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frien is of a republican govertament, who were stili farmore numerotis than those of the other party, would havestrained every nerve to procure a determination in theirown favor; and the Praetorian guariis, the sui est protectiori of Augustus, sin ling their siluation rendered precarious by such an unexpected Occurrence, Would haverea lily lictened to the secret propositions and intrigues of the Republicans for securing their acquiescerice to the d cision on the popular fide.' Is, when the subject came into debate, Augustus mould be sincere in the declar tion to abide by the resolution of the councit, it is be-yonil ali do ubi, that the restoration os a republican go- vertament would have been voted by a great majority of the assemblv. Ι on the contrary, he s laould not be sincere, Whicli is the more probabie supposition, and should
incur the suspicion os praelising secretly With memberssor a decision according to his wissa, he would haverendered hi nileis obno ctous to the public odium, and givera rise to discontents whicli might have endange ditis futuro security. But to submit this important question to the Dee and 1inhiassed decision of a numero us assembly, it is probabie, netther suiled the inclination of Augustus, nor perhapS, in his opinion, corresponded with his personat lasely. With a vieis to the alta inment of unconstitutionat pomeri he had formet ly deserted the cause of the Republic wheniis affairs were in a prosperous siluation ; and now wheta his end was accomplisbed, there could be litile ground toexpedi, that he fa ould voltinistrily relinquisti the priZe forwhich he had spiti the best blood of Rome, and contende diser so many years. Ever since the final des eat of Antony in the batile of Actium, he had governed the Romanstate With uncontroled authori tr; and though there is in the
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the nature of unlimited power an intoxicating quali , injurious both to public and private virtve, vel ali historucontradidis the supposition os iis being endued mi in any whicli is unpalatable to the generat iaste of mankind. I here mere two chies motives by whicli Augustus would naturally be influenced in a deliberation on this important subject; namely, the love os powor, and the personat danger whicla he might incur from relinqui sta ingit. Et ther of these motives might have been a sussicient inducement for retaining his authori ty ; but when theyboth concurred, as they seem to have done u pon this occasion, their united force was irressistible. The argument, so far as relates to the love of pCwer, resis upon agro und, concerning the solidi ty of whicli, litile do ubi canbe entertained: but it may be proper to enquire, in a se words, into the foundation of that personat danger whichhe dreaded to iucur, on returning to the station os a pri
Augustus, as has been at ready observed, had formet lysded with the party whicli attempted to restore publicliberty after ille death of Julius Caesar : but he asterwatas
abandoned the popular cause, and joined in the ambitious vlews of Antony and Lepidus to usurp amongsst them- solves the entire dominion of the state. By this changeos conduct, he turned his arms against the supporters of a forna of government which he had virtualty recognire las the legat constitution os Rome : and, What involved adirect implication of trcason, against the sacred representatives of that government, the Consuis, formalty and duly elected. Upon such a charge he might be amenabluto the capital laws of his country. This, howeVer, Was
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CAESAR AUGUSTUS. I 89srom the Senate and peopte an adh os obliseon, previo u syto his abdication of the supreme power ; and this was a preliminary which doubiles s they would have admitte land rati fied with unanim cus approbation. It there reappears that he could he exposed to no inevitabie dangeron this account: but there Was another quarter Where his person was vulnerabie, and where even the lawsmight not be susscient to protect him against the efforis of private res eniment. The bloody proscription of the Triumvirate no a ct os amnesty could ever erase sto in the
nearest and dearest relatio9s; and amidsi the numerous eonnemons of the illustrious meri sacrificed on that horri-ble occasion, there might ari se me desperate aven ger,
whose indeli hie reseniment nothing less would satisfythan tho blood of the sui viving delinquent. Though Augustus, therefore, might not, like his great predecessor,be stahbed in the Senate-house, he might receive into his vitais the sevord or poniard in a lessi conspicuous sit uation. Aster ali, there seems to have been litile dangerhom this quarter lihewise : for Sylla, vilio in the preceding age had been guilty of equat enormities, waS pe mitted, on relinquishing the place of perpetuat Dictator,to end his days in quiet retirement; and the undisturbed security whicli Augustus ever asterwards e oyed, affords lassicient proos that ali apprehension of danger to his
We have hi therio considered this grand consultation asit might be influenced by the passions or preiudices of theem peror : we mali now take a s hori view of the subjectin the light in whicli it is conne 'ed with arguments of apolitical nature, and with public utility. The argumentshanded
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tended upon the generat principies maintained on eachside of the question. For the res oration of the republican governinent, it might he contended, that from the eXpulsion of the kingsto the Dictatori hip of Julius Caesar, through a period of
freedom, the great object os ali political association: That public viriue, by whicli alone nations could subsist in vigor, Was cheris ted and protected by no mode os administration so much as by that whicli connected, in thestrongesi boniis of union, the private interests of indi viduals with those of the communi ty: Ἱ'hat the habiis and pre judices of the Roman people were unalterably attached to the form of govern ment estabit med by so longa prescription, and would never submit, sor any tength of
time, to the rule of one person, mithout mahing every possibie effori to reco ver their liber ty: That though despotita, under a mild and se prince, might in sonae re- spedis be regas ded as preserable to a constitution whichmas occasionalty eX posed to the inconvenience of factionand popular tumulis, yet it Was a dangerous eXperimentio abandon the governinent of the nation to the contin
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liantis os annuat magistrates elected by thenaseives, than in those of any individuat whose power Was Permanent, and subject to no legat control.
