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ceive in what manner the great drama of the Roman history could have been expected to close, except in the fierce strife for preeminence among the mighty and ambitious minds which the conquest of the world had formed; and at length in the final mastery of one, if not the greatest, the subtlest, the most politic, and the most favoured by circumstances. The contest of the orders in the state was followed, as Mr. Drumann observes, by the contest for the dominion of the world; this in turn by the contest for the dominion of Rome: it was first the strife of parties, and as these were exhausted, of the heads of parties; hence Sylla could only be the head of a party, and dictator-Cæsar became, in fact, king, only without the diadem.

It is easy to expose and to inveigh against the universal defection from the ancient simplicity, the stern morals, the frugal virtues of the older republic; but with the progress of the Roman arms, the growth of a different state of civilization was inevitable. Would the lords of Greece and Asia be content with their Sabine farms, their Oscan farces, or their coarse woollen dress? Cincinnatus might return to the plough after his triumph over a rude Volscian or Samnite tribe; even Scipio might maintain a dignified moderation in his retirement. But would the conqueror of Syria or the prætor of Asia Minor endure these homely enjoyments and rustic occupations? The conquests of Rome led inevitably to the formation of a military aristocracy, the leading members of which, notwithstanding the short tenure of their command according to the original constitution of the republic, and their dependence on the people for their re-election to offices of military trust, could not but obtain a formidable hold on the attachment of the soldiery; the government of the provinces, with the universal practice of farming the public revenues, could not but constitute an aristocracy of riches, to which the most splendid fortunes made in our great days of Indian nabobism were, in comparison with the general wealth, poor and insignificant. When their clients were only the artisans who supplied their wants with the most necessary articles of trade, or men who or whose fathers had been released from slavery, the Æmilii and the Claudii might stand above the general level of society, solely from the antiquity of their families or their patrician descent; but when the most famous cities of Greece and Asia Minor, and even kings, solicited the patronage of the Roman consulars, and humbly boasted themselves their clients, would these sink down again into the ordinary mass of Roman citizens, or even blend undistinguished with their own order? Such an aristocracy could not remain an aristocracy; bound together by no bonds of order, of rank, of party, of sect, it was impossible but that the eagles should con

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tend for the larger share of the prey; the class of distinguished men who had obtained high military honours, or accumulated immense fortunes, must gradually become narrower and more exclusive, until they would range under the banner of one or two of the most eminent; and then would ensue the strife for individual mastery for the sole dominion of the world

" Nec Cæsar ferre priorem,

Pompeiusve parem.'

Whatever names might fill up the verse, the event could not be otherwise. In fact, according to the just observation of our author, which we have quoted, the contest between the parties gave place to the contest between individuals. The senate and the people were mere watchwords to the conflicting armies of Marius and Sylla-of Cæsar and Pompey. Marius and Sylla were designated by their birth as the heads of their respective parties; but Cæsar was the head of the popular, only because Pompey was that of the patrician, faction.

The

Revolutions, it is said, produce great minds. Those only ride on the stormy sea who can buffet with the waves. barriers either of rank or of wealth, which in peaceful times restrain the more adventurous spirits, are thrown down. All parties are anxiously expecting and eagerly hailing the appearance of those qualifications of vigour, decision, and daring which they want to secure their own triumph. Their vital existence depends on the moral and intellectual greatness of their head, and jealousy and even suspicion give place to the more absorbing feeling of self-advantage. Whoever best serves their cause, is recognized by the fears and the interests as well as by pride and attachment, as the leader. The later history of Rome is one long revolution. Both abroad and at home great things were to be achieved-great conquests won-great dangers averted-great wealth amassed-great men rivalled or eclipsed; only minds of the first magnitude could survive the collision, or force their way to eminence. The course of events by which Rome arrived at this apogee at once of its greatness and of its liberties lies beyond the sphere of the present discussion. The republic is already arrived at the point in which the individual has ceased to be the representative of the faction; the faction is rather the power wielded by the individual for his personal aggrandizement. We should regret this the more, if the materials were more ample for the full and complete investigation of the elements which at this period constituted the Roman people. But it is remarkable that of the period in question there is no ancient and continuous historynone, indeed, of any description better than an epitome like those of Paterculus or Florus. Our best guides, as far as the general

course

course of events, are Greeks-Plutarch and Appian and Dio Cassius, who wrote during the reigns of Trajan and Antoninus. The brief but pregnant histories of Sallust, and the invaluable notices scattered in the works of Cicero, are our only unquestioned authorities. To judge on the policy, the power, the wisdom, and even the patriotism of these heads of parties, it is indispensable to know how the parties themselves were formed. We see the senatorial, or patrician, and the plebeian party in array against each other. Each of the masters of his age is the champion of one of these causes. When the victorious army of either leader threw its sword into the scale, we see at once the cause of the preponderance. But the causes of the civil weight and authority of this new patriciate the predominance in the popular assembliesthe secret of the senatorial influence, so obstinately and long so successfully maintained,—this internal and most important, as well as interesting, part of the history can only be laboriously collected from the scattered notices in many authors. The works of Cicero furnish, we have said, the most valuable and authoritative portions of this incidental information; the rest is to be wrought out from poets and dramatists, anecdote-collectors, like Valerius Maximus, writers on rural affairs, or even grammarians -from every quarter, in short, which can throw any accidental light on the manners and habits of the people.

