£.A±Jt ; \v- . A \ww.«..-Xn -q:: ■• ■■ . ..>w>--\.A^-. X- . ■ • :. ' • • • ■ - ~ . CONNECTION S.RQ.Rl WITH THE Id 1 n< '• . II 1 1 i 1 m || k* s n 1 VtfrfSSSSSi^. ||! — <* \ %A wmMSt 44 .2./ • o tilt (Jlirnlogrra/ PRINCETON. N. J. Purchased by the Mary Cheves Dulles Fund. Division \~0 l V to -JD.OrZO^ Section . FT2 ANCIENT ROME Drawn by H. IV. Brewer. THE CAPITOL. ST. MARIA MAGGIORE. THE COLOSSEUM. IHE ALBAN - - »- | A GEN ERAL B I RD’S-E YE VIEW OF ROME AND THE SURROUNDING COUNTRY. Taken from a Bird's-eye View of Rome, in tlie 16 th Century , preserved in the Barherim Library, corrected l>y recent Photographs. THE VIEW AS SEEN FROM THE JAN1CULUM, LOOKING TO THE NORTH-EAST. . ■ ' Sancta Maria Immaculata Ora pro populo. Sancti Apostoli , Petre et Paule, orate pro Roma vestra. ANCIENT ROME AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION AN OUTLINE OF THE HISTORY OF THE CITY FROM ITS FIRST FOUNDATION BY ROMULUS (. B.C . 753) DOWN TO THE ERECTION OF THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER IN THE OSTRIAN CEMETERY ( A.D . 42-47) By the REV. HENRY FORMBY CONTAINING NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS IN WOOD ENGRAVING OF THE ANCIENT MONUMENTS, SCULPTURE, COINAGE, AND LOCALITIES CONNECTED WITH THE HISTORY OF THE CITY WITH THE ADDITION OF A SERIES OF ENGRAVINGS ILLUSTRATING THE FORMATION AND THE ANTIQUITIES OF THE CHRISTIAN CATACOMBS An Judceorum Deus tantum? nonne et Gentium? Immo et Gentium! Is God the God of the Jews only, and not also of the Nations? Yes, also of the Nations! Rom. iii, 29. LONDON C. Kegan Paul & Co., i Paternoster Square 1880 Tu regere imperio populos Romane memento ! Hae tibi erunt artes, pacisque imponere morem Parcere subjectis, et debellare superbos. sEneid vi. 852. To rule o’er nations Roman be thy care! These be thine arts ; to lay the laws of peace, To spare the vanquished and bring down the proud. Beres/ord's Translation. Cum fortis armatus custodit atrium suum in pace sunt ea quae possidet. Si autem fortior eo superveniens vicerit eum universa arma ejus auferet in confidebat et spolia ejus distribuet. [Luke xi. quibus 21). When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace which he possesses. But if a stronger than he come upon him and overcome him, he will take away all his armour wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils. (Douai Version.) [The right of translation and of reproduction is reserved .] PREFACE. - 0 - E City of Rome, as the subject of a volume of history, belongs bv a right that Roman history 7 J J °. - . D . the common no one will ever be able to set aside, to the entire human family in all its various property of all divisions into nations, tribes, and languages, as a precious common property, the natlons' which all may freely enjoy, but none can claim as specially their own. When¬ ever any particular language passes from the general domain of barbarism within the pale of civilisation, the first public proof which it gives of the change for the better that has taken place, is, when it becomes a medium through which Roman history can be taught in its schools, and through which it can also have a place given to it on the shelves of its libraries as a household possession. In each nation where this beneficial change has taken place, the phenomena abovemen tioned are always observable. Roman history domineers over education in every school, and claims the post of honour on all library shelves. Even if Roman history, by reason of the absence of any claim of inspiration that can be made for the Greek and Latin sources from which it is derived, must always in a certain sense bow before the superior prerogatives of the history which is taken from the inspired books of the Hebrew Canon of Scripture, it possesses nevertheless a clear prerogative of its own, by which it challenges the homage of the entire human family in a manner that is not shared The preroga- by any other history. The challenge does not indeed fall within the region of inspiration, the history over all exclusive prerogative of the Sacred Scriptures, but it is not on this account the less essentially other hlstory- a part of the Divine order of events by which the world is governed. The Hebrew city of Jerusalem and its people have been cast off from their dignity as instruments The rejection in the fulfilment of the counsels of God in consequence of their crime of Deicide, and the city of anlthe^ection Rome has been chosen to fill the place of the rejected Jerusalem, in order to be constituted in its °fe^dome in its stead the central seat of government for the religion of the Christ, whom Jerusalem crucified when living, and refused to acknowledge as the promised Messias after His resurrection from the dead. The consequence of this has been twofold. The Hebrew history with wdiich the gift of Divine inspiration had up to this time been united, has been ever since totally cut off from its former life- giving source, and has passed into the universal hissing and reproach of all mankind, while that of Rome has not only lived on, but has been raised to a dignity of a far higher order. Faithless and apostate Jerusalem has been dispossessed of that which she had ; while Rome, the city that under her former military tenure had made herself the centre of unity for the nations, and the supreme fountain of their civil honour, pacification, and jurisprudence, has been exalted to become the centre of Christian unity for the nations, and the supreme fountain to them of the higher blessings and graces of the Gospel of Christ, — thereby verifying, on the world- wide scale of universal history, the words of Christ, “ But I say to you, that to every one that hath there shall be given, and he shall abound, but from him that hath not, there shall be taken away even that which he hath ” (Luke xix. 26). The necessary consequence of this Divine election of Rome, to remain in future the instrument of the counsels of God upon earth in the place of the rejected Jerusalem, is, that its history becomes onTcontlnuous one entire history, which is still in course of progress; to be divided indeed for purposes of study into stuif^progress separate and intelligibly distinct stages of its growth, but with these several stages, all derived from and preserving an unbroken continuity with, its first beginning. No apology can be offered by a Christian writer for the plan of the pre sent volume. A sequel in con templation by which the his¬ tory would be brought down to A.D. 330. viii Preface. Rome as a history will thus have — (1.) Its period of infancy under its kings, during which it consolidated itself on a firm basis, as an already partly cosmopolitan city among its neighbour cities of the Italian peninsula. (2.) Its period of youth as a republic, during which it acquired its pre-eminence and hegemony among the cities of Italy. (3.) Its period of adolescence, during which its invincible legions passed outside the limits of Italy on their mission to establish the city as the centre of government for the pacifica¬ tion and civilisation of the nations of the world. (4.) Its period of manhood, during which it upheld the peace of the nations of the world, and gave to them the person of the Imperator of its armies as the living personal representa¬ tive of their unity. It is during this period that the change is almost imperceptibly brought about, by which the dynasty of the Christian Sovereign Pontiffs succeeds to the possession of the city, while the ancient military Rome dwindles away by equally imperceptible stages previous to its final extinction. The wrork of the precursor is done, and Rome henceforward, under the line of its Christian Sovereign Pontiffs, has a sacred mission to discharge for all nations and people, that can only end with the overthrow of the world. No word of apology or defence could here be either offered or even asked from any Christian writer, for the plan of a volume of history in which ancient Rome appears in the character of a . Precursor, sent by the Divine Providence which governs the world of men, to prepare a reception for the Gospel of Christ amongst the nations of the earth. Should the atheists and the unbelievers of the world fail to be pleased with the assignment of this character to the ancient military city, it is of course open to them to dispute its justice in whatever way they may think proper. Ancient Rome herself, however, wrould but say to the author of the volume that might thus fall under their displeasure — “ Tu ne cede malis sed contra audentior ito.’’ It is also a circumstance, a passing notice of which is not to be omitted, that the reader may expect to meet with traces in the volume of a sequel being in contemplation, by which the narrative would be continued through the ten great persecutions of the Church down to the date of the removal of the seat of empire to Constantinople (a.d. 330). It must be obvious how congruously the sufferings and the victory of the holy martvrs of Rome during this period would crown the subject of the “ Connection of the military city with the Christian religion,” and the author hopes for the aid of the prayers and good wishes of all his Christian readers that, with the help of God, the contemplated sequel may one day be completed. TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. PAGE I. The General design of Divine Providence in causing the name of Pontius Pilate to have a place assigned to it in the Apostles’ creed. II. The Christian religion the one universal historical religion of the nations of the world. III. The Christian duty of labouring to acquire a knowledge of the history of the Christian religion. IV. Enforcement of this truth from the example of the Hebrew people. V. Divine Provi¬ dence, by associating the name of the Roman procura¬ tor of the province of Judea who passed the sentence of death upon Jesus Christ with the universal formula of Christian belief, appears to invite all the Christian people in every nation to study the providential con¬ nection subsisting between the city of Rome and the Christian religion. VI. Jesus Christ warns His fol¬ lowers of their prospect of martyrdom in the Roman Empire. VII. No argument against the Providence of God must be suffered to arise from the great diminu¬ tion of truths in the religions of the Gentile World 3-1 1 CHAPTER II. THE DESTINY OF ROME. I. External magnificence of the city which Divine Provi¬ dence constituted the nurse and guardian of the first beginnings of the Christian Society. II. Origin from a singularly small beginning. III. The Ancient Romans partially aware of the destiny of their city. IV. The Rome of Romulus an asylum for refugees from different nationalities. V. Triple parallel with the Church. VI. The durability of the work of Romu¬ lus challenges the world’s philosophy to account for it. VII. Brief reference to the sceptical German theory of the “ Early Roman Legend ” .... 12-19 CHAPTER III. AN OUTLINE OF THE PERIOD OF THE SEVEN KINGS OF ROME (B.C. 753-509). I. The unbroken continuity of the providential destiny of the city of Rome from its first foundation to the end of the world, does not admit of any portion of the history of the city being rightly understood, if it is allowed to be completely separated and isolated from the general history of the city and its destiny as a whole. II. The foundation of the city under its first king and founder PAGE Romulus. III. Numa Pompilius the framer of the ecclesiastical constitution of Rome, and the founder of its code of civil and ecclesiastical law. IV. The reign of Tullus Hostilius. V. The reign of Ancus Marcius. VI. The first Tarquin (Tarquinius Priscus), and the great architectural works of his reign. VII. The reign of Servius Tullius, and the significance of his constitu¬ tional legislation. VIII. The last Tarquin, commonly known as Tarquin the Proud, and the final expulsion of the royal dynasty from the city. IX. The judg¬ ment of Dionysius of Halicarnassus on the religion of the city. X. The peculiar characteristics of the Roman gens, and the nature of the relation between the Roman patron and client .... 20--35 CHAPTER IV. THE CITY AS A REPUBLIC UP TO THE PERIOD OF THE CIVIL WARS BETWEEN MARIUS AND SULLA (B.C. 509-88). \ I. The four centuries during which the city as a Republic under the direction of its Senate acquired sovereignty over the largest portion of the known world. II. The special significance of the struggle with Carthage for the mastery over the world. III. The war of the city as a Republic against the Tarquin family. IV. The solidity of the Constitution founded by Servius Tullius. V. A conspiracy in Rome in favour of the Tarquins. VI. The issue of the combat with the Tarquin family and their allies (1), The cities of Tarquinii and Veii (2), Porsenna (3), The Latins. VII. Signal error of modem historians in speaking of Rome as a nation ; Rome from the beginning is a city independent of all nationality. VIII. The history of Rome from this point falls into two divisions ; (1) Its external history, or its career of conquest of the nations ; (2) Its internal history, or the gradual building up and consolidation of its constitution and jurisprudence. IX. The settled conviction all Romans entertained of the perpetuity of their city. X. Internal history of the city full of trouble and agitation, St. Augustine’s estimate of it. XI. St. Augustine’s estimate controversial, and not confirmed by the subsequent universal verdict. XII. All modern civilisation founded on that of the ancient city of Rome. XIII. Roman history from the Christian point of view is one history with its several stages. XIV. Dante the exponent of the Christian view. XV. The particular caution which Dante appends to his claims for ancient Rome, and the opposite kind of caution which is suited to our age of the world ..... 36-5C X Contents. CHAPTER V. CARTHAGE, AND THE EVENTS WHICH PRECEDED AND LED TO THE WAR WITH ROME, FOR THE SOVEREIGNTY OF THE WORLD. . PAGE I. Carthage and its career belongs to universal history. II. Probable date and origin of the city. III. An extract from Professor Heeren. IV. A digression on the foundation of the mother city, Tyre. V. Ezechiel’s description of Tyre, and prediction of its ruin. VI. Historical summary of the career of Carthage. VII. Outline of the Constitution of Carthage. VIII. The causes of Carthage’s downfall begin to manifest them¬ selves. IX. The thread of the history of Rome is resumed. X. The internal collision between the patricians and the plebeians. XI. Summary of the external history of the city and its wars up to the out¬ break of war with Carthage . 51-65 CHAPTER VI. THE WAR BETWEEN CARTHAGE AND ROME FOR THE SOVEREIGNTY OVER THE WORLD, AND THE TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE. I. The essential difference between Rome and Carthage : Rome has a mission to pacify and civilise by her con¬ quests, Carthage is the worshipper of mammon. II. Brief outline of the three Punic wars. III. Remote causes which led to the war. IV. Immediate cause of the outbreak of war. V. The resolve of the Romans to build a fleet. VI. The determination of the Romans to carry the war into Africa. VII. The noble example of Regulus. VIII. Termination of the first Punic war. IX. General reflections on the second Punic war. X. How the second Punic war was the sole work of Hamilcar Barca and his son Hannibal. XI. The career of Hamilcar Barca, and his conquest of Spain. XII. The career of Hannibal : his invasion and vic¬ tories in Italy. XIII. An extract from the Roman historian Florus. XIV. Concluding events of the second Punic war. XV. Scipio and Hannibal face to face before the last decisive battle. XVI. The last Punic war, and the final destruction of Carthage 66-84 CHAPTER VII. THE OUTBREAK OF CIVIL WAR BETWEEN C. MARIUS AND L. SULLA. THE GREAT SIGNIFICANCE OF THE CAREER OF L. SULLA, AS REGARDS THE CONNECTION OF ANCIENT ROME WITH THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I. The first outbreak of civil war between C. Marius and L. Sulla. II. Brief summary of the intervening events. III. An extract from the historian Florus. IV. Testi¬ mony of other Roman writers to the degeneracy of morals at this period. V. The rise and course of the civil war. VI. Lucius Sulla, as victor, inaugurates the policy of the proscription of the lives of his political opponents. VII. Sulla, despairing of the restoration of Rome by legislation, abandons his dictatorship and retires into private life. VIII. The magnitude of the change which the career of L. Sulla introduces into the Constitution of Rome. IX. The bearing of this change upon the connection of ancient Rome with the Christian religion. X. The slow and gradual accomplishment, step by step, of the designs of God . . . 85-93 CHAPTER VIII. CAIUS JULIUS CESAR AND HIS RISE TO SUPREME POWER. PAGE I. The birth and early career of Julius Ctesar. II. The secret of rising to power in Rome at this time. III. Julius Caesar is elected Pontifex Maximus. IV. Pompey the Great and his victories. V. The trium¬ virate of Caesar, Pompey, and Crassus. VI. The appointment of Caesar to the province of Gaul. VII. Julius Caesar, like Sulla, is forced to seize upon supreme power. VIII. Victories of Julius Caesar over Pompey and his other opponents. IX. Caesar’s ambi¬ tion fostered by the servility of the Romans. X. Old Republican Rome not entirely extinct ; the conspiracy against Caesar. XI. His assassination in the open Senate. XII. The public dismay in Rome, and the speech of Cicero . qa-ioa CHAPTER IX. CAIUS OCTAVIANUS C,ESAR IS PROVIDENTIALLY BORNE FORWARDS BY THE FORCE OF EVENTS TO SUPREME POWER. I. Rome not ripe for an imperial power in the time of Julius Caesar. II. His successor a mediocrity chosen by Divine Providence to accomplish a work in which the genius of Julius Caesar failed. III. The early career of Caius Octavianus. IV. The incredible degradation of the Roman Senate. V. The first entry of Caius Octavianus into public life. VI. Vacillation and con¬ fusion of the Senate in the appointment of commanders to the provinces of the empire, and the formation of the triumvirate of Octavianus Caesar, Mark Antony, and zEmilius Lepidus. VII. The triumvirate inaugu¬ rate their assumption of power by a sanguinary pro¬ scription of the lives of the citizens. VIII. Further terrible evidence of the degradation of the Senate and the patrician nobility of Rome. IX. Paralysis of Brutus and Cassius and the partisans of Republican Rome. X. The Republican leaders despair of their cause— the battle of Philippi. XI. The leaders of the Republican party lose their cause through their previous resolve to commit suicide. XII. The career of Caius Octavianus after the victory of Philippi. XIII. The victory of Caius Octavianus and the Senate over Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Caius Octavianus Caesar becomes sole master of the Roman world . 105- 116 CHAPTER X. “Of a truth Thou art a hidden God. O God, Thou Saviour of Israel.” — Isaias xlv. 15. THE REASON WHY THE CHRISTIAN KINGDOM OF GOD CONCEALS THE FACT OF ITS BEING UPHELD BY DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE UNDER THE FORM OF THE SUPPLANTING ITS PRECURSOR, ANCIENT MILITARY ROME. I. The appearance on the scene of so extraordinary a power as that of Augustus calls for a pause in the narrative to consider the nature of the relation in which it stands to the Christian religion. II. Special disposition of Divine Providence which appointed the Contents. xi PAGE universal spread of the expectations of the Gentile world and their fulfilment in the birth of Christ to fall in the reign of Augustus Caesar. III. Brief review of the providential rise and formation of the power of Augustus Caesar. IV. Augustus Caesar no alien usurper, but a legitimate product of the Roman mili¬ tary republic ; his career, consequently, is only a link in the providential chain of events by which the entire power of Rome was made to be the servant of the designs of God. V. Marks of the great superiority of Rome over the preceding imperial powers. VI. Rome the great exemplification in history of the Divine bless¬ ing given to the elder brother Esau : (i) the right to acquire possession of the earth and to cultivate it ; (2) Divine religion, the dew of heaven from above ; (3) the title to wield the sword and to live by it. VII. An elucidation of the reasons why God appointed His own kingdom to supplant the power and empire of Rome — a necessary preparation to a right understand¬ ing of the facts of our history. VIII. The rule of a veil of concealment thrown over the acts of Divine power in proportion as they approach the Christian religion. IX. The Christian redemption would not have been a mission of mercy to sinners except God had been pleased to adopt the rule of concealing the acts of His omnipotence. X. The concealment thrown over the acts of Divine power a highly profitable dis¬ cipline to the faith of those who believe. XI. The preceding elucidation throws a very necessary light on the patient sufferings of the holy martyrs, in which the cause of God might otherwise run the risk of appearing as entirely trodden under foot. XII. It explains also how faith in those who believe comes to be very greatly raised in point of dignity and merit. XIII. Lastly, it shows how the study of history is cal¬ culated to become most confirmatory of faith from the testimony which it yields that the will of God is, after all, irresistible, and in the end certain to prevail 117-128 CHAPTER XI. “ The older shall serve the younger.” AUGUSTUS CAsSAR THE SUPREME LEGISLATOR AND THE LIVING PERSONAL CENTRE OF UNITY OF THE ROMAN WORLD, AND THE CONNECTION OF HIS CAREER WITH THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I. Acquaintance with the rule of the general concealment of the acts of Divine power a necessary caution for Chris¬ tian students of history. II. Human instruments are employed to carry the designs of God into effect. III. Augustus Caesar, arrived at the summit, begins to per¬ ceive the necessity for an entirely new order of policy. IV. Augustus deliberates whether he should not retire into private life. V. A glance at the anxious position of Augustus. VI. The conflicting counsel of Marcus Agrippa and of Mecaenas. VII. Augustus prefers the counsel of Mecaenas. VIII. Considerations on the causes of the great change which took place in the public career of Augustus Caesar. IX. Superficial character of the explanations commonly given of this change. X. Republican Rome is too reasonable not to seek to reconcile itself to the change. XI. Republican Rome and Augustus Caesar mutually coalesce in a com¬ promise which has for its aim the preservation of Rome. XII. The usual dignity of Rome appears in the manner of its submission to its fate. XIII, Characteristics of the new' career of Augustus Caesar. XIV. The sur¬ render of Republican Rome does not proceed from servility, but from conviction. XV. The judgment of the Compte de Champagny. XVI. Augustus Caesar fulfils PAGE the Scripture figure of the older serving the younger. XVII. Christ the true centre of unity for time and eternity. XVIII. The central seat of judgment of the Christian religion. XIX. The precursor disappears and withers away, and the Divine power succeeds to its place . 