OF OF THE 67896 SITY OF MICH THE ROMAN EMPIRE, FROM THE ACCESSION OF AUGUSTUS ΤΟ THE END OF THE EMPIRE OF THE WEST; BY THOMAS KEIGHTLEY. THIRD EDITION. LONDON: WHITTAKER AND CO., AVE-MARIA LANE. 1850. PREFACE. THE present work completes my History of Rome. Instead, however, of entitling it a second volume, I have made it a distinct work: for having been induced to depart from my original plan, and write a History of England after finishing that of the Roman Republic, and fearing lest some event might occur to prevent my completing my design, I was desirous that a work on which I had employed so much time and thought should not present an imperfect appearance. A further motive was, that some persons were of opinion that the History of the Empire would not be read so generally in schools as that of the Republic, and I wished to shun the imputation of forcing any one to buy a volume that he might not want. This last opinion I am disposed to regard as erroneous. There is no part of the Roman history more necessary to be read in classical schools than the reigns of Augustus and his successors to the end of that of Domitian; for without a knowledge of the history of that period, the writers of the Augustan age, and Juvenal, cannot be fully understood. Of this period we have actually no history, at least none adapted to schools, and hence arises the imperfect acquaintance with the historic allusions in Horace and the other poets which most readers possess, in consequence of being obliged to derive their information piecemeal from annotations. I have, therefore, taken especial care in the present volume to obviate this inconvenience; and I believe that scarcely any historic allusion in those poets will be found unnoticed. |