A Manual of Ancient History Part 35

_Memoirs of the Court of Augustus, by_ THOMAS BLACKWELL. London, 1760, 3 vols. 4to. divided into fifteen books. The last vol. was published after the death of the author, by MR. MILLS. The last two books of this prolix work contain a description of the contemporary affairs of Augustus; the others go back to earlier times. A just appreciation of Augustus requires a previous critical examination of the sources from which Suetonius has drawn the materials for his biography.

_Histoire des triumvirats augmentee de l'histoire d'Auguste, par_ LARRY. Trevoux, 1741, 4 parts, 8vo. The last part of this simple narrative contains the history of Augustus from the death of Catiline.

10. The reign of Tiberius Claudius Nero, or, as he was called after his adoption, Augustus Tiberius Caesar, from his fifty-sixth to his seventy-eighth year, changed rather the spirit than the form of the Roman const.i.tution. He succeeded quietly to the vacant throne at Rome, although the legions in Pannonia, and still more in Germany, felt that they could make emperors. Under him the _comitia_, or a.s.semblies of the people, were reduced to a mere shadow; as he transferred their duties to the senate, which also became the highest tribunal for the state crimes of its own members: this a.s.sembly, however, had now been so much accustomed to obey the will of the prince, that everything depended on his personal character. Tiberius founded his despotism upon the _judicia majestatis_, or accusations of high treason, now become an engine of terror, the senate also sharing his guilt with a pusillanimity and servility which knew no bounds. This degraded a.s.sembly, indeed, from the moment that it ceased to be the ruling authority of a free state, necessarily became the pa.s.sive instrument of the most brutal tyranny.

Notwithstanding the military talents and many good qualities of Tiberius, his despotic character had been formed long before his fifty-sixth year, when he mounted the throne; although exterior circ.u.mstances prevented him from entirely throwing off the mask which he had hitherto worn.

The foundation of the _judicia majestatis_, which soon became so terrible by the unfixed state of crime, had been laid during the reign of Augustus by the _lex Julia de majestate_, and the _cognitiones extraordinariae_, or commissioners appointed to take cognizance of certain crimes; it was, however, the abuse of them by Tiberius and his successors, which rendered them so dreadful.

12. The princ.i.p.al object of Tiberius's suspicion, and therefore of his hate, was Germanicus, a man almost adored by the army and the people.

This brave general he soon recalled from Germany, and sent into Syria to quell the disorders of the east. After having successfully put an end to the commotions which called him there, he was poisoned by the contrivances of Cn. Piso and his wife; and even that did not shelter the numerous family which he left behind, with his widow Agrippina, from persecution and ruin.

The expeditions of Germanicus in the east not only gave a king to Armenia, but also reduced Cappadocia and Commagene to Roman provinces, A. C. 17.

_Histoire de Caesar Germanicus, par_ M. L. D. B. [EAUFORT]. a Leyden, 1741. An unpretending chronological narrative.

13. Rome, however, soon experienced to her cost the powerful ascendancy which L. aelius Seja.n.u.s, the praefect of the praetorian guard, had acquired over the mind of Tiberius, whose unlimited confidence he possessed the more, as he enjoyed it without a rival. The eight years of his authority were rendered terrible not only by the cantonment of his troops in barracks near the city (_castra praetoriana_), but (having first persuaded Tiberius to quit Rome for ever, that he might more securely play the tyrant in the isle of Capreae) by his endeavouring to open a way for himself to the throne by villanies and crimes without number, and by his cruel persecution of the family of Germanicus. The despotism he had introduced became still more dreadful by his own fall, in which not only his whole party, but every one that could be considered as connected with it, became involved. The picture of the atrocious despotism of Tiberius is rendered doubly disgusting by the horrid and unnatural l.u.s.t which he joined to it in his old age.

Tiberius's misfortune was, that he came too late to the throne. His early virtues made no compensation for his later cruelties. It is properly the former which Vel. Paterculus praises, whose flattery of Tiberius, in whose reign he flourished, is more easily justified than his praise of Seja.n.u.s.

