Quirinal Hill, at Rome, were long celebrated for their extent and beauty.

Sallust, having injured society by his example, made some atonement to the world. by his two histories, in which, in the most animated style, and by the most impressive representations he demonstrated the public and private effects of ambition and profligacy. The picture of the corruption of Rome, of which he gives a strong outline, exhibits the influence of the libertine principles which had sapped the Roman virtue; and the pages of his history prepare us for the loss of the liberties which the people soon experienced; since Sallust represents even Jugurtha to have complained of the venality of Rome, and to have left the city with a declaration which was too soon verified, that if the city could find a purchaser it would be sold.

After the circumstances of the Jugurthine war, which was carried on A. U. C. 644, we are not surprised to read of the conspiracy of Cataline, which took place 48 years after, though the history of it was written, before that of the Jugurthine war.

The historian who lived in habits of intimacy with Cicero, and who married his divorced wife Terentia, had sufficient oppor

tunities of contemplating his public and private virtues, but he seems to withhold much of that praise to which the Consul was justly entitled for his vigorous and judicious exertions upon this occasion. The detail, however, which Sallust gives of the characters of those who associated against their country, and who engaged even noble and accomplished females in their cause; and the delusion which occasioned Lentulus to be considered as the object of prophecy, destined by the gods for empire; afford sufficient eulogium on the vigilance and judgment by which the views of the conspirators were frustrated. The Romans in general, indeed, in the depraved and capricious spirit of the time, soon manifested a want of gratitude for the services of their protector; and banished Cicero to gratify the corrupt views of Clodius.

The description of the private life, and of the period of Sallust, is heightened by the contrast which it exhibits to the impressive reflections interspersed in the work, with respect to the superior glory of intellectual pursuits over the short-lived and ignoble pleasures of the body; the nature of the

* Bell. Cat. sect. 1.

gods who favour active virtue *; and the perfections and immortality of the soul. On the latter subject, we meet with the following striking passage in the account of the Jugurthine war:-"Corporis, et fortunæ, "bonorum, uti initium, sic finis est; om

niaque orta occidunt, et aucta senescunt: Animus incorruptus, æternus, rector hu"mani generis, agit, atque habet cuncta, 66 neque ipse habetur."

Queen Elizabeth, as Cambden and Montague inform us, translated Sallust.

Bell. Cat. sect. 52. See also sect. 2.

+ Sect. 2.

Preface to Works of King James. London. 1616.

CHAP. XLVI.

Caius Julius Cæsar.

THIS eminent man, who carried the Roman arms into Britain, and changed the republican government into a perpetual dictatorship, was more distinguished for the vigour of his character, than for his virtues.

per

Formed to execute great actions, and endowed with talents to describe them, he formed things worthy to be written, and wrote things worthy to be read. More anxious, however, for fame and powef, than solicitous about the means by which they were to be obtained, he accomplished his object only to illustrate the vanity of ambition, and the instability of dominion, when not founded on justice and constitutional claims. Stigmatized as he deserves to be, for having subverted the liberties of his country, it still must be allowed that the violence and ar

bitrary assumption of power which before his time prevailed at Rome, the flagrant excesses of popular sedition, and the outrages of factious men, which seemed to bid defiance to all controul of authority and law, plead some excuse for his usurpation; and we must admit, that after the proscriptions and cruelties which had been witnessed, he was entitled to some praise for the moderation which he displayed in the exercise of sovereign power. His assassination, which took place about forty-four years before Christ, placed his country in a state of insecurity and dissension, which left no hope for the restoration of tranquillity but in the establishment of a monarchical power. The spirit of patriotism and freedom was lost, and men were sunk into an apathy, from which the eloquence of Cicero in vain attempted to rouse them.

The seven books of the Commentaries, which Cæsar wrote, include the events of seven years; the eighth book was composed by A. Hirtius, who is said also to have added a part of a ninth book, which is lost, and which is supposed to have related to an expedition of Cæsar to Ireland, called also