dering them favourable. Did they obtain a victory, or any advantage, they presently ordered public thanksgivings, sacrifices, and festivals, and the concourse of people in all the temples was incredible. [%] Hannibal was scarce set out upon his return into Africa, but they blamed themselves for their delay in returning thanks to the gods, for a benefit so long expected, and so little hoped for. [a] It was a prevailing principle among them, that piety towards the gods was the cause of all their good success, as the neglect of their worship brought upon them all their misfortunes. Hence it came to pass, says [b] Polybius, that the Romans, in any pressing necessity, so diligently applied themselves to gain the favour of gods and men, and that in all the ceremonies of religion, which such sort of conjunctures required, there was nothing mean or unworthy their grandeur to be found. [c] And in another place he observes, that what raised the Roman people to such a degree of superiority above all other nations, was their respect for religion and fear of the gods, though in other places it was often treated as the sign of a mean and narrow spirit. Among the Greeks, adds he, let them take what pains they please, to tie up the hands of those who are entrusted with the public money, by a thousand precautions of signatures, witnesses, securities, and overseers; it is all insufficient to keep them honest; whereas, among the Romans, the religion of an oath only keeps their hands clean in the management of far more considerable sums; nothing being more rare at Rome, than to have a general or a governor convicted of embezzling the public treasure. 8. The Love of Glory. I shall conclude with this article, because the disposition I am now speaking of, was the soul of all the [2] Liv. lib. xxx. n. 21. [a] Intuemini horum deinceps annorum vel secundas res vel adversas, invenietis omnia prosperè VOL. III. evenisse sequentibus deos, adversa M actions actions of the Romans. [d] St, Augustin makes this reflection in several places, and observes that this passion, I mean the thirst of glory, extinguished in them every other passion; that all their most beautiful and glorious actions, which have gained them the admiration of all people and all ages, were entirely owing to this. The desire of being esteemed and commended as defenders and protectors of liberty, justice aad laws, and as enemies of injustice, violence, and tyranny; this desire, I say, was a kind of curb, which restrained and moderated their ambition, and inspired them with those sentiments of goodness, clemency, and generosity, with the simple relation of which we are still charmed after so many ages. Was ever any day more glorious to the Roman empire, than when by her order liberty was restored to all the states of Greece, and the edict for it published amidst the joyful acclamations and applauses of so many people? How great an encomium was that then heard through all Greece, the sound of which soon after passed through the whole universe, [e] that there was a nation upon earth, which scrupled not to take upon itself the expences, fatigues and dangers of long and laborious wars, to procure the liberty of nations remote from their country; and which crossed the seas to prevent there being an unjust government or empire in any part of the world, and to establish justice, equity, and laws universally? Upon these motives the Romans acted in the flou. rishing ages of the republic. It was this spirit which animated their consuls and their generals. [f] They aspired to rule, but by the methods of honour and glory; and to this end they strictly observed justice and the laws; whereas, in after-ages, ambition being no longer kept in, nor moderated by this restraint, it [d] De civ. Dei, lib. v. c. 12. [e] Esse aliquain in terris gentem, quæ suâ impensâ, suo labore ac periculo, bella gerat pro libertate aliorum, nec hoc finitimis aut propinquæ vicinitatis hominibus, aut terris continenti junctis præstet; maria trajiciat, ne quid toto orbe terrarum injustum imperium sit, & ubique jus, fas, lex potentissima sint. Liv. lib. xxxiii. n. 33. [] Sallust. in Bello Catilin. acted acted the last excesses of injustice, violence, and cruelty, as may be seen under Marius, Sylla, Cæsar, and Anthony. In the history of the Maccabees, [g] we have a particular account of the virtues, by which the Romans raised their republic to that height of glory and power to which it attained. Their counsel and wisdom are particularly commended. Their unity to promote the public good, their particular disinterestedness, their obedience to the laws and lawful authority, their faith in treaties, their patience in labour, their constancy in their resolutions, their courage and valour, and, above all, their love of equality, and freedom from all ambition: these virtues, although defective