Transcriber's Note:
Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document havebeen preserved. Obvious errors have been corrected.
Page 7: Treves possibly should be Trèves
Page 22: First Clause possibly should be First Cause
Page 95: tôi eterôi tanantia possibly should be tôi heterôi tanantia
AMERICAN EDITION.
NEW YORK:
PUBLISHED BY THE LEONARD SCOTT PUBLISHING COMPANY.
140 FULTON STREET, BETWEEN BROADWAY AND NASSAU STREET.
1871.
S. W. GREEN.
PRINTER, STEREOTYPER, AND BINDER,
16 and 18 Jacob St., N.Y.
Art. I.—The Roman Empire.
(1.) Les Césars, par Franz de Champagny.3 vols. Paris: Bray.
(2.) Les Antonines, par le Comte deChampagny. 3 vols. Paris: Bray.
The history of the Roman Empire mustever have an interest peculiar to itself. Itstands alone. Nothing in the past has been,nothing in the future can be, like it. Itwas the whole civilized world. It gatheredinto itself the traditions of all that had everbeen great and illustrious in the human race,Assyrian, Egyptian, Persian, Hebrew, Phœnician,Greek, Etruscan, as well as those ofthe multitudinous western tribes—Italian,Gallic, Iberian or Teutonic, which had onlymade themselves known as warriors. Thecivilization, the arts and sciences, the lawsand institutions, the poetry and philosophy,the whole accumulated literary treasures ofall past generations were risked on a singleventure. Rome had no rival on earth, andcould have no successor. She was the arkin which were preserved all the riches of thepast, all the hopes of the future. For manycenturies the most gifted races of men hadbeen toiling and suffering, and there was noreason to suppose that man was capable ofdoing more than had been effected by theirunited efforts. If that was lost, all was lost.It was no idle boast, then, when men said,'When Rome shall fall, the world will fallwith her.' In those ages no man lookedforward to anything greater or better. Theidea that 'progress' is the natural law andcondition of the world, is one quite characteristicof modern times. The ancient notionwas that its law was that of decay and corruption.The utmost that anyone dared tohope was that things might not change forthe worse.
And so far as appears, their judgment waswell founded. Man had done all he could.The Roman Empire exhibited the higheststate of society, which, without some supernaturalinterference of a higher power in theaffairs of the world, he was able to develope.Viewed in this light, as the last act of avast drama which had been going on forages, it must ever be most worthy of study.And in truth there was in it very much thatwas really great and noble. The impressionleft on the mind by ordinary histories, whichis little more than a vague idea of mad andgrotesque tyranny on the one side, and abjectservitude on the other, is very far fromdoing it justice. If, as we know, there hasin fact arisen out of its ashes a new world,on the whole vastly superior to the old, thisis because, by the mercy of his Creator, manhas no longer been left to find his way withoutlight and guidance from on high; becauseafter having, in the old world, leftman to work out to the end all that hecould do by himself, God Himself has beenpleased, in th