2281

His conscious council read his thoughts aright,
Dispell'd his doubts, and sooth'd the hypocrite.
The closest echo to the prince's mind,
Will with the prince the best acceptance find:
Not truly to relinquish he desir'd

What so much labour and such crimes acquir'd.

Yet fear, corroder of the human breast,
Allow'd him sometimes joy, but seldom rest:
Beneath his robe a plaited mail he wore,

A jealous guard secur'd his audience-door:

2286

Cæsar's second proposal of restoring the Commonwealth was made in the senate-house, and the business on his part conducted with refined artifice. Knowing that the sense of the majority would be in consonance with his own, for his retaining the supreme direction of affairs, he declared he would not take upon himself the whole weight of government, but share the provinces with the senate and people. He expressed himself content to take the direction of such as were most liable to seditions and disturbances, and of the frontiers, exposed to incursions from foreign enemies; leaving to the senate those where they might enjoy the sweets of peaceful command without danger and alarm. Under this pretence, at once obliging and subdolous, he left the senate without troops, and reserved to himself the command of all the forces of the empire.

7

Ent'ring

Ent'ring, each senator was forc'd to feel

The ruffian's palm, who search'd for secret steel:*
Thus despots pay the forfeit of their wrong, 2290
Suspicion in their hearts, and flattery on the tongue.
If this be greatness, greatness sure was given
In wrath, not bounty, by consenting heaven.
Be wiser, mortals! nor let vows aspire,
That Jove may curse you by your own desire.
O hard-earn'd tyranny! the innoxious knows 2296
No dread like this, but sleeps in safe repose;
Leaves thee thy pomp and power, so dearly bought,
And is the happy thing, thou would'st be thought.

2

ὁ γαρ Αύγουστος, ως τα τε κοινα θεραπειας ακριβους εδέιτο, και εδεδίει μη, μια εκ τοις τοιούτοις φιλει συμβαίνειν, επιβουλευθη, (βραχυ γαρ τι και σμικρον τον θώρακα, ον υπο τη πολη πολλακις και ες αυτό το συνεδρον εσιών είχεν, επικου Interv ol EvoμiĈE) n. T. λ. DION. Cass. l. liv. c. 12.

quo tempore existimatur loricâ sub veste munitus, ferroque cinctus præsedisse, decem valentissimis senatorii ordinis amicis sellam suam circumstantibus. Cordus Cremutius scribit ne admissum quidem tunc quemquam senatorum, nisi solum, et prætentato sinu.

SUET. in Aug. 35.

How despicable does the timorous precaution of Augustus for the safety of his person appear, when compared with the gallant negligence of Julius, who declared it was better to die at once, than to live in perpetual apprehension of mortality!

If

If e'er since man was born, were known to rest

Two adverse natures in one mortal breast,

2301

One heart by vice, and one by virtue sway'd,3

Supreme in him that union was display'd.

Or did remorse his former rage controul?

Or good Mæcenas mollify his soul?

2305

The friend, no doubt, and tardy conscience join'd, To humanize at length a savage mind:

While labouring to the sovereign rule to rise,

Deceit, and fear, and monstrous cruelties,
Deform'd his life; that object once attain'd, 2310
Wise, just, and good, and merciful he reign'd.
Fear was his source of crimes; but when he rose
Above his rivals, and secure from foes,"

When none were left, whom caution could mistrust,
His wisdom found it safest to be just.

Η δ' επιμωμητης δια δ' άνδιχα θυμον έχουσιν. HESIOD.

2315

cuncta ferit, dum cuncta timet; desævit in omnes. CLAUD.

cuncta discordiis civilibus fessa, nomine principis, sub imperium accepit. TACIT. Annal. 1. 1.

Intent for ever on one great design,

By nature cruel, and by art benign,

Soon as his power supreme unquestion'd stood,"
For thirst of praise he chang'd his thirst of blood.
While liberty or law was but a word,' 2320
And all submitted to the conquering sword,
The wavering legions only seem❜d to share
His kind indulgence, and deserve his care;
Rome's wretched citizens, like worthless slaves
Were crush'd by fines, or swept to sudden graves:
A vase, a villa, or well-featur'd wife,
Once his fond boast, now snar'd the owner's life:
Blood, guiltless blood, stream'd o'er the reeking

plain,

And Sylla's murd'rous spirit rang'd again.

2326

But when the harrass'd empire breath'd in peace,
He bade the soldier's dangerous license cease;

• Cum tot sustineas, et tanta negotia SOLUS,-. HOR.

Quand par le fer les choses sont vuidées,

La justice et le droit sont de vaines idées.

La mort de Pompée par Corneille.

Silent leges inter arma. Cic.

B b

And

And sternly charg'd the leaders to confine
Their future rage, by rigid discipline.
Restoring thus the civil rights of men,
He curb'd the soldier, by the citizen;
To the neglected toga then return'd

2332

2336

The ravish'd honours it so long had mourn'd;
While each the other poiz'd, himself supreme

Observ'd the balance, and sustain'd the beam.

Wrench'd from its frame the mighty engine see, Once mov'd by fortitude and liberty,'

2341

Now

8

Disciplinam severissime rexit. SUET. in Aug. 24.

" What form of government is best, has long been an undecided question; but it does not seem difficult to determine that the worst is Democracy, especially, when occasioned by a revolution, in states where the people have been little considered, and long accustomed to subjection: not that nature has made any difference between the Nobleman and the Peasant, but education and habit have made a great deal. We should be surprised to find an excellent artist in any mechanical business, who was ignorant of the rudiments of the art, and had served no apprenticeship; then why should we expect that illiterate men, whose. minds have been engaged in the meanest occupations, should be qualified at once to exercise the most difficult and sublime of all arts, that of governing? To their ignorance must be added another natural cause or impediment,

7