Part III: The Revolutions of Empires

T\ie Txogiression of Empires.

XTIIOU6H there be nothing comparable to that progression of the true church, which I have represented to you, the progression of Empires, which I come now. Sir, to set before your eyes, is of no less consequence to great princes like you.

In the first place, those empires have for the most part a necessary connexion with the people of CKnI made use of the Assyrians and Babylonians, to pires cbastise that people; of the Persians, to restore them; of Alexander and his first successors to protect them; of Antiochus Illustris and his successors, to exercise them; of the Romans to support their liberty against senre, the kings of Syria, who breathed nothing but their de- ham. straction. The Jews continued until Jesus C$rist un-

dier the power of the same Romans. Wheif ihey dis-

nrin owned and crucified him, those same Romans lent an ces unwitting hand to the divine vengeance, and exterminated that ungrateful people. God who had resolved to gather at the same time the new people, from among all nations, did first unite both seas and land under the same empire. The commerce of many different nations, formerly strangers to one another, and afterwards united under t-he Roman dominion, was one of the most powerful means that providence made use of ■' for the propagation of the gospel. If the same Ro*. man empire persecuted for the space of three hun* dred years that new people, which was growing on all hands within its compass, that persecution confirmed the Christian church, and made her glory shine forth conspicuous together with her faith and patience. At last the Roman empire yielded; and having found something more invincible than itself, received peace* ably into its bosom that church,

r t-' waged so long and so cruel a war. The emperors 'iftiow enfiployed their whole power lo bring every uftder the obedience of the church, and Rooie. became the head of the spiritual empire which Jesus -iChrist meant to extend over the whole earth.

Wben the time was. come that the Roman power must falJ, and that that great empire, which had vainly promised itself eternity, was to undergo the fate of all others, Rome, though become a prey to barbarians, yet by her religion preserved her ancient ma- j jesty* The nations that invaded the Roman empire, ' learned by degrees the Christian piety, which human- I ized their barbariousness; and their kings putting themselves, each in his respective nation, in the place of the emperors, found none of their titles more glorious than that of protectors of the church.

But I must here discover to you the secret judgments of God upon the Roman empire, and upon Rome herself: a mystery which the Holy Spirit revealed to St. John, and which that great Man, Apostle, j Evangelist, and Prophet, hath unfolded in the Apoca- j lypse. Rome who was grown old in the worship of 4 idols, had extreme difficulty to get rid of them, even under the Christian emperors; and the senate made 8ymm. it a poiut of houour to defend the gods of Romulus, \«b. to which it attributed all the victories of the ancient republic. The emperors were pestered with deputa- tions from that great body, which required the resto- of its idols, and which thought that to turn away 11. Rome from her old superstitions was, to offer an indig* nity to the Roman name. Thus that assembly com* posed of the choice of the empire, and an immense multitude of people, among whom were almost all the powerful men of Rome, could neither be drawn from their errors by the preaching of the gospel, nor by so visible an accomplishment of the ancient pro* pbecies, nor yet by the conversion of almost all the rest of Europe, nor, in fine, by that of the princes, all whose decrees \u favour of Christianity. On

SJ7 ihe contrary, ihey continued to load with reproaches the church of Christ, which they charged also, after the example of their fathers, with all the ' that befel the enapire, ever ready to renew the persecutions, had they not been restrained by the emperors. In this condition were things in the fourth age of the church, and an hundred after Constanline, when God at last called to mind the many bloody decrees of the senate against the faithful, and at the same time the furious outcries with which the whole Roman people, thirsting after christian blood, had so often made the amphitheatre ring. He delivered up therefore to the barbarians, that city drurik with the blood of the mar- g tyrs, as St. John speaks. God renewed upon her the terrible chastisements which he had inflicted on Baby* Ion: Rome herself is called by that name. This new Babylon, a faithful copier of the old, like her, puffed up with her victories, exulting in her delights and her riches, polluted by her and a persecutor of God's people, falls also like her by a mighty fall, and St. John sings her overthrow. The glory of her conquests, which she ascribed to her gods, is taken JJJn ffi)rn her: she is a prey to barbarians, thrice, nay four times taken, plundered, sacked, and destroyed. Ihe sword of the barbarians spares none but the Chrisiians. Another Rome, wholly Christian, arises out of (he ashes of the former; and it is only after the inundation of the barbarians, that we see Jesus Christ's victory completed over the Roman gods, which are not only destroyed but forgot.

Thus it is that the empires of the world have min* istered to religion, and to the preservation of the people of God: wherefore that same God, who caused the different states of his people to be foretold by his prophets, caused the succession of empires to be also predicted by them. You have seen the places where Nebuchadnezzar was pointed out as the person that was to come and punish the haughty nations, anvi especially the Jewish people for their ingratitude their Maker. You bare heard Cjrus named two hundred years before bis birth, as him who was to restore people, and to punish Babylon's pride. The deslruciion of Nineveh bath been no less clearly fbretoU. Daniel, in bis admirable visions, bath made the empire of Babylon, that of the Medes and Persians, that of Alexaiider and the Grecians, pass away i:i a moment before you. The blasphemies and cruelties of Antiuchus Illustris have been there prophesied, as well as the miraculous victories of God's people over that violent persecutor. We there sec those iamous empires fall one after another, and the new euijare which Jesus Christ was to establish, is there described so expressly by its proper characters, that it is impossible to mistake It. It is the empire of the baiijts of the Most High; the empire of the Son of the empire that is to stand amidst the ruin of all oiheis, and to which alone eternity is promised.

The judgments of God Upon the greatest of all the empires of this world, that is, upon the Roman empire, have not been hid from us. You have just learned them from the mouth of St. John. Rome hath herself felt the hand of God, and hath been,«is well as others, an example of his justice. But her lot was happier than that of other cities. Purged by her calamities from the remains of idolatry, she no longer stands but by Chistianity, which she dispenses to the whole world.

Tfius have all the great empires that we have seen upon earth, concurred by different ways to the good of religion, and glory of God, as God himself halh declared by his prophets.

When you read so often in ibeir writings, that kings shall (lock into the church, and that they shall be protectors and nursing fathers of her; by these words you immediately understand the emperors and other Christian princes. And as your royal ancestors have signalized themselves above all others, in protecting encf extending vUe cUvuch qf God, I shall ngt stick to

assure you, that it is they who, of all kings, are most clearly foretold in (hose illustrious prophecies.

God therefore, who had a mind to make use of divers empires, to chastise or to exercise, to extend or protect his people, willing to make himself known for the author of so admirable a counsel, discovered the secret of it to his prophets, and made them foretell what He had resolved to execute. Wherefore, as -the empires entered into the order of God's designs upon the people whom He hath chosen, the fortune of those empires stands announced by the same oracles of the Holy Spirit, which foretel the succession of the faithful people.

The more you shall accustom yourself to investigate great things, and to trace them to their principles, the more will you be filled with admiration of those councils of providence. It concerns you, early to form ideas of them, which will daily grow clearer in your mind, and to learn to refer human things to the order of that eternat wisdom whereon they depend.

God does not every day declare his will by his prophets, concerning the kings and monarchies, which he sets up or pulls down. But having done it so many times in those great empires we have been speaking of. He shows us by those famous instances, how He acts in all others, and teaches kings these two great fundamental truths; first, that it is He who forms kingdoms, in order to give them to whomsoever he will; and secondly, that he knows how to make them subservient, in his own good time and order, to the designs he hath upon his people.

This, Sir, ought to keep all princes in entire dependence, and make them ever attentive to commands, in order to lend a hand to what He purposes for his glory, upon every opportunity He presents to them.

But this progression of empires, even to consider it in a more human light, hath its great advantages; par* ticularly to princes, seeing arrogance, the commaa companion of so eminent a station, is so effecfually bumbled by such a spectacle. For if men iearn moderation by seeing kings die, bow much more will tbey be struck when they behold kingdoms themselves expire; and what can afford a more excellent lesson of the vanity of human grandeur?

Thus when you see pass away as it were In an instant, before your eyes, not to say kings and emperorf;, but those great empires, which have made the whole world tremble; when you see the Assyrians, both old and new, the Medes, Persians, Greeks, and present themselves successively before you, and fall, so to speak, one upon another; the dreadful wreck makes you sensible that there is nothing solid among men, and that inconstancy and agitation Are the proper portion of human But, Sir, what will render this spectacle more useful rcroiu-and entertaining to you, is the nflection you will make, of em- not only upon the rise and fall of empires, but also Kavl upon the causes of their advancement and decline. For, Sir, the same God, who made the concatenawS universe, and who, Almighty in himself, princes hath thought fit, for the sake of order, that all parts of that great whole should have a mutual depenfiiuiy. jjjjj(,g Qjjg another; that same God hath also thought fit that the course of human affairs should have its progression and proportions: I mean, that men and nations had qualities proportioned to the rank for which they were designed; and that, except in a few extraordinary cases, in which God hath chosen that his hand should appear alone, there hath no great change happened, that bath not had its causes in preceding ages.

And as in all affairs there is that which prepares them, that which determines to undertake them, and that which makes them succeed, the true knowledge

»f history is to mark, in every period, those secret dis-

positions which have prepared the way for great cbanges, and the important conjunctures that have brought those changes to pass.

Indeed, it is not sufficient to look bare]y before one, that is, to consider those great events, that decide at once the fate of empires. He that will thoroughly understand human affairs, roust trace them higher; and must observe the inclinations and manners, or to say every thing in one word, the character, as well of the ruling nations in general, as of the princes in particular, and in 6ne,ofall the extraordinary men who, by the importance of the part they have had to act in the world, have contributed, right or wrong, to the change of states, and the fortune, good or bad, of the public.

I have endeavoured to prepare you for these impor- tant reflections in the first part of this treatise; you may havfe there observed the genius of the nations, and that of the great men who conducted them. The events, which have been of moment in their have been exhibited, and in order to keep you attentive to the chain of the grand affairs of the worldi which I wanted chiefly to make you I have omitted a great many particular facts, whereof the consequences were not so considerable. But becauise our confining ourselves so close to the progression hath made us pass over a great many things so Suickly that we could not make the reflections they eserved, you are now to apply yourself to them with a more particular attention, and to accustom your mind to investigate effects in their remotest causes.

You thereby, Sir, will learn what is so necessary for you to know, that though to consider only particular occurrences, fortune seems alone to decide the rise and fall of empires; yet to take in the whole, it happens with them as in play, where the most dexterous carries it at the long run.

And indeed, in that bloody game have disputed for empire and power, that whira hath foreseen the farthest, that which hath most diligently exerted itself, that which bath longest held out in fftr tigues, and in fine, which hath best understood bow to act the offensive or defensire part, according to occa« sion, hath had in the end the advantage, and made foLlune itself subservient to its designs.

Be indefatigable therefore in examining the causes of great revolutions, as nothing will ever conduce so much to your instruction; but trace them especially in the progression of great empires, where the greatness of the events renders them more palpable. I shall not here count among great empires, that of siythi- Bacchus, or that of Hercules, those renowned con-ana '

Hthio- querors of the Indies and the east. Their histories SiT* have no certainty, their conquests have no connexion: so we must leave them to be celebrated by the poets, who have made them the great subject of their fables. Herod. Neither shall I speak of the empires which Hero* grab, dote's Madvcs, who pretty much resembles the Indajuitlitbyrses of Megasthenes, and the Tanaus of Justin, es- '' tablished for a while in the greater Asia. The Scythians, whom that prince carried to war, made rather incursions than conquests. It was only by accident,' and by punishing the Cimmerians, that they entered Media, beat the Medes, and dispossessed them of that part of Asia where they had established their dominion. These new conquerors reigned there but eight and twenty years. Their impiety, avarice and bru* tality made them lose it; and Cyaxares son of Pbraortes, from whom they had conquered it, expelled them. This be did rather by address than force: being reduced to a corner of his which the vie-tors had overlooked, or perhaps had not been able to nrce, he waited patiently till those brutal conquerors had excited the public hatred, and ruined themselves by the disorder of their government.

We find also in Strabo, who has taken it from the ' Megasthenes, a Thearcbon, king of Ethiopia.: 2p,„this must be the Tirhakah of scripture, whose arms (X/x. I. nrere formidaVAe m Ume of Senacherib king of

yria* That prioce penetrated as far as the pillars of Hercules, probably along the coast of Afric. But what should 1 of a man of whom we find but a word here and there in historians, and whose dominion bath no manner of series.

The Ethiopians, whose king he was, were, accor- ding to Herodote, the handsomest and best made of all men. They had acute and strong parts, but took little pains to cultivate them, placing their confidence in their robust bodies and brawny arms. Their kings were elective, and they always raised the tallest and strongest to the throne. We may judge of their humour by an action which Herodote relates to us. When Cambyses sent to them, with insnaring views, ambassadors and presents, such as the Persians used to bestow, purple, bracelets of gold, and compositions of perfumes, they made a mock of his presents, wherein they saw nothing useful for life, as well as of kis ambassadors, whom they took for spies, as they were. But their king would also make a present, in bis way, to the king of Persia, and taking up a bow which a Persian could hardly wield, far less draw, he bent it in the presence of the ambassadors, and thus bespoke them: ' Hear the counsel which the king of Ethiopia giveth to the king of Persia. When the Persians shall be able to use as easily as I now have done, a bow of this size and strength, let them come and attack the Ethiopians, and let them bring more troops than Cambyses is master of. In the mean time let them give thanks to the gods, who have not put into the beart of the Ethiopians the desire of extending themselves out of their own country." This said, be unbended the bow, and gave it to the ambasisadors. We cannot tell what might hate been the event of the war: but Cambyses, incensed at the answer, set forwards towards Ethiopia like a madman, without oriety without convoys, without discipline; and bis army perished for want of provisions, in the midst of the sandsy before they came near the enemy

3aU II se people of Ethiopia were not however so just as they boasted, nor so much confined to their own country. Their the Egyptians, had often felt their power. There is nothing coherent in the counsels of those savage and uncultivated nations: if nature oftentimes begms fine sentiments in them, it never finishes them: so that there we see little to be learned, or imitated. We shall therefore say no more about them, but proceed to polished nations.

The Egyptians were the first among whom the rules of government were known. That grave and serious nation first understood the true end of policy, which is to render life commodious, and people happy. The ever uniform temperature of the clime made their understandings solid and steady. As virtue is the foundation of all society, virtue they diligently vated. Their cardinal virtue was gratitude* The suet. 3. glory allowed them, of being the most grateful of all men, shows that they were also the most sociable. Good offices are the bond of public and private unioo. He who acknowledges favours, loves to bestow them; and ingratitude once banished, the pleasure of doing good remains so pure, that it is no longer possible to be insensible of it. Their laws were simple, full of equity, and suited to unite the citizens among themibiU selves. He who had it in his power to save a person attacked, and did it not, was punished with death as rigorously as the assassin. But if a man could not relieve the distressed, he was obliged however to delate the author of the violence, and there were punishments appointed for those who neglected this dutj. Thus the citizens were mutually the guard of each other, and the whole body of the state was united against evil doers. It was not allowed to be useless to the state; the law assigned each his employment, iBid- which descended from father to son. A man could neither have two, nor change his profession; but then all professions were honourable* There were necessarily some employments and persons more considerable than others, as there must needs be eyes in the body. Their brightness does not make the feet, or the lower parts contemptible: so among the Egyptians, the priests and soldiers had peculiar marks of honour; but all trades, to the very meanest, were held in esteem; and it was thought criminal to despise the citizens, whose labours, whatever they were, contributed to the public good. By this means all arts came to their perfection: honour, which fosters them, was every wbere concerned: men did better what they bad always seen done, and what they had solely been practised in from their infancy.

But there was one occupation which was to be common, and that was the study of the laws, and of wisdom. Ignorance of the religipn and polity of the country was dispensed with in no station: moreover, each profession had its district assigned it: from this there arose no inconvcniency in a country that was not very large; and in so beautiful an economy the idle had no where to hide themselves.

Among so good laws, what was most excellent, was, that every body was bred up in the spirit of observing them. A new custom was a prodigy in Egypt; every thing went on always in the same regular course; and i><od-the exact observance of small matters, maintained 2. those of greater moment: and so never was there a fj people that longer preserved its usages and laws. The order df their courts of justice served to keep up this spirit. Thirty judges were chosen out of the pal cities, to compose the court that judged the whole kingdom. None were to be seen in those places of dignity but persons of the greatest honour and gravity in the whole country. The prince appointed them certain revenues, that so being free from domestic incumbrances, they might bestow their whole time in enforcing the observance of the laws. Nothing did they get by law-suits, and making a trade of justice was yet a thing unthought of. To avoid impositions, affairs were discussed by writing in that assenobly*

Those sages were afraid of false eloquence, which dazzles ihe judgmenti and moves the passions. Truth could not be set forth in too dry a manner. The president of the senate wore a golden collar set with precious stones, from whence hung a figure without eyes, which was called Truth. His putting it on was the signal for opening the sessions. He moved it to< warda the party that was to gain his cause, and this was the form of pronouncing sentence. One of the finest artifices of the Egyptians, to preserve their ancient maxims, was, to clothe them with certain ceremonies which imprinted them upon the mind. Those ceremonies were observed with due reflection, nor did the serious humour of the Egyptians suffer them to dwindle into bare forms. Those who had no business, and Jived an innocent life, might avoid the scrutiny of that severe tribunal. But there was in Egypt one sort of trial altogether extraordinary, which nobody escaped. 'Tis a consolation on a deathbed, to leave one's name in esteem among men, and of all human blessings, this is the only one that death cannot rob us of. But it was not allowed in Egypt indiscriminately to praise all the dead; this honour was to be had only by a public decree. The moment a man died, he was brought into judgment. The public accuser was heard. If he proved that the conduct of the deceased had been bad, his memory was condemned, and he deprived of burial. The people admired the power of the laws, which extended even after death, and every one, touched with the recent example, feared to disgrace his memory and bis family. But if the defunct was not convicted of any misdemeanor, he was buried honourably; and a panegyric was made upon him, but without the least mention of his birth. AH Egypt was noble, and besides, no praises there were but such as were won by merit.

