warmed this cold, unlovely schemer into something akin to true greatness. After the final victory he declared a general amnesty and took up the work of the great Julius in something

of his spirit, though with a more cautious and conservative temper. The remaining forty years of his life Augustus gave to unremitting toil in reorganizing politics and society, laying

1 Read Capes' Early Empire, 6-9.

the foundations of the Empire so securely that even his death did not shake them. The details of his organization, as well as the glorious literature and architecture that have made the Augustan Age splendid in human annals, will be treated in the next chapter.

FOR FURTHER READING.-For Division I., see close of that division. Division II. does not demand extensive reading. The student with leisure will find good accounts in Merivale's Triumvirates, Pelham, and the opening of Capes' Early Empire (Epochs). At this stage we take leave of the authors who have so far been our chief guides. The reading for Division III. can best be done in connection with the next chapter (see bibliography at its close).

SPECIAL REPORT. - Octavius' reorganization in Italy in the years 29-27 B.C., with special reference to financial measures.

EXERCISE. — 1. Battles. Add to previous lists the following: Pharsalia, Thapsus, Munda, Philippi, Actium.

2. Catchword review of the period 44 B.C.-27 a.d.

3. Review the theme quotations at the heads of chapters through the volume, and consider their bearing upon their respective periods.

CHAPTER II.

THE EMPIRE OF THE FIRST THREE CENTURIES — AUGUSTUS TO DIOCLETIAN.

I. TABLE OF EMPERORS.

457. Character of the Treatment of this Period. With the age of Augustus the history of the Empire ceases to be centered in the city of Rome. Nor is it centered even in the emperors. Many interests depend, of course, upon the individual ruler, but the greater movements go on in much the same way, no matter who sits upon the throne. Our study will not concern itself with the gossip of the court or the intrigues of the palace, nor can we profitably follow the reigns in detail. Our interest for the next three centuries lies not so much in a narrative of any kind as in a topical survey of the institutions of the Empire, upon which, in large measure, modern society rests.

The following list of reigns is for reference in connection with Divisions II., III., IV., and V. It may be used also, with the books open, for various instructive questions and comparisons. In review, prominent facts and names may be memorized.

A. Two CENTURIES OF Order.

458. The Julian Caesars.

1. Augustus, 31 B.C.-14 A.D.: fixed the constitution; despotism under republican name (§ 462 ff.); fixed the frontier (Teutoberg, § 472); census of the empire; "golden age" of literature; "found Rome brick and left it marble"; birth of Christ, 4 B.C. (§ 631, note).

2. Tiberius, 14-37 A.D.: taciturn, suspicious, degenerating at Rome into a gloomy tyrant, but proverbial among the provincials for scrupulous fairness and good government; crucifixion of Christ.

3. Caligula, 37-41 A.D.: a capricious madman with gleams of ferocious humor-"Would that the Romans had all one neck!" Assassinated by his guard.

4. Claudius, 41-54 A.D.: timid pedant controlled by vicious favorites; citizenship rapidly extended; conquest of southern_Britain.* 1

5. Nero, 54-68 A.D.: tiger-like depravity; able ministers (Seneca*); half of Rome consumed in a six days' fire - persecution of the Christians in the city on charge of incendiarism.

69 A.D.: a year of anarchy and civil war between emperors (Galba, Otho, Vitellius, Vespasian) proclaimed by rival legions.

459. The Flavian and Antonine Caesars.

a. The Flavians.

--

1. Vespasian (Flavius Vespasianus), 70-79 A.D.: proclaimed by the legions in Syria; grandson of a Sabine laborer; a rude soldier, who had been prominent in war in Britain and Judea; economy and homely tastes; thrifty government; destruction of Jerusalem by his son Titus.* 2. Titus, 79-81 A.D.: associated in the government by his father; his exclamation not being able one night to recall that he had made any one happy "I have lost a day!" Destruction of Pompeii by the eruption of Vesuvius.* (Read Bulwer's novel, Last Days of Pompeii.) 3. Domitian, 81-96 A.D.: brother of Titus; became tyrannical, and was assassinated; Agricola completed conquest of Britain*; Persecution of the Christians.

b. The Antonines.

1. Nerva, 96-98 A.D.: an aged senator of Spanish descent; elected by the senate, and accepted by the soldiers.

2. Trajan, 98-117 A.D.: Spaniard, adopted by Nerva; extension of frontiers to their greatest limits (map, and § 474); era of roads and building; charitable endowment by the state for poor children* (Capes' Antonines, 19-21); local and slight persecution of Christians.

3. Hadrian, 117–138 A.D.: Spanish relative, adopted by Trajan; extended citizenship; gave Privy Council a fixed form (§ 463); wall in Britain against the northern Picts.

4. Antoninus Pius, 138-161 A.D.: adopted by Hadrian; peaceful, uneventful rule ("Happy is the people whose annals are meager!"); his characteristic watchward to the officer of the guard as he was about to die - Equanimity.

His son wrote of him: "He was ever prudent and temperate. . . He looked to his duty only, and not to the opinion of men harsh, nothing excessive, nothing rude, nothing overdone."

nothing

1 Special reports may be assigned on the seven topics starred in §§ 458–461.

5. Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, 161-180 A.D.: nephew and adopted son of Pius; a softened and noble stoic philosopher; the great Asiatic plague (§ 513); renewal of barbarian attacks (§ 511); persecution of Christians; his Thoughts (§ 503) - one of the noblest books of the world.

"To come to the aid of the weak, to mitigate the lot of slaves, to facilitate manumission, to protect wards, were the objects of Marcus as of his predecessor."-BURY.

The five preceding rulers are known as the Good Emperors. Says Merivale, "The blameless career of these illustrious princes has furnished the best excuse for Caesarism in all after ages."

6. Commodus, 180-193 A.D.: son of Aurelius; an infamous tyrant, murdered by his officers.

460. General Character of the Government. Thus this first long period of two hundred and twenty-four years is an age of settled government and regular succession, except for the disorders of the one terrible year 69 A.D., at the close of Nero's reign. That brief anarchy subdivides the period into nearly equal parts. The Julian emperors (Romans and related to the great Julius) covered just a century. After the three Flavians (Italians) came the six Antonines, who also covered nearly a hundred years. They were provincials. The election of Galba by the Spanish legion in 69 A.D., as Tacitus says, "had revealed the secret that emperors could be made elsewhere than in Rome." The majority of the fourteen rulers were good men; nearly all were capable rulers; the few tyrants had short reigns after their evil qualities began to show.

B. A CENTURY OF DISPUTED SUCCESSION BETWEEN MILITARY ADVENTURERS.

461. The "Barrack Emperors," 193-284 A.D.

193: Pertinax, Julianus.

(See § 512.)

Septimius Severus, 193-211: African soldier; persecutions of the Christians.

Caracalla, 211-217: tyrant; made all free inhabitants of the empire Roman citizens; the age of the great jurists - Ulpian, etc.

Macrinus, 217-218. Elagabalus, 218-222. Alexander Severus, 222-235: a prosperous period under a gentle and able sovereign. Maximus, 235238. Gordianus I. and II., Pupienus, Balbinus, 238. Gordianus III., 238-244. Philippus, 244-249.

Decius, 249-251: died in battle against the invading Goths, who are then bought off; general persecution of Christians.