Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome Part 61

25. Was this cruelty punished?

26. What followed this dangerous insurrection?

SECTION III.

Trajan and he,[6] with the mild sire and son His son of virtue; eased awhile mankind; And arts revived beneath their gentle beam.--_Thomson_.

1. Having spent thirteen years in travelling and reforming the abuses of the empire, A'drian at last resolved to end his fatigues at Rome.

2. Nothing could be more grateful to the people than his resolution of coming to reside for the rest of his days among them; they received him with the loudest demonstrations of joy; and though he now began to grow old and unwieldy, he remitted not the least of his former a.s.siduity and attention to the public welfare. 3. His chief amus.e.m.e.nt was in conversing with the most celebrated men in every art and science, frequently a.s.serting, that he thought no kind of knowledge inconsiderable, or to be neglected, either in his private or public capacity. 4. He ordered the knights and senators never to appear in public, but in the proper habits of their orders. He forbade masters to kill their slaves, as had been before allowed; but ordained that they should be tried by the laws. 5. He still further extended the lenity of the laws to those unhappy men, who had long been thought too mean for justice: if a master was found killed in his house, he would not allow all his slaves to be put to the torture as formerly, but only such as might have perceived and prevented the murder.

6. In such employments he spent the greatest part of his time; but at last finding the duties of his station daily increasing, and his own strength proportionally upon the decline, he resolved on adopting a successor, and accordingly chose Antoni'nus to that important station.

7. While he was thus careful in providing for the future welfare of the state, his bodily infirmities became so insupportable, that he vehemently desired some of his attendants to dispatch him. 8.

Antoni'nus, however, would by no means permit any of the domestics to be guilty of so great an impiety, but used all the arts in his power to reconcile the emperor to sustain life. 9. His pain daily increasing, he was frequently heard to cry out, "How miserable a thing it is to seek death, and not to find it!" After enduring some time these excruciating tortures, he at last resolved to observe no regimen, saying, that kings sometimes died merely by the mult.i.tude of their physicians. 10. This conduct served to hasten that death he seemed so ardently to desire; and it was probably joy upon its approach which dictated the celebrated stanzas that are so well known;[7] and while repeating which he expired, in the sixty-second year of his age, after a prosperous reign of twenty-one years and eleven months.

11. t.i.tus Antoni'nus, his successor, was born at Lavin'ium, near Rome, but his ancestors came originally from Nismes, in Gaul. His father was a n.o.bleman, who had enjoyed the highest honours of the empire.

[Sidenote: U.C. 891]

At the time of his succeeding to the throne he was above fifty years old, and had pa.s.sed through many of the most important offices of the state with great integrity and application. 12. His virtues in private life were no way impaired by his exaltation, as he showed himself one of the most excellent princes for justice, clemency, and moderation; his morals were so pure, that he was usually compared to Numa, and was surnamed the Pious, both for his tenderness to his predecessor A'drian, when dying, and his particular attachment to the religion of his country.

13. He was an eminent rewarder of learned men, to whom he gave large pensions and great honours, collecting them around him from all parts of the world. 14. Among the rest, he sent for Apollo'nius, the famous stoic philosopher, to instruct his adopted son, Mar'cus Aure'lius.

Apollo'nius being arrived, the emperor desired his attendance; but the other arrogantly answered, that it was the scholar's duty to wait upon the master, not the master upon the scholar. 15. To this reply, Antoni'nus only returned with a smile, "That it was surprising how Apollo'nius, who made no difficulty of coming from Greece to Rome, should think it hard to walk from one part of Rome to another;" and immediately sent Mar'cus Aure'lius to him.[8] 16. While the good emperor was thus employed in making mankind happy, in directing their conduct by his own example, or reproving their follies by the keenness of rebuke, he was seized with a violent fever, and ordered his friends and princ.i.p.al officers to attend him. 17. In their presence he confirmed the adoption of Mar'cus Aure'lius; then commanding the golden statue of Fortune, which was always in the chamber of the emperors, to be removed to that of his successor, he expired in the seventy-fourth year of his age, after a prosperous reign of twenty-two years and almost eight months.[9]

[Sidenote: U.C. 914.]

18. Mar'cus Aure'lius, though left sole successor to the throne, took Lu'cius Ve'rus as his a.s.sociate and equal, in governing the state. 19.

Aure'lius was the son of An'nius Ve'rus, of an ancient and ill.u.s.trious family, which claimed its origin from Nu'ma. Lu'cius Ve'rus was the son of Com'modus, who had been adopted by A'drian, but died before he succeeded to the throne. 20. Aure'lius was as remarkable for his virtues and accomplishments, as his partner in the empire was for his ungovernable pa.s.sions and debauched morals. The one was an example of the greatest goodness and wisdom; the other of ignorance, sloth, and extravagance.

