CHAP. Augustus, by the flattery of the senate.

III.

་་་་་་་་་་

The

conqueror was at the head of forty-four veteran
legions, conscious of their own strength, and
of the weakness of the constitution, habituated,
during twenty years civil war, to every act of
blood and violence, and passionately devoted to
the house of Cæsar, from whence alone they had
received, and expected, the most lavish rewards.
The provinces, long oppressed by the ministers
of the republic, sighed for the government of a
single person, who would be the master, not the
accomplice, of those petty tyrants. The people
of Rome, viewing, with a secret pleasure, the
humiliation of the aristocracy, demanded only
bread and public shows, and were supplied with
both by the liberal hand of Augustus. The rich
and polite Italians, who had almost universally
embraced the philosophy of Epicurus, enjoyed
the present blessings of ease and tranquillity, and
suffered not the pleasing dream to be interrupted
by the memory of their old tumultuous freedom.
With its power, the senate had lost its dignity;
many
of the most noble families were extinct.
The republicans of spirit and ability had perished
in the field of battle, or in the proscription.
The door of the assembly had been designedly
left open for a mixed multitude of more than a
thousand persons, who reflected disgrace upon
their rank, instead of deriving honour from it."

a Orosius, vi, 18.

b Julius Cæsar introduced soldiers, strangers, and half barbarians, into the senate (Sueton. in Cæsar, c. 77, 80). The abuse became still more scandalous after his death.

III.

the senate.

The reformation of the senate was one of the CHAP. first steps in which Augustus laid aside the tyrant, and professed himself the father of his coun- He reforms try. He was elected censor; and, in concert with his faithful Agrippa, he examined the list of the senators, expelled a few members, whose vices or whose obstinacy required a public example, persuaded near two hundred to prevent the shame of an expulsion by a voluntary retreat, raised the qualification of a senator to about ten thousand pounds, created a sufficient number of patrician families, and accepted for himself the honourable title of prince of the senate, which had always been bestowed, by the censors, on the citizen the most eminent for his honours and services. But whilst he thus restored the dignity, he destroyed the independence of the senate. The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably Jost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive,

usurped

Before an assembly thus modelled and pre- Resigns his pared, Augustus pronounced a studied oration, power. which displayed his patriotism, and disguised his ambition. "He lamented, yet excused, his past "conduct. Filial piety had required at his "hands the revenge of his father's murder; the humanity of his own nature had sometimes given way to the stern laws of necessity, and "to a forced connection with two unworthy colleagues: as long as Antony lived, the republic

66

© Dion Cassius, 1. liii, p. 693. Suetonius in August. c. 55.

СНАР.

IIL

under the

title of emperor or general.

66

"forbad him to abandon her to a degenerate Ro “ man, and a barbarian queen. He was now at liberty to satisfy his duty and his inclination. "He solemnly restored the senate and people to "all their ancient rights; and wished only to "mingle with the crowd of his fellow citizens, " and to share the blessings which he had ob"tained for his country."

Is prevail. It would require the pen of Tacitus (if Tacitus, ed upon to resume it, had assisted at this assembly) to describe the various emotions of the senate; those that were suppressed, and those that were affected. It was dangerous to trust the sincerity of Augustus; to seem to distrust it, was still more dangerous. The respective advantages of monarchy and a republic have often divided speculative inquirers; the present greatness of the Roman state, the corruption of manners, and the licence of the soldiers, supplied new arguments to the advocates of monarchy; and these general views of government were again warped by the hopes and fears of each individual. Amidst this confusion of sentiments, the answer of the senate was unanimous and decisive. They refused to accept the resignation of Augustus; they conjured him not to desert the republic which he had saved. After a decent resistance, the crafty tyrant sub. mitted to the orders of the senate, and consented to receive the government of the provinces,

Dion (1. liii, p. 698) gives us a prolix and bombast speech on this great occasion. I have borrowed from Suetonius and Tacitus the general language of Augustus.

III.

and the general command of the Roman armies, CHAP. under the well-known names of Proconsul and Imperator. But he would receive them only for ten years. Even before the expiration of that period, he hoped that the wounds of civil discord would be completely healed, and that the republic, restored to its pristine health and vigour, would no longer require the dangerous interposition of so extraordinary a magistrate. The memory of this comedy, repeated several times during the life of Augustus, was preserved to the last ages of the empire, by the peculiar pomp with which the perpetual monarchs of Rome always solemnized the tenth years of their reign.'

the Roman

Without any violation of the principles of the Power of constitution, the general of the Roman armies generals. might receive and exercise an authority almost despotic over the soldiers, the enemies, and the subjects of the republic. With regard to the soldiers, the jealousy of freedom had, even from the earliest ages of Rome, given way to the hopes of conquest, and a just sense of military discipline. The dictator, or consul, had a right to command the service of the Roman youth; and to punish an obstinate or cowardly disobedience by the most severe and ignominious pe

e

* Imperator (from which we have derived emperor) signified, under the republic, no more than general, and was emphatically bestowed by the soldiers, when on the field of battle they proclaimed their victorious leader worthy of that title. When the Roman emperors assumed it in that sense, they placed it after their name, and marked how often they had taken it.

Dion, 1. liii, p. 703, &c.

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III.

CHAP. nalties, by striking the offender out of the list of citizens, by confiscating his property, and by selling his person into slavery. The most sacred rights of freedom, confirmed by the Porcian and Sempronian laws, were suspended by the military engagement. In his camp the general exercised an absolute power of life and death; his jurisdiction was not confined by any forms of trial, or rules of proceeding, and the execution of the sentence was immediate, and without appeal. The choice of the enemies of Rome was regularly decided by the legislative authority. The most important resolutions of peace and war were seriously debated in the senate, and solemnly ratified by the people. But when the arms of the legions were carried to a great distance from Italy, the generals assumed the liberty of directing them against whatever people, and in whatever manner they judged most advantageous for the public service. It was from the success, not from the justice, of their enterprises, that they expected the honours of a triumph. In the use of victory, especially after they were no longer controlled by the commissioners of the senate, they exercised the most unbounded despotism. When Pompey commanded in the East, he rewarded his soldiers and allies, dethroned princes,

Livy Epitom. 1. xiv.

Valer. Maxim. vi, 3.

See in the eighth book of Livy, the conduct of Manlius Torqua tus and Papirius Cursor. They violated the laws of nature and humanity, but they asserted those of military discipline; and the people, who abhorred the action, was obliged to respect the principle.