2 25 FORMULAS OF THE LAW OF EVOLUTION. 



erous policy to short-sighted whims that prompted 

 them to abuse their power. 



The secret of Rome's success, on the other hand, 

 lay in her poHtical virtue. The Romans were justly 

 proud of the sternness of Roman discipline, and 

 rightly reckoned among their heroes the men who 

 were capable of sacrificing their lives and the lives 

 of their dearest for the letter of the law. The cruel 

 rigour of Brutus and Manlius was but the extreme 

 manifestation of a spirit of strict legality, unques- 

 tioning obedience, and unflinching adherence to 

 duty, which made Rome great. This self-control 

 and respect for legality was displayed in a marvel- 

 lous way during the struggle between the plebeians 

 and patricians ; and it may be safely asserted that 

 in no other state would the Licinian and Sextian 

 laws have been rejected for eight years without 

 causing a revolution. But this was a quality the 

 Greeks could never learn ; general principles of 

 policy and respect for the forms of legal procedure 

 were always powerless against the impulse of the 

 moment ; the Athenians sacrificed their empire 

 rather than postpone the trial of Alcibiades on a 

 domestic charge until his return from active service. 

 With the Romans, on the other hand, the immunity 

 of magistrates from accusation during their year of 

 office was a cardinal principle of state-craft. They 

 yielded implicit obedience to their magistrates, how- 

 ever arbitrary and incapable they might be, and 

 with whatever severity they might call them to 

 account when they had laid down their functions. 

 And the reason why the Roman was able to practise 

 a self-control as wise as it was difiicult was that from 

 his youth he had been trained to obey as well as to 

 command, and that the discipline of the army was 