129-146 CHAPTER XII. AUGUSTUS CAESAR THE RESTORER OF THE RELIGION OF ROME, AND THE POLITICAL AND SOCIAL RE¬ FORMER OF THE ROMAN WORLD. THE CONNEC¬ TION OF HIS CAREER IN THE ABOVE RESPECTS WITH THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I. A brief recapitulation of the argument of the preceding chapter. II. Augustus Caesar examines the question whether the religion of the city and the empire is likely to be able to support his power. III. The higher Greek education of the Romans productive of scepticism. IV. The testimony of the statesmen of the Gentile world to the necessity of religion for the government of men. V. The similar testimony of Roman statesmen. VI. The advice of Mecaenas to Caius Caesar to take the side of the religion of the city. VII. The objection of the great scandals of the religion of the city. VIII. Contrary evidence of the universal attachment of the population of the city and empire to the temples and their sacrifices. IX. Caius Caesar supposed to take his stroll through Rome — impression likely to be made on his mind by the sight of its temples. X. Caius Caesar is supposed to reflect on all that he has seen in his travels of the temples of the Gentile world. XI. The public patronage of the religion of Rome does not require a personal belief in the power of the gods over the family and private life of Augustus Caesar. XII. Caius Caesar decides to make himself the repre¬ sentative man of the religion of Rome. XIII. The religion of the city proves itself the protecting power of the career of Augustus. XIV. Augustus as a social reformer— twofold marvel of his career; (1.) That a man of his antecedents should have been the leader of it- XV. (2 ) That a whole world, by nature most indis¬ posed to it, should have felt its influence and been com¬ pelled to yield a partial compliance with it. XVI. The parallel of Israel in the desert. XVII. The first step of Augustus is to restore the Senate. XVIII. An outline of the social evils to which Augustus sought to apply his legal remedies. XIX. The connection of the reforms of Augustus Caesar with the Christian rehSion . 147-168 CHAPTER XIII. THE COSMOPOLITAN LITERATURE OF THE AUGUSTAN ERA, AND ITS RELATION TO THE CHRISTIAN RELI¬ GION. I. The chief poets of the Augustan age have a clear percep¬ tion of the immortality of their poetry. II. The unani¬ mous testimony of all civilised nations to the necessity for the study at least of the Latin language. III. Augustus Caesar regards the influence of literature as an essential auxiliary to his policy of reform. IV. Cicero an exponent of the ideas of Augustus, v! Augustus discerns a useful reform in improving the poetry of the hymns sung in religious celebrations. VI. Horace, the Luui saeculares and the Carmen saeculare. b Xll Contents. PAGE VII. Virgil introduced to Augustus. VIII. Virgil and the Georgies. IX. Virgil and the /Eneid. X. A French writer's objection to the character of the hero of the ALneid considered. XI. The reason of the deep interest felt by Augustus in the character of /Eneas, and in the general plan of Virgil’s poem. XII. Importance of the fact that all the Christian nations have delibe¬ rately sanctioned the use of the classics of the Augustan age in their schools. XIII. The use of the classics of Greece and Rome the invariable companion of the Christian religion, and the foundation of the intellectual superiority of the Christian populations over every other. XIV. The title of Christ on the cross written in the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin languages. XV. The poem of the /Eneid a general Christian parable or allegory. XVI. /Eneas the anticipation of the Christian hero. XVII. Political reasons for the episode of the descent of /Eneas to the realms of the dead. XVIII. The parallel between the mission of /Eneas and the Christian mis¬ sions. XIX. “ Ite ait egregias animas,” the purchase of Rome as the Christian metropolis by the blood of the holy Christian martyrs .... 169-193 CHAPTER XIV. THE RISE AND GROWTH OF THE GREEK SCHOOLS OF PHILOSOPHY. THE REASON OF THEIR ADOPTION BY THE PRACTICAL MIND OF ROME, AND THE NATURE OF BOTH THE PIONEER AND THE PERMANENT SER¬ VICE THEY HAVE RENDERED TO THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. I. The first elements of jurisprudence and literature among the Greeks as described by Homer. II. The Hebrew Republic the predecessor of the nations in literature, civilisation, and jurisprudence. III. Popular ignor¬ ance on the subject of the widespread influence of the Hebrew Republic over the Gentile nations. IV. The Hebrew Republic the candle of God set on a candlestick to give light to the other nations. V. Remarkable synchronism of the dispersion of the Israelites, and the first rise of a Gentile school of philosophy. VI. Pytha¬ goras and the Pythagorean schools. VII. Pythagoras partially anticipates the work of the Christian society in the formation of societies living together in com¬ munity life. VIII. Socrates, and the high estimate he formed of his duties as a teacher. IX. The monothe¬ ism of Socrates the reason of his condemnation to death. X. Plato and the school of the academy. XI. Aristotle and the Peripatetic school. XII. The Gentile world evinces much greater fear of the school of Aris¬ totle than of Plato. XIII. Epicurus and his school : the singular phenomenon of Epicurus remaining unmolested in Athens during his lifetime. XIV. Lucretius, the Roman poet, a cordial adherent of the system of Epicurus. Analysis of the motives of his adherence. XV. Zeno and the Stoic school. His universal republic of all nations. XVI. Zeno borrows the idea of the wise man becoming king, priest, and prophet, from the Hebrews. XVli. The Stoic school the principal butt of the satire and ridicule of the Gen¬ tile world. XVIII. Diogenes and the Cynics. XIX. The Romans are captivated by the services of the Greek philosophers as the teachers and schoolmasters of man¬ kind. XX. The Christian society has succeeded to the possession of the Greek schools of philosophy. XXI. Nature of the service rendered to the Christian cause by the philosophical schools of the Greeks . 194-218 CHAPTER XV. THE END OF THE REIGN OF AUGUSTUS C/ESAR. THE PROSPERITY OF HIS PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION AND THE MISERIES OF HIS PRIVATE LIFE. THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE INTERVAL (COMPRISING THE REIGNS OF TIBERIUS, CALIGULA, AND THE BEGIN¬ NING OF THE REIGN OF CLAUDIUS) BETWEEN THE DEATH OF AUGUSTUS C/ESAR AND THE FIRST COMING OF ST. PETER TO ROME. PAGE I. A retrospect on the reasons which the Roman world had for accepting the rule of Augustus Caesar. II. Reasons for thinking Augustus to have been acquainted with the Septuagint version of the Scriptures. III. The last moments of Augustus. IV. Retrospect on the providen¬ tial destiny of the career of Augustus. V. The visita¬ tions of God on the private life of Augustus. VI. The succession of Tiberius. VII. Errors in the popular appreciation of this period of the history. VIII. The moderation displayed by Tiberius in the beginning. IX. Significance of the impunity with which Tiberius indulged in the vices that marked the latter part of his reign. X. The Christian protest against the vices of Roman society. XI. The evidence of Tacitus as to the degradation of Roman society. XII. A sense of de¬ spair seizes upon the Romans. XIII. Violent death of Tiberius, and accession of Caius Caligula. XIV. Accession of Claudius on the assassination of Caligula. XV. Twofold popular error as regards the first forma¬ tion of the Christian society in Rome and the Roman world. XVI. Tacitus and Seneca witness that not¬ withstanding the general degradation there were many surviving elements of the ancient Roman nobility and virtue. XVII. The high estimate St. Paul forms of the nobility of mind of the Roman world. XVIII. The testimony of Virgil and Horace to this nobility. XIX. The testimony of the letters of Pliny. XX. The solid learning and education of the Roman world. XXI. The remarkable example of Demetrius the cynic, and the estimation in which particular rhetors and public lecturers were held . . . 219-259 CHAPTER XVI. THE ERECTION OF THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER IN ROME, AND THE FIRST PLANTING OF THE CHRISTIAN SOCIETY IN THE CITY. I. The twofold importance of the arrival of St. Peter as an epoch in the history : (1.) The first planting of the supreme Christian jurisdiction in Rome ; (2.) The first formal coalition of the two orders of preparation, respec¬ tively committed to the nation of Israel and the city of Rome, in the person of Peter as Bishop of Rome. II. The more veiled and concealed character of the prepara¬ tion entrusted to the city of Rome. III. The more open manifestation of Divine power in the work of preparation confided to Israel. IV. Reason of the dispersion of Israel through the Gentile world, and how this dispersion caused the Israelites to be instru¬ mental in the spread of the Gospel. V. Outline of the history of the Jewish colony in Rome. VI. Outline of the history of events in Palestine previous to the conversion of the first Gentile convert, Cornelius. VII. Caesarea and the Italian cohort. VIII. Cornelius not a proselyte of the gate, but a religious Gentile. IX. The circumstances of the conversion of Cornelius. X. The formation of the Gentile Church at Antioch. XI. The events which led to St. Peter’s going to Rome. XII. St. Peter arrives in Rome, and takes up Contents. PAGE his residence in the Jewish quarter. XIII. St. Peter removes his residence to the Viminal. XIV. The Gospel according to St. Mark. XV. The first encycli¬ cal letter of St. Peter. XVI. St. Peter erecs the Patriarchates of Antioch and Alexandria. XVII. The conversion of the Lady Pomponia Grscina. Xyill. St. Peter erects his chair in Rome. XIX. The edict of banishment of the Jews : St. Peter quits Rome 260-284 CHAPTER XVII. THE RELATION OF THE GENTILE WORLD AND ITS RELIGION TO CHRIST AND HIS GOSPEL. I. The Gentile world and its religion not the enemy of Christ and His Gospel, but the sick man waiting for the coming of his Physician. II. The signal error of speaking of the Gentile world before Christ as Pagan. III. The two principal truths of the original Divine revelation preserved in the Gentile world ; (1.) The belief in One Supreme God ; and (2.) the consciousness of human guilt. IV. The extreme difficulty of the task of giving a clear, concise statement of the true relation of the religion of the Gentile world to the Gospel of Christ. V. The great importance of the truth that the religion of the Gospel is built upon the foundations which were laid in the world before Christ. VI. The venerable figure of the patriarch and prophet Noah in the religious history of the world before Christ. VII. The Curia Ccelestis of the religion of the God of Heaven in the world before Christ. VIII. The Sacred Scrip¬ tures recognise the legitimacy of designating the servants of God as “gods,” and God Himself is said in the Scripture to be the God of these gods (Deus deorum). IX. Vestiges of the true perception of the cultus of the Curia Coelestis traced in the Gentile tradition. X. Brief outline of the various stages of the perversion of the cultus of the “ Curia Coelestis.” XI. The nobler part of the Gentile world are well aware of the corruption of the reli¬ gion of the populace and of their own total want of power to apply any remedy. XII. The evidence of lapidary inscriptions attesting the deep attachment of the popu¬ lace to the rites and sacrifices of their religion. XIII. This deep attachment on the part of the Gentile popu¬ lations to their traditional rites and sacrifices the princi¬ pal cause of the persecutions and sufferings of the Christians ....... 285-30S CHAPTER XVIII. WHY THE CITY OF ROME AND ITS IMPERIAL AGGRE¬ GATE OF NATIONS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN AS THE CHIEF SEAT OF THE RELIGION OF CHRIST. I. The Divine choice of the city of Rome for the supreme seat of Christian government does not carry with it any guarantee of constant peaceable possession by the reign¬ ing sovereign Pontiff. II. The right of the reader to require the reasons of the choice of Rome and its empire as the chief seat of the Christian religion. III. Pre¬ liminary remarks on the nature of human language as a vehicle for a Divine revelation. IV. Reasons of the special choice of the Greek and Latin languages. V. A renewed refutation of the popular error that the Gospel is an entirely new religion. VI. Janus Bifrons, or the double aspect of the Roman world : its one side favouring the spread of the Gospel, its other side oppos¬ ing a determined resistance. VII. Proofs of early com¬ munication between the cities of Rome and Jerusalem. VIII. Various particulars of the traditions of the primi- PAGE tive revelation specially held in honour and preserved in the city of Rome. IX. The characteristic difference between the Christian society and the Israelite syna¬ gogue, — that the latter is a nation bound by the special covenant of circumcision, while the former is a society or “people of the acquisition,” gathered out of all nations by the labour of the apostles, not into the for¬ mer covenant, but into .the new and better covenant of Christian baptism. X. The necessity for a special prudence directing the apostles in their labour of gather¬ ing together the people of the acquisition. XI. The choice of Rome and the Roman world consequently points to the existence of special reasons why it was thus chosen. XII. Various characteristics found in the Roman world congenial to the Chri.-tian society. XIII. The striking testimony to the Divinity of the mission of the Gospel in its complete victory over the science, the philosophy, and the literature of the Roman world ........ 3°9_33° CHAPTER XIX. THE ROMAN AND THE CHRISTIAN BURIAL OF THE DEAD. I. The Christian society face to face with the necessity of providing for the burial of the dead. II. The Chris¬ tians of Rome adapt the existing Roman usage to their cemeteries. III. The Christian Catacombs of Rome are the ordinary cemeteries for the Christian population of the city. IV. The great advantage which the Christian society gained from the Roman religious veneration for the sepulture of the dead. V. Had the religion of Rome the belief in a future life beyond the grave? VI. The absence of a sufficient expiatory sacrifice the great difficulty of this belief in the Gentile world. VII. Notwithstanding the great difficulty above-mentioned the general voice of the Gentile world proclaims the future life. How Cicero becomes its spokesman. VIII. The discordant voices of the schools of philosophy. IX. The concordant voice of poets, except Lucretius. X. What a traveller sees who approaches Rome by the Appian Way, with his reflections upon what he sees. XI. What a party of tourists see on their making a circuit outside the city walls on the eastern side of the Tiber; (1.) The pyramid tomb of Caius Cestius ; (2.) The visit to a Columba¬ rium ; (3.) The tomb of the baker Vergilius Eurysaces ; (4.) The tomb and monument of the boy poet, Qu. Sul- picius Maximus ; (5. ) The Pantheon of Marcus Agrippa ; (6.) The Mausoleum of the Emperor Hadrian. XII. A survey of the funeral monuments of Rome both leaves a profoundly religious impression upon the mind and brings the cosmopolitan character of the city before the eye of the traveller. XIII. A sample of the mytholo¬ gical sculptures on a sarcophagus, pointing to the belief in a future life. XIV. The Christian religion the wise and patient physician of the errors of the Gentile world and the tender and gentle nurse of all that was good and noble in it . . . 33 1— 36c CHAPTER XX. THE CHRISTIAN CATACOMB CEMETERIES, AND THE ERECTION OF THE CHAIR OF ST. PETER IN THE OSTRIAN CEMETERY. I. The Christian society owed its liberty for the construc¬ tion of its ca’acomb cemeteries to the religious regard XIV Contents. PAGE of Rome for the burial places of the dead. II. The providential destination of the catacomb cemetery as the school of the living. III. Christianising influences of the catacomb cemetery over the Gentile population. IV. The charm of rest in the Christian underground cemetery as contrasted with the feverish and agitated life of the city above ground. V. Some of the prin¬ cipal features and characteristic marks of a Gentile Roman funeral. VI. The significance of the Gentile desire to associate the blood of human victims with their funeral rites of the dead. VII. The marvellous fidelity with which the Christians preserved the secret of their underground cemeteries. VIII. The total disappearance of the catacomb cemeteries, and their recent restoration to general notoriety the result of a special providence. IX. Various causes of the cata¬ combs coming to be entirely forgotten. X. Their discovery in the sixteenth century, and partial explora¬ tion. XI. St. Jerome’s description of his roaming about the galleries of a catacomb. XII. Principal features of the catacomb cemetery. XIII. The “Cemeterium Ostrianum,” in which St. Peter erected his chair. XIV. The circumstances of its recent dis¬ covery and identification .... 361-382 CHAPTER XXI. THE CHRISTIAN CATACOMB CEMETERIES THE BIRTH¬ PLACE OF THE CHRISTIAN CIVILISATION OF THE NATIONS OF THE WORLD. I. Providential design of the underground cemeteries as the school in which the new Christian civilisation of the • r- , PAGE nations was first formed unknown to the world. II. A visit to the Crypt of Lucina. III. Identity of the Lucina of the Catacombs with the Lady Pomponia Graecina. IV. An effort of mind required not to sepa¬ rate the Catacombs from the living apostolate of the Christian society. V. The real value of the testimony of Tacitus to the Christian heroism of Pomponia Grre- clna. VI. Pomponia Graecina and the martyrs SS. Processus and Martinianus. VII. The shrines or memories of the martyrs in the Catacombs. VIII. The Crypt of St. Cornelius Pope in the Cemetery of Lucina. IX. The Cemetery of St. Callistus and its rediscovery. X. The manuscript of the Philosophu- mena. XI. Tne Cemetery of St. Callistus the first instance of a public Christian place of burial. XII. Interior of the Cemetery of St. Callistus, the “graffiti.” XIII. The Crypt of the Popes. XIV. The Crypt of St. Cecilia. XV. Some particulars of the construction of the Catacombs. XVI. The cheerful view of death as the hour of triumph everywhere apparent in the Catacombs. XVII. The spirit of the Christian religion a spirit of victory. XVIII. The Hebrew element in the work of the evangelisation of the world first mani¬ fests itself in the Catacombs. XIX. In the beginning art in the Catacombs represents subjects of the Gentile mythology with a Christian interpretation. XX. Sub¬ sequently art in the Catacombs is the expression of doctrine and doctrinal truth. XXI. The Catacombs the great school for teaching a knowledge of the Scrip¬ tures. XXII. The New Testament equally with the Old furnishes the subjects of the Catacomb paintings. XXIII. The study of the Catacombs too comprehensive to be adequately treated in a volume of history. XXIV. General reflections in conclusion . . . 383-416 APPENDICES. Part I.— Various Testimonies to the Providential Mission of the Empire of Rome . Part II. /arious Testimonies to the Providence of God watching over the Nations, and to their knowledge of the one true God, Creator and Ruler of the World .... Part III. — The Latin tradition as to the Sovereign attributes ascribed to Janus in the Religion of the City of Rome 417 43° 433 CATALOGUE GENERAL CLASSIFIED OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS. I. Historical Illustrations. II. Views in Rome of its Sites, Architecture, Monuments, and Antiquities. III. Views of Cities and celebrated Sites out of Rome. IV. Do. Architecture, Monuments, and Antiquities out of Rome. V. Roman and Greek Sculpture, consisting of Statues, Busts, Bas-Reliefs. VI. Coins, of the Italian Cities, of the Republic, of the Nations, and of the Empire. VII. Restorations of Scenes and Buildings in Rome. VIII. Roman Sepulchral Architecture, Monuments, and Antiquities. IX. The Roman Catacombs. X. Maps. IgilT See \th page of this Catalogue for an account of the Initial Letters at the beginning of each chapter, and for an English translation of the Latin texts forming part of the chapter endings. Frontispiece — Large Bird’s-eye View of the City and Environs of Rome . . . . H. IV. Brewer Illustrated Title Page . . . H. W . Brewer I. HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATIONS (. Full-Page Engravings. ) The Assassination of Julius Caesar . . C. Jerome 102 The Martyrdom of St. Stephen . . N. Westlake 269 St. Cecilia before the City Prefect . . C. Goldie . 400 The Burial of a Christian Martyr in the Catacombs C. Goldie 392 (Engravings and Vignettes printed in the Text.) 1 Lucina (Pomponia Gnecina) buries the dead C. Goldie . 390 The Annual Visit of a Widow to the Remains of her Hus¬ band, interred in a Columbarium . Blackboicrn . 351 A Scene in the times of the Catacombs . C. Goldie . 415 II. VIEWS OF SITES AND REMAINS OF ANCIENT BUILDINGS AND ANTIQUITIES IN ROME. (Full- Page Engravings.) The Pillars of the Temple of Saturn . . . .30 The Remains of the Temple of Castor and Pollux . . 37 The View of the Site of the Roman Forum, looking west . 156 1 he View of the Site of the Roman Forum, looking east . 157 (Engravings and Vignettes printed in the Text.) The Pantheon of Agrippa ..... The Bridge over the Tiber and the Castle of St. Angelo The Steps leading to the Ara Coeli . The Cloaca Maxima and the Tiber . The Island of the Tiber .... The Arch of Drusus ..... The Sculptured Cone, on the Mausoleum of Hadiian Interior of the Cloaca Maxima .... The Steps leading to the Ara Coeli . The Tullianum or Mamertine Prison The Rostral Column of Duillius Marble Model of a light War Ship . The Walls of Rome, No. .... The Walls of Rome, No. 11 354 355 158 29 40 248 357 30 158 3S9 7? 7i 31 3i III. VIEWS OF CITIES AND CELEBRATED SITES OUT OF ROME. ( Vignettes printed in the Text.) The Ruins of Ancient Tyre . The Ruins of Saguntum (Spain) The City of Syracuse, present condition . The Ruined Site of Carthage . 57 76 81 83 XVI General Classified Catalogue of the Illustrations. The Island of Capri .... View of the Palace (ruins) of Tiberius (Capri) View of Naples and Mount Vesuvius View of the Sabine Farm of Horace . View of the surrounding country of do. PACE ■ 237 • 238 • 237 . 178 • 179 IV. ARCHITECTURE, MONUMENTS, AND ANTIQUITIES OUT OF ROME. Street of Tombs, Pompeii (See VIII. Roman Sepulchral Monuments) . . 346 Site of the Athenian Parthenon (Athens) . . . .156 The Temple of the Athenian Parthenon H. W. Brewer . 157 V. ANCIENT SCULPTURE, GREEK AND ROMAN (Engraved by Butterworth and Heath), Before the Times of the Empire. Statues. (Times of the Kings and of the Repub’ic.) An Etruscan Priest An Etruscan Priestess . The Vestal Virgin Tuccia Julius Caesar The Roman Wolf . Busts. (Times of the Kings and of Numa Pompilius . A Vestal Virgin Marcus Junius Brutus Marcus Junius Brutus Hannibal , Scipio Africanus C. Marius Cato of Utica, and Portia his daughter Cicero ... Hortensius Junius Brutus Julius Caesar . Pompey the Great . Pompey the Great . Augustus Caesar as a boy (head) Mark Antony /Emilius Lepidus J> the Triumvirate Caius Octavianus Caesar GREEK SCULPTURE. Posidippus (seated) Homer Lycurgus Euripides Demosthenes . Bias Democritus Socrates . Plato Aristotle Alexander the Great Periander Theophrastus • Epicurus . Zeno of Elea . Diogenes . Statues. Busts. Augustus Caesar Augustus Caesar Livia Drusilla Tiberius . ■ . Agrippina Senior (seated) Effigy of St. Peter (seated) ROMAN SCULPTURE, Of the Times of the Empire. Statues. Capitol . Vatican • 9 9 . Villa Albani . Capitol Crypt of St. Peter Villa Albani • 32 99 Vatican • 32 • 34 Capitol . 