bat, being of a fearless disposition, he proceeded, on the day intended for the fatal blow, to the senate-house. Here, by a preconcerted signal, he was stabbed behind in the shoulder by Casca. All the conspirators now rushed forward, and he received a second stab in the breast, while Cassius wounded him in the face. In this emergency, he defended himself with great vigour, rushing among them, and throwing down such as opposed him, till he saw Brutus among the conspirators, who, coming up, struck his dagger into his thigh. From that moment, Cæsar thought no more of defending himself, but looking upon the ungrateful assailant, cried out, " And you too, Brutus!" Then, covering his head, and spreading his robe before him, in order to fall with a greater decency, he sank down at the base of Pompey's statue, after receiving twenty-three wounds from hands which he vainly supposed he had disarmed by his benefits. Thus died this remarkable man, the best who ever aspired to sovereignty in Rome, the victor in five hundred battles, and the conqueror of a thousand cities, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, (44 B. C.)

Upon the death of Cæsar, the conspirators were unable to form a government, or to inspire confidence in their designs; and in the distractions which ensued, Mark Antony, an ambitious man and formerly a lieutenant of Cæsar, endeavoured to raise himself to the supreme command. In this effort he was not successful. Octavius, grand-nephew and adopted son of Cæsar, also came forward as a candidate for power; and so likewise did a third personage, named Lepidus. As no one of these ambitious men possessed sufficient force to attain supreme command, they entered into a coalition, forming a tripartite power, termed a triumvirate. Being opposed by Brutus, a dreadful civil war ensued, the atrocities of which are scarcely paralleled in history. Brutus was ultimately killed, after which event the triumvirate quarrelled among themselves, and Octavius, by force of arms, becoming conqueror, attained the dignity of emperor of Rome.

Julius Cæsar's successors.

On arriving at this proud eminence, Octavius, now called Augustus Cæsar, relinquished the ambitious designs of his predecessors; he endeavoured to consolidate the empire, instead of extending it to undue bounds, and introduced a spirit of moderation into the public councils hitherto unknown. Knowing the taste of the Romans, he indulged them in the pride of seeing the appearance of a republic, while he made them really happy in the effects of a most absolute monarchy, guided by the most consummate prudence. Historians delight in recounting the number of good deeds of Augustus, and the glories of his time; and from him the phrase of "the Augustan age," applied by writers to periods in the history of nations remarkable for the prosperity and refinement which prevailed, has been derived. It was in the twenty-fifth year of the reign of this magnanimous prince that Jesus Christ was born, in the Roman province of Judea. In the year 14 of our era, Augustus was succeeded by Tiberius, a person of an entirely different character, and under whom the corruptions of the state became very great. In the nineteenth year of his cruel reign, Christ was crucified, under Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor In the year 37, Tiberius was put to death, by smothering him with pillows, or, as some historians allege, by poison: and he was succeeded by Caligula, a person of vicious habits and still more cruel character. This emperor was prodigal and extravagant to a degree almost inconceivable. The luxuries of for

of Jerusalem.

mer emperors were simplicity itself when compared to those which he practised. He contrived new ways of bathing, where the richest oils and most precious perfumes were used with the utmost profusion. He found out dishes of immense value, and had even jewels, we are told, dissolved among his sauces. He sometimes had services of pure gold presented before his guests instead of meat. But his prodigality was the most remarkable in regard to his horse. He built for it a stable of marble, and a manger of ivory. Whenever this animal, which he called Incitatus, was to run, he placed sentinels near its stable the night preceding, to prevent its slumbers from being broken. He appointed it a house, furniture, and a kitchen, in order to treat all its visiters with proper respect. He sometimes invited it to his own table, and presented it with gilt oats, and wine in a golden cup. He often swore by the safety of his horse; and historians mention, that he would have appointed it to a consulship, had not his death prevented. Caligula perished by assassination, after a reign of less than four years; of him it has been said, that nature seemed to have brought him forth, to show what was possible to be produced from the greatest vice supported by the greatest authority. He was succeeded by Claudius, who was a feeble and contemptible emperor, and who was finally cut off by poison. Nero, the next emperor, was at once noted for his cruelty, his vanity, and his debased passions. The atrocities he committed go beyond the reach of language to describe, and are such as perhaps never entered into the mind of any other human being. A conspiracy having been raised against him, and being at length hunted by assassins, he fell by a stroke of his own dagger. Of the succeeding emperors, we need not here enter into a detail. Under Vespasian, the tenth, and Titus, the eleventh emperor, the state rallied a little, and justice and an appearance of decency were once more resumed.

