concert with his faithful Agrippa, he examined the list of the senators, expelled a few members, whose vices or whose obstinacy required a public example,* persuaded near two hundred to prevent the shame of an expulsion by a voluntary retreat, raised the qualification of a senator to about 10,000l., created a sufficient number of patrician families, and accepted for himself the honourable title of Prince of the Senate,t which had always been bestowed, by the censors, on the citizen the most eminent for his honours and services. But whilst he thus restored the dignity, he destroyed the independence, of the senate. The principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive.§

Before an assembly thus modelled and prepared, Augustus pronounced a studied oration, which displayed his patriotism, and disguised his ambition. "He lamented, yet excused, his past conduct. Filial piety had required at his hands the revenge of his father's murder; the humanity of his own nature had sometimes given way to the stern laws of neces

* [Suetonius and Dion Cassius know nothing of these. At the first hint from Augustus, fifty withdrew voluntarily, and a hundred and forty more followed reluctantly. These nearly make up the two hundred mentioned by Gibbon.-WENCK.] [Princeps Senatus.

This title conferred no real power, but was an honourable distinction. Since its assumption by Augustus, the word princeps has been used to denote supreme authority, and in a gradually more extended sense, has been adopted from the Latin into modern languages.-WENCK.] [It obtained this meaning at an early period, for Horace (lib. 4, Carm. 14) thus addressed Augustus:

O qua sol habitabiles
Illustrat oras, maxime principum !

In the first ode of the second book, supposed to have been written ten years sooner, it seems to have a narrower range in ". principum amicitias."-ED.] Dion Cassius, 1. 53, p. 693. Suetonius in August. c. 35. § [Augustus, who had at that time only the name of Octavius, had been appointed to the office of censor, which, by the republican constitution, empowered him to reform the senate, expel unworthy members, appoint the "princeps senatus," &c.; this was called "senatum legere." In the time of the Republic it was not unusual for a censor to name himself "chief of the senate." (See Livy, lib. 27, 1. 11, and lib. 40, 1. 51.) Dion Cassius affirms that this accorded with ancient usage (p. 496). The admission of a certain number of families into the order of patricians was authorized by an express decree of the senate, or senatus consultus. Bovλñs έπirpe¥áons are words of Dion. But it must be remembered that the senators were not the "legislative power."-WENCK.]

sity, and to a forced connexion with two unworthy colleagues as long as Antony lived, the republic forbade him. to abandon her to a degenerate Roman, and a barbarian queen. He was now at liberty to satisfy his duty and his inclination. He solemnly restored the senate and people to all their ancient rights; and wished only to mingle with the crowd of his fellow-citizens, and to share the blessings which he had obtained for his country."*

It would require the pen of Tacitus (if Tacitus had assisted at this assembly) to describe the various emotions of the senate; those that were suppressed, and those that were affected. It was dangerous to trust the sincerity of Augustus; to seem to distrust it was still more dangerous. The respective advantages of monarchy and a republic have often divided speculative inquirers; the present greatness of the Roman state, the corruption of manners, and the licence of the soldiers, supplied new arguments to the advocates of monarchy; and these general views of government were again warped by the hopes and fears of each individual. Amidst this confusion of sentiments, the answer of the senate was unanimous and decisive. They refused to accept the resignation of Augustus; they conjured him not to desert the republic which he had saved. After a decent resistance, the crafty tyrant submitted to the orders of the senate, and consented to receive the government of the provinces, and the general command of the Roman armies, under the well-known names of proconsul and imperator.+ But he would receive them only for ten years. Even before the expiration of that period, he hoped that the wounds of civil discord would be completely healed, and that the republic, restored to its pristine health and vigour, would no longer require the dangerous interposition of so extraordi- f nary a magistrate. The memory of this comedy, repeated several times during the life of Augustus, was preserved to the last ages of the empire, by the peculiar pomp with which

* Dion (1. 53, p. 698) gives us a prolix and bombast speech on this great occasion. I have borrowed from Suetonius and Tacitus the general language of Augustus. +Imperator (from which we have derived emperor) signified, under the republic, no more than general, and was emphatically bestowed by the soldiers, when on the field of battle they proclaimed their victorious leader worthy of that title. When the Roman emperors assumed it in that sense, they placed it after their name, and marked how often they had taken it.

VOL. I.

G

the perpetual monarchs of Rome always solemnized the tenth years of their reign.*

Without any violation of the principles of the constitution, the general of the Roman armies might receive and exercise an authority almost despotic over the soldiers, the enemies, and the subjects, of the republic. With regard to the soldiers, the jealousy of freedom had, even from the earliest ages of Rome, given way to the hopes of conquest, and a just sense of military discipline. The dictator, or consul, had a right to command the service of the Roman youth; and to punish an obstinate or cowardly disobedience by the most severe and ignominious penalties, by striking the offender out of the list of citizens, by confiscating his property, and by selling his person into slavery.† The most sacred rights of freedom, confirmed by the Porcian and Sempronian laws, were suspended by the military engagement. In his camp the general exercised an absolute power of life and death; his jurisdiction was not confined by any forms of trial, or rules of proceeding; and the execution of the sentence was immediate, and without appeal.‡ The choice of the enemies of Rome was regularly decided by the legislative authority. The most important resolutions of peace and war were seriously debated in the senate, and solemnly ratified by the people. But when the arms of the legions were carried to a great distance from Italy, the generals assumed the liberty of directing them against whatever people, and in whatever manner, they judged most advantageous for the public service. It was from the success, not from the justice, of their enterprises, that they expected the honours of a triumph. In the use of victory, especially after they were no longer controlled by the commissioners of the senate, they exercised the most unbounded despotism. When Pompey commanded in the east, he rewarded his soldiers and allies, dethroned princes, divided kingdoms, founded colonies, and distributed the treasures of Mithridates. On his return to Rome, he obtained by a

