ROME (HISTORY OF). 



step-son Tiberius (q. v.), from 7G7 to 790. tinder 

 him despotism was established by the tribunals of 

 majesty (judicia mnjestutis). The servility and 

 timidity of the senute in this matter was as cri- 

 minal us the tyrannical character of the prince, who 

 suffered himself to be guided from 776 to 784 by 

 the monster Sejanus. His successors were Caligula 

 (until 794) and Claudius (until 807); the former a 

 mad tyrant, and the latter a dotard. The conquests 

 in Britain began (796) under Claudius, and Maurita- 

 nia (795), Lycia (796), Judaea (797), and Thrace 

 (800), were declared provinces. His successor, Nero 

 (from 807 to 821), a hypocritical tyrant, addicted 

 to debauch and cruelty, was the last emperor of the 

 family of Augustus. Under him the greatest part 

 of Britain was made a Roman province, and war 

 -uccessfully carried on in Armenia and against 

 the Jews. During the disturbances which followed 

 Nero's death, in less than two years, three persons 

 made themselves masters of the throne by force 

 Galba, Otho and Vitellius. (See the articles.) 

 This period, particularly the reign of Augustus, 

 was the golden age of literature and the arts. 

 Instead of politics, the distinguished men of the 

 empire were engaged in science, and especially in 

 polite literature : they also protected and patronised 

 men of letters : such patrons, for example, were 

 Maecenas and Agrippa. Augustus and Asinius 

 Pollio founded public libraries. In poetry, the 

 names of Virgil, Ovid, Cornelius Gallus, Cornelius 

 Severus, Tibullus, Propertius, Gratius Fab'scus, 

 Manilius, Horace and Phaedrus are distinguished; 

 and there were a multitude of epigrammatists. 

 Livy and Dionysius of Halicarnassus wrote their 

 valuable histories. Eloquence necessarily declined, 

 but philosophy and mathematics found both ad- 

 mirers and cultivators. Vitruvius was celebrated 

 on account of his knowledge of architecture, and 

 Hyginus on account of his Astronomicon. As a 

 grammarian, M. Verrius Flaccus deserves to be 

 mentioned; geography had a Strabo, and juris- 

 prudence Q. Antistius Labeo, C. Anteius Capito 

 and C. Trebatius Testa. Architecture, sculpture 

 and glyptics also flourished. After the death of 

 Augustus, literature declined, and the style and 

 language degenerated. M. Annseus Lucan, Vale- 

 rius Flaccus and Persius Flaccus distinguished 

 themselves, however, as poets; Velleius Pater- 

 culus, Diodorus Siculus and Valerius Maximus as 

 historians; M. and L. Annaeus Seneca as rhetori- 

 cians and philosophers ; and Aurelius Cornelius 

 Celsus as a physician. Asconius Pedianus wrote 

 commentaries on the writings of Cicero ; and in 

 jurisprudence Masurius Sabinus, M. Cocceius Nerva, 

 Cassius Longinus and Sempronius Proculus were 

 eminent. The arts declined; the corruption of 

 manners was increased by debauchery and unna- 

 tural passion ; foreigners and freedmen were the 

 confidants of the emperor ; the soldiers formed a 

 distinct order, and served not the state, but the 

 despots whom they rendered dependent upon them- 

 selves. 



2. After the fall of Vitellius, Flavius Vespasi- 

 anus (823) ascended the throne. He restored the 

 empire by introducing order into the finances, 

 promoting public education, reviving discipline, and 

 abolishing the tribunals of majesty. Under his 

 government, the war with Civilis the Batavian 

 broke out, and the conquest of Britain by Agricola 

 was completed. Vespasian reigned till 832, his 

 excellent son Titus till 834, and the brother and 

 successor of the latter, Domitian, a perfect tyrant, 



until 849. Under his reign arose the war with 

 Decebalus, the king of the Dacians, who stirred 

 up the wars of the Marcomanni, Quadi and Ja/yges, 

 from 839 to 843, which proved so unfortunate to 

 the Romans. He was murdered, and was J'ollout <l 

 by several celebrated sovereigns. Nerva (until 831) 

 abolished the reign of terror, diminished the taxes, 

 and encouraged industry ; Trajan (until 870) re- 

 stored, as far as possible, a free constitution, and 

 enlarged the empire by fortunate wars against t lie 

 Dacians, Armenians and Parthians; and Adrian (to 

 891) improved the internal condition of the empire, 

 and the discipline of the soldiery. Rome was happy 

 under the peaceful government of Antoninus Pius 

 (until 914) ; under that of Marcus Aurelius, or 

 Antoninus, the philosopher (until 933), great dis- 

 asters and bloody wars with the Catti, Parthians, 

 and especially the Marcomanni, disturbed the em- 

 pire ; but his wisdom healed all wounds. With him 

 (180, A. D.) ended the prosperity of Rome. The 

 constitution of the state was now a limited mon- 

 archy, founded upon civil freedom. The offices of 

 state became in part mere titles of honour ; and, 

 on the other hand, a great number of court offices 

 were instituted, which were continually usurping 

 power. Italy was divided into four provinces, 

 which were governed by men of consular rank. 

 The edictum perpetuum effected great changes in 

 the administration of justice, and the imperial com- 

 mands were continually encroaching upon the de- 

 crees of the senate. In the military department, 

 likewise, great alterations had taken place, parti- 

 cularly a different division of the troops. Litera- 

 ture, particularly poetry and eloquence, were on 

 the decline ; but the emperors endeavoured to pro- 

 mote learning, by the collection of libraries, by 

 the erection of public halls, and by supporting in- 

 structors. The poets of this period are Silius Itali- 

 cus, Papinius Statius, Juvenal and Martial ; the 

 historians are Tacitus, Appian, Florus, Justin, Cur- 

 tius, Arrian, Suetonius and Plutarch ; the principal 

 orator was Pliny the younger ; Epictetus and Mar- 

 cus Aurelius were distinguished as Stoic, philoso- 

 phers ; and besides these there were many New 

 Platonists ; Galen and Scribonius Largus were the 

 chief physicians. Frontinus wrote upon hydraulic 

 architecture. Pliny the elder upon the productions of 

 nature and art, Columella upon agriculture and gar- 

 dening, and Polysenus and Frontinus upon military 

 stratagems ; Gellius was celebrated for his know- 

 ledge of antiquity ; in geography Ptolemy and An- 

 toninus, author of a journal of travels to Britain, 

 were eminent ; and Quinctilian was distinguished in 

 rhetoric : Salvius Julianus, Aburnus Valens, Sextus 

 Caecilius Africanus, Terentius Clemens, Vinidius 

 Verus, and Junius Mauritianus, were celebrated 

 jurists ; and Sextus Pomponius, C. Velusius Maeci- 

 anus, Q. Cervidius Scaevola, and Ulpius Marcellus, 

 were yet more distinguished authors on the subject 

 of j urisprudence. 



3. From this time the decline of the Roman em- 

 pire was constantly accelerated. Commodus, the 

 son of Marcus Aurelius (from 933 to 945) was a 

 monster. He purchased peace of the Marcomanni, 

 and his generals fought successfully in Dacia and 

 Britain. Great commotions followed his death. 

 Pertinax reigned only two months, and Marcus 

 Didius Julianus, who purchased the empire, as the 

 highest bidder, for an equal period; the army in 

 Illyria then chose Septimius Severus emperor, and 

 the one in Syria, Pescenninus Niger. The former 

 maintained his claims, and reigned till 965. Ho 