14. At the age of twenty-five Caius Caesar Caligula, the only remaining son of Germanicus, ascended the throne; but the hopes which had been formed of this young prince were soon wofully disappointed. His previous sickness and debaucheries had so distorted his understanding, that his short reign was one tissue of disorder and crime. Yet he did still more harm to the state by his besotted profusion than by his tiger-like cruelty. At length, after a career of nearly four years, he was a.s.sa.s.sinated by Ca.s.sius Chaerea and Cornelius Sabinus, two officers of his guard.

15. His uncle Tiberius Claudius Caesar, who, at the age of fifty, succeeded him, was the first emperor raised to the throne by the guards; a favour which he rewarded by granting them a _donative_. Too weak to rule of himself, almost imbecile from former neglect, profligate, and cruel from fear, he became the tool of the licentiousness of his wives and freedmen. Coupled with the names of Messalina and Agrippina, we now hear, for the first time in Roman history, of a Pallas and a Narcissus.

The dominion of Messalina was still more hurtful to the state by her rapacious cupidity, to which everything gave way, than by her dissolute life; and the blow which at last punished her unexampled wantonness, left a still more dangerous woman to supply her place. This was Agrippina, her neice, widow of L. Domitius, who joined to the vices of her predecessor a boundless ambition, unknown to the former. Her chief aim was to procure the succession for Domitius Nero, her son by a former marriage--who had been adopted by Claudius, and married to his daughter Octavia--by setting aside Britannicus, the son of Claudius; and this she hoped to effect, by poisoning Claudius, having already gained Burrhus, by making him _sole_ praefect of the praetorian guard. Notwithstanding the contentions with the Germans and Parthians (see above, p. 303) were only on the frontiers, the boundaries of the Roman empire were in many countries extended.

Commencement of the Roman conquests in Britain (whither Claudius himself went) under A. Plautius, from the year A. C. 43. Under the same general, Mauritania, A. C. 42, Lycia, 43, Judaea, 44 (see above, p. 312), and Thrace, 47, were reduced to Roman provinces. He also abolished the praefectures which had hitherto existed in Italy.

16. Nero Claudius Caesar, supported by Agrippina and the praetorian guard, succeeded Claudius at the age of seventeen. Brought up in the midst of the blackest crimes, and, by a perverted education, formed rather for a professor of music and the fine arts than for an emperor, he ascended the throne like a youth eager for enjoyment; and throughout his whole reign his cruelty appears subordinate to his fondness for debaucheries and revelry. The unsettled state of the succession first called into action his savage disposition; and after the murder of Britannicus the sword fell in regular order upon all those who were even remotely connected with the Julian family. His vanity as a performer and composer excited in an equal degree his cruelty; and as, among all tyrants, every execution gives occasion for others, we need not wonder at his putting to death every one that excelled him. His connection, however, in the early part of his reign, with Agrippina, Burrhus, and Seneca, during which he introduced some useful regulations into the treasury, kept him within the bounds of decency. But Poppaea Sabina having driven him on to the murder of his mother and his wife Octavia, and Tigellinus being made his confident, he felt no longer restrained by the fear of public opinion. The executions of individuals, nearly all of which history has recorded, was not, perhaps, upon the whole, the greatest evil; the plunder of the provinces, not only to support his own loose and effeminate pleasures, but also to maintain the people in a continual state of intoxication, had nearly caused the dissolution of the empire.

The last years of Nero were marked by a striking and undoubted insanity, which displayed itself in his theatrical performances, and even in the history of his fall. It appears that both around and upon a throne like that of Rome, heroes were formed for vice as well as virtue!

Discovery of the conspiracy of Piso, 65, and the revolt of Julius Vindex in Celtic Gaul, 68, followed by that of Galba in Spain, who is there proclaimed emperor, and joined by Otho, in Lusitania.

Nevertheless, after the defeat of Julius Vindex in Upper Germany, by the lieutenant Virginius Rufus, these insurrections seemed quelled, when the praetorian guard, instigated thereto by Nymphidius, broke out into rebellion in Rome itself. Flight and death of Nero, June 11, 68.