96 99 • 25 Republic.) Villa Albani • 27 Naples • 27 Capitol ■ 39 Naples • 39 99 • 77 . 82 Vatican . 89 1 9 . IOI Capitol . 103 99 . 104 99 . IOO 9 9 • 97 Lateran • 97 end in Pompeii • 99 Vatican . 107 < IIO Capitol ( E. Vatican 00 liO N Villa Albani • 195 Vatican . 196 99 . 196 99 . 209 . 200 Naples . 2 1 1 Villa Albani . 204 Florence . 207 Capitol . 208 9 9 . 209 Vatican . 201 . 210 . 2 1 1 • 203 Vatican . 214 225 115 226 232 229 283 Tiberius Drusus M. Marcellus . M. Marcellus . Tiberius . Antonia . Germanicus Drusus Junior . C. Caligula Claudius . Agrippina Junior Messalina Messalina D. Ahenobarbus Busts. Bas Reliejs. The She-Wolf and Romulus and Remus Diogenes in his Tub Marcus Aurelius receiving the Empire of the World A Group Offering Sacrifice A Group Offering Sacrifice The Suovetaurilia Sarcophagus from the Tomb of the Scipio The Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus " The Sarcophagus of Prometheus VI. CATALOGUE OF COINS. (Engraved by C. & A. Young.) I. Table of Coins of the Cities of Italy, struck BEFORE B.C. 50O. (Opposite page 32.) Capitol Capitol Vatican Capitol Wilton House . Capitol Vatican Villa Albani Capitol Vatican Crypt of St. Peter . Vatican 227 227 227 232 231 230 231 245 247 247 247 247 247 25 215 26 305 306 306 82 412 353 (obverse only ) . •99 H • (obverse and reverse) (obverse and reverse) No. Coin of 1. Populonia 2. Cumae 3. Tarentum 4. Tarentum . 5. Laus . 6. Metapontum 7. Poseidonia (Paestum) 8. Sybaris 9. Caulonica . 10. Crotona 11. Terina II. Table of Coins of the principal Cities of Italy which came in contact with the Armies ok the Republic. (Opposite page 41.) Coin of Velia Terina Locri Tarentum Nola 6. Metapontum 7. Thurium 8. Rhegium 9. Brutii 10. Heraclea 11. Crotona 12. Suessa 13. Neapolis 14. Capua 15. Cales 16. Arpi 17. Ariminum III. Table of Specimens, exhibiting the gradual formation of the Coinage of Rome. ( Opposite page 96.) No. 1. 2. 3- 4- 5 No. 1. 2. 3- 4- 5- 6. 7- As Semis Triens Quadrans Sextans Uncia As before B.C. 458-269. As and subdivisions between B.C. 21 (obverse and reverse) 7-204. General Classified. Catalogue of the Illustrations. xvii No. Roman Silver Coinage B.C. 269-217. S. Denarius ( obverse and reverse) 9. Quinarius ,, ,, 10. Sestertius ,, ,, 11. Victoriatus ,, ,, 1 2. Denarius B. C. 99 to 94 ( obverse and reverse ) 13. „ B.c. 65 ,, „ 14. ,, B.C. 58 ,, ?» 15- .. b.c. 49 Roman Gold Coinage, B.c. 41. 16. Aureus — M. Antony (obverse and reverse) 17. ,, — Pompey , ,, 18. ,, — J. Caesar ,, ,, 19. ,, —Brutus ,, IV. Table of Coins of the Nations conquered or INVADED BY THE ARMIES OF ROME. (Opposite page 105.) No. Country. 1. Pontus I. — Head of Mithridates VI. (obv. and rev.) 2. Bactria — Head of Euthydemus . „ „ 3. Macedonia — Head of Perseus . . ., „ 4. Macedonia — Head of Philip . . „ „ 5. Spain — City of Emporiae . . „ „ 6. Thrace — Brutus and Lictors . ,, „ 7. Marseilles — Coin of the City . . „ 8. Armenia — Head unknown . . ., „ 9. Silver Shekel of Esdras . . . „ „ 10. Numidia — Head of Jugurtha . „ „ 11. Syria - — Head of Antiochus the Great ,, 12. Syria — Antiochus Epiphanes „ ., 13. Athens — Minerva . . . „ 14. Lacedaemon Head of a king . . „ V. Coins occurring in the narrative of the Times of Ob. the Republic. Epirus. Head of Dodonean Jupiter . PAGE • 65 Rev. 1 Pyrrhus King (in Greek) • Ob. Carthage. Head of Queen Dido • 74 Rev. 1 Winged Horse .... • « Ob. \ Head of Dido .... , • 74 Rev. 1 Head of a Horse .... Ob. I Head of Dido .... • 74 Rev. 1 Lion and Palm-tree Ob. Syracuse. Head of King Hiero (portrait) . 80 Rev. Name and Chariot Ob. Head of King Hieronymus . (portrait) . 80 Rev. Title and Name .... . Ob. Egypt. Ptolemy, Son of Lagus . (portrait) . 221 Rev. Title and Eagle .... Ob. Ptolemy Philadelphus . (portrait) . 221 Rev. Title and Eagle .... • Ob. Armenia. Tigranes ..... (portrait) . 88 Rev. Name in Greek Letters • Ob. Roman Coins. Head of Regulus .... (portrait) • 73 Rev. Name of the Master of the Mint . Ob. Head of Consul Marcellus (portrait) .’ 80 Rev. Offering of the Spoils of War Ob. Head of Scipio .... (portrait) 81 ,, Head of Sulla .... . 88 ,, Head of Marius .... . . 88 ti I Julius Csesar . .... (portrait) . 100 Rev. \ Various Instruments Ob. 1 Julius Caesar as Pont. Max. . . 96 Rev. Instruments of Sacrifice . . PAGE Ob. ( Pompey the Great . . . (portrait) . 99 Rev. ( Cn. and Sext. Pompey ...... Ob. i Mark Antony .... (portrait) . 115 Rev. \ Female Head and Serpent (Cleopatra?) Ob. i Mark Antony .... (portrait) . 1 1 5 Rev. I Lucius Antony .... ,, Ob. i Brutus, Imp. .... ,, .99 Rev. ( Casca Longus ....... Head of J. Csesar, from a signet ring (magnified) . 100 VI. Coins occurring in the narrative of the Times of the Empire. Augustus Csesar (portrait) . 224 Ob. ( Augustus Csesar . it • 223 Rev. ( Temple, struck in Spain (Hiternitatis Augustas) • Livia (as Justitia) (portrait) . 226 M. Agrippa .... i t . 229 Ob. 1 Tiberius .... it • 232 Rev. 1 Ornament .... Germanicus Csesar . ( portrait) • 230 Ob. 1 Agrippina Major . it • 231 Rev. ( S. C. &c. .... Ob. Agrippina Major, funeral medal . 231 ,, Caius Caligula .... (portrait) • 245 ,, Three Sisters of Caligula . , • 245 ,, Claudius ..... (portrait) . 248 ,, Agrippina Minor it • 247 Rev. Temple of Janus . 156 VII. Restorations of the Architecture and public places of Ancient Rome. (Full-Page Engravings.) The Forum Romanum ... Id. IV. Brewer The Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus . . Canina 156 156 246 1 16 22 23 28 31 (Engravings printed in the Text.) The Circus Maximus .... Canina The Temple of Janus The Palatine Hill The Capitol The Pons Sublicius The Walls of Servius Tullus VIII. Roman Sepulchral Architecture, Monuments, and Antiquities. (Engravings printed in the Text.) The Tomb of Cecilia Metella (as at present) . . . 344 The Mausoleum of Augustus (restored) .... 228 The Mausoleum of Hadrian ,, .... 356 Bronze Cone, formerly on the Mausoleum of Hadrian . 357 Ancient Tomb, said to be that of the Horatii . . .28 Tombs on the Appian Way, at the 12th mile-stone (restored) 342 ,, ,, ,, about the 6th mile-stone ,, . 343 ,, ,, ,, near the entrance to Rome ,, . 343 Scene on the Appian Way (as at present) . . . 345 The Way of the Tombs, Pompeii ..... 346 Monument on the Appian Way (present condition) . . 347 Funeral Urn (ne tangito O mortalis) . . . *357 Funeral Urn, D.M. . 34S The Sarcophagus from the Tomb of the Scipios . . 82 Columbaria of a Burial Club . 334 Three niches in do. (two with busts) ..... 350 Columbaria of a second Burial Club ..... 349 The Effigies of Eurysaces, the Baker, and his Wife . . 352 The Effigy of Sulpicius Maximus ..... 253 The Pyramid Tomb of Caius Cestius .... 347 Mural Painting inside the Pyramid ..... 347 The Prometheus Sarcophagus ...... 358 Prsefica, Effigy of the Hired Mourner .... 368 The Rogus, on a medal . 368 IX. The Catacombs of Rome. (Engravings printed in the Text.) Entry to the Crypt of Lucina ...... 374 Entry to the Catacomb of St. Prsetextatus .... 375 Cathedra Petri in the Ostrian Cemetery .... 380 Crypt of St. Cornelius . 352 XV1U General Classified Catalogue of the Illustrations. Chapel in the burial-crypt of the Popes The same restored as in the time of St. Damasus The Crypt of St. Cecilia . Maderna’s Statue of St. Cecilia Cubiculum, No. I., II., III. Loculi in a Gallery An Arcosolium Chapel in the Catacomb of St. Agnes Mode of Interment illustrated — the Burial of a Martyr The Christian Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus Mural Decorations and Painting Noah in the Ark ..... Abraham and Isaac ..... Moses striking the Rock .... Jonas under the Ivy ..... Jonas cast into the Sea .... A Head of Christ ..... I’AGE . 400 . 400 • 3°9 . 400 . 401 . 401 . 401 ■ 403 • 415 . 411 . 407 . 408 . 408 • 409 . 408 . 401 A Head of Christ ..... The Good Shepherd .... The Miracle of the Loaves The Soul represented as a winged Psyche . Three figures of Priests .... Lazarus Raised to Life .... A Lamp found in the Catacombs (terra-cotta) „ „ ,, (in bronze) X. Maps. Roma Quadrata ..... The Environs of Rome .... Site of Carthage ..... The Three Punic Wars .... Plan of the City of Ancient Rome The Site of the Catacombs Ground Plan of the Papal Crypt PAGE . 411 . 410 . 408 . 406 . 412 . 4IO . 401 . 4OI • 23 . 64 ■ 53 . 68 • 36 • 393 ■ 309 EXPLANATORY CATALOGUE OF THE ORNAMENTAL INITIAL LETTERS. Engraved from the designs of II. Wilson. PAGE Chapter I. — The ornamental design at the head of this chapter is intended to be significative of the general truth which the volume is directed to elucidate, viz., the Pro¬ vidential connection subsisting between the ancient mili¬ tary and the subsequent Christian Rome. To the left is the Roman Lictor, the Roman executive officer of jus¬ tice. The corresponding figure on the right is the Papal Cross-bearer. The building on the left is the Pantheon, built by M. Agrippa ; that on the right is its interior, converted into the Church of S. Maria ad Martyres. In the middle compartment is the Roman Eagle, cowering underneath and overcome by the Keys, the emblem of St. Peter’s power, the Papal Triple Crown or Tiara, and the Flabella. ....... The initial letter exhibits the Eagle, the emblem of Roman power ......... 3 Chap. II. — The initial letter represents the Clavi Annales, one of which was annually driven into the side of the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, to record the lapse of a year . 12 Chap. III. — In the initial letter are various instruments of torture used in the Roman courts . . . . .20 Chap. IV. — Various forms of the Roman military trumpet 36 PAGE Chap. V. — The Roman shield, battle-axe, and one form of the military standard . . . . . . - SI Chap. VI. — An atrium in a Roman villa. . . .66 Chap. VII.- — Various instruments of torture employed against the Christian Martyrs ..... 85 Chap. VIII. — The cage containing the sacred chickens . 9). Chap. IX. — Curule chair and fasces .... 105 Chap. X. — Various forms of the military standards . . 117 Chap. XI. — The Peacock, a Roman mural decoration also found in the Catacombs . . . . . .129 Chap. XII. — A Gentile sacrifice ..... 147 Chap. XIII. — The She-wolf of Romulus and Remus . 169 Chap. XIV. — The atrium, or pronaos, of a Roman temple 194 Chap XV. — Roman military standards .... 219 Chap. XVI. — The Chair of St. Peter, preserved in the basilica of the Vatican in Rome ..... 260 Chap. XVII. — The Phenix, a painting in the Catacombs . 285 Chap. XVIII. — Roman military trophies . . . 309 Chap. XIX. — Gallery in a columbarium or subterranean Chap. XX.— An Arcosolium, or Altar-tomb, in the Cata¬ combs .......... 361 Chap. XXI. — An Altar-tomb and Celebrant . . . 383 THE ORNAMENTAL CHAPTER ENDINGS AND THEIR LATIN MOTTOS. Engraved from the designs of II. Wilson. ( Arranged according to alphabetical order.) Cum fortis armatus custodit atria sua bona ejus sunt in pace (Luc. xi. 21). When a strong man armed keepeth his court his goods are in' peace ......... iv Deduxit illos in via mirabili (Sap. x. 17). He led them in wonderful ways ..... 308 Doctrina sed vim promovet insitam (llor. iv., Odes iv. 33)- Tuition brings out the qualities of nature . . .218 Ego illi qui pascitur inter lilia (Cant. ii. 16). 1 am His, that feedeth His flock among the lilies . . title Fili hominis putas ne os.-a ista reviviscent (Ezech. xxxvii. 3). Son of man, thinkest thou these bones will live l . . 146 Imperium sine fine dedi (Virg. zEneid, i. 283). 1 have given them an empire never to end . . .168 Justorunr animae in manu Dei sunt (Sap. iii. 1). The souls of the just are in the hands of Cod . . . 3S2 Nolite timere illos qui occidunt corpus (Matt. x. 28). Fear not them who cast kill the body .... 360 Quid aeternis minorem, consiliis animurn fatigas (Hor. ii., Odes xi. 12). Why wear out thy mind with the eternal counsels to which thou art not equal . . . . . . . xiv Quid leges sine moribus van® proficiunt (Hor. iii., Odes xxiv. 36). What avail vain laws apart from morals t Quod Deus conjunxit homo non separet (Matt. xix. 6>. What God hath joined together let not man put asunder . Sine Cruce non pervenitur ad Coronam No Cross, no crown ....... Soli Deo laus et gloria. To God alone be praise and gloiy . Sub Pontio Pilato passus est (Apostles’ Creed). He suffered unde r Pontius Pilate ..... Te martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus (Cant. Te Deum). 'The white-robed army of martyrs doth praise Thee . Torcular calcavi solus et de gentibus non fuit vir mecum (Isa. lxiii. 3). I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people these was siot a ssian with Me ...... Tu regere imperio populos Romane memento (/Eneid vi.852). Do thou, O Roman, ressiember to make good thine empire over the nations ...... Usque quo finis horum mirabilium (Dan. xii. 6). Till when will be the end of these ssiarvels l . . title page Vivent nomina eorum in asternum Their siames shall live for ever .... 416 123 1 1 193 284 19 • 193 A BRIEF WORD FROM THE AUTHOR TO THE CHRISTIAN READER. Courteous Sir, All people readily acknowledge the great wisdom and truth which is contained in popular sayings; and among these, probably very few enjoy a greater currency than the well-known sentence, “ Charity begins at home.” The foundation of the truth of this particular saying, good Christian reader, as you will easily perceive, is, that our first consciousness that we are members of society in any sense comes to us by the appointment of God through the Christian household and family, of which we become members by our natural birth, followed by our admission into the privileges of the Christian redemption. As Christian faith inculcates upon us the lesson of charity to all men, and as it is in the social life of the Christian household that we first come to the conscious¬ ness that we are members of society, hence it happens that the current saying, “ Charity begins at home” expresses a very great truth. It is at home, in our place in the Christian household, that we first begin to learn the Christian charity which we are taught that it must afterwards be our endeavour to carry away with us from our homes and diligently practise towards all with whom the course of our future life may bring us into any kind of contact. But not only is it true that “ Charity begins at home:” it is “at home,” by the same Divine Home the first appointment, that we first commence to learn our knowledge of God and of His commandments, knowledge of The Christian home is, by the order of God, both the sanctuary where we first learn to fall on our God. knees for prayer, and likewise also, the school where for the first time in our lives we hear of the great works which God has done upon earth among men, in order that all should learn to fear His great Name. If it is true that “ Charity begins at home ” it is equally true that the knowledge and the fear of God also begin at home ; and to whatever heights of the knowledge of God we may attain in after file, the first beginning and foundation of this knowledge was undoubtedly laid in the school of home and at the family hearth. That such should be the case is in strict conformity with the express command of God, given through the legislator Moses : — “ And when thy son shall ask thee on the morning what mean these testimonies, ceremonies, and judgments which the Lord our God has commanded us, thou shalt say, We were servants of Pharao in Egypt, and the Lord our God brought us out of Egypt in a strong hand, and He worked signs and great and terrible wonders in Egypt against Pharao in our sight, and He brought us out from thence to give to us the land which He swore to our fathers that He would bring us into it. And He commanded that we should do all these commandments, and should fear the Lord our God, that it may be well with us all the days of our life as it is this day ” (Deut. vi. 20). I he religious Hebrew family is well known for its conscientious observance of this precept of The example Moses up to the present hour. It has, indeed, been the invariable sacred tradition of the Hebrew ^j^er^ligI0US nation in all times to perpetuate in its families the knowledge of the successive dealings of God with family, them. I he Christian family in this respect does but learn its own duty from the good example of the religious Hebrew family ; indeed, there reigns between them in this matter a coincidence that is almost complete, which, however, continues to hold good only up to a certain point of time, viz., A Preliminary Word to the Christian Reader. The great prerogative of the Christian family. the coming of Jesus Christ. As the religious Hebrew family approaches the Christian times, its sacred history begins to enter upon a period of gloom and desolation, which reaches its height after the date of their national share in the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. The whole people of Israel then pass into their fixed state of narrow, barren, national isolation, in which they remain up to the present hour and which was foretold by the prophet Osee : “ For the children of Israel shall sit many days without a king, without a prince, without a sacrifice, without an altar, without an ephod, and with¬ out teraphim ” (Osee iii. 4). All the former glory of the Israelite household is gone, and the whole of their national history from the date of their rejection of Jesus Christ becomes one continued scene of abject outlawry and proscription and of calamity upon calamity in the various nations where the families of Israel have been scattered. With the Christian family the case is altogether the reverse. The Divine Religion, which had hitherto been confined within the limits of the Hebrew nationality, breaks asunder these narrow bands of nationality in the person of Jesus Christ, and throws itself as an apostolic and unconquer¬ able creed into the heart of the Roman world, fixing its headquarters in the metropolis City of Rome itself. Spreading its action from thence as from a centre and having all the nations of the earth for its inheritance, it pursues its career of continual growth and extension, which is destined to see the end of the world. Since, then, good Christian reader, the will of God in your regard, as you may plainly perceive, is, that you should through life carry about with you the consciousness of your having received from the gift of God your particular position, whatever this may be, as member of a Christian household and family, and since, by the same will of God, the Christiaii family is constituted a school of the knowledge of God and of the great works which He has done, I hope to be able to offer you an acceptable service in the present volume. As you will perceive, it places before you, in a compact form, a body of available knowledge which mainly refers to the time when the sacred history of the religious Hebrew family enters upon its period of fixed gloom, desolation, and national abjection, while that of the religious Christian family begins to assert its freedom from the narrow chains of the Hebrew nationality and to throw itself upon all the nations of the earth as the one world-wide Historical Religion, which has, according to St. Paul, “ the promise both of the life that now is and of that which is to come” (1 Tim. iv. 8). Having, further, to the best of my ability, studied to give the volume all the additional charm and value which it can gain for the purposes of a Christian household from the employment of the beautiful art of wood engraving, which our century has carried to such great perfection, I here commend it, good Christian reader, to your attention. And, in taking my leave of you, I may be allowed to pray that God will grant His richest blessings to the family and household of which you are a member, to your self honour and peace and length of days, and that we may have our joint share in the reward which God in His goodness will give to all who are mindful of the counsel which the Archangel Raphael gave to the religious household of Tobias — “ But do you bless God and narrate all His wonderful works” (Tob. xii. 20). 1 1 The Encyclical Letter of the reigning Sovereign Pontiff contains the following passage : — “The very best instruction of youth, for the security of faith and true religion and the purity of morals, is necessarily that which has its beginning from the tenderest years in the society of home.” The Sovereign Pontiff then continues to deplore deeply the evils which afflict society in consequence of the neglect of the sacred duties of the domestic circle. Lett. Encycl. Leo XIII., April 21, a.d. 1878. ti.mSOMOfL. • QVOD • DEVS • CONJV NXIT- HOMO • NON * SEPARET- ANCIENT ROME AND ITS CONNECTION WITH THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION. CHAPTER I. GENERAL INTRODUCTION. I. The General Design of Divine Providence in causing the name of Pontius Pilate to have a place assigned to it in the Apostles’ Creed. II. The Christian Religion the one universal historical Religion of the Nations of the World. III. The Christian duty of labouring to acquire a knowledge of the history of the Christian Religion. IT. Enforcement of this Truth from the example of the Hebrew People. T. Divine Providence, by associating the name of the Roman Procurator of the Province of Judea who passed the sentence of death upon Jesus Christ with the universal formula of Christian belief appears to invite all the Christian People in every Nation to study the Providential connection subsisting between the City of Rome and the Christian Religion. TI. Jesus Christ warns His followers of their prospect of martyrdom in the Roman Empire. Til. No argument against the Providence of God must be suffered to arise from the great diminution of truths in the religions of the Gentile 1 1 or Id. UFFERED UNDER PONTIUS PILATE. No one can fail to recognise these words as forming an actual part of the Christian Creed which is daily in the mouths of all the Chris¬ tians of the world, which is spoken in almost every known language and amongst every nation and people of the earth ; which, moreover, has come down to us from the time of the Apostles and bears their name; and which, having from that time up to the present moment never ceased to be the one universal form of profession of faith for all the people of the earth, will doubtless continue such to the end of the world. If in so very short and still so authoritative a formula of Christian belief as the Apostles’ Creed, spread over the world in the mar¬ vellous manner above described, to which the diffusion of the Lord’s Prayer probably offers the only adequate parallel, Divine Providence assigns a place to the name of such a person as Pontius Pilate, The reason why the name of Pontius Pilate occurs in the Creed. The Christian religion the gTeat historical religion of the world. 