The reign of Trajan, the fourteenth emperor, almost renewed the glories of Augustus. (A. D. 107.) He advanced the empire to a greater degree of splendour than it had hitherto attained. He pursued his military conquests into new regions, even to Hindostan, and added greatly to the extent of the Roman territories; although this was not ultimately attended with any good effect. Trajan is distinguished as the greatest and the best emperor of Rome. Having given peace and prosperity to the empire, he continued his reign, loved, honoured, and almost adored, by his subjects. A pillar commemorating his great actions, erected in Rome, is still in existence. His successor, Adrian, was also a good sovereign, and was distinguished for his abilities and literary acquireunder the authority of any ruler remarkable for his magments. After this period, the empire was never again nanimity. The greater part of the successors of Adrian were dissolute and vicious in their habits, and under them

the empire waned to its close. The only one deserving to be noticed was Constantine, the forty-first emperor (A. D. 311.)

Introduction of Christianity.

At the death of Constantius, the fortieth emperor, he bequeathed the sovereignty to his son Constantine, a young prince of promising abilities. In the attempt, however, to take possession of his inheritance, he was opposed by three contending rivals-Maxentius, who governed in Rome, a person of cruel disposition, and a steadfast supporter of paganism; Licinius, who commanded in the east; and Maximin, who also governed some of the eastern provinces. The first step taken by Constantine was an expedition with an army to Rome, to expel Maxentius. One evening, while the army was on its march, Constantine, who was of a meditative disposition, sat in his camp reflecting upon the uncertain fate of sublunary things, and the dangers of the enter

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positions. Philosophical writing may be said to have arisen and at once reached its acme in Cicero, the celebrated orator (born 106, died 46 B. c.), beyond all question the greatest man in the department of letters to whom the Roman state gave birth. Besides many strictly philosophical treatises, he has left several works on rhetoric, and many orations and epistles.

A philosophical manner of relating events took its rise with Sallustius (born 68 в. c.), whose histories of the Jugurthan war and of the conspiracy of Catiline, though perhaps not free from prejudice, are considered as models of composition. The Commentaries of Cæsar, in which, with noble simplicity, he relates the history of his own campaigns, place him among the first Roman writers. Levius, who lived in the reign of Augustus, stands unrivalled among the Roman historical writers, being distinguished by consummate judgment in the selection of facts, perspicuity of arrangement, sagacious reflection, sound views of policy, and the most copious, pure, and eloquent expression. Of his history of Rome, written in 142 books, only 35 have reached us. Next to him, in the same department, is Tacitus (born A. n. 55), whose Annals of Rome, extending throughout the greater part of the first century, and his life of Agricola, the conqueror of Britain, are remarkable for acuteness of thought and concise style.

Lucretius, a dramatic, and Catullus, a lyric poet, were the principal writers of that kind who rose before the reign of Augustus. This reign was not only adorned by Livius, but by a cluster of poets, of unmatched excellence. Virgilius, a native of Mantua, wrote Bucolics, or pastoral dialogues, Georgics, or poetical treatises on agricultural subjects, and the Æneid, a heroic or epic poem. His style is remarkable for smoothness, and a fine strain of feeling. Horatius, his contemporary and friend, composed odes, satires, and epistles: he has never been excelled in felicity of phrase and epigrammatic point; the general strain of his writings is gay and familiar. Ovidius was a most elegant, though licentious poet. Tibullus, Propertius, and Martial, complete the list of the principal Roman poetical writers. Lucanus, Statius, and Silius Italicus, flourished in a later time, when luxuriance of ornament and a tendency to conceit showed that the best days of the national intellect were past.