Foreign wars during his reign: in Britain (occasioned by the revolt of Boadicea), great part of which was subdued and reduced to a Roman province, by Suetonius Paulinus; in Armenia, under the command of the valiant Corbulo, against the Parthians (see above, p. 303); and in Palestine against the Jews, 66. Great fire in Rome, 64, which gives rise to the first persecution against the Christians.

The princ.i.p.al cause why the despotism of Nero and his predecessors was so tamely submitted to by the nation, may undoubtedly be found in the fact, that the greater part of it was fed by the emperors. To the monthly distributions of corn were now added the extraordinary _congiaria_ and _viscerationes_ (supplies of wine and meat). The periods of tyranny were very likely the golden days of the people.

17. By the death of Nero the house of Caesar became extinct, and this gave rise to so many commotions, that in somewhat less than two years, four emperors by violence obtained possession of the throne. The right of the senate to name, or at least to confirm, the successors to the throne, was still indeed acknowledged; but as the armies had found out that they could create emperors, the power of the senate dwindled into an empty ceremony. Servius Sulpicius Galba, now seventy-two years of age, having been already proclaimed emperor by the legions in Spain, and acknowledged by the senate, gained possession of Rome without striking a blow, the attempt of Nymphidius having completely failed, and Virginius Rufus voluntarily submitting to him. Galba, however, having given offence both to the praetorian guard and the German legions, was dethroned by the guards, at the instigation of his former friend Otho, at the very time when he thought he had secured his throne by adopting the young Licinius Piso, and had frustrated the hopes of Otho.

18. M. Otho, aged thirty-seven, was indeed acknowledged emperor by the senate, but wanted the sanction of the German legions, who, proclaiming their general, A. Vitellius, emperor, invaded Italy. Otho marches against him, but after the loss of the battle of Bedriac.u.m kills himself--whether from fear or patriotism, remains uncertain.

The special sources for the history of Galba and Otho, are their _Lives_ by PLUTARCH.

19. Vitellius, in his thirty-seventh year, was acknowledged emperor not only by the senate, but likewise in the provinces; his debaucheries and cruelty, however, together with the licentiousness of his troops, having rendered him odious at Rome, the Syrian legions rebelled and proclaimed their general, T. Flavius Vespasian, emperor, who, at the solicitation of the powerful Mutia.n.u.s, governor of Syria, accepted the imperial diadem. The troops on the Danube declaring for him shortly after, and marching into Italy under their general Antonius Primus defeated the army of Vitellius at Cremona. Vitellius was immediately hurled from the throne, though not till after some blood had been spilt by the commotions that took place at Rome, in which Flavius Sabinus, the brother of Vespasian, was slain, and the capitol burnt.

20. Flavius Vespasian ascended the throne in his fifty-ninth year, and became thereby the founder of a dynasty which gave three emperors to Rome. The state, almost ruined by profusion, civil war, and successive revolutions, found in Vespasian a monarch well suited to its unhappy condition. He endeavoured, as far as he could, to determine the relations between himself and the senate; while, by a decree, he restored to it all the rights and privileges which had been conferred upon it by his predecessors of the family of Caesar, and settled and added some others (_lex regia_). He made a thorough reform in the completely-exhausted treasury, which he recruited in part by reducing the countries Nero had made free, together with some others, into provinces; partly by restoring the ancient customs, by increasing others, and by imposing new ones: without this it would have been impossible for him to have reestablished the discipline of the army. His liberality in the foundation of public buildings, as well in Rome as in other cities; and the care with which he promoted education, by granting salaries to public teachers, are sufficient to free him from the reproach of avarice; and although, on account of their dangerous opinions, he banished the Stoics (who since the time of Nero had become very numerous, and retained nearly all the principles of republicanism), the annulling of the _judicia majestatis_ and the restoration of the authority of the senate show how far he was from being a despot.

Rhodes, Samos, Lycia, Achaia, Thrace, Cilicia, and Commagene, were brought by Vespasian into the condition of provinces. Foreign wars: that against the Jews, which ended with the destruction of Jerusalem, A. C. 70; and a much greater war against the Batavians and their allies under Civilis, who during the late civil wars, sought to shake off the Roman yoke, 69; but were reduced to an accommodation by Cerealis, 70. Expeditions of Agricola in Britain, 78-85, who not only subdued all England, and introduced the Roman manners and customs, but also attacked and sailed round Scotland.

