The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire: By Edward Gibbon, Esq; ... [pt.1]

CHAP. 1. The Extent and Military Force of the Empire in the Age of the Antonines.

IN the second century of the Christian Aera, the empire of Rome comprehended the fair|est part of the earth, and the most civilized * 1.1 portion of mankind. The frontiers of that ex|tensive monarchy were guarded by ancient re|nown and disciplined valour. The gentle, but powerful influence of laws and manners had gra|dually cemented the union of the provinces. Their peaceful inhabitants enjoyed and abused the advantages of wealth and luxury. The image of a free constitution was preserved with decent reverence: The Roman senate appeared to pos|sess the sovereign authority, and devolved on the emperors all the executive powers of govern|ment. During a happy period of more than * 1.2

fourscore years, the public administration was conducted by the virtue and abilities of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the two Antonines. It is the design of this, and of the two succeeding chapters, to describe the prosperous condition of their empire; and afterwards, from the death of Marcus Antoninus, to deduce the most im|portant circumstances of its decline and fall; a revolution which will ever be remembered, and is still felt by the nations of the earth.

The principal conquests of the Romans were * 1.3 atchieved under the republic; and the empe|rors, for the most part, were satisfied with pre|serving those dominions which had been acquir|ed by the policy of the senate, the active emula|tion of the consuls, and the martial enthusiasm of the people. The seven first centuries were filled with a rapid succession of triumphs; but it was reserved for Augustus, to relinquish the ambi|tious design of subduing the whole earth, and to introduce a spirit of moderation into the pub|lic councils. Inclined to peace by his temper and situation, it was easy for him to discover, that Rome, in her present exalted situation, had much l••ss to hope than to fear from the chance of arms; and that, in the prosecution of remote wars, the undertaking became every day more difficult, the event more doubtful, and the pos|session more precarious, and less beneficial. The experience of Augustus added weight to these sa|lutary reflections, and effectually convinced him, that, by the prudent vigour of his counsels, it

would be easy to secure every concession, which the safety or the dignity of Rome might require from the most formidable Barbarians. Instead of exposing his person and his legions to the ar|rows of the Parthians, he obtained, by an ho|nourable treaty, the restitution of the standards and prisoners which had been taken in the defeat of Crassus 1 1.4.

His generals, in the early part of his reign, attempted the reduction of Aethiopia and Ara|bia Felix. They marched near a thousand miles to the south of the tropic; but the heat of the climate soon repelled the invaders, and protected the unwarlike natives of those sequestered regi|ons 2 1.5. The northern countries of Europe scarcely deserved the expence and labour of conquest. The forests and morasses of Germany were filled with a hardy race of barbarians, who despised life when it was separated from freedom; and though, on the first attack, they seemed to yield to the weight of the Roman power, they soon, by a sig|nal act of despair, regained their independence, and reminded Augustus of the vicissitude of for|tune 3 1.6.

On the death of that emperor, his testa|ment was publicly read in the senate. He be|queathed, as a valuable legacy to his successors, the advice of confining the empire within those limits, which Nature seemed to have placed as its permanent bulwarks and boundaries; on the west the Atlantic ocean; the Rhine and Danube on the north; the Euphrates on the east; and towards the south, the sandy desarts of Arabia and Africa 4 1.7.

Happily for the repose of mankind, the mo|derate * 1.8 system recommended by the wisdom of Augustus, was adopted by the fears and vices of his immediate successors. Engaged in the pur|suit of pleasure, or in the exercise of tyranny, the first Caesars seldom shewed themselves to the armies, or to the provinces; nor were they dis|posed to suffer, that those triumphs which their indolence neglected, should be usurped by the conduct and valour of their lieutenants. The military fame of a subject was considered as an insolent invasion of the Imperial prerogative; and it became the duty, as well as interest, of every Roman general, to guard the frontiers intrusted to his care, without aspiring to conquests which

might have proved no less fatal to himself than to the vanquished barbarians 5 1.9.

The only accession which the Roman empire * 1.10 received, during the first century of the Christian Aera, was the province of Britain. In this sin|gle instance the successors of Caesar and Augustus were persuaded to follow the example of the for|mer, rather than the precept of the latter. The proximity of its situation to the coast of Gaul seemed to invite their arms; the pleasing, though doubtful intelligence of a pearl fishery, attracted their avarice 6 1.11; and as Britain was viewed in the light of a distinct and insulated world, the con|quest scarcely formed any exception to the gene|ral system of continental measures After a war of about forty years, undertaken by the most stupid 7 1.12, maintained by the most dissolute, and terminated by the most timid of all the emperors, the far greater part of the island submitted to

the Roman yoke 8 1.13. The various tribes of Bri|tons possessed valour without conduct, and the love of freedom without the spirit of union. They took up arms with savage fierceness; they laid them down, or turned them against each other with wild inconstancy; and while they fought singly, they were successively subdued. Neither the fortitude of Caractacus, nor the despair of Boadicea, nor the fanaticism of the Druids, could avert the slavery of their country, or resist the steady progress of the Imperial generals, who maintained the national glory, when the throne was disgraced by the weakest, or the most vicious of mankind. At the very time when Domi|tian, confined to his palace, felt the terrors which he inspired; his legions, under the com|mand of the virtuous Agricola, defeated the col|lected force of the Caledonians at the foot of the Grampian hills; and his fleets, venturing to ex|plore an unknown and dangerous navigation, dis|played the Roman arms round every part of the island. The conquest of Britain was considered as already atchieved; and it was the design of Agricola to complete and ensure his success by the easy reduction of Ireland, for which, in his opinion, one legion and a few auxiliaries were sufficient 9 1.14. The western isle might be improved into a valuable possession, and the Britons would

wear their chains with the less reluctance, if the prospect and example of freedom was on every side removed from before their eyes.

But the superior merit of Agricola soon occa|sioned his removal from the government of Bri|tain; and for ever disappointed this rational, though extensive scheme of conquest. Before his departure, the prudent general had provided for security as well as for dominion. He had observ|ed, that the island is almost divided into two unequal parts by the opposite gulfs, or, as they are now called, the Friths of Scotland. Across the narrow interval of about forty miles, he had drawn a line of military stations, which was after|wards fortified in the reign of Antoninus Pius, by a turf rampart erected on foundations of stone 10 1.15. This wall of Antoninus, at a small dis|tance beyond the modern cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow, was fixed as the limit of the Roman province. The native Caledonians preserved in the northern extremity of the island their wild independence, for which they were not less in|debted to their poverty than to their valour. Their incursions were frequently repelled and chastised; but their country was never subdued 11 1.16. The masters of the fairest and most wealthy cli|mates of the globe, turned with contempt from

gloomy hills assailed by the winter tempest, from lakes concealed in a blue mist, and from cold and lonely heaths, over which the deer of the forest were chased by a troop of naked barbarians 12 1.17.

Such was the state of the Roman frontiers, and * 1.18 such the maxims of Imperial policy from the death of Augustus to the accession of Trajan. That virtuous and active prince had received the education of a soldier, and possessed the talents of a general 13 1.19. The peaceful system of his pre|decessors was interrupted by scenes of war and conquest; and the legions, after a long interval, beheld a military emperor at their head. The first exploits of Trajan were against the Dacians, the most warlike of men, who dwelt beyond the Danube, and who, during the reign of Domitian, had insulted with impunity the Majesty of Rome 14 1.20. To the strength and fierceness of bar|barians, they added a contempt for life, which was derived from a warm persuasion of the im|mortality and transmigration of the soul 15 1.21. De|cebalus, the Dacian King, approved himself a rival not unworthy of Trajan; nor did he de|spair of his own and the public fortune, till, by the confession of his enemies, he had exhausted every resource both of valour and policy 16 1.22. This

memorable war, with a very short suspension of hostilities, lasted five years; and as the emperor could exert, without controul, the whole force of the state, it was terminated by an absolute submission of the barbarians 17 1.23. The new pro|vince of Dacia, which formed a second exception to the precept of Augustus, was about thirteen hundred miles in circumference. Its natural boundaries were the Niester, the Teyss, or Tibis|cus, the Lower Danube, and the Euxine Sea. The vestiges of a military road may still be traced from the banks of the Danube to the neigh|bourhood of Bender, a place famous in modern history, and the actual frontier of the Turkish and Russian empires 18 1.24.