Like all great revolutions, that of Rome was the result of many conspiring causes. These were connected together, and mutually operated upon each other. The external policy of the republic reacted upon the civil weight and relative position of the internal orders of the state; the altered condition of the people confirmed the system of external policy. The result, as we have stated, was the disproportionate and dangerous aggrandizement of individuals. The foreign wars brought about this state of things, and not merely by the direct effects of the fame and the wealth obtained in barbarian or Asiatic conquests; they acted in many more remote and indirect channels on the republic.

ROME, it must be remembered, (we suspect that this first principle of the Roman constitution is rarely seen in its true light by the ordinary reader of history,) the city of Rome, was not the governing power during the more flourishing days of the republic. It was merely the place of assembly for a considerable district of country situated around its walls. The rural tribes, who resided on their estates, were the ruling and influential body. The plebs urbana, which constituted only four out of the thirtyfive tribes who voted in the Comitia, were considered the lowest and most contemptible part of the Roman people. They were the mechanics, the artisans, the traders,—a class held in disre

pute

pute-principally freedmen or descendants of freedmen, who, according to the original principles of the constitution, could only be enrolled in these tribes. The senators themselves chiefly resided on their country estates; the citizens of Rome cultivated their patrimonial possessions. The elections to the great offices of state were almost entirely at the command of this sounder, more virtuous, more independent class of plebeians. They assembled in the capital for the comitia, and the capital followed instead of taking the lead; whether the votes were according to centuries or tribes, the viatores, the summoning officers of the consul, or the prætor, passed rapidly through the whole district, which had the right of suffrage, and convened the electors to the Forum or the Campus Martius. Roman poll-books for different periods would furnish a more clear and accurate insight into the politics of the republic than an elaborate history. From them we should see in what part of the state resided the real dominant influence; and we are inclined to believe that, as the state of Rome verged nearer to anarchy, and to a narrower and constantly conflicting oligarchy, we shall find the influence of the city itself perpetually on the increase. The theory of the constitution was the same; the practice experienced a gradual but very important change.

Many causes contributed to diminish the weight and the numbers of the true plebeian order, the genuine Roman people. The city, from its base and mechanical populace, furnished no part of the old Roman army; the whole native strength of the legions was from the country districts. This, in the incessant and sometimes destructive warfare waged in every part of the world, was of itself a constant drain on a limited population. The evil which constantly preyed upon the internal energy of the Roman people, the debt incurred by the cultivators of the soil during their absence from their farms on military service, increased, of course, in proportion with the means possessed by the moneyed aristocracy of profiting by the embarrassment of their poorer neighbours. The equality of right or of privilege was constantly disturbed; these new and artificial distinctions between the wealthy and the indigent were rendered more marked and invidious. The usurer (the fœnerator) was constantly at hand, usually in the proper person, at least in that of the agent, of a senator or patrician. The wealthy had already obtained possession of the public domain; the usufruct of which had gradually grown so completely into property, that the mention of an agrarian law for the resumption of the public lands, and partitioning them among the poorer citizens, was resisted even by men of high principle and moderation among the privileged class. It is clear, from Livy and from Appian, that a large

part

part of the Roman territory was in the possession of a few great proprietors, who cultivated it by their slaves. The old race of the sturdy and frugal Roman legionaries was becoming rapidly extinct; and this change in the state of the people, whether the free peasantry were forced into the city, or absorbed by the foreign wars, must have increased the influence of the city populace in the public assemblies. The right of suffrage, extorted at the point of the sword by the Italian allies, during the bloody and obstinate Social war, no doubt tended to counterbalance this increase in the city electors. But the remedy was in some respects worse than the disease. Strangers poured into Rome from all quarters, the Comitia became a scene of confusion and open violence. Even the remoter parts of Italy began to have great weight in the assemblies. Cicero, in his first epistle to Atticus, expresses his intention of setting out upon a canvassing tour in Cisalpine Gaul,-Quoniam videtur in suffragiis multum posse Gallia.' Still the city electors, always at hand, must have pos-, sessed a great advantage. During the republic the plan of collecting the votes in the confederated cities, or of appointing local polling-places, was unknown, and diametrically contrary to the first principles of the constitution. The system of representation in this sense never appears to have occurred to the free states of antiquity.

From these various and conflicting causes, the public assemblies for the election of magistrates, and the voting on public affairs, had lost all their sober dignity, and even decency. Rigid laws were passed against employing an armed force, against intrigue and bribery, against associations to influence the electors, (de vi, de ambitu, de sodalitiis ;) but the very magistrates who introduced these severe edicts, as usual, when themselves in a minority, were the first to violate them. Candidates appeared not only encircled by their armed partizans, but by troops of gladiators: bribery was so shameless and unblushing that the strong lines of Lucan were fully borne out by the events of every year,—

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Hinc rapti pretio fasces, sectorque favoris
Ipse sui populus; lethalisque ambitus urbi
Annua lethali referens certamina campo.'

The associations, the clubs for the purpose of influencing electors, were more and more extensively organized, until the legions took their place, and the sodalitium of the dictator or triumvir was his army in battle-array. Thus conquest drained the republic of its more valuable citizens, and in return imported into the city inordinate individual wealth. Wealth not merely corrupted the morals and introduced a more elegant luxury, which, however in itself tending to peace, order, and civilization, was too foreign to the

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