latter embraced the opportunity, which he had eagerly desired, of declaring war against him.

An immense armament, principally naval, (the land forces being merely spectators,) came to an engagement near Actium, on the coast of Epirus, 31 years B. C. The conflict was decisive. Cleopatra, who attended Antony, deserted him with her galleys, in the midst of the engagement.

Such was his infatuation, that he immediately followed her, leaving his fleet, which after a contest of some hours, yielded to the squadron of Octavius. The conqueror pursued the fugitives to Egypt; and the infamous Cleopatra proffered terms to Octavius, including the surrender of her kingdom and the abandonment of Antony.

After an unsuccessful attempt at resistance, Antony anticipated his doom by falling on his sword. Cleopatra also soon after saw fit to frustrate the design of Octavius, which was to carry her in chains to Rome as an ornament to his triumph, by seeking a voluntary death.

Octavius was now left without a rival, with the government of Rome in his hands. Egypt, which had existed a kingdom from immemorial ages, from this time became a province of Rome, 30 years B. C.

§ The story of Cleopatra will be briefly told under the history of Egypt for this period. Antony, her lover, had few superiors in war, and he was the idol of his army. He was, however, profligate in the extreme, and his infatuated conduct in relation to the Egyptian queen, while it showed the native strength and tenderness of his passions, has imprinted an indelible stain on his character as a hero. His weakness in this respect was the cause of his ruin, and prevented the acquisition of universal empire, which he might perhaps have otherwise obtained.

In the struggle between Antony and Octavius, the strength of the East and of the West were arrayed against each other. Antony's force composed a body of 100,000 foot, and 12,000 horse; while his fleet amounted to 500 ships of war. The army of Octavius mustered but 80,000 foot, but equalled his adversary in the number of his cavalry; while his fleet was only half as large as Antony's; but the ships were better built and better manned.

The fortune of the day in the battle of Actium, was determined by the flight of Cleopatra with 60 galleys. Yet with this diminution of the fleet, and with the abandonment of it by Antony himself, it fought with the utmost obstinacy for several hours, till partly by the conduct of Agrippa, and partly by the promises of Octavius, it submitted to the conqueror. The land forces of Antony soon followed the example of the navy, and yielded to Octavius without striking a blow.

18. The Roman empire had now become the largest which the world had ever seen and Octavius, now named Augustus, holding the principal offices of the state, was, in effect, the absolute master of the lives and fortunes of the Roman people. During a long administration he almost effaced the memory of his former cruelties, and seemed to consult only the good of his subjects.

His reign constituted the era of Roman taste and genius, under the auspices of Mecænas, his chief minister, who was. the most eminent patron of letters recorded in history.

Seventeen years before the close of his life and reign, acaccording to the true computation, (not the vulgar era,) our Lord and Saviour JESUS CHRIST was born in Judea-an event more important than any other that ever took place in our world.

§ Augustus pursued a pacific course, and restored order to the state During the period of his administration of the government, the temple of Janus, which was shut only at the prevalence of general peace, was closed for the first time since the commencement of the second Punic war, and only the third time from the building of Rome. It was precisely at this happy and singular crisis of human affairs, that the birth of our blessed Saviour happened.

The administration of Augustus was however fatal to liberty; though that circumstance itself tended to general tranquillity, since the corruption of manners required the most absolute restraint. By masterly strokes of policy, he united all interests and reconciled all differences. He disguised his new despotism, under names familiar and allowed by that constitution which he had destroyed.

He claimed to himself the title of emperor, to preserve authority over the army; he caused himself to be created tribune, to manage the people; and prince of the senate, to govern that body. After he had fixed himself in the government, he long hesitated whether he should restore to Rome its liberty, or retain his present situation. The examples, and the differing fortunes of Sylla and Cæsar, were before him, and operated on his hopes and fears.

