of their native soil. But he was soon after alarmed by a dangerous irruption of the barbarous nations to the northward of the empire; who entering Me'dia' with great fury, and passing through Arme'nia, carried their devastations as far as Cappado'cia. Preferring peace, however, upon any terms, to an unprofitable war, A'drian bought them off by large sums of money; so that they returned peaceably into their native wilds, to enjoy their plunder, and to meditate fresh invasions. Questions for Examination. 1. Was Trajan uniformly merciful? 3. What remarkable event happened in this reign? 5. What were these barbarities? 6. Were no steps taken to repress this insurrection? 7. How was Trajan employed at this time, and what was his end? 8. Who succeeded him? 9. What was the character of Adrian? 10. Was he a virtuous character? 11. Were not his virtues counterbalanced? 12. By whom was the empire now invaded? 13. What wise measure did Adrian contemplate? 14. What remarkable edifice did he destroy? 15. Was he attentive to the concerns of the empire? 16 Why did he do this? 17. What places did he next visit? 18. Whither did he next proceed? 19. Mention his further progress, and the incidents that occurred. 20. Was he merciful to the Christians? 21. Whither did he next repair, and how did he employ himself? 22. Proceed in the description of his route. 23. Did he not favour the Jews? 24. Did they profit by this favourable disposition in the emperor? 25 Was this cruelty punished? 26. What followed this dangerous insurrection? 1 Me'dia, a very extensive country of Asia, on the south of the Cas'pian Sea, and to the north of ancient Persia. SECTION III. Trajan and he', with the mild sire and son, THOMSON. 5 Len'ity, s. mildness, mercy. 7. Ve'hemently, ad. earnestly, ardently. 9. Re'gimen, s. rule of diet, &c. 14. Arrogantly, ad. proudly. 23. Voluptuous, a. luxurious, fond of pleasure. 30. Feign'ing, part. pretending. 32. Dissem'inated, v. spread, scattered as seed. 33. Inunda'tions, s. floods. 34. Lectis-ter'nia, s. funeral banquets 35. Perse'cution, s. the act of harassing 3. 1. HAVING spent thirteen years in travelling and reforming the abuses of the empire, A'drian at last resolved to end his fatigues at Rome. 2. Nothing could be more grateful to the people than his resolution of coming to reside for the rest of his days among them; they received him with the loudest demonstrations of joy; and though he now began to grow old and unwieldy, he remitted not the least of his former assiduity and attention to the public welfare. His chief amusement was in conversing with the most celebrated men in every art and science, frequently asserting, that he thought no kind of knowledge inconsiderable, or to be neglected, either in his private or public capacity. 4. He ordered the knights and senators never to appear in public, but in the proper habits of their orders. He forbade masters to kill their slaves, as had been before allowed; but ordained that they should be tried by the laws. 5. He still further extended the lenity of the laws to those unhappy men, who had long been thought too mean for justice if a master was found killed in his house, he would 1 The poet here alludes to Titus, whom he has before been commending his actions are described in Chap. XXII. Sect. x. : not allow all his slaves to be put to the torture as formerly, but only such as might have perceived and prevented the murder. 6. In such employments he spent the greatest part of his time; but at last finding the duties of his station daily increasing, and his own strength proportionally upon the decline, he resolved on adopting a successor, and accordingly chose Antoni'nus to that important station. 7. While he was thus careful in providing for the future welfare of the state, his bodily infirmities became so insupportable, that he vehemently desired some of his attendants to dispatch him. 8. Antoni'nus, however, would by no means permit any of the domestics to be guilty of so great an impiety, but used all the arts in his power to reconcile the emperor to sustain life. 9. His pain daily increasing, he was frequently heard to cry out, "How miserable a thing it is to seek death, and not to find it!" After enduring some time these excruciating tortures, he at last resolved to observe no regimen, saying, that kings sometimes died merely by the multitude of their physicians. 10. This conduct served to hasten that death he seemed so ardently to desire; and it was probably joy upon its approach which dictated the celebrated stanzas that are so well known '; and while repeating which he expired, in the sixty-second. 