2. Julius Cæsar, a successful warrior and elegant writer. 5. Sallust, the first philosophical Roman historian. 7. Cornelius Nepos, an eminent Roman historian. 9. Horace, the greatest of the Roman lyric poets. § 1. Lucretius was early sent to Athens, where he studied philosophy. He embraced the tenets of Epicurus. In his poem of the Nature of Things, he is the advocate of atheism and impiety, and earnestly endeavours to establish the mortality of the soul. His masterly genius and unaffected elegance are, however, every where con spicuous. He wrote Latin better than any man ever did before him, and had he lived in the polished age of Augustus, he would have been no mean rival of Virgil. He wrote his poem while he laboured under a delirium, occasioned by a philtre, administered by means of the jea lousy of his wife or mistress. He died, some say he destroyed him self, in his 44th year, about 54 B. C. 2. Julius Cæsar was the son of Caius Cæsar, who was descended from Julius, the son of Æneas; in his 16th year he lost his father; and Sylla, aware of his ambition, endeavoured to remove him; his friends, however, interceded, and obtained his life; but Sylla warned them to be upon their guard against that loose-girt boy, alluding to Cæsar's manner of wearing his tunic, or coat, loosely girded; “for in him," said he, "are many Mariuses." He procured many friends by his eloquence, and obtained the office of high priest; after passing through different dignities, he was sent governor into Spain; and, upon his return, being elected consul, he entered into an agreement with Pompey and Crassus, that nothing should be done in the state without their joint concurrence. After his consulship, he had the province of Gaul assigned him; which, with wonderful conduct and bravery, he subdued in 10 years, carrying the terror of his arms also into Germany and Britain, till then unknown to the Romans. Pompey now became jealous of his power, and induced the senate to order him to lay down his command; upon which, he crossed the river Rubicon, the boundary of his province, and led his army towards Rome, Pompey and all the friends of liberty fleeing before him. Having subdued Italy in sixty days, Cæsar entered Rome, and seized upon the money in the public treasury: he then went to Spain, where he conquered the partisans of Pompey under Petreius. Afranius, and Varro; and, at his return, was created dictator, and soon after consul. Leaving Rome, and going in search of Pompey. the two hostile generals engaged on the plains of Pharsalia; the army of Cæsar amounted only to 23,000 men, while that of Pompey amounted to 45,000; but the superior generalship of the former prevailed, and he was victorious. Making a generous use of his victory, he followed Pompey into Egypt, where he heard of his murder, and making the country tributary to his power, he hastened to suppress the remainder of Pompey's party in Africa and Spain. Triumphing over all his enemies, he was created perpetual dictator, received the names of imperator and father of his country, and governed the people with justice. His engrossing all the powers of the state, and ruling with absolute authority, created general disgust; a conspiracy was therefore formed against him, by more than sixty senators, the chief of whom were Brutus and Cassius. He was stabbed in the senate house, on the 15th of March, B. C. 44, in the 56th year of his age; he at first attempted to make some resistance, but seeing Brutus, his intimate friend, among the conspirators, he submitted to his fate, and covered with 23 wounds, fell at the foot of Pompey's statue. Cæsar is perhaps the most distinguished character in history. His talents in war and literature were equally great. Amidst his military enterprises he found time to be the author of many works, none of which remain except seven books of commentaries, or memoirs of his wars; these are much admired for their elegance, as well as correctness of style. He spoke in public with the same spirit with which he fought, and had he devoted himself to the bar, would doubtless have rivalled Cicero. 3. Marcus Tullius Cicero was the father of Latin eloquence, and the greatest orator that Rome ever produced. He was the son of a Roman knight, and having displayed promising abilities, his father procured for him the most celebrated masters of his time. He served one campaign under Sylla, and returning to Rome, appeared as a pleader at the bar, where the greatness of his genius, and his superior eloquence, soon raised him to notice. Having passed through the lower honours of the state, he was made consul in his 43d year. Catiline, a profligate noble, with many dissolute and desperate Romans, conspired against their country; but all their projects were baffled by his extreme vigilance; Catiline was defeated in the field; and Cicero, at Rome, punished the rest of the conspirators with death. He received the thanks of the people, and was styled the father of his country and the second founder of Rome; but his refusal to agree to the arbitrary measures of Cæsar and Pompey, caused him to be exiled; he did not bear his banishment with fortitude; and was overjoyed when, after 16 month's absence, he was restored with honour to his country. After much hesitation, he espoused the cause of Pompey against Cæsar; and when the latter was victorious at Phar salia, Cicero was reconciled to him, and treated with great humani ty; but as a true republican, he approved of Caesar's murder, and thus incurred the hatred of Antony, who wished to succeed in power. Octavius, afterwards called Augustus Cæsar, Antony, and Lepidus, having formed a third triumvirate, agreed on a proscription of their enemies; Octavius struggled two days to preserve Cicero from the vengeance of Antony, but at last gave him up; in his attempt to escape, he was overtaken by a party of soldiers, who cut off his head and right hand, and brought them to Antony; this happened B. C. 43, in the 64th year of his age. He is to be admired, not only as a great statesman, but as an orator, a man of genius, and a scholar, in which united character, he stands unrivalled; his conduct was not always that of a patriot, and he is frequently accused of timidity. 