblance of manners and language, Spain, Gaul, natural limits; the Pyrenean mountains, the Mediter- and Britain were peopled by the same hardy race of ranean, and the Atlantic Ocean. That great penin- savages. Before they yielded to the Roman arms, sula, at present so unequally divided between two they often disputed the field, and often renewed the sovereigns, was distributed by Augustus into three contest. After this submission, they constituted the provinces, Lusitania, Bætica, and Tarraconensis. The western division of the European provinces, which kingdom of Portugal now fills the place of the war- extended from the columns of Hercules to the wall of like country of the Lusitanians; and the loss sustain- Antoninus, and from the mouth of the Tagus to the ed by the former, on the side of the east, is compen-sources of the Rhine and the Danube. sated by an accession of territory towards the north. The confines of Grenada and Andalusia correspond with those of ancient Bætica. The remainder of Spain, Gallicia and the Asturias, Biscay and Navarre, Leon and the two Castiles, Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia, and Arragon, all contributed to form the third and most considerable of the Roman governments, which, from the name of its capital, was styled the province of Tarragona. Of the native barbarians, the Celtiberians were the most powerful, as the Cantabrians and Asturians proved the most obstinate. Confident in the strength of their mountains, they were the last who submitted to the arms of Rome, and the first who threw off the yoke of the Arabs. Ancient Gaul, as it contained the whole Gaul. country between the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Rhine, and the Ocean, was of greater extent than modern France. To the dominions of that powerful monarchy, with its recent acquisitions of Alsace and Lorraine, we must add the duchy of Savoy, the cantons of Switzerland, the four electorates of the Rhine, and the territories of Liege, Luxemburg, Hainault, Flanders, and Brabant. When Augustus gave laws to the conquests of his father, he introduced a division * Plutarch. in Marc. Anton. And yet, if we may credit Orosius, these monstrous castles were no more than ten feet above the water, vi. 19. y See Lipsius, de Magnitud. Rom. 1. i. c. 5. The sixteen last chapters of Vegetius relate to naval affairs. z Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV. c. 29. It must, however, be remembered, that France still feels that extraordinary effort. a See Strabo, 1. ii. It is natural enough to suppose, that Arragon is derived from Tarraconensis, and several moderns who have written in Latin, use those words as synonymous. It is however certain, that the Arragon, a little stream which falls from the Pyrenees into the Ebro, first gave its name to a country, and gradually to a kingdom. Sce d'Anville, Geographie du Moyen Age, p. 181. Italy. Before the Roman conquest, the country which is now called Lombardy, was not considered as a part of Italy. It had been occupied by a powerful colony of Gauls, who, settling themselves along the banks of the Po, from Piedmont to Romagna, carried their arms and diffused their name from the Alps to the Apennine. The Ligurians dwelt on the rocky coast, which now forms the republic of Genoa. Venice was yet unborn; but the territories of that state, which lie to the east of the Adige, were inhabited by the Venetians. The middle part of the peninsula that now composes the duchy of Tuscany and the ecclesiastical state, was the ancient seat of the Etruscans and Umbrians; to the former of whom Italy was indebted for the first rudiments of civilized life. The Tyber rolled at the foot of the seven hills of Rome, and the country of the Sabines, the Latins, and the Volsci, from that river to the frontiers of Naples, was the theatre of her infant victories. On that celebrated ground the first consuls deserved triumphs, their successors adorned villas, and their posterity have erected convents. Capua and Campania possessed the immediate territory of Naples; and the rest of the kingdom was inhabited by many warlike nations, the Marsi, the Samnites, the Apulians, and the b One hundred and fifteen cities appear in the Notitia of Gaul; and it is well known that this appellation was applied not only to the capital town, but to the whole territory of each state. But Plutarch and Appian increase the number of tribes to three or four hundred. c D'Anville. Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule, d Whitaker's History of Manchester, vol. i. c. 3. The Italian Veneti, though often confounded with the Gauls, were more probably of Illyrian origin. See M. Freret, Memoires de l'Acade mie des Inscriptions, tom. xviii. f See Maffei Verona illustrata, 1. i. The first contrast was observed by the ancients. See Florus, i. 11. The second must strike every modern traveller. The Danubo Pannonia. Greece. influence of the Achæan league, was usually denominated the province of Achaia. Asia Minor. Lucanians; and the sea-coasts had been covered by | war and Transylvania have been annexed, after many the flourishing colonies of the Greeks. We may re-revolutions, to the crown of Hungary; whilst the prinmark, that when Augustus divided Italy into eleven cipalities of Moldavia and Wallachia acknowledge regions, the little province of Istria was annexed to the supremacy of the Ottoman Porte. On the right that seat of Roman sovereignty.h hand of the Danube, Mæsia, which, during the middle The European provinces of Rome were ages, was broken into the barbarian kingdoms of Serand Illyrian protected by the course of the Rhine and via and Bulgaria, is again united in Turkish slavery. frontier. the Danube. The latter of those mighty The appellation of Roumelia, which is Thrace, Mastreams, which rises at the distance of only thirty still bestowed by the Turks on the ex- cedonia, and miles from the former, flows above thirteen hundred tensive countries of Thrace, Macedonia, miles, for the most part, to the south-east, collects the and Greece, preserves the memory of their ancient tribute of sixty navigable rivers, and is, at length, state under the Roman empire. In the time of the Anthrough six mouths, received into the Euxine, which tonines, the martial regions of Thrace, from the mounappears scarcely equal to such an accession of waters. tains of Hamus and Rhodope, to the Bosphorus and The provinces of the Danube soon acquired the gen- the Hellespont, had assumed the form of a province. eral appellation of Illyricum, or the Illyrian frontier, Notwithstanding the change of masters and of reliand were esteemed the most war-like of the empire; gion, the new city of Rome, founded by Constantine but they deserve to be more particularly considered on the banks of the Bosphorus, has ever since remainunder the names of Rhætia, Noricum, Pannonia, Dal-ed the capital of a great monarchy. The kingdom of matia, Dacia, Mæsia, Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece. Macedonia, which, under the reign of Alexander, gave The province of Rhætia, which soon laws to Asia, derived more solid advantages from the Rhætia. extinguished the name of the Vindeli- policy of the two Philips; and with its dependences cians, extended from the summit of the Alps to the of Epirus and Thessaly, extended from the Ægean to banks of the Danube; from its source, as far as its the Ionian sea. When we reflect on the fame of conflux with the Inn. The greatest part of the flat Thebes and Argos, of Sparta and Athens, we can country is subject to the elector of Bavaria; the city scarcely persuade ourselves, that so many immortal of Augsburg is protected by the constitution of the republies of ancient Greece were lost in a single provGerman empire; the Grisons are safe in their moun-ince of the Roman empire, which, from the superior tains, and the country of Tyrol is ranked among the numerous provinces of the house of Austria. Noricum and The wide extent of territory which is Such was the state of Europe under included between the Inn, the Danube, the Roman emperors. The provinces of and the Save; Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Asia, without excepting the transient conquests of the Lower Hungary, and Sclavonia, was known to the Trajan, are all comprehended within the limits of the ancients under the names of Noricum and Pannonia. Turkish power. But, instead of following the arbiIn their original state of independence, their fierce in- trary divisions of despotism and ignorance, it will be habitants were intimately connected. Under the Ro- safer for us, as well as more agreeable, to observe the man government they were frequently united, and they indelible characters of nature. The name of Asia Mistill remain the patrimony of a single family. They nor is attributed with some propriety to the peninsula, now contain the residence of a German prince, who which, confined betwixt the Euxine and the Mediterstyles himself Emperor of the Romans, and form the ranean, advances from the Euphrates towards Europe. centre, as well as the strength, of the Austrian power. The most extensive and flourishing district, westward It may not be improper to observe, that if we except of mount Taurus and the river Halys, was dignified Bohemia, Moravia, the northern skirts of Austria, and by the Romans with the exclusive title of Asia. The a part of Hungary, between the Teyss and the Dan-jurisdiction of that province extended over the ancient ube, all the other dominions of the House of Austria monarchies of Troy, Lydia, and Phrygia, the maritime were comprised within the limits of the Roman em- countries of the Pamphylians, Lycians, and Carians, pire. and the Grecian colonies of Ionia, which equalled in Dalmatia, to which the name of Illy-arts, though not in arms, the glory of their parent, Dalmatia, ricum more properly belonged, was a The kingdoms of Bithynia and Pontus possessed the long, but narrow tract, between the Save and the Adri- northern side of the peninsula from Constantinople to atic. The best part of the