Trajan was ambitious of fame; and as long as * 1.25 mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their bene|factors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters. The praises of Alexander, transmitted by a succession of poets and historians, had kindled a dangerous emulation in the mind of Trajan. Like him the Roman emperor undertook an expedition against the nations of the east, but he lamented with a sigh, that his advanced age scarcely left him any hopes of equalling the renown of the son of Phi|lip 19 1.26. Yet the success of Trajan, however tran|sient,

was rapid and specious. The degenerate Parthians, broken by intestine discord, fled be|fore his arms. He descended the river Tigris in triumph, from the mountains of Armenia to the Persian gulph. He enjoyed the honour of being the first, as he was the last, of the Roman generals, who ever navigated that remote sea. His fleets ravaged the coasts of Arabia; and Trajan vainly flattered himself that he was ap|proaching towards the confines of India 20 1.27. Every day the astonished senate received the intelligence of new names and new nations, that acknow|ledged his sway. They were informed that the kings of Bosphorus, Colchos, Iberia, Albania, Osrhoene, and even the Parthian monarch him|self, had accepted their diadems from the hands of the emperor; that the independent tribes of the Median and Carduchian hills had implored his protection; and that the rich countries of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, were reduced into the state of provinces 21 1.28. But the death of Trajan soon clouded the splendid prospect; and it was justly to be dreaded, that so many distant nations would throw off the unaccustom|ed yoke, when they were no longer restrained by the powerful hand which had imposed it.

It was an ancient tradition, that when the Ca|pitol * 1.29 was founded by one of the Roman kings, the god Terminus (who presided over bounda|ries,

and was represented according to the fashion of that age by a large stone) alone, among all the inferior deities, refused to yield his place to Jupiter himself. A favourable inference was drawn from his obstinacy, which was interpret|ed by the augurs, as a sure presage that the boundaries of the Roman power would never recede 22 1.30. During many ages, the prediction, as it is usual, contributed to its own accomplish|ment. But though Terminus had resisted the majesty of Jupiter, he submitted to the autho|rity of the emperor Hadrian 23 1.31. The resignation of all the eastern conquests of Trajan was the first measure of his reign. He restored to the Par|thians the election of an independent Sovereign, withdrew the Roman garrisons from the pro|vinces of Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, and, in compliance with the precept of Augustus, once more established the Euphrates as the fron|tier of the empire 24 1.32. Censure, which arraigns the public actions and the private motives of princes, has ascribed to envy, a conduct, which might be attributed to the prudence and moderation of Hadrian. The various character of that emperor, capable, by turns, of the meanest and the most generous sentiments, may afford some colour to

the suspicion. It was, however, scarcely in his power to place the superiority of his predecessor in a more conspicuous light, than by thus con|fessing himself unequal to the task of defending the conquests of Trajan.

The martial and ambitious spirit of Trajan, * 1.33 formed a very singular contrast with the modera|tion of his successor. The restless activity of Hadrian was not less remarkable, when compa|red with the gentle repose of Antoninus Pius. The life of the former was almost a perpetual journey; and as he possessed the various talents of the soldier, the statesman, and the scholar, he gratified his curiosity in the discharge of his duty. Careless of the difference of seasons and of cli|mates, he marched on foot, and bare-headed, over the snows of Caledonia, and the sultry plains of the Upper Egypt; nor was there a province of the empire, which, in the course of his reign, was not honoured with the presence of the mo|narch 25 1.34. But the tranquil life of Antoninus Pius was spent in the bosom of Italy; and, during the twenty-three years that he directed the public administration, the longest journies of that ami|able prince extended no farther than from his palace in Rome, to the retirement of his Lanu|vian Villa 26 1.35.

Notwithstanding this difference in their per|sonal * 1.36 conduct, the general system of Augustus

was equally adopted and uniformly pursued by Hadrian and by the two Antonines. They per|sisted in the design of maintaining the dignity of the empire, without attempting to enlarge its limits. By every honourable expedient they in|vited the friendship of the barbarians; and en|deavoured to convince mankind, that the Roman power, raised above the temptation of conquest, was actuated only by the love of order and jus|tice. During a long period of forty-three years their virtuous labours were crowned with success; and if we except a few slight hostilities that serv|ed to exercise the legions of the frontier, the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius offer the fair prospect of universal peace 27 1.37. The Roman name was revered among the most remote na|tions of the earth. The fiercest barbarians fre|quently submitted their differences to the arbi|tration of the emperor; and we are informed by a cotemporary historian, that he had seen am|bassadors who were refused the honour which they came to solicit, of being admitted into the rank of subjects 28 1.38.

The terror of the Roman arms added weight * 1.39 and dignity to the moderation of the emperors.

They preserved peace by a constant preparation for war; and while justice regulated their con|duct, they announced to the nations on their con|fines, that they were as little disposed to endure, as to offer an injury. The military strength, which it had been sufficient for Hadrian and the elder Antoninus to display, was exerted against the Parthians and the Germans by the emperor Marcus. The hostilities of the barbarians pro|voked the resentment of that philosophic mo|narch, and, in the prosecution of a just defence, Marcus and his generals obtained many signal victories, both on the Euphrates, and on the Danube 29 1.40. The military establishment of the Roman empire, which thus assured either its tranquillity or success, will now become the pro|per and important object of our attention.

In the purer ages of the commonwealth, the * 1.41 use of arms was reserved for those ranks of citi|zens who had a country to love, a property to defend, and some share in enacting those laws, which it was their interest, as well as duty, to maintain. But in proportion as the public free|dom was lost in extent of conquest, war was gra|dually improved into an art, and degraded into a trade 30 1.42. The legions themselves, even at the

time when they were recruited in the most dis|tant provinces, were supposed to consist of Ro|man citizens. That distinction was generally considered, either as a legal qualification, or as a proper recompence for the soldier; but a more serious regard was paid to the essential merit of age, strength, and military stature 31 1.43. In all le|vies, a just preference was given to the climates of the North over those of the South: the race of men born to the exercise of arms, was sought for in the country rather than in cities; and it was very reasonably presumed, that the hardy oc|cupations of smiths, carpenters, and huntsmen, would supply more vigour and resolution, than the sedentary trades which are employed in the service of luxury 32 1.44. After every qualification of property had been laid aside, the armies of the Roman emperors were still commanded, for the most part, by officers of a liberal birth and edu|cation; but the common soldiers, like the mer|cenary troops of modern Europe, were drawn from the meanest, and very frequently from the most profligate, of mankind.

That public virtue which among the ancients * 1.45 was denominated patriotism, is derived from a strong sense of our own interest in the preserva|tion and prosperity of the free government of

which we are members. Such a sentiment, which had rendered the legions of the republic almost invincible, could make but a very feeble impression on the mercenary servants of a de|spotic prince; and it became necessary to supply that defect by other motives, of a different, but not less forcible nature; honour and religion. The peasant, or mechanic, imbibed the useful prejudice that he was advanced to the more dig|nified profession of arms, in which his rank and reputation would depend on his own valour: and that, although the prowess of a private sol|dier must often escape the notice of fame, his own behaviour might sometimes confer glory or disgrace on the company, the legion, or even the army, to whose honours he was associated. On his first entrance into the service, an oath was administered to him, with every circumstance of solemnity. He promised never to desert his stan|dard, to submit his own will to the commands of his leaders, and to sacrifice his life for the safety of the emperor and the empire 33 1.46. The attachment of the Roman troops to their stan|dards, was inspired by the united influence of religion and of honour. The golden eagle, which glittered in the front of the legion, was the object of their fondest devotion; nor was it esteemed less impious, than it was ignominious, to abandon that sacred ensign in the hour of dan|ger 34 1.47. These motives, which derived their

strength from the imagination, were enforced by fears and hopes of a more substantial kind. Regular pay, occasional donatives, and a stated recompence, after the appointed time of service, alleviated the hardships of the military life 35 1.48, whilst, on the other hand, it was impossible for cowardice or disobedience to escape the severest punishment. The centurions were authorized to chastise with blows, the generals had a right to punish with death; and it was an inflexible maxim of Roman discipline, that a good soldier should dread his officers far more than the ene|my. From such laudable arts did the valour of the Imperial troops receive a degree of firm|ness and docility, unattainable by the impetuous and irregular passions of barbarians.

