became the centre of commerce and empire; but the republic of Carthage is now degenerated into the feeble and disorderly states of Tripoli and Tunis. The military government of Algiers oppresses the wide extent of Numidia, as it was once united under Massinissa and Jugurtha: but in the time of Augustus the limits of Numidia were contracted; and at least two thirds of the country acquiesced in the name of Mauritania, with the epithet of Cæsariensis. The genuine Mauritania, or country of the Moors, which, from the ancient city of Tingi, or Tangier, was distinguished by the appellation of Tingitana, is represented by the modern kingdom of Fez. Salle, on the ocean, so infamous at present for its piratical depredations, was noticed by the Romans as the extreme object of their power, and almost of their geography. A city of their foundation may still be discovered near Mequinez, the residence of the barbarian whom we condescend to style the Emperor of Morocco; but it does not appear that his more southern dominions, Morocco itself and Segelmessa, were ever comprehended within the Roman province. The western parts of Africa are intersected by the branches of Mount Atlas, a name so idly celebrated by the fancy of poets;* but which is now diffused over the immense ocean that rolls between the ancient and the new continent.87a

86

86 The long range, moderate height, and gentle declivity of Mount Atlas (see Shaw's Travels, p. 5) are very unlike a solitary mountain which rears its head into the clouds, and seems to support the heavens. The peak of Teneriffe, on the contrary, rises a league and a half above the surface of the sea, and, as it was frequently visited by the Phoenicians, might engage the notice of the Greek poets. See Buffon, Histoire Naturelle, tom. i. p. 312. Histoire des Voyages, tom. ii. 87 M. de Voltaire, tom. xiv. p. 297, unsupported by either fact or probability, has generously bestowed the Canary Islands on the Roman empire.

* As Gibbon's enumeration of the Roman provinces is not complete, we subjoin a list of them, as they existed in the time of Hadrian. The date of the formation of each is added, when known.

I. Sicilia, B. C. 241.

II. Sardinia, including Corsica, B. C. 238.

III. Hispania, originally divided into the two provinces of Citerior and Ulterior, B.C. 205; afterwards formed by Augustus into the three provinces of-1. Tarraconensis; 2. Bætica; 3. Lusitania.

IV. Gallia. The original province was Narbonensis, in the southeastern part of the country, formed B.c. 118, frequently called simply Provincia. In B.C. 27 Augustus divided Gaul into four provinces: 1. Narbonensis; 2. Aquitania; 3.

Having now finished the circuit of the Roman empire, we may observe that Africa is divided from Spain by a narrow strait of about twelve miles, through which the Atranean, with lantic flows into the Mediterranean.

The Mediter

its islands.

The Columns

of Hercules, so famous among the ancients, were two mountains which seemed to have been torn asunder by some convulsion of the elements; and at the foot of the European mountain the fortress of Gibraltar is now seated. The whole extent of the Mediterranean Sea, its coasts, and its islands, were comprised within the Roman dominion. Of the larger islands, the two Baleares, which derive their names of

Lugdunensis; 4. Belgica. To these were subsequently added-5. Germania superior, along the Upper Rhine as far as Mayence; 6. Germania inferior, along the Lower Rhine, the chief town being Colonia Agrippinensis (Cologne). Among the Gallic provinces may also be classed the three Alpine provinces-7. Alpes Maritime (B.c. 14) received the Jus Latii from Nero; 8. Alpes Cottiæ, made a province by Nero; 9. Alpes Penninæ, mentioned as a province before the time of Aurelian.

XV. Asia, B.C. 129, including Mysia, Lydia, Caria, Phrygia.

XVI. Bithynia and Pontus. Bithynia, extending from the mouth of the Rhyndacus to the town Heraclea, was made a province in B.C. 74. To this was subsequently added the western part of the kingdom of Pontus.

XVII. Pontus Polemoniacus, the eastern part of Pontus, extending from Polemonium to Trapezus (Trebizond), formed into a province by Nero, A.D. 63.

XVIII. Galatia, B.C. 25, included the southern and eastern part of Phrygia, Pisidia, Isauria, and a part of Lycaonia and Pamphylia.

XIX. Cappadocia, A.D. 17.

XX. Pamphylia, B.C. 25; to which Lycia was added a.d. 43.

XXI. Cilicia, B.C. 64.

XXII. Syria, B.C. 64, was divided by Hadrian into three provinces: 1. Syria proper; 2. Syria Phoenice; 3. Syria Palæstina.

XXIII. Commagene, a small district of Syria on the Euphrates, A.D. 73, but had been also a province from A.D. 17 to 38.

XXIV. Arabia, A.D. 105.

XXV. Ægyptus, B.C. 30.

XXVI. Cyrene and Creta; the former B. C. 74, the latter B. c. 67.

XXVII. Africa, B.C. 146, containing the dominions of Carthage.

XXVIII. Numidia, A.D. 39.

XXIX. Mauritania, A.D. 42, divided into the two provinces of Tingitana and Cæsariensis.

The best account of the Roman provinces is given by Marquardt in Becker's Handbuch der Römischen Alterthümer, vol. iii. pt. 1.-S.

Majorca and Minorca from their respective size, are subject at present, the former to Spain, the latter to Great Britain. It is easier to deplore the fate than to describe the actual condi tion of Corsica. Two Italian sovereigns assume a regal title from Sardinia and Sicily. Crete, or Candia, with Cyprus, and most of the smaller islands of Greece and Asia, have been subdued by the Turkish arms; whilst the little rock of Malta defies their power, and has emerged, under the government of its military order, into fame and opulence.