Plinius (born A. D. 23) was almost the only Roman writer who treated of nature or science; he was an associate of Tacitus, and has left behind him works not less celebrated. He was a diligent student of the operations of nature, both animate and inanimate, and having devoted every spare moment to the noting down of facts and observations, he finally produced a voluminous work on Natural History, in thirty-seven books, which is reck

oned the more valuable for its containing extracts from many lost works. Pliny was unfortunately killed in the year 79, by an eruption from Vesuvius which destroyed the city of Herculaneum, where he was at the time residing.

The Romans distinguished themselves in philosophy only by spreading the doctrines of the Greek philosophers in a language more extensively understood. The principal writer on morals was Seneca, born in the first year of the Christian era. Gifted by nature with excellent talents, he devoted himself to the cultivation of the Stoic philosophy, and his various learning and practical wisdom procured him the office of tutor to Nero. He afterwards incurred the ermity of that monster of cruelty, and was condemned by him to death. He died with the calmness of a virtuous mind (A. D. 66).

It is perhaps unnecessary to mention, that none of the works of the writers whose names have been quoted, nor of others of less importance, were circulated generally among the Roman people.. Being written on rolls of parchment or papyrus, copies were multiplied only by great labour and expense, and sold or exhibited exclusively to persons of taste and opulence. Thus, the great mass of Roman citizens and provincials were left in en tire ignorance of books, or of the subjects of which they treated. In the Roman city of Pompeii, lately uncovered from the effects of a dreadful eruption of Vesuvius, many interesting remains of art have been discovered, but no traces of literature whatsoever. Being excluded from the pleasures and advantages of mental culture through the agency of books, the only recreations of the people consisted in boisterous games, witnessing fights of gladiators or swordsmen with each other, or with wild beasts, or attending spectacles probably less barbarous, but not more calculated to cultivate the national intellect, or produce social refinement. In these facts, we find the truc cause of the decline of both Greek and Roman civilization. It was a civilization only of castes and classes. There was nothing expansive or vivifying in it. Suddenly it sprang up in the Grecian republics, and was transplanted to Rome; but there, after a short struggle, it was rooted out and destroyed. The modern civilization that arose out of the chaos that followed the demise of the Roman power, is an entirely different thing, because it less or more pervades all classes of society, and by means of the expansive principle of education, aided by the art of printing, promises to extend and increase in vigour throughout every succeeding generation, till it ultimately fulfil the highest conditions of improvement of which the human race is susceptible.

Of the events which ensued on the destruction of the Roman empire, an account is given in the HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

the undisputed master of the empire. He reigned twen ty-four years, but left no monuments of goodness or of greatness, having wasted his time in the practice of vice, or in the equally unprofitable, if more innocent, employment of disputing with bishops on the abstrusest points of doctrinal theology, while a host of enemies, apparently from every side of his dominions, were engaged in undermining and laying waste the empire. It was in the west that these attacks were first made, though, perhaps, it was in the east that they were fiercest. Numberless and powerful barbarians now began to pour unceasingly upon Gaul, Spain, and latterly upon Italy itself, from the fo rests of the north, and in particular from those of Germany-a country whose inhabitants have been remarkable in the history of the world, both as having origi. nated many of the greatest movements in society, and as having laid open more of the sources of human thought than any other people that could be named. The Franks, Saxons, Goths, and Alemanni, devastated the fine countries watered by the Rhine, and so effectually parted them from the empire, that from this period their history becomes wholly separate. At the same time the Sarmatians, Persians, Scythians, and others, made dreadful incursions on the east. All that Constantius did to stem

this powerful tide, was to raise his kinsman Julian, whom he surnamed Cæsar, to command in the army.

EASTERN EMPIRE TO THE END OF THE ELEVENTH CENTURY.

In another article (ANCIENT HISTORY OF GREECE AND ROME), the decline of the Roman empire has been traced till the period (321) when Constantine transferred the imperial abode to Byzantium (a city situated on the west shore of the Black Sea, and afterwards called Constantinople, in honour of its second founder). In his endeavours to make this city the seat of government, he only partially succeeded; for it generally happened after his day that there was one emperor in the east and another in the west, and not unfrequently two or three different individuals in the provinces, at the head of considerable military forces, claiming partial and even universal empire. Rome itself and the countries of western Europe were soon to lose the characteristics and individuality of empire, but Constantinople continued for a thousand years the abode of men who had still the name of emperors, and reckoned themselves the descendants of the Cæsars, although they had long ceased to wield any thing but the shadow of power. Constantine was himself instrumental in dismembering his empire, having before his death divided it among no fewer than five individuals, namely, his three sons, Constantine, Constans, and Constantius, and two nephews named Dalmatius and Annibalianus, both of whom bore in addition the surname of Cæsar, still popular among a people who wished themselves to be considered Roman.

