PART II. MODERN HISTORY CHAPTER I. ROMAN HISTORY CONTINUED, FROM THE COMMENCEMENT ( THE CHRISTIAN ERA, TO THE OVERTHROW OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE OF THE ROMANS, A. D. 1, TO A. D. 476, SECTION I. ROMAN HISTORY FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE CHRISTIAN ERA TO THE DEATH OF DOMITIAN, THE LAST OF THE TWELVE CÆSARS, A. D. 96. ANALYSIS. 1. EARLIER AND LATER HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE COMPARED.-2. The empire at the end of the first century of the Christian era. The feeling with which we hurry over the closing scenes of Roman history. Importance of the history of the "decline and fall" of the empire. Subjects of the present chapter. 3. JULIUS CESAR. Commencement of the Roman empire.-4. The reign of Augustus. Rebellion of the Germans.-5. Grief of Augustus at the loss of his legions. The danger of inva sion averted.-6. The accession of TIBE' RIUS. The selection of future sovereigns.-7. Character of Tiberius, and commencement of his reign.-8. German wars-German' icus.-9. Sejánus, the minister of Tiberius. [Cápreæ.]-10. The death of Sejánus. Death of Tiberius. Crucifixion of the Saviour.-11. CALIGULA. His character, and wicked actions.-12. His follies. His extravagance. His death.-13. CLAUDIUS proclaimed emperor. His character.-14. His two wives. His death.-15. Foreign events of the reign of Claudius.-16. NERO. The first five years of his reign. Death of Agrippina, and of Burrhus, Seneca, and Lucan. Conflagration of Rome.-17. Persecution of the Christians. Nero's extravagances.-18. The provinces pillaged by him. His popularity with the rabble. Revolts against him. His death.-19. Foreign events of the reign of Nero. [Druids. The Icéni London.] 20, End of the reign of the Julian family. Brief reign of GALBA.-21. Character, and reign of Oтно.-22. Character, and reign of VITEL' LIUS. Revolt in Syria.-23. Vitel' lius, forcal to resist, is finally put to death by the populace.-24. Temporary rule of Domitian. Character, and reign of VESPASIAN.-25. Beginning, and causes of the JEWISH WAR.-26 Situation of Jerysalem, and commencement of the siege by the Roman army. Expectations of Titus.-27. Promises made to the Jews. Their strange infatuation.-28. The horrors of the siege.-29. Dreadful mortality in the city. The fall of Jerusalem.-30. The number of those who perished, and of those made prisoners. Fate of the prisoners. Destruction of the Jewish nation-31. Completion of the conquest of Britain. The enlightened policy of Agric' ola. [Caledonia.]-32. TITUS succeeds Vespasian. His character. Events of his brief regn. [Vesuvius. Herculaneum. Pompeii. 13. DOM:TIAN. His character, and the character of his reign. Persecut ons.-.34. Provincial a fairs. The triumphs of Domitian. [Moesia. Dacia. Germany.]-35. 1th of Domitian.-36. Close of the reign of the "Twelve Cæsars." Their several deaths. Character ɔt the history of the Roman emperors thus far.-37. The city of Rome, and the Roman empire. The beginning of national decay. AND LATER HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE As we enter upon the time of the Roman emperors, Roman history, so highly pleasing and attractive in its early stages, and during the eventful period of the Republic, gradually declines in interest to the general reader; for the Roman people, whose many I. EARLIER virtues and sufferings awakened our warmest sympathies, had now become corrupt and degenerate; the liberal influences of their popular assemblies, and the freedom of the Roman senate, had given place to arbitrary force; and although the splendors of the empire continue to dazzle for awhile, henceforward the political history of the Romans is little more than the biographies of individual rulers, and their few advisers and associates in power, who controlled the political destinies of more than a hundred millions of people. COMPARED. 