a

of description, and the discriminating when the empire had already attained eye, which, touching on every subject, to its highest elevation; he dismisses brings those prominently forward on- in a few pages the conquests of Trajan, ly which, from their intrinsic import. the wisdom of Nerva, the beneficence ance, should attract the attention of of Marcus Aurelius, and enters into the reader. He works out every thing detail for the first time when the blind with equal care and minuteness, and, partiality of Marcus Antoninus, and in consequence, the impression pro- the guilt of his empress, had prepared, duced on the mind of an ordinary rea- in the accession and vices of Comder is so confused, as to amount almost modus, the commencement of that to nothing. Like Pevele or Waterloo, long series of depraved emperors who in the imitation of nature (and land brought about the ruin of the empire. scape painting, and historical descrip. What do we know of the conquests of tion in this particular are governed by Trajan, the wars of Severus, the victhe same principles), he works out the tories of Aurelian? Would that the details of each individual object with pencil of the author of the Decline admirable skill; but there is no breadth and Fall had thrown over them the or general effect on his canvass, and he brilliant light which it has shed over wants the general shade and subdued the disasters of Julian, the storming tones, which in Claude, amidst an in- of Constantinople, the conquests of finity of details, not less faithfully Mahomet, or the obstinate wars of the portrayed, rivet the eye of the spec. Byzantine emperors with the Parthian tator on a few brilliant spots, and princes. But his history embraces so produce on the mind even of the most vast a range of objects, that it could unskilled the charm of a single emo- not satisfy our curiosity on the annals tion.

even of the people who formed the Niebuhr's history, however, with all centre of the far-extended group, and its merits and defects, comes only it is rather a picture of the progress of down to the commencement of the the nations who overthrew Rome, than most important era in the annals of of Rome itself. the Republic. It is in the empire There is ample room, therefore, for that the great want of continued an- a great historical work, as voluminous pals is felt. Literally speaking, there and as eloquent as Gibbon, on the is nothing, either in ancient or modern Rise and Progress of Roman greatliterature, which deserves the name of ness; and it embraces topics of far a history of the whole period of the more importance, in the present age of Emperors. Tillemont has, with un- the world, than the succession of disaswearied industry and admirable ac- ters and fierce barbarian inroads which curacy, collected all that the inimi- long shook, and at last overturned the table fragments of Tacitus, and de- enduring fabric of the empire. Extached lights of Seutonius, Florus, and cept as a matter of curiosity, we have the panegyrists have left on this vast little connexion with the progress of subject; and Gibbon has, with incom- the Gothic and Scythian nations. parable talent, thrown, in his first Christianity has turned the rivers of chapters, over the general conditions barbarism by their source; civilisaof the empire, the light of his genius tion has overspread the wilds of and the colouring of his eloquence. Scythia ; gunpowder and fortified But Tillemont, though a laborious towns have given knowledge a duraand valuable compiler, is no historian; ble superiority over ignorance; Rusif any one doubts this, let him take sia stands as an impenetrable barrier up one of his elaborate quartos and between Europe and the Tartar horse. try to read it. Gibbon, in his im. But the evils which the Roman insti. mortal work, the greatest monument tutions contained in their own bosom, of historical industry and ability that as well as the deeds of glory and exexists in the world, has given a most tent of dominion to which they led, luminous view of the events which led interest us in the most vital particulars. to the decline and fall of the em- Our institutions more closely resemble pire, and erected, with consummate theirs than those of any other people talent, a bridge across the gulf which recorded in history, and the causes separates ancient from modern story. which have led to the vast extent of But he begins only to narrate events our dominion and durability of our with any minuteness at the period power, are the same which gave them