4 A ncient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. [Chap. i. this evidently argues the existence of some distinct and definite purpose on the part of the government of God, of which no one would venture to say that it would be right on the part of the Christian people willingly to remain in ignorance and unconcern. It cannot also fail to attract our observation, that while this Creed brings under the knowledge of every generation and in all the languages of the earth what is necessary and good to be known respecting the three Divine Persons of the ever-Blesscd Trinity, it also brings prominently before them two separate human persons, each of whom in their respective degrees came into the most intimate relation with the Person of the Divine Redeemer. The first of these is the chosen and elect Maiden of the house of Israel and the family of David, whom all generations have since called Blessed and who was predestined to give Him the human nature, by the sacrifice of which on the altar of the cross He redeemed the whole fallen race of Adam. The second is the judge of the Roman court, from whom the infuriated priests and scribes of the Jews, backed by the cries of the multitude, extorted, as we learn from the four Evangelists, the official sentence of crucifixion against Jesus Christ which was carried info execution by the Roman soldiers. The former, for her part, co-operated to His offering Himself as the Victim of atonement for the sons of men by giving Him her maternal consent, standing under His cross during His agony as far as possible to share it with Him. The second co-operated for his part in a very different way, by signing his name to the warrant of the court condemning Jesus to be put to death on the cross : Divine Providence thereby bringing it to pass that the death of the Divine Victim for the sins of men should be carried into effect under the public law of what was at that time the world’s universal empire. The mother who consented to the sacrifice of her only Son for the redemption of the race of Adam has received in return the unparalleled honour of being constituted the mother in heaven of all the nations and people of the whole earth ; but the judge of the Roman court, of whose unjust sentence the wisdom of God made use to furnish the opportunity for the Divine Victim becoming “ obedient to the death of the cross,” has gained not indeed honour, for honour is the reward of merit, but notoriety ; and such a notoriety as is not readily to be equalled, for it comprises all nations and people and all generations, past, present and to come, to the end of time. The notoriety, indeed, avails the unhappv judge himself nought, but the Christian people very much. For it is certainly not, as must be evident to every one, without its deep significance, that we cannot have a Christian in any age or part of the world, who, when learning, no matter in what language, his profession of Christian faith from the formula drawn up by the College of the Apostles, is not, side by side with the person of the most Blessed Virgin the mother of Jesus, also made acquainted with the person of Pontius Pilate the judge of the Roman court under whose warrant Jesus was put to death upon the cross. The Princess of the royal house of David had been chosen from the midst of her obscure retirement in Nazareth to receive the honour of her Divine maternity ; but, as she never came forth from her retirement to become an historical person known to the public history of her own time, it was reserved for after times to make her association with the person ol her Divine Son publicly known to all the generations of the earth. The whole of her life on earth was passed in a religious seclusion little known to her own time. It was exactly the contrary with Pontius Pilate. He, though in no way remarkable for any particular or unusual personal qualifications, nevertheless, as the Roman procurator of the province of Judea, was one of the public official men of his time and hence a person belonging to the public history of the Empire. II. The clause “Suffered under Pontius Pilate,” consequently, occurring in the ordinary formula of Christian belief, necessarily suggests to every Christian mind the extremely pertinent question, “ Who can this Pontius Pilate have been?” When this question has been set at rest by the information, that this Pontius Pilate was a public official person of the Roman Empire, and that it fell to his lot, as being at the time in office as procurator of the province of Judea, to sign the warrant for the death of Jesus upon the cross, this again necessarily brings up before the mind of the Christian the further question, “ What then was the great Roman Empire itself? and what could Chap, i.] A Knowledge of History becomes the Christian Calling. 5 have been the origin and foundation of its power? By what supreme disposition of Divine Providence had it been brought to pass, that the sovereign jurisdiction over life and death had been taken away from the nation of Israel and lodged in the hands ol the City of Rome t By what chain of events, in short, did it happen that a single city like Rome came to be able to delegate such supreme power to one of its public officers, that the whole people of Israel with their high priest at their head, were obliged to put in their appearance before this one particular functionary to obtain his written warrant of execution, without which their purpose of having Jesus Christ crucified could never have been carried into effect?” Jesus Christ and His religion are thus plainly seen to have been, from the very first beginning, brought into the closest contact with one of the principal armed powers that direct the course of the nations of the earth and to have been made to cross its path. That which is thus seen to have existed from the first beginning, subsequent history informs us has continued to remain the rule ever since. Whether, as was the case in the lifetime of Jesus upon earth and for the four or five centuries following when the nations were subject to the one Roman imperial power, or whether, as the case stands at present, when a plurality of national and imperial thrones attempt to possess their respective portions of the earth upon the theory of an equilibrium of power continually liable to be disturbed by the outbreak of war, — Jesus Christ and His religion still continue to cross their paths. The Christian religion came into the midst of the nations from the very first as an historical creed. Hence it is that the clause “ Suffered under Pontius Pilate, occurring in and forming an inseparable part of the Christian formula of belief, not only records a truth of past history regarding the person of Christ, but it remains in its place as the standing acknowledgment and confession of a truth of world-wide experience, for the present and for all future times. This truth is the indestructibly historical character of His religion, hitherto most amply verified as well in the past as in the present and to be verified probably much more amply still in the future. As Christ suffered in His own person at the hands of a delegate of the then existing Roman power, which at that time upheld the civil estate of the world, so He will continue liable to the end of time to suffer in His members from the various delegates of the similar armed powers, whose action will in like manner never cease to be needed to upholc. the civil estate of the wrorld in the times that are still to come. Thus the first great and important truth to which the name of Pontius Pilate occurring in the Apostles’ Creed bears its testimony is, that the Christian religion is virtually confessed to be the one- great historical religion of all the nations of the earth; and if no other cause could be assigned why the name of Pontius Pilate should have had a place given to it in the Apostles’ Creed, this one reason alone would amply suffice. It serves, when rightly understood, as a general standing memorial and acknowledgment for the whole body of the Christian people, in every nation and tribe of people and in every place and corner of the whole globe, to bring home to the heart and understanding of every individual member of this vast multitude the truth, that the faith of a Christian incorporates the holder of it with the one great indestructible historical religion of the entire world. III. But to acknowledge membership with the one universal historical religion which embraces all mankind, as will be easily perceived, does not bring with it an honour that is destitute of its corresponding obligations. The French nation has its proverbial saying, “ Noblesse oblige ” — “ Nobility has its duties.” The man who is ennobled by his profession of the creed of the universal historical religion cannot but exhibit a notable shortcoming and a sad falling away from the dignity to which he is raised, unless he is distinguished for a reasonable diligence to turn to the best account such- opportunities as come in his way to improve himself to the best of his ability in the knowledge of the history of his religion. “ It is not good,” savs the wise king of Israel, “ for the soul to be without knowledge ” (Prov. xix. 2) ; and there can be no knowledge to be compared with the studv of the works which God has done among men in order that they should learn to fear Him and to believe in His name. The one great historical religion of the world naturally and properly calls upon It is not good for the soul to be without knowledge. The example of the Hebrew nation. 6 Ancient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. [Chap. i. every one who professes its creed to exhibit due diligence, as far as their opportunities reach, not to pass through life without a knowledge of the grounds on which the Christian religion claims its title to this great distinction. IV. This duty on the part of the Christian to study to acquire some competent knowledge ot the history of his religion receives the strongest corroboration from the example of the former people of God — the Hebrew nation. When St. Paul, in his Epistle to the Christians of Corinth, writes, “ Brethren, I would not have you ignorant how our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the Red Sea” (i Cor. x. i), he appears for the moment to take for granted that the great majority of the Christians of Corinth in the first beginning would be Hebrews by birth. 1 his would seem to be the natural force of the expression “ our fathers.” His meaning, then, may be thus inter¬ preted — “ Brethren, I would have no man who is a Christian ignorant of that which is so good, so instructive and so becoming for him to know ; but as God has given to you a certain special primacy of honour in your belonging to the nation of which He has made His own choice, I wish you to set before all your brethren of the Gentiles the light of your good example, by which all will be able to see that at least you do not forget how our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the Red Sea,” together with all the other facts of their history, which the Apostle then proceeds to enumerate. The same truth, namely, that there could not fail to be that which was highly unbecoming the dignity of a Divine religion and which the zeal of the Apostle prompts him to use all his energy to prevent — in its people being found living in ignorance of their own history — appears from another still more significant circumstance. God Himself places the sanction ot the entire moral law ot the Ten Commandments to the Hebrew nation (and the sanction still continues unchanged for the Christian populations) upon the foundation of the people being always kept well instructed in the knowledge of a great fact of their own history as a people— “ I am the Lord thy God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage “ Thou shalt not have strange gods in My sight,” 8tc. As if to say to the people of Israel, and after them to all the nations of the earth — “The token by which you shall know for all future time that these commandments are My law, and that I have given them to you, and that I shall exact an account from you as regards your keeping them, rewarding your obedience and punishing your disobedience, is this same fact of your history as a people, which you must never forget, to wit, that ‘ I am He who brought you out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of your bondage.’ ” The legislator Moses is a true predecessor of the Christian Apostle as regards his zeal that the people of God are not to live in ignorance of their own history. His words to his people are — “ When the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land for which He swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and shall have given thee great and excellent cities which thou didst not build, houses full of all riches which thou didst not construct, wells which thou didst not dig, vine¬ yards and olive-yards which thou didst not plant, and when thou shalt have eaten and shalt be full, diligently take heed that thou forget not the Lord who brought thee out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of thy bondage ” (Deut. vi. io). In the mind of the Hebrew legislator, as we have here carefully to observe, the keeping of God in remembrance, as regards the due observance of His laws and commandments, is inseparably associated on the part of his people with their likewise at the same time keeping up the knowledge of their own past history. Moses does not refer his people Israel to the greatness of God as displayed in the work of creation, in setting the sun in the heavens or the stars in their courses, or in regulating the seasons and the succession of the fruits of the earth, as the reason why they should keep His law. He requires from them the religious preservation, both in public and in private life, of the memory of their own past history — “ Take heed diligently that thou forget not the Lord, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of thy bondage.” By the peculiar law which Chap. I.] The Hebrew Nation guilty of culpable Neglect of their own History. 7 he was instructed to give them, as we should duly take note, the most direct provision was made for the effective instruction of the people in the knowledge of their past history. 1 heir past history was to be taught round the family hearth by the parents to their children and no pains and no precautions were accounted by the legislator either too great or too minute to ensure the knowledge of it being kept up. “ These words,” says Moses, “ which I command thee this day shall be in thy heart, and thou shalt tell them to thy children ; thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising up ; thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall move between thine eyes ; thou shalt write them on the door-posts and the doors of thy house” (Deut. vi. 5). It is plain enough from these injunctions what supreme importance the inspired Hebrew legislator, the man “ who spoke with God as a man speaks to his friend, was directed to attach to the knowledge of their past history being always kept up by his people. Never¬ theless, the great legislator of Israel knew the infirmity of human purposes much too well to trust the preservation of this knowledge solely to the care of the family and household. He instituted the tribe of Levi as the teachers of the people ; and while the children of the family were required to look up to their parents and seniors for the knowledge of their past history, their parents and seniors, in return, were themselves placed under the instruction of the Levites, Moses saying to them, “ Beware that thou never desert the Levite all the time thou shalt dwell in the land ” (Deut. xii. 19). It being thus made clear that the peculiar life of the people of Israel required as the condition of its well-being that the knowledge of God should be kept up amongst them through the unremitting care of the Levites in teaching the people in their cities and families, and again by the same careful instruction being carried still farther into the family circle by its senior members, even if it prove somewhat of a digression, it will still be full of instruction for us to turn aside for a while to trace the course of the Israelite legislator’s provision in the effects which manifested themselves at various epochs in the history of his people. Here, however, we have to prepare to meet with a memorable series of continual and repeated examples of the gross neglect of both the Levites and the Israelite people to fulfil their duties, all of which became the occasion of various visitations of the anger of God subjecting the whole people to hard servitude and oppression under a great variety of enemies, the most persistent of whom appear to have been their near neighbours the Philistines, who occupied the cities lying along the plain adjoining the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. The Book of Psalms abounds in numerous penitent confessions of this particular form of transgression — viz., the culpable neglect on the part of the people in not keeping up the memory of their past history, accompanied with the sorrowing acknow¬ ledgment of their duty in this respect, to which they had failed to remain faithful. “ How great things He (the Lord) had commanded our fathers to make known to their children, that a succeeding generation might know and that the sons who shall be born and rise up should tell them to their sons, that they might put their trust in God and not forget the works of God, but seek out His commandments ” — all of which sacred obligations the same Psalm penitently confesses to have been sinfully neglected on the part of the people. Though their God had planted them in the land promised to their fathers, and had cast out the nations who had been in possession, nevertheless “ they tempted and provoked the most high God, and did not keep His testimonies” (Ps. lxxvii.). In the reign of Solomon, when pilgrims from distant countries flocked to Jerusalem to hear his wisdom, Israel appears to have been animated for a time by a spirit more in conformity with that of their great legislator; but this period was not of very long duration. The various prophets of Israel contain one long succession of lamentations and denunciations of the wrath of God against the people and their teachers. Oseas, who was called to be the prophet of the Israelite schism, and who was sent to warn them of the coming destruction of their kingdom bv the Assyrians, cries out, “ There is no truth, no mercy and no knowledge of God in the land ” (Osee iv. 1) ; and again he says, addressing this time his words to the teachers of Israel, “ My people is silent because they have no knowledge. For the reason that thou hast rejected knowledge, I will reject thee, that thou shalt 8 Ancient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. [Chap. i. not discharge the priest’s office to Me. Thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, and I will forget thy children” (iv. 6). Jeremias, who was the prophet of Juda during the Chaldean sovereignty in Babylon and the seventy years’ captivity of Israel in that city, has but to continue the same complaint. In the letter addressed to the captivity in Babylon by the hand of Baruch, Jeremias tells them that they are in captivity, not for destruction, but for the punishment of their sins — “ For you have provoked to anger Him who made you, the everlasting God, by sacrificing to demons and not to God, and you have forgotten the God who hath brought you up from the beginning” (Baruch iv. 7). The lesson of severe chastisement inflicted by the captivity in Babylon was not thrown away. On their return from this captivity, Esdras instituted the synagogue worship which has subsisted among the Jews ever since in their dispersion over the world. He also collected the various books forming part of the canon of the sacred Scriptures, and provided for their being transcribed and carried all over the world where the Jewish colonies were sufficiently populous to maintain a syna¬ gogue, that Israel might never again fall into the sin of neglecting to keep up the knowledge of the “ great things which the Lord had done for their fathers.” What Christian reader can here fail to perceive the admonitory character of the particular lesson to be derived from the experience of the former people of God? “ These things,” says the Apostle, “ happened to them in a figure, but they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” The Hebrew people became guilty of grave offence against the majesty of God, by which they provoked His anger and brought a continual succession of calamities and humiliations upon themselves through their sin of neglect, in failing to keep up among themselves the knowledge of their own history. A Hebrew culpably and wilfully ignorant, even if only through mere apathy and neglect, of the sacred history of his people, sinned against God and the commandment of Moses, “ Thou shalt meditate on these words sitting in thy house and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising up; thou shalt write them on the door-posts and the doors of thy house.” The self-same rule in substance equally applies to the Christian people in every nation, with the additional consideration, however, that the area of sacred knowledge that is thrown open to them has become proportionately enlarged, from the important change that has now taken place. The Divine religion of the Apostles’ Creed has now been extended in Jesus Christ to become a creed and a worship for all the nations and people of the earth, while the religion of the Hebrew follower of Moses remains only the same as heretofore, restricted to his own particular nation of the children of Abraham in the line of Isaac. The providen¬ tial connection of ancient Rome with the Christian re¬ ligion. V. Here, then, we appear to come in very clear view of the existence of a second wise and beneficent purpose on the part of the Divine providence which watches over the Christian society in causing a place to be given to the name of Pontius Pilate in the Apostles’ Creed. Jesus Christ has said, “ And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things unto Me” (John xii. 32), while the Apostle says to the Christians, “ All things are yours” (1 Cor. iii. 22). The whole and entire domain of human knowledge, so far at least as knowledge is lawful and honourable, belongs to the prerogative of the Christian. But nevertheless the zeal which prompts the Apostle to cry out, “ Brethren, I would not have you ignorant,” is not a zeal without knowledge, which does not take due account of human infirmity and of the slender opportunities for the pursuit of knowledge that the obligation of labouring for a livelihood must necessarily leave to the great majority of men. The almost unlimited horizon of knowledge that is thrown open before the Christian as his Christian birthright, is manifestly in practice too vast, for any one to imagine that it could ever possibly be brought within the grasp of the Christian multitudes in a way likely to be beneficial to them. In order, therefore, to consult wisely for the real advantage and improvement of these multitudes, whose eyes are in all ages continually turned to the Levites of the Christian religion, it must obviously be necessary to be able to fix with something like certainty upon one or more of the choicer spots in this wide horizon, the knowledge of which might be brought forward with something of a trustworthy and solidly grounded conviction of the benefit that would thereby be conferred upon the great Christian multitudes. Chap, i.] A Second Reason why Pontius Pilate holds a place hi the Creed. 