22 We shall find that, at the end of the first century of the Christian era, the empire, having already attained its full strength and maturity, began to verge towards its decline; and we are apt to hurry over the closing scenes of Roman history with an instinctive feeling that shrinks from the contemplation of waning glories and national degeneracy. But while the history of the Republican era may exceed in interest that of the "decline and fall" of the empire, yet the latter is of far greater political importance than the former; for, including the early history of many important sects, and codes, and systems, whose influences still exist, it is the link that connects the past with the present-the Ancient with the Modern world The theologian and jurist must be familiar with it in order to under stand much of the learning and history of their respective depart ments; and it deserves the careful preparatory study of every reader of modern European history; as nearly all the kingdoms of modern Europe have arisen from the fragments into which the empire of the Cæsars was broken. We proceed then, in the present chapter to a brief survey, which is all that our limited space will allow, of, first, the overtowering greatness, and, second, the decline, and final overthrow, in all the west of Europe, of that mighty fabric of em pire which valor had founded, and enlightened policy had so long sustained, upon the seven hills of Rome. 3. The rule of Julius Cæsar, who is called the first of the twelve 190 III. AUGUS pos Cæsars, although he was not nominally king, was that of ore who IL JULIUS sessed all the essential attributes of sovereignty; and CESAR. from the battle of Pharsalia, which decided the fate of the Roman world, might with propriety he dated the commencement of the Roman empire, although its era is usually dated at the beginning of the twenty-eighth year before the Christian era, tha time of the general acknowledgment of the sovereignty of Augustus. 47 The reign of Augustus continued until the fourteenth year after the birth of Christ-forty-four years in all, dating TUS. from the battle of Ac' tium, which made Augustus sole Bovereign of the empire. After the general peace which followed the early wars and conquests of the emperor, the great prosperity of his reign was disturbed by a rebellion of the Germans, which had been provoked by the extortions of Varus, the Roman commander on the northern frontier.9 Varus was entrapped in the depths of the German forests, where nearly his whole army was annihilated, and he himself, in despair, put an end to his own life. (A. D. 9.)/Awful vengeance was taken upon the Romans who became prisoners, many of them being sacrificed to the gods of the Germans. 8 5//The news of the defeat of his general threw Augustus into transports of grief, during which he frequently exclaimed, “ Varus, restore me my legions!" 2 It was thought that the Germans would cross the Rhine, and that all Gaul would unite with them in the revolt; but a large Roman army under Tibérius, the son-in-law and heir of Augustus, was sent to guard the passes of the Rhine, and the danger was averted. /36. Augustus, having designed Tibérius for his successor, associated him in his counsels, and conferred upon him so large a share of present power, that on the death of the emperor, Tibérius easily took his place, so that the nation scarcely perceived the change IV TIBÉRIUS. of masters. (A. D. 14. The policy of Augustus in selecting, and preparing the way for, the future sovereign, was successfully imitated by nearly all his successors during nearly two centuries, although the emperors continued to be elected, ostensibly at least, by the authority of the senate, and the consent of the soldiers. /3 ́7. Tibérius, a man of reserved character, and of great dissimulation, suspicious, dark, and revengeful, but possessing a handsome figure, and in his early years exhibiting great talents and unwearied industry, having yielded with feigned reluctance to the wishes of the senate that he would undertake the government, commenced his reign with the appearance of justice and moderation, but after nine years of dissimulation, his sensual and tyrannical character openly exhibited itself in the vicious indulgence of every base passion, and the perpetration of the most wanton cruelties. 168. The early part of his reign is distinguished by the wars carried on in Germany by his accomplished general and nephew, the virtuous Germanicus; but Tibérius, jealous of the glory and fame which German' icus was winning, recalled him from his command, and then sent him as governor to the Eas.ern provinces, where all his undertakings were thwarted by the secret commands of the emperor, who was supposed to have caused his death to be hastened by poison. 179. 