sea-coast, which still re- Trebizond. On the opposite side, the province of tains its ancient appellation, is a province of the Ve- Cilicia was terminated by the mountains of Syria: the netian state, and the seat of the little republic of Ra- inland country, separated from the Roman Asia by the gusa. The inland parts have assumed the Sclavonian river Halys, and from Armenia by the Euphrates, had names of Croatia and Bosnia; the former obeys an once formed the independent kingdom of Cappadocia. Austrian governor, the latter a Turkish pasha; but the In this place we may observe, that the northern shores whole country is still infested by tribes of barbarians, of the Euxine, beyond Trebizond in Asia, and beyond whose savage independence irregularly marks the the Danube in Europe, acknowledged the sovereignty doubtful limit of the christian and mahometan power. of the emperors, and received at their hands either Mæsia and Da- After the Danube had received the wa- tributary princes or Roman garrisons. Budzak, Crim ters of the Teyss and the Save, it acqui- Tartary, Čircassia, and Mingrelia, are the modern apred, at least among the Greeks, the name of Ister." pellations of those savage countries." It formerly divided Masia and Dacia, the latter of which, as we have already seen, was a conquest of Trajan, and the only province beyond the river. If we inquire into the present state of those countries, we shall find that on the left hand of the Danube, Temes cia. Pliny (Hist. Natur. 1. iii.) follows the division of Italy by Augustus. A Venetian traveller, the Abbate Fortis, has lately given us some account of those very obscure countries. But the geography and antiquities of the western Illyricum can be expected only from the munificence of the emperor, its sovereign. m The Save rises near the confines of Istria, and was considered by the more early Greeks as the principal stream of the Danube. estine. Under the successors of Alexander, Syria, PhoniSyria was the seat of the Seleucida, who cía, and Palreigned over upper Asia, till the successful revolt of the Parthians confined their dominions between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. When Syria became subject to the Romans, it formed the eastern frontier of their empire: nor did that province, the mountains of Cappadocia to the north, and towards in its utmost latitude, know any other bounds than the south, the confines of Egypt and the Red Sea. Phoenicia and Palestine were sometimes annexed to, and sometimes separated from, the jurisdiction of n See the Periplus of Arrian. He examined the coasts of the Euxine, when he was governor of Cappadocia. Africa. Syria. The former of these was a narrow and rocky From Cyrene to the ocean, the coast coast; the latter was a territory scarcely superior to of Africa extends above fifteen hundred Wales, either in fertility or extent." Yet Phoenicia miles; yet so closely is it pressed between the Mediand Palestine will for ever live in the memory of man- terranean and the Sahara, or sandy desert, that its kind; since America, as well as Europe, has received breadth seldom exceeds fourscore or an hundred miles. letters from the one, and religion from the other.P A The eastern division was considered by the Romans sandy desert alike destitute of wood and water skirts as the more peculiar and proper province of Africa. along the doubtful confine of Syria, from the Euphrates Till the arrival of the Phoenician colonies, that fertile to the Red Sea. The wandering life of the Arabs was country was inhabited by the Libyans, the most savage inseparably connected with their independence; and of mankind. Under the immediate jurisdiction of Carwherever, on some spots less barren than the rest, they thage, it became the centre of commerce and empire; ventured to form any settled habitation, they soon be- but the republic of Carthage is now degenerated into came subjects to the Roman empire." the feeble and disorderly states of Tripoli and Tunis. The military government of Algiers oppresses the wide extent of Numidia, as it was once united under Massinissa and Jugurtha: but in the time of Augustus, the limits of Numidia were contracted; and at least two thirds of the country acquiesced in the name of Mauritania, with the epithet of Cæsariensis. The genuine Mauritania, or country of the Moors, which, from the ancient city of Tingi, or Tangier, was distinguished by the appellation of Tingitana, is represented by the modern kingdom of Fez. Salle, on the ocean, so infamous at present for its piratical depredations, was noticed by the Romans, as the extreme object of their power, and almost of their geography. A city of their foundation may still be discovered near Mequinez, the residence of the barbarian whom we condescend to style the Emperor of Morocco; but it does not appear that his more southern dominions, Morocco itself, and Segelmessa, were ever comprehended within the Roman province. The western parts of Africa are intersected by the branches of mount Atlas, a name so idly