DECEM VIRS. ROMAN LAWS.

GLADIATOR S.

350.

Rome's wars or treaties with each petty state
Were dull to read, and tedious to relate;
But as the wily fowler with his nets,
Brood after brood, the feathery game besets,
Or as th'encroaching gradual tide flows on,
One region first, and then the next to drown,
So, by her arts, or arms, at last obtain❜d,
The sovereign rule o'er every power she gain'd."
Matchless in war, and by examples great,
Laws still were wanting to confirm the state.
By no establish'd, well-known rule confin'd,
Decision varied with the judge's mind;

355

"The books of Maccabees, though treating of times much subsequent to this period, express very well the estimation in which the Romans were held by all nations. See the eighth chapter of the first book.

Wisdom and weakness in their turns appear'd,
And Themis was obey'd, but not rever❜d.

360

But now with ancient written science fraught, More certain codes from polish'd Greece were sought:"

On this pretence, the fierce Decemvir's hand,

Three

years supreme, oppress'd the groaning land, Till with a ravisher's polluting arms

365

His lustful fury seiz'd Virginia's charms.

To bid her name in spotless honour rest,

See the sad sire transfix his daughter's breast. Appius! (he cries) by the dear blood thus shed, "To sure destruction I devote thy head.'

370

7 Allatas à Græcia leges decem principes lecti, jubente populo, conscripserant: ordinataque erat in duodecim tabulis tota justitia.

8

FLOR. I. i. c. 24.

Appius eo insolentiæ elatus est, ut ingenuam virginem stupro destinaret. FLOR. ut sup.

, Pectus deinde puellæ transfigit, respectansque ad tribunal, "te (inquit) Appi, tuumque caput sanguine hoc consecro."

LIV. 1. iii. c. 48. "To

"To thee and thy posterity remain

380

"The crime and danger, though to me the pain: "Around her grave unfading wreaths shall bloom; "Thine be the father's curse, and murderer's doom! "Vein of my heart! with this unwilling wound, 375 "I send thee, yet unspotted, to the ground." Wildly, aloft the reeking knife he bears, Hot vengeance burning up his furious tears. Oh, piteous spectacle! the sweetest maid Of all the virgin train, in death thus laid! No matron eye that saw her, but approv'd; No youthful, manly heart, but sigh'd, and lov’d. Pale her soft cheek, and clos'd her beamy eyes, On the cold ground a welt'ring corse she lies. A soul more form'd, all joys to share, and give, 385 Earth cou'd not lose, nor opening heaven receive. Fir'd at the sight, the outrageous people rise, Till the crush'd tyrant for the virgin dies.

Thus Rome again preserv'd, again might date Her second freedom from a woman's fate.

E 2

390 Ingloriously

Ingloriously the shameful period pass'd,
While abject slavery the soul debas'd;
No enterprize of gallant note begun,
No ally succour'd, and no field was won:
Like an ungenial frost, the tyrant's power
Had blighted every virtue's opening flower.

395

Though less unpolish'd than the nations round, What barbarous licence in her code is found? The sire, absolv'd from nature's tenderest tye, Might doom to death his helpless progeny ;' · 400 And rights more cruel o'er the prostrate slave To each hard master the prescription gave: Torture and stripes, for every slight offence, Or unprovok'd, the tyrant might dispense;

1

Jus autem potestatis quod in liberos habemus proprium est civium Romanorum; nulli enim alii sunt homines, qui talem in liberos habent potestatem, qualem nos habemus.. JUSTIN. Inst. 1. i.

Quidquid peperisset, decreverunt tollere. TER. Andr. Act. I. sc. iii. Quo defunctus est die, [Germanicus,] lapidata sunt templa,---partus conjugum expositi. SUET. in Calig. 5.

Numerum liberorum finire, aut quenquam ex agnatis necare, [apud Germanos] flagitium habetur. TAC. GERM. xix.

And,

405

And, if a deed of blacker die was done,*
They slaughter'd hundreds, for the crime of one.3
Yet mark how gravely Livy's page assents1
To the mild tenor of Rome's punishments:
Reversing thus the purpose laws should seek, 409
The strong they strengthen'd, and oppress'd the weak.
Inhuman too their sports. Their eyes were fed
With grim delight, when gladiators bled ;
The mangled wretches learn'd with grace to die,
So to enhance the unnatural luxury.

* Ceterum cum, vetere ex more, familiam omnem quæ fub eodem tecto mansitaverat, ad supplicium agi oporteret, concursu plebis quæ tot innoxios protegebat, usque ad seditionem ventum est.

TAC. ANNAL. 1. xiv. c. 42.

3 So late as the time of the emperor Adrian, the following restrictions with regard to slaves were considered as innovations :

Servos a dominis occidi vetuit, eosque jussit damnari per judices, si digni essent.

Si dominus in domo interemptus esset, non de omnibus servis quæstionem haberi, sed de his qui per vicinitatem poterant sentire, præcepit. EL. SPART. ADR. CÆS.

+ Primum ultimumque illud [Metii Suffetii] supplicium apud Romanos exempli parum memoris legum humanarum fuit. In aliis gloriari licet nulli gentium mitiores placuisse poenas. Liv. 1. i. c. 28.

As