And yet so sensible were the Romans of the * 1.49 imperfection of valour without skill and practice, that, in their language, the name of an army was borrowed from the word which signified ex|ercise 36 1.50. Military exercises were the important

and unremitted object of their discipline. The recruits and young soldiers were constantly train|ed both in the morning and in the evening, nor was age or knowledge allowed to excuse the ve|terans from the daily repetition of what they had completely learnt. Large sheds were erected in the winter-quarters of the troops, that their use|ful labours might not receive any interruption from the most tempestuous weather; and it was carefully observed, that the arms destined to this imitation of war, should be of double the weight which was required in real action 37 1.51. It is not the purpose of this work to enter into any minute description of the Roman exercises. We shall only remark, that they comprehended whatever could add strength to the body, activity to the limbs, or grace to the motions. The soldiers were diligently instructed to march, to run, to leap, to swim, to carry heavy burdens, to handle every species of arms that was used either for offence or for defence, either in distant engage|ment or in a closer onset; to form a variety of evolutions; and to move to the sound of flutes, in the Pyrrhic or martial dance 38 1.52. In the midst of peace, the Roman troops familiarised them|selves with the practice of war; and it is prettily remarked by an ancient historian who had fought against them, that the effusion of blood was the

only circumstance which distinguished a field of battle from a field of exercise 39 1.53. It was the po|licy of the ablest generals, and even of the em|perors themselves, to encourage these military studies by their presence and example; and we are informed that Hadrian, as well as Trajan, frequently condescended to instruct the unex|perienced soldiers, to reward the diligent, and sometimes to dispute with them the prize of su|perior strength or dexterity 40 1.54. Under the reigns of those princes, the science of tactics was cul|tivated with success; and as long as the empire retained any vigour, their military instructions were respected as the most perfect model of Ro|man discipline.

Nine centuries of war had gradually introdu|ced * 1.55 into the service many alterations and im|provements. The legions, as they are described by Polybius 41 1.56, in the time of the Punic wars, differed very materially from those which at|chieved the victories of Caesar, or defended the monarchy of Hadrian and the Antonines. The constitution of the Imperial legion may be de|scribed in a few words 42 1.57. The heavy-armed in|fantry,

which composed its principal strength 43 1.58, was divided into ten cohorts, and fifty-five com|panies, under the orders of a correspondent num|ber of tribunes and centurions. The first co|hort, which always claimed the post of honour and the custody of the eagle, was formed of eleven hundred and five soldiers, the most ap|proved for valour and fidelity. The remaining nine cohorts consisted each of five hundred and fifty-five; and the whole body of legionary in|fantry amounted to six thousand one hundred men. Their arms were uniform, and admirably * 1.59 adapted to the nature of their service: an open helmet, with a lofty crest; a breast-plate, or coat of mail; greaves on their legs, and an ample buckler on their left arm. The buckler was of an oblong and concave figure, four feet in length, and two and an half in breadth, framed of a light wood, covered with a bull's hide, and strongly guarded with plates of brass. Besides a lighter spear, the legionary soldier grasped in his right hand the formidable pilum, a ponderous javelin, whose utmost length was about six feet, and which was terminated by a massy triangular point of steel of eighteen inches 44 1.60. This instrument was indeed much inferior to our modern fire|arms;

since it was exhausted by a single dis|charge, at the distance of only ten or twelve paces. Yet when it was launched by a firm and skilful hand, there was not any cavalry that durst venture within its reach, nor any shield or corslet that could sustain the impetuosity of its weight. As soon as the Roman had darted his pilum, he drew his sword, and rushed forwards to close with the enemy. His sword was a short well|tempered Spanish blade, that carried a double edge, and was alike suited to the purpose of strik|ing or of pushing; but the soldier was always instructed to prefer the latter use of his weapon, as his own body remained less exposed, whilst he inflicted a more dangerous wound on his ad|versary 45 1.61. The legion was usually drawn up eight deep; and the regular distance of three feet was left between the files as well as ranks 46 1.62. A body of troops, habituated to preserve this open order, in a long front and a rapid charge, found themselves prepared to execute every dis|position which the circumstances of war, or the skill of their leader, might suggest. The sol|dier possessed a free space for his arms and mo|tions, and sufficient intervals were allowed, through which seasonable reinforcements might be introduced to the relief of the exhausted com|batants 47 1.63. The tactics of the Greeks and Ma|cedonians

were formed on very different prin|ciples. The strength of the phalanx depended on sixteen ranks of long pikes, wedged together in the closest array 48 1.64. But it was soon discover|ed by reflection, as well as by the event, that the strength of the phalanx was unable to contend with the activity of the legion 49 1.65.

The cavalry, without which the force of the * 1.66 legion would have remained imperfect, was di|vided into ten troops or squadrons; the first, as the companion of the first cohort, consisted of an hundred and thirty-two men; whilst each of the other nine amounted only to sixty-six. The entire establishment formed a regiment, if we may use the modern expression, of seven hundred and twenty-six horse, naturally connected with its respective legion, but occasionally separated to act in the line, and to compose a part of the wings of the army 50 1.67. The cavalry of the em|perors was no longer composed, like that of the ancient republic, of the noblest youths of Rome and Italy, who, by performing their military ser|vice on horseback, prepared themselves for the offices of senator and consul; and solicited, by deeds of valour, the future suffrages of their countrymen 51 1.68. Since the alteration of manners

and government, the most wealthy of the eques|trian order were engaged in the administration of justice, and of the revenue 52 1.69; and whenever they embraced the profession of arms, they were immediately intrusted with a troop of horse, or a cohort of foot 53 1.70. Trajan and Hadrian formed their cavalry from the same provinces, and the same class of their subjects, which recruited the ranks of the legion. The horses were bred, for the most part, in Spain or Cappadocia. The Roman troopers despised the complete armour with which the cavalry of the East was encum|bered. Their more useful arms consisted in a hel|met, an oblong shield, light boots, and a coat of mail. A javelin, and a long broad sword, were their principal weapons of offence. The use of lances and of iron maces they seem to have borrowed from the barbarians 54 1.71.

The safety and honour of the empire was prin|cipally * 1.72 intrusted to the legions, but the policy of Rome condescended to adopt every useful instru|ment of war. Considerable levies were regularly made among the provincials, who had not yet deserved the honourable distinction of Romans, Many dependant princes and communities, dis|persed round the frontiers, were permitted, for a while, to hold their freedom and security by the

tenure of military service 55 1.73. Even select troops of hostile barbarians were frequently compelled or persuaded to consume their dangerous valour in remote climates, and for the benefit of the state 56 1.74. All these were included under the ge|neral name of auxiliaries; and howsoever they might vary according to the difference of times and circumstances, their numbers were seldom much inferior to those of the legions them|selves 57 1.75. Among the auxiliaries, the bravest and most faithful bands were placed under the com|mand of praefects and centurions, and severely trained in the arts of Roman discipline; but the far greater part retained those arms, to which the nature of their country, or their early habits of life, more peculiarly adapted them. By this in|stitution each legion, to whom a certain propor|tion of auxiliaries was allotted, contained within itself every species of lighter troops, and of mis|sile weapons; and was capable of encountering every nation, with the advantages of its respec|tive arms and discipline 58 1.76. Nor was the legion * 1.77 destitute of what, in modern language, would be styled a train of artillery. It consisted in ten military engines of the largest, and fifty-five of

a smaller size; but all of which, either in an oblique or horizontal manner, discharged stones and darts with irresistible violence 59 1.78.