celebrated by the fancy of poets; but which is now diffused over the immense ocean that rolls between the ancient and the new continent." The geographers of antiquity have freEgypt. quently hesitated to what portion of the globe they should ascribe Egypt. By its situation that celebrated kingdom is included within the immense peninsula of Africa; but it is accessible only on the side of Asia, whose revolutions, in almost every period of history, Egypt has humbly obeyed. A Roman præfect was seated on the splendid throne of the Ptolemies; and the iron sceptre of the Mamalukes is now in the hands of a Turkish Pasha. The Nile flows down the country, above five hundred miles from the tropic of Cancer to the Mediterranean, and marks, on either side, the extent of fertility by the measure of its inundations. Cyrene, situated towards the west, and along the sea-coast, was first a Greek colony, afterwards a province of Egypt, and is now lost in the desert of Barca.' islands. • [This comparison is exaggerated with the intention no doubt of at tacking the authority of the Bible which extols the fertility of Palestine. Gibbon bases his assertion only upon a passage from Strabo, b. xvi. p. 1104, ed. Almelov. and upon the present state of the country but Strabo is speaking only of the environs of Jerusalem, which, he says, were unfruitful and arid for sixty stadia around the city. He, in other places, gives excellent testimony to the fertility of many parts of Palestine. He says, "About Jericho is a forest of palm trees, and the Having now finished the circuit of the The Meditercountry for a hundred stadia is full of springs and well peopled." Be- Roman empire, we may observe, that ranean with its sides, Strabo had never seen Palestine. He only speaks from the reports of others, which were very likely to be as incorrect as those from Africa is divided from Spain by a narrow which he wrote his description of Germany in which Cluvier has expo- strait of about twelve miles, through which the Atlansed so many errors-(Cluv. Germa. ant. book iii. ch. 1.) Finally his testimony is confuted and contradicted by that of other ancient writers tic flows into the Mediterranean. The columns of and by medals. Tacitus says, in speaking of Palestine, "The men are Hercules, so famous among the ancients, were two sound and robust, rains are infrequent and the soil is fertile. (Tac. Hist. mountains which seemed to have been torn asunder by book v. ch. 6.) Ammienus Marcellinus says also-"The last of the Syrias is Palestine, a country of great extent, full of good and well cultiva- some convulsion of the elements; and at the foot of the ted land, and where there are some beautiful cities which do not yield to European mountain, the fortress of Gibraltar is now one another in any respect, but have a sort of equality which makes seated. The whole extent of the Mediterranean Sea, them rivals" (L. xiv. c. 8.) See also the historian Josephus, (book vi. ch. 1. p. 367.) Procopius of. Cesarea, who lived in the sixth century its coasts, and its islands, were comprised within the says that Chosroes king of Persia had an extreme desire to make him- Roman dominion. self master of Palestine on account of its extraordinary fertility, its Of the larger islands, the two wealth and the great number of its inhabitants. The Saracens thought Baleares, which derive their name of Majorca and the same, and feared lest Omar, who had gone to Jerusalem, charmed Minorca from their respective size, are subject at prewith the fertility of the country and the purity of the air, would never return to Medina-(Ockley, Hist. of the Saracens, p. 279.) The impor- sent, the former to Spain, the latter to great Britain. tance which the Romans attached to the conquest of Palestine, and the It is easier to deplore the fate, than to describe the acobstacles which they had to overcome to obtain it, prove still more the tual condition of Corsica. Two Italian sovereigns aswealth and population of the country. Vespasian and Titus caused medals to be struck with this inscription, Judea Capta, on which Pa-sume a regal title from Sardinia and Sicily. Crete, or lestine is represented by a female under a palm tree-indicating the Candia, with Cyprus, and most of the smaller islands excellence of the country. Other medals also show its fertility-for example that of Herod holding a cluster of grapes, and that of the of Greece and Asia, have been subdued by the Turkyoung Agrippa holding fruits. As to the present state of the country, It is evident that no argument can be drawn from it, against its ancient and, according to Pausanias, being frightened at the sight of a lion, ho fertility. The calamities through which it has passed, the government uttered a cry and suddenly recovered the use of speech. He took pos. to which it belongs, and the situation of its inhabitants sufficiently session of the hill Cyra, and built upon it the city Cyrene. This colony explain the savage and uncultivated aspect of this land where even soon attained a high degree of splendor. Its history and medals, which still fertile and cultivated tracts are found, as travellers fully testify, are still extant, attest its power and wealth-(See Eckhel De doctrina among others, Shaw, Maundrell, de la Rocque, &c.