NEW VOLUME OF MR. MERIVALE'S HISTORY OF THE 

 ROMANS UNDER THE EMPIRE. 



Now ready, in 870, with Map and Plan, price I63. cloth, 



HISTORY OF THE ROMANS 



UNDER THE EMPIRE. 



By the Eev. C. MEEIVALE, B.D., 



LATE FELLOW Of ST. JOHN's COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE. 



Vol. VI. from the Reign of NERO to the Destruction of JERUSALEM. 

 Opinions of Volume the Sixth. 



" The period upon which the latest 

 historian of Imperial Rome has entered 

 in his sixth volume, possesses peculiar 

 interest at present, from the variety and 

 vividness of the details no less than its 

 pregnant facts and ominous analogies. 



To English readers the opening 



scene of tlie History is specially attractive, 

 setting forth the second great invasion of 



Britain The story as told by Mr. 



Mcrivale gives us, in picturesque and 

 vivid chapters, details of the history of 

 the ciily Cliristian limes, as far as tlie (lesfractioii 

 oC .Jerusalem, with wliich tlie work cnnoluiles." 



ATHENJirSI. 



" The sixth volume commences with 

 :i chapter on the pacification of Gaul 

 by Claudius and* the subjugation of 

 Britain ; returning to Rome, it conducts 

 us througli the reigns of Nero, Galba, 

 Otiio Vitellius, and Vespasian ; and con- 

 cludes with the destruction of Jerusalem 

 by Titus, and his Judican triumpli. 

 English literatnro and scliolarship may 

 well be jjroud of tliis masterly work, in 

 every way worthy to take its jjlace be- 

 tween Arnold and Gibbon. Tlie unin- 

 structed reader who runs glibly over the 

 brilliant text of tliis history will form no 

 adequate conception of the vast and 

 various labour, the deep and eompre- 

 lieiisive leariiim;, tlie patient and laborious invtsti- 

 u'ution. the corrcot and ample siholai'shiii, which 

 have fitted the hi.slorian for the arcomplislimentof 

 a splendid purpose. Sometimes into half a dozen 

 words is eompressed the readiii),' of as many ancient 

 historians and modern crities ; and the style is like 

 the quintessence of the great originals whom tlie 

 author cites in the footnotes, at once weighty and 

 lirilliaiit, terse and full, severe .indeleRant, itolished 

 .md imforced. We shall return to the volume in 

 detail." Lkadbk. 



" The sixth volume includes the 

 reigns of Nero, Galba, VitelliuSjVespasian, 

 and Titus — filling a period insignificant 

 if meastu-ed by years, but unparalleled in 

 its illustration of iraperi-ilism as carried 

 to its climax in Rome. We have never 

 seen so full or lucid a presentation of 

 Nero's career. It formed no part of 

 Gibbon's plan to draw the full-length 

 effigy of that tyrant. Suetonius, garrulous 

 as he is, supplies only a fragmentary 

 account $ but Mr.Merivale, drawing from 

 every source of authority, tempering 

 traditionary statements by criticism, and 

 working his materials into a consistent 

 shape, has written tlie best biography of 

 Nero in existence. This alone would con- 

 fer upon the new volume of his history a 

 conspicuous and permanent importance ; 

 but there arc other episodes of deep 

 interest upon which he has thrown a 

 stroni: and clear light:— the Claudian policy in Gaul, 

 the s\i| ]iression of the Druid hierarchy, "the s\ili- 

 jugatioii of Britain, the insuri'ection of U()adi<e:i 

 and the leeni, as preliminaries to the opera- 

 tion of that great curse which g.ave the Homaii^ 

 to Nero durins; fourteen infamous and miserMMc 

 years. After his fall, the stormy reign of U:UI.:i, 

 the hrief struggle of Otho, roused from volup- 

 tuousness to empire, the supremacy of the glutton 

 Vitellius, the civil war led hy Vespasian, the 

 provincial revolts, the Klavian conspiracies, ,inil 

 the concentration of the Roman power M_'niTi=' 

 .Terusaleui, fill many pages ; but the mor.d . i i 

 narrative is no wliere develi»;ied in a form ■ i 

 jposingas in the record of Xero. The sceni' i i p 

 death is described in one of the most remari.iM.' 



cliapters we have read for many yeais .\eeiii ui y 



of imperialism rendered it impossible that I, Nunc 



shoidd not abilicate her historical y ■■■■■■■ ■■ \ 



here is the lesson enforceil by Mr. M 



masterly narration, written wilhasii 



anil polish of style, is a work wliic i i 



Eii{;land may study with confidence and w ith udiiii- 



ration." LsiiDGR, 



Vols. T. and II. comprising the History to the Fall of JULIUS CjESAR, 

 Second Edition. 28s. 



Vol. III. to the Establishment of the Moiiarchy ' by " AUGUSTUS^^ 



Ediiion 14y 



Vols. IV. and V. IVom AUGUSTUS to CLAUDIUSJ'b.c." 27 to A.]J!'54!;.'.".".".'32*." 



London 

 3 



LONGMAN, BEOWN, and CO., Paternoster Eow. 



