prise of importance. He undertook the reduction of Britain; and, after visiting the island in person, left his generals Plautius and Vespasian to prosecute a war which was carried on for several years with various success. The Silures or inhabitants of South Wales, under their king Caractacus [Caradoc,] made a brave resistance, but were finally defeated, and Caractacus led captive to Rome, where the magnanimity of his demeanour procured him respect and admiration.

13. The civil administration of Claudius was weak and contemptible. He was the slave even of his domestics, and the dupe of his infamous wives, Messalina and Agrippina. The former, abandoned to the most shameful profligacy, was at length put to death on suspicion of treasonable designs. The latter, who was the daughter of Germanicus, bent her utmost endeavours to secure the succession to the empire to her son Domitius Ahenobarbus, and employed every engine of vice and inhumanity to remove the obstacles to the accomplishment of her wishes. Having at length_prevailed on Claudius to adopt her son [Domitius (Nero)], and confer on him the title of Cæsar, to the exclusion of his own son Britannicus, she now made room for the immediate elevation of Domitius by poisoning her husband. Claudius was put to death [by poison] in the 15th year of his reign and 63rd of his age.

SECT. XLII.

1. The son of Agrippina assumed the name of Nero Claudius. He had enjoyed the benefit of a good education under the philosopher Seneca, but reaped from his instructions no other fruit than a pedantic affectation of taste and learning, with no real pretension to either. While controlled by his tutor Seneca, and by Burrhus, captain of the prætorian guards, a man of worth and ability, Nero maintained for a short time a decency of public conduct; but the restraint was intolerable, and nature soon broke out. His real character was a compound of every thing that is base and inhumam. In the murder of his mother Agrippina, he revenged the crime she had committed in raising him to the throne; he rewarded the fidelity of Burrhus by poisoning him; and as a last kindness to his tutor Seneca, he allowed him to choose the mode of his death. It was his darling amusement to exhibit on the stage and amphitheatre as an actor,

musician, or gladiator. At length, become the object of universal hatred and contempt, a rebellion of his subjects, headed by [Julius] Vindex, an illustrious Gaul, hurled this monster from the throne. He had not courage to attempt resistance; and a slave, at his own request, dispatched him with a dagger. Nero perished in the 30th year of his age, after a reign of 14 years, A.D. 69 [and with him terminated the Julian family].

2. Galba, the successor of Nero, was of an ancient and illustrious family. He was in the 73rd year of his age when the senate, ratifying the choice of the prætorian bands, proclaimed him emperor. But an impolitic rigour of discipline soon disgusted the army; the avarice of his disposition, grudging the populace their favourite games and spectacles, deprived him of their affections; and some iniquitous prosecutions and confiscations excited general discontent and mutiny. Galba adopted and designed for his successor the able and virtuous Píso; a measure which excited the jealousy of Otho, his former favourite, and led him to form the daring plan of raising himself to the throne by the destruction of both. He found the prætorians apt to his purpose; they proclaimed him emperor, and presented him, as a grateful offering, the heads of Galba and Piso, who were slain in quelling the insurrection. Galba had reigned seven months; "he seemed greater than a private man," says Tacitus, "while he was only a private man, and, until he reigned, appeared to all fit to reign.'

3. Otho had a formidable rival in Vitellius, who had been proclaimed emperor by his army in Germany. It is hard to say which of the competitors was, in point of abilities, the more despicable, or in character the more infamous. A decisive battle was fought at Bedríachum, near Mantua, where the army of Otho was defeated, and their commander, in a fit of despair, ended his life by his own hand, after a reign of three months, A.D. 70.

4. The reign of Vitellius was of eight months duration. He is said to have proposed Nero for his model, and it was just that he should resemble him in his fate. Vespasian, who had obtained from Nero the charge of the war against the Jews, which he had conducted with ability and success, was proclaimed emperor by his troops in the East; and a great part of Italy submitting to his generals, Vitellius meanly capitulated to save his life by resignation of the empire. The people, indignant at

his dastardly spirit, compelled him to an effort of resistance, but the attempt was fruitless, [and caused a tumult in which many perished, and the capital was destroyed by fire. Primus, one of the generals of [the Syrian army of] Vespasian took possession of Rome, and Vitellius was massacred, and his body flung into the Tiber. [A.D. 69.] 5. Vespasian, though of mean descent, was worthy of the empire, and reigned with high popularity for ten years. He possessed great clemency of disposition; his manners were affable and engaging, and his mode of life was characterised by simplicity and frugality. He respected the ancient forms of the constitution, restored the senate to its deliberative rights, and acted by its authority in the administration of all public affairs. The only blemish in his character was a tincture of avarice; and even that is greatly extenuated by the laudable and patriotic use which he made of his revenues. Under his reign, and by the arms of his son Títus, was terminated the war against the Jews. They had been brought under the yoke of Rome by Pompey, who took Jerusalem. Under Augus tus they were governed for some time by Herod as viceroy; but the tyranny of his son Archelaus was the cause of his banishment, and the reduction of Judea into the ordinary condition of a Roman province [dependent on the prefecture of Syria]. Rebelling on every slight occasion, Nero had sent Vespasian to reduce them to order, and he had just prepared for the siege of Jerusalem, when he was called to Rome to assume the government of the empire. Titus wished to spare the city, and tried every means to prevail on the Jews to surrender: but in vain; their ruin was decreed by Heaven. After an obstinate blockade of six months, Jerusalem was taken by storm, the temple burnt to ashes, and the city buried in ruins. The Roman empire was now in profound peace. Vespasian [shut the temple of Janus,] associated Titus in the imperial dignity, and soon after died, universally lamented, at the age of 69, A.D. 79.

