"It will be faid, perhaps, that an eftablishes highly useful and important to fociety. D this reason the civil power ought to regulate punish those who fhould attempt to cl civil power is also authorised to emplo ragement, and other mild expedient embrace it. It is juftifiable in taking minds of youth, that the worship fifts in publickly ferving him after the laws of the ftate. It may juftir fere against those who abftain from pazz themselves by diffenting from in time, in order to prevent ind beflow marks of favour and diafr remarkable for their piety. I

every prudent and pacific

it fhould never ufe violence mine

but fhould freely tolerate gious worship is no farber fincere; without fincerity. E the most defpicable, and per zens; while, on the othe more dangerous even th

"Every one imagine the only one that is a If, then, every one wi whether Catholic or F be perfecuted, he wo in his errors, but we But would men ftraining, thofe our world would be a in fincerity, wow. the most happ gedies which t Agreeatie:

dom, are

nature of tr ftrate. Iz

in treating beware o who becer

ther am thou

33

in.

is to be governed in a proper manner for the good of the whole fociety. M. de Vattel is not altogether fo furious a republican as Mr. Roufleau of Geneva; but feems to think, that a people may confer the fovereign power on their prince, whofe judgment and will, in fuch cafe, ought to pafs for the judgment and will of the whole nation; unlefs, indeed, that judgment and will, manifeftly contradict the laws of Nature, and undoubtedly tend to the deftruction of fociety. In fuch circumftances he agrees with Wolfius, fi fuperior imperat legi nature repugnantia, obediendum non eft. Which propofition he illuftrates by the following remarks. "That our fuperiors are not to be obeyed when their commands are contradictory to the laws of nature, is undoubtedly a very juft decifion; but as this is a very nice and important queftion, it deferves more particular explanation. To this end it must be obferved, that there are fome things unjuft and illegal in themselves, fo contrary to all natural law, that no circumftances whatever can make them lawful there are others again, that are juft and unjuft, to be permitted or forbidden according to circumftances. Now, if a prince fhould command us to do any thing of the former kind, he ought not to be obeyed. But with regard to the latter, it is proper that fuch perfons as, on account of their low eftate and condition, are not called to the public councils and take no cognizance of what the state ought to undertake or reject; thofe, in fhort, who are formed to execute and obey, ought to conform themselves to the orders they receive, and to their duty each in his refpective department; fuppofing their fuperiors fhould lay on them no commands but what are juft. Thus, for example, a war may be just or unjust, according to the mo tives on which it is undertaken: but the army are not to judge of the neceflity or legality of the war; it is their business to put it in execution. The officers and foldiers ought to do their duty like brave men, when they are commanded on any expedition; and if their prince employs them in an unjuft war, he alone is guilty of the evils which are the confequence. But fuppofing an inhuman general should command his foldiers to ravifh all the women they met with, in facking a town, fuch foldiers would not be lawfully bound to obey him, because such a violation is abfolutely an unjustifiable and illegal action in itself. This doctrine is a fecurity to the confciences of the people, and at the fame time affords the prince fufficient authority for the adminiftration of government." M. de Vattel, however, differs from Wolfius as to the following propofition: "Si fuperior facere nolentem, quod legi naturali prohibitum, vel non facere recufantem, quod eadem lege præceptum, pænis afficere audeat, id cum fit inter adverfa referendum, que mutari non poffunt, pa

tienter

tienter ferendum." If a fuperiour should take upon him to punish any one for not doing what is prohibited by the law of nature, or for doing what is commanded by that law, fuch punishment is to be born patiently, as it may be ranked among those misfortunes which cannot be morally or legally avoided." But, why can it not be legally avoided? Is it because we may not Jawfully difobey our fuperiours? This is not proved to be true in the prefent cafe.

"But of whom doth Wolfius fpeak? Is it of a whole people or of individuals only? If he pretends here, that a whole people have no right to refift a prince, who would punish them for refufing to obey him in things contrary to the law of nature, he contradicts what he advances elfewhere, that it is legal to op-pole a fuperiour, who would deprive a people of their natural rights. Now it is doubtless one of the natural rights of a people, that they fhould not be thus compelled to do things contrary to natural law. When a fuperiour, therefore, takes upon him to issue fuch commands, and to punish those who will not obey them, the people have a right both to resist and restrain him. I grant, indeed, that if fuch injuftice refpects only an individual, and that he cannot redrefs himself, without exciting a commotion dangerous to the ftate, he would act the part of a good and virtuous citizen to fit down patiently under it. But it is to be observed, that the merit of fuch behaviour would be lefs owing to the fubmiffion he owes to an unjuft prince, than to what he owes to the peace of the ftate. For if he can preferve himself from oppreffion, without endangering the ftate, it would be very difficult to prove, that, in fuch a cafe, he would not be justified in standing up in his own defence.”

But we muft here take leave of this ingenious and entertaining Cafuift; whofe performance we heartily recommend to all those who are poffeffed of Wolfius's treatife, and are defirous of profiting by that elaborate, though, as it may be seen, in fome refpects, defective work.

De Dea Libertate, ejufque cultu apud Romanos; et de Libertinerum Pileo differtatio. Rodulphini Venuti Cortonenfis, Reg. Acad. Londin. Socii, et Roman. Antiquit. Præfidis. 4to. Romie. 1762. Or,

Notwithstanding the fhort mention made of this Treatife in our Review for March, as one of our Affociates, then in the country, fent us this larger account of the ingenious Abbe's performance, we believe the article will not be unacceptable to our Readers.

