chief element which supported their existence. Tennyson characterizes their successes in the following lines :

"

"All the past of time reveals

A bridal dawn of thunder peals

Whenever Thought hath wedded Fact."

can make our

The lives of such men "remind us that we lives sublime" with similar attempts. They have left behind them such "foot-prints in the sands of time," that if we be shipwrecked on the waves of fortune, the mere sight of them would inspire us with redoubled courage, to struggle against the blows of fortune, and not passively to submit to them. God, the great father of light and good hath thus constituted man, hath endowed him with a never-dying hope and hath conferred on him such powers, that demand of him to exert them. He hath thus created man for action. He hath filled his mind with heavenward aspirations, with thoughts that soar up to infinite and can never be fettered below. As we are thus constituted, the examples of all the great men of antiquity and of modern times should excite us to engage in deeds whose renown shall be trumpetted forth through all the world and through all ages. They should teach us to rest wholly on our self-exertions and to despise all the external aids of fortune. They should inspire us with the same sentiments which animated the breasts of those Worthies. They should teach us not to despair amidst adverse circumstances; to create out of ourselves the moulds of our fortunes; and to follow exactly the same courses which they have trodden upon. The life of Napoleon should inspire every soldier to strenuous exertions. The life of Washington should inspire every man, whose country is oppressed by foreign powers, with pure patriotism and with honest indignation. The life of Yelhu Burhett should inspire every poor scholar with a hope that poverty and adverse circumstances are no serious impediments to the attainment of learning.

Nay-the very state of our existence should incite us to noblest deeds. We are placed here for trial. We must therefore set our hearts" on wishes just and wise." All the frivolous cares

and pursuits which fill up the void of the greater part of human

life should for ever be excluded from our minds. One indivi, dual care ought to be cherished-the advancement of the design and Glory of God. This ought to reign supremely over our minds. But we must not be satisfied with a passive love of goodness; our lives must not be spent with a mere inclination to advance the Designs of God. We must not be content with heavenward aspirations. We must put forth all our powers to

crown our wishes with acts. We must exert our whole soul, and must be resolved upon to gain the victory or nobly die."

This is the course which all the noblest principles of human nature seem to dictate to us. In this way only, we can make our lives "a perpetual growth of heavenward enterprises." Good deed and good actions, even if attempted and not crowned with success, show in the enterprises an element of heavenly longing. It shows that his soul glows with the noblest of all ambitions that can take possession of the breast. But if he can crown his thoughts with acts, his name is enrolled in the Book of Fame; and his renown surviving through all ages is emblazoned through all the world.

RADHA GOBIND Doss,

Hindu College, First Class.

Library Medal Examination.

Hindu College.

1. The countries over which Rome held her sway at the time of the establishment of the monarchy were the following:

Spain, which was then divided into the three provinces of Lusitania, Boetica and Tarraconensis;

Gaul, which besides the modern territory of France included within itself the dutchy of Savoy, the four electorates of the Rhine and the modern republic of Switzerland; Britain, together with Wales;

Italy, which did not then contain the extensive territory of Lombardy;

The Danube and Illyrian frontier, which comprehended the various provinces of Rhaetia, Noricum, Pannonia, Dalmatia, Maesia, Thrace, Macedonia and Greece; Syria, Phoenicia, Palestine and Asia Minor; Egypt, Cyrene, Africa (the territory of Carthage) and all the islands of the Medithrean.

The whole extent of the Empire comprehended the most desirable and fertile portion of the globe; it was bounded by the Atlantic Ocean on the West and the Euphrates on the East, the Rhine and Danube on the North and the deserts of Arabia and Africa on the South. The whole area was computed to be 1600,000 square miles.

The character of the Roman people, which had hitherto been remarkable for bravery and patriotism, underwent a most grie

vous change. In the same proportion as the sway of the Roman eagle extended, the national character of the Romans suffered. There was, at this period a moral degeneracy perceptible in every class and condition of the community. The senate, which was hitherto composed of the most venerable characters and had struck awe on all that beheld them, came to be filled up by the Equites whose attention was solely directed to their own interests, and many even of lower orders of society. The consulship which had hitherto been filled by men of the most unblemished character was occupied by persons who never hesitated for a moment to sacrifice the interests of the republic for those of their patrons or friends. The assemblies of the people which rewarded merits alone with dignities, were now strangely corrupted: they often consented to elect magistrates not as before for their pre-eminent talents and virtues but because they were men who could satisfy their cupidity. The Comitia at this age consisted of persons whose minds could easily be biassed by the offer of a large sum of money, and who craved for nothing but bread and amusements. The prætors and proconsuls who governed the conquered provinces were no longer restrained by the principles of law and justice, but freely gave a loose to their avarice and never hesitated to commit the most unlawful ravages in the countries entrusted to their charge. Thus it was that the zeal and attention of the whole political machinery which had hitherto been turned to the public good, in these degenerate times bent to the attainment of individual interests. The social and moral character of the nation kept pace with its political degeneracy. The warlike spirit of the ancient Romans no longer existed in the languid souls of their degenerate posterity, and the divine feeling of patriotism which characterised the nation was completely extinguished.