Constantine II. soon fell a sacrifice to the cruelty and ambition of his brother Constans, who, in his turn, lost nis life in attempting to quell a revolt among his subjects; and Constantius, the youngest of the sons, having found means to destroy the two Cæsars, and five other cousins, and two uncles, found himself, at an early period of life,

Julian had been early instructed in the Christian religion, but he is not known to have ever given it any credit, although he has been often called apostate. He had

and with this learning, with the elements of a great character in his mind, and with the models of Cæsar, of Trajan, and of Marcus Antoninus in his eye, he formed the design, and seemed to have the ability, to raise up and consolidate the glories of the falling empire. His victo ries over the Alemanni in Gaul, although they preserved the empire, excited only the envy of the emperor, and Constantius was about to depose him from his command, when his own death saved him from the ignominy to which the soldiery would certainly have subjected him for any attempt to degrade their favourite commander. Julian was himself declared emperor by the army, and the people had lost both the power and the will to resist Unfortunately for his fame, Julian perished in battle with the Persians, only three years after his accession. In that short period he had reformed many abuses in the state; and though personally hostile to the Christian religion, and though he used both arguments and ridicule against it, he not only advocated, but practised, universal toleration. It is creditable, also, to Julian, that in establishing the ancient orders of Roman priesthood, he was at pains to enforce a strict morality in all the relations of life. He was succeeded, after the fall of several candidates, by Valentinian, whose father had been a soldier from the Danube. This emperor took for colleague his brother Valens, to whom he assigned Constantinople and the government of the East. The reign of Valens was signalized by the irruption into Europe of an enemy till then unknown to the Romans; these were the Huns, a confederation of Tartar tribes, some of whom had attained the ascendency and control over the rest, and led them on to invade the nations of Europe. Their numbers and ferocity led the ancient writers to describe them in terms of consternation, which to moderns, who are no strangers to Calmucs, Cossacks, Tartars, and other savages of similar origin, appear sufficiently ludicrous,

They never lived in houses, slept under trees, ate raw flesh, and were altogether superior in war even to the Goths, who were now in alliance with the Romans, and had begun to relish the comforts of a settled life. They were, therefore, driven away before the Huns, and were forced, in search of a home, to invade the Roman territory. Here they were opposed by the Emperor Valens, but they defeated his army, and made his own life a sacrifice. He was succeeded by his nephew Gratian, who chose for his colleague Theodosius, a general of talents and celebrity. This emperor restored the confidence of his can army, and broke the power of the Goths, by his skill and caution; and was the first of the emperors who practised the mode of dividing the barbarians against one another, by giving money to such of their tribes as he imagined would make useful auxiliaries. This system, which the wealth of the emperors (from their possession of all the maritime and trading cities) enabled them long to use against their poorer enemies, often saved the empire at the expense of its dignity; for though the money was given at first as a gratuity, it was sometimes demanded in times of weakness as a tribute. This Theodosius (commonly called the Great) was the first who made Christianity the established religion of the empire (390). He procured a senatorial edict in favour of the Christians, sanctioned the destruction of the heathen temples, and forbade the performance of sacrifices, either in public or private. The empire under this prince still preserved its original extent; but he divided it between his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius (394), and its parts were never afterwards reunited.