A Dif

A Differtation on the Goddefs Liberty, and her Worship among the Romans

TH

HE learned Author of the differtation before us, will be thought by fome to have employed his laborious refearches, in the prefent inftance, upon a fubject of no great importance; but for those who have a tafte for the study of antiquities, and have entered into the spirit of that useful branch of literature, he will be found to have provided a very agreeable

entertainment.

Our Author hath divided his work into twelve fhort chapters, under the following titles; 1. Quid fit libertas. 2. De Dea Libertate, ejufque effigie in Nummis. 3. De templo et porticu libertatis. 4. De jure perfonarum. 5. De ingenuis et libertinis. 6. De manumiffionis formulis. 7. De genuina Pilei nominis explicatione. 8. De propria Pilei nominis definitione. 9. De vera Pilei materia. tata Pilei forma. 11. De tempore geftandi Pileum. Libertinorum fequioris avi.

10. De uf12. De Piles

As it will be impoffible for us to enter minutely into each part of the differtation, without almoft tranfcribing the whole; we shall felect a few particulars, which feem to be of fome importance, and may afford the greatest entertainment to our Readers. The following is the Author's account of the manner in which the Goddefs Liberty hath been represented in fome of the ancient medals, in his fecond chapter. "We find, fays he, the head of this Goddefs, in the medals of the Jumian family, and of the Palicanians f, uncovered, with curled hair, as in the statues of Venus; with an open, comely, and graceful countenance, but fometimes veiled. In the medals ftruck by the Emperors, the Goddefs Liberty is feen fometimes ftanding; at other times fitting in an ornamented chair, robed with the Grecian Pallium, and with ftockings on; ge

+ Palicon or Palica, an ancient city of Sicily, built by Ducetius, one of the princes of that ifland, and fo called from a neighbouring temple dedicated to the gods Palici, who were fuppofed to be twin brothers, and fons of Jupiter by the Nymph Thalia. This temple was a fecure afylum for all perfons who were oppreffed by a fuperior power; efpe cially for flaves, who were unjustly abufed, or too cruelly treated by their masters, Vid. Antient Univerfal Hift. vol. 7. p. 533. note L.

In our original it is tabulataque. Tubulatus, as ufed by Pliny, fomething made hollow like a Pipe, or fluted. In Du Frefne's gloffary we find this explanation of the word Tubuli, tibialia, quae Gracci recen tiones Tuia vocant. Autor Queroti Eftum veflitis genibus, brumam nudis cruribus, in foccis hyeme, cancros in tubulis age. And again, from the fame writer, Occurral non fervientibus, utaturque in Æfia rubulis angu fil et novis. Du Freine's Gloff. med, et infim. Lat. tom. 3. p. 1214.

nerally

nerally holding in her right hand the Pileus, or cap of fiberty; and in the left a fpear or wand, not the emblem of her divinity, as is common among the other deities; but the wand, particularly called the vindicta, with which the prætors or lictors were used to strike flaves when they were made free.

BERTAS.

"In Nero's medals the head hath this legend round it, LIIn Galba's the legend is varied feveral ways, as LIBERTAS PVELICA, LIBERTAS RESTITVTA; and in others LIBERTAS AVGVSTI, as if the artist intended to infinuate,, that the Cæfarean family being extinct in Nero, liberty was then restored to the Roman people; according to Tacitus's obfervation after the death of Nero, fed patres lati, ufurpata ftatim libertate, &c. In the medals of Quintillus Cæfar the legend is LIBERT. AUG. within this device, a female figure wearing a long robe with a long train, holding the pileus in her right hand, and a cornu copie in the left, to intimate that plenty is the offspring of Liberty.

ર

"In the medals of Geta and Conftantine we have this legend, LIBERTAS PVBLICA; and in thofe of the latter particularly, there is on the reverse a triremis, or fhip of war, over which in front is Victory, holding a crown of laurel with both he arms extended; on the right fide of the field is B, and at the bottom CoNs. But in the abovementioned medals of Galba the Emperor is reprefented ftanding, with the toga on; a female figure proftrate at his feet; another with a helmet on, bearing a fhield in her left hand and in another medal, a woman kneeling with a little child in her right hand, whom he is prefenting to Galba, dreffed in his royal military robes.

t And, laftly, in Hadrian's medals, with the fame legend as before, the Emperor in his toga is reprefented fitting in a kind of temple; and beneath ftands a female figure with two little images.

"But, for the most part, Liberty is drawn with the Cap and Spear, as may be feen in the Medals of Nerva, Heliogabalus, Gallus, Caracalla, Claudius, Trajan, Vitellius, Caffius, Brutus and Lentulus, in which the Image of Liberty, or the Cap of Liberty is generally found."

The next Chapter relates to the Temple and Portico of the Goddefs Liberty, concerning which our Author hath collected the following Circumstances: "That there was a Temple erected to her by Publius Victor upon the Aventine Hill; and in the fame Place, a Hall, called the Hall of Liberty, of which there is frequent mention among the ancient Writers. Publius Clodius erected a Temple to Liberty, with a Portico on the Palatine Hill, where Cicero's houfe ftood, which, being built

4

near