In favor of despotic governinent it might be urged, that though Rome had subsisted long and gloriousy under a
republican sorin of govertament, yet ste had osten experienced such violent shoclis, froin popular tumulis orthe factions of the great, as h ad threatened her milli imminent destruction: That a republican goveri meiat was Only accommodated to a peopte amongst whom the division Os property gave to no classe of citigens such a degreeos pre-eminence as might prove dangerous to public free-dom : That there was required in that form os political constitution, a simplicity of lise and stridinest os manners icti are never observed to accompany a high degree of public prosperi ty : That in respect os ali these considerations, lach a form of go vernmeiat was ulteri y incompati-ble with the present circumstances of the Romans: That by the conquest of so many foreigia nations, by the lucrative govertaments of pro vinces, the spolis of the enemy in war, and the rapine too osten praehised in time of peace, so great had been the aggrandigement os particular families in the prece ling age, that though the form of the ancient constitution stiould stili rema in inviolate, the peο- ple would no longer live under a seee Republic, but an aristocratical usurpation, which was always productiveos tyranny: That nothing Could preserve the comm On-wealth from hec oming a prey to i me daring consederacy, hut the firm and vigorous administration os one person, invested with the whole executive power of the state, Un- limited and uncontroled : In fine, that as Rome had beennui sed to maturi ty by the govertament of si x princes successsively, so it was only by a similar forni os political
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Cal tyranny on one hanil, or, on the Other, froni absolute
On whiche ver side of the question the force of argument may be thought to preponderate, there is reason to belleve that Augustus was gui ted in his resolution more by inclination and prejudice than by reason. It is related, however, that hessitating between the opposite opinions of his two counsellors, he had recolii se to that of Virgil, who joined with Mecaenas in advising him to retain theimperiat power, as being the form of govertiment mostlattable to the circumstances of the times. It is proper in this place to give seme account of the two ministers abovementioned, Agrippa and incaenas, who composed the cabinet of Augustus at the setilenient of his go vertament, and seem to be the only parsona employed
by him in a ministeriai capacity during his whole re ign.
M. Vipsanius Agrippa was of obscure eXtra Rion, butrendered himself conspicuous by his militar' talents. Heobta ined a victory of Sextus Pompey ; and
where he displayed great valor, he Contributed not a litile to estabiisti the subsequent power of Augustus. In his eXpeditions asterwatas into Gaul and Germanu, he performed many signat alchievemenis, and for which he refused the honors of a triumph. The eX-pences whicli others would have lavi stata on that frivolous spectacle, he applied to the more laudabie purpo of embellis hing Rome with magnificent buit lings, one os ich, the Pantheon, stili rem alias. In conseqhience of a dispute with Marcellus, the n hew of Augustus, he re-
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CAESAR AUGUSTU s. I93tired to Mitylene, whence, after an absence of two years, he was recalled by the emperor. He first married Pomponia, the daughter of the celebrated Atticus, and after-wards orae of the Marcellas, the nieces of Augustus.
li ving, the emperor prevalled upon his sister Octavia toresign to hi in her son-in-la , and gave him in marri agellis own daughter Julia ; so strong was the destre of Augus us to be uni ted with him in the clos est: alliance. Thehigh degree of favor in which he stood with the emperormas soon after evinced by a farther mark of esheem : forduring a visit to the Roman provinces of Greece and Asia, in whicli Augustus was absent two years, he lest the goverriment of the empire to the care of Agrippa. While this minister enjoyed, and indeed seems to have
meri ted, ait the partiali ty of Augustus, he was lihewise a favorite with the people. He died at Rome in the fiftysii st year of his age, univeis atly lamented ; and his re- mains were deposited in the tomb whicli Augustus had prepared for himself Agrippa lest by Julia three sons, Caius, Lucius, and Posthumus Agrippa, With two daugii ters, Agrippina and Julia.
