he adopted to hide the warts on his face. His successor followed his example for the sake of ornament. Though Adrian aimed at universal reputation, he strictly attended to the duties of his station. Through his cares he began to fail in health and strength, and adopting for his successor Titus Antoninus, he sought the repose which he needed. His bodily infirmities however, daily increased, and his pain becoming nearly insupportable, he vehemently desired death. Antoninus with difficulty persuaded him to sustain life, though the emperor frequently cried out in his agonies, "How miserable a thing is it to seek death, and not to find it." Alas! how pointed is the moral, that no station, however exalted, can exempt one from the infirmities of life and the sting of death. As he was expiring, the emperor repeated the following lines, as translated into English. O fleeting spirit, wand'ring fire, That long has warmed my tender breast, And wit and humour are no more, His reign was a prosperous one of twenty-two years. He died 139 A.C. aged seventy-two. 19. Titus Antoninus, surnamed Pius, having been adopted by Adrian, succeeded to the empire 138 A. C. His virtues were an ornament to human nature, and conferred innumerable blessings on mankind. He preferred peace to conquest, and yet whenever war became necessary, he carried it on with vigour and success. He was conspicuous for justice and clemency, and his love of the religion of his country. His reign was marked by few events, as the reigns of peaceable monarchs usually are. The most remarkable foreign occurrences were the enlargement of the province of Britain by the conquests of Urbicus, and the suppression of some forminable rebellions in Germany, Dacia, and the East. He died at the age of seventy-four, having reigned twentytwo years. A. C. 161. § Such was the munificence of Antoninus, that in cases of famine or inundation, he supplied with his own money the wants of the sufferers. Such were his humanity and love of peace, that when told of conquering heroes, he said with Scipio, that "he preferred the life and preservation of one subject to the death of an hundred enemies!" His regard of the christians was extraordinary for a heathen emperor. He declared that "if any should proceed to disturb them on account of their religion, such should undergo the same punishment which was intended against the accused." A de gree of persecution nevertheless took place, contrary to the princi ples of the emperor. He was a distinguished rewarder of learned men, whom he invi ted from all parts of the world, and raised to wealth and honour Among the rest, he sent for Apollonius the famous stoic philosopher, to instruct his adopted son, Marcus Aurelius, whom he had previous ly married to his daughter. Apollonius being arrived at Rome, the emperor desired his atten dance: but the philosopher arrogantly answered that it was the scholar's duty to wait upon the master, and not the master's to wait upon the scholar. To this reply, Antoninus only returned with a smile, “that it was surprising how Apollonius, who made no difficulty in coming from Greece to Rome, should think it so hard to walk from one part of Rome to the other," and immediately sent Marcus Aurelius to him. In the midst of his labours in rendering his subjects happy, he was seized with a lingering illness, which terminated in death in the seventy-fifth year of his age, and the twenty-third of his reign. 20. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the adopted son of Pius, now came to the throne, 161 A. C. His name before was Annius Verus, and he, together with Lucius Verus, his brother, had been designated by Adrian to succeed to the government, whenever Antoninus Pius should decease. Pius confirmed the adoption of Marcus, without once naming Lucius Verus. Marcus, however, upon assuming the empire, admitted his brother as a partner in the administration. They were perfectly opposite in character; Marcus Aurelius being as much distinguished for his energy and virtue, as Verus was for imbecility, meanness, and vice. Aurelius was in every respect equal to his predecessor, and was even more conspicuous for his attachment to philosophy. This, as the stoics professed it, he has admirably taught and illustrated in his Meditations. In the wars which were carried on during this joint reign, the worthless Verus brought disgrace upon the Roman name, wherever he commanded. The Parthians, however, were repulsed by the legions of the empire, and a rebellion of the Germans was subdued. After the death of Verus, which happily soon took place, Aurelius directed all his energies for the improvement and happiness of his empire. For purposes of beneficence he Visited the remotest corners of the Roman world. He died at length in Pannonia, in the fifty-ninth year of his age, and nineteenth of his reign, A. C. 180. It was an infelicity of the otherwise admirable reign of Aurelius, that the christians at one time were violently persecuted. The fanatical Pagan priests were, however, the inmediate instruments in this persecution, inasmuch as they ascribed to the christians the various calamities which the empire endured, under the excesses of Verus, the attacks of the barbarians, and the devastations occasioned by earthquakes, famines, pestilences, and inundations. § Aurelius loved retirement and philosophical contemplation, and improved for mental cultivation and enjoyment, all the leisure h could command. That, however, was far less than his wishes d.c tated. The disturbances in the empire called him frequently inte the field, and until the death of his colleague, he suffered no small inquietude on his account. He was, however, successful in his military excursions. Öne deliverance which he and his army experienced on a certain occasion, borders on the miraculous. In a contest with the barbarians beyond the Danube, the Roman legions unexpectedly, through the artifice of the enemy, found themselves inclosed in a place where they could neither fight, nor retreat. In this situation they became at length totally disheartened, from their long continued fatigue, the excessive heat of the place, and their violent thirst. In these suffering circumstances, while sorrow and despair were depicted on every brow, Aurelius ran through the ranks, and used every effort to rekindle their hopes and courage. But all was in vain. At this crisis, and