I.

CHAP. colour to the fufpicion. It was, however, fcarcely in his power to place the fuperiority of his predeceffor in a more confpicuous light, than by thus confeffing himself unequal to the task of defending the conquefts of Trajan.

Contraft of

and Anto

The martial and ambitious fpirit of Trajan Hadrian formed a very fingular contraft with the modeninus Pius. ration of his fucceffor. The reftlefs activity of Hadrian was not lefs remarkable, when compared with the gentle repofe of Antoninus Pius. The life of the former was almost a perpetual journey; and as he poffeffed the various talents of the foldier, the statesman, and the scholar, he gratified his curiofity in the discharge of his duty. Careless of the difference of feafons and of climates, he marched on foot, and bareheaded, over the fnows of Caledonia, and the fultry 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 prefence of the monarch'. But the tranquil life of Antoninus Pius was spent in the bofom of Italy; and, during the twenty-three years that he directed the public adminiftration, the longeft journies of that amiable prince extended no further than from his palace in Rome, to the retirement of his Lanuvian villa 25.

Pacific fyf

Notwithstanding this difference in their pertem of Ha- fonal conduct, the general system of Auguftus

drian and

the two

Antonines.

25 Dion, 1. lxix. p. 1158. Hift. Auguft. p. 5. 8. If all our hiftorians were loft, medals, infcriptions, and other monuments, would be fufficient to record the travels of Hadrian.

26 See the Auguftan Hiftory and the Epitomes.

was

I.

was equally adopted and uniformly purfued by CHA P. Hadrian and by the two Antonines. They perfifted in the defign 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 conqueft, was actuated only by the love of order and juftice. During a long period of forty-three years their virtuous labours were crowned with fuccefs; and if we except a few flight hoftilities that ferved to exercise the legions of the frontier, the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius offer the fair profpect of universal peace ". The Roman name was revered among the most remote na tions of the earth. The fierceft barbarians frequently fubmitted their differences to the arbitration of the Emperor; and we are informed by a cotemporary hiftorian, that he had feen ambaffadors who were refufed the honour which they came to folicit, of being admitted into the rank of fubjects 28.

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

"We muft, however, remember, that in the time of Hadrian, a rebellion of the Jews raged with religious fury, though only in a fingle province: Paufanias (1. viii. c. 43.) mentions two neceffary and fuccefsful wars, conducted by the generals of Pius. 1ft, Against the wandering Moors, who were driven into the folitudes of Atlas. 2d, Against the Brigantes of Britain, who had invaded the Roman province. Both these wars (with several other hoftilities) are mentioned in the Auguftan History, p.19.

28

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

wars of

Antoninus.

They

I.

CHA P. They preferved peace by a conftant preparation for war; and while juftice regulated their conduct, they announced to the nations on their confines, that they were as little difpofed to endure, as to offer an injury. The military strength, which it had been fufficient for Hadrian and the elder Antoninus to difplay, was exerted against the Parthians and the Germans by the Emperor Marcus. The hoftilities of the barbarians provoked the refentment of that philofophic monarch, and, in the profecution of a juft defence, Marcus and his generals obtained many fignal victories, both on the Euphrates, and on the Danube 29. The military establishment of the Roman empire, which thus affured either its tranquillity or its fuccefs, will now become the proper and important object of our attention.

Military eftablish

In the purer ages of the commonwealth, the ufe of arms was referved for thofe ranks of citithe Roman Zens who had a country to love, a property to emperors. defend, and fome share in enacting thofe laws,

ment of

which it was their intereft, as well as duty, to maintain. But in proportion as the public freedom was loft in extent of conqueft, war was gradually improved into an art, and degraded into a trade 3o. The legions themselves, even at the time

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

30 The pooreft rank of foldiers poffeffed above forty pounds fterling (Dionyf. Halicarn. iv. 17.), a very high qualification, at a time when money was so scarce, that an ounce of filver was equivalent to feventy pound weight of brafs. The populace, excluded by the

ancient

I.

time when they were recruited in the most dif- CHAP. tant provinces, were fuppofed to confift of Roman citizens. That diftinction was generally confidered, either as a legal qualification, or as a proper recompence for the foldier; but a more ferious regard was paid to the effential merit of age, ftrength, and military ftature ". In all levies, a juft preference was given to the climates of the North over thofe of the South: the race of men born to the exercise of arms was fought for in the country rather than in cities; and it was very reasonably prefumed that the hardy occupations of fmiths, carpenters, and huntsmen, would fupply more vigour and resolution, than the fedentary trades which are employed in the fervice of luxury 32. After every qualification of property had been laid aside, the armies of the Roman emperors were ftill commanded, for the moft part, by officers of a liberal birth and education; but the common foldiers, like the mercenary troops of modern Europe, were drawn from the meaneft, and very frequently from the moft profligate, of mankind.

That public virtue which among the ancients Difcipline. was denominated patriotifm, is derived from a ftrong fense of our own interest in the preservation and profperity of the free government of which we are members. Such a fentiment,

ancient conftitution, were indiscriminately admitted by Marius. See Salluft. de Bell. Jugurth. c. 91.

31 Cæfar 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.

22 See Vegetius de Re Militari, l. i. c. 2-7.

I.

CHA P. which had rendered the legions of the republic almost invincible, could make but a very feeble impreffion on the mercenary fervants of a def potic prince; and it became neceffary to fupply that defect by other motives, of a different, but not lefs forcible nature; honour and religion. The peafant, or mechanic, imbibed the useful prejudice that he was advanced to the more dignified profeffion of arms, in which his rank and reputation would depend on his own valour; and that, although the prowefs of a private foldier muft often escape the notice of fame, his own behaviour might fometimes confer glory or difgrace on the company, the legion, or even the army, to whofe honours he was affociated. On his first entrance into the fervice, an oath was administered to him, with every circumftance of folemnity. He promifed never to defert his ftandard, to submit his own will to the commands of his leaders, and to facrifice his life for the fafety of the emperor and the empire 33. The attachment of the Roman troops to their ftandards was infpired by the united influence of religion and of honour. The golden eagle, which glittered in the front of the legion was the object of their fondeft devotion; nor was it esteemed lefs impious than it was ignominious, to abandon that facred enfign in the hour of danger 34. Thefe motives, which derived their

33 The oath of service and fidelity to the emperor was annually renewed by the troops on the first of January.

34 Tacitus calls the Roman eagles, Bellorum Deos. They were placed in a chapel in the camp, and with the other deities received the religious worship of the troops.