ROMK. 



and generally prefer ved a fixed llatiou, as well as the le- 



gions. 



Rome under the Emperors. — The battle of Actium, as we 

 have already obferved, decided the fate of the common- 

 wealth, and Octavius, now having aflumed the name of 

 Augultus, was matter of the Roman empire. This em- 

 peror new-modelled the Hate, flattered the people, and 

 rendered monarchy fupporta'ble to republicans. Augultus 

 poffelled the talent of difcerojng what character was belt 

 fitted for gaining the affections of the people he governed, 

 and verfatility of temper and genius to afl'ume it. His 

 virtues, though the relult of policy, not of nature, were 

 certainly favourable to the happinefs, and even the liberties, 

 of his lubjects. The fate of Caelar might, and probably did, 

 warn him of the infecurity of an ufurped dominion ; and, 

 therefore, while lie ltudioufly imitated what was excellent 

 in his predeceiTor, he affected a much higher degree of mode- 

 ration and refpect for the rights of the people. Long 

 peace, in which the temple of Janus was fhut, which had 

 been open nearly two centuries, lince the beginning of the 

 fecond Punic war ; an uniform and temperate government, 

 and prevailing luxury, introduced a flow poiion into the 

 yitals of the empire. The national character was changed. 

 The outward form remained ; but the animating fpirit and 

 vigour had vanifhed. The Romans thought themlelves 

 free, becaufe they had no longer to fight for their liberty. 

 The fovereign kept up the delulion, by maintaining the 

 ancient forms of tiie republican conititution, in the eledtion 

 of magillratcs, &c. though they were nothing more than 

 mere forms. He even pretended to confider his own func- 

 tions as temporary, exerted for the benefits of the people, 

 and depending upon their will. Five times, in the courfe of 

 his protracted reign, did he fubmit to a fort of election. 

 The emperor repofed the molt unlimited confidence in 

 Mecxnas, by wliofe counfels all public affairs were con- 

 ducted, and the molt falutary laws enacted for the remedy 

 of public grievances, and even the correction of the morals 

 of the people. By his influence and wife initructions, 

 Augultus aflumed thole virtues to which his heart was a 

 ilrauger ; and which, in their tendency to the happinefs of 

 his fubjects, were equally effectual as if they had been the 

 genuine fruits of Ins nature. On the death of Marcellus, 

 the nephew and fon-in-law of the emperor, he bellowed his 

 chief favour on Marcus Agrippa, who married Julia, the 

 widow of Marcellus ; and on his deccafe, Julia took. Tiberius 

 for her third hufband, who became the emperor's fon-in-law 

 by a double tie, for Augultus had prcvioufly married his 

 mother, Livia. On the death of the emperor, in the 14th 

 r of the Chriilian era, and in the 44th of his reign, 

 Tiberius lucceeded to the throne. 



The government eftablilhed by Augultus, founded, as it 

 unquestionably was, on the power of the (word, not on the 

 1 oufent of the fenate and people, degenerated in propor- 

 tion as the army became corrupted. This prince had rc- 

 lolved to confine the boundariei ol the empire to the limits 

 which, he aflumed, Nature had pointed out, viz. on the 

 weft the Atlantic ocean ; the Rhine and Danube on the 

 north ; the Euphrates on the calt ; and towards the foutli, 

 the fandy deferts of Arabia and Africa. His immediate 

 fucceffors adopted this relolution. Britain and Dacia v, ■ 1 

 the fole aeccfllons. to the empire during the lirfl century of 

 the Chriilian era. A military fpirit .was, in fome degree, 

 preferved and chcrillied, when almoll every virtue was cx- 

 tinguillied ; but the discipline of tin- legions was greatly 

 corrupted by the ambition, or relaxed b_v the wcakncls, of 

 ■ up' rors, who confided in the army, and particularly 



jn the ftrength and fidelity of the Prajtorian guards, which 



had been formed by Augultus, and were kept up for the 

 protection of the emperor's perfon. The foldiers were, 

 however, foon roufed to a fenfe of their own power, and 

 of the impotency of the civil authority. 



