than those they had lost.

The emperor Claudius, in an excellent discourse he made to the senate, to justify his having granted the privileges of Roman citizens to the people of Gaul, has judiciously observed, [p] that what ruined the republics of Lacedæmon and Athens, was the extreme difference they made between their own citizens and the conquered states, treating the last always as foreigners, keeping them always distinct from the community, and thereby preventing them from having any concern in the good of the public; whereas the founder of Rome, by a far more profound policy, incorporated the people he conquered into the number of his citizens, and, on the very day he had fought against them as enemies, received them as members of the state, admitted them to all the privileges of natural subjects, and engaged them out of interest to defend the very city which they had lately attacked.

It was principally by this means, as we have already observed, that the largest empire that ever was, made up a body, whose parts were all united far more by affection than fear. The Romans had colonies in all countries, and the people of all the provinces were admitted to share in the government of the state, without almost any difference between them and the conquerors. [9] The two Gauls were filled with consular families. The civil and military employments were

[P] Quid aliud exitio Lacedæ, moniis & Atheniensibus fuit, quanquam armis pollerent, nisi quòd victos pro alienigenis arcebant? At conditor noster Romulus tantum sapientia valuit, ut plerosque populos eodem die hostes, dein cives habuerit. Tacit. Annal. lib. 11. c. 24.

[7] Cetera in communi sita sunt :

man armies, to the citizens of Treves and Langres) Ipsi plerumque legionibus nostris præsidetis: ipsi has aliasque provincias regitis. Nihil separatum, clausumve." Proinde pacem & urbem, quam victi victoresque eodem jure obtinemus, amate, colite. Tacit. Hist. lib. 4. cap. 74.

alike supplied by Romans and the natives of the country. St. Augustine somewhere observes, that at Carthage it was hard to distinguish between the free and the conquered, her citizens and those of Rome having all things so much in common, and the government so equally shared between them both. - This principle of policy, so constantly observed by the Romans in all ages, is very worthy our attention, and may be of great use to us. Haughtiness and seve rity serve only to keep up a dangerous division, which will break out upon the first occasion. Good treatment on the contrary makes a conqueror beloved, gains the affections of the new government, obliterates ancient grudges; and as a conquered people serve generally as a frontier, their fidelity becomes à firmer and surer barrier than all bulwarks whatsoever. pagod sa‡ 6.

To prs wobrau nila THE THIRD CHARACTER OF TH ROMANS,

The wise Deliberations in the Senate. d

The third character is the wisdom of the senate, which began under Romulus to assume a fixed and settled form. [r] The senate was the public council of the nation, always subsisting, not composed of arbitrary members, but made up of persons chosen out of the most considerable families. The senators, interested by their fortunes and dignities in the success of the government, and capable of governing wisely through their age and experience, held the balance even, between the sovereign authority of the prince, and the weakness of the people, and supplied a number of magistrates, well formed and prepared for the

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[r] Majores nostri, cum regum potestatem non tulissent, ita magistratus annuos creaverunt, ut consilium Senatus reipublicæ præponerent sempiternum: deligerentur autem in id consilium ab universo populo aditusque in illum summum ordinem omnium civium industriæ aç virtuti pateret. Senatum reip.

custodem, præsidem, propugnato rem collocaverunt. Hujus ordini auctoritate uti magistratus & quas ministros gravissimi consilii ess voluerunt: Senatum autem ipsum proximorum ordinum splendor confirmari, plebis libertatem & commoda tueri atque augere volue runt. Cic. Orat. pro Sext. n. 137

OF PROFANE HISTORY..

greatest employments by an excellent education, and
replete with knowledge and sentiments superior to the
vulgar. They were called Fathers, Patres, that on
the one side they might remember they were placed
in a high station, and held a rank of distinction, in
order to their being the protectors of the people,
whose advantage they ought to procure with the vi-
gilance, zeal, and the disinterestedness of a parent ;
and, on the other hand, that the people might be re-
minded of the respect and affection they were obliged
to bear them, and the confidence they ought to have
in their counsel, credit and protection.