9 Did we then but possess some clear indication, coming from the hand of God Himself, directing our steps toward any one or more of these choicer spots on this wide horizon, where is the Christian worthy of the name who would refrain from blessing God, or who would hesitate to follow on in the path which such an indication pointed out to him ? A little reflection, however, ought to be all that is needed here to convince us that we really are already in possession of this clear indication of the hand of God pointing out to us the path into which our endeavours should be thrown and where they can enjoy the best-founded hope of meeting with their reward. The name of the Holy Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, occurring in the Creed, is, as it were, the sign-post that directs the Christian people, apart from all possibility of deception, to the history of the chosen Hebrew nation to which she belonged by her birth, and to this providential direction all the Christian nations with one heart and one mind have always been known for lending a willing compliance. But the direction of Divine Wisdom, for reasons that are obvious, does not stop here. The Christian religion has burst the bands of nationality as Sampson burst the bands with which the Philistines bound him, and has gone forth on its way over the whole world as the one historical religion, no longer that of a single nation, but of all the nations of the earth. It is consequently not enough to satisfy the dignity of the world-wide religion to have the popular horizon of the knowledge of its adherents restricted to the study of the history of a single nationality, notwithstanding the great and exclusive prerogatives granted to this one nation. Hence, in addition to the name of the Holy Virgin of Israel, the wisdom of God has placed in the Christian Creed the name of the Roman procurator Pontius Pilate, who passed the sentence of death on Jesus. The name of Pontius Pilate in the Creed is at Second reason once the witness and the record of the intimate connection which the Divine plan of human of Pontius redemption has been pleased to establish between Jesus Christ and His religion and the City of jn'oie Creed. Rome and its empire over the nations. Here, then, we have the sure indication by which we cannot be led astray, that in making the City of Rome the object of our special study and attention we are walking in the path that the finger of God condescends to point out to us, as one in which, if we pursue it with the necessary perseverance, we shall not fail to reap in the end our rich reward. It is the City of Rome, then, and its connection with the Christian religion which will form the main subject of the present volume. But even here, not to become thrown, as it were, upon the wide sea of a history which is connected with nearly all the known nations of the world without the aid of a definite course previously determined and marked out, our chief attention will be fixed upon Imperial Rome, as destined by the disposition of Divine Wisdom to be the cradle, so to speak, of the early years of the Christian society. “ The works of God are perfect,” says the prophet Moses, “ all His ways are judgments: God is faithful, without any iniquity, just and upright” (Deut. xxxii. 4). The city and empire of Rome, it must be plain, could not have been chosen for the cradle of the Christian religion solely to give the Christians the opportunity to glorifv God by the supernatural heroism of their endurance of prisons, tortures, and public executions. VI. It is true that the 300 years during which our narrative deals with Imperial Rome will be seen The future to abound in instances of the heroic resistance and martyrdom of the Christian population, as well RomalfworW among the highest as the lowest grades of social life, including the high-born lady from the choicest j^sodety ' ranks of the Roman nobility, the gens of the Caecilii, equally with the poor slave-girl Blandina. This, as we shall easily perceive, was nothing more than it was reasonable to expect ; and the words spoken by Christ give the most full and explicit warning of the future for which His followers had to prepare themselves. “ In the world you shall have hostility ” {pressuram ), and “ the hour cometh when every one that putteth you to death may think that he is rendering God an act of service ” (John xvi.), are warnings which could not leave the Christians under any doubt as to the future for which their religion taught them to be prepared. Indeed, we have but to cast even a superficial glance at the real state of the religion, the civilisation and the public laws of the empire, to be made perfectly aware how impossible it must have been in the nature of things for the Christian religion B io Ancient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. [Chap. i. to establish itself among the nations which were subject to the Citv of Rome without a collision ensuing, which could not fail to awaken the most vehement anger and opposition of all who were both familiar with and strongly attached to the existing social, political and religious state of things in the empire. The bulk of the people were everywhere, but particularly in the rural districts, extremely well affected to their existing religious rites and ceremonies, which the Christian religion denounced as idolatrous; and among all these populations the Christians in consequence passed for an atheist and godless sect, whom it was rendering a service to both God and man to exterminate. 1 he civilisation of the empire again had entirely fallen from its ancient standard of severe virtue ; and as it now openly tolerated many of the worst vices which the Christian religion sternly condemned, the Christians, as we may readily understand, could not fail to be extremely hateful to it. What, however, most of all compromised the condition of the Christian society in the empire w'as the state of the public law. This, as we shall have occasion to show, placed the socia) status of the Christians, according to the strict letter of the law, in a standing condition of outlawry, the result of which was to expose them at any time to the danger of being brought before the public tribunals to answer to a variety of charges to each of which a capital penalty was annexed, at the The victory Of will or almost caprice of any accuser. Under such circumstances the final victory of the defenceless the Christian i * r • ' ... •in* • J religion a proof and patient religion over the military empire and all its armed legions does not admit of being traced vention"6 mter" to any other cause than to the miraculous and supernatural intervention of the power of God, “ making choice of the weak things of the world to confound the strong and to bring them to nought, that no flesh should be able to glory in His sight.” Surveying this victory, we are entitled beyond all question to say to the most obdurate adversary and unbeliever, “ Account for it if you can, without confessing the visible power of God directly intervening to baffle and overthrow the powers of darkness.” VI I. But the counsels of God, nevertheless, arc not to be measured by the narrow-minded and short¬ sighted standard of human judgments. Notwithstanding the unceasing necessity for the continual struggle of the Christian cause against its adversaries, the more we come to examine the true condition of the state of society in the ancient world, the more we discover proofs of the wisdom of God in choosing the City of Rome and its empire over the nations for the cradle of the Christian Church. We must, however, in the main leave to the body of the narrative the task of entering into the necessary explanations in this respect, to show that, in the face of all the many and various hindrances to the spread of truth with which the Roman world abounded, the Christian society not¬ withstanding developed itself in Rome and its empire under favourable conditions. It will, then, be sufficient here, by way of conclusion, to enter a caution against a pitfall into which the subject of Roman history may very easily betray the unwary. There have not been wanting indiscreet writers who seem to have thought that, with a view to magnify the blessings of the Christian redemption, it was impossible to speak in too exaggerated terms of the fallen and corrupt condition of the world at the time that Jesus Christ came to redeem it. The truth, however, is sufficiently sad and complete not to stand in need of any kind of fictitious exaggeration. And it will be well that we should understand the true reason for being on our guard against such exaggera¬ tion, lest a zeal in this respect that is not according to knowledge should furnish the unbeliever with a ground of attack against the goodness and mercy of God as manifested in the long period of time that preceded the coming of Christ. We must, for obvious reasons, be careful that we give no occasion to the taunt of any infidel objector, as if the truth of our Christian belief required from us that we should maintain that all care on the part of God for the nations of the earth received its first beginning in the grotto of Bethlehem. Nothing could possibly be more opposed to the true honour of God than any such notion. This was made a ground of actual cavil against the Christian religion as early as the second century. Celsus, who is the Pagan Roman against whom Origen defends the Christian cause, objects— “ But what then ! Are we to be required to believe that after such a Chap, i.} The Care and Mercy of God for the Nations before Christ. 1 1 number of hundred years God has at last bethought Himself it was time to begin thinking about justifying men for whom previously He had no care at all ? This does not look like giving a notion of God that is in conformity with wisdom and true piety ” (Contra Celsum, iv. 7). From the first moment of Adam’s existence to the first breath of the Divine Infant in Bethlehem, the little and the great amongst men were never withdrawn from the mercy of God, which is over all His works; and the Jesus of Bethlehem, of Nazareth and of the cross of Calvary, is but the same God whose govern¬ ment and care over the sons of Adam had never at any moment ceased from off the earth. The Christian redemption, consequently, coming to the nations who had never been otherwise than under the merciful care of the self-same God who had now become a man for their benefit, cannot be supposed to have found them absolutely dead, either in civilisation, literature, or religion. The maid whom Christ raised to life He Himself pronounced “ not to be dead, but to be asleep ; ” and the good Samaritan did not find the wayfaring man who had fallen among thieves on the way from Jerusalem to Jericho actually dead, but only “ w ounded, stripped of his raiment, and half dead.” I he good Samaritan, consequently, had not to raise him to life from the dead; he did but “ pour oil and wine into his wounds, set him on his own beast and give him into the hands of an innkeeper to take care of him till he should return.” Nothing, then, manifestly, can be a zeal less according to knowledge than to seek to build up the honour of the Christian gospel upon the ruins of the Divine care and providence over the nations which the Son of God exercised over them before He con¬ descended to become the Son of Man. But here again we may leave to the body of the narrative the task of entering into the necessary explanations. * We may, then, now bring the remarks of our introductory chapter to their termination, adding the observation that, with a view to favour as much as possible the extension of the Christian side of the narrative, the history of the city proper will in the main and generally speaking not be carried beyond the limits of an outline. The exception will be, should special cases occur where that which is of more than ordinary interest to the Christian reader will receive a welcome degree of additional light from a somewhat more extended treatment of the general narrative. Perhaps, also, the following reflection is one that ought not to be omitted. No Christian can be present at the offering of the holy sacrifice of his religion without at least some indirect participation in the prayer said by the celebrant at the altar— “ Vouchsafe to grant even to us sinners, I hy servants, some little part with 1 hy holy apostles and martyrs, . . . Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha, Agnes, Cecilia, &c. Certainly the zeal of the holy Apostle would here most unquestion¬ ably say to us, “ Brethren, I would not have you ignorant either of the circumstances of their martyrdom or of the city and empire which their martyrdom has ennobled.” But not to delay the reader with any further preliminary reflections, we proceed in the next chapter to the work of spreading out the material of the history before him. The nations not cast off from the care of God. ( 12 ; CHAPTER II. THE DESTINY OF ROME. I, External Magnificence of the City which Divine Providence constituted the Nurse and Guardian oj the first beginnings of the Christian Society. II. Origin from a singularly small beginning. 111. The Ancient Romans partially aware of the destiny of their City. IE. The Rome of Romulus an Asylum for Refugees from different nationalities. V. Triple parallel with the Chinch. VI. The durability of the work of Romulus challenges the world’s philosophy to account for it. I II. Brief reference to the sceptical German theory of the “ Early Roman Legend.” MMIANUS MARC ELLIN US relates of Constantine the Great, that after he had enjoyed the opportunity of looking round Rome at his leisure on the termination of his triumphal entry into the city as the conqueror of Maxentius, he complained that public fame, which in all other things was accustomed to amplify and exaggerate, in the case of Rome had entirely failed to enable him to form any just conception of what the city really was. Constantine, we may remember, besides being in himself a very competent judge, was a man who had traversed the empire in every direction, from its extreme limits in Asia to its most northern extremity in Great Britain. We have consequently in him the testimony of an extremely well-informed witness, to assure us that the empire, which has never known an equal for the completeness of its military organisation or of its legislative and administrative wisdom, possessed a worthy reflex of its greatness in the external grandeur and dignity of its material city. . 'v^10^e ^is marvellous greatness, as well that of the material city as that of the vast jurisdiction over the nations of which the city had become the central seat, was destined in the counsels of God to take its rise from a strangely small beginning. It is by no means the least point cf resemblance between the ancient City of Rome, together with the vast unity of the nations of which it became the centre and the Christian Rome that has succeeded to it, that the Gospel parable of the grain of mustard seed, which in the beginning is the least of all seeds, but in the end becomes a.tree in which the fowls of the air find their lodging, has had its successive realisation in each of them. Romulus and his few associates are the beginning of the first Rome, as St. Peter with his associates are the commencement of its successor, Christian Rome. The story of the foundation of the first Rome is told in a few words. Two twin brothers, born out of wedlock, are exposed in their infancy in the neighbourhood of the river Tiber, while their mother, a vestal virgin, suffers the penalty of the crime against her vows to which they owe their birth They are brought up to the way of life of the shepherds of the country in the cottage of the shepherd Faustulus, who, happening to find them lying exposed on the spot where an overflow of t ie river had floated them, brought them home and gave them to his wife, Acea Laurentia to be nursed and reared as if they had been their own children. They reach man’s estate in this condition of life, bearing the names of Romulus and Remus tv en the secret of their birth is made known to them. After this Romulus gathers about himself i Chap, ii.] The Ancient Romans partially aware of the Destiny of their City. 1 3 number of followers, young men of the same love of adventure as himself. Their association ends after a time in the determination to found a city, for which purpose they select for the site of their settlement a hill in the vicinity of the Tiber, near the spot where they had been rescued by the shepherd Faustulus, the foster-father of their infancy. Surrounding the portion of it which they judged suited to their purpose with a wall, they made their stronghold accessible by two gates, and entered upon its possession. Little could Romulus and his associates have foreseen that the new settlement thus formed on the top of this small portion of table land forming one of the eminences of the Palatine Hill and known as the “ Roma Quadrata,” was destined to have such an uninterrupted career of growth and extension of its power, that it would one day see all the nations of the world at its feet. Such, however, was to he its future destiny. It was to be seen not only to claim for itself the name of the Eternal City, but, most singular to relate, to find its claim to the title eternal recognised by every nation and people of the whole globe up to the present hour, with every prospect, so far at least as the past and the present can be sponsors for the future, to continue both to claim the title and to find the claim recognised by every nation and people to the end of the world. III. It will prove extremely interesting as well as instructive for us, now that we have had the drama of the history so much more extensively unfolded before oiur view by the progress of time, to be able to trace in the literature and history of Rome, as written by the Romans themselves, their own perception that their city possessed a hold upon the future quite different from that of which any other city could attempt to make its boast. The former Romans often show clearly enough how well aware they were that their city had received from a superhuman power a mission to fulfil in the world’s history, to the continual advance of which no combination of the powers of the earth would ever be able to offer any effectual resistance. Annaeus Floras, for example, who is the author of an epitome of the history of the city, which Ancient Rome appears to have served so early as the reign of Augustus Caesar as a school or college class-book for her destiny. Roman youth, and to have been deservedly popular, has the following comment upon the first period of 250 years, which was passed under the government of the seven kings of Rome. Concluding his summary of the reigns of these seven kings, Annaeus Floras writes: “This is the first age, and as it were the infancy of the Roman people, which was passed under the government of seven kings, who, by a certain ‘ industry of the Fates,’ differed from each other in character precisely in the particular way which the condition of the city and the interests of the public welfare most demanded. For where could there have been found greater energy than in Romulus? and just such a man as he was wanted in the beginning to lay a firm grasp upon the sovereign power. Where, again, could there have been a more religious man than Numa? and this was precisely what was required in order that a naturally fierce people should be subdued by the fear of the gods. What shall wre say of the military' captain Tullus? how greatly such a leader as he was needed by men given up to the pursuit of war in order to perfect their valour by military science. And again, how eminently useful the architect Ancus proved himself ; witness his adding to the security of the commonwealth by planting a colony, building a bridge, and surrounding the city with the external defence of a wall. Then, as regards the embellishments and the public monuments of Tarquin, how greatly did they not add to the dignity of the sovereign people. What benefits likewise accrued from the census instituted by Servius, and what signal advantage the commonwealth gained from the improved knowledge it thus acquired of itself. Lastly, even the very tyranny of Tarquin the Proud turned out to be one of the greatest pieces of good fortune, for it was through this that the people, smarting under their injuries, became inflamed by the desire and love of liberty” (Book I. c. viii.) . “ A certain industry of the Fates,” without question, must pass for an extremely imperfect mode of expression when placed side by side with the manner in which a Christian writer would speak of the “ disposition of Divine Providence ; ” yet nothing can be more evident than that Annaeus Floras, as far as we are able to judge, fully intends to convey to his readers by these, words the idea of there F.arlv symp¬ toms of the cosmopolitan character of Rome. 14 Ancient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. [Chap. it. being a superhuman power watching over and directing the destinies of Rome. And indeed, looking back as we are now able to do from our own far greater distance of time, in which we have been permitted to see so much more of the accomplishment of the providential destinies of the city than could have been known to the Romans of the Augustan age, we can but discover a great number of additional reasons, which more than justify the incomplete perceptions by which the former Romans were able to discern that their city was being guided from above to accomplish a Divinely appointed destiny. IV. It requires, we may observe, but a very superficial examination to become aware of the existence of features in the origin, character and political constitution of Rome, in virtue of which this city stands entirely by itself, as something radically distinct and different from any other known city that has acquired a name and a reputation for itself in the records of human events. The invariable example in the case of all other known cities, for instance, has been that the people who have built and have subsequently possessed them have preceded in point of time the existence of their city, in the same manner as the bird, in the order of nature, is prior to the bird's nest. The multi¬ plication of families and the necessity of providing for the convenience and the security of the social, after it has developed, in the order of nature, into the political life, is that which has led to the build¬ ing of cities. Man, as Aristotle says, is a political animal and loves society ; but the first origin of society is the family and the ramifications of the family, and the first origin of cities is the gathering together of the family and its ramifications within walls. If a leader or captain of a band of emigrants has happened to be the founder of the city, the site even then would be chosen and the city built by the common counsel of the associates, whose social bond, however, with each other has still, even in this case, preceded the existence of their city. Again, after the associates have built their citv for their own purposes, the principle of their pre-existing association reappears in the jealousy which leads them to close its gates against everything which they find to be not homogeneous with themselves. The city of Romulus, however, possesses from the very first outset an aim hitherto entirely unknown and unprecedented in the foundation of cities : Romulus establishes his city as an asylum for the benefit of all who, in various wavs, have made