twenty temples, five regular theatres, two amphitheatres, and seven circuses of vast extent: there were sixteen public baths, built of marble, and furnished with every convenience that could be desired. From the aqueducts a prodigious number of fountains were supplied, many of which were remarkable for their architectural beauty. The palaces, public halls, columns, porticoes, and obelisks, were without number; and to these must be added the triumphal arches erected by the later emperors.

The public roads in the various parts of the empire, but more especially in Italy, though less ostentatious than the aqueducts, were not inferior to them in utility and costliness. Of these the most remarkable was the Appian road, from Rome to Brundusium, through the Pomptine marshes, which were kept well drained during the flourishing ages of the empire, but by subsequent neglect became a pestilential swamp. This road extended three hundred and fifty miles, and was paved through its entire length with enormous square blocks of hard stone. Nineteen centuries have elapsed since it was formed, and yet many parts of it still appear nearly as perfect as when it was first made.

Rome was inferior to Athens in architectural beauty, but it far surpassed it in works of public utility. Every succeeding emperor deemed it necessary to add something to the edifices that had been raised for the comfort and convenience of the citizens: even after the seat of government had been transferred to Constantinople, we find the son of Constantine evincing his gratitude for the reception he met with in the ancient capital, by sending thither two magnificent obelisks from Alexandria in Egypt.

CHAPTER XVII.

HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

SECTION I.-The Reigns of the Family of the Cæsars.

FROM B. C. 30 тo A. d. 96.

THOUGH the battle of Ac'tium made Octávius Cæsar sole sovereign of the empire, the forms of the republic were faithfully preserved; the senate sat as a council of state, and, though little weight was attached to its deliberations, the freedom of speech and comment preserved the government from sinking into absolute despotism. With supreme power, Octávius, or Augus'tus, as he was about this time named by the senate, assumed an entirely new character; the cruelty with which he may justly be reproached in the early part of his career disappeared; he became a mild and merciful ruler, truly anxious to insure the happiness of the people intrusted to his charge. Under such a benignant administration, the Romans ceased to regret their ancient freedom, if, indeed, such a term can be applied to the oppressive government established by the aristocracy during the preceding century; and before the close of the first emperor's reign, the last traces of the republican spirit had disappeared. It is said that Augus'tus at first wished to resign his power, after the example of Syl'la; but was dissuaded by his friends Agrip'pa and Mecæ'nas, who represented to him, with great truth, that the Roman state could no longer be governed by its old constitution, and that he would retire only to make room for another master. He went through the form, however, of an abdication in the senate; but, on the urgent request of that body, he resumed his sway; instead, however, of taking the supreme authority for life, he would only accept it for a term of ten years. This example was followed by the succeeding emperors, and gave rise to the sácra decennália, festivals celebrated at each renewal of the imperial authority.

Amid all the adulations of the senate and people, Augus'tus felt that it was to the army he was indebted for empire, and therefore exerted himself diligently to attach the soldiers to his interest. He dispersed his veterans over Italy in thirty-two colonies, dispossessing, in many places, the ancient inhabitants, to make room for these settlers. He maintained seventeen legions in Europe; eight on the Rhine, four on the Danube, three in Spain, and two in Dalmátia. Eight more were kept in Asia and Africa: so that the standing army of the empire. exceeded one hundred and seventy thousand men. Twelve cohorts,

amounting to about ten thousand men, were quartered in Rome and its vicinity; nine of these, called the prætorian bands, were intended to protect the emperor's person, the others were destined for the guard of the city. These household troops became afterward the author of many changes and revolutions, until they were all dismissed by Constantine the Great (A. D. 312). Two powerful fleets were established in the Italian seas; one at Ravenna, to guard the Adriatic, the other at Misénum, to protect the western Mediterranean. It is calculated that the revenues of the empire at this time exceeded forty millions sterling; but this sum was not more than sufficient to defray the expenses of the civil, naval, and military establishments, and of the public works undertaken to adorn the metropolis.