Every one knows how carefully the Egyptians preserved dead bodies. Their mummies are still to be seen. Thus their gratitude to their kindred was im* mortal: by beholding the bodies of their ancestors, called to mind their virtues which the public had acknowledged, and were animated to lo?e the laws they bad left them.

To prevent borrowing, whence proceed idleness, and chicane, king Asychis made a decree, that DO man should borrow without mortgaging his father's body to the lender. It was at once impious and infamous, not speedily to redeem so precious a pledge; and he who died without discharging this duty, was denied sepulture.

The kingdom was hereditary; but the king was more bound than all others to live according to tiie laws. They had some peculiar ones, which a king had digested, and which made a part of the sacred books. Not that any thing was disputed with the kings, or that any one had a right to control them; on the contrary, they were honoured as gods: but ancient custom had settled every thing, and they had no notion of living differently from their ancestors. Thus they submitted, without paiO| not only to h2.re the quality and quantity of their eating and drinking prescribed them, (for nothing was more common in Egypt, where every body was sober, and the air of the country inspired temperance) but even to have all mod. i their hours devoted to particular purposes. Upon walking at break of day, when the judgment is most distinct, and the thoughts clearest, they read their letters, in order to form a more adequate and truer notion of the affairs they had to decide. So soon as they were dressed, they went to sacrifice at the temple: there, surrounded with their whole coqrt, and the victims laid upon the altar, they assisted at prayer; full of instruction, wherein the priest besought the gods to bestow upon the prince all royal virtues, that so he might be religious towards the gods, mild totvards men, moderate, just, magnanimous, sincerei averse to mastet Vivcn&0&> \iQc-

Dishing below desert, and rewarding beyond merit. The priest mentioned next the faults which kings were liable to commit; but be always supposed, that they fell into them only through imposition or ignorance, pouring out imprecations upon the ministers who gave them evil counsels, and disguised the truth from them. Such was the manner of instructing the kings. It was judged, that reproaches did but sour their minds, and that the most effectual way of instilling virtue unto them, was, to point out to them their duty in praises conformable to the laws, and solemnly pronounced before the gods. After the prayer and sacrifice, there were read to the king, in the holy books, the counsels and actions of great men, to the end that he should govern his kingdom by their maxims, and maintain the laws which had rendered his predecessors, as well as their subjects, happy.

What shows that those admonitions were seriously given and attended to, is, that they had their desirea effect. Among the Tbebans, that is, in the chief dynasty, that wherein the laws were in full force, and which at last became mistress of all the rest, the greatest men were kings. The two Mercuries, authors of the sciences, and of all the institutions of the Egyptians, the one who lived near the time of the flood, and the other who was called or thrice a contemporary of Moses, were both kings of Thebes. Ail Egypt profited by their lights, Diid.Land to their instructions Thebes owes her having bad so few bad princes. These were forbore with during their lifetime; for so the public peace required: but they were not exempted from the trial that was to be Ibid, undergone after death. Some were deprived of burial, but of this we see but few instances; and on the contrary, most of the kings were so beloved by their people, that every one lamented their death as much as that of his father or of his children.

This custom of judgine kings after their death was ield sacred by Ihe people of God, who always pmc*

tised it. We read in Scripture, that kings were deprived of the burial of their fathers; and we learn from Josephus, that that custom continued even in the days of the Asmoneans. It gave the kings to know, that if their majesty sets them above human judgment during their life, they must come to it at last, when death has levelled them with other mortals. The Egyptians had an inventive genius, but they

S plied it to useful objects. Their Mercuries filled with wonderful inventions, and bad left it ignorant of almost nothing that could render life dious and easy. I cannot allow the Egyptians glory they have given their Osiris, of having inventedi8id.it " husbandry; for we find it in all time in the countries adjacent to that from whence mankind was propagated, and we cannot duubt but it was known from the beginning of the world. And indeed the Egyptians themselves give so great antiquity to Osiris, that it is evident they have confounded bis time with that of the. creation of the universe, and that they have ascribed to him things, the original whereof uent very far beyond all times known in their history. But if the JSgyptians did not invent agriculture, nor the other arts which we see before the deluge, they brought them to such perfections, and took so great pains to restore them among the nations where bajrbarism bad caused them to be forgot, that their glory is not much less than if they bad been the inventors.

There are also some very important ones, the invention of which canaot be disputed them* As their country was level, and their atmosphere always clear |pi*„'. and unclouded, they were the first who observed the course of the stars. They likewise first regulated the Herod year. These observations led them naturally into arithmetic; and if it is true what Plato says, that the Sun and Moon taught men the knowledge of numbers, if Tin that is, that regidar computations begun by that of 4ays, months and years, tne Egyptians were the first who atteaded to those vronderful leacbers% The

;}3V AN WIV£RSAL HISTORV.

ets and other stars were no less known to tbeoi; and they found out that great year which brings back the whole heavens to their first point. In order to know?£i their own lands that were yearly overflowed by the Nile, they were obliged to have recourse to surveying, which soon made them acquainted with geometry. They were great observers of which in so serene an air, and under so hot a sun, was ex- tremely vigorous and fruitful. And this it was also, occasioned physic to be invented or perfected by them. Thus all the sciences were bad in great hon- uib!t among them. The inventors of things useful re- ceived both in their life time> and after their death, suitable rewards of their labours. This it was that immortalized the works of their two Mercuries, and made them be regarded as dirine books. The first ' library we read of, was that of Egypt. The title that was given it made people curious to go into and to penetrate its secrets: it was called The treasure! of the remedies of the souL For the soul cureth itself of ignorance, the most dangerous of its diseases, and the source of all others.

One of the things most strongly impressed on the minds of the Egyptians, was a regard and love for their country. It was, said they, the residence of the gods who had reigned there a vast many thousand years; she was the mother of man and beaat, which the land Diod.r. of Egypt, watered by the Nile, bad brought forth, while the rest of nature was barren. The priests, who composed the history of Egypt of that immense aeries of agee, which they stuffed with nothing but fables and the genealogies of their gods, did so in order.to imprint on the minds of the people the antiquity and nobleness of their country. In fine, their real history was contained within moderate bounds; but they thought it glorious to lose themselves in an infinite abyss of time, which seemed to bring them near to eternity. However the \o\e ot >\i€\t VAdiome more

solid foundations. Egypt was indeed the finest country in the world, the most plentiful by nature, and best improved by art, the richest, most commodious, and most adorned by the care and magnificence of its kings.

There was nothing but was great io their designs and in their works. What they made of the Nile, is incredible. It seldom rains in Egypt; but that river, which waters the whole by its regular inundations, conveys to it the rains and snows of other In order to multiply so beneficial a Egypt crossed by an infinite number of canals of an incredible length and breadth. The Nile casried fruitful- ness every where along with its salutary waters, united cities to one another, and the main Ocean with the Red Sea, kept up commerce both within and the kingdom, and fortified it against the enemy: so that it was at once the nourisber and defender of Egypt. The cbampaign country was abandoned it: but the cities raised with immense labour, lifting up their heads like so many islands in the midst of the waters, looked down with joy upon all the plain overflowed, and at the same time fertilized, by the Niie. When it swelled beyond measure, great lakes dug by the kings, offered their bosoms to the spreading waves. They had their outlets large sluices opened or shut them as occasion required; and the waters having their retreat, remained upon the lands no longer than was necessary to fatten them.

Such was the use of that vast lake which was called the lake of Myris» or Moeris: this was the name of the king who bad made it. One is aniazed to read, what nevertheless is certain, that its compass round was about an hundred and fourscore of our leagues, or five hundred and forty miles. That too many good lands might not be lost by digging it, it was extended chiefly on the side of Lynia* The fishery of it yielded vast sums to the prince; and so when the earth produced notbingi treasures >x V| covering it with water. Two Pyramids, each of which bore upon a throne two colossial statues, one of Moeris, and the other of bis consort, rose three hundred feet above the middle of the lake, and occupied a like-space under the waters. Thus they showed that they had been erected before the pit was filied, and strated that a lake of that extent had been made by men's hands under one single Those whq do not know to what degree the earth may be imprpved, take for a fable what is related of the number pf the cities of Egypt. Their richness; was no less incredible. There was not one of theoi but was full of magnificent temples and stately palaces* The architecture every where exhibited that noble simplicity, and that greatness which fills the mind. Long galleries displayed sculptures that were after* iwdf models to Greece. Thebes could vie with the finest cities in the universe. Her hundred gates sung by Homer are known to all the world. She was no less populous than extensive, and it has been said, that she could send out at once ten thousand fighting men »'9- at every one of ber gates. Let there be, if you will, some. exaggeration in this number; 'tis however undoubted that her people were innumerable. The and Romans have celebrated her magnificence, Tac. and erandtur, even though they saw but her ruins:

Ann..1 ji.60. so august were her very remams.

Had oqr travellers penetrated as far as the place where the city was built, they would doubtless still found something incomparable in her ruins, for the works of the Egyptians were made to stand proof

" the power of time. Their statues were Coloc cit. losses. Their pillars were immense. Egypt aimed at the grand, and was willing to strike at a distance, but always pleasing by the justness of the proportions.

Voyag:- There have been discovered in the Sayd (you well

Vheve- this is the name of the Thebaid) temples

4 and palaces aknost still entire where those columns and statues are esQccialiy is adnsired there, the remains whereof seem to have stood, only to eclipse the glory of the world's other grandest works. Four walks longer than sight, and bounded on each side by sphinxes of a substance as rare as their size is remarkable, serve as avenues (o four portico's, of a stupendous height. What magni-* ficence, and what extent! yet those who have described to us that rodigious edifice, have not had time to go round it, and are not even sure that they have seen one half of it; but all they saw was surprising. A hall, which probably was the middle of that stalely palace, was supported by an hundred and twenty 36 feet thick, proportionably tall, and intermixed with obelisks, which so many ages have not been able to demolish. The very colours, and ihey are what soonest feel the power of time, are still undcfaced amidst the ruins of that admirable structure, and still preserve their liveliness: so much had Egypt the art of imprinting the character of immortality upon all ber works. Now that the king's name penetrates to the most unknown parts of the world, and as that prince extends as far as the researches he causes to be made for the noblest works both of nature and. art, would it not be an object worthy that noble curiosity, to discover the beauties which the Tfaebaid contains in its deserts, and to enrich our architecture with the inventions of Egypt f What power and what art must there have been to make such a country the wonder of the world.' And what beauties should we not find, could we come at the royal city, since so far from it we discover such wonderful things f

To Egypt alone it belonged to erect monuments for

J»osterity. Her obelisks are even to this day, as much or their beauty as height, the principal ornament of Rome; and the Roman power despairing of equalling the Egyptians, thought it sufficient for its grandeur to borrow the monuments of their kings.

Egypt had yet seen no large structures but the tower of Babel, when she imagined ber Pyramids, bf tbeir shape as well as size, stand triumphant over time and barbarians. The good tast« of the Egyptians made them ever after love solidity and regularity quite plain. Is it not that nature leads of itself to that simple manner, to which it is so hard to return, when the taste has been vitiated by a ivbimsical novelty and boldness? Be this as it will, the Egyptians loved only a regular boldness; they sought the new and surprising only in the infinite variety of nature, and boasted that they alone like the gods, had made immortal worlds. The inscriptions on the Pyramids were no Herod, jggg noble than the workmanship. They addressed themselves to the spectators. One of these Pyramids built of brick, warned them by its title not to compare it with other?, for that it was as far above all as Jupiter was above all Gods, Hgod. ]gt ujgjj Jq their utmost, their nothingness every appears. Those Pyramids were tombs; and the very kings who built them had not power to be interred in them, nor did they enjoy their own sepul' chres.

I should not mention that fine palace, which was called the Labyrinth, did not Herodote, who saw it, us that it was more surprising than the Pyraibid. mids. It had been built on the side of the lake of Moeris, and a prospect given it suitable to its grandeur. But indeed, it was not so much one single palace, as a magnificent pile of twelve palaces regularly disposed, which had a communication with each other. A range of fifteen hundred chambers, intermixed with terrasses, surrounded twelve halls, and left no egress to such as had the curiosity to visit them. There were as many apartments under ground. These subterraneous mansions were destined for the burial-palace of the kings, and likewise (who could relate it without shame, and without deploring the blindness of the human mind f) to entertain the sacred croco-> diles, which that nation, in other respects so wise, made its gods.

You are amazed to see so much magnificence in the sepulchres of Egjpt. The matter was, besides their being erected as sacred monuments to convey to future ages the memory of great princes; they were also looked upon as eternal habitations* The houses called inns, where people were only passengers, and during a life too short to terminate all their designs: but the true homes were the tombs, in which they were to dwell through endless ages*

Moreover, it was not on inanimate things that Egypt bestowed most pains. Her noblest works and most excellent art consisted in forming bfraen. Greece was so persuaded of this, that her greatest jJJJ men, such as Homer, Pythagoras, Plato, Lycurgusdeisi. himself, and Solon, those two great lawgivers, and others needless to name, went to learn wisdom in Egypt. God thought fit that Moses himself should be learned, in all the wisdom of the Egyptians: thereby it was that he begun to be mighty in words and deeds. True wisdom avails itself oi every thing, and God will not have those whom he inspires, to neglect the human means, which also proceed from him in their own way.

Those sages of Egypt had studied the regimen, that makes solid minds, robust bodies, fruitful wives, and vigorous children. By this means the people increased in number, and in strength. The country was naturally healthful; but philosophy bad taught them that nature requires to be assisted. There is an art in forming the body as well as the mind. This art, which we through our carelessness have lost, was well known to the ancients, and Egypt had first found it* In this excellent design she chiefly made use of temperance and exercise. In a large neld of battle, which was seen by Herodote, the skulls of the Per-ui, sians, easily to be pierced, and those of the Egyptians, harder than the stones they were mixed with, showed the efieminacy of the former, and the robust constitution which a frugal and vigorous exercise, bestowed upon the latter. Races on foot, on horseback, and in chariots, were practised in Egypt with a wonderful dexterity, nor were there in all the world Diod,i. better horsemen than the Egyptians. When Diodo- 8«««-2. rug Tejccted wrestling, as an exercise %vhich conferred a dangerous and short-lived strength, he must needs have meant the immoderate wrestling of the Athlets, or prize- wrestlers, ivhlch Greece herself, who crowned it in her games, had blamed, as unsuitable to free persons: but with a certain moderation, it was not unworthy of the most hon- 2S?;?' ourable; and Diodorus himself informs us, that the Mercury of the Egyptians had invented its rules, as well as the art of forming the body. Just so are we to understand what that author says also concerning music. That which he makes the Egyptians to despise, as lia- to slacken their courage, was doubtless that soft and effeminate music which inspires nothing but pleasure, and a false tenderness. For as to that generous music, whose noble harmony elevates the mind and soul the Egyptians were very far from despising it; seeing, id.i. according to Diodorus himself, their Mercury had in- vented it, as also the gravest instrument of the music. Ate?* In the solemn procession of the Egyptians, wherein nSTwere carried, in solemn {)omp, the books of Trismegistus, we see the chief singer walk at the head, holding in his hand " a symbol of music (what it was I know not) and the books of sacred hymns " In short, Egypt forgot nothing that could polish the mind, exalt the soul, and strengthen the body. Four hundred thousand soldiers, which she kept on foot, were those of her citizens, whom she trained with greatest care. The military laws were easily preserved, and, in a manner, preserved of themselves, because fathers taught them their children: for the profession of war went from father to son, like the rest; and next to the priestly families, those esteemed most illustrious were, as among us, the families destined to arms. I will not say, however, that the Egyptians were a warlike peopie. Let a nation keep up ever so many regular troops, let them be ever so much trained in a parade of martial toils, and amidst mock battles; nothing but war, and real fighting, will ever make warriors. Egypt loved peace because she loved justice, and had soldiers only Tor her defence. Content with her own country, where peace and plenty reigned, she never thought of conquest. She extended herself in another way, by sending her colonies all over the earth, and with them politeness and laws. The most renowned cities came to learn in Egypt their ties, and the source of their finest institutions. She was consulted, from all quarters, upon the rules of wis- nerodj dons. When the men of Elis had instituted the Olym-' pic games, the most famous in Greece, they sent a solemn amhassy to crave the approbation of the Egyptians and learned of them new ways of animating the combatants. Egypt reigned by her counsels, and that empire of understanding appeared to her more noble and glorious than that which is established by arms. Although the kings of Thebes were, without comparison, the most powerful of all the kings of Egypt, never did they incroach on the neighbouring dynasties, which they seized upon only when these dynasties were invaded by the Arabians; so that, to say the truth, they rather took them from strangers, than wanted to rule over the natives of the country. But when they took upon them to be conquerors, they sur« passed all others. I do not speak of Osiris the van-* quisher of the Indies, who was probably Bacchus, or some other hero as fabulous. Sesostris's father (whom ' the learned will have to be Amenophis, otherwise Memnon) either by instinct or humour, or as the Egyptians say, by the authority of an oracle, conceived the design of making bis son a conqueror. He set about It aftex the manner of the Egyptians, that is, with great thoughts. All the children who were born the same day with Sesostris, were brought to court by the king's order: he caused them to be educated as bis own children, and with the same care as Sesostris, about whom they were bred up. He could not provide him more faithful ministers, nor more zealous companions of his battles. When he was come soroe length, he made him serve bis first campaign in a war agamst the Arabians. The joung prince there learned to bear hunger and thirst, and subjected that till then, unconquerable nation. Inured to the toils of war by this conquest, his father made him turn bis arms towards the west of Egypt: he attacked Lybia, and the greatest part ofihat vast country was subdued. At this time his father died, and left bini in a condition for any enterprize. He conceived no less a ibilh' design than that of the conquest of the world: but before he marched out of his kingdom, he provided for his domestic security, by gaining the hearts, of all his people by liberality and justice, and moreover by regulating the government with the most consummate prudence. In the mean time he was making bispreibiu. parations: he levied troops, and appointed for their captains the youths whom his father had caused to be brought up with h'wi. Seventeen liundred were there of them, fit to diffuse through the whole army courage and discipline, and the love of their prince. This done, he entered Ethiopia, which he rendered tributary. He carried on his victories into Asia, Jerusalem was the first there that felt the force of his arms. Hot-headfd Rehoboam could not withstand him, and Sesostris carried off the riches of Solomon. God, by