General idea

This long enumeration of provinces, whose broken fragments have formed so many powerful kingdoms, might almost induce us to forgive the vanity or ignorance of the Roman of the ancients. Dazzled with the extensive sway, empire. the irresistible strength, and the real or affected moderation of the emperors, they permitted themselves to despise, and sometimes to forget, the outlying countries which had been left in the enjoyment of a barbarous independence; and they gradually usurped the license of confounding the Roman monarchy with the globe of the earth.68 But the temper, as well as knowledge, of a modern historian require a more sober and accurate language. He may impress a juster image of the greatness of Rome by observing that the empire was above two thousand miles in breadth, from the wall of Antoninus and the northern limits of Dacia to Mount Atlas and the Tropic of Cancer; that it extended in length more than three thousand miles, from the Western Ocean to the Euphrates; that it was situated in the finest part of the temperate zone, between the twenty-fourth and fifty-sixth degrees of northern latitude; and that it was supposed to contain above sixteen hundred thousand square miles, for the most part of fertile and well-cultivated land."

88 Bergier, Hist. des Grands Chemins, 1. iii. ch. 1, 2, 3, 4: a very useful collection. 89 See Templeman's Survey of the Globe: but I distrust both the doctor's learning and his maps.

a Minorca was lost to Great Britain in 1782. Ann. Register for that year.-M. The gallant struggles of the Corsicans for their independence under Paoli were brought to a close in the year 1769. This volume was published in 1776. See Botta, Storia d' Italia, vol. xiv.-M.

Malta, it need scarcely be said, is now in the possession of the English. We have not, however, thought it necessary to notice every change in the political state of the world since the time of Gibbon.-M.

CHAPTER II.

Of the Union and internal Prosperity of the Roman Empire in the Age of the Antonines.

Principles of

It is not alone by the rapidity or extent of conquest that we should estimate the greatness of Rome. The sovereign of the Russian deserts commands a larger portion government. of the globe. In the seventh summer after his passage of the Hellespont, Alexander erected the Macedonian trophies on the banks of the Hyphasis.' Within less than a century, the irresistible Zingis, and the Mogul princes of his race, spread their cruel devastations and transient empire from the sea of China to the confines of Egypt and Germany. But the firm edifice of Roman power was raised and preserved by the wisdom of ages. The obedient provinces of Trajan and the Antonines were united by laws and adorned by arts. They might occasionally suffer from the partial abuse of delegated authority; but the general principle of government was wise, simple, and beneficent. They enjoyed the religion of their ancestors, whilst in civil honors and advantages they were exalted, by just degrees, to an equality with their conquerors.

Universal spirit of toleration.

I. The policy of the emperors and the senate, as far as it concerned religion, was happily seconded by the reflections of the enlightened, and by the habits of the superstitious, part of their subjects. The various modes of worship which prevailed in the Roman world were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosopher as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally

1 They were erected about the midway between Lahor and Delhi. The conquests of Alexander in Hindostan were confined to the Punjab, a country watered by the five great streams of the Indus.

2 See M. de Guignes, Histoire des Huns, 1. xv. xvi. and xvii.

useful. And thus toleration produced not only mutual indulgence, but even religious concord.

The superstition of the people was not embittered by any mixture of theological rancor; nor was it confined by the chains of any speculative system. The devout Of the people. polytheist, though fondly attached to his national rites, admitted with implicit faith the different religions of the earth. Fear, gratitude, and curiosity, a dream or an omen, a singular disorder or a distant journey, perpetually disposed him to multiply the articles of his belief, and to enlarge the list of his protectors. The thin texture of the pagan mythology was interwoven with various, but not discordant materials. As soon as it was allowed that sages and heroes, who had lived or who had died for the benefit of their country, were exalted to a state of power and immortality, it was universally confessed that they deserved, if not the adoration, at least the reverence of all mankind. The deities of a thousand groves and a thousand streams possessed, in peace, their local and respective influence; nor could the Roman who deprecated the wrath of the Tiber deride the Egyptian

There is not any writer who describes in so lively a manner as Herodotus the true genius of polytheism. The best commentary may be found in Mr. Hume's Natural History of Religion; and the best contrast in Bossuet's Universal History. Some obscure traces of an intolerant spirit appear in the conduct of the Egyptians (see Juvenal, Sat. xv.); and the Christians, as well as Jews, who lived under the Roman empire, formed a very important exception; so important, indeed, that the discussion will require a distinct chapter of this work.

a M. Constant, in his very learned and eloquent work, "Sur la Religion," with the two additional volumes, "Du Polythéisme Romain," has considered the whole history of polytheism in a tone of philosophy which, without subscribing to all his opinions, we may be permitted to admire. "The boasted tolerance of polytheism did not rest upon the respect due from society to the freedom of individual opinion. The polytheistic nations, tolerant as they were towards each other, as separate states, were not the less ignorant of the eternal principle, the only basis of enlightened toleration, that every one has a right to worship God in the manner which seems to him the best. Citizens, on the contrary, were bound to conform to the religion of the State; they had not the liberty to adopt a foreign religion, though that religion might be legally recognized in their own city for the strangers who were its votaries." (Sur la Religion, v. 184. Du Polyth. Rom. ii. 308.) At this time the growing religious indifference, and the general administration of the empire by Romans, who, being strangers, would do no more than protect, not enlist themselves in the cause of the local superstitions, had introduced great laxity. But intolerance was clearly the theory both of the Greek and Roman law. The subject is more fully considered in another place.-M.