INTRODUCTION. 45 



they had before done of the JEtolians for conquering Philip. „ c 

 They now pursued Antiochus, ihe last object of their resent- ' 5 

 ment, into Asia, and, having vanquished him by sea and land, 

 compelled him to submit to a disgraceful treaty. 



In these conquests the Romans still allowed the ancient inhabi- 

 tants to possess their territory. They did not even change the 

 form of government. The conquered nations became the allies of 

 the Roman people ; which denomination, however, under a spe- 

 cious name, concealed a condition very servile, and inferred that 

 they should submit to whatever was required of them When we 

 reflect on those easy conquests, we have reason to be astonished at 

 the resistance which the Romans met with from Mithridates, king 

 of Pontus, for the space of twenty-six years. But this monarch had 

 great resources. His kingdom, bordering on the inaccessible 

 mountains of Caucasus, abounded in a race of men whose minds* 

 were not enervated with pleasure, and whose bodies were firm and 

 vigorous; and he gave the Romans more trouble than even Hanni- 

 bal. 



The different states of Greece and Asia, who now began to feel 

 the weight of their yoke, but had not the spirit to shake it off", were 

 transported at finding a prince who dared to show himself an enemy 

 to the Romans, and cheerfully submitted to his protection. Mithri- 

 dates, however, was at last compelled to yield to the superior for- 

 tune of the Romans. Vanquished successively by Sylla and Lu- 

 ullus, he was at length subdued by Pompey, and stripped of his 

 dominions and his life, in the year before Christ 63. In Africa, 

 he Roman arms met with equal success. Marius, in conquering 

 Jugurtha, gave security to the republic in that quarter. Even r» p 

 the barbarous nations beyond the Alps began to feel the weight ' , ' 

 of the Roman arms. Gallia Narbonensis had been reduced 

 into a province. The Cimbri, Teutones, and the other northern 

 nations of Europe, broke into this part of the empire. The same 

 Marius, whose name was so terrible in Africa, then made „ ~ 

 the north of Europe to tremble. The barbarians retired to ' ' 

 .heir wilds and deserts, less formidable than the Roman le- 

 gions. But while Rome conquered the world, there subsisted an 

 incessant war within her walls. This war had continued from the 

 first period of the government. Rome, after the expulsion of her 

 kings, enjoyed but a partial liberty. The descendants of the sena- 

 tors, who were distinguished by the name of Patricians, were in- 

 vested with so many odious privileges, that the people felt their de- 

 pendence, and became determined to shake it off. A thousand 

 disputes on the subject arose between them and the patricians, 

 which always terminated in favour of liberty. 



These disputes, while the Romans preserved their virtue, were 

 not attended with any sanguinary consequences. The patricians, 

 who loved their country, cheerfully resigned some of their privi- 

 leges to satisfy the people ; and the people, on the other hand, 

 though they obtained laws by which they might be admitted to en- 

 joy the first offices of the state, and though they had the power of 

 nomination, always named patricians. But when the Romans, by 

 the conquest of foreign nations, became acquainted with all their 

 luxuries and refinements.. ..when they became tainted with the effe- 

 minacy and corruption of the eastern courts, and sported with every 

 tbing just and honourable in order to obtain them. ...the slate, torn 



