haste to augment and extend the Roman power. It is of the history of this people that I am now undertaking to give some idea. To this end I shall produce only some select pieces of it, as I have done already in treating the history of the Greeks; and I shall chuse such as will best explain the character and spirit of the Roman people, and which present the greatest virtues and most excellent examples. I shall also add some reflections, to shew youth, in what manner they may make the best advantage of what they read. The first piece of this history shall treat of the foundation of the Roman empire by Romulus and Numa; the second of the expulsion of the kings, and the establishment of liberty; the third shall be much larger, though it takes in but the space of about fifty years, from the beginning of the second Punic war, to the defeat of Perseus king of Macedon, during which the greatest events in the Roman history happened; and the fourth and last shall be of the changing the Roman republic into a monarchy, foretold in a particular manner by Polybius in his history. THE FIRST PIECE OF THE ROMAN THE FOUNDATION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE BY WE find all the principles and foundations of the Roman greatness united in Romulus and Numa, the causes of its rise and continuance, the maxims of its policy, the rules of its government, the pe βύθιον τῆς εἰς τοσαύτην δύναμιν καὶ θεία δὲ πομπῇ καὶ πνεύματι τύχης αὔξησιν ὁρμῆς, ὁ χερσὶν ἀνθρώπων ἐπιταχυνομένης ἐπιδείκνυται τοῖς δςοὐδὲ ὁρμαῖς προχορήσαν ἡγεμονίαν, θῶς λογιζομένοις. Plut. de Fort. Rom. ὡς they were afterwards aisunguished with so much glory and success; and which took so deep root, that they survived without alteration, not only during the time of the kings and of the republic, but under the emperors, and even to the dissolution of the empire. THE FIRST CHARACTER OF THE ROMANS. Valour. One of the prevailing characters of the Romans was, that they were a warlike, enterprising, victorious people, devoting themselves entirely to the profession of arms, and preferring the glory arising from military expeditions, to every thing besides. Their founder Romulus seems to have inspired them with this disposition. This prince, brought up from his ing fancy to the laborious fatigues of hunting, and accus tomed to contend with robbers, obliged afterwards to defend the privileges of the asylum he had opened, and having no other subjects in his new kingdom, than a band of resolute, desperate, and savage fellows, who had no hopes of security for their persons but in force, and, having no possessions, were able to subsist only by the sword; this prince, I say, was wont to have always the sword in his hands, and passed his reign in successively inaking war upon the Sabines, the Fidenates, the Veians, and all the neighbouring people. He placed military courage in great honour, by the frequent victories he gained, and his own personal exploits. And the glory, with which he was twice seen to enter Rome, bearing a trophy at the head of his conquering troops, amidst a large train of captives, and the acclamations of all the people, gave the tru be which were introduced in efter sages, and were at the same time a most powerfulincentive to the ambition of the generals, and the high• est pitch of grandeur to which they could aspire. Romulus was no less careful to animate the courage of the common soldiers by rewards) and different military honours; than by the allurement of the conquered lands, which be divided among them, of ton damı 927 oui wirst no gomatadue on to 0901 - THE SECOND CHARACTERSOF THE ROMANSİÍ Prudent Measures taken for "Extending their Empire. lasovo modet 95godt bød Another great character of the Romans consists in the wise measures they always took for extending and aggrandizing their empire, whereof Romulus had set them an example. This prince, persuaded that the power of a state consisted in the multitude of its subjects, made use of two expedients for augmenting the number of his. made a of zovele molt botinebs 2751 The first was the moderate and prudent use he made of his victories and conquests. Instead of treating the vanquished as his enemies, according to the custom of other conquerors, by cutting them off, plundering them of their effects, reducing them to slavery, or forcing them, by the severity of the yoke imposed upon them, to hate the new government, he looked upon them all as his natural subjects, made them dive with him in Rome, communicated to thein all the pri