CHAP. the accountable minifters of the fenate, whofe

Court of

rors.

fupreme decrees they dictated and obeyed ".

The face of the court correfponded with the the empe- forms of the adminiftration. The emperors, if we except those tyrants whose capricious folly violated every law of nature and decency, difdained that pomp and ceremony which might offend their countrymen, but could add nothing to their real power. In all the offices of life, they affected to confound themselves with their fubjects, and maintained with them an equal intercourfe of vifits and entertainments. Their habit, their palace, their table, were fuited only to the rank of an opulent fenator. Their family, however numerous or fplendid, was compofed entirely of their domeftic flaves and freedmen 20. Auguftus or Trajan would have blushed at employing the meaneft of the Romans in thofe menial offices, which, in the household and bed-chamber of a limited monarch, are fo eagerly folicited by the proudeft nobles of Britain.

19 Dion Caffius (1. liii. p. 703-714.) has given a very loose and partial sketch of the Imperial fyftem. To illuftrate and often to correct him, I have meditated Tacitus, examined Suetonius, and confulted the following moderns: the Abbé de la Bleterie, in the Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xix. xxi. xxiv. xxv. xxvii. Beaufort, Republique Romaine, tom. i. p. 255–275. The Differtations of Noodt and Gronovius, de lege Regia; printed at Leyden, in the year 1731. Gravina de Imperio Romano, p. 479-544. of his Opufcula. Maffei Verona Illuftrata, p. i. p. 245, &c.

20

A weak prince will always be governed by his domeftics. The power of flaves aggravated the fhame of the Romans; and the fenate paid court to a Pallas or a Narciffus. There is a chance that a modern favourite may be a gentleman.

The

III.

The deification of the emperors" is the only CHA P. inftance in which they departed from their accustomed prudence and modefty. The Afiatic DeificaGreeks were the firft inventors, the fucceffors tion. of Alexander the first objects, of this fervile and impious mode of adulation. It was easily transferred from the kings to the governors of Afia; and the Roman magiftrates very frequently were adored as provincial deities, with the pomp of altars and temples, of feftivals and facrifices 22. It was natural that the emperors fhould not refufe what the proconfuls had ac cepted; and the divine honours which both the one and the other received from the provinces, attested rather the defpotism than the fervitude of Rome. But the conquerors foon imitated the vanquished nations in the arts of flattery; and the imperious fpirit of the firft Cæfar too eafily confented to affume, during his life-time, a place among the tutelar deities of Rome. The milder temper of his fucceffor declined fo dangerous an ambition, which was never after wards revived, except by the madness of Caligula and Domitian. Auguftus permitted indeed fome of the provincial cities to erect temples to his honour, on condition that they should affociate the worship of Rome with that of the fovereign; he tolerated private fuperftition, of which

21 See a treatise of Vandale de Confecratione Principum. It would be easier for me to copy, than it has been to verify, the quotations of that learned Dutchman.

22 See a differtation of the Abbé Mongault in the first volume of the Academy of Infcriptions.

he

III.

CHAP. he might be the object; but he contented himself with being revered by the fenate and people in his human character, and wifely left to his fucceffor, the care of his public deification. A regular cuftom was introduced, that on the decease of every emperor who had neither lived nor died like a tyrant, the fenate by a folemn decree should place him in the number of the gods; and the ceremonies of his Apotheofis were blended with thofe of his funeral. This legal, and, as it fhould feem, injudicious profanation, fo abhorrent to our ftricter principles, was received with a very faint murmur24, by the eafy nature of polytheifm; but it was received. as an institution, not of religion but of policy. We should difgrace the virtues of the Antonines, by comparing them with the vices of Hercules or Jupiter. Even the characters of Cæfar or Auguftus were far fuperior to thofe of the popular deities. But it was the misfortune of the former to live in an enlightened age, and their actions were too faithfully recorded to admit of fuch a mixture of fable and mystery, as the devotion of the vulgar requires. As foon as their divinity was established by law, it funk into oblivion, without contributing either to their own fame, or to the dignity of fucceeding princes.

23 Jurandasque tuum per nomen ponimus aras, says Horace to the Emperor himself, and Horace was well acquainted with the court of Auguftus.

24 See Cicero in Philippic. i. 6. Julian in Cæfaribus. Inque Deûm templis jurabit Roma per umbras, is the indignant expreffion of Lucan, but it is a patriotic, rather than a devout indignation.

III.

1

In the confideration of the Imperial govern- CHAP. ment, we have frequently mentioned the artful founder, under his well-known title of Auguftus, Titles of which was not however conferred upon him till Auguftus and Cæfar. the edifice was almost completed. The obfcure name of Octavianus, he derived from a mean family in the little town of Aricia. It was ftained with the blood of the profcription; and he was defirous, had it been poffible, to erafe all memory of his former life. The illuftrious furname of Cæfar, he had affumed, as the adopted fon of the dictator; but he had too much good fenfe, either to hope to be confounded, or to wish to be compared, with that extraordinary man. It was proposed in the senate, to dignify their minifter with a new appellation: and after a very ferious difcuffion, that of Auguftus was chofen, among feveral others, as being the moft expreffive of the character of peace and fanctity, which he uniformly affected ". Auguftus was therefore a perfonal, Cæfar a family distinction. The former fhould naturally have expired with the prince on whom it was bestowed; and however the latter was diffused by adoption and female alliance, Nero was the last prince who could alledge any hereditary claim to the honours of the Julian line. But, at the time of his death, the practice of a century had infeparably connected thofe appellations with the Imperial dignity, and they have been preferved by a long fucceffion of

25

25 Dion Caffius, 1. liii. p. 710. with the curious annotations of Reymar.

VOL. I.

I

emperors,

III.

CHA P. emperors, Romans, Greeks, Franks, and Germans, from the fall of the republic to the prefent time. A diftinction was, however, foon introduced. The facred title of Auguftus was always referved for the monarch, whilst the name of Cæfar was more freely communicated to his relations; and, from the reign of Hadrian at leaft, was appropriated to the second person in the ftate, who was confidered as the prefumptive heir of the empire.

Character

The tender refpect of Auguftus for a free conand policy ftitution which he had deftroyed, can only be of Auguftus. explained by an attentive confideration of the character of that fubtle tyrant. A cool head, an unfeeling heart, and a cowardly difpofition, prompted him, at the age of nineteen, to affume the mask of hypocrify, which he never afterwards laid afide. With the fame hand, and probably with the fame temper, he figned the profcription of Cicero, and the pardon of Cinna. His virtues, and even his vices, were artificial; and according to the various dictates of his intereft, he was at first the enemy, and at last the father, of the Roman world 26. When he framed the artful fyftem of the Imperial authority, his moderation was infpired by his fears. He wished to

26 As Octavianus advanced to the banquet of the Cæfars, his colour changed like that of the Camelion; pale at first, then red, afterwards black, he at laft affumed the mild livery of Venus and the graces (Cæfars, p. 309.). This image, employed by Julian in his ingenious fiction, is just and elegant; but when he confiders this change of character as real, and afcribes it to the power of philofophy, he does too much honour to philofophy, and to Octavianus.

deceive