''"• a just judgment had delivered them into his hands. He penetrated into the Indies farther than either Hercules or Bacchus, and farther than did afterwards Alexander, seeing he subdued the country beyond the Ganges. By this you may judge whether the more neighbouring countries withstood him. The Scythians submitted as far as the Tanais: Armenia and Cappadocia became subject unto him. He left a colony in the ancient kingdom of Colchos, where the manners of Egypt have ever since remained. Herodote found in the Lesser Asia, from one sea to the other, monuments of his victories, with the proud inscriptions of Sesostris king of kings, and lord of lords. Some there were even in Thrace, and he extended his empire from the Ganges to the Danube. The difiSrulty of provisions prevented his entering farther into Europe* He returned after nine years, loaded with the spoils of the vanquished nations. Some of them had bravely defended their liberty, others had yielded without re* sistance: Sesostris took care to mark on his monuments, the difference of those nations, in hieroglyphical figures after the manner of the Egyptians. In order to describe his empire, he invented geographiral maps. An hundred famous temples, erected by way of thanksgiving to the tutelar gods of all th«> rities, were the first, as well as noblest marks of his victories; and he look care to make known by the inscripiionp, that those great works had been finished without trouble to his subjects. He placed his glory in ring them, and in making none but captives work at the monuments of his victories. For this he had Solomon's example. That wise prince had only the tributary nations in the great works wbif h dered his reign immortal. His native subjects were engaged in nobler exercises; they learned to make war, and to command. Sesostris could not copy a more perfect model. He reigned thirty-three years, and long enjoyed his triumphs; but had been much more worthy of glory, had not vanity prompted him to have his chariot drawn by conquered kings. He seems to have scorned to die like other men. Having lost his sight in bis old age, he put himself to death, and left Egypt rich forever. ITet his empire did not last beyond the fourth generation: but remained, even in Tiberius's time, magnificent monuments, which showed the extent of it, and the quantity of the tributes paid him. Egypt soon returned to pacific disposition: it has even been said, that Sesostib.xu. after bis conquests, was the first to soften the man- bub.

ii4Q AN VmVEHSAL HISTORY.

of the Egyptians, for fear of revolts. If there be any truth in this, the precaution could only be for bis succcessors. As for himself, wise and absolute as he was, one does not see what be could fear from his people, who adored him. But besides, the thought was unworthy so great a prince; and it was badly to provide for the security of his conquests, to suffer the courage of his subjects to be weakened. It is true, indeed, that that great empire stood not long: some way or other it must have fallen. Division took place Ibid, in Egypt. In the lime of Anysias the blind, Sabacon the Ethiopian invaded the kingdom: be used the people as well, and did as great things there, as any one of the natural kings. Never was there seen a moderation like his; for after a fifty years happy reign, he returned into Ethiopia, in obedience to some warnings be believed divine. The kingdom abandoned fell mto the hands of Setbo, priest of Vulcan, a religious prince in his way, but no warrior, and who completely enervated the soldiers, by mal- treating the martial men. From that time Egypt supported herself only by foreign force. A son of anarchy prevails. We find twelve kings chosen by the people, who shared among them the government of the kingdom. It was them who built those twelve palaces which composed the Labyrinth. Though Egypt could not forget her magnificence, she was weak and divided under these twelve princes. One of them, namely Psammeticus, made himself sole master by the help of foreigners. Egypt revived, and continued pretty powerful for five or six reigns. At last that ancient kingdom, after having stood about sixteen hundred years> weakened by the kings of Babylon, and by Cyrus, fell a prey to Cambyses, the maddest of all princes. sgrab. Such as have well understood the humour of Egypt, have acknowledged that she was not warlike: you have seen the reasons. She had Ifved in peace about fbirteea bundled vvhen she produced her first warrioi*, who was Sesostris: so likewise, notwithstanding her militia, so carefully kept up, we see, towards the end, her whole strength lying in foreign troops, which is one of the greatest defects a state can have. But human things are never perfect, and it is no easy matter to enjoy at once, in perfection, the arts of peace with the advantage of war. 'Tis pretty fair to have subsisted sixteen centuries. Some Ethiopians reigned at Thebes in that interval; among others Sa-bacon, and, as is thought, Tirhakuh. But Egypt reaped this benefit from the excellent constitution of her stat«, that the foreigners, who conquered her, era-braced her manners rather than introduce their own: thus changing masters, she changed not her government. She could not easily bear the Persians, whose yoke she often attempted to shake off. But she was not warrior enough to support herself, by her own force, against so great a power; and the Grecians, who defended her, being taken up elsewhere, were forced to abandon her, so that she always fell back into the subjection of her first masters, but ever obstinately wedded to her ancient customs, and incapable of denying the maxims of her first kings. Although she retained a great many of them under the Ptolemies, the mixture of the Grecian and Asiatic manners was become ao great, ancient Egypt could scarce any more be known

We must not forget, that the times of the ancient kincs of Egypt are very uncertain, even in the history of tne Egyptians. We find it hard to place Osimandyas, of whom we see such magnificent monuments in Diodorus, and so glorious marks of his battles. The Egyptians seem not to have known Sesostris's father, whom Herodote and Diodorus have not named. His power is also more declared by the monuments he left in all the earth, than by the memoirs of his country; and these reasons let us see that we are not to believe, as some do, that what Egypt published of her antiquities, was always exact as she boasted, since herself is so uncertain about the most eminent times of her monarchy. The great empire of the Egyptians b, in a manner, from all others, and has, as you see, no long sTrftiu, series. What remains for us to say is better supportaiedes, cd, and has more precise dates.

We nevertheless have stiii very few things certaiu concerning the first empire of the Assyrians; in short, place we its beginnings in whatever time we according to the diffSerent opinions of historians, ■- you will see, that, when the world was divided into several petty states, whose princes thought rather of preserving than augmenting their dominions, Ninus, more enterprising and powerful than his neighbouis, overthrew tbero one after another, and pushed bis conquests very far in the east. His wife Semiramis, who joined to ambition, which is common enough to her sex, a courage and conduct not usually found in it, supported the vast designs of her husband, and completed the forming of that monarcbpr. It was doubtless as is plain from the of Nineveh, which is counted above that of BabyHai. i. Ion. But as the most judicious historians do not make ia?u>ii.that monarchy so ancient as others represent it to us, neither do they make it so great. The petty king- whereof it must have been composed, stood piatdetoo long (qt its being as ancient and extensive as the fabling Ciesias, and those, who took it upon bis word, describe it to us. 'Tis true that Plato, who was a curious observer of antiquity, makes the kingdom of Troy, in Priani's time, a dependency of the Assyrian empire. But we see nothing of this io Homer, whO) in the design he bad to set iorth the glory of Greece, ivould not have forgot that circumstance; and we may believe, that the Assyrians were little known westward, since a poet so intelligent, and so curious to adorn his.poem with whatever belonged to bis subject> bath never once made them appear there.

according to the compuiation which we have judged the most reasonable, the time of the siege of Troy was the most glorious time of the Assyrians, seeing it was that of the conquests of Semtramis: but the matter is, they extended only towards the east. Those who flatter her the roost, make her turn her arms that way. She had bad too great a share in the coonseb. and victories of Ninus, not to follow out bis desigoSy otherwise so agreeable to the situation of her empire; and I believe it cannot be doubted but Ninus confined himself to the east, since Justin himself, who favours him as much as be can, makes him terminate, at the borders of Libya, his terprises westnrard.

1 do not know therefore at what time Nineveh should have pushed its conquests as far as Troy, since we see so little probability that Ninus or Semiramis attempted any such thing; and that all their successors, to beffiii from their son Ninyas, lived in such a state of softness and inaction, that scarce are their very names come down to us, and we should rather wonder that their empire could have subsisted at all, than imagine it could have extended its compass*

It was doubtless greatly diminished by the conquests of Sesostris: but as they were of short continuance, and weakly supported by bis successors, it is to be thought, that the countries which that victorious king took from the Assyrians, having long been accustomed to their dominion, returned naturally to it: so thai that empire fiaaintained itself in great power ana peace, until Arbaees having discovered the effeminacy of its kings, so long bid in the secret recesses of the pidace, noted for his infampus behaviour, became not only contemptible, but insupportable to bis subjects.

You have seen thwe kingdoms which sprung from the wreck of that first empire of the Assyrians: among others, that of Nineveh, and that of

The kings of Nineveh retained the name of kings of Assyria, and were the most powerful. Their pride soon swelled beyond all bounds upon the conquests they made, amongst which is reckoned that of the kingdom of the Israelites, or of Samaria. Nothing less than the hand of God, and a visible miracle, could have hindered their overwheiming Judea under flezekiah, nor was it known what bouDds might be set to their power, when they were seen to usurp a little after in their neighbourhood the kingdom of Babylon, where the royal family was extinct. Babylon seemed born to command the whole earth. Her people were full of wit and courage. Philosophy had ever reigned among them, together iu. i'r. ivith the liberal arts, and the east had few better solnerod-jiers than the Chaldeans. Antiquity admires the rich crops of a country, which the negligence of its inhabitants leaves now uncultivated; and its plenty made it looked upon, under the ancient kings of Per-sia, as the third part of so great an empire. Thus the kings of Assyria, flushed with the accession which so opulent a city made to their monarchy, conceived new designs. Nebuchadnezzar I. thought bis empire unworthy of him, if he added not the whole world to it. Nebuchadnezzar II. prouder than all the kings his predecessors, after unheard of successesi and sur-prizing conquests, would rather be worshipped as a god, than command as a king. What works did he undertake in Babylon! What walls, what towers, wbat gated, what a compass did there appear! It seemed as if the old tower of Babel was about to rise agaiii in the prodigious height of the temple of Bel, and that Nebuchadnezzar had a mind once more to threaten heaven. His pride, though humbled by the band of God, did nevertheless revive in his successors. They could suffer no dominion about them; and wanting to bring every thing under the yoke, became insupportable to the neighbouring nations. Thus jealousy united against them, together with the kings of Media and Persia, great part of the people of the east. Pride turns easily into cruelty. As the kings of Babylon treated their subjects barbarously, whole as well as chief lords of their empire, joined Cyrus and the Medes. Babylon too much used to command and to conquer, to fear so many enemies confederate against while she thinks herself invincible, becomes captive to the Medes, whom she meant to subdue, and falls at last by her pride*

The fate of that city was strange, for she fell by her own inventions. The Euphrates produced pretty near the same effect in its spacious plains, as the Nile in those of Egypt: but to render it convenient, there required yet more art and labour than Egypt bestowed on the Nile. The Euphrates was straight in course, and never overflowed. The people were therefore obliged to make through the whole country an infinite number of canals for it, that so it might water the lands, which became incomparably fertile by this means. To break the violence of its too impetuous waters, it was necessary to make it run through a thousand windings, and to dig for it great lakes, which a wise queen faced with incredible mag* nificence. Nitocris, mother of Labynithes, otherwise named Nabonides or Belshazzar, the last king of Babylon, executed these great works. But that queen undertook one far more wonderful; which was, to build a stone bridge over the Euphrates, that the two sides of the city, which the vast breadth of the river did too much separate, might have a communication with each other. It was necessary therefore to dry up so rapid and deep a river, by turning aside its waters into an immense lake which th€ queen had caused to be dug. At the same time the bridge was built, the solid materials whereof were prepared, and the two banks of the river were faced with brick to a stu* pendous height, leaving descents faced with the same, and of as fine workmanship as the walls of the city. The diligence with which the work was carried on a46 AN UMVERSAL HISTORY,

equalled the greatness of it. But so foreseeing a queen little thought she was teaching her enemies to take the city. It was into that very lake which she had dug, that Cyrus turned the Euphrates, when, despairing of reducing Babylon, either by force or famine, he opened to himself on both sides of the city, the passages which we hare seen so much taken notice of by the prophets.

Could Babylon have believed herself perishable, like all other human things, and had not infatuated conQdence blinded her, not only might she have fore- seen what Cyrus did, seeing the memory of just such another work was recent; but also by guarding all the descents, she might have overwhelmed the in the river's channel through wiiich they passed. Bur nothing was minded save pleasures and feasting; there was no order, no regular command. Thus fall not only the strongest places, but also the ereatest empires. A panic seized the whole; the xenop.,jjjpj(jyg ijjpg glaiu; and Xenophon, who gives this title to the last king of Babylon, seems by that epithet to allude to Belshazzar's sacrilege, which Daniel shows us punished by so surprizing a fall.

The Medej?, who had destroyed the first empire of the Assyrians, were also the destroyers of the second; as if that nation had been always to prove fatal to the Assyrian power. But this last time the valour and name of Cyrus made the Persians his subjects to get the glory of the conquest.

Indeed, it was entirely owing to that hero, who having been bred up under a severe and regular discipline, according to the custom of the Persians, a people then as nioderate, as since they have been voluptuous, was inured from his infancy to a sober and military life. The Medes, formerly so laborious and martial, but at length softened by their plenty, as is always the case, stood much in need of such a general. Cyrus xU!* himself of their riches, and of their name ever respected in the east; but placed his hopes of success in the troops he ta the first battle the king of Babylon was slain, and the Assyrians routed. The victor offered the new king single conobat, and while he showed his courage, he gained the reputation of a merciful prince, who desires to spare the blood of bis subjects. To valour be joined policy. For fear of ruining so fine a country, which he already looked upon as bis conquest, he caused it to be agreed, that the husbandmen should be spared on both sides. He found means to awaken the jealousy of the neighbouring nations against the haughty power of Babylon, who was aiming at universal sway; and at length the glory which he had acquired as much by his generosity and justice, as by the success of his arras, having united them ail under bis standards, with so great assistance he subjected that vast tract of land whereof he composed bis empire.

And thus arose that monarchy. Cyrus rendered it so powerful, that it could not well fail of growing under bis successors. But in order to understand what ruined it, we need but to compare the Persians and the successors of Cyrus, with the Grecians and their gen* erals, especially with Alexander.

Cambyses, son of Cyrus, was the corrupter of the v. Persian manners. His father, so well trained up in the per-toils of war, took not sufficient care to give the sue- cessor to so great an empire an education like to bis own; and by the usual fate of human things, too mucb aicxgreatness proved a foe to virtue. Darius son of Hys- pia" taspes, who from a private life was raised to the throne, brought better dispositions to the sovereign power, and made some efforts to rectify disorders: but corruption was, by that time, too universal; plenty had introduced too great irregularities into manners, and Darius had not himself preserved fortitude enough to be capable entirely to reform others. Every thing degenerated under his successors, and the luxury of the Persians went beyond all measure.

But although that people, become powerful, had lost much of their former virtue by giving themselves up to pleasure, they bad still preserved something that was great and noble. What can we find more Aidk noble than the abhorrence tbey had to a lie, which iierod. accounted, among them, a shameful and sorUb. L did vice? What they held most infamous next to a lie, was to live by borrowing. Such a life appeared to them idle, shameful, servile, and so much the more contemptible, that it led to lying. Through a to their nation, they treated vanquished iiL ' kings honourably. If the children of those princes could any wise agree with the victors, they allowed them to rule in their own countries with almost all the marks of their former dignity. The Persians were honest, courteous, liberal to strangers, and knew bow to make use of them. Persons of merit were taken notice of among them. 'Tis true they did not arrive at a perfect knowledge of that wisdom which teacbetb to govern well. Their great empire was always ruled with some confusion. They could never find out that excellent art, so well practised afterwards by the Romans, of uniting all the parts of a great state, and of making of them one perfect whole: and so were they almost never without considerable revolts. They were not however without policy. The rules of justice, were known among them, and they had some great

Herod. caused them to be observed with an admi-i- rable exactness. Crimes were severely punished, but with this moderation, that as first faults were free*

ly pardoned, relapses were corrected by rigorous cfaasiie\eg. tisements. They had many good laws, most of which

St i. they owed to Cyrus and Darius son of Hystaspes.