_D. Vespasia.n.u.s, sive de vita et legislatione T. Flavii Vespasiani Imp. commentarius, auctore_ A. G. CRAMER. Jenae, 1785. An excellent enquiry, with ill.u.s.trations of the fragments of the _lex regia_. The second part, _de legislatione_, contains a learned commentary upon the _senatus consulta_, during his reign.

21. His eldest son, t.i.tus Flavius Vespasian, who in the year 70 had been created Caesar, and reigned from his thirty-ninth to his forty-second year, gives us the rare example of a prince becoming better on the throne. His short and benevolent reign was, indeed, only remarkable for its public calamities: an eruption of mount Vesuvius, overwhelming several cities, was followed by a destructive fire, and a dreadful plague at Rome. His early death secured him the reputation of being, if not the happiest, at least the best of princes.

22. His younger brother and successor, L. Flavius Domitian, who reigned from his thirtieth to his forty-fifth year, gives an example quite opposite to that of t.i.tus: beginning with justice and severity, he soon degenerated into the completest despot that ever swayed the Roman sceptre. His cruelty, joined to an equal degree of pride, and nourished by suspicion and jealousy, made him the enemy of all who excelled him by their exploits, their riches, or their talents. The mortifications to which his pride must have been subjected in consequence of his unsuccessful wars against the Catti, and more particularly the Daci, increased his bad disposition. His despotism was founded upon his armies, whose pay he augmented one fourth; and that he might not thereby diminish the treasury, as he had too much done at first, he multiplied the _judicia majestatis_, rendering it still more terrible by the employment of secret informers (_delatores_), in order, by confiscations, to augment the wealth of his private treasury (_fiscus_).

By confining his cruelty chiefly to the capital, and by a strict superintendence over the governors of provinces, Domitian prevented any such general disorganization of the empire as took place under Nero. His fall confirmed the general truth, that tyrants have little to fear from the people, but much from individuals who may think their lives in danger.

The foreign wars during this reign are rendered more worthy of remark by being the first in which the barbarians attacked the empire with success. Domitian's ridiculous expedition against the Catti, 82, gave the first proof of his boundless vanity; as did the recall of the victorious Agricola, 85, from Britain, of his jealousy. His most important war was that against the Daci, or Getae, who, under their brave king Dercebal, had attacked the Roman frontiers; this again occasioned another with their neighbours, the Marcomanni, Quadi, and Jazygi, 86-90, which turned out so unfortunate for Rome, that Domitian was obliged to purchase a peace of the Daci by paying them an annual tribute.

23. M. Cocceius Nerva, aged about seventy years was raised to the throne by the murderers of Domitian; and now, at last, seemed to break forth the dawn of a more happy period for the empire. The preceding reign of terror completely ceased at once; and he endeavoured to impart fresh vigour to industry, not only by diminis.h.i.+ng the taxes, but also by distributing lands to the poor. The insurrection of the guards certainly cost the murderers of Domitian their lives; but it was at the same time the cause of Nerva's securing the prosperity of the empire after his death, by the adoption of Trajan.

24. M. Ulpius Trajan (after his adoption, Nerva Trajan), a Spaniard by birth, governed the empire from his forty-second to his sixty-second year. He was the first foreigner who ascended the Roman throne, and at the same time the first of their monarchs who was equally great as a ruler, a general, and a man. After completely abolis.h.i.+ng the _judicia majestatis_, he made the restoration of the _free Roman const.i.tution_, so far as it was compatible with a monarchical form, his peculiar care.

He restored the elective power to the _comitia_, complete liberty of speech to the senate, and to the magistrates their former authority; and yet he exercised the art of ruling to a degree and in a detail which few princes have equalled. Frugal in his expenses, he was nevertheless splendidly liberal to every useful inst.i.tution, whether in Rome or the provinces, as well as in the foundation of military roads, public monuments, and schools for the instruction of poor children. By his wars he extended the dominion of Rome beyond its former boundaries; subduing, in his contests with the Daci, their country, and reducing it to a Roman province; as he likewise did, in his wars against the Armenians and Parthians, Armenia, Mesopotamia, and part of Arabia. Why was so great a character disfigured by an ambition of conquest?

