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Livy and Tacitus, aditialed likewise with admiration besto magnificent epitheis ori the capital of theircountry. The succeeding emperors, in consormi ty to the ad vice of Augustus, made sew additions to the empire. Trajan however subdued Mesopotamia and Armenia, eas of the Euphrates, with Dacia, norit, of the Danube ; and after this period the Roman dominionwas eκtended over Britain, as far as the Frith of Forthand the Clyde. It would be an object of curiosty to ascertain theamount of the Roman revenue in the reigia of Augustus rbut lacti a problem, even with res pest to contemporarynations, Cannot be elucidated without access to the publicregisters of their g avertaments ; and in regard to an ancient monarchy, the investigation is imprae icable. We canonly be assured that the revenue must have been immeuse, whicli arose from the accumulated contribution os such a number of nations, that had supported their own civilestablishments with great splendor, and many of whichwere celebrated for their extraordinary riches and Cominmerce. The tribute pald by the Romans themselves, to-wards the support of the go vertament, was very Considet able during the lalter ages of the Republic, and it received an encreasse after the consulmip of Hirtius and Pansa.
The es ablistamenis, both civit and military, in the differ
ent provinces, were supported at their own eXpenCe: theemperor required but a Gali navat force, whicli ad ismuch to the public eXpenditure os maritime nations inmodern times; and the state was burdened with no diplomatic Charges. The vast trealare accruing frona the vario us laxes centered in Rome, and the whole was at thedisposal of the emperor, without any control. We may cieres ore justly conclude, iliat, in the amount of taXes,
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customs, and every kind of financiat refources, Augustus exceeded ali severe igns who had hitherio ever swayed the scepti e of imperiat dominion r a nobie acquisition, si ad itbeen judiciousty employed by his successors, in promotingpublic happiness, with half the profusion in whicli it wa lavi med in dis gracing human nature, and violating the rights of mynhind. The reigii of Augustus is distingui med by the moli eYtraordinary event recorded in history either sacred or profane, the nativity of the favi our os mani ind : whicli has since introducta a new epoch into the Chron ology of al
Christian nations. The commencement of the new serabeing the most fourishing period of the Roman empire, a generat vie w of the state of knowledge and taste at this period, may here not be improper. Civiligation was at this time extended farther over theworid than it had ever been in any preceding period: but polytheita rather encreased than dimini med with the
tions of Europe, Asia and Africa ; and though philosophyliad been cultivaled during severat ages, at Athens, Cyrene, Rome, and other seats of learning, yet the morais ofinankind were litile improved by the diffusion os speculative knowledge. Socrates had laid an admirabie foundation for the improvement of human natui e, by the eXer-tion os reason through the whole economy of lise: but succeeding enquirers, sor hing the true path of ethic investigation, deviated into specious discussions, rather ingenio us than us esul; and so me of them, by gratuitoustyadopting principies, whicli, se far frona being supported by reason, were repugnant to iis dictates, ende avored toerect upon the basis of their respective doctrines a systemPeculiar
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CAESAR AUGUSTUS. 799peculiar to themselves. The doctrines of the Stoics and Epicureans were in fadi pernici ous to society ; and thos eos the different academies, though more intimately Connected with reason than the two former, mere of a naturetoo abstrae . to have any immediate or uses ut influence onlife and manners. Generat discussions of Truth and Probability, with magnificent declamations On the το καλον, and the summum bonunt, constitu ted the clites objecis ofattention amongst those wtio culti valed morat science in the mades of academicat reti rement. Cicero endeaVoredio bring bach philosophy frona speculation to practice, and clearly evinced the social duties to be founded in theunalterable dictates of virtve: but it was easter to demonstrate the truth of the principies V hich he maintained, than to enforce their observance, while the morais of manliind were litile actualed by the eXercise of reas n
The science chiecty culti valed at this period was Rhetoric, whicli appears to have dis red considerably from What now passes under the fame name. The object of it was not so much justnest os sentiment and propriety of CXpression, as the ari os declaim ing, or speaking copio us-ly upon any subjecto. It is mentioned by Varro as thereverse of logic; and they are distingui med frona cachother by a simile, that the former resembles the palm of the haud expanded, and the lalter, contracted into the fist. It is observable that logic, iliough a part os education inmodern times, seems not to have been cultivated amongst the Romans. Perhaps they mere apprehensive, tesst a science whicli concentered the force of argument, might obstrudi the culti vation of that which was meant to dilateit. Astronomy was long before known in the easteria pations; but there is reason to belleve, frona a passage in
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Virgil that it was litile cultivaled by the Romans; andit is certain, that in the reformation of the Calendar, Julius Caesar was chiefly indebled to the scientific knowledge of
Sosigenes, a mathematician of Alexandria. The laws of
the solar system were still but impersed ly known : thepopular belles, that the sun moved round the earth, was univea salty maintained, and continued untii the si XteenthcentUry, When the contrary was proVed by Copernicus. There existed many celebrated tracts on mathematics; and severat of the mechanical powers, particularly that of the lever, mere cultivaled with successe. The more necessctary and useful rules of arithmetic were generallyhnown. The use of the load-stone not being as yet dis-CoVered, navigation was conducted in the day-time by
