408 



ROMAN EMPIRE. 



Roman 

 Empire. 



Honours 

 paid to 

 Augustus. 



Unstable 

 condition 

 of the em- 

 pire. 



B. C, 17 



.Drusus 

 conquers 

 the llhaeti, 



Augustus 

 n-.ade Pon- 

 tifex Maxi 

 mus. 

 JJ. C. 13. 



Death of 

 Agrippa. 

 3- C. 11. 



and it was with great difficulty that they succeeded in 

 subjugating these warlike nations. 



The reputation of Augustus, not only as a warrior, 

 but as a legislator and statesman, had extended to the 

 remotest kingdoms. Phrahates, king of Parthia, offer- 

 ed to enter into a treaty with him on his own terms ; 

 and Porus, king of India, sent to him three ambassa- 

 dors, intrusted with a letter in the Greek language, 

 informing him that he held dominion over 600 kings, 

 and that he valued so highly the friendship of Augustus, 

 that he would meet him at any place he should appoint, 

 and would assist him in any right cause. Of these three 

 ambassadors, two died on the journey ; the third, who 

 was a Gymnosophist, arid named Zarmar, met Augus- 

 tus at Samos, and accompanying him to Athens, he 

 there burnt himself in his presence. 



The Roman empire had now extended itself far be- 

 yond those limits which nature had assigned it. Rome, 

 venerable from its antiquity, distinguished by its litera- 

 ture, by its arts, and by its arms, was indeed a power- 

 ful centre, capable of holding together, and of drawing 

 into its vortex tfoe most distant and scattered elements ; 

 but the equilibrium which it enjoyed was one of tottering 

 stability, which one impulse might disturb, and which 

 one irruption might for ever destroy. That stable poise 

 which tends to right itself when it is disturbed, and which 

 can arise only in a state consolidated by common in- 

 terests, and held together by the frame-work of equal 

 laws, was unknown to Rome in her best days, and has 

 perhaps been witnessed only as a phenomenon of modern 

 legislation. The wide-spread dominions of the Romans 

 embraced many heterogeneous elements. Bounded by 

 states little raised above savage life, frequent incursions 

 were made into its remote provinces ; and encouraged 

 by success, the Germans in the north of Europe made 

 a formidaWe irruption into Gaul. Though at first re- 

 pulsed with loss, yet they had set the example of dis- 

 obedience ; and the Rhaeti, who lived near the Lake of 

 Constance, entered Italy, laying waste every territory 

 through which they passed, and putting man, woman 

 and child to the sword. Drusus, the second son of 

 the Empress Livia, was sent out against the invaders, 

 and gained a complete victory over them ; and the 

 remnant of that army having been joined by the Vin- 

 delici and Norici were reduced by Tiberius, Drusus's 

 elder brother, and yielded to the Roman power. In 

 order to maintain these tribes in subjection Augustus 

 established two colonies in Vindelici, and constructed 

 a road from thence into Noricum and Rhaetia. For 

 the defence of these colonies he built two cities, Dry- 

 somagus and Augusta Vindelicorum, now Nimegjuen and 

 Augsburg. 



Augustus was now raised to the spiritual honour of 

 Pontifex Maximus ; an office which was filled by all his 

 successors ; and in this new capacity he improved the 

 calendar, and burned 2000 pontifical books, reserving 

 only those of the Sybilline oracles. 



Agrippa, who, since the elevation of Augustus, had 

 held the important jsituation of governor of Rome, died 

 of a violent fever in Campania, (see our article AGRIPPA, 

 Vol. I. p. 358,) and was succeeded in the government 

 of Rome by Tiberius. Augustus, however, command- 

 ed him to divorce his wife Agrippina, and to marry 

 Julia, the wife of Agrippa, and the daughter of the 

 emperor, whose abandoned conduct had been kept a 

 secret only from her father. 