The first war against the Daci, in which the shameful tribute was withdrawn and Dercebal reduced to subjection, lasted from 101-103.

But as Dercebal again rebelled, the war was renewed in 105, and brought to a close in 106, when Dacia was reduced to a Roman province, and many Roman colonies established therein. The war with the Parthians arose from a dispute respecting the possession of the throne of Armenia (see above, p. 304), 114-116: but although Rome was victorious she gained no permanent advantage thereby.

The especial source for the history of Trajan is the _Panegyricus_ of PLINY THE YOUNGER; the correspondence, however, of the same writer, while governor of Bithynia, with the emperor, affords us a much deeper insight into the spirit of his government: PLINII _Epist._ lib. x. Who can read it without admiring the royal statesman?

RITTERSHUSII _Traja.n.u.s in lucem reproductus_. Ambegae, 1608. A mere collection of pa.s.sages occurring in ancient authors respecting Trajan.

_Res Trajani Imperatoris ad Danubium Gestae, auctore_ CONRAD MANNERT.

Norimb. 1793: and

JOH. CHRIST. ENGEL, _Commentatio de Expeditionibus Trajani ad Danubium, et origine Valachorum_. Vindob. 1794.--Both learned dissertations, written for the prize offered by the Royal Society of Gottingen; the first of which obtained the prize, and the other the _accessit_, i. e. was declared second best.

25. By the contrivances of Plotina, his wife, Trajan was succeeded by his cousin and pupil, whom he is said also to have adopted, P. aelius Adrian, who reigned from his forty-second to his sixty-third year. He was acknowledged at once by the army of Asia, with which he then was, and the sanction of the senate followed immediately after. He differed from his predecessor in that his chief aim was the preservation of peace; on which account he gave up (rare moderation!), directly after his accession, the newly conquered provinces of Asia, Armenia, a.s.syria, and Mesopotamia, and so put an end to the Parthian war (see above, p.

304.) He retained, though with some unwillingness, that of Dacia, because otherwise the Roman colonies would have become exposed. He well made up for his pacific disposition, however, in seeking, by a general and vigorous reform in the internal administration, and by restoring the discipline of the army, to give greater solidity to the empire. For that purpose he visited successively all the provinces of the Roman empire; first the eastern, and afterwards the western; making useful regulations and establis.h.i.+ng order wherever he came. He improved the Roman jurisprudence by the introduction of the _edictum perpetuum_.

Pa.s.sionately fond of and well instructed in literature and the fine arts, he gave them his liberal protection, and thus called forth another Augustan age. Upon the whole, his reign was certainly a salutary one for the empire; and for any single acts of injustice of which he may be accused, he fully compensated by his choice of a successor. After having first adopted L. Aurelius Verus (afterwards aelius Verus), who fell a sacrifice to his debaucheries, he next adopted T. Aurelius Antoninus (afterwards T. aelius Adria.n.u.s Antoninus Pius), upon condition that he should again adopt M. Aurelius Verus (afterwards M. Aurelius Antoninus), and L. Cesonius Commodus (afterwards L. Verus), the son of aelius Verus.

During his reign a great revolt broke out in Judaea, under Barcochab, 132-135, occasioned by the introduction of pagan wors.h.i.+p into the Roman colony of _aelia Capitolina_ (the ancient Jerusalem).

The especial source for the history of Adrian, is his _Life_ and that of _aelius Verus_ by aeLIUS SPARTIa.n.u.s _in Script. Hist. Aug. Minores_, already quoted.