for centuries the empire of the world. ram, that they deemed it unnecessary The same causes of weakness, also, are to do more than allude to them, as a now assailing us which once destroyed subject on which all were agreed, and them; we, too, have wealth imported with which every one was familiar. from all parts of the world to corrupt Like first principles in our House of our manners, and an overgrown me- Commons, they were universally taken tropolis to spread the seeds of vice for granted, and, therefore, never made and effeminacy, as from a common the theme of serious illustration. It centre, over the length and breadth of is now only that we begin to perceive the land; we, too, have patricians the weighty sense and condensed wisstriving to retain power handed down dom of many expressions which dropto them by their ancestors, and ple. ped seemingly unconsciously from beians burning with the desire of dis- their historical writers, that dear. tinction, and the passion for political bought experience has taught us that elevation which springs from the pride, insolency, and corrupt prinspread of wealth among the middle ciple are the main sources of popular classes ; we, too, have Gracchi ready ambition in our times, as in the days of to hoist the standard of disunion by Catiline; and that the saying of Johnraising the question of the Agrarian son ceases to pass for a witty paradox, law, and Syllas and Mariuses to rear that “ Patriotism is the last refuge of their hostile banners at the head of a scoundrel." the aristocratic and democratic fac- Dr Arnold has now fairly set himtions; in the womb of time, is pro- self to work with this noble task, and vided for us as for them, the final he is, in many respects, peculiarly fitoverthrow of our liberties, under the ted for the undertaking. Long known successful leader of the popular party, to the classical world as an accom. and long ages of decline under the plished scholar, and the learned editor despotic rule imposed upon us by the of the best edition of Thucydides exblind ambition and Eastern equality of tant, he is still more familiar to many the people. A fair and philosophic of our readers as the energetic headhistory of Rome, therefore, is a sub- master of Rugby school ; and is to ject of incalculable importance to the this hour looked up to with mingled citizens of this, and of every other con- sentiments of awe and affection by stitutional monarchy; in their errors many of the most celebrated characwe may discern the mirror of our ters of the age. The first volume of own -in their misfortunes the pro- the great work in which he is entotypes of those we are likely to gaged alone is published, which brings undergo-in their fate, that which, down the history of the Republic to in all human probability, awaits our- the burning of Rome by the Goths, selves,

but it affords a fair specimen of the Such a history never, in modern spirit and ability with which the retimes, could have been written but at mainder is likely to be carried on. In this period. All subsequent ages, from many respects he has shown himself the days of Cicero, have been practi admirably calculated for the great but cally ignorant of the very elements of difficult task which he has undertaken. political knowledge requisite for a His classical attainments, both in Greek right understanding or fair discussion and Roman literature, are of the very of tlie subject. In vain were the les. highest order; his industry is indefasons of political wisdom to be found tigable, and he possesses much of that profusely scattered through the Ro. instinctive glance or natural sagacity man historians--in vain did Sallust which enabled Niebuhr, amidst the and Tacitus point, by a word or an fictions and chaos of ancient annals, epithet, to the important conclusions to fix at once on the outlines of truth deducible from their civil convulsions ; and the course of réal events. His -the practical experience, the daily powers of description are of no ordi. intercourse with Republican institu- nary kind, as our readers will at once tions were awanting, which were ne- perceive from the extracts we are cessary to give the due weight to their about to lay before them; and many reflections. The lessons of political of his reflections prove that he is enwisdom were so constantly brought dowed with that faculty of drawing home to the citizens of antiquity by general conclusions from particular the storms and dissensions of the Fo. events, which, when not pushed too

far, is the surest sign of the real ge- of us have been spent in exploring the nius for philosophical history. realities of that enchanting region. We

Dr Arnold, it is well known, is a transcribe with pleasure Dr Arnold's Whig-perhaps, we may add, an ultra- animated and correct description of Liberal. So far from objecting to his it, drawn from actual observation with book on this account, we hail it with the hand of a master. the more satisfaction that it does come from an author of such principles, and

“ The territory of the original Rome therefore that it can safely be referred during its first period, the true Ager Roto as a work in which the truth of an.