Tiberius, the fecond emperor, was an unfeeling tyrant, 

 and he took for bis counfellor SejatlUB, prefect of the Pra:- 

 torian guards, a man itill more cruel and tyrannical than 

 himfelf. Sejanus conceived the project of placing himfelf 

 on the throne : for the furtherance of his plans, he caufed 

 Drufus, the fon of the emperor, to be poifoned, and re- 

 moved f^orn the fight of the people the fons of Germanicus, 

 who were the natural heirs to the crown. He even per- 

 fuaded Tiberius himfelf, under the pretence of a difcovery of 

 plots for his afl'affination, to retire from Rome to the ifle of 

 Caprex, and devolve the government upon himfelf. He had 

 but one ftep more to the attainment of the object of his am- 

 bition : he was on the point of afTaffinating his mafter when he 

 was detected, and inltantly executed. Tiberius now became 

 negligent of the cares of government, and the imperial 

 power was difplayed only in fcenes of cruelty and rapine. 

 At length he fell lick, and was ftrangled in his bed by 

 Macro, the prxfeft of the Praetorian guards, in the 78th 

 year of his age, and the 23d of his reign. 



Caligula, the fon of Germanicus, who was Tiberius's 

 nephew, was the third emperor of Rome. The commence- 

 ment of his reign was fignalized by a few afts of clemency 

 and good policy. But tyrannical and cruel by nature, he 

 fubftituted military execution for legal punifliment. The 

 provinces were loaded with the molt oppreffive taxes, and 

 daily confifcations filled the imperial coffers. He was 

 alfaffinated in the 4th year of his reign, and was fuccecded 

 by his uncle 



Claudius, the fon of Odtavia, the filter of Augultus, 

 whofe fhort reign, though lie was a man of weak intellects, 

 and of little education, was marked by an enterprife of im- 

 portance. He undertook the reduction of Britain, and 

 after vifiting the ifland in perfon, left his generals, Plautius 

 and Vefpalian, to profecute a war, which was carried on 

 for feveral years with various fuccefs. The inhabitants of 

 Wales, then denominated the Silures, under their king 

 CaraCtacus, made a noble refiftancc, but were finally de- 

 feated, and CaraCtacus was led captive to Rome. The 

 civil adminiltration of Claudius was weak and contemptible ; 

 he was the Have even of his domeltics, and the dupe of hi 

 abandoned wives Mellalina and Agrippina. Claudius wu 

 put to death in the 15th year of his reign. 



Nero, the fcourge of mankind, fucceeded his fathei 

 Claudius, and for tin- firft live years he reigned with great 

 applaufe, whence Trajan, faid " cunctos principes longc 

 abcfle a Neronis quinquennio ;" but when his character 

 began to unfold itlclf, he was found to be a compound ol 

 everything that wasbafe and inhuman. (See his article.) He 

 periflied in the 30th year of his age, and the 14th of his reign. 

 The two fucceeding emperors, Galba and Otho, did not 

 reign a year between them; the former was murdered b) 

 the foldiers, and the latter died bv his own hand. 



The reign of Vitellius, the next emperor, was of eight 

 months' duration, lie is faid to have propofed Nero for 

 his model, and it was juft that he fhould refemble him in 

 his fate. Vefpalian, who had obtained from Nero the 

 charge of the war againfl the Jews, which he had conducted 

 with ability and fuccefs, was proclaimed emperor by his 

 troops in tin Eaft, and a giv.it part of 1 1 al j lubmitting to 

 his generals, Vitellius capitulated to hue bis life; but 

 [bo* as Rome was taken, the depofed emperor was feized, 

 maiTacred) and hi? body thrown into th'' Tiber. 



Velpaliun reigned with great popularity for ten jearg. 

 jN 1 Hr 



