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The obvious definition of a
monarchy seems to be that of a state, in which a single person, by whatsoever name he may be distinguished, is entrusted with the execution of the laws, the
management of the revenue, and the command of the army. But, unless public
liberty is protected by intrepid and vigilant guardians, the
authority of so formidable a magistrate will soon
degenerate into
despotism. The influence of the clergy, in an age of superstition, might be usefully employed to assert the rights of mankind; but so intimate is the connection between the
throne and the altar, that the banner of the church has very seldom been seen on the side of the people. A martial nobility and stubborn commons, possessed of arms, tenacious of property,
and collected into
constitutional assemblies, form the only balance capable of preserving a free constitution against enterprises of an aspiring prince.
Every barrier of the Roman constitution had been leveled by the vast ambition of the dictator; every fence had been extirpated by the cruel hand of the triumvir. After the victory of Actium,
the fate of the Roman world depended on the will of Octavianus, surnamed
Caesar, by his uncle's adoption, and afterwards
Augustus, by the flattery of the
Senate. The conqueror was at the
head of forty-four veteran legions,
1 conscious of their own strength, and of the weakness of the constitution, habituated, during twenty years' civil war, to every act of blood and violence,
and passionately devoted to the house of
Caesar, from whence alone they had received, and expected the most lavish rewards. The provinces, long oppressed by the ministers of the
Republic,
sighed for the government of a single person, who would be the master, not the accomplice, of those petty tyrants. The people of
Rome, viewing, with a secret pleasure, the humiliation of
the
aristocracy, demanded only bread and public shows; and were supplied with both by the liberal hand of
Augustus. The rich and polite Italians, who had almost universally embraced the
philosophy of
Epicurus, enjoyed the present blessings of ease and tranquillity, and suffered not the pleasing dream to be interrupted by the memory of their old tumultuous freedom. With its
power, the
Senate had lost its
dignity; many of the most noble families were extinct. The
Republicans of spirit and ability had perished in the field of battle, or in the proscription . The door
of the assembly had been designedly left open, for a mixed multitude of more than a thousand persons, who reflected disgrace upon their rank, instead of deriving honor from it.
2
note 1: Orosius, vi. 18.
Note: Dion says twenty-five, (or three,) (lv. 23.) The united triumvirs had but forty-three. (Appian. Bell. Civ. iv. 3.) The testimony of Orosius is of little value when more certain may be
had. - W. But all the legions, doubtless, submitted to Augustus after the battle of Actium. - M.
note 2: Julius Caesar introduced soldiers, strangers, and half- barbarians into the Senate (Sueton. in Caesar. c. 77, 80.) The abuse became still more scandalous after his death.
The reformation of the
Senate was one of the first steps in which
Augustus laid aside the tyrant, and professed himself the father of his country. He was elected censor; and, in concert with his
faithful
Agrippa, he examined the list of the
senators, expelled a few members, whose vices or whose obstinacy required a public example, persuaded near two hundred to prevent the
shame of an expulsion by a voluntary retreat, raised the qualification of a
senator to about ten thousand pounds, created a sufficient number of patrician families, and accepted for himself the
honorable title of Prince of the
Senate,
! which had always been bestowed, by the censors, on the citizen the most eminent for his honors and services.
3 But whilst he thus restored the
dignity, he destroyed the independence, of the
Senate. The principles of a free
constitution are irrecoverably lost, when the legislative power is nominated by the executive.
note !: But Augustus, then Octavius, was censor, and in virtue of that office, even according to the constitution of the free Republic, could reform the Senate, expel unworthy members,
name the Princeps Senatus, &c. That was called, as is well known, Senatum legere. It was customary, during the free Republic, for the censor to be named Princeps Senatus, (S. Liv. l. xxvii.
c. 11, l. xl. c. 51;) and Dion expressly says, that this was done according to ancient usage. He was empowered by a decree of the Senate to admit a number of families among the patricians.
Finally, the Senate was not the legislative power. - W
note 3: Dion Cassius, l. liii. p. 693. Suetonius in August. c. 35.
Before an assembly thus modelled and prepared,
Augustus pronounced a studied oration, which displayed his
patriotism, and disguised his ambition. "He lamented, yet excused, his past conduct. Filial
piety had required at his hands the revenge of his father's murder; the humanity of his own nature
had sometimes given way to the stern laws of necessity, and to a forced connection with two unworthy colleagues: as long as
Antony lived, the
Republic forbade him to abandon her to a
degenerate Roman, and a
barbarian queen. He was now at
liberty to satisfy his duty and his inclination. He solemnly restored the
Senate and people to all their ancient rights; and wished
only to mingle with the crowd of his fellow-citizens, and to share the blessings which he had obtained for his country."