Disclosing his feelings to Agrippa, who had assisted him in gaining the empire, and to Mecænas, his principal minister and adviser, the former suggested the wisdom of his resigning it-the latter dissuaded him from taking such a step. The opinion of Mecænas, as it was on the whole more agreeable to Augustus, was followed, and perhaps mankind have little reason to regret it, considering what was the awful corruption of the times.

Through the counsels of this great minister, Augustus fostered learning and the arts to the highest degree, and specimens of human intellect then appeared, which have rarely been equalled among mankind. Genius enjoyed all the rewards and all the consideration that it could claim.

N

The authority which Augustus usurped, he, from policy, accepted only for a limited period, sometimes for ten, and sometimes for only five years; but at the expiration of the term, it was regularly bestowed upon him again.

His situation, which was above all equality, generated virtues to which, in all probability, he was naturally a stranger. He sometimes condescended to plead before the proper tribunals, for those he desired to protect, for he suffered the laws to have their proper course. One of his veteran soldiers entreated his protection in a law-suit. Augustus, taking little notice of his request, desired him apply to an advocate. "Ah!" replied the soldier, "it was not by proxy that I served you at the battle of Actium."

"This reply p eased Augustus so much, that he pleaded his cause in person, and gained it for him.

He was so affable, that he returned the salutations of the meanest person. One day a person presented him with a petition, but with so much awe, that Augustus was displeased with his meanness. "What! friend," cried he, " you seem as if you were offering something to an elephant, and not to a man :---be bolder."

A part of his long reign of more than 40 years belongs to modern history, but we may here speak of it as entire. During the whole of it he cultivated the arts of peace. The wars which were carried on in the distant provinces aimed rather at enforcing submission, than at extending dominion. He was however successful in almost all of them. The defeat of his general, Varus, in Germany, was the most serious disaster which he experienced. The choicest troops of the empire constituted the army of Varus, and they were entirely cut off in the forests of that country.

In his domestic life, Augustus was less happy and fortunate, than as master of the Roman peopie. His wife, Livia, was an imperious woman, and controlled him at her pleasure. Her son, Tiberius, who at length succeeded to the empire, possessed a suspicious and obstinate temper, and gave him so much uneasiness, that he banished him for five years at a distance from Rome. But his daughter, Julia, by his former wife, afflicted him more than all the rest, through her excessive lewdness The very court where her father presided, was not exempt from her debaucheries.

Augustus lost a favourite son, who, it is supposed, was taken off by poison, lest he should supplant Tiberius. The emperor was often heard to exclaim, "How happy should I have been had I never had a wife or children!" He died during an absence from Rome, at Nola, of a dysentery, in the 76th year of his age, after reigning 41 years, 14 A. C.

19. Little is to be said, separately, of the history of other nations during this period, as they were mostly swallowed up in the Roman empire. We can notice only two or three, and these are very much blended with the Roman history, being included in the number of the Roman provinces before the end of the present period. First, Judea comes under review.

JUDEA.

THE JEWS at this time were ruled by the sacerdotal and royal family of the Maccabees, under the title of the Asmonean dynasty, but they were in the last stages of their independent existence. When Pompey came to Jerusalem to settle the affairs of Judea, he restored Hyrcanus with the title of Prince of the Jews, and conferred the government of the country on Antipater, an Idumean proselyte, 63 years B. C.

§ In the civil wars between Cæsar and Pompey, the former sent Aristobulus, whom Pompey had carried captive to Rome, into Judea, to engage the Jews in his (Cæsar's) cause, but he was poisoned by his enemies. At the same time Pompey ordered his son Alexander to be beheaded.

20. After one other revolution in the person of Hyrcanus, the family of the Herodians was seated on the throne of Judea. Herod, called the Great, son of Antipater, was declared king of that country, by a decree of the Roman senate, 37 years B. C. His reign was splendid, but distinguished by a singular degree of profligacy.