mánus, could be gone round in a single cient events is not likely to be disguis- day, It did not extend beyond the Tiber

at all, nor probably beyond the Anio ; and ed or perverted to answer the views

on the east and south, where it had most at least of the Conservative party in

room to spread, its limit was between five Great Britain. We are satisfied from

and six miles from the city. This Ager many instances in the volume before

Romanus was the exclusive property of us, that he is of an inquisitive, searching the Roman people, that is of the houses ; turn of mind, and that he would deem it did not include the lands conquered himself dishonoured if he concealed or from the Latins, and given back to them altered any well-ascertained facts in again when the Lating became the plebs Roman history. More than this we do or commons of Rome. According to the not desire. We not only do not dis Augurs, the Ager Romanus was a peculiar like, we positively enjoy, his occasional district in a religious sense ; auspices coulu introduction of liberal views in what be taken within its bounds which could be We may call Roman politics. We see taken nowhere without them. in them the best guarantee that the

“ And now what was Rome, and what decisive instances against democratic

was the country around it, which have principles, with which all ancient his- both acquired an interest such as can cease tory, and, most of all, Roman history, hills of Rome arć such as we rarely see in

only when earth itself shall perish? The abounds, will not be perverted in his hands, and may be relied on as authen

England, low in height, but with steep and tic facts against his principles. Pro- rocky sides. In early times the natural vided a writer is candid, ingenuous, buildings, as at this day it grows here and

wood still remained in patches amidst the and liberal, we hold it perfectly imma

there on the green sides of the Monte Tes. terial to the ultimate triumph of truth

taceo. Across the Tiber the ground rises What is the shade of his political opi- to a greater height than that of the Roman nions. The cause is not worth de.

hills, but its summit is a level unbroken fending which cannot be supported by line ; while the heights; which opposite to the testimony of an honest opponent. Rome itself rise immediately from the Every experienced lawyer knows the river, under the names of Janiculus and value of a conscientious but unwilling Vaticanus, then swept away to some dis. witness. Enough is to be found in tance from it, and return in their highest their apologist, Thiers, to doom the and boldest form at the Mons Marius, just French Revolution to the eternal exe- above the Milvian bridge and the Flamieration of mankind. There is no wri.

nian road. Thus to the west the view is ter on America who has brought for immediately bounded; but to the north ward such a host of facts decisive and north-east the eye ranges over the low against republican institutions as Miss

ground of the Campagna to the nearest Martineau, whom the Liberals extol

line of the Apennines, which closes up, as as the only author who has given å

with a gigantic wall, all the Sabine, Latin, veracious account of the Transatlantic

and Volscian lowlands, while over it are democracies, and we desire no other

still distinctly to be seen the high summits

of the central Apennines, covered with witness but Dr Arnold to the facts which demonstrate that it was the

snow, even at this day, for more than six

months in the year. South and southextravagant pretensions and ambi- Fest lies the wide plain of the Campagna ; tion of the commons, wbich, in the

its level line succeeded by the equally level end, proved fatal to the liberties of line of the sea, which can only be distioRome.

guished from it by the brighter light reThe Campagna of Rome, the fields

flected from its waters. East ward, after of Latium, the Alban Mount, the Pa- ten miles of plait, the view is bounded by latine Hill, were familiar to the child- the Alban hills, a eluster of high bold hood of us all, and not the least de- points rising out of the Campagna, like lightful hours of the youth of many Arran from the sedy on the highest of which, at nearly the same height with the recounting these early events, to which summit of Helvellyn, stood the Temple of we can hardly reconcile ourselves, Jupiter Latiaris, the scene of the common after the rich colouring and graphic worship of all the people of the Latin name. hand of Livy. As an example of the Immediately under this highest point lies way in which he treats this interesting the crater-like basin of the Alban lake ; and but difficult part of his subject, we give on its nearer rim might be seen the trees his account of the story of Lucretia, of the grove of Ferentia, where the Latins the exquisite episode with which Livy held the great civil assemblies of their na

terminates his first book and narrative tion. Further to the north, on the edge of the kings of Rome. of the Alban hills, looking towards Rome, was the town and citadel of Tusculum ;