4
note 4: Dion (l. liii. p. 698) gives us a prolix and bombast speech on this great occasion. I have borrowed from Suetonius and Tacitus the general language of Augustus.
It would require the pen of
Tacitus (if
Tacitus had assisted at this assembly) to describe the various emotions of the
Senate, those that were suppressed, and those that were affected. It was
dangerous to trust the sincerity of
Augustus; to seem to distrust it was still more dangerous. The respective advantages of
monarchy and a
Republic have often divided speculative inquirers;
the present greatness of the Roman state, the corruption of manners, and the license of the soldiers, supplied new arguments to the advocates of
monarchy; and these general views of
government were again warped by the hopes and fears of each individual. Amidst this confusion of sentiments, the answer of the
Senate was unanimous and decisive. They refused to accept
the resignation of
Augustus; they conjured him not to desert the
Republic, which he had saved. After a decent resistance, the crafty tyrant submitted to the orders of the
Senate; and consented
to receive the government of the provinces, and the general command of the Roman armies, under the well-known names of
Proconsul and Imperator.
5 But he would receive them only for
ten years. Even before the expiration of that period, he hope that the wounds of civil discord would be completely healed, and that the
Republic, restored to its pristine health and vigor, would
no longer require the dangerous interposition of so extraordinary a magistrate. The memory of this comedy, repeated several times during the life of
Augustus, was preserved to the last ages
of the
Empire, by the peculiar pomp with which the perpetual monarchs of
Rome always solemnized the tenth years of their reign.
6
note 5: Imperator (from which we have derived Emperor) signified under her Republic no more than general, and was emphatically bestowed by the soldiers, when on the field of battle
they proclaimed their victorious leader worthy of that title. When the Roman emperors assumed it in that sense, they placed it after their name, and marked how often they had taken it.
note 6: Dion. l. liii. p. 703, &c.
Without any violation of the principles of the constitution, the general of the Roman armies might receive and exercise an
authority almost despotic over the soldiers, the enemies, and the
subjects of the
Republic. With regard to the soldiers, the jealousy of freedom had, even from the earliest ages of
Rome, given way to the hopes of conquest, and a just sense of military
discipline. The dictator, or consul, had a right to command the service of the Roman youth; and to punish an obstinate or cowardly disobedience by the most severe and ignominious
penalties, by striking the offender out of the list of citizens, by confiscating his property, and by selling his person into slavery.
7 The most sacred rights of
freedom, confirmed by the
Porcian and Sempronian laws, were suspended by the military engagement. In his camp the general exercise an absolute power of life and death; his jurisdiction was not confined by any
forms of trial, or rules of proceeding, and the execution of the sentence was immediate and without appeal.
8 The choice of the enemies of
Rome was regularly decided by the legislative
authority. The most important resolutions of peace and war were seriously debated in the
Senate, and solemnly ratified by the people. But when the arms of the legions were carried to a great
distance from
Italy, the general assumed the
liberty of directing them against whatever people, and in whatever manner, they judged most advantageous for the public service. It was from the
success, not from the
justice, of their enterprises, that they expected the honors of a triumph. In the use of victory, especially after they were no longer controlled by the commissioners of the
Senate, they exercised the most unbounded
despotism. When
Pompey commanded in the East, he rewarded his soldiers and allies, dethroned princes, divided kingdoms, founded colonies,
and distributed the treasures of Mithridates. On his return to
Rome, he obtained, by a single act of the
Senate and people, the universal ratification of all his proceedings.
9 Such was the
power over the soldiers, and over the enemies of
Rome, which was either granted to, or assumed by, the generals of the
Republic. They were, at the same time, the governors, or rather
monarchs, of the conquered provinces, united the civil with the military character, administered justice as well as the finances, and exercised both the executive and legislative power of the
state.
note 7: Livy Epitom. l. xiv. c. 27. Valer. Maxim. vi. 3.
note 8: See, in the viiith book of Livy, the conduct of Manlius Torquatus and Papirius Cursor. They violated the
laws of nature and humanity, but they asserted those of military discipline; and the people, who abhorred the action, was obliged to respect the principle.
note 9: By the lavish but unconstrained suffrages of the people, Pompey had obtained a military command scarcely inferior to that of Augustus. Among the extraordinary acts of power executed by the former we may remark the foundation of twenty-nine cities, and the distribution of three or four millions sterling to his troops. The ratification of his acts met with some opposition and delays in the Senate - See Plutarch, Appian, Dion Cassius, and the first book of the epistles to Atticus.