shipwreck of their fortunes, and need a second chance to rehabilitate themselves in a new social order, in which no inquiries will be made into their questionable antecedents or doubtful previous character. Rome, consequently, had her beginning in an adventure, the hazardous and precarious future issue of which, at that time of the world, it is scarcely possible to exaggerate. Annaeus Florus, the Roman writer already quoted, says that “ Romulus had but founded the shadow of a city, for the inhabitants were wanting. There w as, however, close by a grove, upon which he constructed an asylum for refugees. Here a marvellous multitude quickly gathered themselves together — shepherds from Latium and Tuscany, men also from beyond the sea, Phrygians, the followers of Mineas and Arcadians who had settled in the country with Evander” (i. 1). Livy also adds that “ the asylum received all comers, without distinction as to wdiether they were fugitive slaves or freemen ” (i. 8)— in short, without any sort of inquiry being raised as to who they were. St. Augustine has bis attention drawn to this peculiarity of the origin of Rome, on which he remarks as follows : — “ Romulus and Remus, from their desire to increase the multitude of their citizens, are said to have erected an asylum, in which whoever took refuge was held discharged from every kind of guilt — a wonderful example to the honour of Christ, that was made to precede His coming ” (Civ. Dei, i. 34). The precarious nature of this plan of founding a city upon a population of refugees will appear all the more worthy of being studied if we bear in mind the fate that befell the attempt which the band of associates made who undertook to build the citv and fortress of Babel. As long as these associates understood each other, God Himself said of them, “ They have begun this work, and they will not desist from their design till they have carried it into effect ; ” but when God had destroyed their power of Understanding each other by giving them a variety of languages, this is found to strike Char II.] 15 The Triple Parallel of Rome with the Church. a blow at the root of their association, which has the effect of putting an entire end to their enter¬ prise. The moment the associates fairly come to make the discovery that they have no longer the same language and are virtually become strangers to each other, they at once naturally desist from their enterprise of building a city for their common habitation and begin to disperse themselves. If the builders of the City of Babel, then, find themselves to have become so materially affected in their relations to each other by the sudden change of their speech that their very desire to build their city dies a natural death and is followed by the total break-up of their association, what, we may propose for inquiry, can be the peculiar secret of the success of the adventure of Romulus ? How did it come to pass that he was able to cement together the heterogeneous multitudes from different nations who flocked to his asylum ? and by what system of discipline did he come to have the power to form out of them the very strongest military and political unity of which history possesses any record r How, in a word, did Romulus succeed when the builders of Babel were obliged to break up their association and disperse ? and by what hitherto unknown influence did the Rome of Romulus become able to transform her mixed population of broken-down refugees into the patricians of the Rome destined to become the mistress of the nations — the greatest, the most compact and powerful aristocracy the world has ever beheld ? No one will question the justice with which each 011c of these questions has the right to challenge an adequate and satisfactory answer. V. However, not to delay the reader with an attempt, which would here be quite inopportune, to solve the important problems to which such questions naturally give rise, military Rome, as we may proceed to remark, presents us from the very first beginning with a triple parallel to the Divine institution of the Catholic Church, which is too complete to leave any other conclusion open, except that Divine Wisdom can but have foreordained ancient Rome, to use St. Augustine’s words, as a complete example sent forward into the world before Christ to His honour, and likewise, as we may add, to prepare the way for His coming. 1. Military Rome, similarly with the Church, has fulfilled the parable of the grain of mustard seed in their common origin from an exceedingly small beginning. 2. Like the Church, military Rome has made herself the city of refuge for the outcast and the ignoble, whom she has always shown herself ready to receive, while she proved herself also to be endowed with the power to recover them from their state of abjection and to raise them to the rank of her citizens. 3. Military Rome, lastlv, has always been distinguished for her entire independence of nationality, showing herself the friend and patroness of all nationalities alike, but never consenting to subject herself to any one in particular. (1.) What, for example, could be more insignificant than the “ Roma Ouadrata” of Romulus? or what to all appearance, surrounded as this apparently insignificant settlement was with populous and well-armed cities who looked upon its rise and growth with jealousy and suspicion, could be less fitted to give any augury of its future greatness? The same is even more true of the Church. Who woidd have thought, to look at the trembling society which was gathered together in an upper chamber in Jerusalem for fear of the Jew's, that it was destined to spread itself over the world, and to cover all the various national territories with its cathedral and other churches, with its universities, schools, hospitals, orphanages, and other works of Christian civilisation and charity, and even to appropriate for its own purposes the great military City of Rome itself? (2.) Nothing, again, as we have seen, is more essentially and distinctly characteristic of Rome,, and more distinctly contrary to the genius of all the other cities of the ancient world, than freely to open its gates to strangers and new comers. Rome did this, and gathered the citizens from every quarter of the earth whom she afterwards transformed into the Romans who conquered the world. It will not be difficult to perceive the remarkable analogy that subsists in this respect between ancient Rome and the Church, although the means which the Church employs for her purposes are [Chap. II. Cicero's testi¬ mony to the cosmopolitan citizenship of Rome. 1 6 Ancient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. undoubtedly the weapons of a more spiritual and less material warfare. She goes boldly, with no other arms than a small library and an altar, to the savage people who are outside the pale of civilisation, to gather them together to teach them the arts of life, that she may bring them to settle down and to learn to build their cities and become transformed into the peaceable citizens of a well- ordered political community. Then, after having formed her newly reclaimed political common¬ wealths, she continues her duties amongst them as the patient nurse and guardian of the civilisation which she has created, to which she proceeds in due time to add the mission of the shepherd, seeking the outcasts and the sinners of civilisation to restore them by the way of repentance to the social condition which they have forfeited, as well as to form out of them the future citizens of the kingdom of heaven. (3.) And, lastly, we see in the former military, and still more in the subsequent Christian Rome, the clearest manifestation of a spirit that is perfectly superior to all nationality. All nations came to turn their eyes to the City of Rome as their centre of unity long before it was possible to think of Rome ever becoming the centre of Christian unity for the nations of the world. It will be here most interesting as well as instructive to take note of the way in which Cicero recognises the existence of Rome as a city constituted outside all nationality, and with what words, expressive of the deepest homage and veneration, he salutes a citizenship which is equal to the task of comprising in itself every nationality. “ My idea,” he says in the dialogue upon the “ Nature of Law,” “ is that all townsmen may be reputed to have two countries — one that comes by natural birth, and the other that of citizenship, which is legally acquired. The instance of our friend Cato is a case in point. He was first a native of Tusculum, and subsequently admitted to the citizenship of the Roman people, so that, as a Tuscan by birth and a Roman by citizenship, he belonged to two countries, the one local and the other acquired. . . . The same is the case with us ; we regard that to be our country in which we were born, and likewise that into which we have been received ; only it is necessary that one alone should hold the place of eminence in our affections — to wit, that in which we find the name of commonwealth and universal citizenship. For this we ought to be ready both to die and to devote our whole lives, to embark in it, and, as it were, to consecrate all that belongs to us.” The Roman citizenship, in Cicero’s estimate, is above every tie of natural birth, for he goes on to say, “ I will not deny that country to be mine which gave me birth, provided the other which has made me her citizen be esteemed the greater, and be held to contain the former in herself” (De Leg., ii. 2). Rome already, in the estimate of Cicero, is the common mother of the peace and civilisation of the nations ; and the lesser patriotism which holds the particular place of birth, dear to the heart in a certain limited degree, is contained in the greater patriotism which loves and reveres Rome and her universal citizenship as the common mother and centre of union for all the nations. Here then as Christians, and more especially as Catholics, we may perceive the great truth and beauty of the lesson which ancient Rome was sent on a preliminary mission to teach to the nations who were afterwards to become Christians. Cicero, as the citizen of Rome, retains all his warm, patriotic attachment to his native Arpinum, on the condition, however, that the lesser attachment to Arpinum shall be contained in his greater and stronger attachment to Rome. If, then, it should ever come to pass in the disorder of human things that a Christian nation should be betrayed into breaking its ties of allegiance to the Christian Rome, which has been divinely constituted the one supreme centre of Christian unity for the nations of the earth, and if this fatal act should prove the inevitable rupture of the previously subsisting concord between the lesser patriotism which is by nature, and the higher allegiance to the centre of unity which is Christian and divine, the words of Cicero are plainly seen to stand good for the higher claim. If the necessity wrere to arise, Cicero would be seen to abandon his Arpinum for the universal citizenship of Rome, which he makes no scruple to assert is justly entitled to hold the place of pre-eminence in his affections. The true Christian’s higher allegiance, in like manner, will always be due to the kingdom of Christ. It is plainly none other than the voice of the deceiving spirit, which seeks to persuade men that a human Cha.p. ii.] Rome universally acknowledged as the Eternal City. i 7 beino- can have no higher interest upon earth than that which is contained in his own nation. The evil fruit of such a deception, as must be evident, can be nothing else than to lead men everywhere to a direct and impious attack upon the work of Jesus Christ which He has accomplished by submitting Himself to the sentence of Pontius Pilate. This work is the establishment of the Roman centre of unity for the nations of the earth, with the mission to consolidate the Christian peace and concord of the nations of the world and to provide for the Gospel being carried by the united efforts of all to every corner of the earth. If ever, then, the nations of the world should rebel against the Roman centre of their unity which Christ has given to them, and, lending an ear to the deceptions of the Evil One, should come to think that there is nothing upon earth which is above nationality and national patriotism, the normal condition of human life would then be launched on the way to realise the highest conceptions of the Evil One by becoming reduced to a state of incessant war between nation and nation. This indeed may be the terrible future towards which the nations are now progressing; for the following words of Christ still await their fulfilment: — “There shall come a time of great tribulation, such as there has not been from the beginning of the world up to the present hour, neither shall be ; and except the days had been shortened no flesh would be saved, but for the sake of the elect the days shall be shortened.” (Matt. xxii. 24.)1 So long as Christian Rome continues to be the beloved and venerated centre of the Christian unity of the nations of the world, an impassable barrier stands in the w'ay of the coming of this dreaded time of trial ; but when the nations begin with anything like a common accord to rebel against the centre of their Christian unity, whoever is wise to discern the signs of the times will do well then to think that the time of this promised tribulation cannot be far distant. VI. But not entirely to pass over the subject matter of the questions already raised, in which it will be readily perceived that a challenge is thrown down before the philosophy of the world to give a rational explanation of the wonderful growth and stability of the foundation of Romulus ; it may be here briefly observed, that unless we accept the Jerusalem of King David as an example in some few respects not altogether dissimilar, we find nothing in the whole range of ancient history that is parallel ,to the rise of such an empire as that of Rome, from an origin so outcast and forlorn as the population of refugees which were the foundation of the city of Romulus. When David fled to his stronghold in the cave of Adullam, a band gathered round him like those who flocked to the protection of the Roma Ouadrata of Romulus on the Palatine Hill, consisting of men broken down with debt and misfortune and those who had become malcontents from various causes, to the number of four hundred. It is true that from this date to that of the capture of the citadel of Sion from the Jebusites which afterwards became the city of Jerusalem, David’s life and adventures were of a very chequered kind. Inasmuch, however, as he never ceased to be a captain over a force of armed followers, nothing seems more warrantable than to conclude, that the band of refugees of the cave of Adullam formed the nucleus of the force which actually gained possession of the Jebusite strong¬ hold of Sion ; and after its capture, David may be quite well supposed to have garrisoned and permanently settled it with this force, in the manner which caused it to become, in the reign of his successor Solomon, the famous city of Jerusalem. Be this, however, as it may, at least nothing which is known in Gentile history sustains a com¬ parison with the irrepressible growth and extension of the foundation of Romulus from so miscellaneous and precarious a beginning. The Romulean asylum for refugees continues up to the present hour to be known under a name singularly significant of the future, as the “ Eternal City.” “ Every planting,” are the words of Christ, “ which My Heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up ” (Matt. xv. 13). Nothing upon earth possesses durability except this comes from the gift of God. “ All things under heaven,” says the wise man, “ pass away.” Since, then, the City of Rome con- 1 The prophet Daniel’s words appear to point to the same future event as the words of Christ : “ There shall come a t'me such as there has not been from the day when nations began to exist up to that time” (xii. i). Unbelieving philosophy challenged to account for the durability of Rome. C [Chap. II. 18 A ncient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. o tinues to place before the eyes of all people and of every generation the same uniform spectacle of a city, the constant career of which no combination of the powers of the earth has ever been able to interrupt, while all the nations of the earth have been unanimous in conceding to it the title of the Eternal City, the conclusion follows that the City of Rome shows by this most undeniable token of its durability that it is “ a planting which My Heavenly Father has planted.” To this, again, is to be added the additional token which St. Paul’s words furnish : “ God hath chosen the weak things of the world that He may confound the strong; the ignoble and contemptible things of the world hath God chosen and the things that are not, that He might destroy the things that are, that no flesh should be able to glory in His sight ” (i Cor. i. 27). What could be less signifi¬ cant of the military power which was to subdue and give peace to all the nations of the known world and which supra Garamantas et Indos Proferet imperium, than the crowd of broken-down refugees who flocked to the asylum opened for them by Romulus under the protection of his fort on the Palatine Hill? If such a heterogeneous collection of the waits and strays of humanity can not only become the nucleus of a population of citizens who for successive generations exhibit ruling qualities of mind that have no equal in other cities together w ith a patriotic attachment to their city which makes them an example for imitation for all future generations, but if they can also lay the foundation of a city, which acquires an undisputed sove¬ reignty over almost all the known nations of the world and which up to the present hour continues to bear the name Eternal, we can have plainly nothing left but to exclaim, “Here is the Finger of God 1 ” 1 And lastly, principally on account of the partial currency which it would seem to be quite possible for bold and confident assertions to obtain in an age like ours that appears to rejoice in yielding itself up to a general reign of doubt and scepticism, it may be not out of place here to make the recent German theory the subject of a passing remark, according to which the whole of the early history, or at least that of the seven kings of Rome, is certainly purely legendary, that is, in other words, mere mythical fiction. That this theory is really nothing more than a transient form of hallucination of the German sceptical mind, a very little reflection may suffice to convince us. There can be nothing at all surprising in the nature of things, in the case of a city which possesses such an unexampled history as that of having had a beginning as an asylum for destitute refugees and runaways previous to its subsequent acquisition of an imperial rule and dominion over the known world, — if the various ancient historians whose works have come down to us relate its early history subject to a very considerable number of discrepancies in matters of detail. Such discrepancies, properly understood and taken according to their own nature, really speak very much more for the general credibility of the leading substantial facts of the history which are found to remain as a residuum after the various discrepancies have been eliminated, than they do for their doubtfulness. Again, while all sensible persons can perfectly well bear to hear of the truth of particular historical statements being challenged, upon the production of adequate and satisfactory evidence, it is justly held, by a universal consent on the part of all right-minded men, to be a guilty and most unjustifiable offence against the common good of mankind to raise doubts for the simple sake of doubting. What can be a greater crime against truth than to seek to establish a reign of uncertainty and vacuity which can bring no possible benefit with it, destroying, for this purpose, the reasonable assurance of which the whole civilised world had hitherto been in quiet possession ? Were we then 1 The reader desirous to enter more at length into the investigation of the question of history, which is as yet scarcely more ‘•’an in its infancy— viz., how far there are grounds for believing that the worship of the One true God was the secret of the extraordinary growth of the Roman power and the source of the universally celebrated virtues of the Roman citizens— may be referred to the author’s volume, “ Monotheism mainly derived from the Hebrew Nation, and the Law of Moses the Primitive Religion of Rome.” (London : Williams and Norgate). Chap. II.] 19 The Substantial Credibility of Early Roman History. so far to concede the point, that minor discrepancies respecting matters of detail might justly raise a prejudice up to a certain degree against the credibility of the early Roman history and that this prejudice might ripen till it assumed the form of a legitimate question, — still even so, the eventual decision would necessarily have to turn on the result of an inquiry as to whether the alleged discrepancies did or did not leave the substantial body of the narrative intact. If the real substance of the narrative (which is certainly the case with the early Roman history) is found to remain intact, and not to be affected by these discrepancies, the question in this case simply falls of itself to the ground. We should, however, it is to be apprehended, entirely misappreciate the mind of the German sceptics and their adherents were we to suppose that a perception of the truth that the question then properly fell to the ground, would place any difficulty whatever in the way of their continued assertion of the “ Roman legend.” To the German sceptic it is not a consideration of the least weight that the whole civilised world has lived in the peaceable possession of the contrary universal tradition for upwards of two thousand years. In vain to him the maxim of Roman law, “ quieta non movere,” “ not to disturb that which is at rest,” lays down the rule of right reason, viz., that nothing short of the discovery of the very strongest grounds can render justifiable the attempt to disturb an existing world-wide tradition. What allegiance does the scepticism of Germany owe to a Roman rule of right reason? Has not this scepticism the privilege of doubting even in defiance of such rio-ht reason? That doubts for doubting’s sake are more at home in Germany than elsewhere probably few will care to dispute, for, unhappily, we have only too sad a specimen of the extreme length to which Germany is able to carry the practice of doubting, in the sacrilegious outrage upon the common belief of all the other Christian nations, which pronounces Jesus Christ, “ who suffered under Pontius Pilate,” to be a mere mythical fiction. Germany’s reign of doubt is evidently not so much as even disquieted by the fact of which it is impossible to suppose its learned men to be in ignorance — namely, that, search as carefully as we may through the entire literature, Greek and Latin, of the whole Roman Empire, we fail to find so much as a single trace of the German doubt having ever once entered into the mind of a solitary Roman citizen. To Cicero, and to the whole body of the Roman citizens, equally before his time and after it, Romulus and Numa Pompilius