-G.], nummorum veterum; vol. iv. p. 117.) It fell at last into the power of the Ptolemies, when the Macedonians invaded Egypt. The first Ptolemy Lagus, called Soter, made himself master of Cyrenaica, which belonged to his successors until Ptolemy Apion gave it by will to the Romans, who, uniting it to Crete, formed of them one province. The port of Cyrene was called Apollonia, it is now called Marzasusa or Sosush, from which d'Anville infers that it is the city which bore the name of Sozusa during the time of the lower empire. Some ruins of Cyrene remain under the name of Curin. The history of this colony, obscured as to its origin by the fables of antiquity is related at length by many ancient and modern authors-See among others Herodotus, book iv. c. 150. Callimacus (who was himself a Cyrenian.) Hymn. ad Apoll. and the notes of Spanheim; Diodorus Siculus iv. 83; Justin xiii. 7. D'Anville, Geogr. anc. vol. iii. p. 43, &c.-G.] PThe progress of religion is well known. The use of letters was introduced among the savages of Europe about fifteen hundred years be. fore Christ; and the Europeans carried them to America about fifteen centuries after the Christian æra. But in a period of three thousand years, the Phoenician alphabet received considerable alterations, as it passed through the hands of the Greeks and Romans. q Dion Cassius, lib. lxviii. p. 1131. Ptolemy and Strabo, with the modern geographers, fix the Isthmus of Suez as the boundary of Asia and Africa. Dionysius, Mela, Pliny, Sallust, Hirtius, and Solinus, have preferred for that purpose the western branch of the Nile, or even the great Catabathmus, or descent, which last would assign to Asia, not only Egypt, but part of Libya. [Cyrene was founded by Lacedemonians who came from Thera, an island of the Ægean sea. Crinus king of this island had a son named Aristeus, and surnamed Battus (from the Greek BaTTOS) because he was according to some, dumb, or according to others, a stammerer and embarrassed in his pronunciation. Crinus consulted the Delphic Oracle concerning the malady of his son. The oracle replied that he would not recover the free use of speech until he should found a city in Africa. The weak atate of the island Thera, and the small number of its inhabitants, prevented any emigrations. Battus did not depart. The Thereans being afflicted by the plague consulted again the oracle, which repeated its former response. Battus then departed, landed in Africa, The long range, moderate height, and gentle doclivity of mount Atlas, (see Shaw's Travels, p. 5.) are very unlike a solitary mountain which rears its head into the clouds, and seems to support the heavens. The peak of Teneriffe, on the contrary, rises a league and a half above the surface of the sea, and as it was frequently visited by the Phoenicians, might engage the notice of the Greek poets. See Buffon, Histoire Naturelle, tom. i. p. 312. Histoire des Voyages, tom. ii. u M. de Voltaire, tom. xiv. p. 297. unsupported by either fact or probability, has generously bestowed the Canary Islands on the Roman empire. ish arms; whilst the little rock of Malta defies their | ened, and by the habits of the superstitious, part of power, and has emerged, under the government of its their subjects. The various modes of worship, which military Order, into fame and opulence. prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people, as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate, as equally useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord. General idea of Of the people. This long enumeration of provinces, the Roman em- whose broken fragments have formed so pire. many powerful kingdoms, might almost induce us to forgive the vanity or ignorance of the ancients. Dazzled with the extensive sway, the irresist- The superstition of the people was not ible strength, and the real or affected moderation of the imbittered by any mixture of theological emperors, they permitted themselves to despise, and rancour; nor was it confined by the chains of any spesometimes to forget, the outlying countries which had culative system. The devout polytheist, though fondbeen left in the enjoyment of a barbarous indepen-ly attached to his national rites, admitted with implicit dence; and they gradually usurped the licence of con- faith the different religions of the earth. Fear, gratifounding the Roman monarchy with the globe of the tude, and curiosity, a dream or an omen, a singular earth. But the temper, as well as knowledge, of a disorder, or a distant journey, perpetually disposed modern historian, require a more sober and accurate him to multiply the articles of his belief, and to enlarge language. He may impress a juster image of the the list of his protectors. The thin texture of the Pagreatness of Rome, by