From what has already been observed in the first chapter of this work, some notion may be formed of the armies and provinces thus entrusted to the ruling hand of
Augustus. But as it was
impossible that he could personally command the regions of so many distant frontiers, he was indulged by the
Senate, as
Pompey had already been, in the permission of devolving the
execution of his great office on a sufficient number of lieutenants. In rank and
authority these officers seemed not inferior to the ancient
Proconsuls; but their station was dependent and
precarious. They received and held their commissions at the will of a superior, to whose auspicious influence the merit of their action was legally attributed.
10 They were the
representatives of the emperor. The emperor alone was the general of the
Republic, and his jurisdiction, civil as well as military, extended over all the conquests of
Rome. It was some
satisfaction, however, to the
Senate, that he always delegated his power to the members of their body. The
Imperial lieutenants were of consular or praetorian
dignity; the legions were
commanded by
senators, and the prefecture of
Egypt was the only important trust committed to a Roman knight.
note 10: Under the Commonwealth, a triumph could only be claimed by the general, who was authorized to take the Auspices in the name of the people. By an exact consequence,
drawn from this principle of policy and religion, the triumph was reserved to the emperor; and his most successful lieutenants were satisfied with some marks of distinction, which, under the
name of triumphal honors, were invented in their favor.
Within six days after
Augustus had been compelled to accept so very liberal a grant, he resolved to gratify the pride of the
Senate by an easy sacrifice. He represented to them, that they had
enlarged his powers, even beyond that degree which might be required by the melancholy condition of the times. They had not permitted him to refuse the laborious command of the armies
and the frontiers; but he must insist on being allowed to restore the more peaceful and secure provinces to the mild administration of the civil magistrate. In the division of the provinces,
Augustus provided for his own power and for the
dignity of the
Republic. The
Proconsuls of the
Senate, particularly those of Asia, Greece, and Africa, enjoyed a more honorable character than
the lieutenants of the emperor, who commanded in
Gaul or
Syria. The former were attended by lictors, the latter by soldiers.
* A law was passed, that wherever the emperor was present, his
extraordinary commission should supersede the ordinary jurisdiction of the governor; a custom was introduced, that the new conquests belonged to the
Imperial portion; and it was soon
discovered that the
authority of
the Prince, the favorite epithet of
Augustus, was the same in every part of the
Empire.
note *: This distinction is without foundation. The lieutenants of
the emperor, who were called Propraetors, whether they had been praetors or consuls, were attended by six lictors; those who had the right of the sword, (of life and death over the soldiers. -
M.) bore the military habit (paludamentum) and the sword. The provincial governors commissioned by the Senate, who, whether they had been consuls or not, were called Pronconsuls, had
twelve lictors when they had been consuls, and six only when they had but been praetors. The provinces of Africa and Asia were only given to ex- consuls. See, on the Organization of the
Provinces, Dion, liii. 12, 16 Strabo, xvii 840.- W
In return for this imaginary concession,
Augustus obtained an important privilege, which rendered him master of
Rome and
Italy. By a dangerous exception to the ancient maxims, he was
authorized to preserve his military command, supported by a numerous body of guards, even in time of peace, and in the heart of the capital. His command, indeed, was confined to those
citizens who were engaged in the service by the military oath; but such was the propensity of the Romans to servitude, that the oath was voluntarily taken by the magistrates, the
senators,
and the
equestrian order, till the homage of flattery was insensibly converted into an annual and solemn protestation of
fidelity.
Although
Augustus considered a military force as the firmest foundation, he wisely rejected it, as a very odious instrument of government. It was more agreeable to his temper, as well as to
his
policy, to reign under the venerable names of ancient magistracy, and artfully to collect, in his own person, all the scattered rays of civil jurisdiction. With this view, he permitted the
Senate to confer upon him, for his life, the powers of the consular
11 and tribunitian offices,
12 which were, in the same manner, continued to all his successors. The consuls had succeeded
to the kings of
Rome, and represented the
dignity of the state. They superintended the ceremonies of religion, levied and commanded the legions, gave audience to foreign ambassadors, and
presided in the assemblies both of the
Senate and people. The general control of the finances was entrusted to their care; and though they seldom had leisure to administer justice in person,
they were considered as the supreme guardians of law, equity, and the public peace. Such was their ordinary jurisdiction; but whenever the
Senate empowered the first magistrate to consult
the safety of the
Commonwealth, he was raised by that decree above the laws, and exercised, in the defense of
liberty, a temporary
despotism.
