CHA P. fourfcore years, the public administration was I. conducted by the virtues and abilities of Nerva, Moderation of Auguftus. Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. It is the defign of this, and of the two fucceeding chapters, to defcribe the profperous condition of their empire; and afterwards, from the death of Marcus Antoninus, to deduce the most important circumftances of its decline and fall; a revolution which will ever be remembered, and is ftill felt by the nations of the earth. The principal conquefts of the Romans were atchieved under the republic; and the emperors, for the most part, were fatisfied with preferving thofe dominions which had been acquired by the policy of the fenate, the active emulation of the confuls, and the martial enthufiafm of the people. The feven first centuries were filled with a rapid fucceffion of triumphs; but it was referved for Auguftus, to relinquish the ambitious defign of fubduing the whole earth, and to introduce a spirit of moderation into the public councils. Inclined to peace by his temper and fituation, it was eafy for him to discover, that Rome, in her prefent exalted fituation, had much lefs to hope than to fear from the chance of arms; and that, in the prosecution of remote wars, the undertaking became every day more difficult, the event more doubtful, and the poffeffion more precarious, and lefs beneficial. The experience of Auguftus added weight to thefe falutary reflections, and effectually convinced him that, by the prudent vigour of his counfels, it would I. would be eafy to fecure every conceffion, which cHAP. the safety or the dignity of Rome might require from the moft formidable Barbarians. Instead of expofing his perfon and his legions to the arrows of the Parthians, he obtained, by an honourable treaty, the reftitution of the standards and prifoners which had been taken in the defeat of Craffus'. His generals, in the early part of his reign, attempted the reduction of Æthiopia and Arabia Felix. They marched near a thousand miles to the fouth of the tropic; but the heat of the climate foon repelled the invaders, and protected the unwarlike natives of thofe fequeftered regions 2. The northern countries of Europe fcarcely deferved the expence and labour of conqueft. The forefts and moraffes of Germany were filled with a hardy race of barbarians, who defpifed life when it was separated from freedom; and though, on the first attack, they seemed to yield to the weight of the Roman power, they foon, by a fignal act of defpair, regained their independence, and reminded Auguftus of the ' Dion Caffius (1. liv. p. 736.), with the annotations of Reymar, who has collected all that Roman vanity has left upon the subject. The marble of Ancyra, on which Auguftus recorded his own exploits, afferts that he compelled the Parthians to restore the enfigns of Craffus. 2 Strabo (l. xvi. p. 780.), Pliny the elder (Hist, Natur. 1. vi. c. 32. 35.), and Dion Caffius (1. liii. p. 723. and 1. liv. p. 734.), have left us very curious details concerning these wars. The Romans made themselves masters of Mariaba, or Merab, a city of Arabia Felix, well known to the Orientals (see Abulfeda and the Nubian geography, p. 52.) They were arrived within three days' journey of the Spice country, the rich object of their invasion. CHA P. viciffitude of fortune 3. On the death of that I. Imitated ceffors. emperor, his teftament was publicly read in the fenate. He bequeathed, as a valuable legacy to his fucceffors, the advice of confining the empire within thofe limits, which Nature feemed to have placed as its permanent bulwarks and boundaries; on the weft the Atlantic ocean; the Rhine and Danube on the north; the Euphrates on the east; and towards the fouth, the fandy deferts of Arabia and Africa 4. Happily for the repofe of mankind, the moby his fuc- derate fyftem recommended by the wifdom of Auguftus was adopted by the fears and vices of his immediate fucceffors. Engaged in the purfuit of pleasure, or in the exercise of tyranny, the firft Cæfars feldom fhewed themselves to the armies, or to the provinces; nor were they dif pofed to fuffer, that thofe triumphs which their indolence neglected, should be ufurped by the conduct and valour of their lieutenants. The military fame of a fubject was confidered as an infolent invafion of the Imperial prerogative; and it became the duty, as well as intereft, of every Roman general, to guard the frontiers intrufted to his care, without afpiring to conquefts which 3 By the flaughter of Varus and his three legions. See the first book of the Annals of Tacitus. Sueton. in Auguft, c. 23. and Velleius Parterculus, l. ii. c. 117, &c. Auguftus did not receive the melancholy news with all the temper and firmness that might have been expected from his character. 4 Tacit. Annal. 1. ii. Dion. Caffius, 1. lvi. p. 833. and the fpeech of Auguftus himself, in Julian's Cæfars. It receives great light from the learned notes of his French Tranflator, M. Span heim. might 5 might have proved no lefs fatal to himfelf than to CHA P. the vanquished barbarians 3. Ι. was the The only acceffion which the Roman empire Conquest received, during the first century of the Christian of Britain Æra, was the province of Britain. In this fingle first excepinftance the fucceffors of Cæfar and Auguftus. tion to it. were perfuaded to follow the example of the former, rather than the precept of the latter. The proximity of its fituation to the coaft of Gaul feemed to invite their arms; the pleafing, though doubtful intelligence, of a pearl fishery, attracted their avarice; and as Britain was viewed in the light of a diftinct and infulated world, the conqueft fcarcely formed any exception to the general fyftem of continental measures. After a war of about forty years, undertaken by the most ftupid', maintained by the moft diffolute, and terminated by the most timid of all the emperors, the far greater part of the island submitted to 5 Germanicus, Suetonius Paulinus, and Agricola, were checked and recalled in the courfe of their victories. Corbulo was put to death. Military merit, as it is admirably expreffed by Tacitus, was, in the ftrictest sense of the word, imperatoria virtus. • Cæfar himself conceals that ignoble motive; but it is mentioned by Suetonius, c. 47. The British pearls proved, however, of little value, on account of their dark and livid colour. Tacitus obferves, with reafon (in Agricola, c. 12.), that it was an inherent defect. "Ego facilius crediderim, naturam margaritis deeffe quam nobis "avaritiam." 7 Claudius, Nero, and Domitian. A hope is expreffed by Pomponius Mela, 1. iii. c. 6. (he wrote under Claudius), that, by the fuccefs of the Roman arms, the island and its favage inhabitants would foon be better known. It is amufing enough to perufe fuch paffages in the midst of London. CHAP. the Roman yoke'. The various tribes of Britons poffeffed valour without conduct, and the love of freedom without the spirit of union. They took up arms with favage fiercenefs; they laid them down, or turned them against each other, with wild inconftancy; and while they fought fingly, they were fucceffively subdued. Neither the fortitude of Caractacus, nor the defpair of Boadicea, nor the fanaticifm of the Druids, could avert the flavery of their country, or refift the steady progrefs of the Imperial generals, who maintained the national glory, when the throne was difgraced by the weakest or the moft vicious of mankind. At the very time when Domitian, confined to his palace, felt the terrors which he infpired; his legions, under the command of the virtuous Agricola, defeated the collected force of the Caledonians at the foot of the Grampian hills; and his fleets, venturing to explore an unknown and dangerous navigation, difplayed the Roman arms round every part of the island. The conqueft of Britain was confidered as already atchieved; and it was the design of Agricola to complete and enfure his fuccefs by the eafy reduction of Ireland, for which, in his opinion, one legion and a few auxiliaries were fufficient. The western ifle might be improved into a valuable poffeffion, and the Britons would * See the admirable abridgment given by Tacitus, in the life of Agricola, and copiously, though perhaps not completely, illustrated by our own antiquarians, Camden and Horsley. "The Irish writers, jealous of their national honour, are extremely provoked on this occasion, both with Tacitus and with Agricola. wear |