1

This senate was in all after-ages the firmest support,
the principal strength, and greatest refuge of the state,
even under the emperors. We all know the famous
speech of Cineas, whom Pyrrhus sent on an embassy
to the Romans. Upon his return he told his master,
the grandeur and majesty of the Roman senate was
such, [s] that they seemed to him like an assembly of
kings. [] The glory and duration of the empire
(says the emperor Otho upon occasion of an insurrec-
tion, wherein he was apprehensive for the senate) does
not lie in buildings nor in outward magnificence,
Whatever is but material is a trifle; it may be de-
stroyed and repaired, without any essential alteration.
But to strike at the authority of the senate, is to attack
the being of the state, and the safety of the prince.
bshall have occasion to speak of the senate in ano-
ther place, when I shall more particularly enquire
into the form of government established in the Ro-
man republic, froid & pane (V
muge beilguuA D ́AR

ex

con

lapidum stare creditis? rus verams Muta ista & inanima intercidere ac

Romani senatûs cepit. Liv. lib. 9.

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reparari promiscua sunt: æternitas
rerum, & pax gentium, & mea cum
vestra salus, incolumitate senatus
firmatur. Tacit. Hist. lib. 1. c. 84.
2014 A

ན་བཏང་ སོ ཞེན

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THE FOURTH CHARACTER.

The strict Union of all Parts of the State.

The Roman people were at first no other but a confused multitude, made up of the tumultuous and accidental union of several persons, of different charaeters and interest, inclinations and professions, and full of jealousies and animosities. To put an end to this diversity, so prejudicial to the solid establishment of the state, Romulus began with dividing his citizens into tribes and legions. [u] And Numa afterwards, striking more deeply at the root of the evil, assembled all of the same trade and business, and formed them into companies, by assigning them peculiar festivals and ceremonies, that by these new engagements of religion and pleasure, they might be induced to forget the difference of their ancient original..

སཏྠཱ

[] But nothing contributedso much to the settling a perfect concord in this infant state, as the right of patronage established by Romulus; because by thus joining the patricians with the plebeians, the rich with the poor, in very strict and sacred ties, he seemed to make but one family of the whole people. The first were called patrons or protectors, and the others clients. The patrons were engaged by their very name to protect their clients upon all occasions, as a father does his children to assist them with their advice, their interest, and their care; to manage and carry on their suits, if they had any; in a word, to do all kind of good offices for them. The clients, on the other hand, paid the utmost honours to their patrons, respected them as second fathers, contributed out of their substance to the portions of their daughters in case they were poor, to redeem their children if taken captive by the enemy, and to subsist themselves if fallen under any disgrace. We have already observed, that in the later ages, not only particular persons, but [u] Plut. in Vit. Num.

[x] Dionys. Halicarn. Antiq. Rom.

OF PROFANE HISTORY.

whole cities and provinces, were put under the pro-
tection of the great men of Rome.

This union of the citizens, as Dionysius Halicar-
nasseus observes, thus formed from the beginning,
and carefully cemented by Romulus, was afterwards
so firmly established, that for above six hundred
years, though the republic was continually torn by
the intestine divisions which subsisted so long between
the senate and the people, they never came to an open
rupture, or engaged in a civil war; [y] but their
disputes, how warm and violent soever, were always
amicably compromised, upon the remonstrances made
on both sides; each party mutually complying with
the other, and making some abatements of their rights
or pretensions.

THE FIFTH CHARACTER.

· Love of Simplicity, Frugality, Poverty, Labour,
and Agriculture.

.

One of Numa's first cares, after he came to the crown, was to inspire his new subjects with the love of that labour, simplicity, and poverty, which were so long practised and esteemed among the Romans. The manner of his advancement to the throne gave him a right to recommend all these virtues strongly to his citizens.

[] Numa generally resided at Cures, his native
city, and the capital of the Sabines, from whence the
Romans, after their union with that nation, were
called Quirites. He was naturally inclined to virtue,
and had besides improved his mind by the study of
all the sciences that were known in his age, and espe-
cially philosophy, which had a great share in his
whole conduct. His delight was the country and
solitude, and there he employed himself in tilling the
ground, and studying the wonders of Divine Power
in the works of nature,

* [2] Πείθοντες και διδάσκοντες ἀλλή- ο ἔντο τὰς τῶν ἐγκλημάτων διαλύσεις.
λες, καὶ τὰ μὲν εἴκονίες, τὰ δὲ παρ' Dion. Hal. lib. 2.

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