“Now when they came back to Rome, and beyond this, a lower summit, crowned

King Tarquinius was at war with the with the walls and towers of Labicum, people of Ardea ; and as the city was seems to connect the Alban hills with the

strong, his army lay a long while before it, line of the Apennines just at the spot till it should be forced to yield through fawhere the citadel of Præneste, high up mine. So the Romans had leisure for on the mountain side, marks the opening feasting and for diverting themselves : and into the country of the Hernicians, and

once Titus and Aruns were supping with into the valleys of the streams that feed

their brother Sextus, and their cousin the Liris.

Tarquinius of Collatia was supping with “ Returning nearer to Rome, the low

them. And they disputed about their land country of the Campagna is broken

wives, whose wife of them all was the by long green swelling ridges, the ground worthiest lady. Then said Tarquinius of rising and falling, as in the heath country Collatia, Let us go, and see with our of Surrey and Berkshire. The streams

own eyes what our wives are doing, so are dull and sluggish, but the hill sides shall we know which is the worthiest.' above them constantly break away into

Upon this they all mounted their horses, little rocky cliffs, where on every ledge the

and rode first to Rome; and there they wild fig now strikes out its branches, and

found the wives of Titus, and of Aruns, tufts of broom are clustering, but which in

and of Sextus, feasting and making merry. old times formed the natural strength of

Then they rode on to Collatia, and it was the citadels of the numerous cities of La

late in the night; but they found Lucretia, tium. Except in these narrow dells, the

the wife of Tarquinius of Collatia, neither present aspect of the country is all bare

feasting, nor yet sleeping, but she was sit. and desolate, with no trees nor any hu

ting with all her handmaids around her, man habitation. But anciently, in the

and all were working at the loom. So time of the early kings of Rome, it was

when they saw this, they all said, Lucrefull of independent cities, and, in its popu- tia is the worthiest lady.' And she enterlation and the careful cultivation of its

tained her husband and his kinsmen, and little garden-like farms, must have re

after that they rode back to the camp besembled the most flourishing parts of Lom- fore Ardea. bardy or the Netherlands.'

“ But a spirit of wicked passion seized We have already adverted to the upon Sextus, and a few days afterwards he difficulty of determining where fic- went alone to Collatia, and Lucretia retion ends and real history begins in the ceived him hospitably, for he was her husearly Roman annals, and the scanty band's kinsman. At midnight he arose foundation there is in authentic records, and went to her chamber, and he said that for any of the early legends of their if she yielded not to him he would slay history. Fully alive, however, to the her and one of her slaves with her, and exquisite beauty of these remains, and would say to her husband that he had slain the influence they had on the Roman

her in her adultery. So when Sextus had history, as well as their importance as

accomplished his wicked purpose he went

back again to the camp. evincing the lofty character of their

“ Then Lucretia sent in haste to Rome, infant people, Dr Arnold has adopted the plan of not rejecting them altoge- would come to her; and she sent to Ardea

to pray that her father Spurius Lucretius ther, but giving them in a simple nar

to summon her husband. Her father rative, something like the Bible, and

brought along with him Publius Valerius, commencing with his ordinary style and her husband brought with him Lucius when he arrives at events which really Junius, whom men called Brutus. When rest on historic ground. This is cer- they arrived, they asked earnestly, Is all tainly much better than entirely re

well ?' Then she told them of the wicked jecting them; but, at the same time, it deed of Sextus, and she said, 'If ye be introduces a quaint style of writing, in men, avenge it.' And they all swore to

her, that they would avenge it. Then she good King Servius ; and let us meet in our said again, I am not guilty; yet must I centuries, according as he directed, and too share in the punishment of this deed, let us choose two men year by year to golest any should think that they may be false vern us, instead of a king.' Then the to their husbands and live.' And she people met in their centuries in the field drew a knife from her bosom, and stabbed of Mars, and they chose two men to rule herself to the heart.