observing that the empire was gan mythology was interwoven with various, but not above two thousand miles in breadth, from the wall of discordant, materials. As soon as it was allowed that Antoninus and the northern limits of Dacia, to mount sages and heroes, who had lived or who had died for Atlas and the tropic of Cancer; that it extended, in the benefit of their country, were exalted to a state of length, more than three thousand miles, from the West-power and immortality, it was universally confessed, ern ocean to the Euphrates; that it was situated in the that they deserved, if not the adoration, at least the finest part of the temperate zone, between the twenty-reverence, of all mankind. The deities of a thousand fourth and fifty-sixth degrees of northern latitude; and that it was supposed to contain above sixteen hundred thousand square miles, for the most part of fertile and well cultivated land.y CHAPTER II groves and a thousand streams possessed, in peace, their local and respective influence; nor could the Roman who deprecated the wrath of the Tiber, deride the Egyptian who presented his offering to the beneficent genius of the Nile. The visible powers of nature, the planets, and the elements, were the same throughout the universe. The invisible governors of the moral world were inevitably cast in a similar mould of fiction and allegory. Every virtue, and even vice, acquired Of the union and internal prosperity of the Roman Em-its divine representative; every art and profession its pire in the age of the Antonines. of their peculiar votaries. A republic of gods of such opposite tempers and interest required, in every system, the moderating hand of a supreme magistrate, who, by the progress of knowledge and flattery, was gradually invested with the sublime perfections of an Eternal Parent, and an Omnipotent Monarch. Such was the mild spirit of antiquity, that the nations were less attentive to the difference, than to the resemblance, of their religious worship. The Greek, the Roman, and the Barbarian, as they met before their respective altars, easily persuaded themselves, that under various names, and with various ceremonies, they adored the same deities. The elegant mythology of Homer gave a beautiful and almost a regular form to the polytheism of the ancient world. patron, whose attributes, in the most distant ages and Principles of Ir is not alone by the rapidity, or ex-countries, were uniformly derived from the character government. tent of conquest, that we should estimate the greatness of Rome. The sovereign of the Russian deserts commands a larger portion of the globe. In the seventh summer after his passage of the Hellespont, Alexander erected the Macedonian trophies on the banks of the Hyphasis. Within less than a century, the irresistible Zingis, and the Mogul princes of his race, spread their cruel devastations and transient empire, from the sea of China, to the confines of Egypt and Germany. But the firm edifice of Roman power was raised and preserved by the wisdom of ages. The obedient provinces of Trajan and the Antonines were united by laws, and adorned by arts. They might occasionally suffer from the partial abuse of delegated authority; but the general principle of government was wise, simple, and beneficent. They enjoyed the religion of their ancestors, whilst in civil honours and advantages they were exalted, by just degrees, to an equality with their conquerors. Universal spirit I. The policy of the emperors and the of toleration. senate, as far as it concerned religion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlight collection. x Bergier, Hist. des Grands Chemins, 1. iii. c. 3, 2, 3, 4. a very useful See Templeman's survey of the Globe: but I distrust both the Doctor's learning and his maps. a They were erected about the midway between Lahor and Delhi. The conquests of Alexander in Hindostan were confined to the Punjab, a country watered by the five great streams of the Indus. [The Hyphasis is one of the five rivers which flow into the Indus or Sinde after having traversed the province of Pendj-ab, a name which signifies in Persian the five rivers-of these five rivers four are known in the history of Alexander's expedition-they are the Hydaspes, the Hydraotes, the Acesinus and the Hyphasis. Geographers differ respect ing the agreement between the ancient and modern names. According to D'Anville the Hydaspis is now the Shantron, the Acesinus is the river which passes by Lahore or the Rauvee, the Hydraotes is called Biah, and the Hyphasis Caûl. Rennel in the maps of his Geography of Indostan gives the name of Behat or Chelum to the Hydaspis, of Chunaub to the Acesinus, of Rauvee to the Hydraotes, and of Beyah to the Hyphasis (see D'Anville, Geogr. anc. vol. 2. p. 340, and the description of Indostan by James Rennell, vol. 2. p. 230 with the map.) An En glish writer, Mr. Vincent, has since extensively treated of all these questions; and the resources which have aided him in his researches, and the care he has bestowed leave, it is said, nothing more to be desired. I am able to speak of his works, not being acquainted with them, only by the reputation the author has acquired.