9. The only confidant of Tibérius was his minister Sejánus, whose character bore a great resemblance to that of his sovereign. Secretly aspiring to the empire, he contrived to win the heart of Tiberius by exciting his mistrust towards his own family relatives, most of whom he caused to be poisoned, or condemned to death for suspected treason; but his most successful project was the removal of Tibérius from Rome to the little island of Caprex,' where the monarch remained during a number of years, indulging his indolence and debaucheries, while Sejánus, ruling at Rome, perpetrated the most shocking cruelties in the name of his master, and put to death the most eminent citizens, scarcely allowing them the useless mockery of a trial. /10. But Sejánus at length fell under the suspicion of the empe ror, and the same day witnessed his arrest and execution- -a mem. orable example of the instability of human grandeur. His death was followed by a general massacre of his friends and relations. At length Tibérius himself, after a long career of crime, falling sick, was smothered in bed by one of his officers, at the instigation of the base Calig' ula, the son of German' icus, and adopted heir of the emperor.2/It was during the reign of Tibérius that Jesus Christ was crucified in Judea, under the prætorship of Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of that province. 2. Caligula, whose real character was unknown to the people, 1. Caprea, now called Capri, is a small island, about ten miles in circumference, on the Bouth side of the entrance to the bay of Naples. It is surrounded on all sides but one by lofty and perpendicular cliffs; and in the centre is a secluded vale, remarkable for its beauty and alubrity. The tyrant was led to select this spot for his abode, as well from its difficulty of access, as from the mildness and salubrity of its climate, and the unrivalled magnificence of the prospects which it affords. He is said to have built no less than twelve villas in different parts of the island, and to have named them after the twelve celestial divinities. The ruins of one *tem—the villa of Jove-are still to be seen on the summit of a cliff opposite Sorrento, received from them an enthusiastic welcome on his accession to the V. CALIG' throne, (A. D. 37,) but they soon found him to be a ULA. greater monster of wickedness and dissimilation than his predecessor.A detailed description of his wicked actions, which some have attributed to madness, would afford little pleasure to the reader.Not satisfied with mere murder, he ordered all the prisoners in Rome, and numbers of the aged and infirm, to be thrown to wild beasts he claimed divine honors, erected a temple, and instituted a college of priests to superintend his own worship; and finding the senate too backward in adulation, he seriously contemplated the massacre of the entire body. 12. His follies were no less conspicuous than his vices.For his favorite horse Incitátus he claimed greater respect and reverence than were due to mortals: he built him a stable of marble and a manger of ivory, and frequently invited him to the imperial table; and it is said that his death alone prevented him from conferring upon the animal the honors of the consulship !2A fortune of eighteen millions sterling, which had been left by Tíbérius, was squandered by Calig'ula, in a most senseless manner, in little more than a year, while fresh sums, raised by confiscations, were lavished in the same wayAt length, after a reign of four years, Calig' ula was murdered by his own guards, to the great joy of the senators, who suddenly awoke to the wild hope of restoring the Republic. 29 13. The illusion soon disappeared, for the spirit of Roman liberty no longer existed. 30The Prætorian guards,a who had all the power in their own hands, insisting upon being governed by a monarch, proclaimed the imbecile Claudius emperor, at a time when he expected nothing but death; and their choice was sanctioned by the senate. Claudius was an uncle of the late emperor and brother of German' icus? ¿He was so deficient in judgment and reflection as to be deemed intolerably stupid; he was not destitute of VI. a. The Prætorian guards were gradually instituted by Augustus to protect his person, awo Pesonate, keep the veterans and legions in check, and prevent or crush the first movements of rebellion. Something similar to them had existed from the earliest times in the body of armed guides who accompanied the general in his military expeditions. At first Augustus stationed three cohorts only in the capital: but Tibérius assembled all of them, to the number of ten thousand, at Rome, and assigned them a permanent and well-fortified camp close to the walls of the city, on the broad summit of the Quirinal and Viminal hills. This measure of Tiberius forever riveted the fetters of his country. The Prætorian bands, soon learning their own strength, and the weakness of the civil government, became eventually the real mast Rom 61. and Niebuhr. v. 75, |