C. Cilnius Mecaenas mas of Tuscan eXtraction, and derived his descent froni the ancient hings of that country.
Though in the highest degree of favor with Augustus, he never aspired beyonditie rank of the Equestrian Order; and
though he might have held the government of extensive provinces by deputies, he was content with et oying the Praefecture of the city and Italy ; a siluation, howeves, whicli must have been attended with extensive patronage.
He was of a gay and sociat disposition. In principie, he
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is se id to have been of the Epicurean Sech, and in his
With respect to his political talents, we can only spea Esrom conjecture: but fro in his being the confidentialminis fer os a prince of so much disceminent as Augustus, during the infancy of a ne v forin of government in an CXtensive empire, we may presume that he was endowed with no common abilities for that important station. The liberal patronage which he displayed towards menos genius and talents, will render his name for ever Celebra ted in the annals of learning. It is to be regretted that his ory has transmitted no particulars of this eXtraordinary person age, of whom ali we know is derived chiesty fro in the writings of Virgil and Horace : butfroin the manner in whicli they ad tress him, amidst ille , familiarity of their intercoiarse, there is me strongesta ea n to suppose, that he was not lese amiable and respectabie in private lisse, than illustrious in public siluation. O my Glory is the emphatic eXpression employed by them both.
O decus, o famae merito pars maxima nostrae. VIR. G. II. O et praesidium et dulce decus meum. HOR. Ode I.
One would be inclined to thinh, that there Was a nicetyin the sense and application of the word decus, among stthe Romans, with which we a re unacquainted, and that, in the passages now adduced, it was undet stood lo referto the honor of the em peror 's patron age, obtained throughthe means of Mecaenas ; otherwise, lach langu age to theminister might have eXcited the jealous' of Augustus. But whatever foundation there may be sor this conjecture, the compliment mas compensited by the superior adulation whicli the poets appropria ted to the emperor, Whose
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CAEsAR AUGUSTU s. 79swhose deification is more than insinuated, in sublime intimations, by Virgil
Tuque adeo, quem mox quae snt habitura deorum Concilia, incertum est 3 urbisne invisere, Caesar,
Terrarumque velis curam ; I te maximus orbis Auctorem frugum, tempestatunaque potentem Accipiat, cingens materna tempora myrto: An Deus immensi venias maris, ac tua nautae
Numina sola colant: tibi serviat ultima Thule; Teque sibi generum Tethys emat omnibus undis. GEOR. 1.
Horace has elegantly adopted the fame stra in os com
pliment. Te multa prece, te prosequitur mero Defuso pateris ; L Laribus tuum Miscet numen, uti Graecia Castoris Et magni memor Herculis. cARM. IV. s.
The panegyric bestowed upon Augustus by the great
poets of that time, appears to have had a farther objectthan the mere gratification os vanity. It was the ambition of this emperor to reign ita the hearis, as meli asouer the persons of his subjects ; and with this vlew he vas desii olis of endearing himself to their imagination Both he and Mecretias had a delicate sensibility to thebeauties of poetical composition ; and judging fro in their Own Delings, they attached a high degree of influenceto the charnas of poetry. Impres ed with these senti-menis, it hecame an object os importance, in their opinion, to engage ille Mus es in the service of the imperialauthoi ity : on whicli account, me si rad Mecaenas tam- pering with Propertius, and we may presume lihewisem illi every other rising genius in poetry, to Underlahe is h ruic poena, of which Augustus stiould be the hero. Aso a the
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the application to Propertius cannot have tahen placeuntii after Augustus had been amply celebrated by the superior abilities of Virgil and Horace, there seems to beso me rea n for ascribisag Mecsenas's request to a political motive. Caius and Lucius, the emperor's grandsons by
one of them, doubiless, was intended to succeed to the go-Vernment of the empire, prudence justi fied the adoptionos every eXpedient that might tend to secure a quiet succession to the heir, upon the demisse of Augustus. As a subsidiary re urce, there fore, the eXpedient aboVe-mentioned was judged highly plausible; and the Romancabinet indulged the idea of endeavoring to confirm imperiat authority by the suppori os poetical renown.
Lampo Ons against the goverrament were not Uncommoneven in the time of Augustus ; and elegant panegyric Gnthe emperor served to counterael their influence iapon them inds of the people. The idea was perhaps novel in theti me of Augustus; but the history of later ages assevdsexamples of iis having been adopted, under disserent forms of governinent, with success. The Roman empire, in the time of Augustus, had attained to a prodigio us magnitude ; and in his testament herecommended to his successbrs never to exceed the limits which he had prescribed to iis extent. On the East itstretched to the Euphrates ; on the South to the cataracts of the Nile, the deseris of Africa, and Mount Atlas; onthe west to the Atlantic Ocean : and on the North to the Danube and the Rhine ; including the best part of thethen known worid. The Romans, there re, were notim properi y called rerum domini , and Rome, pulcherrima rerum 1 , maxima rerum t. Even the historians