The camp of a Roman legion presented the * 1.79 appearance of a fortified city 60 1.80. As soon as the space was marked out, the pioneers carefully le|velled the ground, and removed every impedi|ment that might interrupt its perfect regularity. Its form was an exact quadrangle; and we may calculate, that a square of about seven hundred yards was sufficient for the encampment of twen|ty thousand Romans; though a similar number of our own troops would expose to the enemy a front of more than treble that extent. In the midst of the camp, the praetorium, or general's quarters, rose above the others; the cavalry, the infantry, and the auxiliaries occupied their re|spective stations; the streets were broad, and per|fectly straight, and a vacant space of two hundred feet was left on all sides, between the tents and the rampart. The rampart itself was usually twelve feet high, armed with a line of strong and

intricate palisades, and defended by a ditch of twelve feet in depth as well as in breadth. This important labour was performed by the hands of the legionaries themselves; to whom the use of the spade and the pick-axe was no less familiar than that of the sword or pilum. Active valour may often be the present of nature; but such pa|tient diligence can be the fruit only of habit and discipline 61 1.81.

Whenever the trumpet gave the signal of de|parture, * 1.82 the camp was almost instantly broke up, and the troops fell into their ranks without delay or confusion. Besides their arms, which the le|gionaries scarcely considered as an encumbrance, they were laden with their kitchen furniture, the instruments of fortification, and the provision of many days 62 1.83. Under this weight, which would oppress the delicacy of a modern soldier, they were trained by a regular step to advance, in about six hours, near twenty miles 63 1.84. On the appearance of an enemy, they threw aside their baggage, and by easy and rapid evolutions con|verted the column of march into an order of bat|tle 64 1.85. The slingers and archers skirmished in the front; the auxiliaries formed the first line, and were seconded or sustained by the strength of the

legions: the cavalry covered the flanks, and the military engines were placed in the rear.

Such were the arts of war, by which the Ro|man * 1.86 emperors defended their extensive conquests, and preserved a military spirit, at a time when every other virtue was oppressed by luxury and despotism. If, in the consideration of their ar|mies, we pass from their discipline to their num|bers, we shall not find it easy to define them with any tolerable accuracy. We may compute, how|ever, that the legion, which was itself a body of six thousand eight hundred and thirty-one Romans, might, with its attendant auxiliaries, amount to about twelve thousand five hundred men. The peace establishment of Hadrian and his successors was composed of no less than thirty of these for|midable brigades; and most probably formed a standing force of three hundred and seventy-five thousand men. Instead of being confined within the walls of fortified cities, which the Romans considered as the refuge of weakness or pusillani|mity, the legions were encamped on the banks of the great rivers, and along the frontiers of the barbarians. As their stations, for the most part, remained fixed and permanent, we may venture to describe the distribution of the troops. Three legions were sufficient for Britain. The principal strength lay upon the Rhine and Danube, and consisted of sixteen legions, in the following pro|portions: two in the Lower, and three in the Upper Germany; one in Rhaetia, one in Nori|cum, four in Pannonia, three in Maesia, and two in Dacia. The defence of the Euphrates was

entrusted to eight legions, six of whom were planted in Syria, and the other two in Cappa|docia. With regard to Egypt, Africa, and Spain, as they were far removed from any im|portant scene of war, a single legion maintained the domestic tranquillity of each of those great provinces. Even Italy was not left destitute of a military force. Above twenty thousand chosen soldiers, distinguished by the titles of City Co|horts and Praetorian Guards, watched over the safety of the monarch and the capital. As the authors of almost every revolution that distracted the empire, the Praetorians will, very soon, and very loudly, demand our attention; but in their arms and institutions, we cannot find any circum|stance which discriminated them from the legions, unless it were a more splendid appearance, and a less rigid discipline 65 1.87.

The navy maintained by the emperors might seem inadequate to their greatness; but it was * 1.88 fully sufficient for every useful purpose of govern|ment. The ambition of the Romans was con|fined to the land; nor was that warlike people ever actuated by the enterprising spirit which had prompted the navigators of Tyre, of Carthage, and even of Marseilles, to enlarge the bounds of the world, and to explore the most remote coasts of the ocean. To the Romans the ocean remain|ed

an object of terror rather than of curiosity 66 1.89; the whole extent of the Mediterranean, after the destruction of Carthage, and the extirpation of the pirates, was included within their provinces. The policy of the emperors was directed only to preserve the peaceful dominion of that sea, and to protect the commerce of their subjects. With these moderate views, Augustus stationed two permanent fleets in the most convenient ports of Italy, the one at Ravenna, on the Adriatic, the other at Misenum, in the bay of Naples. Ex|perience seems at length to have convinced the ancients, that as soon as their gallies exceeded two, or at the most three ranks of oars, they were suited rather for vain pomp than for real service. Augustus himself, in the victory of Actium, had seen the superiority of his own light frigates (they were called Liburnians) over the lofty but un|wieldy castles of his rival 67 1.90. Of these Libur|nians he composed the two fleets of Ravenna and Misenum, destined to command, the one the eas|tern, the other the western division of the Medi|terranean; and to each of the squadrons he at|tached a body of several thousand marines. Be|sides these two ports, which may be considered as the principal seats of the Roman navy, a very considerable force was stationed at Frejus, on the coast of Provence, and the Euxine was guarded

by forty ships, and three thousand soldiers. To all these we add the fleet which preserved the communication between Gaul and Britain, and a great number of vessels constantly maintained on the Rhine and Danube, to harass the country, or to intercept the passage of the barbarians 68 1.91. If we review this general state of the Imperial forces; of the cavalry as well as infantry; of the legions, the auxiliaries, the guards, and the navy; the most liberal computation will not allow us to fix the entire establishment by sea and by land at more than four hundred and fifty thousand * 1.92 men: a military power, which, however formi|dable it may seem, was equalled by a monarch of the last century, whose kingdom was confined within a single province of the Roman empire 69 1.93.

We have attempted to explain the spirit which * 1.94 moderated, and the strength which supported, the power of Hadrian and the Antonines. We shall now endeavour, with clearness and preci|sion, to describe the provinces once united un|der their sway, but, at present, divided into so many independent and hostile states.

Spain, the western extremity of the empire, * 1.95 of Europe, and of the ancient world, has, in every age, invariably preserved the same natural limits; the Pyrenaean mountains, the Mediter|ranean, and the Atlantic Ocean. That great peninsula, at present so unequally divided be|tween

two sovereigns, was distributed by Au|gustus into three provinces, Lusitania, Baetica, and Tarraconensis. The kingdom of Portugal now fills the place of the warlike country of the Lusitanians; and the loss sustained by the for|mer, on the side of the East, is compensated by an accession of territory towards the North. The confines of Grenada and Andalusia correspond with those of ancient Baetica. The remainder of Spain, Gallicia and the Asturias, Biscay and Navarre, Leon and the two Castilles, Murcia, Valencia, Catalonia, and Arragon, all contri|buted to form the third and most considerable of the Roman governments, which, from the name of its capital, was styled the province of Tar|ragona 70 1.96. Of the native barbarians, the Celti|berians were the most powerful, as the Canta|brians and Asturians proved the most obstinate. Confident in the strength of their mountains, they were the last who submitted to the arms of Rome, and the first who threw off the yoke of the Arabs.

Ancient Gaul, as it contained the whole coun|try * 1.97 between the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Rhine, and the Ocean, was of greater extent than mo|dern France. To the dominions of that power|ful monarchy, with its recent acquisitions of Al|sace and Lorraine, we must add the dutchy of

Savoy, the cantons of Switzerland, the four elec|torates of the Rhine, and the territories of Liege, Luxemburgh, Hainault, Flanders, and Brabant. When Augustus gave laws to the conquests of his father, he introduced a division of Gaul equally adapted to the progress of the legions, to the course of the rivers, and to the principal national distinctions, which had comprehended above an hundred independent states 71 1.98. The sea-coast of the Mediterranean, Languedoc, Pro|vence, and Dauphiné, received their provincial appellation from the colony of Narbonne. The government of Aquitaine was extended from the Pyrenees to the Loire. The country between the Loire and the Seine was styled the Celtic Gaul, and soon borrowed a new denomination from the celebrated colony of Lugdunum, or Lyons. The Belgic lay beyond the Seine, and in more ancient times had been bounded only by the Rhine; but a little before the age of Cae|sar, the Germans, abusing their superiority of valour, had occupied a considerable portion of the Belgic territory. The Roman conquerors very eagerly embraced so flattering a circum|stance, and the Gallic frontier of the Rhine, from Basil to Leyden, received the pompous names of the Upper and the Lower Germany 72 1.99. Such, under the reign of the Antonines, were the six

provinces of Gaul; the Narbonnese, Aquitaine, the Celtic, or Lyonnese, the Belgic, and the two Germanies.