13 The character of the tribunes was, in every
respect, different from that of the consuls. The appearance of the former was modest and humble; but their persons were sacred and inviolable. Their force was suited rather for opposition than
for action. They were instituted to defend the oppressed, to pardon offences, to arraign the enemies of the people, and, when they judged it necessary, to stop, by a single word, the whole
machine of government. As long as the
Republic subsisted, the dangerous influence, which either the consul or the tribune might derive from their respective jurisdiction, was diminished by
several important restrictions. Their
authority expired with the year in which they were elected; the former office was divided between two, the latter among ten persons; and, as both in their
private and public interest they were averse to each other, their mutual conflicts contributed, for the most part, to strengthen rather than to destroy the balance of the constitution.
* But when
the consular and tribunitian powers were united, when they were vested for life in a single person, when the general of the army was, at the same time, the minister of the
Senate and the
representative of the Roman people, it was impossible to resist the exercise, nor was it easy to define the limits, of his
Imperial prerogative.
note 11: Cicero (de Legibus, iii. 3) gives the consular office the name of egia potestas; and Polybius (l. vi. c. 3) observes three powers in the Roman constitution. The monarchical was
represented and exercised by the consuls.
note 12: As the tribunitian power (distinct from the annual office) was first invented by the dictator Caesar, (Dion, l. xliv. p. 384,) we may easily conceive, that it was given as a reward
for having so nobly asserted, by arms, the sacred rights of the tribunes and people. See his own Commentaries, de Bell. Civil. l. i.
note 13: Augustus exercised nine annual consulships without interruption. He then most artfully refused the magistracy, as well as the dictatorship, absented himself from Rome, and
waited till the fatal effects of tumult and faction forced the Senate to invest him with a perpetual consulship. Augustus, as well as his successors, affected, however, to conceal so invidious a
title.
note *: The note of M. Guizot on the tribunitian power applies to the French translation rather than to the original. The former has, maintenir la balance toujours egale, which implies
much more than Gibbon's general expression. The note belongs rather to the history of the Republic than that of the Empire. - M
To these accumulated honors, the
policy of
Augustus soon added the splendid as well as important dignities of supreme pontiff, and of censor. 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 so many distinct and independent powers did not exactly unite with each other, the
complaisance of the
Senate was prepared to supply every deficiency by the most ample and extraordinary concessions. The emperors, as the first ministers of the
Republic, were exempted from
the obligation and penalty of many inconvenient laws: they were authorized to convoke the
Senate, to make several motions in the same day, to recommend candidates for the honors of the
state, to enlarge the bounds of the city, to employ the
revenue at their discretion, to declare peace and war, to ratify treaties; and by a most comprehensive clause, they were empowered to
execute whatsoever they should judge advantageous to the
Empire, and agreeable to the majesty of things private or public, human of divine.
14
note 14: See a fragment of a Decree of the Senate, conferring on the emperor Vespasian all the powers granted to his predecessors, Augustus, Tiberius, and Claudius. This curious and
important monument is published in Gruter's Inscriptions, No. ccxlii. Note: It is also in the editions of Tacitus by Ryck, (Annal. p. 420, 421,) and Ernesti, (Excurs. ad lib. iv. 6;) but this fragment contains so many inconsistencies, both in matter and form, that its authenticity may be doubted - W.
When all the various powers of executive government were committed to the
Imperial magistrate, the ordinary magistrates of the
Commonwealth languished in obscurity, without vigor, and
almost without business. The names and forms of the ancient administration were preserved by
Augustus with the most anxious care. The usual number of consuls, praetors, and tribunes,
15 were annually invested with their respective ensigns of office, and continued to discharge some of their least important functions. Those honors still attracted the vain ambition of the
Romans; and the emperors themselves, though invested for life with the powers of the consul ship, frequently aspired to the title of that annual
dignity, which they condescended to share
with the most illustrious of their fellow-citizens.
16 In the election of these magistrates, the people, during the reign of
Augustus, were permitted to expose all the inconveniences of a wild
democracy. That artful prince, instead of discovering the least symptom of impatience, humbly solicited their suffrages for himself or his friends, and scrupulously practiced all the duties of an
ordinary candidate.
17 But we may venture to ascribe to his councils the first measure of the succeeding reign, by which the elections were transferred to the
Senate.