vileges of the ancient citizens, adopted their feasts and sacrifices, left the way open for them indifferently to all civil and military employments; and by all thes advantages making the good of the state a commo interest, he attached them to it by such powerfub and voluntary ties, as they were never after tempted t break through a tw yhion bin of newis grow The Romans having always at heart a tacit presci ence of the grandeur to which they were destined punctually observed this maxim of profound and be neficial policy. We know it was usually the genera himself who had conoïered a city or a province, tha -The second expedient employed by Romulus, was not to disdain the admission of shepherds, slaves, and men of no substance or family, into the number of his subjects and citizens! >[m] He knew the beginnings of cities and states, as of all other human things, were weak and obscure, and that the founders of states had thence taken occasion to feign, that their first inhabitants were the offspring or sons of the earth He received therefore all fugitives into his asylum, whom the love of liberty, and prosecutions for debts, stor other reasons, obliged to seek a retreat. This -cfirst concession, joined to the feast of the Saturnalia, 9.which Numa afterwards instituted, in which the masters admitted their slaves to a share in the same entêrsitainments and lived with them in a state of perfect Sequality, inspired the Romans with greater mildness and good-nature towards their slaves, than any other republic whatsoever. Every citizen had the power, oby settingdiis slaves at liberty, of making them Roboman citizens like himself,y of granting thein the rank band all the privileges annexed to it, and of uniting ovthem to the state in solstrict and honourable a manimer that there was no instance of any freeman that did not prefer this new country to the place of his o'nativity and familyst go veg od telesofthose SodBysthese two expedients Rome was continually remonewed and strengthened. By the same means its losses were repaired, and the places of the ancient families, or extinct by the accidents of war, supplied; recruits were always found ready within itself to fill up the leogions; and subjećts capable of discharging every emJomash 9797 vadi doldw of ushogy qui to son* [m] Urbes quoque, ut cetera, tere suaarentium urbes, qui ex infimo deinde, quas sua atque Condienis virtus acdiv juvent, magnas sibido ad se multitudinem, natam è terrâ sibi prolem....ementiebantur : opes magnumque nomen facere ployment of peace and war; and when overcharged with too great numbers, it was enabled to send out numerous swarms to live at a distance, and to plant powerful colonies upon its frontiers, which served as bulwarks against the enemy, and secured the new conquests. By continually incorporating foreigners, and changing them into citizens and members of the state, it communicated to them its manners, maxims, spirit, noble sentiments, and zeal for the public; and by giving them a share in its power, advantages, and glory, it formed a constant flourishing state, equally sup ported and aggrandized from without and within. [n] The Romans always avoided the capital fault of Pericles, though otherwise one of the greatest politicians that ever Greece had, in declaring that none should be held as natural and true Athenians, but such as had both Athenian fathers and mothers. By this single decree, which excluded above one quarter of the citizens, he extremely weakened the commonwealth. He disabled it from making conquests, or maintaining them; and being obliged to rest satisfied with having the conquered towns for allies or tributaries, instead of uniting them to himself as members of the body of the state, and parts of the republic, according to the principles of the Romans, he soon saw them shake off their new yoke, and assert their liberty. [o] Dionysius Halicarnasseus justly looks upon the custom introduced by Romulus, of incorporating the conquered cities and nations into the state, as a most excellent maxin of policy, and what principally contributed to the establishment and support of the Roman grandeur. He observes, that it was the contempt or ignorance of this maxim, which ruined the power of Greece, disabled Sparta from recovering it [2] Plut. in Vit. Pericl. [ο] Κράπισον ἀπάντων πολιτευματων ὑπάρχον ὃ καὶ τῆς βεβαίε Ρωματοις ἐλευθερίας ήρχε, τῶν ἐπὶ τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἀναγόλων ἐκ ἐλακίστην μοι ραν παρέσχε. Dionys. Halic. Antiq. Rom. lib. 2. |