They had maxims of government, regular councils to maintain them, and a great subordination in all emoJrop. ployments. When they said that the grandees who

"• composed the council were the eyes and ears of the

Srince, they admonished at once the prince, that be ad his ministers, as we have the organs of our senses ' not to lie supinely idle, but in order to act by their means and lUe they were not to &ct for themselves, but fur the prince, who was their bead and for the body of the state. The ministers were to be learned in the ancient maxims of the monarchy. The register, where past transactions were kept, served ' for a rule to posterity. There were recorded the services that every one had performed, lest, to the shame of the prince, and the great misfortune of the state». they should have remained unrewarded. It was an excellent way of attaching individuals to the public weal, to teach them, that they were never to sacrifice for themselves only, but for the king, and the whole state, whereof each was a member with the rest. One of the prince's cares was to make agriculture flourish; and the whose province was best improved, bad the greatest share in his favour. As there were officers appointed for the direction of arms, so were there also for inspecting into rural labours: these were two offices of a similar nature, one whereof had the care of guarding the country, and the oth« er that of improving k. 1 he prince protected them with an almost equal affection, and them jointly concur to the public good. Next to those who had gained some advantage in war, the most honoured were they who bad brought up many children. The respect instilled into the Persians from their for the royal authority, went even to excess; for they mixed adoration with it, and seemed rather slaves than subjects submitted by reason to a lawful power: J)ut such was the turn of the Easterns, and perhaps the lively and violent disposition of those people required a more steady and absolute government.

The manner in which the king's children were bred IStt. up is admired by Plato, and proposed to the Grecians as the model of a perfect education. At seven years of age they were taken out of the hands of the eunuchs, in order to be taught riding, and trained to the chace. At the age of fourteen, when the mind begins to form, there arepven them, for their instructers, four of the most virtuous and wisest men in the kifjgdom. The first, says Plato, instructed in tbem in magic, tb&t is, in their language, the worship of the Gods, according to the ancient maxims, and according to the laws of Zoroastres son of Oromases. The second accustomed them to speak the truth and to do justice. The third taught them not to suffer tbemseires to be over* I come hy sensual pleasures, (bat so they might always be free, and truly kings, masters of themselves, and of their desires. The fourth fortified their courage against fear, which would have enslaved tbem, and deprived them of that confidence so necessary for command. The young lords were brought up at the king's gate along with bis children, i articular care was taken, that tbey should neither see nor bear any de*«. unhandsome. The king took an account of pcd. their conduct, which was followed by bis order for rejtin.' wards and punishments. The youth, beholding them, learned betimes, the science of obedience and com* mand. With so fine an institution, what was nottp be expected from the kings of Persia, and their nobleSi had as great care beect t&en to conduct them in diidr riper years, as Md been to instruct them in their infancy f But the manners of the nation soon drew them into pleasures, which no education is proof against. It must however be confessed, that, notwithstanding that effeminacy of the Persians, notwithstanding the care they took of their beauty and dress, they did, not want bravery. They always valued upon it, and have given signal proofs of it. The military art had among them Ibe preference it deserved, as being that under the shelter of which all others may be quietly exercised. But never did they understand the main part, nor know what may be doQe in an army, by strictness of discipline, a proper disposition of the troops, regular marches and encampments, and in short, a certain conduct which makes those great bodies move readily, and without confttsion. They thought they had done every thing, wbea tbey had gathered together, without any manner of

Veno. <>€con cboice, an immense people, who marched to battle resolutely enoueb, but witbout order; and wbo were incumbered vritn an infinite multitude of useless persons, whom the ling and grandees trailed after them, only for the sake of pleasure: for so great was their effeminacy, that they must find in the army the same magnificence, and the same delights as in the places where the court made its usual residence; so that the kings marched attended by their wives, their concubines, their eunuchs, and every thing that ministered to their pleasures. The gold and silver plate, and valuable furniture followed in prodigious abundance, and in short, the whole train that such a life requires. The army composed in this manner, and already embar* rassed by the (excessive multitude of its soldiers, was overburdened with the immoderate number of those who did not fight at all. In this confusion, it was impossible to move in concert: orders never came in time; and in an action every thing went as it might, nor was any body able to help Add to this also,. that they were obliged to„.finish ijpLckly their campaigns, and to pass rapidly through a country: for such an immense body, crtffing not only what was necessary for life, but also wbatoponduced to pleasure, consumed every thing in a very little time, and it is bard to conceive whence it could find subsistence.

Tet with this great apparatus did the Persians astonish the nations who knew war no better than them* selves. Even those who understood it, were either weakened by their own divisions, or overpowered by the multitude of their enemies; and thus it was that Egypt, proud as she was of her antiquity, of her wise institutions, and of the conquests of her Sesostris, be-came subject to the Persians. It was no hard matter for them to subdue the Lesser Asia, and even the Grecian colonies which the softness of Asia had corrupted. But when ther came to Greece herself, they found wl)at they neret before bad seen, a regular militiai understanding cbiefsi soldiers accustomed <o live on little, bodies inured to hardship, which wrestling, and the other exercises usual in that coun« rendered alert; and armies moderate indeed, but like to those vigorous bodies that seem ail nerves, and are full of spirits; moreover, so well commanded, and so comph'ant to the orders of their generals, that one would have though f the soldiers had all but one and the same so great concert did there appeal in their motions.

But what was greatest of all in Greece, vias a steady and provident policy, which knew where to abandon, where to hazard, and where to defend; and more than that, a courage, which the love of liberty, and of their country, rendered invincible.

The Grecians, naturally full of spirit and courage, had been early cultivated by kings and colonies from Egypt, who having settled in the first times in different parts of the country, had every where diffused that excellent polity of the Egyptians. Thence it.."Was they had learned bodily exercises, such as wrestling, running horse-courses, chariot races, and the other exercises, which they brought to perfection by the glorious crowns of the Olympic games. But the best thing the Egyptians had taught them, was to be docile, and submit themselves to be formed by the laws for the public good. It was not private persons, who mind only their own affairs, and feel the calamities of the state only so far as they share in them themselves, or as the peace of their family is disturbed by them. The Greeks were taught to consider tbem* selves and families te a part of a gteater body, which was the body of the state. Fathers brought up their children in this principle, and children learned from their cradle, to look upon their country as a common mother, to whom they belonged, even more than to Iheir parents. The word civility signified, among the Grecians, not only the mutual kindness and difference which vender men sociable: the civil man was no other than cUlzien) who considers biaiself t' always as a member of the state, who submits himself to the guidance 6f the lavrs, and conspires with them towards the public good, without making the least injurious attempt upon any body. The ancient kings which Greece had had in different countries, as Minos, Cecrops, Theseu?, Codrus, Temenes, Ctesiphon, Eurysthenes, Patroclus, and such like, bad dinused this spirit through the whole nation. They were all not by the but by prompting their welfare, and causing law to reign amongst them.

What shall I say of the severity of the Was there ever a more venerable tribunal than that, of the Areopagus, so revered in all Greece, that the' gods themselves were said to have appeared before it? It has been famous from the earliest ages; and Cecrops bad probably founded it upon the model of the tribunals of Egypt. No court hath preserved so long the reputation oi its ancient severity, and deceitful eloquence was ever banished from it.

The Grecians, thus polished hf degrees, thought they were capable of governing themselves, and most of the cities formed themselves infb republics. But wise lawgivers, who arose in every country, a Thales, a Pythagoras, a Pittacus, a Lycurgus, a Solon, a Philolaus, and so many others noted in history, hindered liberty from degenerating into licentiousness. Laws simply wrote, and small in number, kept the people in their duty, and made them concur to the common good of the country.

The notion of liberty, that such a conduct inspired, was admirable. For the liberty, which the Greeks figured to themselves, was a liberty subject.to law, that is, to reason itself acknowledged by all the peopic. They would not allow men to have power among them. The magistrates, feared during the time of their office, returned to the condition of piivate persons, retaining no authority but what their experience gave them. The law «a d54 it was that appointed t|)e magistrates, regulated their power, and, in fine, punished their

It is not here the business to inquire whether these notions be as solid, as they are specious: however, Greece was charmed with them, sind preferred the inconveniences of liberty to those of a laivfuJ suhjec* tion, though in reality much smaller. But as every form of government hath its advantages, that which Greece reaped from hers, was, that her citizens were the more attached to their country, that they managed it in common, and that every private person could attain to the highest honours.

What philosophy did to preserve the state of Greece, is incredible.: the more free those people were, the more was it necessary to establish, upon food principles, the rules of manners, and of society, Pythagoras, Thales, Anaxagoras, Socrates, Arcbytas, Plato, XenophoU) Aristotle, and a vast many others, Stored Greece with those excellent precepts. There were some extravagants who assumed the name of philosophers; but those who were followed, were they who taught to sacrifice private interest, and life itself, to the general interest and safety of the state; and it was the most common maxim of the philosophers, that men ought either to retire from puVilic affairs, or have regard only to the public good.

But why should I talk of philosophers? The poets themselves, who were in the hands of a/i the people, instructed them still more than they entertained them. The most renowned of conquerors regarded Homer as a master who taught him the art of retgoiDg. That great poet taught no less to obey than to be a good citizen. He, and so many other poets, whose works are no less solid than entertaining, celebrated none but such arts as are useful to human life, breathe nothing but the public weal, the native coiWtry, and that admirable civility whicb we

When Greece thus educated beheld the Asioties with their delKsicy, dress, and beauty, like that of women, sbe had them in the highest contempt. But their form of government having no other rule than the will of the prince, which was above all laws, and those even the most inspired her with horror; and nothing was more odious to all Greece, than the barbarians.

This hatred was hereditary to the Greeks from the earliest times, and become in a manner natural to them. One of the things that made Homer's poetry liked, was, that be sung the victories and advantages of Greece over Asia. On the side of Asia was Venup, that is, pleasure, wanton love, and effeminacy. On the side of Greece were, Juno, that is, gravity with conjugal aOection; Mercury with eloquence; tlupiter and wise policy. On Asia's side was Mars impetuous and brutal, or war carried on with fury: on the Grecian side was Pallas, or the art military, and bravery conducted by judgment. Greece from that time bad always tbougbt understanding and true courage her native portion. Sbe could jiot bear that Asia should pretend to subdue her; for by submitting to such a yoke, she would have thought she subjected virtue to voluptuousness, the mind to the body, and true courage to a mad force, which consisted only in multitude.

Greece was full of these sentiments, when she was attacked by Darius, son of Uystaspes, and by Xerxes, with armies whose numbers seeih fabulous, they were so enormously great: every one prepares to defend his liberty. Though all the cities oi Greece were so many republics, the common interest united them, and the only dispute among them was, who should do most for the public. The Athenians made no scruple to abandon their city to pillage and the flames; and after saving iheir old men, their wives, and their children, they clapped on shipboard etrery soul that was capable of beanug

Perrian army for some days at a difficult pass, and to make it feel what Greece was, an handful of demonians flew with their king to meet certain death; and died contented, after sacrificing to their country an infinite number of those barbarians, and setting their countrymen an example of unparalleled resolution. Against such armies and such a conduct, Per-sia found herself weak, and experienced several tiuaes to her cost, what discipline can do against confused munbers, and bravery guided by skill, against a blind impetuosity.

Persia, so often conquered, had nothing left for it, but to sow division among the Grecians; and the very condition they were in through their victories, rendtiit' attempt easy. As fear had kept them uniHt ted, victory and confidence broke the union. Accustomed as they were, to fight and to conquer, when they had no more to fear from the power of the Persians, they turned their arms against one another* But we must explain a little further the state of the Greeks, and this secret of the Persian policy.

Among all the Greece was composed, Athens and Lacedemon were incomparably the chief. There could not be more wit than shone at Alhens, nor strength than reigned at Lacedemon. Athens was set upon pleasure, the life of Lacedemon was hard and laborious. Both loved glory and liberty: but at Athens liberty run naturally into licentiousness; and being confined by strict laws at Lacedemon, the more it was strained at home, the more did it seek to extend its sway abroad. Athens wanted also to rule, but from another principle; a mixture of interest with glory. Her citizens excelled in the art of navigation, and the sea whereon she reigned, had enriched her. In order to keep sole mistress of commerce, there was nothing that she would not bear down; and her riches, which inspired her with this desire, furnished her with the means of gratifying it. On the contrary, at As all her laws tended to make her a martial state, the glory of arras was the only charm, that captivated the minds of her citizens. Hence she naturally desired to command; and the more she was above interest the more she gave way to ambition.

Lacedemon, by her regular life, was steady in her maxims and designs. Athens was more sprightly, and the people there were too much masters. Philos* ophy and the laws wrought intleed fine effects upon so excellent dispositions, out reason alone was not cient to restrain them. A wise Athenian, who rably well understood the nature of bis countrymen, informs us that fear was necessary for those too lively and free spirits; and that there was no such thing as governing tbem, when the victory at iSalamis had se« cured them against the Persians.

Then two things were their undoing: the glory of their great actions, and the security in which they thought themselves. The magistrates were no longer regarded; and as Persia was distressed by an exces* sive subjection, Athens, says Plato, felt the evils of an excessive liberty.

These two great republics, so ot>posite in manners ami conduct, embarrassed each other in the design they both had of subjecting all Greece; so thftt.they were always enemies, still more by the contratiftjr of their interests, than by the incompatibility of their humours.

The Grecian cities chose the dominion of neither: for besides that, every one wished to preserve its liberty, they found the empire of both very uneasy. That of Lacedemon was harsh: there ' ' was somewhat savage observable in her people. lOO ' rigid a government, and a life too laborious, rendered ' the spirits too proud, austere, and imperious: add to.. this, that they must resolve never to be at peace under the dominion of a city, which being formed for war, could no way preserve itself but by continuing it with*

intermission. Thus the Lacedemonians would by all means command, and every body dreaded lesVthey de Rep. should. The Athenians were naturally more mild and agreeable. There was no scene more delightful than their city, where feasts and games were perpetual, where wit, liberty, and the passions, daily aSbrded new spectacles. But their uneqfjal conduct displeased their allies, and was still more insupportable to their subjects. These had to bear with the humours of a flattered people, which are, according to Plato, more dangerous than those of a prince corrupted by flattery.

These two cities nerer suffered Greece to be at rest. Ton have seen the Peloponnesian war, and the others, always caused or kept up by the jealousies of Lacedemon and Athens. But those same jealousies which disturbed Greece, proved in some respect her suppopt, and prevented her falling into the dependence of either of those republics.

The Persians soon perceived this state of Greece. So the whole mystery of their policy was to keep up ber jealousies, and foment her divisions. Lacedemon« being the more ambitious, was the first that engaged them in the quarrels of the Grecians. They took part -iti them with the view of making themselves maatel* of the whole nation, and striving industriously to weaken the Grecians by one another, they waited only the proper moment to overwhelm them ahogethdieteff. cities of Greece regarded in iH- their wars none but the king of Persia, whom they ca/ied pJSig.the great king, or the king, by way of eminence, as if they had already counted themselves his subjects: but it was impossible for the ancient spirit of Greece not to awaken, now upon the brink of falling into slavery, and into the hands of barbarians. Some petty Grecian kings attempted to oppose that great king, and to lay waste his empire. With a small army, but Jib.% in the discipline we have seen, king c,c. 'of Lacedemon, stiuQk terror into the iPeraians in the

Lesser Asia, and showed it posnble to pull them down* divisions alonepiit a stop to his conquests: but it happened in those times that the younger Cyrus, brother to Artaxerxes, revolted against him. He bad ten thousand Greeks, in his troops, who alone could not be broken in the general route of his army. He was killed in battle, and, as is said, by Artaxerxes's own hand. Our Greeks found themselves without a protector in the midst of the Persians, and on the confines of Babylon. Yet Artaxcrxes victorious could neither oblige them to lay voluntarily down their arms, nor force them to it. They formed the bold resolution of crossing bis whole empire in a body, in order to return into their own country, and actually effected it. All Greece was then more sensible than ever, that she trained up an invincible soldiery to which every thing must yield, and that nothing but her own divisions could subject her to an enemy too weak to resist her when united. Philip of Macedon, a prince of equal conduct and courage, so well improved the advantages, which a

kingdom, small indeed, but united, ami where the royal power was absolute, gave him over so many divided cities and commonwealths, that at last, partly by stratagem, partly by strength, he rendered tfwsf the most powerful of all Greece, and obliged olHlbe Grecians to march under his standards against the common enemy. He was slain in those junctures; but Alexander his son succeeded to his kingdom ipd designs.

He found the Macedonians not only trained, but also triumphant, and become by so maay succefies almost as much to the other Greeks in valour and discipline, as the other Greeks were beyond the Persians and such like people.

