ON THE NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE ROMANS. 211 



were very far from them ; and the kings, also, that came against 

 them from the uttermost parts of the earth till they had discom- 

 fited them and given them a great overthrow, so that the rest did 

 give them tribute every year." 



The narrative proceeds to state, in a still more circumstantial 

 manner, their conquests in Asia Minor, Armenia, and Syria, as well 

 as Greece ; particularly specifying that the last named people were 

 become servants to the Romans. After this it proceeds in the fol- 

 lowing language : — " But with their friends and such as relied upon 

 them, they kept amity : and that they had conquered kingdoms 

 both far and near, insomuch as all who heard of their name were 

 afraid of them. Also, that whom they would help to a kingdom, 

 they reigned ; and whom again they would they displaced. Finally, 

 that they were greatly exalted. Yet, for all this, none of them 

 wore a crown or were clothed in purple, to be magnified thereby. 

 Moreover, how they had made for themselves a senate house, 

 wherein three hundred and twenty men sat in council daily, alway 

 consulting for the people, to the end that they might be well order- 

 ed. And that they committed their government to one man every 

 year, who ruled over all their country, and that all were obedient 

 to that one, and that tbere was neither envy nor emulation among 

 them." 



In consequence of this flattering report, painted we must confess 

 couleur de rose, yet not unlike in its general resemblance, the Jew- 

 ish hero sent ambassadors to the great empress of the West, and 

 entered into a close league with the Romans against Antiochus, the 

 common enemy. If, however, we take this picture, allowing any 

 fair degree of discount, and assume it to represent the position 

 which the Romans occupied in the estimation of the nations by 

 whom they were surrounded, we must confess that, up to this peri- 

 od — which is before the third Punic war — the virtue for which they 

 were at first remarkable was not yet forfeited. How shortly after- 

 wards they became corrupted, let Jugurtha, Marius, and Sylla — let 

 the triumvirates — let Catiline — in short, let the pages of Sallust 

 and Cicero, as well as Livy, testify ! 



In the later ages of Roman conquest, we find them still invinci- 

 ble, from their superior science in the art of war. We find the 

 valour of their legions sweeping in the full career of victory towards 

 the East, and overcoming also the hardier natives of the North in 

 almost every encounter. But in their character and manners, we 

 now find little less than unmixed, unmitigated evil. Cruel, sensu- 

 il, tyrannical, and profligate towards the members of every other 