are precisely the same real persons of a real history as Moses and Josue are and have ever been, the real persons of a real history to every Hebrew who has had the use of his reason ; and Roman citizens, we must not easily forget, are the men who made themselves the masters of the world. But in simple truth, to bestow any further attention on the German doubt would be to give an honour to it very much above its deserts, as well as to trifle most unwarrantably with the reader’s time. “ Securus judicat orbis terrarum.” The universal verdict of all times and places is safe from dispute. Ancient Rome never doubted the substantial truth of her early history. ( 20 ) CHAPTER III. AN OUTLINE OF THE PERIOD OF THE SEVEN KINGS OF ROME (b.c. 753-509). I. The unbroken Continuity of the Providential Destiny of the City of Rome from its first foundation to the end of the World, does not admit of any portion oj the history of the City being rightly under¬ stood, if it is allowed to be completely separated and isolated from the general history of the City mid its destiny as a whole . II. The foundation of the City under its first king and founder Romulus. III. Numa Pompilius the framer of the ecclesiastical constitution of Rome, and the founder of its code of civil and ecclesiastical law. IF. The reign of Tullus Host ilius. F. The reign of Ancus Marcias. FI. The first Tar quin ( Tarquinius Priscus), and the great archi¬ tectural works of his reign. FII. The reign of Servius Tullus, and the significance of his constitutional legislation. Fill. The last Tarquin, commonly known as Tarquin the Proud, and the final expulsion of the Royal dynasty from the City. IX. The judgment of Dionysius of Halicarnassus on the Religion of the City. X. The peculiar characteristics of the Roman Gens, and the nature of the relation between the Roman Patron and Client. CONNECTED history of the ancient City of Rome complete in all its important details, however desirable in itself, would quite exceed the limits which it is necessary to prescribe to the present volume. Our language, however, abounds in so many works of literature relating either at greater or lesser length all the principal events which render ancient Roman history so full of a universal interest, that the reader who may wish to prosecute any portion of the narrative into the details which are precluded from being admitted into the present volume will find an abundance of resources ready at his call. We have to study, with as little delay as the nature of the subject will permit, to arrive at the period when Rome becomes an Imperial City and receives within its walls the first beginnings of the Christian society, most probably in the persons of the “strangers from Home” who witnessed the miracle of the miraculous gift of languages, on the first Christian day of Pentecost and who were converted by it. We shall have learned, however, from what has already been said respecting the Providential destiny which the city of Rome has been called to fulfil in the Divine plan of the government of the world, to look upon the history of the City of Rome as possessing such an unbroken continuity, as an instrument designed from the first moment of its foundation to serve the purposes of the govern¬ ment of God over His world, that we may easily perceive the force of the reasons which oppose themselves to thought of completely isolating any one portion of its history in order to leave it to be treated by itself. “ Roma semper eadem,” “ Rome always the same,” is a proverbial saying common to far too many nations, and belonging to far too many generations of men, to be properly put on one side. Particularly when we have so beautiful and satisfactory a Christian key to its meaning and to the truth conveyed by it, — to leave it out of due consideration w'ould be in no sense justifiable. The Divine choice of the City of Rome for the seat of the Supreme Government of the Christian Religion, it must be plain, could not in the nature of things have been what continually happens Chap, iii.] The Necessary Continuity of the History of Rome . 2 1 among men, viz., a sudden choice consequent on the unexpected rise of circumstances which it was impossible to foresee. “Known unto God from the beginning is all His work (Acts xv. 18). Under the Divine government of the world, ancient military Rome is the appointed precursor which was sent into the midst of the nations to prepare the way for the Rome of the Christian religion. The page of universal history only brings before us this one solitary example of a single city which, taking its rise from the smallest possible beginning, enters upon an unbroken career of military conquest that at length makes it the mistress of almost the whole known world, and a centre of unity for almost all the various nations and people. Except, therefore, the career of the City of Rome in thus subduing the nations to its sovereignty can be held to be a true part of the “deter¬ minate counsel and foreknowledge of God,” Roman history fails to bear its testimony to the Christian truth of the events of the world of man being under the government of God. It thus becomes easy to perceive what irresistible reasons arise, which make it impossible for a volume that is mainly called to deal with the facts of history more immediately relating to the formation of the Christian society in the city and its empire, 'to render a becoming measure of justice to its own more especial subject otherwise than by acknowledging this particular subject as part of a general plan of Divine Providence, the knowledge of which requires to be brought in its entirety before the mind of the reader. “The Lord,” says the inspired king of Israel, “has made all things for Himself” (Prov. xvi. 4), and Divine wisdom is described in another book of the Sacred Scripture not only as “ disposing of all things sweetly,” but as “ reaching from end to end in its strength” (Wisd. viii. 1). It may therefore be easily perceived, in what hopeless contradiction we should be placed, if we were seriously to propose, for the intelligent acceptance of the reader, a belief in any other Divine intervention in the history of Rome except one which — beginning from the first foundation of the city — has, with a fixed and predetermined purpose in view, conducted the city through all the various stages of its career, and which, to the end of the world, will never cease to make this city an instrument in fulfilling the designs of God. We may be permitted here to observe by the way, that the fulness of time had not come for the Christian society to be brought upon the earth before the social and political condition of the nations under the sceptre of Rome had reached the full measure of maturity of which human life was capable under the imperfect gifts which had been granted up to that time. The coming of the richer graces of God under the covenant of the Gospel was to be the advent of a new era to the nations of the world, when “as many as received Him were to have power given to them to become the sons of God” (John i. 12). All that was noble and good in the Roman world was to be claimed by the new society as belonging to itself, while it brought upon earth treasures never before known, in the form of gifts received from its Divine Founder. The new Christian society, as we shall have occa¬ sion to learn more in detail, comes into the existing society of the empire noiselessly and silently as the dew entered into the fleece of Gideon, and its mission to renew and rehabilitate it remains for a long time quite unknown to the city which has quite unconsciously received this hidden germ of its new life. But not to anticipate, our present task is with the history in outline of the city, which is the gerent of this wonderful commission to prepare itself, and the nations of the world with itself, to be the recipients of the Christian society when the time appointed in the counsels of God is come. We have now to endeavour, as it were, to trace, in the form of a general bird’s-eve view, the progress of this city from its strangely small beginning till it becomes Imperial Rome — mistress of the world ; and we shall have to seek, as far as possible, to make our survey complete, without, however, burdening the reader’s mind improperly, or delaying our advance towards our intended goal, by any over¬ minute investigations into the numerous interesting details of the history. The city of Rome the sub¬ ject of a special Divine Provi¬ dence from its first founda¬ tion. II. There is reason, as we have already said, to think that Romulus founded his fort upon the western portion only of what is known as the Palatine Hill, and not, as has been commonly supposed, 22 Ancient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. [Chap. itt. upon the whole of its elevated plateau.1 There prevailed at the time when Rome was founded a somewhat remarkable religious ceremonv proper to the foundation of cities. This appears to have had for its object to bring in the sanctions of religion to provide a security against a standing source of possible danger to the future city. If private dwellings had been allowed to be built in immediate con¬ tact with the walls of the city, what was to prevent their after¬ wards coming; into the hands of enemies, who might use them for the purpose of their plots against the safety of the city? Religion, therefore, was brought in to lay claim to a certain space both inside and outside the wall of the city, on which it was held to be impious to erect any private edifice. The space thus secured from the intrusion of any building that could become private property obtained the name of the “ pomoerium.” The founder of the city traced the course of the walls of the intended settlement by the furrow of a plough drawn by a bull and a cow, the furrow being turned inside, the cow occu¬ pying also the inside position and the bull the outside, to signify that the female inhabitants of the city were to seek their happiness and honour inside the walls, while the males were to become for¬ midable to all who should venture to assail the city from without. So sacred was the space thus consecrated, that if it ever became necessary in after times to take down any portion of the walls with a view to extend the boundaries of the city, a repetition of the same religious rites were needed in order to consecrate the new pomoerium, and to restore the ground which had served for the old pomoerium to its ordinary uses. As the plough passed the places marked for the gates of the city, it was lifted out of the ground, and the furrow was not turned, to signifv that the portion of land thus passed over received no consecration, but remained free for the ordinary uses of the citizens. We possess extremely little information that descends into any details as to the mode of life of the followers of Romulus in their settlement upon the Palatine. All that we know, however, appears to indicate that it possessed very much more of the nature of a military stronghold, which can scarcely have been entirely free from predatory designs, than that of the ordinary foundation of a colony. We look in vain for any signs of its having been chosen as an eligible site for the migration of a colonising party composed of a number of families consisting of men, women, and children in search of an unoccupied tract of land of which to take possession, with a view to their peaceably settling themselves upon it. The excavations carried out under the direction of Signor Rosa have brought to light that the walls of the Romulean city wrere constructions of solid strength. The site of the two gates, the “Porta Mugionis,” near the north-eastern extremity, and the “ Porta Romanula,” near the north-western extremity, at the foot of the Clivus Victoriae, have been traced. A remarkable passage occurs in the “Annals of Tacitus,” which we may here cite entire, both for the sake of the minute local details which it contains, and also in the way of evidence of an indisputable conviction in the mind of the Roman annalist, as to the most minute realities of the early history of his city. The entire absence from it of the faintest idea of the German notion of a 1 Mr. Tli. Dyer, one of the most patient and accurate of living students of the antiquities of Rome, has accepted the con¬ clusion arrived at by Signor Rosa, that the excavations carried on under his care demonstrate traces of the wall of the citv of Romulus in such a manner as to leave but little doubt that the original “Roma Quadrata’’ only covered the western portion and not the whole platform of the hill. A depression or “ intirmoniium ” separated this portion of the hill from the more eastern eminence. The original “Roma Quadrata of Romulus” thus appears to have been of even still smaller dimensions than has been commonly supposed. (Th. Dyer, “ History of the City of Rome,” p. 15.) Chap. III.] The Roma Quadrata of Romulus on the Palatine. legend must strike every one. Tacitus had occasion to give insertion to the following passage in his Annals of the year of the city (a.u.c. 802, a.d. 49) : — “ The Emperor Claudius Caesar extended the pomoerium of the city with the ancient formalities.” To this he takes occasion to ap¬ pend the ensuing digression re¬ specting the pomoerium of the city of Romulus : — “ I think it will not be foreign to our pur¬ pose to relate the first beginning of the foundation of the city and w'hat the pomcerium was which Romulus first estab¬ lished. Starting, then, from the Ox-market ( Forum hoar ium ■), where we still see the bronze statue of a bull, for this is the kind of animal that is used for the plough, the furrow destined to mark the line of the w^alls took a direction to comprise the great altar of Hercules. F rom ^af> of the Site and Surroundings of the City of Romulus. thence the intervening space was marked with stones along the base of the Palatine mount till we come to the altar of Consus, afterwards to the old Senate-house ( Curice ve teres) , and finally to the shrine of the Lares and to the Roman Forum. It is a commonly-received belief that the Capitol was not added to the pomcerium by Romulus but by 1 itus Tatius. As time progressed, the pomcerium was extended according as the fortunes of the city prospered. The new boundaries which Claudius added are easily re¬ cognised, and have been duly registered among the public acts of the city” (Annals, vii. 24). The next memorable event in the history of the new founda¬ tion speaks again, as strongly as possible, for the wholly unusual and exceptional character of the design of Romulus. This is the The original condition of the Asylum on the Capitol^ according to Ca?iina. circumstance already alluded to somewhat at length in the preceding chapter — the formation of an asylum for fugitives and runaways. Romulus appears to have chosen the neighbouring hill, the Capitol, at that time known by its original name as the Mons Saturmus or Tarpeius, for the site of this asylum. From the very necessity of the case, it must have been fortified, though scarcely in the elaborate manner which the annexed design of “ Canina ” appears to represent.1 The annexed topographical delineation will serve to give a better idea than any mere description would convey as to the sites of the Romulean settlement on the Palatine, and the asylum for refugees which was established on the Tarpeian hill, afterwards better known as the 1 As similar restorations will be of occasional recurrence in the progress of our volume, it may not be out of place to make the observation as regards Canina’s work in attempting to recall the past to the eye that it has not unfrequently been taxed with 24 Ancient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. [Chap. iii. Capitol, with their relative position to each other and the river Tiber. It will appear almost as a necessity of the case that the two hills must have been surrounded by one common defence, so as to form together one united stronghold. The ground to the left, between the Capitol hill and the Tiber, was the celebrated Campus Martins, which plays so important a part in the history of the city as the place of exercise for the army, and on certain occasions for taking the votes of the general assembly of the people. The distrust and suspicion with which the neighbouring cities began to regard a settlement of so unusual a kind as that of Romulus can be readily comprehended. We may easily conceive these cities at that time asking themselves the question, “ What guarantee can such a foundation as this possibly dfi'er to us, in the nature of things, as to its peaceable intentions?” If the multitude of fugitives and refugees continues to increase in the same proportion as hitherto, how can this new city become anything else than an encampment of plunderers and other desperate characters securely entrenched in their common stronghold, which, from its vicinity to the Tiber, will, in course of time, not fail to give them likewise the command of the sea. If a city of this unprecedented character once becomes firmly established in our midst, what is to stand in the way of its obtaining complete dominion over us, and reducing us all to the condition of its vassals? Suspicions of this kind could not be long without finding some public utterance. The associates of Romulus themselves, who combined to build the fort on the Palatine, do not appear to have been anything more than a band of young men, military adventurers like himself, and naturally none but a male population could be expected to flock together to the asylum that had been opened. What, then, was to provide for the perpetuity of the city, which in no possible case can have any other foun¬ dation than the Divine institution of matrimony and the family. Romulus perceiving the continual growth of the city, by the advice of the Senate, sent an embassy to the neighbouring cities, to solicit their friendship and the rights of intermarriage with them. The abrupt answer which his embassy received, in more than one instance, sufficiently indicates the general feeling of the surrounding cities. “Had they not thought,” it was replied to them, “of the plan of opening an asylum for women ? ” That would be the most suitable way of “ finding themselves wives.” The mention of the word “ Senate ” suggests the remark, that many notices of history combine to indicate that there must have been in Romulus very much more than the mere daring leader of a bold military adventure, and that he was a really wise and thoughtful legislator and statesman. Plutarch in his biography compares him with Theseus, the Athenian king, who in many respects also is entitled to be considered a founder of the city of Athens. Naturally, the materials from which Romulus selected the members of his council which bore the name of Senate must have been such as he found at hand rather than such as he could have wished. It is true, nevertheless, that no known deliberative assembly of which human history preserves any record appears able to sustain a comparison, in regard of the gravity and wisdom by which its acts were directed, with the Roman Senate of which Romulus was the founder. However, our limits here place a veto on an inves¬ tigation which, in spite of the general interest of the subject, might lead us into too lengthy a digression. The acts of the remainder of the reign of Romulus are familiar to all. The stratagem by which he procured the Sabine maidens as wives for bis citizens has often been related, as also the eminently sensible manner in which the two rival leaders, Titus Tatius the Sabine and Romulus, being arbitrary, and in no small degree due to his particular imagination. Nevertheless, so lasting is the fascination and interest that centres round the spot which is the common cradle of the civilisation and jurisprudence of all the nations of the world, that almost any attempt to delineate them to the eye in their original condition carries with it a certain title to favour, notwithstanding the impossibility of claiming for such restorations more than a fairly proximate accuracy. L. Canina. however, it will be but mere justice to observe, was by profession an architect, and one who had earned no ordinary fame in his profes¬ sion. Almost his whole life was devoted to the study of ancient Roman topography and architecture, and hence his particular efforts to delineate ancient Rome may in most cases be fairly held to possess almost the full measure of value that can be reasonably claimed for attempts of the kind. Chap, hi.] The She-Wolf the Nurse of Romulus and Remus. 25 finally entered into treaty with each other to occupy the city together in peace, instead of fighting to the last extremity to decide who in the end should prevail over the other. No city, we may safely venture to say, has ever had so much actual experience of war and battles as Rome ; and, notwithstanding, in the history of no city do we find this particular piece of practical wisdom oc¬ curring so frequently, where the voice of reason is able to make itself heard in the din of arms and a durable peace comes to take the place of the strife of war. 1 hose who are familiar with Roman antiquities cannot fail to have noticed the circumstance of the constant recur¬ rence of the figure of the she-wolf in the remains of Roman sculpture and upon the coinage. This is strongly suggestive of the belief that the story of the two infants, Remus and Romulus, having been really suckled by a she- wolf may be more than merely legend¬ ary and that it may have its foundation in a real fact. Livy relates quite as extraordinary an anecdote of a crow having seated itself on the helmet of the young military tribune, M. Valerius, From an ancient Bas Relief in the Vatican. w en he went out to meet the challenge of a giant Gaul to a single combat. The crow not only accompanied the Roman champion, but after the fight had begun attacked the face of the Gaul with its beak and wings in such a violent manner that he became confused and fell a victim to his antagonist, when Valerius cut off his head. The fact, which is related a» having happened in the sight of both armies, remains historically attested by the circumstance that Valerius had the cognomen of Corvus (crow) assigned to him, and was the following year elected consul as “ M. Valerius Corvus.” Geese, by a sort of similar providence, as we may remember, had saved the citadel of the Capitol from the night attack of the Gauls; Manlius, who was in command, icing roused from his sleep by their cackling, in time to rush upon the assailants and to save the citadel. It is certainly an interesting as well as a characteristic feature of ancient Rome that all the memorials of the earliest traditions of their humble origin became in after times invested with a sacred character. Long after the days when the arts of sculpture had begun to be employed in celebrating the city as having acquired the empire of the whole world, we find such a passage as the following in the Annals of Tacitus : — “ The same year (a.u.c. 8 1 1, a.d. 58) the Ruminal tree on the Comi- D The Bronze Wolf in the Museum of the Capitol. Coin of the Republic. 