just as the barbarians were ready to follow them, we are told that the solemn prayers of a christian legion, then serving among them, produced such a shower of rain as instantly revived the fainting army. From the same clouds, was discharged such a terrible storm of hail with thunder against the enemy, as dismayed them, and made them an easy prey to the refreshed and inspirited Romans. These circumstances are related by pagan as well as Christian writers, only with this difference, that the latter ascribe the victory to their own prayers, the former to the prayers of their emperor Aurelius, however, it seems, was favourably impressed in regard to the christians, since he immediately relaxed the persecution against them. Some other particulars will be related respecting Aurelius, in our biographical sketches. Upon the death of Aurelius the empire evidently declined. The emperors who succeeded were generally a weak or vicious race. The colossal size of the empire caused it to sink by its own weight. Enemies on its borders oppressed it from without, and tumults and factions paralized it within; patriotism and genius were becoming rare, and corruption pervaded all orders of the community. At the period of Trajan's death, the empire comprehend ed the greater part of Britain, all Spain, France, the Ne therlands, Italy, part of Germany, Egypt, Barbary, Biledulgerid, Turkey in Europe and in Asia, and Persia. At the demise of Aurelius, it was a little diminished in size, but still too large to be preserved entire, amidst the profligacy of he times. 21. Commodus, the son of Aurelius, had been nominated by his father to succeed him, and he accordingly now mounted the throne, 180 A. C. He had nothing but the merits of his father to commend him to the Roman people. He inherited the disposition of his infamous mother, Faustina, rather than of Aurelius. The change from the reign of the father to the son was indeed a most gloomy one. It is a singular fact, that the most detestable of all the emperors was the son of the best. Commodus was given to low vices and mean pursuits-was fond of the sports of the circus and amphitheatre, the hunting of wild beasts, and the combats of boxers and gladiators. His administration of the government was entirely weak, contemptible, and tyrannical. He perished by assas sination, in the thirty-second year of his age, and the thirteenth year of his reign, 193 A. C. § It had been happy for himself and mankind, had Commodus cultivated his mind, as he did his body, (for he was wonderfully expert in all corporeal exercises :) but he was averse to every rational and liberal pursuit. He spent the day in feasting, and the night in the vilest debaucheries. His cruelty combined with avarice and levity, cannot be too strongly held up for the detestation of mankind. If any person desired to be revenged on an enemy, by bargaining with Commodus for a sum of money, he was permitted to destroy him in such a manner as he chose. He commanded a person to be thrown among wild beasts, for reading the life of Caligula in Suetonius. He would sometimes, in a frolic, cut off men's noses, under a pretence of shaving their beards; yet he was himself so jealous of mankind, that he was obliged to be his own barber; or as some have said, he used to burn his beard, after the example of Dionysius, the tyrant. In imitating Hercules with his club and lion's skin, he would furiously fall upon a company of beggars in the streets, and beat them to death; having first dressed them up like giants and monsters, and giving them sponges to throw at him, instead of stones. In such a manner did this wretch spend his time, while the troubles of his empire were daily increasing, and its strength and terri tories were diminishing by frequent warfares on the frontiers. He narrowly escaped destruction several times, from his personal exasperated foes. But he was destined at length justly to fall. His favourite concubine, Marcia, who accidentally discovered the emperor's determination to put her to death, with other conspirators, found the means of destroying him, partly by poison and partly by strangling. 22. Pertinax, who had been fixed upon by the conspirators as the successor of Commodus, was joyfully proclaimed by the prætorian guards, 193 A. C. Originally he was the son of an enfranchised slave, but rose to esteem by his virtues and military talents. Applying himself to the correction of abuses with too unsparing and rash a hand, he alienated the affections of a corrupted people, and was deposed and murdered by the same guards that had placed him on the throne, after a reign of only three months, aged sixty-eight years. The loss which the empire felt in the death of such a man is greater than can be well conceived. 23. Didius Julianus, next succeeded to the empire 193 A. C., having purchased it of the prætorian guards, who put it up to the highest bidder. At the same time, several commanders in the distant provinces, were each proclaimed by their respective forces. These, however, lost their lives except Septimius Severus, who marched to Rome and seized the government. Didius was hereupon deposed and put to death by the senate in the fifth month of his reign. § Didius presents a striking instance of the cupidity of the human mind for power, and of the infelicities that attend it. He was a man of consular rank, and the richest citizen of Rome. Hearing the singular proclamation of the prætorian guards, and charmed with the prospect of unbounded dominion, he hastened to the camp, and bid the largest price for the empire. He gave to each soldier (10,000 in number) the sum of 6250 drachmas, which amounts to nearly 9,000,000 dollars, in the whole. From this period he was exposed to disappointment, mortification, insult, and danger. Indulging his ease and his avaricious disposition, he soon offended those who made him emperor. He was contemptuously treated at home, while two or more generals in the provinces abroad, disclaimed his authority. Upon the approach of Severus, he could raise no forces to meet him. He was nearly distracted by the multiplicity of counsels, and finally his perplexity and distress became extreme and overwhelming. The senate, at this crisis, perceiving his timidity and irresolution, resolved to abandon him, and to proclaim Severus. His death then was no longer problematical; and though he persisted that he had |