in their end and motives, as they were not referred to God, but to vain glory, were notwithstanding very valuable in themselves, with respect to the rules and duties of civil society. I cannot better conclude this article, than with the solid reflection of St. Augustin, [h] upon the causes of the Roman power. (" Though they were void," says he, "of true piety, which consists in the sincere wor"ship of the true God; they observed notwithstand"ing certain rules of probity and justice, which are "the foundation of a state, contribute to its increase, "and serve to establish it. And it pleased God to grant them an incredible success, to shew, by the example of so great and powerful an empire, how "useful civil and political virtues are, though sepa "rate from true religion; and to let other men thereby see how valuable they become, when exalted ❝and ennobled by true religion, and in what manner they may thereby become citizens of another country, where truth is king, charity the law, and whose "duration is eternity. Cujus rer veritas, cujus lex "caritas, cujus modus æternitas." [g] Maccab. lib. i. c. 8. [h] S. Aug. ep. 138. ad Marcel. c. 3. M 2 THE THE FOURTH PIECE OF ROMAN HISTORY. THE CHANGE OF THE ROMAN REPUBLIC INTO A MONARCHY, FORETOLD AND OBSERVED BY THE HISTORIAN POLYBIUS, IN THE SIXTH BOOK OF HIS HISTORY. I SHALL divide what I have to say upon this subject into two parts. In the first I shall give a short account of the principles which Polybius lays down upon the different sorts of government, and on which he formed conjectures that foretold the change which was to happen to the Roman republic. In the second I shall explain, as briefly as I can, how this change actually came to pass, after the manner, and for the reasons which Polybius had expressed. I think myself obliged to inform my readers, in the beginning of this little dissertation, that when I speak of the different sorts of government, and the judgment to be formed of them, I only relate the sentiments of Polybius. For my own part, I adhere to the decision which is found in [i] Herodotus, where the monarchial state is preferred to the other two. СНАР. I. THE PRINCIPLES OF POLYBIUS UPON THE DIFFERENT SORTS OF GOVERNMENT, AND PARTICULARLY THAT OF THE ROMANS. THE different sorts of government are generally re= duced to three kinds; one where the king governs, which Polybius calls Basielay, regal government; another in which the nobility have the supreme authority, which is called an aristocracy; and a third which is called a democracy, where the whole power of the state is vested in the people. Every one of these forms of government has another which very much resembles it, borders upon it, and into which it often degenerates, whereof mention shall be made hereafter. [] Herod. lib. iii. c. 80. A per A perfect government would be that which would unite in itself all the advantages of the three former, and avoid the dangers and inconveniences they include. Such was the government of Sparta. Lycurgus, being sensible that the three forms of government we have mentioned had each of them great inconveniences which were almost inevitable, that royalty sometimes degenerated into tyranny and arbitrary power; aristocracy into an unjust dominion of some particular persons, and the power of the people into anarchy and confusion. Lycurgus, I say, contrived to introduce these three forms of government into that of Sparta, and in a manner blend them into one; insomuch that the royal authority was balanced by the power of the people, and a third order composed of the elders and wise men of the republic, served as a counterpoise to the two former, to hold them constantly in a kind of equilibrium, and hinder the one from rising too much above the other. This wise legislator was not mistaken in his views; and no republic ever preserved its laws, its customs, and its liberty, so long as that of Sparta. The institutions of Lycurgus, indeed, were by no means proper for a state determined upon conquests and aggrandizing itself, which therefore did not enter at all into his scheme or design, as this wise legislator did not place the solid happiness of a people in it. It was his intention that the Spartans, confining themselves within the natural bounds of their country, without any thoughts of invading the territories of another, should, by their justice and moderation, still more than by their power, become the masters and arbiters of the fate of all the other people of Greece, which, in his opinion, was no less glorious than to carry the success of their arms abroad. Nor did they fall from their glory, till they departed from these wise views of their legislator. For, when they were obliged to furnish provisions out of their own territories, to fit out fleets, pay seamen, and defray the expences of a long war, their iron money was no longer |