the lata, and in the night, by the observation os certa instat s. Geography was Cultivaled during the present period by Strabo and Mela. In natural philosophy, litile progress was made; but a strong destre of iis improve-ment Was entertained, particularly by Virgil. Humana natomy bqing not yet introduced, physiology was impersedi. Chemistry, as a science, was ulterly unknown. In medicine, the writings of Hippocrates, and other Greeli physicians, were in generat the standarit os praelice : butthe Materra Medica contained few remedies of approved quali ty, and abounded with usclest substances, as weli aswith many whicli stood opon no other Dundation than the whimsical notions of those who firsi introducta them. Architecture Bourished, through the elegant iaste of Vitruvius, and the patronage of the emperor. Ρainting, Statuary, and Music, were cultiva ted, but not with that
degree of persection whicli they had obtained in the Grecian states. The musical instruments of this period merethe
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the sute and the lyre, to which may be ad ted the 11strum, latet y imported froni Egypt. But the clites glory of this period is iis literature, of Whicli me proceed to give seme
At the head os the writers of this age, stands the emperor, himself, with his minister Mecaenas ; but the wortis of both have almos: totalty perii hed. It appears froin the historian now translated, that Augustus mas the authoros severat productions in prose, besides some in verse. Ηe wrote Answers to Brutus in relation to Cato, Exhortations to Philosophy, and the History of his own Lise,
which he continued, in thirteen books, down to the waros Cantabria. A book of his, written in heXameter verse, under the titie of Sicily, was extant in the time of Suetonius, as was likewise a book of Epigrams. He began
fied with the composition, destroyed it. Whatever the, meriis of Augustus may have been as an author, of whichno judgment can be formed, his attachment to learia ing and eminent writers affords a strong presumption thathe was not destitute of taste. Mectenas is sal l to have written two tragedies, Octavia and Prometheus ; a His-wry of Animal s ; a treati se on Preci ous Siones; a Journalos the Lise of Augustus ; and other productions. Curiosi ty is strongi' interested to disco ver the literary talenta of a man much distinguis ed for the esteem and patron- age of them in others ; but while we regi et the impossibili tyof such a developiarent, we scarcely Can suppore the proficiency to have been sinali, where the love and admiration were so great.
History was cultivated amongst the Roma os during the
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present period, with uncommon success. This species of composition is calculated both for informa-6 enteriairiment; but the clites design of it is to record ali transactions relative to the public, sor the purposse of enabling mankind todraw froni past evenis a probabie conjecture concerning the future ; anil, by knowing the steps which have ledeither to prosperity or missortune, to ascerta in the bestmeans os promoting the former, and avoiding the lalter of thsse objedis . This useful hind of narrative was introducedabout sive hundred years besore by Herodotus, who hasthence received the appellation of the Father of History.
His style, in conformity to the habits of thinhing, and the fimplicity of language in an uncultivaled age, is plain and unadorned ; yet, by the happy modulation of the Ionicdialect, it gratified the ear, and afforded to the states of
Greece a pleasing mixture of entertainment, enriched notonly with various information, osten indeed fabulous ori authentic, but the rudimenis, indirectly interspersed, of political wisdom. This writer, after a long intervat, WaS succceded by Thucydides and Xenophon, the former of whom carried historical narrative to the highest degree of
improvenient it ever attained in the Grecian climates.
The plan of Thucydides seems to have continued to be themodet of historical narrative to the writers of Rome: butthe circumstances of the times, at ded perhaps by the splendid exertion of genius in other depariments of literature, suggested a new res urce, whicli promi sed not onlyto animate, but embellisti the future product ions of the historic Muse. This innovation consisted in an attemptio penetrate the human heari, and explore in iis innermost recesses the sentiments and secret motives whicli actuate the conduct of men. By connecting morat effecis Mitti
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with their probabie internat and eYternat causes, it tendedio establissi a systematic consistency in the concatenationos transactions apparently anomalous, accidental, Or totalty independent of each other. The author of this improvement in History was Sallust, Who likewise introdu-aed the method of enli vening narrative composition, Withthe occasional aid of rhetorical declamation, particularly in his account of the Catilinarian Conspiracy. The notorious characters and motives of the principat persons concerned in that horribie plot, afforded the mosi favor able opportunity for eXempli fying the former; while thelalter, there is reason to infer frona the facts whicli musthave been at that time publicly known, mere foundedit pon doCuments of unquestionable authori ty. Nay, it is probable that Sallust was present in the Senate during thedebate respecting the punishment of the Catilinari an conspirators ; his delati of whicli is agreeable to the characters of the severat speahers : but in detracting, by invi--ious silence, or too faint representation, from tbe meriis of Cicero etia that important occasion, he exhibiis a
glaring instance of the partiali ty which too osten debases
