was now reduced to a Roman province, and to make it more capable of supplying Rome with corn, the ditches of the Nile were cleaned out, and that noble river made more capable of perfectly fulfilling its proper work of enriching the plains of the country during the period of its overflow. He also built the city called Nicopolis, to celebrate his victory, and ordained that games should be held there every five years. From the period of his conquest over Egypt, he appears to have continued the undisputed head of the government at Rome (B.c. 30).

6. In military affairs Augustus did not rival the fame of Julius Cæsar. His wars were for the most part conducted not in person, but by his lieutenants. Three occasions

only are particularly specified, in which he was present with his army in Dalmatia, when he was but a youth; in Egypt, which led to the defeat of Antony; and in the war against Cantabria (B.C. 24).

In addition to these wars carried on by himself, he conquered by means of his generals Illyricum and Rhætia; besides the Vindelici and Salisii, inhabitants of the Alps (B.C. 15). He also put a stop to the inroads of the Dacians, and drove the Germans beyond the river Eibe (B.C. 11). He never received any signal defeat except in Germany, where Lollius and Varus were his representatives; the latter with considerable loss and danger to the empire-three legions and many of the principal officers being cut off; a disaster for which he always kept the anniversary as a day of mourning (B.c. 16).

7. At this period the Roman Empire embraced an immense range of territory, and Augustus was sensible of its too great magnitude. On the east, it stretched to the Euphrates; on the south, to the cataracts of the Nile, the deserts of Africa, and mount Atlas; on the west, to the Atlantic ocean; and on the north, to the Danube and the Rhine, including the best part of the known world. Succeeding emperors made but few additions to this vast dominion. Trajan only subdued Mesopotamia and Armenia, east of the Euphrates, with Dacia, that lay to the north of the Danube (A.D. 103-106). After this, in the reign of Antoninus, the Roman power extended itself also over Britain, as far as the Frith of Forth and the Clyde (A.D. 145-161).

8. Although in appearance Augustus was never fond of an ostentatious display, yet, from a regard to the wishes of others, who had shared his victories, he thought fit to exhibit a triumphal procession, which was suited to display the glories of his martial career. Three separate triumphs were therefore celebrated by him (B.c. 29), each of which lasted three days. The first of these was for his victory over the Pannonians and Dalmatians (B.C. 34); the second for his victory at Actium; and the third for his victories in Egypt. This last triumph was particularly splendid. It was enriched not only with the treasures which had been amassed in Egypt, but amongst these was carried the effigy of the late queen, having, in allusion to the supposed manner of her death, the asp represented on her arm. This pageant was followed by her surviving children, who were led as captives.

A description of the usual ceremony observed on such occasions, will enable the reader to form some idea of the honours usually decreed by the Roman senate to their great military chieftains.

Foremost in the procession went musicians of various kinds, singing and playing triumphal songs. Next were led the oxen to be sacrificed, having their horns gilt, and their heads adorned with fillets and garlands. Then, in carriages, appeared the richest spoils taken from the enemy -statues, pictures, plate, armour, gold and silver, and brass; with golden crowns and other gifts sent by the allied and tributary states. The captive leaders followed, in chains, with their children and attendants. After these came the lictors, having their fasces wreathed with laurel, followed by a great company of musicians and dancers dressed like satyrs, and wearing gilded crowns. In the midst of them was a masked figure, clothed in the garb of a female, whose business it was, with her looks and gestures, to insult the vanquished. Next followed a long train of persons carrying perfumes. Then came the victorious general himself, dressed in purple embroidered with gold, with a crown of laurel on his head, a branch of laurel in his right hand, and in the left an ivory sceptre with an eagle on the top, having his face painted with vermilion. He stood in a chariot richly gilt, adorned with ivory, and drawn by four white horses, sometimes by elephants, attended by his

His

relations, and a great crowd of citizens, all in white. children also rode in the chariot with him; and that he might not be too elated, a slave, carrying a golden crown sparkling with gems, stood behind him, and frequently whispered in his ear, "Remember that thou art a man!" After the general followed the consuls and senators, on foot. His military tribunes were commonly on horseback, by his side. The victorious army, horse and foot, came last, crowned with laurel and decorated with the gifts which they had received for their valour, singing their own and their general's praises, and often exclaiming, "Io Triumphe!" in which they were joined by all the citizens, as they passed along. The oxen having been sacrificed, the general gave a magnificent entertainment in the Capitol, to his friends and the chief men of the city, after which he was conducted home by the people, with music and a great number of lamps and torches.

