III. his dominions, would easily obtain, in a happier c H A P. climate a secure refuge, a new fortune adequate to his merit, the freedom of complaint, and perhaps the means of revenge. But the empire of the Romans filled the world, and when that empire fell into the hands of a single person, the world became a safe and dreary prison for his enemies. The slave of Imperial despotism, whether he was condemned to drag his gilded chain in Rome and the senate, or to wear out a life of exile on the barren rock of Seriphus, or the frozen banks of the Danube, expected his fate in silent despair *. To resist was fatal, and it was impossible to fly. On every side he was encompassed with a vast extent of sea and land, which he could never hope to traverse without being discovered, seized, and restored to his irritated master. Beyond the frontiers, his anxious view could discover nothing, except the ocean, inhospitable deserts, hostile tribes of barbarians, of fierce manners and unknown language, or dependent kings, who would gladly purchase the emperor's protection by the sacrifice of an obnoxious fugitive †. "Wherever you are," said *Seriphus was a small rocky island in the Ægean Sea, the inhabitants of which were despised for their ignorance and obscurity. The place of Cvid's exile is well known, by his just, but unmanly lamentations. It should seem, that he only received an order to leave Rome in so many days, and to transport himself to Tomi. Guards and gaolers were unnecessary. ✦ Under Tiberius, a Roman knight attempted to fly to the Parthians. He was stopt in the Streights of Sicily; but so little danger CHAP. Cicero to the exiled Marcellus, "remember that III. 66 you are equally within the power of the con66 queror *. danger did there appear in the example, that the most jealous of * Cicero ad Familiares, iv. 7. CHA P. IV. The Cruelty, Follies, and Murder of Commodus.- THE HE mildness of Marcus, which the rigid C H a p. discipline of the Stoics was unable to era- IV. dicate, formed, at the same time, the most amiIndulgence able, and the only defective, part of his charac- of Marcus, ter. His excellent understanding was often deceived by the unsuspecting goodness of his heart. Artful men, who study the passions of princes, and conceal their own, approached his person in the disguise of philosophic sanctity, and acquired riches and honours by affecting to despise them*. His excessive indulgence to his brother, his wife, and his son, exceeded the bounds of private virtue, and became a public injury, by the example and consequences of their vices. Faustina; Faustina, the daughter of Pius and the wife to his wife. of Marcus, had been as much celebrated for her gallantries as for her beauty. The grave simplicity of the philosopher was ill calculated to engage ber wanton levity, or to fix that unbounded passion for variety, which often discoyered personal merit in the meanest of mankind. K 4 * See the complaints of Avidius Cassius, Hist. August. p. 43. These are, it is true, the complaints of faction; but even faction exaggerates, rather than invents. IV. CHA P. kind *. The Cupid of the ancients was, in general, a very sensual deity; and the amours of an empress, as they exacted on her side the plainest advances, are seldom susceptible of much sentimental delicacy. Marcus was the only man in the empire who seemed ignorant or insensible of the irregularities of Faustina; which, according to the prejudices of every age, reflected some disgrace on the injured husband. He promoted several of her lovers to posts of honour and profit †, and during a connection of thirty years, invariably gave her proofs of the most tender confidence, and of a respect which ended not with her life. In his Meditations, he thanks the gods, who had bestowed on him a wife, so faithful, so gentle, and of such a wonderful simplicity of manners. The obsequious senate, at his earnest request, declared her a goddess. She was represented in her temples, with the attributes of Juno, Venus, and Ceres; and it was decreed, that, on the day of their nuptials, the youth of either sex should pay their vows before the altar of their chaste patroness §. The *Faustinam satis constat apud Cayetam, conditiones sibi et nauticas et gladiatorias, elegisse. Hist. August. p. 30. Lampridius explains the sort of merit which Faustina chose, and the conditions which she exacted. Hist. August. p. 102. Meditat. 1. i. The world has laughed at the credulity of Marcus; but Madam Dacier assures us (and we may credit a lady,) that the husband will always be deceived, if the wife condescends to dissemble. § Dion Cassius, 1. lxxi. p. 1195. Hist. August. p. 33. Commentaire de Spanheim sur les Cesars de Julien, p. 289. The deification of Faustina is the only defect which Julian's criticism is able to discover in the all-accomplished character of Marcus. Commo The monstrous vices of the son have cast a CHA P. shade on the purity of the father's virtues. It IV. has been objected to Marcus, that he sacrificed the happiness of millions to a fond partiality for to his son a worthless boy; and that he chose a successor dus. in his own family, rather than in the republic. Nothing, however, was neglected by the anxious father, and by the men of virtue and learning whom he summoned to his assistance, to expand the narrow mind of young Commodus, to correct his growing vices, and to render him worthy of the throne, for which he was designed. But the power of instruction is seldom of much efficacy, except in those happy dispositions where it is almost superfluous. The distasteful lesson. of a grave philosopher was, in a moment, obliterated by the whisper of a profligate favourite; and Marcus himself blasted the fruits of this laboured education, by admitting his son, at the age of fourteen or fifteen, to a full participation of the Imperial power. He lived but four years afterwards; but he lived long enough to repent a rash measure, which raised the impetuous youth above the restraint of reason and authority. of the em modus. Most of the crimes which disturb the internal Accession peace of society, are produced by the restraints peror Comwhich the necessary, but unequal laws of property have imposed on the appetites of mankind, by confining to a few the possession of those objects that are coveted by many. Of all our passions and appetites, the love of power is of the most imperious and unsociable nature, since the pride of one man requires the submission of the |