-G.] See M. de Guignes, Histoires des Huns, 1. xv. xvi, and xvii. Of philosophers. The philosophers of Greece deduced their morals from the nature of man, rather than from that of God. They meditated, however, on the Divine nature, as a very curious and important speculation; and in the profound inquiry, they displayed the strength and weakness of the human understanding. Of the four most celebrated schools, the Stoics and the Platonists endeavoured to reconcile the jarring interests of reason and piety. They have left us the most sublime proofs of the existence and perfections of the first cause; but as it was impossible for them to conceive the creation of matter, the workman in the e There is not any writer who describes in so lively a manner as Herodotus, the true genius of Polytheism. The best commentary may be found in Mr. Hume's Natural History of Religion; and the best contrast in Bossuet's Universal History. Some obscure traces of an intolerant spirit appear in the conduct of the Egyptians, (see Juvenal, Sat. xv.) and the Christians, as well as Jews, who lived under the Roman empire, formed a very important exception; so important indeed that the discussion will require a distinct chapter of this work. d The rights, powers, and pretensions of the sovereign of Olympus, are very clearly described in the xvth book of the Iliad: in the Greek original, I mean; for Mr. Pope, without perceiving it, has improved the theology of Homer. e See for instance. Cæsar de Bell. Gall. vi. 17. Within a century or two the Gauls themselves applied to their gods the names of Mercury, Mars, Apollo, &c. f The admirable work of Cicero de Naturâ Deorum, is the best clue we have to guide us through the dark and profound abyss. He represents with candour, and confutes with subtilty, the opinions of the philosophers, Stoic philosophy was not sufficiently distinguished they were convinced that the various modes of worship from the work; whilst, on the contrary, the spiritual contributed alike to the same salutary purposes: and God of Plato and his disciples, resembled an idea, ra- that, in every country, the form of superstition, which ther than a substance. The opinions of the Academics had received the sanction of time and experience, was and Epicureans were of a less religious cast; but the best adapted to the climate, and to its inhabitants. whilst the modest science of the former induced them Avarice and taste very frequently de- In the provinces. to doubt, the positive ignorance of the latter urged them spoiled the vanquished nations of the eleto deny, the providence of a supreme Ruler. The spi- gant statues of their gods, and the rich ornaments of rit of inquiry, prompted by emulation, and supported their temples; but, in the exercise of the religion by freedom, had divided the public teachers of philoso- which they derived from their ancestors, they uniformphy into a variety of contending sects; but the ingeni- ly experienced the indulgence, and even protection, of ous youth, who, from every part, resorted to Athens, the Roman conquerors. The province of Gaul seems, and the other seats of learning in the Roman empire, and indeed only seems, an exception to this universal were alike instructed in every school to reject and to toleration. Under the specious pretext of abolishing despise the religion of the multitude. How, indeed, human sacrifices, the emperors Tiberius and Claudius was it possible, that a philosopher should accept, as suppressed the dangerous powers of the druids: but divine truths, the idle tales of the poets, and the inco- the priests themselves, their gods and their altars, herent traditions of antiquity; or that he should adore, subsisted in peaceful obscurity till the final destruction as gods, those imperfect beings, whom he must have of Paganism." despised as men! Against such unworthy adversaries, Cicero condescended to employ the arms of reason and eloquence; but the satire of Lucian was a much more adequate, as well as more efficacious, weapon. We may be well assured, that a writer conversant with the world, would never have ventured to expose the gods of his country to public ridicule, had they not already been the objects of secret contempt among the polished and enlightened orders of society.s At Rome. Rome, the capital of a great monarchy, was incessantly filled with subjects and strangers from every part of the world," who all introduced and enjoyed the favourite superstitions of their native country. Every city in the empire was justified in maintaining the purity of its ancient ceremonies; and the Roman senate, using the common privilege, sometimes interposed, to check this inundation of foreign rites. The Egyptian superstition, of all the most Notwithstanding the fashionable irreligion which contemptible and abject, was frequently prohibited; prevailed in the age of the Antonines, both