§ Some time after his establishment on the throne, Herod, in order to please Mariamne, the daughter of Hyrcanus, whom he had married, appointed her brother, Aristobulus, High Priest; but perceiving that he was much beloved by the Jews, he caused him to be drowned while bathing. After the battle of Actium he went to Rhodes to meet Augustus, who confirmed his title of king of Judea. Upon his return he condemned to death his wife, Mariamne, and her mother, Alexandra.

From this hour his life was a continual scene of misery and ferocity. At the instigation of his third son, he sentenced to death Aristobulus and Alexander, his children by Mariamne, and the next year Antipater himself experienced the same fate. His last moments also were stained with the blood of the children of Bethlehem and the neighbourhood, whom he ordered to be slain, in the hope that the infant Jesus Christ would fall among them.

EGYPT.

21. The family of the Lagidæ, continued to rule EGYPT Alexander II. was on the throne at the commencement of this period. Cleopatra was the last sovereign. The intermediate sovereigns were Ptolemy Auletes, Berenice, and Ptolemy Dionysius, who reigned for a time jointly with Cleopatra.

With the death of this queen ended the family of the Lagidæ, after having ruled in Egypt about 294 years. Egypt was now reduced to a Roman province, and governed by a Prætor sent thither from Rome, 30 years B. C.

Ptolemy Dionysius was 13 years old at the time of his father's death, by whose will he was nominated to the succession, on condition of his marrying his sister Cleopatra, then 17 years of age. The Romans were appointed guardians of these children. Cleopatra married her brother, and they reigned jointly, till, dissatisfied with the Roman ministry, she retired to Syria and Palestine, where she raised an army, and advanced under the walls of Pelusium, to give battle to the ministers of her husband.

At this moment, as we have before learned, Pompey, vanquished at Pharsalia, took refuge in Alexandria, and was assassinated by order of Ptolemy. Julius Cæsar, pursuing his rival, arrived soon afterwards, and endeavoured to compromise the differences between the king and the queen. For a short time they were reconciled; but Ptolemy, renewing the war not long afterwards, was defeated and drowned in the Nile.

Cleopatra then married her youngest brother, a boy of eleven years of age, and already affianced to his sister Arsinoe. Him, however, she soon poisoned, 43 B. C.; and assumed the sole government. After the arrival of Mark Antony in Egypt, and his captivation by Cleopatra, her character became still more remarkable for corrup tion. The beauties of her person were incomparable; and in polite learning, in brilliancy of wit, and in tunefulness of voice in her conversation, she was as irresistible as in her personal charms. These qualities, joined to an extreme profligacy of manners, rendered her one of the most dangerous foes to virtue that ever lived.

When summoned to present herself before Antony for the first time, her appearance was so splendid and fascinating, that the Roman warrior rather adored than judged her. Every decoration was employed to heighten the most consummate loveliness of features, and gracefulness of motion. Holding Antony in the chains of a base passion, she ruled him at her pleasure.

The profusion of riches displayed at her feasts was astonishing. Antony holding the wealth of plundered provinces, with his utmost efforts could not equal the queen in the sumptuousness of her entertainments. It was at one of these feasts that the incident mentioned by Pliny occurred.

Cleopatra, having laid a considerable wager that she could expend more than 50,000l. upon one repast, caused one of the pearls that she wore in her ears, which was valued at the above named sum, to be dissolved in an acid, and then swallowed it. She was then preparing to melt the other in a similar manner, but some one had the address to divert her from her design.

After the battle of Actium, Octavius used every effort to secure the person of the queen, and to effect the death of Antony, by her means. He promised her his protection and friendship if she would kill him. This she peremptorily refused to do, but consented to deliver his person and the kingdom of Egypt into the enemy's hand.

Antony, who had before meanly sought his life of Octavius, open. ing his eyes to his danger, and to the perfidy of Cleopatra, at first made some faint and ineffectual attempt at resistance, and then in his