Darius, who reigned over Persia in his time, was just, brave, generous, beldved by his people; and wanted neither parts, nor spirit to execute his designs. But if you compare biin with Alexander, his with that piercing and sublime tbc exalted constancy of that invincible ivli/cb found itself animated by obstacles; with that immense ardour of advancing the honour of hb name« which made him undervalue all hazards, all toils, nay a thousand deaths, for the least degree of glory; in fine, with that confidence that made liim feel in the bottom of his heart, that every thing must give way to him, as to a man who ivas destined to be superior to others, a confidence with which he iueplred not only his com* manders, but even tbc meanest of bis soldiers, whom be raised by that means above difficulties, and above themselves; you will easily judge to which of the ivffi the victory belonged. And if to these things you join the advantages of the Greeks and Macedonians over their enemies, you will own that Persia, attacked by such a hero, and by such armies, could no longer avoid changing its master. Thus you will discover at the same time what ruined the empire of the Persians, and what raised that of Alexander. To facilitate his victory, Persia chanced to lose the •erci. Qnly genera! that she could oppose to the Greeks; I and (hat was Memnon the Rhodian. So long as Alexander had so famous a captain to deal with, he might boast of vanquishing an enemy worthy of him* Instead of hazarding a general battle with the Grecians, Memnon was for dispuiing all the passes, for cutting off their provisions, for going to attack them at home, that by a vigorous assault there they might be forced to come and defend their country. Alexander however had taken care of it, and the troops he had left with Antipaler, were sufficient to guard Greece. But his good fortune delivered him at once out of this difficulty. Just as a diversion was beginning, which already alarmed all Greece, Memnon died, and Alexander put every thing under his feet. This prince made his entry into Babvlon with a pomp that surpassed any thing the world had ever seen; and after revenging Greece, after subduing with incredible exped\\oii all the lands of the Persian do-

minion, to secure his new empire on all sides, or rathr* er to gratify bis ambition, and render bis name more famous than that of Bacchus, he entered into the Indies, where he pushed his conquests farther than that renowned conqueror. But he whom neither desarts, nor rivers, nor mountains were able to stop, was constrained to yield to his toil-sick soldiers, who demanded rest. Obliged to content himself with the proud monuments, which he left on the banks of be led back his a)rmy by another rout than that he had taken, and subdued all the countries he found in his way.

He returned to Babylon feared and respected, not as a conqueror, but as a god. But that formidable empire which he had conquered, lasted no longer thaii bis life, which was very short. At thirty-three years of age, in the midst of the vastest designs that mau had ever conceived, and with the justest hopes of a prosperous success, be died without having had leisure solidly to settle his afiaics, leaving a simpleton brother, and children, minors, incapable of sustaining so great a weight. But what proved most fatal to bis house and empire was, that he left captains whom he had taught to breathe nothing but ambition and war. He foresaw to what excesses they would go when once he was out of the world: in order to keep them mod-' erate, and for fear of their disappointing his be durst neither name his successor, nor the guardian of his children. He foretold only, that bis friends would celebrate bis funeral with bloody battles, and expired in the flower of his age, full of the sad images of the confusion that would follow upon his death. In fact, you have seen the division of his empire, and the dreadful ruin of his house. Macedon, bis ancient kingdom, enjoyed by his ancestors for so many ages, was invaded on all sides as a vacant succession; and after being long the prey of the strongest, went at last to another family. Thus that great conqueror the most renowned and most illustrious that ever was in the world, was the last king of his race. Had he remained peaceably in Macedon, the greatness of his empire would never have tempted bis captains, and he might have left to his children the kingdom of bis fathers. But his having been too powerful, was the cause of the destruction to all that belonged to him; and such ivas the glorious fruit of so many conquests!

His death was the sole cause of this extraordinary revolution. For we must say, to bis honour, that if ever man was capable of maintaining so vast an empire, newly conquered, it was doubtless Alexander, seeing he had no less conduct than courage. We should not therefore impute to his faults though be was guilty of some very great ones, the fall of bis family, but to mortality alone; if not that it may be said that a man of his humour, whose ambition made him constantly enterprising, would never have found leisure to settle things.

Be this as it will, we see, from his example, that (besides the faults which men might correct, that is, those they commit through passion or ignorance) there is one irremediable failing inseparably annexed to human.designs, and that is, immortality. This way every thing may fall in a moment: which forces us to confess, that as the most inherent vice, if I may so speak, and the most inseparable from human things, is their own frailty, he who knows how to preserve and confirm a state, hath attained to a higher pitch of wisdom than he who knows how to conquer, and to win battles.

'Tis needless for me minutely to recount to you, what occasioned the fall of the kingdoms formed out of the wreck of Alexander's empire, namely, those of Syria, Macedon, and Egypt. The common cause of their ruin was, that they were forced to yield to a greater power, which was the Roman. Were we however to consider the last state of those monarchies, we should easily find the immediate causes of their fall; and should see, among other things, that the most powerful of them aW) oC Syriai after being tmm shaken by the sodness and luxury of the nation, re* ceived at last the tnortal stroke from the division of itsprinces.

vVe are at length come to that great empire which The. swallowed up all the empires of the universe, have sprung the greatest kingdoms of the world we dwell in, whose laws we still revere, and with which we must consequently be better acquainted than with all other empires. You are well sensible Sir, that I speak of the Roman empire. Tou have seen the long and memorable history of it in its whole series. But in order perfectly to understand the causes of Rome's exaltation, and those of the changes that have happened in its state, be pleased attentively to consider, together with the manners of the Romans, the times, whereon depend all the motions of that vast empire.

Of all the nations of the world, the most fierce and daring, but withal the most regular in its counsels, the most constant in its maxims, the most deliberate, the most laborious, and in fine, the most patient, was the Roman people.

From all this was formed the best soldiery, and a policy the most foreseeing, most steady, and best pursued that ever was.

The first principle of a Roman, was the love of liberty, and of his country* The one of these made him love the other; for by loving liberty, he loved also his country, as a mother which brought him up in sentiments equally generous and free. -.•

Under the notion of liberty, the Romans figured to themselves, with the Greeks, a state where none subject to any thing bat the law, and where the Ian-was more powerful than men.

Moreover, although Rome was bom under a regal government, she enjoyed even under her kings, a liberty scarcely consistent with a regular monarchy. For, besides that the kings were elective, and that the tion was made by the whole people, it to the people assembled, to ratify the laws, and to derree peace or war. There were even some particular cases, wherein the kings gave up the sovereign judgment to the people; as witness Tullus Hostilius, who daring neither to condemn nor acquit Moratius, loaded at once ivith honour for having conquered the Curialii, and with shame for having killed bis sister, caused him to be judged by the people. So the kings had properly no more than the command of the ar-mies and the power of calling lawful assemblies, of proposing matters of maintaining the laws, and of executing the public decrees.

When Servius Tullius formed the design, you have seen, of reducing Rome into a coramonwoalth, he increased the love of liberty in a people already so Free; and hence you may judge how jealous the Romans were of it, when they had tasted it entire under t'lc consuls.

It sllU shocks U3 to see in history the dreadful steadiness of the consul Brutus, when he caused bis two I sons to be put to death before his eyes, for having suffered themselves to be drawn into the secret practices the Tarquins were carrying on at Rome, in order to recover their dominion there. How strongly must the people b** conformed in the love of liberty, upon seeing that severe consul sacrifice bis own family to it? We need no longer wonder if they despised at Rome Okj the eflTortsofthe neighbouring nations, who attempt- ed to restore the banished Tarquins. In vain did 2Sjb.king Porsenna take them into his protection. The Romans, almost starved, made him to know, by their resolution, that they would at least die free. The peo-

Kle were still more resolute than the senate; and Lo

ivho had reduced her to the last extremity, that ire

3/IV.12. Rome unaniaiously sent word to that powerful king, might give over interceding for the Tarquins, since being resolved to hazardevery thing for ber liberty, she would sooner receive her enemies than her tyrants. of the people, and the moTe

rate persons, resolved to let the Romans peaceably enjoy a liberty which they knew so well how to defend.

Liberty was to them therefore a treasure which they preferred to all the riches in the world. And so have you that in their beginnings, and even when they were very far advanced, poverty was no evil to them: on the contrary, they looked upon it as the means of preserving their liberty more entire, there being ing more free or independent, than a man who can live upon little, and who, without expecting aught from the protection or bounty of others, founds his subsistence upon nothing but his industry and labour.

And this did the Romans. To breed cattle, to till the ground, to take as much as they could from themselves, to live sparing and laborious: such was their manner of life; and thus did they support their families, whom they inured to such like hardy occupa-' tions. J

Livy might well say, that there never was a people, among whom frugality, or parsimony, or poverty, were longer had in honour. The most illustrious senators, to behold only their outside, differed little from the meanest peasants, and had no show, nor majesty, bat in public, and in the senate. And indeed, they were found occupied in husbandry, and the other cares of a country life, when jsent for to head armies. Such instances are frequent in the Roman history. Carius and Fabricius, those great captains who vanquished Pyrrhus, so rich a king had only earthen plate: the former, to whom the Samnites offered plate of gold and silver, answered, that his delight lay not in possess- ing it, but in commanding those that did. After triumphing, and enriching the commonwealth with the spoils of its enemies, they had not wherewithal to bu«> ry them- This moderation continued even during the Punic wars. In the first, we see Regulus, the general of the Roman armies, asking his discharge of the senate, in order to go and cultivate his farm, that had been neglected during his absence. M\xx

:i66 AN UNIVERSAL IlISlORt.

overthrotv of Carthage, we see also great examples of the primitive simplicity. -£milius Paulus, wbo aug-' mented the public treasury by the rich treasure of the kings of Macedon, lived up to the rules of the ancient frugality, and died a beggar. Mumraius, when he destroyed Corinth, gained onJy for the use of the public, the riches of that opulent and voluptuous city. Thus riches were despised; and the moderation and integrity of the Roman generals were the admiration of \be vanquished nations.

Yet in this great love of poverty the Romans spared nothing upon the grandeur and beauty of their city,

In their very beginnings, the public works were sucb| as Rome was not ashamed of, even when she saw her-

_!▼. i. self mistress of the world. The capitol built by Tar-

quin the proud, and the temple erected to Jupiter in iMi»n. 'that fortress, were, from that time, worthy the majes« of the greatest of Gods, and of the future glory of the Roman people. Every thing else was corresponzxxtl grandeur. The chief temples, the i kets, the baths, the public places, the high v% ays, the aqueducts, the very sinks and common sewers of the city had a magnificence that would seem incredible, were it not attested by all historians, and confirmed by the remains we see of them. What shall I say of the pomp of the triumphs, of the religious ceremonies,

the sames and shows that were exhibited to the

Tit.

people: In a word, every thing that was for the ser- '/"' vice of the public, every thing that could give the people a high notion of their common country, was executed with profusion, as far as the time could permit.- Parsimony reigned only in private families. He wbo augmented his revenues, and rendered bis lands more fertile by bis industry and labour, wbo was the best economist, and most self-denied, esteemed himself the most free, the most powerful, and the most happy.

Ibere is nothing farther from such a life than softness. Every to the other extreme} te wit, K\A gf

AN ONIVEESAL HISTORY. StfT the Romans had naturally something, not only rude, but even savage and fierce. But they neglected nothing to bring themselves under the power of good laws, and the people the most jealous of its liberty the world ever saw, proved at the same time the most submissive to its magistrates and to lawful authority*

The soldiery of such a people could not fail to be admirable, where with dauntless hearts and vigorous bodies, there prevailed so ready and exact an obedience.

The military laws were hard but necessary. Victory proved dangerous, and often mortal to those who won it contrary to orders. It was death for a man not only to fly, to part with his arms, to leave his rank, but even to stir, so to speak, or to make the least motion without the command of the general. He who laid down his arms to the enemy, who chose rather to be taken, than to die gloriously for his country, was judged unworthy of any manner of assistance. For ordinary, prisoners were no longer counted among the cit- but were left to the enemy, as members cut off from the commonwealth. You have read in and Cicero the story of Begulus, who persuaded theLofi. senate, at the expense of his own life, to abandon the prisoners to the Carthaginians. In the war with Hannibal, and after the loss of the battle of Cann»,,that is, vrhen Rome, drained by so. many losses, was in great- m ' est want of men, the senate chose rather to frary to its custom, eight thousand slaves, than to som eight thousand Romans, which would have cosine,.x no more than the new levies to be made. But in the ' r>- ' exigency of affairs, it was established more than an inviolable law, that a Roman Soldier must conquer or die.

By virtue of this maxim the Roman armies, though defeated and broken, fought and rallied to the last; and as Sallust observes, there are to be found Romans more men punished for fighting orders, than forgiving ground and quitting their

SO that their courage bad more need to be than excited.

To valour they joined wit and invention. Besides their being of themselves diligent and ingenious, tbejr knew how to profit wonderfully by every thing they saw in other nations, that was commodious for en* campment, for \be order of bauie, and even for the kind of arms, in a word, for facilitating as weii the attack as defence. You have seen in Sallust and other authors what the Romans learned from their very enemies. Who does not know that they learned from the Carthaginians the invention of the galleys with which they beat them, and, in short, that they got from all the nations they were acquainted with, wherewilhal to overcome them f

In fact, it is certain from their own confession that the Gauls surpassed them in strength of body, and iifil' yielded not to tUera in courage. Polybius lets us see, that in a certain decisive action, the Gauls, besides being superior in number, showed more resolution than the Romans, however determined they might be; and yet do we find in that very action those Romans, inferior in every thing else, get the better of the Gauls, because they had the skill to make choice of better arms, to range themselves in better order, and to make better use of their time in the engagement. This you may see one day more exactly in Polybius 5 and you have often yourself observed in Cesar's Commentaries, that the Romans, commanded by that great man, subdued the Gauls still more by the stratagems of the military art, than by downright bravery. The Macedonians, so jealous of preserving the ancient order of their soldiery, formed by Philip and Alexander, imagined their phalanx invincible, and could not persuade themselves that human wit was capable of contriving any thing stronger. Nevertheless, the Polybius, and Titus Livius aflet him, have de- that to consider only the nature of the Roman armUsiaiuA qC \te Odlacedonians, th.e lat-

lev could not fail of being beat at the long run; be- J{J:|j, cause the Macedonian phalanx, which was but one huge square battalion, very thick on every side, could 39, i« not move but all of a piece: whereas the Roman army, being divided into small bodies, was readier and more fitted for all sort of motions.

'I he Romans therefore found out, or they very soon learned, the art of dividing armies into several bata-* lions and squadrons, and of forming bodies of reserve, whose disposition is so proper for pushing or supporting what gives way on otie side or the other. Set the Macedonian phalanx against troops thus disposed: that huge and unwieldy machine will be terrible indeed to an army upon which it shall fall with its whole weight; but, as speaks Polybius, it cannot Ions preserve its natural propriety, that is, its solidity and consistence, because it must have places proper, and so to say, made on purpose; and for want of finding them, it embarraaaesi itself, or r&ther breaks itself by its own motion. Add to this, that being once broke through, it can never rally again, whereas the Roman army, divided into its small bodies, makes the best of all places, and adapts itself to them; it joins and parts at pleasure; it easily files and meets again without difficulty 5 it is fit for detachments, for rallyings, for all manner of conversions and evolutions, which it performs, either whole or in part, as is requisite; in short, it has more different movements, and consequently more action and strength than the phalanx* Conclude we then with Polybius, that the phalanx must needs give way to it, and that Macedon must be overcome.

'Tis a pleasure. Sir, to speak to you of those things wherein you are so well instructed by excellent masters, and which you see practised under the direction of Lewis the Great, in so admirable a manner, that I I don't know whether the Roman art of war had ever any thing more perfect. But without making it enter (he lists wiih the French art I shall

elf with having shown you, that the Roman art of war, whether we mind the very science of taking advantages* or only consider its extreme strictness iu causing all the orders of war to be observed, far surpassed any thing that had appeared in preceding ages.

After Maeedon, we need say no more of Greece* You have seen that Macedon held there the first place, and so it teaches you to judge of the resf. Athens produced nothing since Alexander's time. The Etoliansy who signalized themselves in divers wars, were rather froward than free, and rather brutal than brave. Laeedemon had made its last effort for bringing forth Cleomenes; as bad the Acbeao league, in producing Philopemen. Rome never fought those two great captains; but the who lived in the days of Hannibal and Scipio, upon seeing the Roman progress in Macedonia, judged rightly that the liberty of Greece was about ta. expire, ana that nothing remained for him but to retard the moment of its fall. Thus the most warlike nations yielded to the Romans. The Romans triumphed over courage in the Gauls, over courage and skill in the Greeks, and over both courage and skill, supported by the most refined conduct, in triumphing over Hannibal; so that nothing ever equalled them io war.

And indeed had nothing in all their governmentj that they so much boasted of as their miUtary discipline. They always considered it ai the foundation of their empire. Martial discipline was the first thing that appeared in their state, and the last that was lost in it: so deeply was it grafted in the constitution of their republic.

