shroud the truth, for their corporate advantage; of generous individuals, to bring it to light.

I could swear by Jupiter and the household gods," says Cicero," that I burn with the desire of finding out the truth; and how can I help desiring to find it out, when I so rejoice if I find anything like truth?"

In less than a century afterwards, the Roman procurator of Judæa asks, "what is truth?" its impersonification stood before him; but many more centuries were to elapse ere it was rightly understood the morning had come, and also the night-the light shone in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not-nor has it yet arrived to the perfect day; at that moment the representatives of divine and human power stood face to face; the gigantic superstructure raised by the latter had attained its utmost height, but the foundation was imperfect, and it was soon to crumble away.

There is no better or more graphic account of the Roman power, than that which Josephus places in the mouth of Agrippa, when he addresses their countrymen upon the folly of hoping to liberate themselves from the yoke they were so uneasy under, and regain their independence.

"Consider," says he, "what a leviathan the Roman empire is! In all the world they have made conquests, and their strength remains insuperable.

"The Athenians, who, to purchase the Grecian liberty, laid their city in ashes; who, when Xerxes, the proudest man upon earth, sailed through the land and marched through the sea, and whom the ocean could not confine, and led an army broader than Europe itself; the Athenians, I say, pursued

him, as he fled in one ship, and broke to pieces that formidable power of Asia near the small town of Salamis; they are now slaves to the Romans, and Italy imposes laws upon and governs that city which was once the mistress of all Greece. Also the Lacedemonians, after the famous battles of Thermopyla and Platæa, and having such a general as Agesilaus, who penetrated through all Asia, now acquiesce under the Romans as their masters.

The

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Macedonians, too, gazing still upon the picture of Philip, and casting their eyes with Alexander on him who promises them the empire of the world; quietly sustain their change, and reverence those who have brought them under subjection. whole Euphrates to the east, the isles to the north, Lybia, as far as the desert, to the south, and Gades to the west, were not sufficient to satisfy their ambition; but they carried their arms beyond the ocean, to another world, to Britain, the extremity of the earth. The Grecians, more dignified than any other nation, pay obedience to six fasces of the Romans. Four hundred cities of Asia, unoccupied. by any garrison, submit to the ordinances of one governor- -a Roman prætor. Why should I mention the Heniochians, the Colchians, the Tauri, the inhabitants of the Bosphorus, the people of Pontus and the nations of the Mæotis, who never would acknowledge a master, and are now kept within the bounds of submission, by three hundred Roman soldiers, and four hundred long ships make that sea secure and peaceful which before was unnavigable, on account of pirates. The Bithynians, the Cappadocians, the Pamphylians, the Lycians, the Cilicians pay tribute; and the Thracians, who inhabit

a region of five days' journey in breadth, and seven days' journey in length, difficult to penetrate, from its almost inaccessible mountains and rigorous climate, are kept in subjection by two thousand Romans. The Illyrians, who inhabit a country reaching to Dalmatia and the Ister, are kept in obedience by two legions, which also restrain the inroads of the Dacians; and the Dalmatians themselves, always considered indomitable, now submit to the rule of one legion of Rome. Three hundred and five nations of Gauls, fortified by the natural strength of the places they inhabit, having the lofty mountains of the Alps on the east, the Rhine on the north, the Pyrenæan hills in the south, and the ocean on the west, now patiently abide under the dominion of Rome; during fourscore years they fought for their liberty, and more than a million of them lost their lives in the cause; but they now endure the yoke and are kept in obedience by twelve hundred Roman soldiers, when they have almost a larger number of cities within the confines of their country; and this submission is the pure result of the surprise and admiration caused by the Roman courage, perseverance, and skill, which has had a more powerful effect upon them than the force of arms. Neither could all the gold that was dug out of the earth avail the Spaniards anything, in the undertaking to recover their liberties; neither their being separated from the Romans by such a vast space of land and sea, nor the warlike nations of the Lusitanians and Cantabrians, nor the bordering sea, which looks dreadful even to the natives, with its boiling and raging tide; but the Romans carried their arms beyond the pillars of Hercules, and passed

the Pyrenæan mountains through the clouds, which they subdued; and, though of exceeding great difficulty to penetrate, and placed at so great a distance, yet one legion is sufficient to keep these countries in due obedience. Who among you hath not heard of the prodigious multitudes of the Germans? For, I suppose, you have frequently been eye-witnesses how much they excel in strength and the magnitude of their bodies, since the Romans have garrisons of them in most parts of the world; but, though the country they inhabit is of such vast extent, their bravery and spirit superior even to their bodies, their souls above the apprehension of death, and their fury crueller than the most savage beasts, yet eight legions were found sufficient to enslave those who occupy all the land of the earth north of the Rhine; as many as are taken prisoners are forced to the Roman obedience, and the rest of the nation are obliged to live a vagabond sort of life, to preserve their liberty. Besides, think a little of the wall of the Britains, you who confide so much in the walls of Hierosolyma; for the Romans, notwithstanding the island was much larger than our country, and protected by the sea, crossed the ocean and made slaves of them, and now retain it within the bounds of its duty, having no more than four legions garrisoned there. Lastly, what need have I to produce more examples, since the Parthians, the most warlike people upon earth, and under whose dominion so many people are subject, with a multitude of martial forces, send hostages to Rome? And you may see the pride and glory of the East, under colour of preserving peace, living as slaves in Italy.

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Will you then be, or can you hope to be, the

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only nation that can maintain a war with the Romans, when almost all the nations the sun shines upon submit to their victorious arms? Neither considering the melancholy fate of the Carthaginians, who, boasting of their great Hannibal, and their illustrious descent from the Phenicians, fell under the triumphant arms of Scipio; nor the Cyrenians, the descendants of the Marmanda; a nation stretching themselves to the barren and uncultivated deserts; nor the Syrtes, Nasamones, Mauri, and the innumerable multitudes of the Numidians, terrible names to hear but mentioned, who could not resist the Roman valour. And, more than these, their victorious arms won all the third part of the world, the many nations whereof are hard to be enumerated, which is bounded with the vast Atlantic sea and the pillars of Hercules, and which, as far as the Red Sea, produces and feeds innumerable nations of Ethiopians, and, besides the annual exportation of corn to Rome, which supplies the inhabitants of that immense city for eight months of the year, the people of this immense tract of land pay all other sorts of taxes, and afford, by the tributes levied among them, a seasonable supply to the necessities of the empire, and count it no dishonour, as you do, to perform the commands that are laid upon them, although but one legion resides among them. But what reason have I to cite other examples, to unfold the great power of the Romans, when you yourselves can be sufficient witnesses of it in Egypt, a country that borders upon you? Which, being bounded by Ethiopia and Arabia Felix, and bordering upon Judæa, supports with provisions, exclusive of the inhabitants of Alexandria, a million and fifty thousand souls, as may be calculated from