We have already had occasion to mention the * 1.100 conquest of Britain, and to fix the boundary of the Roman province in this island. It compre|hended all England, Wáles, and the Lowlands of Scotland, as far as the Friths of Dunbarton and Edinburgh. Before Britain lost her freedom, the country was irregularly divided between thirty tribes of barbarians, of whom the most consider|able were the Belgae in the West, the Brigantes in the North, the Silures in South Wales, and the Iceni in Norfolk and Suffolk 73 1.101. As far as we can either trace or credit the resemblance of manners and language, Spain, Gaul, and Britain were peopled by the same hardy race of savages. Before they yielded to the Roman arms, they often disputed the field, and often renewed the contest. After their submission they constituted the western division of the European provinces, which extended from the columns of Hercules to the wall of Antoninus, and from the mouth of the Tagus to the sources of the Rhine and Da|nube.

Before the Roman conquest, the country which * 1.102 is now called Lombardy, was not considered as a part of Italy. It had been occupied by a pow|erful colony of Gauls, who settling themselves along the banks of the Po, from Piedmont to Romagna, carried their arms and diffused their name from the Alps to the Apennine. The

Ligurians dwelt on the rocky coast, which now forms the republic of Genoa. Venice was yet unborn; but the territories of that state, which lie to the east of the Adige, were inhabited by the Venetians 74 1.103. The middle part of the pen|insula that now composes the dutchy of Tuscany and the ecclesiastical state, was the ancient seat of the Etruscans and Umbrians; to the former of whom Italy was indebted for the first rudi|ments of civilized life 75 1.104. The Tyber rolled at the foot of the seven hills of Rome, and the country of the Sabines, the Latins, and the Vol|sci, from that river to the frontiers of Naples, was the theatre of her infant victories. On that celebrated ground the first consuls deserved tri|umphs; their successors adorned villas, and their posterity have erected convents 76 1.105. Capua and Campania possessed the immediate territory of Naples; the rest of the kingdom was inhabited by many warlike nations, the Marsi, the Sam|nites, the Apulians, and the Lucanians; and the sea-coasts had been covered by the flourishing colonies of the Greeks. We may remark, that when Augustus divided Italy into eleven regions, the little province of Istria was annexed to that seat of Roman sovereignty 77 1.106.

The European provinces of Rome were pro|tected by the course of the Rhine and the Da|nube. The latter of those mighty streams, * 1.107 which rises at the distance of only thirty miles from the former, flows above thirteen hundred miles, for the most part, to the south-east, col|lects the tribute of sixty navigable rivers, and is, at length, through six mouths, received into the Euxine, which appears scarcely equal to such an accession of waters 78 1.108. The provinces of the Danube soon acquired the general appellation of Illyricum, or the Illyrian frontier 79 1.109, and were esteemed the most warlike of the empire; but they deserve to be more particularly considered under the names of Rhaetia, Noricum, Pannonia, Dalmatia, Dacia, Maesia, Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece.

The province of Rhaetia, which soon extin|guished * 1.110 the name of the Vindelicians, extended from the summit of the Alps to the banks of the Danube; from its source, as far as its conflux with the Inn. The greatest part of the flat country is subject to the elector of Bavaria; the city of Augsburg is protected by the constitution of the German empire; the Grisons are safe in their mountains, and the country of Tirol is ranked among the numerous provinces of the house of Austria.

The wide extent of territory, which is includ|ed between the Inn, the Danube, and the Save; Austria, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, the Lower * 1.111 Hungary and Sclavonia, was known to the an|cients under the names of Noricum and Panno|nia. In their original state of independence, their fierce inhabitants were intimately connect|ed. Under the Roman government they were frequently united, and they still remain the pa|trimony of a single family. They now contain the residence of a German prince, who stiles him|self Emperor of the Romans, and form the cen|ter, as well as strength, of the Austrian power. It may not be improper to observe, that if we except Bohemia, Moravia, the northern skirts of Austria, and a part of Hungary, between the Teyss and the Danube, all the other dominions of the House of Austria were comprised within the limits of the Roman empire.

Dalmatia, to which the name of Illyricum * 1.112 more properly belonged, was a long, but narrow tract, between the Save and the Adriatic. The best part of the sea-coast, which still retains its ancient appellation, is a province of the Vene|tian state, and the seat of the little republic of Ragusa. The inland parts have assumed the Sclavonian names of Croatia and Bosnia; the for|mer obeys an Austrian governor, the latter a Turkish pasha; but the whole country is still in|fested by tribes of barbarians, whose savage in|dependence irregularly marks the doubtful limit of the Christian and Mahometan power 80 1.113.

After the Danube had received the waters of the Teyss and the Save, it acquired, at least, among the Greeks, the name of Ister 81 1.114. It for|merly * 1.115 divided Maesia and Dacia, the latter of which, as we have already seen, was a conquest of Trajan, and the only province beyond the river. If we inquire into the present state of those countries, we shall find that, on the left hand of the Danube, Temeswar and Transylvania have been annexed, after many revolutions, to the crown of Hungary; whilst the principalities of Moldavia and Walachia acknowledge the su|premacy of the Ottoman Porte. On the right hand of the Danube, Maesia, which, during the middle ages, was broken into the barbarian kingdoms of Servia and Bulgaria, is again united in Turkish slavery.

The appellation of Roumelia, which is still * 1.116 bestowed by the Turks on the extensive countries of Thrace, Macedonia, and Greece, preserves the memory of their ancient state under the Roman empire. In the time of the Antonines, the mar|tial regions of Thrace, from the mountains of Haemus and Rhodope, to the Bosphorus and the Hellespont, had assumed the form of a province. Notwithstanding the change of masters and of religion, the new city of Rome, founded by Constantine on the banks of the Bosphorus, has ever since remained the capital of a great mo|narchy. The kingdom of Macedonia, which,

under the reign of Alexander, gave laws to Asia, derived more solid advantages from the policy of the two Philips; and with its dependencies of Epirus and Thessaly, extended from the Aegean to the Ionian sea. When we reflect on the fame of Thebes and Argos, of Sparta and Athens, we can scarcely persuade ourselves, that so many immortal republics of antient Greece were lost in a single province of the Roman empire, which, from the superior influence of the Achaean league, was usually denominated the province of Achaia.

Such was the state of Europe under the Roman * 1.117 emperors. The provinces of Asia, without ex|cepting the transient conquests of Trajan, are all comprehended within the limits of the Turkish power. But, instead of following the arbitrary divisions of despotism and ignorance, it will be safer for us, as well as more agreeable, to observe the indelible characters of nature. The name of Asia Minor is attributed with some propriety to the peninsula, which, confined between the Eux|ine and the Mediterranean, advances from the Euphrates towards Europe. The most extensive and flourishing district, westward of mount Tau|rus and the river Halys, was dignified by the Romans with the exclusive title of Asia. The jurisdiction of that province extended over the ancient monarchies of Troy, Lydia, and Phrygia, the maritime countries of the Pamphylians, Ly|cians, and Carians, and the Grecian colonies of Ionia, which equalled in arts, though not in arms, the glory of their parent. The kingdoms of Bithynia and Pontus possessed the northern side

of the peninsula from Constantinople to Trebi|zond. On the opposite side, the province of Cilicia was terminated by the mountains of Syria: the inland country, separated from the Roman Asia by the river Halys, and from Armenia by the Euphrates, had once formed the independent kingdom of Cappadocia. In this place we may observe, that the northern shores of the Euxine, beyond Trebizond in Asia, and beyond the Da|nube in Europe, acknowledged the sovereignty of the emperors, and received at their hands, either tributary princes or Roman garrisons. Budzak, Crim Tartary, Circassia, and Mingrelia, are the modern appellations of those savage coun|tries 82 1.118.

