to encourage arrogance and oftentation, was fuperior, in point of pomp and fplendour, to the honour ever paid to victorious chiefs and armies in any other country. It was attended by an innumerable concourfe of fpectators, collected from every part of the empire. Such was the glory affigned to Paulus Æmilius, the great conqueror of Macedon, after he had brought Perfeus, king of that country, and his family, prifoners to Rome. The proceffion paffed through fpacious and lofty arches, ornamented with pictures and statues, to the fplendid temple of the lofty Capitol. At first appeared bands of trumpeters, and other martial muficians, who, to prepare the fpectators for a difplay of military magnificence, founded the loud and animating charge of battle. The priests, clothed in long robes, and crowned with chaplets, walked by the fide of the white oxen of Clitumnus devoted to facrifice. The fculptured figures, painted banners, and various symbols of the subdued cities and provinces, were diftinctly difplayed. The gold and filver coin, depofited in capacious vafes, and the golden goblets and rich plate which had adorned the royal banquets of Antigonus and Seleucus, beft difpofed for the view of the people, were carried by robuft foldiers. Burnished helmets, coats of mail, waving crefts, and glittering fpears, were conveyed in long trains of carriages. The chariot of the captive king next appeared, containing his diadem and his armour. Then walked Perfeus clad in mourning, with flow and melancholy steps, attended by his children and friends, 3 4 preceding preceding the conqueror himself. Paulus Emilius appeared ftanding erect, in a magnificent chariot, drawn by four milk-white horfes; his countenance was expreffive of great dignity, heightened by his advanced age. He was clothed in a purple robe, his head encircled with a refulgent diadem, and holding in his hand a branch of laurel. The proceffion was clofed by the whole army, with their standards difplayed at the front of their legions, intermixing with the fong of triumph the praises of their general. Those who inftituted the triumph as a national celebrity, perfectly understood the genius of a people difpofed to catch the flame of emulation from every incident, which gave dignity to the character of a foldier. This honour was indeed rarely granted to any officer of inferior rank to a dictator, conful, or prætor: but as each of them fhared it in common with every tribune, centurion, and even legionary of his army, it failed not to infpire them The honour of a triumph was refufed to L. Cornelius Lentulus, becaufe he had borne none of these offices: "Res triumpho dignas effe cenfebat fenatus: fed exemplum a majoribus non accepiffe, ut qui, neque dictator, neque conful, neque prætor res geffiffet, triumpharet." Liv. Hift. lib. xxxi, c. 20. But this honour was granted to Pompey, when only a knight. See his Life by Plutarch, vol. ii. p. 299. Plutarch, a Greek, and Jofephus, a Jew, have given circumftantial defcriptions of the Roman triumph. It is only from foreigners, or thofe who diftinction, therefore, which was the reward of one victory, frequently proved the fource of another. III. Rome at an early period called for the aid of religion, to give greater efficacy to her civil laws and military inftitutions. Numa lulled his infant kingdom into a fhort repofe, in order to ftrengthen it by facred establishments, B. C. 713. The attention paid to augury, which was at once the refource and the delufion of the Romans, arofe to the highest degree of fuperftition. Not only the departed heroes, who had been raised to the rank of divinity by the elegant fictions of Greece, as well as the gods of other nations, were naturalized ; but every virtue and vice, every art and profeffion, the deities of every grove and ftream, derived a peculiar character from their refpective votaries; were represented by images, ornamented with peculiar fymbols, and worshipped with appropriate rites. The exceffive credulity of the populace, ever eager for the account of prodigies and fables, was at all times flattered by the magiftrates, and refpected by the philofophers, who, however they might finile in fecret at the prevailing fuperftition, still affumed in public the mafk of external reverence for the mythology of their country. The ceremonies of Paganifm were in general of the moft cheerful write for foreigners, that we can expect particular accounts of inanners, cuftoms, and ceremonies, which are familiar to natives. VOL. I. E & tendency; tendency; proceffions to the temples, except in cafes of public calamity, were focial meetings of feftivity; and facrifices to the gods were little more than the feasts of their worshippers. A fcrupulous attention to religion was the peculiar boaft and pride of the Romans: and Cicero hesitated not to affert, that to their piety, and their firm belief in the over-ruling providence of the gods, they were indebted for their afcendency over all other nations. The establishment of pontiffs, flamens, augurs, and veftals, was supported by confecrated lands; and as the civil and military departments were not deemed incompatible with the religious, even emperors, confuls, and generals afpired to, and exercifed, the offices of the priesthood. The union of religion indeed with the civil government is a striking feature in the Roman policy. Auguftus was fenfible of its great importance; and he, as well as fucceeding emperors, fought to raise himself above the attacks of his enemies, and exalt the refpectability of his character to the greatest elevation, by affuming the venerable title and inviolable dignity of the Pontifex Maximus. IV. The fpirit of patriotifm was never more generally diffufed, nor longer preferved, than in ancient a "Sed pietate ac religione, atque hac una fapientia, quod deorum immortalium numine omnia regi gubernarique perfpeximus, omnes gentes nationefque fuperavimus." Cicero de Harufp. Refponfis. Rome. Rome. So ardent were the fentiments which it infpired, and fo daring the actions which it excited, that it was rather a paffion than a habit of the mind. It was the fource of numberless virtues; it fostered patience, and alleviated toil; it extinguished the fire of ambition, and even filenced the voice of nature; and taught the Romans to defpife all pri vate intereft, and to submit to the feverest pain for the benefit of the state. Hence Junius Brutus condemned his fons, for being engaged in a confpiracy with Tarquin, the exiled king, to an ignominious death. Regulus, unmoved by the entreaties of his weeping relations and friends, and undifmayed by the profpect of certain torture, returned to Carthage; and the inflexible Manlius Torquatus, checking the ftrongeft feelings of the heart, devoted his victorious fon, for fighting contrary to his orders, to the fword of the executioner. The republic was frequently agitated by the most violent convulfions of party. The debates of the fenate were interrupted by the clamorous demands of the tribunes, folicitous to fecure the rights of the people. The forum was often a fcene of war, and the peaceful gown was ftained with blood. Both Tiberius and Caius Gracchus, the intemperate advocates for the revival of the Agrarian law, misled by injudicious zeal for the privileges of the plebeians, fell a facrifice to the vengeance of ariftocratic power; and in a fubfequent period, the wants of the profligate, and the ambition of the noble, produced E e 2 |