Although Agrippa had subdued the Pannonians, yet 

 the news of his death had inclined them to shake off 

 the Roman yoke, and Tiberius and Drusus were sent to 



subdue them. After having achieved several brilliant Rna 



victories in Germany, Drusus was carried off' by a vio- - 



lent fever ; and Tiberius, after reducing the Pannonians, ^*~^~*~* 



succeeded to the chief command in Germany, where he , 



, ,..,., . '.' , defeats the 



obtained several victories which restored the general p arinon _ 



tranquillity. On his return to Rome Tiberius received ja ns . 

 the honour of a triumph, and was appointed to the tri- 

 buneship for five years ; but disgusted probably by the 

 debaucheries of his wife Julia, or offended at the ho- 

 nours and titles which Augustus had conferred on his 

 grandchildren, he asked leave to quit Rome, and re- 

 tired .to Rhodes. Notwithstanding, the remonstrance 

 of his mother Livia, and the positive refusal of Augustus 

 to comply with his request, Tiberius persisted in his re- 

 solution, and, confining himself to his apartment, he re- 

 fused for whole days to take any food. Augustus find- 

 ing it without avail to resist so implacable a temper, per- 

 mitted him to retire to Rhodes. Tiberius, however, 

 soon repented of the rashness of this scheme, and re- 

 quested leave to return to Rome ; but Augustus com- 

 pelled him to remain at Rhodes for seven years ; and 

 though Livia obtained for him the appointment of the 

 emperor's lieutenant in these countries, yet Tiberius 

 during the whole of his stay at Rhodes appeared only 

 in the character of a private individual. 



A peace, profound in its character, and universal in 

 its extent, now reigned throughout the known world. 

 The temple of Janus itself was shut, the signal of peace 

 and tranquillity, with the sight of which Rome had 

 never once been blessed since the days of Numa Pom- 

 pilius. At this moment of general benignity, when 

 Rome gloried in her wisdom as well as in her power, 

 and when her attention was distracted by no pursuits 

 of interest or of glory, the Saviour of the world was BIRTH or 

 born in Judea, 753 years after the foundation of Rome. VR 

 About three years after this event Tiberius was permit- s * VIOUftt 

 ted to return to Rome, but was not allowed to hold 

 any public situation. The death, however, of Lucius 

 and Caius Caesar, the two grandsons of Augustus, on 

 whom he had conferred the title of princes of the Ro- 

 man youth, opened to Tiberius the prospect of being 

 one day the sovereign of Rome. Although it was sus- 

 pected that Livia had carried them off by poison, yet 

 Tiberius had shown such unaffected sorrow at their 

 death, that Augustus adopted him as his son. 



A second irruption of the barbarous hordes of the A Roman 

 north again disturbed the empire. Three legions and army under 

 .six cohorts, under Quintilius Varus were almost entire- Varus cut 

 ly cut to pieces in Germany by Arminius, a brave but to P' eoes b 7 

 crafty general ; and, when Varus saw that every thing l !' e barba - 

 was lost, he and several of his officers put themselves n< 

 to death. His head was afterwards sent by the insur- 

 gent general to Augustus, who was almost driven fran- 

 tic by the defeat. He allowed his hair and his beard JfJJJJJ? 

 to grow for many months ; he tore his garments, and, tlls a "fhelr 

 in fits of distraction, he beat his head against the wall, defeat. 

 exclaiming, Oh ! Varus, restore me my legions. 



To retrieve this disaster Tiberius was sent into Ger- 

 many, where he performed many brilliant exploits ; 

 upon which he was honoured with a triumph by the 

 Romans, and by Augustus with his friendship. Tibe- 

 rius was now assumed by Augustus as his colleague, 

 and, having sent Germanicus against the northern 

 hordes, Augustus accompanied Tiberius during a part 

 of his journey ; but having been taken ill at Tola in 

 Campania, he died in the 76th year of his age, and 

 56th of his power, having held the sovereign authority 

 for 41 years. As Augustus had shown some marks of 

 returning affection for his grandson Agrippa Posthu- 



A. D. 10. 



