" and possessed the citizens with such a sense of religion, that a word or an oath had no less weight "and authority at Rome than the fear of the laws, "and punishment. Nor did the Romans only assume "the character and peaceable disposition of Numa, "in forming themselves upon the example of their king, as by a perfect model; but the neighbouring "nations, who before had looked upon Rome less as "a city than a camp, designed to disturb the peace of "all other people, conceived so high a veneration for "the prince and his subjects, that they would have thought it criminal, and in a manner sacrilegious, "to have attacked a city so entirely devoted to the "worship and service of the gods."

In my entrance upon the Roman history, I thought it necessary to give first some idea of this famous people, whose principal characters, which rendered them so illustrious, and raised them to so great a superiority above all other people, are people, are so happily united in Romulus and Numa, the two founders of their empire. We hereby see, of what consequence the first impressions are, not only with regard to private persons, but to whole nations; for it is evident that these eminent virtues, which prevailed in the infancy of Rome, and were continually improving and increasing in after-ages, were the occasion of her conquests, and gained her the empire of the world. For, as [m] Dionysius Halicarnasseus judiciously observes, it is an immutable law, and founded in nature itself, that whoever are superior in merit, become so likewise in power and authority; and that the people who excel most in virtue and fortitude, sooner or later will have the command over those who have less.

[m] Φύσεως γὰρ δὴ νόμος ἅπασι κοινος, ὃν ἐδεὶς ἀναλύσει χρόν©· ἄρχειν ἀεὶ τῶν

ἡτόνων τὰς κρείττονας. Dion. Hal. lib. 1. Ant. Rom.

THE

THE SECOND PIECE OF ROMAN HISTORY.

THE EXPULSION OF THE KINGS, AND ESTABLISHMENT OF LIBERTY.

THE epocha of the expulsion of the kings, and the establishment of the liberty of Rome, is too considerable to be slightly passed over. This memorable event is the basis of the most famous republic that ever was; it is the source of its prosperity, and of every thing great and wonderful admired in it. From thence the Roman people farther contracted two singular branches of their character; the one, an irreconcileable abhorrence of regal power, and whatever bore the least appearance of it; and the other, a violent passion for their liberty, of which they were at all times extremely jealous, almost to an excess. The reciprocal moderation observed by the senate and people, is a third circumstance which well deserves our observation.

CHARACTER THE FIRST.

Hatred of the royal Dignity.

Several circumstances and motives concurred to occasion and confirm the implacable hatred they bore to regal power.

1. The discontent and aversion which the people of Rome had long conceived, against the violence and tyrannical government of the Tarquins, at last broke out upon occasion of the injury offered to Lucretia, and the fatal manner in which she revenged the prince's crime upon herself, by killing herself with her own hands.

2. These dispositions were considerably improved by the astonishing resolution of Brutus the consul, who caused his own sons to be beheaded in his presence, for having entered into a conspiracy to restore the kings. The blood of two sons, spilt by their own father, to the dread and astonishment of all that beheld

it,

it, gave them a lively sense how dreadful a calamity it must be to live under the yoke of the Tarquins, as it cost so dear to redeem them from it. This bloody execution, and the tragical death of Lucretia, which were alike horrible to nature, impressed in all their minds so strong an aversion to regal power, that even in after-ages they could not bear so much as the shadow of it; but thought, that after the example of their ancestors, they ought to sacrifice whatever was most dear to them, and expose themselves to the utmost hazards, rather than suffer an evil, which from their infancy they were taught to consider as the greatest and most insupportable of all that could befal them.

3. By abandoning the king's treasures to be plundered by the people, pulling down his palaces in town and country, devoting his fields near Rome to Mars, to make the restitution of them impossible, throwing the corn upon his lands into the Tyber, they made the rupture absolutely irreconcileable; and the whole people, who had shared in the insult and pillage, were sensible their only safety lay in an inflexible resistance.