One of the most beautiful parts of the Roman exercise of war was, that false bravery never met with praise. The maxims of false honour, that have been the ruin of so many amone us, were never so much as Mtd» ' known iu a nalxou so observed

AN UNIVJERSAI, UIST0R7. SPJTI t>f Scipio and of Cesar, the two first warriors and bravest men amongst the Romans, that they never exposed themselves but with caution, and when urgent necessity required it. No good was expected from genera], who had not the sense to know the care he ought to take of his person; and actions of extraordinary resolution were reserved for real service. The Romans would have no battles hazarded disadvantageously, nor victories at the expense of too much blood; so that nothing could be more resolute, nor at the same time better husbanded, than were the Roman armies.

But as it is not sufficient to understand war, if there id not a wise council to direct when to undertake and to keep domestic afiairs in good order, I must also propose to your observation the profound policy ef the Roman senate. To take it in the best times of the commonwealth, there never was an assembly where afiairs were treated with maturer deliberation with profounder secrecy, with a longer forecast, or with a greater unanimity and zeal for the public good.

The candid penman of the book of Maccabees bath not scrupled to declare this, and to commend the emi-iel**' ' nent prudence and vigorous counsels of that wise as-' sembly, where none claimed authority but by reason, and all whose members conspired to the public service without partiality or jealousy.

As for secrecy, Livy gives us a notable instance it. When they were meditating a war against Per- xui.'i4 5eus, Eumenes, king of Pergatnus, an enemy of that prince, came to Rome to confederate with the senilte against him. He made his proposals in full assembly, and the affair was determined by the voices of a Company consisting of three hundred persons* Who would think that the secret should have been kept and that nothing was ever known of the consultation till four years alter, when the ivar was endcrd f JBut what is most surprising, is> that at Rome to observe the motions of Eume'- Aes. All the cities of Greece and Asia, who feared being involved in the quarrel, had also sent theirs, and all laid their beads together to discover an affair of such consequence. Amidst so many cunning agents, the senate was impenetrable. To make a secret be kept, there was never any oeed of punishments, nor of forbidding correspondence wilh foreigners, undei rigorous pains or penalties. Secrecy recommended itself, as it were, and by its own importance.

It is a thin a; surprizing in the conduct of Rome, to see the people always look upon the senate with jea*- lousy, and nevertheless refer every thing to it on extraordinary occasions, and especially in times of great danger. Then were, all the people seen to turn their eyes upon that wise assembly, and expect its resolutions as so many oracles.

A long experience had taught the Romans, that thence had proceeded all the counsels that bad saved the state. In the senate were preserved the ancient maxims, and the spirit, so to speak, of the commonwealth. There were formed the designs which were justified by their own consequence; and what was most noble in the senate is, that they never took more vigorous measures than in the greatest extremity. it was in the most dismal state of the republic, when Titliv weak, and in her infancy, she found herself once divided at home by the tribunes, and pressed abroad by the whom the provoked Uoriolanus led on against his country. Those people, ever beat by the Romans, hoped to revenge themselves now, as they bad at their bead the greatest man of Rome, the most skilful in war, the most liberal, and the most abhorrent of injustice; but withal, the most hardhearted, the most difficult, and the most exasperated. They would make themselves citizens by force, and after great conquests, now masters of the field and of the country, they threatened universal de» struction, if iWit not complied with.

Rome had neitber army nor commanders; and nevertheless, in that sad situation, and while she bad every thing to fear, did the senate suddenly issue out that bold decree, that they would sooner perish than yield any thing to an armed enemy, and that they would grant them equitable terms, after they bad withdrawn their arms.

Coriolanus's mother, who was sent to soften him, j{jj" told him, amongst other arguments: " Do you not know the Romans; Do you not know, my son, that you will gain nothing of them but by fair means, and that you never will obtain any thing, either more or less, of them by force?" The stern Coriolanus suffered himself to be overcome: it cost him his life, and the.'Volsci chose other generals; but the senate stood firm to its maxims, and the decree which it made, of granting nothing by force, passed into a fundamental law of the Roman policy, from which there is not one 4 instance of the Romans departing in all the after-times ibT of the commonwealth. Among them in their circumstances, faint-hearted counsels were not so much as heard. They were always more tractable when victorious, than when vanquished: so well did the senate know how to maintam the ancient maxims of the republic, and so well did it know how to confirm the rest of the citizens in them.

From that same spirit proceeded the resolutions taken so many times in the senate, of subduing the enemy by open force, without making use of the arts and stratagems, even such as are allowed in war: which the senate did neither out of a false point of nor through ignorance of the laws of war i but because it judged nothing more effectual to bumble a haughty enemy, than to take away its whole opinion of its own strength, that so being vanquished in the very heart, they should see no safety but in the clemency of the victor.

Thus was established through all the earth that high opinion of the Roman arras. The belief yr4 ead, that nothing stood before them, maJe ibe arms drop out of their enemies hands, and afforded invincible aid to tbeir allies. You see what a like opinion of the French arms does all over Europe; and the world, astonished at the king's exploit, confesses, that to himself alone it belonged to set bounds to his conquests.

The conduct of the Roman senate, so powerful against the enemy, was no less admirable in the domestic administration. Those wise senators had some* limes a just condescension for the people: as when in an extreme exigency, they not only taxed tbemselves higher than the rest, which was usual with thenif but also eased the common people of all imposts, add-Liv. '"S» *' Thai the poor paid a sufficient tribute to the am' 'i- 9. monwealth, by bringing up their

The senate showed by this decree, that it knew wherein consisted the true riches of a state: and so fine a sentiment joined to the testimonies of a paternal tenderness, made so much impression upon the minds of the people, that they became capable of supporting the last extremities for the preservation of their country.

But when the people deserved to be blatnedi the senate did it with a gravity and vigour worthy that venerable council; as happened in the diflference jj. tvveen the people of Ardea and Aricia. 'Tis a memo-

71. iv. rabic story, and deserves to be related to you. Those

' Uvo petty nations were at war about some lands that each of them laid claim to. At length, of Gghu ing, they agreed to refer the matter to the decision of the Roman people, whose equity was revered by all iCs neighbours. The tribunes were assembled; and the people discovering, in the process of the examina-

tion, that those lands claimed by others, belonged by right to itself; adjusted them to t*hemseJves. The senate, though satisfied that the people had judged rightly in the main, could not bear that the Romans should have be\ev\ natural generosity, and should

have basely deceived the hopes of their neighbours, who had submitted themselves to their arbitration. There was nothing possible that that generous court did not do, to prevent a decision of so pernicious a precedent, where the judges took to themselves the lands contested by the parties. After sentence was given, the men of Ardea, whose right was the most apparent, full of indignation at so iniquitous a judgment, were ready to revenge themselves by force of arms. The senate made no scruple to declare to them publicly, that they were as sensible as themselves, of the injury that had been done them; that indeed it was not in their power to abrogate a decree of the people, but that if after such an abuse they would rely upon the court for the reparation they had reason to expect, the senate would take such care to procure them satisfaction, that they should have no further cause of complaint. The Ardeates relied on the promise. Soon after, there happened to them an affair that might have utterly ruined their city, bad it not been for timely succours they received from the Romans by order of the senate, whereby they thought themselves over paid for the territory that bad been taken from them, and wanted only an opportunity of thanking so faithful friends. But the senate was not contented, till, by causing them to restore the land which the Roman people had awarded to itself, it abolished the memory of so infamous a judgment.

I shall not here undertake to tell you, how many such actions the senate did: how many perjured citi- zens, who would not keep their parole, or quibbled oar. a/, about their oaths, it delivered up to the enemy; how many had counsels, that had met with good success, it condemned: All I shall say is, that that august court inspired nothing but what was great into the Roman people, and gave on all occasions a high notion of its counsels, persuaded, as it was, that reputation was the firmest support of states.

We may believe that in a people so wisely the rewards and punishments were appointed with the greatest consideration. Besides the real service and a zeal for the good of the state, were the surest steps to promotion; military actions bad a thousand rewards which cost the public notbing, but which were infinite* ly precious to private persons, on account of the annexed glory so dear to tbar warlike people. A crown of gold very thin, but most commonly a crown of oak leaves, or of laurel, or of some yet viler herbage, be-came inestimable among the soldiers, knew no more honourable marks than those of virtue, nor any more noble distinction than that which proceeded from glorious actions. The senate, whose approbation was itself a reward,, knew when to praise, and when to blame. ateiy after battle, the consuls, and other generals, bestowed publicly on the soKliers and officers, the praise or the blame they deserved; but themselves waited, in suspense, the judgment of the senate, which judged of the wisdom of the counsels, without suflTering themselves to be dazzled by the prosperousness of events. Commendations were valuable, because they were bestowed with judgment. Blame stung generoMS hearts to the quick, and retained the meanest souls in their duty. The punishments which attended evil actions, kept the soldiers in awe, while rewards acd glory, properly dispensed, raised them above themselves.

He who can instil into the mind of a people, patience of hardship, the greatness of their nation, and the love of their country, may boast of having found out the most proper constitution of a state for producing great men. 'Tis doubtless great men that are the strength of an empire. Nature does not fail to raise up, in all countries, exalted geniuses and spirits; but she must be helped to form them. What forms them, what finishes them, is, strong sentiments and noble impressions, which diffuse themselves in all their minds, and from one to another.

What is it that renders our nobility so fierce in figbt, and so daring in enterprises? 'Tis the opinion imbibed from their infancy, and established by the unanimous sense of the nation, that a gentleman without courage degrades himself, and is not worthy to breathe the common air. AH the Romans were bred up in those sentiments, and the people disputed with the nobles who should act most up to those vigorous maxims. During the best times of Rome, infancy itself was inured to hardship: nothing else was there to be heard of but the greatness of the Roman name. They were obliged to go to war when the republic commanded it, and to toil without ceasing, to encamp winter and summer, to obey without resistance, to die or to conquer. Fathers who trained not up their children in these principles, and so as to render them fit for the service of the state, were. called to an account before the magistrates, and brought in guilty of high treason against the public. When things have once got into this way, great men make one another; and if Rome produced more than any other city before berj it was not at all by chance: but that the Rornaft state, constituted in the manner we have seen, was so to speak, of a complexion necessarily the most fruitful in heroes.

A state which finds itself thus formed, finds itself a)-.» so at the same time, of an incomparable strength, and never thinks itself without resource. And so do we see that the Romans never despaired of their affairs; neither when Porsenna king of Etruria starved them within their walls; nor when the Gauls, after burning their city, over-ran their whole country, and kept them cooped up in the Capitol; nor when Pyrrhus king of Epirus, as expert as enterprising, terrified,. them with his elephants, and defeated all their ar* i mies; nor when Hannibal, already so many times conqueror, killed them above fifty thousand of their best soldiery in the battle of Cannae,

;J2*

Then it was that the consul Terentius Varro, who bad just lost, through his own fault, so great a battle, was received at Rome as if he had been victorious, only because in so great a disaster, he had not despaired of the republic's alDTairs. The Senate thanked him publicly for it, and from that moment resolved, according to the ancient inaxiiDSy to hearken, in that their sad situation, to no proposals of peace. The enemy was struck with astonishment; the people again took heart, and Imagined they had still some resources, which the senate by its prudence was acquainted with.

In fact, that constancy of the senate, amidst so many misfortunes, which happened one after another, proceeded not so much from an obstinate resolution of never yielding to fortune, as from a profound knowledge of the Roman strength, and of that of the enemy. Rome knew by her census, that is, by the roll of her citizens, ever exactly continued down from Servius Tullius; she knew, I say, all the citizens she had capable of bearing arms, and what she might expect from the youth daily growing up. Thus she husbanded her strength,,against an enemy, who came from the borders of Afric, whom time must destroy of itself in a foreign country, where succours were so tardy, and to whom his very victories, which cost him so much blood, must prove fatal. Therefore whatever loss bad happened, the senate, being always' apprized of what good soldiers were left, had only to prolong (he time, and never suffered itself to be dismayed. Irhen by the defeat of Cann®, and by the revolt that followed thereupon, it saw the republic's forces so diminished, that there could hardly have been made any fence, had the enemy pushed forward, it supported itself by its spirit, and without troubling itself about its losses, set itself to watch the motions of the victor. \s soon as it was perceived, that Hannibal, instead of pursuing his victory, thought of nothing for same-time but enjoying \t, \ie fresh courage, and saw plainly, that an enemy capable of balking bis fortune, and of suffering bimself to be dazzled bjr his great successes, was not born to overcome (be Romans. From that time Rome performed daily the greatest enterprizes; and Hannibal, skilful, victorious as be was, hold out against her.

'Tis easy to judge, by this single event, with whom the advantage at last must remain. Hannibal, flushed with his great successes, thought the taking of Rome too easy a matter, and so grew remiss. Rome amidst her disasters, lost neither courage nor confidence, but undertook greater things than ever. It was presently after the overthrow at Cannae that she. besieged Syracuse and one of which had been unfaithful to treaties, and the other had withdrawn its allegiance. Syracuse could defend herself neither by her fortifications, nor by the inventions of her Archimedes. Hannibal's victorious army came vainly to the relief of Capua. But the Romans forced that captain to raise the siege of Nola. A httle after, the Carthaginians defeated and killed the two Scipios in Spain. In that whole war, there had nothing happened more sensibly affecting, nor more fatal to the Romans. Their loss made them exert their last efforts; young Scipio, son to one of those generals, not contented with retrieving the Roman affairs in Spain, went and carried the war- to the Carthaginians, into their own city, and gave the finishing stroke to their empire.

The state of that city did not permit that Scipio should find the same resistance there, that Hannibal met with from Rome; and of this you will be convinced, if you look a little into the constitution of the two cities.

Rome was in its vigour; and Carthage which bad 8;un to decline, was only supported by Hannibal. Rome ijad an united senate, and at this time precisely prevailed that unanimity so. commended in the r*

Maccabees. The Senate of Carthage was divided by old irreconcilable factions; and Hanoibal's overthrow had been matter of joy to the most considerable part of the great lords. Rome, still poor, and attached to agriculture, bred up an excellent soldiery, who breathed nothing but glory, and whose sole ambition was to raise the Roman name. Carthage, enriched by her trade, saw all her citizens attached to their riches, and no wise exercised in war: whereas the Roman armies were almost all composed of citizens, Carthage on the contrary held it as a maxim, to none but foreign oftentimes to be as much fear* cd by their pay-masters, as by those against whom they are employed-

These defects proceeded partly from the first institution of the republic of Carthage, and had partly introduced themselves with time. Carthage was ever fond of riches, and Aristotle accuses her of being so 11 wedded to them, as to give her citizens occasion of preferring them to virtue. By this means a republic quite cut out for war, as the same Aristotle came at length to neglect the exercise of it. That philosopher does not censure her for employing only foreign troops; and so it is to be thought she did not fall, till long after, into this error. But riches lead a mercantile state naturally to it: men choose to enjoy their fortunes, and think to find every thing in their money. Carthage fancied herself strong, because she had many soldiers; and had not been able to learn, by so many revolts, which she had met with in the latter times, that there is nothing more unfortunate than a state which is supported only by foreigners, in whom is to be found neither zeal, security, nor obedience.

It is true, the great genius of Hannibal seemed to have remedied the defects of his republic. It is look-

»U7?' prodigy, that, in a foreign couniry, and during full sixteen years, he never founds not te say a sed\uon,V>uX la an army wholly made up of dlCTerent nations, who, without understanding one another, agreed so well in understanding the orders of their general. But all Hannibal's skill could not support Carthage, when, being attacked within her walls by such a general as Scipio, she found her* self without forces. She must needs recall Hannibal, who had no troops left but such as were weakened more by their own victories than by those of the Romans, and who completed their ruin by the length of the march. So Hannibal was beaten, and Carthage, formerly mistress of all Afric, of the' Mediterranean) and of the whole commerce of the world, was forced to submit to the yoke that Scipio imposed upon her*

Such was the glorious fruit oi the Roman patience! People who gathered resolution and strength in iSeir misfortunes, had great reason to think that all was safe,:When hope was not lost: and Polybius hath very well concluded that Carthage must at length do homage to Rome, by the very nature of the two republics.

Now, had the Romans made use of those great qualities, political and military, only to preserve their dominions in peace, or to protect their oppressed allies, as they pretended, they would be as commendable for their equity, as jTor their valour and prudence. But when they had tasted the sweets of victory, they would have every thing to yield to them, and aspired at nothing less than first to give laws t5 their neighbours, and afterwards to the whole world.

In order to compass this end, they knew perfectly how to preserve their allies, to unite them to sow discord and jealousy among Iheir enemies, to penetrate into their counsels, to discover their intelligences, and to prevent their designs.

They watched not only the motions of their enemies, but also the whole progress of their neighbours 3 being* particularly studious either to divide, or some other way to counterbalance the powers that grew too or were too great obstacles to their conquests.