Under the successors of Alexander, Syria was * 1.119 the seat of the Seleucidae, who reigned over Up|per Asia, till the successful revolt of the Par|thians confined their dominions between the Euphrates and the Mediterranean. When Syria became subject to the Romans, it formed the eastern frontier of their empire; nor did that province, in its utmost latitude, know any other bounds than the mountains of Cappadocia to the north, and towards the south, the confines of Egypt, and the Red Sea. Phoenicia and Pales|tine were sometimes annexed to, and sometimes separated from, the jurisdiction of Syria. The former of these was a narrow and rocky coast; the latter was a territory scarcely superior to

Wales, either in fertility or extent. Yet Phoe|nicia and Palestine will for ever live in the me|mory of mankind; since America, as well as Europe, has received letters from the one, and religion from the other 83 1.120. A sandy desert alike destitute of wood and water skirts along the doubtful confine of Syria, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. The wandering life of the Arabs was inseparably connected with their independ|ence; and wherever, on some spots less barren than the rest, they ventured to form any settled habitations, they soon became subjects to the Roman empire 84 1.121.

The geographers of antiquity have frequently * 1.122 hesitated to what portion of the globe they should ascribe Egypt 85 1.123. By its situation that celebrated kingdom is included within the immense pen|insula of Africa; but it is accessible only on the side of Asia, whose revolutions, in almost every period of history, Egypt has humbly obeyed. A Roman praefect was seated on the splendid throne of the Ptolemies; and the iron sceptre of the

Mamalukes is now in the hands of a Turkish pasha. The Nile flows down the country, above five hundred miles from the tropic of Cancer to the Mediterranean, and marks, on either side, the extent of fertility by the measure of its inunda|tions, Cyrene, situate towards the west, and along the sea-coast, was first a Greek colony, afterwards a province of Egypt, and is now lost in the desert of Barca.

From Cyrene to the ocean, the coast of Africa * 1.124 extends above fifteen hundred miles; yet so closely is it pressed between the Mediterranean and the Sahara, or sandy desert, that its breadth seldom exceeds fourscore or an hundred miles. The eastern division was considered by the Ro|mans as the more peculiar and proper province of Africa. Till the arrival of the Phoenician colonies, that fertile country was inhabited by the Libyans, the most savage of mankind. Un|der the immediate jurisdiction of Carthage, it became the center of commerce and empire; but the republic of Carthage is now degenerated into the feeble and disorderly states of Tripoli and Tunis. The military government of Algiers oppresses the wide extent of Numidia, as it was once united under Massinissa and Jugurtha: but in the time of Augustus, the limits of Numidia were contracted; and, at least, two thirds of the country acquiesced in the name of Mauritania, with the epithet of Caesariensis. The genu|ine Mauritania, or country of the Moors, which, from the ancient city of Tingi, or Tan|gier,

was distinguished by the appellation of Tingitana, is represented by the modern king|dom of Fez. Sallè, on the Ocean, so infamous at present for its piratical depredations, was no|ticed by the Romans, as the extreme object of their power, and almost of their geography. A city of their foundation may still be discovered near Mequinez, the residence of the barbarian whom we condescend to style the Emperor of Morocco; but it does not appear, that his more southern dominions, Morocco itself, and Segel|messa, were ever comprehended within the Ro|man province. The western parts of Africa are intersected by the branches of mount Atlas, a name so idly celebrated by the fancy of poets 86 1.125; but which is now diffused over the immense ocean that rolls between the ancient and the new continent 87 1.126.

Having now finished the circuit of the Roman empire, we may observe, that Africa is divided * 1.127 from Spain by a narrow strait of about twelve miles, through which the Atlantic flows into the Mediterranean. The columns of Hercules, so famous among the ancients, were two mountains

which seemed to have been torn asunder by some convulsion of the elements; and at the foot of the European mountain, the fortress of Gibral|tar is now seated. The whole extent of the Me|diterranean Sea, its coasts, and its islands, were comprised within the Roman dominion. Of the larger islands, the two Baleares, which derive their name of Majorca and Minorca from their respective size, are subject at present, the former to Spain, the latter to Great Britain. It is easier to deplore the fate, than to describe the actual condition of Corsica. Two Italian sovereigns assume a regal title from Sardinia and Sicily. Crete, or Candia, with Cyprus, and most of the smaller islands of Greece and Asia, have been subdued by the Turkish arms; whilst the little rock of Malta defies their power, and has emerg|ed, under the government of its military Order, into fame and opulence.

This long enumeration of provinces, whose * 1.128 broken fragments have formed so many power|ful kingdoms, might almost induce us to forgive the vanity or ignorance of the ancients. Daz|zled with the extensive sway, the irresistible strength, and the real or affected moderation of the emperors, they permitted themselves to des|pise, and sometimes to forget, the outlying coun|tries which had been left in the enjoyment of a barbarous independence; and they gradually usurped the licence of confounding the Roman monarchy with the globe of the earth 88 1.129 But the

temper, as well as knowledge, of a modern historian, require a more sober and accurate language. He may impress a juster image of the greatness of Rome, by observing that the em|pire was above two thousand miles in breadth, from the wall of Antoninus and the northern limits of Dacia, to mount Atlas and the tropic of Cancer; that it extended, in length, more than three thousand miles from the Western Ocean to the Euphrates; that it was situated in the finest part of the Temperate Zone, between the twenty|fourth and fifty-sixth degrees of northern lati|tude; and that it was supposed to contain above sixteen hundred thousand square miles, for the most part of fertile and well cultivated land 89 1.130.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Introduc|tion.
• * 1.2

  A. D. 98,—180.
• * 1.3

  Modera|tion of Augustus.
• 1 1.4

  Dion Cassius (l. liv. p. 736.), with the annotations of Reymar, who has collected all that Roman vanity has left upon the subject. The marble of Ancyra, on which Augustus recorded his own ex|ploits, asserts that he compelled the Parthians to restore the ensigns of Crassus.
• 2 1.5

  Strabo (l. xvi. p. 780.), Pliny the elder (Hist. Natur. l. vi. c. 32. 35.), and Dion. Cassius (l. liii. p. 723. and l. liv. p. 734.), have left us very curious details concerning these wars. The Ro|mans made themselves masters of Mariaba, or Merab, a city of Ara|bia Felix, well known to the Orientals (see Abulfeda and the Nu|bian geography, p. 52.). They were arrived within three days jour|ney of the Spice country, the rich object of their invasion.
• 3 1.6

  By the slaughter of Varus and his three legions. See the first book of the Annals of Tacitus. Sueton. in August. c. 23. and Velleius Paterculus, l. ii. c. 117, &c. Augustus did not receive the melancholy news with all the temper and firmness that might have been expected from his character.
• 4 1.7

  Tacit. Annal. l. ii. Dion Cassius, l. lvi. p. 833. and the speech of Augustus himself, in Julian's Caesars. It receives great light from the learned notes of his French translator, M. Spanheim.
• * 1.8

  Imitated by his suc|cessors.
• 5 1.9

  Germanicus, Suetonius Paulinus, and Agricola, were checked and recalled in the course of their victories. Corbulo was put to death. Military merit, as it is admirably expressed by Tacitus, was, in the strictest sense of the word, imperatoria virtus.
• * 1.10

  Conquest of Britain was the first excep|tion to it.
• 6 1.11

  Caesar himself conceals that ignoble motive; but it is mentioned by Suetonius, c 47. The British pearls proved, however, of little value, on account of their dark and livid colour. Tacitus observes, with reason (in Agricola, c. 12.), that it was an inherent defect.