The Romans at this age were characterised by an excessive love of money and taste for sensual pleasures. All the refinements of masonry were imported from the oriental provinces, and every instrument of voluptuousness ministered to their pleasures. The hardy race of Romans were now changed to an effiminate and luxurious set of people. The Roman community was now composed of persons who rolled in affluence and luxury or who were in the most abject state of poverty. There was no industrious middle class among them, and it was for this reason that no manufactures were carried on at all. The nobility immersed themselves in pleasures, and the poorest class of the people was fed at their expense. The nation therefore sank under languor and idleness, and all their manly virtues were lost. A spirit of licentiousness and immorality pervaded them, and it was carried to such an excess even by the fair sex, that a state of

R

concubinage was universally preferred to that of legal matrimony. No attention was paid to decency even by the most urbane part of the populace, and Rome as it now became the favorite resort of most of the nations of the earth was the pool of corruption of all.

Answer Second.-After the assasination of Julius Cæsar in the year 44 (A. D.,) the senate was seized with consternation and amazement and all the members hied to their respective homes. The conspirators who were headed by Brutus and Cassius were afraid to find that their rash conduct was not approved. They were therefore obliged to take refuge for some time in the Capitol. Antony who was strongly intent to fill the place of the late dictator, bent all his thoughts and energies to turn this favourable opportunity to his own account. He immediately paid a visit to the wife of the great Cæsar and possessed himself of the private papers and treasures that were left behind. Brutus on the other hand attempted to appease the fury of the populous and made a speech to that effect in the forum. This however passed unheeded. When the senate was assembled in the temple of Tellus, it was at length decided after long discussion and mature deliberation that no further judicial enquiry should be made into the conduct of the conspirators, that all the regulations and acts passed by the late dictator should be held valid and that his remains should be honoured with funeral obsequies at the expense of the public.

When the corpse of Cæsar was brought into the forum, Antony delivered a speech in which he represented in glowing colours the great virtues of that personage and pointed to the wounds which bled on the mangled body. This produced great excitement in the breasts of all the audience. The body was cremenated in the forum without being allowed to be carried to the Campus martius as usual, and the populace vented their fury on the party of the conspirators as soon the obsequies were over. Antony now carried on his measures with all vigour and prudence. He committed the most outrageous tyrannies according as his pleasure and interest inclined him; and when any plausible reason of his mode of procedure was required he did not hesitate to show that it was nothing but the carrying out of some acts which the dictator left unpublished. It was appointed by Cæsar that Brutus should govern Macedonia and Cassius Syria. Antony however induced the senate to give over Macedonia to himself and Syria to Dolabella. It was also designed by Cæsar that D. Brutus should take charge of Cisalpine Gaul, and Antony was intent to keep that province to himself. There was another person, named Lepidus who was at the head of a large army that might intimidate both the conspirators and Antony himself.

After a short interval Octavianus the grand nephew of J. Cæsar who was appointed his successor, and had hitherto been at Apollonia, arrived. And the great contest between the three principal leaders namely, Antony Octavius and Lepidus was soon to be fought and decided. When Antony returned from Cisalpine Gaul after having vanquished Decimus, at Mutina Lepidus brought Octavinus and Antony to a conference at an island on the river Rhenus. Here it was that they entered into a private agreement and formed among themselves the second triumvirate, which was to continue for five years. Antony was to govern Gaul, Lepidus Spain, and Africa, Italy and Syria were to remain under the administration of Octavianus. Immediately after this, they formed a hideous plan to procure as they imagined general safety. They framed a list of proscription in which they set down the names of all their enemies. Antony gave up his own brother L. Cæsar, Lepidus gave his cousin Aemilius Paulus, and Octavinus urged the death of this great orator Cicero. The most horrid cruelties were then carried on, and within the space of a week, two thousand aequites and three hundred Senators were killed. The principal conspirators Brutus and Cassius who had fled to Asia and then to Greece, were discomfited by Antony and Octavius at the battles of Philippi in the year 42. And henceforth they felt themselves at liberty. Octavius had the art to set aside the ambitious views of Lepidus by giving him the office of Pontifex Maximus. He had the fortune, soon after to get over his other rival, Marc Antony, by the victory he obtained over him at the battle of Actium in the year 31 (thirty-one). From this era commences the monarchical form of government established under the auspices of Augustus, the name afterwards given to Octavius.

Octavius was a wise statesman and mild ruler. He was characterized by uncommon sagacity and habitual hypocrisy. Antony was a man of immense ambition but he had no energy of character nor strength of purpose.

Answer Third-After the battle of Actium, the whole power of the Roman State was in the hands of Augustus. The first thing to which he turned his attention was the reformation of the senate. He found it in a very degrading condition and composed of an immense number of worthless members. As he was appointed the censor, he excluded many against whom he might raise the objection of immoral conduct, others he advised to withdraw themselves, and it was thus that he reduced the numbers to 600. He also enjoined that the senate shall have only two instead of three sessions every month. As Augustus was desirous to acquire sovereign power and still keep the forms of republicanism, he attached to himself the whole executive power