Some disturbances in Spain and Gaul induced the emperor to cross the Alps and Pyrenees; he subdued the Cantabrians, who inhabited the province now called Biscay (a country whose mountains and defiles have always proved formidable obstacles to an invading army), and the Asturians. To restrain these tribes in future, he erected several new fortified cities, of which the most remarkable were Cæsaréa Augus'ta (Saragossa) and Augus'ta Emer'ita (Merida), so called because it was colonized by the veteran soldiers (emeriti). While resting at Tarraco (Tarragona) from the fatigues of his campaign, Augus'tus received ambassadors from the most remote nations, the Scythians, the Sarmatians, the Indians, and even the Seres, who inhabited northern China.

On his recovery from a fit of illness which spread universal alarm throughout the empire, the senate conferred the tribuneship for life upon Augus'tus, which rendered his person sacrosanct. This dignity was henceforth annexed to the empire, and consequently all attempts against the life of the sovereign became high treason (læsa majestas). At the same time he declined the title of dictator, which had been rendered odious by the cruelties of Sylla. Having made a tour in the east of the empire, he was overwhelmed with adulations by the degenerate Greeks (B. c. 20); but the honor most gratifying to him and the Roman people was the restoration of the standards that had been taken from Cras'sus. On his return to Italy, he drove back the Rhætians, who had invaded the peninsula, and intrusted their subjugation to Tiberius and Drúsus Néro, his step-sons, youths of great promise and valor. They succeeded in conquering Vindelícia and Noricum; but their efforts to subdue Germany were baffled by the undaunted valor of the native tribes, and the great difficulties of the country, whose forests and marshes rendered discipline unavailing.

When the second decennial period of the imperial authority terminated, Augus ́tus, harassed by domestic calamities, as well as the cares of empire, seemed really anxious to resign, and enjoy the quiet of domestic life; but the character of Tibérius, now generally regarded as his successor, gave so much alarm to the senate and people, that they cordially joined in supplicating the emperor to continue his reign. The greatest calamity he had to endure was the disgraceful conduct of his daughter Júlia, whose scandalous debaucheries filled Rome with horror; she and the partners of her crimes were banished to various parts of the empire, and some of her paramours were put to death.

When peace was established in every part of the Roman dominions,

Augus'tus closed the temple of Jánus, and issued a decree for a general census, or enrolment, of all his subjects. It was at this period that Jesus Christ was born; and thus, literally, was his advent the signal of on earth peace, and good will toward men."

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The great prosperity of the reign of Augus'tus was first interrupted by the rebellion of the Germans, which the extortions of Quintil'ius Var'us provoked. Armin'ius, a young prince of the Cat'ti, united his countrymen in a secret confederacy; and then, pretending friendship to Var'us, conducted him into the depths of a forest, where his troops could neither fight nor retreat. In this situation Armin'ius attacked the Romans, from whose camp he stole by night, and so harassed them that most of the officers slew themselves in despair (A. D. 10). The legionaries, thus left without leaders, were cut to pieces; and thus the Romans received the greatest overthrow that they had suffered since the defeat of Cras'sus. When the news of this calamity was brought to Rome, everybody expected that the Germans would immediately cross the Rhine, and advance against the city. Augus'tus, though overwhelmed with sorrow, made every exertion to allay the general consternation: he sent his son-in-law and heir, Tibérius, to guard the Rhine; but he prohibited him from following the wild tribes to their fastnesses. For several months the emperor abandoned himself to transports of grief, during which he frequently exclaimed, "Var'us, restore me my legions!" and he observed the fatal day as a mournful solemnity until his death. This event probably tended to hasten his dissolution; he was seized with a dangerous attack of illness at Naples, and as he was returning home to the capital, the disease compelled him to stop at Nóla, in Campánia, where he expired (A. D. 14). It was currently reported that the empress Liv'ia accelerated his death by administering poisoned figs, in order to secure the succession for Tibérius.