21. The two emperors were scarcely settled on the throne, when the empire was attacked on every side, from the barbarous nations by which it was surrounded. The Cat'ti invaded Germany and Rhoe'tia, ravaging all with fire and sword; but were repelled by Victori'nus. The Britons likewise revolted, but were repressed by Capur'nius. 22. But the Parthians, under their king Volog'esus, made an irruption still more dreadful than either of the former; destroying the Roman legions in Arme'nia; then entering Syria, they drove out the Roman governor, and filled the whole country with terror and confusion. To repel this barbarous eruption, Ve'rus went in person, being accompanied by Aure'lius part of the way.

23. Ve'rus, however, proceeded no farther than An'tioch, and there gave an indulgence to every appet.i.te, rioting in excesses unknown even to the voluptuous Greeks; leaving all the glory of the field to his lieutenants, who were sent to repress the enemy. 24. These, however, fought with great success; for in the four years that the war lasted, the Romans entered far into the Parthian country, and entirely subdued it; but upon their return their army was wasted to less than half its original number by pestilence and famine. 25. This, however, was no impediment to the vanity of Ve'rus, who resolved to enjoy the honours of a triumph, so hardly earned by others. Having appointed a king over the Arme'nians, and finding the Parthians entirely subdued, he a.s.sumed the t.i.tles of Arme'nius and Parthi'cus; and on his return to Rome, he partook of a triumph with Aure'lius, which was solemnized with great pomp and splendour.

26. While Ve'rus was engaged in this expedition, Aure'lius was sedulously intent upon distributing justice and happiness to his subjects at home. He first applied himself to the regulation of public affairs, and to the correcting of such faults as he found in the laws and policy of the state. 27. In this endeavour he showed a singular respect for the senate, often permitting them to determine without appeal; so that the commonwealth seemed in a manner once more revived under his equitable administration. 28. Besides, such was his application to business, that he often employed ten days together on the same subject, maturely considering it on all sides, and seldom departing from the senate-house till the a.s.sembly was dismissed by the consul. 29. But he was daily mortified with accounts of the enormities of his colleague; being repeatedly a.s.sured of his vanity and extravagance. 30. However, feigning himself ignorant of these excesses, he judged marriage to be the best method of reclaiming him; and, therefore, sent him his daughter Lucil'la, a woman of great beauty, whom Ve'rus married at Antioch. 31. But even this was found ineffectual, for Lucil'la proved of a disposition very unlike her father; and, instead of correcting her husband's extravagances only contributed to inflame them. 32. Aure'lius still hoped that, upon the return of Ve'rus to Rome, his presence would keep him in awe, and that happiness would at length be restored to the state. In this he was also disappointed. His return seemed fatal to the empire; for his army carried back the plague from Par'thia, and disseminated the infection into the provinces through which it pa.s.sed.

33. Nothing could exceed the miserable state of things upon the return of Ve'rus. In this horrid picture were represented an emperor, unawed by example or the calamities surrounding him, giving way to unheard-of crimes; a raging pestilence spreading terror and desolation through all parts of the western world; earthquakes, famines, inundations, almost unexampled in history; the products of the earth through all Italy devoured by locusts; the barbarous nations around the empire taking advantage of its various calamities, and making their irruptions even into Italy itself. 34. The priests doing all they could to put a stop to the miseries of the state, by attempting to appease the G.o.ds, vowing and offering numberless sacrifices; celebrating all the sacred rites that had ever been known in Rome. 35.

To crown the whole, these enthusiasts, as if the impending calamities had not been sufficient, ascribed the distresses of the state to the impieties of the Christians. A violent persecution ensued in all parts of the empire; and Justin Martyr, Polycarp'us, and a prodigious number of less note, suffered martyrdom.

_Questions for Examination_.

1. Did Adrian enjoy repose from this time?

2. Was this resolution agreeable to the people?

3. How did he amuse himself?

4. What new edicts did he issue?

5. Did he not ameliorate the condition of slaves?

6. Was he still equal to the fatigues of the empire?

7. Were not his sufferings great?

8. Were his wishes complied with?

9. Were these arts successful?

10. What was the consequence of this conduct?

11. Who was his successor?

12. Did he preserve his virtue on his exaltation?

13. Was he a favourer of learning?

14. What anecdote is related of one of these?

15. What was the emperor's reply?

16. Did he experience a long and prosperous reign?

17. Whom did he appoint as his successor?

18. Was Marcus Aurelius sole emperor?

19. Who were Aurelius and Lucius Verus?

20. Were their characters similar?

21. Was their reign peaceable?

22. Was there not a more formidable invasion still?

23. Did Verus show himself worthy of the trust?

24. Were they successful?

25. Did Verus appear to feel this misfortune?

26. How was Aurelius employed in the mean time?

27. Did he do this solely by his own authority?

28. Was he hasty in his decisions?

29. Was he acquainted with the follies of his colleague?