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THE

MONTHLY REVIEW,

For SEPTEMBER, 1814.

ART. I. A History of the Roman Government; from the Com mencement of the State, till the final Subversion of Liberty, by the successful Usurpation of Cæsar Augustus, in the Year of Rome 724. By Alexander Brodie. 8vo. pp. 623. 12s. Boards. Longman and Co.

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THOUGH the history of the civil policy of Rome be much inferior in brilliancy to the relation of her conquests, it is incomparably more important in the eyes of the philosopher. It is now generally admitted, from the examples of antient Greece, modern Italy, Swisserland, Holland, and our own country, as well as of the illustrious republic already mentioned, that the great source of political power is to be found in the form of government. It also needs little argument to shew that, where individuals feel themselves most strongly prompted to make exertions for their personal advantage, they will prove the most effectual contributors of strength to a community; and, by the application of this rule to the history of Rome, we are enabled to find a clue to the conquest of the world. The proportion of able commanders throughout her military career was not large, and their time of service was in general too short to permit them to be the instruments of very extensive conquests. We seldom find, in the Roman history, examples of changes as extraordinary as those which were produced in Greece by Epaminondas, and in Europe by a Frederick or a Bonaparte ;a consideration which clearly shews that we are to look for the origin of Roman greatness, not in the temporary display of individual talents, but in the general spirit of the government.

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Interesting and instructive as this subject is, it has hitherto been very imperfectly illustrated. Nearly all the Roman writers are deficient in political research; and, being themselves familiar with the constitution of their country, they appear to have taken it for granted that a corresponding degree of knowlege was possessed by their readers; while the unfortunate loss of the most valuable parts of the historical labours of Polybius, Sallust, and Livy, has also borne hard on this department of poliVOL. LXXV.

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tical inquiry. The attempts made in modern times to remedy this deficiency have usually been confined to detached portions of the investigation; and Mr. Erodie's book is one of very few in which an analysis of the Roman government has been proposed as the sole topic of discussion. He complains, accordingly, of the deficiency of the labours of his predecessors: the antient historians having often been led, by the appearances of their own times, to ascribe the power of causes to circumstances of mere concomitancy; while, among the moderns, Hooke, and the writer of a late pamphlet intitled "Thoughts on Public Trusts," seem to be almost the only persons who have entered accurately into the spirit of the Roman institutions. In this charge against historians, serious as it is, we find it necessary to agree in a great measure with Mr. Brodie; and it forms an additional reason for our entering fully into the leading points of his political narrative. We shall endeavour to impress the principal facts on the memory of our readers by arranging them under separate heads.

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Rome under the Kings. The power of the Roman kings may be not unaptly compared to that of the Dutch Stadtholders. They were not, as persons frequently imagine, the masters, but the first servants of the community. During life, they were commanders of the armed force in the field, as well as administrators of the laws at home; and, lest they should abuse their judicial power, a right of appeal to the people at large was given to accused parties. The senate or council of the executive government was originally little else than a committee of the body of citizens; and the enactment of laws was a right sacredly appertaining to the people in their collective meetings. -One of the first alterations of consequence in this system was made by the first Tarquin, the fifth king of Rome. Being of foreign extraction, he deemed it necessary for the consolidation of his power to attach to himself the secondary orders of the state; and he accordingly found means to introduce into the senate one hundred additional members, chosen from among the people at large. The favour, however, thus enjoyed by the community, was of short duration; Servius Tullius, the next king, pursuing a contrary course, and new-modelling the votes of public assemblies, on a plan which lessened or almost extinguished the influence of number, while it vested legislative power in the possession of wealth and rank. To make this change more palatable, the rule now brought forwards for apportioning legislative influence was the share borne in the payment of taxes. The whole population of Rome was divided into six classes, exclusive of the Equites; and each class voted by a prescribed number of centuries on the following plan;

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The first class, consisting of persons each worth the sum of 3231. sterling, formed 82 centuries. The equites, who were a medium between the first and the inferior classes, constituted

18 centuries

The 2d class, composed of persons worth 2421.-20

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160l.. 801.

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35.- -33

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By this aristocratical arrangement, the first class and the Equites were sufficient to form a majority againt all the others together. The common people, now restricted from influence in government, were taught to console themselves in an accompanying exemption from taxes; and they were excluded also from military service, a task reserved by the higher and middling ranks for themselves: a provision which must appear singular to a modern reader, or to all who are not aware that in these ages the most lucrative of professions was war. The distinction of the respective classes in military service was marked by difference of armour; superiority in point of property conferring a title to carry additional arms of defence. This memorable change took place about the 200th year of Rome, by which time the number of citizens amounted to 80,000.