the inter- the temples of Serapis and Isis demolished, and their. ests of the priests and the credulity of the people were worshippers banished from Rome and Italy. But the sufficiently respected. In their writings and conver-zeal of fanaticism prevailed over the cold and feeble sation, the philosophers of antiquity asserted the inde- efforts of policy. The exiles returned, the proselytes pendent dignity of reason; but they resigned their ac- multiplied, the temples were restored with increasing tions to the commands of law and of custom. View- splendour, and Isis and Serapis at length assumed ing, with a smile of pity and indulgence, the various their place among the Roman deities. Nor was this errors of the vulgar, they diligently practised the cere-indulgence a departure from the old maxims of govmonies of their fathers, devoutly frequented the temples of the gods; and sometimes condescending to act a part on the theatre of superstition, they concealed the sentiments of an atheist under the sacerdotal robes. Reasoners of such a temper were scarcely inclined to wrangle about their respective modes of faith, or of worship. It was indifferent to them what shape the folly of the multitude might choose to assume; and they approached with the same inward contempt, and the same external reverence, the altars of the Lybian, the Olympian, or the Capitoline Jupiter." Of the magis It is not easy to conceive from what trate. motives a spirit of persecution could introduce itself into the Roman councils. The magistrates could not be actuated by a blind though honest bigotry, since the magistrates were themselves philosophers; and the school of Athens had given laws to the senate. They could not be impelled by ambition or avarice, as the temporal and ecclesiastical powers were united in the same hands. The pontiffs were chosen among the most illustrious of the senators; and the office of supreme pontiff was constantly exercised by the emperors themselves. They knew and valued the advantages of religion, as it is connected with civil government. They encouraged the public festivals which humanize the manners of the people. They managed the arts of divination, as a convenient instrument of policy; and they respected, as the firmest bond of society, the useful persuasion, that, either in this or in a future life, the crime of perjury is most assuredly punished by the avenging gods. But whilst they acknowledged the general advantages of religion, ernment. In the purest ages of the commonwealth, Cybele and Esculapius had been invited by solemn embassies; and it was customary to tempt the protectors of besieged cities, by the promise of more distinguished honours than they possessed in their native country.' Rome gradually became the common temple of her subjects; and the freedom of the city was bestowed on all the gods of mankind.t Freedom of Rome. II. The narrow policy of preserving, without any foreign mixture, the pure blood of the ancient citizens, had checked the fortune, and hastened the ruin, of Athens and Sparta. The aspiring genius of Rome sacrificed vanity to ambition, and deemed it more prudent, as well as honourable, to adopt virtue and merit for her own wheresoever they were found, among slaves or strangers, enemies or conduct of Verres, in Cicero, (Actio ii. Orat. 4.) and the usual practice of governors, in the viiith Satire of Juvenal. * See the fate of Syracuse, Tarentum, Ambracia, Corinth, &c. the Sueton. in Claud.-Plin. Hist. Nat. xxx. 1. m Pelloutier Histoire des Celtes, tom. vi. p: 230-252. n Seneca Consolat. ad Helviam, p. 74. Edit, Lips. • Dionysius Halicarn. Antiquitat. Roman. 1. ii.' lished by the order of the Senate, (Dion Cassius, 1. xl. p. 252.) and even P In the year of Rome 701, the temple of Isis and Serapis was demoby the hands of the consul, (Valerius Maximus, 1. 3.) After the death When Augustus was in Egypt, he revered the majesty of Serapis (Dion, of Caesar, it was restored at the public expense, (Dion. 1. xlvii. p, 501.) 1. li. p. 647.); but in the Pomarium of Rome, and a mile round it, he prohibited the worship of the Egyptian gods, (Dion. 1. liii. p. 679. 1. liv. (Ovid. de Art. Amand. 1. 1.) and that of his successor, till the justice of p. 735.) They remained however, very fashionable under his reign Tiberius was provoked to some acts of severity. (See Tacit. Annal. ii. 85. Joseph. Antiquit. 1. xviii. c. 3.) [Gibbon makes here a single event of two events, separated one from the other by the distance of 166 years. It was in the year of Rome 535, that the Senate having ordered the destruction of the temples of Isis and of Serapis, no one would lift his hand to destroy them, and the consul L. Æmilius-Paulus took himself an axe and gave the first stroke (Val. Max. book i. c. 3.) Gibbon attributes this circumstance to the second demolishing which took place in 701, and which he regards as the first.-G.] q Tertullian in Apologetic. c. 6. p. 74. Edit. Havercamp. I am Macrob. Saturnalia, 1. iii. c. 9. He gives us a form of evocation. |