26 Ancient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. [Chap. hi. tium, which eight hundred and forty years ago had protected the infancy of Remus and Romulus with its shade, fell down from the decay of the trunk and the withering of its branches. It was dealt with as a prodigy (that is, it was surrounded with a fence) until the root should send forth fresh shoots ” (Annals, xiii. 58). A fact of this kind admitted to a place in the public annals of the city as an event calling for the intervention of its public authorities, pretty plainly shows that the city which had conquered the world not only held its own early history to be perfectly real, but gloried in the humility of its origin equally with its imperial dig¬ nity. Marcus Aurelius receiving the em¬ pire of the world from an emblematical figure of Rome, is even less of a charac¬ teristic Roman sculpture than Remus and Romulus suckled by the she-wolf under the Ruminal fig-tree.1 Bas-Relief in the Museum of the Capitol. Rome consigning the Empire of the World to the Emperor , M. Aurelius. III. On the death of Romulus, after a reign of thirty-seven years, the new city had by this time become both populous and renowned among its neighbours for its military prowess and organisation, for its Senate, and its public Legislative Assembly of the people, together with many other institutions which portended its future strength and durability. There are not wanting indications, as we have observed, that Romulus possessed his full share of the legislative and statesmanlike capacities for which his city was hereafter to become so conspicuous. The throne, however, could not be hereditary in his time, from his leaving no son to succeed to it. In the selection of a successor the popular choice fell upon Numa Pompilius, a Sabine citizen of the little municipality of C ures, the fame of whose wisdom and science of jurisprudence was so widely spread that the Roman people sent a public deputation to him in his quiet home in Cures, specially inviting him to accept his election to the throne. Plutarch, in his biography, represents Numa as extremely unwilling to assume the proffered dignity, and as only finally overcome by the representation that he ought to yield to an evident call on the part of Divine Providence, who appeared to have destined him to become the king of the city. 1 The poets Virgil and Propertius both recognise the she-wolf’s nursing of Romulus and Remus as an historical fact of which at least the city of Rome herself was able to see no reason whatever why she should be ashamed. Virgil’s lines are part of the description of the shield made by Vulcan for ^Eneas, and the she-wolf is there an accepted part of the great historic traditions of the city. Fecerat et viridi fetam Mavortis in antro Procubuisse lupam, geminos huic ubera circum I.udere pendentes pueros et lambere matrem Impavidos, illam tereti cervice reflexam Mulcere alternos, et corpora fingere lingua. — ALneid, viii. 630. Optima nutricum nostris lupa martia rebus Qualia creverunt mcenia lacte tuo ! — Propert. F.leg. v. 1. Chap. III.] 27 The Important Reign of King Numa Pompilius. The only known Bust of Nnmei Pompilius {preset red in the Villa Alhani Rome). The importance of the work of Numa Pompilius as the legislator of the rising city receives but one unanimous testimony from all the Roman writers. Unfortunately we have scarcely any choice but to be satisfied with the briefest possible mention of the events of his reign, in consequence of its affording ground for a subject of historical research, which, though far from wholly unknown, has not hitherto received the attention to which by its intrinsic importance it is justly entitled. Our limits, as will be easily perceived, preclude all attempts to enter into the merits of the question, which we must be satisfied to mention in a very brief and general manner. The singular circumstance that the laws of Numa strictly prohibited the admission of any image, either sculptured or painted, into the temples of Rome, and that the prohibition was faithfully observed for a term of a hundred and seventy years,1 added to an extraordinary amount of coincidence that can be proved to exist between the laws of Numa and corresponding enactments of the laws of Moses, plainly indicates on the part of Numa a familiar acquaintance with the Hebrew legislation. The tradition of antiquity is clear that Numa Pompilius was a traveller, who for years had quitted home in search of knowledge. Nothing, therefore, is more possible than that he may have visited in person the famous city of Jerusalem, and have acquired during a residence there the knowledge of “ human and divine law,” in which a wide-spread fame proclaimed him to have become so great a proficient (Livy, b. 1). Be this, however, as it may, a universal testimony proves Numa Pompilius to have been the legislator of the city of Rome, in a manner singularly parallel to Moses as the legislator of the Hebrew nation. The character of a theocracy, which is seen to be so plainly stamped upon the whole subsequent government of the city, added to the reputation which the city rapidly acquired for being the holy city of the nations ; and the fact that its citizens were universally known for their inviolable fidelity to their oaths, are all mainly traceable to the example and the legislation of its much- venerated king Numa Pompilius.2 Among the remarkable acts of the reign of Numa are to be mentioned the establishment of the religious sisterhood of the Vestal Virgins, whose duty it was to keep the sacred fire continually burning in the temple, which contained the sacred public hearth (ecrTia, Lat. Vesta) of the city, and the foundation of the Temple of Janus, whose gates were to remain closed when the city was at peace and open during war. During the whole reign of Numa, for forty- A Vestal Virgin, from the Museum of Naples. 1 This remarkable circumstance is vouched for by Plutarch in the Life of Numa, and also by Varro, quoted by St. Augustine, “ City of God ” (B. iv. 31). 2 St. Augustine (City of God, B. i., c. 24) bears testimony to the Romans being true and genuine worshippers, though their gods were false gods, and as being the most conscientious observers of their oaths (veracissimi juratores). This is an extremely remarkable testimony in confirmation of there being a radical difference between the religion which Numa founded in Rome and that of the surrounding nations. Judas Macchabseus, exhorting his army to fight the battle of Israel against the nations, strongly insists on the prevailing sin of the nations in their impious contempt of the obligation of their oaths (2 Macch. xv. 10). 28 Chap. III. Ancient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion . three years the Temple of Janus was shut, and the city in perfect peace with its neighbours, owing to the influence of the example of its king, and no similar period of peace was ever destined to occur asrain.* 1 O IV* The next monarch elected wras Tiillus Hostihus. Nothing very remarkable occurred to the city during his reign, except that he inaugurated the career of constant war, which continued with but one brief interval of peace for more than six hundred years, up to the reign of Augustus Ctesar. Popular tradition gives the name of the “ Tomb of the Horatii ” to an ancient sepul¬ chral monument which is seen close to the little town of Albano, on the Alban range of hills. The tragical history of the combat between the Horatii and the Curiatii, in respect of the sad fate of the victor’s sister, who was stabbed by her brother in a fit of anger on his hearing what appeared to him her most unseasonable lamentations for the death of one of the Curiatii, to whom she was betrothed, is a well-known episode of the early history of Rome.2 Tomb of the Horatii. V. Ancus Marcius, the grandson of Numa, the next elected king of the city, proved himself a warlike leader of the same military stamp as his predecessor. To secure the city from attack on the Etruscan side he fortified the hill of the Janiculum, now part of the Trastevere quarter of the city, and connected it with a bridge known . as the Pons Sullicius , from its being built on piles {sullicce). This bridge was kept in constant repair, and appears to have lasted to a late period of the Empire. He was also the builder of the Mamertine Prison. The poet Lucretius bestows on this king the surname of the “ Good Ancus” (Lucretius, iii. 1038), and his reign of twenty-four years witnessed a considerable extension of the city and its territory. The Pons Sublicius. From the restoration of Canina. 1 The reader may consult Lasaulx, “ Studien des classichen Alterthum’s,” liber die Bucher Numa’s. Bonnetty (A.) “ Documents historiques sur la religion des Romains et sur la connaissance qu’ils ont pu avoir des traditions bibliques par leur rapports avec les Juifs.” 4 vols. 8vo. See also the author’s volume, “ Monotheism the Primitive Religion of Rome,” London, Williams & Norgate ; likewise “A Compendium of the Philosophy of Ancient History,” London, Burns & Oates. 2 The victor was acquitted by a vote of the people, but, to expiate the death of his sister, he was made to pass under a beam, which remained afterwards as a monument of the history of the city under the name of the “ Tigillum Sororium ,” being repaired at the public expense. There is evidence of its having been extant in the fif.h century of the Christian era. Chap, iii.] Evidence of the Early Cosmopolitan Character of Rome. 2g VI. In the reign of the next king, Tarquinius Prisons, we have an interesting proof of the extent to which the cosmopolitan character of the new foundation had begun to be appreciated in the neighbouring lands. Demaratus, the father of Tarquin, belonged to the family of the Bacchiads who had held the chief power in Corinth for nearly a hundred years, but had been expelled while Tullus Hostilius was King of Rome. Demaratus came as an emigrant to Tarquinii, and while there married an Etruscan lady, by whom he had two sons, Lucumo and Aruns. Lucumo likewise married an Etruscan, of the name of Tanaquil, a woman of an ambitious disposition. This ladv, finding that her husband’s Greek descent proved an insurmountable barrier to his promotion in his own home at Tarquinii, persuaded him to remove his residence to Rome, as being a city which offered him free seope for his advancement. Once in Rome, his name Lucumo was Latinised into Lucius, to which he added the appellation of Tarquinius, from the place of his birth. He soon attained distinction in Rome; and being entrusted by Ancus with the guardianship of his sons, on the death of Ancus he contrived to procure his own election to the throne. Tarquin, as king, brought into Rome the architectural ideas of Greece. The most famous and the most serviceable of his works is the Cloaca ^Maxima, or the extensive sewer which drained the marsh then existing between the Capitoline and the Palatine Hills, together with the adjacent quarters of the city. It is constructed with three arches, enclosing each other, and subsists at the present time in a state of perfect preservation. The aperture communicating with the Tiber is visible when the water in the river is low, a little below the present “ ponte rotto” in the manner shown in the annexed engraving. The greatest of the architectural works undertaken by Tarquin was the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus on the Capitol Hill. It would appear, however, that he was not .able in his own lifetime to accomplish more than to prepare the foundation on w hich it was to stand. It is said of him, also, that he caused a row of shops to be built on the ground 30 [Chap. III. Ancient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. reclaimed by the large drain which he had constructed, and these came in aftertimes to be well known under the name of the “ Tabernce veteres.” Imme¬ diately under the Capitoline Hill Tarquin is also said to have founded the celebrated Temple of Saturn, on the spot where Tullus Hostilius had previously dedicated a fane under the same invocation. The ruin of eight columns shown in the annexed engraving belongs to a later re¬ storation of the structure raised by Tarquin, but still occupying the same site. The sons of Ancus Marcius procured the assassination of Tarquin in the thirty-ninth year of his reign, but without recovering possession of the throne for themselves. The ambitious Tanaquil took her measures promptly and effectually to conceal the death of her husband until her son-in-law, Servius Tullius, had secured the regal power in his own hands. VII. The reign of Servius Tullus ushers in almost an entirely new epoch in the history of the rising city, and the political acts of this reign are quite of a nature to give occasion to the wish that the records which have come down to our time could have been such as to throw additional light upon it. To Servius Tullus belongs the signal merit of being the real founder of the constitutional freedom of the city of Rome. When the bad conduct of his successor, Tarquin the Proud, as we shall presently have occasion to see, brought about the expulsion of a life royalty and the substitution of two magistrates annually chosen for one year of office under the name of Consuls in its place, it is a point to be carefully noted that Rome experiences no other organic political change. The constitu¬ tional liberties of the citizens as secured by the laws of Servius Tullus require no material alteration or revision. The danger of aggression from the quarter of a life-long magistrature under the title of king, making an abuse of the royal power, being once for all removed, in all other respects the constitution of Servius Tullus is seen to continue to enjoy the full and free acceptance of the citizens and no voice is raised to clamour for any further revolution. Rome thus appears in this reign as the first known example in history of the true constitutional monarchy under which the rights of the three estates, royalty, aristocracy, and constitutional assemblies of the people, are balanced together, to act both as a salutary check upon each other as also equally to contribute their action conjointly to the good of the commonwealth, — the whole in strict subordination to the religion of the city. Servius Tullus has thus virtually the signal merit of being the real founder of the great political Roman Republic. Another almost equally important work for which Servius Tullus justly claims the gratitude of Rome, is the Servian Wall by which the famous seven hills of Rome — viz., the Palatine, Capitol, Quirinal, Esquiline, Cselian, and Aventine Hills — were surrounded with a continuous fortification, composed of a raised earthwork and wall, and thus for the first time completely incorporated together as forming one entire city, each of these hills having become by this time more or less covered with human habitations. The circuit of the Servian Walls is computed to have extended about the length of six English miles. Their course will be found laid down with proximate accuracy on the Interior view of the Cloaca Maxima. EXISTING REMAINS OF TEMPLE OF SATURN - Chap. III.l The important Reign of King Servius Tullus. 3* No. 1. View of the Walls of Rome in their present condition. No. 2. A view of the Walls of Rome in their present condition. adjoining map of the city. Recent excavations have done much to determine questions relating to the extent and course of these walls, which formerly were subjects of controversy. The accompanying engraving is Canina’s restoration of the wall built by Servius Tullus, which was not perfectly completed till the following reign. Dionysius says that on the level ground between the Esquiline and the Colline gates a foss of a hundred feet wide was dug thirty feet in depth. The earth was thrown inside, and thus served to increase the height of the towers. The two vignettes in the text show the actually existing condition of the present walls of the city. They were originally built by the Emperor Aurelian, as the Romans began to fear an irruption of the barbarians, and were afterwards repaired in the reign of Honorius, in which condition they have remained ever since. The Servian Wall, at the time when Aurelian thought it necessary to provide anew for the security of the city, must in no small measure have disappeared. But as there is a marked tendency in all human works to conform to a previous familiar pattern, probably we have no better means of picturing to ourselves the nature of the defences of the city raised by Servius Tullus than if we conclude that they must have very much resembled the existing walls, only doubtless on a somewhat smaller and less imperial scale. 32 [Chap. III. A ncient Rome and its Connection with the Christian Religion. VIII. The reign of Tarquin the Proud, who seized the throne on the murder of Servius Tullus, brings us to the end of the period of the kings. The crime of his son, Sextus Tarquinius, against Lucretia, the wife of Collatinus, ended in the banishment of the royal dynasty from the citv and in the establishment of a government by two magistrates, annually elected, under the name of consuls. The two first citizens chosen to fill the office of consul were L. Brutus and Tarquinius Collatinus; but the name of Tarquin had become so odious to the whole people that Collatinus was obliged to retire both from his office and from the city, when P. Valerius was elected in his place. Indeed, so intense was the public feeling against the family of the Tarquins, that not long after their flight the consuls proceeded to confiscate their property. Tarquin had seized upon the Campus Martius as his private property, and this was now restored to public use. IX. In pausing here for a moment to take a brief retrospect of the history of the city under the government of its kings, it will be instructive to observe the manner in which the attention of the Greek writer, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, is riveted upon the religion of the city. Dionysius, giving his opinion generally, expresses a very pronounced distrust of the religious fables and mythology of the Greeks, and says, “ I greatly prefer the theology of the Romans, for among the Greek fables only very few are open to a good interpretation, while the unphilosophic multi¬ tude is certain to take them all in a bad sense.” According to Dionysius, this superiority of the city of Rome in its reli¬ gion over the cities of Greece dated from the reign of its founder Ro¬ mulus. In the judgment of Dionysius, Romulus is the wise and experienced legislator of the city, and very much more than the mere military captain or adventurer who has had the sagacity to conceive a new design and the boldness to carry it into execution. Romulus also, according to Dionysius, held it to be the very first condition “ of the solid foundation of the State that it should enjoy the favour of Heaven, and if it did but possess this, everything then, he concluded, would turn out for the best.” After this he held “ sobriety and justice to be most needed, that the citizens abstaining from inflicting injuries on each other should be able to live together in concord, and not measure their prosperity by their power of indulging in base pleasure but by their regard for their honour. Hence he rigorously banished No. i. Ancient Statue of an Etruscan Priest. Fro7n the Museum of the Villa Albani. No. 2. An Etruscan Priestess. A SELECTION FROM THE COINS OF THE CITIES OF ITALY STRUCK DURING THE PERIOD OF THE KINGS OF ROME. City of Metapontum. Caulonia. SVBARIS. Poseidon i A (P^stum). Tarentum. Tarentum. Croton Terina, / Chap. III.] Anecdotes of the Vesta/ Virgins. 32 all the degrading fables respeeting the gods which were current in Greece, and procured that her citizens should neither speak nor think anything to the disparagement of the Divine Nature ” (Dionys. ii. 18). Nothing can well be more imperfect than the state of our information respecting the religious condition of the neighbouring populations which had covered Italy with their settlements at the time when Rome was founded. Romulus certainly appears to have held his neighbours the Etruscans in very great esteem ; and Livy is our informant that a select portion of the youth of Rome were sent to the cities of Etruria for their education. The accompanying ancient statues, the originals of which are preserved in the Museum of the Villa Albani, are, it must be readily admitted, calculated to give an idea that there may have been much more to merit the confidence of Romulus than the general nature of our vague impressions as to the degraded state of religion among these various scattered populations would incline us to believe. If it is already a striking circumstance that such an historian as Dionysius should have spoken in the above remarkable manner of the great superiority of the religion of the city of Rome over the cities o! Greece as early as the times of its first founder Romulus, usually thought to have been little more than a courageous military adventurer, what he says when he comes to the reign of the successor of Romulus, Numa Pompilius, is still more remarkable. Here his admiration knows no bounds. Passing in review the various institutions of Numa he pronounces them such “ that no city ot either the Greeks or the barbarians could exhibit anything like them, not even of those who were known for having thought most of piety.”1 Dionysius proceeds shortly after to relate two anecdotes of Numa’s institution of the Vestal Virgins, whose office it was to keep the sacred fire perpetually burning in the shrine of Vesta.2 1 hese are too characteristic of the times not to deserve a place here. On an occasion when the sacred fire had been accidentally extinguished, and a great commotion existed in consequence in the city, the blame of what had happened was sought to be laid upon the vestal ffimiilia. She was innocent, but greatly embarrassed to prove her innocence. In this distress, in the presence of the other virgins and the Pontifices, she stretched out her hands to the altar and said, “ O hearth,” (eo-rta) “ safety of the city of the Romans, if I for little less than thirty years in holiness and justice have performed the duties of my office, keeping mind and body in purity, show thyself and come to my aid, suffer me not to die a miserable death, and if anything unholy has been done to me, remove the guilt from the city by the punishment that is seen to fall upon me.” As she uttered these words, she tore off a portion of the poisoned robe with which she had1 been covered and cast the fragment upon the altar. Public fame runs, that immediately after her prayer there sprang up a bright flame from the ashes which had been lying for some time extinct, without the presence of a single spark of fire in them, so that the city no longer stood in need either of expiatory rites or of new fire. What I have yet to relate, continues Dionysius, is even still more wonderful, and more like a popular legend. The story runs that an accuser desirous to bring a charge against the virgin I uccia, but finding himself unable to prove any neglect of the sacred fire, made up an accusation against her from a multitude of different circumstances, which were all falsely alleged. When the lady was called upon for her defence, she said no more than this, “ That she would proceed to dispel the calumny by her act.” Suiting the action to the word, she invoked the Deity of the Temple to ovx 'EXXtjWs oCre fiapSapos ?xel iroXw, ovS’ at pAyurrov tir’ eikregef? tppovodoaL irore 1 The words of Dionysius are — Stras (ii. 63). * Vesta is the Latinised form of the Greek word #