18 The assemblies of the people were forever abolished, and the emperors were delivered from a dangerous multitude, who, without restoring
liberty, might have disturbed, and perhaps endangered, the established
government.
note 15: Two consuls were created on the Calends of January; but in the course of the year others were substituted in their places, till the annual number seems to have amounted to no
less than twelve. The praetors were usually sixteen or eighteen, (Lipsius in Excurs. D. ad Tacit. Annal. l. i.) I have not mentioned the Aediles or Quaestors Officers of the police or revenue
easily adapt themselves to any form of government. In the time of Nero, the tribunes legally possessed the right of intercession, though it might be dangerous to exercise it (Tacit. Annal.
xvi. 26.) In the time of Trajan, it was doubtful whether the tribuneship was an office or a name, (Plin. Epist. i. 23.)
note 16: The tyrants themselves were ambitious of the consulship. The virtuous princes were moderate in the pursuit, and exact in the discharge of it. Trajan revived the ancient oath,
and swore before the consul's tribunal that he would observe the laws, (Plin. Panegyric c. 64.)
note 17: Quoties Magistratuum Comitiis interesset. Tribus cum candidatis suis circunbat: supplicabatque more solemni. Ferebat et ipse suffragium in tribubus, ut unus e populo.
Suetonius in August c. 56.
note 18: Tum primum Comitia e campo ad patres translata sunt. Tacit. Annal. i. 15. The word primum seems to allude to some faint and unsuccessful
efforts which were made towards restoring them to the people. Note: The emperor Caligula made the attempt: he rest red the Comitia to the people, but, in a short time, took them away
again. Suet. in Caio. c. 16. Dion. lix. 9, 20. Nevertheless, at the time of Dion, they preserved still the form of the Comitia. Dion. lviii. 20. - W.
By declaring themselves the protectors of the people, Marius and
Caesar had subverted the constitution of their country. But as soon as the
Senate had been humbled and disarmed, such an
assembly, consisting of five or six hundred persons, was found a much more tractable and useful instrument of dominion. It was on the
dignity of the
Senate that
Augustus and his successors
founded their new
Empire; and they affected, on every occasion, to adopt the language and principles of Patricians. In the administration of their own powers, they frequently consulted the
great national council, and seemed to refer to its decision the most important concerns of peace and war.
Rome,
Italy, and the internal provinces, were subject to the immediate jurisdiction of
the
Senate. With regard to civil objects, it was the supreme court of appeal; with regard to criminal matters, a tribunal, constituted for the trial of all offences that were committed by men in
any public station, or that affected the peace and majesty of the Roman people. The exercise of the judicial power became the most frequent and serious occupation of the
Senate; and the
important causes that were pleaded before them afforded a last refuge to the spirit of ancient eloquence. As a council of state, and as a court of justice, the
Senate possessed very considerable
prerogatives; but in its legislative capacity, in which it was supposed virtually to represent the people, the rights of sovereignty were acknowledged to reside in that assembly. Every power
was derived from their
authority, every law was ratified by their sanction. 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
senators, sat, voted, and divided with their equals. To resume, in a few words, the
system of the
Imperial government; as it was instituted by
Augustus, and maintained by those princes who understood their own interest and that of the people, it may be defined an absolute
monarchy disguised by the forms of a
Commonwealth. The masters of the Roman world surrounded their throne with darkness, concealed their irresistible strength, and humbly professed
themselves the accountable ministers of the
Senate, whose supreme decrees they dictated and obeyed.
The face of the court corresponded with the forms of the administration. The emperors, if we except those tyrants whose
capricious folly violated every law of nature and
decency, disdained that
pomp and
ceremony which might offend their countrymen, but could add nothing to their real power. In all the offices of life, they affected to confound themselves with their subjects, and maintained with them an equal intercourse of visits and
entertainment. Their habit, their palace, their table, were suited only to the rank of an opulent
senator. Their family, however numerous or splendid, was composed entirely of
their domestic slaves and freedmen.
20 Augustus or
Trajan would have blushed at employing the meanest of the Romans in those menial offices, which, in the household and bedchamber of
a limited monarch, are so eagerly solicited by the proudest nobles of Britain.
note 20: A weak prince will always be governed by his domestics. The power of slaves aggravated the shame of the Romans; and the Senate paid court to a Pallas or a Narcissus. There is a chance that a modern favorite may be a gentleman.
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To cite original text:
Gibbon, Edward, 1737-1794.
The history of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire. 1st ed. (London : Printed for W. Strahan ; and T. Cadell, 1776-1788.), pp. 60-70.