16 On Party-Prejudice. 
forms of the state. By turns he alarmed, soothed, 
and inflamed his party. Rome, now, became di- 
‘vided into factions; and none but violent measures 
were adopted on any side. Tiberius offered a se- 
cond time for the tribuneship. This daring innova- 
tion on the laws of his country, in attempting to es- 
tablish a perpetuity of the tribunitian power in one 
person, excited the utmost indignation of the vio- 
lent,—alarmed the moderate,—and brought conten- 
tion to a dreadful crisis! —The senate opposing force 
to force, the contest terminated in the destruction 
of Tiberius and his adherents. After this disgrace- 
ful violation of the laws of the state by both parties, 
tranquillity was for a time restored. 
Caius Gracchus, not long alter, renewed this 
scene of anarchy and injustice. Impelled by that 
ardent zeal for liberty, and aided by the same po- 
pular talents which distinguished his brother; and, 
perhaps, further instigated by a spirit of revenge, he 
trod in the same unhappy path which had led to the 
destruction of Tiberius. He aspired to the tribune- 
ship, and was elected. Then grown giddy by the | 
applause, and relying with fatal security on the pro- 
tection of the people, he became a candidate, a se- 
cond time, for tribunitian honours. He was opposed 
by the nobles; and, the people abandoning his cause, 
he miserably perished in the attempt. 
If we trace the history of parties in free states, 
from the earliest periods of regular government, 