4. The sanguine obstinacy of the Tarquins, in fatiguing the Romans with a long and severe war, and in stirring up all their neighbours against them, laid them under an absolute necessity of defending themselves to the utmost. Their repeated engagements, frequent battles, and the death of one of their consuls, who was killed in the field with the most considerable of the citizens, kept up and inflamed their animosity, and made the fear and hatred of the royal authority grow into an habit. One may judge of the abhorrence they had for it from the beginning, by the answer they gave to the embassadors of king Porsenna, who earnestly solicited the restoration of the Tarquins. [n] They declared they were rather disposed to open their gates to the enemy than the kings, and would

[n] Ita induxisse in animum, hostibus potiùs quam regibus portas patefacere: eam esse voluntatem

onnium, ut qui libertati erit in illâ urbe finis, idem urbi sit. Liv. lib. 2. n. 15.

sooner

sooner chuse to lose their city, than they would their liberty.

5. The law, which, to prevent any one from attempting to make himself master of the republic, empowered all others to kill him before he was juridically condemned, provided that after his death they could produce an evident proof of his having entertained any such design, seemed to arm every citizen indifferently against the common enemy, to constitute every private man a guardian of the public liberty, and to make him responsible for its preservation.

6. The heroic valour of Horatius Cocles, with the extraordinary rewards and honours he received, for singly opposing on the bridge the auxiliary forces of the Tarquins; the intrepid boldness of Scævola, who punished his hand for having failed of his blow; the courage of Cloelia and her companions; the triumphs decreed to Publicola and his brother Marcus, upon account of the victories gained over the kings; the funeral oration and solemn honours paid to Brutus, as to the father of liberty, and afterwards to Publicola in acknowledgment of his constant love for the republic; all these objects still contributed to inflame their zeal for liberty, and hatred of tyranny; and as these great examples excited the admiration of all mankind, they inspired them with an ardent desire to imitate them.

7. [o] The solemn oath that the people took at the altars, in their own name, and the name of all their posterity, that they never would, upon any pretext whatsoever, suffer the re-establishment of the regal power, was in all after-ages as present to the people's minds, as if they had but lately thrown off the yoke of a severe and shameful slavery.

This aversion, cemented with so much blood, and supported by such powerful motives, was handed down from age to age, not only whilst the republic subsisted, but under the emperors also, and could not

[o] Omnium primùm avidum novæ libertatis populum, ne postmodum flecti precibus aut donis re

giis posset, jurejurando adegit (Brutus) neminem Romæ passuros regnare, Liv. lib. 2. n. 1.

be

be extinguished but with the empire. [p] The attempt of Manilius, in aspiring to the crown, blotted out the remembrance of all his great actions, and occasioned his being thrown down without pity, from the summit of that very rock which he had regained from the hand of the enemies. Nothing hastened more the death of Cæsar, than the suspicion he had raised, that he designed to have himself declared king. His successors, besides the tribunitian power, took the titles of Cæsar, Augustus, Chief Pontiff, Proconsul, Emperor, Father of their country; but neither their own ambition, nor the flattery of the people ever presumed to go farther, or speak out plain. And though they were in possession of as absolute power as any king on earth; though some of them, as Caligula, Nero, Domitian, Commodus, Caracalla, and Heliogabalus, carried the abuse of sovereign power so far, as to exercise the most cruel tyranny; yet none of them ever ventured to assume the diadem, as it was judged the mark of a title, which had something too odious in it for eight or ten centuries to efface; and what is strange, and almost incredible, whilst their impious religion permitted them to set up for gods, a more reserved policy forbade them to pretend to be kings.

CHARACTER THE SECOND.

An excessive Love of Liberty, and a diligent Application to extend its Rights.

The whole body of the Roman republic consisted of two orders, which had each their particular magistrates, as well as their different interests, and were always opposite to each other. The one was called the Senate, and was the head and council of the state; the other was the common people, called in Latin plebs or

[p] Damnatum tribuni de saxo Tarpeio dejecerunt: locusque idem in uno homine & eximiæ gloriæ monumentum, & pœnæ ultimæ

fuit. ... Ut sciant homines quæ quanta decora fœda cupiditas regni, non ingrata solùm, sed invisa etiam reddideret. Liv. lib. 6. n. 20.

plebes,