CHAP. III. Of the Conflitution of the Roman Empire, in the III. THE obvious definition of a monarchy seems C H A P. to be that of a ftate, in which a fingle perfon, by whatsoever name he may be diftinguished, Idea of a is entrusted with the execution of the laws, the monarchy. management of the revenue, and the command of the army. But, unless public liberty is protected by intrepid and vigilant guardians, the authority of fo formidable a magiftrate will foon degenerate into defpotifm. The influence of the clergy, in an age of fuperftition, might be ufefully employed to affert the rights of mankind; but fo intimate is the connexion between the throne and the altar, that the banner of the church has very feldom been seen on the fide of the people. A martial nobility and stubborn commons, poffeffed of arms, tenacious of property, and collected into constitutional affemblies, form the only balance capable of preferving a free conftitution against enterprizes of an afpiring prince. tus. Every barrier of the Roman conftitution had Situation been levelled by the vast ambition of the Dic- of Auguf 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, furnamed Cæfar, III. CHA P. Cæfar, by his uncle's adoption, and afterwards Auguftus, by the flattery of the fenate. The conqueror was at the head of forty-four veteran legions', confcious of their own ftrength, and of the weakness of the conftitution, habituated, during twenty years civil war, to every act of blood and violence, and paffionately devoted to the houfe of Cæfar, from whence alone they had received, and expected, the most lavish rewards. The provinces, long oppreffed by the minifters of the republic, fighed for the government of a fingle perfon, who would be the master, not the accomplice, of thofe petty tyrants. The people of Rome, viewing, with a fecret pleasure, the humiliation of the ariftocracy, demanded only bread and public fhows; and were fupplied with both by the liberal hand of Auguftus. The rich and polite Italians, who had almoft univerfally embraced the philofophy of Epicurus, enjoyed the present bleffings of eafe and tranquillity, and fuffered not the pleafing dream to be interrupted by the memory of their old tumultuous freedom. With its power, the fenate had loft its dignity; many of the most noble families were extinct. The republicans of spirit and ability had perished in the field of battle, or in the proscription. The door of the affembly had been defignedly left open, for a mixed multitude of more than a thousand perfons, who reflected difgrace upon their rank, instead of deriving honour from it. 2 Julius Cæfar introduced foldiers, ftrangers, and half-barbarians, into the fenate. (Sueton. in Cæfar. c. 77. 80.) The abuse became ftill more fcandalous after his death. III. The reformation of the fenate was one of the C HA P. firft fteps in which Auguftus laid afide the ty rant and profeffed himself the father of his coun- He reforms try. He was elected cenfor; and, in concert the fenate. with his faithful Agrippa, he examined the lift of the fenators, expelled a few members, whose vices or whofe obftinacy required a public example, perfuaded near two hundred to prevent the shame of an expulfion by a voluntary retreat, raised the qualification of a fenator to about ten thousand pounds, created a fufficient number of Patrician families, and accepted for himself the honourable title of Prince of the Senate, which had always been bestowed, by the cenfors, on the citizen the most eminent for his honours and fervices3. But whilft he thus restored the dignity, he destroyed the independence, of the fe nate. The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably loft, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive. power. Before an affembly thus modelled and pre- Refigns his pared, Auguftus pronounced a studied oration, ufurped which displayed his patriotism, and disguised his ambition. "He lamented, yet excufed, his past " conduct. Filial piety had required at his "hands the revenge of his father's murder; the 66 humanity of his own nature had fometimes "given way to the ftern laws of neceffity, and "to a forced connexion with two unworthy col leagues: as long as Antony lived, the republic "forbad him to abandon her to a degenerate 3 Dion Caffius, 1. liii. p. 693. Suetonius in Auguft. c. 55. VOL. I. H "Roman, III. CHA P." Roman, and a barbarian Queen. He was now "at liberty to fatisfy his duty and his inclination. "He folemnly restored the fenate and people to "all their ancient rights; and wifhed only to mingle with the crowd of his fellow citizens, " and to share the bleffings which he had ob"tained for his country. Is prevail refume it It would require the pen of Tacitus (if Tacied upon to tús had affifted at this affembly) to defcribe the under the various emotions of the fenate; thofe that were title of Em- fuppreffed, and those that were affected. peror or General. 1 It was dangerous to truft the fincerity of Auguftus; to feem to diftruft it, was ftill more dangerous. The refpective advantages of monarchy and a republic have often divided fpeculative inquirers; the prefent greatnefs of the Roman ftate, the corruption of manners, and the licence of the foldiers, fupplied new arguments to the advocates of monarchy; and thefe general views of government were again warped by the hopes and fears of each individual. Amidft this confufion of fentiments, the answer of the fenate was unanimous and decifive. They refused to accept the refignation of Augustus; they conjured him not to defert the republic which he had faved. After a decent refistance, the crafty tyrant fubmitted to the orders of the fenate; and confented to receive the government of the provinces, and the general command of the Roman armies, under the well-known names of * Dion (1. liii. p. 698.) gives us a prolix and bombast speech on this great occafion. I have borrowed from Suetonius and Tacitus the general language of Auguftus. PROCONSUL PROCONSUL and IMPERATOR". But he would re- CHAP. III. generals. Without any violation of the principles of the Power of conftitution, the general of the Roman armies the Roman might receive and exercise an authority almost defpotic over the foldiers, the enemies, and the fubjects of the republic. With regard to the foldiers, the jealoufy of freedom had, even from the earliest ages of Rome, given way to the hopes of conquest, and a just sense of military difcipline. The dictator, or conful, had a right to command the fervice of the Roman youth; and to punish an obftinate or cowardly difobedience by the most severe and ignominious penalties, by striking the offender out of the lift of citizens, by confifcating his property, and by 5 Imperator (from which we have derived Emperor) fignified under the republic no more than general, and was emphatically bestowed by the foldiers, when on the field of battle they proclaimed their victorious leader worthy of that title. When the Roman emperors affumed it in that sense, they placed it after their name, and marked how often they had taken it. 6 Dion, 1. liii. p. 703, &c. H 2 683465 A |