1 These stanzas are Animula, vagula, blandula, Thus imitated by Prior : Poor little pretty fluttering thing, Must we no longer live together? And dost thou prune thy trembling wing To take thy flight thou know'st not whither? Thy hum'rous vein, thy pleasing folly, Lie all neglected, all forgot; And pensive, wav'ring, melancholy, Thou dread'st and hop'st thou know'st not what. year of his age, after a prosperous reign of twenty-one years and eleven months. 11. Titus Antoni'nus, his successor, was born at La ancestors came originally His father was a noble vin'ium, near Rome, but his U.C. from Nismes', in Gaul. 891. man, who had enjoyed the highest honours of the empire. At the time of his succeeding to the throne he was above fifty years old, and had passed through many of the most important offices of the state with great integrity and application. 12. His virtues in private life were no way impaired by his exaltation, as he showed himself one of the most excellent princes for justice, clemency, and moderation: his morals were so pure, that he was usually compared to Numa, and was surnamed the Pious, both for his tenderness to his predecessor A'drian, when dying, and his particular attachment to the religion of his country. 13. He was an eminent rewarder of learned men, to whom he gave large pensions and great honours, collecting them around him from all parts of the world. 14. Among the rest, he sent for Apollo'nius, the famous stoic philosopher, to instruct his adopted son, Mar'cus Aurelius. Apollo'nius being arrived, the emperor desired his attendance; but the other arrogantly answered, that it was the scholar's duty to wait upon the master, not the master upon the scholar. 15. To this reply, Antoni'nus only returned with a smile, "That it was surprising how Apollo’nius, who made no difficulty of coming from Greece to Rome, should think it hard to walk from one part of Rome 1 Nismes, anciently called Nemau'sus. Here are the remains of a Roman amphitheatre, and several other vestiges of its former magnificence. 2 A stoic philosopher is one who follows the sect of Zeno, holding all things indifferent, being void of passions, and destitute of mental feelings. This sect received its name from a Greek word, signifying a porch, because Zeno taught his disciples in a common porch of the city of Athens. to another;" and immediately sent Mar'cus Aurelius to him1. 16. While the good emperor was thus employed in making mankind happy, in directing their conduct by his own example, or reproving their follies by the keenness of rebuke, he was seized with a violent fever, and ordered his friends and principal officers to attend him. 17. In their presence he confirmed the adoption of Mar'cus Aurelius; then commanding the golden statue of Fortune, which was always in the chamber of the emperors, to be removed to that of his successor, he expired in the seventy-fourth year of his age, after a prosperous reign of twenty-two years and almost eight months2. 18. Marcus Aurelius, though left sole successor to the throne. took Lu'cius Ve'rus as his associate and U. C. equal, in governing the state. 19. Aurelius was the 914. son of An'nius Ve'rus, of an ancient and illustrious family, which claimed its origin from Nu'ma. Lu'cius Ve'rus was the son of Com'modus, who had been adopted by A'drian, but died before he succeeded to the throne. 20. Aurelius was as remarkable for his virtues and accomplishments, as his partner in the empire was for his ungovernable passions and debauched morals. The one was an example of the greatest goodness and wisdom; the other of ignorance, sloth, and extravagance*. 21. The two emperors were scarcely settled on the throne, when the empire was attacked on every side, from the barbarous nations by which it was surrounded'. The 1 Antoni'nus being made a model of wisdom and virtue, he was as much respected by foreigners as by his own people. 2 This emperor was remarkably favourable to the Christians, and wrote thus to his governors in Asia:-" If any one shall, for the future, molest the Christians, and accuse them merely on account of their religion, let the person who is arraigned be discharged, though he is found to be a Christian, and the accuser be punished according to the rigour of the law." 3 The only reproach that can be made against Aurelius is for having associated Verus in the empire, and suffered the Christians to be persecuted under his reign. 4 A little time previous to this invasion, a domestic calamity occurred |