6. The character of Titus was humane, munificent, dignified, and splendid. His short reign was a period of great happiness and prosperity to the empire, and his government a constant example of virtue, justice, and beneficence. In his time [A.D. 79, August 24,] happened that dreadful eruption of Vesuvius, which overhelmed the cities of Herculaneum, Pompeii, [and Stabiæ;

Rome, also, was devastated by fire, and a short time afterwards by a destructive plague]; the public losses from these calamities he repaired by the sacrifice of his fortune and revenues. He died in the 3rd year of his reign, and 40th of his age, ever to be remembered by that most exalted epithet, "The delight of mankind.”

7. Domitian, the brother of Titus, and suspected of murdering him by poison, succeeded to the empire, A.D 81. He was a vicious and inhuman tyrant. A rebellion in Germany gave him occasion to signalize the barbarity of his disposition; and its consequences were long felt in the sanguinary punishments inflicted under the pretence of justice. The prodigal and voluptuous spirit of this reign was a singular contrast to its tyranny and inhumanity. The people were loaded with insupportable taxes to furnish spectacles and games for their amusement. The successes of Agricola in Britain [A.D. 85] threw a lustre on the Roman arms, no part of which reflected on the Emperor, for he used this eminent commander with the basest ingratitude. After fifteen tedious years, this monster fell at last the victim of assassination, the Empress herself conducting the plot for his murder, A.D. 96.

8. Cocceius Nerva, a Cretan by birth, was chosen Emperor by the senate, from respect to the virtues of his character; but too old for the burden of government, and of a temper too placid for the restraint of rooted corruptions and enormities, his reign was weak, inefficient, and contemptible. His only act of real merit as a sovereign, was the adoption of the virtuous Trajan as his successor. Nerva died, after a reign of 16 months, A.D. 98.

9. Ulpius Trajanus possessed every talent and every virtue that can adorn a sovereign. Of great military abilities, and an indefatigable spirit of enterprise, he raised the Roman arms to their ancient splendour, and greatly enlarged the boundaries of the empire. He subdued the Dacians, conquered the Parthians, and brought under subjection Assyria, Mesopotamia, and Arabia Felix. Nor was he less eminent in promoting the happiness of his subjects, and the internal prosperity of the empire. His largesses were humane and munificent. He was the friend and support of the virtuous indigent, and the liberal patron of every useful art and talent. His bounties were supplied by a well judged economy in his private fortune, and a wise administration of the public finances.

In his own life he was a man of simple manners, modest, affable, fond of the familiar intercourse of his friends, and sensible to all the social and benevolent affections; in a word, meriting the surname universally bestowed on him, Trajanus Optimus. He died at the age of 63, after a glorious reign of 19 years, A.D. 118.

10. Ælius Adrianus, nephew of Trajan, and worthy to fill his place, was chosen Emperor by the army in the East, and his title was acknowledged by all orders of the state. He adopted a policy different from that of his predecessor; and, judging the limits of the empire too extensive, abandoned all the conquests of Trajan, bounding the eastern provinces by the Euphrates. He visited in person the whole provinces of the empire, reforming, in his progress, all abuses, relieving his subjects of every oppressive burden, rebuilding the ruined cities, and establishing everywhere a regular and mild administration under magistrates of approved probity and humanity. He gave a discharge to the indigent debtors of the state, and appointed liberal institutions for the education of the children of the poor. To the talents of an able politician, he joined an excellent taste in the liberal arts; and his reign, which was of 22 years' duration, was an era both of public happiness and splendour. [But it must be confessed, that during the last days of his reign, many eminent men were sacrificed to his tyrannical suspicions]. In the last year of his life he bequeathed to the empire a double legacy, by adopting and declaring for his immediate successor Titus Aurelius Antoninus, and substituting Annius Verus to succeed upon his death. These were the Antonines, who for 40 years ruled the Roman empire with consummate wisdom, ability, and virtue. Adrian died, A.D. 138, at the age of 62.

XLIII.-Age of the Antonines, &c.

1. The happiest reigns furnish the fewest events for the pen of history. Antonínus was the father of his people. He preferred peace to the ambition of conquest; yet in every necessary war the Roman arms had their wonted renown. The British provinces was enlarged by the con

• He founded a colony at Jerusalem, under the name of Ælia Capito lina, and by introducing idolatry he provoked the remnant of the Jews to revolt for the third time, who were, after a three years' war, nearly exterminated (A.D. 135].—ED.