III. The character of the tribunes was, in every re- c H A P. fpect, different from that of the confuls. The appearance of the former was modeft and humble; but their perfons were facred and inviolable. Their force was fuited rather for oppofition than for action. They were inftituted to defend the oppreffed, to pardon offences, to arraign the enemies of the people, and, when they judged it neceffary, to ftop, by a fingle word, the whole machine of government. As long as the republic fubfifted, the dangerous influence, which either the conful or the tribune might derive from their respective jurisdiction, was diminished by feveral important restrictions. Their authority expired with the year in which they were elected; the former office was divided between two, the latter among ten perfons; and, as both in their private and public intereft they were averfe to each other, their mutual conflicts contributed, for the most part, to ftrengthen rather than to deftroy the balance of the conftitution. But when the confular and tribunitian powers were united, when they were vested for life in a single perfon, when the general of the army was, at the fame time, the minifter of the fenate and the representative of the Roman people, it was impoffible to refift the exercise, nor was it eafy to define the limits, of his Imperial prerogative. dictatorship, abfented himself from Rome, and waited till the fatal effects of tumult and faction forced the fenate to inveft him with a perpetual confulship. Auguftus, as well as his fucceffors, affected however, to conceal fo invidious a title. To CHAP. tives. To thefe accumulated honours, the policy of Auguftus foon added the fplendid as well as im. Imperial portant dignities of fupreme pontiff, and of cenpreroga for. By the former he acquired the management of the religion, and by the latter a legal inspection over the manners and fortunes, of the Roman people. If fo many distinct and independent powers did not exactly unite with each other, the complaifance of the fenate was prepared to fupply every deficiency by the most ample and extraordinary conceffions. The emperors, as the firft minifters of the republic, were exempted from the obligation and penalty of many inconvenient laws: they were authorized to convoke the fenate, to make feveral motions in the fame day, to recommend candidates for the honours of the ftate, to enlarge the bounds of the city, to employ the revenue at their diferetion, to declare peace and war, to ratify treaties; and by a moft comprehenfive claufe, they were empowered to execute whatsoever they fhould judge advantageous to the empire, and agreeable to the majesty of things private or public, human or divine". The magif trates. When all the various powers of executive government were committed to the Imperial ma giftrate, the ordinary magiftrates of the common, wealth languished in obfcurity, without vigour, and almoft without bufinefs. The names and 14 See a fragment of a Decree of the Senate, conferring on the Emperor Vefpafian, all the powers granted to his predeceffors, Auguftus, Tiberius, and Claudius. This curious and important monument is published in Gruter's Infcriptions, No. cexlii. forms III. forms of the ancient adminiftration were pre. CHA P. ferved, by. Auguftus, with the moft anxious care. The ufual number of confuls, prætors, and tribunes", were annually invested with their respective enfigns of office, and continued to discharge fome of their leaft important func tions. Thofe honours ftill attracted the vain ambition of the Romans; and the emperors themselves, though invefted for life with the powers of the confulfhip, frequently aspired to the title of that annual dignity, which they condefcended to fhare with the moft illustrious of their fellow-citizens 1. In the election of thefe magiftrates, the people, during the reign of Auguftus, were permitted to expofe all the inconveniences of a wild democracy. That artful prince, inftead of difcovering the leaft fymptom of impatience, humbly folicited their fuffrages for himfelf or his friends, and fcrupulously practifed all the duties of an ordinary candi 15 Two confuls were created on the Calends of January; but in the course of the year others were substituted in their places, till the annual number feems to have amounted to no less than twelve. The prætors were usually fixteen or eighteen (Lipfius in Excurf. D. ad Tacit. Annal. l.i.). I have not mentioned the Ædiles or Quæf tors. Officers of the police or revenue easily adapt themselves to any form of government. In the time of Nero, the tribunes legally poffeffed the right of interceffion, though it might be dangerous to exercife it (Tacit. Annal. xvi. 26.). In the time of Trajan, it was doubtful whether the tribunefhip was an office or a name (Plin. Epist. i. 23.), 16 The tyrants themselves were ambitious of the consulfhip. The virtuous princes were moderate in the purfuit, and exact in the difcharge of it. Trajan revived the ancient oath, and fwore before the conful's tribunal, that he would obferve the laws (Plin. Panegyric. c. 64.). date. III. CHAP. date". But we may venture to afcribe to his councils, the first measure of the fucceeding reign, by which the elections were transferred to the fenate". The affemblies of the people were for ever abolished, and the emperors were delivered from a dangerous multitude, who, without reftoring liberty, might have disturbed, and perhaps endangered, the established government. The fenate. By declaring themfelves the protectors of the people, Marius and Cæfar had fubverted the constitution of their country. But as foon as the fenate had been humbled and difarmed, fuch an affembly, confifting of five or fix hundred perfons, was found a much more tractable and ufeful inftrument of dominion. It was on the dignity of the fenate, that Auguftus and his fucceffors founded their new empire; and they affected, on every occafion, to adopt the language and principles of Patricians. In the administration of their own powers, they frequently confulted the great national council, and feemed to refer to its decifion the most important concerns of peace and war. Rome, Italy, and the internal provinces, were fubject to the immediate jurisdiction of the fenate. With regard to civil "Quoties Magiftratuum Comitiis intereffet. Tribus cum candidatis fuis circuibat: fupplicabatque more folemni. Ferebat et ipfe fuffragium in tribubus, ut unus e populo. Suetonius in August. c. 56. 18 Tum primum Comitia e campo ad patres tranflata funt. Tacit. Annal. i. 15. The word primum feems to allude to fome faint and unfuccessful efforts, which were made towards reftoring them to the people. objects, III. objects, it was the fupreme court of appeal; CHAP. with regard to criminal matters, a tribunal, conftituted for the trial of all offences that were committed by men in any public ftation, or that affected the peace and majefty of the Roman people. The exercife of the judicial power became the moft frequent and ferious occupation of the fenate; and the important causes that were pleaded before them, afforded a laft refuge to the spirit of ancient eloquence. As a council of ftate, and as a court of juftice, the fenate poffeffed very confiderable prerogatives; but in its legislative capacity, in which it was fuppofed virtually to reprefent the people, the rights of fovereignty were acknowledged to refide in that affembly. Every power was derived from their authority, every law was ratified by their fanction. Their regular meetings were held on three stated days in every month, the Calends, the Nones, and the Ides. The debates were conducted with decent freedom; and the emperors themselves, who gloried in the name of fenators, fat, voted, and divided with their equals. Imperial To refume, in a few words, the fyftem of the General Imperial government; as it was inftituted by idea of the Auguftus, and maintained by thofe princes who fyitem. understood their own intereft and that of the people, it may be defined an abfolute monarchy disguised by the forms of a commonwealth. The mafters of the Roman world furrounded their throne with darkness, concealed their irrefiftible strength, and humbly profeffed themselves the |