II. "under whose auspicious influence the fiercest» CHAP, "barbarians were united by an equal govern"ment and common language. They affirm, "that, with the improvement of arts, the human 46 66 species was visibly multiplied. They cele"brate the increasing splendour of the cities, "the beautiful face of the country, cultivated "and adorned like an immense garden, and the long festival of peace, which was enjoyed by "so many nations, forgetful of their ancient animosities, and delivered from the apprehen"sion of future danger." Whatever suspicions may be suggested by the air of rhetoric and declamation, which seems to prevail in these passages, the substance of them is perfectly agree. able to historic truth. 66 It was scarcely possible that the eyes of contem- Decline of poraries should discover in the public felicity the courage. latent causes of decay and corruption. This long peace, and the uniform government of the Romans, introduced a slow and secret poison into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the military spirit evaporated. The natives of Europe were brave and robust. Spain, Gaul, Britain, and Illyricum, supplied the legions with excellent soldiers, and constituted the real strength of the monarchy. Their personal valour remained; but they no longer possessed that public courage which is nourished by the love of independ Among many other passages, see Pliny (Hist. Natur. iii, 5), Aristides (de Urbe Româ), and Tertullian (de Anim^, c. 30). II. CHAP. ence, the sense of national honour, the presence of danger, and the habit of command. They received laws and governors from the will of their sovereign, and trusted for their defence to a mer Of genius. cenary army. The posterity of their boldest leaders was contented with the rank of citizens and subjects. The most aspiring spirits resorted to the court or standard of the emperors; and the deserted provinces, deprived of political strength or union, insensibly sunk into the languid indifference of private life. The love of letters, almost inseparable from peace and refinement, was fashionable among the subjects of Hadrian and the Antonines, who were themselves men of learning and curiosity. It was diffused over the whole extent of their empire; the most northern tribes of Britons had acquired a taste for rhetoric; Homer, as well as Virgil, were transcribed and studied on the banks of the Rhine and Danube; and the most liberal rewards sought out the faintest glimmerings of literary merit. The sciences of physic and astronomy • Herodes Atticus gave the sophist Polemo above eight thousand pounds for three declamations. See Philostrat. 1. i, p. 558. The Antonines founded a school at Athens, in which professors of grammar, rhetoric, politics, and the four great sects of philosophy, were maintained at the public expence, for the instruction of youth. The salary of a philosopher was ten thousand drachmæ, between three and four hundred pounds a-year. Similar establishments were formed in the other great cities of the empire. See Lucian in Eunuch, tom. ii, p. 353, edit. Reitz. Philostrat. 1. ii, p. 566. Hist. August. p. 21. Dion Cassius, 1. lxxi, p. 1195. Juvenal himself, in a morose satire, which, in every line, betrays his own disappointment and envy, is obliged, however, to say, -O Juvenes, circumspicit et agitat vos, SATIR. vii, 20. II. were successfully cultivated by the Greeks; the CHAP. observations of Ptolemy, and the writings of Galen, are studied by those who have improved their discoveries, and corrected their errors; but if we except the inimitable Lucian, this age of indolence passed away without having produced a single writer of original genius, or who excelled in the arts of elegant composition. The authority of Plato and Aristotle, of Zeno and Epicurus, still reigned in the schools; and their systems, transmitted, with blind deference, from one generation of disciples to another, precluded every generous attempt to exercise the powers, or enlarge the limits, of the human mind. The beauties of the poets and orators, instead of kindling a fire like their own, inspired only cold and servile imitations; or, if any ventured to deviate from those models, they deviated, at the same time, from good sense and propriety. On the revival of letters, the youthful vigour of the imagination, after a long repose, national emulation, a new religion, new languages, and a new world, called forth the genius of Europe. But the provincials of Rome, trained by an uniform artificial foreign education, were engaged in a very unequal competition with those bold ancients, who, by expressing their genuine feelings in their native tongue, had already occupied every place of honour. The name of poet was almost forgotten; that of orator was usurped by the sophists. A cloud of critics, of compilers, of commentators, darkened the face of learning; and the decline of genius was soon followed by the corruption of taste. CHAP. racy. II. 66 The sublime Longinus, who, in somewhat a later period, and in the court of a Syrian queen, Degene- preserved the spirit of ancient Athens, observes and laments this degeneracy of his contemporaries, which debased their sentiments, enervated their courage, and depressed their talents." In "the same manner," says he, 66 as some children always remain pigmies, whose infant limbs "have been too closely confined; thus our ten"der minds, fettered by the prejudices and habits "of a just servitude, are unable to expand "themselves, or to attain that well-proportioned "greatness which we admire in the ancients; "who, living under a popular government, wrote "with the same freedom as they acted." This diminutive stature of mankind, if we pursue the metaphor, was, daily sinking below the old standard, and the Roman world was indeed peopled by a race of pigmies, when the fierce giants of the north broke in, and mended the puny breed. They restored a manly spirit of freedom; and after the revolution of ten centuries, freedom became the happy parent of taste and science. Longin. de Sublim. c. 43, p. 229, edit. Toll. Here, too, we may say of Longinus," His own example strengthens all his laws." Instead of proposing his sentiments with a manly boldness, he insi nuates them with the most guarded caution, puts them into the mouth of a friend, and, as far as we can collect from a corrupted text, makes a shew of refuting them himself, CHAP. III. Of the constitution of the Roman empire, in the age of the Antonines. III. monarchy. THE obvious definition of a monarchy seems СНАР. to be that of a state, in which a single person, by whatsoever name he may be distinguished, Idea of a is entrusted with the execution of the laws, the management of the revenue, and the command of the army. But, unless public liberty is protected by intrepid and vigilant guardians, the authority of so formidable a magistrate will soon degenerate into despotism. The influence of the clergy, in an age of superstition, might be usefully employed to assert the rights of mankind; but so intimate is the connection between the throne and the altar, that the banner of the church has very seldom been seen on the side of the people. A martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional assemblies, form the only balance capable of preserving a free constitution against enterprizes of an aspiring prince. of Augus Every barrier of the Roman constitution had Situation been levelled by the vast ambition of the dic- tus. tator; every fence had been extirpated by the cruel hand of the triumvir. After the victory of Actium, the fate of the Roman world depended on the will of Octavianus, surnamed Cæsar, by his uncle's adoption, and afterwards |