the narratives of thos e who record the transactions of their orun time. He had married Terentia, the divorcedwiis of Cicero ; and there subsisted be tween the two liuiabantis a Lind of rival his frona that cause, to whicli Wasprobably added sonae degree of animosii ty, on account of
their difference in politios, during the late Dictators iis of Julius Caesar, by whom Sallust was restore I to the Senate, whenco he had been expelled sor licentio us ness, and was appo inted governor of Numidia. Abstracting Dom thoinjustice of Sallust in respe et os Cicero, he is entilled tolligi, commendation. In both his remaining productions, of the Conspiracy of Catiline, and the War of Jugurtha,
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there is a peculiar air of philosophical sentiment, Whicli, joined to the elegant Concisenesse of style, and animaleddescription os characters, gives to his writings a degree of interest, superior to what is eXCited in any prece ling work of the historical hind. In the occasional use of obsolete words, and in labored exordiums to both his histori es, heis liable to the charge of asse station; but it is an affectation os language whicli supporis solemnity without excit-ing dis gusto; and of sentiment whicli not only eXalis human nature, but animates to virtuous eXertions. It seenasto be the destre of Sallust to atone for thpe dissipation ofhis youth by a total change of conduet; and whoever per-uses his exordiums with the attention whicli they deserve, musi: feel a strong persuasion of the jus ness of his re- marks, is not the incentives of a resolution to be govern-ed by his example. It seems to be certain, that fio m thefirst moment of his reformation, he incessantly practis edthe industry which he so warn y recommend8. Fle Composed a History of Rome, of whicli nothing rem aliis buta few fragments. Sallust, during his administration os Numidia, is Did to have exercised great oppression: Onhis return to Rome, he bulli a magnificent house, and bought delightful gardens, the name of whicli, with his Own, is to this day perpetuated to the ground whicli theyformerly occupied. Sallus was boria at Amiternum, in the country of the Sabines, and received his educationat Rome. He incurred great scandal by an amour mitti
Fausta, the daughter of Sylla, and wise of Milo ; who detecting the criminal intercourse, is Did to have beathim with stripes, and extorted frona him a large sum os money. He died, according to tradition, in the fifty-first year of his age. Corneliu
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cns Αχ AUGUSTU s. Cornelius Nepos was horn at Hostilia, near the bantis of the Po. Os his parentage we meet withno account; but stom his respectabie connections early in life, it is probable that he was of good extraction. Among his most intimate friendswere Cicero and Atticus. Some authors relate, that hecomposed three books of Chronicies, with a biographical account of ali the most celebrated fovere igias, generais, and writers of antiquity. The Iangu age of Cornelius Nepos is pure, his style perspicuous, and he holds a middie and agreeabie coui se belween diffusenesi and brevity. He has not observed the fame rule with respect to the treatinent of every subjecto; for the account of some of the lives is se niori, that we might suspeei them to be mutilated, did they not contain evident mari s of their heing completed in miniature. The great extent of his plan induced him, as he inforinsus, to adopt this expedient: Sed plura persequi, tum magnitudo voluminis prohibet, tum fesinatio, ut ea explicem, quoae
of his numerous biographicat works, twenty-two livesonly remain, whicli are ali os Greelis, except two Carthaginians, Hamilcar and Hannibal; and two Romans, M. Porcius Cato and T. Pomponius Atticus. of hisown liis, who had written the lives of many, no aC- count is transmitted ; but froin the multiplicity of his productions, me may conclude that it was devoted to litera
Titus Livius may be ranked among the most celebrated
historians that the worid has CVer pro- .duced. He composed a history of Romefroin the foundation of the city, the conclusion of the
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TAE L 1 FE OPGerman war Conducted by Drusus, in the time os theemperor Augustus. This great work consisted origi
no π rem ain only thirty-sive, viZ. the first Decade, and the whole from book tWaenty-one to book forty-sive, both inclusive. of the other hundredand sive books, nothing more has sui vived the ravages of time and barbarians than their generat content s. In a perspicuous arrangement of his subject, in a fuli and circumsitantialaccount of transactions, in the expression of charactersand other objects of description, in justness and aptitudeos sentiment, and in an air of majest y pervading the whole
Composition, this author may be regarded as one of thebest modeis extant of historical narrative. His style is splendid without meretrici ous ornament, and Coptous without being redundant; a fluency to whicli Quintilian gives the expressive appellation Os jactea ubertas. Amongit the beauties which we admire in his writings, bessides the animaled speeches frequently interspersed, arethose concise and peculiarly applicabie eulogiums, Milawhich he characterises every eminent person mentioned,
at the close of their lisse. Os his industry in collating, and his judgment in deciding upon the preserence due todissentient authorities, in matters of testimony, the worhasior is numberlest proos s. of the frcedom and impartiali ty, with whicli lae trealed even of the recent periods' of history, there cannot he more convincing eVideiace, than that he was 1 allied by Augustus as a favorer of Pompey ; and that, under the same em peror, he not onlybesto ed opon Cicero the tribute Os v arm approbation,
but dared to ascribe, in an age when their nameS Were obnoxious, even to Brutus and Cassius the viriues of consistency and patriolita. Is in any thing the conduct of Livy violates our sentiments of historical digni ty, io is the