  Ego facilius crediderim, naturam margaritis deesse quam nobis avaritiam.
• 7 1.12

  Claudius, Nero, and Domitian. A hope is expressed by Pom|ponius Mela, l. iii. c. 6. (he wrote under Claudius) that, by the success of the Roman arms, the island and its savage inhabitants would soon be better known. It is amusing enough to peruse such passages in the midst of London.
• 8 1.13

  See the admirable abridgment given by Tacitus, in the life of Agricola, and copiously, though perhaps not completely, illustrated by our own antiquarians, Camden and Horsley.
• 9 1.14

  The Irish writers, jealous of their national honour, are extreme|ly provoked on this occasion, both with Tacitus and with Agricola.
• 10 1.15

  See Horsley's Britannia Romana, l. i. c. 10.
• 11 1.16

  The poet Buchanan celebrates, with elegance and spirit (see his Sylvae v.), the unviolated independence of his native country. But, if the single testimony of Richard of Cirencester was sufficient to create a Roman province of Vespasiana to the north of the wall, that independence would be reduced within very narrow limits.
• 12 1.17

  See Appian (in Proaem.) and the uniform imagery of Ossian's Poems, which, according to every hypothesis, were composed by a native Caledonian.
• * 1.18

  Conquest of Dacia; the second exception.
• 13 1.19

  See Pliny's Panegyric, which seems founded on facts.
• 14 1.20

  Dion Cassius, l. lxvii.
• 15 1.21

  Herodotus, l. iv. c. 94. Julian in the Caesars, with Span|heim's observations.
• 16 1.22

  Plin. Epist. viii. 9.
• 17 1.23

  Dion Cassius, l. lxviii. p. 1123. 1131. Julian in Caesaribus. Eutropius, viii. 2. 6. Aurelius Victor in Epitome.
• 18 1.24

  See a Memoir of M. d'Anville, on the Province of Dacia, in the Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxviii. p. 444—468.
• * 1.25

  Conquests of Trajan in the east,
• 19 1.26

  Trajan's sentiments are represented in a very just and lively manner in the Caesars of Julian.
• 20 1.27

  Eutropius and Sextus Rufus have endeavoured to perpetuate the illusion. See a very sensible dissertation of M. Freret in the Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxi. p. 55.
• 21 1.28

  Dion Cassius, l. lxviii; and the Abbreviators.
• * 1.29

  Resigned by his suc|cessor A|drian.
• 22 1.30

  Ovid. Fast. l. ii. ver. 667. See Livy, and Dionysius of Hali|carnassus, under the reign of Tarquin.
• 23 1.31

  St. Augustin is highly delighted with the proof of the weakness of Terminus, and the vanity of the Augurs. See De Civitate Dei, iv. 29.
• 24 1.32

  See the Augustan History, p. 5. Jerome's Chronicle, and all the Epitomisers. It is somewhat surprising, that this memorable event should be omitted by Dion, or rather by Xiphilin.
• * 1.33

  Contrast of Hadrian and Anto|ninus Pi|us.
• 25 1.34

  Dion, l. lxix. p. 1158. Hist. August. p. 5. 8. If all our histo|rians were lost, medals, inscriptions, and other monuments, would be sufficient to record the travels of Hadrian.
• 26 1.35

  See the Augustan History and the Epitomes.
• * 1.36

  Pacific sys|tem of Hadrian and the two Anto|nines.
• 27 1.37

  We must, however, remember, that, in the time of Hadrian, a rebellion of the Jews raged with religious fury, though only in a single province: Pausanias (l. viii. c. 43.) mentions two necessary and successful wars, conducted by the generals of Pius. 1st, A|gainst the wandering Moors, who were driven into the solitudes of Atlas. 2d, Against the Brigantes of Britain, who had invaded the Roman province. Both these wars (with several other hostilities) are mentioned in the Augustan History, p. 19.
• 28 1.38

  Appian of Alexandria, in the preface to his History of the Roman wars.
• * 1.39

  Defensive wars of Marcus Antoni|nus.
• 29 1.40

  Dion, l. lxxi. Hist. August. in Marco. The Parthian vic|tories gave birth to a crowd of contemptible historians, whose me|mory has been rescued from oblivion, and exposed to ridicule, in a very lively piece of criticism of Lucian.
• * 1.41

  Military establish|ment of the Roman emperors.
• 30 1.42

  The poorest rank of soldiers possessed above forty pounds sterling (Dionys. Halicarn. iv. 17.), a very high qualification, at a time when money was so scarce, that an ounce of silver was equi|valent to seventy pound weight of brass. The populace, excluded by the ancient constitution, were indiscriminately admitted by Ma|rius. See Sallust. de Bell. Jugurth. c. 91.
• 31 1.43

  Caesar formed his legion Alauda, of Gauls and strangers: but it was during the licence of civil war; and after the victory, he gave them the freedom of the city for their reward.
• 32 1.44

  See Vegetius de Re Militari, l. i. c. 2—7.
• * 1.45

  Discipline.
• 33 1.46

  The oath of service and fidelity to the emperor, was annually renewed by the troops, on the first of January.
• 34 1.47

  Tacitus calls the Roman Eagles, Bellorum Deos. They were placed in a chapel in the camp, and with the other deities received the religious worship of the troops.
• 35 1.48

  See Gronovius de Pecunia vetere, l. iii. p. 120, &c. The em|peror Domitian raised the annual stipend of the legionaries to twelve pieces of gold, which, in his time, was equivalent to about ten of our guineas. This pay, somewhat higher than our own, had been, and was afterwards, gradually increased, according to the progress of wealth and military government. After twenty years service, the veteran received three thousand denarii (about one hundred pounds sterling), or a proportionable allowance of land. The pay and advantages of the guards were, in general, about double those of the legions.
• * 1.49

  Exercises.
• 36 1.50

  Exercitus ab exercitando, Varro de Linguâ Latinâ, l. iv. Cicero in Tusculan. l. ii. 37. There is room for a very interesting work, which should lay open the connexion between the languages and manners of nations.
• 37 1.51

  Vegetius, l. ii. and the rest of his first book.
• 38 1.52

  The Pyrrhic Dance is extremely well illustrated by M. le Beau, in the Academic des Inscriptions, tom. xxxv. p. 262, &c. That learned academician, in a series of memoirs, has collected all the passages of the ancients that relate to the Roman legion.
• 39 1.53

  Joseph. de Bell. Judaico, l. iii. c. 5. We are indebted to this Jew for some very curious details of Roman discipline.
• 40 1.54

  Plin. Panegyr. c. 13. Life of Hadrian, in the Augustan His|tory.
• * 1.55

  The legi|ons under the empe|rors.
• 41 1.56

  See an admirable digression on the Roman discipline, in the sixth book of his history.
• 42 1.57

  Vegetius de Re Militari, l. ii. c. 4, &c. Considerable part of his very perplexed abridgment was taken from the regulations of Trajan and Hadrian; and the legion, as he describes it, cannot suit any other age of the Roman empire.
• 43 1.58

  Vegetius de Re Militari, l. ii. c. 1. In the purer age of Cae|sar and Cicero, the word miles was almost confined to the infantry. Under the lower empire, and in the times of chivalry, it was appro|priated almost as exclusively to the men at arms, who fought on horseback.
• * 1.59

  Arms.
• 44 1.60

  In the time of Polybius and Dionysius of Halicarnassus (l. v. c. 45.), the steel point of the pilum seems to have been much longer. In the time of Vegetius, it was reduced to a foot, or even nine inches. I have chosen a medium.
• 45 1.61

  For the legionary arms, see Lipsius de Militiâ Romanâ, l. iii. c. 2—7.
• 46 1.62

  See the beautiful comparison of Virgil, Georgic. ii. v. 279.
• 47 1.63

  M. Guichard, Memoires Militaires, tom. i. c. 4. and Nou|veaux Memoires, tom. i. p. 293—311, has treated the subject like a scholar and an officer.
• 48 1.64

  See Arrian's Tactics. With the true partiality of a Greek, Arrian rather chose to describe the phalanx, of which he had read, than the legions which he had commanded.
• 49 1.65

  Polyb. l. xvii.
• * 1.66

  Cavalry.
• 50 1.67

  Veget. de Re Militari, l. ii. c. 6. His positive testimony, which might be supported by circumstantial evidence, ought surely to silence those critics who refuse the Imperial legion its proper body of cavalry.
• 51 1.68