over them, Lucius Junius, whom men call“ At that sight her husband and her ed Brutus, and Lucius Tarquinius of Col. father cried aloud; but Lucius drew the latia." knife from the wound, and held it up, and said, “By this blood I swear that I will

Every classical reader must perceive visit this deed upon King Tarquinius, and

the object which our author had in all his accursed race ; neither shall any view. He has in great part translated man hereafter be king in Rome, lest he do

Livy, and he wishes to preserve the the like wickedness.' And he gave the legend which he has rendered immorknife to her husband, and to her father,

tal; but he is desirous, at the same and to Publius Valerius. They marvel. time, of doing it, as he himself tells led to hear such words from him whom us, in such a manner that it shall be men called dull; but they swore also, impossible for any reader, even the and they took up the body of Lucretia, most illiterate, to imagine that he is and carried it down into the forum ; and recording a real event. It may be they said, " Behold the deeds of the prejudice, and the force of early assowicked family of Tarquinius. All the ciation, but we can hardly reconcile people of Collatia were moved, and 'the ourselves to this Mosaic mode of writmen took up arms, and they set a guard

ing the history of the most remote at the gates, that none might go out to

events. Every author's style, to be carry the tidings to Tarquinius, and they

agreeable, should be natural. The followed Lucius to Rome. There, too, all the people came together, and the crier

reader experiences a disagreeable feel. summoned them to assemble before the

ing in coming upon such quaintand pertribune of the Celeres, for Lucius held that

haps affected

passages, after being habioffice. And Lucius spoke to them of all

tuated to the flowing and vigorous style the tyranny of Tarquinius and his sons, and

of the author. It would be better, we of the wicked deed of Sextus. And the

conceive, to write the whole in one people in their curiæ took back from Tar.

uniform manner, and mark the differquinius the sovereign power, which they

ence between the legendary and authen. had given him, and they banished him and tic parts by a difference in the type, or all his family. Then the younger men fol. some other equally obvious distinction. lowed Lucius to Ardea, to win over the But this is a trivial matter, affecting army there to join them; and the city was only the commencement of the work ; left in the charge of Spurius Lucretius. and ample subject of meditation is sugBut the wicked Tullia fled in haste from gested by many facts and passages in her house, and all, both men and women, cursed her as she passed, and prayed that We have previously noticed the the furies of her father's blood might visit decisive evidence which the Cloaca her with vengeance.

Maxima and the treaty with Carthage “ Mean-while King Tarquinius set out

in the time of Tarquin afford of the with speed to Rome to put down the tu

early greatness of the Roman monarchy. mult. But Lucius turned aside from the road that he might not meet him, and came

But we were not aware, till reading

Arnold-even Niebuhr has not so disto the camp ; and the soldiers joyfully received him, and they drove out the sons

tinctly brought out the fact--that at the of Tarquinius. King Tarquinius came to

time of the expulsion of the Tarquins Rome, but the gates were shut, and they lic, Rome was already a powerful mo

and the commencement of the Repubdeclared to him from the walls the sentence of banishment which had been pass- narchy, whose sway extended from the ed against him and his family. So he

northern extremity of the Campagna yielded to his fortune, and went to live at

to the rocks of Terracina ; and that it Cære with his sons Titus and Aruns. His was then more powerful than it ever other son, Sextus, went to Gabii, and the

was for the first hundred and fifty years people there, remembering how he had of the Commonwealth! The Roman betrayed them to his father, slew him. kingdom is compared by Arnold, under Then the army left the camp before Ardea the last of the kings, to Judea under and went back to Rome. And all men Solomon ; and the fact of a treaty, resaid, 'Let us follow the good laws of the corded in Polybius, being in that year

its later pages.