9. The character of Augustus must, however, be regarded more as that belonging to a pacific than a warlike sovereign. We are told by Suetonius, that he never made war upon any people without a just and irresistible cause, and that he required some of the barbarous nations, in their treaties of peace, not only to take a solemn oath to fulfil these, but to give female hostages, because such would the most effectually secure an agreement of this kind from being broken.

10. Other proofs of the same disposition are furnished by historians; but none is more worthy of mention than the shutting up of the temple of Janus, three several times. during his reign: (B.c. 29), (B.c. 25), (B.c. 4).* From the building of the city, this token of universal peace throughout the empire had only occurred twice previously to the time of Augustus, a period of above 700 yearst. The

* As our Saviour was born four years before the vulgar era, i. e. in the year 749 from the foundation of Rome (A.U.c.), this will bring the third shutting of the temple of Janus to the exact year of the Nativity, if we suppose that the former event took place according to the vulgar era (B.C. 4), which seems very probable.

+ The first time when the temple of Janus was closed was in the days of Numa, who reigned (B.c. 713-670) a period of 43 years, during which the temple of Janus was closed. The second time was at the end of the first Punic war, during the consulship of Manlius, as Livy states, or B.C. 236. When Augustus closed the temple for the third time in his reign, it remained shut for about twelve years.

third time, when this temple was closed in the days of Augustus, and the last time in this reign, coincides in a remarkable manner with the nativity of him who may well be termed "the Prince of Peace." Poets and divines have not failed to notice so striking a circumstance. Milton has thus referred to it :

:

"The meek-eyed Peace,

Crowned with olive green, came softly sliding

Down through the turning sphere,

His ready harbinger,

And waving wide her myrtle wand,

She strikes an universal peace through sea and land."

ODE ON CHRIST'S NATIVITY.

11. When Augustus had arrived at the point of his ambition, he professed to entertain a purpose of freeing himself from the cares and dangers of empire, by restoring the old commonwealth. But after deliberating with his two favourites, Agrippa and Mæcenas, whose views differed on the advantages of his resigning the government, he at length acquiesced in the opinion of the latter, that it would contribute more to the general advantage of the state, that the chief power should be vested in the hands of one man. He made a show, however, of resigning his power, at the end of the civil wars, as if unequal to the load of government; but was easily persuaded by the general voice of the senate to resume his powers, limiting himself to the exercise of it for ten years; at the end of which period he affected again to receive his title for a new period of sovereignty, which was to last only five years. By these limitations, he avoided the appearance of being too absolute a monarch; dreading perhaps the fate of Cæsar, and wishing to reign by craft and policy, and the consent of the people, rather than by the force of arms, or from the love of power.

12. The authority conferred upon Augustus as emperor was certainly of the most unlimited kind. It belonged to him to levy armies, to impose taxes, to undertake wars, to make peace, to command all the forces of the republic, to have the power of life and death within, as well as without, the city; and to do whatever the consuls, and others invested with supreme command, had a right to do.

13. Few sovereigns in the possession of so much power have used it with more apparent humility than Augustus.

did. He professed to abhor the title of Lord or Dominus, as a scandalous affront; and when, in a mimic piece performed in the theatre at which he was present, these words were expressed-"O just and gracious Lord,"-and the whole company testified their approbation by shouts, he immediately put a stop to this flattery by significant signs of his displeasure, and the next day by a public proclamation. He would never suffer himself to be thus addressed, even by the members of his own family. He avoided all ostentatious displays of himself, walking commonly in the streets on foot, and at other times being carried in a covered chair. People of all ranks were admitted to pay their respects, and present their petitions, to him. His conduct in the senate, and also among his friends, was of the most familiar, polite, and obliging kind, having nothing in it of state or ceremony. He addressed the senators by name; and when he left the house, bade them separately farewell. He would exchange civilities with them at their houses, and visit and console them in sickness. He treated libels against his person with contempt, and only prohibited them, when they were published without a name. He never recom

mended his sons to the people, without adding these words" If they deserve it." He would not permit any temple or altar to be consecrated to him, unless in con-junction with the city of Rome; and when the whole body of the people offered him with one consent the title of Father of his country, he, with tears in his eyes, replied to the compliment, by saying that now he had obtained the utmost of his wishes; and that he had only to beg of the immortal gods this continuance of the affection of the people towards him, to the last moments of his life.

14. It is to be mentioned also, to the honour of Augustus, that he made use of his power for the enforcement of some salutary regulations, affecting the manners of the citizens. He issued an order that no young persons of either sex should appear at any public diversions in the night, and restrained the great licence which had been admitted in the practice of divorce. He sheltered the citizens from unjust prosecutions, and gave the administration of the laws new vigour and efficacy, by the appointment of an additional number of judges, and by requiring a more speedy