1822.] 
fore twelve o*clock. We passed the 
remainder of the day with Gen. Sou- 
blette, in the same house in which, by a 
singular coincidence, I had dined with 
Don Ramon Correa, on my first visit 
to Caraccas, two years before. I am 
now about to establish myself in this 
fine city, as agent and merchant. 
<a 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
LTHOUGH Mr. Gibbon’s History 
- of the Roman Empire offers an 
almost inexhaustible field of animad- 
version, the prescribed limits of a pe- 
riodical publication must be respected, 
and this paper will close the series of 
remarks on that pompous writer. 
In the instances already adduced the 
dogmatism of Mr. G. is ‘conspicuous ; 
on other points, his scepticism, exclu- 
sive of his religious prejudices, is not 
less extraordinary. Both these charac- 
teristics, indeed, equally appertain to 
the school of Gibbon: and in fact to 
believe or to disbelive, without deign- 
ing the attention, or possessing the can- 
dour requisite to appreciate the evi- 
deuce, denote alike that supercilious 
self-sufficiency which pervades the his- 
tory in question. The following ob- 
jection is no otherwise of importance, 
than as it is connected with the general 
credit of historic evidence. 
Livy informs us (Lib. iii. s. 31, 33.) 
“ that about the year of Rome 300, 
answering to the 8lst Olympiad, and 
56 years ouly subsequent to the expul- 
sion of the Tarquins, contentions ran 
very high between the Plebeians, headed 
by the Tribunes, and the Patricians, 
respecting the governmeni of the re- 
public. At length the Tribunes pro- 
posed that a general revision of the 
laws should take place, to which the 
senate acceded. But previous to the 
appointment of a commission for this 
purpose, it was agreed that ambassa- 
dors should be sent to Athens, then at 
the height of its fame, who were or- 
dered to procure a copy of the laws of 
Solon, and to make themselves ac- 
quainted with the institutions, customs, 
and laws of the other states of Greece. 
This important mission occupied the 
ambassadors, Spurius Posthumius, Au- 
lus Manlius, and Servius Sulpicius, all 
of Patrician families, about a year, 
when they returned with the Athenian 
laws; and the Tribunes earnestly 
pressed that the business of compila- 
tion might be commenced. It was 
accordingly resolved, that ten magis- 
Remarks on Gibboii. 
109 
trates, with the appellation of Decem- 
virs, should be created with that view, 
superseding all other authorities: the 
Plebeians on their part consenting that 
Patricians only should be chosen. Ap- 
pius Claudius, who, though of a high 
and haughty family, had of late assi- 
duously courted the favour of the 
people, was nominated chief of the 
commission: and the.three ambassa- 
dors were included, that the honour 
might serve,’’ says the historian, ‘ as 
a recompense for their labour, and 
presuming them peculiarly qualified 
for the task of digesting the newly 
proposed regulations.”’ 
Such is the substance of the very 
probable and consistent account of 
Livy. This legation is likewise attest- 
ed by the authority of Dionysius Hali- 
carnassus; aud Cicero affirms that the 
tenth table de Modo Sepul. was bor- 
rowed from Solon, de Leg. ii. 23, 
26. Pliny moreover mentions Hermo- 
dorus, of Ephesus, an Athenian settle 
ment, “as aiding the Decemvirs in 
their great work, for which a statue 
was erected to him in the forum,”’ so 
that few facts of such remote antiquity 
are more strongly and satisfactorily es- 
tablished. 
Upon this subject, nevertheless, Mr. 
Gibbon, in his usual lofty and impos- 
ing language, has hazarded the follow- 
ing observations : 
“From a motive of national pride, 
both Livy and Dionysius are willing to 
believe, that the deputies of Rome 
visited Athens. under the wise and 
splendid administration of Pericles ; 
and the laws of Solon were transfused 
into the twelve tables. If such an 
embassy had indeed been received from 
“ the- barbarians of Hesperia,’’ the 
Roman name would have been familiar 
to the Greeks before the reign of Alex- 
ander; and the faintest evidence would 
have been explored and celebrated by 
the curiosity of succeeding times. But 
the Athenian monuments are silent ; 
nor will it seem credible that the Pa- 
tricians should undertake a long and 
perilous navigation, to copy the purest 
model of a democracy.” In a note, 
Mr. G. subjoins, “ that Herodotus and 
Thucydides appear ignorant of the 
name and existence of Rome; and 
refers also upon this head to the autho- 
rity of Josephus, contra Apion, L. i. 
c. 12. 
It could not be from “ a motive of 
national pride’’ that both Livy and 
Dionysius have recorded this saps 
able 