So the Grecians were in the wrongs to imagine, in Polybius's time, that Rome aggrandized herself rather hy chance than by conduct. They were too fond of their own nation, and too jealous of the people whom they perceived rising above them: or perhaps seeing at a distance the Roman empire advancing so fast, without fathoming the counsels hy which that great body moved, they attributed to chance, as the custom of men is, the effects whereof the causes were unknown to them. But Polybius, whose intimate familiarity with the Romans made him get so far into the secret of their affairs, and who so narrowly observed the Roman policy during the Punic wars, was more equitable than the other Grecians, and saw that Rome's.conquests were the consequence of a well digested design. For he saw the Romans, from the middle of the Medilerranean, carry their views to all the countries round about, as far as the Spains and Syria; observe what was passing; advance regularly, and step by step; secure their dominion, before they extended it; not burden themselves with too many affairs; dissemble some time, and then declare themselves at a fit opportunity; wait till Hannibal was conquered, for the disarming of Philip king of Macedon, who had favoured him; after having begun the affair, never to be weary, nor satisfied, until it was completely done; not allow the Macedonians a moment's time to recollect themselves; and after having vanquished them, restore by a public decree to Greece, that had been captive, the liberty she no longer dreamt of; by this means to spread terror on one hand, and on the other a veneration of their name: this was sufiicient to conclude, that the Romans advanced not to the conquest of the world by chance, but by conduct. gJJ»' This is what Polybius saw in the days of the gress of Rome. Dionysius the Halicarnassian, who jh* wrote after the establishment of the empire, and in the time of Augustus, hath drawn the same conclusion by resuming, bom ancient institutions n? the republic, so proper in their own nature to form an invincible and ruling people. You have seen enough of them to enter into the sentiments of those wise historians, and to condemn Plutarch, who being always too partial to his Grecians, ascribes to fortune Jcde alone the Roman greatness, and to virtue alone that of Alexander.

But the more those historians show of design in Rome's conquests, the more do they exhibit injustice in them. This vice is inseparable from the desire of rule, which also for that reason is justly condemned , by the precepts of the gospel. But philosophy alone is suflBcient to make us understand, that strength is given us in order to preserve our property, and not to usurp that of others. Cicero bath acknowledged and the rules he hath given for the making of war are a manifest condemnation of the conduct of the Ro mans.

It is true they appeared pretty equitable at the beginning of their commonwealth. They seemed wil- ling themselves to moderate their warlike by it within the bounds which equity prescribed* What could be more excellent, or more sacred, than the college of Feciales or Heralds, whether founded byNuma, asDionysius the Halicarnassian affirms, or by Ant Ancus Martins, as Livy will have it. This council til was established to judge whether a war was just: be- fore the senate proposed it, or the people resolved it,, this inquiry into the equity always took place. the justice of the war was acknowledged, the senate concerted its measures for undertaking it; but first of all they sent to demand in form of the usurper restitution of the premises unjustly siezed upon, and never came to extremities, till after having tried all fair means. A blessed institution, if ever there was one! and which may put Christians to the blush, whom a God, come into |the world to pacify all things, hath not been able to inspire with charity and peace* But what avail the best institutions when at

;584 AN I7NIVEHSAL IIISTORr degenerate bto mere ceremonies? The sweets of conquering and commanding soon corrupted in the Romans wbat honest natural equity had giFen them. The deliberations of the Feciales came to be but a useless formality among then; and although they exercised towards their greatest enemies acts of the highest equity, and even clemency, ambition suffered not. justice, to reign in their counsels.

AIoreoFer, their unjust practices were so much the more dangerous, the better they knew bow to palliate them with the specious pretext of e(|uity, and that they insensibly brought kmgs and nations into servitude, under colour of protecting and defending tbem..

Let us add to this, that they were cruel to those who resisted them: another quality pretty natural to conquerors, who know that the panic gains more than the half of the conquests. Must power be acouired at this price, and is command so sweet, that men soould choose to purchase it by so inhuman actions? The If- '* Romans, to spread terror all around, affected to leafe. dreadful spectacles of cruelty, in the cities they had J taken; and to appear merciless to such as waited force; without even sparing kings, whom they put barbarously to death, after leading them in triumph loaded with chains, and dragged after their chariots like slaves.

But if they were cruel and unjust in order to con« quer, they governed with equity the subdued nations. They endeavoured to make their government relish- ' ed by the subjected people, and thought this the best means of securing their conquests. The senate ivere a check upon the governors, and did justice to the people. That court was regarded as the refuge of the oppressed; and indeed extortion and violence were not known among the Romans till the latter days of the commonwealth, and the moderation of their magistrates was admired over all the earth.

This was therefore none of those brutal and avari* cious conquerors, who breathe nothing but plunder, or establish thevv Aoidawvqw .hft ruin of the conquered countries. The Romans bettered all those they took, by making to flourish in them justice, agriculture, commerce, the arts also, and sciences; after they bad once got a relish for them.

This it was that gave them the most flourishing, and best established, as well as the most extensive empire that ever was. From Euphrates and Tanais to Uercules's Pillars, and the Atlantic ocean, all lands and seas obeyed them; from the middle, and, as it were, the centre of the Mediterranean, they included the vrhole extent of that sea, penetrating far and wide into all the states round about, and keeping it as the Intermediate communication of their ettipire. We are still frightened, when we consider, that the nations which make now so formidable kingdoms, all the Gauls, all the Spains, almost all Great Britain, lliyria as far as the Danube, Germany to the Elbe, Afric to its dreadful and impenetrable desarts, Greece, Thrace, Syria, Egypt, all the kingdoms of the Lessei Asia; also those which are contained between the Euxine and Caspian seas, and others which perhaps I forget, or choose not to mention, were duriRg many ages no more than Roman provinces. All the nations of our world, even to the most barbarous, have reverenced their power; and the Romans established almost every where laws and politeness together with their empire.

'Tis a sort of prodigy, that in so vast an empire, which comprehended so many nations and kingdoms, the people should have been so obedient, and revolts so rare. The Roman policy had taken care of this by divers methods which I must explain to you in a few words.

The Roman colonies settled in all quarters of ihe empire, produced two admirable effects: one, tlnit of ridding the city of a great number of citizens, and most of them poor; the other, that of guarding the principal posts, and accustoming by ticgrcts nations to the Roman manners.

-i86 se coIoDies, which carried their privileges along with them, remained still annexed to the body of the commonweallb, and peopled the whole Roman empire.

But besides the colonies, a great number of cities obtained for their citizens the right of Roman denizens; and being united by their interest to the people, tbey kept the neighbouring cities in their (lutv.

The consequence was at length, that all the subjects of the empire thought themselves.Romans. The honours of the victorious people communicated themselves by degrees to the vanquished; the senate was open to them, and they might aspire even to the empire. Thus, by the Roman clemency, all nations-, \vere but one nation, and Rome was looked upon as their common country.

How greatly were navigation and commerce facilitated by that wonderful union of all the nations of the world under one and the same empire? The Roman society included every thing, and excepting somp frontiers, molested sometimes by their neighbours, all the rest of the world enjoyed a profound peace. Neither Greece, nor Asia Minor, nor Syria, nor nor, in short, most of the other provinces, were ever without war, but under the Roman empire; that it is easy to apprehend, that so agreeable an intercourse of nations must serve to maintain concord and obedience in the whole body of the empire-

The legions distributed for the guard of the frontiers, by defending it without, secured it within. I< was not the custom of the Romans to have citadels in their strong places, nor to fortify their frontiers; and I scarce find this care begin till under Valentiniau I. Before that time they placed the strength and security of the empire solely in the troops, which so disposed that they supported one another. Besides, as they had orders lo lie encamped, the towns ivere nowise did not permit the soldiers to straggle over the country. Thus the Roman armies disturbed neither trade nor tillage. They formed in their camps a sort of city, which diflTered nothing from others, but in that labours were there continual, discipline more severe, and the command steady. They were always ready for the smallest motion; and it was sufficient to keep the people in their duty, only to show them in their neighbourhood that invincible soldiery.

But nothing so much maintained the peace of the empire, as the order of justice. The ancient republic had established it; the emperors and sages explained it upon the same foundations 5 all the people, even the most barbarous, regarded it with admiration: and thereby was it chiefly that the Romans were judged worthy to be masters of the world. In fine, if the Roman laws have appeared so sacred, that their majesty still subsists, notwithstanding the ruin of the empire, it is because good sense, which controls human life, reigns throughout the whole, and that there is nowhere to be found a finer application of the principles of natural equity.

Notwithstanding this greatness of the Roman name, notwithstanding the profound policy, and all the fino institutions of that famous jppublic, she bore in her bosom the cause of her ruin, in the perpetual jealousy of the people against the senate, or rather of the Plebeians against the Patricians. Romulus had establish- ed this distinction. It was fit that the kings should have some distinguished persons, whom they might attach to their person by particular ties, and by whom they might govern the rest of the people. For this purpose did Romulus select the Fathers, of whom he formed the body of the senate: so they were called, on account of their dignity and age; and from sprung afterward the Patrician families. Moreover, whatever power Romulus reserved to the people, he bad made the Plebians, in many pn the Patricians; and thai

the royalty, had been preserved not only under tJjc kings, but also in the the republic. It was from among the Patricians that the senators were always taken. To the Patricians belonged employments, commands, dignities, even that of the priesthood; and the Fathers, who bad been the authors of liberty, did not part with their prerogatives. But jealousy soon took place between the two orders. For I need not here mention the Roman Knights, a third order, as it were a middle rank between the Patricians and petty people, who joined sometimes one side, sometimes the other. It was therefore between these two orders that jealousy arose: it revived on various occasions; but the profound cause that kept it alive, was the love of liberty.

The fundamental maxim of the republic was, to cons-idcr liberty as a thing inseparable from the Roman name. A people bred up in this spirit, or to say more, a people who believed itsolf born to command other nations, and whom Virgil for that calls so nobly, populum regem, or a people king, would receive laws from none but itself.

The authority of the senate was judged necessary to nioderate the public councils, which, "without that ({ualifier, would have been too tumultuous. But in the main, it lay in the people to give commands, to enact laws to determine peace and war. A people v\ho enjoyed the most essential rights of royalty, entered in some sort into the humour of kings. They were very willing to be counseled, but would not be controuled, by the senate. Whoever appeared too imperious, whoever exalted himself above others, in a word, whoever violated, or seemed to violate, the equality required in a free state, became suspected by that delicate people. The love of liberty, of glory, and of conquests, rendered such spirits hard to mana,s;e; and that boldness which prompted them to atleinpt every not fail of breeding dissenVion «tl\iow\e»

AN UNrVERSAL HISTORY. $89

Thus Rome, so jealous ofber liberty, through that love of liberty which was the fbundation of her state, saw divisioQ take place amongst all the orders whereof she was composed. Hence those furious jealous-ies between the senate and people, between the Patricians and Plebeians; the one still alleging, that.excessive liberty destroys itself at last; and the other fearing, on the contrary, lest power, which of its own nature is always growings at length should degenerate into tyranny.

Betwixt these two extremes, a people \n other respects so wise, could not find the mean. Private interest, which makes those of any side carry farther than they ought, even what they have begun for the public good, did not suSer them to abide by the mod—erate counsels. Ambitious and restless spirits excited, jealousies, in order to make their advantage of them; and those jealousies, sometimes more secret, sometimes more open, acpording to the various junctures, but always alive in the bottom of their hearts, atlengthoccasioned that great revolution which happened rn the time of Cesar, and the others that succeeded it.

It will be easy for you to discover all their causes, if, after having rightly apprehended the humour of and the constitution of their commonwealth, care to observe a certain number of j}rinci-8ion of pal events, which, though happening at pretty distant times, have a manifest connexion with each Here you have them collected for your greater ease.«*

Romulus, bred up in war, stnd reputed the son of Mars, built Rome, and peopled it with persons of all sorts gathered together, shepherds, slaves, robbers, who bad come to seek freedom and impunity in the assylum he bad opened to all comers: there came some also of better quality, and of better character.

He traiqed up this wild people in the spirit of at' tempting every thing by force, and they had by this means the women whom they married.

By degrees be established

I '"l.p.

ja(r ir spirits by salutary laws. He began with religioni which be looked upon as the foundation of states. He made it as serious as solemn, and as modest as the darkness of idolatry would permit. Strange religions and sacrifices, that were not established by the Roman customs, were forbidden. This law was afterwards dispensed with; but it was Romulus's intention that it should be kept, and indeed something of it was always retained.

Me selected from amongst all the people, the best of them, to form the public council which he called the senate. He composed it of two hundred senators, whose number was also afterwards augmented; and thence sprung the noble families which were styled Patrician. The others had the name of Plebians, that is, common people.

The senate was to digest and propose all aflairs; soirte it settled sovereignly with the king; but the more general were referred to the decision of the people.

Romulus, in an assembly where a great storm suddenly arose, was lorn to pieces by the senators, who thought him too imperious, and the spirit of independence began from thence to appear in that order.

To appease the people, who loved their prince, and give a high notion of the city's founder, the senators it out, that the gods had taken him up into heaven, and they caused altars to be erected to him.

Numa Pompilius, the second king, in a long and profound peace, finished the forming of their manners, and the settling of religion upon the same foundations which Romulus had laid.

Tullius Hostilius established by strict regulations, military discipline, and the orders of war, with his successor, Ancus Martins accompanied with sacred ceremonies, in order to render the martial art venerable and religious.

After Vi\m, Tax(\w\w\Ma Pciscus, to make creatures, augmented \ie where they recnained many ages; and he began the grand works which were to promote the public conveniency.

Servius TuIIius projected the establishment of a "Commonwealth, under the command of two annual magistrates, to be chosen by the people.

In the hatred of Tarquin the proud, the royalty was abolished, with horrid execrations against any who should attempt to restore it; and Brutus made the people swear eternally to maintain their liberty.

The memoirs of Servius Tullius were followed in this revolution. Consuls elected by the people from among the Patricians, were made equal to kings, ex< cepting that they were two, who commanded by regular turns, and that they changed yearly.

Collatinus named consul with Brutus, as having been, with him, the author of liberty; though the husband of Lucretia, whose death had given occasion to the change, and more concerned than all others in revenging the outrage she had received, became a suspected person, because he was of the royal family, and so was expelled.

Valerius, substituted in his room, upon returning from an expedition, wherein he had delivered his country from the Veientes and Etrurians, was suspected by the people of affecting tyranny, on account of a house he was building upon an eminence. Not only did he stop the building, but becoming quite popular, though a Patrician, he enacted the law which allows an appeal to the people, and appropriates to them in certain cases the final judgment.

By this new law the consular power was weaken-* ed in its origin, and the people extended their privileges.

On the occasion of the execution for debts, practiced by the rich against the poor, the people, rising up against the power of the consuls and senate, made that famous retreat to mount Aventine.

Nothing was talked of bui \u and the people did think itself free, ifit bad oot some lawful ways of withstanding the senate. There was a necessity to grant them peculiar magistrates} called Tribunes of the people, who should have power to assemble them, and to secure tbem against the authority of the consuls, cither by oppo* sition or appeal.

Those magistrates, to get into credit, nourished the division between the two orders, and ceased not to flatter the people, by proposing, that the lands of the conquered countries, or the price that should arise from their sale, should be divided amongst the citizens.

The senate always resolutely opposed those Jaws so destructive of the state, and insisted that the price of the lands should be awarded to the public treasury.

The people suffered themselves to be led by their seditious magistrates, and nevertheless equity enough to admire the virtue of the great men who withstood them.

Against these domestic dissensions, the senate found no better remedy, than continually to staxt new occasions of foreign wars. These prevented divisions from being carried to and reunited orders in the defence of their country.

So long as the wars succeed, and the conquests increase, the jealousies are renewed.

The two parties tired with so many divisions, which threatened the ruin of the state, agree to make laws for the peace of both, and to establish the equality which ought to prevail in a free city.

Kach of the orders claims a right to the enacting of those laws.

The jealousy increased by these pretensions, makes them resolve with one accord to send an embassy into Greece, to inquire into the institutions of the cities of that country, and especially the laws of Solon, which were the most The laws Qf XH- Tables

are enacted; and the Decemvirs who digested them were deprived of the power they abused.

Whilst all is quiet, and so equitable laws seem to secure the public peace for ever, dissentions are rekindled by the new pretensions- of the people, who aspire at the honours and consulship, till then reserved to the first order.

The law for admitting them to those dignities is proposed. Rather than debase the consulship, the Fathers consent to the creation of three new magistrates, who shall have the authority of consuls, under the name of Military Tribunes; and the people is admitted to this honour.

Tbey, contented with establishing their use their victory with moderation, and for some time bestow the command upon Patricians only.

After long disputes, the consulship is again in question; and by degrees the honours become common to both orders, though greater regard is always had to Patricians in the elections.

The wars continue, and the Romans after five hun- dred years subject the Cisalpine Gauls their principal op' enemies, and all Italy.

Here commence the Punic wars; and things come to such a height, that each of the two jealous nations thinks it cannot stand, but by the fall of the other.

Rome, upon the point of yielding, is chiefly supported during her misfortunes, by the constancy and wisdom of the senate.

At last the Roman patience gets the better: Hannibal is vanquished, and Carthage subdued by Scipio Africanus.

Victorious Rome makes prodigious progress, during two hundred years, both by sea and land, and reduces the whole world under her power.

In these times, and since the ruin of Carthage, the oflices, whereof the dignity as well as profit increased with the empire, were stickled for with fury. The ambitious candidates thought ot the people, and the concord of the orders, kept np by the business of the Punic wars was disturbed more than ever. The Gracchi put every thing in confusion, and their seditious proposals were the beginning of all the civil wars. ratiL Then men begun to wear arms, and to act by open '■ force in the assemblies of the Roman people, where every one before chose lo prevail by lawful methods only, and with liberty of opinion.

The wise conduct of the senate, and the great wars that came upon them, moderated the broils.