From the death of Theodosius II. (449) to the reign of Justinian (527), the eastern empire continued without any considerable alteration, though there were many changes and intrigues in the court and army. The reign of the latter prince is memorable on several accounts: it was under his auspices that a knowledge of the silk manufacture was first brought to Europe, where it gave employment to much ingenious industry (900). Justinian also caused certain eminent lawyers to prepare a code of laws, and an abridgment of law decisions, &c., called the Pandects, which were used by all his successors, and have been adopted as the basis of their laws by several countries of Europe. With the single exception of the Code de Napoleon, these form the only complete and perfect abstract of national law which any government has given to its people. Whatever may have been Justinian's errors, his having projected this work, and procured so many able ministers to execute it, must redound for ever to his honour. The talents and virtues of his general, Belisarius, regained to the empire Africa and great part of Italy, from the Vandals and Ostrogoths; this conquest, however, only prevented the latter region from being united under one government, and has been the cause of its remaining a feeble and divided country ever since. In the reign of Tiberius, shortly after (580), the people of Rome, though they entreated with great earnestness the aid and pity of the emperor, who now claimed to rule over them, were unable to obtain any relief, and remained distracted between their attachment to the ancient head of the empire, and the claims of his enemies who occupied the rest of Italy.

The next emperor who merits attention is Heraclius (610), a native of Africa. The eastern empire had till now preserved its ancient boundaries in their full extent, and was mistress of Carthage, Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, besides Greece, and the countries on the Danube. The Roman armies on the eastern frontier had, however, been lately driven in by Chosroes, King of Persia, who now occupied all the north of Africa and Syria. This was the first great violation of their territory sustained by the emperors of Constantinople; and Heraclius avenged it with a celerity and effect which made the Persians tremble. His triumph, however, was short, for

the latter part of his reign was disturbed by the rise and victories of Mohammed. The successors of this signal impostor, after breaking the power of Persia (already weakened by the victories of Heraclius), immediately attacked the Roman empire; then defeated its armies in two battles, occupied all Syria, and obliged the emperor (now an old man) to retire to Constantinople. He died in 641.

The continued victories of the followers of Mohammed (called Arabs or Saracens) soon deprived the empire of Egypt, Africa, and Syria; and in 668 they followed up their success by attacking Constantinople itself. The city sustained two sieges, in the first of which the Saracens were encamped in its neighbourhood, and carried on the operations of a siege at intervals, for seven years; and in the second for nearly two. In both, the Saracens wasted immense resources ineffectually.

The empire had now lost all its provinces eastward of Mount Taurus, and the cities of Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch, were in the hands of the Mohammedans. There was little further change in its condition till the year 867, under the Emperor Basil, who gave new vigour both to the internal administration and to the military resources of the government. This prince, and his immediate predecessor Zimisces, made the Roman armsfor they still wished to be called Romans-respected on the Euphrates and Tigris, and asserted the ancient warlike reputation and boundaries of the empire. They were now, however, deprived of the resources they had enjoyed in the secure possession of the great commercial cities of the Mediterranean-Alexandria, Carthage, Casarea, &c.; and the trade and revenues of those which remained were crippled and diminished, from the want of that free general intercourse which had existed when they were all under one government. Hence the armies were maintained with greater difficulty, and any victories that were gained could not be followed up with effect. The early enemies of the empire-the Goths, Vandals, and Huns-had now settled into civilized communities, and were no longer formidable. The foes with whom it contended latterly were the Bulgarians and Seljukian Turks; the former of whom were rather troublesome than dangerous, but the latter, who had succeeded the Saracens in the dominion of Asia, aimed at nothing short of the destruction of the Roman name. They succeeded at last, by defeating and taking prisoner the Emperor Romanus Diogenes, in tearing away almost the whole province of Asia Minor (1099); and the emperors were now confined to their dominions in Europe, which, however, still formed a monarchy not much smaller than France or Spain.

The manners of the court of Constantinople, during much of this period, were dissolute and corrupt. We are told of one emperor who ordered a plate of human noses to be brought to his table; another was accustomed to seize the deputies of cities whose tribute was in arrear, and suspend them with their heads downwards over a slow fire; a third got up farces in mockery of the ceremonials of religion: and, in general, the appointment of officers, and even the succession to the empire (where it was not seized by some successful general), was in the hands of the women and eunuchs of the palace. The cities and provinces generally acquiesced, as to the choice of an emperor, in the decision of the capital or army; this circumstance shows that the laws were attended to, and that there was a regular system of government, which was not much disturbed by the personal character of the reigning prince. The countries of Greece, however, which had formerly been the seat of knowledge and the arts, were now sunk in ignorance; and the little learning that was cultivated in Athens was only scholas tic divinity, or the pedantry of law and grammar. There is no scholar or philosopher of the empire of Constanti nople who is generally known to posterity.