of justice; and by the unanimous suffrages of his colleagues, was degraded from the senatorial dignity which he had so much disgraced.

PHILOSOPHY OF PUNISHMENTS.

Alvarez, in his History of China, gives the following anecdote of one of its emperors. When riding out one day, the emperor met a procession conducting some malefactors to punishment. His majesty stopped, and enquired what was the matter? On being informed, he immediately burst into a flood of tears. The courtiers in attendance endeavoured to comfort his majesty, and one among them addressed him in these words: "Sire, in a commonwealth there must be chastisements---it cannot be avoided; so have the former kings, your predecessors, commanded it to be; so have the laws ordained it; so doth the government of the state require it." The emperor replied, "I weep not to see these men prisoners; nor do I weep to see them chastised. I know very well that the good without rewards are not encouraged; that without chastisement the wicked are not restrained; that correction is as necessary to the government of a kingdom, as bread is for the nourishment and sustenance thereof. But I weep because my time is not so happy as that of old was, wHEN THE VIRTUES OF

THE PRINCES WERE SUCH, THAT THEY SERVED AS A BRIDLE TO THE PEOPLE, AND WHEN THEIR EXAMPLE WAS SUFFICIENT TO RESTRAIN A WHOLE KINGDOM!"

BEAUTY OF CLEMENCY.

Alphonsus, King of Naples and Sicily, so celebrated in history for his clemency, was once asked why he was so favourable to all men, even to those most notoriously wicked? "Because," answered he, "good men are won by justice; the bad by clemency." When some of his ministers complained to him on another occasion of his lenity, which they were pleased to say was more than became a prince : “What, then,” exclaimed he, “would you have lions and tigers to reign over you? Know you not that cruelty is the attribute of wild beasts---Clemency that of MAN?"

SIEGE OF CAJETA.

The city of Cajeta having rebelled against Alphonsus, was invested by that monarch with a powerful army. Being sorely distressed for want of provisions, the citizens put forth all their old men, women, and children, and shut the gates upon them. The king's ministers advised his majesty not to permit them to pass, but to force them back into the city; by which means he would speedily become master of it. Alphonsus, however, had too humane a disposition to hearken to counsel, the policy of which rested on driving a helpless multitude into the jaws of famine. He suffered them to pass unmolested; and when afterwards reproached with the delay which this produced in the siege, he feelingly said, "I had rather be the preserver of one innocent person, than be the master of a hundred Cajetas."

Alphonsus was not without the reward which such noble clemency merited. The citizens were so affected by it, that repenting of their disloyalty, they soon afterwards yielded up the city to him of their own accord.

TRIUMPH OF METELLUS.

When Nertobrigia was invested by Q. Cæcilius Metellus, the Roman pro-consul, Rhetogenes, a chief lord of the place, came out and surrendered himself to the Romans. The inhabitants, enraged at his desertion, placed his wife and children, whom he had left behind, in the breach which the legionaries were to mount. The Roman general hearing of this, and finding that he could not attack the city without sacrificing them, abandoned a certain conquest, and raised the siege. No sooner was this act of humanity known through Tarraconian Spain, than the inhabitants of the revolted cities strove who should first submit to him; and thus was a whole country recovered by one humane act.

WAY TO LOSE AN EMPIRE.

Cardinal Mazarine once observed to Don Louis de Harp, prime minister of Spain, that the humane and gentle conduct of the French government had prevented the troubles and revolts of that kingdom, and that the king had not lost a foot of land by them to that day; whereas, the inflexible severity of the Spaniards was the occasion that the subjects of that monarchy, wherever they threw off the mask, never

returned to their obedience but by the force of arms, so sufficiently appears in the example of the Hollanders, who are in the peaceable possession of many provinces that not many years ago were the patrimony of the King of Spain.

CÆSAR.

"This placed Cæsar among the Gods."

MAR. AURELIUS.

Julius Cæsar was not more eminent for his valour in overcoming his enemies, than for his humane efforts in reconciling and attaching them to his dominion. In the battle of Pharsalia he rode to and fro, calling vehemently out, "Spare, spare the citizens!" Nor were any killed but such as obstinately refused to accept of life. After the battle, he gave every man on his own side leave to save any of the opposite from the list of proscription; and at no long time after he issued an edict, permitting all whom he had not yet pardoned to return in peace to Italy, to enjoy their estates and honours. It was a common saying of Cæsar, that no music was so charming to his ears, as the requests of his friends, and the supplications of those in want of his assistance.

MARCUS AURELIUS.

When Avidius Cassius had revolted from the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and attempted to seize the government, the Empress Faustina, in a letter to her husband, pressed him to pursue the accomplices of Cassius (who had been killed by a Centurion) with

the utmost severity. The emperor did not however suffer the entreaties of his wife to make him swerve from the path of humanity, and he returned her the following answer: "I have read your letter, my dear Faustina, wherein you advise me to treat the accomplices of Cassius with the utmost severity, which you think they well deserve. This I look upon as a pledge of the love you bear to your husband and children; but give me leave, my dear Faustina, to spare the children of Cassius, his son-in-law, and wife; and to write to the senate in their behalf. Nothing can more recommend a Roman Emperor to the esteem of the world than clemency: this placed Cæsar among the gods; this consecrated Augustus ; this procured to your father the title of Pius. I am grieved even for the death of Cassius, and wish it had been in my power to save him. Be therefore satisfied, and do not abandon yourself to revenge. Aurelius is protected by the gods." Some friends of the emperor openly blamed this clemency, and told him that Cassius would not have been so generous had fortune proved favourable to him. To this he immediately replied, "We have not lived nor served the gods so ill, as to think they would favour Cassius !"

VESPASIAN.

Titus Vespasian, the emperor, was deservedly called the Darling of Mankind. In taking upon him the supreme pontificate, he declared that his whole object in assuming so high a priesthood was, that he might be obliged to keep his hands free from the blood of all men. From that time forth, saith Suetonius, he