Tibérius Claúdius Néro, or, as he was called after his adoption, Augus'tus Tibérius Cæ'sar, commenced his reign by procuring the murder of young Agrippa, grandson of the late emperor, whom he dreaded as a formidable rival. As soon as his accession was known at Rome, the consuls, senators, and knights, ran headlong into slavery, pretending to hail Tibérius with extravagant joy, while they professed equally extravagant sorrow for the loss of Augus'tus. Tiberius met them with duplicity equal to their own: he affected to decline the sovereign power; but, after long debates, allowed himself to be won over by the general supplications of the senators. Having bound himself by oath never to depart from the regulations of his predecessor, he exerted himself to win the affections, or rather disarm the suspicions, of the virtuous German'icus, whom Augus'tus had compelled him to declare his heir. But the jealousies of the emperor were greatly aggravated by a mutiny of the troops in Germany, who offered to raise German'icus to the throne; and though he firmly refused, and severely rebuked their disloyalty, yet Tibérius thenceforth was resolved upon his destruction. The glory which the young prince acquired in several successful campaigns against the Germans, at length induced the emperor to recall him to Rome, under the pretence of rewarding him with a triumph. But Tibérius soon became anxious to remove from Rome a person whose mildness and virtue were so powerfully contrasted with his own tyranny

and debauchery: he appointed him governor of the eastern provinces ; but at the same time he sent Píso, with his infamous wife Plancína, into Syria, secretly instructing them to thwart German'icus in all his undertakings. The wicked pair obeyed these atrocious commands; and the brave prince, after undergoing many mortifications, at last sunk under them. Attacked by a severe disease, aggravated by suspicions of Píso's treachery, whom he believed to have compassed his death by magic or by poison, he sent for his wife Agrippína; and having besought her to humble her haughty spirit for the sake of their children, expired, to the general grief of the empire (A. D. 19). His ashes were brought to Rome by Agrippina; and though she arrived in the very middle of the Saturnália, the mirth usual at that festival was laid aside, and the whole city went into mourning.

In the early part of his reign Tibérius had affected to imitate the clemency of Augus'tus; but he soon began to indulge his natural cruelty, and many of the most eminent nobles were put to death under pretence of high treason. The emperor's depravity was exceeded by that of his minister, the infamous Sejánus, whose name has passed into a proverb. This ambitious favorite secretly aspired at the empire, and applied himself to win the favor of the prætorian guards: he is also accused of having procured the death of Drúsus, the emperor's son, and of having tried to destroy Agrippina and her children. But his most successful project was the removal of Tibérius from Rome, persuading him that he would have more freedom to indulge his depraved passions in Campánia than in the capital. The emperor chose for his retreat the little island of Cap'reæ, where he wallowed in the most disgusting and unnatural vices: while Sejánus, with an entire army of spies and informers, put to death the most eminent Romans after making them undergo the useless mockery of a trial. Tibérius, however, soon began to suspect his minister, and secret warnings were given him of the dangerous projects that Sejánus had formed. It was apparently necessary, however, to proceed with caution, and the emperor felt his way by withdrawing some of the honors he had conferred. Finding that the people gave no signs of discontent, Tibérius sent the commander of the prætorian guards privately to Rome with a letter to the senate, instructing him to inform Sejánus that it contained an earnest recommendation to have him invested with the tribunitian power. The minister, deceived by this hope, hastily convened the senate, and on presenting himself to that body, was surrounded by a horde of flatterers, congratulating him on his new dignity. But when the fatal epistle was read, in which he was accused of treason, and orders given for his arrest, he was immediately abandoned, and those who had been most servile in their flatteries became loudest in their invectives and execrations. A hurried decree was passed condemning him to death, and was put in execution the very same day; a general slaughter of his friends and relations followed; his innocent children, though of very tender years, were put to death with circumstances of great barbarity; and the numerous statues that had been erected to his honor were broken to pieces by the fickle multitude. This memorable example of the instability of human grandeur is powerfully described by Juvenal, in his satire on the Vanity of Human Wishes. The passage is thus translated by Dryden :

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