III. CHAP. volved the whole empire in his ruin. In the space of eighteen months, four princes perished by the sword; and the Roman world was shaken by the fury of the contending armies. Excepting only this short, though violent, eruption of military licence, the two centuries from Augustus to Commodus passed away unstained with civil blood, and undisturbed by revolutions. The emperor was elected by the authority of the senate, and the consent of the soldiers *. The legions respected their oath of fidelity; and it requires a minute inspection of the Roman annals, to discover three inconsiderable rebellions, which were all suppressed in a few months, and without even the hazard of a battle †. Designation of a successor. In elective monarchies, the vacancy of the throne is a moment big with danger and mischief. The Roman emperors, desirous to spare the legions that interval of suspense, and the temptation of an irregular choice, invested their designed successor with so large a share of present power, as should enable him, after their decease to assume the remainder, without suffering the empire to perceive the change of masters. Thus Augustus, * These words seem to have been the constitutional language, See Tacit. Annal. xiii. 4. The first was Camillus Scribonianus, who took up arms in Dalmatia against Claudius, and was deserted by his own troops in five days. The second, L. Antonius, in Germany, who rebelled against Domitian; and "the third, Avidius Cassius, in the reign of M. Antoninus. The two last reigned but a few months, and were cut off by their own adherents. We may observe, that both Camillus and Cassius coloured their ambition with the design of restoring the republic; a task, said Cassius, peculiarly reserved for his name and family, III. Of Tibe Augustus, after all his fairer prospects had been chap. snatched from him by untimely deaths, rested his last hopes on Tiberius, obtained for his adopted son the censorial and tribunitian powers, rine. and dictated a law, by which the future prince was invested with an authority equal to his own, over the provinces and the armies *. Thus Ves Of Titus. pasian subdued the generous mind of his eldest son. Titus was adored by the eastern legions, which, under his command, had recently atchieved the conquest of Judæa. His power was dreaded, and, as his virtues were clouded by the intemperance of youth, his designs were suspected. Instead of listening to such unworthy suspicions, the prudent monarch associated Titus to the full powers of the Imperial dignity; and the grateful son ever approved himself the humble and faithful minister of so indulgent a father t. of the Ca. sars and family. The good sense of Vespasian engaged him in- The race deed to embrace every measure that might confirm his recent and precarious elevation. The the Flavian military oath, and the fidelity of the troops, had been consecrated, by the habits of an hundred years, to the name and family of the Cæsars: and although that family had been continued only by the fictitious rite of adoption, the Romans still revered, in the person of Nero, the grandson of Germanicus, and the lineal successor of Augustus. It was not without reluctance and remorse, that the Prætorian guards had been * Velleius Paterculus, 1. ii. c. 121. Sueton. in Tiber. c. 20. + Sueton. in Tit. c. 6. Plin, in Præfat. Hist. Natur. CHA P. persuaded to abandon the cause of the tyrant *. III. A. D. 96. and charac The rapid downfal of Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, taught the armies to consider the emperors as the creatures of their will, and the instruments of their licence. The birth of Vespasian was mean; his grandfather had been a private soldier, his father a petty officer of the revenue †; his own merit had raised him, in an advanced age, to the empire; but his merit was rather useful than shining, and his virtues were disgraced by a strict and even sordid parsimony. Such a prince consulted his true interest by the association of a son, whose more splendid and amiable character might turn the public attention, from the obscure origin, to the future glories, of the Flavian house. Under the mild administration of Titus, the Roman world enjoyed a transient felicity, and his beloved memory served to protect, above fifteen years, the vices of his brother Domitian. Nerva had scarcely accepted the purple from Adoption the assasins of Domitian, before he discovered ter of Tra- that his feeble age was unable to stem the torjan. rent of public disorders, which had multiplied under the long tyranny of his predecessor. His mild disposition was respected by the good; but the degenerate Romans required a more vigorous character, whose justice should strike terror into the guilty. Though he had several relations, he fixed * This idea is frequently and strongly inculcated by Tacitus. See Hist. i. 5. 16. ii. 76. The emperor Vespasian, with his usual good sense, laughed at the Genealogists, who deduced his family from Flavius the founder of Reate, (his native country,) and one of the companions of Hercules. Suet. in Vespasian. c. 12. III. fixed his choice on a stranger. He adopted Tra- c í A P. jan, then about forty years of of age, and who contmanded a powerful army in the Lower Germany; and immediately, by a degree of the Senate, clared him his colleague and successor in the empire *. It is sincerely to be lamented, that A. D. 98. whilst we are fatigued with the disgustful relation of Nero's crimes and follies, we are reduced to collect the actions of Trajan from the glimmerings of an abridgement, or the doubtful light of a panegyric. There remains, however, one panegyric far removed beyond the suspicion of flattery. Above two hundred and fifty years after the death of Trajan, the senate, in pouring out the customary acclamations on the accession of a new emperor, wished that he might surpass the felicity of Augustus, and the virtue of Trajan t. We may readily believe, that the father of his country hesitated whether he ought to intrust the various and doubtful character of his kinsman Hadrian with sovereign power. In his last moments, the arts of the empress Plotina either fixed the irresolution of Trajan, or boldly supposed a fictitious adoption ; the truth of which could not be safely disputed, and Hadrian was peacePRICE 01 * Dion, 1. lxviii. p. 1121. Plin. Secund. in Panegyric. + Felicior Augusto, MELIOR TRAJANO. Eutrop. viii. 5. fiction, on the authority of his father, wh the province where Trajan died, had III. CHA P. peaceably acknowledged as his lawful successor. Under his reign, as has been already mentioned, the empire flourished in peace and prosperity. He encouraged the arts, reformed the laws, ~asserted military discipline, and visited all his provinces in person. His vast and active genius was equally suited to the most enlarged views, and the minute details of civil policy. But the ruling passions of his soul were curiosity and vanity. As they prevailed, and as they were attracted by different objects, Hadrian was, by turns, an excellent prince, a ridiculous sophist, and a jealous tyrant. The general tenor of his conduct deserved praise for its equity and moderation. Yet in the first days of his reign, he put to death four consular senators, his personal enemies, and men who had been judged worthy of empire; and the tediousness of a painful illness rendered him, at last, peevish and cruel. The senate doubted whether they should pronounce him a god or a tyrant; and the honours decreed to his memory were granted to the prayers of the pious Antoninus *. Adoption and young er Verus. The caprice of Hadrian influenced his choice of the elder of a successor. After revolving in his mind several men of distinguished merit, whom he esteemed and hated, he adopted Ælius Verus, a gay and voluptuous nobleman, recommended by uncommon beauty to the lover of Antinous+. But Dion (lxx.. p. 1171.) Aurel. Victor. The deification of Antinous, his medals, statues, temples, city, oracles, and constellation, are well known, and still dishonour |