I.

aries, and was represented according to the fashion CHAP. of that age, by a large stone) alone, among all the inferior deities, refused to yield his place to Jupiter himself. A favourable inference was

Z

drawn from his obstinacy, which was interpreted by the augurs as a sure presage that the boundaries of the Roman power would never recede. During many ages, the prediction, as it is usual, contributed to its own accomplishment. But though Terminus had resisted the majesty of Jupiter, he submitted to the authority of the emperor Hadrian. The resignation of all the eastern conquests of Trajan was the first measure of his reign. He restored to the Parthians the election of an independent sovereign,' withdrew the Roman garrisons from the pro vinces of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, and in compliance with the precept of Augustus, once more established the Euphrates as the frontier of the empire. Censure, which arraigns the public actions and the private motives of princes, has ascribed to envy, a conduct, which might be attributed to the prudence and moderation of Hadrian. The various character of that emperor, capable, by turns, of the meanest and the most generous sentiments, may afford some colour to

Ovid. Fast. 1. ii, ver. 667. See Livy, and Dionysius of Halicarnassus, under the reign of Tarquin.

z St. Augustin is highly delighted with the proof of the weakness of Terminus, and the vanity of the augurs. See De Civitate Dei, iv, 29.

* See the Augustan History, p. 5. Jerome's Chronicle, and all the Epitomisers. It is somewhat surprising, that this memorable event should be omitted by Dion, or rather by Xiphilin.

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CHAP, the suspicion. It was, however, scarcely in his power to place the superiority of his predecessor in a more conspicuous light, than by thus confessing himself unequal to the task of defending the conquests of Trajan.

Contrast of The martial and ambitious spirit of Trajan Hadrian formed a very singular contrast with the moderaninus Pius. tion of his successor.

and Anto

Patific sys

The restless activity of

Hadrian was not less remarkable, when compared with the gentle repose of Antoninus Pius. The life of the former was almost a perpetual journey; and as he possessed the various talents of the soldier, the statesman, and the scholar, he gratified his curiosity in the discharge of his duty. Careless of the difference of seasons and of climates, he marched on foot, and bareheaded, over the snows of Caledonia, and the sultry plains of the Upper Egypt; nor was there a province of the empire, which, in the course of his reign, was not honoured with the presence of the monarch. But the tranquil life of Antoninus Pius was spent in the bosom of Italy; and, during the twenty-three years that he directed the public administration, the longest journies of that amiable prince extended no further than from his palace in Rome, to the retirement of his Lanuvian villa.c

Notwithstanding this difference in their perdrian and sonal conduct, the general system of Augustus

tem of Ha

the two

Antonines.

b Dion, 1. lxix, p. 1158. Hist. August. p. 5-8. If all our historians were lost, medals, inscriptions, and other monuments would be sufficient to record the travels of Hadrian.

• See the Augustan History and the Epitomes,

1.

was equally adopted and uniformly pursued by CHAP, Hadrian and by the two Antonines. They persisted in the design of maintaining the dignity of the empire, without attempting to enlarge its limits. By every honourable expedient they invited the friendship of the barbarians; and endeavoured to convince mankind, that the Roman power, raised above the temptation of conquest, was actuated only by the love of order and justice. During a long period of forty-three years, their virtuous labours were crowned with success; and if we except a few slight hostilities that served to exercise the legions of the frontier, the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius offer the fair prospect of universal peace. The Roman name was revered among the most remote nations of the earth. The fiercest barbarians frequently submitted their differences to the arbitration of the emperor; and we are informed by a contemporary historian, that he had seen ambassadors who were refused the honour which they came to solicit, of being admitted into the rank of subjects.

The terror of the Roman arms added weight Defensive and dignity to the moderation of the emperors. Marcus

d We must, however, remember, that, in the time of Hadrian, a rebellion of the Jews raged with religious fury, though only in a single province: Pausanias (1. viii, c, 43), mentions two necessary and successful wars, conducted by the generals of Pius. 1st, Against the wandering Moors, who were driven into the solitudes of Atlas. 2d, Against the brigantines of Britain, who had invaded the Roman province. Both these wars (with several other hostilities) are mentioned in the Augustan History, p. 19.

• Appian of Alexandria, in the preface to his History of the Roman wars.

wars of

Antoni

nus.

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CHAP. They preserved peace by a constant preparation for war; and while justice regulated their conduct, they announced to the nations on their confines, that they were as little disposed to endure, as to offer an injury. The military strength, which it had been sufficient for Hadrian and the elder Antoninus to display, was exerted against the Parthians and the Germans by the emperor Marcus. The hostilities of the barbarians provoked the resentment of that philosophic monarch, and, in the prosecution of a just defence, Marcus and his generals obtained many signal victories, both on the Euphrates, and on the Danube. The military establishment of the Roman empire, which thus assured either its tranquillity or its success, will now become the proper and important object of our attention.

Military

ment of

In the purer ages of the commonwealth, the establish- use of arms was reserved for those ranks of citithe Roman zens who had a country to love, a property to emperors. defend, and some share in enacting those laws,

which it was their interest, as well as duty, to maintain. But in proportion as the public freedom was lost in extent of conquest, war was gradually improved into an art, and degraded into a trade. The legions themselves, even at the

* Dion. 1, lxxi, Hist. August. in Marco. The Parthian victories gave birth to a crowd of contemptible historians, whose memory has been rescued from oblivion, and exposed to ridicule, in a very lively piece of criticism of Lucian.

The poorest rank of soldiers possessed above forty pounds sterling (Dionys. Halicarn. iv, 17), a very high qualification, at a time when money was so scarce, that an ounce of silver was equivalent

I.

time when they were recruited in the most dis- CHA P. tant provinces, were supposed to consist of Roman citizens. That distinction was generally considered, either as a legal qualification, or as a proper recompençe for the soldier; but a more serious regard was paid to the essential merit of age, strength, and military stature. In all levies, a just preference was given to the climates of the north over those of the south: the race of men born to the exercise of arms was sought for in the country rather than in cities; and it was very reasonably presumed, that the hardy occupations of smiths, carpenters, and huntsmen, would supply more vigour and resolution, than the sedentary trades which are employed in the service of luxury. After every qualification of property had been laid aside, the armies of the Roman emperors were still commanded, for the most part, by officers of a liberal birth and education; but the common soldiers, like the mer, cenary troops of modern Europe, were drawn from the meanest, and very frequently from the most profligate, of mankind.

That public virtue which, among the ancients, Discipline, was denominated patriotism, is derived from a strong sense of our own interest in the preservation and prosperity of the free government of which we are members. Such a sentiment,

to seventy pound weight of brass. The populace, excluded by the ancient constitution, were indiscriminately admitted by Marius. See Sallust. de Bell. Jugurth. c. 91.

b Cæsar formed his legion Alauda of Gauls and strangers; but it was during the licence of civil war; and after the victory, he gave them the freedom of the city for their reward.

See Vegetius de Re Militari, 1, i, c. 2–7.