26. The reign of Antoninus Pius, from his forty-seventh to his seventieth year, was without doubt the happiest period of the Roman empire. He found everything already in excellent order; and those ministers which Adrian had appointed, he continued in their places. His quiet activity furnishes but little matter for history; and yet he was, perhaps, the most n.o.ble character that ever sat upon a throne. Although a prince, his life was that of the most blameless individual; while he administered the affairs of the empire as though they were his own. He honoured the senate; and the provinces flourished under him, not only because he kept a watchful eye over the conduct of the governors, but because he made it a maxim of his government to continue in their places all those whose probity he had sufficiently proved. He observed rigid order in the finances, and yet without sparing where it could be of service in the foundation or improvement of useful inst.i.tutions; as his erection of many buildings, establishment of public teachers with salaries in all the provinces, and other examples fully show. He carried on no war himself; on the contrary, several foreign nations made choice of him to arbitrate their differences. Some rebellions which broke out in Britain and Egypt, and some frontier wars excited by the Germans, the Daci, the Moors, and the Alani, were quelled by his lieutenants.

The princ.i.p.al and almost the only source for the history of Antoninus Pius, Dion Ca.s.sius's history of this period being lost, is his _Life_ by JULIUS CAPITOLINUS in the _Script. Hist. August._ And even this refers to his private character rather than his public history.

Compare the excellent _Reflections_ of MARCUS AURELIUS, i, 16. upon this prince.

_Vie des Empereurs t.i.te Antonin et Marc Aurele_, _par_ M. GAUTIER DE SIBERT. Paris, 1769, 8vo. A valuable essay on the lives of the two Antonines.

27. He was succeeded by Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the philosopher (aged 40-59 years), who immediately a.s.sociated with himself, under the t.i.tle of Augustus, L. Verus (aged 30-40 years, ! 169), to whom he gave his daughter in marriage. Notwithstanding the differences of their character, the most cordial union existed between them during the whole of their common reign; L. Verus, indeed, being almost always absent in the wars, took but a very small share in the government. The reign of M.

Aurelius was marked by several great calamities: a dreadful pestilence, a famine, and almost continual wars. Nothing short of a prince like Aurelius, who exhibited to the world the image of wisdom seated on a throne, could have made so much misery tolerable. Soon after his accession, the Catti made an irruption upon the Rhine, and the Parthians in Asia. L. Verus was sent against them. But the wars on the Danube with the Marcomanni and their allies in Pannonia, and other northern nations, who now began to press forward with great force upon Dacia, were of much greater consequence. They occupied M. Aurelius from the year 167, with but little intermission, to the end of his reign. He succeeded, indeed, in maintaining the boundaries of the empire; but then he was the first who settled any of the barbarians within it, or took them into the Roman service. In the internal administration of affairs he closely followed the steps of his predecessor, except that he was rather too much influenced by his freedmen and family. The only rebellion which broke out against him, was that of Avidius Ca.s.sius, his lieutenant in Syria, occasioned by a false report of his death; but it was quelled by the destruction of that general, as soon as the truth was made known.

The war against the Parthians (see above, p. 304) was indeed brought to a successful issue by Verus, the princ.i.p.al cities of the Parthians falling into the hands of the Romans; Verus left them, however, to be carried on by his lieutenants, while he rioted in debaucheries at Antioch. The first war against the Marcomanni, carried on in the beginning and until the death of Verus, by the two emperors together, was highly dangerous for Rome, as many other nations had joined the Marcomanni, particularly the Quadi, Jazygi, and Vandals, and penetrated as far as Aquileia. M. Aurelius ended this war by a glorious peace, 174, as he found it necessary to stop the progress of Ca.s.sius's rebellion; in 178, however, the Marcomanni again commenced hostilities, and before their close M. Aurelius died at Sirmium.

Contemporary with these wars, yet, as it seems, without any connection with them, were the attacks of other nations upon Dacia, the Bastarnae, Alani, etc. who poured in from the north, probably pressed forward by the advance of the Goths. _This was the first symptom of the great migration of nations now beginning._

The especial sources for the history of M. Aurelius, are the Biographies of him and L. Verus, written by JULIUS CAPITOLINUS, as well as that of Avidius Ca.s.sius, by VULCATIUS GALLICa.n.u.s in _Script.

Hist. August._ The letters discovered in Milan, among and together with the writings of FRONTO, are of no historical service.--His principles are best learnt from his _Meditations on himself_.

CH. MEINERS _de M. Aurel. Antonini ingenio, moribus, et scriptis, in Commentat. Soc. Gotting._ vol. vi.