Marius a Plebian, and a good soldier, with his military eloquence and seditious harangues, wherein be was continually attacking the pride of the nobles, revived the jealousy of the people, and rose by this means to the highest honours.

Sylla a Patrician put himself at the head of the opposite party, and became an object of jealousy to Marius.

Cabals and corruption now do every thing at Rome. The love of her country, and regard to its laws, become extinguished there.

To crown the misfortunes, the wars of Asia teach the Romans luxury, and encrease their avarice.

At this time, the generals begun to engross the affections of their soldiers, who till then considered only the character they bore of public authority.

Sylla, in the war against Mithridates, snfTered his soldiers to enrich themselves, in order to gain tifem,

Marius, on his side, proposed to his partisans a of both money and lands.

By this means being master of their troopB, the one upon pretence of supporting the senate, and the other iinder the name of the people, they made a furious war upon each other in the very heart of the city.

The party of Marius and of the people, was totally overthrown, and Sylla rendered himself absolute under, the title of DictaXoT. made pie harshly both by words and even in the lawrul assemblies.

When more powerful, and better established than ever, he reduced himself to a private life; but not till he had shown that the Roman people could brook a master.

Pompey whom Sylla bad raised, succeeded to great part of his power. He flattered sometimes the people, and sometimes the senate, in order to establish hims'elf; but his inclination and interest attached him at length to the latter party.

Conqueror of the pirates, the Spains, and the whole East, he becomes all-powerful in the commonwealth, and particularly in the senate.

Cesar, who will at least be his equal, turns to the. side of the people, and imitating in his consulship the most seditious tribunes, he proposes together with the division of lands, the most popular laws be could contrive.

The conquest of the Gauls carries to the highest pitch the glory and power of Cesar.

Pompey and he unite through interest, and then fall out through jealousy. The civil war breaks out, ' Pompey imagines that his name alone will support Lis cause, and neglects himself. Cesar active and provident, gets the victory, and renders himself master.

He makes several trials to see whether the Romans could be accustomed to the name of King: which serve only to render him odious. To aggravate the public hatred, the senate decrees him honours till then unheard of in Rome: so that he is killed in full senate as a t) rant.

Antony his creature, who chanced to be consul at the time of his death, stirred up the people against his murderers, and endeavoured to take advantage of the troubles, in order to usurp the sovereign authority. Ijepidus, who had also a great command under endeavoured to maintain it» la at the age of nineteen, undertook to revenge bis lather's death} and sooght occasion to Bucceed to his power.

He knew how to serve his own interest by the eneluies of bis family, and by his very competitors.

His father's troops devote themselves to him, touch* cd with the name of Cesar, and the prodigious largesses he made them.

The senate has no more any power: every tiling is done by force, and by the soldiers, who are at the service of whoever gives them most.

In this fatal conjuncture, the triumvirate destroyed all that Rome was breeding up most courageous and opposite to tyranny. Cesar and Antony defeated Brutus and Cassius: liberty expired with them. The victors, after ridding themselves of the puny made various agreements, and various divisions of power, wherein Cesar, as being the more cunning, finding always means to have the better share, Rome to his interest, and got the upper hand. Antony attempts in vain to retrieve himself, and the battle of Actium subjects the whole empire to the power of Augustus Cesar.

Rome, tired and exhausted by so many civil war?, in order to have some rest, is forced to renounce hei liberty.

The house of the Cesars fixing in itself, under the great name of Emperor, the command of the armies, exercises an absolute power.

Rome, under the Cesars, more careful to prescvvc than extend her domain, makes hardly any more conquests, but in order to drire out the barbarians whu attempted to get into the empire.

At the death of Caligula, the senate, upon the point of restoring liberty and the consular power, is prevented by the military people, who will have a perpetual chief, and that their chief to be master.

In the revo\Vs by Uie violences of Xf»ro. each armv \W vviUtur\ men know too well that it is theirs to bestow the enapire.

They become so outrageous as to sell it publicly to the highest bidder, and accustom themselves to shake off the yoke. With obedience discipline is lost. The good princes struggle in vain to preserve it, and their zeal to maintain the ancient order of the Roman exercise of war serves only to expose them to the fury of the soldiers.

In the changes of emperors, each army attempting to make its own, there happen civil wars and dreadful massacres.

Thus the empire is enervated by the remissness of discipline, and at the same time wasted by intestine wars.

Amidst so many disorders, the awe and majesty of.the Roman name diminishes. The often vanquisbiid Parthians become formidable on the side of the east, under the ancient name of Persians, which they reas- 4 sume; the northern nations, who inhabited cold and uncultivated lands, attracted by the beauty and richness of those of the empire, attempt an entrance into it on all sides.

One man is no longer suflScient to bear the burden of an empire so vast, and so powerfully attacked

The prodigious multitude of wars, and the humour of the soldiers, who would be headed by none but Emperors and Cesars, obliges them to be multiplied*

The empire itself being looked upon as an hereditary estate, emperors multiply naturally by the multi* tude of the children of the princes.

Marcus Aurelius associates his brother in the empire. Severus makes his two sons emperom* The exigency of affairs obliges Diocletian to divide the east and west between himself and Maximian: each of them, overburdened, eases himself by choosing two Cesars.

Through this multitude of Emperors and the state is burdened with an excessive charge, tlTe

:J9a y of the empire is disunited, and civil wars mullipiy.

Constantine, son of the emperor Gonstantius Clorus, divides the empire as an heritage amongst bis children: posterity follows these examples, so that one single emperor is scarce any more to be seen.

The softness of Honorius and Vaientinian III. emperors of the west, makes every thing go to ruin.

Italy, and Rome itself, ite sacked at different times, and become a prey to barbarians.

The whole west is left open tp any invaders. Afric is seized upon by the Vandals, Spain by the VisigotbSi Gaul by the Francs, Gr»at Britain by the Saxons, Rome and Italy Uaclfj by the Herulians, and afterward by the Ostrogoths. The Roman emperors confine themselves to the and abandon the rest, even Rome and Italy.

The empire recovers some strength under Justi- nian, by the bravery of Belisarius and Pfarses. Rome, often taken and retaken, remains at last to the emperors. The Saracens, grown powerful by the division of their neighbours, and through the remissness of the emperors, take from them the greatest part of the east, and harass them so on that side, that they think of Italy no more* The Lombards seize upon the finest and richest provinces there. Rome, reduced to extremity by their continual encroachments, and undefended by her emperors, is forced to throw herself into the arms of the French. Pepin, king of France, passes the Alps, and reduces the Lombards. Charlemagne, after having abolished their dominion, causes himself to be crowned king of Italy, where bis moderation alone preserves some small remains to the successors of the Cesars; and in the eight hundredth 3rear of our Lord, being elected emperor by the Romans, he foundeth the new empiie.

It is now easy for you to understand the causea of the rise and fall of Rome. You see lha.t;ihat state, founded upon war, and

II I f - -, - i a n itfg thereby naturally disposed to encroach upon its neighbours, brought the ivhole world under the yoke, by having carried to the highest pitch policy and the art of war.

You see the causes of the divisions of the republie, and at last of its fall, in the jealousies of its citizens, and in the love of liberty; driven to an intolerable excess and delicacy.

No more have you any difficulty to distinguish all the periods of Rome, whether you choose to consider her in herself, or with reference to other nations; and you see the revolutions that must necessarily attend the situation of affairs in every period.

In herself, you see her at the beginning in a monarchial state, established according to her primitive laws; afterward in her liberty 5 and at last subjected once more to a monarchial government, but by forc'd and violence.

It is easy for you to conceive in what manner the popular state was formed, after the beginnings it had' in the time of royalty: and you see no less evidently, how in liberty were gradually established the foundations of the new monarchy

For in like manner as you have seen the schenje of the republic laid in the monarchy, by Servius Tullius, who gave as it were a first taste of liberty to the Koman people, so you have observed that the tyranny of Sylla, though temporary, though short-lived, showed that Rome, notwithstanding her haughtiness, was as capable of bearing the yoke, as the nations sheheld in subjeciiuii.

To know what that furious jealousy between the orders successively operated, you have only to distinguish the times which I have expressly marked out to you; the one wherein the people were kept within certain hound.c: hy the dangers that cnoompftoooj on all sides; and the other, when having nothing more to fear from abroad, they gave themselves up without restraint to their passion.

The essential character of each of ibesc two periods is, that in the one, the love of their country, and of the laws, restrained the spirits: and that in iVic other, every thing was decided by interest and force.

Hence it also followed, that in the Orst of these two limes, persons in com mane/, who aspired at honours by lawlul means, kept (he soldiers in awe, and attached to the republic; whereas, in the other period, where violence carried every thing, they studied only how to indulge them, in order to make them espouse their designs in defiance of the authority of the senate.

By this last state war came necessarily to be in Rome; and because in war, where laws have no longer any power, force alone decides, the strongest roust needs prove master; and consequently the empire revert into the power of one.

And things were so disposed to it of Polybius, who lived in the most flourishing time the commonwealth, foresaw by the mere disposition of affairs, that the government of Rome would at long- run return to monarchy.

The reason of this revolution is, that the division between the orders could never cease among the RoOians but by the authority of an absolute master, and that, besides, liberty was too dear to be voluntarily parted with. It was therefore gradually to be weakened by specious pretences, and by that means to be made capable of being ruined by open fort*e. " Imposition, according to Aristotle, should begin with people, and must naturally be lowed by violence.

But hence they must fall into another inconvenience by the power of the military men, an evil inevitable to that state.

in fact, that monarchy which the Cesars formed, havifig erected itself by arms, must ncvds be \rbuljy military; and for this reason it estabiised itself un« derthe name of emperor, the proper and natural tilld of the

Thereby you may have observed, as the commonwealth had its loeFitable weakness,: th,at is,' the jealousy between the people and senate; so the mbnarchy of the Cesars had a!so its foible, which was the licentiousness of the soldiers who had made them.

For it was not possible that the military men who had overturned the government, and set up the emperors, should be long without perceiving that it vfd§ they in effect who disposed of the empire.

You may now add to the times you have been observing, those which exhibit to you the slate and alteration of the soldiery; that wherein it is subject and attached to the senate and Roman people; that wherein it devotes itself to its generals; that wherein it raises them to absolute power under the military title of emperorsa;nd that wherein being master in some Myrt of its emperors; it makes and unmakes them at pleasure. Hence the remissness of discipline; dbenqp the sedi* tions and wars you have seen; hence, in fine, the ruia of the soldiery together with that of the empire.

Such are the remarkable times which exhibit to us the revolutions of the state of Rome considered in herself. Those which make her known to us with reference to other nations, are no less easy to.be cerned.

There is a time when she fights against her equals, and is in danger. It lasts somewhat above five hundred and ends at the destruction of the Gauls in Italy, and of the empire of the Carthaginians.

That wherein she fights with advantage and without danger, how great soever be the wars which she undertakes. It lasts two hundred years, and reaches to the establishment of the empire of the Cesars,

That wherein she preserves her empire and majes* ty. It lasts four hundred years, and ends at the reign of Theodosius the Great.

That finally, wherein her empire, wounded on sJI 5t$les, falls piece meal. This state, which lasts also

402 AlSf UNIVERSAL HlStOlrtr.

four hundred commences at the sons of Theo-do4iis, and terminates at last in Charlemagne.

I am not ignoranti Sir, that there might be added to the causes of the ruin of Rome a great many particular incidents. The rigour of creditors to their debtors excited great and frequent revolts. The prodigious number of gladiators and slaves with which Rome and ICaly were occasieaed terrible violences, and even bloody wars. Rome, drained by so many domestio and foreign wars, made herself so many new citizens, either through solicitation or necessity, that she could hardly know herself again, among so many strangers whom she had naturalized. The senate, filled with Barbarians: the Roman blood became mixed; the love of the country, whereby Rome had raised herself above all the nations of the world, was not natural to those citizens come from abroad, and the rest were tlwntAl by the mixture. Partialities multiplied with that prodigious multiplicity of new citizens; and turbulent spirits found new means to disturb and ' to enterprise.

Meanwhile the number of poor increased without end, through the luxury, debauchery, and idleness, that were introducing. Those who found themselves ruined, had no resource but in seditions, and in any event cared little though all should go to wreck after them. You know that this was what occasioned Catiiine's coospiracy. The ambitious great,, and wrelch- «'s that have nothmg to lose, are always fond of change. These two kinds of citizens prevailed in Rome: and the middle state, which alone keeps the balance in popular governments, being the weakest, the republic must necessarily fall.

To this we may also join, the particular humour and genius of those who caused the commotions, I mean of the Gracchi, of Marius, Sylla, Pompeyi Julius Cesar, Antony, and Augustus. I have taken some notice of them-, but I have chiefly applied myself to discover to 50U V\ie

I the evil, namely, that jealousy between- the two orders, whereof it was oi moment to you to consider til the consequences.

But remember, Sir, that that long concatenation of particular causes, which make and unmake empires, depends upon the secret orders of divine prO" vidence. God from the highest heavens holds the reins of all the kingdoms of the earth; he hath ail hearts in his hand: sometimes he restrains the passions, sometimes be gives a loose to them; and thereby moveth all mankind. Means he to make conquerors? He causes terror to march before them, and inspires them and their soldiers with an mvincible resolution. Means he to make lawgiver f He sends them his spirit of wisdom and foresight; he enables them to prevent the evils that threaten atates, and to lay the foundations of public tranquillity. He knows human wisdom to be always short in some respect; he enlightens it, he enlarges its views; and then he leaves it to its own ignorance, he blinds it, he precipitates it; he confounds it by itself, it involves itself, it entangles itself in its own subtleties,, and its precautions are a snare to it. God exercises by this means his dreadful judgments, according to the rules of his ever unerring justice. He it is, who prepares eflects in the remotest causes, and he it is who strikes those great strokes, the counter-stroke whereof is of such extensive consequence. When he means to let loose the latter, and to overturn empires, their counsels are weak and irregular. £gvpt, formerly.so wise, goes on inebriated, rash, and reeling, because the Lord hath spread the spirit of giddiness in her counsels. She knows no more what she does; she is lost. But let not men ileceive themselves: God sets right, when be pleaseSf the bewildered judgment, and he who in-* suited over the blindness of others, falls oftentimes into thicker darkness himself, without there needing any thing else to turn his hecid than his long course (>i* prosperity.

4M AN UNIVKIVSAL HISTORY.

Thus it is tiiat God reigns over all nations. Lei u3 talk no more of chafice, or of fortune, or talk of them onlj as of a name with which we cover our our ignorance. What is chance in regard to our uncertain counsels, is a concerted design in a higher counsel, that is, in that eternal counsel which contains all causes and effects in one and the same order. In this manner every thing concurs to the same end; and it is for want of understanding the whole, that we find chance or irregularity in particular emergencies. Thereby is verified the saying of the Apostle, that God is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords. Blessed, whose peace is unalterahie, who sees every thing change without changing himself, and who causes all revolutions by an immutable counsel; who gives and takes away power, who transfers it from one man to another, from one bouse to another, from one people to another, to show, that liiey all have it only borrowed, and that it is be alone in whom it naturally resides. ]

Therefore it is that all who govern, find themselves subject to a greater power. They do more or less than they intend, and their counsels have never failed to have unforeseen effects. Neither are they masters of the dispositions which past ages have given affairs, nor can they foresee what course futurity will take; far less are they able to force it. He alone holdeth all in his own band, who knows the name of that which is, and of that which is not yet, who over-rules all times and prevents all counsels.

Little did Alexander think that be was labouring for his captains, or to ruin his ihouse by bis conquests. When Brutus inspired the Roman people with a boundless love of liberty, he never dreamt that be was sowing in their minds the seeds of that immoderate licence, whereby the tyranny he meant to destroy was to be one day restored more grievous than under ] the Tarquins. When the Cesars were flattering the ' soldiers, Ibey tiq to

tbeir successors, and to the empire. In a word, there ' IS no human power that does not whether it will or no, to other designs than its own. God only knows how to every about to his will: and therefore erery thing is surprising, to consider only particular causes; and erery thing goes on with a regular progression. This work hath, I hope, made you understand it; and to say no more of other empires, you see by bow many unforeseen counsels, but nevertheless coherent in themselves, the fortune of Rome bath been traced from Romulud down to Charlemagne.

You will perhaps think, Sir, that I should have told you something more about your Frenchmen, and about Charlemagne, wbo founded the new Empire. But besides that his history makes part of that of France, which you yourself are writing, and in which you are already so far advanced, I reserve it for a second part I intend to make you of this work; wherein I shall have necessary occasion to speak to you of France, and of that conqueror, who, equal in valour to any that antiquity boasts, surpasses them in piety, dom, and justice.

The same second part will discover to you the causes' of the prodigious success of Mahomet and his successors. That empire which commenced two hundred years before Charlemagne, might find its place in this part: J;>ut I thought it would be better to set be* fore you in one and the same progre.s8ioii« its rise and }ts deoline.

Thus I have no more to say upon the first part of Universal History. You will discover all its secretjs, and it will now be entirely in your own power to observe in it the whole progression of Religion and that of crcat Empires down to Charlemagne.

While you shall see them fall almost all of them* aelves, and shall see Religion support itself by its own power, you will easily understand what is solid great-: and wherein a wise man ought to place his hope.

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