* Dion. 1. 53, p. 703, &c. Livy Epitom. 1. 14. Valer. Maxim. 6, 3. See in the eighth book of Livy the conduct of Manlius Torquatus and Papirius Cursor. They violated the laws of nature and humanity, but they asserted those of military discipline; and the people, who abhorred the action, was obliged to respect the principle.

&

single act of the senate and people, the universal ratification of all his proceedings.* Such was the power over the soldiers, and over the enemies of Rome, which was either granted to, or assumed by, the generals of the republic. They were, at the same time, the governors, or rather monarchs, of the conquered provinces, united the civil with the military character, administered justice as well as the finances, and exercised both the executive and legislative power of the state.†

From what has been already observed in the first chapter of this work, some notion may be formed of the armies and provinces thus intrusted to the ruling hand of Augustus. But as it was impossible that he could personally cominand the legions of so many distant frontiers, he was indulged by the senate, as Pompey had already been, in the permission of devolving the execution of his great office on à sufficient number of lieutenants. In rank and authority these officers seemed not inferior to the ancient proconsuls; but their station was dependent and precarious. They received and held their commissions at the will of a superior, to whose auspicious influence the merit of their actions was legally

* By the lavish, but unconstrained, suffrages of the people, Pompey had obtained a military command scarcely inferior to that of Augustus. Among the extraordinary acts of power executed by the former, we may remark the foundation of twenty-nine cities, and the distribution of 3,000,000l. or 4,000,000l. sterling to his troops. The ratification of his acts met with some opposition and delays in the senate. See Plutarch, Appian, Dion Cassius, and the first book of the epistles to Atticus. [Our author has much over-stated the power of the imperator, in the days of the republic. He could not, of his own accord, either engage in war or conclude a treaty of peace; nor without the concurrence of the ten senatorial delegates, could he settle the administration of conquered lands. What was done by Pompey and Cæsar affords neither rule nor proof. In the first place, a peculiar and before unheard-of authority had been expressly committed to Pompey, by that pernicious Manilian law, which Cicero so unwisely advocated. He afterwards arrogated more to himself than was even then granted. The ratification of his acts, therefore, not only met with some opposition, as Gibbon says, but could only be obtained by that coalition with Crassus and Cæsar, which destroyed for ever the freedom of Rome. Under the title of imperator, the emperors obtained a power that was unknown to the free republic. They acquired by it an unlimited command over the whole military force, the right of making peace and war, and the power of life and death over all the citizens, even of Rome itself. After he had rendered himself absolute master of the state, Cæsar obtained all this authority, with the dignity

attributed. They were the representatives of the emperor. The emperor alone was the general of the republic, and his jurisdiction, civil as well as military, extended over all the conquests of Rome. It was some satisíaction, however, to the senate, that he always delegated his power to the members of their body. The imperial lieutenants were of consular or prætorian dignity; the legions were commanded by senators; and the præfecture of Egypt was the only important trust committed to a Roman knight.

Within six days after Augustus had been compelled to accept so very liberal a grant, he resolved to gratify the pride of the senate by an easy sacrifice. He represented to them, that they had enlarged his powers, even beyond that degree which might be required by the melancholy condition of the times. They had not permitted him to refuse the laborious command of the armies and the frontiers; but he must insist on being allowed to restore the more peaceful and secure provinces to the mild administration of the civil magistrate. In the division of the provinces, Augustus provided for his own power, and for the dignity of the republic. The proconsuls of the senate, particularly those of Asia, Greece, and Africa, enjoyed a more honourable character than the lieutenants of the emperor, who commanded in Gaul or Syria. The former were attended by lictors, the the latter by soldiers.† A law was passed, that wherever the

of dictator, and it was even made hereditary. See Dion Cassius, lib. 43, c. 44, p. 371; lib. 53, c. 17, p. 711.)-WENCK.] * Under the com

monwealth, a triumph could only be claimed by the general, who was authorized to take the auspices in the name of the people. By an exact consequence, drawn from this principle of policy and religion, the triumph was reserved to the emperor; and his most successful lieutenants were satisfied with some marks of distinction, which, under the name of triumphal honours, were invented in their favour.

[This distinction is not correct. The lieutenants of the emperor, under the name of pro-prætors, whether they had been prætors or consuls, were attended by six lictors; those who were intrusted with the power of the sword wore a military dress (paludamentum) and a sword. The governors appointed by the senate, if they had previously served the office of consul, had twelve lictors; but not more than six, when they had been only prætors. They were all styled proconsuls. The provinces of Africa and Asia were never given to any but ex-consuls. Detailed accounts of the organization of the provinces are furnished by Dion Cassius (lib. 53, c. 12-16), and Strabo (lib. 17, p. 840). Consult the Greek text of the latter, for the Latin version is incorrect.

WENCK.]