4. Catullus was a poet of Verona, whose compositions are the offspring of a luxuriant imagination. He directed his satire against Cæsar, whose only revenge was to invite the poet, and hospitably entertain him at his table. Catullus was the first Roman who imitated with success the Greek writers, and introduced their numbers among the Latins. Though the pages of the poet are occasionally disfigured with indelicate expressions, the whole is written with great purity of style. He died in the 48th year of his age, B. C. 40. 5. Sallust was educated at Rome, and made himself known as a magistrate, in the office of quæstor and consul. He was a man of depraved and licentious manners. He married Terentia, the divorced wife of Cicero, and hence the immortal hatred between the historian and orator. Of his Roman history little remains; but his narrative of the Ca tilinarian conspiracy, and the wars of Jugurtha, are extant. His descriptions, harangues, &c. are animated and correct, and the author is greatly commended for the vigour of his sentences. He died in his 51st year, 35 B. C. 6. Varro wrote 300 volumes, which are all lost, except a treatise, De Re Rustica, and another De Lingua Latina. The latter he wrote in his 80th year, and dedicated to Cicero. In the civil wars, he was taken by Cæsar and proscribed, but escaped. His erudition and extent of information were matter of wonder to Cicero and St. Augustine. He died in his 88th year, B. C. 28. 7. Cornelius Nepos enjoyed the patronage of Augustus. He was the intimate friend of Cicero and Atticus. He possessed a most deli cate taste and lively disposition. He composed several works, but his lives of illustrious Greeks are all that remain. He has ever been admired for the clearness and precision of his style, and the delicacy of his expressions. He died 25 years B. C. 8. Virgil was born at Andes, a village near Mantua, about 70 years B. C. Having lost his farms in the distribution of lands to the soldiers of Augustus, after the battle of Philippi, he repaired to Rome, where he obtained an order for the restitution of his property through the interest of Mecænas. When he showed this order to the centurion who was in possession, he nearly killed Virgil, and the latter escaped only by swimming across a river. Virgil, in his Bucolics, or Pastorals, celebrates the praises of his illustrious patrons. He undertook his Georgics in order to promote the study of agriculture; and the design of the Æneid is thought to have been to reconcile the Romans to a monarchical government. By his talents and virtues he acquired the friendship of the emperor Augustus, and the most celebrated personages of his time. He died at Brundusium, in the 51st year of his age, B. C. 19, leaving his immense possessions to his friends, and was buried in the neighbourhood of Naples, where his tomb is still to be seen. 9. Horace was born at Venusia; his father, although poor, took him to Rome when a boy, and educated him with great care. At the age of twenty, he went to Athens to study philosophy, and then, with the rank of military tribune, attended Brutus to the civil wars. In the battle of Philippi he saved himself by flight, and returned to Rome. Finding his father dead, and his fortune ruined, he applied himself to writing verses; and his talents soon recommended him to the protection of Virgil, Mecænas, and Augustus, with whom he afterwards lived on terms of the greatest intimacy and friendship. He died in the 57th year of his age, B. C. 8. GENERAL VIEWS OF THE GEOGRAPHY, POPULATION, POLITICS, RELIGION, MILITARY AND NAVAL AFFAIRS, ARTS, LITERATURE, MANNERS, CUSTOMS, SOCIETY, &c. OF ANCIENT NATIONS. ANTEDILUVIAN WORLD. The few notices which the Bible has transmitted to us, respecting the Antediluvian world, being mostly confined to the moral history of its inhabitants, leave us greatly in the dark in respect to its physical and geographical facts, the state of the arts, political institutions, and similar subjects. We are here chiefly guided by analogy, and conjecture. SECT. 1. Surface of the Earth.-The earth's surface, there is reason to believe, at that period, differed somewhat from its present state. Concerning this subject, however, there are dif ferent opinions. We incline to that which supposes that there were not those inequalities in the surface of the earth which now appear at least in so great a degree, and that it was thus more uniformly adapted to the purposes of culture, and to the support of its inhabitants. § The opinion of Dr. Burnet, that the primitive earth was no more than a crust investing the water contained in the abyss, is somewhat plausible. This crust breaking into innumerable pieces, at the time of the deluge, would naturally sink down amidst the mass of waters, to various depths, and thus cause the mountains and valleys which now exist. The convulsions occasioned by that terrible event, would be likely to disfigure the earth's surface in a measure, and render it less pleasant as the abode of human beings. Indeed the mountains and hills, the valleys and plains, in many instances, appear as if they had been shaped and fashioned by some “war of the elements." Their form and appearance are precisely such, as we should conjecture would be produced from the force of the retiring waters, in vast eddies and whirlpools. 2. The Seasons. The seasons might have been different from what they are at present. Conjecture has assigned to the Antediluvian world but one season, and that an "eternal |