  See Livy almost throughout, particularly xlii. 61.
• 52 1.69

  Plin. Hist. Natur. xxxiii. 2. The true sense of that very cu|rious passage was first discovered and illustrated by M. de Beaufort, Republique Romaine, l. ii. c. 2.
• 53 1.70

  As in the instance of Horace and Agricola. This appears to have been a defect in the Roman discipline; which Hadrian endea|voured to remedy, by ascertaining the legal age of a tribune.
• 54 1.71

  See Arrian's Tactics.
• * 1.72

  Auxilia|ries.
• 55 1.73

  Such, in particular, was the state of the Batavians. Tacit. Germania, c. 29.
• 56 1.74

  Marcus Antoninus obliged the vanquished Quadi and Marco|manni to supply him with a large body of troops, which he imme|diately sent into Britain. Dion Cassius, l. lxxi.
• 57 1.75

  Tacit. Annal. iv. 5. Those who fix a regular proportion of as many foot, and twice as many horse, confound the auxiliaries of the emperors, with the Italian allies of the republic.
• 58 1.76

  Vegetius, ii. 2. Arrian, in his order of march and battle against the Alani.
• * 1.77

  Artillery.
• 59 1.78

  The subject of the ancient machines is treated with great know|ledge and ingenuity by the Chevalier Folard (Polybe, tom. ii. p. 233—290.) He prefers them in many respects to our modern cannon and mortars. We may observe, that the use of them in the field gradually became more prevalent, in proportion as personal valour and military skill declined with the Roman empire. When men were no longer found, their place was supplied by machines. See Vegetius, ii. 25. Arrian.
• * 1.79

  Encamp|ment.
• 60 1.80

  Vegetius finishes his second book, and the description of the legion, with the following emphatic words:

  Universa quae in quoque belli genere necessaria esse creduntur, secum legio debet ubique portare, ut in quovis loco fixerit castra, armatam faciat civitatem.
• 61 1.81

  For the Roman Castremetation, see Polybius, l. vi. with Lip|sius de Militia Romana, Joseph. de Bell. Jud. l. iii. c. 5. Vegetius, i. 21—25. iii. 9. and Memoires de Guichard, tom. i. c. 1.
• * 1.82

  March.
• 62 1.83

  Cicero in Tusculan. ii. 37.—Joseph. de Bell. Jud. l. iii. 5. Frontinus, iv. 1.
• 63 1.84

  Vegetius, i. 9. See Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xxv. p. 187.
• 64 1.85

  See those evolutions admirably well explained by M. Guich|ard, Nouveaux Memoires, tom. i. p. 141—234.
• * 1.86

  Number and dis|position of the legi|ons.
• 65 1.87

  Tacitus (Annal. iv. 5.) has given us a state of the legions under Tiberius: and Dion Cassius (l. lv. p. 794.) under Alexander Severus. I have endeavoured to fix on the proper medium between these two periods. See likewise Lipsius de Magnitudine Romanâ, l. i. c. 4, 5.
• * 1.88

  Navy.
• 66 1.89

  The Romans tried to disguise, by the pretence of religious awe, their ignorance and terror. See Tacit. Germania, c. 34.
• 67 1.90

  Plutarch. in Marc. Anton. And yet, if we may credit Oro|sius, these monstrous castles were no more than ten feet above the water, vi. 19.
• 68 1.91

  See Lipsius, de Magnitud. Rom. l. i. c. 5. The sixteen last chapters of Vegetius relate to naval affairs.
• * 1.92

  Amount of the whole esta|blishment.
• 69 1.93

  Voltaire, Siecle de Louis XIV. c. 29. It must, however, be remembered, that France still feels that extraordinary effort.
• * 1.94

  View of the pro|vinces of the Ro|man em|pire.
• * 1.95

  Spain.
• 70 1.96

  See Strabo, l. ii. It is natural enough to suppose, that Arra|gon is derived from Tarraconensis, and several moderns who have written in Latin, use those words as synonymous. It is however certain, that the Arragon, a little stream which falls from the Py|renees into the Ebro, first gave its name to a country, and gradually to a kingdom. See d'Anville, Geographie du Moyen Age, p. 181.
• * 1.97

  Gaul.
• 71 1.98

  One hundred and fifteen cities appear in the Notitia of Gaul; and it is well known that this appellation was applied not only to the capital town, but to the whole territory of each state. But Plu|tarch and Appian increase the number of tribes to three or four hun|dred.
• 72 1.99

  D'Anville. Notice de l'Ancienne Gaule.
• * 1.100

  Britain.
• 73 1.101

  Whitaker's History of Manchester, vol. i. c. 3.
• * 1.102

  Italy.
• 74 1.103

  The Italian Veneti, though often confounded with the Gauls, were more probably of Illyrian origin. See M. Freret, Memoires de l'Academie des Inscriptions, tom. xviii.
• 75 1.104

  See Maffei Verona illustrata, l. i.
• 76 1.105

  The first contrast was observed by the ancients. See Florus, i. 11. The second must strike every modern traveller.
• 77 1.106

  Pliny (Hist. Natur. l. iii.) follows the division of Italy, by Augustus.
• * 1.107

  The Da|nube and Illyrian frontier.
• 78 1.108

  Tournefort, Voyages en Grèce et Asie Mineure, lettre xviii.
• 79 1.109

  The name of Illyricum originally belonged to the sea-coast of the Hadriatic, and was gradually extended by the Romans from the Alps to the Euxine Sea. See Severini Pannonia, l. i. c. 3.
• * 1.110

  Rhaetia.
• * 1.111

  Noricum and Pan|nonia.
• * 1.112

  Dalmatia.
• 80 1.113

  A Venetian traveller, the Abbate Fortis, has lately given us some account of those very obscure countries. But the geography and anti|quities of the western Illyricum can be expected only from the muni|ficence of the emperor, its sovereign.
• 81 1.114

  The Save rises near the confines of Istria, and was considered by the more early Greeks as the principal stream of the Danube.
• * 1.115

  Maesia and Dacia.
• * 1.116

  Thrace, Macedo|nia, and Greece.
• * 1.117

  Asia Mi|nor.
• 82 1.118

  See the Periplus of Arrian. He examined the coasts of the Euxine, when he was governor of Cappadocia.
• * 1.119

  Syria, Phoenicia, and Pales|tine.
• 83 1.120

  The progress of religion is well known. The use of letters was introduced among the savages of Europe about fifteen hundred years before Christ; and the Europeans carried them to America, about fifteen centuries after the Christian aera. But in a period of three thousand years, the Phoenician alphabet received considerable alterations, as it passed through the hands of the Greeks and Ro|mans.
• 84 1.121

  Dion Cassius, lib. lxviii. p. 1131.
• * 1.122

  Egypt.
• 85 1.123

  Ptolemy and Strabo, with the modern geographers, fix the Isth|mus of Suez as the boundary of Asia and Africa. Dionysius, Mela, Pliny, Sallust, Hirtius and Solinus, have preferred for that purpose the western branch of the Nile, or even the great Catabathmus, or de|scent, which last would assign to Asia, not only Egypt, but part of Libya.
• * 1.124

  Africa.
• 86 1.125

  The long range, moderate height, and gentle declivity of mount Atlas (See Shaw's Travels, p. 5.) are very unlike a solitary mountain which rears its head into the clouds, and seems to support the heavens. The peak of Teneriff, on the contrary, rises a league and a half above the surface of the sea, and as it was frequently vi|sited by the Phoenicians, might engage the notice of the Greek poets. See Buffon, Histoire Naturelle, tom. i. p. 312. Histoire des Voy|ages, tom. ii.
• 87 1.126

  M. de Voltaire, tom. xiv. p. 297. unsupported by either fact or probability, has generously bestowed the Canary Islands on the Roman empire.
• * 1.127

  The Me|diterrane|an with its islands.
• * 1.128

  General idea of the Roman empire.
• 88 1.129

  Bergier, Hist. des Grands Chemins, l. iii. c. 1, 2, 3, 4. a very useful collection.
• 89 1.130

  See Templeman's Survey of the Globe: but I distrust both the doctor's learning and his maps.