[ 6 +3 ] 
fame in effect with that defcribed above : for it mud 
have been undoubtedly the province of thofe Tri- 
umviri to prevent all manner of diforders and acci- 
dents in the night, efpecially that mod: calamitous 
one of fires. This conclufion, in general, refults 
from the nature of things ; as the particular circum- 
dance relating to fires may be collected from Tacitus. 
Triumviri , quod ad incendium in Jacrd via ortum 
tarde venerant , d tribuno plebis die dibid damnati . 
[Tac. apud Godeler. not. in Liv. fupra.] Now, in 
order to reconcile thefe accounts, in fome degree, we 
may fay, that, as the inhabitants of Rome were be- 
come more numerous and wealthy, and (confe- 
quently) more licentious, in Augudus’s time, that 
emperor found it requifite to new model the night- 
watch, by making feveral additional improvements 
in it, with regard, probably, to the number and con- 
dition of the perfons, of whom it confided ; the qua- 
lity of the officer, who prefided over it ; the appoint- 
ment of the proper places of rendezvous in the mod 
commodious parts of the city, & c. And, upon ac- 
count of thefe regulations made by Augudus in the 
night-watch, fome hidorians may have been induced 
to condder him as the founder of this police in the 
city of Rome. 
I am, 
J. Nixon. 
Vol.LI. 
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LVIII. A 
