Изображения страниц
PDF
EPUB

honour you would acquire, by the good government of your wealthy province, for three successive years, we conversed, as we often do, on the importance of a careful selection of those appointed to these responsible situations, and I expressed my wonder that there could be men with so base a disposition, as to oppress those whom they were bound to cherish and protect; the Roman people delegate to them the powers of the state that, in whatever part of the world those individuals may be, who acknowledge the power and claim the protection of the republic, they may look up to such men, not only as belonging to the state, but as being even the state itself.

[ocr errors]

"But if these men impose unjust taxes, which the state would not sanction, they are to a certain extent guilty of robbery; the inhabitants naturally consider it as a species of authorised pillage, and the government, which we would wish them to respect, is brought into disrepute; for I consider we hold our extended sway as much by the reputation of our power as by that power itself, whilst it is joined to justice. But, to deprive any one of what is his due, and for a man to increase his own property at the expense of his neighbours, is more contradictory to human nature, than poverty, than pain, or anything else which can happen to our persons or external goods; for, in the first place, it takes away all connection and society between mankind; since, if we were originally so constituted as to plunder and injure each other for our own emolument, that bond of unity between man and man, which is the principal work of nature, must necessarily be broken in sunder. Moreover, the positive institution of all people, by which in every state their governments are sup

ported, is, that it shall not be lawful, for the sake of selfish advantage, for one man to do injury to another, and this is what all laws have in view; this is what they intend, that the bond of society may be preserved between the citizens, and whosoever breaks it they punish with death, banishment, imprisonment or fine.

66

'We are taught by the authority of the laws to restrain all our passions, for they, i. e., the laws, will protect our property and our person from injury; and we are recommended to keep our minds, our eyes, our hands, from the properties and persons of other

men.

66

Those who are about to enter upon the cares of government, should by all means observe two of Plato's maxims: the one, to have such a regard to the benefits of the state, that they refer everything they do to that, forgetful of private advantage; the other, to pay such attention to its dependencies, that, while they preserve one part, they do not neglect another; and, as there is no vice more foul than avarice, particularly in nobles, and those who have the management of public affairs, they can by no means so easily conciliate the affections of the people, as by integrity and economy, in the direction of public affairs and such good management of their own, as may enable them to be liberal out of their private income.

66

Finally, I hold it to be the opinion of the wisest men, that law has not been invented by the abilities of mankind, nor is it any decree of the people; but something eternal, which should govern the whole world; therefore, they say, that this original and primitive law is the mind of the Almighty (wisdom

in its highest sense), commanding and forbidding everything, according to right reason."

Servius Sulpicius thus writes to Cicero, in the letter he addressed to him, on the death of his daughter Tullia:

66

"I cannot help mentioning one thing, which has assisted to support me under my distresses, and may, perhaps, help to mitigate your grief.-What are the misfortunes individuals meet with, if we think of the misery occasioned when states and cities fall! On my return from Asia, as I was sailing from Egina towards Megara, I began to contemplate the prospect and look at the countries around me; Egina was behind, Megara before me; Piræus on the right; Corinth on the left; all which towns, once famous and flourishing, now lie overturned and buried in their ruins. Upon this sight, I could not but think presently within myself, alas! how do we poor mortals fret and vex ourselves, if any of our friends happen to die, or be killed, whose life is yet so short, when the carcasses of so many noble cities lie here exposed before me in one view? Why wilt thou not then command thyself, Servius, and remember that thou art born a man! Believe me, I was not a little confirmed by this contemplation; try the force of it, therefore, if you please, upon yourself, and imagine the same prospect before your eyes."

If we survey the world, in its remoter ages, we find it peopled with a number of independent tribes; they dwelt around the Mediterranean sea, spreading from its coasts to the interior, as far as it was known, severed by various divisions; all originally confined within narrow boundaries, all in states of peculiar

character and institutions. The independence which they enjoyed was not merely political, every country had a religion of its own; the idea of God and divine things was local, national deities, of the most dissimilar attributes, divided their faith and homage, and the law which the worshippers observed was indissolubly connected with the state. We may say, that this strict union of state and religion, this double independence (only slightly qualified by the relations of a common origin) had the greatest share in the civilisation of antiquity; the boundaries to which each state was confined were indeed narrow, but within them the vigorous abundance of youth was left to develope itself, according to its own free impulses.

This aspect of things was totally changed by the ascendancy of Rome; we see all the self-governing powers which filled the world bend one after another before her rising power, and vanish. The earth was left void of independent states; in other times, they had been shaken to their foundations, because religion had lost her power over them; now their subjugation necessarily involved the fate of their religions, and, dragged in the train of political power, they congregated at Rome; but what significancy could they obtain, torn from the soil to which they were indigenous? The worship of Isis had, perhaps, a meaning in Egypt, it typified the powers of nature, such as they appeared in that country, in Rome it was a senseless idolatry. The contest of the various mythologies was necessarily followed by their mutual hostility and destruction; no philosophical theory could be discovered capable of reconciling their contradictions. But even had this been possible, it

would no longer have satisfied the wants of the world. With whatever sympathy we may regard the fall of so many independent states, we cannot deny that a new life arose out of their ruins. Independence fell, but with it fell the barriers of narrow national ideas; civilised states began to be conscious of the common bonds which united them.

Contemplating himself and the world around him by the light of his moral ideas, the sage was led to the conviction that his moral faculties were bestowed upon him by design and for a purpose; that he was the subject of a moral government; and yet he could find no philosophical deductions from the study of nature, that would supply his moral needs. Man, though aware of his moral nature, and ready to believe in an ultimate destination of purity and blessedness, is too feeble to resist the temptation of evil, and to restore his purity when once lost. He is constantly looking for some providential order of things, some provision for those deficiences in his moral condition which he so strongly feels.

Pythagoras, Plato, and other philosophers of antiquity, passed their life in the search, first, in travel, afterwards, in reflection. Plato constantly lamented the tendency of his countrymen to deviate from that religious purity he wished to establish, and, independent of the mere forms of religion, desired some collection of devotional hymns, which might be constantly sung, when the people assembled in the temples, to pay adoration to the Deity; but conceived it impossible to be executed, as above the power of human abilities, This," says he, "must be the work of God, or of some divine person."

66

It was the object of interested communities to

« ПредыдущаяПродолжить »