Such was the plan of legislative government, until the usurpation of the second Tarquin paved the way for still more important changes: the new form of government being yet too nearly allied to liberty for the purposes of a tyrant. Proceeding on the system of domineering indiscriminately over all ranks, Tarquin assembled neither the senate nor the people, but tried capital offences without counsellors, and admitted no appeal to the body of citizens. Like another Bonaparte, his favours were confined to the fit instruments of despotism, the military; and when, after twenty years of usurpation, a revolution took place, the death of Lucretia was nothing more than a match applied to a mine which had long been ready to explode.The most important measure, with a view to the future condition of Roman citizens, that was adopted by Tarquin, was a new plan of taking the spoils of war from a vanquished enemy. Hitherto, the course had been to appropriate portions of territory, and to distribute them in allotments to the Roman citizens: but Tarquin, impatient to absorb all power in himself, substituted contributions of corn for cessions of territory; and the fruits of conquest, being thus transient in their possession, were placed directly at the disposal of the executive department of the state. So tempting a power could

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scarcely fail to be productive of abuse; and we shall ac cordingly find in this innovation the source of endless controversies between the Patricians and the Plebeians.

Rome from the Year of the City 244 to 620.- The expulsion of the kings was attended with little other change in the Roman government than the creation of an annual magistracy, in lieu of a magistracy for life; the distribution of the legislative, executive, and judicative powers remaining very nearly as before. For several years after the removal of Tarquin, his military talents, and the strength of his alliances with the neighbouring powers, kept the Romans in considerable terror of his return; and the war waged against him proved highly injurious to the circumstances of the middling classes, who had not, like the Patricians, the means of having their concerns managed in their absence by slaves. The richer citizens likewise outvoted the middling classes in the assemblies by centuries, and became, in consequence of the debts contracted by their less fortunate countrymen, almost the only competitors for the purchase of lands exposed to sale at public auction. Moreover, the rate of interest being always above twelve per cent., the debts of the middling classes to their Patrician brethren soon began to accumulate rapidly. This was not a state of things to be patiently borne by men who occupied their time and hazarded their lives in the public service; and accordingly, about the eleventh year after the expulsion of Tarquin, the Plebeians began to exhibit signs of open and serious discontent. Their first step was, on an alarm of a fresh attack on the territory of the republic, to refuse their services, and to declare that those who absorbed the riches and honours of the state ought to bear the burden of its defence. Some talked of withdrawing altogether from the republic, but the more general disposition was to re-unite with the Patricians on obtaining a general discharge of debts. This, however, was a sacrifice to which the latter were by no means prepared to subscribe. The Plebeians, on the other hand, adhering to their refusal of service, it became necessary to have recourse to the new and extraordinary expedient of nominating a dictator; or, in other words, of surrendering for a season all law and power into the hands of an individual. After the recent experience of tyranny, and the jealousy with which the temporary power of the consuls was watched, we may safely presume that nothing short of an extreme case would lead the senate to the adoption of such a measure: the apprehension of external danger does not seem to have been urgent; - and the point was to nominate a magistrate whom all ranks should be pledged to obey. After such a step, the Plebeians found it expedient to suspend their opposition; and, they having consented to follow the dictator

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to the field, the invading enemy was soon obliged to withdraw from the contest.

The flame, however, was only allayed for a season; and the failure of Tarquin's attempts, followed in the course of years by his death, removed one of the chief ties of domestic union in Rome. The exemption from external apprehension having a tendency to produce a renewal of severity on the part of the Patrician, and of direct resistance on that of his discontented debtor, the senators felt the necessity of taking the cause of this dissatisfaction into serious consideration: but they were greatly divided with regard to the fit course to be pursued. Meantime, the debtors were induced to hold frequent meetings; at one of which, occurred a circumstance strongly calculated to operate on public sympathy: - A plebeian, well known as a veteran soldier, was observed to rush suddenly into the forum, and, exhibiting his back mangled with stripes, was heard to call aloud for protection against his cruel creditor: when the emotion excited by this spectacle was so serious, as to oblige the senate to come to a resolution of suspending all personal detentions on the ground of debt. Encouraged by this concession, the middling classes consented to obey a new order for military service, and to take the field against the Volsci. Returning victorious, they hoped to obtain a complete discharge of their debts: but a majority of the senate still refused a point which militated so directly against their personal interest. The soldiery then ventured to go a step farther, and to suspend by direct interference all judicial proceedings against debtors. In the next year, the restless neighbours of Rome threatening the republic with a fresh attack, a new opportunity of declining service was afforded to the Plebeians; when the senate had again recourse to the alternative of a dictator, and the leader chosen being the brother of the esteemed Poplicola, they speedily succeeded in levying an army, and in driving the enemy from the field. The Senate still refusing to grant a release to the indebted citizens, the latter, with their arms in their hands, made the memorable secession to Mons Sacer. Alarmed at this unexpected measure, the Senate deputed Menenius Agrippa to the army: but he returned without success, and felt it necessary to recommend to the Senate a speedy acquiescence in the demands of the military. At last, a formal deputation was dispatched to the Mount, with an offer of the long-desired abolition of debts; and the Plebeians, overjoyed at this proposition, were on the eve of marching home without farther stipulation: but their leaders, having less confidence in the good faith of the Senate, insisted that they should not stir without receiving an acknowlegement

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